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Security researchers have exposed more than 20 rogue Android apps that secretly load ads as part of a scam. The rogue apps perform their advertised tasks for cyber criminals, but also drain batteries and overheat phones in the process. It's another ... embarrassment for Google as all the apps were found in the official Google Play Store, which is designed to vet apps to reduce the chances of malicious activity. Remove These Rogue Android Apps Now Researchers at ESET antivirus say they found 42 apps have been part of an orchestrated campaign running since July last year. They were able to ... (view more)

Google is introducing more options to deal with the Chrome browser using too much computer memory. It's implementing less severe options for users with multiple tabs open. The way Chrome was originally designed means every open tab uses up computer ... memory (RAM). That can mount up substantially if you are accustomed to having many tabs opened when Chrome is launched, or even with Chrome is idle. In turn this will significantly slow the computer down on older systems that don't have enough RAM to begin with. Since 2015 Chrome has had a feature called "Tab Discarding" that kicks in ... (view more)

Google is making three changes to make it easier to control privacy while using its services. Now, Google Maps, YouTube and the Google Assistant have the option to control privacy settings in more detail. The company's privacy chief Eric Miraglia ... wrote that controlling privacy and security settings should be as easy as using the services themselves. That might provoke some skepticism from critics who believe Google wants to maximize the amount of data it stores about people. (Source: blog.google ) Google Maps Goes Incognito The first change is to Google Maps, which is now getting an " ... (view more)

Google has won a major victory over "right to be forgotten" rules . When it agrees to delete 'outdated' search results, it will no longer have to do so outside of Europe. The latest ruling is part of a long running saga that began when European ... courts tried to find a balance between the competing rights to free speech and privacy. It all began with a Spanish man whose house was forcibly sold to settle a debt - an incident that was reported in a local newspaper. Eleven years later he asked the newspaper to delete the archived report, saying it was the top search result for his name and the ... (view more)

Google is making several changes to the way it handles audio collected from phones and smart gadgets such as the Google Home speaker. It follows revelations that humans listened to recordings collected by several tech giants. Amazon, Apple and ... Google were all hit by claims that they'd not done enough to make clear that staff or contractors listened to recordings to check the accuracy of automatic speech recognition. In several cases, human engineers heard sensitive material which appeared to have been collected unintentionally, rather than the user meaning to make a spoken query or request. ... (view more)

Microsoft has changed its mind about phasing out support for Adobe Flash, which is used to help web browsers view multimedia. Both Internet Explorer and the current edition of Edge browsers will continue to support the technology by default until ... the end of 2020, in contrast to other browsers. Adobe says it's ditching Flash at the end of next year, largely because it's become redundant with website designers now preferring to create multimedia and interactive elements in HTML 5, rather than with Flash. HTML 5 works in modern browsers without the need for plug-ins like Flash. Chrome and ... (view more)

A proposed law would dramatically increase maximum fines that can be imposed on companies that break monopoly rules. Tech firms would be among the most likely to be affected in the admittedly unlikely event the law was enacted. The proposed bill ... would be known as the Monopolization Deterrence Act of 2019. It's designed to change the current system by which the maximum penalty for violating the main US antitrust law, the Sherman Act, is $10 million. That applies regardless of the size of the company or companies involved. Critics say such penalties are little deterrent to major companies, ... (view more)

Google says it has found half a dozen major security flaws in Apple's iPhone messaging system. A new iOS update fixes five of the problems, but Google says one remains unpatched. The flaws were discovered by Google's Project Zero, a department that ... takes its name from the idea of "zero day" bugs . That's where would-be hackers become aware of a security issue before the relevant software developers are able to patch the bug. The zero day bugs are then exploited which often results in elevated privileged access levels given to a rogue program. The problems are with iMessage, the instant ... (view more)

Google is cracking down on Chrome browser extensions that risk user privacy. The new policies err on the side of caution and follow a Washington Post investigation that claimed millions of users had data stolen by rogue browser extensions. A browser ... extension, also called an "add-on" in some browsers, is a third-party tool that users can incorporate into their web browser. It's designed to add extended functions to the browser, which then make using the browser and web much easier. Examples of extensions include: a password manager, which can remember user passwords and ... (view more)

Google is changing the way its "incognito" mode works. It says the move is necessary, but some news and magazine website owners are upset by the change. Incognito is Google's version of private browsing. Despite the name, it's mainly about privacy ... on the user's device: when in incognito mode, the local browser stops adding websites to its browsing history, which consists of a list of pages the user has visited and the searches they've carried out. The mode won't stop the activity being recorded by an Internet service provider (ISP) or by a local network administrator - something that has ... (view more)