John Lister

Phone manufacturers may soon have to offer replaceable batteries in handsets. The rules have been approved by European politicians but could create enough hassle for manufacturers that they follow the measures worldwide. The change, approved ... overwhelmingly by the European Parliament, is part of an overall package to reduce the environmental impact of batteries. Other measures include minimum requirements for the levels of recycled material in new batteries along with the amount of material that can be recovered when the batteries go to waste. The precise wording has yet to be finalized, but ... (view more)

Regulators in Europe have threatened to break-up Google. They say it could be the only way to prevent anti-competitive behavior in the ad market. While Google has been fined eye-watering sums for breaking competition laws in Europe before, they've ... proven a poor deterrent given the company's huge revenues. This time, though, the penalty may be a forcible sale of some of its ad business. The key to the legal problem is that Google is a major player in all three elements of online advertising: businesses buying ads, businesses selling ads, and the technology that brings together buyers and ... (view more)

A senior European official has warned that using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to decide whether to offer a mortgage could lead to discrimination. Margrethe Vestager said this was a more likely risk than dramatic predictions of AI leading to human ... distinction. Vestager is the European Commissioner for Competition. That's a key position as not only is she responsible for competition and antitrust issues across the 27 countries in the European Union, but her work affects businesses around the world that operate in Europe, including tech companies. Talking to the BBC she warned that AI can ... (view more)

Researchers say a feature in a jogging and running app called Strava makes it possible to track down a user's home address. However, they make a pretty weak argument about how plausible and successful an attack would be. Strava lets users track ... their fitness activities, including running routes. Since 2018, the app has included a "heatmap" feature that shows areas where a lot of users are active. The idea is to let people spot well-used running routes that may be useful for their needs. The feature has already been criticized after it revealed routes used by US military personnel on foreign ... (view more)

Google's DeepMind group, whose technology "mastered" the game Go, have turned their attention to computer code. They created an AI tool that taught itself a more efficient way to sort code, something that could mean software runs much faster and ... more smoothly. DeepMind specializes in artificial intelligence (AI) that teaches itself by figuring out approaches and rules. The most famous example was a project to learn the fiendishly complex game Go. Rather than follow tactics created by humans, the software simulated millions of games and worked out its own strategy. It has since consistently ... (view more)

More than 60,000 Android apps contained a nasty piece of malware designed to steal banking information. The scam doesn't target the official Google Play store, but rather third-party sources. The rogue apps fall into two main categories. Some are ... designed to closely resemble real, popular apps. Others are promoted as "modded" versions of genuine apps that are supposedly identical but with an alteration that supposedly removes ads or a requirement to pay a subscription. In reality, the scammers have taken the genuine apps, copied them, and made one modification. Unfortunately that modification ... (view more)

Amazon has reportedly talked with mobile operators about a plan to cut cellphone service costs for Amazon Prime subscribers. The deal could mean customers getting service for $10 a month or even being a "free" part of the Prime subscription. ... Bloomberg broke the story, citing inside sources. Amazon says it doesn't currently have plans to add wireless to Prime but didn't deny having had talks. (Source: bloomberg.com ) According to the report, Amazon is currently speaking to T-Mobile and Verizon, along with Dish Network which is trying to establish itself in the cellphone industry. Amazon is ... (view more)

Amazon has agreed to pay a total of $30 million in penalties for privacy violations related to its Ring and Alexa devices, according to an announcement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The penalties consist of $25 million for allegedly ... retaining children's data without deletion and $5.8 million for failing to limit employee and contractor access to Ring security videos. (Source: cnet.com ) The settlements do not require Amazon to make any admission of legal wrongdoing. (Source: theguardian.com ) Amazon Accused of Retaining Kid's Data The FTC accused Amazon of preventing parents from ... (view more)

A new Nokia flip phone offers no tech features beyond SMS text messaging and a basic phone service. It's part of a supposed trend away from smartphones, though analysts are divided on how significant that trend is and what's causing it. The Nokia ... 2660 Flip is made by HMD, which has licensed the Nokia brand for the phone. It's expected to retail for as little as $60 in the US. It does nothing other than make voice calls (but not VOIP such as Skype), send and receive messages and take photos on a single camera. It resembles late-90s Nokia cellphones, though is missing the much-loved Snake game ... (view more)

A US lawyer is facing disciplinary sanctions after relying on ChatGPT for legal "research." It led to his side presenting a legal argument that referred to several non-existent cases. Steven A Schwartz was providing support for the legal team of a ... man suing in a personal injury case. His side wanted to provide evidence of similar cases that had set a precedent, with this evidence helping support their argument that their case was strong enough to proceed. (Source: nytimes.com ) The opposing legal team questioned the argument saying they were unable to find the cases in question. That led to ... (view more)