Latest news

Facebook has released its first ever Global Government Requests Report covering the first six months of 2013, showing figures of user information requests it receives around the world.

In total, Facebook received requests for information on about 38,000 of its gigantic user base around the world, with the United States by far the largest source of requests numbering between 20,000 and 21,000 for the first six months of the year.

The UK sought information on 2,337 users, France sought information on 1,598 users and Germany sought information on 2,086 users.

The requests for information are all related to official investigations, and they vary widely on their nature. Facebook, for example, receives requests for information of accounts belonging to missing persons, and in criminal cases where Facebook may have been used in some way to facilitate the activity.

The social network does not comply with all requests, and has an informative page outlining its approach to responding to government requests here.

If you want to see how many requests were made by your country, and how many Facebook complied with, then view the Global Government Requests Report on Facebook.com.

The New York Times has revealed that its website was hacked on Tuesday, and pointed the finger of blame at the Syrian Electronic Army.

The website was unreachable from Tuesday at around 3pm local time, though it has been restored since. While NYTimes.com was unreachable, the iconic news outlet continued to post stories to its Facebook page and to a mirror site located at news.nytco.com/global.

"The NYTimes.com domain is pointing at SyrianElectronicArmy.com which maps to an IP address in Russia, so it's clearly a malicious attack," Ken Westin, a security researcher for Tripwire, an online security company, told the BBC News website.

Earlier this month, a technical glitch had forced the New York Times website down, and the incident was misreported as the result of an attack.

"Media attacks seem to be escalating and moving away from annoying, simple denial of service attacks and toward full domain compromise which, if successful, puts millions of NYT website users at risk," said Mr Westin.

Microsoft has confirmed that it has completed Windows 8.1 and is releasing it to manufacturing (RTM), but MSDN and Technet subscribers must wait in line with everyone else.

There were hopes that Microsoft would provide Windows 8.1 to MSDN and Technet subscribers before the general October 18 release, but Microsoft has poured cold water on those hopes. According to The Verge, Microsoft is using the intervening time to add some finishing touches.

It also plans to address additional bugs and features with quick fix patches over the coming weeks before general release.

Windows 8.1 makes piles of changes to the Windows 8 user interface, largely due to negative feedback from customers who upgraded or bought a new PC/Tablet running the operating system.

Logitech's new G602 wireless gaming mouse boosts battery life, features 11 programmable buttons.

It promises 250 Continuous Hours in "gaming mode", which Logitech claims is eight times the battery life of other wireless gaming mice. In Endurance mode, it claims over 1,400 hours of battery life.

The mouse features Logitech G exclusive 4,000 DPI Delta Zero sensor technology that offers high-accuracy cursor control. Plus, it has an ultra durable build with primary mechanical switches rated to a 20 million-click lifespan.

Because it features eleven programmable G-keys, you can easily master your favorite games by assigning the actions you use most to the buttons you want, using the Logitech Gaming Software.

According to reports, Samsung's Galaxy Note III can record video in 4K resolution and also supports 24-bit/192KHz audio playback.

The rumors come from The Korea Economic Daily (via SamMobile), which reports that the Galaxy Note III can record video at 4K resolution (3840x2160) and also is capable of playing back 24-bit/192KHz audio recordings.

While the prospect of high quality audio support and 4K video recording deserves attention, there are questions that need to be asked. Firstly, why record in 4K when its not likely that the smartphone will be capable of displaying 4K video? Leaked specs claim that the Note III will tout a 5.68-inch Full HD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) display.

The second problem is the amount of storage space that 4K videos would require, which may make 4K recording with a smartphone unsuitable for now.

Last but certainly not least is the shortage of 4K displays on the market. Ultra HD 4K televisions do, of course, exist but with high-end price tags, and let's not forget you need a device to be capable of playing 4K too.

Two men have been charged in New York for allegedly stealing source code from a high-frequency trading firm.

Prosecutors allege that the men intended to use the code to start their own firm. Jason Vuu, 26, Simon Lu, 25 and Glen Cressman, 26, were arraigned on the charges earlier this month and are due to go back to court on November 18.

Vuu is a former trader at Flow Traders LLC in Manhattan. Prosecutors allege that he e-mailed himself proprietary code, as well as trading strategies and valuation algorithms from the firm. He then, allegedly, shared the information with Lu.

Cressman - also a former trader at Flow Traders LLC - is alleged to have copied files containing trading strategies and valuation algorithms without permission, though his lawyer Charles Ross maintains his clients' innocence.

"He was a fine employee, and when everything about the case is aired, it will be clear he did nothing wrong," Ross said.

A glitch affecting an Amazon servers at a data center affected Instagram, Vine, Netflix and others over the weekend.

The problems hit users of the services on Sunday, with Instagram the first to acknowledge on Twitter that access to its services appeared to be intermittent. It was followed by the other affected web services.

The problem was traced to a data center in Northern Virginia that ran into problems keeping up with demand. This affected servers that are part of Amazon's cloud-based network. Users of amazon's services, including Instagram and Netflix, experienced technical problems as a result.

The problem has since been resolved, with Amazon blaming it on the "partial failure of a networking device" but not elaborating any further.

Problems affecting cloud services tend to get more attention than traditional outages because of the far-reaching consequences they can have.

BitCoin Foundation members have met with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to advocate for the digital currency.

FinCEN director, Jennifer Shasky-Calvery, confirmed that the regulator hosted a presentation by the BitCoin foundation. "This is part of our ongoing dialogue aimed at enhancing communication with our regulated financial industries," she said in a statement.

The job of FinCEN is to analyse information about financial transactions related to money laundering activity, terrorism financing and other financial crimes. BitCoin has been the subject of a lot of controversy in recent years due to its use in underground illegal markets, like the Silk Road drug trading hub. The FBI also reported last year that sophisticated criminal elements were exploiting BitCoin to move money around the world hoping to sidestep groups like FinCEN.

The goal of the BitCoin foundation is to improve and protect the integrity of the BitCoin currency.

However, BitCoin dealers/groups are slowly discovering that they are subject to the same rules and regulations that come with using traditional currency. Mt. Gox, a Tokyo-based group that exchanges U.S. dollars with BitCoins, had two of its accounts held by its U.S. subsidiary seized by agents of the DHS earlier this year because it was operating a money transmitting business with a license.

According to leaked material obtained by Kotaku, Microsoft's Xbox One console may launch on November 8.

The gaming site was in contact with a source at a marketing company that contracts for retail giant Wal-Mart, and was passed along an e-mail for a company conference call that shows the launch date for a number of upcoming games.

It lists the Xbox One as launching at midnight on November 8, 2013. One thing to note is the lack of a "confirmed" note beside it, which could suggest that Microsoft hasn't yet picked a day, or as Kotaku pointed out, only very recently indicated November 8 (perhaps after Sony set November 15 as its launch day for PS4?).

SoundExchange has filed a lawsuit against Sirius XM Radio Inc seeking at least $50 million in damages for allegedly underpaying royalties.

The suit alleges that from 2007 to 2012, Sirius XM underpaid SoundExchange for a statutory license for broadcasting recordings to its subscribers by reducing by 10-15 percent the gross revenues it reports to calculate the royalty payments. It said Sirius XM's change in calculation of revenue was due to performances of recordings from before 1972.

Sirius XM holds that the statutory license established under federal law does not extend to recordings made before that year.

"We cannot sit by and watch this multi-billion dollar company reap record profits from the creative contributions of artists and labels without paying them everything they deserve," SoundExchange Chief Executive Michael Huppe said in a statement.

SoundExchange is a nonprofit organization that deals with performance rights and is designated by the U.S. Copyright Office. Its job is to collect royalties for performance artists and copyright holders for when their music is performed on a digital radio or satellite service. The group represents over 3,000 record labels and 20,000 artists, ranging from major labels to independent labels and from famous signed artists to unsigned performers.

Microsoft has announced that Live TV streaming is now available through your Xbox 360 console if you are a Time Warner Cable subscriber.

The software giant had promised live programming in June, and has come through on their word.

By downloading the TWC TV app, you can watch up to 300 channels, depending on your cable bundle.

For social aspects, you can see what your Xbox Live friends are currently watching, as long as they have the app, as well.

Time Warner says VOD is not available yet but will be available in the near future.

A new update for Google's messaging service, Hangouts, will give AT&T users support for video calling.

Google replaced their Google Talk app in May with Hangouts, which should eventually merge Google Voice with Talk.

Video calls have been free over Wi-Fi and 4G for Android and iOS, but AT&T did not allow calls over cellular.

Google clarified that AT&T did not block the service but just that Hangouts had not cleared certification for the carrier yet. The certification is finally completed.

The company has also confirmed Google Glass and potentially SMS support is coming soon.

According to sources, BlackBerry is considering spinning off its popular Messenger service, giving it its own subsidiary with more independence from the parent company.

The company has been actively looking at new strategies, including selling the company and going private.

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is a very popular service but it has recently been surpassed by cross-platform apps like WhatsApp and Line.

The Canadian phone maker has been moving executives over to the BBM team, working on offering more features beyond just messaging. Some of these features include video chatting.

BBM has 60 million active users and will be available for non-BlackBerry users starting this year.

Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy Tab 3 Kids, a colorful model of the company's latest tablet.

The Tab comes with parental controls and pre-loaded content and apps for children.

As can be expected, the 7-inch tablet will not feature high-end specs. The device has 1024 x 600 resolution, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM. On the backside there is a 3MP camera and a 1MP camera upfront for video chatting.

There is 8GB of internal storage but a microSD slot if you need more.

Samsung confirms there is no LTE connectivity but of course there is 2.4/5GHz dual band 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. The device runs on Android 4.1, but Samsung has nearly made all stock remnants disappear with their own user interface overlay.

Google has quietly dropped the price of their flagship Nexus 4 smartphone to $199 base price, down $100 from current prices.

The 8GB model will sell for $199 (with $10 shipping) and $249 with 16GB storage.

Running stock Android, and selling without contract, the phone offers the best 'bang for the buck' in the Android world but the phone is over 9 months old, which is important to note.

Check our review here: Review: The Google Nexus 4

Get the phone here: Google Play Store

We've lowered the price of #Nexus4. Get it for 25% off or more in Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, Korea, US, UK: http://t.co/g8vIKtBC9N

— Google Play (@GooglePlay) August 28, 2013