Articles by John P. Mello Jr.

A new method for hiding the true location of a website from users of the mobile Chrome Web browser has come to light Phishers can trick users into revealing their credentials for a legitimate website to operators of a malicious one, security researcher James Fisher reported in a post on his personal blog Saturday....

The European Parliament overwhelmingly approved two measures that would integrate the region's fragmented law enforcement and home affairs databases into a centralized one that would include biometric information on some 350 million EU and non-EU citizens. It approved creation of the new system, the Common Identity Repository, on two votes last we...

Foldable phones faced a setback on Monday when Samsung announced it was postponing indefinitely the release of its Galaxy Fold, which had been scheduled to reach retail shelves in the United States this Friday Samsung pumped the brakes on release of the US$1,980 phone after several reviewers reported problems with their units....

The ramp-up to Apple's Worldwide Developers' Conference this June has begun, with reports circulating about the goodies the company will include in the next generation of its desktop and mobile operating systems. The latest revelations include macOS support for the iPad as an auxiliary display, and iOS support for multiple windows within apps. The...

A copyright directive that some fear could break the Internet cleared the final hurdle in the European Union on Monday The Council of the European Union approved the directive, which makes platforms for user-uploaded content -- like Google and Facebook -- legally liable for violating the rights of copyright holders. It requires them to obtain the p...

Apple plans to introduce a number of new products in the next two years that will sport a new display technology, according to master Apple watcher Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities Based on Kuo's predictions, which were reported widely on Tuesday, Apple will use new "mini LED" technology in three new products:...

New augmented reality features, an SDK for Stories, and a games platform highlighted Snapchat's first developer's conference last week AR features announced at Snap's first Partner Summit:...

YouTube executives have been unable or unwilling to rein in toxic content because it could reduce engagement on their platform, Bloomberg reported Tuesday In a 3,000-word article, Mark Bergen wrote that the US$16 billion company has spent years chasing one business goal: engagement....

Apple is getting into the credit card business. The company has announced a virtual payment card built into the wallet app on iPhones. Apple Card sports a number of features aimed at helping consumers lead a healthier financial life "With our hardware, software and services, we think that Apple is uniquely positioned to make the most significant ch...

Apple on Monday announced a raft of new services, including original TV programming and news and magazine offerings, at an event held at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California The Apple TV+ service, which will launch in the fall, already has a number of high-profile shows in its lineup:...

Google on Tuesday pulled the wraps off Stadia, a new cloud-based gaming platform, at the 2019 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco Using the power of Google's global information infrastructure, Stadia can stream the highest-quality games to any screen, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a keynote announcing the platform, which is expected to c...

Apple on Monday announced a new 10.5-inch iPad and a refresh of the iPad mini The 10.5-inch iPad Air, which will sell for US$499 ($629 with cellular), provides 64 gigabytes of solid state storage and WiFi support. It has Apple's latest mobile processor, the A12 Bionic chip, and supports Apple Pencil and the company's smart keyboard....

Mozilla on Tuesday announced Firefox Send, a free encrypted file-sharing service that works in any browser To share a file, you simply visit the Send site and drag your file to a box on the Web page. Unregistered users may upload up to 1 gigabyte in files, while registered users have a 2.5 GB allowance....

Tech giants like Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple would be broken up under a proposal U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren aired online Friday "Today's big tech companies have too much power -- too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy," the Democratic presidential hopeful wrote on Medium....

August on Tuesday introduced a new smart doorbell to its product lineup. The August View, priced at US$230, is a wireless doorbell that can stream sharp 1440p HD video. It supports two-way audio, so you can talk to guests via an Internet connection The View can be paired with August and Connected by August smart locks. That means you not only can s...

Facebook has undermined privacy on its network by exposing mobile phone numbers provided to secure user accounts through two-factor authentication. That's because anyone can use the numbers to look up a user's account. One doesn't even have to be a Facebook member to do so Moreover, there's no way to opt out of the setting, although it can be limit...

Predicting the power output of wind farms has been challenging, but it's becoming less so with the use of machine learning Google and British artificial intelligence company DeepMind have been using ML algorithms to improve predictions of the wind power output at Google's wind farms in the Midwest, according to a post coauthored by DeepMind Program...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Monday defended the company's US$479 million contract with the U.S. military -- a commitment that some Microsoft employees strongly opposed While pledging to engage with employees and consider Microsoft's role as a corporate citizen, Nadella said the company would not withhold technology from institutions in democraci...

The FIDO Alliance hammered another nail into the passwords coffin on Monday with the announcement that devices running Android 7.0 or higher will be compatible with FIDO2, the latest version of its authentication solution Certification of Android 7.0+ means devices running those versions of Google's mobile operating system will support FIDO2 out o...

Google unveiled its game plan for fighting disinformation on its properties at a security conference in Munich, Germany, over the weekend The 30-page document details Google's current efforts to combat bad dope on its search, news, YouTube and advertising platforms....