American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit complains about TSA searches of phones and laptops
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against the TSA, asking for details to be released about the policies governing searches carried out on phones and laptops on domestic flights.
There have been a number of complaints recently from passengers unhappy with the fact that their devices have been searched without any reason being given. Concerns are mounting about invasion of privacy, hence the ACLU's interest in finding out precisely why the searches are being carried out.
Think twice before you connect to the free hotel wireless network
After a long flight, the first thing we do, as soon as we hit the runway, is switch our phone out of airplane mode and check our messages, emails and make sure we can connect to the local mobile network.
The problem is, this is expensive and most users mobile contract does not offer them free roaming, especially at long-haul destinations. You want to be connected to Wi-Fi as soon as possible.
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance offers $250,000 bounty for hacker information
A week ago, cryptocurrency exchange Binance was the victim of a hacking attempt. While the attempt on March 7 is described as "not successful," Binance is still eager to track down the perpetrators.
So keen is the exchange, in fact, that it is offering up a $250,000 bounty to "the first person to supply substantial information and evidence that leads to the legal arrest of the hackers."
Trump blocks Broadcom's takeover of Qualcomm, citing national security
Donald Trump has signed an executive order that blocks Broadcom from buying Qualcomm. The takeover has been talked about for a number of months, but now the president -- in line with his "America first" drive -- has scuppered what would have been the largest technology deal ever.
Had the deal gone ahead, a merged Broadcom and Qualcomm would have been responsible for a massive proportion of the chips in phones, computers and connected devices. But US concerns about China mean that the deal is now very much off the table.
Kingston unveils 'Canvas' SD and microSD cards
One of the most important purchases a photographer can make is their memory card. Whether you are a professional or amateur photo-taker, you undoubtedly want to protect your images. This is why it is important to focus on reputable brands -- it isn't worth saving money by going with a lesser-known brand if your files get corrupted, right?
One company that has a great reputation is Kingston. It has long sold quality flash products. Today, the popular company unveils its new "Canvas" line of memory cards. They are available as both micro SD and SD, plus in various speeds and capacities. In other words, Kingston is aiming to meet the needs of many. There are three distinct Canvaas variants from which to choose -- Select, Go, and React.
Android 8.1 Oreo coming to OnePlus 5T and OnePlus 5
It's become quite clear that the idea of having major updates available in a timely fashion remains a distant dream for many Android users. Lots of smartphones remain a version or two behind the latest big release of the popular operating system, even though the hardware is more than capable of handling it.
Trouble is it's not (just) obscure companies that are failing users, but major players too. Take Samsung and the Galaxy S8 for instance. The Oreo roll-out only just started, but it's based on Android 8.0 -- not 8.1, as you would expect. Fortunately, there are some exceptions, most notably OnePlus and its two most-recent flagships.
Apple announces plans to acquire digital magazine service Texture
Today Apple revealed that it is to acquire the digital magazine subscription service Texture. The iPhone-maker says that it has signed an agreement about the acquisition but does not say when it will complete.
The company says the move is part of its commitment to "quality journalism from trusted sources," and it has already shown its appreciation of Texture by featuring it in the App Store's "best of" selections.
Flaws could turn smart cameras into data-stealing spy tools
Security vulnerabilities in some popular smart cameras, used as baby monitors and for security surveillance, could lead to them being exploited by hackers.
Research from Kaspersky Lab has found multiple issues with cameras, manufactured by Korean company Hanwha Techwin, that could allow attackers to obtain remote access to video and audio feeds from the cameras, remotely disable the devices and execute arbitrary malicious code on them.
Intel-sponsored study finds that smart cities save time
A study sponsored by Intel has come to the rather unsurprising conclusion that smart cities save people time. The company says that major cities that have embraced the Internet of Things (IoT) can save each of their citizens up to 125 hours per year.
Being able to claw back more than five days over the course of a year seems too good to be true, but the study from Intel and Juniper Research appears to bear out the claim. The research looked at smart cities around the world, ranking them accordingly in the areas of mobility, health care, public safety and productivity.
Toshiba unveils new smart glasses powered by a portable Windows 10 Pro PC
Google Glass teased an interesting future, but failed to deliver on its promise. Today, Toshiba picks up where Glass left off, with a pair of Augmented Reality (AR) glasses powered by a mini Windows 10 PC.
The glasses link together a dynaEdge AR100 Head Mounted Display (HMD) with a dynaEdge DE-100 Mobile Mini PC, which is essentially a handheld, battery-powered Windows 10 system.
Amazon launches Prime Student in the UK with one-day delivery, Prime Video and more
University students and anyone in higher education in the UK can now take advantage of Amazon's Prime Student. The monthly plan costs just £3.99 -- half the regular price of Prime -- and it includes unlimited one-day deliveries, access to Prime Video, Prime Music and much more.
Anyone eligible for the program can take advantage of a six-month free trial to see if it's something that works for them. In addition to numerous Amazon services, Prime Student also gives subscribers money off textbooks, stationery and university essentials.
Now you have longer to delete your WhatsApp messages
Just as with any popular platform, WhatsApp has fans who are quite happy to use it while conceding that there are things that need to be improved. Having -- eventually -- made it possible to delete messages after sending them, WhatsApp is now extending the timeframe in which deletions can be made.
The Delete For Everyone option is now available to users for 1 hour, 8 minutes and 16 seconds after a message has been sent.
McAfee tracks eight new threats every second as cyber criminals embrace innovation
Thanks to a surge in healthcare attacks, cryptocurrency mining and fileless malware, McAfee Labs latest quarterly threat report has seen an average of eight new threat samples per second.
Highlights of the report include the healthcare sector experiencing a 211 percent increase in disclosed security incidents in 2017, and fileless malware leveraging Microsoft PowerShell growing 267 percent in the fourth quarter.
Tim Berners-Lee: social media is too powerful and the web needs regulation to avoid weaponization
Today marks the 29th anniversary of the world wide web, and as has become traditional, its inventor has penned a letter for the occasion. In it, Sir Tim Berners-Lee calls for regulation of the web to prevent it from being "weaponized".
His letter suggests that "the web is under threat," and highlights a number of problems that exist, including the digital divide, privacy, fake news and the dominance of social media. He suggests that a regulatory framework could be needed to prevent a handful of companies from "weapon[zing] the web at scale."
Twitter suspends multiple 'tweetdecking' accounts for stealing tweets and spamming content into forced virality
In the latest attempts to clean up its platform, Twitter has suspended a number of accounts for trying to game the system. A number of well-known accounts were hit for stealing tweets without giving credit, and mass retweeting each other's content to force virality -- a practice sometimes known as tweetdecking.
As is customary, Twitter is not willing to comment on individual cases, but it is thought that the company was unhappy with repeated violations of its policies against spam.
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