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The Dropbox shell extension that’s most likely triggering these events as described in @razvanh’s Medium explanation. the application routinely communicates with its sync infrastructure at Dropbox and AWS (AWS CloudFormation) endpoints. By this logic the provided evidence doesn’t show that the application is reading or transmitting any files outside your Dropbox folder; but it doesn’t disprove it either. Is it possible to test this hypothesis, yes. Dropbox only sent a few hundred KB after “accessing” the target file....

For the unversed, DuckDuckGo’s Email Protection is a free email forwarding service that allows you to create a free, personal @duck.com or private “duck” address email address to safeguard your real email address from companies. This feature strips hidden ad trackers from incoming emails that it can find and protects the privacy of your personal email address without asking you to change email services or apps. The company said they found that approximately 85% of beta testers’ emails contained hidden email trackers embedded inside images and links within email messages....

Ex-Google engineer Kent Overstreet is developing a new file system for Linux called Bcache File System (Bcachefs). Right now he is looking for other like minded Linux developers to help him test it and suggest further modifications required. With so many working file systems already available, Linux users may ask why create a new file system? On his blog, Overstreet explains the need for Bcache, Overstreet explained that the main goal of Bcachefs is to match the speed of the traditional Linux file systems with the advanced scalability and reliability of newer file systems such as Btrfs and XFS....

Group Effects are new AR (augmented reality) experiences that can augment everyone on a video call at the same time, enabling a more fun and immersive way to connect with friends and family. “We’re excited to see how creators, like Ross Wakefield who designed the “Blow the Dandelion” effect, expand their creativity with Group Effects, while also helping you deepen connections with friends and family in real-time,” Facebook wrote in a blog post....

For many years, NPAPI plugins helped browsers add functionality such as gaming, rich interactive maps, and video support. But plugins also came with problems such as security vulnerabilities, stability issues, and performance drawbacks. The Web standards community overcame these problems by creating native functionality, such as HTML5 video, in order to do away with plugins. When Google announced its decision, speed, stability, and security were cited as reasons for ditching plugins....

Over the years, fingerprints and retina scans have been found to be easily hackable but researchers say it is impossible to fake or recreate an user’s internal ear canal which the basic requirement of ear-based login. The ear-based login system has been developed by researchers from NEC and it works by sending sound into someone’s ear and then measuring the echoes they receive. The echo is based on sound reflected from someone’s external ear canal, the tympanic membrane, and by sound that goes beyond the tympanic membrane and is reflected within the inner parts of the ear....

The code-sharing site is partnering with the Long Now Foundation, the Internet Archive, the Software Heritage Foundation, Arctic World Archive, Microsoft Research, the Bodleian Library, and Stanford Libraries to ensure the long-term preservation of the world’s open-source software. “There is a long history of lost technologies from which the world would have benefited, as well as abandoned technologies which found unexpected new uses, from Roman concrete, or the anti-malarial DFDT, to the hunt for mothballed Saturn V blueprints after the Challenger disaster,” according to the GitHub announcement....

Over 143 million people were recently affected in the massive credit bureau hacking event, the SEC is admitting that personal data was hacked from their filing system. Even the famous Deloitte has suffered a major hacking setback. No matter what sector you look in, the IT world is plagued by two competing issues. Load times are slow when security is strong, and security is weak when load times are fast....

Let’s have a look at the features and specifications of Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL: Display The Pixel 4 comes with a 5.7-inch full HD+ OLED display with 2280 x 1080 (19:9) resolution, while the Pixel 4 sports a 6.3-inch Quad HD+ OLED display with 3040 x 1440 (19:9) resolution. The additional feature added to this year’s Pixel phones is that both the devices feature a 90Hz max refresh rate that Google has termed ‘Smooth Display for ultra-smooth scrolling and responsiveness....

With the latest update in place, Google Docs will be able to point out inappropriate words and sentences that might seem dumb. It will help users write clear and concise copies free of any grammatical errors. Google Docs is releasing Tone & Style feature to write concise copies Grammarly and a few other third-party platforms and extensions have long been providing services to rectify grammatical errors and whatnot over the past couple of years....

Now, the search giant has launched the developer preview of a new machine learning toolkit designed specifically for smartphones and embedded devices and will be available for both Android and iOS app developers. This platform will allow developers to deploy AI on mobile devices. It enables on-device machine learning inference with low latency and a small binary size. TensorFlow Lite also supports hardware acceleration with the Android Neural Networks API....

In addition, an exchange offer is available on the 32GB and 64GB variants of Google Nexus 6 on Flipkart, wherein the sales price can be reduced up to Rs 5,000. This in turn brings down the prices to Rs 29,999 and Rs 34,999 respectively. However, this price cut is restricted to Flipkart only, as it is the exclusive retail partner of Motorola in the country, who manufactured the Nexus 6....

For those unaware, RCS is a new online protocol between mobile-telephone carriers and between phone and carrier that aims to replace current texting standard SMS (Short Message Service) messages with a text-message system that is richer and can transmit in-call multimedia. RCS is an upgrade of the SMS text messaging technology that allows users to send and receive better quality photos and videos, chat over Wi-Fi or data, know when their message is read, share reactions, and enjoy more dynamic and engaging group chats....

The scientific paper published by Google’s researchers and seen by the FT before being removed from NASA’s website earlier this week. The researchers in the paper claim that “their processor was able to perform a calculation in three minutes and 20 seconds that would take today’s most advanced classical computer, known as Summit (from IBM), approximately 10,000 years.” The researchers used Google’s Sycamore (53-qubit design) quantum computer for the problem....

The feature apparently not only allows Google to enhance its language recognition tools, as it lets people search with their voice, but also improve the results that it provides to the people. Also, it offers a simple way to listen and delete all of the information that it gathers. This is done through a special page that brings together the information that Google has on you. You need to go to the history page and look at the long list of recordings....

Larry Page had earlier this month announced that Google would be launching a new startup firm called Sidewalk Labs to develop and produce technology for cities. Free high speed Internet in cities is said to be a moonshot project that may not seem as unbelievable as projects such as taking a shot at curing death or developing the self-driving car. However, free city high speed Internet still remains an exciting idea....

The study published in May 18 issue of Science Advances, talks about the wonder material ‘Graphene’, a semi-metal composed of single layer of carbon atoms, which is known to be extremely sensitive to light (1,000 times greater than conventional digital cameras and smartphones) and can convert it into electricity. Hence, the researchers decided to examine whether the electricity generated out of graphene had the capability to stimulate human cells. After experimenting with different light intensities, Alex Savchenko and his team discovered that cells could actually be stimulated via optical graphene stimulation....

During this process, the name of your device, the manufacturer and model, serial number, firmware information, file system and electronic chip ID could all be shared with the computer. According to Kaspersky, this is sufficient enough for a hackers to attack your phone and gain access to a ton of information. Kaspersky explains that if a smartphone needs to be charged, then it should be done using a public power station, and that a connection should not be made from the USB port of the computer....