Google says that through 2025, it blocked more than 255,000 Android apps from obtaining excessive access to sensitive user data and rejected over 1.75 million apps from being published on Google Play due to policy violations.

The tech giant’s annual review of Android and Google Play security reveals how effective the implemented protection measures were in maintaining an ecosystem with honest developers and compliant apps.

“We’re constantly improving our policies and protections to encourage safe, high-quality apps on Google Play and stop bad actors before they cause harm,” Google says.

To this end, the company implemented more than 10,000 safety checks on published apps and strengthened detection capabilities by integrating Google’s latest generative AI models into the review process. This enabled human reviewers to identify complex and evolving malicious patterns more quickly and accurately.

The highlights in terms of user protection last year include banning more than 80,000 “bad developer accounts, detecting over 1.75 million policy-violating apps, and denying over 255,000 apps access to sensitive user data.

Spam ratings and inauthentic reviews also represented a significant risk as they can be used to influence user perception of an app.

Google says it blocked 160 million ratings last year and prevented an average 0.5-star drop that apps targeted by “review bombing” would otherwise have suffered.

Android’s built-in security suite, Play Protect, which now scans over 350 billion apps every day, has identified over 27 million malicious apps sideloaded from outside Google Play.

Play Protect’s ‘enhanced fraud protection’ was expanded to cover over 2.8 billion Android devices in 185 markets, blocking 266 million installation attempts from 872,000 unique risky apps.

The Play Integrity API service that app developers can use to protect their software against abuse and unauthorized access, now processes over 20 billion checks every day, Google says. In 2025, new hardware-backed signals and in-app remediation prompts were added.

Finally, Google has added built-in protections against “tapjacking attacks” with minimal developer effort in Android 16, released last June, blocking hidden windows loading ads that are automatically tapped for fraudulent financial gains.

Google says it will continue investing in AI-driven defenses, expand developer verification, and embed compliance tools directly into development workflows to prevent policy violations before apps are published.

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Ahead of their expected launch on February 25, 2026, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 have appeared in real-life photos shared by @Mr_TechTalkTV on X. Although they contain non-functional or dummy units used for displays in retail stores, they give us a good idea of how the earbuds will look.

Previously, we’ve seen the regular Buds 4 (with an open-ear design) in black and the Buds 4 Pro in white (with silicon eartips). However, the new pictures flip this order, showcasing the regular earbuds in white and the Pro ones in black.

Fresh leaks, familiar rivalry

From what it looks like, both earbuds will be available in white and black finishes, appealing to buyers who aren’t into the simple white color the AirPods are available in.

Everything from the AirPods’ charging case, top lid, and earbuds is made of the same glossy white plastic material, which is surely iconic, but it doesn’t leave buyers with any other option.

While the choice of colors shouldn’t be an issue with the Galaxy Buds 4 series, the design should be what distinguishes it from the AirPods (and for good). As seen in the pictures, both Buds 4 models have a metallic paint finish on their stems, elevating their look.

More choice, more personality

Samsung has opted for a flat charging case, where the earbuds lie horizontally, making them easier to access and easier to remove in a hurry. The wider layout also allows for a slimmer profile in your pocket or backpack and a case that feels more stable on a tabletop.

With two colors, an elevated design, a flat charging case, optimized touch/gesture controls, and potential upgrades in sound quality and noise cancellation, the Galaxy Buds 4 should be a compelling choice for Galaxy S26 buyers, or other Android users, for that matter.

IAS’s Claire Griffin explores how she began her career in recruitment and the opportunities open to professionals in this space.

A technical recruiter at Integral Ad Science, Claire Griffin tells SiliconRepublic.com that a career in the recruitment sector was initially unexpected. 

“I came from a performing arts and teaching background. I have always worked in very people-focused roles, where building relationships and really understanding individuals was at the heart of what I did,” she says. 

“Making the leap into something completely new is what brought me into recruitment, but it’s the people side of the role that’s kept me here for more than 10 years. Every day is different, and I still genuinely enjoy meeting new people, hearing their stories and helping connect them with opportunities where they can really thrive.”

What are some of the challenges in this industry and how are they overcome?

There are plenty of challenges in tech recruitment right now. In terms of the Irish market, there is a supply and demand for filling certain niche senior roles that require specific skillsets. AI, while driving us forward in many ways, has inhibited certain aspects of recruitment processes, including the creation of CVs to match job specs as opposed to candidates’ experience and the use of undeclared tools within technical interviews. Also, the shortage of housing and skyrocketing rents in Ireland have deterred skilled workers from relocating to Ireland, making the competition for talent tighter.

What career opportunities are there for professionals in this space?

Ireland is a really strong place to build a career in deep tech right now. There’s a healthy mix of world-class research, multinational R&D and a growing number of ambitious start-ups, which gives candidates a lot of choice in how they go about shaping their careers.

Candidates with deep-tech skills can work across research and innovation through Ireland’s universities and research centres, where there’s a strong focus on turning breakthrough ideas into real-world solutions. At the same time, many global giants in tech and life-sciences companies base their engineering and R&D teams here, offering opportunities to work on cutting-edge projects with global impact.

In recent years, Ireland has also experienced huge growth in the start-up ecosystem. Deep-tech founders and early hires are increasingly finding support, funding and international reach. This can open pathways into leadership, product development and commercial roles. Overall, deep tech in Ireland isn’t just about technical roles anymore. It’s about long-term careers that combine innovation, impact and global relevance.

What makes an applicant stand out from the crowd?

In a world full of AI-generated CVs, it can sometimes feel hard for candidates to stand out. We see a lot of these CVs listing technologies which candidates may have worked for five years or five minutes on, but are listing it in hopes of bypassing an applicant tracking system. What really sets candidates apart is their ability to show impact, not just skills. A strong CV will clearly explain what they’ve built, why it mattered and what problem it solved.

Strong candidates also demonstrate curiosity and adaptability. Technology moves quickly, so hiring managers look for people who are actively learning. This is shown through side projects, open-source contributions or keeping up with emerging trends, and then applying that learning in practical ways.

Communication is another key differentiator. The ability to explain complex ideas clearly, work across teams and understand the business context behind the technology is often what separates good engineers from great ones. Finally, a small bit of research into a company goes a long way. Candidates who understand the company’s mission, who can articulate why they want that specific role and who can show how their experience aligns with it tend to stand out far more than those sending generic applications.

What skills should deep-tech professionals prioritise?

In Ireland’s tech sector, deep-tech professionals should prioritise strong core technical skills, particularly in areas like software engineering, AI, data, and systems design. They should also have the ability to apply that expertise in real-world settings. Employers value people who can move quickly from concept to deployment.

Adaptability is a key differentiator for individuals to move forward. Ireland’s tech ecosystem spans multinationals, start-ups and research centres, so professionals who can work across environments, learn continuously and collaborate with diverse teams tend to stand out. Clear communication and commercial awareness matter. Being able to explain complex technology simply and understand how it supports business outcomes is increasingly important in Ireland’s growing tech industry.

What advice do you have for other technical recruiters working in this space?

My main advice is to go beyond keywords and really understand the technology you are hiring for. A lot of tech roles are nuanced and strong candidates don’t always fit a standard profile. Taking the time to understand the problem a team is trying to solve makes a huge difference. We are recruitment partners, so strong relationships built on trust and transparency – both with hiring managers and candidates – are key to moving forward.

Ireland’s deep-tech talent pool is small, so taking the time to establish and nurture relationships for long-term engagement are far more valuable both to your company and you as an individual than making quick wins.

Lastly, engaging with research centres, start-ups and industry networks and meetups is a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening from both a client and candidate perspective.

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As anyone who’s made a thing knows, a lot of work goes into bringing something from idea to completion. But there’s also considerable satisfaction in the process. [Willian] recently did exactly that, and shares the joyful experience of creating a homebrew handheld game gadget from scratch. It runs a homebrewed Tetris clone (as well as Snake), and we love the results.

The game gadget uses an ATmega328P programmed via the Arduino IDE, and a 1.8″ TFT color LCD screen. It’s self-contained in a box with a few buttons as controls and runs off three AAA cells. [Willian] made the smart design choice to run the microcontroller at 8 MHz instead of the more common 16 MHz, because doing so meant the board can run at 3.3 V instead of 5 V. Why does this matter? The LCD display runs off 3.3 V as well, and if all components can run off the same supply and logic levels, it simplifies things considerably.

Also, creating a 3.3 V supply is a simple matter of three alkaline cells in series with an LDO (low drop-out) regulator, which is great for a handheld device. We do note that AA cells have a considerably higher energy density and capacity than AAA cells and are usually the better choice, but one works with what one has, and sometimes the space and weight saved by AAA is just too good to pass up.

The software has some notable approaches to keep things responsive and optimal. Instead of defining each of the Tetris pieces as a 2D shape, [Willian] instead pre-defines each piece (and their rotations) so that rotating a piece is just an index change in an array, instead of a transform implementing a rotation. Also, full-screen redraws are comparatively slow over SPI and caused flickering, so only cells that have changed are redrawn to the screen to keep things responsive. The code is all on GitHub, and it’s a great peek at how things get implemented under the hood.

The enclosure is just cardboard, and it does the job in [Willian]’s case. But we’ll point out that cardboard is actually a highly adaptable material from which to prototype. With just a few tips and a little care, paper products can be your new best friend when it comes to one-offs and prototypes.

Barnes & Noble has just released the NOOK Reading Tablet 8.7, a subtle reminder that e-readers are still very much a thing. This latest device, available in Seafoam Green and priced at $150, provides a clean Android experience geared to the activities you want to do on it, such as read books, periodicals, comics, or listen to audiobooks. With its cooperation with Lenovo, the new NOOK feels more like a companion for readers than a general-purpose tablet.

The 8.7-inch display is a properly sized IPS LCD with a resolution of 1340 x 800 pixels. The screen is bright enough for even the brightest rooms at up to 480 nits, and it has an oleophobic coating to keep fingerprints to a minimum. TÜV Rheinland certification assures that it emits low enough blue light to not cause eye strain. You may switch to grayscale for text-heavy content, which feels more like actual e-ink, and you can even view comics or periodicals in full color.

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Performance is provided by a MediaTek Helio G85 eight-core processor paired with 4GB of RAM; common chores such as flicking across pages, browsing the NOOK store, and streaming audiobooks all go smoothly. Storage starts at 64GB but can be expanded up to 1TB via a microSD card slot, providing ample space for a huge library or downloaded content. The tablet is powered by Android 15 and features a bespoke NOOK interface that places all of the books and reading apps right where you need them while still allowing you to access everything the Google Play Store has to offer.

The battery capacity is a reasonable 5,100mAh, and Barnes & Noble claims it can last up to 16.5 hours. It also supports 15W quick charging over USB-C. Stereo speakers calibrated for Dolby Atmos are positioned on either side, allowing for clear audiobook playback, while a 3.5mm headphone port remains for wired listening. Bluetooth 5.1 supports wireless earbuds and speakers. The cameras are quite standard, with an 8MP rear device with autofocus and a 2MP front-facing unit for video calls.

A critical vulnerability in Grandstream GXP1600 series VoIP phones allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to gain root privileges and silently eavesdrop on communications.

VoIP communication equipment from Grandstream Networks is being used by small and medium businesses. The maker’s GXP product line is part of the company’s high-end offering for businesses, schools, hotels, and Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSP) around the world.

The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-2329 and received a critical severity score of 9.3. It impacts the following six models of the GXP1600 series of devices that run firmware versions prior to 1.0.7.81:

• GXP1610
• GXP1615
• GXP1620
• GXP1625
• GXP1628
• GXP1630

Even if a vulnerable device is not directly reachable over the public internet, an attacker can pivot to it from another host on the network. Exploitation is silent, and everything works as expected.

In a technical report, Rapid7 researchers explain that the problem is in the device’s web-based API service (/cgi-bin/api.values.get), which is accessible without authentication in the default configuration.

The API accepts a ‘request’ parameter containing colon-delimited identifiers, which is parsed into a 64-byte stack buffer without performing a length check when copying characters into the buffer.

Because of this, an attacker supplying overly long input can cause a stack overflow, overwriting adjacent memory to gain control over multiple CPU registers, such as the Program Counter.

Rapid7 researchers developed a working Metasploit module to demonstrate unauthenticated remote code execution as root by exploiting CVE-2026-2329.

Exploitation enables arbitrary OS command execution, extracting stored credentials of local users and SIP accounts, and reconfiguring the device to use a malicious SIP proxy that allows eavesdropping on calls.

Rapid7 researchers say that successful exploitation requires writing multiple null bytes to construct a return-oriented programming (ROP) chain. However, CVE-2026-2329 permits writing of only one null terminator byte during the overflow.

To bypass the restriction, the researchers used multiple colon-separated identifiers to trigger the overflow repeatedly and write null bytes multiple times.

“Every time a colon is encountered, the overflow can be triggered a subsequent time via the next identifier,” explain the researchers in the technical writeup.

“We can leverage this, and the ability to write a single null byte as the last character in the current identifier being processed, to write multiple null bytes during exploitation.”

The researchers contacted Grandstream on January 6 and again on January 20 after receiving no response.

Eventually, Grandstream fixed the issue on February 3, with the release of firmware version 1.0.7.81.

Technical details and a module for the Metasploit penetration testing and exploitation framework. Users of vulnerable Grandstream products are strongly advised to apply available security updates as soon as possible.

Modern IT infrastructure moves faster than manual workflows can handle.

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Tesla has made considerable progress toward fully autonomous vehicles, and its staff at Gigafactory Texas are clearly excited. Just the other day, they gathered around the first Cybercab to roll off the assembly line, a streamlined two-seater with no visible steering wheel or pedals, and Tesla even shared the moment on social media, complete with a congratulatory message from Elon Musk himself on the team’s excellent work.

The fact that this vehicle arrived weeks ahead of schedule is undoubtedly impressive, and while full production isn’t expected until April, this early prototype is a major thumbs up for the entire production line. Musk has advised us not to anticipate too much too soon in the early days, but this feat demonstrates how far we’ve come in moving this hardware from the planning board to the actual world.

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From the ground up, the engineers intended the Cybercab to function flawlessly as an autonomous vehicle. Its compact cabin with scissor doors that allow passengers to enter inside and enjoy a smooth, driverless trip. Cameras and Tesla’s cutting-edge Full Self-Driving (FSD) software handle the navigation, eliminating the need for all of the controls we normally take for granted, such as a steering wheel and pedals.

Tesla is now manufacturing the Cybercab using a unique, Unboxed approach that divides the entire thing into separate sections that are all built at the same time and then joined together at the end. The numerous small components and heavy castings of the past have been replaced by simpler, lighter single-piece castings that accelerate the process while saving space. Of course, if the problems are worked out, that change in approach will allow the Giga Texas plant to scale up to produce millions of devices every year, which is just around the corner given the expected growth over the next several years.

Of course, there are still a number of regulatory barriers to overcome before the Cybercab can be used on public roads, especially because present federal safety requirements are focused toward having a human driver behind the wheel. That means the federal government will have to make an exemption for an automobile manufactured without all of the regular restrictions, and that will be true at the state level as well. Even while Tesla is running a limited number of driverless Model Y vehicles in Austin and San Francisco, those vehicles have fallback alternatives that the Cybercab lacks.

Then there’s the subject of price, and there are some big shocks in store. Elon Musk recently revealed that a consumer version of the Cybercab might be available for $30,000 or less by 2027, at the latest. That would make it very affordable for both individuals and fleet operators, and the economics of personal transportation would begin to move toward shared, on-demand use.
[Source]