Customers who have Reserved Instance contracts with Amazon Web Services will be able to subdivide some of their Linux and Unix virtual machine instances while maintaining their capacity discounts, thanks to pricing changes announced Monday. Reserved Instances allow customers to lock themselves into paying AWS for a certain amount of compute capacity with the company’s…
It’s been a year since the U.S. Army began researching the use of a British-built hoverbike as an autonomous delivery drone for battlefields, and it recently showed off its progress. The Army is hoping to develop the drone so that it can fly supplies to troops in combat zones, removing the need for risky ground…
Microsoft today postponed the retirement of the security bulletins that for nearly two decades have described in detail the month’s slate of vulnerabilities and accompanying patches. The bulletins’ last stand was originally scheduled for January, with a replacement process ready to step in Feb. 14. Rather than a set of bulletins, Microsoft was to provide…
Crooks are stealing code from the purveyors of Petya ransomware and using it to extort money from innocent victims, stiffing the creators of the malware out of the cut they are supposed to get. Rather than following the rules of licensing Petya, another criminal group is stealing and modifying the ransomware so they can use…
The U.S. Department of Justice yesterday argued that it should not have to reveal the maker of a tool used last year to crack an alleged terrorist’s iPhone or disclose how much it paid for the hacking job, court documents showed. That tool was used last year by the FBI to access a password-protected iPhone…
In a case of no honor among thieves, a group of attackers has found a way to hijack the Petya ransomware and use it in targeted attacks against companies without the program creators’ knowledge. A computer Trojan dubbed PetrWrap, being used in attacks against enterprise networks, installs Petya on computers and then patches it on…
U.S. Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey isn’t ready to talk about his rumored campaign for presidency in 2020, but he did sit down with Google’s senior counsel on civil and human rights Malika Saada Saar at South by Southwest on Friday to talk about the power of human connection and social justice. Oh, and…
Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian has a rosy view of the company’s future. Despite controversy over the online bulletin board’s role in the election of Donald Trump and the proliferation of white nationalism on its forums, Ohanian describes Reddit as “the global watercooler where people’s minds are changed about things.” Ohanian gave an impassioned defense of…
Microsoft gave its Cortana app for iOS a facelift Friday, replacing its old black and blue aesthetic with a new look that puts the assistant’s key features at users’ fingertips. The app now features Quick Actions, so that users can tap a couple buttons and get Cortana to create an alarm, set a reminder, or…
A day after it was revealed through WikiLeaks that the CIA has allegedly explored hacking vehicle computer-control systems, including BlackBerry’s QNX OS, the company said its software is safe. “We are not currently aware of any attacks or exploits against BlackBerry products or services, including QNX. Still, the news is a bit frightening, now that…