News

Providing IT support and solution to small and medium businesses. Servicing Edinburgh, Livingston, Fife and surrounding areas. Responsive, Flexible, Professional and friendly local support.

Google Alerts Used In Malware Scam

It has been reported that hackers have been able to spread malware using fake news stories via the Google Alerts service. Google Alerts Launched in 2003, Google Alerts is Google’s content change detection and notification service which sends emails to a user when it finds new results (e.g. web pages, newspaper articles, blogs) that match…
Read more

Post Office Biometric Authentication

The Post Office has announced that its new, free app will include the latest biometric-face matching and liveness biometric authentication. Partnership With Yoti As a result of a partnership with London-based digital identity company, Yoti, Post Office customers will be able to use a free app that will combine their personal data and biometrics to…
Read more

Energy Consumption and Carbon Production From Bitcoin and Other Tech

With the news that mining Bitcoin uses more electricity annually than the whole of Argentina, we take a closer look at the carbon footprint of technology today. Cambridge Researchers from Cambridge recently highlighted how power-hungry “mining” for the Bitcoin cryptocurrency is because it requires heavy computer calculations to verify transactions.  The researchers reported that it consumes…
Read more

Google’s Record Advertising and Cloud Sales Due To Pandemic

Alphabet Inc’s (Google’s) quarterly sales for its advertising and cloud businesses exceeded expectations to hit record levels, helped by the pandemic driving retail and clients online. Figures Google’s advertising business, which includes YouTube, made up 81 per cent of Alphabet’s record $56.9 billion in quarterly sales (fourth quarter).  This represented a massive 23 per cent…
Read more

Emotet: A Million Bucks per Incident

In the light of a reported recent victory by Europol in trying to stop the particularly dangerous Emotet malware, we look at what it is, how it is spread, and how to try and guard against it. What Is Emotet? Emotet is a computer malware program, believed to be Russian in origin, that was originally…
Read more

Phone System – Its not too late to switch.

About us! Based in Livingston Mear Technology believe in offering a customer focused experience. We offer a range of IT Support services that we tailor to our customers need’s. We are a one-stop provider for your IT need (support, sales, broadband and telecoms).  If you are interested in us reviewing all your IT overheads, we…
Read more

What Is Zero Trust?

With mobile computing, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and now remote working moving the focus of IT security away from the traditional perimeter, this article looks at what a Zero Trust approach is and how it can help. More Complex Demands The belief among many IT security experts is that a traditional perimeter-based security approach may no longer…
Read more

PC Sales Get Biggest Boost in 10 Years From Remote Working

Global tech market analysts Canalys have reported that the worldwide PC market has received its biggest sales boost in 10 years as remote working fuels the ongoing digital transformation. Highest Full-Year Growth Since 2010 Canalys reported on 11 January that the global PC market ended 2020 on a high with 25 per cent sales growth…
Read more

WhatsApp To Share Users’ Personal Info

In a change to WhatsApp’s privacy policy from next month, users outside of Europe will have to agree to share their personal information with WhatsApp’s owner Facebook or leave the app. Outside Europe From February 8, 2021, a compulsory aspect of continuing to use WhatsApp outside the EU and EEA will be to agree to…
Read more

Brexit – Temporary Data Adequacy Granted to the UK

Worries about the disruption of the flow of data and the effect of this on trade between the UK and EU countries with Brexit have been addressed by the granting of controversial, short-term data adequacy status to the UK. What Is Data Adequacy? For third countries, i.e. those outside the European Economic Area (EEA) of the…
Read more