Watch out! Viral 'prank video' will CRASH any iPhone or iPad almost instantly: Here's how to fix it • The bug is reportedly hosted on a Russian social networking site • A simple device reboot should fix the mysterious glitch • Apple faced a similar bug on its iOS devices earlier this year A malicious video circling the web will crash any model of iPhone or iPad. Playing the video causes devices to slow down and eventually grind to a halt after just 30 seconds. Apple is still unclear as to what causes the glitch, but the video is reportedly hosted on a Russian social networking site, Miaopai. The bug is most likely sparked because the video is a corrupt file which starts a memory leak chain when it is opened in Apple's Safari web browser, reports The Next Web. Apple's iOS operating system then fails to handle the problem as it multiplies, rapidly slowing the device down to a stop. The iPhone-freezing video, discoveredis a short .mp4 clip of someone standing by a bed with the words 'Honey' written across the screen. Apple expert Everything Apple Pro has made a YouTube video detailing the new glitch. 'It doesn't matter if you're using an iPhone or an iPod, this bug will crash the device,' he says. 'It doesn't have any long-lasting effects as far as I can tell,' he says.'It's completely crazy. Android users have reported watching the video without any difficulties. One macOS Sierra user even reports that the video crashed Safari on his MacBook Pro. HOW TO FIX IT Luckily, there is a quick fix for the problem. A force reboot of the device should resolve the issue. On older iPhones a force reboot is activated by pressing and holding the home and lock buttons together for around ten seconds. On newer models like the iPhone 7, simply press and hold the lock and volume-down buttons together. For the moment, there have been no reports of any long-term damage from the glitch. Luckily, there is a quick fix for the problem. A force reboot of the device should resolve the issue. On older iPhones a force reboot is activated by pressing and holding the home and lock buttons together for around ten seconds. On newer models like the iPhone 7, simply press and hold the lock and volume-down buttons together. For the moment, there have been no reports of any long-term damage from the glitch. Apple has faced similar bugs and glitches on their operating system before. Earlier this year, a bug appeared on the internet that froze some Apple devices through Safari. Users worldwide experienced the issue on both iPhones and iPads. A suggested fix posted by users on Twitter advised turning off 'Safari Suggestions' in settings. THIS ISN'T THE FIRST TIME Apple has faced similar bugs and glitches on its operating system before. Earlier this year, a bug appeared on the internet that froze some Apple devices through Safari. Users worldwide experienced the issue on both iPhones and iPads. A suggested fix posted by users on Twitter advised turning off 'Safari Suggestions' in settings. The bug came just days after a prankster website was revealed which flooded the Safari browser with code, causing it to crash. Apple rapidly resolved the issue within a few days. The bug came just days after a prankster website was revealed which flooded the Safari browser with code, causing it to crash. Apple rapidly resolved the issue within a few days. And the California firm will likely be keen to squash this new bug just as quickly. This may take a while though, as engineers attempt to hone in on precisely what is causing the strange bug and then develop a new patch as a blanket fix. iPhone and iPad users should remain wary of unknown Safari pages and links until the new patch is rolled out. Strangely, the glitch isn't specific to any one version of iOS, meaning the issue stretches back to both recent and older versions of the software. The video will crash devices all the way back to iOS 5, released in 2011 and compatible with the iPhone 3Gs and original iPad.

How to DELETE yourself from the internet: Website erases your online existence with the click of a button • Deseat.me lets people sign in through their Google accounts • It then brings back all of the accounts they have listed online • Delete links are provided for each so users can expunge their records • It lists everything from Facebook to YouTube and Evernote If you ever feel like online life is getting too much, there may be a solution. A Swedish website is offering anyone the chance to erase their online footprint with the click of a button. You simply have email address and password, and then they can remove any and all traces linked to that address. The service, called Deseat.me, has been designed by Swedish programmers Wille Dahlbo and Linus Unnebäck. By letting users sign in with Google, it seeks out all of the accounts a user has created online. Using Google’s OAuth protocol to access users’ data, it then provides them with delete links for each of their accounts, enabling the user to wipe the slate clean. Examples given on the website include Facebook, Evernote and Dribble, but would include everything from YouTube to LinkedIn. The site claims: ‘We give you a list of all the accounts and services you have ever created an account for. ‘We match them with direct links to their delete page, and instructions on how to delete your account for good.’ The Swedish duo write: ‘Basically the only thing you're telling us is what accounts you want to delete. ‘That’s it, and since we use Google's OAuth protocol we don't have access to any of your login information.’ However, for users with a lot of accounts it could take quite a few clicks to wipe out their online presence. Deseat.me are appears to be fairly limited at the moment. It requires users to have a Google email address that is used for all of their online accounts. This means that old MySpace accounts, for instance, will be missed. CAN YOU DELETE YOUR ONLINE EXISTENCE? Just because your accounts are gone, does not necessarily mean you will become a ghost online. In the case of social media, while your profile may be deleted, there could still be records of your likes, shares and reposts in other people's profiles. Many services, including Google, provide a grace period, where users can change their mind and reactivate an account.

Why cramming for exams never works: Brains 'panic' after last-minute revision and can't take in new information • 'Retrieval practice', can protect the memory against the effects of stress • Study of students showed they remembered more in stressful situations • Students using this method have an advantage over those who simply re-read material in order to memorize it, claims the research Every student who has panicked while reading the same page of a textbook over and over again may suspect this. But stress cramming for an exam does not work, because the facts are likely to be lost from your memory. Instead it is best to learn through practice tests to protect your brain from the effects of stress, with a study showing that we remember more this way. n findings which will also help adults training at work, re-reading was found to work far less well under stress than active learning through practice. Under pressure, researchers examining 120 students found those learning off a page remembered only an average of seven out of 30 words and images. But those who learned the words and images, then sat a timed practice test, were able to retrieve 11 of the 30 on average from their memory. Senior study author Dr Ayanna Thomas, an associate psychology professor from Tufts University in Masachusetts, said: ‘Typically, people under stress are less effective at retrieving information from memory. ‘We now show for the first time that the right learning strategy, in this case retrieval practice or taking practice tests, results in such strong memory representations that even under high levels of stress, subjects are still able to access their memories.’ Co-author Amy Smith, a graduate psychology student at Tufts, added: ‘Our results suggest that it is not necessarily a matter of how much or how long someone studies, but how they study.’ ‘Retrieval’ practice, or using practice tests, had already been found to work better when revising. But the new study, published in the journal Science, looked at how the two strategies worked under added pressure from stress. The research team asked participants to learn a set of 30 words and 30 images which flashed up for a few seconds each on a computer screen. They took notes, typing sentences using the items they had seen, with some then taking practice tests and the rest studying conventionally. The stress came after a 24-hour break when half of each group were forced to give an unexpected, impromptu speech and solve math problems in front of two judges, three peers and a video camera. Their memory was tested during the stressful situation and then 20 minutes afterwards, to examine the brain under immediate and delayed stress responses. Those who learned using the practice tests showed little damage to their memory from the stress, remembering an average of 11 out of 30 items compared to 10 for their non-stressed counterparts. But those who learned by re-reading saw the items they remembered fall from just under nine items to seven on average. It has previously been suggested that learning through practice tests allows the brain to encode knowledge, making it more likely to be stored. Dr Thomas said: ‘Our one study is certainly not the final say on how retrieval practice influences memory under stress, but I can see this being applicable to any individual who has to retrieve complex information under high stakes. ‘Especially for educators, where big exams can put a great deal of pressure on students, I really encourage employing more frequent more low-stakes testing in context of their instruction.’ HOW THE STUDY WORKED Some 120 students were asked to learn a set of 30 words and 30 images. Each item was displayed for a few seconds on a computer screen. To simulate note-taking, the students were given 10 seconds to type a sentence using the item immediately after seeing it. The student group using retrieval practice took timed practice tests in which they recalled as many items as they could remember. For the group using conventional study practice, items were re-displayed on the computer screen, one at a time, for a few seconds each. They were given multiple time periods in which to study. Following a 24-hour break, half of each group was placed into a stress-inducing scenario involving given an unexpected speech and solving two maths problems in front of two judges, three peers and a video camera. Two memory tests were taken during the stress scenario and twenty minutes afterwards. These involved recalling the words and images they had learned the day before. The other half of the students took their two tests during and after a non-stressful task of the same length.

Could wireless headphones HARM your health? Public health professor warns radiation of AirPods are just as bad • Apple's new iPhone will come with Bluetooth-powered wireless earbuds • Dr Joel Moskowitz of UC Berkeley cites research slamming Bluetooth • He warns even low frequency emissions break down blood-brain barrier • Powered by Bluetooth technology, the AirPods transmit low-intensity radiowaves into your ears. • And research shows that over time these emissions wear down the blood-brain barrier, which is essential for keeping out chemical toxins. • 'We are playing with fire here,' Dr Joel Moskowitz, a professor at the UC Berekely School of Public Health You are putting a microwave-emitting device next to your brain.' The exact frequency of the AirPod Bluetooth emission has not yet been released. Apple's engineers and marketing directors insist that, since they use Bluetooth, the microwave emissions are well within the FCC guidelines. Bluetooth emissions are far weaker than, for example, microwave oven radiation. Moskowitz warns that more than 200 scientists who study the effects of electromagnetic fields believe that the FCC guidelines are inadequate to protect human health. And Dr Leif Salford, the world's top researcher in the field of cell phone radiation, recently claimed your cell phone could be more harmful a few inches from your head (using loudspeaker) than when you have it fixed to your ear (for a phone call). The findings are nothing new, Dr Moskowitz explains. 'This has been observed over several decades,' he says. 'It's like we keep rediscovering that Bluetooth is harmful and trying to forget it because we don't know how to handle it from a policy standpoint. 'Although we don’t know the long-term risks from using Bluetooth devices, why would anyone insert microwave-emitting devices in their ears near their brain when there are safer ways to use a cell phone? 'Essentially I recommend using corded headsets or hands-free use of cell phones, not wireless ear buds.'

Don’t let children play video games for more than TWO HOURS a week or it will damage their social skills • Rationing gameplay for children aged 7-11 can lead to better motor skills • More than two hours can result in reduced social abilities, claims study • Some 260 children had their brains scanned to see what changes could be seen as a result of their playing video games Playing video games is good for children’s brains – but only if they play no more than two hours a week. More than this increases the likelihood the child will get into trouble at school with their teachers, fight with their friends and have reduced social abilities. But rationing gaming to just two hours found that for children aged 7-11 playing games for one hour a week led to better motor skills and higher achievement scores in school The authors of the scientific paper, published in the Annals of Neurology, do not offer any advice on how to achieve the miraculous trick of limiting a child’s playing of games to just two hours a week, however. To study the effect of video game playing, Dr Jesus Pujol and colleagues studied 2,442 children aged between 7 and 11 years. Children suffering from 'probably gaming addiction' were excluded from the study. As a follow up, the researchers scanned the brains of a subset of the group – 260 children after playing video games. The most popular games in the study included Super Mario Brothers, FIFA and Wii Sports. The authors expected the greatest influence of the video games would be on the speed of mental processing, such as reaction time with a more marginal influence on more innate mental capacities such as memory. After assessing how much time was spent playing video games, they investigated how well the children did at school and their disciplinary record. HOW THE STUDY WORKED To study the effect of video game playing, Dr Jesus Pujol and colleagues studied 2,442 children aged between 7 and 11 years. Children suffering from 'probably gaming addiction' were excluded from the study. As a follow up, the researchers scanned the brains of a subset of the group – 260 children after playing video games. After assessing how much time was spent playing video games, they investigated how well the children did at school and their disciplinary record. In assessments, the players of video games had faster reaction times – typically 100milliseconds faster than non-video game players, but this effect did not improve after playing in excess of two hours a week – which the researchers called a ‘ceiling effect’. The authors added: ‘children gaming in the range of 9 to 17 hours per week showed significantly more behavioral problems than non-gamers’ and they also got less sleep. As a follow up, a subset of the group – 260 children – had their brains scanned to see what changes if any could be seen as a result of their playing video games. They found changes in how well connected cells in part of the brain called the basal ganglia white matter were. Higher levels of connectivity are seen in people who acquire new skills through practice. The authors also found that boys spent 1.7 hours playing video games longer than girls did on average. Explaining why gaming makes children less sociable, the authors say that video game playing limits the scope of other leisure activities where a child can develop their social skills. Dr Pujol said: ‘Video gaming per se is neither good nor bad, but its level of use makes it so. He added: ‘Gaming use was associated with better function in brain circuits critical for learning based on the acquisition of new skills through practice. ‘Children traditionally acquire motor skills through action, for instance in relation to sports and outdoor games. 'Neuroimaging research now suggests that training with desktop virtual environments is also capable of modulating brain systems that support motor skill learning.’

Robots and computers will commit more crime than humans by 2040, expert warns • Experts predict a 'sharp rise in lone-wolf terror attacks' by robots in 2040 • In 2015 cyber-crime made up 53 per cent of all crimes and is increasing • There are also concerns of rogue driverless cars and drones in the future • RoboCop, Chappie, the Terminator movies and i,Robot - there have been many films where we have been encouraged to respect, love but also fear robots – and I for one can say I will never be trusting them! • And apparently I am right not to after researchers have found robots could be the offenders committing most crimes by 2040. • Tracey Follows from The Future Laboratory, which helps businesses plan for the future through its research and consultancy experts, has been looking at the issues after more and more robots could be used in industries replacing humans on jobs. • Ms Follows, chief strategy and innovation officer at, speaking to the Times Raconteur: ‘Futurists have been forecasting a sharp rise in lone-wolf terror attacks for years. But once robots can be hacked to become suicide-bombing machines, lone-robot attacks could become rife too.’ • Ms Follows, whose work in telecoms, technology, retail and media and has helped to shape the future strategies of brands such as T-Mobile, BT, O2, easyJet and John Lewis, also added that artificial intelligence and machine-learning could enable robots to self-programme criminal activity. • ‘My forecast would be that by 2040 more crime will be committed by machines than by humans,’ she commented. But it’s not just robots experts are worrying about, rogue driverless cars and drones could also be a problem if they are able to be hacked or re-programed. Raj Samani, chief technology officer, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), at Intel Security, works with the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Europol European Cybercrime Centre as an adviser. Speaking to the technology publisher he said: ‘It’s only a matter of time before we see instances of people left helpless, unable to drive their cars unless they pay up a ransom.’ According to NCA cyber-crime is on the increase and accounted for 53 per cent of all crimes in 2015 as stated in its 2016 report. In Belgium today officials and representatives from all the NATO member states met to discuss how better to defend against cyber attacks and hackers that could cause as much harm as conventional military attacks. On Tuesday, USA President Barak Obama was seen talking with Vladimir Putin of Russia after there were cyber-attacks on America by the country and that there needed to be rules to regulate how countries use the internet – but would rules also need to be used on all citizens who could continue to develop ways to hack private systems. Could the i,Robot attacks on people become a future reality?

Will a driverless car understand when I flash my lights to say thanks and will it wait for pedestrians to cross the road? Fears over new technology revealed • Three quarters polled said self-driving cars would hit driving etiquette • Some 70% of drivers think good driving manners will be misunderstood by autonomous cars and could make our roads more dangerous We all appreciate good driving manners, such as when a fellow motorist raises a hand to thank you for letting them through, or a flash of the hazard warning lights to signal appreciation for being allowed to filter into a queue. But with driverless cars destined to arrive on our roads in the coming years, will they understand or misinterpret these unwritten codes of driving etiquette - and put road users at risk as a result? That is a fear over driverless cars for seven in ten motorists, according to price comparison site uSwitch, which quizzed people on their attitudes. Of the 2,074 UK drivers polled by uSwitch, 70 per cent are concerned that driverless cars will take road rules so literally that good driving manners will go completely out the window and could mistake a gesture for something else entirely. More than half (51 per cent) said they thought a driverless car would misinterpret a driver flashing their headlights to say thank you, while a third (32 per cent) thought a self-driving car would fail to let another vehicle out of a side street. This could prove a problem especially in the period that driverless cars and humans share highways during the transition to what may one day be a fully autonomous motoring network. Another 28 per cent also said a fully autonomous car wouldn't be able to show consideration to pedestrians looking to cross the road. In total, 75 per cent said driverless cars will kill off courteous British driving habits. Others were fearful that the blend of computerised rules and human decision making won't mix well when the first fully-driverless cars arrive in the UK, potentially causing accidents and delays on the road. However, there's plenty of reason to defend the switch over to autonomous vehicles and it's opportunity to improve road safety - indicating that educating people about driverless cars may be a major hurdle for their adoption. Recent figures suggest that 90 per cent of road traffic collisions are caused by human error, with many hoping dangerous driving behaviour will be eradicated to offset the loss of good road manners. And there were some hopes from motorists that machines might actually improve manners. Of the drivers surveyed, 59 per cent hoped tailgating would become a thing of the past once driverless cars were introduced, while two in five said they would hope it would spell the end of drivers cutting each other up and failing to indicate at junctions. But despite the positive impact to remove poor driving habits from the road, just 59 per cent think their car insurance premiums will fall as a result of more driverless cars coming onto the road. Rod Jones, insurance expert at uSwitch.com said: 'The unwritten rules of the road are all part of the polite British driving experience but could be a huge blind spot for autonomous vehicles. 'Flashing your lights to let someone out of a junction may seem obvious, but these courteous gestures can vary from situation to situation and add the human touch to motoring. 'The Highway Code was created to promote safer driving, but over the years we have developed our own human driving code. 'It is clear that many drivers don’t expect driverless cars to understand our driving habits, which could, certainly to begin with, make it difficult for humans and robots to drive side by side. 'For British drivers to feel safe on the roads, they need to be confident about how a driverless car will react in any given situation. Clarifying the rules in the Highway Code is an important step towards this.' HOW WILL DRIVERLESS CARS DEAL WITH DRIVING HABITS? COURTEOUS HABITS DRIVERLESS CARS COULD MISUNDERSTAND 1. Flashing your headlights – meaning thank you, you're welcome or go ahead (51%) 2. Moving aside for emergency services (35%) 3. Letting other drivers out of side streets in busy traffic (32%) 4. Being considerate to pedestrians on the pavement (28%) 5. Using the horn to alert a fellow driver to a situation up ahead (26%) ANNOYING HABITS DRIVERLESS CARS COULD ERADICATE 1. Tailgating (59%) 2. Cutting up other drivers (42%) 3. Not indicating before making a turn or changing lanes (41%) 4. Speeding (38%) 5. Queue jumping (20%) Source: uSwitch poll of 2,045 drivers The Government is currently completing a consultation which is looking at modernising the Highway Code and bringing it in line with modern technology and driving habits. The Department for Transport proposal states: 'The Highway Code and regulations will be changed to support the safe use of remote control parking and motorway assist features.' This will include new allowances for advanced driver assistance systems that change lanes on the motorway and park the vehicle by remote control, both of which can be used safely.

Is YOUR email address and password for sale? Hacker claims 200m Yahoo accounts are listed on a dark web market • Credentials for 200m alleged Yahoo accounts being sold for 3 bitcoins • This translates to about $1,860, and data reveals usernames and birth date • Tests of a sample set show some usernames correspond to real accounts • But, Yahoo has neither confirmed nor denied the hacker's claims A cybercriminal known as ‘Peace’ has listed the credentials for 200 million alleged Yahoo accounts for sale on the dark web. Samples of the data reveal usernames and dates of birth, along with other bits of personal information – and the massive set is being sold for just 3 bitcoins, roughly $1,860. Yahoo has neither confirmed nor denied the claims, and many users may now want to change their passwords. The hacker posted the listing on The Real Deal marketplace on Monday, Motherboard reveals, after first trading it privately. This same cybercriminal has previously sold data from Myspace and LinkedIn. According to Motherboard, who was able to obtain 5,000 records, many of the usernames tested correspond to real Yahoo accounts. But, attempts to contact more than 100 of these resulted in messages returned as undeliverable, indicating that the account had either been disabled, or did not exist on the platform. Yahoo has said it is aware of the claims, but the firm has not revealed whether this dataset is legitimate. WHAT ARE THE CLAIMS? The hacker claims the dataset listed on The Real Deal markerplace contains credentials for 200 million Yahoo accounts. It's said to contain usernames, passwords, dates of birth, and some back-up email addresses. Yahoo has not yet revealed if the data are legitmate. We are aware of a claim,’ a Yahoo spokesperson told Motherboard in an email. ‘We are committed to protecting the security of our users’ information and we take any such claim very seriously. 'Our security team is working to determine the facts. ‘Yahoo works hard to keep our users safe, and we always encourage our users to create strong passwords, or give up passwords altogether by using Yahoo Account Key, and use different passwords for different platforms.’ Without confirmation or the release of the full dataset, it remains unclear when these records are from, and if this marks a new or legitimate data breach. The hacker has told Motherboard that the dataset is from ‘2012 most likely.’ But, the information could have been taken from earlier leaks. The recent scare comes just months after it was found that Russian hackers were trading hundreds of millions of stolen usernames and passwords belonging to Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo accounts. Details of 40 million Yahoo Mail users, 33 million Hotmail users and 24 million Gmail accounts were in the data being traded. The breach revealed in May is one of the biggest stashes of stolen credentials to be uncovered since cyber attacks hit major US banks and retailers two years ago. The increasing threat of cybercriminals has prompted many companies, including Facebook and Netflix, to urge their customers to change their login details if they find matching credentials with other sites. HOW TO CHOOSE A SECURE PASSWORD Avoid favourite sports. ‘Baseball’ and ‘football’ were both in the top 10 worst password list. Birthdays and years of birth are easy to guess with the help of personal information. Common names such as Michael and Jennifer are insecure, with many making SplashData’s Top 50 list, too. Experts suggest using eight mixed types of characters, with seemingly random combinations if possible. They say that passphrases – short words with spaces or other characters separating them – are easy to recall and are relatively secure if seemingly random words are used. Experts also advise having different passwords for different sites, instead of relying on one, which if hacked, could prove particularly serious.

iPhone 7 WILL lose the headphone jack, but adds dual-camera and pressure sensitive home button, report claims • iPhone 7 and 7 Plus to have same 4.7in and 5.5in screens as iPhone 6 line • Dual-camera will snap brighter images and zoom in with more clarity • Location of headphone jack will be replaced with another speaker • Home button will be designed with Force Touch technology Next month's iPhone is expected to be much different from what is in your hand. According to Bloomberg, the larger iPhone 7 will be equipped with a dual-camera system designed to capture brighter photos with more detail. This upgrade is just one of many rumors surrounding the iPhone 7 designs, as both models are set to have a home button that reads different inputs, but will be missing the traditional headphone jack. ‘The standout features will be a dual-camera system on the larger iPhone, a re-engineered home button that responds to pressure with a vibrating sensation rather than a true physical click and the removal of the devices’ headphone jack, said the people, who didn’t want to be identified discussing unannounced features,’ reports Mark Gurman from Bloomberg. Although the handsets may be designed with new features, display sizes are not expected to change. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will have the same 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens as their predecessors. Sources also told Bloomberg that Apple removed the two innermost antenna lines that line the back of the current phones. WHAT SOURCES SAY ABOUT THE IPHONE 7 LINE According to Bloomberg, next month’s iPhone will be equip with a dual-camera system capable of capturing brighter photos with more detail and cameras that can merge two images into one. Users will also have to throw out their white iconic headphones, as there will not be a headphone jack - sources say it will be replaced by a second speaker. The home button will be designed to read different inputs, using Force Touch technology And the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will have the same 4.7-inch and 5.5-inc screens as their predecessors. The dual camera has been a long running rumor for the iPhone 7 and just a few months ago, a patent surfaced that illustrates this technology - sending the internet into a frenzy over the iPhone 7 Plus having ‘superzoom’ capabilities. According to Bloomberg’s sources, who claim to have used a prototype of the highly anticipated devices, this new system will snap brighter pictures in low-light environments and with more detail. However, the dual-camera system will only be available to those who dish out the extra bucks for the larger iPhone. The lenses, which each snap colour differently, will merge together to make one detailed image. This technology would also allow users to zoom in on the object, place or person with more clarity, sources said. The home button has not been discussed too much this year, but it seems Apple could have big plans for this mechanism in the new models. ‘Current home buttons are switches that physically press into the phone, but the new models will have a pressure-sensitive button that employs so-called haptic feedback,’ according to Bloomberg’s’ sources. This technology is expected to be similar to the trackpads implemented in the latest MacBook line and what was reported by 9TO5Mac earlier this year. Sources told the Ben Lovejoy that although the home button will still be a physical mechanism, it will ‘feature haptic feedback to simulate a click using the same approach as Force Touch’ – which was a new addition to the iPhone 6 line. WHY WOULD APPLE DITCH THE HEADPHONE JACK? Getting rid of the headphone jack would help Apple shrink the iPhone 7's thickness considerably. Its latest smartphone, the Phone 6s, is 7.1 mm (0.27) thick but removing the 3.5mm jack could drop this by a further by one mm (0.04 in). Such a shift would also mean larger, stereo headphones using an internal battery would be able to draw power directly from the iPhone - or other devices, if the change is enforced across the Apple board. Elsewhere, Lightning-based headphones would experience less 'crosstalk', or signal interference. And the rumor that can be heard echoing all over the internet might actually be true. Numerous leaks and sources have surfaced over the past year reveaingl a major change in the the upcoming iPhones, no headphone jack, which Bloomberg says will be replaced with a second speaker. Users will also have to make use of connectivity using Bluetooth and the charging port to setup wireless headphones. WHAT DOES THE INTERNET SAY ABOUT THE IPHONE7? One rumor has been debunked, which suggest there will be a single speaker instead of the dual speaker setup users had hoped for. But one thing that has stayed consistent is the dimension of both models, which were first revealed last year. According to reports, the iPhone 7 will have a 3,100mAh battery, which is 12.5 percent bigger than the iPhone 6S Plus. But although your phone will stay powered longer, it could also mean the casing around it could be thicker. What could be very exciting for iOS users is that Apple might be fixing the annoying ‘there is not enough available storage…’ issue with a 256GB this year. Another annoying feature that might be on Apple's to-do list is strengthening the phone’s water-resistance. This doesn't say the phone will be water-proof, but it could make a world of a difference if you drop your phone in liquid. Another rumor hit the internet just last month that put an even bigger twist on the mystery, claiming next month's Apple smartphones will not be called the iPhone 7 at all. Instead, it will be called the iPhone 6SE - leaving the iPhone 7 for next year, when apple is expected to introduce a major overhaul of its iconic handset. The report from Apfelpage comes from Chinese supply chain sources, who claim to have have seen packaging and labeling that indicates the new phone will be called the ‘iPhone 6SE’. 'Given the more-iterative changes and similar design, it is not out of the question for Apple to brand the new iPhone as a continuation of the iPhone 6 line,' says 9to5Mac.

Mayhem the AI hacker wins $5m US military contest to create a 'robowarrior' that can launch (and defend against) cyberattacks • Cyber Grand Challenge held at Las Vegas hacker's convention • Thousands watched as announcers presented a play-by-play account • DARPA spent $55 million on the effort, the first of its kind A software program dubbed 'Mayhem' was poised to win the final round of a three-year contest to teach computers to launch and defend against cyber attacks, earning a $2 million prize for the team that wrote the winning code. The event, known as the Cyber Grand Challenge, concluded Thursday evening in a Las Vegas convention centre ballroom after a digital battle among software programs running on seven supercomputers on a stage in a Las Vegas ballroom. Thousands watched as announcers presented a play-by-play account of the competition. t took place ahead of Friday's start of Def Con, a hacking convention expected to draw more than 20,000 people to two sprawling Las Vegas convention centers. The contest was sponsored by DARPA, or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. military laboratory credited with creating the Internet. DARPA spent $55 million on the effort, which it dubbed the first 'capture the flag' hacking contest played solely by computers. Agency officials said it succeeded in its goal of stimulating development of technologies for automating the process of protecting computer networks against cyber attacks. DARPA program director Mike Walker said the seven machines succeeded in identifying a total of 650 code vulnerabilities and rewriting 421 programs to fix them. 'A spark was lit today,' he said. 'We have proven that autonomy is possible.' HOW AI HACKERS WORK For almost 10 hours, competitors played the classic cybersecurity exercise of Capture the Flag in a specially created computer testbed laden with an array of bugs hidden inside custom, never-before-analyzed software. The machines were challenged to find and patch within seconds—not the usual months—flawed code that was vulnerable to being hacked, and find their opponents’ weaknesses before the defending systems did. Previous DARPA contests include one for self-driving vehicles that is widely credited with kick-starting the now robust autonomous-vehicle industry. The hacking challenge included 96 rounds in which computers were charged with examining software programs, identifying bugs, patching them and finding ways to attack rival machines. For almost 10 hours, competitors played the classic cybersecurity exercise of Capture the Flag in a specially created computer testbed laden with an array of bugs hidden inside custom, never-before-analyzed software. The machines were challenged to find and patch within seconds—not the usual months—flawed code that was vulnerable to being hacked, and find their opponents’ weaknesses before the defending systems did. DARPA said it hoped the contest would speed the slow process of identifying and patching real-world bugs. It can take more than a year from the time a vulnerability is uncovered until a vendor releases a software patch, according to DARPA. That delay gives hackers time to attack unprotected systems, one factor that security experts say has contributed to the surge in cyber attacks. 'Mayhem' was provisionally named winner, pending an overnight review of the results. The winning program was created by eight computer experts from San Francisco and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University, which regularly produces teams that earn top scores in the annual Def Con hacking contest. Mayhem will compete against Carnegie Mellon students and other elite hackers when this year's Def Con contest starts Friday. It is the first time a computer has competed. THE HEARTBLEED BUG THAT HIT HALF A MILLION COMPUTERS The Heartbleed security bug existed in many of the world’s computer systems for nearly two and a half years, for example, before it was discovered and a fix circulated in spring 2014. By that time, the bug had rendered an estimated half million of the internet’s secure servers vulnerable to theft and other mischief. Analysts have estimated that, on average, such flaws go unremediated for 10 months before being discovered and patched, giving nefarious actors ample opportunity to wreak havoc in affected systems before they move on to exploit new terrain. Second place went to a program dubbed Xandra, created by security experts from the University of Virginia and GrammaTech Inc, earning $1 million. A program known as Mech Phish, which was born at the University of California, placed third, earning its creators $750,000. Today’s event was the first head-to-head competition among developers of some of the most sophisticated automated bug-hunting systems ever developed. “This may be the end of DARPA’s Cyber Grand Challenge but it’s just the beginning of a revolution in software security,” Walker said. “In the same way that the Wright brothers’ first flight—although it didn’t go very far—launched a chain of events that quickly made the world a much smaller place, we now have seen for the first time autonomy involving the kind of reasoning that’s required for cyber defense. 'That is a huge advance compared to where the cyber defense world was yesterday.”

Hackers create 'Eye of Sauron'-inspired malware to spy on international agencies and has already hit 30 organizations, experts say • 'Strider' or 'ProjectSauron' hid code in 2011 that wasn't detected until 2015 • Malware used in these secretive attacks focus on intelligence-gathering • Able to infect and control computers, move across networks and steal data • Malware found to have coding similarities with another known as Flamer A hacker group known as 'Strider' has been in stealth mode for five years, as they carried out cyber-espionage attacks against select targets across the globe. Using Remsec, an advanced piece of malware, these online pirates have been spying on 30 organizations in Russia, China, Belgium, Iran and Sweden since 2011. The attackers gained complete control over the infected machines, which allowed them to access classified data using a sophisticated code that references Sauron - the all-seeing title character in 'The Lord of the Rings'. A new report detailing the malware has been released to the public by Kaspersky Lab, a security firm based in Moscow, Russia. Although the hackers have been tracking government networks since 2011, it wasn't until 2015 was the malware detected. Kaspersky has dubbed this unknown group 'ProjectSauron' in their detailed report, after the reference to the J. R. R. Tolkien character was found in the hidden malware. 'The threat actor behind ProjectSauron commands a top-of-the-top modular cyber-espionage platform in terms of technical sophistication, designed to enable long-term campaigns through stealthy survival mechanisms coupled with multiple exfiltration methods, reads the report titled 'The ProjectSauron APT'. 'Technical details show how attackers learned from other extremely advanced actors in order to avoid repeating their mistakes. 'As such, all artifacts are customized per given target, reducing their value as indicators of compromise for any other victim.' The malware used in these secretive attacks focuses on intelligence-gathering. WHO IS 'PROJECTSAURON'? A hacker group known as 'Strider' has been in stealth for five years, as it carried out cyber-espionage attacks against select targets across the globe. In the hidden malware, experts found references to 'Sauron' the all-seeing title character in The Lord of the Rings, which earn them the name 'ProjectSauron'. Using Remsec, an advanced piece of hidden malware, these online pirates have been spying on organizations in Russia, China, Belgium, Iran and Sweden since 2011. Remsec shares certain unusual coding similarities with another older piece of nation state-grade malware known as Flamer, or Flame. The malware used in these secretive attacks focuses on intelligence-gathering, which functions as a framework allowing ProjectSuaron to infect and control computers, move across networks and exfiltrate data. These strings of code were designed to function as framework that allowed ProjectSauron to infect and control computers, move across networks, exfiltrate data and release other custom modules into the systems, reports Symantec, a California-based firm that is a leading producer of software security. 'Remsec contains a number of stealth features that help it to avoid detection. Several of its components are in the form of executable blobs (Binary Large Objects), which are more difficult for traditional antivirus software to detect,' shared Symantec researchers in a blog post. In addition to this, much of the malware's functionality is deployed over the network, meaning it resides only in a computer's memory and is never stored on disk.' CAN CYBERTHIEVES HACK OUR BRAINS? Experts at the University of Washington reveal hackers are inserting images into dodgy apps and recording our brain's unintentional reaction using brain-computer interfaces. For example, when playing a video game users may see logos of familiar brands pop-up on the screen that just vanish. Hackers put those images in the game and they were recording your 'brain's unintentional response to them' using a BCI, which can be a wearable that monitors stress levels or a cap covered in electrodes. This technology could one day be used by advertisers to gather more information about their customers. Also, police officers and government officials could use this method to convict criminals or as a 'remote lie detector test'. Source: Motherboard The newly discovered group's targets include four organizations and individuals located in Russia, an airline in China, an organization in Sweden and an embassy in Belgium, Symantec said. Kaspersky has dubbed this unknown group 'ProjectSauron' in their detailed report, after the reference to the J. R. R. Tolkien character Kaspersky said it had found 30 organizations hit so far in Russia, Iran and Rwanda, and possibly additional victims in Italian-speaking countries. Remsec targets included government agencies, scientific research centers, military entities, telecoms providers and financial institutions, Kaspersky said. 'Based on the espionage capabilities of its malware and the nature of its known targets, it is possible that the group is a nation state-level attacker,' Symantec said, but it did not speculate about which government might be behind the software. Despite headlines that suggest an endless stream of new types of cyber-spying attacks, Orla Fox, Symantec's director of security response said the discovery of a new class of spyware like Remsec is a relatively rare event, with the industry uncovering no more than one or two such campaigns per year. SECURITY FLAW IN 900 MILLION ANDROID DEVICES COULD LET HACKERS RUN WILD Owners of Android phones have been warned of a serious security flaw that could give attackers complete access to a phone's data. The problem has been identified in software used in about 900 million Android phones, including the HTC One, and Sony Xperia Z Ultra. While there is currently no evidence of the flaws being used by hackers, experts say it is a race as to who finds the bug first. The glitch was found by researchers from Checkpoint, who posted about it in a blog. The problem appears to affect phones which run on Qualcomm processors, which the blog estimates to be around 900 million devices. Checkpoint discovered the problem after spending six months reversing Qualcomm's code. They found that the problem lay in the software that handles graphics, and in the code that controls communication within the phone. While the patches – fixes for the bug – have been distributed to the phone makers, it is still unclear how many of those companies have sent the update to their customers. In the meantime, Checkpoint has created an app called 'QuadRooter Scanner', that allows users to check if their phone is vulnerable to the bug. Kaspersky said it had found 30 organizations hit so far in Russia, Iran, China, Belgium and Rwanda, and possibly additional victims in Italian-speaking countries Remsec shares certain unusual coding similarities with another older piece of nation state-grade malware known as Flamer, or Flame, according to Symantec. Kaspersky agreed that this unknown group appears to have adopted the tools and techniques of other better-known spyware, but said it does not believe that ProjectSauron and Flame are directly connected. As of yet, neither Kaspersky, Symantec or any other organization have stepped forward to reveal these dark villains, but Kaspersky does voice concerns about attributing blame. 'Even with confidence in various indicators and apparent attacker mistakes, there is a greater likelihood that these can all be smoke and mirrors created by an attacker with a greater vantage point and vast resources,' Kaspersky shared in their report. 'When dealing with the most advanced threat actors, as is the case with ProjectSauron, attribution becomes an unsolvable problem.' The report does not that all of the code used in these attacks have been written with a Latin character set.

The phone screen that HEALS itself: $24 Innerexile protector uses microcapsules to automatically repair scratches in seconds • Innerexile's screen protector is available to pre-order from Amazon • Microcapsules filled with a glue-like liquid fill gaps created by scratches • Protector is 0.2mm thick and withstands scratches from bronze brushes If you're accident prone, or have children who like to play with your gadgets, chances are your phone is covered in scratches and nicks. While many cases and screen protectors are designed to reduce the amount of damage, a Taiwanese firm has created a range that is not only super durable, it can even 'heal' itself. Innerexile's technology uses microcapsules filled with a glue-like liquid that automatically fills in the gaps created by the scratch. The firm makes screen protectors and cases for the iPhone 6 and 6s range, including the iPhone 6 Plus and 6s Plus. It also makes a case for the MacBook. The self-repairing screen protector is 0.2mm thick and has been tested using a 2,000g bronze brush. It can fix scratches in one second. Elsewhere, a demonstration video from the company shows scratches on an iPhone case being repaired in 30 seconds. This video additionally shows the case being bent using a 22lb (10kg) weight without being damaged or scratched. Innerexile's screen protector is available to pre-order from Amazon for $24 (£16) for the iPhone 6 and 6s and $26 (£17) for the larger Plus models. Both models are expected to be shipped on 3 November. A similar technology was built into LG's G Flex phone, unveiled in October 2013, but the company didn't explain exactly how this technology works, beyond saying it keeps the phone looking 'newer for longer.' More recently, researchers from Bristol University developed a self-healing compound by adding tiny, hollow microspheres to carbon fibre composite materials. These break on impact, releasing a liquid healing agent that seeps into the cracks left by the damage. It then comes into contact with a catalyst which triggers a rapid chemical reaction that causes the agent to harden, similar to the reaction that occurs in superglue. This compound built on the self-healing plastic developed at the University of Illinois which uses specially formulated fibres that disintegrate. Each block of the regenerating material is made with two adjoining, parallel tubes that act like the body’s capillaries - small blood vessels that transport cells around the body.