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It seems rumors that claimed Apple conducted research into an "iRing" wearable product were based in reality, as a new patent application reveals work on a finger-mounted device stuffed with microphones, motion sensors, a haptic feedback system, biometric sensors, cameras and even a small display. The fairly comprehensive patent application, titled "Devices and methods for a ring computing device" and published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday, describes an advanced ring-style wearable that uses voice, motion and touch input to control and interact with larger computing devices. In many ways, the claims read like an overview of...

Chumship pact pie carve-up details kept under wraps Google and Microsoft have inked a secret deal in which all patent disputes between the mammoth companies will be abandoned. The exact terms of the agreement – as in, who gets what – were not disclosed. Your guess is as good as ours. "Microsoft and Google are pleased to announce an agreement on patent issues," the companies said in a joint statement that was sent to El Reg via email. "As part of the agreement, the companies will dismiss all pending patent infringement litigation between them, including cases related to Motorola Mobility."...

Microsoft has accidentally listed two new Lumia flagships on its online store. The Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL are both listed as unlocked models, with confirmation of some of the leaked specifications. Microsoft lists the Lumia 950 as a 5.2-inch handset with a 20-megapixel camera and 32GB of storage. While the larger Lumia 950 is 5.7 inches with the same camera and storage. Microsoft is expected to announce both handsets at a special Windows 10 event in New York City next week. Previously leaked photos and specifications of the devices also reveal that Microsoft's new Lumias will support...

On the day that Apple releases El Capitan details of an exploit that makes it possible to bypass the Gatekeeper feature of OS X have emerged. Designed to combat various forms of malware, the security feature can be bypassed using a simple trick involving the use of a signed binary.Even when Gatekeeper is configured to use its highest level of protection, the ease with which the fortifications can be slipped through is staggering. Using a file that has already been deemed trustworthy by Apple, it is possible to trick OS X into executing a malicious file stored in the...

iFixit App Pulled from Apple’s Store written by Kyle Wiens You might have noticed that there’s no longer an iFixit app in the Apple’s App Store. We are sorry for anyone this has inconvenienced.Not too long ago, we tore down the Apple TV and Siri Remote. The  developer unit we disassembled was sent to us by Apple. Evidently, they didn’t intend for us to take it apart. But we’re a teardown and repair company; teardowns are in our DNA—and nothing makes us happier than figuring out what makes these gadgets tick. We weighed the risks, blithely tossed those risks...

Worried about how long your new iPhone will last? Worry no more, because Apple is paying more to put its new iPhones together, and a longer lifespan and improved resale value seem to be the name of the game.That's what research firm IHS Technology has said after its latest teardowns of the two new smartphones from the Cupertino, California-based tech giant.IHS found that Apple is paying as much as $16 more per unit to assemble the new 16GB iPhone 6S Plus when compared with last year's iPhone 6 Plus, and the extra spending is covering not only new features like...

Apple releases iOS 9.0.2 Apple today released iOS 9.0.2 which contains bug fixes and improvements including:• Fixes an issue with the setting to turn on or off app cellular data usage • Resolves an issue that prevented iMessage activation for some users • Resolves an issue where an iCloud Backup could be interrupted after starting a manual backup • Fixes an issue where the screen could incorrectly rotate when receiving notifications • Improves the stability of PodcastsFor information on the security content of this update: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

Apple releases OS X 10.11 El Capitan with Safari 9.0 Apple today released OS X 10.11 El Capitan with Safari 9.0 which builds on the groundbreaking features and beautiful design introduced in OS X Yosemite, refining the experience and improving performance in lots of ways that you’ll enjoy everyday. Make the most of your screen with Split View. • Focus on two apps at once – neatly arranged side by side — in full screen without distractions.Take control of your desktop with Mission Control. • View all your open windows in a single layer with no overlap, so you can instantly...

Three years ago, a common human being interested in the privacy policy of a gadget or service it was using was a rare bird. With the revelation that a large amount of the communications and private data of both foreign nationals and native residents of the U.S. were being collected and scrutinized by the government, all of that prototypical fine print came home to roost.Since then, privacy has become a war cry among tech companies, and none so vociferously as Apple. It has amplified a well-aligned stance on user data being owned by the user to global proportions, taking a...

Since it was released, Windows 10 has incited a privacy furor. Hundreds of commenters on sites such as Hacker News and Reddit have criticised default settings that send personal information to Microsoft and use bandwidth to upload data to other Windows 10 computers.Concerns have risen over the Wi-Fi password sharing feature, Microsoft's plans to keep people from running counterfeit software, the inability to opt out of security updates, weekly dossiers sent to parents on their kids' online activity, and the fact that Windows 10 by default shares a lot of your personal information - contacts, calendar details, text and touch...

At a press event in San Francisco on Tuesday, Google Inc. showed off a new lineup of holiday-season products that included two new smartphones with advanced cameras, a tablet called the Pixel C and a redesigned streaming device for the living room that can also be used to play games. Dave Burke, a vice president of Android Engineering, unveiled the 6P smartphone, which sports a 5.7-inch AMOLED display, 64-bit processing, 3,500mAh battery, USB-C connector, 12.3-megapixel camera on the back, 8-megapixel front-facing camera and fingerprint sensor. It runs the new Android 6.0 operating system, called "Marshmallow." Another new phone, the 5X,...

As if they suddenly came to an epiphany, the United States Air Force brass is now admitting what many of us have been screaming about for so long: We didn’t build nearly enough F-22s, and the F-35 cannot simply pick up the slack. So why aren’t those who pushed so hard to cancel the F-22 program being held accountable? By the mid 2000s, the F-22 was finally entering the fray as the world’s first true stealth fighter, offering a quantum leap in capability and performance when compared with anything else on the battlefield. It was a thoroughbred weapon system meant...

I love the Linux desktop. As far as I'm concerned, the Linux Mint 17.2 is the best desktop around. Heck, I was once editor-in-chief of a website called Linux Desktop. But today, I believe there's no way the Linux desktop will ever become the top desktop operating system. The Linux desktop, here Mint 17.2 with Cinnamon, is great, but it will never be popular the way Windows was. That's right. There will be no "Year of the Linux desktop." Oh, don't get me wrong, Linux, as Android tablets and smartphones and Chrome OS Chromebooks, will become the most popular end-user...

The Broadway Apple Store (Photo: Matt Buchanan/Flickr)In more ancient times, when communal experiences were mediated by religion, crowds used to gather outside temples on feast days. In Biblical times, for instance, on pilgrimage holidays like Passover, Jewish people were supposed to travel to Jerusalem, to be present at the Holy Temple, where the High Priest would make a sacrifice to God.Nowadays, we have Apple Release Day—the Feast of St. Jobs—when faithful customers gather outside Apple stores and await the renewal of a next generation iPhone.But is the Apple store really like a sacred space? To find out, Atlas Obscura brought...

On by default, feature automatically switches to cellular signal when Wi-Fi is weak If you've upgraded to iOS 9, you should be aware that it comes with a new feature – enabled by default – that could make your next wireless bill a lot bigger. Wi-Fi Assist automatically switches your phone from Wi-Fi to a cellular connection when the Wi-Fi signal is poor. That's helpful if you're in the middle of watching a video or some other task on the internet that you don't want interrupted by spotty Wi-Fi service. "But this also means eating through your 500 MB data...

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Researchers in the US have developed an implant to help a disabled brain encode memories, giving new hope to Alzheimer’s sufferers and wounded soldiers who cannot remember the recent past. The prosthetic, developed at the University of Southern California and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre in a decade-long collaboration, includes a small array of electrodes implanted into the brain. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this...

Obviously it's BS, but IMO it means that someone reported us falsely in an attempt to drive traffic away. Anything we can do about it?

A 24-year-old German man has been handed a nine month conditional jail sentence for posting hundreds of right-wing extremist comments online. Austrian found guilty of Nazi Facebook post (26 Aug 15) Neo-Nazi handed 20 month sentence (19 Aug 15) Hungarian neo-Nazis take Austrian mini-break (13 Aug 15) Neo-Nazi codes banned from number plates (23 Jul 15) The man, who lives in the Lavant Valley in Carinthia, made a total of 399 entries on the right-wing extremist online discussion site Thiazi.net between 2009 and 2010, some of which glorified Nazism. He registered on the internet forum a few days before his...

The saga of this city worker is a gift that keeps on giving: Despite receiving a 20-day suspension last year for mimicking a robot while answering IT calls to the Department of Health's help desk, employee Ronald Dillon is about to be disciplined once again for talking to customers like a droid. Dillon will likely be put on 30-day unpaid leave after he overrode supervisors' orders to stop impersonating a machine, which the judge who presided over Dillon's hearing described as "a slow, stilted and monotonous voice." Dillon was also censured for not responding to customer-service requests and purposefully misdirecting...

Open source wireless router firmware may become tougher to install in the United States, if not illegal. That's if device manufacturers interpret new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules involving radio frequencies to mean that user-modified software should be banned. The rules require manufacturers of wireless routers to "implement security features in any digitally modulated devices capable of operating in any of the U-NII bands, so that third parties are not able to reprogram the device to operate outside the parameters for which the device was certified."In non-geek terms, that means users shouldn't be able to change their routers's radio frequencies,...