Apple Has Character Flaws

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Apple Has Character Flaws
Number 3221
Broadcast Date FEBRUARY 15, 2018
Episode Length 30:32
Hosts Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane
Guests Justin Robert Young

Twitter bringing streaming live local news broadcasts alongside its timeline. Will it work and will news coverage change to adapt to it? Plus, reports of iOS 11’s interface crashing and researchers at MIT have developed a low powered high speed neural network chip.

Guest

Quick Hits

Intel is opening up its bug bounty program to the public and promising up to $250,000 for new side-channel vulnerabilities. General vulnerabilities can now get up to $100,000. Previously Intel's bug bounty program was invite only.
Samsung's updated Notebook 9 laptops will go on sale February 18th. They have Intel's 8th gen processors and up to 16 GB of RAM along with 75Watt Hexacell batteries. The 13-inch Notebook 9 Pen starts at $1,399 a version without the stylus starts at $1,199 and the 15-inch Notebook 9 starts at $1,299. The budget level Notebook 7 Spin starts at $899.99.
Scientists at Stanford University have developed a wake-up receiver that can power on a device in response to ultrasonic signals. The sensor is smaller than if it used radio signals and can operate at extremely low power, as little as a nanowatt. The system could be used in smart devices and sensors for Internet of Things.
Motherboard reports the FCC Inspector General has opened an investigation into whether FCC Chairman Ajit Pai acted inappropriately in relation to changing media consolidation. Sinclair Media was in the process of acquiring Tribune Media at the time of the rule change. The NY Times reports the investigation is looking at, "whether there had been coordination with the company."

Top Stories

The Verge has confirmed a report from Italy's MobileWorld blog that iOS 11's Springboard interface crashes when it receives a particular Indian Language Telgu character. Messages will no longer be able to open afterwards. The Verge discovered the same problem happens in other apps like WhatsApp and Gmail and in Messenger for macOS as well. The bug does not exist in the upcoming iOS 11.3 update. In the meantime, the only fix is to delete the message with the offending character either by accessing the service some other way or having friends send you more texts.
Wirecutter and Pocket-Lint both have posts up discussing that Apple's HomePod can leave a white ring on oil or wax-treated wooden furniture in as low as twenty minutes. The ring generally goes away on its own after a couple days. Apple says the marks can be caused by oils diffusing between the silicone base and the table surface. Tom's Guide notes that the Sonos One can leave a similar ring.
Software engineer Gabriel Lewis noticed he was getting notifications about Facebook posts from friends as text messages to the number he had used to enable two-factor authentication on Facebook. When he replied Stop to the messages, it auto-posted the response to his Facebook profile and did not stop the messages. Other users have described similar behavior. Facebook told The Verge it is looking into the issue and noted its two-factor authentication system also works with code generators. It is not clear if Facebook considers the situation a bug.
MIT researchers have developed a neural network chip that can run 3-7 times faster than current chips and reduce power consumption by at least 94 percent. The chip uses voltage to handle certain values called weights that normally need to be retrieved from memory. This makes the chip more efficient. The chip could make it practical to run neural networks on consumer devices like phones or even household appliances.
Indian payments service Paytm has a physical retail store version of its Paytm Mall shopping site in New Delhi, co-branded with Red Tape shoes. Shoppers can pay in store with the Paytm Mall app and if an item is out of stock get same-day delivery. Stores can also handle returns of items ordered online. Paytm Mall expects to add the feature to 50 Red Tape shoe stores and open 400 such stores centered around consumer goods and fashion within the next year.

Discussion

Mailbag

Scott needn’t be worried about losing his phone. He can set up LastPass Authenticator, and this backs up the TFA token store to your LP account. If you lose your phone, you can just restore your backup.

Also, a lot of TFAs that I’ve set up recently now also give a 16 character key that I think can be used for the same purpose. Just keep these on paper at home or in an offline KeePass file.

Hope that helps someone!
Sent by Ross from Nottingham, UK


Hi all

Regarding Chrome’s new ad blocking. It’s not the irritation of ads that drives me to use an ad blocker anymore. While this used to be the case, I now use one to stop me being tracked.

I don’t want google or any other advertising company to know anything about me. I don’t want a “personalised ad experience”. You can target me based on location and that’s it.

As soon as ads stop tracking me, I’ll turn off my ad blocker. Until then, it stays.
Sent by Ross

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Preceded by:
"Security vs Convenience"
Apple Has Character Flaws
Followed by:
"The Anecdotal Antidote"