Day: November 11, 2019

EU beurocracy, One man’s mistake, missing backups and complete reboot: What we can figure out about Europe’s Galileo satellites going dark

Posted on by Robin Edgar

While one key official has sought to blame a single individual for the system going dark, insiders warn that organizational chaos, excessive secrecy and some unusual self-regulation is as much to blame. Combined with those problems, a battle between European organizations over the satellite system, and a delayed independent report into the July cock-up, means Read more about EU beurocracy, One man’s mistake, missing backups and complete reboot: What we can figure out about Europe’s Galileo satellites going dark[…]

Sure, we made your Wi-Fi routers phone home with telemetry, says Ubiquiti. What of it?

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Ubiquiti Networks is fending off customer complaints after emitting a firmware update that caused its UniFi wireless routers to quietly phone HQ with telemetry. It all kicked off when the US-based manufacturer confirmed that a software update released this month programmed the devices to establish secure connections back to Ubiquiti servers and report information on Read more about Sure, we made your Wi-Fi routers phone home with telemetry, says Ubiquiti. What of it?[…]

Amazon Ring doorbells exposed home Wi-Fi passwords over cleartext

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Security researchers have discovered a vulnerability in Ring doorbells that exposed the passwords for the Wi-Fi networks to which they were connected. Bitdefender said the Amazon-owned doorbell was sending owners’ Wi-Fi passwords in cleartext as the doorbell joins the local network, allowing nearby hackers to intercept the Wi-Fi password and gain access to the network Read more about Amazon Ring doorbells exposed home Wi-Fi passwords over cleartext[…]

DHS expects to have detailed biometrics on 260 million people by 2022 – and will keep them in the cloud, where they will never be stolen or hacked *cough*

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expects to have face, fingerprint, and iris scans of at least 259 million people in its biometrics database by 2022, according to a recent presentation from the agency’s Office of Procurement Operations reviewed by Quartz. That’s about 40 million more than the agency’s 2017 projections, which estimated 220 Read more about DHS expects to have detailed biometrics on 260 million people by 2022 – and will keep them in the cloud, where they will never be stolen or hacked *cough*[…]

House plants have little effect on indoor air quality, study concludes

Posted on by Robin Edgar

New research from a duo of environmental engineers at Drexel University is suggesting the decades-old claim that house plants improve indoor air quality is entirely wrong. Evaluating 30 years of studies, the research concludes it would take hundreds of plants in a small space to even come close to the air purifying effects of simply Read more about House plants have little effect on indoor air quality, study concludes[…]

This Trippy T-Shirt Makes You Invisible to AI

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In modern cities, we’re constantly surveilled through CCTV cameras in both public and private spaces, and by companies trying to sell us shit based on everything we do. We are always being watched. But what if a simple T-shirt could make you invisible to commercial AIs trying to spot humans? A team of researchers from Read more about This Trippy T-Shirt Makes You Invisible to AI[…]

The ‘Three-Body Problem’ Has Perplexed Astronomers Since Newton Formulated It. A.I. Just Cracked It in Under a Second.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The mind-bending calculations required to predict how three heavenly bodies orbit each other have baffled physicists since the time of Sir Isaac Newton. Now artificial intelligence (A.I.) has shown that it can solve the problem in a fraction of the time required by previous approaches. Newton was the first to formulate the problem in the Read more about The ‘Three-Body Problem’ Has Perplexed Astronomers Since Newton Formulated It. A.I. Just Cracked It in Under a Second.[…]