Steven Walker, the CEO of Spylix and a noted Apple security researcher, says that people should avoid downloading… Facebook Messenger. I bet you did not expect it to be that app, considering how popular it is. Despite Apple’s strict security measures for iPhone users, Walker says the track record of Meta (formerly Facebook) means Messenger cannot be trusted. “To the surprise of many, Facebook Messenger is one of the very few such applications that iPhone users should never install on their devices,” Walker says....

One such interview was with Bloomberg, where Gates discussed the concerns around misinformation, what he believes the outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic will be, and even Bitcoin. Starting with the spread of misinformation, Gates was quick to point out incorrect data and information surrounding the COVID-19 crisis has been unhelpful. He wants to avoid those same pitfalls in the ongoing debate around climate change. Considering climate change deniers already exist, Gates may be talking about a battle that’s already been fought and lost… the misinformation is already there....

Importantly, Microsoft has taken pains to ensure the design layout is the same as its other applications. This should mean users will spend less time hunting around for the right information or sub-menus. The search engine also sports expanded views for profiles to tie in relevant information: “We’ve linked your People card result to your Office profile. To see it, just search for ‘me’ and click See profile. From your profile, you can: Get more details: You’ll get more information, including ways people can contact you, people in your organization, your recent files, and recent emails....

The flag is available on Chrome, although it is disabled by default. It describes the “viewing of simplified web pages by selecting “customize and control Chrome > Distill Page””. If you want to enable Reader mode in Chrome you will need to be running Chrome 75 Canary. This is the early preview branch of the browser. Next head to the chrome://flags location and select “Enable Reader Mode”. To see the change, you’ll have to restart the browser....

Microsoft later revealed that the problem was with the installer, not the app itself, and that versions 8 and above are unaffected. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean much for fans of classic Skype. Despite this, users were unable to see the download on Windows 10, and couldn’t install it if they obtained it via other methods. A month passed and it was unclear if the company would ever make a secure version available for Windows 10....

As you would expect, this is a much asked for feature, especially amongst business users. Cortana has previously allowed Android users to reply to messages, but she would never read received correspondence. The feature is currently in beta on Google’s mobile platform, but is enabled by default on Cortana when your smartphone is connected to another device via Bluetooth. For example, if you are driving, you can connect your Android device to the in-car system and let Cortana dictate incoming messages....

In fact, those experts think thousands of cryptocurrency platforms will die off as the industry balances itself amid falling prices. There are currently over 19,000 cryptocurrencies available, and I bet you only know around a dozen. It is clear the market is not there to support so many platforms. That means it is almost certain that some will collapse as people take their funds and reinvest them in more secure cryptos....

Many have expressed outrage over the change, arguing that it’s a severe inconvenience to customers who have done nothing wrong. Though the measure is to fight terrorism, nobody wants to sit on a long flight without entertainment. Surface Tablet Loan Thankfully, Emirates seems to have a temporary solution. The Dubai-based airline will be loaning free Surface tablets to its Business and First passengers on flights to the U.S. The move allows businessmen to perform vital work while travelling via a pre-loaded Office 365 suite....

NationBuilder was used to process citizen voting data before the upcoming European elections. The company and software have been used by organizations for years, but the EDPS has been concerned it data processed by the company are in line with data protection rules. Parliament has been using NationBuilder to process data around public engagement in an effort to boost voting interest ahead of the election. The software was used through the thistimeimvoting....

A new vulnerability has been found that allows bad actors to see who users have been talking to on Facebook. Discovered and disclosed by security firm Imperva, the issue is not an exploit of Facebook’s security, but rather a method for tricking unwitting users. Hackers trick users into clicking a malicious website. Once there, a tab opens on the user, allowing the hacker to take information. The data would have to be stolen quickly as the user would only be distracted briefly....

Indeed, companies making smartphones can now purchase a fingerprint sensor for US$2, with some manufacturers selling them for less. This has implications for companies who are unwilling to reduce their prices. These manufacturers will be priced out of the maturing market and will likely be forced out entirely. Fingerprint scanning on smartphones is not a particularly new thing. In fact, it has been on devices going back around a decade....

In that directive was an extension of copyright to cover the leads on news stories, which are often utilized by news aggregators via automated scraping. So far, countries looking to enforce similar measures have been unsuccessful. Google has decided, in some cases, to pull its Google News service rather than pay. In France, it switched to displaying just headlines. It now seems the country’s competition authority is having none of it....

With the rollout now in full swing, Analysts at Gartner warn that the price could be significantly higher for some customers. According to the organization, those paying 7% of their annual software assurance cost for the previous Premier support will a price hike of up to 30%. Meanwhile, those who pay above 10% will see a decrease. Despite this, Microsoft holds that it’s a better deal. Speaking to ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, a spokesperson said: “Support pricing is a good deal compared to what our competitors offer....

German news outlet Handelsblatt reports the Ministry missed the deadline for upgrade. Now, it must pay Microsoft a fee for each of its 33,000 Windows 7 machines. It is worth noting the fee is not to upgrade to Windows 10 but to instead extend security support on Win7 for another year. The total cost for this is around $887,000. Despite Microsoft’s efforts to warn users to upgrade, millions of devices remain on Windows 7....

Good first issues was brought to GitHub on the web back in May 2019. It was designed to highlight recommendations on issues applied by project managers. The company says it updated the tool in December with more powerful AI algorithms. Now, the good first issues features surfaces issues in 70% of recommended repositories. In a blog post, GitHub senior machine learning engineer Tiferet Gazit, the company developed a list of 300 labels across popular open projects....

In terms of GitHub, the service was affected by data storage problems. Specifically, the company’s status board highlighted multiple services affected by the issue: “We’re failing over a data storage system in order to restore access to GitHub.com.” Later the soon-to-be Microsoft owned company said it was working to solve the problem. Users were reporting they could not login to GitHub and other were missing commits. “We are aware of how important our services are to your development workflows and are actively working to establish an estimated timeframe for full recovery....

Google says its AI uses machine learning through deep neural networks to help make intelligent image processing. This will help whoever is reviewing content to sort through images more quickly and detect CSAM content automatically. If any found content is illegal, the AI can remove it. In its announcement, Google says it wants the AI model to be free. It will be given to NGOs for free, which industry partners will be able to use it through the Content Safety API....

At the moment, the feature is available in the United States and United Kingdom. Over the last six months, Google Maps has been developing the ability, which shows different charging stations on routes. Owners of electric vehicles can now see which charging stations have a space for them to charge their cars. Stations can be located by searching “EV charging stations” on Google Maps. The app connects with companies such as SemaConnect, EVgo, and Chargemaster to see which stations are available....

Microsoft launched Remix3D with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and as a web app. It allows users to download and use 3D objects. With Poly, Google is not copying but rather playing “anything you can do I can do better”. The company is differentiating its service from Remix 3D by adding in integration with phone-based VR development. By leveraging Google VR, the 3D objects can be used in a virtual space through a headset....

Because of this, many students tend to spend too much time on this task and end up with less than credible resources in their bibliography. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. Luckily for all of us, academic knowledge is now more accessible than ever, and Google and Microsoft have developed search engines for scientific publications, which are loved not only by students but also by a great number of authors and researchers....