plugs

Power line networking -- the technology that enables electrical wiring to transfer data -- is about to get a lot faster.

Broadcom announced on Monday what it claims to be the industry's first HomePlug AV2 power line system-on-a-chips (SoCs) that deliver up to 1.5Gbps data speed. That's about three times the speed of the top existing power line devices.

HomePlug AV2 is the next-generation power line standard that uses an extended frequency band of up to 86MHz, while HomePlug AV was limited to 30MHz. In addition, HomePlug AV2 supports Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) -- a technology … Read more

Despite its poorly designed interface and lack of additional features, Adobe DNG Converter for Mac converts image files well, but will not likely appeal to average users who do not work with large numbers of image files.

Adobe DNG Converter for Mac is a free utility that enables photographers to convert the digitally unprocessed image files from many known mid-range and professional digital cameras to a more universal format such as Digital Negative. Download and installation completed quickly, but the application's size of nearly 500MB is overly large for its type. There were no user instructions, but those familiar … Read more

The default e-mail client in OS X is Apple's Mail program, which supports a feature that permits you to view many common attachment file types in-place instead of having to download and open them in another program. For example, if someone sends you a picture you should be able to view it directly in Mail. However, for some people this may not be the case and instead of showing an attachment, Mail will display a gray box that reads "Missing Plug-In."

If this happens to you, the first thing to do is troubleshoot the Internet plug-ins on … Read more

For users who frequently download applications, finding a program to completely remove them is important. Amnesia for Mac performs this function well and has some easy-to-use additional features.

Download and installation of Amnesia for Mac completed quickly due to the native installer. The program does require that the user accept a licensing agreement before allowing program use. After startup, the program did not offer any instructions, but the interface made them unnecessary. Large buttons at the top of the program indicate the main program functions. Users can designate a specific, known program for deletion, and search for a list of … Read more

An about-face in Internet Explorer 10 shows Microsoft is not merely backing off from its hostility toward Flash Player, but actually warming up to the Adobe Systems browser plug-in for competitive reasons.

In September 2011, Microsoft declared that browser plug-ins are a relic from the Internet's early days, calling them bad for battery life, security, reliability, and privacy, and said that it would ban them when IE10 was running with Windows 8's Metro user interface, now called the "immersive UI."

But Microsoft gave Flash a reprieve in May 2012 by building a special version of Adobe'… Read more

Apple has tightened up security in its Safari Web browser following recent patches to Adobe's Flash technology.

As part of an update that went out yesterday, OS X will now block older and thus vulnerable versions of Flash, forcing users to update to the latest version if they wish to view Flash-based content. In order to block older versions of the software, Apple is using its Xprotect malware scanner, which is built into Mac OS X and can spot and quarantine known malware.

The move comes roughly a month after Apple began blocking older versions of Oracle-owned Java on … Read more

For those not ready to jump feet-first into the electric-vehicle pool, the 2013 Ford C-Max Energi offers a toe-dipping experience, a chance to check the water temperature before committing to the deep dive. And after experiencing the C-Max Energi, any reservations about electric cars should be erased.

The C-Max Energi is a variant of Ford's C-Max Hybrid, a funky European-derived car abounding in sheer practicality. In our testing, the C-Max Hybrid achieved consistent low-40s fuel economy, while offering a large amount of versatile interior space.

Due to a larger lithium ion battery pack, the C-Max Energi sacrifices some of … Read more

Early this morning Apple issued an update to its XProtect malware-handling system in OS X that updates the Web plug-in blacklist to include a more recent version of Oracle's Java plug-in. The update now will prevent all versions of the Java Web plug-in before version 1.7.11.22 from running on the system (previously the limit was version 1.7.10.19).

This change was likely made because of a recent security issue in the prior version of the Java 7 runtime that affected JRE 7 Update 10 and earlier. A patch for this was issued by Oracle … Read more

Common bugs in networking systems are placing PCs, printers and storage devices at risk, according to security researchers.

According to the security team at Rapid7, technology used worldwide in both routers and standard networking equipment is making it possible for hackers to potentially infiltrate approximately 40 million to 50 million devices worldwide.

The vulnerability lies in the standard known as Universal Plug and Play (UPnP). This standard set of networking protocols allows devices such as PCs, printers and Wi-Fi access points to communicate and discover each other's presence. After discovery, devices can be connected through a network in order … Read more