John Lister

Police have used a suspect's face to unlock a phone for what appears to be the first time. It didn't go quite as planned and is another step in the law adapting to technology. The man in question was suspected of receiving and possessing indecent ... images of children. Police raided his house with a search warrant and discovered he had a phone which was locked. Historically such cases have proven a grey area when it comes to privacy laws and the rights of police. For example, while law enforcement agencies have argued that, as long as they have a court order, accessing a phone or computer is a ... (view more)

Google is under pressure to provide safer routes for pedestrians in its mapping tools. It's previously done so for cyclists, though hasn't yet pleased everyone. The latest call comes in international business newspaper the Financial Times. Special ... reports writer Madison Darbyshire highlighted a recent walk from a concert venue to a stop for a late night bus in which she used Google's suggested walking route. According to Darbyshire, "I found myself meandering along unlit side streets and away from the traffic that makes the city feel alive at all hours." (Source: ft.com ) Pedestrians Offer ... (view more)

Microsoft has released Office 2019, but effectively told would-be buyers it's not as good as Office 365. It's a clear attempt to push people towards the subscription model. In one of the more bizarre publicity drives for a new product, Microsoft ... gives very little attention to Office 2019 itself. It's the latest (and very possibly last) installment of MS Office as a standalone program to install and run on a computer, something Microsoft now calls the "on-premises" version. (Source: theregister.co.uk ) The package includes the core programs of Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word on both ... (view more)

A security researcher has found a way to crash the Firefox browser and even Windows itself. Sabri Haddouche has demonstrated the technique to highlight the risk that it could be misused. The bug is shown off at Haddouche's site Browser Reaper, which ... he created to chart his interest in denial of service attacks. Normally such attacks involve flooding a website with bogus visits until it is overloaded and becomes unavailable to ordinary users. However, Haddouche has been exploring the technique from the other perspective: forcing a browser to deal with so much traffic that it crashes. Epic Name ... (view more)

A judge in Georgia says she is "gravely concerned" that electronic voting machines could be hacked. But she says it's too late to scrap them for this year's elections. Amy Totenberg was ruling on a lawsuit originally filed May 2017 against Georgia's ... Secretary of State. It called for the use of the Direct Recording Voting machines to be banned for the elections. Among the arguments in the lawsuit were that the system doesn't create a paper trail for verifying any discrepancies; that the software on the machine could be altered or replaced without detection; and that the system makes it ... (view more)

Google is extending its parental monitoring tools to cover teenagers as well as children. There's a pretty major flaw in the program however. The change is to "Family Link," which Google introduced last year. That's a way for pre-teens to have a ... Google account of their own, letting them use an Android handset, but with heavy parental supervision and controls. Key features include parents being able to control which apps the child is allowed to install, when they can use their devices, and how long they can use the device for in total during the day. Parents can also access location ... (view more)

Google has apologized for remotely switching on "battery saver mode" on some Android phones. It says it was an internal test that was mistakenly rolled out. Battery Saver is an optional mode first added to the Android system in 2014. It aims to find ... a balance between reducing battery drain and maintaining convenience and functionality. The mode is effectively a collection of settings changes. These include reducing background processes (activity by apps the user isn't actively using), cutting down on screen animations, and stopping apps from automatically updating. It also disables ... (view more)

Microsoft is asking users to think twice before installing browsers such as Firefox and Chrome. A "warning message" is being tested in Windows 10. The message has been spotted by people in the Windows Insider program that lets them get early access ... to new features. The idea is to test the features on computers being used out in the 'real world' rather than in Microsoft labs. One such user has posted a screenshot of a message that appeared when they attempted to install Mozilla's Firefox browser. It reads "You already have Microsoft Edge - the safer, faster browser for Windows 10." ... (view more)

Smart TV sets that passed on user data without permission might have to display a message suggesting users sue the manufacturers. It's an unusual proposal in a class action lawsuit. Last year Vizio agreed to pay $3.7 million in fines to settle ... investigations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the New Jersey attorney general. The TVs in question used Internet connectivity (providing the TV was connected to Internet access at the home by the user), which then utilized a feature called "Smart Interactivity". Though the feature was enabled by default, users could switch it off ... (view more)

Windows 10's next major update will add a couple of features to make life easier for people with an Android phone. Using text messages and accessing photos on the PC will be possible without having to touch the phone. The services are both in a new ... built-in Windows 10 app called Your Phone. However, to use the new features, phone owners will also need to install "Microsoft Apps" from the Google Play Store on their handset. (Source: 9to5google.com ) Typing Possible On Full Size Keyboard The messaging tool covers SMS text messages. Users will be able to see the latest batch of messages received ... (view more)