Technology – Page 2

US Research: Bitcoin is Not Getting Greener, on the Contrary

4Oct

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

Business, News, Technology

US Research: Bitcoin is Not Getting Greener, on the Contrary

Bitcoin is sometimes called the new digital gold, but digital oil would be a better term to describe its environmental impact, according to a study in Scientific Reports. According to that research, Bitcoin's ecological footprint has increased significantly since 2016. Unfortunately, the coin sometimes creates more damage than it is worth. Bitcoin's climate damage averaged 35 percent of its market value between 2016 and 2021. That is a lot more than that of gold (4 percent). On the other hand, it is closer to that of gasoline from oil (41 percent), electricity from natural gas (46 percent) or beef (33 percent). The damage to the environment and climate is so great that it sometimes exceeds the currency's value. "We find several cases between 2016-2021 where Bitcoin is more dam...

Apple is Already Releasing a New Safari on the Eve of macOS Ventura

13Sep

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, Technology

Apple is Already Releasing a New Safari on the Eve of macOS Ventura

One of the novelties in Apple's next operating system is macOS 13 Ventura, which will be released in October, which is the sixteenth version of Safari. However, that brand new browser has been available to download separately since Tuesday and offers a few useful new features. Tab groups allow Mac users to organize their favourite tabs in an organized manner. You can then quickly reaccess them via the sidebar of Safari, which has been redesigned in version 16. What's especially new, however, is that you can create tab group homepages, each with its own background photo and favourites. Soon you will also be able to share the groups (via the Messages app) with other macOS Ventura users or iPhone owners who have upgraded to iOS 16. Handy if you want to plan your next holiday toge...

Top Man of VR Project Horizon Resigns from Meta

29Aug

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, Technology, US

Top Man of VR Project Horizon Resigns from Meta

Vivek Sharma, the vice president of VR platform Horizon, is stepping down from Meta. Horizon is one of the spearheads of the metaverse that the company is building above Facebook. Vivek Sharma spent six years at Facebook's parent company, previously responsible for Marketplace and the Gaming business unit, among other things. As vice president, he expanded Horizon: the VR business unit that has shaped the emerging metaverse. Horizon Worlds is one of the VR projects he watched: a project that is very reminiscent of the ancient online game Second Life, but with an extra layer of virtual reality. But Vivek Sharma is equally responsible for Horizon Workrooms and Venues: the apps for collaborating and meeting in a VR environment or going to live events virtually. It is unknown why ...

Google Classifies Innocent Photo of Naked Child as Child Porn and Closes Account

22Aug

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, Technology

Google Classifies Innocent Photo of Naked Child as Child Porn and Closes Account

A man was kicked out of his Google account and received a visit from the police for sending a photo of his child's genitals to his doctor. The story sounds like a privacy nightmare. The toddler in question had swelling around his crotch. In preparation for a video consultation, he sent pictures of the condition to the doctor at the request of medical personnel. The facts date from February 2021, when many doctors' practices in the US were not easily accessible due to corona. The condition was treated with antibiotics. However, two days later, the man notified Google that his accounts were being blocked for harmful content, violating Google's policy, and may have committed illegal acts. As a result, the man no longer had access to emails, contacts, or online photos, and even hi...

Apple Employees have to Go Back to the Office 3 Days a Week

17Aug

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, Technology

Apple Employees have to Go Back to the Office 3 Days a Week

Apple wants its employees to be back in the office at least three days a week from September 5. It's not the first time Apple has tried to get people back to the office. However, several lockdowns over the past two years have slowed down previous efforts. In practice, Apple will require employees to work from the office on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and a third day determined by individual teams. That's an adjustment to the original plan, which required office work on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Apple first announced its three-day office work policy in June 2021. Since then, however, there have been several new Covid peaks worldwide, with the result that Apple limited its policy to two office working days per week. The new policy will go into effect for Apple locations in Silicon...

DuckDuckGo Now Also Blocks Microsoft Scripts

8Aug

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, Technology

DuckDuckGo Now Also Blocks Microsoft Scripts

After criticism from users, the privacy-friendly search engine will also stop tracking by Microsoft. DuckDuckGo is a search engine that does not track you online and thereby omits trackers or other techniques to identify you online. In addition, it also has extensions for Firefox and a mobile browser. In May, the organization was criticized for this. Despite its promise, DuckDuckGo's browser still contained Microsoft tracking scripts. That is why it is now announcing that that too will be discontinued. CEO Gabriel Weinberg also explains why: "We were restricted from applying 3rd-Party Tracker Loading Protection to Microsoft tracking scripts by a policy requirement linked to our use of Bing as the source of our search results." Now that requirement is no longer there, and Weinbe...

French Student Arrested in Morocco for Hacking American Companies

1Aug

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

France, Morocco, News, Technology, US

French Student Arrested in Morocco for Hacking American Companies

In Morocco, 21-year-old Sebastien Raoult has been arrested at the request of the FBI. The man is accused of hacking and stealing data from various American companies. Raoult's arrest dates back to June 1 but only became known through French and Moroccan media last week. He was arrested at Rabat airport while trying to catch a flight to Brussels. According to the FBI, Raoult is part of the ShinyHunters hacker group. In it, he would have hacked several American companies since 2020 and sold their data. As a result, the man was signalled to Interpol and could be arrested. The question now will be whether the man will be extradited to the US. He risks a prison sentence of up to 116 years, but his lawyer is against it. He argues that the facts would have been committed in France by a...

Microsoft Launches Facebook Clone for Teams

20Jul

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, Technology

Microsoft Launches Facebook Clone for Teams

A new social platform within the Teams application should encourage employees to share news and interests. Microsoft has launched Viva Engage in the United States, an app within Teams that is very similar to Facebook, to strengthen social networks within the company. The app draws a lot from software from Yammer, a community-building software company that was acquired by Microsoft about a decade ago. The Viva Engage app stands out mainly because it resembles a clean Facebook version. There's a news feed for your stories, conversations, videos, images, and more. It, therefore, seems mainly made to become a social network for work.

Samsung Expects Turnover to Increase by More Than 11 Percent

7Jul

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, Technology

Samsung Expects Turnover to Increase by More Than 11 Percent

South Korea's Samsung Electronics expects its operating profit to rise 11.4 percent in the second quarter of 2022, despite ongoing global supply problems. The company said this in a statement on Thursday. Operating profit for the period is expected to be 14 trillion won, compared to 12.6 trillion won in the same period a year earlier. In addition, the world's largest smartphone maker expects its sales to rise 21 percent between April and June to 77 trillion won. That would be less than in the first quarter of this year when the group posted sales of 77.8 trillion won. Analysts say the company benefited from strong memory chip performance, which offset a decline in smartphone sales in the second quarter.

Travel Industry and Travellers Important Target of Phishing This Summer

30Jun

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, Technology

Travel Industry and Travellers Important Target of Phishing This Summer

Consumers should be extra vigilant during their holidays due to the heightened cybersecurity risks. That warning comes from Check Point, a leading provider of security solutions. The company sees, among other things, a phishing trend in which hackers pose as well-known travel companies because holidaymakers are looking for last minutes. Despite increased costs and problems at airports, international travel is expected to increase by 11 percent this summer. As a result, according to Check Point Research, hackers widely impersonate well-known travel industry companies for phishing attacks. 'Holiday travellers looking for last-minute available trips, hotels and attraction offers are sensitive to emails about those topics. For example, there is a fraudulent e-mail from Delta Airline...