Latest news

Google has started offering Chromecast owners $6 in Google Play credit.

The search giant is marketing the credit as a Valentine's Day gift so you can rent a romantic movie and stay in. Of course, you can get whatever you want with the credit and it does not appear to have an expiration date.

To take advantage, you must be logged into the same Wi-Fi network as your Chromecast and then click here. You will see all your current offers (I had 5) and you just have to confirm your Chromecast serial with Google to accept the credit. You can also use the mobile app if you prefer on iOS and Android.

Don't forget to hit "Redeem."

Adobe has released security updates for their Flash Player across platforms, addressing critical vulnerabilities as it had rated as "Priority 1."

The updates, for Windows, Mac and Linux, will patch "vulnerabilities that could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system." The bug is "actively being exploited in the wild via drive-by-download attacks against systems running Internet Explorer and Firefox on Windows 8.1 and below."

Adobe recommends all desktop, Chrome, IE and Firefox users update to the latest version of their software.

The updates will "resolve memory corruption vulnerabilities that could lead to code execution," "type confusion vulnerabilities that could lead to code execution," "resolve heap buffer overflow vulnerabilities that could lead to code execution," "resolve a buffer overflow vulnerability that could lead to code execution," and "resolve null pointer dereference issues."

Source:
Adobe

Earlier this week, electronics retailer RadioShack officially filed for bankruptcy, with plans to sell around 2000 of its stores to its largest shareholder and closing the rest permanently.

As part of the bankruptcy plan, major carrier Sprint will open up "mini-shops" in up to 1750 of the remaining stores, doubling their brick-and-mortar presence in the U.S.

Sprint would occupy about a third of the retail space in each store, and Sprint would sell devices, accessories and monthly plans. In addition, Sprint would be the main brand in marketing materials and on storefronts.

RadioShack has not been profitable since 2011, and has seen declining sales since at least 2008. The company will look to keep paying its employees while it restructures in bankruptcy, and the company is also looking to sell all of its international assets.

Toy maker Mattel and search giant Google have sent out press invites for an event on February 13th in which the two companies are expected to unveil a new device or service.

The companies are inviting the media to "view what's possible" and the invite itself is an homage to the View-Master toy.

It is unclear what the companies are planning but the reference to View-Master suggests a toy with potentially some Google Glass functionality built in. Potentially, the View-Master could be making a comeback.

Check the invite here:

Thanks to a plethora of embarrassing emails leaked in December by hackers, Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal has stepped down from her role at the company.

"I have spent almost my entire professional life at Sony Pictures and I am energized to be starting this new chapter based at the company I call home," she said in a statement. "I have always wanted to be a producer. [Sony Entertainment CEO] Michael [Lynton] and I have been talking about this transition for quite some time, and I am grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to pursue my long-held dream and for providing unparalleled support. As the slate for the next two years has come together, it felt like the right time to transition into this new role. I am so grateful to my team, some of whom I have worked with for the last 20 years and others who have joined more recently. I am leaving the studio in great hands. I am so proud of what we have all done together and I look forward to a whole lot more."

Pascal was the executive who green-lit 'The Interview' and many of the emails leaked showed Pascal's thoughts about celebrities and directors in the industry, none of which were kind so she was an easy figure to place blame on.

Following a campaign from some of the biggest directors in the game, Kodak has signed a new deal to keep movie film stock in use for the major Hollywood studios.

"Film has long been – and will remain – a vital part of our culture," said Jeff Clarke, Kodak chief executive office, in a statement. "With the support of the studios, we will continue to provide motion picture film, with its unparalleled richness and unique textures, to enable filmmakers to tell their stories and demonstrate their art."

Many new and upcoming films used actual film, including "Boyhood," "The Grand Budapest Hotel," "Interstellar," "Foxcatcher" and the coming "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens," "Batman v. Superman - Dawn of Justice" and "Ant-Man."

Directors such as JJ Abrams, Judd Apatow and Quentin Tarantino all campaigned to make sure film stayed alive in an age that is quickly moving completely to all-digital. Apatow says digital and film "are valid choices, but it would be a tragedy if suddenly directors didn't have the opportunity to shoot on film. There's a magic to the grain and the color quality that you get with film."

Yelp has just announced their Q4 2014 earnings and full-year results, showing strong growth year-over-year.

The business review site brought in $377.5 million in revenue for the year, up 62 percent year-over-year. Most importantly, Yelp was profitable for the first time ever, totaling $36.5 million for the year.

Overall, the total reviews on the site grew to 71 million, up 35 percent YoY, from 72 million unique mobile users and a total of 135 million monthly unique users. Desktop usership has peaked, and remained flat.

Yelp also announced nearly 100,000 active local business accounts and 84,000 local advertisers. Nearly one-third of the advertisers are paying between $300-$500 per month.

The company says its goal is monetize the international markets now, as only 3 percent of revenue has come from outside the U.S.

Source:
Forbes

Popular watch maker Swatch is preparing a smartwatch for release in the coming 2-3 months, looking to take a piece of the burgeoning industry.

Notably, the device will not have to be charged, will be able to make mobile payments via NFC, and will work with both Windows and Android.

Chief Executive Officer Nick Hayek, who previously said the company would not race to be first in the race to develop a smartwatch due to ongoing consumer resistance, says the time is right (or possibly necessary) now.

Hayek noted that in the future, a few of their latest patented tech will be used the smartwatch, such as a battery that has double the life of previous models: "We'll implement all of those into new products. Some of them, such as the battery, will take a few years though, and are also destined for other industries, like the automotive industry."

Swatch would not be the first Swiss watchmaker to try a smartwatch. Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) and their TAG Heuer brand have announced a smartwatch with GPS and fitness tracking for later this year.

Health insurance company Anthem (better known by their Blue Cross Blue Shield brand) is the victim of one of the largest breaches in history, with intimate personal data on 80 million former and current user being stolen.

"Anthem was the target of a very sophisticated external cyber attack," Anthem president and CEO Joseph Swedish said this morning. Among the data stolen were names, birthdays, medical IDs, Social Security numbers, full addresses, emails and employment info including work addresses.

The stolen database had 80 million customer's data in it, but Anthem does not believe everyone has been affected. Regardless, the company confirmed the number is certainly in the tens of millions. Anthem says no medical records were stolen in the breach.

"Anthem's own associates' personal information -- including my own -- was accessed during this security breach. We join in your concern and frustration and I assure you that we are working around the clock to do everything we can to further secure your data," Swedish added.

If you are a current or former customer of Anthem please check www.anthemfacts.com or call 877-263-7995. It is also important to start monitoring your credit if you are not already doing so.

Under Armour has announced this week the acquisition of MyFitnessPal and Endomondo in an effort to create the world's 'largest digital health community.'

With the two companies combined, UA's new digital health community will have 120 million users. MyFitnessPal was purchased for $475 million and Endomondo was acquired for $85 million. Both apps allow iOS and Android users to set goals, track their fitness activity and chat with others in the community for support and advice. MFP became popular due to its database of recipes that can be used for meals based on your available ingredients and calorie count.

"By combining a community of 120 million unique registered users, we are developing a digital ecosystem that provides us with unparalleled data and insight into making every athlete better," said Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank. "Understanding the evolving needs of our athletes -- how they interact, how they consume, and ultimately how they strive to live healthier lifestyles -- will be key inputs to forging deeper relationships and becoming more relevant to how the consumer shops."

As has been rumored for months, telecom giant BT has agreed to acquire EE, the UK's largest wireless carrier.

The deal values EE at $19 billion (12.5 billion euro), and will give BT the biggest 4G LTE customer base in all of Europe. Altogether, EE has 31 million subscribers.

BT has been looking to get back in the mobile market for the last two years, and became an MVNO last year using EE's network.

EE has 7.7 million 4G LTE users, far and away the largest in Europe, where the speedy mobile networks are still being adopted.

"This is a major milestone for BT as it will allow us to accelerate our mobility plans and increase our investment in them. The UK's leading 4G network will now dovetail with the UK's biggest fibre network, helping to create the leading converged communications provider in the UK. Consumers and businesses will benefit from new products and services as well as from increased investment and innovation," said BT Chief Executive Gavin Patterson. "The deal provides an attractive opportunity for BT to generate considerable value for shareholders, with significant operating and capital investment efficiencies supported by our tried and tested cost transformation activities. The enlarged BT will offer significant opportunities for employees as we lead the creation of a world-class digital infrastructure for Britain."

Verizon Wireless, looking to keep up with the insane customer growth rival T-Mobile is seeing, has slashed data plan pricing across the board for new and existing customers.

As part of their More Everything service, nearly every data plan has been reduced by $10 a month, and new GB tiers have been added to give users more options. The new tiers go as high as 20GB and only the 500MB and 10GB tiers have not seen any change.

"Just about a year ago, Verizon Wireless expanded what customers experience with a shared data plan when we introduced MORE Everything on the best 4G LTE network," said Verizon Wireless chief marketing officer Nancy Clark. "As the market leader, we are committed to delivering customers the solutions and value that make sense for their lifestyles."

In addition, Verizon will allow some qualifying customers to add smartphones to the "Verizon Edge" plan for $15 per month and a $15 or $25 discount off your total monthly bill. Edge allows for shared data, and allows customers to pay no upfront cost for a new phone and then finance it for 24 months.

Twitter has signed a deal with search giant Google to have tweets be visible in search results immediately after they are posted.

The new deal gives Google access to Twitter's "firehose," the stream of data from all of the company's users. Until now, Google had to crawl Twitter's site, but no longer.

Twitter had already signed similar deals with Microsoft and Yahoo, but the combined search share of Bing and Yahoo is much smaller than Google.

For both parties, the deal should have great synergies. Google will add tons of great, relevant information for their searches, and Twitter will be able to monetize their users' data when they are logged out.

Unlike Android, that remains wildly fragmented, Apple's latest operating system has seen mass adoption from iPhone and iPad users.

According to the Cupertino giant, iOS 8 is installed on 72 percent of iOS devices, up from 68 percent last month.

The number is particularly notable because of how many issues iOS 8 has had since launch. The original launch of iOS 8 was met with a few bugs, especially Wi-Fi issues. iOS 8.0.1 was a disaster and even led to some devices being bricked before Apple pulled the update. Subsequent updates have added stability and it appears that adoption has followed.

Google's latest Android, version 5.0, was released in November and is installed on just 1.6 percent of devices.

Ross Ulbricht, who went by the name 'Dread Pirate Roberts' online, has been convicted on all counts for running the illegal, anonymous bazaar, the Silk Road.

The Silk Road underground marketplace allowed users to purchase drugs, buy counterfeit products, and trade child pornography while paying with Bitcoin digital currency.

In just 3 hours of deliberations, the jury found Ulbricht guilty on all seven charges which included 'trafficking drugs on the Internet, narcotics-trafficking conspiracy, running a continuing criminal enterprise, computer-hacking conspiracy and money-laundering conspiracy.'

Prosecutors had alleged that Dread Pirate ran Silk Road from 2011 until its raid in 2013, and that over $200 million in Bitcoins were used to purchase illegal merchandise on the site in that time. Ulbricht was also accused of arranging to murder five people who threatened to expose sellers on the Silk Road.

In his defense, Ulbricht claimed that he was set up to take the blame by former Mt. Gox founder Mark Karpeles. The jury didn't buy it. On Ulbricht's computers they found Silk Road maintenance logs, weekly reports, online chat transcripts and over $13 million worth of bitcoins, which were then traced back to Silk Road.