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Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. Or so said Steve Jobs when he announced iPhone in 2007.But I’m talking about a different revolutionary product. A foundational product that forever changed how everyone on this planet gets to where they need to be. Today, I’d like to tell you about the Etak Navigator, a truly revolutionary product and the world’s first practical vehicle navigation system.Here’s a picture of it:At the time, it was considered out-of-this-world. This is what Silicon Valley’s San Jose Mercury News said about it:The Etak Navigator launched 39 years (!) ago...

The EU parliament on Tuesday passed a new law requiring USB-C to be the single charger standard for all new smartphones, tablets and cameras from late 2024. The measure, which EU lawmakers adopted with a vote 602 in favour, 13 against, will — in Europe at least — push Apple to drop its outdated Lightning port on its iPhones for the USB-C one already used by many of its competitors. Makers of laptops will have extra time, from early 2026, to also follow suit. EU policymakers say the single charger rule will simplify the life of Europeans, reduce the mountain...

Ever wondered what types of batteries are used to power electric and hybrid vehicles (EHVs)? Well, the majority of EHVs being driven on our roads today will use lithium-ion (Li-ion) or lithium polymer batteries. ... They pose a potentially lethal chemical hazard to anyone working on or near EHVs. ... Since the electrolyte is a liquid, there is always the possibility that it could leak from inside the battery – we’ve all seen standard AA batteries that have leaked leaving white potassium hydroxide crystals on their outer casing, right? Well, that’s the danger with lithium-ion batteries. If the electrolyte inside...

Abstract Context: The current science is not definitive about health risks from wireless phones; however, the legitimate questions about safety that have arisen from recent studies make claims of absolute safety no longer supportable. Objective: The objective of this paper is to outline for primary care providers the results of the most current research on the possible impact of wireless phone use on human health. Presented are study results from Wireless Technology Research (WTR) program, the 7-year, $27 million effort funded by the wireless industry in the United States, that represents the world's most comprehensive research effort addressing this issue...

Georgia Tech Researchers have now shown that one of the very measures meant to keep data secure on a low-end phone can enable attackers to steal it. Their paper, presented on September 10 at the 6th IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy, demonstrates successful attacks on two different types of low-end Android phones, a ZTE Zfive and an Alcatel Ideal. In accordance with standard practice, the researchers reported their findings to software developers before releasing their results so that the problem could be fixed. The attack relies on placing a radio sensor within a few centimeters of a device,...

Israel shared three cell phone numbers used by Qasem Soleimani with U.S. intelligence in the hours before American drones unleashed Hellfire missiles on the Iranian general last year, Yahoo News reported Saturday. The revelation sheds new light on the role that Israel played in the killing of Soleimani, who the State Department says was responsible for hundreds of U.S. troop deaths as the head of the Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force. The drone strike occurred shortly after midnight on Jan. 2, 2020, as Soleimani and his entourage were leaving Baghdad's international airport. As three Delta Force sniper teams monitored Soleimani...

The best 5G phone is still going to be limited by 5G infrastructure in 2019. The cheapest 5G phone will still be very expensive compared to a 4G enabled version. Is 5G even worth it in 2019?The Problem with a 5G Phone | Dave Lee | Published on December 19, 2018 | Background Music: Fili - H2O [Civ's comment: Dave2D is geekier perhaps than most, has some fussy quirks (that's probably a little unfair), but he starts his vids, gets to the point, covers a lot of ground, signs off fast, and has the best overall presentation on tech...

World-first technology to catch drivers using phones illegally is being introduced in NSW ahead of the rest of the country. Here are the mobile phone fines in each state. Drivers using a mobile phone illegally have a greater chance of getting caught from today, as NSW becomes the first place in the world to introduce mobile phone detection cameras – and other Australian states are poised to follow. A mix of 10 fixed and portable mobile phone detection cameras will be installed in NSW from today (1 December 2019); another 35 are planned over the next four years. During a...

AT&T wireless customers throughout large parts of the country and in the state of Florida are unable to call 911 due to a technical problem. The cause of the problem is unknown but officials both locally and throughout the southeast are working to fix the issue with AT&T, which is one of the largest wireless carriers in the nation. Currently, AT&T says the problem is affecting customers in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee, according to the Orange County officials. Each county has set up backup phone numbers so residents can reach first responders. In Orange County, residents needing...

A few months ago I wrote about how you can encrypt your entire life in less than an hour. Well, all the security in the world can’t save you if someone has physical possession of your phone or laptop, and can intimidate you into giving up your password. And a few weeks ago, that’s precisely what happened to a US citizen returning home from abroad. On January 30th, Sidd Bikkannavar, a US-born scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory flew back to Houston, Texas from Santiago, Chile. On his way through the airport, Customs and Border Patrol agents pulled him aside....

After a horrendous autumn dealing with the fallout of combusting batteries in the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung is now reassuring customers that its smaller-sized, S7 range is not affected by the same issue. “Samsung stands behind the quality and safety of the Galaxy S7 family” the company said in an official statement released late on Friday. “There have been no confirmed cases of internal battery failures with these devices among the more than 10 million devices being used by consumers in the United States.”

WASHINGTON — For about $50, you can get a smartphone with a high-definition display, fast data service and, according to security contractors, a secret feature: a backdoor that sends all your text messages to China every 72 hours. Kryptowire, the security firm that discovered the vulnerability, said the Adups software transmitted the full contents of text messages, contact lists, call logs, location information and other data to a Chinese server. The code comes preinstalled on phones and the surveillance is not disclosed to users... Security experts frequently discover vulnerabilities in consumer electronics, but this case is exceptional. It was not...

DressCode has been found circulating in at least 3,000 Trojanized apps One of the Trojanized apps that's part of the DressCode family. Credit: Trend Micro An Android malware is spreading across app stores, including Google Play, and has the capability of stealing sensitive files from corporate networks. DressCode, a family of Android malware, has been found circulating in at least 3,000 Trojanized apps, security firm Trend Micro said Friday. DressCode hides itself inside games, user interface themes and phone optimization boosters. It can also be difficult to detect because the malicious coding only makes up a small portion of the overall...

The research firm Gartner has crunched some numbers and found that Android and iOS accounted for a record 99.1% worldwide market share in the second calendar quarter of 2016, which is compared to 96.8% in the year-ago period. What some may view as even more shocking is that Android accounted for 86.2% of the market share in the second quarter, up from 82.2% a year ago. Meanwhile, iOS lost some ground as it dropped to 12.9% market share from 14.6% in the year-ago period. It's no surprise that Windows and BlackBerry have been losing market share. They dropped to 0.6%...

It’s scary to hear that cellphones — devices that most of us have with us all the time — have been linked to cancer by a government study. But despite any headlines you may have seen, there’s still not enough information or evidence for the average person to be concerned by these findings. “I’m not going to stop using my mobile phone in the light of this,” Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at The Open University, said in a statement to the Australian and UK Science Media Centre. Here’s why you shouldn’t panicThe latest results that we have...

Fox News reporter James Rosen claimed intelligence sources have told him not only that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl willingly collaborated with the Taliban, but that his involvement with the terrorist group may be “as serious as you can imagine.” Rosen spoke with Bill O’Reilly Wednesday night about his ongoing conversations with intelligence and Pentagon officials regarding both old and new investigations into Bergdahl’s likely desertion and possibly treasonous activities. “My reporting has shown that the intelligence community also undertook a separate [from the Army] investigation of Sgt. Bergdahl,” Rosen explained, “both his final period of active duty that culminated in...

CBS correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, left, with hacker Karsten Nohl Update: Rep. Ted Lieu has now written to the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform requesting a formal investigation into the vulnerability. In his letter, the Congressman says that the flaw threatens ‘personal privacy, economic competitiveness and U.S. national security.’ The full text of his letter can be found at the bottom of the piece.Apple may take iOS security so seriously that it’s willing to do battle with the FBI over it, but German hackers have demonstrated that all phones – even iPhones – are susceptible...

Sprint became the first U.S. telecommunications company to provide direct roaming mobile phone service to foreigners in Cuba, after a striking a deal at the Havana International Fair. Sprint says it expects the number of visitors in Cuba to reach 5 million a year within the next decade. The U.S.-based firm Sprint signed a deal with Cuba’s state telecommunications agency Etecsa, with the objective to reach millions of tourists expected to visit the island in coming years. The move comes as Washington and Havana continue to explore business opportunities, since restoring diplomatic relations in July for the first time in...

Google’s Android has gobbled up market share world wide, now accounting for over 80% of all smartphone shipped globally. But when it comes to actually making money, Apple is eating all the profits as it continues its focus on premium devices. Today Strategy Analytics said that Apple in Q4 last year accounted for 89% of all smartphone profits, equating to $18.8 billion, with Android taking only 11%, or $2.4 billion. The blow for Android is softened only slightly less so only by the fact that other platform players like Microsoft, Blackberry and Firefox seemingly made no profit at all.

Of course the real story is being overlooked here... WASHINGTON – A Justice Department official on Friday defended the legality of a program to scoop up data from thousands of mobile phones as the secret operation came under scrutiny from lawmakers and caught the federal agency that regulates the nation’s airwaves by surprise. The Justice Department, without formally acknowledging the existence of the program, defended the legality of the operation by the U.S. Marshals Service, saying the agency doesn’t maintain a database of everyday Americans’ cellphones. Whether they maintain such a database is immaterial to the underlying issue, which is...