FileHippo News

The latest software and tech news

Deepfake Safety: Five Things You Can Do Today

The generation of images, videos, and voices through artificial intelligence is evolving at a pace that demands we establish clear criteria and good habits to defend ourselves from the dangers of abusing these technologies. Deepfakes are already part of our everyday online life, so it is a very good idea…

Top Online Scams to Be Aware of in 2025

The internet is undoubtedly full of great content, hobbies, information, offers, products, and people, but there’s also a darker side to it. We might not realise it, but every day we’re exposed to threats and scams as we navigate the online world. Curiosity and trust can be exploited to lure…

Meet the new features for Avast Free AV and Avast Premium Security

With millions of active users worldwide, Avast stands as a benchmark in cybersecurity. Why? Because of the quality of its solutions, the reach of its tools and because it is a platform in continuous evolution. A platform that today, once again, places our security at the forefront by reinforcing every…

Send Facebook Your Dirty Pics
Facebook asks users for nude photos to combat revenge porn using new tech. As ugly breakups go, posting private photos of your now-ex partner is somewhere near the top of the naughty list. The practice of so-called ‘revenge porn’ is damaging and prevalent, though, that some jurisdictions are even... Read more
Skirting iPhone X’s Facial ID With DIY Hack
Apple iPhone X Face ID fooled by a mask. In the months of giddy speculation and strategically leaked news about the latest iPhone, one of the much touted features was a camera that was specifically suited for facial recognition. It presumably spoke to capabilities of facial recognition for things... Read more
EA Abandon Star Wars Battlefront II Payments
Meanwhile Belgium investigates ‘Loot-Boxes’ gambling. After an unprecedented gamer revolt, games publisher EA, has been forced to temporarily remove in game micro-transactions from the just released Star Wars Battlefront II.  Writing in a bog post, Oskar Gabrielson, the General Manager of Battlefront II developer DICE, said: “We hear you loud and... Read more
Beware Connected Toys This Holiday Season
‘Almost anyone’ can hack IoT childrens’ toys, says report. The holiday shopping season creeps back earlier and earlier each year, with major retailers already reaching out to customers as much as a month ago to advertise seasonal deals and specials. Each year, one of the ongoing holiday headaches involves... Read more
Huddle Security Flaw Allowed Unauthorized Access
‘Highly secure’ collaboration app exposed KPMG and BBC files. Imagine arriving at work, firing up your computer while you grabbed a cup of coffee, and sitting down to check your emails only to find yourself staring at a confusing screen. Instead of your usual email inbox screen, you’re looking... Read more
Star Wars Battlefront II Becomes Most Down-voted Comment In Reddit History
Electronic Arts (EA) respond to gamer backlash over progression system.  When EA decided to respond to its player-base’s concerns earlier about Star Wars Battlefront II and its loot boxes, it probably didn’t think that its post would break all records, and then some, for the most down-voted and unpopular... Read more
US Users Hit By Google Docs Outage
Los Angeles, San Francisco and West Coast hit hardest; rest of G Suite unaffected. Google Docs users suddenly found themselves without access to any of their docs, when Docs itself became inaccessible late Wednesday afternoon. While the outage only lasted a few hours for a “significant subset of users,” panic... Read more
Samsung Galaxy With Linux Via DeX
Samsung demos Ubuntu running on Galaxy S8 smartphone. In the heated race between Android vs iOS devices, the operating system really does play a major role in helping consumers decide which model to invest in. When it comes to these high-dollar purchases, most consumers tend to stick to operating... Read more
YouTube To Restrict Inappropriate Content Aimed At Children
Crack down by Google-owned video sharing website is not a full ban. YouTube has announced that it is to restrict the availability of ‘creepy’ videos aimed at children and show popular children’s characters in violent and sexual scenes, if they are reported by viewers. YouTube’s new policy follows several accusations... Read more
Phishing Nets Hackers 250K Google Credentials Per Week
Cyber-thieves’ quarter million haul of valid log-in names and passwords for Google accounts every week. Highly skilled hackers with unbelievable know-how may be infiltrating the highest levels of government, but the day to day cybercrimes are happening in a far more mundane fashion. According to a new study conducted... Read more
Facebook Fails to Fight Fake News
Experiment backfires as dubious content gets bumped up news feeds. These days, the most caustic insult you can hurl at an online post is “fake news.” With the abundance of troll trash floating around about even the most mildly politicized topics, avid internet users are faced wading through the... Read more
Millions Of Dollars Worth OF Ethereum Frozen By Mistake
Blunder over bug in code may freeze cryptocurrency wallets forever. An error in the code for Ethereum multi-signature (sig) wallets – and the subsequent attempts to repair it – have resulted in an estimated $300,000,000 of Ethereum being made inaccessible by anyone, possibly for ever. Parity, the software company behind... Read more
Self-Driving Shuttle Bus In Crash Two Hours Into First Day
Human to blame, not the autonomous vehicle. A driverless electric airport shuttle bus that made its debut downtown Las Vegas was involved in a traffic accident just a few short hours after entering into service. Ironically, it seems that the human driver of the other vehicle involved was to... Read more
WhatsApp ‘Fake’ Downloaded More Than One Million Times From Google Play
Fake Android update appeared in Google’s official app store. It is understood that more than a million people downloaded a fake version of WhatsApp onto their Android devices through the official Google App center, before Google realized and removed the fake app from the Play store. It’s easy to see... Read more
Legal Govt Tracking Of Mobile Phones For Data Mining
Mobile phone tracking data ‘could replace census questions’. A recent UK government announcement just might prompt a few citizens to fetch their tinfoil hats: the Office of National Statistics (ONS), what in other countries might be referred to as the “census bureau,” has revealed that they’ve tested a data... Read more
IoT-powered home insurance launched
UK-based Neos says smarthome tech may lower premium costs. For years, auto insurance providers have offered customers a simple way to lower their insurance costs via ‘black box’ tracking devices. Now UK insurance start-up Neos is working to bring the same savings to home owners’ insurance through smart tech. By installing... Read more
Adobe Predicts Online Mobile Christmas Shopping Will Break New Records This Year
More than 50% of all web traffic will be from smartphones and tablets. Adobe Analytics has released its online shopping predictions for the upcoming holiday season and have estimated that online sales will be some $107.4 billion in the United States, alone – an increase of almost 15% on... Read more
Are Tech Giants To Blame For Russian Election Scandal?
Facebook, Twitter, Google and others may have unknowingly played roles. There’s little doubt now that state-sponsored Russian operatives worked diligently to try and interfere in last fall’s US Presidential election – a notion that has both federal investigators and armchair social media experts weighing in day and night. However, more... Read more