Author: Robin Edgar

Organisational Structures | Technology and Science | Military, IT and Lifestyle consultancy | Social, Broadcast & Cross Media | Flying aircraft

Alibaba antitrust investigation: Beijing slaps e-commerce giant Alibaba with record US$2.8 billion fine in landmark case. US antitrust still going nowhere.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

China’s antitrust regulators slapped a record fine on one of the country’s largest technology conglomerates, closing a months-long investigation that began last Christmas Eve and setting the precedent for the government to use anti-monopoly rules to regulate the country’s Big Tech. Alibaba Group Holding, the world’s largest e-commerce company and owner of this newspaper, was Read more about Alibaba antitrust investigation: Beijing slaps e-commerce giant Alibaba with record US$2.8 billion fine in landmark case. US antitrust still going nowhere.[…]

Glass molded like plastic could usher in new era of complex glass shapes

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The production of glass—one of humanity’s oldest materials—is getting a 21st century makeover. A new approach to glassmaking treats the material like plastic, allowing scientists to injection mold vaccine vials, sinuous channels for carrying out lab chemistry, and other complex shapes. “It’s a really exciting paper,” says André Studart, a materials scientist at ETH Zürich. Read more about Glass molded like plastic could usher in new era of complex glass shapes[…]

Signal Adds a New Privacy-Focused Signal Payments Feature. Some people think this is a sellout.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Signal announced on Tuesday that as a part of its latest beta, it’s adding support for a new Signal Payments feature that allows Signal users to send “privacy focused payments as easily as sending or receiving a message.” These payments are only going to be available to Android and iOS Signal users in the UK Read more about Signal Adds a New Privacy-Focused Signal Payments Feature. Some people think this is a sellout.[…]

How Bill Hwang of Archegos Capital Lost $20 Billion in Two Days

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Before he lost it all—all $20 billion—Bill Hwang was the greatest trader you’d never heard of. Starting in 2013, he parlayed more than $200 million left over from his shuttered hedge fund into a mind-boggling fortune by betting on stocks. Had he folded his hand in early March and cashed in, Hwang, 57, would have Read more about How Bill Hwang of Archegos Capital Lost $20 Billion in Two Days[…]

Scraped data of 500 million LinkedIn users being sold online, 2 million records leaked as proof

Posted on by Robin Edgar

We updated our personal data leak checker database with more than 780,000 email addresses associated with this leak. Use it to find out if your LinkedIn profile has been scraped by the threat actors. Days after a massive Facebook data leak made the headlines, it seems like we’re in for another one, this time involving Read more about Scraped data of 500 million LinkedIn users being sold online, 2 million records leaked as proof[…]

Facebook Says It’s Your Fault That Hackers Got Half a Billion User Phone Numbers

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A database containing the phone numbers of more than half a billion Facebook users is being freely traded online, and Facebook is trying to pin the blame on everyone but themselves. A blog post titled “The Facts on News Reports About Facebook Data,” published Tuesday evening, is designed to silence the growing criticism the company Read more about Facebook Says It’s Your Fault That Hackers Got Half a Billion User Phone Numbers[…]

Google illegally tracking Android users, according to new complaint by Max Schrems

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems has filed a complaint against Google in France alleging that the US tech giant is illegally tracking users on Android phones without their consent. Android phones generate unique advertising codes, similar to Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), that allow Google and third parties to track users’ browsing behavior in order Read more about Google illegally tracking Android users, according to new complaint by Max Schrems[…]

Mixed Reactions to New Nirvana Song Generated by Google’s AI

Posted on by Robin Edgar

On the 27th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, Engadget reports: Were he still alive today, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain would be 52 years old. Every February 20th, on the day of his birthday, fans wonder what songs he would write if he hadn’t died of suicide nearly 30 years ago. While we’ll never know the Read more about Mixed Reactions to New Nirvana Song Generated by Google’s AI[…]

Google Asked to Hide TorrentFreak Article Reporting that ‘The Mandalorian’ Was Widely Pirated

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Google was asked to remove a TorrentFreak article from its search results this week. The article in question reported that “The Mandalorian” was the most pirated TV show of 2020. This notice claims to identify several problematic URLs that allegedly infringe the copyrights of Disney’s hit series The Mandalorian. This is not unexpected, as The Read more about Google Asked to Hide TorrentFreak Article Reporting that ‘The Mandalorian’ Was Widely Pirated[…]

Stolen Data of 533 Million Facebook Users Leaked Online

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A user in a low level hacking forum on Saturday published the phone numbers and personal data of hundreds of millions of Facebook users for free online. The exposed data includes personal information of over 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries, including over 32 million records on users in the US, 11 million on Read more about Stolen Data of 533 Million Facebook Users Leaked Online[…]

Sierra Nevada Corporation resurrects plans for crewed Dream Chaser spaceplane, inflatable space station

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has unveiled plans for an enormous inflatable space station tended by cargo and crew carrying versions of its Dream Chaser spaceplane. “There is no scalable space travel industry without a spaceplane,” said SNC chair and owner Eren Ozmen. That’s handy, because with the retirement of the Space Shuttle, the Dream Chaser Read more about Sierra Nevada Corporation resurrects plans for crewed Dream Chaser spaceplane, inflatable space station[…]

Tesla customers say they’ve been double-charged for their cars

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Finding an extra $10 charge on your groceries is enough to make most people angry, but what if you paid twice for a a $56,000 car? Tesla buyers have been reporting that they’ve been double-charged on cars for recent purchases and have had trouble contacting the company and getting their money back, according to a Read more about Tesla customers say they’ve been double-charged for their cars[…]

Virgin Galactic’s VSS Imagine is its shiny, next-gen spaceship

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Virgin Galactic took to YouTube to reveal, briefly, its first SpaceShip III, which will start ground tests and “glide flights” later this year. It’s an eye-catching vessel, channeling that Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Naboo starship look in a wonderful way. It’s finished with a mirror-like material that’s meant to reflect its surroundings, whether that’s Read more about Virgin Galactic’s VSS Imagine is its shiny, next-gen spaceship[…]

Scientists Implant and Then Reverse False Memories in People

Posted on by Robin Edgar

now, for the first time ever, scientists have evidence showing they can reverse false memories, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “The same way that you can suggest false memories, you can reverse them by giving people a different framing,” the lead researcher of the paper, Read more about Scientists Implant and Then Reverse False Memories in People[…]

Another successful flight for SpaceX’s Starship apart from the landing-in-one-piece thing

Posted on by Robin Edgar

SpaceX continued its rich tradition of destroying Starship prototypes with SN11 succumbing to an explosive end during a high-altitude flight test. Originally planned for 29 March, the test flight from the company’s facility in Boca Chica, Texas, had been postponed until this morning because a Federal Aviation Administrator (FAA) had been unable reach the site Read more about Another successful flight for SpaceX’s Starship apart from the landing-in-one-piece thing[…]

Wi-Fi devices set to become object sensors by 2024 under planned 802.11bf standard – no, they haven’t thought of security and privacy

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In three years or so, the Wi-Fi specification is scheduled to get an upgrade that will turn wireless devices into sensors capable of gathering data about the people and objects bathed in their signals. “When 802.11bf will be finalized and introduced as an IEEE standard in September 2024, Wi-Fi will cease to be a communication-only Read more about Wi-Fi devices set to become object sensors by 2024 under planned 802.11bf standard – no, they haven’t thought of security and privacy[…]

Android, iOS beam telemetry to Google, Apple even when you tell them not to

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In a recent released research paper, titled “Mobile Handset Privacy: Measuring The Data iOS and Android Send to Apple And Google” [PDF], Douglas Leith, chairman of computer systems in the school of computer science and statistics at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, documents how iPhones and Android devices phone home regardless of the wishes of their Read more about Android, iOS beam telemetry to Google, Apple even when you tell them not to[…]

Wi-Fi slinger Ubiquiti hints at source code leak after claim of ‘catastrophic’ cloud intrusion emerges

Posted on by Robin Edgar

News that Ubiquiti’s cloud servers had been breached emerged on January 11, 2021, when the company emailed customers the text found in this support forum post. That missive stated: “We recently became aware of unauthorized access to certain of our information technology systems hosted by a third-party cloud provider.” That announcement continued, “We have no Read more about Wi-Fi slinger Ubiquiti hints at source code leak after claim of ‘catastrophic’ cloud intrusion emerges[…]

Trustify CEO gets eight years for lying to investors, spending millions on homes, private jets, sports tickets

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A tech CEO who lied to investors to get funding and then blew millions of it on maintaining a luxury lifestyle, which included private jets and top seats at sporting events, has been sentenced to just over eight years in prison. Daniel Boice, 41, set up what he claimed would be the “Uber of private Read more about Trustify CEO gets eight years for lying to investors, spending millions on homes, private jets, sports tickets[…]

Privacy Laws Giving Big Internet Companies A Convenient Excuse To Avoid Academic Scrutiny – or not? A Balanced argument

Posted on by Robin Edgar

For years we’ve talked about how the fact that no one really understands privacy, leads to very bad attempts at regulating privacy in ways that do more harm than good. They often don’t do anything that actually protects privacy — and instead screw up lots of other important things, from competition to free speech. In Read more about Privacy Laws Giving Big Internet Companies A Convenient Excuse To Avoid Academic Scrutiny – or not? A Balanced argument[…]

OpenSSL fixes high-severity flaw that allows hackers to crash huge amount servers globally

Posted on by Robin Edgar

OpenSSL, the most widely used software library for implementing website and email encryption, has patched a high-severity vulnerability that makes it easy for hackers to completely shut down huge numbers of servers. […] On Thursday, OpenSSL maintainers disclosed and patched a vulnerability that causes servers to crash when they receive a maliciously crafted request from Read more about OpenSSL fixes high-severity flaw that allows hackers to crash huge amount servers globally[…]

One of America’s $135.8 Million Fighter F-35 Jets Shot Itself

Posted on by Robin Edgar

An F-35B Joint Strike Fighter shot itself in the skies above Arizona earlier this month, doing at least $2.5 million in damage. The pilot was unharmed and successfully landed the jet. The Pentagon isn’t quite sure how or why the jet shot itself and the incident is still under investigation. As first reported by Military.com, Read more about One of America’s $135.8 Million Fighter F-35 Jets Shot Itself[…]