Google works to improve texting
Google wants to catch up to the iPhone in the texting category, says CNET. The company is working with U.S. carriers to make text messaging more powerful, more consistent across Android phones and more fun to use. Carriers will have to adopt a messaging protocol called Rich Communication Services, or RCS. When it’s widely available, RCS will replace SMS, the text messaging standard that’s been used since the 1990s.RCS messaging will let you share high-resolution photos, videos, GIFs and texts over Wi-Fi as well as over your phone’s data connection. You’ll be able to see if contacts are available, when they’re typing to you and when they’ve read a message. Group conversations will also see improvements.
Play your emails
Grab your headphones, press play, and groove to the sound of your email inbox, writes GeekWire, whose editors call Microsoft’s new “Play My Emails” feature for the Outlook app on Apple’s iPhone “a surprisingly useful and well-executed tool for keeping on top of your email.” The new feature uses Microsoft’s Cortana voice assistant to provide updates on appointments and events, summarize how many important messages have come in since last check, and say how long it will take to get through them, before reading them. With voice commands, users can flag messages for follow-up; archive, delete or skip messages; and dictate and send short replies. It is said to work smoothly with Apple AirPods and Microsoft Surface Headphones, pausing playback when you remove them, for example. It also works normally with other Bluetooth-enabled wireless audio devices, including in-car infotainment systems, integrating with basic media controls in the vehicle.
Not a keyword. A real key!
You probably keep a lot of sensitive information in your Googleaccount – bank account numbers and balances, email addresses, photos of your face, your friends’ faces, your family. If you want the highest level of security you can get for your all that important data, you’ll want to check out the Google Advanced Protection Program, says CNET. It relies on something very old but real: A physical security key, similar to the kind of dongle you use to start a car with keyless ignition. You don’t need to plug it into your phone, laptop or desktop, but you do need to keep it nearby whenever you access your Google account, like on a keychain or in your pocket.What’s the point? One of the common denominators among most data breaches is that attacks are carried out remotely, over the Internet. That’s why physical security keys are said to be an effective defense against online hackers. Even if a scammer did steal your username and password, they still couldn’t get into your account without that physical key.
Juice jacking
Travelers who need to charge their smartphones while on the go might want to avoid public USB charging stations, due to the security risk known as “juice jacking,” reports Digital Trends. A Nov. 8 advisoryfrom the District Attorney’s Office of Los Angeles County warned against the USB charger scam, in which hackers try to infect the smartphones and other electronic devices of unassuming travelers through the free USB charging stations in public places such as airports and hotels.Juice jacking attempts see hackers loading malware into the charging stations, or in cables that they leave plugged in at the stations. The malware may either lock the smartphone and hold it as hostage, or forward sensitive information such as passwords to the attacker. The DA’s Office recommends travelers plug their own charging cables into AC power outlets. Portable chargers, which come in many different forms and price points, are said to be a safer alternative to public USB charging stations as well. Bottom line: Travelers should stick to the safe side and only consider public USB charging stations a last resort.