Security researcher Gerhard Wagner found a double-spend bug in Polygon’s Plasma bridge. The company awarded Mr. Wagner a record US$2 million for reporting this critical vulnerability.
In total, it is possible to create 14×16 = 224 different encodings for the same raw path. A malicious user can leverage the issue to create alternative exits for the same burn transaction and perform double spends on the Polygon network.
More than a few of us have been wishing for a reunion of our favorite Stargate: SG-1 characters. It looks like it’s finally happening, but not the way we thought. Someone fed thousands of hours of Stargate SG-1 episodes into a Google AI bot, and then let it write the script. On November 6, 2021, some of our favorite Stargate stars will do a table reading of that script. Could be good, could be bad, but it’s bound to be fun.
The whole script — every single line, every stage direction — was, according to the teaser, produced by an AI from Google. Some of it is in clear homage to classic Stargate’s sense of humor. But there’s also some of the gravitas that Thor and the Asgard brought to their interactions with SG-C and allies. If what we know about Markov chains is any indication about what is to come, this reading may include word salad, but it’ll be light, and pretty meme-ready. It isn’t the reunion we deserve… it’s the reunion we need right now.
Elcomsoft has announced an update to its Phone Breaker, a forensic tool used to extract data from iPhones. A trusted iOS device can now be used to authenticate into iCloud. This will let the tool decrypt data protected by end-to-end encryption.
By using a trusted device, experts benefit from unrestricted access to all kinds of information stored in the user’s iCloud account including cloud backups produced by all Apple devices sharing the same Apple ID, photos, synchronized data, as well as end-to-end encrypted data such as the user’s passwords, browsing history, and health information.
Learn how to reset your iPhone’s Sync with this tip from Mac Geek Gab 895.
Behance, a portfolio platform for graphic designers, will let creators connect their crypto wallet to showcase NFT art.
The company is working to include blockchains like Polygon, Solana, Flow and Tezos. It is also partnering with NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, SuperRare, KnownOrigin, and Rarible to display provenance data from the Content Authenticity Initiative — which is now built into a number of Creative Cloud tools — visible on their sites, in addition to Behance.
Mastercard and Bakkt announced a partnership to make it easier for merchants, banks and fintechs in the U.S. to offer cryptocurrency loyalty programs.
Mastercard will also integrate crypto into its loyalty solutions, enabling its partners to offer cryptocurrency as rewards and create fungibility between loyalty points and other digital assets. This means that consumers can earn and spend rewards in cryptocurrency instead of traditional loyalty points and seamlessly convert their crypto holdings to pay for purchases.
The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, launched Wikimedia Enterprise on Monday. Its API was first announced in March.
Wikimedia Enterprise makes the process of leveraging, packaging, and sharing content from Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects more efficient for large scale content reusers. In most cases, commercial entities that reuse Wikimedia content at a high volume have product, service, and system requirements that go beyond what Wikimedia freely provides through publicly available APIs and data dumps. The information panels shown in search engine results and the information served by virtual home assistants are examples of how Wikimedia content is frequently used by other websites.
PCMag has a review of the 14-inch MacBook Pro and the 16-inch model. Both are positive with the 14-inch Pro receiving a slightly higher score.
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro has so many advantages over the 13-inch model that, if you are a professional user bound to macOS, and with the cash to invest in a seriously capable workhorse, your decision really comes down to whether you should buy the 14-inch or the 16-inch model. You can safely leave the 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro model off the list.
A Cool Stuff Found from Mac Geek Gab 895: The Dusk Smart Sunglasses, be in control of the tint.
COOL STUFF FOUND: Be sure to check out DS Manager Pro for your Synology DiskStation. Learn more from Mac Geek Gab 895 and find DS Manager Pro on the App Store.
Learn about iCloud’s New Recovery Service from Mac Geek Gab 895, then visit this Apple Support Page for more information.
Is it a good idea to install macOS Monterey on an unsupported Mac? Find out in this video tip from Mac Geek Gab 894
Apple recently unleashed TWO new chips with their new MacBook Pros. Watch this mini-segment from Mac Geek Gab 896 to learn more about the M1 Pro and M1 Max Chip.
Apple’s macOS Monterey comes out on Monday, October 25th. Watch this mini-segment from Mac Geek Gab 896 to learn more about what to expect!
Following a collaboration with Coinstar, Walmart customers can now make use of 200 Bitcoin ATMs in the retail giant’s pilot program.
The process of buying Bitcoin through these machines is straightforward but relatively costly. Shoppers will insert banknotes into the ATM, which will then issue a voucher carrying a redemption code. The voucher can only be redeemed after the completion of the Know-Your-Customer process. According to the Coinstar FAQ page, “Each purchase carries a transaction fee of 4% and a cash exchange fee of 7%.”
Translation: If you really want to buy Bitcoin with cash, this method may be a good option for you. Otherwise you can buy cryptocurrencies through exchanges. Privacy downside: Many of these exchanges are required to use a Know Your Customer (KYC) process. Upload your photo, driver’s license, and fill out other personal information.
We all enjoy the iFixit teardowns of new products. This time, they’ve enlisted the help of some former Apple engineers to look at the insides of the Apple Watch Series 7. It gives a hint as to why the device might have been delayed.
Windows 11 users will soon be able to access Apple Music as an Android app. MacRumors reported on the functionality, currently available only to beta testers.
Microsoft released Windows 11 earlier this month, but its promised support for side-loading Android apps was delayed. That just got one step closer, however, with the first preview of the support now available to testers in the Beta Channel version of Windows 11, which means interested users need to opt into the Windows Insider program to gain access. As it’s a preview release, Microsoft has limited the number of Android apps that can be run on Windows 11, and has partnered with Amazon to make around 50 apps on the Amazon Appstore available to download and install. Apple Music isn’t available on Amazon’s Appstore, but it is possible to run the app using the app’s APK and the Windows Subsystem for Android.
Scott Gilbertson writes about Safari for The Register on Friday, pondering its features (or lack thereof) with other major browsers.
If Apple were less opaque and faster in its development process it could participate more in the debate over new APIs. If the company truly has concerns about the privacy implications of APIs, then it should voice them. Push back against Google, and provide a real alternative to Chrome. It wouldn’t be easy, but it might be the only hope we have.
The FBI, working with Cyber Command, the Secret Service, and other countries, took down REvil.
According to three people familiar with the matter, law enforcement and intelligence cyber specialists were able to hack REvil’s computer network infrastructure, obtaining control of at least some of their servers. After websites that the hacker group used to conduct business went offline in July, the main spokesman for the group, who calls himself “Unknown,” vanished from the internet.
Google is reducing the fees it takes from developers in the Play Store, CNBC reported. It is dropping the cut it takes from subscriptions from 30 percent to 15 from day one. The move from Google follows similar ones made by Apple.
Google also said on Thursday that it was introducing a program to allow e-books, music streaming services, and other apps that pay for content to access fees as low as 10%. Apple doesn’t make exceptions for those kind of apps and doesn’t offer a 10% fee to developers in its app store. Apple, which has received more regulator attention over its app store than Google, over the past two years cut its take from 30% to 15% in many cases, including for apps making less than $1 million per year, news apps, and certain premium video streamers that participate in an Apple program. But Apple still charges 30% for the first year of a subscription, meaning that Google’s app store may be more competitive for subscription-based apps.
The Associated Press announced a partnership with Chainlink to bring datasets onto leading blockchains.
AP U.S. race calls, economic data, sports game outcomes and business financials will be available. The data can be used to automate key processes that happen on-chain, including informing markets of election race calls, triggering an on-chain trade when a company’s quarterly financials are released, or augmenting the appearance of non-fungible tokens based on real-world events.
Find your expired concert tickets, plane tickets, and more in the Expired Passes section of your iOS 15 Wallet. Learn more in this mini-segment from Mac Geek Gab 894.
It’s a heretical thought for some but…has Apple product design actually got better since Sir Jony Ive left? Writing for Bloomberg Businessweek, Alex Webb argues that devices now focus on function rather than form, to the benefit of the user.
Evans Hankey, who now heads the industrial design team, has overseen plenty of other tweaks that seem to indicate a change of philosophy. Take the iPhone. The latest iterations have ditched the curved edges that made the display liable to crack if dropped on its side. Or the Apple TV remote, whose symmetry made it visually appealing, but meant that users often inadvertently pressed the wrong buttons by holding it upside down. The design was revamped in May. “Since Jony Ive left, there’s not that gravitational force driving aesthetic before function,” Paul Found, a lecturer in industrial design at the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury, England. “Those who have taken over are now listening to what customers are saying.”
Apple has mentioned faster charging when launching a variety of devices recently, including the new 14-inch MacBook Pro, However, as iMore pointed out, getting the feature will cost a little bit extra on top of the standard configuration.
Thankfully, the 96W power adapter is available as a $20 upgrade when you are configuring your 14-inch MacBook Pro, but it still seems odd that Apple would bother with the 67W power adapter at all since it doesn’t provide the full experience that its new laptop is capable of. The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros feature the new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors, Apple’s latest pro-level chips that take the M1 to new heights. The new laptops feature a mini-LED display, MagSafe charging, a new keyboard with function keys, and the return of many ports.
