Author: Robin Edgar

Organisational Structures | Technology and Science | Military, IT and Lifestyle consultancy | Social, Broadcast & Cross Media | Flying aircraft

Signal, MEPs urge EU Council to drop law that puts a spy on everyone’s devices

Posted on by Robin Edgar

On Thursday, the EU Council is scheduled to vote on a legislative proposal that would attempt to protect children online by disallowing confidential communication. The vote had been set for Wednesday but got pushed back [PDF]. Known to detractors as Chat Control, the proposal seeks to prevent the online dissemination of child sexual abuse material Read more about Signal, MEPs urge EU Council to drop law that puts a spy on everyone’s devices[…]

Astronomers detect sudden awakening of black hole 1m times mass of sun

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The mysterious brightening of a galaxy far, far away has been traced to the heart of the star system and the sudden awakening of a giant black hole 1m times more massive than the sun. Decades of observations found nothing remarkable about the distant galaxy in the constellation of Virgo, but that changed at the Read more about Astronomers detect sudden awakening of black hole 1m times mass of sun[…]

Wi-Fi Routers are like an trackers available to everyone

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Apple and the satellite-based broadband service Starlink each recently took steps to address new research into the potential security and privacy implications of how their services geo-locate devices. Researchers from the University of Maryland say they relied on publicly available data from Apple to track the location of billions of devices globally — including non-Apple Read more about Wi-Fi Routers are like an trackers available to everyone[…]

US / EU NATO Expenditure – is the balance really so lopsided?

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The visualisation of US vs EU spending on NATO going the rounds is pretty suspect: The Blue area contains not just the USA, but also Canada. The US defence budget is incorrect. It fails to take into account that the US is a global player with ambitions and commitments beyond NATO. It doesn’t show that Read more about US / EU NATO Expenditure – is the balance really so lopsided?[…]

ASUS promises to fix it’s broken support

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ASUS has suddenly agreed “to overhaul its customer support and warranty systems,” writes the hardware review site Gamers Nexus — after a three–videoseries on its YouTube channel documented bad and “potentially illegal” handling of customer warranties for the channel’s 2.2 million viewers. The Verge highlights ASUS’s biggest change: If you’ve ever been denied a warranty Read more about ASUS promises to fix it’s broken support[…]

militaryu pilot on drugs

Light-activated speed drugs could keep sleep-deprived military pilots alert

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] The AWARE program, a project of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), aims to develop a new version of dextroamphetamine that can be activated or deactivated through exposure to near-infrared light. This would enable near-infrared light emitters in a helmet to selectively activate the stimulant in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, and then Read more about Light-activated speed drugs could keep sleep-deprived military pilots alert[…]

If Creepy Spyware Clearview AI scanned your face, you may get equity in the company

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI has agreed to an unusual settlement to a class action lawsuit, The New York Times reports. Rather than paying cash, the company would provide a 23 percent stake in its company to any Americans in its database. Without the settlement, Clearview could go bankrupt, according to court documents. If Read more about If Creepy Spyware Clearview AI scanned your face, you may get equity in the company[…]

Sonos draws more customer anger — this time for its privacy policy. Now they will sell your customer data, apparently

Posted on by Robin Edgar

It’s been a rocky couple of months for Sonos — so much so that CEO Patrick Spence now has a canned autoreply for customers emailing him to vent about the redesigned app. But as the company works to right the ship, restore trust, and get the new Sonos Ace headphones off to a strong start, Read more about Sonos draws more customer anger — this time for its privacy policy. Now they will sell your customer data, apparently[…]

Mozilla caves to public and restores Firefox add-ons banned in Russia that circumvent Russian censorship

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Mozilla has reinstated certain add-ons for Firefox that earlier this week had been banned in Russia by the Kremlin. The browser extensions, which are hosted on the Mozilla store, were made unavailable in the Land of Putin on or around June 8 after a request by the Russian government and its internet censorship agency, Roskomnadzor. Read more about Mozilla caves to public and restores Firefox add-ons banned in Russia that circumvent Russian censorship[…]

Mozilla Firefox Blocks Add-Ons which Circumvent Censorship in Russia

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Mozilla Foundation, the entity behind the web browser Firefox, is blocking various censorship circumvention add-ons for its browser, including ones specifically to help those in Russia bypass state censorship. The add-ons were blocked at the request of Russia’s federal censorship agency, Roskomnadzor — the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Read more about Mozilla Firefox Blocks Add-Ons which Circumvent Censorship in Russia[…]

We are losing vast swathes of our digital past, and copyright stops us saving it

Posted on by Robin Edgar

It is hard to imagine the world without the Web. Collectively, we routinely access billions of Web pages without thinking about it. But we often take it for granted that the material we want to access will be there, both now and in the future. We all hit the dreaded “404 not found” error from Read more about We are losing vast swathes of our digital past, and copyright stops us saving it[…]

First-mover advantage found in the arts shows copyright isn’t necessary to protect innovative creativity

Posted on by Robin Edgar

One of the arguments sometimes made in defence of copyright is that without it, creators would be unable to compete with the hordes of copycats that would spring up as soon as their works became popular. Copyright is needed, supporters say, to prevent less innovative creators from producing works that are closely based on new, Read more about First-mover advantage found in the arts shows copyright isn’t necessary to protect innovative creativity[…]

The world’s first tooth-regrowing drug has been approved for human trials

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] medicine quite literally regrows teeth and was developed by a team of Japanese researchers, as reported by New Atlas. The research has been led by Katsu Takahashi, head of dentistry and oral surgery at Kitano Hospital. The intravenous drug deactivates the uterine sensitization-associated gene-1 (USAG-1) protein that suppresses tooth growth. Blocking USAG-1 from interacting Read more about The world’s first tooth-regrowing drug has been approved for human trials[…]

What’s Actually In Tattoo Ink? No One Really Knows

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Nearly a third of U.S. adults have tattoos, so plenty of you listeners can probably rattle off the basic guidelines of tattoo safety: Make sure you go to a reputable tattoo artist who uses new, sterile needles. Stay out of the ocean while you’re healing so you don’t pick up a smidgen of flesh-eating bacteria. Read more about What’s Actually In Tattoo Ink? No One Really Knows[…]

Over 165 Snowflake customers didn’t use MFA, says Mandiant

Posted on by Robin Edgar

An unknown financially motivated crime crew has swiped a “significant volume of records” from Snowflake customers’ databases using stolen credentials, according to Mandiant. “To date, Mandiant and Snowflake have notified approximately 165 potentially exposed organizations,” the Google-owned threat hunters wrote on Monday, and noted they track the perps as “UNC5537.” The crew behind the Snowflake Read more about Over 165 Snowflake customers didn’t use MFA, says Mandiant[…]

Finnish startup Flow claims it can 100x any CPU’s power with its companion chip

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A Finnish startup called Flow Computing is making one of the wildest claims ever heard in silicon engineering: by adding its proprietary companion chip, any CPU can instantly double its performance, increasing to as much as 100x with software tweaks. If it works, it could help the industry keep up with the insatiable compute demand Read more about Finnish startup Flow claims it can 100x any CPU’s power with its companion chip[…]

China state hackers infected 20,000 govt and defence Fortinet VPNs, due to at least 2 month unfixed critical vulnerability

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Hackers working for the Chinese government gained access to more than 20,000 VPN appliances sold by Fortinet using a critical vulnerability that the company failed to disclose for two weeks after fixing it, Netherlands government officials said. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-42475, is a heap-based buffer overflow that allows hackers to remotely execute malicious code. Read more about China state hackers infected 20,000 govt and defence Fortinet VPNs, due to at least 2 month unfixed critical vulnerability[…]

lg-55UH850V lies about refresh rates

So… LG lies about TV Framerates on their site

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The LG55UH850V, a 4K is mentioned online as having a framerate of 120Hz at specification sites on Google LG’s Finnish website puts the framerate at a staggering 200Hz So does the South African website – this also boasts a “Billion Rich Colors” – color depth is only 8 bit. After having upgraded to a graphics Read more about So… LG lies about TV Framerates on their site[…]

Crooks threaten to leak 2.9B records of personal info from National Public Data, a “small” US information broker

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Billions of records detailing people’s personal information may soon be dumped online after being allegedly obtained from a Florida firm that handles background checks and other requests for folks’ private info. A criminal gang that goes by the handle USDoD put the database up for sale for $3.5 million on an underworld forum in April, Read more about Crooks threaten to leak 2.9B records of personal info from National Public Data, a “small” US information broker[…]

Cooler Master hit by data breach exposing 500,000 customers

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Computer hardware manufacturer Cooler Master has suffered a data breach after a threat actor breached the company’s website and claimed to steal the Fanzone member information of 500,000 customers. Cooler Master is a hardware manufacturer based in Taiwan that is known for its computer cases, cooling devices, gaming chairs, and other computer peripherals. Yesterday, a threat actor Read more about Cooler Master hit by data breach exposing 500,000 customers[…]

Japan’s Push To Make All Research Open Access is Taking Shape

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Japanese government is pushing ahead with a plan to make Japan’s publicly funded research output free to read. From a report: In June, the science ministry will assign funding to universities to build the infrastructure needed to make research papers free to read on a national scale. The move follows the ministry’s announcement in Read more about Japan’s Push To Make All Research Open Access is Taking Shape[…]

documents scattered

Google Leak Reveals Thousands of Privacy Incidents

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Google has accidentally collected childrens’ voice data, leaked the trips and home addresses of car pool users, and made YouTube recommendations based on users’ deleted watch history, among thousands of other employee-reported privacy incidents, according to a copy of an internal Google database which tracks six years worth of potential privacy and security issues obtained Read more about Google Leak Reveals Thousands of Privacy Incidents[…]

Adobe changes TOS, says it can republish what you made for free

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Adobe has decided that if you use its software, it can re-use anything you create. Considering you pay to use the software, that’s a bit grating. 4.2 Licenses to Your Content. Solely for the purposes of operating or improving the Services and Software, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free sublicensable, license, to use, reproduce, publicly display, Read more about Adobe changes TOS, says it can republish what you made for free[…]

Ticketmaster 560m+ account hack confirmed in what seems to be a spree hitting Snowflake customers

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Cloud storage provider Snowflake said that accounts belonging to multiple customers have been hacked after threat actors obtained credentials through info-stealing malware or by purchasing them on online crime forums. Ticketmaster parent Live Nation—which disclosed Friday that hackers gained access to data it stored through an unnamed third-party provider—told TechCrunch the provider was Snowflake. The Read more about Ticketmaster 560m+ account hack confirmed in what seems to be a spree hitting Snowflake customers[…]

Spotify Says It Will Refund Car Thing Purchases with a valid receipt

Posted on by Robin Edgar

If you contact Spotify’s customer service with a valid receipt, the company will refund your Car Thing purchase. That’s the latest development reported by Engadget. When Spotify first announced that it would brick every Car Thing device on December 9, 2024, it said that it wouldn’t offer owners any subscription credit or automatic refund. From Read more about Spotify Says It Will Refund Car Thing Purchases with a valid receipt[…]