The hacker, using the alias NinjaDoge24, analyzed the NQ Vault app, which supposedly encrypts files on smartphones and other gadgets. Ninja claims the software uses only XOR (exclusive or) and a single-byte key to scramble the first 128 bytes of a .PNG test subject.

Independent security bod Wade Alcorn (@WadeAlcorn) says the findings render the app insecure. "The research suggests that the NQ’s Vault software attempts to only encrypt the first 128 bytes leaving the remainder of the file in the clear. If this is the case it should not be considered a mechanism to protect data," Alcorn said.

Since Congressman Steve Israel first called for legislation that would ban 3-D printed guns, those plastic-printed firearms have evolved from a few simple components to a full one-shot pistol to rifles and multi-shot revolvers, with more advances on the horizon.

“My legislation is about making sure that we have laws in place to ensure that criminals and terrorists can’t produce guns that can easily be made undetectable. Security checkpoints will do little good if criminals can produce plastic firearms and bring those firearms through metal detectors into secure areas like airports or courthouses,” Israel wrote in a statement to WIRED.

The bill was championed by West Virginia's Senate president, Bill Cole, who is an auto dealer in his home state and Kentucky.

"Despite a campaign based on pro-business and free market principles, the Senate president's bill prevents competition and protects the car dealer monopoly," Tesla said in a statement. "West Virginians deserve the right to choose how and from whom they purchase their vehicles. We will return next year to fight for consumer choice and free market access."

"I am particularly struck that the alleged bombers made use of online bombmaking guides like the Anarchist Cookbook and Inspire Magazine. These documents are not, in my view, protected by the First Amendment and should be removed from the Internet."

Feinstein's call for it to be "removed from the Internet" may raise the most eyebrows. Materials distributed online are nearly impossible to remove completely.

Though XP's grip on the market continues to loosen, it remains the No. 2 most-used operating system based on Net Application's Web stats, beating Windows 8 and 8.1 and their collective share of 14 percent. Windows 8.1 took the third spot with a 10.5 percent share, leaving Windows 8 in fifth place with just 3.5 percent.

Truecrypt appears to be a relatively well-designed piece of crypto software. The NCC audit found no evidence of deliberate backdoors, or any severe design flaws that will make the software insecure in most instances.

That doesn't mean Truecrypt is perfect. The auditors did find a few glitches and some incautious programming -- leading to a couple of issues that could, in the right circumstances, cause Truecrypt to give less assurance than we'd like it to.

GoDaddy has had a successful launch at the New Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning with shares jumping more than 30 per cent, valuing the company at around $6bn.

GoDaddy lost $143m last year and $622m in the past three years. While the company claims it is confident that Google's move into the domain name space will not impact it too much, it did delay the IPO in order to see what the search giant was intending, indicating that it knows it is in a potentially weak position.

The Official Gmail Blog just announced that, starting today, an “All Inboxes” option will show up in the Gmail for Android navigation drawer (presumably, this requires an app update). The new option will display all your incoming mail from all your accounts in a single list.

Third-party mail (Exchange, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.) stays on a third-party server, and Gmail on Android just downloads the mail to your device and displays it.

Hidden areas of the internet and encrypted communications make it harder to monitor terror suspects, warns Europol's Rob Wainwright.

"It's become perhaps the biggest problem for the police and the security service authorities in dealing with the threats from terrorism," he explained.

Mr Wainwright acknowledged this was a result of the revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who exposed how security services were conducting widespread surveillance of emails and messages.

4K video needs more powerful compression technology. To that end, dozens of industry players created a new compression standard called the High Efficiency Video Coding, aka HEVC or H.265. A well established group called MPEG LA announced in 2014 a mechanism to license a pool of HEVC patents for use in products like Blu-ray players, video editing software and smartphones.

HEVC Advance promises a "transparent" licensing process, but so far it isn't sharing details except to say it's got 500 patents it describes as essential for using HEVC.