Security: Google blocked 2.36 million risky Android apps from Play Store in 2024 | |
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BleepingComputer
Google blocked 2.3 million Android app submissions to the Play Store in 2024 due to violations of its policies that made them potentially risky for users.
In addition, 158,000 developer accounts were banned for attempting to publish harmful apps like malware and spyware on Android's official app store.
In comparison, Google blocked 2,280,000 risky apps in 2023 and 1,500,000 apps in 2022, while the figures for blocked Play developer accounts were 333,000 and 173,000, respectively.
The larger number of blocked apps in 2024 is partly attributed to AI assisting human reviews, which was used in 92% of the violating cases. Read More
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Healthcare IT: Connected health tools help seniors, but a digital divide persists | |
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Credit: Seizavisuals / Getty Images | |
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Healthcare IT News
Most adults aged 50 to 80 in the United States are now using digital health technologies (DHTs), with patient portals leading adoption rates, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
The analysis, based on data from over 2,100 participants and conducted by University of Michigan and Veteran Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System, also revealed significant disparities in usage driven by race, income, education, and geography.
The study found 81 percent of older adults reported using at least one form of DHT, including telehealth services (49%) and mobile health apps (44%). Read More
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Homeland Security: TSA expands acceptance of digital IDs to Virginia | |
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Homeland Security Today
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is now accepting Virginia-issued mobile driver licenses at checkpoints with digital ID readers nationwide.
Travelers who have downloaded the Virginia Mobile ID app to their smart phone can use that for identity verification during the screening process in lieu of handing over a physical photo ID and boarding pass to the TSA security officer at the entry to the checkpoints at Virginia airports with the readers and other airports nationwide.
Virginia’s Mobile ID (mID) is a voluntary, secure and digital version of a Virginia-issued driver’s license or ID card that individuals carry in an app on their smartphone. Read More
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Transportation: Why cold weather is no longer an EV battery killer | |
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The Washington Post
Cold winters are bad news for EV batteries. But with a heat pump — the same climate-friendly heating system that helps buildings stay warm with less energy — electric cars can run longer in freezing temperatures.
On average, EVs lose about a fifth of their range when temperatures hit 32 degrees Fahrenheit, according to data from Recurrent, a company that tracks the battery performance of electric cars. That’s mainly because chilly passengers crank up the heat, which draws down the battery.
Having a heat pump can cut range loss in half, Recurrent data show. Under most conditions, heat pumps drain a car’s battery less than the old school electric resistance heaters that early EVs relied on. That means the best EVs today lose only 11 percent of their range in freezing weather. Read More
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Credit: Kena Betancur / AFP / Getty Images | |
Human Resources: More than 2 in 3 workers at businesses not using AI think their companies are ‘dinosaurs’ | |
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HR Dive
Companies that have integrated AI into their operations are fueling “massive productivity gains and accelerating their ability to grow and execute their strategies,” i4cp, an HR research firm, stated in a Jan. 23 media release.
However, only 11% of companies have reached this stage of AI workforce readiness, according to the firm’s survey of HR and other business leaders from nearly 1,000 organizations. They’ve done so by actively scaling AI applications across the enterprise, often restructuring processes to embed AI into workflows, i4cp explained in an executive summary.
What sets these companies apart: They “upskill[ed] their workforce on how to use GenAI to improve efficiency and effectiveness,” i4cp said. Read More
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Business & Technology: 5 reasons the enterprise data center will never die | | |
Credit: Dusan Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock | |
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CIO
In 2019, Gartner analyst Dave Cappuccio issued the headline-grabbing prediction that by 2025, 80% of enterprises will have shut down their traditional data centers and moved everything to the cloud.
A lot has gone down since 2019, and Gartner’s latest guidance on the topic comes from John-David Lovelock, vice president analyst,who says, “It’s not as though the data center is going away. The enterprise data center is here to stay. There’s still enough spending by enterprises on servers, licensed software, and the skill sets they need to maintain and operate the environment that currently exists.”
The overall trend toward placing new enterprise workloads in the cloud remains firmly in place, Lovelock says, but it’s not so overwhelming as to cannibalize current levels of enterprise data center deployments. In fact, Gartner says that 2024 global enterprise spending on data centers was a healthy $66 billion. Read More
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