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According to Google Project Zero’s zero-day tracker, there were 25 browser zero-days patched last year, of which 14 were for Chrome, six were for Safari’s WebKit engine, and four were for Internet Explorer. In 2020, there were just 14 browser zero-day flaws, of which more than half were in Chrome. But between 2015 and 2018 there were no Chrome zero-day exploits in the wild, according to the tracker data. Adrian Taylor, a technical program manager on the Chrome Security Team, says in a blogpost that the increase in browser zero-days “may initially seem concerning” and “could point to a worrying trend”....

The Melbourne region marks the second Google Cloud region in Australia and the 11th in Asia Pacific. It comes after Google Cloud first arrived in Sydney in 2017. Since then, Google Cloud has delivered a total of AU$3.2 billion in annual gross benefits to business and consumers in Australia, the company said citing research by AlphaBeta. The company added that Google Cloud enables Australian businesses to benefit from reduced processing time and IT infrastructure costs, which is equivalent to a total benefit of AU$275 million annually....

During the Google I/O 2022 opening keynote, several improvements and new features were announced involving Android Studio, Jetpack Compose, developing apps for Android tablets, Wear OS improvements, Google Play and a new Health Connect platform. Here’s a quick rundown of the new developer tools announced during Google I/O 2022. Android Studio gains live edit There are two new releases of Android Studio, to software suite and tools that developers use to create Android apps....

Just last month, the Linux Foundation announced it would directly fund people to work on the security of open-source projects. It’s got support from Google, Microsoft, the Open Source Security Foundation, and the Linux Foundation Public Health foundation. The Linux Foundation coordinates fixes when bugs are found. The foundation and peers are looking for previously unknown issues via security audits that will be undertaken by the Open Source Technology Improvement Fund (OSTIF)....

The all-cash acquisition will see Mandiant join Google Cloud and deliver an end-to-end security operations suite, as well as advisory services to help customers address critical security challenges and stay protected. The deal will also bring Mandiant’s threat detection and intelligence service, along with testing and validation services under Google Cloud’s umbrella. “Cybersecurity is a mission, and we believe it’s one of the most important of our generation. Google Cloud shares our mission-driven culture to bring security to every organization,” said Kevin Mandia, CEO, Mandiant....

At the Made by Google event earlier this month, Google announced a convenient audio message transcription feature on the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. The voice message transcription feature, which gives users the option of reading a message rather than listening to it, is now available on the Pixel 6 family as well as the Samsung Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy Fold 4. Another set of changes affects the way users can react to messages....

The December update began rolling out on December 6, but Google says some customers reported their calls were being dropped or disconnected. The December update was initially slated to include a range of fixes and improvements, including a fix for an issue causing the Google Assistant to unintentionally start a phone call in certain conditions. Customers that already received the December software update and are still dealing with dropped calls will have to use the Android Flash Tool and perform a factory reset to revert to the previous software version....

To add the emojis, all you have to do is click the “@” button on your keyboard followed by the name of the emoji you want to use. For example, if you are feeling celebratory, you can click “@” followed by “confetti” and the emoji will pop up right next to your text🎊. The possibilities are endless. SEE: Google is adding these IT security integrations to Chrome Google has been embracing emojis this past year....

The Apricot cable is expected to be ready for service in 2024 and will complement the recently announced Echo cable that will connect the US, Singapore, Guam and Indonesia. Combined, the two new cables give Google “unique routes through southern Asia, ensuring a significantly higher degree of resilience for Google Cloud and digital services,” says Bikash Koley, VP and head of Google Global Networking, and head of technology and strategy for Google Cloud for Telecommunications....

Examine the failures, obviously. And that is the interesting work that Google machine learning scientists related this month in a massive research paper on multi-lingual translation, “Building Machine Translation Systems for the Next Thousand Languages,” posted on Arxiv. “Despite tremendous progress in low-resource machine translation, the number of languages for which widely-available, general-domain MT systems have been built has been limited to around 100, which is a small fraction of the over 7000+ languages that are spoken in the world today,” write lead author Ankur Bapna and colleagues....

Called GrabMaps, the mapping service initially was built to be used internally and fulfil its need for a hyperlocal application, Grab said in statement Wednesday. The company manages a network of driver- and merchant-partners that provide a range of services via its app, including food and grocery delivery, parcel delivery, rides, fintech and payment services, and telemedicine. It operates in eight Southeast Asian markets, which include Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines....

Finally, in part because of that mounting pressure, the corporate world seems to be listening. A key reason for the current momentum behind green business initiatives is simply a shift in the economic equation, according to Google’s new sustainability director. “I think the biggest acceleration has been innovation, which has driven new ways of working new technologies that’s really changing,” Justin Keeble, Google Cloud’s Managing Director of Global Sustainability, told ZDNet....

The new ‘Cyber Security for Construction Businesses’ guide is designed to provide practical advice to organisations in the construction industry on how to protect businesses and building projects from cyber threats. The report warns that the construction industry faces threats from cyber criminals, ransomware gangs, malicious insiders and nation-state hacking operations. SEE: Cybersecurity: Let’s get tactical (ZDNet special report) “Recent high-profile cyberattacks against the construction industry illustrate how businesses of all sizes are being targeted by criminals,” NCSC said....

Ransomware is one of the biggest cybersecurity issues facing the world today, and while many victims refuse to give in to the extortion, many feel they have no choice but to pay up for a decryption key. But according to cybersecurity researchers at Cyderes and Stairwell, at least one ransomware group is testing ‘data destruction’ attacks. Also: The scary future of the internet: How the tech of tomorrow will pose even bigger cybersecurity threats This would be dangerous for ransomware victims because while it’s often possible to retrieve encrypted files without paying a ransom, the threat of servers being completely corrupted if extortion demands aren’t met could push more victims towards giving in....

But first, what issues did the September patch resolve? Let’s find out. Also: Android 13 on the Pixel 6 Pro is a brilliant upgrade – with a one exception Premature battery draining First off, the September patch fixed a rather serious issue that led to increased battery drain due to background activities within the launcher. Some users experienced their Pixel devices getting rather hot because of this, which ultimately resulted in much-shortened battery life....

I know of a few people who only ever restart the browser when it crashes, or an update forces a reboot of their computer. This is a bad idea, not only because it allows Chrome to eat system resources over an extended period, but also because it delays the installation of important security updates, leaving your system vulnerable to attack. I say we should all make Monday morning a time for a weekly Chrome reboot....

Honda’s 2030 Vision includes plans for a Honda Avatar Robot, a Honda eVTOL aircraft, reusable rockets and other technology designed for space. “All of the initiatives we introduced today are for the challenges Honda takes on in new areas, but the underlying passion of Honda to use our technology to make people’s lives more enjoyable remains unchanged,” said Keiji Ohtsu, president of Honda R&D. “Ever since the company’s founding, the wellspring of Honda’s challenges has always been the people at Honda who generate original technologies and ideas....

Increasingly, fire departments across the globe have started to deploy first responder drones to ensure firefighter safety as well as enhance operational effectiveness when tackling a wide range of emergency sites including oil wells, high rises, and wildfires. In response to a recent forest fire that broke out in Athens, Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos said that the armed forces would strengthen their capabilities in fire prevention, deploying drones over other vulnerable sites across the country to obtain accurate data....

When Russia crossed into Ukraine in February, this triggered action online. Ukraine had already experienced multiple attacks leading to website defacement, Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) outages, and the use of destructive wiper malware. Anonymous hacktivists then became involved, and Ukraine’s government called for volunteers with cybersecurity skills to help protect critical infrastructure. By March, Ukraine had started forming what officials called an “IT army” tasked with network defense – as well as offensive counterattacks against Russian threat actors....

With that said… My wife and I aren’t as young as we used to be. The importance of that cliché grows with every passing month. And it shows. Every time I go out for a long run, my muscles demand more and more attention to heal. My wife toils away in our yard to create a living work of art. Some days she overdoes it and her back gladly reminds her just how fragile the human system can be....