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Your WhatsApp account can be suspended by anyone who has your phone number
Researchers reveal gaping hole in the popular chat app's security
If you're a frequent user of WhatsApp, you may want to keep an eye on a disturbing hole discovered in its security this weekend. It's possible for an attacker to completely suspend your WhatsApp account, without any recourse for the individual user, and all they need is your phone number. At the time of writing there's no solution for this issue.
The fourth Android Q beta doesn't have as many changes as prior versions did, though there are still some subtle tweaks here and there. One instance of this is the lock button on the lockscreen — for some reason, Google has chosen to relocate it from the bottom to the top.
You know smart home technology is becoming ubiquitous when even a 150-year-old company decides to get in on the fun. That's the case with Yale, founded in 1868 by the inventor of the modern pin tumbler lock, Linus Yale, Jr. The historic company collaborated with Google's home automation company, Nest, to reveal the Nest x Yale Lock in January 2018. Now, Yale has achieved the inevitable next step in its journey into cutting edge security tech, with the announcement that as of today, Google Assistant on mobile or Google Home supports voice commands for its product.
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- With the Nest Hello now shipping, the Google Home has gained support for doorbells. You can check how to set up a doorbell in the Home app and livestream it to your TV, and how to specifically use the Hello with your Home to let it announce visitors on the smart speaker. For now, only the Hello seems to be properly recognized as a doorbell as the documentation for device types doesn't mention that device type yet.
Nest has two products that will begin to ship today: the Hello video doorbell and the 'Nest x Yale Lock.' We knew that the Hello doorbell would begin to ship out today, though the completely keyless Nest x Yale Lock is a bit more of a surprise.
At CES in January, Yale announced they would soon release an NFC residential lock, the first of its kind in the US. A product page with the option to pre-order went up soon thereafter with the promise of delivery sometime in April. The ship date was updated today, and it seems Yale is going to miss their target − but not by much. The Yale YRD340 Mobile Phone Entry lock will be available May 4th for $224.99. It comes in three different colors: oil rubbed bronze, polished brass, and satin nickel.
The Kwikset Kevo lets people unlock their doors with just a finger tap. But as cool as the spiffy Bluetooth-enabled lock sounds, it relies on companion software to make the magic happen. Fortunately the Android app has recently come out of beta. Now people with compatible devices can take advantage of all the features previously available only to iOS users.
The Kwikset Kevo Bluetooth-enabled door lock is the kind of tech that reminds us that we're living in the future. With one of these installed in your home, you can get inside just by tapping a finger against the lock. Before you panic, this only works if your phone is in range and on the right side of door (i.e. the outside).
The Kwikset Kevo Bluetooth-enabled door lock lets owners unlock a door just by tapping a finger against it, as long as their phones are in range. It's a cool piece of tech, something we reported on over a year ago when it first hit the market. Android compatibility was in the works, but a few roadblocks popped up along the way.
Lockitron is a crowd-funded "smart" door lock that aims to let you control your home or office door lock with your smartphone. And now that Android Wear is available, some developers won't rest until every facet of their phone is tied into their watch. Thus, Wear-a-tron, which allows users to activate the unlocking function of the official Lockitron app via a Wear extension. It's available for free on the Play Store.
When Google launched the Android Device Manager in early August, I applauded the initiative because we finally got a much-needed security solution that was built into every Android devices that ships with Google's services. Rather, it was a good start, since the functionality was so limited: location, remote wipe, and alarm.
Just yesterday, Google posted to its Android blog about Android Device Manager – a tool that will help Android users keep their phones and data safe by offering location and remote wiping/locking features that third party solutions have until now been filling in for.
The key is a beautiful creation. It's small, portable, cheap, and effective. What's the problem? They're annoying. No one likes fumbling for them before opening the door, scratching up the area around a lock at night, or leaving them on the coffee table at work. This is why you probably want the Kwikset Kevo Bluetooth-enabled door lock, which can turn your smartphone into your house key. Security without the hassle. This is what technological advancement is for.
Most people make do with a PIN or pattern lock to secure their Android devices. If you need something a little stronger (or just want to feel like Ethan Hunt) EyeVerify has just released the beta version of an app that uses honest-to-goodness eye scans. Eyeprint takes a photo of your face, then matches the pattern of blood vessels on your eyeballs to a previous photo to access locked apps. The beta is extremely limited - none of my devices are showing compatible on the Play Store. The listing specifically mentions the Galaxy S III, Note II, and HTC One.
Quick Look: Official Book Cover For The Nexus 10 – It's Something
In the interest of time, I'll spare you, dear readers, my usual spiel and say simply this: I like official accessories. In theory, anyway. I like the
In the interest of time, I'll spare you, dear readers, my usual spiel and say simply this: I like official accessories. In theory, anyway. I like the idea of accessories specifically made for specific devices by the device's original manufacturer. I've been delighted by the Nexus 7 pogo dock, and love the Nexus 10 pogo charger (though it isn't actually official yet).
Update: The CyanogenMod team has chosen a new name: cLock. According to the Google+ post, the new name was chosen by virtue of its simplicity.
While there is no shortage of security apps on the Play Store, aeGis one stands out a bit for a few reasons. For starters, it's dead simple to use. Set up a specific trigger phrase and you can text your phone to lock the display, remotely wipe, find the address of, or sound an alarm from your phone. There's no web interface, unfortunately, but this app trades the elaborate suite of services of something like Avast for simplicity.
We already know that the Big Four will be getting their own respective renditions of the Galaxy Note II. We also expect that it'll also be part of a unified release much like the Galaxy S III. We've even seen how Verizon defiled its home button. Turns out leaving its mark on the face of the device wasn't enough for Big Red, though; the carrier has also done some work to the bootloader.
Yesterday, Nvidia's CEO announced that the Ice Cream Sandwich (that's Android 4.0 for those of you new to the game) update for the quad-core Asus Transformer Prime would begin rolling out immediately. Sure enough, users started receiving the update, and we managed to snag and host the OTA ourselves (as well as help you prevent it from breaking root). For most, the update brought everything you'd expect from the hot new version of Android: even smoother, snappier performance, sleeker transitions, and various other perks. But for some, it appears that the update has seriously screwed up their device.
We all have apps that we would prefer to keep prying eyes away from - SMS, Email, Facebook, banking applications... the list goes on and on. You can always lock your entire phone down with a pin, password, or pattern lockscreen, but it gets tedious and annoying to have to unlock each time you want to quickly check something.
In what is undoubtedly one of the coolest mods I've seen in months, developer picard666 has released an interactive Mario lockscreen for MIUI. So awesome, in fact, that words can't properly describe it. Take a look at the "diagram":