FileHippo News

The latest software and tech news

Google Play Store Bans Crypto-Mining Apps And Cleans Up Others
Google has followed up on earlier announcements to further regulate apps available from its Play Store by banning cryptocurrency mining apps, and making a plethora of other prohibitions in other genres including those with disruptive advertising, sexual content in childrens apps, and those that purport to facilitate the selling... Read more
Walmart Aims To Take On Netflix, Hulu, And More
Walmart-owned Vudu is nothing new, at least not in terms of the basic function. It’s actually quite a refreshing break from the “pay for it all, consume everything” nature of most video streaming services. Like a lazy man’s Redbox, Vudu lets you pay only for titles you want to... Read more
Ecuador Allegedly ‘Close To Evicting’ Julian Assange from UK embassy 
Rumors continue to grow that the UK and Ecuador have reached a deal to evict the Wikileaks founder and end his embassy asylum. Speculation has reached a crescendo as Ecuadorian president, Lenin Moreno, visits London this week for disabilities summit. While both governments have officially downplayed any official discussion regarding ending Assange’s asylum, reports by both... Read more
Venmo To End Website Function
Peer-to-peer payments app Venmo begins phasing out website function to differentiate from PayPal. There are a handful of brand-name terms that have become such a part of our lives as to actually infiltrate our language. It’s not just limited to older words like “kleenex” or “coke,” either. Most of... Read more
Hackers Patience Nets Almost $1m In Cyber Russian Bank Raid 
MoneyTakers, the infamous hacking group gained access to the bank funds through a single, outdated router. News has emerged that a professional cyber hacker group managed to steal almost $US 1,000,000 from a Russian bank earlier this month after the thieves gained access to the financial institution’s internal networks by using a router that had not been updated... Read more
Kik Launches Retail Platform For Crypto Kinit
Kinit is the first public app designed to get more consumers using Kin. Messaging app Kik first introduced its own foray into the exciting world of cryptocurrency almost a year ago when it launched an ICO for its own coin, Kin. Despite some early regulatory issues, the Canadian-based company... Read more
Google’s High Altitude Loon Project Takes Off In Kenya 
Google subsidiary company Loon has revealed that it has signed a deal with the Kenyan government to bring high speed internet access to remote and rural areas of Kenya using hot air balloons…  Loon have partnered with Telkom Kenya to bring connectivity to areas of Kenya that aren’t currently covered by mobile networks.  Google’s high-altitude balloons were originally developed as... Read more
Cryptowallet Counterfeits Steal Consumers’ Coins
With the hype, effort, and energy that constantly swirl around cryptocurrency, it’s no wonder that a wide variety of scams have surfaced along with it. Thanks to tactics like hoaxes, cryptojacking, and outright theft of coins, investors have more work to do than ever to ensure that they’re actually... Read more
EU Fines Google $5 billion Over Android Antitrust Violations 
Fine is second multi billion levy by EU against Google in less than a year.   The penalty follows a major investigation over Android dominance of how Google links its Google Search and Chrome operations on Android devices.   Technically speaking, the European Union have issued a $5.06 billion fine against Alphabet, Google’s parent company for the alleged abusive dominance... Read more
Celebrities, Politicians And Even Twitter CEO Lose Followers After Twitter Purge
A week after Twitter locked, suspended, and/or purged millions of ‘fake,’ ‘bot’ and ‘suspicious’ Twitter accounts, a number of well known high follower Twitter accounts have seen a noticeably large drop in their follower counts.  As we reported last week, the suspensions and shutdowns were part of a continued effort by Twitter to clear up its platform and institute... Read more
Cryptojacking A Bigger Threat Than Ransomware
Cryptojacking to mine Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency is about to surpass ransomware as the most common cyberactivity for financial gain. For the last couple of years, ransomware attacks have been on the rise, for a variety of reasons. First, they’re fairly simple to pull off; even better, they’re easy to... Read more
LEO Workaround For Apple Anti-Snooping Tech
The fight between Apple and the FBI continues… Apple has had a long-time adversary when it comes to invasion of privacy, namely, local, state, and even federal governments. The tech giant was at one time embroiled in a lengthy, expensive legal battle over breaking into a user’s iPhone, specifically... Read more
Hackers Could Soon Be Using Brain Waves To Steal Passwords 
As the pace of technology quickens, new research shows that specialized headsets that utilize brainwaves will need better security to stop hackers from stealing passwords and other sensitive information.  A new study by researchers from the University of Alabama has revealed that Electroencephalograph brainwave sensing headsets, or EEG headsets for short, will need... Read more
Who’s Responsible For Tech Privacy?
Somehow, we’ve made it all the way to 2018 without really understanding that tech companies may or may not have our best interests at heart, specifically when it comes to privacy. This is the year that all heck broke loose for Facebook, for example, who has suffered privacy blunders... Read more
Twitter Closes Millions Of Fake Accounts In Social Media Purge 
News has emerged that over the past few months Twitter may have shut down up to 70 million accounts in a massive purge of suspected fake and suspicious posts.   According to the Washinton Post, the suspensions and shutdowns were part of a continued effort by Twitter to clear up its platform and institute proper... Read more
Trump’s China Tariffs Are Hitting Tech Industry Hard
The tech industry is speaking out against Trump’s new tariffs on China imports. Donald Trump threatened some major tariffs on foreign imports–and somehow, even on goods made in the US by companies that are not American but have tens of thousands of US employees building their products–and after a... Read more
New Zealand Court Rules Kim “Megaupload” Dotcom Can Be Extradited To US On Copyright Charges.
Dotcom vows to fight on after losing another court battle to avoid US extradition, and a possible 20 year jail sentence. The case dates back to 2012, when authorities staged a spectacular raid on Dotcom’s rented mansion in the Auckland area of New Zealand.  The charges are related to Mr... Read more
New Tech Finds Trapped Team, New Tech Must Save Them
Israeli tech helps find soccer team and their coach – but how will tech save them? On June 23rd, a group of a dozen children between the ages of 11 and 17 explored a local cave with their soccer team’s coach. When torrential rain began to flood the cave,... Read more