John Lister

Politically and financially motivated hacking groups are increasingly working together, according to new research. This collaboration has led to a dangerous pooling of resources, making cybercriminals more effective than ever. The research, ... conducted by Mandiant (a security firm owned by Google's parent company), suggests that hackers are becoming more specialized in their skill sets and working in partnership to maximize their impact. Just as in the corporate world, these cybercriminals are forming networks where each group focuses on a particular aspect of hacking - whether it's gaining ... (view more)

Chrome may soon make it even easier to change a password after a data breach. An in-test feature would actively change the password on the user's behalf. The change would affect what happens when Google auto-fills a password field using a stored ... password. The browser already checks such stored passwords against a database of passwords that have been breached and released publicly. At the moment Chrome will simply warn users about such a breach and prompt them to change it. However, the user will need to manually go to the password settings section or account settings on the website in ... (view more)

Microsoft is to more clearly label search results in the Windows 11 Start Menu. It will better highlight which results come from the computer itself and which are from the Internet. The change will initially apply only to users in the European ... Economic Area and appears to be a way of complying with new rules on the continent. It's not clear yet if Microsoft intends to roll the changes out to all users. It's all to do with the search feature that appears in the Start Menu itself. The current setup means typing a word or phrase will bring up results that include documents and applications on ... (view more)

A new app offers to bring together multiple social media, messaging and content tools into a single "timeline". Tapestry is made by the people behind a previous app that aimed to improve the experience of what was then called Twitter. That app, ... Twitterific, stopped working in 2023 when Twitter blocked third-party access to its service. That ongoing block means the new app doesn't support the rebranded X service. Instead, Tapestry brings together multiple apps into a single chronological timeline showing all posts that meet the user's criteria. The developers believe many users prefer that to ... (view more)

Comcast is experimenting with a new technology for reducing latency and lag online. It could be particularly useful for video calls and online gaming. While most analysis of Internet speed is about uploading or downloading data, latency - also ... called lag - is all about response time. In effect, it's how quickly the connection starts transferring data after you (and your device) start the process. Although variations in latency are usually measured in fractions of a second, they can cause serious problems for some Internet use. For video calls they can cause a notable gap between somebody on ... (view more)

Google is to take stronger actions against apps that turn out to be potentially harmful. It may revoke permissions where the app is already on a user's device. One of the most notable aspects of Google's management of Android apps is its particular ... balance of security and privacy. Although it will remove apps suspected or confirmed to be malicious from the Play Store, it doesn't usually do much if anything about devices which already have the app installed. The optional Google Play Protect can technically deactivate suspicious apps, but usually it's left to users to hear about the issue (for ... (view more)

Microsoft's Edge browser now has a "scareware blocker" available for optional use. It attempts to recognize bogus claims that a computer has been compromised by malware. Scareware can come from a deliberate scam website, a compromised site, or a ... pop-up window running on a legitimate site that hijacks or takes advantage of advertising space. Whatever the source, the effect is normally the same: highly visible warnings of a supposed malware infestation, often in a full-screen window that's difficult to escape. Some versions even include an audio warning. The idea is to panic the user into ... (view more)

Hype about a Chinese owned AI tool has sent major tech stocks into a slump. The DeepSeek tool is much cheaper to run, which could hurt profitability among tech providers. DeepSeek is a Large Language Model (LLM), a form of AI of which ChatGPT is ... arguably the best known. While specific models vary, it largely works by writing word-by-word, predicting each time which would be the most likely to follow. It's been described as "autocomplete on steroids." More advanced models will break down a request before writing, planning the overall message and organization in advance. Drastically Cheaper ... (view more)

Google's global search market share has dropped below 90 percent according to one estimate. It's the first time it's consistently been below that threshold in a decade. Some analysts have suggested the drop may be down to users preferring AI large ... language model chatbots such as ChatGPT to search for information. However, that's not factored directly into these figures. They come from Statcounter, a respected online activity tracking company. While it only gathers data from a sample of users, the sample is generally accepted as representative of the Internet as a whole and its archive of data ... (view more)

A gadget that gets phones up to full battery strength in two seconds was among the eye-catching displays at a recent trade show. "Swippitt" does actually live up to the maker's claims, but isn't quite what it seems. Visitors to the CES show each ... January are used to seeing spectacular gadgets, many of which are demonstrations of works in process using technology that won't necessarily work in everyday life. However, Swippitt was a functional demonstration. It's a rectangular box with a slot in the top that makes it look a little like a toaster. Users can put a depleted phone in and within a ... (view more)