Author: Robin Edgar

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

Cancer Cells Use “Tiny Tentacles” To Suck Mitochondria Out of Immune Cells

Posted on by Robin Edgar

To grow and spread, cancer cells must evade the immune system. Investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and MIT used the power of nanotechnology to discover a new way that cancer can disarm its would-be cellular attackers by extending out nanoscale tentacles that can reach into an immune cell and pull out its powerpack. Slurping Read more about Cancer Cells Use “Tiny Tentacles” To Suck Mitochondria Out of Immune Cells[…]

Launch startup Astra reaches orbit for the first time

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The ranks of orbit-capable spaceflight companies just grew ever so slightly. TechCrunch reports Astra has reached orbit for the first time when its Rocket 3 booster launched shortly after 1AM Eastern today (November 20th). The startup put a mass simulator into a 310-mile-high orbit as part of a demonstration for the US Air Force’s Rapid Read more about Launch startup Astra reaches orbit for the first time[…]

The Amazon lobbyists who kill U.S. consumer privacy protections

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In recent years, Amazon.com Inc has killed or undermined privacy protections in more than three dozen bills across 25 states, as the e-commerce giant amassed a lucrative trove of personal data on millions of American consumers. Amazon executives and staffers detail these lobbying victories in confidential documents reviewed by Reuters. In Virginia, the company boosted political Read more about The Amazon lobbyists who kill U.S. consumer privacy protections[…]

Linux has a serious security problem that once again enables DNS cache poisoning using ICMP / ping information

Posted on by Robin Edgar

As much as 38 percent of the Internet’s domain name lookup servers are vulnerable to a new attack that allows hackers to send victims to maliciously spoofed addresses masquerading as legitimate domains, like bankofamerica.com or gmail.com. The exploit, unveiled in research presented today, revives the DNS cache-poisoning attack that researcher Dan Kaminsky disclosed in 2008. Read more about Linux has a serious security problem that once again enables DNS cache poisoning using ICMP / ping information[…]

Discord is quietly building an app empire of bots – The Verge

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Discord has been quietly building its own app platform based on bots over the past few years. More than 30 percent of Discord servers now use bots, and 430,000 of them are used every week across Discord by its 150 million monthly active users. Now that bots are an important part of Discord, the company Read more about Discord is quietly building an app empire of bots – The Verge[…]

Apple magnanimously launches Self Service Repair for DIY iPhone, Mac fixes

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Apple, having long stood in the way of customers who want to fix their own devices, now says it wants to help those who feel they have the right to repair their own products. On Wednesday the iBiz announced Self Service Repair, “which will allow customers who are comfortable with completing their own repairs access Read more about Apple magnanimously launches Self Service Repair for DIY iPhone, Mac fixes[…]

South Korea Is Giving Millions of Photos of all foreign travelers since 2019 to Facial Recognition Researchers

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The South Korean Ministry of Justice has provided more than 100 million photos of foreign nationals who travelled through the country’s airports to facial recognition companies without their consent, according to attorneys with the non-governmental organization Lawyers for a Democratic Society. While the use of facial recognition technology has become common for governments across the Read more about South Korea Is Giving Millions of Photos of all foreign travelers since 2019 to Facial Recognition Researchers[…]

Big tech fined 2% revenue if they force their own in-app payment system in S Korea

Posted on by Robin Edgar

South Korean has again imposed new regulations on app stores, this time with a regime that will see operators fined up to two per cent of revenue if they force their proprietary in-app payment systems on developers. “Considering that certain payment methods compulsory acts are serious illegal acts of app market operators, an enforcement ordinance Read more about Big tech fined 2% revenue if they force their own in-app payment system in S Korea[…]

Project Collects ‘Every’ NFT In One Giant 20TB Download

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Hours ago, a website appeared online with the express purpose of hosting a nearly 20TB torrent (that’s terabytes, folks, the big boys of digital data measurement) containing every NFT available through the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. The NFT Bay, whose name and overall design riff on iconic torrent database The Pirate Bay, is the work Read more about Project Collects ‘Every’ NFT In One Giant 20TB Download[…]

Canadian teen arrested for stealing $36.5m of cryptocurrency

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A Canadian teenager has been arrested for allegedly stealing $37 million worth of cryptocurrency ($46M Canadian) via a SIM swap scam, making it the largest virtual cash heist affecting a single person yet, according to police. Together with the FBI and the US Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force, Hamilton Police in the Canadian province Read more about Canadian teen arrested for stealing $36.5m of cryptocurrency[…]

Thousands of Firefox users accidentally commit login cookies on GitHub

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Thousands of Firefox cookie databases containing sensitive data are available on request from GitHub repositories, data potentially usable for hijacking authenticated sessions. These cookies.sqlite databases normally reside in the Firefox profiles folder. They’re used to store cookies between browsing sessions. And they’re findable by searching GitHub with specific query parameters, what’s known as a search Read more about Thousands of Firefox users accidentally commit login cookies on GitHub[…]

Warhammer 40K’s Imperium Is Genocidal – not a Good Thing, Maker Reminds Players

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Some Warhammer 40,000 players think the game’s fascist Imperium of Man faction is awesome, and actually has a few good ideas. It does not. To clarify this point—which more than one Warhammer 40K fan appears to have missed—maker Games Workshop put out a statement saying that you do not, under any circumstances, “gotta hand it Read more about Warhammer 40K’s Imperium Is Genocidal – not a Good Thing, Maker Reminds Players[…]

German state planning to switch 25,000 PCs to LibreOffice

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The north-German state of Schleswig-Holstein plans to switch to open source software, including LibreOffice, in its administration and schools. In doing so, the state wants to reduce its dependence on proprietary software, and eventually end it altogether. By the end of 2026, Microsoft Office is to be replaced by LibreOffice on all 25,000 computers used Read more about German state planning to switch 25,000 PCs to LibreOffice[…]

‘Gas station in space’: new plan to make rocket fuel from junk in Earth’s orbit

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] South Australian company Neumann Space has developed an “in-space electric propulsion system” that can be used in low Earth orbit to extend the missions of spacecraft, move satellites, or de-orbit them. Now Neumann is working on a plan with three other companies to turn space junk into fuel for that propulsion system. Japanese start-up Read more about ‘Gas station in space’: new plan to make rocket fuel from junk in Earth’s orbit[…]

Tesla drivers locked out of their cars by server error

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Some Tesla drivers who fancied going for a spin on Saturday were unable to do so after an update to the cars’ companion app produced server errors. Teslas don’t use conventional keys. Instead they require the presence of a fob, key card, or authenticated mobile phone app that links to the electric vehicles over Bluetooth. Read more about Tesla drivers locked out of their cars by server error[…]

How Facebook and Google Actually Fund the Creation of Misinformation

Posted on by Robin Edgar

MIT’s Technology Review shares data from a Facebook-run tool called CrowdTangle. It shows that by 2018 in the nation of Myanmar (population: 53 million), ” All the engagement had instead gone to fake news and clickbait websites. “In a country where Facebook is synonymous with the internet, the low-grade content overwhelmed other information sources.” [T]he Read more about How Facebook and Google Actually Fund the Creation of Misinformation[…]

Beijing issues fines for 43 Big Tech M&A deals

Posted on by Robin Edgar

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has fined tech giants 43 times – with Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent told to pay up for failing to declare deals deemed to violate anti-monopoly legislation. According to SAMR, more rigorous anti-monopoly law enforcement has seen businesses file more paperwork, sometimes about past transactions. SAMR’s own probes have Read more about Beijing issues fines for 43 Big Tech M&A deals[…]

Physicists reveal non-reciprocal flow around the quantum world

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A pair of theoretical physicists, from the University of Exeter (United Kingdom) and the University of Zaragoza (Spain), have developed a quantum theory explaining how to engineer non-reciprocal flows of quantum light and matter. The research may be important for the creation of quantum technologies which require the directional transfer of energy and information at Read more about Physicists reveal non-reciprocal flow around the quantum world[…]

Apple’s macOS Monterey memory leak blamed on custom cursors

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Sleuthing leads to suspected RAM-gobbling culpri Apple’s macOS Monterey, the iGiant’s latest desktop operating system release, turns out to have an insatiable appetite for memory if you use certain apps. Shortly after the OS update was released on October 25, Apple customers – at least those who avoided installation woes – began to notice that Read more about Apple’s macOS Monterey memory leak blamed on custom cursors[…]

Which governments censor the tech giants the most?

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Note: these numbers do not take into account the amount of secret removal requests from governments, which are probably most in the US (also see https://www.linkielist.com/global-domination/us-judge-rules-twitter-cant-be-transparent-about-amount-of-surveillance-requests-processed-per-year-due-to-national-security-of-the-4th-reich/) In 2009, Google started recording the number of content removal requests it received from courts and government agencies all over the world, disclosing the figures on a six-month basis. Read more about Which governments censor the tech giants the most?[…]

EU’s Latest Internet Regulatory Madness: Destroying Internet Security With Its Digital Identity Framework

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The EU is at it again. Recently Mozilla put out a position paper highlighting the latest dangerous move by busybody EU regulators who seem to think that they can magically regulate the internet without (1) understanding it, or (2) bothering to talk to people who do understand it. The issue is the Digital Identity Framework, Read more about EU’s Latest Internet Regulatory Madness: Destroying Internet Security With Its Digital Identity Framework[…]

Why You Should Encrypt Your WhatsApp Backups in iCloud

Posted on by Robin Edgar

it’s also one of the few apps that offer end-to-end encryption by default. This means that no one other than you the other party can read your conversations. Even WhatsApp can’t read your conversations because it doesn’t have the key to un-encrypt your chats. This was all true, except for one scenario: WhatsApp chats backed Read more about Why You Should Encrypt Your WhatsApp Backups in iCloud[…]

Google Cloud partially fixes load balancer issues that killed Snapchat, spotify, etsy, discord and many many more

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Google Cloud suffered a brief outage, seemingly bringing down or disrupting a whole bunch of websites relying on its systems. If you’ve had trouble accessing Snapchat, Discord, Spotify, Etsy, retailers like Home Depot, and others today, this is likely why: a fault developed in Google Cloud’s networking infrastructure, resulting in websites throwing up 404 errors. Read more about Google Cloud partially fixes load balancer issues that killed Snapchat, spotify, etsy, discord and many many more[…]

Does Copyright Give Companies The Right To Search Your Home And Computer?

Posted on by Robin Edgar

One reason why copyright has become so important in the digital age is that it applies to the software that many of us use routinely on our smartphones, tablets and computers. In order to run those programs, you must have a license of some kind (unless the software is in the public domain, which rarely Read more about Does Copyright Give Companies The Right To Search Your Home And Computer?[…]