The Linkielist

Linking ideas with the world

Versius Robot allows keyhole surgery to be performed with 1/2 hour training instead of 80 sessions

Posted on by Robin Edgar

It is the most exacting of surgical skills: tying a knot deep inside a patient’s abdomen, pivoting long graspers through keyhole incisions with no direct view of the thread. Trainee surgeons typically require 60 to 80 hours of practice, but in a mock-up operating theatre outside Cambridge, a non-medic with just a few hours of Read more about Versius Robot allows keyhole surgery to be performed with 1/2 hour training instead of 80 sessions[…]

Fitness app Polar even better at revealing secrets than Strava and Garmin

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Online investigations outfit Bellingcat has found that fitness tracking kit-maker Polar reveals both the identity and daily activity of its users – including soldiers and spies. Many users of Polar’s devices and app appear not to have paid attention to their privacy settings, as a result a Bellingcat writer found 6,460 individuals from 69 countries. Read more about Fitness app Polar even better at revealing secrets than Strava and Garmin[…]

Open plan offices flop – you talk less, IM more, if forced to flee a cubicle

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Open plan offices don’t deliver their promised benefits of more face-to-face collaboration and instead make us misanthropic recluses and more likely to use electronic communications tools. So says a new article in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, by Harvard academics Ethan S. Bernstein, Stephen Turban. The pair studied two Fortune 500 companies Read more about Open plan offices flop – you talk less, IM more, if forced to flee a cubicle[…]

Empathic AI (Dutch)

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Bedrijven worden emotioneler: gebruikersinterfaces, chatbots en andere componenten zijn steeds beter in staat om de emotionele staat van gebruikers in te schatten en emotie te simuleren als ze terug praten. Volgens een Gartner-rapport eerder dit jaar weten apparaten over vier jaar “meer over je emotionele staat dan je eigen familie”. Herkennen van emotie Deep learning Read more about Empathic AI (Dutch)[…]

Nostalgic social network ‘Timehop’ loses data from 21 million users

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A service named “Timehop” that claims it is “reinventing reminiscing” – in part by linking posts from other social networks – probably wishes it could go back in time and reinvent its own security, because it has just confessed to losing data describing 21 million members and can’t guarantee that the perps didn’t slurp private Read more about Nostalgic social network ‘Timehop’ loses data from 21 million users[…]

‘Plane Hacker’ Roberts: I put a network sniffer on my truck to see what it was sharing. Holy crap!

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Cars are turning into computers on wheels and airplanes have become flying data centres, but this increase in power and connectivity has largely happened without designing in adequate security controls. Improving transportation security was a major strand of the recent Cyber Week security conference in Israel. A one-day event, Speed of Light, focused on transportation Read more about ‘Plane Hacker’ Roberts: I put a network sniffer on my truck to see what it was sharing. Holy crap![…]

Is Facebook a publisher? In public it says no, but in court it says yes

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Facebook has long had the same public response when questioned about its disruption of the news industry: it is a tech platform, not a publisher or a media company. But in a small courtroom in California’s Redwood City on Monday, attorneys for the social media company presented a different message from the one executives have Read more about Is Facebook a publisher? In public it says no, but in court it says yes[…]

More on how social media hacks brains to addict users

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In a followup to How programmers addict you to social media, games and your mobile phone Ex-Facebook president Sean Parker: site made to exploit human ‘vulnerability’ He explained that when Facebook was being developed the objective was: “How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?” It was this mindset Read more about More on how social media hacks brains to addict users[…]

Is My Phone Recording Everything I Say? It turns out it sends screenshots and videos of what you do

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Some computer science academics at Northeastern University had heard enough people talking about this technological myth that they decided to do a rigorous study to tackle it. For the last year, Elleen Pan, Jingjing Ren, Martina Lindorfer, Christo Wilson, and David Choffnes ran an experiment involving more than 17,000 of the most popular apps on Read more about Is My Phone Recording Everything I Say? It turns out it sends screenshots and videos of what you do[…]

Could electrically stimulating criminals’ brains prevent crime?

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A new study by a team of international researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Nanyang Technological University suggests that electrically stimulating the prefrontal cortex can reduce the desire to carry out violent antisocial acts by over 50 percent. The research, while undeniably compelling, raises a whole host of confronting ethical questions, not just over Read more about Could electrically stimulating criminals’ brains prevent crime?[…]

This Sand Printer Seems Perfect for Beach Wedding Proposals

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Wedding proposals are just one of the many minefields you have to navigate on social media platforms, and Ivan Miranda isn’t making things any easier. He’s designed and built an autonomous printer that can draw messages in sand, so now’s probably a good time to brace yourself for an endless barrage of “will you marry Read more about This Sand Printer Seems Perfect for Beach Wedding Proposals[…]

Europe is reading smartphones and using the data as a weapon to deport refugees

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Across the continent, migrants are being confronted by a booming mobile forensics industry that specialises in extracting a smartphone’s messages, location history, and even WhatsApp data. That information can potentially be turned against the phone owners themselves. In 2017 both Germany and Denmark expanded laws that enabled immigration officials to extract data from asylum seekers’ Read more about Europe is reading smartphones and using the data as a weapon to deport refugees[…]

Google allows outside app developers to read people’s Gmails

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Google promised a year ago to provide more privacy to Gmail users, but The Wall Street Journal reports that hundreds of app makers have access to millions of inboxes belonging to Gmail users. The outside app companies receive access to messages from Gmail users who signed up for things like price-comparison services or automated travel-itinerary Read more about Google allows outside app developers to read people’s Gmails[…]

Dear Samsung mobe owners: It may leak your private pics to randoms

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Samsung’s Messages app bundled with the South Korean giant’s latest smartphones and tablets may silently send people’s private photos to random contacts, it is claimed. An unlucky bunch of Sammy phone fans – including owners of Galaxy S9, S9+ and Note 8 gadgets – have complained on Reddit and the official support forums that the Read more about Dear Samsung mobe owners: It may leak your private pics to randoms[…]

Newer Diameter Telephony Protocol (4G / LTE) Just As Vulnerable As SS7

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Security researchers say the Diameter protocol used with today’s 4G (LTE) telephony and data transfer standard is vulnerable to the same types of vulnerabilities as the older SS7 standard used with older telephony standards such as 3G, 2G, and earlier. Both Diameter and SS7 (Signaling System No. 7) have the same role in a telephony Read more about Newer Diameter Telephony Protocol (4G / LTE) Just As Vulnerable As SS7[…]

China brings Star Wars to life with ‘laser AK-47’ that can set fire to targets a kilometre away

Posted on by Robin Edgar

China has developed a new portable laser weapon that can zap a target from nearly a kilometre away, according to researchers involved in the project. The ZKZM-500 laser assault rifle is classified as being “non-lethal” but produces an energy beam that cannot be seen by the naked eye but can pass through windows and cause Read more about China brings Star Wars to life with ‘laser AK-47’ that can set fire to targets a kilometre away[…]

ProtonMail / ProtonVPN DDoS Attacks Are a Case Study of What Happens When You Mock Attackers

Posted on by Robin Edgar

For the past two days, secure email provider ProtonMail has been fighting off DDoS attacks that have visibly affected the company’s services, causing short but frequent outages at regular intervals. “The attacks went on for several hours, although the outages were far more brief, usually several minutes at a time with the longest outage on Read more about ProtonMail / ProtonVPN DDoS Attacks Are a Case Study of What Happens When You Mock Attackers[…]

Every Android Device Since 2012 Impacted by RAMpage Vulnerability

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Almost all Android devices released since 2012 are vulnerable to a new vulnerability named RAMpage, an international team of academics has revealed today. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2018-9442, is a variation of the Rowhammer attack. Rowhammer is a hardware bug in modern memory cards. A few years back researchers discovered that when someone would send Read more about Every Android Device Since 2012 Impacted by RAMpage Vulnerability[…]

This popular Facebook app publicly exposed your data for years

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Nametests.com, the website behind the quizzes, recently fixed a flaw that publicly exposed information of their more than 120 million monthly users — even after they deleted the app. At my request, Facebook donated $8,000 to the Freedom of the Press Foundation as part of their Data Abuse Bounty Program. […] While loading a test, the website Read more about This popular Facebook app publicly exposed your data for years[…]

All-Radio 4.27 Portable Can’t Be Removed? Then Your PC is Severely Infected

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Starting yesterday, there have been numerous reports of people’s Windows computers being infected with something called “All-Radio 4.27 Portable”. After researching this, it has been determined that seeing this program is a symptom of a much bigger problem on your computer. All-Radio 4.27 Portable If your computer is suddenly displaying the above program, then your Read more about All-Radio 4.27 Portable Can’t Be Removed? Then Your PC is Severely Infected[…]

Adidas Reports Data Breach of a few million customers

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Adidas AG ADDYY 2.03% said Thursday that a “few million” customers shopping on its U.S. website may have had their data exposed to an unauthorized party. Neither the specific number of users affected nor the time frame of the potential breach were immediately disclosed, but the German sportswear maker said it became aware of the Read more about Adidas Reports Data Breach of a few million customers[…]

The International Space Station’s has a New AI-Powered Bot: CIMON

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Once aboard, CIMON—short for Crew Interactive MObile companioN—will assist the crew with its many activities. The point of this pilot project is to see if an artificially intelligent bot can improve crew efficiency and morale during longer missions, including a possible mission to Mars. What’s more, activities and tasks performed by ISS crew members are Read more about The International Space Station’s has a New AI-Powered Bot: CIMON[…]

Why you should not use Google Cloud – it just turns your project off with no warning and no customer support!

Posted on by Robin Edgar

We have a project running in production on Google Cloud (GCP) that is used to monitor hundreds of wind turbines and scores of solar plants scattered across 8 countries. We have control centers with wall-to-wall screens with dashboards full of metrics that are monitored 24/7. Asset Managers use this system to monitor the health of Read more about Why you should not use Google Cloud – it just turns your project off with no warning and no customer support![…]

Over 10,000 troops from nine nations ready to meet global challenges in Joint Expeditionary Force led by UK

Posted on by Robin Edgar

With the UK at the forefront as the framework nation, the JEF can now deploy over 10,000 personnel from across the nine nations. Speaking at the event at Lancaster House today Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: Our commitment today sends a clear message to our allies and adversaries alike – our nations will stand together Read more about Over 10,000 troops from nine nations ready to meet global challenges in Joint Expeditionary Force led by UK[…]

Google opens its human-sounding Duplex AI to public testing

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Google is moving ahead with Duplex, the stunningly human-sounding artificial intelligence software behind its new automated system that places phone calls on your behalf with a natural-sounding voice instead of a robotic one. The search giant said Wednesday it’s beginning public testing of the software, which debuted in May and which is designed to make calls to businesses and Read more about Google opens its human-sounding Duplex AI to public testing[…]