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.
American colleges and universities are using students’ smartphones to track surveil students on campus. Many students have opted into surveillance programs after being encouraged by their professors.
A report published by the New York Times on Sunday, described a smartphone messaging app called ToTok as a spying tool deployed by the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to monitor the movements of its citizens and listen to their conversations.
According to a recent report, less than 10 percent of American consumers are purchasing $1,000 flagship smartphones from companies like Apple and Samsung.
Students at San Mateo High School — in the heart of Silicon Valley — must now lock up their phones at the start of every school day this year. The school is using a device, developed by a start-up company specifically for locking up phones so that students can be more engaged with their surroundings rather than with their phones.
A recent report claims that Google has shut down a service which showed wireless carriers weak spots in their network coverage over privacy concerns.
Chinese billionaire Ren Zhengfei, founder of telecommunications titan Huawei, wrote an internal memo this week laying out plans to overhaul the company over the next three to five years and create an “invincible iron army” to fight against regulatory pressure and competition from the United States.
A recent study found that nearly half of students are distracted by the use of smartphones and other technology in the classroom. Some students also said that it’s the teacher’s job to make the classroom more interesting, in order to deter them from using technology.
Professor Tom Bensky at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, has developed an app that tracks classroom attendance using the GPS function on his student’s smartphones.
The FCC recently issued a warning about a new phone scam being labeled the “One Ring” scam. This is how you can avoid scammers trying to rip you off if you return a missed call.
State lawmakers in Kansas recently introduced two bills that would effectively censor pornography in the state by requiring computers and smartphones sold in the state to have porn filters installed.
The Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan announced on Tuesday that smartphones and computers from China’s Huawei corporation will no longer be allowed to connect with its internal network. The ban was imposed “for the sake of information security.”
Cell phone service providers including AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint are allegedly selling access to the location data of their customers, which can end up in the possession of unauthorized individuals, according to a recent report.
According to recently published internal documents, Facebook executives predicted a public backlash over an update to the company’s Android app which would send call and text data to Facebook.
Nearly 90 percent of apps analyzed in a report sent data directly back to Google, while 42 percent of apps also sent data to Facebook.
Google will reportedly soon be charging phone manufacturers to pre-load Google apps such as Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps on their devices for the E.U. market.
New tools from Apple and Google aim to help users analyze how long they spend on their phones and set timers to prevent access to certain apps, similar to child controls.
Tech giant Google has admitted to changing Android phone settings remotely without user permission, a move considered by experts to be bad for “transparency and consent.”
“Hundreds” of apps for Google’s Android platform failed to disclose third-party analytics and advertising services within them, which collected personal user information, according to a report.
France has banned children under the age of fifteen from using smartphones at school.
The Defense Department announced on Wednesday it has banned the sale of smartphones made by the Chinese corporations Huawei and ZTE on U.S. military bases, describing them as an “unacceptable risk to the Department’s personnel, information, and mission.”
Musician Jack White has banned the use of mobile phones and other recording equipment on his upcoming tour, where attendees will have their technology locked inside a secure pouch.
Two prominent Apple shareholders have called on the company to research the impact of smartphones on children.
(Reuters) – A ban on pedestrians looking at mobile phones or texting while crossing the street will take effect in Hawaii’s largest city in late October, as Honolulu becomes the first major U.S. city to pass legislation aimed at reducing injuries and deaths from “distracted walking.”
A new home test kit that incorporates a smartphone attachment and app allows men to test their fertility, measuring sperm count, concentration, and movement.
NEW YORK – an Israeli invention launched on Tuesday, has set out to put quality back in family time by taking smartphones out of the equation.
With Samsung cancelling the Galaxy Note 7 after a continuing series of random spontaneous combustions, Apple iPhone 7 Plus and Google’s Pixel XL seem best positioned to battle it out for the 8 million sales opportunities.
