Cora in the Sky with VTOL
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| Cora in the Sky with VTOL | |
| Number | 3238 |
| Broadcast Date | MARCH 13, 2018 |
| Episode Length | 29:34 |
| Hosts | Sarah Lane |
| Guests | Patrick Beja |
IKEA is making use of its TaskRabbit purchase by launching a furniture assembly service. Will this be a trend as retailers seek to expand their service offerings to compete? Plus, CTS-Labs, an Israeli security firm, has found 13 vulnerabilities in AMD’s Ryzen chips and the ACLU has filed a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) against the TSA seeking more information on its screening of electronic devices for domestic travelers.
Guest
Quick Hits
- The White House issued a statement Monday that President Trump has nixed Broadcom's proposed buyout of Qualcomm, citing national security concerns. Both companies were ordered to immediately abandon the proposed deal. The order also prohibits all 15 of Broadcom's proposed candidates for Qualcomm's board from standing for election.
- Fitbit announced new wearables: the Fitbit Versa and the Ace, both available for preorder today. The Versa runs the upcoming Fitbit OS 2.0 and starts at $200. The Fitbit Ace is the company’s first wearable for kids and will hit retail stores in Q2 2018 for $100.
- Apple announced WWDC dates... its annual developer conference is expected to include details on iOS 12, macOS 10.14, watchOS 5, and tvOS 12. WWDC 2018 will run from June 4 through June 8 and take place in San Jose, California for the second year in a row.
Top Stories
- CTS-Labs, a security company based in Israel, said Tuesday its researchers found 13 critical security vulnerabilities that would let attackers access data stored on AMD's Ryzen and EPYC processors, and be able to install malware on them. AMD's Ryzen chips power desktop and laptop computers, while EPYC processors are found in servers. The researchers gave AMD less than 24 hours to respond before publishing the report, even though standard vulnerability disclosure calls for 90 days notice, so companies have time to address flaws. When Spectre and Meltdown security flaws that affect Intel chips were announced in January, AMD said it was not affected because of its chip architecture differences.
- The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the TSA in an effort to extract more info about its procedures and motivations. The ACLU wants to know why the TSA launched stricter screening procedures for domestic passengers' electronic devices last year, how the TSA records its findings, what the equipment the TSA uses to search phones and laptops, and what kind of training the officers who conduct electronic searches get. This is the second FOIA the ACLU filed, its first attempt was in December 2017.
- Kitty Hawk, the flying taxi company funded by Google co-founder Larry Page and CEO-ed by Google X founding director Sebastian Thrun, launched ‘Cora’, a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) personal copter drone hybrid that will carry a passenger. Cora will be launched in New Zealand, which is ideal given its sparse population and fewer flight restrictions. Cora has a 36′ wingspan with 12 rotors and is battery powered. It can fly up to 62 miles and carry one or two passengers.
- Axios reports Facebook is getting ready to launch a news section for its Watch - as in, watch video - platform and sources say the company's testing different video partnerships with around 10 publishers. Campbell Brown, Head of News Partnerships for Facebook, said in a statement to Axios that “timely news video is the latest step in our strategy to make targeted investments in new types of programming on Facebook Watch... As part of our broader effort to support quality news on Facebook, we plan to meet with a wide-range of potential partners to develop, learn and innovate on news programming tailored to succeed in a social environment."
- Fitness-tracking app Strava said starting on Tuesday it will restrict access to an online map showing user exercise routes and remove other data. In January, data researchers found Strava's heat map revealed military posts and other sensitive sites. Strava CEO James Quarles said he didn't know which data would be removed. Quarles added that although he has been in contact with defense and intelligence officials, they did not ask him to remove the map.
Discussion
Mailbag
- My experience with digital magazines is great. I particularly like Zinio for my digital fix that offer boutique speciality magazines, where Texture only offers the common news stand varieties. My favorite magazine that isn’t offered in either of these services is when Rolling Stone magazine offered their own digital version that is now discontinued, that had multimedia links embedded. Like when they had their music picks, the link would give a small audio sample, or movie picks would show a trailer and was a very enriching experience. I believe that their own digital version went by the wayside, because of copyright issues with the media companies, and don’t believe it was server issues because the links were fed from SoundCloud and You Tube.
- Sent by Mike
YouTube
Links
| Preceded by: "I Got 99 Qualms but Intel Ain’t One" |
Cora in the Sky with VTOL |
Followed by: "Raspberry Pi Day" |