Hasta La Gadget!

When Belgian prosecutors suggested that Belgacom was the target of foreign espionage, many blamed the NSA — it has a history of snooping on other countries, after all. Those accusations may have been off the mark, however. Der Spiegel has revealed documents leaked by Edward Snowden which hint that the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) was responsible. The intelligence agency reportedly tricked key Belgacom staff into visiting a malware-loaded website that hijacked their PCs. GCHQ could then spy on smartphones, map the network and investigate secure VPN connections. Neither Belgacom nor Belgium has responded to this latest Snowden leak, but we wouldn’t be surprised if the apparent evidence speeds up their investigation.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Internet

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Via: Ars Technica

Source: Der Spiegel (translated)

When Google acquired Waze, it said that it would keep the newly purchased company at arm’s length. Well, we now know exactly how separate Waze will be, at least for the foreseeable future. Google has promised the UK’s Office of Fair Trading that it won’t touch Waze’s business operations while the British regulator determines its authority over the deal. The search giant has also offered to warn if there are any substantial changes in staff, business plans or customer numbers for both itself and Waze. The terms may not last forever — if the OFT decides to review the acquisition, it can reject Google’s offer. For now, though, Waze will (mostly) remain a distinct entity.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Via: Bloomberg

Source: Office of Fair Trading (PDF)

UK folks could soon be made aware of local emergencies via their mobile phone after the government announced plans to test its new alert system later this year. With support from O2, Vodafone and EE, around 50,000 residents across Yorkshire, Suffolk and Glasgow will be subjected to individual tests which will assess the Cabinet Office’s SMS and cell broadcast early warning systems and measure the public’s response. Currently, there’s no word on whether UK citizens will get to enjoy iOS support for emergency notifications, like their American and Japanese counterparts, but the Cabinet Office plans to publish its findings in early 2014 — that’s if the UK hasn’t already been enveloped by a massive fog cloud.

[Image credit: Sussertod, Flickr]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

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Source: UK Cabinet Office (1), UK Cabinet Office (2)

Home to some of the world’s rarest pieces of art, London’s Victoria & Albert (V&A) museum has just added a modern, yet controversial piece to its collection: the world’s first 3D-printed weapon. The museum has managed to get its hands on the two prototype Liberator pistols which were successfully fired by their creator Cody Wilson back in May, offering London’s culture lovers the chance to view the original $25 do-it-yourself plastic firearm in all its glory. The gun has come under fire for supposedly aiding terrorist threats, leading the State Department to demand Defense Distributed take down online copies of the Liberator’s schematics. The V&A could have simply printed their own models, downloading the blueprints like 100,000 other people, but Wilson claims the originals add a sense of authenticity. One of the models is so authentic, it’ll go on show with half of its right side blown off, because, y’know, guns.

Filed under: Meta, Internet

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Via: Forbes

Source: Dezeen

Let’s face it — we can’t be sure Nokia’s Lumia 1020 is worth the hype until it’s taken a thousand shots of Big Ben and Westminster tube station. Fortunately for us, the PureView-toting handset is landing in the UK from today. We’ve managed to wrangle confirmation that Vodafone, Three and O2 will be selling the unit, but alas, EE currently has no plans to offer the handset to its million-strong LTE customer base. We suspect more than a few of you, disappointed at Cupertino’s latest imaging update, may be throwing your cash at the screen right now.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia

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Source: Nokia (Twitter)