Security researchers have identified 32 separate apps on Google Play that harboured a bug called BadNews.

On infected phones, BadNews stole cash by racking up charges from sending premium rate text messages.
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Samsung has unveiled the biggest smartphone to date – the Galaxy Mega, which features a 6.3in (16cm) screen.

The firm suggested its size made it ideal for watching videos or running two apps alongside each other.
Samsung helped popularise the so-called “phablet” category – in which phones approach tablet dimensions – with its original 5.3in Galaxy Note in 2011.

That proved more popular than many expected, but one analyst suggested the latest device might be a step too far.
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Skype announced Wednesday users are spending more than two billion minutes a day connecting with one another via the video-chat platform — enough time to watch 16 million movies or travel to the moon and back 225,000 times.

Not only is this is a big milestone for Skype in particular, it also highlights just how much people have embraced communicating via a voice over IP (VoIP) service.
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Encrypted messaging services such as Skype, Viber and WhatsApp could be blocked in Saudi Arabia, the telecommunications regulator there is reported to have warned.

It is demanding a means to monitor such applications, but Saudis say that would seriously inhibit their communications.
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The French telecoms regulator ARCEP said it had asked prosecutors to investigate Microsoft Corp’s Skype for failing to register as a telecom operator.

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Nuance expands its virtual assistant to the web, as human interaction looks likely to become a thing of the past.

You may not know Nina yet, but you could soon find yourself talking to her multiple times every day, telling her your most intimate financial and personal details.
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Skype is to throw open its doors and welcome Windows Live Messenger users from 8 April.

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An activist shareholder is suing computer giant Apple, demanding that it share out more of its $137bn (£87bn) cash pile to its investors.

Apple’s cash pile has grown to that size from $98bn last March.
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Selecting a wireless carrier is just as important as picking a phone. The provider, after all, delivers the network that makes your handset work. And since you’ll probably end up paying a healthy amount for that privilege, there’s no point in sticking with a bad user experience.

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An outdoor Wi-Fi network along the River Thames in London has received a signal boost with a set of new transmitters on piers and boats.

Wi-Fi network supplier Global Reach Technology deployed 100 Ruckus wireless access points along a 27-mile stretch of the Thames–between Woolwich in the east and Putney in the west–to form a mesh network. [Read more...]