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Microsoft is pushing an out-of-cycle update to fix a problem caused by a previous Windows update distributed on Patch Tuesday in November.

The broken update in question - KB3004394 - was distributed last week and has caused numerous problems with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 installations. Problems range from preventing further Windows updates to preventing updates to drivers for graphics cards and more.

Microsoft quickly encouraged users to remove the stricken update and worked on a fix instead. In actual fact, the fix just removes the previous update.

The new update - KB3024777 - will remove the previous update from your installation and should fix any problems you have after a reboot or two. Depending on your Windows Updates settings you might already have gotten the update (and will have been prompted to reboot), or you may have been alerted to its availability instead.

You can manually download the update for your Windows operating system from support.microsoft.com too.

Connecting people across continents is old news, but breaking down language barriers between them is the new goal of services like Skype.

Cooperating with Microsoft's R&D, Skype has kicked off its Translator Preview with support for translating conservations between Spanish and English, and even offers us a video demo of two classrooms communicating using the technology to show off where they currently are.

The preview program is available to Skype customers who have signed-up via the Skype Translator sign-up page and are using Windows 8.1 on the desktop or device. For now it supports Spanish and English as spoken, and also 40+ instant messaging languages.

In the demonstration video below, two classrooms in North America use the new Skype Translator. Students in Peterson School in Mexico City, and Stafford Elementary School in Tacoma, USA play a game of "Mystery Skype", in which the children ask questions to determine the location of the other school.

As they speak, Skype automatically translates between English and Spanish for them.

Windows Phone owners can now download BBM 2.0 (BlackBerry Messenger), which offers a plethora of new features.

The key new features include "privacy and control features including timed messages and message retraction." Less important are the addition of BBM Stickers that can be used within chats.

Rather than go through all the new features, here are a few videos from the team at BlackBerry showing off what's new:

According to new figures from research firm Gartner, 301 million smartphones were sold in the Q3 2014, up 20 percent year-over-year.

Perhaps most notable in the report is the fact that Apple and Samsung's duopoly is starting to see some decline, with the two companies accounting for just 37 percent share, down from 44 percent last December.

Chinese startup Xiaomi managed to crack the top five, taking share from a struggling Samsung and taking 5.2 percent global share. Chinese giant Huawei gained slightly, taking 5.3 percent share, and third place in global share. Apple, on strong sales of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, increased to 12.7 percent share. Samsung remained the clear leader, but its share collapsed year-over-year from 32 percent to 24.4 percent.

"From a regional perspective, emerging markets exhibited some of the highest growths ever recorded, with Eastern Europe and the Middle East and Africa achieving the highest increase in the third quarter of 2014, with sales of smartphones growing almost 50% year-over-year," says Gartner director Robert Cozza. Developed markets, however, are almost completely saturated.

From an operating system standpoint, it is no longer a competition as Android had 83.1 percent share.

Eon Productions, the producers behind the newly announced James Bond 'SPECTRE' film have confirmed that an early version of the script was stolen as part of the 100 terabytes of data taken when Sony Pictures was hacked last month.

"Eon Productions is concerned that third parties who have received the stolen screenplay may seek to publish it or its contents," Eon added, also letting those who share it that the script would be protected by UK copyright laws.

SPECTRE just began filming with Daniel Craig returning as Agent 007, and the film is set for release next November.

Bond is one of Sony's biggest draws, and 2012's 'Skyfall' brought in $1.1 billion, the most ever for a movie in the franchise.

According to a new filing, the Chinese smartphone giant booked a profit of just $56 million last year, a shockingly low figure given the fact that Xiaomi is the fourth largest smartphone maker in the world.

The number reflects tiny margins for the company, which was founded in 2011 and now sells millions of high-quality but cheap devices in China.

Xiaomi had revenue of $4.3 billion for the year, but an operating margin of 1.8 percent. By comparison, Apple has margins above 28 percent. The company has long said that it sells the hardware almost at cost to get as many handsets out there so they can sell software and services. Amazon has tried a similar model, but they too were not successful.

Regardless, with a global smartphone market share of 5.6 percent, Xiaomi has certainly made a brand for themselves, and most in the industry value the company at over $10 billion.

Following further leaks of data stolen from Sony Pictures, hackers have promised the studio that a Christmas gift is coming soon.

"We are preparing for you a Christmas gift," the Guardians of Peace (GoP) said in a post on Pastebin.

"The gift will be larger quantities of data. And it will be more interesting.The gift will surely give you much more pleasure and put Sony Pictures into the worst state. Please send an email titled by 'Merry Christmas' at the addresses below to tell us what you want in our Christmas gift."

The hackers are reportedly making a bunch of demands of Sony Pictures. As we previously reported, the group apparently demanded that Sony Pictures cancel the release of "The Interview", starring Seth Rogan and James Franco as journalists who are recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong un.

Sony is also attempting to stop large media corporations from reporting on data from the leaked e-mails, as some of the information disclosed has been of a particularly sensitive nature.

A Northern Ireland firm has apologized after a software glitch resulting in products being listed and sold on Amazon for just 1p.

The glitch happened on Friday between 19:00 and 20:00 and it affected firms using Repricer Express, which automatically adjusts the prices of items on sale on Amazon to keep them competitive.

Repricer Express chief executive Brendan Doherty said he was deeply sorry for the disruption. Most orders were cancelled after the error was spotted.

Repricer Express is investigating the cause of the issue and will attempt to prevent it reoccurring in the future.

"We managed to get the problem resolved so that any new prices going to Amazon were correct within about an hour of the problem being reported," Doherty said.

"It took a further few hours to get incorrect prices reverted to their original prices where possible. Amazon have assured us that seller accounts will not be penalised for this issue."

The BanHammer has been 'a-swingin', according to the Bungie website as it fights against players with modified consoles.

Banning players that use modified consoles is a fairly common practice usually justified with concerns about piracy and also modding that can lead to unfair advantages in online gaming. Destiny players that have logged in using modified consoles recently may not be able to do so again.

"We routinely review Banhammer actions to ensure that they are applied accurately and fairly," the official Bungie site reads.

"A review of the bans applied over the last week shows that all of the affected accounts had logged into Destiny on a modified console at some point."

For a limited time, you can pick up a Wii U (32GB) console with Super Mario 3D World and Nintendoland for a total cost of $250.

The promotion is being run by Target and it is not timed. However, it is only available while stocks last so if you want to take advantage of it then get up off your ass.

In fact, when we say get up off your ass we mean it literally because you cannot get the deal online, you need to visit a brick and mortar Target store and pick up the goods there.

You can use Target's website to find the nearest store and pre-pay for it however, and then go to pick it up.

via: GameSpot

Uber is offering free rides in Sydney as it seeks to make good after the cost of some car rides in Sydney spiked during the hostage siege at a cafe.

As you are likely aware, there is a terrible hostage situation currently underway in Sydney and it is dominating more or less all major media outlets at the moment.

It turns out that after this crisis started, the cost of using Uber drivers to get away from the central business district (CBD) in the city spiked, prompting criticism of the firm which promises typically to cost less than traditional taxi services.

The company found itself accused of exploiting the situation in Sydney for profit. For example, some drivers were quoted prices often more than twice the usual rate to get from the CBD to the airport.

It would appear that the increase in cost was simply down to the increase in demand in the area of the city. The algorithm used to set pricing for the service responded to the gulf between demand and available cars by pushing up the cost. The intention of this cost increase is to draw more Uber drivers into the area.

Uber has responded by refunding customers who were overcharged and by offering free rides out of the CBD to help people to get home safely.

Several major news media organizations have been threatened by a Sony Pictures lawyer and ordered to stop reporting details from e-mails stolen in November.

According to reports, a letter was received by the New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety from Sony attorney David Boies on the matter. The asserts that the stricken studio "does not consent to your possession, review, copying, dissemination, publication, uploading, downloading or making any use" of data leaked from November's massive breach of the entertainment firm.

The group responsible for the attack - Guardians of Peace (GoP) - has released more than a terabyte of stolen data since late-November, including personal information of employees and Hollywood stars. The data also includes hoards of e-mails that clearly were never supposed to be seen by the public.

"Any decisions about whether or how to use any of the information will take into account both the significance of the news and the questions of how the information emerged and who has access to it," said Eileen Murphy, spokeswoman for the New York Times, reports the Reuters news agency.

Following Verizon's sale of its share in Vodafone earlier this year, there had been speculation that the European carrier would be returning to the U.S. The company has now confirmed those plans.

The company has introduced wireless services for its "400 multinational (MNC) customers based in the United States and a further 500 Vodafone MNC customers that are based outside the United States but have a strong US presence."

Here is the full proposition:

-An unrivaled international wireless footprint, with networks in 27 countries (including 16 Vodafone markets with 4G LTE networks) extending to more than 75 countries through partner market relationships

-Proven total communications products and services for enterprise, from telecommunications expense management and security products to cloud services and Vodafone OneNet fixed-mobile converged products and services enabling employees to collaborate and communicate on any device on any network, anywhere

-Ongoing expansion of the world's most advanced IP-VPN global network, with 91 points of presence (PoPs) rising to 212 PoPs by the end of 2015 to span 67 countries

According to a new report, LG is preparing to unveil a new TV with 8K resolution at the upcoming CES event in Las Vegas.

The 55-inch TV has a ridiculous 7,680 x 4,320 pixel resolution and 'over 20 display driver integrated circuits installed. The TV also has 500 nits brightness because "unlike conventional displays that use RGB sub-pixels, LG added a W sub-pixel to increase the brightness."

LG built a prototype last month and was so happy that it decided to airlift it to Vegas for CES, which begins on January 5th.

For any demos, LG will use "3D images generated by an unnamed high-quality Nvidia GPU" as there are currently no video sources with support for 8K. While the TV seems out of this world for the current environment, the sources believe LG will move to add an 8K model to their lineup in 2015. "With the know-how acquired from making the prototype, if LG finds good grounds to commercialize the display for mass production, it will do so. LG has already finished up approving the technological viability of the 55-inch, 8K display, and is now starting preparation to commercialize it to make it a product," reads the report.

Google has made their new Nexus 9 tablet available with LTE, just over a month after the tablet was released (sans cellular data).

Available at the Google Play Store for $599 with 32GB internal storage, the tablet is also available directly through T-Mobile for the same price or for $24.99 per month for two years with $0 down.

The HTC-built Nexus 9 has a 8.9-in. IPS LCD display with a 2048-x-1536 resolution (4:3 aspect ratio) which Google says is part of the company's "new focus on productivity." Under the hood is the crazy powerful Tegra K1 64-bit processor, and 2GB RAM. HTC has added dual front-facing stereo speakers for improved audio playback, and added their own BoomSound audio software enhancements. The 6700 mAh battery should give you 9.5 hours of active use.

Running on the new Android 5.0 Lollipop and all its features, Google has included a "tap to wake" option that was seen in the past on LG's tablets as 'Knock On." You have to tap the screen twice to turn on the display without needing to hit the power button.