Bezos Delivers His Package
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| Bezos Delivers His Package | |
| Number | 3465 |
| Broadcast Date | FEBRUARY 8, 2019 |
| Episode Length | 33:50 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt, Roger Chang |
| Guests | Annalee Newitz, Len Peralta |
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos released un-redacted emails of a conversation between Enquirer and himself that he says was used to blackmail him. What’s going on and why now?
Guest
Quick Hits
- The Raspberry Pi Foundation has opened a store in Cambridge, England to offer to sell its single-board computers and accessories. The store will feature some exclusive products but no details were give on those. It will be located on the first floor of the Grand Arcade shopping center.
- Microsoft security architect Chris Jackson has written a blog post called, "The perils of using Internet Explorer as your default browser." Yes, even though IE is just a compatibility mode in Windows 10, many companies still use IE, sometimes in older versions of Windows, because they created internal tools that rely on it. Microsoft's Edge browser is not available in Windows 7 or 8.
- Apple told TechCrunch it is informing developers that they must properly disclose the use of screen recording or remove any such functionality. TechCrunch reported that some apps were recording screen interactions in order to use the data to improve user interface issues but did not explicitly note that in privacy disclosures.
- Apple has released an update for iOS that fixes a bug that allowed people to hear or see people in a FaceTime call before they had answered. The bug was reported by 14-year-old Grant Thompson, and initially ignored. Apple said that as a bug bounty it has paid compensation to Thompson's family and contribute to paying the cost of his education. The update also fixes two zero-day exploits discovered in the wild by Google.
Top Stories
- The Washington Post reports two sources tell it Amazon is considering withdrawing its commitment to open a large office in New York City, one of two large offices Amazon billed as "second headquarters." The sources attributed the potential change to local opposition to Amazon's increased presence in the city.
- Spotify published an updated Terms of Service that explicitly bans ad blocking on the service. According to the new terms, “circumventing or blocking advertisements in the Spotify Service" can result in either immediate termination or suspension of a Spotify account. The new TOS goes into effect March 1st.
- Sprint filed a lawsuit against AT&T in the Southern District of New York, claiming the company's use of 5G Evolution on phones was false advertising and damages the reputation of 5G standards. The complaint cited a survey commission by Sprint that found 54% of consumers thought 5GE was equivalent or better than 5G. The suit seeks an injunction preventing AT&T from using the term on phones or in advertising.
- A team led by Columbia University's Nima Mesgarani used electrodes connected directly to the brain to monitor and play back the speech the subjects heard. All subjects were undergoing surgery for epilepsy that required the placement of the electrodes anyway. Subjects heard a series of 40 numbers spoken and AI was used to decoded detected brain waves and turn it back into speech. A group of volunteers listening to the AI-generated speech correctly identified what had originally been said about 75% of the time.
Discussion
- No thank you, Mr. Pecker
- Jeff Bezos says the National Enquirer’s owner threatened to release his “d*ck pick,” so he described it himself
- Was tabloid exposé of Bezos affair just juicy gossip or a political hit job?
- Report: Bezos-hired sleuth suspects sexts stolen by “government entity”
Mailbag
- Andy Beach responded to yesterday's Free Tech News letter with "This might be the best one of these yet - well done!" The issue was simply titled, No, No, No.
YouTube
Links
| Preceded by: "Google's Open ClusterFuzz" |
Bezos Delivers His Package |
Followed by: "Apple Pairs With Veterans" |