Articles

Google is making it harder to install apps directly on to Android phones without going through an app store. The new rules include a mandatory restart and 24-hour wait. It's a surprise move coming at the same time Google is also opening up access to app stores other than its own Play Store, which it has done in response to regulatory pressure over alleged anti-competitive behavior. The change of policy affects sideloading. That's when a user directly installs an app on a phone, using a file rather than having an app store handle the install. With Android, users must explicitly change security ...view more

Apple is reportedly planning a car lease style financing program for upgrades to new gadgets. It would mean lower up-front costs for many users, but with some major downsides. The reported Apple Upgrade feature would replace the existing iPhone Upgrade program, which has a monthly fee that covers the handset and the Apple Care+ repair plan, with an option to switch to the newest handset after a year of continuous payments. (Source: 9to5mac.com ) The new system is a financing plan with Klarna, which managed "buy now, pay later" programs for many retailers. It would cover Apple Watches, Macs ...view more

The latest optional update for Windows 11 is available now. It does not have any major changes, but concentrates more on some minor improvements that fix little niggles. For example, the File Explorer tool has several tweaks including no longer only showing file sizes in the Details view using KB, instead showing MB or GB where that's more appropriate. Other changes include the file thumbnails being crisper and a new option to middle-click on a three-button mouse to open a folder in a new tab. (Source: bleepingcomputer.com ) Search ...view more

Microsoft has extended free security updates for Windows 10 for another year. It's another somewhat predictable example of a chicken and egg situation. The big issue is that Windows 10 remains so widely used that ditching security fixes would risk significant and widespread damage from hackers. However, continuing to support it reduces the incentive for users to 'upgrade' to Windows 11. It's a similar situation to Windows XP, which wound up getting security free security fixes for two years longer than the standard support windows of 10 years. In that case the main hold-up was people not ...view more

The Supreme Court has ruled that location data on a phone is covered by the Fourth Amendment. That means police need a warrant to use data provided by phone companies and tech firms. The case related to geofence searching, in which law enforcement officials investigating a case in a particular location ask companies to give them a list of all customers whose devices were active in a specific area at a specific time. The legal dispute is not about whether the phone companies need to provide this data, but rather whether police can lawfully use the information without a search warrant. However ...view more

Google's next Chrome update will significantly disrupt most ad-blockers. It's closing a loophole, though Google is promoting the change as a security and performance measure. The update will finally complete a major overhaul in the system Google uses to let browser extensions work with Chrome. It's changing from a long running system called Manifest V2 to a new version called Manifest V3. At the moment, many of the most effective ad-blockers use dynamic filtering. That means they don't simply block content from specific sites, but rather use a constantly updated set of rules to assess whether ...view more