This seems to be getting way too fairly common. The good news is if users have Google Protect enabled (which they would by default unless they go in and disable it), these malicious apps will be removed from their device once Google removes the offending app from Google Play. Users should follow the old advice, “if it sounds too good to be true…don’t install it” when it comes to apps. Also, check the reviews as well as the developers site before installing (especially if you are paying for said app). One app illustrated by Dr. Web that has amassed one…
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Today is Sunday, December 4th: time for the weekly roundup of the good, the bad and the ugly tech news of the week! Because of the US Thanksgiving holiday, there was not a weekly roundup this past weekend. Also, since there has been so much focus on Twitter lately, they will be excluded for this (and likely future) roundups so that we can bring attention to other news. The Good Google has admitted they need to do a better job of patching Android phones. While the exploits are being fixed quickly, however the updates are not getting pushed out to…
More legal trouble for Google Inc. 179,86 -2,42 -1,33% Android and their App Store (Google Play): A judge this week granted class-action status to antitrust litigation that now covers 21 million Google Play customers in 12 states—Alabama, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Wyoming—and five US territories, including American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. The lawsuit claims that Google’s misleading warnings led millions of customers nationwide to pay “artificially inflated” prices for apps they could have downloaded cheaper elsewhere. Last year, dozens of state attorneys general sued Google on these same…
At this point it is uncertain when Musk is going to re-release Twitter Blue which had been slated for this Friday. What is for certain is the price will go up by 1¢ to $8 USD and he does not like giving Apple a 30% cut. This is a continuation of Musk’s current quarrel with Apple Inc. 225,12 +0,89 +0,40%. which Musk had Tweeted about this on Monday claiming Apple ‘threatened to withhold Twitter‘ from the Apple app store (but they would not say why). Mush hasn’t provide much details about this nor about his below Tweet also from Monday….
Still trying to get caught up with the postings after last week’s holiday break. We have a couple items from Google in regards to their Chrome browser and Android (mobile) operating system. Google pushes emergency Chrome update to fix 8th zero-day in 2022. This update was pushed out late Thursday so most users if they have already restarted Chrome will already have the newest patched version. If you are in doubt click the three dots in the upper right and go to Help > About Google Chrome. If your Google Chrome is up to date you will see the below…
It seems like nearly every week the UK or EU are investigating Apple Inc. 225,12 +0,89 +0,40% and/or Google Inc. 179,86 -2,42 -1,33% Android for being ‘anti-competitive’. Earlier this year, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) was looking into further investigating Google and Apple’s dominance in the mobile phone market “Many UK businesses and web developers tell us they feel that they are being held back by restrictions set by Apple and Google,” said the CMA’s interim chief executive, Sarah Cardell in a statement. “We plan to investigate whether the concerns we have heard are justified and, if so,…
Once again scammers are getting creative in findings way to get their fake and malicious apps on Google Play. Unsuspecting users install said apps with false sense of security since the apps is offered on Google Play it must be safe (which in most case is true). In the past, most of these malicious apps were more of an annoyance serving adware and performing (ad) click fraud. However, these new fake Android ‘File Manager’ apps are a lot more serious and dangerous. These apps are “clean” when they are uploaded to Google Play, but once install will later ‘phone home’…
Google Inc. 179,86 -2,42 -1,33% has settled with 40 US State Attorney Generals for tracking Android users since 2014 without their knowledge or permission. All said and done Google will pay out $391 Million USD. Besides the monetary payout, Google has also agreed to make changes to Android privacy settings to make it easier for users to opt-out. While Android users were misled into thinking disabling the “Location History” in the device’s settings would disable location tracking, another account setting—turned on by default and named “Web & App Activity”—enabled the company to collect, store and use the customers’ personally identifiable location…
Google Inc. 179,86 -2,42 -1,33% has been fined yet again for ‘anti-competitive practices’ with its Android mobile OS. This time around it is India which is their largest market by user base. The commission has slapped Google with a small $162 million fine. I say small as Google’s MONTHLY revenue works out to be around $21.5 Billion. The Competition Commission of India found the following in their investigations: Google has perpetuated its dominant position in the online search market resulting in denial of market access for competing search apps in contravention of Section 4(2)(c) of the Act. Google has leveraged…