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For an illuminating glimpse of government power in action, it’s hard to beat the fines the Justice Department threatened to level against Yahoo if it didn’t comply with a secret and sweeping surveillance request in 2008. News coverage of the case, for which documents were unsealed last week, reported the proposed fines as $250,000 a Continue Reading →

A few weeks ago, the world went crazy when reports surfaced that Facebook Messenger was snooping on you. Reporters, hackers, and users alleged that, because Messenger had the permission to use your camera, monitor your location, or (on Android) read your text messages, that it was doing so all the time. The scare was eventually Continue Reading →

Someday soon, users may be able to interact with their favorite websites even when these sites aren’t accessible, thanks to a new browser standard called Service Workers being developed by Google. With Service Workers, “We can make sure when you go to your site, it always feels responsive, that it is always there, even if Continue Reading →

Sling Media recently announced support for Chromecast through the Slingplayer apps on iPhone, iPad and Android phone, with plans to bring support to Android tablets “very soon.” Each of these apps now has an integrated ‘Cast’ icon, which also shows Roku devices on your home network, letting you sling your living room TV to another Continue Reading →

The recent iPhone 6 and Apple Watch unveiling makes one thing perfectly clear: Apple has no interest in the several billion people who don’t own smart devices. It doesn’t care if you can’t afford its products and services. Apple is focusing solely on an affluent audience. If you want to buy an iPhone 6 and Continue Reading →

Home Depot said Thursday that the security breach it reported this month allowed cyberthieves to cull information from 56 million credit and debit cards, far worse in terms of data loss than a similar attack late last year on the Target store chain. The malicious software, or malware, was placed on Home Depot point-of-sale terminals, Continue Reading →

Following last week’s announcement that iPhones would support Wi-Fi Calling, and that T-Mobile would get it right away, all the other carriers have been forced to make their plans for the service known. Lo, Verizon will get the service, albeit, a little reluctantly. Fierce Wireless reports the comments of Verizon CFO Fran Shammo which echo Continue Reading →

On Wednesday morning, apps designed to connect to the new iOS HealthKit framework were set to launch alongside the brand new iOS 8, but those apps, hungry for your data about calories and fitness progress, apparently hadn’t laced their jogging shoes. Shortly after the new version of iOS launched, developers learned that their HealthKit-ready apps Continue Reading →

In July, it was revealed that Goodwill Industries had suffered from a credit card data breach that affected the charitable retailer’s stores in at least 21 states. The Goodwill breach seemed by many to be just the latest case of criminals taking advantage of the weak underbelly of retailers—their point-of-sale systems. But now, as it Continue Reading →

Twilio is adding a twist to its MMS service, which lets developers embed picture, video and other multimedia messaging into their apps. It’s now adding MMS support for regular 10-digit phone numbers, wherever that number happens to terminate. That means companies can now use a single phone number for all of their customer communications, whether Continue Reading →