Articles about Android

As we close out 2024, we Linux enthusiasts are once again looking ahead to what the future holds. While Linux has long been the unsung hero of technology, powering servers, supercomputers, and the cloud, it’s also a dominant force in the consumer space, even if many don’t realize it. With Android leading the way as the most widely used Linux-based operating system, 2025 is shaping up to be another landmark year for the open source world.

First and foremost, Linux will continue to dominate the enterprise sector. Businesses have realized the cost and flexibility benefits of moving away from proprietary systems. Linux already powers most cloud infrastructure, and as organizations look to tighten budgets, more companies will opt for open source solutions to run their operations. With major providers like AWS and Google Cloud leaning heavily on Linux, its role in the corporate world is only growing stronger.

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The “summary cards” feature of Gmail is not new; it is Google’s way of helping to make your emails easier to manage, consolidating information about, for instance, purchases you’ve made. Now things are being updated with live updates and “action buttons”.

Across four categories -- purchases, events, bills and travel -- summary cards provide at-a-glance information at the top of your emails. The new actions buttons make it possible to quickly add entries to Google Calendar or Google Tasks so you don’t forget important events, but there is much more to the update, including a Happening Soon section.

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Quantum computing presents a substantial problem for securing systems because of its potential to crack existing encryption protocols.

However, the industry is beginning to gear up to face the threat. Tuta, the email provider with the world's first quantum-safe encryption for email, is now launching its new stand-alone encrypted calendar app.

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Running Android games on a PC is straightforward with emulators like Bluestacks or NoxPlayer. If you want to play popular AAA Windows PC games on an Android device, things get a bit trickier.

This is where Winlator comes in. Winlator is a free Android app that allows users to run Windows (x86_64) games using Wine 9.2 (custom) and Box64 (0.3.0), and it has just received an update to version 8.0 which includes a lot of new features and improvements.

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Cybercriminals are increasingly adopting a 'mobile-first' attack strategy to infiltrate enterprise systems by targeting weak, unsecured, and unmanaged mobile endpoints, recognizing mobile as a major entry point to corporate networks and sensitive data.

A new report from Zimperium zLabs shows a significant rise in mobile phishing -- or 'mishing' -- a technique that employs various tactics specifically designed to exploit vulnerabilities in mobile devices.

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Google has made a move toward a passwordless future by expanding its passkey support to desktop devices. Until now, passkeys could only be saved to Google Password Manager on Android devices, requiring users to scan a QR code from an Android phone to access them on other platforms. However, thanks to a new update, passkeys can now be saved and managed directly on desktop systems running Windows, macOS, and Linux. ChromeOS is also available for testing in the Beta channel.

Passkeys are designed to offer a more secure and user-friendly way of signing in to websites and apps by using biometric methods like fingerprints, facial recognition, or a screen lock instead of traditional passwords. This makes logging in as simple as unlocking your device.

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A new report on the mobile threat landscape from Lookout reveals a 40.4 percent jump in mobile phishing attempts and malicious web attacks targeting enterprise organizations.

More than 80,000 malicious apps were detected on enterprise mobile devices. These threats can vary widely, from invasive permissions and riskware that pose significant compliance risks to sophisticated spyware capable of tracking devices, stealing data, eavesdropping on conversations and accessing the user' camera and microphone.

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OpenMandriva has released a new candidate version for its rolling release model, ROME 24.07. This update brings Plasma 6 as the default desktop environment, incorporating various new features and improvements.

This version ensures compatibility between Plasma 5 and Plasma 6 packages, allowing users to choose their preferred environment. It's important to note that ROME 24.07 and the upcoming OMLx Rock 5.1 will be the final versions to include the Plasma 5 desktop, indicating a future shift towards exclusive updates for Plasma 6.

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The Tor Project has announced the release of Tor Browser 13.5 for Windows (both 32-bit and 64-bit), Mac, Linux, and Android. The browser gives users the ability to browse the internet through the open Tor network to increase personal privacy.

Tor Browser 13.5 focusses on some changes to the Android browser’s connection experience ahead of a planned implementation of 'Connection Assist'. It also aims to make its letterboxing feature -- a means of resizing the browser window without being fingerprinted -- more user-friendly.

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It's easy enough to play Android games on your PC as you can use third-party emulators such as Bluestacks or NoxPlayer to accomplish the task.

Winlator, which has just been updated to version 7, lets you do the opposite and play your favorite Windows games on an Android phone. The latest release is a big update and introduces a lot of new features, as well as fixing issues and improving performance.

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The way Windows 11 interacts with mobile devices -- and, in turn, the way it lets users interact with them -- has been a little odd for some time. The Your Phone / Phone Link app showed that using Windows to use or browse your smartphone was really something of an afterthought for Microsoft.

Continuing the piecemeal approach to mobiles, it looks as though the company is finally about to give File Explorer the ability to browse smartphone contents. The option has been unearthed in Windows 11, although we don't yet know when it will be released properly.

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New research from Top10VPN has captured and analyzed the network traffic of the 100 most popular free VPNs on Google's Play Store and reviewed their source code.

The findings are rather worrying, showing that 88 percent suffer some kind of data leak (IP, DNS, WebRTC) with 17 percent affected by multiple leaks.

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Google has launched a new feature in Google Messages that enables users to text 911 using Rich Communication Services (RCS). This functionality will first be available in U.S. regions that currently lack text-to-911 capabilities, in collaboration with emergency technology company RapidSOS.

Elmar Weber, General Manager at Android and Business Communications, emphasized the utility of this feature, stating, "Calling 911 in emergency situations isn’t always possible. This is why, in partnership with RapidSOS, we're rolling out the ability to text 911 with RCS."

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Almost three times as many phishing, malicious, deny-listed, and offensive links have been delivered to mobile devices than a year ago, according to a new report from Lookout.

The Lookout Mobile Threat Landscape Report is based on data derived from the Lookout Security Cloud that analyzes data from more than 220 million devices, 325 million apps and billions of web items.

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If you have an Android phone you'll no doubt be aware of the risk that unwanted trackers can access your data while you're using third-party apps or browsing the web.

If you're worried about being tracked though there is an alternative in the form of /e/OS which has a focus on privacy and can be can be flashed on numerous Android devices to replace Google's ubiquitous OS. Today sees the release of V2 of /e/OS which offers further privacy controls, tools and improved user interface.

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