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Brace Yourselves: New HDMI 2.1a Standard to Debut at CES 2022

Andrew Orr ·

CES 2022 will see the introduction of yet another HDMI standard: 2.1a. What will it do? Both good and bad things.

Let’s start with the good: HDMI 2.1a is an upcoming revision to the HDMI 2.1 stack and adds a major new feature, Source-Based Tone Mapping, or SBTM. SBTM is a new HDR feature that offloads some of the HDR tone mapping to the content source (like your computer or set-top box) alongside the tone mapping that your TV or monitor is doing.

More HDMwhy, am I right?

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Apple's Policies Force Tumblr to Ban Certain Tags for iOS Users

Andrew Orr ·

Tumblr has been banning a host of tags from its iOS app in an effort to comply with Apple’s app review policies.

Some of the banned tags make sense for a platform trying to scrub itself of sensitive content — “porn,” “drugs” and “sex” are banned, for instance. Others are incomprehensible (or troubling if you think about them for too long), like the aforementioned “Tony the Tiger” and “Eugene Levy.” Even tags with the numbers 69 and 420 are banned.

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President Biden Signs 'National Defense Authorization Act' Into Law for Cybersecurity

Andrew Orr ·

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2022 lays out voluntary cybersecurity practices for private companies that handle critical infrastructure in the U.S.

But provisions all rely on the voluntary participation by industry, which owns and operates the vast majority of the nation’s critical infrastructure. Despite bipartisan calls after massive breaches at SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange, Colonial Pipeline and other hacks, the NDAA made it through the House without mandatory incident reporting requirements for the private sector.

I disagree on the “voluntary” part. Make it mandatory, otherwise we end up with T-Mobile’s half-dozen breaches in the span of four years.

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T-Mobile Data Breach Leaves Customers Vulnerable to SIM Swapping

Andrew Orr ·

T-Mobile has had another data breach, although a report suggests this one is less severe than the one in August. Only a small set of customers have been affected, but they could be vulnerable to a SIM swapping attack.

This is where a malicious actor will change the physical SIM card associated with a phone number in order to obtain control of said number. This can, and often does, lead to the victim’s other online accounts being accessed via two-factor authentication codes sent to their phone number. The document says that customers affected by a SIM swap have now had that action reversed.

Podcast

Streaming Music Today, Using iPads, NFT Comic Books, with Jeff Gamet - ACM 565

Bryan Chaffin · · Add Comment

Bryan Chaffin and Jeff Gamet talk about the practical realities of listening to music int he age of streaming music services. They also talk about how they use their iPads, and the ways in which that has changed. They cap the show with a practical use case look at NFT graphic novels, which Bryan says is one way of bringing collectibility back to the comic book world.

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Proposed Bill Would Make Social Media Companies Responsible for Disinformation

Andrew Orr ·

A bill sponsored by state Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) aims to hold social media companies accountable for disinformation.

The legislation adds a section to the state’s penal code, adding a new cause of action for public nuisance allowing the state Attorney General, city corporation counsels or private citizens to bring lawsuits after companies or individuals for “knowingly or recklessly” contributing to things like promoting self-harm or vaccine disinformation.

Tips

Use This Keyboard Shortcut to View Wi-Fi Details on Mac

Andrew Orr ·

Here’s a handy tip so you can quickly access information about your router, and see if your network is performing well. See your BSSID, signal-to-noise ratio, and even the transmit rate between your router and computer. All it takes is a press of a button and a click of your trackpad/mouse.

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Oculus VR Wins Most Popular App on Christmas Day 2021

Andrew Orr ·

Meta’s Oculus app topped the charts for the App Store on Christmas, likely reflecting the popularity of the VR headset as a gift. Meta doesn’t disclose how many headsets it sells, however.

Today’s VR headsets from Meta are nowhere near as powerful or capable enough to enable Zuckerberg’s ultimate vision for the metaverse. But they can give you a taste of what’s possible. On top of that, Meta now has a lot more customers, giving it a chance to gather more data about how normal folks use virtual reality and tailor experiences to those tastes. If Zuckerberg’s thesis about the metaverse is correct, then this year’s new crop of VR users will help inform Meta, and other companies working on similar technologies, to decide on what kind of experiences to make next.

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Leak Shows Crime Prediction Software Targets Black and Latino Neighborhoods

Andrew Orr ·

Here’s some news from the beginning of the month that I missed. Gizmodo and The Markup analyzed PredPol, a crime prediction software used in the U.S.

Residents of neighborhoods where PredPol suggested few patrols tended to be Whiter and more middle- to upper-income. Many of these areas went years without a single crime prediction.

By contrast, neighborhoods the software targeted for increased patrols were more likely to be home to Blacks, Latinos, and families that would qualify for the federal free and reduced lunch program.

Link

Ozzy Osbourne Announces 'Cryptobatz' NFT Collection for 2022

Andrew Orr ·

In January, Ozzy Osbourne will launch an NFT collection called Cryptobatz, a set of 9,666 bat tokens made in collaboration with Sutter Systems.

According to an official release, each Cryptobat will give collectors a unique opportunity to birth an additional NFT; activating a feature which will allow their purchase to ‘bite’ and mutate with another NFT from their digital wallet.

Known as ‘MutantBatz’, the pioneering feature will subsequently allow owners to combine the attributes of two separate projects – making ‘MutantBatz’ a rare offering for NFT collectors.