Articles by Stephen Warwick

But don’t be surprised if he doesn’t go…

What you need to know

Sundar Pichai has been invited to an EU hearing on the power of big tech next month.
Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos have also been selected.
Insiders reckon none will take up the invitation, however.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has been invited to an EU hearing on the power of big tech next month.

From Reuters:

EU lawmakers have invited the chief executives of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet to a Feb. 1 hearing in Brussels as they try to crack down on the powers of U.S. tech giants.

The European Parliament will in the coming months provide input into proposals by the European Commission to force the companies to play fairly with rivals and to do more to tackle online fake news and harmful content or face hefty fines.

The report notes the purpose of the hearing “is to have an exchange with the chief executive officers of the four globally leading platform companies to learn about their c…

The girl died of asphyxiation trying to take part in a “blackout challenge.”

What you need to know

TikTok has been temporarily banned for young users in Italy.
It follows the tragic death of a young girl trying to take part in a ‘blackout challenge’.

TikTok has been temporarily banned in Italy following the death of a young girl.

A 10-year-old girl was found unconscious and declared dead in a Palermo hospital, after asphyxiating herself trying to take part in a ‘blackout challenge’. From ANSA

A 10-year-old Italian girl was declared brain dead by a Palermo hospital Thursday after taking the Blackout Challenge on TikTok.
Her parents have OK’d donating the organs of the girl, who tied a belt around her throat to self-asphyxiate in the challenge on the popular social-media platform.

Following the incident, The Guardian reports that TikTok is assisting prosecutors with an investigation into the death and that the app has temporarily been blocked in the country:

TikTo…

“The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden.”

What you need to know

Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook has suspended President Trump from both Facebook and Instagram indefinitely.
The suspension will last for at least two weeks until Joe Biden is inaugurated.
Zuckerberg said Trump’s decision to “condone rather than condemn violence on the platform” had “rightly disturbed” people around the world.

Mark Zuckerberg has stated that Facebook has suspended President Trump from both Facebook and Instagram indefinitely.

In a recently uploaded post, Zuckerberg stated:

The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden.
His decision …

The situation is ongoing, and it’s unclear what the issue is.

What you need to know

Several major Facebook services including Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp are down right now.

Reports all over the internet indicate that there is a large outage affecting major Facebook services including Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp this morning.

Huge spikes on Downdetector indicate that users are experiencing connection issues on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram. The latter is showing issues with news feeds, stories, and posting.

Maps of the respective outages indicate that the UK and Europe are the most heavily affected at this stage, however, this may simply be because US users are only just waking up for the day. Facebook at the time of publication has not issued any notice or update about the problem.

Reports on Downdetector indicate that whilst the highest concentration of issues is being reported in Europe, there are reports of issues on all services worl…

Judge Wendy Beetlestone said the risk presented by the government wasn’t enough to outweigh public interest in halting the move.

What you need to know

A judge has issued a preliminary ruling blocking President Trump’s plan to ban TikTok in the U.S.
It comes after the administration was sued by three TikTok creators.
A judge said the U.S. government had phrased any potential security risk in the hypothetical, and that it was clear the ban would cause irreparable harm.

A U.S. federal judge has ruled in favor of blocking President Trump’s proposed ban on TikTok in the U.S.

As Variety reports:

A federal judge has preliminarily blocked the Trump administration’s ban on TikTok, which has been scheduled to take effect Nov. 12.

The case was brought by three TikTok creators, who argued that President Trump’s executive order directing a complete U.S. ban on the Chinese-owned short-form video app infringed their First Amendment rights to free expression. The White House has’cla…

‘Stadium Full Screen Browser’ is a workaround app for Google Stadia.

What you need to know

You can now play Google Stadia on iOS.
That’s thanks to a workaround app called ‘Stadium Full Screen Browser.’
It’s a full screen web browser that even features controller support.

A new workaround app called ‘Stadium Full Screen Browser’ will let users play Google Stadia through a web browser on iOS 14.

Reddit user zmknox took to r/Stadia to announce a new highly specialized browser app for iOS, available to download from the App Store. From the post:

Over the past few weeks, some tricks were floating around this subreddit for get Stadia working on iOS 14. I decided to ship a highly specialized browser app to the App Store which can make doing this super easy.

“Stadium” is a full screen, mostly single page serving, browser that allows you to change the user agent, and supports any game controller iOS can understand. When you open it, you give it your primary URL and a custom us…

The app also serves Wales.

What you need to know

England recently released a COVID-19 contact tracing app.
Turns out it can’t accept positive test submissions for around 1/3 of tests.
The app’s Twitter account recently confirmed it couldn’t link to test results taken in Public Health England labs or at the NHS.

England’s contact tracing app does not work with around 1/3 of tests carried out in England, the app’s Twitter account has confirmed.

Responding to a user who got a test result but no code to input into the app, the NHS COVID-19 app Twitter account stated:

Hi Damian,

If your test took place in a Public Health England lab or NHS hospital, or as part of national surveillance testing conducted by the Office for National Statistics, test results cannot currently be linked with the app whether they’re positive or negative.

Thanks.

FAQ: What is the Google-Apple COVID-19 (coronavirus) Exposure Notifications system?

Noted by Reuters, PHE and NHS tests in England…

The vulnerability was discovered back in April.

What you need to know

Facebook has patched a major security flaw on Instagram.
Check Point Security discovered a flaw that would let hackers take over your smartphone using malicious code buried in a photo.
Fortunately, no one seems to have been affected by the exploit.

Facebook says it has patched a security issue within Instagram that would have allowed hackers to take control of a smartphone by simply sending a user a photo carrying malicious code.

According to Business Insider:

Cybersecurity researchers uncovered an Instagram vulnerability that would have enabled hackers to take over someone’s smartphone and use it to spy on them by merely sending an image loaded with malicious code.

The vulnerability was uncovered by Check Point Security in April, the firm announced this week. It has since been patched by Facebook, the company said in an advisory, meaning anyone with the latest version of the Instagram app is immune…

Videos with the #Trump2020 hashtag have clocked over 10 billion views on the platform.

What you need to know

TikTok is lobbying Washington over a proposed ban on the app in the U.S.
Lobbyists from the company have told the Trump campaign the move could cost the president millions of votes in the November election.
They say some of TikTok’s largest markets are key battleground states in the election.

Lobbyists from TikTok have told the Trump campaign that a move to ban the app in the United States could cost the President millions of votes in the upcoming election.

According to Bloomberg:

TikTok lobbyists told Trump campaign officials that an all-out ban on the app could sour millions of voters against him in the November election, taking aim at one of the president’s top concerns, according to people familiar with the matter.

The report says that the company has explained to campaign officials “how the app works in detail”, and how it has more than 100 million U.S. user…

If you already have the iPad version, you can get it free on iPhone.

What you need to know

Company of Heroes is now available on iPhone and Android.
The smash-hit PC-gaming strategy title has been adapted for mobile.
It follows an intense WWII campaign beginning with the invasion of Normandy on D-Day.

Feral Interactive has today released Company of Heroes for both iPhone and Android following its successful release on iPad.

Feral announced the release back in August. Company of Heroes was originally released on PC back in 2006, winning multiple awards as a real-time strategy game. Feral has adapted the game for touchscreens and successfully released the game on iPad earlier this year. From the developer:

Company of Heroes offers players an epic WWII campaign, with gameplay comprised of intense squad-based battles that progress from the D-Day landings through to the liberation of Normandy. Designed for phones, this version of the game allows mobile gamers to direct all the…