FileHippo News

The latest software and tech news

Half Million Users Infected By Harmful Chrome Extensions
Click-fraud browser extensions pulled from Google’s Chrome Web Store. In much the same way that smartphone apps help you personalize your device to your own specifications for productivity and enjoyment, browser extensions help you use the internet with your own key personalizations. These extensions are typically downloaded from the... Read more
New Mesh Wifi Router Hijacks Your Devices
First Alert mesh router that hijacks every connected device with smoke alarm warnings. Ordinarily, finding out a new product can take over your household devices and alter their screens would send people running in the opposite direction, but this new mesh wifi router from First Alert may actually lure... Read more
Vietnam Army Hires Army Of Censors For Fight Against ‘Internet Chaos’
Military-based cyber warfare unit to clean up the internet. Vietnam is reportedly in the middle of deploying a 10,000 members strong military-based cyber warfare unit to combat what the government has claimed is the growing threat from “wrongful views” by its population, according to several news agencies. The news,... Read more
Move Over Tin Can Telephone, It’s Wet String Internet
British engineers create ADSL broadband over wet string, just for fun. Sometimes, the best innovations happen because someone decided to simply see if it could be done. That’s the case of a British internet service provider Andrews and Arnold whose team was sitting around bored one day and thought... Read more
Starbucks Wi-Fi Makes Computers Mine Cryptocurrency
A latte and some cryptocurrency to go, please! Tech users have been warned for years about protecting themselves when connecting over public, unsecured Wi-Fi. Whether it’s in airports, hotels, or a local coffee shop, these connections encourage the public to utilize that business; airports and hotels often charge fees... Read more
Tech Giants’ Traffic Redirected Through Russia
Several major tech names had their cloud traffic redirected through a Russian ISP. In one of the strangest “we have nothing to fear from Russian hacking” events this month, several major tech names had their cloud traffic redirected through a Russian provider. The brief but allegedly intentional event affected... Read more
Net Neutrality Protest Aims To Break The Internet
Backlash is response to proposed removal of net neutrality regulations. Just in time for the Federal Communication Commission to destroy the internet for US users, a mass protest intends to beat them to it…literally. The FCC is voting on December 14th to strip away the net neutrality regulations that were... Read more
Wi-Fi security flaw puts ‘all networks’ at risk
New ‘KRACK’ bug puts millions of devices at risk and affects anyone using Wi-Fi, says security expert. Details of a newly discovered WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access II) flaw have been made by Mathy Vanhoef, a security expert from Belgian university KU Leuven.  The bug, known as ‘KRACK’, (for Key Reinstallation... Read more
80 Percent Of All Net Neutrality Comments Sent By Bots, Claim Researchers
Findings cast doubt on 22 million comments submitted to the Federal Communications Commission. New research has found that the vast majority of the 22 million comments submitted to the FCC over the summer have been against net neutrality, but that most of these ‘against’ comments were written or submitted... Read more
Google Appeals EU’s €2.4bn Search Engine Results Fine
Tech giant lodges appeal against massive fine by European Commission. Back in the middle of summer, the regulator ruled that Google’s positioning its own shopping comparison service at the top of Google search results, ahead of competitors, such as Amazon, was an abuse of power. The €2.4bn fine was, and... Read more
Verizon Presses Govt For Stricter Individual Privacy
Telecom heavyweight makes a stand on consumer data access.  The telecom giants in the US don’t have the best track record when it comes to consumer privacy. In fact, they’ve typically taken it to opposite extremes, such as turning over cell phone information to the government behind their customers’... Read more
China To Launch ‘Unhackable’ Quantum Internet Communication
China is currently preparing to launch an internet messaging system that could literally be ‘impossible to hack,’ according to Chinese State officials. The ‘Jinan network’ is set to be launched this August after a long period of sustained and successful tests. What makes this latest attempt at 100% secure communications... Read more
Tech World marks World Emoji Day With New Emojis For All
New emoticons from Google, Apple, and others including the Unicode Consortium are set to make their debut later this year on a device near you. World Emoji Day took place on July 17th, and to celebrate, companies like Google and Apple took the opportunity reveal the final versions of their... Read more
Why You Should Be Concerned About Net Neutrality
If you’re not freaking out, your not paying attention. Facebook, Alphabet (Google), Twitter, Amazon, Netflix, and dozens of other tech firms and websites from porn and dating sites, to Reddit and AirBnB, got together for a day of action to protest proposed changes to US net neutrality rules, on... Read more
Fighting For Net Neutrality AGAIN
Tech giants rally today in support of net neutrality Today, some of the world’s biggest internet companies and activist groups are coming together to protest the FCC’s proposed rollback of net neutrality protections. It’s tiring to have think you’ve won a significant victory for mankind, only to have the political winds... Read more
Court Rules Google Must Block Some Search Results
Canada’s Supreme Court ruling latest blow for Google. In the same week that the Alphabet subsidiary was fined a record breaking $2.4bn by European regulators, Canada’s Supreme court ruled that Canadian based courts do have the power to force Google to remove search results worldwide. The possibly groundbreaking ruling... Read more
Amazon Files Patent To Block Comparison Shopping In Its Stores
Applies to its physical bricks and mortar stores. Amazon filed a patent on May 30 to block shoppers in its physical bricks and mortar stores from comparison shopping when they shop there. Considering that comparison shopping is what Amazon have been helping consumers do just that since the day... Read more
Firefox Creators Mozilla Launch $2M Prize To Decentralize The Web
Initiative could change the face of the internet. No that’s right, the not for profit organization, Mozilla, the same people who created the popular web browser, Firefox, are literally offering $2 million to anyone who can decentralize the internet… And they’ve already started accepting applications for ideas that could make... Read more