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T-Mobile and Sprint can now verify calls across their networks

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“We’re in an arms race with these scammers, and we’ve got to join forces as an industry to keep all wireless customers protected,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a press release.

T-Mobile is also expanding its Caller Verified feature to 23 smartphones. Soon, customers with more devices will see “Caller Verified” on their screens when a non-spoofed call arrives from a T-Mobile or Sprint number.

T-Mobile and Sprint are not the first carriers to use the STIR/SHAKEN standards or to team up to verify cross-network calls. AT&T, Comcast and Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) offer the anti-robocall tool, and Comcast and AT&T verify calls between the two networks. The FCC has voted to allow carriers to block robocalls by default, so we may see more carriers adopt spam-blocking tech in the near future.

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Google Photos bug sent private videos to strangers

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As you can see, Google will tell you clearly if any of your files were affected. Further, the warning notes that backups made during that five-day period may be incomplete. Google says it has already identified and resolved the issue and suggests deleting the export you made in November to make a new one. Of course, you can only hope that Google didn’t mistakenly put your videos in the hands of someone unscrupulous.

Thankfully, only 0.01 percent of Photos users were affected, the company told 9to5Google, and the bug wasn’t present in any other Google product. It also told the publication:

“We are notifying people about a bug that may have affected users who used Google Takeout to export their Google Photos content between November 21 and November 25. These users may have received either an incomplete archive, or videos—not photos—that were not theirs. We fixed the underlying issue and have conducted an in-depth analysis to help prevent this from ever happening again. We are very sorry this happened.”



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The Morning After: BlackBerry / TCL split, and Iowa’s primary app problem

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This could take a while to clear up.Iowa Caucus results delayed, link to mobile app problems is unclear

By the time you read this, maybe you’ll have some idea about which Democratic Party presidential candidate came out on top of the Iowa Caucus yesterday. The results were supposed to have come in last night, but precinct chairs cited problems with the app they were using, and state party leaders said they were dealing with a “reporting issue.” Launch day software fails again? Maybe.

An attempt to go viral with Baby Nut backfired in spectacular fashion.Twitter’s anti-spam rules foiled Planters’ Super Bowl stunt

Planters is learning there is such a thing as being too thirsty for social media stardom. Twitter has suspended three accounts tied to Baby Nut, the resurrected Mr. Peanut mascot that made his debut during the Super Bowl, for violating policies against spam and platform manipulation. Its main @MrPeanut account retweeted as different (Planters-owned) profiles and shared memes shortly after Baby Nut made his appearance. The problem, as you might guess, was that it’s the sort of coordinated behavior Twitter has banned in the past.

Kraft Heinz told Insider that it had created the accounts “after consulting with Twitter” to stay on the social network’s good side. However, it said it would “respect that decision” to suspend the accounts. Viral efforts: foiled.

Generational transition.Sony’s PS4 sales fall off ahead of the PS5 launch later this year

The latest quarterly financial report from Sony indicates that sales in its games department were “significantly” down (by 20 percent) year-on-year due to a decrease in PS4 hardware and third-party software sales.

That front pocket has a drain plug and can hold as much as a 36-gallon cooler.Ford thinks the Mustang Mach-E’s frunk is a good tailgate cooler

Is this on your list of reasons to consider an EV?

It challenged the warrant and didn’t provide authorities any information in response.Ancestry fought a police DNA database request and won

Authorities tried to gain access to Ancestry’s massive DNA database with a search warrant last year, the genealogy company has revealed in its transparency report. Ancestry divulged the information requests it received from law enforcement in 2019 in the report, noting that it complied with six of the nine valid requests. It challenged the warrant on jurisdictional grounds, though, and refused to give authorities access to its database.

Ancestry told BuzzFeed News that the warrant “was improperly served” and that it didn’t “provide any access or customer data in response.” The company also noted in its report that it refused numerous other inquiries because the requestors didn’t go through the appropriate legal process. It recently updated its privacy statement to add that “Ancestry does not voluntarily cooperate with law enforcement.” Further, it assured customers that the company does not “allow law enforcement to use Ancestry’s services to investigate crimes or to identify human remains.”

The Fortnite Celebration Cup kicks off February 15th.You’ll need a PS4 to join the next ‘Fortnite’ tournament

It’s not the first time Epic has run a console-specific Fortnite competition, but now it’s the PS4’s turn. Running from February 15th through to February 16th, there will be a $1 million prize pool that will pay out to over 4,000 of the best players. Best get training with that DualShock.

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Sony’s PlayStation business is slowing faster than expected

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The figures, which account for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2019 — October 1st to December 31st — indicate that sales were “significantly” down (by 20 percent) year-on-year due to a decrease in PS4 hardware and third-party software sales. Operating income was also down, with a 19.6 billion yen (around $180 million) decrease in profits. As such, the company has adjusted its financial forecasts, dropping the outlook for sales by 50 billion yen ($459 million, or three percent) and the outlook for operating income by five billion yen ($46 million).

Obviously, these are not ideal figures for Sony, but they’re not unusual in the face of transition, nor do they suggest Sony is losing money — it’s just making less than it was during the same period in the previous year. That being said, the heavy drop in software sales — around 7 percent — is somewhat unexpected. The slowed sales and reduced outlook may have something to do with the number of game delays we’ve seen over the past few months. Doom Eternal was due to release in November, but was pushed back to late March, while both Watch Dogs Legion and The Last of Us Part II moved from Sony’s current financial quarter to the next financial year.

Sony’s results did show that its PS Plus subscriber service is on the up, though, steadily increasing to 38.8 million subscribers from 36.3 million this time last year. Gamers obviously love the brand just as much as ever, but are — sensibly, some might argue — holding out for the PlayStation 5 before parting with their cash.

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Ancestry fought a police DNA database request and won

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Ancestry told BuzzFeed News that the warrant came from a court in Pennsylvania, though it didn’t say what case it was for. It did tell the publication, however, that the warrant “was improperly served” and that it didn’t “provide any access or customer data in response.” The company also noted in its report that it refused numerous other inquiries, because the requestors didn’t go through the appropriate legal process.

As BuzzFeed News explains, it was only a matter of time before the authorities start serving Ancestry with search warrants. Cops have started using genealogy websites to solve cold cases in the past few years, especially after California police arrested who they believe was the “Golden State Killer.” They were able to make an arrest after uploading the suspect’s DNA profile to free genealogy website GEDMatch, which connected them to his distant relatives.

GEDMatch became law enforcement agencies’ go-to genealogy website, even after it changed its policy so that authorities can only search for users who specifically allow the police to see their profiles. However, GEDMatch’s database only contains information on over a million users, making it a much smaller counterpart to Ancestry’s, which contains 15 to 16 million DNA profiles.

By gaining access to Ancestry’s database, authorities will have a much larger chance of finding suspects for decades-old cases. This likely won’t be the last time the website will receive a search warrant seeking access to its DNA records, even though the company previously vowed to protect users’ genetic privacy. It recently updated its privacy statement to add that “Ancestry does not voluntarily cooperate with law enforcement.” Further, it assured customers that the company does not “allow law enforcement to use Ancestry’s services to investigate crimes or to identify human remains.”

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Ford thinks the Mustang Mach-E’s frunk is a good tailgate cooler

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This likely won’t lead to a significant uptick in reservations ahead of the Mach-E’s late 2020 debut. First… ew. And if that isn’t a factor, there’s a good possibility that you have better (or at least, more sanitary) ways to use 4.8 cubic feet of free space. This does highlight the practicality of frunks in EVs, though. If there’s any serious complaint, it’s that the Mach-E doesn’t appear to have an equivalent to Tesla’s party mode. Can you get on that, Ford?

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Now certain 2019 LG TVs have the Apple TV app too

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Late last year LG started to add AirPlay 2 and HomeKit to its TVs with firmware updates. Then at CES last month the company announced it would add the full Apple TV app that adds all of the video bits from iTunes, as well as access to the Apple TV+ service. Now, if you have one of its 2019 OLED TVs or high-end NanoCell LCD TVs then you should start seeing the app, while “select” other LCDs (UM7X and UM6X series) should get access later this month.

This way, you don’t have to add an Apple TV device, or use the AirPlay features to watch Apple’s various video offerings, and of course many of the shows are mastered in Dolby Vision HDR. Last year the app was exclusively available on Samsung’s TVs, but in 2020 it’s coming to a much wider selection of screens. For LG’s 2020 TVs it will be available at launch, and the company reaffirmed that 2018 TVs will also get the app via a firmware update later this year.

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Twitter admits ‘bad actors’ exploited phone number matching feature

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The company says that after suspending the first set of fake accounts exploiting the flaw — presumably Balic’s, who created hundreds of sock puppet accounts for his investigation — it found more. Those additional accounts were located from a wide range of countries, but most of them were from Iran, Israel and Malaysia, based on the IP addresses Twitter traced.

“It is possible that some of these IP addresses may have ties to state-sponsored actors,” its announcement reads. “We are disclosing this out of an abundance of caution and as a matter of principle.”

Although the flaw allowed bad actors to look up millions of phone numbers of people they don’t know, users who don’t have the “Let people who have your phone number find you on Twitter” setting enabled weren’t affected. Further, Twitter suspended all the offending accounts it found and modified its API to prevent bad actors from exploiting the number matching feature going forward.



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Twitter's anti-spam rules foiled Planters' Super Bowl stunt

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Planters is learning that there is such a thing as being too thirsty for social media stardom. Twitter has suspended three accounts tied to Baby Nut, the resurrected Mr. Peanut mascot that made his debut during the Super Bowl, for violating policies…

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