Technology

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• New details have emerged regarding recent cyberattack
• A malicious Google Chrome extension led to 400,000 users being infected with malware
• Attackers were reportedly planning the campaign as early as March 2024

The recent cyberattack which hit security firm Cyberhaven and then affected a number of Google Chrome extenions may have been part of a ‘wider campaign’, new research has claimed.

A BleepingComputer investigation found the same code was injected into at least 35 Google Chrome extensions, which are being used by roughly 2.6 million users worldwide. This led to 400,000 devices being infected with malicious code through the CyberHaven extensions.

The campaign started as early as December 5, over two weeks earlier than first suspected, although command and control subdomains have been found dating back as far as March 2024.

Data loss prevention

Ironically, cybersecurity firm Cyberhaven is a startup which provides a Google Chrome extension aimed at preventing sensitive data loss from unapproved platforms, such as Facebook or ChatGPT.

In this particular case, the attack originated from a phishing email against a developer, which posed as a Google notification alerting the administrator that an extension was in breach of Chrome Web Store policies and at risk of being removed. The developer was encouraged to allow a 'Privacy Policy Extension', which then granted attackers permissions and allowed access.

After this, a new malicious version of the extension was uploaded, which bypassed Google’s security checks, and was spread to around 400,000 users thanks to automatic extension updates on Chrome.

It has now been discovered the attackers were aiming to collect Facebook data from victims through the extensions, and domains used in the attack were registered and tested back in March 2024, before a new set was created in November and December ahead of the incident.

"The employee followed the standard flow and inadvertently authorized this malicious third-party application," Cyberhaven said in a statement.

"The employee had Google Advanced Protection enabled and had MFA covering his account. The employee did not receive an MFA prompt. The employee's Google credentials were not compromised."

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Apple's Dynamic Island, that pill-shaped and wholly fungible black space that sits atop your iPhone 16 (along with iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 Pro models), is relatively small in the scheme of things. As measured by me, it usually sits between 22mm and 32 mm wide and 6mm deep – unless you touch it and then it can expand to 7 centimeters wide by almost 3 centimeters deep.

It's a sometimes useful space, but it's also screen real estate that I'm tired of giving up.

Please understand that I'm generally a Dynamic Island fan and wrote about it lovingly in 2022 (I called it "clever and impressive"). But I'm a bigger fan of everything else happening on my iPhone 16 Pro Max screen and grow weary of this rather large and often mostly dark cutout.

I started pondering the future of this space again after a spate of new rumors regarding Apple's possible plans for the iPhone 17. Some claim Apple might be looking to reduce the size of the island by shrinking the components contained within it.

One of the reasons I like the Dynamic Island is because it's not just dead space, and it's also not all screen. Instead, the Dynamic Island is a clever combination of the two. There's a proximity sensor, an infrared projector (a.k.a Time of Flight [ToF] sensor), and a 12MP camera.

Before the Dynamic Island, there was the TrueDepth notch, which was introduced with the iPhone X as part of the then-new Face ID system. I also love Face ID with all my heart. It's so much more efficient than unlocking your phone, apps, and services with your finger.

A closer look at the Dynamic Island (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff) Island living

What Apple did with the Dynamic Island is it moved the notch down and into the screen space and then sliced it up so that the three components are bisected between the two sensors and the one camera by a tiny bit of active screen. This is how notifications and display elements notifying you of system activity (a red dot to show you the camera or microphone is active, for instance) appear between the Face ID sensor and the camera lens.

I like this effect and how Apple designed all the Dynamic Island animations to make it appear as if the pill smoothly grows and shrinks to fit the current purpose. It's all so well done.

Even so, I want as near an unblemished iPhone 17 screen as possible – what the iPhone display was before the iPhone X. I know it was smaller and of a lower resolution, but it had no weird notch, not even a cutout.

The OG iPhone screen (Image credit: Future)

In the world of modern, edge-to-edge displays, this is almost but not quite a pipe dream. The Samsung Galaxy S24, for instance, has just a tiny drill-through for the front-facing camera. On the interior flexible screen of its Galaxy Z Fold 6, Samsung covers the camera cutout with pixels that disappear when it's time to take a selfie.

This is what I want for the iPhone 17. No more half-measures to accommodate the True Depth Module. I want Apple to find a way to permanently hide Face ID and the proximity sensor behind the display. I wonder if one of them can be shrunk enough to live in the ultra-thin screen bezel.

It's not easy to spot the camera on this Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, is it? (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

For the 12MP (or maybe 48PM) front-facing camera, let's go the Samsung route and hide it with live pixels that shift to transparent when it's selfie time.

You might think this will kill the Dynamic Island. It might, but the concept of surfacing app status and other activity notifications could be handed over to Siri. Maybe it could sometimes go from the screen surrounding glow to a Dynamic Island-like animation that briefly appears at the top of the screen. I'd enable it when you shake the phone.

Considering that Siri's Apple Intelligence update is supposed to bring more third-party app knowledge to its digital assistant, I think this makes sense.

Building a raft

Even if Apple does away with the physical island and all those little status notifications, will we miss it that much? How often do we have to stare at our phones to know what's going on? If the status or activity update is that important, it should be a notification.

There's a non-zero-percent chance this will happen. The iPhone 17 could, after all, be a major handset redesign. We think it'll be a lot thinner (at least one model, usually referred to as the iPhone 17 Air) and have way better cameras. If the screen undergoes a major update, like the tandem OLED technology in the ultra-thin iPad Pro M4 13-inch, then the removal of the Dynamic Island makes some sense.

It's not that I don't appreciate the Dynamic Island, but sometimes I feel like I've been stranded on (or at least with) it, and I'm ready for a rescue.

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• Huawei has won a number of court rulings in its legal wrangles with Netgear
• The patents involved are crucial to WiFi 6 technology used in Netgear's wireless routers
• Netgear produces the popular Nighthawk and Orbi family of products

Huawei has won a series of legal victories against Netgear in its ongoing patent disputes over WiFi 6 technology, with the latest development potentially having far-reaching implications for Netgear’s operations across Europe.

As reported by intellectual property activist Florian Mueller, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) recently granted Huawei a multi-country injunction against Netgear, following a ruling in its Munich Local Division.

This decision, centered on a WiFi 6 standard-essential patent (SEP), applies to seven countries, including Germany, France, and Italy. Mueller says it marks one of the most commercially impactful rulings in the UPC's history regarding SEPs.

Netgear facing a tough choice

Netgear, a major US router brand best known for its Nighthawk and Orbi products, has been defending itself against Huawei’s claims, but faces mounting challenges. A new ruling from the Munich I Regional Court, expected on January 9, 2025, could further complicate matters. In this case, Huawei is asserting another WiFi 6 SEP, which appears likely to be deemed valid and infringed, based on court proceedings.

Netgear’s defenses hinge on arguments related to FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) licensing obligations and patent exhaustion. However, Mueller says the court has historically been skeptical of such defenses unless supported by strong evidence. Patent exhaustion, which Netgear hoped would protect devices using Qualcomm chips, has limited applicability. According to the UPC ruling, the exhaustion defense only applies if Qualcomm chips were first sold within the European Union, creating logistical and manufacturing hurdles for Netgear.

The ramifications extend beyond Netgear, as the decision reinforces the UPC's stance on SEPs and FRAND obligations. The court has emphasized that implementers must engage constructively in licensing negotiations and, in some cases, accept pool license offers. Netgear’s rejection of a pool license, combined with its litigation strategies, has not helped its position.

With enforcement of the injunction imminent, Mueller says Netgear faces a tough choice: negotiate a license or risk further legal and operational setbacks. This case not only highlights the complexities of SEP enforcement in Europe it also sets a precedent for similar disputes in the future.

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• Microsoft claims 10 billion generative AI chats happened within Edge borwser during 2024
• Edge leader also praises its performance enhancements
• Security features protected Edge users against trillions of trackers

Microsoft has boldly suggested its Edge browser has been central to the AI experience for users across the world over the last 12 months.

In a blog post, the company's General Manager for Product Management and Growth at Microsoft Edge, Search and Mobile, Roger Capriotti, revealed users accessed Copilot within the Edge browser window to engage in over 10 billion generative AI chats in 2024.

Edge has also, apparently, proven instrumental in other areas, like improving accessibility with built-in translation and supporting the world of ecommerce.

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An estimated 38 trillion characters were translated using Edge’s auto-translate function in 2024, with built-in shopping features saving shoppers $400 per year on average. Furthermore, 800 million articles and stories were consumed on MSN, with 46 million messages and files shared with Drop.

Capriotti also drew attention to the browser’s performance enhancements, quantifying their usefulness by stating seven trillion megabytes of PC memory were saved by using sleeping tabs.

Security features also got a major mention for the role in preventing over 1.4 billion phishing, malware, and scam attacks on Edge and over 1.8 trillion trackers on the Edge mobile app.

However despite all this success, Edge still lags behind in the global browser market. Google Chrome accounts for two in three (67%) desktop browser sessions (via the December 2024 Statcounter figures), with Edge in a very distant second place (13%). Across all platforms, including smartphones and tablets, Edge resides in third place with a tiny 5% market share, second to Safari (17%).

The update also notes Bing reached over 140 million daily active users, however it, too, lags behind competition. Google, with a 90% market share, leads the way, with Bing taking just a 4% slice.

Looking ahead, Microsoft is hoping injecting artificial intelligence into its browser to improve its usefulness could be one way to help it boost takeup.

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In the spirit of Festivus, I am airing my grievances for the smartphone world. Gather round the Festivus pole! To paraphrase the impeccable Frank Costanza, ‘I got a lotta problems with you phones, and now you're going to hear about it!’ While I’m sure there will be time later for the feats of strength benchmark tests, now I want to discuss the ways my loved ones have disappointed me over the past year.

You think I’m going to drone on and on about AI? Don’t worry, I’ll get to it. It will be a Festivus miracle when I finally see AI features that make a smartphone worth buying. I’d settle for AI that doesn’t tell me my son sold the family dog every time he texts updates about football practice.

These are my biggest problems with some of the best phones I saw this year, and just like I tell my own family, if I didn’t love these phones I wouldn’t spend so much time criticizing every way they aren’t perfect.

Apple Vision Pro at launch (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future) The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold I really want… in Korea and China only?!

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 has a flaw: Z Fold phones are simply too narrow when closed. The front screen looks awkward and some apps don’t fit right. I hoped Samsung would fix the problem with the Galaxy Z Fold 6, but the new phone was only a bit wider than previous Galaxys Z Fold. The problem persisted, while the OnePlus Open and Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold showed how a foldable tablet is supposed to look.

Then Samsung fixed the problem! It launched a Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition with a bigger display up front and a proper aspect ratio. It also got a big 200-megapixel camera upgrade, but I don’t care about that because I forgive foldable phones for their camera foibles.

But wait, the new Galaxy Z Fold 6 Special Edition phone is only on sale in Korea and China!? Okay, so those countries actually spend money on foldable phones. Sorry US, UK, and Australia readers, maybe if you’d just dropped a few grand on a Samsung foldable last year, you’d have the correct Galaxy Fold model this year. I hope the Galaxy Z Fold 7 doesn’t disappoint.

The iPhone 16 Camera Control isn’t a shutter button

(Image credit: Future)

I was very excited about the new Camera Control on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models. I’ve been hoping two-stage shutter buttons would make a comeback (every Windows Phone had one!), because it makes shooting much easier when you want a steady focus and a sharper shot.

Then the Camera Control showed up and it was nothing like what we’d seen before. It was so much more than just a shutter button with focus lock. I really like the Control! And I love that every iPhone 16 model gets a Camera Control. I think there’s a lot of potential.

I just have one big problem: it doesn’t do the thing I wanted. I wanted a button that has a halfway stopping point – a two-stage shutter that you can press a little bit, then press harder. You can do that with the Camera Control, but there’s no real stopping point, you get haptic feedback from the iPhone when you get there. I’m not very good at stopping my finger at precisely the right point without some physical resistance.

Also, the focus lock feature wasn’t available at launch, it took a few months to arrive, and by the time it did, the Camera Control became known for its Apple Intelligence powers more than its camera convenience. Maybe that was the point all along? Hopefully when Samsung inevitably copies this button, it will offer a proper two-stage shutter button like I wanted.

I can’t buy a Xiaomi 14 Ultra. Or a Huawei. Why?!

(Image credit: Future)

There’s a camera phone that haunts my dreams: the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. It might be the best camera phone on the market right now, but not my market. You can get a Xiaomi phone in plenty of other English-speaking countries. But the US doesn’t have an official retail channel, and I wouldn’t buy an import model because I won’t get full network or warranty support.

So, I borrowed a Xiaomi 14 Ultra from our UK team, and its cameras are jaw-dropping. I took photos that were light years ahead of what some of our favorite US camera phones can produce, especially shooting macro photos, portraits, and enhanced zoom shots. The level of control is amazing, with the best aperture control I’ve seen on a smartphone.

I’ve never gotten a satisfying answer explaining why I can’t buy Xiaomi phones. For that matter, why can’t I buy any cool Huawei phones, like the Huawei Mate XT?! I have heard from industry analysts that there is a political reason more than a technological impediment. In any case, it’s clear the US market is missing out on something good.

Stereotypes from generative AI, now on your smartphone

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

There are so many problems with generative AI that it’s tough to nail down my favorite bugbear. Is it rampant and blatant copyright infringement? Supervillainous levels of energy consumption? I think my favorite generative AI problem to whine about is the way AI image generators usually create images that adhere to racist, sexist, ableist… pretty much any stereotype you can imagine, and probably a few we haven’t defined.

That isn’t a bug, it’s a feature because of the way they were trained, and it’s now a feature on your smartphone. Google and Samsung have avoided the worst problems by limiting AI wallpaper features. But when I reviewed the Motorola Razr Plus 2024, the results I got from the image generator presented a strong pattern of Antisemitic and misogynist stereotypes. It was shocking.

This is not acceptable. These AI image generators are not useful enough to justify the danger. Why do I need a problematic wallpaper app on my phone? When did it become acceptable for electronics companies to foist offensive features on users? I’m guessing it’s when we decided we weren’t going to buy those foldable phones.

When AI works properly, I’ll be excited to use it. Until then, I don’t need it, just like I wouldn’t need a text messaging app that can’t send text messages, or a web browser that goes to the wrong URL. AI features don’t work, and that is the end of that.

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