Articles by John P. Mello Jr.

Romantics searching for virtual love should approach amorous AI chatbots with caution, according to a report released Wednesday by researchers at Mozilla's "Privacy Not Included" buyer's guide After examining 11 "AI soulmates," the researchers issued a thumbs down to all the apps for failing to provide adequate privacy, security, and safety for the...

Remember when you could pay for a full-featured app download and use it forever? Those were the days before you had to make in-app purchases to get any real value from the app or lease it through a subscription. There seems to be a revival of the good old days at Apple's App Store for its augmented reality/virtual reality Vision Pro goggles Accordi...

With more than eight million paid subscribers, YouTube TV has risen to fourth place among pay-for-TV providers in the United States, according to a report published Tuesday by Business Insider The YouTube TV subscription numbers -- which place the service behind Charter, Comcast, and DirecTV -- were revealed by CEO Neal Mohan in his annual letter t...

A system that "flags" kids attempting to access age-restricted augmented and virtual reality content should be imposed on online platforms and device makers, according to a report released Monday by a Washington, D.C. technology think tank Congress should require that device makers and online platforms hosting age-restricted content establish a “...

In an effort to protect companies from phone call spoofing, AT&T and TransUnion announced a program Tuesday to allow businesses to tag outgoing calls so a brand name and logo will appear on the wireless phone of the person who receives the call The calls are verified with STIR/SHAKEN, a framework of interconnected standards used to confirm a number...

Attacks on browsers by phishing actors ballooned during the second half of 2023, increasing 198% over the first six months of the year, according to a report by a browser security company What's more, phishers are increasingly using deceptive tactics in their attacks that are proving to be highly effective against the security controls designed to ...

Complaints by users of the declining quality of search engine results contain a seed of truth, according to a recent study released by a group of academic researchers The researchers from Leipzig University, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, and ScaDS.AI -- all in Germany -- concluded that "all search engines have significant problems with highly-optimi...

A majority of hiring managers would prefer to hire a candidate with fewer years of relevant work experience but more experience with artificial intelligence, according to new research released Monday by Resume Templates Based on a survey of 780 hiring managers, the research asked the participants to choose from four potential candidates with varyin...

One out of three Americans is worried about smart devices in their homes being hacked, according to research released Monday Top devices raising concerns among consumers are the Amazon Echo, security cameras, Google Nest thermostats, smart doorbells, and smart TVs, revealed the research by CraftJack, a construction contracting services provider in ...

The Wi-Fi Alliance released a new version of its wireless technology Monday, boasting new features designed to boost performance and improve connectivity across a variety of environments New features in Wi-Fi Certified 7 include:...

Court cases and regulators are stirring up uncertainty among Apple watchers about the prospects for its lucrative US$85 billion services business The U.S. government's antitrust lawsuit against Google has produced anxiety about whether Apple will continue to rake in anywhere from $15 billion to $20 billion a year for making Google's search engine t...

Amazon's Kuiper low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network passed a significant milestone when its two orbiting satellites were able to communicate with each other at high data transfer speeds using Optical Inter-Satellite Link (OISL) technology, the company revealed last week OISL is a key component of Kuiper's mesh architecture, which uses infrared ...

Delivery by drone of packages to the doorstep of consumers has been slow in coming, but 2024 could be the year the technology finally takes flight Zipline, a drone delivery outfit in San Francisco, is set to pull the chocks away from a handful of projects in U.S. cities next year, with plans to be flying in 15 burgs by 2025, according to a report b...

The use of generative AI technology has moved beyond the curiosity phase for retailers and become the foundation for software business applications that enable enterprises to conduct business better and more quickly, according to a report released Monday by Coresight Research and Digital Wave Technology The 19-page report outlined how generative AI...

Certification of Wi-Fi 7- the next generation in wireless networking for home, enterprise, and industrial environments- is expected by the end of the first quarter of 2024, according to a post on the Wi-Fi Alliance website "Wi-Fi Certified 7, based on IEEE 802.11be technology, will be available before the end of Q1 2024," the Alliance, an industry ...

A highway safety group released a report Tuesday urging communities to deploy automated enforcement programs using traffic cameras The report by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) maintained that such programs are needed to address the ever-increasing number of roadway fatalities. Over the last decade, traffic deaths have increased 30%...

Quick Response codes can be very convenient for traveling to websites, downloading apps, and viewing menus at restaurants, which is why they've become a vehicle for bad actors to steal credentials, infect mobile devices, and invade corporate systems "We are seeing an exponential uptick in targeted attacks against mobile devices, many of them phishi...

A study of the psychological well-being of two million individuals from 2005 to 2022 in 168 countries released Tuesday by the Oxford Internet Institute found "smaller and less consistent associations than would be expected if the internet were causing widespread psychological harm." "We looked very hard for a ‘smoking gun’ linking technology an...

This may be the season to be jolly for many holiday celebrants, but for porch pirates, it's time to raise the Jolly Roger There seems to be an increased concern about porch pirates during the holiday season, according to Maria Pearlman, spokesperson for Lombardo Homes, a residential home builder headquartered in Shelby Township, Mich....

TV set-top boxes infected with malware are being sold online at Amazon and other resellers, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation wants the Federal Trade Commission to put a stop to it "Recent reports have revealed various models of Android TV set-top boxes and mobile devices that are being sold by resellers Amazon, AliExpress, and other smaller v...