The ransomware — referred to as Android/Filecoder.C and active since July 12 — uses victims’ contact lists to spread further via SMS messages containing malicious links. The malware was distributed via pornographic posts on Reddit and XDA-Developers Android forum, the researchers noted. The SMS messages advertised a link to an app that has supposedly used the victim’s photos when it’s actually a malicious app containing the ransomware. In an attempt to hide their true motives, the attackers were sometimes found to mask the domain names using URL shorteners like bit....

And yet, amid the whirlwinds of the industry’s response, it’s become abundantly clear that the demise of the cookie is probably a good thing for everyone involved – audience members, publishers and even marketers. The cookie’s place in history By way of a quick review, cookies are those small bits of code dropped onto your browser to record your user activity. They’ve been in use since the 1990s, practically the dawn of the internet, in two forms: first-party cookies, and third-party cookies....

In a number of European countries, there are subsidies for buying new and used electric cars, installing EV charging points in your home, and even discounted bus tickets for those in low income brackets. Earlier this year in the UK, the government handed out vouchers to help people get their old bikes back on the road in a bid to encourage cycle commuting. In most of these cases, the money set aside to fund the subsidies was used up entirely....

But only one of them heralds the onset of the age of nuclear quantum computers. It’s about damn time Maybe it’s the whole concept of entanglement, but for a long time it’s felt like we were suspended in a state where functional quantum machines were both “right around the corner” and “decades or more away.” But the past few years have seen a more rapid advancement toward functional quantum systems than most technologists could have imagined in their wildest dreams....

— NVIDIA SHIELD (@NVIDIASHIELD) October 24, 2019 It seems the company won’t have that much new to reveal though. Extensive leaks have shown we’re expecting two models: one that looks a lot like the old one box, and another that’s a compact dongle. Otherwise, the differences don’t appear to be huge. The larger device is expected to sport a more powerful Tegra X1+ processor, a more comfortable remote, USB-C, 4K upscaling, and Dolby Vision support....

On top of that, if you don’t have time to fully juice up your phone, you can charge 58% battery in just 15 minutes. The OnePlus 8T will ship with twin battery configuration so it can charge faster. In earlier OnePlus phones, a single battery used to charge at 30W. But with new the setup, the phone charge at a higher power rate. OnePlus has embedded 12 temperature sensors in the device to charge it without heating up....

The company accidentally approved an Adobe Flash-based malware to run on Macs without any warning. Security researchers Patrick Wardle and Peter Dantini found this bug in a Flash-powered installer hosted on a copycat site of Homebrew, a package management system for Linux. To ensure that apps running on macOS are secure, Apple asks developers for what’s called a Notarization process. If the company’s automated service finds that the app doesn’t have any malware, it issues a ticket for the developer to attach with the software....

Artificial intelligence is increasingly affecting our everyday lives. The field has the potential to make the world a healthier, wealthier, and more efficient place. But it also poses vast safety and security risks. Mariarosaria Taddeo, the Deputy Director of the Oxford Internet Institute’s Digital Ethics Lab, believes we can mitigate these risks through regulation built on strong ethical principles. “These technologies are transformative,” Taddeo told TNW. “They are reshaping our societies and the reality in which we live....

His company — Escobar Inc. — has used lawsuits in the past to gain public attention. It then uses this increased visibility to “launch” phones (which are literally just relabelled models by other manufacturers) and then scam the public into giving them money. Really, covering this is probably giving Escobar Inc. the publicity it wants, but the story is simply too delicious to pass on. Don’t say we didn’t warn you....

Both terms elicit a profile of a person who is willing to take risks to promote ground-breaking product development. Their motivations vary, but both typically possess deep insights into emerging domains and a passion for their vision of the future. Our culture reveres such visionaries, and for good reason. Think how a venture capitalist’s intuitive understanding of recombinant DNA technology drove him to found Genentech. Though less flashy, intrapreneurs make waves, too, as we saw with Paul Buchheit starting Gmail at Google via its famous 20% project....

Media streamers are great. That’s all there is to it. Of all the recent(-ish) advances in consumer technology, they have to be one of my favorite. Being able to access huge media libraries, or mirror your screen, on your TV feels pretty damn magical. Yep, for only $24.99, you can get a 4K Fire TV stick that includes an Alexa remote. Normally, this retails for $49.99, so you’re making a whopping 50 percent saving here....

Scammers have been found actively exploiting a bug in Firefox to trick unsuspecting people into believing that their computers have been hacked. What’s more, the attack urges users to call a fraudulent support line within five minutes to avoid having their systems disabled. The poorly worded message, which has all the hallmarks of a scam, reads below: Mozilla seems to be already aware of the issue for about three months now and is actively working to resolve it....

The driver of the mangled vehicle was Doreen Ford, a moderator of the wildly popular r/rantiwork subreddit. The sub had exploded from 180,000 subscribers in October 2020 to almost 1.7m this month. That growth was dramatically stalled by Ford’s appearance on Fox. The interview was an obvious setup. A right-wing network had found an ideal target to denigrate a leftist movement: a 30-year-old dog walker who works 20 hours a week and wants to teach philosophy....

According to the report, the device is expected to launch by next year, with a second version to launch as soon as 2023. The first version will run an open source version of Android, which seems to suggest it’s not running the traditional Google-centric Wear OS, but rather some kind of fork. The report also notes the social network is concurrently working on its own hardware operating system, so it’s possible that’s what the device might end up running in the second iteration....

Reason Cybersecurity researchers dubbed the malware Save Yourself, as recipients typically receive the bogus emails from senders like “[email protected]” The emails state that dangerous malware has infected the recipient’s machine, but Reason found this isn’t the case. Instead, the firm discovered the malware forcing devices to act as blackmail proxies is also secretly mining privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero, with all funds generated going directly the attackers. Save Yourself cleaners are spreading more malware The firm was clear to point out that receiving the Bitcoin sextortion email doesn’t automatically mean infection, just that the recipient’s email address has been exposed in a password dump....

The COVID-19 Sounds App joins a growing list of tools using voice analysis to diagnose the coronavirus. The method remains unproven, but the team believes the sounds made by COVD-19 patients are so specific that they can reveal who has the disease. “Having spoken to doctors, one of the most common things they have noticed about patients with the virus is the way they catch their breath when they’re speaking, as well as a dry cough, and the intervals of their breathing patterns,” said Cambridge University Professor Cecilia Mascolo, who led the development of the app....

We were promised smart homes by science fiction, and then guaranteed they were just around the corner by tech’s biggest companies. And then we were disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, smart speakers are amazing technology. You can joke all you want, but I can’t stand pulling my phone out of my pocket for any query I can just pipe up and ask Alexa. And who among us doesn’t use our Google Mini to keep up with our schedule and set reminders?...

The big idea: Cozy Grove is a game in the same genre as Animal Crossing. It’s safe to say that fans of one would probably enjoy spending time with the other. But, as mentioned, Cozy Grove has ghost bears. That might sound like a weak comparison, but the ghost bears are really cute. Okay, there’s more: Cozy Grove feels like a game that was made by people who actually care about me....

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange had earlier suspended trade in preparation of the announcement, Reuters reports. Wirecard is notably the first member of the exclusive DAX index to declare itself insolvent. Wirecard stock had already fallen by 89% since last Wednesday — from $104.50 to below $12 — after the company disclosed its auditors had refused to sign off on its annual financial statements, citing 1.9 billion euro ($2.1 billion) in missing assets....

Unsurprisingly, I never cared much for maintaining LinkedIn profiles and resumes. I got my first freelance writing job when I was still in school, so I never really had to. So when I heard of a new AI-tool, developed by top recruiters to boost LinkedIn profiles and resumes, I was curious how it would improve my severely neglected CV. Startup Resume Worded is an AI-powered platform that provides ‘tailored feedback’ on your resume and LinkedIn profile....