Apple is trying really, really hard to always come off as the good guys. From a report: According to Rian Johnson, director of Knives Out, Apple won't let villains use iPhones on-screen. Apple is so obsessed with how the public conceptualizes its products that the company has taken steps to ensure none of the bad guys ever use its phones in movies. Johnson told Vanity Fair in an interview, "Also another funny thing, I don't know if I should say this or not... Not cause it's like lascivious or something, but because it's going to screw me on the next mystery movie that I write, but forget it, I'll say it. It's very interesting. Apple... they let you use iPhones in movies but -- and this is very pivotal if you're ever watching a mystery movie - bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Samsung has admitted that what it calls a "small number" of users could indeed read other people's personal data following last week's unexplained Find my Mobile notification. Several Register readers wrote in to tell us that, after last Thursday's mystery push notification, they found strangers' personal data displayed to them. Many readers, assuming Samsung had been hacked, logged into its website to change their passwords. Now the company has admitted that a data breach did occur.

Of potentially greater concern is the mystery 1/1 push notification from Find my Mobile, a baked-in app on stock Samsung Android distributions. Although the firm brushed off the worldwide notification as something to do with unspecified internal testing, many of those who wrote to El Reg said they had disabled the app. Stock apps cannot be uninstalled unless one effectively wipes the phone and installs a new operating system -- unlocking the bootloader and reformatting with a new third-party, customized ROM. Samsung did not answer our questions as to how a "disabled" app was able to receive and display push notifications. Nor did it say what other functions this "disabled" app was capable of executing. A spokeswoman told The Register: "A technical error resulted in a small number of users being able to access the details of another user. As soon as we became of aware of the incident, we removed the ability to log in to the store on our website until the issue was fixed." She added: "We will be contacting those affected by the issue with further details."

The app-driven, cloud-connected "smart" pet feeder from Petnet recently suffered an outage that knocked units offline for a week, leaving pets hungry and customers angry. An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from Ars Technica: Petnet began posting messages on Twitter on February 14 advising customers that some of its SmartFeeders "will appear offline," although they still would nominally work to dispense food. Of course, when something doesn't work, most people will try to turn it off and back on again, as that's the first-line repair for basically everything with a power switch. That, alas, was not the solution here, and Petnet explicitly advised against turning feeders off or on, adding, "We will continue to provide updates on this matter." The next update to the company's Twitter feed came four days later, on February 18, when it said it was working with a third-party service provider and would "release more information as we learn more." Finally on February 21, a full week after users began to notice something was amiss, Petnet said it had resolved the problem and would be pushing a reset and an update to affected customers.

Users were distinctly unhappy, not only with the outage but also with the company's lack of response and a clear lack of avenues for contacting them. "Does that same third party pick up your phones, answer your emails, pay your lease (property address is available for rent) and support your customers?" one customer tweeted on February 18. Another, on February 21, said, "Why were your emails not delivering? Why isnt anyone answering the phone or returning calls? Your website still claims support Mon-Sat by phone email and twitter. You've been silent for a week." Customers aren't the only ones unable to reach the company. Ars' request for comment sent to the press contact Petnet lists on its company website bounced back with an error indicating the email address does not exist.

Over the weekend, tech reporter Kari Paul from The Guardian got stuck in the California boonies by the Internet of Things. Ars Technica's Jonathan M. Gitlin reports: Paul had rented a car through a local car-sharing service called GIG Car Share, which offers a fleet of hybrid Toyota Priuses and electric Chevrolet Bolt EVs in the Bay Area and Sacramento, with plans to spend the weekend in a more rural part of the state about three hours north of Oakland. But on Sunday, she was left stranded on an unpaved road when the car's telematics system lost its cell signal. Without being able to call home, the rented Prius refused to move.

Adding insult to injury, Paul's cellphone was not similarly troubled by the remote location, allowing her to express her frustration, but also to talk to GIG's customer service to try to get the car back in motion. At first, the company's plan was to send a tow truck to tow the Prius a few miles closer to civilization, but that would be too easy. It appears GIG's customer service unhelpfully suggested Paul and her companion spend the night sleeping in the car and trying to start the car again the next morning. Instead, after a six-hour wait and not one but two tow trucks -- the second of which Paul called herself -- plus 20 (!) calls to GIG, the problem was finally solved in the early hours of Monday morning.

In a blog post today, Google announced that Stadia will work on some Android phones from Samsung, Asus, and Razer starting on February 20th. Up until this point, Stadia only worked on certain Pixel phones. The Verge reports: Here's the full list of the 19 newly supported phones, which includes the Samsung Galaxy S20 line that's releasing on March 6th: [Samsung Galaxy S8 --> Galaxy S20 Ultra, Razer Phone, Razer Phone 2, Asus ROG Phone, and Asus ROG Phone II.] These new additions -- combined with the current support for the Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 3A, Pixel 3A XL, and Pixel 4 -- mean that you can now play Stadia games on 26 different Android phones. Stadia's iOS app doesn't let you play games, though, so you will have to keep waiting if you want to play Stadia games on your iPhone or iPad.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: YouTuber JerryRigEverything regularly does destructive durability tests on phones, partly by attacking a device with a set of Mohs picks. These pointy metal tools that are calibrated to the Mohs scale of mineral hardness allow a user to determine the hardness of a surface by doing a scratch test. You start with the softest pick and work your way up the set until you find something that can scratch the surface you're testing. A modern smartphone with Corning's Gorilla Glass scratches at level 6 on the Mohs hardness scale. The Galaxy Z Flip features a first-of-its-kind flexible glass cover that Samsung calls "Ultra-Thin Glass." Until now, foldables have had to suffer through life with plastic display covers, which scratch easily, don't provide much protection, and just like a resistive touchscreen, feel bad to swipe around on, thanks to the squishy pliability of the display. With this new invention of flexible glass, the Z Flip promised a return to a hard, smooth, scratch-resistant display surface.

So how did the Z Flip fare against JerryRigEverything's Mohs picks? It scratches at level 2, the same level as the plastic-covered Galaxy Fold and Moto Razr. You can actually leave marks on the surface with a fingernail! This is not what Samsung was promising. Samsung sent The Verge a response to the video, reiterating that the display is actually "glass." "Galaxy Z Flip features an Infinity Flex Display with Samsung's Ultra Thin Glass (UTG) to deliver a sleek, premium look and offer an immersive viewing experience," Samsung told the site. "Samsung's first-of-its-kind UTG technology is different from other Galaxy flagship devices. While the display does bend, it should be handled with care. Also, Galaxy Z Flip has a protective layer on top of the UTG similar to Galaxy Fold." In Samsung's official Z Flip videos, the company shows a plastic "protective layer" going on top of the glass display. But as Ars Technica notes, this layer is not removable and JerryRigEverything's video shows that the underlying "glass" layer doesn't provide protection from punctures, either.

With that said, "One Twitter user cracked their Galaxy Z Flip on the first fold, possibly due to cold weather," reports Ars. "So we know it can shatter, at least."

Google has confirmed that the popular messaging app ToTok, which is actually a spying tool used by the United Arab Emirates to track the activities of those who download it, has again been removed from the Play Store. But this time they declined to comment as to why. TechCrunch reports: Reached for comment, Google confirmed to TechCrunch that it removed the app from Google Play. In addition, Google noted the enforcement was not done in response to any external direction or request. That means the U.S. government did not get involved here, rather that Google chose to remove the app itself -- likely for a policy violation. According to The NYT's original report, ToTok had been downloaded millions of times from both Apple and Google's app stores by customers across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Africa and North America in the few months since its launch. Citing unnamed U.S. intelligence sources, the report claimed the app had been used to track its users' "every conversation, movement, relationship, appointment, sound, and image."

At the time of the app's removal, Google said the app had violated unspecified Google Play policies. The app had over 10 million installs by then, app intelligence firm Sensor Tower says. In January, ToTok's website announced the app was again available for download. The updated version submitted to Google Play included a new dialog that requested authorization to access and sync users' contact list, Vice reported. Oddly, this updated version of ToTok never ranked on Google Play's charts again.

Apple said on Monday that it does not expect to meet the revenue guidance for the March quarter. In a press release, the company added: As the public health response to COVID-19 continues, our thoughts remain with the communities and individuals most deeply affected by the disease, and with those working around the clock to contain its spread and to treat the ill. Apple is more than doubling our previously announced donation to support this historic public health effort. Our quarterly guidance issued on January 28, 2020 reflected the best information available at the time as well as our best estimates about the pace of return to work following the end of the extended Chinese New Year holiday on February 10. Work is starting to resume around the country, but we are experiencing a slower return to normal conditions than we had anticipated. As a result, we do not expect to meet the revenue guidance we provided for the March quarter due to two main factors. The first is that worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained. While our iPhone manufacturing partner sites are located outside the Hubei province -- and while all of these facilities have reopened -- they are ramping up more slowly than we had anticipated.

The health and well-being of every person who helps make these products possible is our paramount priority, and we are working in close consultation with our suppliers and public health experts as this ramp continues. These iPhone supply shortages will temporarily affect revenues worldwide. The second is that demand for our products within China has been affected. All of our stores in China and many of our partner stores have been closed. Additionally, stores that are open have been operating at reduced hours and with very low customer traffic. We are gradually reopening our retail stores and will continue to do so as steadily and safely as we can.

Google said on Monday that it is winding down Google Station, a program that rolled out free Wi-Fi in more than 400 railway stations in India and "thousands" of other public places in several additional pockets of the world. The company worked with a number of partners on the program. From a report: Caesar Sengupta, VP of Payments and Next Billion Users at Google, said the program, launched in 2015, helped millions of users surf the internet -- a first for many -- and not worry about the amount of data they consumed. But as mobile data prices got cheaper in many markets including India, Google Station was no longer as necessary, he said. The company plans to discontinue the program this year. Additionally, it had become difficult for Google to find a sustainable business model to scale the program, the company said, which in recent years expanded Station to Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand, Nigeria, Philippines, Brazil and Vietnam. The company launched the program in South Africa just three months ago.

Evan Rodgers, reporting for Input: When Samsung released the Galaxy Z Flip, its newest folding phone, at midnight this past Friday, I was one of many who wasn't able to snag one due to low stock here in New York City. So here I am, refreshing my order page while I watch the lucky few who did manage to get one put them through their paces online. Though most YouTubers and reviewers seem to be enjoying the phone, durability is a question, and at $1,380 here in the U.S., it's a good one. At Unpacked, where Samsung announced the Z Flip, the company made a big deal about the "Ultra Thin Glass" that covers the display. One could be forgiven, then, for assuming that the display has all the scratch-resistant properties of glass, but in a durability test by JerryRigEverything on YouTube, that doesn't seem to be the case. In the video you can see Zack's (the YouTuber) tools and even fingernails leaving permanent scratches on the display.

A Slashdot reader shared a warning from the editor-in-chief at How-To Geek about a "shockingly convincing" scam: The scam text message says, "Your Verizon account security needs validation" and invites you to tap a link to "validate your account." Once you do, you end up at a phishing website that looks almost exactly like Verizon's real website. The fake website asks for your My Verizon mobile number or user ID and password. After you provide those, it'll ask for your account PIN. Finally, it requests all your personal details to "identify yourself."

For smishing scams, this is convincing work. The website looks real and authentic — if you don't look too hard at the address, which isn't actually Verizon's actual website... At the end of the process, the phishing website thanks you for providing your information and "redirects you to the home page." For maximum deception, the phishing website actually redirects you to Verizon's real website at the end of the process. If you don't look too close, you might be deceived into thinking you were on Verizon's website the whole time.

What's the game? We didn't provide real Verizon account details, so we can't say for sure. The scammer will probably try to take over your Verizon account, order smartphones on credit, and stick you with the bill.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from IEEE Spectrum: A test by Penumbra Brands to measure how much radiofrequency energy an iPhone 11 Pro gives off found that the phone emits more than twice the amount allowable by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. The FCC measures exposure to RF energy as the amount of wireless power a person absorbs for each kilogram of their body. The agency calls this the specific absorption rate, or SAR. For a cellphone, the FCC's threshold of safe exposure is 1.6 watts per kilogram. Penumbra's test found that an iPhone 11 Pro emitted 3.8 W/kg.

Ryan McCaughey, Penumbra's chief technology officer, said the test was a follow up to an investigation conducted by the Chicago Tribune last year. The Tribune tested several generations of Apple, Samsung, and Motorola phones, and found that many exceeded the FCC's limit. Penumbra used RF Exposure Labs, an independent, accredited SAR testing lab for the tests (The Tribune also used the San Diego-based lab for its investigation). Penumbra was conducting the test, which also included testing an iPhone 7, to study its Alara phone cases, which the company says are designed to reduce RF exposure in a person. It's worth noting that when the FCC conducted a follow-up investigation they did not find evidence that any of the phones exceed SAR limits. "That said, while the Tribune and Penumbra both used off-the-shelf phones, the FCC largely tested phones supplied by the manufacturers, including Apple," adds IEEE Spectrum.

Joel Moskowitz, a researcher at UC Berkeley, says that could be because there's a systematic problem with RF Exposure Lab's testing methods, or Apple rigged the software in the provided test phones to ensure they didn't put out enough power to exceed the SAR limit. Either way, both McCaughey and Moskowitz agree that the FCC's RF exposure testing is woefully out of date, as the limits reflect what the FCC deemed safe 25 years ago.

The California Supreme Court in a decision (PDF) delivered on Thursday found Apple broke state law by not paying retail workers for the time they spent participating in mandatory bag and device searches, leaving the company liable for millions in unpaid wages. AppleInsider reports: In a unanimous ruling, the court holds employees were and are in Apple's control during mandatory exit searches of bags, packages, devices and other items. As such, Apple is required to compensate its employees for time spent on the anti-theft program, which in this case allegedly amounted to up to 20 minutes worth hundreds or thousands of dollars a year.

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye notes courts should consider a number of factors when evaluating employer-controlled conduct, including location, degree of employer control, benefit to employees and disciplinary consequences. Applying the logic to the current case, "it is clear that plaintiffs are subject to Apple's control while awaiting, and during, Apple's exit searches. Apple's exit searches are required as a practical matter, occur at the workplace, involve a significant degree of control, are imposed primarily for Apple's benefit, and are enforced through threat of discipline," Cantil-Sakauye writes. Apple's policy demands hourly retail employees submit to a search of personal packages and bags at the end of each shift and when clocking out for meal breaks. The checks are performed off-the-clock, meaning workers do not get paid for the mandatory procedure.

Samsung unveiled three flagship smartphones earlier this week. The phones pack the most powerful processor in any Android smartphone, boast an impressive set of camera sensors and offer a range of other features. Commenting on the new phones, a Washington Post columnist writes: "And with prices ranging from $1,000 to $1,400, either one is hard to justify as much more than a luxury." John Gruber of DaringFireball comments: This is the same nonsense we hear about Apple's phones, post-iPhone X. Yes, phones that cost $1,000 or more are expensive. Yes, that's outside the budget for most people. But why in the world would anyone argue this is "hard to justify"? Phones are, for most people, the most-used computing device in their lives. They are also their primary -- usually only -- camera. A good camera alone used to cost $500-600.

There are way more people on the planet who'd rather have a $1,400 phone and a $400 laptop than the other way around. But you'll never see a tech reviewer claim that $1,000-1,400 is "hard to justify" for a laptop. It's ridiculously out of touch to argue otherwise. And, the fact that top-of-the-line phones have reached these price points does not negate the fact that truly excellent phones are available at much lower prices.

The Wi-Fi Alliance announced the new Wi-Fi 6E terminology for 802.11ax operation in the 6 GHz band last month. At CES 2020, Broadcom announced a number of Wi-Fi 6E access point solutions. Today, Broadcom is announcing the BCM4389 client Wi-Fi 6E chipset. From a report: Consumers can expect to see the chipset in the next generation of high-end smartphones. We have already covered the advantages of Wi-Fi 6E in terms of lower latency, higher throughput, and the availability of more number of 160 MHz channels in our coverage of the Wi-Fi Alliance announcement at CES. The BCM4389 builds upon Broadcom's success with the BCM4375, which happens to be the currently leading client Wi-Fi 6 chipset in the smartphone market. In addition to the new 6 GHz support with tri-band simultaneous operation and 160 MHz channel support, the BCM4389 also brings in additional power efficiency, thanks to its 16nm process technology and architectural improvements.

The BCM4375 is a 28nm chipset with 2x2 2.4 GHz and 2x2 5 GHz support, while the new BCM4389 adds 2x2 6 GHz to the mix. The scanning radio accounts for the additional radio chain. The Bluetooth 5.0 functionality has also received a boost with MIMO support. Broadcom claims that the new implementation can reduce pairing time by a factor of 2 and also alleviate glitching issues when connected to Wi-Fi at the same time (compared to the BCM4375). The icing on the cake is that the MIMO support works with implicit beamforming ensuring that legacy Bluetooth devices stand to benefit too.

In an emailed statement, John Hoffman, the CEO of GSMA, which organizes the trade fair, said the coronavirus outbreak has made it "impossible" to hold the event. Further reading, from earlier today: MWC Hangs by a Thread After Nokia, Vodafone, DT and Other Big Names Back Out

The sophistication of the Emotet malware's code base and its regularly evolving methods for tricking targets into clicking on malicious links has allowed it to spread widely. "Now, Emotet is adopting yet another way to spread: using already compromised devices to infect devices connected to nearby Wi-Fi networks," reports Ars Technica. From the report: Last month, Emotet operators were caught using an updated version that uses infected devices to enumerate all nearby Wi-Fi networks. It uses a programming interface called wlanAPI to profile the SSID, signal strength, and use of WPA or other encryption methods for password-protecting access. Then, the malware uses one of two password lists to guess commonly used default username and password combinations. After successfully gaining access to a new Wi-Fi network, the infected device enumerates all non-hidden devices that are connected to it. Using a second password list, the malware then tries to guess credentials for each user connected to the drive. In the event that no connected users are infected, the malware tries to guess the password for the administrator of the shared resource.

"With this newly discovered loader-type used by Emotet, a new threat vector is introduced to Emotet's capabilities," researchers from security firm Binary Defense wrote in a recently published post. "Previously thought to only spread through malspam and infected networks, Emotet can use this loader-type to spread through nearby wireless networks if the networks use insecure passwords." The Binary Defense post said the new Wi-Fi spreader has a timestamp of April 2018 and was first submitted to the VirusTotal malware search engine a month later. While the module was created almost two years ago, Binary Defense didn't observe it being used in the wild until last month.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: T-Mobile's edged closer to a takeover of Sprint after a federal judge on Tuesday approved the deal, rejecting a claim by a group of states that said the deal would violate antitrust laws and raise prices. During a two-week trial in December, T-Mobile and Sprint argued the merger will better equip the new company to compete with top players Verizon and AT&T as the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier, creating a more efficient company with low prices and faster internet speeds. The states, led by California and New York, had said the deal would reduce competition, leading to higher prices.

The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero clears the path for the deal, which already has federal approval and was originally valued at $26 billion. In his ruling, the judge noted the difficulty in deciding an antitrust case since it forces the judge to predict the future in deciding if a deal will lead to higher prices. But Judge Marrero said that he based his decision on three essential points. The first was that he was not persuaded by the states that the deal would lead to higher prices or lower quality wireless services. He disagreed that Sprint would remain a strong competitor and was unconvinced that DISH, who is buying divested assets from the deal, would fail to live up to its promises to enter and compete in the wireless market. Sprint and T-Mobile said in a statement they would move to finalize the merger, which is still subject to certain closing conditions and possible court proceedings. New York's attorney general said the state is considering an appeal; California's attorney general said that state is "prepared to fight."

Surprising absolutely nobody, Samsung officially announced the Galaxy Z Flip, its second stab at foldable phone, at its Unpacked event in San Francisco on Tuesday. From a report: The Z Flip is markedly different foldable than the Galaxy Fold, which launched to lukewarm reception and a whopping $1,980 price. Instead of a phone that unfolds open to a larger tablet-sized screen, the Galaxy Z Flip is a regular smartphone that folds closed into a smaller device. It's similar to the Motorola Razr. The Z Flip has a 6.7-inch OLED display that bends in half. Samsung says the "Infinity Flex Display" is the first one that is made of glass. Every foldable phone display has used plastic, which is more malleable, but less durable and scratch-resistant than glass. Underneath the folding screen, there's a Snapdragon 855+ chip. It's priced at $1,380 and starts shipping this Friday.

Samsung today will unveil three new flagship smartphones -- the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra. Here are the specs of the new phones.

Galaxy S20 specs: Display: 6.2-inch Quad HD+, Dynamic AMOLED 2X (563ppi), and HDR10+ certified. Refresh rate of 120Hz.
Camera: Rear: Triple camera setup. (12MP wide, 64MP tele, and 12MP wide. Hybrid optic zoom 3x. Front: 10MP.
Processor: Exynos 990.
Internal storage: 128GB, with support for microSD of up to 1TB.
RAM: 12GB.
Battery: 4,000 mAh.
Network: Supports LTE and 5G. Galaxy S20+ specs: Display: 6.7-inch Quad HD+, Dynamic AMOLED 2X (525ppi), and HDR10+ certified. Refresh rate of 120Hz.
Camera: Rear: Quadruple camera setup. (12MP wide, 64MP tele, and 12MP wide and a depth sensor. Hybrid optic zoom 3x. Front: 10MP.
Processor: Exynos 990.
Internal storage: 128GB / 512GB, with support for microSD of up to 1TB.
RAM: 12GB.
Battery: 4,500 mAh.
Network: Supports LTE and 5G. Galaxy S20 Ultra specs: Display: 6.9-inch Quad HD+, Dynamic AMOLED 2X (563ppi), and HDR10+ certified. Refresh rate of 120Hz.
Camera: Rear: Quadruple camera setup. (108MP wide, 48MP tele, and 12MP wide with a depth sensor. Hybrid optic zoom 3x and "super resolution zoom up to 100x." Front: 40MP.
Processor: Exynos 990.
Internal storage: 128GB / 512GB, with support for microSD of up to 1TB.
RAM: 12GB.
Battery: 5,000 mAh.
Network: Supports LTE and 5G. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra starts at $1,400, while the cheapest Galaxy S20 costs $1,000.