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Bad news for gamers! It's once again the time when most of you will get new PlayStations and XBoxes that continue to be among the most popular gifts for Christmas, but possibilities are you'll not be able to log into the online gaming console, just like what happens on every Christmas holidays. On 2014 Christmas holidays, the notorious hacker group Lizard Squad knocked the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live offline for many gamers by launching massive DDoS attacks against the gaming networks. This time a new hacking group, who managed to take down Tumblr this week for almost two hours, has warned gamers of launching another large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against XBox Live and PlayStation networks. Calling itself R.I.U. Star Patrol , the hacking group, posted a video on YouTube , announcing that they're planning to take down Sony's PSN and Microsoft's Xbox Live on Christmas Day by launching coordinated DDoS attacks. "We do it because w...

You might have also seen a viral video of the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey that quickly spread through the Internet worldwide. Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov was shot dead by an off-duty police officer in Ankara on December 19 when the ambassador was giving a speech at an art gallery. The shooter managed to pretend himself as his official bodyguard and later shot to death by Turkish special forces. After this shocking incident, Apple has been asked to help unlock an iPhone 4S recovered from the shooter, which could again spark up battle similar to the one between Apple and the FBI earlier this year. Turkish and Russian authorities have asked Apple to help them bypass the PIN code on an iPhone 4S, which, the authorities believe, could assist them to investigate killer's links to various terrorist organizations. Apple is expected to refuse the request, but according to MacReports and other local media, the Russian government is reportedly sending...

Here's the Raspberry Pi's Christmas treat for tech community! The Raspberry Pi Foundation has released an experimental version of its lightweight Linux-based Debian operating system called PIXEL OS that can run on most standard desktop computers ships with Windows and Mac OS X without the need of a Raspberry Pi. Initially launched in September this year, the PIXEL operating system, stands for "Pi Improved Xwindows Environment, Lightweight," was originally designed to work with Raspberry Pi to turn it into a fully-functional PC. However, Raspberry Pi has now released a version of PIXEL that comes preloaded with a variety of popular tools and can be installed directly on PCs and Mac computers, so you do not have to buy a Raspberry Pi to use PIXEL anymore. "There is a massive installed base of PC and Mac hardware out there, which can run x86 Debian just fine. Could we do something for the owners of those machines?" Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton s...

Quantum Computers – Boon or Bane? Quantum computers can perform operations much more quickly and efficiently even with the use of less energy than conventional computers, but that's bad news for encryption — a process which scrambles data according to a massively complex mathematical code. In theory, quantum computers can break almost all the existing encryption algorithms used on the Internet today due to their immense computing power. Quantum computers are not just in theories; they're becoming a reality. With countries like China that holds the top two position in the world's most powerful supercomputers (Sunway TaihuLight and Tianhe-2), followed by the United States' Titan, the day is not far when Quantum computers will work on an industrial scale. Although it's hard to move quantum computing to an industrial scale, it has become a matter of concern for the United States' National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) over the fact that...

Google announced a Developers Preview of " Android Things " — an Android-based operating system platform for smart devices and Internet of Things (IoT) products. The Android-based Internet of Things OS is designed to make it easier for developers to build a smart appliance since they will be able to work with Android APIs and Google Services they're already familiar with. As the Developers page of Android Things says: " If you can build an app, you can build a device ." The Android-based Internet of Things operating system is supposed to run on products like security cameras, connected speakers, and routers. Android Things is a rebranded version Google Brillo , an Android-based IoT OS that Google announced in 2015, with added tools like Android Studio, the Android Software Development Kit (SDK), Google Play Services, and Google Cloud Platform. Unlike Brillo, development on Android Things can be achieved with " the same developer tools as stan...