Aaron Gach wasn’t expecting U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to demand to search his smartphone when he returned to San Fransisco from Belgium in February. The artist and magician, a U.S. citizen, had just attended an art event near Brussels and was targeted for advanced screening by CBP after his flight landed in the U.S.…
During the past two years, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has targeted ever larger numbers of travelers’ smartphones and laptops for searches as they cross the border into the country. U.S. courts have generally upheld a so-called border search exception to the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, allowing CBP to search electronic devices without a court-ordered warrant. In April,…
Hackers compromised a download server for HandBrake, a popular open-source program for converting video files, and used it to distribute a macOS version of the application that contained malware. The HandBrake development team posted a security warning on the project’s website and support forum on Saturday, alerting Mac users who downloaded and installed the program from…
The latest rumors about the so-called Surface Pro 5 appear to be just that, based on recent statements from Microsoft’s hardware chief. Despite the Surface Pro 4 launching well over 18 months ago, if Microsoft’s working on a new tablet as expected, it seems likely to be a simple refresh of the current model. Speaking with…
Android Wear 2.0 has already been out for a couple months, but it’s been slow to catch on. The new 2.0 watches leave quite a bit to be desired, and the update has been slow to reach some of the most popular devices. But we can finally cross one of our favorites off the list.…
Another political campaign has been hit by an email dump. This time, the target is French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron. On Friday, his campaign said a massive and coordinated hack had breached the email inboxes of several staffers. This came after a mysterious user named “EMLEAKS” apparently dumped the stolen data through torrent files on…
Next week, PC vendors will start rolling out patches that fix a severe vulnerability found in certain Intel-based business systems, including laptops, making them easier to hack. Intel on Friday released a new notice urging clients to take steps to secure their systems. The chipmaker has also released a downloadable tool that can help…
Alexa is poised for a major breakout. Over the past few months, Amazon’s AI assistant has expanded to the iPhone in the Amazon app, Android with the Huawei Mate 9, and gotten a camera upgrade with the fashion-minded Echo Look. But a new leak suggests Amazon has even bigger plans for Alexa. To read this…
Amidst a budding controversy surrounding the module system planned for Java, Oracle’s chief Java architect, Mark Reinhold, lashed out today at Red Hat and IBM’s opposition, saying the companies are just guarding their own self interests. In an open letter to the Java Community Process (JCP) Executive Commitee published Friday morning, Reinhold was highly critical…
In a slowing PC market, Chromebooks siphoned market share away from Windows PCs in 2016 as their popularity grew outside the education market. Chromebook shipments grew by a stunning 38 percent in 2016 compared to 2015. Gartner estimated 9.4 million Chromebooks shipped, compared to 6.8 million units in 2015. The number is just a fraction…