Apple to fix bug, Siri will no longer read updates on locked iPhone screen

Siri's behaviour becomes a privacy issue because it can read out messages and emails from third-party apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Gmail

Apple has promised to fix a bug that can allow Siri to read aloud hidden lock screen notifications from many apps on iPhones.

"We are aware of the issue and it will be addressed in an upcoming software update," Apple said in a statement provided to MacRumors.

The fix is likely to come in iOS 11.3, which remains in beta testing, but Apple might also address the problem with a minor update such as iOS 11.2.7, MacRumors reported on Thursday.

As a result of the bug, Siri can read out notification content, even those that are hidden, from a wide selection of apps when someone asks the assistant to do so without verifying whether the command was coming from the owner of the device.

The problem was reported by Brazilian website MacMagazine earlier this week.

In a test, MacRumors reproduced this issue on an iPhone X running both iOS 11.2.6 and the latest iOS 11.3 beta, while confirming that it does not affect iMessage.

Siri's behaviour becomes a privacy issue because it can read out messages and emails from third-party apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Gmail, even if an iPhone is locked and notifications are hidden, the report said.

Huawei, Xiaomi, Nokia, others pile in to exploit Samsung weakness

Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Gionee are in hot pursuit, while BlackBerry, Nokia announced retro models

Latest Technologies : Phonemakers are piling in to fill a gap in the market left by Samsung, still licking its wounds from a costly recall of its flagship Note 7 and with no key device of its own to launch at the telecom industry's biggest annual fair.

China's Huawei, the most likely contender to fill the hole in the premium end of the market, took the wraps off a new phone in its quest to displace Samsung as the world's no. 2 smartphone maker after Apple, during a rush of new product releases on Sunday ahead of this week's World Mobile Congress.

Chinese challengers Xiaomi , Vivo, Oppo and Gionee are in hot pursuit, while BlackBerry and Nokia announced models exploiting their retro appeal.

Samsung itself presented two new tablets pending the launch of its next flagship device, the Galaxy S8, expected now at the end of March rather than at Mobile World Congress, its usual showcase.

"The past six months have undoubtedly been one of the most challenging periods of our history," Samsung's European marketing chief David Lowes told a news conference in Barcelona. "We're determined to learn every possible lesson."

Samsung withdrew the Galaxy Note 7 last October after faulty batteries led some devices to catch fire, leading to a loss of consumer trust, wiping out more than $5 billion of operating profit, and allowing the iPhone to overtake it in sales.

"The competition is feisty but I think we have a good chance," Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei's consumer business group, told Reuters in an interview. (more)

New software can recognise unseen events in YouTube videos

New software can recognise unseen events in YouTube videos

Scientists have developed a computer software that can recognise events in YouTubevideos, even those that it has not previously seen.

The new approach uses both scene and object features from the video and enables associations between these visual elements and each type of event to be automatically determined and weighted by a machine-learning architecture known as a neural network.

The approach not only works better than other methods in recognising events in videos, but is significantly better at identifying events that that the computer programme has never or rarely encountered previously, said Leonid Sigal, senior research scientist at Disney Research.

These events can include such things as riding a horse, baking cookies or eating at a restaurant.

"Automated techniques are essential for indexing, searching and analysing the incredible amount of video being created and uploaded daily to the Internet," said Jessica Hodgins, vice president at Disney Research.

"With multiple hours of video being uploaded to YouTube every second, there's no way to describe all of that content manually," Hodgins said. Read more.