People really want Microsoft to launch a Surface Phone
There has been a lot of talk about the possibility of a Surface Phone (or Project Andromeda), but so far rumors have amounted to very little. Recently, however, documents leaked that showed plans for a "pocketable folding Surface device" and levels of interest and excitement rose.
Now a petition has appeared online to try to show Microsoft just how much interested there is in a Surface Phone. The title of the petition -- "Show Microsoft the demand for the Surface Phone or Andromeda!" -- is self-explanatory, and it has gathered a great deal of support in a single day.
Netflix is killing off user reviews, reducing ratings to thumbs up and thumbs down
Reviews are a handy way to gauge whether or not your going to like something -- be it a game, a piece of hardware, an app, or a movie. Netflix, however, seems to think differently, and has taken the decision to kill off the user reviews feature of its website.
As part of a staggered cull, Netflix will stop users from writing reviews at the end of July. By the middle of August, it will no longer be possible to read existing reviews. Moving forward, the only sort of feedback users will be able to give is a simple thumbs up or thumbs down.
Gentoo Linux Github Organization repo hack was down to a series of security mistakes
The team behind Gentoo Linux has revealed the reasons for the recent hack of its GitHub organization account. The short version: shoddy security.
It seems that the hackers were able to gain access to the GitHub organization account by using the password of one of the organization administrators. By the team's own admission, poor security meant that the password was easy to guess. As the Register points out, "only luck limited the damage", but the Gentoo Linux team is keen to let it be known that it has learned a lot from the incident.
Apple Music just may have overtaken Spotify in the US
A new report suggests that Apple may have succeeded in attracting more subscribers to Apple Music than have signed up to Spotify -- in the US, at least.
While this is far from official -- with the report being based on an anonymous source -- it is in keeping with the general feeling from earlier in the year when it was thought that Apple Music probably was going to overtake Spotify in the near future.
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance halts trading after detecting irregular SYS trading activity
Binance -- the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world -- temporarily halted all trading after it detected "irregular trading on some APIs".
As a precautionary measure, the exchange removed all existing API keys and asked users to re-create theirs from their accounts. The measure meant a suspension of trading, withdrawals and other account activity. The matter is related to the Bitcoin fork Syscoin which halted deposits and withdrawals, but Binance stressed that there had not been as hack and that its blockchain is safe.
Google responds to Gmail privacy concerns: 'we're not reading your emails'
Another day, another privacy concern. Following a Wall Street Journal story about the access third party apps have to Gmail data, we wrote about how to stop it. While the WSJ did not really make any major new revelations, it did manage to reignite the conversation about privacy, and Google has responded to storm that has built up around it.
The company has used a blog post to respond to the concerns raised by the Wall Street Journal, insisting that it carefully vets any third party that has access to sensitive data. The task has been left to Suzanne Frey -- director of security, trust and privacy at Google Cloud -- to limit the damage caused by the article.
Privacy warning: Samsung phones are leaking photos to random contacts
If you have a Samsung Galaxy S9, S9+ or Note 8, you might want to check that your contacts haven't got hold of some of your photos. Some owners of the handsets are reporting that the Samsung Messages SMS app has been sending out images from their camera rolls to random contacts.
Worryingly, many people who were affected by the privacy-invading leaks were only made aware of the problem when their friends asked about the images they'd received -- the Messages app does not reveal that anything has been sent. Samsung says that it is aware of the issue and is investigating what is happening.
SUSE Linux sold for $2.535 billion
British firm Micro Focus International is selling its open source SUSE software to the Swedish group EQT Partners. The $2.535 billion deal boosted shares by 6 percent.
SUSE Linux has been in the hands of Micro Focus International since 2014 and it has been running it as a largely independent division, competing directly with the likes of Ubuntu and Red Hat. The acquisition by EQT Partners means that more developers and engineers will be hired to work on the product.
Facebook bug secretly unblocked people you thought you'd blocked
Facebook is primarily about connecting with other people, but its "block" functionality certainly has its place for avoiding those you don't want to be in touch with for one reason or another. It's a great option to have... until it goes wrong.
And that's precisely what happened. The social network has admitted that more than 800,000 were hit by a bug that meant people they had blocked on either Facebook or Facebook Messenger were temporarily unblocked and able to see content that had been posted.
Dell could be about to go public again
A report by the Wall Street Journal suggests that Dell could be on the verge of becoming a public company once again.
The deal could be announced as soon as later today and -- if the cited sources close to Dell are correct -- it would see the company swapping the "trading stock" it created when it bought EMC a couple of years ago. It would simplify Dell's current structure, seen by many as overly complicated, and make use of the stock that tracks VMware Inc.
OnePlus announces 8GB OnePlus 6 Red, launching July 10
OnePlus is no stranger to launching multiple versions of its flagship-killing handset, and things are no different with the OnePlus 6. Joining the existing line-up soon is the OnePlus 6 Red -- and the price is pretty appealing.
While previous models of the OnePlus 6 have borne the tag "The speed you need", this one is also billed as being "The Red you need". Kitted out with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, and powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, speediness -- as well as redness -- should not be a concern.
The NSA is deleting all of its call records since 2015 because of privacy issues
The NSA -- not exactly a bastion of privacy -- has announced that it is deleting hundreds of millions of call and text records because of "technical irregularities".
The agency says that back in May this year is started to delete all of the calls records it collected since 2015. While full details of the reasons for the deletion are not given, the NSA notes that it collected data it was not authorized to collect.
aLTEr: Hackers can spy on your 4G browsing sessions thanks to LTE flaws
Vulnerabilities have been discovered in LTE that would make it possible for an attacker to tap into 4G networks for the purposes of spying on and hijacking 4G browsing sessions.
Security researchers from Ruhr-Universität, Bochum and New York University, Abu Dhabi show how three different attacks can be launched on the second layer of LTE -- also known as the data link layer. Two passive attacks allow for identity mapping and website fingerprinting, while the active cryptographic aLTEr attack allows for DNS spoofing and network connection redirection.
Leaked Microsoft documents reveal 'pocketable' folding Surface device
Microsoft's Surface range could one day include a folding, dual-screen device. Codenamed Andromeda, the device has been in the works for a couple of years and appears to neatly straddle the laptop and mobile categories -- seemingly trying to make up for Windows Phone.
Leaked internal documents have come to light that reveal Microsoft's plans for "a new pocketable Surface device form factor that brings together innovative new hardware and software experiences to create a truly personal and versatile computing experience".
Adidas data breach may have exposed personal data of American customers
Sportswear company Adidas has warned US customers about a security breach that took place earlier this week.
The firm says that on Tuesday it was made aware that "an unauthorized party claims to have acquired limited data associated with certain Adidas consumers". Two days later, the company started to notify its customers that personal data -- including contact information and usernames -- may have been compromised.
Sofia Elizabella's Bio
Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson is a queer, transgender journalist based in Poland. She has been writing about technology for more than two decades, and after years working for magazines, her writing moved online. She is fueled by literature, music, nature, and vegetables. You can find her on Bluesky and Mastodon. If you like what you read, you can Buy her a Coffee!
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