phone

The FBI says it may be able to unlock the San Bernadino shooter's phone without Apple's help. But it's refusing to reveal details of its apparent solution. Apple recently refused to comply with an order to assist law enforcement officials with ... unlocking the phone, leading to a planned courtroom hearing this week. The FBI then asked for the case to be put on hold until next month, saying it wanted to investigate a method it discovered this past weekend that may make Apple's help irrelevant. The argument isn't about decrypting the data on the phone, something that's ... (view more)

The US government plans to offer a subsidy to help people on low incomes get cheaper access to broadband Internet. Recipients would get a choice of using it on fixed-line or mobile services. The plan is an extension to an existing program called ... Lifeline, which has been running for around thirty years. Its funded by a levy on phone companies and allows people who meet low income eligibility requirements to get a monthly discount of $9.25 on phone line rental. Since 2005, the plan has allowed recipients to opt to use the discount of a pre-paid cellular phone plan instead of a landline. Now the ... (view more)

Tech company leaders are backing Apple in its defiance of a court order to make it easier for the FBI to access a murderer's iPhone. However, a poll shows public support for officials despite Apple's claims that the order threatens security. The ... case involves a phone belonging to Syed Farook who, along with his wife, shot dead 14 people in California last December. He was killed in a police shootout, but the FBI wants to examine his phone to see if it contains any details about the planning of the attacks and links to terrorist groups. FBI Needs More Than 10 Password Attempts The ... (view more)

A new phone app is said to help detect earthquakes and provide quicker warnings than is currently possible. The 'MyShake app' has many limitations, but could theoretically still save lives. The app uses the accelerometer that's built into most ... modern phones. It's a small gadget that measures movement in the phone along three axes (left-right, up-down, back-forth) and powers all sorts of features, including fitness tools and the way that displays automatically rotate and resize if you turn the phone from landscape to portrait or vice versa. The idea of MyShake is to constantly monitor ... (view more)

An iPhone feature Apple said could help make Internet use faster has led to a proposed class-action lawsuit. The claimants say Apple's decision to switch "WiFi Assist" on by default left them with unexpected cellphone service bills. The idea of the ... feature, introduced with iOS9 (the latest edition of the iPhone operating system) was to solve the problems that come when an iPhone has problems connecting to a WiFi connection, especially if the signal is low. Because most phones are always set to prefer WiFi connections over cellular data when possible, this can lead to the ... (view more)

Apple has told a court that it's impossible to access data in most iPhones and iPads without a password. It could lead to a legal standoff in the 'security versus privacy' debate. The comments came in a case involving a recently-seized iPhone. The ... United States Justice Department is unable to access the contents of the phone and has therefore asked the court to order Apple to help them gain access. In this specific case however, Apple is physically able to access the device's data because the phone itself is running a susceptible operating system (iOS version 7). Nonetheless, Apple has ... (view more)

Microsoft's goal of having Windows 10 used on just about every form of computing device has taken one step forward. Manufacturers have already incorporated it into a phone and even a portable stick. Acer, the company that helped establish the idea ... of the netbook as a way to run 'real' Windows on an ultra-portable device, has announced what it is calling the first PC Phone. At first glance, the Jade Primo looks like a high-end smartphone running Windows mobile; however, it has fairly impressive specifications, including a Snapdragon 808 Processor, a full 1080p HD 5.5" AMOLED ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader John C. writes: " Dear Dennis, Hope you are well. I have a calendar program called VueMinder Pro that I use on my Windows 8 PC. I also use Google Calendar on my smartphone, and VueMinder Pro syncs its information with Google ... Calendar so I can share information between devices. The syncing has worked great for a while, but lately VueMinder Pro keeps popping up with a window asking me for my Google account password. In other words, VueMinder Pro won't sync with Google Calendar. I have changed my Google password multiple times and disabled 2-step verification in my Google ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just read yesterday's survey article entitled ' Are Smartphones a Vital Tool in 2015? ' and was intrigued with its findings. Personally, I don't own a smartphone because I cannot afford to pay for ... the data plans. I would like to know, is there a cheap mobile device that I can use that is similar in size to a smart phone, but doesn't use a mobile data plan? " My response: Yes. You can use a small sized tablet (around 8 inches or so) but it's not very mobile in the sense that won't fit very nicely in your pocket. As such, I think best choice ... (view more)

A newly-published study shows that the average person could manage without a smartphone for many common tasks. However, for a select group, smartphones are the only realistic option for accessing online services. The report comes from the Pew ... Research Center, which brought together several surveys, each of around 2,000 smartphone users. The results provide very differing meanings, depending on how they are viewed. (Source: pewinternet.org ) Most Tasks Achievable Without Phones On one hand, the study suggests smartphones are by no means vital for many everyday tasks. Participants were asked if ... (view more)