Privacy and security are hugely important for home security devices such as cameras, and today, Google Nest is committing further to building up security and privacy including a new promise of at least five years of support.
In a blog post today, Google highlighted a handful of ways that it holds up privacy and security for Nest owners. Many of the points touched on aren’t particularly new…
TCL is only on its second major release cycle for self-branded Android smartphones, but it’s clear the company is becoming a major player in the mid-range and entry-level markets. That’s an area where Android updates are often sorely neglected, and unfortunately, TCL…
Google introduced the Android App Bundle format in May of 2018 at I/O as part of its modern development push. The AAB standard will become the default for new applications published to the Play Store this August.
To bring these benefits to more users and focus on modern…
Asus ZenFone 8 series starts at $599 w/ Pixel 5 size, Snapdragon 888 [Update: Now available]
June 30, 2021
With LG calling it quits, there’s room for smaller brands to make an impact on the smartphone market. Asus today unveiled its latest attempt at the mainstream smartphone market with the ZenFone 8 series, a pair of flagship-tier smartphones with affordable prices and a solid overall package.
Small flagships are a rarity nowadays. The only flagship-tier smartphone that comes to mind in the…
Google requiring Chrome Web Store devs to enable 2FA, combine repetitive extensions, more
June 30, 2021
Google today announced the latest set of policy changes to limit extensions abuse and improve security of the Chrome Web Store. This includes requiring 2FA for Chrome Web Store developers and cracking down on deceptive installations.
Similar to the Play Console for Android…
Android updates are a point of contention for many devices, but Samsung has been stepping up in a big way across the board. Now, the company has confirmed that Galaxy Enterprise devices will get a whopping five years of security updates, putting them at the top of the class…
Android TV has a new budget champion in the incredibly affordable $30 Walmart “onn” box, but details on what HDR formats the device supports have been unknown to date. Now, we’ve got answers.
The listing for Walmart’s Android TV box touts 4K support but is absent of any mention of HDR — High Dynamic Range — which is a pretty standard feature of most 4K devices nowadays.
Speaking to…
Google Chrome to offer ‘HTTPS-Only Mode’
June 30, 2021
For years now, Google has been one of the biggest proponents of using a more secure HTTPS connection everywhere possible. Google’s latest optional push, “HTTPS-Only Mode,” would make older HTTP websites inaccessible in Chrome.
HTTPS was once a marker of a website’s…
With Chat serving as a key part of the integrated Gmail experience, Google lets users quickly specify their activity status. In addition to the existing availability options, you’re now able to set a custom status in Gmail and Chat on the web.
This month’s announcement…
Carrier caught injecting ‘SMS AD’ into Google verification code message [Update: Comment]
June 30, 2021
SMS is widely regarded as an insecure form of two-factor authentication, and another example of this has just emerged. A carrier looks to be injecting ads into the Google verification code used to sign in to services like Gmail.
Update 6/29: Google issued the following statement to us today:
“These are not our ads and we are currently working with the wireless carrier to understand why this…
