Google has announced that with the introduction of Chrome 76 (at the end of July), it has plugged a loophole that enabled websites to tell when you were browsing in Incognito mode. Incognito Incognito mode in Chrome (private browsing) is really designed to protect privacy for those using shared or borrowed devices, and exclude certain activities from being recorded in their browsing histories. Also, less commonly, private browsing can be very important for people suffering political oppression or domestic abuse for example, where there may be important safety reasons for concealing web activity. Loophole Plugged The loophole that is being [...]

In what’s been called the world’s first ‘A.I. Bar’ (developed by British data science product company DataSparQ) ordering a drink at a busy bar has been made easier, faster and fairer by using facial recognition technology to place customers in an “intelligently virtual” queue. Solving Old Problems Information and statistics (DataSparQ) show that pub-goers in Britain spend more than two months over a lifetime queuing for drinks and that people pushing in at bar queues is the biggest gripe.  Who to serve next as efficiently as possible without causing an argument, and how to spot underage customers at busy times [...]

If you’re concerned about privacy on your phone, and if you’d like to stop power-hungry apps from abusing their permissions by running processor-heavy tasks in the background the ‘Bouncer’ app enables you to grant permissions for applications temporarily. With the Bouncer app, you can grant permissions for apps for a temporary period and once permission is granted, the Bouncer app will automatically remove that permission either when you exit the app in question or when a certain amount of time has passed. The Bouncer app is available (Beta) on the Google Play Store.

Researchers from security company Positive Technologies have reported found a vulnerability in Visa contactless cards that could lead to your bank account being drained if your card fell into the wrong hands. Device The researchers developed a ‘skimming’ device which was able to intercept communications between a contactless card and payment terminal, thereby allowing the £30 spending limit per transaction to be bypassed without requiring the entry of a PIN number. The device was found to work with cards from five different UK banks. It has been reported that the hack would also work on cards and terminals outside the [...]

The government has announced that the UK Council for Internet Safety (UKCIS), which is the successor to the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), has had its scope expanded to improve online safety for all in the UK. Part of Government Commitment The introduction of The UK Council for Internet Safety (UKCIS) is part of the government’s commitment to making the UK the safest place in the world to be online, and it will feed into the development of the forthcoming Online Harms White Paper.  The whitepaper, which sets out the government’s plans for a package of online safety measures that [...]

Mobile operator Three has announced that new and existing customers with compatible handsets will be able to get 5G at no extra cost(s) when its 5G service is launched later this year. 5G Offer Three says that when its 5G service goes live later this year, starting with 25 UK towns and cities, it will be able to offer unlimited data with no limit on speed for the same price it currently charges for its 4G tariffs (£22 per month). As well as offering 5G to existing customers at no extra costs Three will offer will include 5G as standard [...]

There are often situations in business where it helps to take notes and keep them in a handy, tidy and easy to access place.  Google Keep and Apple Notes provide users with easy note-taking on the go. Google Keep is a Web-based note-taking app for your computer or Android and iOS phone. It has a variety of tools for note-taking including texts, list, images, and reminders. Everything you add to Keep syncs across your devices (your phone, tablet and computer) so you’ve always got your important information to hand.  Google Keep - Notes and Lists are available from the Google [...]

Head of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, has announced that human brain implants that can link directly to devices could be a reality within a year. Neuralink The implanted brain-computer interface (BCI) that Mr Musk talked about recently to the California Academy of Sciences audience in San Francisco will be known as a ‘Neuralink’.  Mr Musk believes that the operation to insert such an implant could be low risk and as affordable and non-invasive as laser eye surgery and would only require a short visit to a doctor rather than a hospital stay. Why? The main reason why Mr Musk [...]

Transport for London (TfL) has announced that from March 2020, 4G rollout will begin across the London Underground network, thereby allowing customers, for the first time, to check emails and travel information, use social media, and stream music and video uninterrupted. First Section The first section of the network to get a trial of full mobile connectivity within station platforms, tunnels, ticket halls and corridors from March 2020 will be the eastern half of the Jubilee line (between Westminster and Canning Town).  This will help to remove one of the most high-profile mobile 'not-spots' in the UK, and to fulfil an [...]

Lancaster University, which offers a GCHQ accredited cyber-security course and has its own Cyber Security Research Centre has been hit by what it has described as a "sophisticated and malicious phishing attack”, resulting in the leak of the personal data of new university applicants. 12,000+ Affected? On the University’s website, even though it states that only “a very small number of students” actually had their records and ID documents accessed as a result of the attack, other estimates published by IT news commentators online, and based on statistics compiled by UCAS suggest that possibly over 12,000 people may have been [...]