Articles by John P. Mello Jr

A proposal to avoid the banning of the popular social media app TikTok was submitted to the U.S. Treasury Department over the weekend The plan submitted by ByteDance, which owns TikTok, calls for the company to enlist Oracle as a "trusted technology provider" in order to address national security concerns raised about the video-sharing software by ...

Google on Tuesday took a step toward controlling spam voice calls on Android devices with a new addition to its phone app The "Verified Calls" feature will display a caller's name, logo, reason for calling and a verification symbol indicating a business has been verified by Google....

Amazon has cleared a key government hurdle in its flight path to deliver packages by airborne drones The company revealed Monday that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration granted the online retail giant a Part 135 certificate, which allows Amazon Prime Air to operate as an air carrier. The move lets Amazon make commercial deliveries under a tri...

Online bandits are decreasing their schemes against businesses but increasing COVID-19 scams aimed at consumers, according to a report released Tuesday by TransUnion Suspected fraudulent digital transactions against businesses worldwide dropped nine percent from the lockdown phase of the pandemic (March 11 to May 18) to the reopening phase (May 19-...

After crashing in 2019, Dark Web markets for stolen credentials rebounded during the first half of 2020, largely due to major shifts in consumer behavior caused by the global pandemic According to the latest analysis of Dark Web trade by Top10VPN.com, populations locked down during the pandemic were forced to change their behavior patterns. That ha...

Amazon is huddling with the largest mall owner in the United States to turn anchor stores into fulfillment centers The deal with Simons Property Group would give Amazon access to space formerly occupied by Sears and J.C. Penney, both of which have filed for bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal has reported....

Earthquake alerts are being incorporated into Android, Google's mobile operating system, the company announced Tuesday The feature will be included in a refresh of Google Mobile Services, so a full operating system upgrade won't be necessary. That means the new addition will be available to most Android users -- except those in China, which doesn'...

Apple's "Walled Garden" was built to protect consumers from malicious applications, but it can also protect the company from competition, as Microsoft and Facebook discovered recently Late last week, Apple refused to allow Microsoft to offer its xCloud streaming gaming app for iOS and iPadOS at the Apple App Store. At the same time, it approved a s...

Amazon has cleared a major regulatory hurdle in its quest to deliver Internet service to unserved and underserved areas of the earth The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has approved, with some conditions, Amazon's Kuiper Project, a US$10 billion low-orbit constellation made up of more than 3,000 satellites....

Google's Nest line of smart home products will be combined with ADT's security services in a partnership announced Monday by the two companies As part of the deal, Google will invest US$450 million into ADT to acquire a 6.6 percent interest in the security and smart home solutions provider....

Amazon's Alexa mobile app has a new look The company on Monday introduced an updated version of the app that aims to give users a more personalized experience and moves all third-party "skill" suggestions off the main screen....

Garmin on Monday confirmed that many of its online services have been disrupted by a cyberattack on its systems that occurred on July 23, 2020 Services disrupted by the attack, which encrypted data on the systems, included website functions, customer support, customer facing applications, and company communications, the company noted in a statemen...

Consumer interest in cloud gaming could boost annual subscription revenues to nearly US$3 billion, a consumer research firm reported Tuesday According to Parks Associates, 30 percent of U.S. broadband households say they're interested in services that can deliver a Netflix experience for gaming. There is renewed interest, the research firm's report...

Windows 10X began as a streamlined operating system for the Surface Neo, a premium mobile device with two screens that opened like a book. Now Microsoft seems poised to use the OS to power laptop competitors to Google's highly successful Chromebook portables According to Zac Bowden, writing for Windows Central, a significant feature has been remove...

Although many people haven't wrapped their minds around 5G mobile technology yet, Samsung has already started talking about 6G In a report released Tuesday, the South Korean electronics giant reveals its 6G vision of the future, including technical and societal megatrends, new services, requirements, candidate technologies, and an expected timeline...

Advertising for software and hardware designed to stalk and spy on people will soon be banned on Google Promotion of products or services that are marketed or targeted with the express purpose of tracking or monitoring another person or their activities without their authorization will be prohibited on the platform starting Aug. 11, the company, wh...

Nintendo is retreating from the booming mobile games market, Bloomberg reported Sunday The maker of the Switch and Switch Lite game systems has become disenchanted with the mobile market, Bloomberg noted, as sales of three out of four of its mobile offerings lost money from February to May of this year....

Apple's 2020 Worldwide Developers Conference will probably be known for two things: it was the first time the forum was staged virtually, and it's when Apple announced it would start making Macs based on its own processor designs "Today is a truly historic day for the Mac," Apple CEO Tim Cook said during the virtual keynote presentation....

Amazon is rolling out a system that combines artificial intelligence and augmented reality to help workers maintain social distancing in the workplace, the company revealed Tuesday in its Covid-19 blog The new system has been deployed at a handful of Amazon buildings, but the company plans to deploy hundreds of the units in the coming weeks, the gi...

The next generation of Intel mobile processors will include malware protection built into the chip, the company announced Monday The protection, provided by Intel's Control-Flow Enforcement Technology (CET), will first be available in the company's "Tiger Lake" mobile processors, Vice President of Intel's Client Computing Group Tom Garrison reveal...