Free Republic

TikTok's parent company is required to share data with the Chinese government The Chinese parent company of TikTok had access to American users' data for months even while U.S. employees did not have access themselves, according to leaked audio. The audio, obtained by BuzzFeed News, covers more than 80 internal meetings at TikTok between the months of September 2021 and January 2022. It showed that U.S. employees were not permitted to access user data and instead relied on Chinese employees to do so, according to BuzzFeed. TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, is required under Chinese law to share its data with...

Ever wondered what types of batteries are used to power electric and hybrid vehicles (EHVs)? Well, the majority of EHVs being driven on our roads today will use lithium-ion (Li-ion) or lithium polymer batteries. ... They pose a potentially lethal chemical hazard to anyone working on or near EHVs. ... Since the electrolyte is a liquid, there is always the possibility that it could leak from inside the battery – we’ve all seen standard AA batteries that have leaked leaving white potassium hydroxide crystals on their outer casing, right? Well, that’s the danger with lithium-ion batteries. If the electrolyte inside...

The chip shortage that ravaged the auto industry last year continues to terrorize vehicle production in 2022. BMW switched chip suppliers to keep production rolling, but the new semiconductors weren’t fully functional, lacking Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. These made their way into new vehicles, but owners will receive an update with the features. BMW told Automotive News Europe that it would install the software features via an over-the-air update by the end of June. The chips also lack wi-fi capability. According to the publication, BMW didn’t specify the number of affected models or disclose where they were shipped. However,...

We're looking out for new watches from Apple, Google, Fitbit and Samsung throughout 2022. It's shaping up to be a big year for smartwatches. While we're expecting to see typical updates like the next-generation Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch, 2022 might also mark some notable milestones. Google, for example, is rumored to launch its first Pixel Watch in the spring or fall. Fitbit, which Google owns, could also release its first watch running on Wear OS. A Pew Research Report from 2020 says 1 in 5 Americans use a smartwatch or fitness tracker, while Counterpoint Research's data says the...

In a time when various “developed world” intelligence agencies are filling up petabytes of hard disk space with domestic phone recordings and tracking their own citizens who – in the pursuit of a “liberal” agenda – have been escalated to a greater terrorist threat than actual foreign terrorists, some people have had enough and are throwing their smart phones into the trash and replacing them with “dumbphones” instead. One among them is seventeen-year-old Robin West, who according to the BBC is an anomaly among her peers: “she doesn’t have a smartphone.” Instead of scrolling through apps like TikTok and Instagram...

The Rumble app on my Android phone is downloading slow and won't play video. Same thing when I go to their website through the Opera browser. But it works fine through Roku. Anyone else having this issue?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Ukraine's two leading suppliers of neon, which produce about half the world's supply of the key ingredient for making chips, have halted their operations as Moscow has sharpened its attack on the country, threatening to raise prices and aggravate the semiconductor shortage. Some 45% to 54% of the world's semiconductor-grade neon, critical for the lasers used to make chips, comes from two Ukrainian companies, Ingas and Cryoin, according to Reuters calculations based on figures from the companies and market research firm Techcet. Global neon consumption for chip production reached about 540 metric tons last year, Techcet estimates. Both...

... The MAGA Hub app has sparked confusion for many supporters who were hoping to try out Trump's social media platform on Android devices. As it stands, Trump has only released Truth Social on the Apple iOS app store, where it reached No. 1 in the 'free downloads' category on the same day of its release. ...

An apparent rip-off of Donald Trump’s social media network Truth Social has racked up downloads in the six figures on Google’s Play Store, causing confusion by MAGA types who failed to realize the distinction. Insider first reported that the app, which is titled “MAGA Hub — Truth Social Trump” on the Play Store, has crossed 100,000 downloads as of Tuesday. While the app itself was launched in August 2021, well before news broke that Trump was pursuing the “Truth” branding for his social network, most of the downloads appear to have been in the last few weeks. Trump Media &...

Research published earlier this week shows that a nasty Android banking malware has evolved, bringing with it a number of alarming new features—including the ability to factory reset your device after stealing your money. The malware in question is called BRATA, short for “Brazilian Remote Access Tool Android.” As you might expect from its name, it originally popped up in Brazil several years ago but has since spread to many other parts of the globe. Researchers with security firm Cleafy wrote this week that the newest version of the malware, first spotted in December, has a number of additional features...

From social media platforms to email providers, tons of places on the web want to scoop up your private data. Don’t forget about online stores and personal services, either. Your details are major commodities to most businesses on the web - and most have little regard for your privacy. Advertisers and marketers don't know who you are. But your behavior is tracked and assigned a unique identifier, called a Mobile Advertising ID (MAID). This tiny snippet of information contains where you live, what you shop for or what you recently searched online. Until recently, there had been very little that...

Received a mandatory update (34) alert on my Samsung Galaxy S10e. You can delay the install, but not avoid it. Now all internet access starts from a Google Chrome page. While you can uninstall Google Chrome, you also lose access to Google maps. And those duckduckgo searches you thought were private....uh, no, they are sitting there listed as "recent searches".

Steve Bannon talks about artificial intelligence, the singularity, and life-extension technology with Luke Rudkowski and Tim Pool on TimcastIRL.

If you have a smartphone, you probably use its front-facing camera for selfies and the occasional video call. Perhaps, if you’re lucky, you’ll shoot the next viral TikTok masterpiece. You might use your next smartphone’s front camera for the same things, but there’s a chance that camera won’t completely turn off once you’re done with it. This week, chipmaker Qualcomm revealed its latest Snapdragon processor, which will power many of the high-end Android smartphones you’ll see in stores in 2022, including models from Motorola, Sony, OnePlus. And a new feature built into that chip could allow smartphone makers to keep...

Georgia Tech Researchers have now shown that one of the very measures meant to keep data secure on a low-end phone can enable attackers to steal it. Their paper, presented on September 10 at the 6th IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy, demonstrates successful attacks on two different types of low-end Android phones, a ZTE Zfive and an Alcatel Ideal. In accordance with standard practice, the researchers reported their findings to software developers before releasing their results so that the problem could be fixed. The attack relies on placing a radio sensor within a few centimeters of a device,...

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuanian cybersecurity experts are urging the country’s government agencies to abandon the use of Chinese-made smartphones after an investigation identified security vulnerabilities and censorship concerns with certain devices. Lithuania’s National Cyber Security Center said it found four major cybersecurity risks for devices made by Huawei and Xiaomi, including two relating to pre-installed apps and one involving personal data leakage, and warned against using these two brands. There’s also the risk of possible restrictions on freedom of expression with Xiaomi phones, which contain a content-filtering feature for 449 keywords or groups of keywords in Chinese characters. The...

This should be very concerning for tech companies that operate in the Chinese market. 'It is not clear how much pressure was put on SoftBank to form the merger, but this looks like one of the most blatant examples of IP theft that we've seen. The Chinese arm of a company has gone rogue and refused to obey the ruling of its own board. The head of that company is essentially treating it as a personal fiefdom, and Chinese authorities do not appear to have taken meaningful action to reign in Mr. Wu.'

The de-googled Android fork /e/OS is a passionate step towards removing Google from your daily driver (i.e. your smartphone).

EXCLUSIVE: Former Trump senior adviser Jason Miller is launching a new social media platform on July 4 to declare "independence" from Big Tech, billing it as a "cancel-free zone" focused on free speech, with "superior technology" that he says will "be the envy" of Silicon Valley. The platform is called "GETTR," which Miller, the CEO of the company, told Fox News evolved from the idea of "getting together." GETTR is officially launching on Sunday, July 4 at 10:00 a.m. ET, but the platform is already in the App Stores.

Massachusetts state officials recently announced the launch of the “voluntary” MassNotify app, which monitors the spread of COVID-19 in the state. The only problem is the app appears to be installing itself on residents’ and their kids’ smartphones, unbeknownst to users, and without their consent. The news creates a disturbing new dimension to privacy laws and even private property concerns as hundreds of users have reported their Android phones have had the app surreptitiously installed, without their prior knowledge. “Thank you MA/Google for silently installing #MassNotify on my phone without consent. But I have a request: Can you also silently...