TECH

The Federal Trade Commission announced late last year that Epic Games would pay $520 million in penalties and refunds to settle complaints revolving around children’s privacy and its payment methods that tricked players into making unintended purchases.

These days, playing games or seeing if you won doesn’t even require people to go to the store.

Comcast is investing in local programs to help you build or learn digital skills that will provide greater opportunities and help you navigate the digital world with ease. Learn about Digital Navigator courses here.

Happy Independence Day! Arguably the best day for fireworks is here.

Neighborhood apps make it easy to be plugged into your community by sending notifications on what is happening in your neighborhood or alert you to an issue.

One of the most notable happenings at Apple’s event for developers on Monday is likely the iPhone maker’s tweak that will keep its autocorrect feature from annoyingly correcting one of the most common expletives to “ducking.”

The KPRC 2+ mobile app helps you stay connected while you're on the go!

A 40-year-old man whose legs are paralyzed is able to climb stairs, move over ramps and switch from standing to walking, thanks to implants in his brain and spinal cord that pair with external devices to translate his thoughts into movement, NBC News reports.

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against DoorDash that alleges the company charges iPhone users more than Android device holders.

As pet owners, the thought of losing a furry friend is heart-wrenching. But what if technology could help locate lost pets faster than ever before?

Amazon is sporting new delivery vehicles in the Greater Houston area.

"I was terrified that he was going to kill my sister."

The message comes up on employees’ computers shortly before the end of their shifts, starting with a bright red “Warning!!!”

Harris County Commissioners have just passed the funding package to pay for a two year program which will offer free I-T/ Tech training to veterans and young adults 18-to-26 years old, hoping to greatly increase their income.

The most hackable passwords and tips to ensure your password is most secure.

See what was trending in Houston in 2022

Comcast Texas is investing in Houston communities giving neighbors a chance to reach greater heights by accessing the many opportunities available in our digital world. Their Digital Navigators pilot program is providing a back to basic technology curriculum that aims to close the digital divide

With the holiday shopping season already underway, we're sharing “get them early” gifts for the holidays

Fun and innovative ideas for the gadget lover on your holiday gift list

What is catfishing and what are the best ways to prevent it?

A big problem during and after the pandemic is staffing issues. Most stores and restaurants have "now hiring" signs in their window. Well, there is a ‘QWICK’ solution linking hospitality workers to available shifts, and it is a win-win for workers and businesses alike.

The back-to-school season is upon us, so what are the cool for school must-haves that will help students and parents this year?

Fawaz and Yang tested videoconferencing applications on major operating systems such as iOS, Android, Windows and Mac, to see if the microphones were still accessed by the apps while muted.

Parents of a 14-year-old boy who allegedly had his right eardrum torn apart by a pair of Apple AirPods have filed a lawsuit against Apple, KSAT News reports.

While many are turning to cellphones because they are cheaper and can be used anywhere, there still is some value to having a landline.

With Earth Day 2021 rapidly approaching, Google Earth has released a feature that might really open some eyes when it comes to how certain parts of the globe have changed in recent decades.

There are countless apps that help us do all kinds of things in our daily lives, but there’s a relatively new app that is actually helping people who are visually impaired with what some people don't have to think twice about.

The billionaire who flew on his own SpaceX flight last year is headed back up, aiming for an even higher orbit and the chance to take part in a spacewalk.

Mayor Sylvester Turner joined community leaders Monday to announce the launch of the city’s first Interactive Kiosk Experience.

It seems as though Wordle has swept the internet: Everywhere you turn, you see people posting that little box grid, showing off their final score, and what it took to get there.

With the holiday season officially here, many people are likely looking ahead to Black Friday, and anticipating all the deals and promotions we’ll be seeing next week.

Have you heard of NEXTGEN TV? If not, then buckle up, because you’re about to learn a thing or two.

Most of us have favorite celebrities who we love to watch on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or Twitter, but have you ever found yourself following a local “celeb” or social media influencer?

We’ve all heard that too much screen time is bad and can even impact your health.

A University of Houston professor of biomedical engineering received a $3.7 million BRAIN Initiative grant to create a device that can stop epileptic seizures before they begin.

Cutting-edge DNA technology will be used to analyze the remains of more than 1,100 victims of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center that have yet to be identified.

Can you imagine what life would be like without the World Wide Web?

T-Mobile says it is investigating a leak of its data after someone took to an online forum offering to sell the personal information of cellphone users.

In early 2020, the coronavirus was spreading across the globe and nobody knew how to stop it.

A machine-learning algorithm may offer the possibility of early diagnosis of schizophrenia by using a blood test, according to a team led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine.

Several apps are available from KPRC 2 offering you the latest news, weather, traffic and more while you're on the go!

China says the upper stage of its Long March 5B carrier rocket that launched the core module of its space station will mostly burn up on re-entry, posing little threat to people and property on Earth.

The future is here. Your pizza delivery driver is now a robot.

HOUSTON – Google is expected to complete its first Houston office in May, according to InnovationMap. The 12,000 square-foot building, which will be a regional hub for Google Cloud’s sales team, is located in the One Buffalo Heights building at 3663 Washington Ave. The tech giant hasn’t announced how many people will be employed or how many employees will work in the office. Google’s decision to establish an office here provides further momentum as we build the Silicon Bayou,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said. In June, Google announced that it will invest $50 million in office space and data center space in 2021 in Texas.

What happens with those cookies and how it gives you a better experienceYou’re probably wondering, why do we do this? As we said above, when you agree to share cookies, you’re allowing that website to remember you so that it can match your preferences more quickly and appropriately. Cookies and adsCookies also help websites remember your preferences for ads. AdDo you ever go to websites that don’t ask you if you’re OK with sharing cookies? However, websites you trust, such as Click2Houston.com, are conservative about how your cookies are used.

The Israel Antiquities Authority displays newly discovered Dead Sea Scroll fragments at the Dead Sea scrolls conservation lab in Jerusalem, Tuesday, March 16, 2021. Israeli archaeologists on Tuesday announced the discovery of dozens of new Dead Sea Scroll fragments bearing a biblical text found in a desert cave and believed hidden during a Jewish revolt against Rome nearly 1,900 years ago. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)JERUSALEM – Israeli archaeologists on Tuesday announced the discovery of dozens of Dead Sea Scroll fragments bearing a biblical text found in a desert cave and believed hidden during a Jewish revolt against Rome nearly 1,900 years ago. The Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of Jewish texts found in desert caves in the West Bank near Qumran in the 1940s and 1950s, date from the third century B.C. There are slight differences and some of those differences are important,” said Joe Uziel, head of the antiquities authority's Dead Sea Scrolls unit.

FILE - This March 29, 2018 file photo shows the Facebook logo on screens at the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York's Times Square. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)The ads and content appearing on your Facebook feed are no coincidence. Following an outage that logged several users out of their accounts, many moved over to Twitter where they discovered the platform was stalking their interactions outside of the app, thanks to its “Off-Facebook Activity” feature. Users found the feature was monitoring their use across multiple apps and websites, including banking. KPRC 2′s sister-station KSAT offered the following a breakdown on how to opt-out from the Facebook feature.

Tech-Life Columnist Jennifer Jolly shares the latest from CES 2021. Here are some of the hottest gadgets being unveiled at this year’s event. Tech-Life Columnist Jennifer Jolly shares the hottest gadgets from CES 2021. Tech-Life Columnist Jennifer Jolly shares the hottest gadgets from CES 2021. Tech-Life Columnist Jennifer Jolly shares the hottest gadgets from CES 2021.

From the latest gear keeping track of your health to the coolest massage gadgets, tech expert, Nick weighs in on his top picks for the season. #1: SMART HEALTH TRACKERS: WHOOP STRAP VS. OURA RINGBoth are wearables designed to track health metrics including sleepWHOOP is $0 down, but $30 every month for the app - splurge. More health wearables are moving to a subscription-type model, so it’s important to look out for this. #2: SMART TVS: SAMSUNG QLED 65″ TV VS. LG OLED 65″ TVBoth are 65-inch Smart TVsSAMSUNG 65-inch Class QLED Q60T Series - 4K UHD Dual LED Quantum HDR Smart TV with Alexa Built-in (QN65Q60TAFXZA, 2020 Model) - $897 – steal. #3: AT-HOME MASSAGERS: TheraGun VS. ADDADAYBoth are handheld electric massagers to encourage muscle release and stress reliefTheraGun prime is $299 – splurgeAddaday BioZoom Jr. is $149 - steal.

We’ve listed four apps to help make the calls stop, and steps to get your number listed on the National Do Not Call Registry with the Federal Communications Commission. Alex Quilici, who works with YouMail, an anti-spoofing app, explains how spoofing calls work. But if you’re using a voice or office phone or call center, you can fill in whatever phone number you want. So the bad guys just pick a phone number and use it,” explains Quilici. You can upload some audio, you can put in a phone number that people “press 1” to and basically go.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The average American will spend over $75,000 on smartphones in their lifetime. With the pandemic keeping everyone’s money tight, buying a new phone or laptop is the last thing you’d want to spend money on. Doing these three simple steps could double your device’s lifespan.

As if there aren’t enough reasons to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, simply watching your TV is another great way to pay tribute.

HUMBLE, Texas – The Humble Independent School District is back online after experiencing a cyber attack during the first day of virtual learning Tuesday. Humble ISD Superintendent Liz Celania-Fagan took to Twitter to inform everyone of the virtual attack while urging other students already online to stay on. “Students who haven’t already logged on to their student gmail accounts cannot log in to student email accounts until it is resolved.”The My Humble server is experiencing a cyber attack. The My Humble server is currently experiencing a cyber attack called denial of service. Hampson said while common, tracking the source of a denial of service attack is tough.

Twitter may be working on a paid product and investors seem thrilled about it. Shares of Twitter rose 8% Wednesday afternoon following a job posting that said the company is building a subscription platform codenamed "Gryphon." A spokesperson for Twitter stressed that it's only a job posting, not a product announcement. A paid subscription offering could help the company find a source of revenue beyond advertising and data licensing. At the time, a Twitter spokesperson said: “We’re conducting this survey to assess the interest in a new, more enhanced version of Tweetdeck.

Twitter is dropping the terms "master," "slave" and "blacklist" from its code after two engineers lobbied for the use of more inclusive programming language. "Master" and "slave" refer to one process in the code that controls another, while "blacklist" describes a list of items that are automatically blocked, such as forbidden IP addresses. At Twitter, "master" and "slave" will become "leader" and "follower" or "primary" and "replica," while "blacklist" will become "denylist." JPMorgan Chase will also remove "master," "slave," and "blacklist" from its internal materials and code. "I've been used to seeing the word 'slave' throughout my [computer science] education but this was different."

Google Chrome extensions downloaded more than 32 million times were used to spy on the popular browser's users in a massive global surveillance campaign, according to a new report. The report, from cybersecurity firm Awake Security, found at least 111 "malicious or fake" Chrome extensions capable of taking screenshots, stealing login credentials and capturing passwords as users typed them. The campaign impacted a wide range of sectors including financial services, healthcare and government organizations, it added. But the new report highlights the potential for fraudulent extensions to do harm and compromise a wide variety of systems. Google Chrome extensions have been linked to cyberattacks in the past, including as recently as February this year.

Amid the widespread protests and anger over police brutality, an iPhone shortcut that allows users to automatically record their interactions with the police is gaining popularity. It also sends a message to a predesignated contact, letting them know that you're being pulled over and where your current location is. The "Police" shortcut was first created back in 2018 by Redditor Robert Petersen, but it has been recently updated to fix any bugs and is now called the "I'm being pulled over" shortcut. Step 1: To set it up, first download the "Shortcuts" app on your iPhone. Step 4: Open this link in Safari to download the "I'm getting pulled over" shortcut.

Microsoft said Thursday it will not sell facial recognition technology to police departments in the United States, at least until there is a federal law to regulate the technology. Microsoft president Brad Smith said any legislation on facial recognition should be firmly grounded in human rights. Studies have shown that commercial facial recognition algorithms frequently misidentify minorities and people of color. The company said Wednesday it will put a one-year hold on sales of its facial recognition technology to law enforcement, in hopes of giving Congress time to "implement appropriate rules." This is not the first time Microsoft has called for comprehensive facial recognition rules.

"Once you are really engaging with a black and white screen, the likelihood of you spending a lot of time with that screen is certainly reduced." In a follow-up study, Holte found that students using grayscale also felt less compelled to check their phone notifications. Psychology professor Kuss agreed that turning off notifications is one of the most useful tips for more mindful smartphone use. Most people greatly underestimate the time they spend on their smartphone, Kuss told CNN. On certain Google phones, grayscale mode doesn't exist but can be enabled by switching on "Developer Options."

We've all been there: 27 browser tabs open and struggling to find the one we need. The tech giant is rolling out a new tool to organize tabs in its Chrome browser and group them together, it announced Wednesday. (The editor of this story has 18 tabs open in one window right now). The company will add it to the new version of Chrome starting next week, rolling it out gradually to avoid impacting the browser's "stability and performance." One thing that won’t change no matter what Google does, however, is the joy of closing dozens of tabs when you’re done working on something.

Plan a little watch party for your son or daughter to enjoy the Facebook graduation. Facebook is celebrating the class of 2020 with a whole week of graduation features, and a commencement program. Highlights and more will be posted to the @instagram account on Instagram, and on contributors’ social media accounts.”Grads are encouraged to host their own virtual graduation ceremony and party via Facebook, with special features including a virtual graduation hub, custom filters, family and friends celebrations enabled by Messenger Rooms, and more. JoAnn Fabric has a whole webpage on how you can make a graduation cap embellishment out of paper flowers. This is a birthday party and not a graduation, but you’ll see the general idea!

It's called SOS Emergency mode. Here’s how to add them as your emergency contact in your iPhone:Open the Health app and tap the Medical ID tab. Drag the Emergency SOS slider to call emergency services. On an iPhone 7 or earlier:Quickly press the side or top button five times to make the Emergency SOS slider appear. Drag the Emergency SOS slider to call emergency services.

Anyone else finding themselves spending more time than usual on social media, considering the coronavirus pandemic? But like most things, Facebook is whatever you want to make it. You don’t have to give up on social media in general, or even Facebook in particular. The social media giants say they’re working hard behind the scenes to remove bot accounts and build a better platform. In the meantime, here are some simple yet effective things you can do to make your own Facebook interactions less contentious and more civil.

Uber is testing an old fashioned way of booking a cab for its business in Arizona. The ride-hailing company is testing using a toll-free phone number to book one if its cars. Passengers can call 1-800-use-Uber to reach an Uber contractor. That contractor will then book a ride on the app and give the caller a price quote. Uber said the service is intended for people who may own a smartphone and have access to its app.

HOLDEN, MA (WBZ) – The Massachusetts Fire Marshal is warning of a viral video challenge that could cause a fire. A Westford student who participated in the challenge is facing charges, Ostroskey said. Firefighters responded to Plymouth North High School at about 12:15 p.m. Tuesday afternoon for a report of an electrical outlet that was sparking. A teacher told firefighters that two students had plugged the charger in and dropped the penny between the outlet and charger causing the outlet to spark and smoke. A video of the challenge can be seen here.

Sundar Pichai, who has been leading Google as CEO for more than four years, will stay in his role and also become CEO of Alphabet. Both founders promised they plan to stay actively involved as board members and shareholders and lauded Pichai for his leadership of Google. Alphabet -- an umbrella corporation that the two created in 2015 -- still boasts Google as its central fixture and key moneymaker. Page and Brin both have been noticeably absent from Google events in the past year. Pichai, who has an engineering background, took over as the head of Google’s products before being promoted to CEO when Alphabet was created.

This week, we take a look at a Houston nonprofit providing technology and education to children with limited access to computers or the internet: Comp-U-Dopt. Jonathan Osha founded Comp-U-Dopt 12 years ago after he realized most businesses throw out their computers less than three years after buying them. Comp-U-Dopt depends on a steady supply of donations to provide its clients with computers and deliver its technology education programs. Donate your money, your used or abused computer equipment or both. As long as the hard drive is intact, Comp-U-Dopt will find a way to make use of your old computer equipment.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat … it can be tough to keep all the social media channels straight. And then you throw in texting, e-mail, the Cloud -- phew. It’s one thing to maintain a personal Facebook account. But when you try to stay on top of all the apps on your child’s or teenager’s phone? It can feel like a full-time job.