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Amazon's Alexa voice assistant is used in millions of gadgets including the company's popular speaker, Echo, which uses programmed skillset called Skills to carry out voice commands, like asking after the weather condition.

Security Researchers from CheckMarx, a security firm discovered a flaw with Alexa that allowed a Skill to continue listening long after a person deactivated the software, which flaw could enable hackers to turn the Echo into an eavesdropping device.

While Amazon never stipulated how long Alexa will keep listening after a command is completed, which prompted researchers from CheckMarx to run the tests, After Alexa carries out a command, it's supposed to stop listening.

But the researchers developed a Skill that allowed it to continue listening indefinitely by taking advantage of Alexa's "Reprompt" command. CheckMarx's researchers found that a developer could write in the code for Alexa to do that, even if it perfectly understood the command.

Also, the researchers were able mute the command so that you wouldn't hear the Alexa asking you to repeat yourself, which allows Alexa to continue listening without the user being aware.

The proof-of-concept used is a calculator Skill that functioned like any calculator would, but after it completed a math problem, the Echo Dot continued listening for more than a minute until the researcher told it to stop.

Albeit, the voice recording actually goes to Amazon, but the transcription is sent to the developer that developed the skill.

The flaw is perhaps worrisome because Amazon's Echo smart speakers in the home could have been listening to customers all along. Though Amazon claims that the voice assistant doesn't listen to people until its wake word is activated.

Amazon has promptly fixed the reported flaw, which CheckMarx made public with its findings on Wednesday, since April 10.

Amazon fixes Alexa's eavesdropping flaw on Skills to carry out commands



Google launched Meet in March 2017, as an improved video meeting experience providing better performance over classic Hangouts video calls, with more secured and reliable method for guests to join meetings.

The company overtime updated Meet to include an API for reporting, phone dial-out and in-meeting chat. And Just recently, Google introduced the Hangouts Meet hardware room kit and for G Suite Enterprise customers, with support for up to 50 participants, more international dial-in phone numbers, and the ability to record meetings to Google Drive.

Now, Google acknowledging customers' feedback regarding Hangouts Meet, will enable Meet for all newly created meetings in Google Calendar starting 21 May 2018.

While the transition from classic Hangouts video meetings to Meet for G Suite customers will start after 21 May 2018 - and no action is required on their part, as all newly created Calendar events will contain Meet video meeting details by default, but existing events will still run classic Hangouts.

By the second half of 2018, all existing Calendar events will include Meet video meetings, and the classic Hangouts links will be disabled.



Google also introduced the ability to include US dial-in phone numbers to all Meetings created by users with G Suite Basic and G Suite Business licenses.

What browsers are currently supported?

Meet supports only latest Google Chrome at the moment; while compatibility with next stable version of Firefox is expected in advance of automatic activation in May and a solution for Internet Explorer and Safari browsers will come in advance of automatic activation with no opt-out.

Why Switch to Meet?

Meet is designed specifically for the enterprise user and provides significantly better performance over classic Hangouts video calls, with a cleaner, more focused user experience and a simple, secure and reliable method for guests to join meetings.

The streamlined interface allows enterprise users to focus on common workplace actions, such as inviting others or presenting content.

Also, it is easier than ever to start and join video meetings from mobile devices, computers, or a conference room, with up to 25 (G Suite Basic and Business) or 50 (G Suite Enterprise) people at a time.

But per adventure you need more time to prepare for the transition, you can temporarily extend your use of classic Hangouts as default video conferencing option for at least four weeks by opting out under Apps > G Suite > Google Hangouts > Global Settings.

However, starting from June, all Calendar events will include Meet video details instead of classic Hangouts links. Albeit, previously created classic Hangouts video links will still be usable until at least August 13, 2018 .

Google announces the transition of Hangouts video calls to Hangouts Meet

With the massive wave of privacy concerns from the social media sector, Twitter have in response to the new set of regulations from the European Union updated its policies to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Starting this month, the company will be introducing some changes to make it easier for users to manage their personal information; while the change in policy is the first call and bothers on how Twitter collects, uses and shares its users data.

The new GDPR regulation which goes into effect on May 25 gives people in Europe rights to access and delete data that companies like Twitter have collected about them.



According to Twitter, "We also recognize that to enjoy real freedom of expression, you also need and deserve meaningful privacy and security controls. It’s this very philosophy that has informed the process of updating and revising our Privacy Policy for everyone who uses Twitter around the world."

While all Twitter users will be able to have access to their data and control how it's used by the company when the GDPR rules goes into effect, only EU residents will have the law backing them with the new regulations.

Twitter have provided direct links to your core privacy and security settings, which are accessible when you are logged into the social network. Through these settings you can see what data Twitter has relating to your account and decide if to share it with the company or not.

Albeit, the old privacy policy does allow data portability or data erasure, and offer ways to download the data or request it to be modified or deleted; the new policy has made it more visually clear and easy to use.

Twitter updates Policy on how it collects and shares users data

Microsoft have been trying to woo users on the Google platforms into using its products and services, with Cortana becoming cross-platform compliant, and now it is extending its Edge browser advantage, Windows Defender browser protection to Chrome.

The add-on dubbed "Windows Defender Browser Protection" (WDBP) can now be downloaded to Chrome on Windows or macOS computers from the Chrome Store, to bolster Chrome's anti-phishing mechanism.

While the WDBP was originally built in on Microsoft's own browser Edge, the add-on runs on the company's SmartScreen technology that guards users from malicious websites, or phishing attempts that try to install malware and from malicious links in email messages.



This is possible through a constantly-changing list which Microsoft keeps of likely bad destinations on its servers, generated in part from telemetry sent by the SmartScreen technology.

Albeit, Microsoft hasn't fully documented the extension's operation beyond the general information on its site and the description on Chrome Web Store, which reads thus "if you click a malicious link in an email or navigate to a site designed to trick you into disclosing financial, personal or other sensitive information, or a website that hosts malware, Windows Defender Browser Protection will check it against a constantly updated list of malicious URLs known to Microsoft."



And the company had referenced the 2017 research from NSS Labs, which scored Edge as the best browser that's capable to block phishing and socially-engineered malware attacks, recording 99% success in all attempts while Google Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox were pegged to 87% and 70%, respectively.

The move by Microsoft is seen by analysts as the devil's alternative: As Microsoft is now saddled into Protecting the majority of Windows users, not only those running Edge (or the obsolete, legacy Internet Explorer).

Meanwhile, Edge browser in its third-year anniversary has only been unable to attract a handful of audience, which Net Applications latest data analytics put at just 4% market share, and 13% share on Windows 10 machines, while Chrome still leads the pack at 61% of the entire web browser usage.

Microsoft debut Windows Defender Browser protection add-on for Chrome



Net Neutrality is a proposal that ISP and government regulators should treat all data on the Internet as the same to prevent broadband companies from favoring their own content over competitors', passed by the U.S. Federal Communication Commission (FCC).

Now, the FCC has taken an awkward step to erase the rules protecting the internet, with the regulations no longer in the rule book, and the final step of removing it spearheaded by the new Republican-led FCC.

While the original rules were passed in the Obama-era in 2015, with many people agreeing to the basic principles of the net neutrality rules, albeit some specific rules had been a subject of intense controversy.

The controversy stems from the fact that the rules can't hold up in court, as the Democrat-led FCC had reclassified broadband networks to fall under the same regulations that govern telephone networks, what Ajit Pai, the FCC Chairman called "heavy-handed" and "a mistake," arguing that it will deter innovation and investment in building and expanding broadband networks.

The FCC then voted on December 14 to repeal the 2015 net neutrality regulations, which prohibited broadband providers from favoring partner companies willing to pay extra to reach consumers more quickly than competitors.

Today, the rules were officially removed from the FCC books, after the commission's publication of the final notice of the repeal in the Federal Register.

However, the move doesn't mean no one will be policing the internet any more, as the Federal Trade Commission has been saddled with the new responsibility and to intervene against companies that violate their contracts with the consumers or participate in any fraudulent activity.

Here’s what you need to know about the Net Neutrality rules



Facebook has recently updated its policies as it concerns collection of data on the over 2 billion monthly users on the social network; which remains the largest social network on the planet.

The new policy released on April 19 spelt out more clearly how the company collects and uses the information entrusted to it by its massive userbase, which changes was necessitated by the recent privacy issues surrounding the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and perhaps also the issue of data grabbing by third-party authentication services.

Albeit, Facebook's privacy policy was last updated in 2016, the full text of the new data policy at more than 4,200 words, is written in a simple language meant to be easy to understand.

Facebook database of users information is indeed huge, and the company has what is more or less a listing of what it thinks your political views looks like, which views it arrives at through the information from your photos, videos and thoughts you post on your timeline.

Also it extract some other data from your interactions with friends on the network, as well as pages and posts you "like" or follow.

The company placed some limit to the kind of data third-party apps can collect on its users, years before the news of Cambridge Analytica scandal broke out. And the new policy posted to its website reveals that Facebook is poised to limit this access even further.

While Facebook will restrict developers' access to your data or have it expressly revoked if you haven't used their app in three months, some data collection from your friends' apps still continues.

And to totally shut down the data collection, you'd have to give up using the apps altogether on your Facebook account. If you actually delete your account (quite distinct from account deactivation), Facebook will delete your information, including: posts, photos and status updates, but it excuses the data collected from sources other than yourself.

That is to say everything Facebook knows about you through your friends, from other data sources and websites you visit, is kept indefinitely as long as the social network deems fit.

Therefore, the only option left to you now is to adjust your privacy settings to change how much of your data is made public and what you can share with third-party apps.

What you need to know about Facebook's new Data policy

Google is looking to Rich Communications Services (RCS), which is essentially an upgrade to SMS, with the robust messaging standard featuring capabilities found in third-party services like real-time typing and read notifications, to serve as alternative to iMessage.

While Apple's iMessage is an instant messaging service supported by the default messages application in Apple's devices running iOS 5 or OS X Mountain Lion up; now Google wish to create an Android alternative to iMessage.

The tech giant is reportedly pausing its investment in the development of Allo instant messaging app, to concentrate on RCS based Android alternative to Apple's iMessage.



The Rich Communication Suite (RCS) was initially formed by a group of leading industry players in 2007, but now officially adopted by GSMA with a Steering Committee established. And while at the Mobile World Congress (MWC 2016) festivities, the GSMA announced it’s partnership with Google and 15 global carriers to push the adoption of Rich Communication Services (RCS).

Lately, Google has been talking up RCS as the technology standard that makes things happen, with phones becoming more powerful and users expecting more functionality, like the ability to know when someone is typing a message back to them. You can check out some cool SMS services on the 85kobo.com portal.

Google's refocus on RCS promises to give Android users some more nifty functionalities, such as location sharing and emoticons, read receipts and group chat options, among others.

Google looks to Rich Communications Services (RCS) as alternative to iMessage

Facebook has confirmed an ongoing investigating into a security report that claims that users' data on the social network can be grabbed by third-party JavaScript trackers on websites using Login With Facebook.

The exploit allow the trackers to accumulate data on a user, including: name, email address, gender, location, and picture, which may depend on the users provided privacy options available to the public. And the exploitation script is able to infiltrate the database to extract identifying information, even from web pages, browser password managers, and form input systems.

Login with Facebook is a simple social login system that makes the account creation process for users easier by eliminating the manual input of users information, and also eases login by eliminating the use of passwords.



According to Steven Englehardt security research, the exploitative scripts were discovered on over 400 of the top one million websites in the world including cloud database provider, MongoDB.

While some sites were found to be bypassing Login With Facebook user data to embedded scripts that install its Amplified advertising product with iframe that would load on these sites, pulling in user data that was then accessible to the embedded scripts, thus allowing the identification of visitors.

This is certainly not the best of times for Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg with the company already grappling with the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the requirements to comply with Europe’s GDPR law.

It's really frightening to see how Facebook users data can be exploited even outside the social platform, notwithstanding Facebook’s recent API changes designed to safeguard users privacy.

Facebook investigating reports on Data grabbed by Third-party JavaScript trackers



Opera Software launched its free VPN app in 2016, allowing users to avail its unlimited VPN to browse on mobile phones and tablets, now the company has announced plans to retire the service.

While Opera also offered a paid version of VPN Gold service on iOS that helped bolster the speed of the browser, and added more location options, with dedicated customer support for $30 a year. It affords users the ability to select between a number of countries and comes with ad blocking functionality.

Opera going forward will enable users on the Gold service to receive a free year on SurfEasy Ultra, the platform on which Opera’s VPN was based.

For those users on the free plan, they'll be able to redeem a discount of 80 percent off SurfEasy Total VPN through the latest version of the Opera VPN apps for iOS and Android. And that costs about $5 a month and includes 12 fewer regions than the Ultra service.

The SurfEasy service promises unlimited usage on up to five devices with access to 28 regions, and a strict privacy policy, and is available on both iOS and Android.

Opera, however assures users of the desktop browser VPN offering that the service won't be affected, as the shutdown would only affect its VPN app for iOS and Android.

Opera Software shutting down its free VPN app for iOS and Android



The proliferation of online news service is the rave nowadays, with the likes of Google and even an unlikely candidate Wikipedia, all toeing the news line; now Apple is set to join the party.

According to reports, Apple is planning to launch a subscription news service to be based on Texture, the magazine app it acquired last month, while Texture originally offers its subscribers access to about 200 publications for $9.99 per month.

Texture is sort of Netflix for news magazines, while Apple plans to integrate Texture service into the existing Apple News and launch a premium service in about a year time. Apple had cut over 15 staffers from Texture team immediately after the acquisition in March, and most likely will be unifying the remaining Texture staff into the existing Apple News team as well.

While the erstwhile Apple news app called Newsstand combined several magazines and newspapers, but the publications were only provided on personal subscription basis.

And the later offshoot of the service, Apple News which was launched in 2015, also took same format, albeit this latest subscription service involving multiple publications could steer Apple News to the next level and perhaps lead to revenue resurgence akin to the $9.99 offering per month for Apple Music.

Apple currently earns revenue from subscriptions for its iCloud storage and Apple Music, and it's also getting a cut of subscriptions sold by third-party apps on the App Store.

The launch of a news subscription service based on Texture would add to the other paid services to beef up Apple's revenue streams, including from iCloud storage and music streaming on Apple Music.

Apple prepping to launch News Service based on Texture magazine app

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