The rapidly evolving story about Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab’s involvement in helping Russian government hackers steal sensitive National Security Agency materials has taken yet another turn, as The Wall Street Journal reports that the assistance could have come only with the company’s knowledge.Wednesday’s report, citing unnamed current and former US officials, said the help came in the form of modifications made to the Kaspersky antivirus software that’s used by more than 400 million people around the world. Normally, the programs scan computer files for malware. ”But in an adjustment to its normal operations that the officials say could only have been made with the company’s knowledge, the program searched for terms as broad as ’top secret,’ whoch may be written on classified government documents, as well as the classified code names of US government programs, these people said.”

In the latest version of Twitter for tvOS, the social media service has brought a new feature that allows you to pair your iOS device with your Apple TV as an easy way to tweet while watching specific shows and games.In a tweet today, Twitter announced the newest tvOS Twitter update features the ability to browse Twitter on the set top box while watching your favorite content, and then easily tweet with a Handoff-style connection from Apple TV to an iPhone or iPad.Adweek heard from Twitter about how the new feature works:Open Twitter on your iOS device and on the same Wi-Fi network as your Apple TV.Use the Siri remote while in Twitter for Apple TV and long-press for three seconds.Select @anyone to link your iOS device with your Apple TV.Send any tweet from the live timeline on the TV to your iOS device.Join the conversation on your iOS device and reply, like, retweet or add images and GIFs.

Google hasn’t even started shipping the Home Mini yet, but its launch has been marred by an unusual situation where some of the devices would record and upload practically any sound. As a result, Google says it’s taking the step of disabling all top touch functionality on the Home Mini. While owners can still control it using their voice and a volume switch on the side — that’s it. A software update for all existing Home Minis should roll out by September 15th, well ahead of the products retail debut on the 19th.

Regeringens utredare föreslår en mer begränsad modell för datalagring än tidigare.Advokatsamfundet är nöjt, men polisen anser att begränsningarna blir för omfattande.– Vi kommer att förlora ett väldigt viktigt vapen, säger polisens IT-brottsexpert Anders Ahlqvist.Datalagring behövs för brottsbekämpning men enligt EU-domstolen är den svenska lagringen av information om samtal, meddelanden och internetåtkomst ett för stort intrång i privatlivet.De tre utredarna, Sigurd Heuman, Mikael Kullberg och Christofer Gatenheim, föreslår därför att regeringen inför en begränsad modell där myndigheter bara lagrar de uppgifter som är mest värdefulla, skriver de på DN Debatt.Men polisen ser fortsatta svårigheter att utreda grov brottslighet.– Det här kommer att begränsa lagföringen vad gäller brott som barnpornografi och bedrägerier, men kanske framför allt grova brott som vi inte kommer att kunna utreda längre, säger Anders Ahlqvist, IT-brottsexpert på Nationella operativa avdelningen (Noa).

iOS 11.1 beta 2, released yesterday, includes hundreds of new emoji characters, and Twitter hasn’t wasted any time in supporting them …Anyone on the latest beta can now include the new emoji characters in their tweets, but it’s worth bearing in mind that most people won’t be able to see them. To anyone on the current public version of iOS, your carefully-selected graphical communications will, as TNW notes, appear as empty boxes.Almost nobody can see the updated emoticons just yet. The reason the new emoji will remain invisible to most users is that the icons are yet to make their way to the official version of iOS and other operating systems.

We learned earlier this year that the average smartphone user spends 2h 15m a day using apps, and new data suggests that more of this time than ever is spent using shopping apps.App Annie data shows that time spent in digital-first retailer apps like Amazon increased by 44% year-on-year in the first half of 2017 …Re/code notes that Amazon actually takes both the #1 and #2 slots.In the U.S., time spent on the Top 5 digital-first shopping apps — Amazon, Amazon Shopping, Wish, Etsy and Zulily this year — grew 44 percent in the first half of 2017 compared with the first half of 2016, according to new data from app measurement company App Annie. Amazon Shopping replaced the regular Amazon app, whoch is no longer available for download but is clearly widely used.