10 tech things we didn't know a week ago

Popular organizing website Meetup.com was downed numerous times over three days this week — the longest such downtime in its 12-year history.

It transpired that the site was being held for ransom amid heavy denial-of-service attacks for a mere $300. But the site's chief executive wouldn't bow down to criminals and refused to pay. The site recovered after the company sought help from networking specialist CloudFlare. 

Digital-rights management has long been used in music players and software to prevent illegal copies. But coffee maker Keurig is taking it one step further by putting piracy-punching technology in its brewing stations. The move is in efforts to battle the rising counterfeit coffee pods that are sold on the market by sealing in and controlling the ecosystem.

While DRM technology will likely help solve the piracy problem to a degree, but it may not be enough to keep customers loyal if they aren't able to brew competitors' blends. 

Windows XP has been around for more than 12 years, but it has just shy of a month to go before Microsoft pulls the plug on its life support. That move is a long time coming for the software giant, but its remaining millions of customers will be without crucial updates, and are encouraged to upgrade.

According to latest statistics, the platform has about 29.5 percent market share, behind Windows 7's share of 47.3 percent. In many cases, legacy applications simply don’t work on newer software, which encourages sticking with the old and dusty operating system . 

Alex sent out an innocuous tweet in reply to a friend in early 2013 and thought nothing about it. A year later, and after a workplace wager based on that tweet alone, it was possible to get his home address and cell phone number. The plan was to see if I could trick his bank into thinking that I was him , and attempt to transfer his life savings into his checking account.

According to a new report this week, Microsoft's board was not overly keen on the idea of acquiring Nokia's devices and services business. Although then-chief executive Steve Ballmer was eager to bring the Lumia business into the software giant's nest, Bill Gates and other unnamed board members were not so keen on the idea.

Ballmer eventually won over Gates et al, but the Nokia deal — not the disaster that was Windows 8 — was reportedly one of the reasons why he was nudged towards retirement.

Newsweek may have succeeded where everyone else has thus far failed — or maybe not as it turns out. If correct, it's a stunning piece of journalism — "outing" the mysterious Bitcoin inventor as Satoshi Nakamoto, a 64-year-old man living in California. "I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it," he reportedly told the investigative journalist on the story.

But conflicting reports emerged soon after with the Associated Press reporting that he said it definitely wasn't him. Either way, it's a good read — even if it still up for discussion who the crypto-currency's founder is.

Hundreds of websites run by branches of the U.K. state are in a "perilous state of disrepair," one security researcher claims. The U.K.'s government portal is mostly vulnerable to XSS flaws on sites running "ancient and unsecured software," according to Terence Eden. Not only can spammers attack the comments section of a gov.uk website, hackers can take over entire pages offering dodgy pills and other fake goods.

Sticking with the U.K. government, the man in charge of implementing the U.K.'s online porn filter has been arrested on online child abuse charges. Patrick Rock, a key policymaker in the Prime Minister's political arsenal, resigned after reportedly being tipped off he faced charges.

And finally: if you were bequeathed an iPhone, iPad, or Mac from a loved one in their will after they pass, Apple's restrictive security rules may render the device useless. From the BBC News, the Cupertino-based technology giant said it was a preventative measure to protect lost or stolen devices. Only a court order would suffice to unlock the tablet.