Spotify and a host of European internet businesses have called on Brussels to crack down on what they see as troubling practices by the likes of Apple and Google. Big internet platforms “can and do abuse their privileged position”, according to a letter signed by the chief executives of Spotify, music streaming rival Deezer and German start-up investor Rocket Internet among others. Although the letter to the […]
At the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt, Palestinians are peering through a towering border gate. What they’re looking at isn’t initially clear in Rosalind Nashashibi’s short film Electrical Gaza, but then, the 43-year-old British artist doesn’t deal in grand, obvious statements. Instead, she depicts everyday life, children playing in the street, horses swimming in the sea and even some animated scenes. It’s not quite the image […]
(Image: CNET/CBS Interactive) More than two-dozen popular apps for iPhones and iPads are still leaking sensitive information, such as login details for their services, despite having months to roll out a fix. Earlier this year, Will Strafach set out to see which popular iPhone apps were vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks, which allow attackers to intercept data as it’s being passed from a device to a server. Strafach, […]
The recent muktamar (general assembly) of the Malaysian Islamist opposition — Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) — has clearly set out the future direction of the party. The strong signal sent by the party’s grassroots that it should end its working relationship with Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has been read by many observers of Malaysian politics as a clear signal that PAS plans to work instead with the […]
We’ve known for years that a key protocol that allows global cellular networks to communicate with each other had vulnerabilities — and nobody really took it that seriously. Hackers and politicians alike have been warning for years that these flaws in the calling and text message routing system, known as Signaling System 7 (SS7), can be used to intercept and redirect calls and text messages, allowing hackers […]
(Image: file photo) Last month, several competing students from universities across the US descended upon San Antonio for the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC). CCDC, which originated in 2005, is a defensive security competition that puts students in a real-world commercial IT environment and tests their ability to defend, detect, and respond to outside threats, including maintain availability of existing services like mail servers and web […]
Microsoft looks ready to widen its Cortana Skills Kit availability as of next week, simultaneous with its Build 2017 developer conference in Seattle. Microsoft has published its schedule and session descriptions for many of its Build 2017 talks via its official Build schedule builder mobile application. (I downloaded a version from the Google Play Store today for my Android phone.) The session list includes several Cortana Skills […]
About 1.2 million people is estimated to be infected with HIV in the United States. The infection is fatal for those who eventually develop AIDS. An existing medical technology though potentially offers a cure. In a new study published in the journal Molecular Therapy, researchers have made important strides towards finding a treatment for HIV, one that can eliminate and not just suppress the virus, using the controversial […]
Google is trying to make email on Android safer with a new warning that doesn’t prevent access to shady pages but cautions that you are proceeding at your own risk. Image: Google Google is rolling out a new anti-phishing feature in Gmail on Android that stops users immediately proceeding to a page if they click a suspicious link. The new feature is designed to make it easier […]
Facebook‘s female engineers are less likely to get their code accepted than their male engineer counterparts. That’s according to an internal study reported by The Wall Street Journal, which puts in question Facebook’s efforts to foster diversity. At present, only 33 percent of Facebook’s workforce is composed of females. An astounding number by Silicon Valley’s standards, to be sure, but still an example of the lack of […]
Or at least not just about the Panama Papers. This election is about saving journalists their jobs. You see, the thing is, this really was the government that kept on giving. And I’m not referring to the just announced minimum wage increase which we will get in two years time, nor the hundreds of employees who have just started working with government and have been immediately given […]
Apple CEO Tim Cook (Image: CNET/CBS Interactive) Apple CEO Tim Cook has said he remains enthusiastic about business opportunity in China, the world’s largest smartphone market, despite the company’s Greater China sales falling 14 percent year-on-year to $10.7 billion in the quarter ended April 1, from $12.5 billion in the same period last year. This figure was also down 34 percent from revenue of $16.2 billion recorded […]
What were you thinking Microsoft? The company’s just-released Surface Laptop is meant to challenge Chromebooks, but at a starting price of $999, who the heck will buy it? It sure won’t be schools, which Chromebook dominates now. Windows 10 S and Surface Laptops are neither Chrome OS or Chromebook killers. They’re another pair of Microsoft mistakes. Sure, there have been premium-priced Chromebooks. I own two of them, […]
Great news for our investigative journalism: The Webby Awards today named the Center for Public Integrity a finalist for best political news blog or website in the nation. The Webby Awards presents two honors in every category — a winner selected by judges and a winner selected by online voters. If you agree the Center for Public Integrity deserves honors for our political coverage, vote for us […]
Rackspace CEO Taylor Rhodes. Image: Rackspace The CEO of cloud services company Rackspace, Taylor Rhodes, has announced he is to leave the company. Rhodes said he is leaving to join a “smaller private company” that doesn’t compete with Rackspace, but which is using cloud technology to “to disrupt what has been a very low-tech industry.” Rhodes said: “This opportunity fits my strengths and skills, and I think […]
Sprint on Wednesday delivered mixed fourth quarter financial results. The Overland Park, Kansas-based company reported a net loss of $283 million, or seven cents per share, compared to a loss of $554 million, or 14 cents per share, the year prior. The nation’s fourth-largest wireless carrier posted net operating revenue of $8.54 billion, up five percent above the previous year. Wall Street was expecting a loss of […]
The walled garden of iOS is more difficult to compromise than the famously open source Android platform. Image: iStock While most people are aware of the malicious threats targeting their computers, many still don’t realise that their mobile devices are an increasingly lucrative a target for cybercriminals. The main way smartphones are attacked is though apps, often ones which pose as innocent and useful but actually aim […]
Uber had announced in January that it was bringing its food delivery service to India, its fastest-growing market in the world. And finally, it’s here. UberEATS has rolled out in Mumbai and will soon be taken to five other Indian cities. India becomes UberEATS’ fourth Asian market, after it launched in Singapore last May, followed by Tokyo (Japan) and Bangkok (Thailand). Interestingly, Uber’s local rival Ola had […]
The Australian Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has revealed that consumer complaints about delays in being connected to the National Broadband Network (NBN) have dropped over the first two quarters of the 2016-17 financial year. Complaints about NBN connection delays dropped from 1,669 complaints in the fourth quarter of 2015-16 to 1,545 in the first quarter of FY17, and then further down to 1,539 in the second quarter […]
BANGKOK Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged Thailand’s military government to disclose the whereabouts of a prominent rights lawyer who has been missing since his house was raided at the weekend. Prawet Prapanukul, 57, provided legal assistance to members of Thailand’s political opposition group, the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, and served as legal counsel in a high profile royal insult case. He has been missing […]
Oman Air plans to move ahead with a multi-billion dollar order for wide-body jets early next year even though it won’t now break even in 2017 as the low oil price curbs growth in the Gulf. The carrier is now aiming to end losses by the end of next year, contingent on demand not deteriorating further, Chief Executive Officer Paul Gregorowitsch said in an interview on Tuesday. […]
May 2, 2017, Doha The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has noted an increase in number of complaints regarding scam calls through its 103 hotline, media reports and social media comments. CRA would like to urge consumers to not share any personal information that could compromise their privacy if they receive a call from unknown persons. Significant numbers of consumers reported receiving calls (through apps like WhatsApp and […]
Apple’s plan to push iPhone sales into positive territory for 2017 has stalled, with sales taking a surprise dip. Must read: iPhone 8: Here’s what we think we know about Apple’s 10th-anniversary iPhone iPhone sales of 50.8 million means a 1 percent unit drop year-on-year, and a whopping 35 percent drop compared to the previous quarter. That sounds pretty bad, but as I pointed out earlier this […]
For the first time ever, Red Hat will align its flagship operating system, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), development and release dates with a third-party: Amazon Web Services (AWS). This alliance underlines just how important the cloud is to Red Hat as it moves from being a Linux distributor first to being a cloud services provider first. Red Hat is partnering closely with Amazon to fly Red […]
