android

Mon
23
Sep
John Lister's picture

Windows File Explorer Can Remotely Access Android Phone

Windows users will soon be able to access files on their Android phone or tablet without a USB cable. The feature is already available in test editions of Windows 11. The feature, first reported back in June, has now arrived for members of the ... Windows Insider Program, which gives early access to in-development and test features. They will also need to install the "Cross device experience host" tool from the Microsoft store. Windows does already offer some wireless connectivity with Android phones such as using it as a webcam or getting on-screen notifications from the phone replicated on the ... (view more)

Fri
23
Aug
John Lister's picture

Google Warns of 2G SMS Scam

Google has warned Android users to disable 2G connectivity. It says scammers are taking advantage of the outdated tech to send phishing messages and other spam that gets past all filters. 2G cellphone service was commonplace in the 1990s before ... being followed by 3G in the 2000s. 2G was the beginning of digital mobile phone connections and allowed for SMS text messaging, though it wasn't fast enough to support reliable mobile Internet services. While most US carriers have disabled their 2G networks, many handsets still support it. It can be useful as a last resort in places with either limited ... (view more)

Mon
12
Aug
Dennis Faas's picture

VideoProc Converter AI Review

What's one of the best one-stop video/image quality enhancement and editing software available for Windows? Answer: Digiarty's VideoProc Converter AI! From the makers of WinX DVD Ripper and WinX Video Converter comes VideoProc Converter: a ... multi-award winning software program that is a one-stop video/image processing program that allows you to restore and enhance video image quality in 1 click, convert video/audio, rip DVDs, edit video, download videos, video to GIF maker ... plus much more! The latest version of VideoProc Converter AI includes the ability to upscale old pictures and video ... (view more)

Wed
12
Jun
John Lister's picture

Google Play 'Update' May Be Scam

Android scammers are using a creatively nasty way to spread malware. They've disguised it as an update for the Google Play store itself. It's a particularly cheeky way to try to get credibility for a malware scam. Not only is Google Play the ... official place to get Android apps in the first place, but the best and simplest Android security tip is to only use apps from Google Play. In this case, the malware doesn't originate as an app but instead as a bogus link. This could be on a web page, in a text message or in an email. The supposed source is Google itself and the link comes with a message ... (view more)

Fri
17
May
John Lister's picture

'Dirty Stream' Floods Android With Malware

A new form of Android malware can hijack legitimate apps. "Dirty Stream" take advantage of a legitimate function designed to make life easier for users. The function is called ContentProvider and allows one mobile app to access data from, or ... communicate with, another app. It makes it possible to, for example, open a PDF attachment from a messaging app in a dedicated PDF reader app. The people behind the DirtyStream malware found a vulnerability in the way ContentProvider worked. This made it possible not only to force another app to open a compromised file, but to then use the contents to ... (view more)

Mon
22
Apr
John Lister's picture

'Find My Device' Works Even if Phone is Off

Google has launched a "find my phone" feature that can work even after the battery has run out. It's part of a major upgrade delayed by a dispute with Apple, though privacy remains a hot topic. The big upgrade is to the "Find My Device" network of ... what Google says is more than a billion Android devices including phones, watches and earbuds. It aims to overcome the problems that it's not necessarily viable (or desirable) for all portable devices to constantly be connected to cellular networks or WiFi, broadcasting their location ready to be tracked by their owner. Instead the idea is that each ... (view more)

Fri
01
Mar
John Lister's picture

Android Malware Targets Banking Apps

The latest malware targeting banking users may have infected up to 200,000 Android devices. The criminals behind Anatsa have deliberately exploited what's meant to be a useful feature that makes users' lives easier. The attacks have some familiar ... features such as distributing the malware through free tools that perform some basic functions and finding ways around the Android permission system. What makes it a particularly nasty campaign is that it takes advantage of the Android Accessibility system. Security researchers at ThreatFabric spotted the malware in five apps with similar names: ... (view more)

Thu
04
Jan
John Lister's picture

Android To Give Battery Health Updates

Android devices may soon tell users when their phone is starting to degrade. It's a feature already found in phones. The feature is not about the percentage of charge the battery has, which is easy to find in Android settings and can be shown ... permanently on the screen. Instead, it's about battery health. It's described by Google as the "estimated percentage of charge the battery can currently hold compared to when it was new." That's not necessarily as straightforward as it might seem: battery life doesn't necessarily degrade at a consistent rate. A rule of thumb, the battery should retain at ... (view more)

Fri
10
Nov
John Lister's picture

Apple, Google Dispute May Sway Competition Rules

Google is leading a bid to force Apple to make its iMessage tool more compatible with other services. It could have a wider effect on tech competition as a whole. In the past, most messaging tools used SMS (Short Messaging Service) which sent text ... messages over the cellular network. These are either paid for individually by the user, or taken out of a monthly allowance that's separate to cellular data services. Most phones now have one or more services that let users send messages via cellular data and the Internet. As well as not using up SMS allowances, such messaging tools also allow ... (view more)

Tue
31
Oct
John Lister's picture

New Phone Offers Physical Privacy Switches

A proposed new smartphone would include two physical switches to control privacy. The Murena 2 would run Android apps, but use its own operating system. The makers have reached a (very low) funding goal on the Kickstarter site with around 450 sales ... at the time of writing. That theoretically means the project can go ahead, though without any legal guarantee it will do so. The main selling point of the phone is a privacy-focused design, which the makers say is to tackle data being collected on Android and iPhones even when the owner isn't actively using the handset. The most eye-catching part ... (view more)

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