Google and Apple’s app stores both have a reputation for being pretty trustworthy these days. It’s easy to assume that if an app is in either the iPhone App Store or the Google Play Store, it’s safe to download. But a new Google crackdown this week reminds us that this isn’t so clear cut.

Yesterday, a third-party security report revealed that Google had recently removed 224 malicious apps from the Android Play Store. Dubbed “SlopAds” apps by security company Human, which discovered the apps and wrote the report, these apps evaded Google’s usual security procedures and instead used a clever workaround to secretly install malware on users’ devices, even when downloaded straight from Google’s servers. 

The way these apps worked was that, if you downloaded them by searching for them through the Google Play Store, they would work as advertised with no malware dragging them down. Generally, these apps were pitched as simple utilities, or attempted to pass themselves off as more popular programs like ChatGPT, to try to trick users into downloading them. Not the best tools, certainly, but if accessed directly through Google, they wouldn’t hurt you.

But the trick is that, if you downloaded one of these apps after arriving at the Play Store via one of SlopAds ad campaigns, it would also secretly download an encrypted configuration file that, after a few post-download checks, would install malware on your device.

Once a device was infected, the app would then steal its information, and start using it to generate fake ad impressions on sites run by the scammers, maximizing profit.

It was a clever way to get around Google’s regular review process, and a good reminder that, even as major companies try to make their app stores safe to use, you should still be vigilant while browsing them.

How to avoid installing malware on your device

While SlopAds has been thwarted for now, you should still take a few steps to keep your device safe while downloading new apps, especially since SlopAds isn’t alone in sneaking Malware onto the Play Store. Here are just a few ways to protect your device while browsing for new apps.

Download your apps directly from the Play Store

Android is different from iOS in that it allows you to sideload apps onto your device. This can be convenient when working with smaller developers, who might not have the resources to get their programs on the Play Store. But downloading an app that hasn’t been verified by Google opens you up to extra risk. Always ensure you trust a developer and the specific APK file you’re using before sideloading an app. Google is currently working to block sideloading unless a developer is verified (which has been controversial, despite the extra security it gives you), although these changes aren’t set to hit most of the world until 2027.

Find apps through the Play Store

As SlopAds proves, navigating to an app through an outside source can flag it to download extra files to your device that you won’t get if you find the app through the Play Store’s own search functionality. Always be cautious about links to apps that you find on suspicious websites, and especially in ads. Using the Play Store to discover new apps instead could save you some headaches down the line, especially as Google’s search is less likely to send you to suspicious apps than it is popular apps that have been verified as safe by other users.

Check user reviews and permissions

If you scroll down before downloading an app through the Play Store, you’ll see which permissions an app needs to do its work on your phone, and you’ll also be able to read user reviews. This can be handy if there are known issues with an app, or the requested permissions seem to be a bit too generous for what the app claims to do. However, this isn’t a catch-all solution—SlopAds did its malicious behavior in the background without needing any sort of permissions, and depending on where a user downloaded a SlopAd app from, it might not have even installed malware on their device. It’s possible apps with good reviews could still have harmful software included on the sly.

Turn on Google Play Protect

While SlopAds was able to bypass Google Play Protect, it’s still a good idea to turn it on if it isn’t enabled on your device already. This will scan an app for known malware before downloading it, giving you an extra layer of protection. It will also periodically scan apps already installed on your device. To ensure it’s turned on, open the Play Store, click your profile icon in the top right corner, and navigate to Play Protect > Settings. To scan sideloaded apps, you can also turn on the Improve harmful app detection setting, which is in the same spot.

Run a Google Security Checkup

Finally, you can run a Google Security Checkup on your device via a web browser. This will help you tighten your online security, encouraging you to take security steps like adding a recovery email or phone number to your Google account. It’ll also list recent security activity, and will generally ensure that, even if a malicious app steals your data, you’ll be able to lock it out of your account with the least issue possible.

Governments worldwide are implementing heat protection laws as 2.4 billion workers face extreme temperature exposure and 19,000 die annually from heat-related workplace injuries, according to a World Health Organization and World Meteorological Organization report.

Japan imposed $3,400 fines for employers failing to provide cooling measures when wet-bulb temperatures reach 28C. Singapore mandated hourly temperature sensors at large outdoor sites and requires 15-minute breaks every hour at 33C wet-bulb readings. Southern European nations ordered afternoon work stoppages this summer when temperatures exceeded 115F across Greece, Italy and Spain.

The United States lacks federal heat standards; only California, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon and Washington have state-level protections. Boston passed requirements for heat illness prevention plans on city projects. Enforcement remains inconsistent — Singapore inspectors found nearly one-third of 70 sites violated the 2023 law. Texas and Florida prohibit local governments from mandating rest and water breaks.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The ability of AI displace humans at various tasks is accelerating quickly, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said at an Axios event on Wednesday. From the report: Amodei and others have previously warned of the possibility that up to half of white-collar jobs could be wiped out by AI over the next five years. The speed of that displacement could require government intervention to help support the workforce, executives said.

“As with most things, when an exponential is moving very quickly, you can’t be sure,” Amodei said. “I think it is likely enough to happen that we felt there was a need to warn the world about it and to speak honestly.” Amodei said the government may need to step in and support people as AI quickly displaces human work.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has asked the CEOs of Discord, Twitch, Valve and Reddit to testify at a hearing on online radicalization. The hearing will be held on October 8, 2025, and is in direct response to the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk, an event some have tried to connect to the online communities the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, participated in.

“Congress has a duty to oversee the online platforms that radicals have used to advance political violence,” Comer shared in the press release announcing the hearing. “To prevent future radicalization and violence, the CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit must appear before the Oversight Committee and explain what actions they will take to ensure their platforms are not exploited for nefarious purposes.”

Following Kirk’s death, law enforcement, regulators and the press have exerted significant effort to both understand Robinson’s actions and structure them into a coherent narrative. The fact that he seemingly engraved the bullets he used with references to furry memes and the game Helldivers implies he may have been immersed in online culture, and could have been influenced by who he interacted with there. But a recent report on his Discord chats suggests his motivations are hard to pin down, even for his friends.

In general, online platforms don’t escape scrutiny after tragic events, so these sorts of hearings are to be expected. Twitch and Discord were both investigated by the New York and New Jersey Attorney Generals following a 2022 shooting in Buffalo, New York, for example. Given the reaction to Kirk’s death, though, it remains to be seen how much the House Oversight Committee actually wants answers from online platforms, and how much it wants to lay the blame at their feet.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/house-committee-asks-discord-valve-twitch-and-reddit-to-testify-on-online-radicalization-184100470.html?src=rss

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source.

The latest Apple Watches now boast a sleep score, which gives you a number on a scale of 1 to 100 for how well you slept. But that’s not all—you can even get this number without the Series 11 watch, as I discovered this morning while waiting for my new watch to be delivered. To get the new sleep score, just make sure you have iOS 26 and watch OS 26 installed. 

Where to find the sleep score

You can view the sleep score on your iPhone or on your Apple Watch. On the watch (Series 6 or later), go to the Sleep app. The sleep score is the first thing it will show you. On the iPhone, the sleep score gets its own card in the Apple Health app. If you don’t see it, tap the search icon and then tap on Sleep.

Many devices can give you an Apple sleep score, not just the newest Apple Watch

The sleep score is a data analysis feature that doesn’t require specific Apple Watch hardware, and Apple has said that Apple Watches as old as Series 6 will get it. What’s more, I noticed that my Apple Health app gives me sleep scores for nights I wore other devices to bed, but not an Apple Watch. 

According to my settings, my Apple Health app receives sleep data from the Coros, Garmin, Zepp (Amazfit), Oura, Ultrahuman, Whoop, and Withings devices I’ve used. I’ve rarely worn an Apple Watch to bed lately, but I’m always wearing something, usually including an Oura ring. I have sleep scores for all of those nights, not just the nights I wore an Apple Watch.

Your past sleep scores are calculated retroactively

The sleep score is new with iOS 26 and watch OS 26, but the data needed to calculate it was there anytime you wore a supported device to bed. Scrolling back, I can see sleep scores going back to April of 2020.

How sleep scores are calculated

Apple’s sleep score comes with a breakdown of where your 100 potential points come from. This includes: 

• 50 points for how long you slept

• 30 points for how consistent your bedtime was with previous nights

• 20 points for minimizing interruptions

My own scores include a lot of “high” and “excellent” ratings, even though I don’t think my sleep has been great. But sleep scores are never totally scientific—even when they’re based on solid data, there’s no such thing as a medical cutoff for what counts as “high” or “excellent” sleep. The World Sleep Society tells us to “focus on trends and patterns, not individual ‘scores.’” If you see your sleep scores trending up (or down), that’s more important than what exactly your number is today.

Google is partnering with a UK nonprofit to fight non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII). (You may know it better as revenge porn.) Over the coming months, the company will begin using StopNCII’s hashes. These user-uploaded digital fingerprints can block individuals’ unwanted intimate content from appearing in search results.

StopNCII has a pretty neat system to combat revenge porn. Say you have some images you most definitely don’t want surfacing online. Select the picture on your device, and StopNCII will create a digital fingerprint of the file. That hash will be uploaded to the service. The photo itself never leaves your device. The organization then shares the hash (again, not the spicy pic) with participating platforms.

Then, if an asshole ex takes the liberty of uploading said photo to one of those companies’ services, it should be removed automatically. If the platform uses real-time hash matching, it can even block the upload immediately before it reaches anyone’s eyes. It’s a pretty solid defense against an ugly problem.

The system isn’t bulletproof. First, it only works for known images. So, if someone else has an intimate photo that you don’t have a copy of, you’ll have to fight that using other means. StopNCII doesn’t work for AI-generated images, audio recordings or saucy text chats.

The system also won’t help if the content is uploaded to a non-partner platform. In addition to Google, StopNCII partners with Meta, Reddit, Pornhub, OnlyFans, Snap, Microsoft Bing, X and more.

This is far from Google’s first move to combat NCII. A decade ago, it created a system for submitting revenge porn takedown requests. In 2024, it made it easier to remove deepfake NCII. On Wednesday, Google product manager Griffin Hunt explained that “given the scale of the open web, there’s more to be done to reduce the burden on those who are affected by it.”

If you’re 18 or older and have any photos of yourself that you want to flag proactively, you can start using StopNCII right now. Head to the org’s website to create a case. Note that the service only works for pictures that are nude, semi-nude or show a sexual act. And remember, the photo itself never leaves your device, so your privacy remains intact.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-will-upgrade-its-revenge-porn-defenses-with-help-from-a-uk-nonprofit-181016291.html?src=rss

Light pollution now doubles every eight years globally as LED adoption accelerates artificial brightness worldwide. A recent study measured 10% annual growth in light pollution from 2011 to 2022. Northern Chile’s Atacama Desert remains one of the few Bortle Scale 1 locations — the darkest rating for astronomical observation — though La Serena’s population has nearly doubled in 25 years. The region hosts major observatories including the Vera C. Rubin Observatory at Cerro Pachon.

Satellite constellations pose additional challenges: numbers have increased from hundreds decades ago to 12,000 currently operating satellites. Astronomers predict 100,000 or more satellites within a decade. Chile faces pressure from proposed mining operations including the 7,400-acre INNA green-hydrogen facility near key astronomical sites despite national laws limiting artificial light from mining operations that generate over half the country’s exports.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Logitech hosted its annual G Play showcase today and unveiled a collection of new gaming peripherals. The lineup includes headsets, mice and a keyboard.

The G Pro X Superlight 2c is an even more compact redesign of the company’s Superlight 2 wireless mouse. This version weighs 51 grams and has up to 95 hours of battery life. It will be available on October 21 and will cost $160. Logitech’s other new gaming mouse is the G Pro X Superstrike, which boasts a haptics system in its main click buttons, allowing players to customize their actuation points. It also has battery life of up to 90 hours and weighs 65 grams. There’s no pricing information yet, and the release window is broadly set for the first quarter of 2026.

Logitech

The company also announced a pair of headsets. The Astro A20 X is a mid-range model with the handy feature of being able to connect to two consoles or PCs at once. It has 40 mm PRO-G Audio Drivers, and RGB settings. Battery life is up to 40 hours with the RGB equipped or up to 90 hours without. The A20 X comes with the same microphone as Logitech’s Astro A50 X model, which is one of our favorite gaming headsets. The A20 X will cost $180 and will be available on October 8. The other new headset is the G321 Lightspeed, a budget option at $60. This set has just 20 hours of battery life and emphasizes wearability in the design. It will be available starting sometime in October.

The rest of the G Play lineup includes the G515 Rapid TKL keyboard, which has a low profile and magnetic analog switches. That’s available today for $170. Logitech also added new RS50 and RS pedals for driving games. On the software side, the company has also added a game launcher to its G Hub portal. It supports Epic Game Store, GOG and WeGame libraries. The G Hub Games update will roll out during the holiday season.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/logitech-adds-new-devices-to-its-gaming-accessories-lineup-180138486.html?src=rss

It’s somewhat ironic that Apple, the company that popularized the use of capacitive touchscreens with the iPhone and iPad, has been staunchly opposed to bringing our fingers anywhere near MacBook screens. Meanwhile, Microsoft and PC makers jumped at the opportunity to build touchscreen laptops years ago. The tablet-focused Windows 8 was a failure, sure, but touchscreens led to excellent convertible notebooks and hybrid tablets like the Surface lineup. Now, according to a new rumor from longtime Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple might finally be ready to bring touchscreens to the MacBook Pro.

In a tweet posted this morning, Kuo wrote, “MacBook models will feature a touch panel for the first time, further blurring the line with the iPad. This shift appears to reflect Apple’s long-term observation of iPad user behavior, indicating that in certain scenarios, touch controls can enhance both productivity and the overall user experience.”

Specifically, Kuo says that touchscreen MacBook Pro models are “expected to enter mass production by late 2026,” and that they’ll use on-cell touch technology. Cheaper MacBooks (likely the Air) coming in late 2025 likely won’t have touchscreens, but that could change with a 2027 refresh.

It’s worth pointing out that Kuo’s predictions, which typically come from sources within Apple’s supply chain, aren’t always accurate. But given the timing of this particular note, and the ubiquity of touchscreen laptops these days, it’s the idea of a touchscreen MacBook isn’t too farfetched.

Apple is a stubborn company, no doubt — especially when it comes to adopting features from others. When referring to iPad competitors in 2010, Steve Jobs famously said, “If you see a stylus, they blew it.” While he was referring to using a stylus for general operation of a device, and not a highly specific use-case, it was still funny to see the Apple Pencil arrive five years later on the iPad Pro. There’s a certain nobility to sticking with your design convictions, but it would have been stupid for Apple to completely ignore the benefits of tablet stylii, something Microsoft was leaning into hard with its Surface devices. 

So it goes with the touchscreen MacBook Pros. It’s hard to deny the convenience of lazily swiping the screen when scrolling through long articles, instead of tapping repeatedly on your keyboard or swiping a touchpad. Apple’s desire to keep touchscreens away from Macs is understandable. MacOS doesn’t have large touch-points like iPadOS, and it’s been honed for decades to work best with keyboards, mice and touchpads. But adding in basic touchscreen support doesn’t really require a complete macOS redesign, especially when the platform has already had support for multitouch gestures on trackpads since the first MacBook Air arrived in 2008.

It’s funny that the touchscreen MacBook Pro could also be arriving just as Apple is finally starting to make the iPad more Mac-like. iPadOS 26 adds the ability to resize app windows, easily organize them on your screen and it even brings over the menu bar from MacOS. It’s as if Apple is trying to appease all of its fans: The iPad owners who want more multitasking and productivity options, as well as the Mac owners who want a bit of iPad-like convenience.

Both of my kids were able to nimbly swipe around my phones and tablets at the age of two — that’s the power of a truly intuitive input mechanism. And to a certain degree, I also think it helped them get used to the idea of computing in general. If it’s easy enough for kids to grasp, why not make touchscreens a core feature of as many products as possible? 

Simply put, Apple has run out of excuses. The time for touchscreen Macbooks is now.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/a-macbook-pro-touchscreen-about-damn-time-180000315.html?src=rss