Gadgetory

Google is making it harder for the NSA to read your email I'm Bridget Carey and this is your scene that update google is working on a way for you to protect sensitive email messages with the same encryption technology that's used by spies the extra security is called end-to-end encryption and it's a way to stop people from snooping in on your emails while in transit according to documents revealed by Edward Snowden the National Security Agency has the power to intercept emails on the way to their destination but end-to-end encryption makes it much harder for the NSA or other hackers to read those emails you can think of normal email as sending a postcard than anyone can read easily encryption is the envelope that seals your letter shut and Google is using PGP which basically puts a lock on that envelope and only you can unlock it with your specific key now if someone tries to pluck your email without the key it'll just be a bunch of gobbledygook code PGP is so secure that Edward Snowden used it to communicate to journalists normally you have to be really tech savvy to set something like that up but Google wants to make it easy for anyone to use when it's released it'll be an extension that you can download for the chrome web browser at the South by Southwest tech conference Snowden spoke via video to programmers asking them to make it easier for the general public to have access to encryption tools it seems that google is answering the call and it's no surprise encryption is an important selling feature these days as consumers are on high alert about their privacy Apple is also hot on the trend the new operating systems for the iphone ipad and mac computers will have the option for DuckDuckGo to be the default search engine DuckDuckGo is a silly name but it's a private search engine that doesn't keep track of your browsing history in other Apple news there's a new video game accessory for the iPhone it's a case called the jungle cat and it has a slideout panel for a d-pad buttons and bumpers it's made by razor that's a company known for its PC gaming accessories it'll cost one hundred dollars and it'll be out in July there this growth in gaming on smartphones because people are shifting away from buying separate portable consoles for Sony's PlayStation Portable it's the end of an era sony announced the 10 year old PSP will no longer be sold of course sony is instead focusing on the newer PS Vita you'll be hearing tons more gaming news in the next week as we covered the e3 videogame conference in Los Angeles that's your tech news update you can always head to cnet.com for more and follow me on Twitter to stay updated from our studios in New York I'm Bridget Carey