Google’s Safe Browsing anti-malware software looks after over 3 billion devices

You might or might not know about Google’s phishing prevention tool. If you haven’t seen it work for you, then it means it’s doing its job. The search giant announced that the Safe Browsing program for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox has protected over a billion more smartphones, desktops, and laptops compared to last year. Safe Browsing is also enabled for popular social media app Snapchat. How do you know Safe Browsing is working for you? You’ll get the big red warning page.

The tool was created a decade ago for personal computers but has seen growth with more mobile devices out on the market. "Over the last few years, we've rethought how Safe Browsing delivers data," Google's Stephan Somogyi and Allison Miller wrote in a blog post. "We built new technologies to make its data as compact as possible: We only send the information that's most protective to a given device, and we make sure this data is compressed as tightly as possible."

Patty Jenkins officially signs on as ‘Wonder Woman 2’ director

Warner Bros.

Wonder Woman’s sequel is getting its director back. Patty Jenkins has just signed on to the second film of the highly successful superhero film Wonder Woman. We’ve known for a while that Gal Gadot has coming back as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. But Jenkins was initially brought on to direct the first film only. It’s been reported that she was negotiating with Warner Bros. over her pay. Jenkins’ reportedly expects she be paid more than the first time around. She has leverage in this regard after Wonder Woman became the highest-grossing, live-action film directed by a woman. And it looks like she got what she wanted.

The exact number wasn’t unveiled but Variety’s sources say the number should be around the US$8 million dollar range to direct, write, and produce the film, making her the highest paid female director of all time. A substantial backend of box office grosses is also part of her contract. Jenkins is reportedly working on the sequel’s script with DC Comics President Geoff Johns. The sequel is set to premiere on December 13, 2019.

ChickAdvisor launches more family-centric review site, FamilyRated

ChickAdvisor just launched a new review platform that centers on the opinion of families. Aptly called FamilyRated, the site is where you can read and write reviews about common household items. The site was created by ChickAdvisor’s co-founders Ali and Alex de Bold after they saw a demand from within their existing community to have a space devoted to the family. “Time is a precious commodity. So when you’re buying something, you need to get it—and get it right the first time. No one wants to stand in line to return something, especially not with a child,” Ali says.

On top of reading and writing reviews, FamilyRated is giving its members a chance to try out new products for free through the site’s Family Rated Club. Reviewers can share their thoughts on their own social media accounts, giving these new brands and merchandise a new way to reach larger audiences.

Dyson announces Canadian national James Dyson Award winner

Two PHD students from the University of Toronto have just been named as the national winners for the James Dyson Award. The project Robert Brooks and Justin Wee submitted is called ForceFilm. It’s a patent-pending thin surgical instrument add-on that accurately measures the forces exerted on tissue from minimally invasive surgery, a procedure that has supposedly been on the rise because of less surgical issues associated with it. Brooks and Wee designed ForceFilm to retrofit any standard rigid MIS instrument. The forces that the film detects will be wirelessly sent to the surgeon so he or she gets live force feedback that will let him or her know if dangerous levels of forces are close. The two have been award $3,400 for the win.

They will be heading into the next stage of the James Dyson Award, where a panel of Dyson engineers will shortlist 20 projects from the 23 participating countries. The two are joined by four other teams with three of them also working on medical devices and one an athletic equipment add-on.