Twitter got hacked big time:
Twitter got hacked by an unknown group on 15 July 2020. The hackers, whoever they are, went hard on the social media platform and managed to get a hold of the accounts of various high-profile Twitter users, like Apple, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Joe Biden, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and many more. These accounts were then used to spam a common cryptocurrency scheme out to millions of people.
The attack started when various accounts started tweeting out a scheme that involved sending money to a Bitcoin wallet and then the money would be doubled (but of course, in actuality, the money would just be stolen). It was tweeted out with some variation of the message “I’m going to give back to the community”, so people probably trusted that billionaires would be giving money away for nothing. That is, after all, a very common occurrence. Billionaires are definitely known for their immense generosity!
The initial webpage the scammers were using got pulled down by Namesilo (the domain registrar the webpage was connected to), but the Bitcoin wallet then jumped around, and that made it harder to track them down and disable them. To try and curb the spread, Twitter shut down tweeting functionality for verified users to stop potential hacks from continuing (non-verified users tend to have less reach after all).
Twitter did acknowledge the hack relatively early and started to work on figuring out what to do (and that included that shut down of verified accounts). One of the things that made the hackers difficult to find was that they had somehow gotten access to these verified accounts and changed the email accounts associated with them and thereby made it harder for the users to get into them. It also made it hard for Twitter to find them.
In the aftermath, Twitter’s stock price fell a good bit. And, at time of writing, Twitter’s still trying to find those responsible, but has been unwilling to give all the info it may have. However, the hack may have originated on gray market forums and the FBI has even opened up an investigation. The hackers had a lot of access, including to some non-verified accounts and to direct messages, a lot of direct messages. This was a major hack.
UPDATE: A couple teenagers got arrested for the hack.
Facebook shut down its scrapbook app:
According to TechCrunch, Facebook has decided that its immensely popular app Hobbi has to be shit down. It’s probably a massive blow to so many people. Not really though because this app, which is pretty much like Pinterest in that it’s for sharing your hobbies and personal projects and all that jazz, shut down on 10 July after only having been launched back in February.
The app itself functioned like a scrapbook, and so didn’t have the same pinboard style layout as Pinterest (but was catering to the same kind of audience). Sadly, it was rather empty and had been downloaded less than 10k times. So that’s not so great for a new app. Just another digital experiment down the drain.
BMW wants to get into the subscription game:
BMW, at a digital showcase from Munich, announced some fun things for its drivers. It has announced that it will now have a subscription service for all those extra features you might want in your car. This is for all new BMWs and all the older ones that can be updated to Operating System 7. So that’s nice for people with those cars.
The subscription service in general, which has been a mainstay across the internet for several years, has never much been a thing insofar as cars are concerned (well unless you count paying off your car via loan repayments as a “subscription”), but BMW is happy to change that. This subscription service will, according to them, add flexibility to the driving experience and it’ll be great for people who bought a BMW second hand.
This subscription service allows the car manufacturer to just make all cars the same, with the same hardware, which minimises production costs, and then you just have to pay a persistent rate to get access to certain features. Features like heated seats, “infotainment”, map services, advanced driver assistance systems, et cetera. All those kinds of things. So, if you didn’t get to have those things when you bought the car you can have them after the fact with a nice subscription that never goes away. Happy driving!
An AR mirror in South Korea helps with makeup in the corona era:
The cosmetics franchise Amorepacific has unveiled a new addition to its stores in Seoul: a special mirror that can help you out during the coronavirus era. This mirror is for makeup, and while makeup isn’t something that usually shows up when discussions of technology abound, this particular mirror uses augmented reality technology to help you choose makeup so you don’t need to touch any of the products with your hands.
The AR mirror gives you options for various types of makeup and then creates an image of your face with that particular shade on. It allows you to see what the makeup will look like where it counts rather than forcing you to put test makeup on your face or swatching it on your hand. You don’t have to be exposed to people’s disgusting germs and can instead just see it on your face.
This is still new tech, and the technology is likely too advanced and expensive for many shops to stock it, but this is the way that makeup should go. The makeup testers they provide in shops are vectors for all sorts of things seeing as multiple people are touching them and touching their face and touching the product again and then touching another product. Very unhygienic. So, kudos to them for doing it because more places should do it.
Boeing is ending production of the 747:
The Boeing 747 jumbo jet is probably the most famous passenger plane in the world, and Boeing has been building them since 1970. So, it’s been around for quite some time, but it would appear that even though it’s been around for fifty years, the times are a changing. Boeing has, reportedly, decided to stop production of the 747 in the next two years.
Boeing itself has stated that there are still remaining orders that it needs to fill out, but smaller, more fuel-efficient jets are becoming more prevalent. These gigantic airbuses aren’t too great in a post-pandemic era anyway. Smaller jets that can get around more cheaply make a lot more sense. So, it’s the end of an era, but airlines will keep going as per usual, they just may be shifting to smaller planes in the next few years.
A dating app introduced a blurred video option:
Dating apps don’t show up all that often for innovative ideas and concepts. But this is different. Because the dating app S’More (which means “some more”, apparently) has been doing rather well during this whole pandemic thing even though people probably shouldn’t be hooking up at the moment, and this company has decided to launch a rather interesting feature that someone really should have thought of before.
This feature allows you to have a blurred video call with someone. A call with a new person is blurred for the first two minutes so that creepy guys (because let’s face it, it’ll be creepy guys) might otherwise attempt to abuse a video call system. So, you have to actually talk to a person without being able to properly see them at first. This obviously emphasises trying to get to know the person rather than the superficiality of what they look like.
It’s an interesting gimmick and one that more services in general should give you the option for, because sometimes you don’t want people to see your unblurred face but you also don’t want to just do an audio call (because a phone call is terrible; they’ve never been good). More options in these cases is always a good thing. Awesome to see it implemented and now it should just be implemented elsewhere (and even Tinder has started with video calls, but not blurred ones).
Air-conditioned shirts now exist:
The greatest invention of all time has finally come. Sony has created a wearable air-conditioner that can keep you cool when it’s hot out. This is the greatest thing in the world for people who overheat far too quickly. The device is called the Sony Reon Pocket, and it comes with a special t-shirt that allows it to hook into the top of the shirt by the back of the neck and it pumps the hot air out through a vent at the back. It’s also controlled with an app, because of course it is.
The mini air-con can cool your body during those hot months, but it can also be used for the inverse if need be. It can heat you up if you’re cold, but sadly it does have an internal battery that isn’t a perfect machine. It lasts a good 2-4 hours though, and that’s generally enough to get you through a hot or cold spat until you’re able to get somewhere with a more agreeable temperature.
The greatest invention of all time is upon us and we should bow to its might!
KFC is going for lab-grown meat:
KFC has decided to partner up with 3D Bioprinting Solutions and Beyond Meat to create standard meat substitutes as it looks towards the future of food (which may not be able to sustain the continued use of meat production as it stands today). These two companies are looking at it from very different angles.
Beyond Meat launched its brand of Beyond Fried Chicken on 20 July 2020 in fifty stores throughout the southern California region. These substitutes are made from plant matter and therefore have no meat in them whatsoever. This is the same company that’s done the Beyond Burger. So, expect something along those lines. KFC wants to try and match the taste as best as possible.
Then you have 3D Bioprinting Solutions, and it will be launching its KFC meat in Moscow as a test run. This company grows the meat from meat cells so that it can massively reduce the need for pastoral animal grazing. Just a few cells and you can make meat without having to murder millions of chickens. KFC is invested in both of these options and the next few months should tell us whether either of these options will be viable for KFC in the long-term.
A new app may help track your mental health:
A new app called PROSIT, designed by researchers at Dalhousie University, has been designed to help track and measure a variety of things in your life to detect signs of mental health issues like anxiety or depression. With this kind of information, it hopes to help with identifying and diagnosing mental health issues in those who need help.
The app, which is part of a research study with about 300 people (about half of which are patients already), tracks things like exercise, sleep, how often you call, your message history, music tastes, typing speed, and it even has you send in an audio clip to record things from your week. All of this is meant to help identify mental health issues, but there are two problems with this right out the gate.
The first, and probably most pressing problem, has already been addressed by the researchers. And that problem has to do with privacy concerns. Tracking all of this can be incredibly invasive. However, to use the app you have to sign a consent form and all the information has to be stored safely. Thanks to the explicit purpose of the app, and the researchers behind it, data theft a bit less likely though.
The other problem is simply the usual problems that come along with any of these algorithm-based systems that claim to be able to identify something about people. What might be seen as a sign of anxiety in some may not be a sign of anxiety in others. Different people are wired differently, and different people respond differently to different things. So trying to boil all that down to something like this could lead to massive generalisation of certain mental health issues, but considering the fact that it’s being used by university researchers it’s quite possible that all this information will be used in conjunction with humans who are able to better understand subtlety in the human psyche.
This could be the beginning of machine learning being used more extensively in the mental health department, and there’s a lot of room for it to be an immensely useful thing seeing as machines can track things we just can’t. So hopefully this is the start of something good.
Apple announces security research device program:
Apple has decided that it will be giving out some very special iPhones to a few select people. These iPhones are hacker friendly and allow you to access pretty much everything on the device. So you can bypass everything that’s on it, all the security features, but it’s not available for commercial use (obviously). So tinkerers shouldn’t get excited about it. Instead, these devices will be sent to people who specifically work in security research.
The devices are used solely for security research and remain the property of Apple. So, this is essentially for the purpose of improving Apple’s security (and getting other people to do it for them). Anyone who finds a vulnerability will be recognised for their accomplishment (provided they report the vulnerability). So, if you’re interested in cyber security and you fulfil the various conditions, you too can get a special phone that’s used for security research and nothing else. Fun!
WailingWolf 