Lockout google play

The internet barely had time to be annoyed for that new 15 second Burger King ad before Google shut the whole thing down. A little over two hours after the fast food giant took the wraps off of a TV spot designed to trigger smart assistants across the country, the functionality no longer works. We’ve reached out to Google for confirmation of the action, which was likely just a quick fix on the server side designed to block a specific waveform, perhaps leveraging similar functionality to block out its own ads. Meantime, we’ve tried in out on a Home unit we have around the office and can confirm that the commercial no longer has the intended effect. Interestingly, it’s not the specific function, just the voice from the ad. Asking Home what a “Whopper sandwich” is in your own voice (like a Big Mac, but smaller) will bring up the Wikipedia entry as initially intended. For Google, the fix is likely akin to patching a security flaw (though here it’s more … [Read more...] about Google Home has stopped answering to that annoying Burger King ad

We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more. Cross-play commeth Another huge wall is about to drop between PlayStation 4 and other networks, with the Minecraft Bedrock Edition looking virtually confirmed for PS4 complete with Xbox Live cross-play in the near future. Jez Corden 7 Dec 2019 0 Source: Windows Central One big development throughout this generation has been the gradual encroachment of cross-play between competing gaming networks. Major titles like Fortnite, Call of Duty, and others now have some form of cross-play between PlayStation and Xbox One, with other titles like Gears 5 picking up cross-play between Xbox and PC. One very high-profile hold out was Minecraft's Bedrock Edition, which is arguably the most cross-playable title of them all, connecting players from Nintendo Switch, VR, mobile, Xbox One, and PC via Xbox Live. Unfortunately, it looked as though Sony was holding out on bringing Xbox Live to PlayStation in order to enable … [Read more...] about Rumor: Minecraft Bedrock Edition with cross-play is coming to PlayStation 4 very soon

Features/ The Perspective API from Jigsaw, part of Google parent company Alphabet, gives online comment mods an evolving set of tools to combat abuse and harassment. But this machine learning technology also raises questions about the limits of AI. PCMag reviews products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use. The internet can feel like a toxic place. Trolls descend on comment sections and social media threads to hurl hate speech and harassment, turning potentially enlightening discussions into ad hominem attacks and group pile-ons. Expressing an opinion online often doesn't seem worth the resulting vitriol. Massive social platforms—including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube—admit they can't adequately police these issues. They're in an arms race with bots, trolls, and every other undesirable who slips through content filters. Humans are not physically capable of reading every single comment on the web; those who … [Read more...] about How Google’s Jigsaw Is Trying to Detoxify the Internet

We're on day who-the-heck-knows of the Android Stagefright security vulnerability, and there's really no point keeping track of the days because no one's going to fix it. The Android ecosystem can't deal with security, and it won't change until it's too late. Android was originally designed, above all else, to be widely adopted. Google was starting from scratch with zero percent market share, so it was happy to give up control and give everyone a seat at the table in exchange for adoption. The sales pitch was simple: "Apple locked you all out of the iPhone and with Microsoft you're just a customer, but on Android, you'll all have a say in the end product." The open source nature of Android allowed anyone to adapt its code to their hardware, and OEMs and carriers could (theoretically) alter or fork it to their hearts' content. Now, though, Android has around 75-80 percent of the worldwide smartphone market—making it not just the world's most … [Read more...] about Waiting for Android’s inevitable security Armageddon

It's easy to see that the Android ecosystem currently has a rather lax policy toward security, but a recent study from the University of Cambridge put some hard numbers to Android's security failings. The conclusion finds that "on average 87.7% of Android devices are exposed to at least one of 11 known critical vulnerabilities." Data for the study was collected through the group's "Device Analyzer" app, which has been available for free on the Play Store since May 2011. After the participants opted into the survey, the University says it collected daily Android version and build number information from over 20,400 devices. The study then compared this version information against 13 critical vulnerabilities (including the Stagefright vulnerabilities) dating back to 2010. Each individual device was then labeled "secure" or "insecure" based on whether or not its OS version was patched against these vulnerabilities or placed in a special "maybe secure" … [Read more...] about University of Cambridge study finds 87% of Android devices are insecure