In a surprise move, one of the world’s best-known anti-virus software makers is adding cryptocurrency mining to its products. Norton 360 customers will have access to an Ethereum mining feature in the “coming weeks”, the company said. Cryptocurrency “mining” works by using a computer’s hardware to do complex calculations in exchange for a reward. It […]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Donald Trump’s ‘communications’ platform permanently taken offline
Donald Trump’s communications platform has been permanently shut down, his spokesperson told CNBC. “It was just auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on,” senior aide Jason Miller said. The platform, titled From the Desk of Donald J Trump, launched last month and served as a way for the former president to […]
eBay sellers can no longer use PayPal under new terms
New terms of use for eBay have come into effect which mean the online auction house will now pay sellers directly rather than through PayPal. PayPal was acquired by eBay in its early days in 2002, and the two firms have worked in partnership ever since. The changes mean that while eBay buyers can still […]
Noisy appliances: How loud is your house?
In a residential street in south London, dozens of household appliances are being put through their paces – not to measure how well they work, but how loud they sound. The room we’re in is officially a laboratory. There’s no soundproofing in sight: noise bounces gleefully off the sort of hard surfaces and shiny floors […]
Twitter: Social media giant lists new ‘Blue’ subscription service
Twitter has listed a new subscription service on app stores, in an indication that the social media giant is preparing to trial the offering soon. “Twitter Blue” is listed as an in-app purchase, priced at £2.49 in the UK and $2.99 in the US. Twitter has given no further details, and declined to confirm online […]
Legality of collecting faces online challenged
Clearview AI, a US firm with a database of three billion facial images from the internet, is facing a new legal challenge from privacy campaigners. Privacy International and others argue its methods of collecting photos and selling them to private firms and the police “go beyond what we could ever expect as online users”. Clearview […]
WhatsApp: Facebook-owned app goes to court over India privacy rules
WhatsApp is suing the Indian government over new digital rules that will force the messaging service to violate privacy protections. It said rules that require tracing the origin of chats were the equivalent of keeping a “fingerprint of every single message sent on the service”. In February, the government introduced new guidelines to regulate content […]
Tesla fined in Norway over battery issues
A court in Norway has fined Tesla after a software update issued in 2019 slowed down battery charging speeds and affected the number of miles some of its vehicles could travel between charges. The case was brought by 30 customers, reports Norwegian news platform Nettavisen. The fine amounts to 136,000 Norwegian Krone (£11,500) for each […]
Three years of GDPR: the biggest fines so far
It’s been three years since the introduction of Europe’s data privacy and security law on 25 May 2018. GDPR governs the way organisations that operate within the EU can use, process and store consumers’ personal data. At first smaller firms and start-ups feared they did not have adequate resources to fully comply with its rules. […]
Covid: Sniffer dogs could bolster screening at airports
Sniffer dogs could contribute to efforts to prevent the spread of Covid as society reopens, according to scientists. As part of a trial, dogs were trained to recognise a distinctive odour produced by people with the virus, but undetectable to the human nose. This could come in useful for screening at airports or mass events. […]