Technology

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday said it’s looking into tightening rules around cell phone service, in an effort to rein in SIM swapping scams and port-out fraud, two ways fraudsters can access a person’s cell phone account and phone number for nefarious purposes. The agency says in a statement it has received numerous complaints “from consumers who have suffered significant distress, inconvenience, and financial harm” due to SIM swapping and port-out fraud. And, the FCC said, recent data breaches have exposed customer information that could make it easier for bad actors to carry out these kinds of attacks successfully. SIM swapping is when someone hijacks your cell phone number so they can intercept two-factor authentication codes — the ones you use to verify a log-...

The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) — the group that maintains the USB standard across its many varied incarnations — has introduced new, official logos for companies to use to brand their USB-C cables and packaging to go with its USB4 and 240W power standards. The goal is a noble one, aiming to help ease the confusion about the different types of USB-C cables (which can differ widely in things like charging and data transfer speeds) when you’re buying one. Naturally, the USB-IF, in its… unique wisdom, has chosen to simplify things the only way it knows how: a slew of new logos that will soon adorn packaging for cables and chargers to help indicate to customers what charging and data speeds their devices support. Because nothing says “simple” like a chart of seven new logos for charg...

Honda Motor Company on Thursday announced plans to increase research and development across three technological categories: space technology, robots and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircrafts (eVTOL), or flying cars. The Tokyo-based company will invest their efforts in “outside-the-box research on technologies that will bring about new value for people by expanding the potential of mobility into the third dimension, then the fourth dimension, which defies the constraints of time and space, and ultimately into outer space,” according to a blog post. In the space sector, Honda plans to create a rocket that will launch small satellites into low-Earth orbit, in an effort to provide higher connectivity among machines. Additionally, the company has partnered with the Japan Aerospace Exp...

After paying homage to the tech and trends of the 2000s with its recent release with Urban Sophistication, Hong Kong-based label CASETiFY returns alongside streetwear brand MA®KET for another tech accessories collab. Known as Chinatown Market up until its rebranding last month, MA®KET arrives fresh off the back of its debut co-release under its new guise with Looney Tunes. Now, teaming up with serial collaborators CASETiFY, the duo deliver a series of signature tech accessories that have been decorated with MA®KET’s pop culture designs. From face-melting acid house smileys and the brand’s signature basketball, to Jeff Gluck’s ‘Call My Lawyer’ motif, protective iPhone cases (including that for an iPhone 13) are decorated with eye-catching graphics that can be personalised too. Rounded out w...

Epic Games announced Thursday that it would be making its parent verification services free for all developers in order to make it easier to build games that keep kids safe online. Epic Games bought SuperAwesome, a safe kidtech company, last September. With this new addition to the company, Epic Games was able to launch its Kids Web Services (KWS) program, allowing developers to “verify the identity of parents or guardians when granting their children permission to use features that collect personal information.” Once a parent is verified through the system, they receive what Epic calls the “ParentGraph,” which makes it simpler to offer verification through other games on the Epic platform. Epic says that this system not only protects children and parents, but “minimizes personal data proc...

It’s a strange thing that one of the most enjoyable physical interfaces I use in my day-to-day life is on a kettle. The Stagg EKG Electric Kettle, specifically, a $150 appliance that’s almost entirely controlled through a single, magnificent dial that is a strong contender for the best way to turn on a kettle (a competition that, admittedly, lacks much competition). Using the Stagg is a delightful experience of tactility. The main control is a single dial/button located on the front right of the base. Turning it on takes just a single press, a deep, solid click that lets you know through touch and sound that you’ve turned on the kettle. Turning it off is a similar single press, another resonant click to announce that the kettle is off. Lastly, there’s adjusting the target temperature, done...

There have been rumors that Asus partnered with Noctua, maker of very quiet PC case fans and this silent, fan-less CPU cooler, to make a custom Nvidia RTX 3070 desktop graphics card that looks like no other. While its existence has leaked a few times, picked up by PC Gamer in recent months, Wccftech was quick to spot that an Asus employee in Vietnam posted images of the graphics card and other info to the Asus ROG Vietnam Facebook page. Those assets have since been taken down, but not before Wccftech was able to snag the photos and take note of the details. This new GPU, apparently called the RTX3070-08G-NOCTUA, won’t be as affordable as your average RTX 3070 (MSRP of $499), plus the cost of a couple of Noctua fans. Asus’ Facebook page temporarily listed the price as 26 million đồng, which...

People who get irregular pulse notifications on an Apple Watch but don’t have atrial fibrillation — the condition the feature focuses on detecting — could still have another type of problem with their heartbeat, according to a new study. The findings show that even if someone with a concerning alert from their Apple Watch doesn’t get an atrial fibrillation diagnosis, they may not be in the clear, says study author Marco Perez, the director of the Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic at Stanford University Medical Center. “Even if you didn’t find atrial fibrillation, we were finding a lot of people who had something else that probably needed some clinical attention,” he says. The analysis, published in the journal Circulation, was done using data from the Apple Heart Study, which was designed to tes...

When it comes to collaborations, CASETIFY and BTS know how it’s done. Linking up for the fourth occasion, the duo present another tech accessories capsule, this time drawing inspiration from one of the pop group’s most famed tracks: Butter. Spotlighting a plethora of designs featuring elements from the anthem, the collection comprises graphics like a melting butter heart, a stack of pancakes with syrup and silhouettes of all seven BTS band members, on both iPhone and Galaxy Impact cases. A custom cassette case that can be personalised with names and monograms also arrives, alongside wireless chargers, Apple AirTags and 2-in-1 grip stands, as well as accessories for AirPods, AirPods Pro and Apple Watch bands. The CASETiFY x BTS “Butter” collection launches globally on October 12 via the CAS...

Honda is increasing its research and development spending in three futuristic areas: rockets, robots, and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL), otherwise known as flying cars. The automaker will spend $45 billion (5 trillion yen) on R&D over the next six years. But Honda won’t say what fraction of that amount will be spent on developing rockets, robots, and flying cars, nor even if it plans on pursuing those projects as commercial businesses. In fact, Honda sees robots, rockets, and eVTOL aircraft as an extension of its main business of manufacturing automobiles. If the company can get a better electric vehicle platform out of it, for example, then it will be worth the investment. Basically, it wants to see if it can make working prototypes before taking the next step...

Microsoft’s Xbox chief, Phil Spencer, says console supply issues will continue into 2022. In an interview with The Wrap, spotted by Video Games Chronicle, Spencer admits the Xbox supply issues will last for the rest of the year and into 2022 due to supply chain complications beyond just a chip shortage. “I think it’s probably too isolated to talk about it as just a chip problem,” says Spencer. “When I think about, what does it mean to get the parts necessary to build a console today, and then get it to the markets where the demand is, there are multiple kind of pinch points in that process. And I think regretfully it’s going to be with us for months and months, definitely through the end of this calendar year and into the next calendar year.” The global chip shortage has impacted various c...