Wickr allows you to set the anti-forensics mode to low or high and specify how soon you want messages you send to self destruct.

Wickr (download) gained new secure sending and subsequent self-destructing powers in a big update to the encryption and security app today, perhaps not coincidentally Data Privacy Day.

There are four new features in the app. You can now send and subsequently self-destruct images and PDFs from Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box to other Wickr users, which expands the limits of the original send-and-self-destruct feature. You can also send up to three 30-second videos, up to 5 MB, per message. Audio messages, which function like voice mails, have been extended to 30 seconds long, as well.

Wickr can now connect to your friends "without collecting personal data," according to Wickr's press release on the update. Although the feature, called Wickr ID Connect, precludes remaining anonymous and hidden while using Wickr, it does allow you to expand your Wickr circle. That's important, because encrypted messages must be protected by both sender and recipient for the encryption to be effective.

There's a new auto-login feature, which also decrea... [Read more]

Anyone even considering Windows 8 should grab the upgrade special now before it expires this week.

Users of Windows 7, Vista, and XP can purchase the upgrade to the new operating system for just $39.99 per PC. Those of you who bought Windows 7 after June 2 last year can score Windows 8 for just $14.99. And that's for the Pro version.

After January 31, the upgrade price skyrockets to $119.99 for the regular edition and $199.99 for the Pro version.

OK, that's fine, you say, but I don't want to upgrade to Windows 8, at least not right now. Well, you can buy the upgrade this week, but you don't have to use it. You can install it anytime in the future and on any computer you want.

Here's how:

Windows 7, XP, and Vista owners should head over to the Upgrade now and save page to grab the $39.99 offer. Windows 7 users who qualify for the $14.99 price can surf to the Welcome to the Windows Upgrade Offer page instead.

After asking for your region and country, the $14.99 offer page requires you to enter you... [Read more]

A key to efficient video compression is predicting future video frames on the basis of past ones. This diagram concerns "intra angular prediction."

An array of companies have finished work on video compression technology called HEVC or H.265 that promises better video to start with and that paves the way for higher-end extensions next year, they announced today.

The High Efficiency Video Codec supports 4K "UltraHD" video -- and perhaps 8K as well if the video industry can convince buyers that so many pixels are worthwhile. Perhaps more important, given how many people watch video online these days, it doubles video quality for a given network data capacity.

HEVC has the potential to spread very widely indeed. It's the successor to the Advanced Video Codec (AVC), aka H.264, used in videocameras, TV, Blu-ray discs, online video streaming, and more. Codecs are technology used to encode and decode video or audio for more efficient transmission and storage.

To begin with, HEVC comes in two flavors, the "main profile" for conventional video, which supports 8-bit color data, and the "main 10 profile" with 10-bit video for higher-end uses. On top o... [Read more]