smartphones

Can Chinese-made “smart cars” gather sensitive information about the Americans driving them? Federal authorities want to find out and establish just what potential national security risks are involved in the sensor-packed vehicles.

The Australian government has passed new legislation granting workers the “right to disconnect” from work communications during non-work hours, aimed at helping employees maintain a healthier work-life balance.

Media giant Cox Media Group has come under scrutiny after boasting about its “Active Listening” technology, which allegedly enables marketers to eavesdrop on conversations through smartphones and other devices.

Epic Games, the company behind the popular video game Fortnite, has defeated Google in its antitrust case accusing the Masters of the Universe of maintaining an app store monopoly, marking a pivotal moment in the ongoing scrutiny of Big Tech’s monopolistic practices.

A new pediatric study has found a significant correlation between excessive screen time and developmental delays in children, raising concerns among parents and healthcare professionals. According to the data, children who spend more than four hours in front of screens are almost six times more likely to  suffer from delays in communication and problem-solving skills.

The French Senate has approved a bill that would allow the state to spy on individuals by remotely activating phone microphones and cameras.

Thieves in London are targeting gym goers as they exercise, copying credit cards and racking up charges in excess of $11,000. Although recent reports are in the UK, similar scams could pop up anywhere — here’s how to protect yourself.

Less than a week after Team USA advised Olympic athletes to purchase disposable “burner” phones to thwart Chinese surveillance of the Beijing Winter Olympics, researchers at the University of Toronto are warning of serious security issues in the “MY2022” smartphone app China is requiring all athletes, journalists, and spectators to download on their smartphones.

This week, classic BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry OS will no longer be able to make calls, send text messages, access data, and call 911 making them essentially unusable.

England’s High Court ruled on Wednesday that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the rule of Dubai and vice president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), ordered hackers to break into the smartphones of his ex-wife Princess Haya bint al-Hussein and her lawyers during the battle for custody of their children. One of Haya’s legal representatives is Baroness Fiona Shackleton, a member of the House of Lords.

Tech giant Google has been fined $177 million by South Korea for abusing its dominance in the smartphone market. The government criticized the Masters of the Universe for “anti-fragmentation” agreements 

A new feature released alongside the latest Android 12 mobile operating system beta tracks facial expressions, which the Masters of the Universe claim can be used to control smartphones.

A Chinese state newspaper called Economic Information Daily published an article on Tuesday that compared Internet gaming to opium addiction.

Teens worldwide are reporting a sharper rise in feelings of loneliness than a decade ago, an outcome that may be linked to smartphone use, a study has found.

Spies looking to gain information on world leaders reportedly used the “Pegasus” smartphone spyware to target world leaders including three presidents, ten prime ministers, and a king.

Retail giant Walmart is set to give 740,000 employees free Samsung smartphones by the end of the year so they can use a new app to manage schedules and perform a wide variety of other tasks in the store. Employees will be free to use the phone for their personal business as well.

Chinese telecom company Huawei rolled out a major program to build self-driving cars on Sunday, seeking a leadership position as a supplier for new the AI-driven market even as international distrust for its telecom and Internet services weakens the massive corporation’s existing business model.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has been asked to investigate allegations that Google and Apple, which together control over 99 percent of the global market in smartphone operating systems, secretly colluded to stifle smartphone search engine competitors.

The state of Utah is considering a bill that would require all mobile devices sold in the state to include filters to block pornography.

According to a recent market analysis report, tech giant Apple passed Samsung to become the largest smartphone vendor worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2020.

A new report published this week revealed that global smartphone sales dropped almost six percent during the third quarter of 2020. During the same period, Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi passed Apple to become the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.

A recent study has found that users initiate 89 percent of all smartphone interactions on their own, with only 11 percent being initiated by a notification. These results go against the conventional wisdom that the mountain of notifications generated on the average person’s phone every day distracts us from other tasks.

Tech giant Google has reportedly rolled out an update to its Android mobile platform that will enable devices to listen to every sound in users’ homes and alert them to certain household sounds.

Voice of America News reported on Saturday that Chinese smartphone maker Huawei is running out of the processor chips it needs to build its top phones because of U.S. sanctions.

Millions of Android phones are at risk due to an “Achilles” flaw in Qualcomm chips, which involves vulnerable code on almost half of all Android smartphones.

India banned an uncertain number of Chinese smartphone apps Tuesday, adding to the 59 banned at the end of June and 47 more, mostly clones and alternate versions of the original 59, in July.

When the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic hit its peak, the Chinese government was quick to make use of smartphones to track citizens’ movements and isolate those who might be infected. Now, privacy experts are warning that these surveillance measures may stay in place once the pandemic has ended. One communist party official claims that Chinese people want to be surveilled, saying the app is “loved so much that you cannot bear to part with it.”

A recent report revealed that teenagers spend an average of seven hours each day on their smartphones. The report suggests that 70 percent of teenagers conceal a portion of their online activity from their parents.

The smartphone industry has suffered its largest year-over-year decline ever according to a recent report as it struggles in the midst of the Chinese virus pandemic. The First quarter of 2020 saw a drop of almost 12 percent as compared to the same period in 2019 according to one analyst, while another analyst believes the drop could be as high as nearly 17 percent.

The South China Morning Post reported on Thursday that Chinese smartphone sales suffered their worst decline ever during the first quarter of 2020, with a drop of 22 percent for every major manufacturer except Huawei, which grew by six percent.

Tech giants Apple and Google, which together have near total control of the smartphone market, promise that only public health authorities will be able to access the companies’ new contact-tracing technology and governments will not be allowed to force people to use the technology.

Eleven suspects were arrested after a month-long child sex crime sting in Pawnee County, Oklahoma, recently. 

The University of Missouri (Mizzou) is forcing students to download a tracking app to their cellphones so that university officials can keep track of which students attend class, and which ones do not. Mizzou officials claim that they are tracking students for their own good.

Voters in the King Conservation District, which includes 1.2 million people in the Greater Seattle area, will soon be able to vote via smartphone in a first for U.S. elections. One professor specializing in election technology called the entire concept of voting via smartphone “a very stupid idea.”

According to a recent report, K-12 schools around the country are having to treat students for separation anxiety after implementing policies that require students to hand over their smartphones. One school’s solution was to buy locking pouches for smartphones, which

A recent report from the Norwegian Consumer Council alleges that dating and fertility apps are some of the biggest offenders when it comes to sharing private user data with ad firms.