Month: April 2017

Doctors warn against internet, gaming disorders in UAE

Dianne Jacobs

Medical professionals in the UAE are warning that addiction to smartphones and technology among young people can be as powerful as addiction to gambling and drugs, with its own host of health and psychological problems. In many developed nations – the UAE included – it isn’t uncommon to see young children on a tablet or smartphone, with their parents besides them seemingly oblivious to any potential health risks. “Mental health risks of increasing addiction to technology are clear and present,” said Dr Binu George, Consultant Paediatrician (paediatric neurodevelopment and neurodisability)…

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Google Wifi now available in Canada

Dianne Jacobs

Google Wifi, the mesh router that Google unveiled first last October, is now on sale in Canada. The router sells either individually for $179 CDN, or in a 3-pack for $439 CDN, which is pretty close to U.S. pricing given current exchange rates. The Wifi solution’s mesh networking approach means it can seamlessly pair with other units to extend coverage throughout a house, without sacrificing signal strength, and while also handing off connections from one device to the next with such smooth transitions that you won’t notice the change even if…

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Internet users in Middle East approach 150 million mark

Dianne Jacobs

Conventional travel agencies are losing ground in favour of their online counterparts, with recent statistics showing that the use of Internet in the Middle East region is increasing by 15 percent annually, the world’s highest growth rate, approaching the 150 million mark. This came during panels sessions featured by the Digital Transformation Summit, held on the sidelines of the now-running Arabian Travel Market 2017 in Dubai. Participants in the summit called for examining recent trends in tourists’ use of technology to discover, plan and provide untraditional options that are likely…

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Google launches in Cuba as first foreign internet company

Dianne Jacobs

Google’s servers in Cuba went live on Wednesday, making the internet giant the first foreign internet company to host content within the long cut-off country. The internet giant opened a new data centre in Cuba yesterday where it will store information such as popular YouTube videos. In a move that indicates Cuba is opening its doors to modernisation and greater access to information, the on-island servers will make it easier for Cuban people to access Google’s services.  Until now information from across the internet had to travel to the island through a submarine cable from Venezuela,…

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Twitter to broadcast live video 24 hours a day

Dianne Jacobs

Twitter is making a play to dominate even more of your time by streaming live video around the clock. The social networking platform is hoping to land deals for streaming pay TV channels on its site and apps. Users have to subscribe to existing TV service for this to work, but it would be much more powerful. “We will definitely have 24 hours  a day content on the platform,” Twitter’s Anthony Noto said during an extensive interview about the company’s live video strategy last week. “Our goal is to be…

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Apple looking to put broadband-beaming satellites into orbit

Dianne Jacobs

Apple Inc. is testing self-driving cars and exploring augmented reality. Recent hires suggest the company is now also looking to the skies. The tech giant is getting involved in launching satellites that would beam down broadband Internet access. Recently, Apple poached two Google satellite executives to form a new hardware team within the company. John Fenwick led Google’s spacecraft operations and Michael Trela was head of satellite engineering. Google on the other hand has tempered its own broadband plans as of late. In 2015, the company was simultaneously laying high-speed fiber…

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Google to limit offensive & inaccurate search results

Dianne Jacobs
Google Developers space

Google is looking forward to impementing changes to its Search Quality Ratings Guidelines in an effort to limit offensive and inaccurate results on its search engine. The tech giant has recently updated its Search Quality Rater Guidelines, which human evaluators use to gauge the quality of search results. The updated guidelines provide clearer examples of low-quality results, including “misleading information, unexpected offensive results, hoaxes and unsupported conspiracy theories,” engineering VP Ben Gomes wrote in the blog post. Google has also tweaked its algorithms to prioritize authoritative results. Human evaluators use…

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Phishing attacks using internationalized domains are hard to block

Dianne Jacobs

Attackers can evade a security mechanism and abuse Unicode domains to phish for the login credentials of Chrome, Firefox, and Opera users. Security researcher Xudong Zheng has developed a proof-of-concept that exploits an issue in some web browsers. Attackers can abuse this sleight of hand to redirect users to phishing websites. All they need to do is use Punycode, which relies on ASCII characters to convey foreign characters.  The Punycode domain “xn--pple-43d.com” is equivalent to “apple.com”, for example. As long as a web browser translates the Punycode into what’s known…

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New Screen Protectors For Samsung Galaxy S8 Launched

Dianne Jacobs

Tech Armor, the leading screen protector and mobile accessory brand, today launched a new screen protection line for the newly released Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. With its curved edges, the 3D Curved Ballistic Glass Screen Protector for Samsung Galaxy S8 perfectly matches the rounded shape of the Galaxy S8 to cover the full front display for complete edge-to-edge coverage. The Tech Armor HD FlexiClear Film Screen Protector for Samsung Galaxy S8, a more cost-effective solution, offers edge-to-edge protection as well as flexible shock absorption. To align with…

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Only 4% of Uber drivers remain on the platform a year later

Dianne Jacobs

Uber’s accelerating driver drop off rate is partially due to increased competition from companies like Lyft. But the number one complaint among Uber drivers is the pay, according to undisclosed data seen by The Information. Many Uber drivers have complained about unfair compensation for long trips, and not being able to accept tips. A spokesman’s reports that they recognize we need to improve our relationship with drivers and their experience using Uber. The ride hailing firm firm is working on a range of improvements across our products, our policies, our customer support and…

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