John Lister

A pedestrian has died after being hit by a self-driving vehicle in Tempa, Arizona. It's the first time an autonomous car has collided with a person on foot, resulting in a fatality. The car was part of a test program offered by taxi-alternative ... company Uber. It's now suspended its testing which was taking place on public streets in several states. The Washington Post says the crash took place at a busy intersection of public streets. Police said the vehicle was driving northbound and hit 49-year-old pedestrian Elaine Herzberg, who was crossing the street. They added that she was not within ... (view more)

President Trump has blocked a Singapore-based company from taking over a major American tech firm. He says the proposed Broadcom buyout of Qualcomm posed a credible national security risk. The deal would have been the biggest in tech history. ... Qualcomm makes a wide range of computer and gadget components with a particular emphasis on those used in communications devices such as phones. It helped develop key systems used to carry data over cellphone networks, allowing smartphones and tablets to get Internet access without relying on WiFi. Broadcom had offered $140 million to buyout Qualcomm. ... (view more)

Google says human error allowed videos from a banned Neo-Nazi group to remain on YouTube despite reports. It says it will look at both human and automated changes to stop it happening again. The videos involved National Action, a far right Neo-Nazi ... group in the United Kingdom. The government there has proscribed the group. That's a special measure for groups that are actively carrying out, preparing or promoting terrorism rather than merely expressing offensive views. British law means it's illegal to be a member of a proscribed group or take part in its meetings. The UK government describes ... (view more)

A security firm says malware that targets routers is so sophisticated it's highly likely a government is behind it. Dubbed "Slingshot," the malware appears to have been working for six years without detection. The attack was on a specific brand of ... routers, namely Mikrotik. Although based in Latvia, its products have shipped around the world to business and home users. The big problem was with an associated piece of software named Winbox, used to manage the router. The way Winbox works involves taking DLL files stored on the router itself and running them directly in the computer's ... (view more)

Nearly 47 million Americans have a 'smart speaker' device in their home according to a new survey. If true, the devices' user base has gone from almost nothing to one-in-five people in just two years. While models vary, smart speakers are small ... devices that perform two main functions: playing music (often from online streaming services) and answering spoken questions as a quicker alternative to typing something into a smartphone or computer. In some cases they are also used to control home devices such as lights and heating. The study says 19.7 percent of people have access to a smart speaker ... (view more)

Washington State has passed a law enforcing net neutrality. It could prompt a legal battle over state versus federal rulemaking power. The state law, which takes effect in June, is based on the net neutrality principle that all Internet data (except ... for illegal content) should be treated equally. The new law bans three specific behaviors by Internet providers who offer service in Washington state, namely: blocking users from accessing any legal service, content or application; slowing down transfer speeds for specific types of content; and giving favorable treatment to particular data in ... (view more)

Facebook has made a survey in which it asked if adult users should be allowed to ask children for 'explicit' pictures. The survey question appears to be a horrific mistake, albeit one that's hard to explain. The survey was seen by a journalist at ... the UK's Guardian newspaper, who posted screenshots of the questions. One of the questions read "There are a wide range of topics and behaviors that appear on Facebook. In thinking about an ideal world where you could set Facebook's policies, how would you handle the following: a private message in which an adult man asks a 14-year-old girl for ... (view more)

Amazon has bought a company that makes video doorbells. The purchase of "Ring" is likely to boost a service where Amazon couriers are able to get into customer homes to drop off parcels safely. The Amazon Key service was developed as a way to get ... round the twin problems of it being inconvenient to have to wait in for deliveries, but insecure to have couriers leave parcels on doorsteps. It works with 'smart' electronic door locks where householders can unlock their door with their smartphone, either by tapping the screen or simply having their phone in their pocket as they approach ... (view more)

Google has removed more than a million web pages from its search index under European privacy guidelines. It's published detailed statistics on its handling of the "right to be forgotten." The "right" is actually a set of legal guidelines ... established by the European Court of Justice and covering searches made within Europe. The idea is to balance the right to privacy with the right to freedom of expression. It was sparked by a case where a man complained that searches for his name brought up a 1998 newspaper article about his house being foreclosed over a debt. Although the article was untrue ... (view more)

Windows XP and Vista users won't be able to buy music or movies from Apple after May, 2018. That's because Apple is ditching support for the operating systems on iTunes, as they are no longer supported by Microsoft and do not receive patches for ... vulnerabilities. The move also affects the original Apple TV device, which has already lost hardware support from the company. In both cases, Apple says it's withdrawing the support for security reasons. Once the change takes effect on May 25, 2018, PCs running Windows XP and Vista will no longer be able to update to the latest edition of ... (view more)