Search Results for: Gmail

Google Confirms Its Services Are Casualties Of A Russian Blockage Due To The Recent Telegram Ban

Dianne Jacobs

A shower of paper airplanes were darted through the skies of Moscow and other towns in Russia as users answered the call of entrepreneur Pavel Durov to send the blank missives out of their windows at a pre-appointed time in support of Telegram, a messaging app he founded that was blocked last week by Russian regulator Roskomnadzor (RKN) that uses a paper airplane icon. RKN believes the service is violating national laws by failing to provide it with encryption keys to access messages on the service (Telegram has refused to comply).…

Experts think AI Might Mess with us in the Next Five Years

Dianne Jacobs

When we talk about the dangers posed by artificial intelligence, the emphasis is usually on the unintended side effects. We worry that we might accidentally create a super-intelligent AI and forget to program it with a conscience; or that we’ll deploy criminal sentencing algorithms that have soaked up the racist biases of their training data. What about the people who actively want to use AI for immoral, criminal, or malicious purposes? Aren’t they more likely to cause trouble — and sooner? The answer is yes, according to more than two…

Rush to fix serious computer chips flaws

Dianne Jacobs

Tech firms are working to fix two major bugs in computer chips that could allow hackers to steal sensitive data. Google researchers said one of the “serious security flaws”, dubbed “Spectre”, was found in chips made by Intel, AMD and ARM. The other, known as “Meltdown” affects Intel-made chips alone.The industry has been aware of the problem for months and hoped to solve it before details were made public. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said there was no evidence that the vulnerability had been exploited. According to the…

Covert influence, the new money laundering

Dianne Jacobs

Google is the most recent company known to have discovered evidence of Russian covert influence on its books. As more media companies realize Russia bought advertising space or promoted news stories, fake and otherwise, on their platforms, covert influence has become the new money laundering. Both activities hide below the surface of legitimate enterprises, cast a shadow of disrepute on those very enterprises and can be neutralized through transparency and accountability. Anti-money laundering laws provide useful lessons for combating covert influence and could be adapted for online media models that do…

Google secretly recording users through mobile devices

Dianne Jacobs

Did you know that Google has been recording you without your knowledge? Some of your most intimate conversations might be sitting in a Google data centre somewhere. Just talking is enough to activate the recordings – but thankfully there’s an easy way of hearing and deleting them. The technology giant has effectively turned millions of its users’ smartphones into listening devices that can capture intimate conversations — even when they aren’t in the room. The company quietly records many of the conversations that people have around its products. The feature…

Google disables Gchat to foist Hangouts

One of the best parts about using Gmail is Gchat, the instant-messaging function that lets you chat with other Google users and still look like you’re the most productive person in the room. Google is replacing Google Talk. Google released Hangouts back in 2013 as a more feature-filled chat service to take the place of Talk in the Gmail sidebar, but users have been able to stick with the older, more basic service if they chose. Google has been touting Hangouts features, which include group video calling and integration with…

Google unveils ‘Meet,’ a Hangouts app for businesses

Dianne Jacobs

Google recently killed its Hangouts API and said that consumer apps that use it won’t work after April 25th. However, the tech giant has quietly unveiled Meet by Google Hangouts app for businesses, a big part of its strategy to shuffle the Hangouts app towards businesses and away from consumers. The search giant said last year that it wouldn’t abandon Hangouts, but it’s not clear if it’ll allow consumers to keep using it or push them over to Duo. The new app supports HD video meetings with up to 30…

25% internet users’ account hacked in 2015 says Kaspersky Lab Report

Staff Writer

MUMBAI: If you are on the internet, chances are that your Gmail, Facebook or Twitter account was hacked in last few months. According to a latest research by Kaspersky Lab study one in four internet users had at least one of their online accounts hacked. In most cases unauthorised messages were sent out in the users’ name with a malicious link included and the loss or theft of personal data, the study said. According to another study by the lab just about 38% of the users create strong passwords and…

Enter ABC.xyz: Google will now be part of Alphabet

Staff Writer
Alphabet abc.xyz

Google announced a new holding company called Alphabet today, and it’s using the domain name ABC.xyz. This is a huge win for Daniel Negari’s .xyz, and new top level domains in general. Reports Domainamewire “For Sergey and me this is a very exciting new chapter in the life of Google — the birth of Alphabet,” Larry Page, the chief executive of Google, wrote in a blog post on Monday. “We liked the name Alphabet because it means a collection of letters that represent language, one of humanity’s most important innovations,…

EU Parliament blocks Microsoft’s new Outlook apps over privacy concerns

Staff Writer

Access to Microsoft’s new Outlook apps has been blocked for members of the European Parliament because of “serious security issues.” Microsoft launched new Outlook apps for iOS and Android just over a week ago. The new apps are basically a rebranded version of a mail app made by Acompli, a company Microsoft bought in December for a reported US$200 million. Access to the apps though was blocked on Friday by the Parliament’s IT department, DG ITEC, in order to protect the confidentiality and privacy of its users, according to an…