Tech Talk Today

Allan Jude joins us for a FreeBSD birthday special edition of Tech Talk. We also discuss the privacy win for US mobiles, some history and future hopes for Intel's dedicated GPU Larrabee, and that time Allan's town lost power.

Special Guest: Allan Jude.

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Links:

• Apple is going to ruin cops’ favorite tool for breaking into iPhones – BGR
• A hacker figured out how to brute force iPhone passcodes
• U.S. Supreme Court Bolsters Mobile-Phone Privacy Rights - Bloomberg
• Google sends out referral codes for 15% off Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL
• Driver charged, speed a factor in Hamilton Mountain crash
• Happy FreeBSD Day!
• BSDNow Celebrates FreeBSD at 25
• Details about the office affair that led to Intel CEO resignation
• Larrabee GPU designer is joining Intel’s graphics team under Raja Koduri
• Larrabee (microarchitecture) - Wikipedia

It's Google's turn to receive the Facebook treatment. In a series of rapid fire leaks, lawsuits, and PR blunders we re-cap Google's awful bad week.

Plus MoviePass's desperate grab for data seems to be going bust, and IBM warns of cracking encryption with their Quantum Computer.

Then we wrap it up with our Kickstarter of the week, that wants to build open source VR for exploring Mars.

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Links:

• Mnuchin on Google and tech monopolies — Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Monday joined the growing chorus of government officials concerned about tech monopolies.

Nearly all mobile carriers are caught selling your location and the story gets twisted. The senate votes to overturn the net neutrality repeal but there's a long way to go. OnePlus 6's specs are out, and how some guy heated his bath water with Bitcoin mining.

Plus the big Nest outage and the SOUNDCAM. You're going to want this Kickstarter of the week.

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Links:

• Senate votes to overturn Ajit Pai’s net neutrality repeal | Ars Technica — Senate defies "armies of lobbyists," but House may help FCC kill net neutrality.
• US cell carriers are selling access to your real-time phone location data — Kevin Bankston, director of New America's Open Technology Institute, explained in a phone call that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act only restricts telecom companies from disclosing data to the government. It doesn't restrict disclosure to other companies, who then may disclose that same data to the government.
• OnePlus 6 specifications: More expensive, more swagger | Android Central — The OnePlus 6 now comes in three storage sizes, with a new 256GB option (paired with 8GB of RAM and only available in Midnight Black) pushing the phone above $600 for the first time.
• This Guy Heated Bath Water With Bitcoin Mining and It Worked Too Well — "Lee" used cryptocurrency mining ASICs to heat his bath, which turned the temperature up to 122 Fahrenheit.
• Entire Nest ecosystem of smart home devices goes offline  — Works with Nest... usually
• The First Handheld Sound Camera for Everyone by SOUNDCAM — Kickstarter — Experience seeing sound. This camera images sound sources - it's like having six senses.

A critical PGP and S/MIME bug is in the wild, EasyMesh promises standards Wifi Mesh networks, Zuck's in the sites, and Bittorrent Inc gets a rename.

Plus the return of a classic!

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Links:

• Critical PGP and S/MIME bugs can reveal encrypted emails—uninstall now [Updated] | Ars Technica — The Electronic Frontier Foundation. It said: “EFF has been in communication with the research team, and can confirm that these vulnerabilities pose an immediate risk to those using these tools for email communication, including the potential exposure of the contents of past messages.”
• EFAIL
• Wi-Fi Alliance’s Wi-Fi EasyMesh certification aims to standardize mesh networks | PCWorld — The new certification program will ensure that wireless mesh network routers, gateways, and access points from different manufacturers will all work together.
• Google Employees Resign in Protest Against Pentagon Contract — Now, about a dozen Google employees are resigning in protest over the company’s continued involvement in Maven.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook says Apple takes different path on privacy — Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a commencement speech at Duke University that Apple rejects the notion that getting the most out of technology means trading away your right to privacy.
• BitTorrent Inc. Changed Its Name to Rainberry — BitTorrent is without a doubt one of the more recognizable technology brands of the century. It, therefore, comes a surprise that BitTorrent Inc. has changed its name to Rainberry. According to the company, it's strictly a "corporate decision," but a more detailed motivation is lacking.
• Nintendo brings NES Classic back to stores in June — For those of you who didn't pick up the NES Classic first time round, it's being reissued and will be available in stores June 29.

The world is freaking out about Google Duplex, new features coming to Google Photos we like and Android P promises to improve your "well being".

Plus Apple deals a blow to GrayKey, our Kickstarter of the week, and sending ultra sonic commands to Alexa.

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Links:

• iOS 11.4 Disables Lightning Connector After 7 Days, Limiting Law Enforcement Access — The iOS 11.4 update, currently being beta tested, includes a USB Restricted Mode that introduces a week-long expiration date on access to the Lightning port on your iOS devices if your phone hasn't been unlocked, which has implications for law enforcement tools like the GrayKey box
• Steam Link App to Bring Steam Games to iOS & Android-Based Phones, Tablets and TVs — The Steam Link app will be available for Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and TV devices as well as various smartphones, tablets and STBs running Google’s Android.
• Google Photos will add more AI-powered fixes, including colorization of black-and-white photos — Now the company is making it even easier to fix photos with a new version of the Google Photos app that will suggest quick fixes and other tweaks – like rotations, brightness corrections, or adding pops of color, for example – right below the photo you’re viewing.
• Exclusive: Android P is Google’s most ambitious update in years - The Verge — Android P, due out later this year, will have a new dashboard that tells you how often, when, and for how long you are using every app on your phone. It will also allow you to set limits on yourself. You could give yourself a half-hour of Instagram per day, for example. Once your 30 minutes is up, the icon will go from its usual eye-catching gradient to a dull grayscale.
• Google Grapples With ‘Horrifying’ Reaction to Uncanny AI Tech — At its I/O conference on Tuesday, Alphabet Inc.’s Google previewed Duplex, an experimental service that lets its voice-based digital assistant book appointments on its own. It was part of a slate of features, such as automated writing in emails, where Google touted how its artificial intelligence technology saves people time and effort. In a demonstration on stage, the Google Assistant spoke with a hair salon receptionist, mimicking the "ums" and "hmms" pauses of human speech. In another demo, it chatted with a restaurant employee to book a table. The audience of software coders cheered.
• Alexa and Siri Can Hear This Hidden Command. You Can’t. - The New York Times — The technique, which the Chinese researchers called DolphinAttack, can instruct smart devices to visit malicious websites, initiate phone calls, take a picture or send text messages. While DolphinAttack has its limitations — the transmitter must be close to the receiving device — experts warned that more powerful ultrasonic systems were possible.
• SpeakEasy by Como Audio with the Google Assistant Built-in by Tom DeVesto — Enjoy music and more with voice command. SpeakEasy™ is Como Audio's newest hi-fi music system with the Google Assistant built-in.

The fight for Net Neutrality is back on, we round up the news from Build 2018, and get impressed by Tesla's barnacle purge.

Plus we have a question for you, and more!

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Links:

• Microsoft Build 2018 // Vision Keynote - YouTube
• Microsoft announces Your Phone app for Windows 10 and Timeline coming to iPhone | VentureBeat — These updates are part of Microsoft’s Continue on PC functionality, which, as its name suggests, lets you send a task from your Android or iOS device to your Windows 10 PC. The feature first arrived with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update in October, and Microsoft has been slowly broadening it ever since.
• Google I/O 2018: 8 things to expect from this year’s keynote - The Verge — Google’s annual developer conference will be a jam-packed affair about the future of Android, AI, and the smart home
• Android P will finally restrict apps from monitoring your network activity — A years-old privacy flaw will finally be coming to an end on Android. It’s an issue you’ve probably never heard of, but one that you should absolutely be concerned about. Currently, apps on Android can gain full access to the network activity on your device—even without asking for any sensitive permissions. These apps can’t detect the content of your network calls, but they can sniff any outgoing or incoming connection via TCP/UDP to determine if you are connecting to a certain server.
• Making every phone smarter with Federated Learning - YouTube — Federated Learning works through collaborative learning, using de-identified, aggregated information from many devices to improve machine learning models.
• NSA triples metadata collection numbers, sucking up over 500 million call records in 2017 | TechCrunch
• 4 Things to Be Worried About in the NSA’s New Transparency Report | American Civil Liberties Union
• NSA_transparecy_report.pdf
• Tesla Will Lock Out Contractors on Monday Unless Employees Vouch For Them — The company CEO is planning to cut off access to the company to any contractor who doesn’t have a Tesla employee to vouch for the quality of their work.
• Senate vote on the Congressional Review Act May 9th — Upcoming Senate vote on the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to block the Ajit Pai’s repeal is going to define the battle field that we’re fighting on possibly for the next decade.
• SquirrelBot — SquirrelBot is a Telegram bot that saves links that you send it for viewing later. Currently, it only saves Youtube videos and formats them for easy viewing in Kodi. On the roadmap are handling videos from other websites and saving arbitrary links in a personal RSS feed.

Pocket Casts gets acquired, and we worry about "big podcasting" pushing for more data collection, Cambridge Analytical is filing for bankruptcy, and Amazon is playing hardball.

Plus a brilliant Kickstarter of the week, some picks of the week, and more.

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• Digital Ocean: Smash our promo code heresthething after you create an account, and get a credit on us! Promo Code: heresthething

Links:

• Cambridge Analytica to File for Bankruptcy After Misuse of Facebook Data - The New York Times — In a statement posted to its website, Cambridge Analytica said the controversy had driven away virtually all of the company’s customers, forcing it to file for bankruptcy in both the United States and Britain.
• Pocket Casts acquired by NPR, other public radio stations, and This American Life — One of the best podcast apps just got bought by some of the biggest podcast producers
• Amazon halts Seattle expansion over city tax proposal | TechCrunch — The new law is designed to address Seattle’s housing crunch, charging large companies $500 per head. The proposal is pretty clearly aimed at Amazon’s own expansion, and the company is taking the move to heart, potentially abandoning construction on a new building and just moving into a pre-existing space instead.
• Amazon success in Seattle has squished families out of housing.
• Amazon Launches Own Pet Product Brand, Wag; Starts With Food - Bloomberg — The Wag brand launched Wednesday with dry dog food and Amazon plans to expand the selection to include other pet supplies. The brand is available only to Amazon Prime subscribers, who pay monthly or annual fees in exchange for fast delivery as well as video and music streaming.
• 2016 MacBook Pro butterfly keyboards failing twice as frequently as older models — Following anecdotal reports of a keyboard more prone to failure than in previous years, AppleInsider has collected service data for the first year of release of the 2014, 2015, and 2016 MacBook Pros, with an additional slightly shorter data set for the 2017 model year given that it hasn't been available for a year yet.

Windows 10 users are getting a big update, but we're a little unimpressed, the tragic story of Eric Lundgren, someone is trying to extort GrayShift, and scientist have buckets with living pig brains.

Also - how GEDmatch was helpful in busting the Golden State Killer.

Plus the new horrible truth we just learned about online dating... All live from LinuxFest Northwest with special guests!

Special Guests: Allan Jude and Chase Nunes.

Sponsored By:

• Ting: Take $25 off a device, or earn $25 in service credits if you bring a compatible one! Promo Code: Visit LAS.ting.com

Links:

• The next major Windows 10 update is launching on Monday | TechCrunch — Microsoft today announced that the Windows 10 April 2018 Update will be available as a free download to users worldwide on Monday, April 30, with the broader rollout starting May 8.
• Someone Is Trying to Extort iPhone Crackers GrayShift With Leaked Code - Motherboard — Last week an unknown party started to publish code snippets from iPhone unlocking tool GrayKey. To stop, the extortionists are demanding 2 bitcoin, but they may not have more code to offer.
• How did this advocate of e-waste reuse end up behind bars? - The Washington Post
• Researchers are keeping pig brains alive outside the body - MIT Technology Review
• GEDmatch, a tiny DNA analysis firm, was key for Golden State Killer case | Ars Technica — "No court order was needed to access that site’s large database of genetic blueprints."
• Online dating is so awful that people are paying virtual dating assistants to impersonate them — Quartz — Every morning I wake up to the same routine. I log into the Tinder account of a 45-year-old man from Texas—a client. I flirt with every woman in his queue for 10 minutes, sending their photos and locations to a central database of potential “Opportunities.” For every phone number I get, I make $1.75.

Google suffers from the Telegram ban, Valve is back in the business of making games, and Amazon has a top secret robot.

Plus the puzzle that was hidden in Windows years ago, and a new project that aims to be a Wikipedia for Terms of Service agreements.

Special Guest: Noah J. Chelliah.

Sponsored By:

• Linux Academy: Sign up with a free 7 day trial when you visit: linuxacademy.com/unplugged

Links:

• Google confirms some of its own services are now getting blocked in Russia over the Telegram Ban — Google has now confirmed to us that its own services are now also being impacted. From what we understand, Google Search, Gmail and push notifications for Android apps are among the products being affected.
• Valve acquires Firewatch developer, Campo Santo - Polygon — Dev team will continue to make its own games
• Amazon Has a Top-Secret Plan to Build Home Robots — The retail and cloud computing giant has embarked on an ambitious, top-secret plan to build a domestic robot, according to people familiar with the plans. Codenamed “Vesta,” after the Roman goddess of the hearth, home and family, the project is overseen by Gregg Zehr, who runs Amazon’s Lab126 hardware research and development division based in Sunnyvale, California.
• Microsoft Developers Hid a Secret Puzzle in Windows Backgrounds as They Knew Images Would Leak — Over the course of numerous builds, the puzzle was developed -- but only one person ever solved it! Over the weekend, Jensen Harris -- a former group program manager of Microsoft Office and Microsoft director leading the team working on the redesign of Windows 8 -- took to Twitter to come clean about the secret puzzle.
• List of Easter eggs in Microsoft products - Wikipedia
• WhatsApp drug dealer convicted using fingerprints taken from photo — Police in South Wales have arrested a drug dealer based on a WhatsApp message with a photograph of the dealer’s hand holding an assortment of pills, according to a report from the BBC.
• Welcome to the Wikipedia for Terms of Service Agreements | WIRED — A website that turns lengthy terms of service agreements into bulleted summaries, and then rates those terms from Class A (very good) to Class F (very bad). It functions as a sort of Wikipedia for terms of service agreements.
• Terms of Service; Didn't Read — “I have read and agree to the Terms” is the biggest lie on the web. We aim to fix that.

Telegram's battle of the ban continues, and AWS and Google Cloud become targets. Reddit is growing like crazy, which worries us a bit, and Microsoft loses their multi-year legal fight with the US Government.

And why autonomous boats might be here much sooner than self-driving cars.

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Links:

• And now there's ~20 million or so AWS/Google Cloud addresses blocked in Russia. — More on Russia v Telegram v The Cloud in today's briefing: - Russia demands Telegram encryption keys, they refuse - Russia blocks Telegram - Telegram uses AWS + Google Cloud - Russia blocks the cloud
• Twitch is reportedly blocked in Russia right now — Twitch is reportedly blocked in Russia after the country’s state communications regulator announced it was blocking specific IP addresses owned by Amazon and Google.
• Telegram plays down Russian block — claiming no ‘significant’ impact yet | TechCrunch — A court in Russia ordered a block of messaging app Telegram this week but founder Pavel Durov has shrugged off the impact of the ban 24 hours in — claiming the app hasn’t seen “a significant drop in user engagement so far.”
• Regulatory filings indicate a flurry of new iPhone (SE?) models launching soon — Devices typically appear in this database about a month before the products ship. These iPhone references were posted yesterday, suggesting a new iPhone launch will be debuting in early May/June.
• Amazon’s new ‘Alexa Blueprints’ let anyone create custom Alexa skills and responses | TechCrunch — Amazon this morning is introducing “Alexa Blueprints,” a new way for any Alexa owner to create their own customized Alexa skills or responses, without needing to know how to code.
• Autonomous Boats Will Be On the Market Sooner Than Self-Driving Cars — Startups and major firms like Rolls Royce are now looking to automate the seas and help maritime companies ease navigation, save fuel, improve safety, increase tonnage, and make more money.
• Self-driving boats | Amherst | Buffalo Automation
• Reddit now has more active users than Twitter — That’s an increase of more than 30 percent in less than 6 months, and puts the platform in equal 11th place in our new global social media platform ranking (see chart above).
• I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place — A conversation with former Reddit product head Dan McComas on the problems of growth as a metric and what Twitter is doing wrong.
• Supreme Court Tosses Out Microsoft Case on Digital Data Abroad - The New York Times — The dispute arose from a federal drug investigation in which prosecutors sought the emails of a suspect stored in a Microsoft data center in Dublin.
• Neova | A Unique Connected Ring For Musicians by Enhancia — Kickstarter — Add musical effects to your play using simple and natural hand gestures. A brand new way to enhance musical performance.