Thank god that this absolute blight on computer security is finally starting to be fully deprecated. Which means it should only continue to be a problem until the mid- to late-2020s as people gradually upgrade their devices to those which will not run Flash content by default…
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Jawbone reportedly tried to sell itself
Jawbone reportedly tried to sell itself:
Jawbone’s hunger to sell itself is evidence of how dire the situation has become for one of leading wearable tech companies in the industry. Competitor Fitbit has managed to increase sales of its fitness trackers even with Apple participating. Jawbone, on the other hand, has seen its relevance in the market wither with time, as it’s transitioned from bluetooth audio products to wrist-worn fitness bands. Many other wearable makers, including Misfit and Basis, have sold themselves to large tech or apparel companies, and even giants like Nike have gotten out of the wearable hardware business. Jawbone’s fate may be similar, but it’s running out of time. According to The Information, Jawbone delayed payment to one of its business partners this month.
Jawbone is sitting on a lot of user information. While they sell physical things, I’m mostly interested in knowing the value of all the fitness information that will presumably be sold as part of the business.
Saudi Millennials Don’t Use Their Phones Like We Do:
… the problem lies in [the branding/marketing companies’] intent: Instead of entering new markets with an open mind, they approach with a strategy in place and then look for the people who prove their theories right. “The only thing worse than not asking the questions, is not paying attention to the answers that don’t fit into their world view, because it’s inconvenient,” says Chipchase.
Set aside the headline. This longish read does a good job of explaining why it makes sense to hire an ethnographer before developing (to say nothing of launching) a product and, simultaneously, the intense amount of work that goes into launch a new product with a unique brand identity.
Major Qualcomm chip security flaws expose 900M Android users:
Qualcomm makes chips for the majority of the world’s phones, holding a 65 percent share of the market. Most of the major recent Android devices are expected to be affected by the flaw, including:
- BlackBerry Priv
- Blackphone 1 and Blackphone 2
- Google Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, and Nexus 6P
- HTC One, HTC M9, and HTC 10
- LG G4, LG G5, and LG V10
- New Moto X by Motorola
- OnePlus One, OnePlus 2, and OnePlus 3
- Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung S7 Edge
- Sony Xperia Z Ultra
Three of the four holes have already been patched, with a solution for the fourth on the way. However, most users are at the mercy of their handset manufacturers if they want these patches applied. Owners of Google’s Nexus devices have already had patches pushed to their phones, but other manufacturers have historically been less interested in patching flaws found in their devices after release.
In many cases these updates will never be released, leaving people permanently vulnerable to this very, very, very serious vulnerability. But hey: at least it only affects around 12-13% of the world’s population. Maybe phone manufacturers and cellular carriers will actually promptly act to protect their users when closer to 20-35% of the world population is affected by the next Android vulnerability…
‘It feels like theft’: Ontario wineries frustrated by government obstacles:
The LCBO is a major cash cow for the much-indebted Ontario government. Last year, it returned $1.9 billion in dividends to provincial coffers – on top of the approximately $280 million in HST it makes off the sales. It’s not hard to see how it makes that much. When a consumer buys a bottle of alcohol, the LCBO takes:
- 52 per cent of the cost of wine
- 59 per cent of the cost of spirits
- 39 per cent of the cost of beer
An LCBO spokeswoman says those markups fund Ontario’s social programs as well as the LCBO’s operating costs.
I’m not opposed to the LCBO’s existence but that is a lot of markup on a bottle of wine.
I Ran the C.I.A. Now I’m Endorsing Hillary Clinton:
During a 33-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency, I served presidents of both parties — three Republicans and three Democrats. I was at President George W. Bush’s side when we were attacked on Sept. 11; as deputy director of the agency, I was with President Obama when we killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
I am neither a registered Democrat nor a registered Republican. In my 40 years of voting, I have pulled the lever for candidates of both parties. As a government official, I have always been silent about my preference for president.
No longer. On Nov. 8, I will vote for Hillary Clinton. Between now and then, I will do everything I can to ensure that she is elected as our 45th president.
The securocrats are increasingly throwing their hats in the Clinton camp. And I suspect that Trump will use this to fire up his own base by discounting those same securocrats as democratic patsies, despite many democrats having railed against the heads of the CIA, NSA, and other agencies over the years following 9/11.
Crocker’s article is a defining summary of the legal problems associated with the U.S. Government’s attempts to use malware to conduct lawful surveillance of persons suspected of breaking the law. He explores how even after the law is shifted to authorize magistrates to issue warrants pertaining to persons outside of their jurisdictions, broader precedent concerning wiretaps may prevent the FBI or other actors from using currently-drafted warrants to deploy malware en masse. Specifically, the current framework adopted might violate basic constitutional guarantees that have been defined in caselaw over the past century, to the effect of rendering mass issuance of malware an unlawful means of surveillance.
Dear activists, please stop telling everyone Telegram is secure:
Telegram was not wrong in promoting its security features back in 2013 – end-to-end encryption in mobile chat apps was rare back then. Since then, however, other chat apps have caught up and in many cases surpassed its security features. This isn’t to say Telegram doesn’t have its merits – neither Whatsapp nor Signal have support for channels (public groups) or bots, and Telegram does have a handy, Snapchat-like, self-destruct feature for conversations. But to recommend Telegram, without reservation, to protesters and activists is simply irresponsible. Dear activists: please stop telling people Telegram is more secure – either stick with WhatsApp or direct people to Telegram’s “Secret Chat” feature.
A good, and quick, piece written to explain the deficiencies of Telegram as opposed to its competing – and more secure and equally usable – chat applications.
Researchers Are Chipping and Surveilling NYC’s Rats:
Parson’s and his team use traps baited with pheromones—not food—to capture the rats. They know where to place the traps because rats frequently navigate the dark tunnels where they live not with their eyes, but with their fur. Rubbing themselves against walls creates a trail that’s visible with an ultraviolet dark light. According to the study the trail glows blue–white if it’s fresh, yellow–white if old. The trap has a sensor attached to it that alerts the researcher by cell phone when a rat has been caught.
Once a rat has been caught, a mobile lab is deployed. Inside researchers wearing thick gloves render the rat unconscious by dipping the rat trap in a plastic induction container filled with isoflurane, a kind of ether. An unconscious rat is an easy rat to draw specimens from. Before it wakes up, the rat blood is drawn and an RFID chip is implanted.
An interesting bit of news in addition to previous writing on rats.
Scaachi Koul has written a piece that draws on her own experiences of men attempting to prey on her because she is a woman and while she engages in socially normal behaviour. Men who sought to prey on her were explicit in attempting to determine how they could take advantage, drug, or otherwise use her body without attempting to secure her genuine consent.
Koul’s writing makes clear the very normal, human, experiences of being targeted by men and how the intent of those attackers and potential attacker is normalized in contemporary society. The result is that Koul — and other women just like her — must treat social scenarios as a possible environments for attack or abuse. Her lived reality thus turns even seemingly benign situations into ones filled with risk. Koul’s ability to write as clearly and powerfully as she does should make clear to anyone who absolves sexual abuse on grounds of drinking that alcohol is not the problem: men who have internalized their own privilege and power and treat women as objects around them to be used are the problem.
Excited Pixels 