AVG update to fix false Trojan warning
Anti-virus giant AVG sparked fear among internet users on Thursday after its popular security scanner falsely identified websites as infected with a malicious Trojan horse application.
Visitors to popular websites, such as Mirror.co.uk and Twitch.tv, were greeted with a warning that AVG had detected a threat called "Trojan horse Exploit.SWF_c.AP", with the recommendation to remove it. Once removed, the warning pop-up window would reappear multiple times.
Amnesty calls for ban on mass surveillance
Amnesty is taking legal action against the US and UK governments, challenging “the lawfulness of their indiscriminate mass surveillance programs”.
The human rights campaigning group will head to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on Friday because, it says, "every legal avenue in the UK has been exhausted".
Nectar bolsters security as police investigate eBay points fraud
A police investigation has been launched after fraudsters targeted members of the UK’s biggest loyalty card scheme, Nectar.
Nectar, used by over 19 million people, has beefed up security after members reported fraudulent transactions on accounts that had been linked to online auction website eBay.
Free tool detects 'government surveillance spyware'
Free software that can detect the presence of surveillance spyware has been launched by a global coalition of human rights and tech organizations.
Organizations including Amnesty International, Privacy International, Digitale Gesellschaft and Electronic Frontier Foundation have teamed up to unveil the open source tool Detekt.
Ear-o-Smart: earrings that monitor your fitness levels hit Kickstarter
Developers of ‘the world’s first smart earring’ are hoping to raise over $30,000 on the Kickstarter crowd-funding website as part of a vision to "take fitness monitoring to the next level".
With most fitness and activity tracking devices typically worn on the wrist, developers of the Ear-o-Smart earring believe the wearable electronics market is missing a trick.
'Keep up the hard work and we'll freeze your eggs', say Apple and Facebook
From serving up free meals to providing on-site massages, companies are always looking for innovative ways to recruit and keep talented staff. But is paying for women to freeze their eggs a step too far?
Facebook and Apple, it was revealed this week, will help their female employees in the US pay for the cost of freezing and storing their eggs.
Stop poking us! Cops say Facebook arguments hinder crime solving
Petty Facebook rows are preventing police from "reducing and detecting crime", according to a policing team in Wiltshire, UK.
A sergeant for the neighborhood policing teams of Wootton Bassett, Malmesbury and Cricklade has urged people not to call for help with Facebook incidents and rows unless it relates to domestic disputes/crimes or other serious issues.
Roman goblet used to boost optical storage
Ancient Roman glassware housed in the British Museum is at the heart of new research into expanding the storage capabilities of optical storage devices.
The Lycurgus cup, a goblet made in the 4th century during the Roman Empire, incorporates gold-silver alloyed nanoparticles into glass and changes color from green to red when light passes through it.
XRay web tool to make online personal data more transparent
It’s a given that internet companies gather titbits of our private lives in exchange for free services, but how much do we really know about what happens to our personal data?
Researchers at Columbia University have warned it is a mistake to gloss over the details we reveal online and describe the web as an “opaque black box” leveraging our personal info without our knowledge or control.
Flappy Bird creator returns with tricky Swing Copters game -- watch out for rip-offs
The pressure got to him last time, so how will developer Dong Nguyen cope if his new mobile game Swing Copters takes off?
Flappy Bird was downloaded more than 50 million times and was the number one free game in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store charts before Nguyen pulled it in early 2014 sparking petitions, suicide hoax stories and death threats.
Can we still use Twitter without going psychotic?
Can spending too much time reading and writing in 140 characters or less really send you crazy?
A quick glance at news headlines today would have been enough to send every Twitter user into hiding -- "Woman Hospitalised with Twitter Psychosis" and "Twitter can trigger psychosis in users" -- common headers.
Wireless devices that don’t require any batteries
Smart devices that lack a battery or wire connection but can still send data over Wi-Fi, have been created by computer scientists.
Experts from the University of Washington have developed a way of using radio frequency (RF) signals as a power source for smart devices and reusing existing Wi-Fi infrastructure to provide connectivity to them.
Apple stays quiet on Chinese ban whispers
China has stepped up its tough stance on foreign technology suppliers with reports it has banned government purchases of Apple products.
Apple has so far declined to comment on reports that China’s government has banned its agencies from buying Apple products including iPad, iPad Mini, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.
3D photo-editing tool lets you manipulate 2D photos
In what will surely take photobombing memes to another level, university researchers have created a three-dimensional photo editing tool that lets you rotate and animate objects in two-dimensional photographs.
Students at Carnegie Mellon University say the tool will let people turn or flip objects in a single photo and even show bits of them that weren't captured in the original shot.
Android users, beware -- a new Trojan may hold your files for ransom
Security experts have discovered a new Trojan that scrambles the files on memory cards in Android devices and demands a ransom to open them.
Slovakian security company Eset claims it is the first discovery of file-encrypting ransomware for Android. Called "Simplelocker", the Trojan targets SD cards inserted into Android tablets and mobile phones, encrypts the files and demands payment in order to decrypt them.
Claire's Bio
Claire Woffenden is the former editor of Web User magazine and has been writing about technology and the web since 1998 (aside from two years of maternity leave). Has also previously worked at vnunet.com and Computer Reseller News and freelanced for various tech-related clients.
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