Articles by John P. Mello Jr.

Through an eleventh-hour maneuver, the United States and the European Union last week avoided action that could have choked the movement of data between the regions and caused financial harm to U.S. companies It may be only a temporary respite, however....

Google this week reportedly pulled one mobile ad blocker from the Google Play store and prevented another from being updated The moves come on the heels ofSamsung's announcement this week that it was opening up its mobile Web browser to ad blockers....

Apple is planning an event to unveil a refresh of its iPhone 5s and its Apple Watch, as well as to introduce a new version of its iPad Air, 9to5Mac reported Tuesday. However, the event date could change, or the company could opt for an online announcement The 4-inchiPhone 5se reportedly will look similar to the 5s and sell at the same price point: ...

Samsung on Sunday released a version of its mobile browser that supports applications that block advertising on Web pages The browser upgrade can be applied to devices running Android Lollipop and higher....

Oracle earlier this week announced its decision to scrap its Java browser plug-in The plug-in, which has been a frequent target of hackers, won't be included in the next version of the kit for Java developers, JDK 9, which is expected to ship in September....

The U.S.Food and Drug Administration last week took a step toward addressing the threat the Internet of Things poses to patients and their data by releasing some proposed guidelines for managing cybersecurity in medical devices "A growing number of medical devices are designed to be networked to facilitate patient care. Networked medical devices, l...

GoPro on Monday announced an integration with Twitter'sPeriscope app that allows live streaming from a GoPro Hero4 camera Periscope users can switch between broadcasting from their iPhone's camera to their GoPro directly from the phone screen with the touch of a button, GoPro said....

An iPhone with a 4-inch display and some features found in Apple's latest models will launch in March or April, 9to5Mac reported last week The model reportedly will be called the "iPhone 5se" -- for "special edition" -- and will be offered at the same price point as the iPhone 5s....

Worldwide downloads of Android apps in 2015 were double those for iOS, but revenues from iOS apps were nearly twice those of Android, according to anApp Annie report released this week First-time device owners in emerging markets drove the huge increase in Android downloads, researchers found....

Apple this week released a diversity report showing that initiatives to broaden the makeup of its U.S. workforce haven't been as successful as CEO Tim Cook suggested last year The EEO-1 report filed with the federal government covers Apple's 2015 hires in the United States. Its numbers vary widely from the diversity numbers the company revealed in ...

Two white-hat hackers, Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, made headlines last year when they demonstrated how they couldhijack the control systems of a moving motor vehicle over the Internet. The move got the attention of the auto industry, and last weekGeneral Motors put in place a program to encourage more digital dabblers to alert the company when they find bugs in GM vehicles...

LastPass has boosted security for its users after a security researcher alerted the company of a phishing attack he devised to steal users' login and two-factor authentication credentials Sean Cassidy, CTO of Praesidio, demonstrated the phishing attack, which he calls "LostPass," last week at ShmooCon....

Apple is phasing out its iAd sales team and moving toward an automated system, according to news reports this week Then-CEO Steve Jobs launched iAd six years ago to provide an alternative to existing mobile advertising platforms, but it never caught fire....

There's been a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth about the Sisyphean task of protecting privacy in the Digital Age, but that hasn't stopped innovators from searching for ways to preserve it. One of the latest ideas to emerge in the field is Privacy as a Service As with many emerging technologies, the definition of "PaaS" (which undoubtedly will ...

Apple this week revealed that technical difficulties with its News app have led the company to underestimate usage figures for the more than 100 publications offering content through the software The company discovered an error in the app that's resulted in underestimating the number of readers using the software, Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice pres...

The Electronic Frontier Foundation on Monday pressed to revive a lawsuit against Cisco Systems for violating human rights in China, in a brief filed with a U.S. Court of Appeals Members of Falun Gong, a religious group persecuted in China, originally filed the lawsuit in 2011, but a federal district court in California dismissed it in 2014. The fed...

All but one of Apple's top team received a pay raise in 2015, according to a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week While Angela Ahrendts, Apple's senior vice president for retail and online stores, didn't get a raise, she's still pulling down the highest executive compensation at the company at US$25.8 million....

Just days before Christmas, a rare event occurred: the report of a successful intrusion into America's infrastructure by overseas hackers Although the event -- penetration of the control system of a dam 20 miles from New York City -- was more than two years old, it just made it into the public light last month....

Netatmo on Monday announced a smart security camera and floodlight combo at CES 2016 The Presence camera is designed for outdoor use and can identify objects such as people, animals and vehicles....

Will 2016 be a breakaway year for virtual reality technology? Exhibitors at CES 2016 this week seem to think so. More than three dozen of them will be flogging their VR wares at the show, more than double the number from last year....