Articles by Richard Adhikari

Although news of data breaches and computer hacks make headlines almost daily, individual users and companies too often simply don't protect their passwords strongly enough. Most users tend to select simple or common passwords or leave the default passwords of hardware and software they purchase unchanged, security vendor Imperva found after analy...

Harried by shrinking sales and the increasing popularity of Android smartphones, Nokia on Thursday announced that it is now offering a new version of its Ovi Maps mobile navigation app for free ...

Amazon on Thursday announced it will launch a limited beta version of its Kindle software development kit (SDK) so developers can create applications for its Kindle e-reader. The beta will be available next month, and the SDK will include sample code, documentation and a Kindle simulator that will run on PCs, Macs and Linux desktops.

Microsoft has said it will release a patch on Thursday to fix the Internet Explorer 6 flaw that hackers used recently to attack Google and other large companies. The attacks have triggered a slugfest between Google and the Chinese government. While the flaw can also be exploited in Internet Explorer 7 and 8, most of the attacks so far have been ag...

Google's latest salvo in its dispute with China came Tuesday, with reports that it's holding off unveiling two new Android phones in that country However, this move may hurt Google more than it does China, which has a plethora of Android phones from different manufacturers....

Google is reportedly looking into the possibility that one or more staff members at its office in China helped enable the attack on its infrastructure in mid-December. After the attack was discovered, some Google China employees were denied access to internal networks, while others were put on leave, and still others were sent off to offices elsew...

Computer security companies are scurrying to cope with the fallout from the Internet Explorer (IE) flaw that led to cyberattacks on Google and its corporate and individual customers. The zero-day attack that exploited IE is part of a lethal cocktail of malware that is keeping researchers very busy.

The organization representing the wireless industry -- CTIA - The Wireless Association -- is fighting to head off a possible expansion of the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) Net neutrality proposals. CTIA on Thursday filed comments in response to recent proposals made by the FCC. Among other arguments, CTIA contends that Net neutrality is...

Following a hack attempt on Google originating in China, the Web search powerhouse stood up to the country's government and declared it would no longer cooperate with its censorship laws. In fact, it may stop doing business in China altogether Doing that would cost Google hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue per year, as well as any future gr...

Facebook has partnered with McAfee to improve the social network's security measures. The arrangement will have McAfee remotely clean up Facebook subscribers' PCs if the social networking site detects that the computer is infected. These subscribers will also see an ad for a six-month free subscription to McAfee's Internet Security Suite software....

The global IT market will see better days in 2010 as signs point to the beginnings of a worldwide economic recovery, according to a report from Forrester Research. Global IT spending will grow 8.1 percent, while IT spending in the United States will climb 6.6 percent, according to the study.

Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs on Monday launched Green Touch, a project aimed at making communications networks 1,000 times more more energy-efficient. The project's founding members include service providers such as AT&T; research labs such as the MIT Research Lab for Electronics and Bell Labs; and government and nonprofit research institutions such...

One year after first showing the world its Pre smartphone, Palm on Thursday announced a new generation of the device at the Consumer Electronics Show. It also unveiled an upgrade to its Pixi, a smaller smartphone that relies on the same webOS software as the Pre ...

Three-dimensional television has been hot this week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, JVC Kenwood and Samsung were among the consumer electronics companies announcing new products in this line. ...

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Wednesday took the stage to deliver a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Ballmer showcased products from several partners at the event, including a tablet device made by HP. He also announced a tie-in with HP to promote the Bing search engine. ...

HP became the latest vendor to unveil brightly colored netbooks in its lineup with its announcement of several new products Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. ...

Unveiling its much-anticipated Nexus One smartphone on Tuesday, Google put it in a new class of devices it dubs "superphones." ...

Lenovo unveiled a slew of PCs for the consumer market on Tuesday. These include its Skylight smartbook, a refreshed S10 netbook lineup, and a refreshed all-in-one desktop line. Multimedia, multitouch and access speed featured prominently in the lineup.

Lenovo unleashed a series of mobile computers aimed squarely at the SMB and corporate markets on Monday. ...

This story was originally published on Sept. 28, 2009, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series. Being on the Internet is like living in a village: Everyone knows who you are and all the details of your private life -- except that on the Internet, it's not just people you may have known all your life who know a lot about ...