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Evina, a French cybersecurity firm, disclosed this news in recent weeks, with its report that a single threat group developed the batch of apps that were made to look like everything from wallpaper and flashlight apps to mobile games. However, all the apps had the same goal, as Evina explains in its report of the fraud. “When an application is launched on your phone, the malware queries the application name,” the company explains. “If it is a Facebook application, the malware will launch a browser that loads Facebook at the same time. The browser is displayed in the foreground which...

I apologize if I posted this in the wrong place. I'm in dire need of a new phone. I've narrowed my choices to the Galaxy S20, the OnePlus 8, or the OnePlus 8 Pro. Does anyone have experience with anyone of these? Which would you recommend? Is there something else better in the same price range?

With an estimated 224.3 million smartphone users in the U.S. and an estimated 2.1 billion smartphone users worldwide, it’s likely that you own a smartphone. But as you’ve spent thousands of minutes scrolling through social media or browsing the internet, did you ever wonder where your smartphone came from? Did you ever think that the device which demands so much of your attention could have been made by a slave?

Sounds like contact tracing is right around the corner and our Big Brother friends, Google and Apple, are planning help facilitate tracking our activities via our smartphones. Just curious if anyone has considered dumping the smartphone for a simple flip phone. I presume that my position can still be traced via the triangulation cell tower network but that resolution is limited. However since the simple phones don't have a GPS chip and "smart" capabilities, detailed positioning and track is not as easily available to Big Brother.

HIRSCHFELD, GERMANY - Scientists in Germany have come up with a method for extracting the precious element germanium from plants. The element is a semi-conductor and was used to develop the first transistor because it is able to transport electrical charges extremely quickly. Nowadays, silicon-germanium alloy is indispensable to modern life, crucial in making computers, smartphones and fiber-optic cables. Transparent in infra-red light, germanium is also used in intelligent steering systems and parking sensors for vehicles. Yet although germanium is present in soil all over the world, it is difficult to extract, and most supplies currently come from China. Now...

Pope Francis encouraged the faithful gathered in Saint Peter’s Square on Sunday to talk with each other at mealtimes instead of using their cellphones. “We have to get back to communicating in our families,” the Pope said during his weekly Angelus address at the Vatican City. […] Sunday marked the day of the Holy Family in the Catholic calendar, a day on which Jesus, Mary and Joseph are venerated as the model Christian family. They “prayed, worked and communicated with each other,” the pope said of the Holy Family. “I ask myself if your family know how to communicate, or...

ToTok, an Emirati messaging app that has been downloaded to millions of phones, is the latest escalation of a digital arms race. IMAGE: The Aldar Building in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where the Emirates’ signals intelligence agency and Pax AI, a data mining firm linked to ToTok, have their offices.  Photo Credit...Ben Job/ReutersWASHINGTON — It is billed as an easy and secure way to chat by video or text message with friends and family, even in a country that has restricted popular messaging services like WhatsApp and Skype.But the service, ToTok, is actually a spying tool, according to American officials...

China was once very dependent on US chips for its phones. The latest Chinese phones have no US parts. The Wall Street Journal reports Huawei Manages to Make Smartphones Without American Chips. American tech companies are getting the go-ahead to resume business with Chinese smartphone giant Huawei Technologies Co., but it may be too late: It is now building smartphones without U.S. chips. Huawei’s latest phone, which it unveiled in September—the Mate 30 with a curved display and wide-angle cameras that competes with Apple Inc.’s iPhone 11—contained no U.S. parts, according to an analysis by UBS and Fomalhaut Techno Solutions,...

“Can you open door?” read a text message received by HuffPost Senior Culture Writer Zeba Blay on Thursday morning. It was from her mother, who was nowhere nearby. Senior Food and Style Editor Kristen Aiken received a text from her grandmother on Thursday that read “Nice looking boy!” Her grandmother rarely texts and they hadn’t been talking about a boy. Numerous people woke up to odd text messages like these ― sent from friends and family members, exes even! They seemed to make little sense. The messages appeared disjointed, not relevant to any current or ongoing conversation. To add further...

Mexico has seen an astounding 250% increase in Africans trying to enter the United States through the southern border, according to the latest figures released by the Mexican government’s immigration agency, known as Unidad de Política Migratoria. The stats include the first eight months of 2019 and reveal that, during the same period last year, 1,507 Africans were apprehended in the country compared to 5,286 this year. During the same period 4,783 migrants from India and Bangladesh were also detained in Mexico, according to the data made public this month. The information is alarming considering Africa and Bangladesh are hotbeds...

Introducing: “Simjacker” a new SIM card flaw, discovered being actively exploited in the wild, which allows attackers to hijack any phone just by sending it an SMS message. Security Now's Steve Gibson has all the details. Watch the full episode of Security Now: https://twit.tv/sn/732 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Steve Gibson

Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren offered proposals during Wednesday’s climate change town hall on CNN that mirrored what former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described as her biggest mistake during her 2016 campaign. Biden and Warren both attacked coal mining and fossil fuels during the 7-hour long forum, suggesting that eliminating one of the largest sources of energy in the United States would substantially help the environment. “We’ve got to shut down” all coal-fueled power plants, Biden asserted during his portion of the town hall.

In Dongguan, China, at the Huawei Developers' Conference, Huawei executives revealed the company's plans for the future. Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's Business Group, quickly unveiled the new Huawei operating system, called Harmony OS (called Hongmeng in China but not overseas). Harmony is not a mobile phone system to replace Android but rather is designed to work on devices from tablets to phones, smartwatches to cars and much else besides. And one other key thing: it's open-source. This last fact gave rise to the biggest cheer in the basketball stadium Huawei had taken over for the event. It means that...

Two Stories that I will post links to given the amount of Websites that have Shunned FR. Futher comments in the Body section, here are the links:https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/02/us-legislation-aims-to-thwart-chinas-electric-vehicle-dominance.htmlhttps://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-lithium-electric-exclusive/exclusive-us-seeks-to-challenge-chinas-electric-vehicle-supply-chain-dominance-idUSKCN1S81EO

The New York City Police Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying the man who attacked an elderly woman on a subway car in the Bronx in the early hours of March 10. Video of the attack surfaced on Thursday that not only showed the woman being repeatedly kicked in the head and body but also showed that no one came to her aid, instead other riders pulled out their smartphones and filmed the attack.

Smartphones are our constant companions. For many of us, their glowing screens are a ubiquitous presence, drawing us in with endless diversions, like the warm ping of social approval delivered in the forms of likes and retweets, and the algorithmically amplified outrage of the latest “breaking” news or controversy. They’re in our hands, as soon as we wake, and command our attention until the final moments before we fall asleep. Steve Jobs would not approve.

At the crest of his political career Meng Hongwei, the first-ever Chinese president of Interpol, was proudly hailed by state media as a testimony to the international community’s “full recognition” of China’s law enforcement capacity and status as a country based on the rule of law. Less than a year after he took the helm of the global policing body, Meng hosted its general assembly in Beijing – only the second time in the country’s history. At the opening ceremony, he was given the rare privilege of sitting next to the country’s most powerful man, President Xi Jinping, who –...

Cindi Eckis doesn’t have a smartphone, and she doesn’t want one. “It makes my life simpler,” the Cheektowaga retiree said. But sticking with her flip phone will make it tougher for her and other low-tech motorists to find a place to park along some streets of downtown Buffalo. A new parking policy being rolled out by city officials adds parking zones where the only way to pay to park is through the Buffalo Roam parking app. Blue "Pay by app only" signs went up earlier this week on Cobblestone District streets. "Pay from your phone," the signs read. "Download Buffalo...

European leaders need to bring immigration numbers down, and metadata on smartphones could be just what they need to start sending migrants back. Smartphones have helped tens of thousands of migrants travel to Europe. A phone means you can stay in touch with your family – or with people smugglers. On the road, you can check Facebook groups that warn of border closures, policy changes or scams to watch out for. Advice on how to avoid border police spreads via WhatsApp. Now, governments are using migrants' smartphones to deport them. Across the continent, migrants are being confronted by a booming...

Social media giant Facebook continues to ramp up the creepy factor. According to a recently filed patent, Facebook wants to spy on you by hiding inaudible messages in TV ads.Facebook has filed a patent for a system that hides audio clips in TV commercials. These sounds would be so high-pitched that they are inaudible to human beings. They would then trigger your phone to record all the background noises in your home. The patent application is called “broadcast content view analysis based on ambient audio recording.”According to The Daily Mail, these secret messages would force your phone to record the audio...