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iPhones can be broken by just watching one short video

The Independent - Tech

One apparently innocuous video can break your phone. The new video is exploiting a bug that can lead to phone's gradually slowing down until they crash. The trick – being sold as a prank – is next to impossible to avoid and people who are experiencing it might not even be aware of the fact. The video only lasts three seconds and is being shared on an app called Miaopai. But people might not know that before being subject to the attack, because all that needs to happen is someone clicks on an otherwise innocuous-looking link.


Apple to replace iPhone 6s handsets that are shutting down for no reason

The Independent - Tech

Some of Apple's iPhone 6s handsets are shutting down for no reason, the company has said. Apple will now replace any phones that display the issue, which the company says only happens on a small number of them. People affected by the issue will find that their handsets tend simply to shut themselves off for no reason and without warning. The problem appears to be related to an issue with the batteries in those phones. A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar.


iPhones are less reliable than Android devices, study finds

The Independent - Tech

Apple's iPhones and iPads are losing the battle against Android devices. That's according to a new study by mobile diagnostics firms Blancco Technology Group (BTG), which claims that Apple's devices are less reliable and experienced a bigger failure rate than their Android counterpart, driven by bugs in the iOS 10 update. For the purposes of the report the word "failure" refers to any number of problem including instances of apps crashing, connection difficulties and overheating. About 62 per cent of iOS devices suffered performance failures in the third quarter of 2016 compared with 47 per cent of Android devices, the report found. The iPhone 6 was the main culprit with the highest failure rate of 13 per cent.


Investigatory Powers Bill: 'Snoopers Charter 2' to pass into law, giving Government sweeping spying powers

The Independent - Tech

The House of Lords has passed the Investigatory Powers Bill, putting the huge spying powers on their way to becoming law within weeks. The bill – which forces internet companies to keep records on their users for up to a year, and allows the Government to force companies to hack into or break things they've sold so they can be spied on – has been fought against by privacy campaigners and technology companies including Apple and Twitter. But the Government has worked to continue to pass the bill, despite objections from those companies that the legislation is not possible to enforce and would make customers unsafe. In its facilities, JAXA develop satellites and analyse their observation data, train astronauts for utilization in the Japanese Experiment Module'Kibo' of the International Space Station (ISS) and develop launch vehicles 23/40 The robot developed by Seed Solutions sings and dances to the music during the Japan Robot Week 2016 at Tokyo Big Sight. At this biennial event, the participating companies exhibit their latest service robotic technologies and components 24/40 The robot developed by Seed Solutions sings and dances to music during the Japan Robot Week 2016 at Tokyo Big Sight 25/40 Government and industry are working together on a robot-like autopilot system that could eliminate the need for a second human pilot in the cockpit 26/40 Aurora Flight Sciences' technicians work on an Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automantion System (ALIAS) device in the firm's Centaur aircraft at Manassas Airport in Manassas, Va.


WhatsApp temporarily suspends sharing European user data with parent company Facebook

The Independent - Tech

WhatsApp has temporarily suspended giving parent company Facebook information about users in Europe for ad targeting, responding to concerns there over privacy, a source close to the matter said Tuesday. Conversations with officials in Europe over the past few months resulted in the social network deciding to only tapping into WhatsApp user data there for purposes such as fighting spam, according to the source. The break was described as an effort to give regulators time to share privacy concerns and for Facebook to consider ways to address them. German data protection authorities in September cited privacy concerns when they blocked Facebook from collecting subscriber data from WhatsApp there. "It has to be (the users') decision whether they want to connect their account with Facebook," Hamburg's Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Johannes Caspar said at the time.


WhatsApp launches video calling

The Independent - Tech

WhatsApp has introduced a new feature likely to strike fear into the hearts of its competitors: video calling. After months in the beta stage, the Facebook-owned tech giant rolled out the update on Tuesday to its more than one billion monthly users. The latest feature could be bad news for rivals such as Skype and Apple's Facetime, as Whatsapp ups the ante in its effort to position itself as a one-stop-shop for communications. Facebook employees'form secret task force' to purge fake news Russia to ban LinkedIn, leading fears of crackdown on internet freedom Yahoo admits it knew about huge data breach for two years Facebook employees'form secret task force' to purge fake news Users will be able to make video calls across Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone devices in the coming days, according to a statement posted on the company's blog. The new functionality looks similar to the normal voice calling feature, however a picture-in-picture feed will allow you to see yourself and who you're talking to.


WhatsApp data sharing with Facebook forced to stop after UK Information Commissioner's Office steps in

The Independent - Tech

Facebook has been forced to end a hugely controversial data sharing agreement with WhatsApp. The decision would have seen WhatsApp hand out information on all of its users to Facebook, letting the latter use data about people's chats to inform its advertising. It would also have gone the other way – allowing companies to send WhatsApp's to people based on things they've bought on Facebook, for instance. But now the UK's Information Commissioner's Office has told the company that it needs to bring that arrangement to an end because it does not have "valid consent" from its users. Facebook had looked to gain permission from its users to have their data used as part of the deal.


WhatsApp scams: Gold, free money, spying apps and everything else you should worry about

The Independent - Tech

That's what makes it so useful – but it's also what makes it so dangerous. As WhatsApp and other chat apps have grown, they've also picked up their unfair share of scams. They come in many different forms, and are often very convincing. But the advice for steering clear and staying safe is the same as it is everywhere else on the internet, really. Just make sure that you stay vigilant and don't fall for anything that seems too good or too worrying to be true.


Liberia internet down after huge cyber attack cuts web access for entire country

The Independent - Tech

Liberia has lost access to the entire internet in apparent preparation for shutting down the entire internet. Repeated attacks are flooding the country's network with requests and taking it down entirely. That has intermittently knocked the entire web offline, meaning that people can't access any websites or web services. The attacks appear to be a way for hackers to test a variety of ways of attacking internet connections and taking offline. In that way they resemble the attacks launched recently, when hackers brought down many of the world's biggest websites.


WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and more down in Turkey in apparent internet ban

The Independent - Tech

Much of the internet appears to have gone down in Turkey. People in the country are having problems accessing much of the internet's biggest websites and services, including Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Twitter and more. The website Down Detector confirmed problems in the country, particularly in the west. Some have reported that the sites are simply slow, but that it is still possible to access them. Others say they are down entirely.