John Lister

A high-end smartphone may solve one of the main problems with touchscreens. The OnePlus Ace 2 Pro works even in the rain or when the user has wet fingers. A touchscreen works by passing a very low-powered (and safe) electrical charge across the ... screen. When a finger touches the screen, the charge is diverted to run across the finger. The device can then see which part of the screen "lost" charge and thus where the finger pressed. (Source: iop.org ) This is why touchscreens don't work well with most gloves, which are made of various materials that work as insulators and don't conduct ... (view more)

Google says malware creators are using a simple workaround to bypass security on the official Play Store for Android apps. The problem is that the simplest fix would undermine one of the key differences between Android and closed systems such as ... Apple. In theory, all apps in the Play Store are vetted for security, including malware checks. That's one of the reasons Google recommends only using the Play Store, while still giving users the choice to get and install Android software from other sources. The problem is that scammers are using an extremely simply workaround called "versioning". ... (view more)

Researchers say they can accurately figure out what somebody is typing from the sound of their keyboard. The "technique" has some significant practical flaws but is a useful reminder of good password practice. The researchers looked into a theory ... that seems to get tested every few years: that different keys make different sounds. That's partly because they are differing distances from the device recording the audio and partly because the gaps between pressing different letters may vary depending on the typing style. The main difference with this latest test was using deep learning, which aims ... (view more)

Microsoft has accidentally leaked a tool that lets users try out every new feature that's in development. It's grabbed the attention of tech enthusiasts but is very much not a good idea for the average user. The tool came to light when Microsoft ... promoted an event called "Bug Bash". Normally that's an internal "all hands on deck" process where developers are told to hold off their normal work for a set period and instead concentrate solely on finding bugs in software. Microsoft opened this process up to members of the Windows Insider program that lets the public access in-development version ... (view more)

Android users can now get alerts if a tracking device such as an Apple AirTag may be targeting them. The alerts were already available on iPhones, but Google and Apple are now working together, albeit with some holdups. An Apple AirTag is a small ... device that emits a Bluetooth signal. The idea is to attach it to valuable or important items such as keys, purses or luggage. Around a billion Apple devices are set to scan for the signals and anonymously report the location and identity of the AirTags, meaning that owners can track down lost items with varying degrees of precision. Like most tech, ... (view more)

The number of 0-day bugs, which give hackers a dangerous advantage, fell in 2022 according to Google. However, the company warns this may risk misleading complacency that forgets other factors. The figures come from Google's Threat Analysis Group, ... which aims to track, identify and report security bugs, regardless of the software or hardware concerned. The logic is that the better Internet security is overall, the better it is for an Internet-dependent business such as Google. For the past nine years, it's put together an annual tally of 0-day bugs. While definitions vary, Google classes them ... (view more)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says 25Mbps is no longer fast enough to count as "broadband." It's proposed increasing the standard to 100Mbps for downloads. The figures matter because the "broadband speed standard" is the measure the ... FCC uses to assess whether broadband is becoming available "on a reasonable and timely basis" to the entire US population. If it isn't, the FCC has the authority - and legal responsibility - to take action to correct the shortfall. This could include changing rules to promote competition or make it easier for companies to invest in new infrastructure ... (view more)

The FTC is asking the public whether facial "age estimation" is a smart way to make sure games companies don't break privacy rules for children. The tool would be used to check the age of adults giving consent, not to check the age of the player. ... The proposal originally caused some major confusion as it comes from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which rates games for age suitability in a similar way to the Motion Picture Association's movie ratings. However, this proposal has nothing to do with checking whether somebody is old enough to play a game. Instead, it's to do with ... (view more)

Software engineers have been debating whether today's operating systems are slower to respond than their predecessors. It led one site to experiment with running Windows XP on a new computer. After some hassles of getting it going, it turned out ... that XP felt extremely fast to use, albeit with a serious risk of malware infection. The debate started when Julio Merino put together "real-time videos" of an old machine running Windows NT 3.51 (a business version roughly equivalent to Windows 95 for consumers) and a modern machine running Windows 11. (Those of us of a certain age may have to ... (view more)

Google will stop some of its employees accessing the Internet. It's a bold experiment to see if it can reduce security threats without affecting performance. The idea is reduce the risk of hackers getting access to employee machines, either to get ... hold of data on those machines or to use them as an entry point into Google's network. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Google's internal data is particularly attractive to attackers, whether they are seeking financial gain, political or commercial advantage, or plain old mischief making. For example, attackers being able to find out how Google ranks ... (view more)