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Tech NewsPrivacy and SecurityCisco to Pay $8.6 Million in Settlement Over Vulnerabilities in Video Surveillance Software It Sold to Feds, States
Cisco Systems has agreed to an $8.6 million settlement with the federal government stemming from allegations it “improperly sold video surveillance software with known vulnerabilities to U.S. federal and state governments,” Reuters reported on Wednesday. According to Reuters, the case began eight years ago and underlying claims related to the settlement were unsealed on Wednesday. … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNewsJeffrey Epstein Sure Had Some Extremely Disturbing Thoughts on Science
Jeffrey Epstein—the billionaire investor facing charges of sex trafficking dozens of underage girls and who hobnobbed with the rich and powerful including multiple presidents—sure had a lot of thoughts about science. Specifically, disturbing ones concerning the viability of a plan to “seed the human race with his DNA” by impregnating women at a ranch he … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy and SecurityAnother U.S. City Moves to Ban Face Recognition, Citing Threats to Free Speech and Civil Rights [Corrected]
On Tuesday, the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts moved one step closer to prohibiting local government from using facial recognition. Three other cities in the country have already instituted such bans over concerns that the technology is biased and violates basic human rights. In December of last year, the Cambridge City Council passed the Surveillance Technology … Continued
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Tech NewsNewsHow the Smithsonian Prevents Neil Armstrong’s Spacesuit From Slowly Destroying Itself With Harmful Gases
Short of entombing it in a giant resin block like a prehistoric mosquito trapped in amber, the Smithsonian’s conservators can’t stop Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit from slowly breaking down over time. But, as Adam Savage discovered, they have come up with a clever way to slow down the degradation. It’s not obvious to museum visitors, but … Continued
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Tech NewsTech PolicyThe Inventor of Those Eco-Friendly Hipster Bulbs Is Getting Ready to Sue Everyone
Edison-style LED bulbs have become a real hit, and often seen in places like trendy restaurants and bars. Like typical LED bulbs, these bulbs offer increased energy efficiency and last longer than traditional incandescent bulbs while maintaining a stylish old-world appearance. However, the continued availability of these LED Edison bulbs could be in question now … Continued
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Tech NewsOh My God Stop It With the Fake Moon Names What the Hell Is a ‘Black Moon’ That Isn’t Anything
An easy way to grab someone’s attention is by telling them that something is different about the Moon. The Moon, you see, is our night sun, and thus holds an important place in our minds and hearts. That being said, the “black moon” or “black supermoon” currently generating headlines is an embarrassingly bad concept that … Continued
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Tech NewsFTC: You’ll Probably Get Almost Nothing From the Equifax Settlement
Ever the parade-rainer, the Federal Trade Commission announced today that with so many Equifax breach victims opting for cash payments instead of free credit monitoring, each one of them will likely only get “a small amount of money.” Given the amount of data the company managed to mishandle in 2017, $125 per victim is an … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech NewsNewsNetflix Is Testing ‘Physical Activity’ Tracking for Some Reason
Netflix collects a lot of data about you. But now, some Android users are finding that it’s also tracking ‘physical activity’ data via their phones. Last Friday, a security researcher on Twitter noticed that the Netflix Android app had added a menu asking for permission for physical activity access. That was corroborated by the Next … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Extremely Tiny Gaming Laptop Recreates the ThinkPad’s Iconic Nipple As a Joystick
Aside from maybe Apple’s MacBooks, there isn’t a line of laptops with as much brand recognition as IBM’s ThinkPads—now manufactured by Lenovo. They’ve been around for almost 30 years now and were responsible for some real innovations in laptop design, including the TrackPoint nub in the middle of the keyboard that Paul Klinger has lovingly … Continued
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Tech NewsSamsungThe Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Could Be the iPad Pro Alternative Android Fans Have Been Waiting For
Last year I really enjoyed the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4. It doubled as both a simple media consumption gadget and a mobile productivity machine. And with the imminent arrival of iPad OS, it feels like premium tablets have matured to a point where they can frequently replace a traditional laptop. However, the Tab S4’s outdated … Continued
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Tech NewsThe Art of Pirated Software
If you grew up in the age of BBSes, chances are the image above (or something like it) is familiar to you—a big splashy piece of artwork made with only ANSI characters, often accompanying a piece of software some faraway group of kids had cracked for all to use. Pirated software, which BBS users called … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech NewsWhat Would You Put in a Time Capsule For the Year 2024?
I’m fascinated by time capsules. Sometimes they’re incredibly boring, but every once in a while they’re filled with some very cool stuff. So I was surprised this week when I did a search for “time capsule” on YouTube and saw a bunch of young people creating videos that were directed at the year 2024. It’s … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsNewsThe History Channel is Digging Up John Dillinger’s Body But Nobody Really Knows Why
The History Channel has received a permit to dig up the body of 1930s gangster John Dillinger from his grave at a cemetery in Indiana. Why? Nobody really knows yet. Dillinger became a folk hero for robbing banks as a kind of Robin Hood figure during the Great Depression. And by all accounts, Dillinger was … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsGoogleGoogle Sticks Another Knife in Flash’s Corpse
The killing blow to multimedia software Flash made contact with its skull in 2017, when maker Adobe announced that it would begin Flash’s “end-of-life” phase and stop updating and distributing it by the end of 2020. Flash—which nerds of a certain age cohort may remember from sites like Newgrounds or files like “annoying.swf”—has been riddled … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy and SecurityGoogle’s Project Zero Finds Six ‘Interactionless’ iOS Vulnerabilities in iMessage App
Apple released bug fixes for five major security issues in iOS that can be exploited via its iMessage client app last week after they were discovered by researchers for competitor Google’s exploit-hunting Project Zero, though an additional issue was reported and not totally resolved in the iOS 12.4 update, according to the BBC. All of … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNewsNews of an Employee’s Death at a Tesla Facility Renews Spotlight on History of Safety Concerns
Tesla confirmed Tuesday that the body of one of its employees was found at the company’s Gigfactory last week and police are currently investigating the incident, Business Insider reported. The body of Michael Johnston, 61, was found on the Nevada factory’s third floor on July 22, the Storey County Police Department told the site. (A … Continued
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Tech NewsNewsNew York Attorney General Launches Probe Into Capital One Data Breach That Affects 100 Million People
Following news this week that a mammoth data breach affected the personal information of millions of Capital One users, and with an individual now arrested in connection to the incident, Attorney General Letitia James of New York has announced her office is launching an “immediate” probe into the breach. “We will begin an immediate investigation … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsPrivacy and SecurityEverything Cops Say About Amazon’s Ring Is Scripted or Approved by Ring
Amazon’s home security company Ring has garnered enormous control over the ways in which its law enforcement partners are allowed to portray its products, going as far as to review and even author statements attributed to police in the press, according to emails and documents obtained by Gizmodo. This summer, Ring even urged a Florida … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsNews3M Reinvents Bubble Wrap, Promises to Reduce Shipping Materials By Half
Despite repeatedly being called out for the practice, online stores like Amazon are still occasionally getting caught shipping tiny items in comically oversized boxes. It’s wasteful, it reduces the amount of cargo a truck can carry, and it inspired 3M to redesign bubble wrap to greatly reduce the packaging needed to ship smaller items. https://gizmodo.com/bubble-wraps-new-design-is-unpoppable-and-its-all-our-f-1715420994 … Continued
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Tech NewsJapan Approves Scientist’s Plan to Create World’s First Humanimals
For the first time, a government is supporting a plan to create animal embryos with human cells and bring them to term, resulting in a type of humanimal known as a human-animal chimera. According to Nature, a committee from Japan’s science ministry signed off on a request by researchers to grow human pancreases in either … Continued