gadgets

Scientists have developed a low-cost sensor made from semiconducting plastic that can be used to diagnose or monitor a wide range of health conditions, such as surgical complications or neurodegenerative diseases. The sensor can measure the amount of critical metabolites, such as lactate or glucose that are present in sweat, tears, saliva or blood, and, when incorporated into a diagnostic device, could allow health conditions to be monitored quickly, cheaply and accurately. The device, described in the journal Science Advances, has a far simpler design than existing sensors, and opens up a wide range of new possibilities for health monitoring down to the cellular level. Semiconducting plastics are being developed for use in solar cells and flexible electronics, but have not yet seen widespread use in biological applications. "In our work, we've overcome many of the limitations of conventional electrochemical biosensors that incorporate enzymes as the sensing mate...

Revelations that an  Amazon Echo smart speaker inadvertently sent a family's private conversation to an acquaintance  highlights some unexpected risks of new voice-enabled technologies. According to Amazon, the fault was an "unlikely" series of inadvertent vocal cues that triggered the speaker, caused it to begin recording and then led it to interpret subsequent conversation as a "send message" request. There's no way to eliminate these sorts of privacy risks short of unplugging entirely. But you can minimise the odds of unpleasant privacy surprises with these tips: 1. Kill the mic Most smart speakers have a physical button to disable the microphone, so a private conversation can't be recorded to begin with. You can hit that when you're having sensitive conversations. The button on the  Echo  will turn red; other devices have similar cues. It doesn't make sense to keep the mic disabled throughout the day, though. If the Echo can't hea...

Raising fresh concerns about Facebook's privacy protection policies, a New York Times report has exposed how the social network allowed about 60 device makers, including Apple and Samsung, to access personal information of users and their friends. Even before Facebook apps were widely available on smartphones, Facebook had data-sharing partnerships with the device makers, the report said citing company officials, adding that most of the deals remain in effect. While the device partnerships allowed Facebook to expand its reach, it let the phone makers offer customers popular features of the social network, such as messaging, "like" buttons and address books. The deals raise concerns about the company's privacy protections and compliance with a 2011 consent decree with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), The Times said. Facebook, which is already under scrutiny for misuse of millions of its users' data after the Cambridge Analytica data leak scanda...