Enlarge / Rather than app-by-app permissions that are set once, ChromeOS will soon offer universal mic and camera toggles that should help prevent accidental exposure of messy bedrooms, running children, penguins, and other objects. (credit: Google)

Chromebooks will become a better place to take a video call or audio huddle soon, as Google is giving all users the ability to universally control access to their video cameras and microphones.

As part of a wider announcement of business data and security improvements , Tony Ureche, head of security, identity, and privacy for ChromeOS, writes that Chromebooks will get a space in Settings for toggling camera and microphone access. If an app tries to access either device upon launching or after a button tap, you'll get a notice saying, "Your mic is muted by your system settings," with a prompt to click the button to learn more (at least in Google Meet). The setting is coming "later this year."

Having a default-off option for Chromebooks adds security to an already fairly secure platform, both by obscurity and design. It's also helpful for users, as it's a good idea to have to affirmatively enable a camera every time it wants to turn on rather than remembering whether or not you previously gave permission to Zoom, Meet, Slack, Skype, Teams, GoToMeeting, WebEx, Discord, or other apps.

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Federal prosecutors have charged two men with allegedly taking part in a spree of swatting attacks against more than a dozen owners of compromised Ring home security cameras and using that access to livestream the police response on social media.

Kya Christian Nelson, 21, of Racine, Wisconsin, and James Thomas Andrew McCarty, 20, of Charlotte, North Carolina, gained access to 12 Ring cameras after compromising the Yahoo Mail accounts of each owner, prosecutors alleged in an indictment filed Friday in the Central District of California. In a single week starting on November 7, 2020, prosecutors said , the men placed hoax emergency calls to the local police departments of each owner that were intended to draw an armed response, a crime known as swatting.

On November 8, for instance, local police in West Covina, California, received an emergency call purporting to come from a minor child reporting that her parents had been drinking and shooting guns inside the minor’s home. When police arrived at the residence, Nelson allegedly accessed the residence’s Ring doorbell and used it to verbally threaten and taunt the responding officers. The indictment alleges the men helped carry out 11 similar swatting incidents during the same week, occurring in Flat Rock, Michigan; Redding, California; Billings, Montana; Decatur, Georgia; Chesapeake, Virginia; Rosenberg, Texas; Oxnard, California; Darien, Illinois; Huntsville, Alabama; North Port, Florida; and Katy, Texas.

Duovox Mate Pro can see through the darkness, and offer a clear, true-color 2K video of your surroundings — without a flash - down to 0.0001 lux, equivalent to an overcast (not clear), moonless night sky.

It costs US$599, but has US$190,044 already pledged of its US$25,000 goal.

See https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/duovox/duovox-mate-pro

#technology #kickstarter #camera #nightphotography

Sharp is not a renowned smartphone maker, but in its home market Japan, it is known for launching phones equipped with massive camera sensors and crazy display technologies. As a follow-up to last year's Aquos R6 and its impressive 1-inch rear camera, Sharp has announced the Aquos R7 with some notable upgrades that set itself apart from the best Android phones like the Galaxy S22 Ultra and Google Pixel 6 Pro.

Sharp claims the new Leica-branded shooter can take in up to 1.8x times more light than the previous 1-inch sensor.

See https://www.androidpolice.com/sharp-aquos-r7-reveal-with-47mp-camera/

#technology #sharp #mobile #photography #camera