Tech news

A new method for hiding the true location of a website from users of the mobile Chrome Web browser has come to light. Phishers can trick users into revealing their credentials for a legitimate website to operators of a malicious one, security researcher James Fisher reported. Scammers can exploit mobile Chrome's feature that hides the address bar when users are scrolling on a Web page by inserting an address bar that allows a fake site to pose as a legitimate one, such as that of a bank, Fisher explained. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2IQHFEE

Tesla sure didn't have a good week last week, given the kind of press coverage it got. I'm not that worried about Tesla going away, though, as its products are far too popular for it to disappear. On the other hand, management clearly needs to be fixed. What got me started looking at Tesla last week was that it pretty much announced that Nvidia was its Kryptonite. Yet that seemed to be what happened when Tesla spoke about its new self-driving car technology and pointed out, inaccurately, that what it had was better than Nvidia's tech. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2UNOrwc

Feren OS might well be the Linux computing game-changer that lures you away from your current operating system. Feren OS is based on Linux Mint 19 and the Cinnamon desktop environment that Linux Mint devs developed. This distro currently does not give you any other desktop options. However, it comes with a wide assortment of configuration choices that let you tweak the look and feel into almost any customized appearance you could want. This distro follows a partial rolling release system that constantly updates the OS for its lifetime. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2DzZYcX

Only a fraction of consumers are willing to pay $1,500 or more for a flagship Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy smartphone, suggests an informal ECT News Network survey conducted from April 15 to 22. Fewer than 2 percent of those who took part said they'd be willing to paying such a premium for a handset. New smartphones arrive with almost disturbing regularity. Their prices typically have increased with each new product -- unlike other consumer electronics categories, notably TVs, where prices have fallen steadily. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2Gyi0Ng

The Federal Aviation Administration has given its first air drone delivery certification in the United States to Alphabet's Wing Aviation, paving the way for the service to begin commercial package delivery in Blacksburg, Virginia. "This is an important step forward for the safe testing and integration of drones into our economy," said U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. "Safety continues to be our No. 1 priority as this technology continues to develop and realize its full potential," she added. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2DvyuoE

The EU Parliament overwhelmingly approved two measures that would integrate the region's fragmented law enforcement and home affairs databases into a centralized one that would include biometric information on some 350 million EU and non-EU citizens. It approved creation of the new system on two votes. One was to merge systems related to visas and borders, approved 511-123, with nine abstentions. The other was to merge systems with law enforcement, judicial, migration and asylum information, approved 510-130, also with nine abstentions. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2ZxgfZq

Red Hat is the new keeper of the keys to two popular versions of the open source Java implementation, OpenJDK 8 and OpenJDK 11, having taken over stewardship from Oracle. Oracle ended commercial support for Java 8 and the Oracle JDK 8 implementation of Java SE last year. Oracle left the enterprise Java business when it transitioned support and maintenance of Java Platform to the Eclipse Foundation, where it is now known as "Jakarta EE." Red Hat's move enables developers to continue building apps with Java after Oracle abandoned support. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2IBf4D9

Foldable phones have been dealt a setback by Samsung's announcement that it has postponed indefinitely the release of its Galaxy Fold. Samsung pumped the brakes on the $1,980 phone's release after several reviewers reported problems. Samsung acknowledged that their experiences indicated the device needed further improvements for the best possible user experience. The company decided to delay the Galaxy Fold release in order to evaluate the feedback and run further internal tests, and said it would announce the release date in the coming weeks. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2PsREQL

The big news last week was that Apple finally agreed to settle its fight with Qualcomm. Kudos to Tim Cook, because I've known a lot of CEOs rather who would have fought to the death than admitted they were wrong -- and not only wrong but acting disingenuously the entire time. Fighting this to the death would have been far worse. What spurred the settlement, given the timing, likely was he defense Qualcomm mounted in the latest San Diego court action. It showcased that Apple had made serious misrepresentations. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2GAzkSY

The Walt Disney Corporation officially announced Disney+, its direct-to-consumer streaming service, during its Investor Day webcast last week. The new over-the-top service will become available on Nov. 12 for a $6.99 month subscription. Disney+ will arrive with more than 25 new TV programs, as well as more than 10 new movies. The service will expand to include more than 400 movies from the Disney vaults, as well as other IP from Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, National Geographic, and 20th Century Fox -- all now owned by the Mouse House. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2V9Hudb

Condres OS, a distro much like the defunct Apricity OS, could be a speedier replacement for Linux OSes that have turned slow to no-go in recent new releases. Condres OS is an Arch-based distro that offers many pleasing usability traits similar to three popular Debian-based distros: Linux Mint; Peppermint; and Zorin, which bundles ICE and Wine accouterments. Condres OS, as is typical of Arch distributions, comes with a rolling release upgrade model. It is very easy to install and use. Something else that impresses me with Condres OS is its software balance. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2PkrXSr

Apple and Qualcomm unexpectedly announced a settlement as their case entered the second day of a hearing in the U.S. District Court in San Diego. In related news, Intel announced it was getting out of the 5G smartphone chip business. The Apple-Qualcomm settlement provides an unspecified one-time payment from Apple to Qualcomm, a six-year licensing arrangement, and Apple's agreement to pay royalties to Qualcomm. The settlement will free Apple to enter the 5G smartphone competition, where it has been outstripped by Android device manufacturers. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2Xl9tEf

The ramp-up to Apple's WWDC this June has begun, with reports circulating about the goodies the company will include in the next generation of its desktop and mobile operating systems. The latest revelations include macOS support for the iPad as an auxiliary display, and iOS support for multiple windows within apps. There are a number of third-party products on the market to add an iPad as a second display for a Mac, but the feature reportedly will become native to Apple's desktops and laptops with the next version of macOS, version 10.15. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2VOYq5K

A copyright directive that some fear could break the Internet has cleared the final hurdle in the European Union. The directive makes platforms for user-uploaded content legally liable for violations of the rights of copyright holders. It requires them to obtain the permission of the holders before posting content to their sites. The directive undermines the legality of the tools and sites that Europeans use every day to share thoughts, ideas, culture, humor and science, said the Computer & Communications Industry Association. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2Zf0pmc

It is expected that 5G will move aggressively into the market, with near-complete major metropolitan coverage by the end of the year. This technology is a game-changer, but it doesn't come without issues, one of which is the massive change in network loading. 5G will shift the bottlenecks from the wireless networks to the backhaul, where the expected massive increase in traffic will force some rather impressive network upgrades. One factor that will drive this massive traffic increase, a 10x increase over today, will be a massive jump in intelligent networked devices. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2Gd1bHy

Google announced a host of new services, features and partners at Google Cloud Next '19 Day 2 in San Francisco. The new unveilings followed its announcement of Anthos, an open source platform powered by Kubernetes, on Day 1. Anthos is "a single platform for developers and operations; it is for on-premise and multicloud installations," Urs Hölzle, Google's senior vice president, technical infrastructure, told the audience Wednesday. "With Anthos we're making hybrid and multicloud the new normal." Holzle announced a slew of new tools. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2P7wpUr

Apple plans to introduce a number of new products in the next two years that will sport a new display technology, according to master Apple watcher Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities. Based on Kuo's predictions, which were reported widely on Tuesday, Apple will use new "mini LED" technology in three new products: a 31.6-inch monitor, launching in the second or third quarter; a new iPad with a 10- or 12-inch screen in late 2020 or 2021; and a new MacBook with a 15- or 17-inch screen in the first half of 2021. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2InU4ig

Microsoft has released the first Dev and Canary channel builds of the next version of Microsoft Edge, which is based on the Chromium open source project. The company last year revealed that it was reworking its Edge browser to be based on Chromium. Now the latest developments are ready for early testers and adopters on several versions of Windows and macOS. So far, however, no support is available for Linux. The new Microsoft Edge builds are available through preview channels called "Microsoft Edge Insider Channels." from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2GeT2Uh

New augmented reality features, an SDK for Stories, and a games platform highlighted Snapchat's first developer's conference. AR features announced at Snap's first Partner Summit: solving math problems by pointing the app's camera at them; AR effects for monuments, pets and people; buying what the camera sees through Amazon; and identifying songs through Shazam. Snap also introduced SnapKit at the conference. The SDK allows Snapchat Stories to be embedded in other apps. The SDK takes Snapchat from being a camera app to being a camera platform. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2OYBT3W

There should be no argument that we live in a diverse world, and that the technology industry doesn't reflect that diversity. The lack of diversity in employees makes it very difficult for companies, both in and out of the tech market, to address their increasingly diverse customer base effectively, whether buyers or end users. This has resulted in books like Technically Wrong , which point to why companies can't bring out products that women love. They don't understand women -- let alone other aspects that make each of us different. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2U04dDX

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called for greater government oversight and even regulation of the Internet in an op-ed piece published last weekend. Zuckerberg, who famously built the social network by playing by his own rules, said it was time for government and regulators around the world to step up and help rein in the Internet. The main point was to regulate what he called "harmful content." Only by updating the rules for the Internet will it be possible to preserve what is best about it, Zuckerberg argued. from TechNewsWorld http://bit.ly/2I280z4

Google has unveiled new minimum standards for temps, vendors and contractors (TVCs) in the United States, in response to demands from an employee coalition that included full-time Google staffers as well as temporary workers and contractors. "Yesterday, we shared an update on some new initiatives to support our extended U.S. workforce -- including comprehensive healthcare, 12 weeks parental leave, $15 an hour minimum wage, and $5,000 a year in tuition reimbursement," Google spokesperson Jenn Kaiser said Wednesday. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2CUx2Me

The type of organizing tools you use to plan your projects can make your work routine more efficient and improve your productivity. A project management application is an essential tool in some business environments. This week's Linux Picks and Pans takes a deep dive into some of the best project management software solutions available for the Linux desktop. Project management applications are sophisticated and feature-rich. A key requirement for use of any project management planning tool is familiarity with Gantt charts. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2OIcsnb

YouTube executives have been unable or unwilling to rein in toxic content because it could reduce engagement on their platform, according to a report that maintained the company has spent years chasing one goal: engagement. The problem YouTube now faces is how to create an effective mechanism to handle problematic content, observed Cayce Myers, an assistant professor in the communications department at Virginia Tech. "Much of this content doesn't violate YouTube's social community standards," he said. "This is content that is borderline." from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2FTJtK9

One of the things I mention very infrequently is that I was groomed to be a CEO from a very early age. On top of my three management degrees and CMA certificate, I participated in two IBM programs that provided access to a massive amount of resources that detailed both the success and failure of companies at the time, giving me a unique view of what kills a company. One of the big company killers -- and Chrysler before Lee Iacocca is a leading example -- is excess product breadth. That is what we just saw from Apple last week. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2U7ttwV