Can you imagine life without the always-on internet? If you're like most people today, it's a simply indispensable tool, and the thought of suddenly being without it makes you shudder and brings images of the Dark Ages to mind. It's glorious, no doubt, and it really is a remarkable tool, but unfortunately, it's not all upside. A recent study funded by the European Research Council has concluded that access to broadband internet access costs you as much as 25 minutes of lost sleep every … Read more
New Tools Help You Limit Your Social Media Time
Facebook and Instagram are rolling out new tools designed to help manage how much time you're spending on those two social media platforms. On Facebook, the new feature is called "your time on Facebook," and on Instagram, it's called "Your Activity," but both features do essentially the same thing. They monitor and report on how much time you're spending on the platform and can be fine-tuned by users to temporarily mute your push notifications. The changes are being rolled out in an … Read more
New Scam Targets Apple Users
There's a new, surprisingly elaborate phishing scam targeting iPhone users. The scam starts with an email informing users that their phones have been locked due to "illegal activity" and instructing them to call "Apple Care" to get the problem fixed. Of course, there is no such company as Apple Care, but it's an official enough sounding name that it's luring a surprising percentage of victims into calling. In fact, opening the email will open a call dialog box, making connecting to "help" a … Read more
Lifelock Customers At Risk Of Email Information Exposure
A dark day for Lifelock, the Identity Theft Protection company. It has recently come to light that the company may have accidentally exposed their customers to additional attacks. They recently fixed a vulnerability on their website that allowed anyone with a browser to index email addresses associated with their entire customer database. The vulnerability can even unsubscribe users from company communications designed to keep them safe and keep them apprised of changes they need to be aware … Read more
Automatic Mobile Picture Sync Coming To Windows 10
Microsoft has made numerous ventures into the smartphone ecosystem, but so far, they've only been met with limited success. This time, they're trying something a little different. Instead of making their own Windows-based phones, they've created a "Your Phone" app that syncs your phone with your PC. The app is still in testing and is slated to be released sometime in October. At present, while there are two versions (Android and iOS), the Android version is currently more limited than … Read more
Twitter Is Getting Tough On Apps
Twitter has long had a reputation for being at the mercy of bots that have been used to sway public discourse and opinion. Often, these bots are controlled via Twitter API apps that allow the authors to automate most of their actions, such as tweets, follows, and likes. In the face of Facebook's recent grilling before congress, Twitter has decided to take a more proactive stance, and has recently announced major changes to their policies. The first part of the company's statement to … Read more
Microsoft Working On Delay Feature For Windows 10 Update Installs
If you've used Windows 10 for any length of time, you've probably had this happen to you. You're right in the middle of working on something important, and all of a sudden, your OS decides it would be a great time to install some updates! In response to user complaints, Microsoft introduced a "snooze" feature that allowed users to delay the installation of upgrades. However, this sparked as many complaints as it silenced, because unfortunately, it causes more frequent device reboots. Now, … Read more
Bluetooth Vulnerability Allows Hackers To Access Devices
There's a new Bluetooth security vulnerability to be aware of, tracked as CVE-2018-5383, and it's a nasty one. It's a cryptographic vulnerability that affects firmware or operating system software drivers from a number of major vendors, including Qualcomm, Broadcom, Intel and Apple. At this point, the implication of the bug on Linux, Android, and Google are unknown. The flaw is related to two important Bluetooth features: BR/EDR implementations of Secure Simple Pairing in device firmware … Read more
Girl Scouts Can Now Earn New Badges For High Technical Skills
The girl scouts have officially moved into the 21st century. The Girl Scouts of America recently announced the creation of a whole raft of new badges that address (in the organization's words) "some of society's most pressing needs." A total of 30 new badges will be available exclusively for girls between the ages of five to eighteen for efforts and advocacy in the following areas: Computer Science Cybersecurity Environment Robotics Space Exploration Badges are awarded on … Read more
Hackers May Set Their Sights On Your GPS Next
If you're like most people, you probably rely heavily on the GPS function of your phone. Type in an address and your phone helpfully guides you, turn by turn, to your destination. It's one of the most often utilized features of a smartphone, and of course, the hackers are very interested in interfering with it. Until now though, hackers have been unable to fool humans into driving to the wrong destination by hacking their GPS, because their instructions often make no sense given the … Read more
