Internet of Things devices offer almost no security protections A Disrupt New York 2016 panel said the fact that so many devices collect information about us poses a serious privacy risk because data could be intercepted, and also creates enticing targets for criminals, hackers, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies around the world. “It's a field…

Episode #173   Last month I spent nine days in Germany as a guest of Germany Trade & Invest, the foreign trade and investment agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. The theme for our visit was Industry 4.0, a worldwide initiative (conceived in Germany) to develop standards and protocols to integrate the Internet of…

New warrant rules give DOJ sweeping computer surveillance powers The changes where made at the Department of Justice's request and are part of what's known as Rule 41. Unless Congress overrides them, they will go into effect on December 1. The key change states: A magistrate judge with authority in any district where activities related…

Warrant let FBI use suspect's finger to unlock iPhone Paytsar Bkhchadzhyan was arrested in late February, and only 45 minutes later FBI agents had a warrant in hand compelling her to place her finger on her iPhone's Touch ID sensor to unlock the device. Considering how quickly the warrant was obtained, the FBI probably assumed…

Let's get this out of the way right up front: The SolarTab is the best solution I've seen for using solar energy to charge your gear in the wild. The problem is, with the ubiquity of cheap, high-capacity external batteries, I'd pretty much written off solar chargers as obsolete. But more on that later. A…

I chose that wording with care, because I'm not saying he's right, I'm saying he isn't wrong. There's a difference, and in that difference Mr. Icahn demonstrated how he has amassed a fortune worth billions. To that end, look at how much money Carl Icahn made in his three year investment in $AAPL—more than US$2…

House of Representatives bill reaffirms the Constitution is still here

CareKit apps hit the App Store CareKit is an open source platform from Apple developers can use to create apps that let users track and manage medical conditions. Users can track medications, symptoms, and more, and share that data with their doctor—assuming your doctor has made the move to the digital age. Glow Nurture and…

I noticed something interesting during Apple's quarterly conference call with analysts on Tuesday: during opening remarks, Tim Cook was working hard to sell the message that Apple is doing well despite turning in a “challenging” quarter. I've never noticed Tim Cook trying to sell it during a call, but then I heard something else that…

To set this up, first select the range of cells you’d like to apply your formatting to.  Make sure the “Format” pane is open, but if you don’t see that sidebar on the right, click “Format” in your toolbar. Then under the “Cell” tab, you’ll see the “Data Format” drop-down. Under that drop-down, you have…

Backstory On February 9th, President Obama issued an Executive Order, the “COMMISSION ON ENHANCING NATIONAL CYBERSECURITY.” Section 3 describes the mission. Mission and Work. The Commission will make detailed recommendations to strengthen cybersecurity in both the public and private sectors while protecting privacy, ensuring public safety and economic and national security, fostering discovery and development…

“Your papers and smartphone, please.” To say that I'm awash in a sea of mixed emotions is an understatement, but there's almost nothing I like about what we know so far. My biggest concern is that the makers of the Textalyzer technology itself—whatever the heck it is—are backing the bill, and the company is draping…

The “Mark 1” Android.  Image credit: Reuters. The Particle Debris standout article of the week is from Wired. “The Scarlett Johansson Bot Is the Robotic Future of Objectifying Women.” For reference, here's the original article via Reuters Building a humanoid Hollywood star. One might think the Wired piece is a overly sensational article, but it's based…

I think another, perhaps larger group are folks who aren’t happy about the net increase in price of Smile’s TextExpander with the new subscription model. Depending upon how you do the math, it’s reasonable to presume that the new version of TextExpander will cost you double what you paid before without offering you any new features…

Before we get started, note that I don’t really recommend writing down your passwords. If you’re the type of person who feels comfortable putting those in your home safe, more power to you, but I prefer knowing my passwords and other critical data are in an encrypted database like the one 1Password offers. So when…

Episode #169 Apple introduced iOS 9.3 a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been obsessed with Night Shift ever since. Night Shift, in case you missed it, is a new iOS feature that uses your device’s clock and geolocation services to determine sunrise and sunset at your location, then uses this information to gradually adjust…

Image credit: Reuters, Tesla The lower price is enabled by economies of scale. Reuters reports: Tesla says scale from the massive facility [nearing completion in Nevada] will cut the cost of its battery pack by 30 percent to enable the lower-priced vehicle. A boatload of people stood in line yesterday to pre-order, coughing up $1,000…

Our thanks to Marketcircle for sponsoring TMO this week. Targeting freelancers and small businesses who work in an all-Mac environment, Marketcircle's products, Daylite and Billings Pro, are focused on helping small businesses save time and stay organized. Daylite organizes your contacts, calendar, tasks, notes, emails, projects and new business opportunities into one cohesive app. Depending…

Foxconn buys Sharp for $3.5 billion The boards from both companies approved the buyout on Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal. Foxconn will own 66 percent of Sharp once the deal is complete, and that can grow to 72 percent starting in July 2017 when Foxconn starts converting the preferred shares it will own…

“It remains a priority for the government to ensure that law enforcement can obtain crucial digital information to protect national security and public safety, either with cooperation from relevant parties, or through the court system when cooperation fails,” Melanie Newman, a Justice Department spokesman, told the publication. “We will continue to pursue all available options…

Who's Tay, you ask? An “artificial intelligent chat bot developed by Microsoft's Technology and Research and Bing teams to experiment with and conduct research on conversational understanding.” And who taught her to say all these awful things? Why, the Internet, of course. Tay Twitter avatar, which I'm pretty sure costarred in a Cyberpunk movie in…