Prepaid Plans for Kids Mobile Phones
MOBILE phones will be on many teen and pre-teen wish lists this Christmas, but the cost to parents won’t stop at the hand piece if they make the wrong choice of plan.
Telecommunications companies and consumer groups agree prepaid plans are the way to go for children preventing huge cost blow-outs that parents are ultimately responsible for.
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Two-thirds of Skype Users Still Can’t Log in
Skype estimates that about two-thirds of its users are still unable to log in after an outage caused by problems with its underlying peer-to-peer interconnection system, it said in a blog post around midday European time Thursday.
Kindle e-reader set to be Amazon’s Most Popular Gift Item
The Kindle e-reader is set to become Amazon’s most popular gift item this year, but if you’re hoping to see a Kindle under the tree Saturday be careful about the protective case you use with your new gadget. A small number of Kindle users report that Amazon’s leather case for the Kindle is causing their e-reader to crash and require a manual reboot.
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Critical IE Bug Confirmed by Microsoft
Microsoft late Wednesday confirmed that all versions of Internet Explorer (IE) contain a critical vulnerability that attackers can exploit by persuading users to visit a rigged Web site.
Although the company said it would patch the problem, it is not planning to rush out an emergency update.
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Apple App Store removed WikiLeak
APPLE said it had removed an unofficial WikiLeaks application for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad from its App Storebecause it violated its guidelines for software developers.
“Apps must comply with all local laws,” Trudy Muller, an Apple spokeswoman, told AFP. “It may not put an individual or targeted group in harm’s way.
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Updates on Dell Venue Pro
Over the past couple of days, there have been numerous reports and some confusion over whether shipments of the Dell Venue Pro have been delayed till January 6 (original estimated ship date was December 9).
We contacted Dell to try to get to the bottom of the situation and was directed to check out the Dell community blog where it is providing updates on the status of Windows Phone 7 device.
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NSS Labs Browser Security Report
Independent testing company NSS Labs just published a report on the ability of popular browsers to block socially engineered malware attack URLs. The test, funded by Microsoft, reported a 99 percent detection rate by Internet Explorer 9 beta, 90 percent by Internet Explorer 8, and 3 percent by Google Chrome. Google doesn’t entirely approve of this report’s focus and conclusions.
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Apple’s iPods Buying Guide
To be sure, an Apple iPod is a holiday gift that most folks would be more than happy to receive. Other, less-pricey media players are available, but the iPod carries a certain cachet to whomever you give one. It’s also a perfect gift for the music buff who wants a little something extra from his or her digital music player.
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Apple and Lenovo Takes the Lead
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Chinese firm Lenovo had a surge in sales of their personal computers last month. Most of the rest of the industry did not. NPD Group, the research organization, reported that sales for the industry were down 6% from October to November. That is not good news for the industry as it enters the heart of the holiday season.
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Bsecure Online v6.16
It used to be when software vendors released a whole raft of impressive new features they’d give the product an impressive new version number. In the modern world of cloud-based products things aren’t always so cut-and-dried. Bsecure Online v6.16 ($49.95/year direct for three licenses) sounds like a tiny incremental upgrade, but in fact it now has a comprehensive collection of features not found in any other single parental control product.
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