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I have literally lost hundreds of pages, threads and posts this way.

Depressing news for those of us who appreciate great prices on computer gear and component parts. The Geeks website now displays a simple page explaining that all ordering has now ceased. Competition appears to be the overriding reason, and a general unwillingness to have been forced to this point is quite apparent. I, for one, will miss all the great deals they offer, and have offered for many years.

The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet companies divulge users' stored passwords, according to two industry sources familiar with these orders, which represent an escalation in surveillance techniques that has not previously been disclosed. If the government is able to determine a person's password, which is typically stored in encrypted form, the credential could be used to log in to an account to peruse confidential correspondence or even impersonate the user. Obtaining it also would aid in deciphering encrypted devices in situations where passwords are reused. "I've certainly seen them ask for passwords," said one Internet industry source who...

Forget hacking accounts, computers or mobile devices - security engineers from Indiana have managed to hack the software inside the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape. Using a laptop wirelessly connected to the car's electronics, Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek were able to remotely control the brakes, the accelerate, change the speedometer, switch the headlights on and off, tighten the seatbelts and even blast the horn. The project was funded by a grant from the U.S Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to highlight the security risks affecting modern-day cars. Miller, a security engineer at Twitter, and Valasek, Director of Security Intelligence...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Google Inc. /quotes/zigman/93888/quotes/nls/goog GOOG -0.05% said a new Nexus 7 tablet will be priced at $229 for a 16 GB version; $269 for 32 GB and $349 for an LTE version. The 16 GB and 32 GB versions will be available next week

The latest innovation from the U.S. Defense Department’s research agency, DARPA, is a humanoid robot called Atlas that looks as if it could’ve walked straight off the set of the latest Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster. In fact, Atlas is designed to eventually take on some of the most dangerous and high-stakes jobs imaginable, such as tending to a nuclear reactor during a meltdown, shutting off a deep-water oil spill, or helping to put out a raging wildfire. And if Atlas proves itself at such daredevil tasks, then one of its descendants might one day be allowed to do something just as...

When a young Indian-American woman walked into the funky L.A. jewelry boutique Tarina Tarantino, store manager Lauren Twisselman thought she was just like any other customer. She didn't realize the woman was actress and writer Mindy Kaling. "I hadn't watched The Office," Twisselman says. Kaling both wrote and appeared in the NBC hit. This lack of recognition is precisely what the VIP-identification technology designed by NEC IT Solutions is supposed to prevent. The U.K.-based company already supplies similar software to security services to help identify terrorists and criminals. The ID technology works by analyzing footage of people's faces as they...

At the Inside 3D Printing conference in Chicago this week, Microsoft senior program manager Jesse McGatha provided a little context on the company’s June announcement that Windows 8.1 will support 3D printing. But while Microsoft says it wants to help eradicate the barriers to adoption for consumers, it’s really just setting itself up to capture the market if and when somebody else does. Microsoft’s initial announcement in late June explained that Windows 8.1 will provide plug-and-play support for 3D printers, the ability to read different file formats, and support for third-party apps that manage the printers. But at the conference,...

The dawn of Software as a Subscription is now upon us. You have to pay $30 a month, or $240 a year, for the privilege of using the latest Photoshop version, called Photoshop CC. Or, if you want to use the full Adobe suite, you’ll pay $600 a year.

Four things you might have thought you knew, but which might not be true, as brought to you by the geek section of Real Clear Politics. I found at least three of them directly relevant to me, and the fourth one is doubtless of interest (or at least a subject of heated debate) for many of the rest of you. How many of these things are true and how many are just inaccurate popular perception?The first one is that the desktop PC is dead. The headlines couldn’t be more final. “The Death of the PC Has Not Been Exaggerated” reads...

Douglas Engelbart, whose invention of the mouse transformed the way people interact with computers, has died. Engelbart died Tuesday night at his home in Atherton, California, SRI International -- the research institute where he once worked -- said in a statement. He was 88. "Doug's legacy is immense — anyone in the world who uses a mouse or enjoys the productive benefits of a personal computer is indebted to him," Curtis R. Carlson, SRI's president and CEO, said in a written statement. Decades ago, Engelbart came up with the idea we now know as a mouse. His first prototype, which...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)3D printing suggests an intriguing future: forget going to the shops to buy an item, simply design and print your own. For the present, however, 3D printers – which “print” items by layering liquid or melted plastic – continue to be just out of reach for all but the most enthusiastic early adopters, because of high prices and the skills needed to use CAD software. That could be set to change, based on the 3D printers on show at CES this week. Competition is starting to push prices down, and new features are making it easier for mainstream consumers to...

Lois Lerner, the Internal Revenue Service’s director of Exempt Organizations currently on paid leave, has not had any of her computer access restricted since she abdicated her responsibilities, according to an IRS source with knowledge of the situation. Lerner was placed on administrative leave on May 21 after refusing to tender her resignation, and logged into the IRS’s computer system using her agency computer as recently as June 4, the source tells me. She has the ability to access the same information that was available to her before she was placed on leave. The sources tells National Review Online: [Lerner]...

I'm retired from ATT for 12 years now. I worked as a tech installer and repair for digital circuits. During the Clinton administration, I was involved in installing fiber mux's that I was informed went to somewhere in Va. It was pretty common knowledge that it was the gubmint. The sheer size and speed of the circuits was what brought attention to it from most of us working on it. I don't want to spend 2 hours of typing about what it was, but just say it was part of a fiber ring, a very LARGE fiber ring. Let's consider...

Anonymous Members Arrested for Hacking Vatican Site Law enforcement officials in Italy have reportedly arrested four members of Anonymous. The suspects allegedly carried out attacks on a number of prominent Italian websites and online services. The suspects are all aged between 20 and 34 and were placed under arrest in the Italian cities of Turin, Venice, and Bologna. One suspect was arrested in the southern community of Lecce. According to police, the suspects were part of Anonymous Italy, which carried out hacks of prominent commercial and government websites. Some of those sites were owned by the Vatican, Italy's prime minister's...

At first glance, things could not be going worse for Microsoft. Its long-dreaded nightmare scenario is playing out. The PC industry as we've known it is collapsing. PC sales fell 14% in the first quarter, according to IDC, the worst ever drop in history. Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system is accelerating the collapse, says IDC. The new tile-interface is scaring consumers. Microsoft is scrambling to fix Windows 8 to address these concerns. And even if Microsoft fixes Windows 8, it could be too late. Its biggest rivals — Apple and Google — have taken complete control of the next...

U.S. officials charged an Uzbek citizen in Idaho with providing bomb-making knowledge and other support to an Islamist militant group, knowing that it would be used in an attack, authorities said on Thursday. Fazliddin Kurbanov, 30, a national of Uzbekistan living legally in Idaho, was arrested in Boise and faces a three-count grand jury indictment in Idaho and a single-count indictment in Utah, prosecutors said. They said Kurbanov provided information and money to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which the United States has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. The group supports establishing strict Islamic rule in Uzbekistan. Authorities said...

Mozilla is out with the Firefox 21 open source browser release today, fixing at least 8 security vulnerabilities, three of which are rated as being critical. The new release also provides new features that – depending on your viewpoint – could either improve or reduce user privacy.One of the new features in Firefox 21 is the Health Report. Mozilla first began talking about the health report in September of 2012 as a non-invasive reporting mechanism. The report is intended to deliver information to users about the 'health' of the browser and its components. The report also shares that data with...

According to BotObjects' product copy, this previously unknown hardware and software company has a revolutionary product on its hands in its new ProDesk3D 3D printer. Among other highlights, which my colleague Michelle Starr wrote about earlier this week for CNET Australia, the ability to print objects in a full range of colors from common PLA plastic would instantly put the ProDesk3D at the top of the consumer-grade printer market. Follow along the reader comments on the various posts covering BotObjects announcement though, and you'll find a common refrain of skepticism. "So we have computer-generated images of the printer. No images...

It was a brazen bank heist, but a 21st-century version in which the criminals never wore ski masks, threatened a teller or set foot in a vault. In two precision operations that involved people in more than two dozen countries acting in close coordination and with surgical precision, thieves stole $45 million from thousands of A.T.M.'s in a matter of hours. In New York City alone, the thieves responsible for A.T.M. withdrawals struck 2,904 machines over 10 hours starting on Feb. 19, withdrawing $2.4 million. The operation included sophisticated computer experts operating in the shadowy world of Internet hacking, manipulating...