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Google's Project Zero Deep Dives into NSO Group 'FORCEDENTRY' Exploit

Andrew Orr ·

Google’s Project Zero security team published a deep dive into FORCEDENTRY, a zero-click exploit in iMessage used by NSO Group. Apple’s Security Engineering and Architecture (SEAR) group collaborated on the analysis.

Based on our research and findings, we assess this to be one of the most technically sophisticated exploits we’ve ever seen, further demonstrating that the capabilities NSO provides rival those previously thought to be accessible to only a handful of nation states.

The vulnerability discussed in this blog post was fixed on September 13, 2021 in iOS 14.8 as CVE-2021-30860.

New VPN Called ‘Exidio dVPN’ Runs on Sentinel’s Node Network
Cool Stuff Found

New VPN Called 'Exidio dVPN' Runs on Sentinel's Node Network

Andrew Orr ·

Exidio is a new decentralized VPN application that uses the Sentinel blockchain, which itself is part of the Cosmos ecosystem. “Exidio dVPN is rewriting the true definition of what it means to be a VPN. This is made possible by the Sentinel blockchain where all the global, distributed nodes are sharing their available and unused bandwidth. So as long as the Sentinel blockchain stays active, the network of nodes that offer bandwidth to the network remain active.” Exidio claims that traffic is end-to-end encrypted with proven no data logging.

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Google Sets Out Plan For News Content to French Antitrust Regulator

Charlotte Henry ·

Google has set out a plan for paying news agencies and publishers to French antitrust regulators. The proposals will now be put to public consultation, with responses required by January 31, 2022, Reuters reported. Google’s influence on the news business is obviously far more significant than Apple’s, although I imagine Cupertino will be keeping a keen eye on how this plays out.

News organizations, which have been losing ad revenue to online aggregators such as Google and Facebook (FB.O), have complained for years about tech companies using stories in search results or other features without copyright payment. As part of its proposals, Google commits to negotiate “in good faith” with news agencies and publishers the amount it would pay for using their protected content. It also commits to making a payment offer within three months from the start of the negotiation. If a deal cannot be reached, it would be possible to go to an arbitration court that would decide on the amount to pay.

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This Roboticist Says a Major Robotics Revolution is Around the Corner

Andrew Orr ·

ZDNet interviewed Pieter Abbeel, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He says a major revolution is coming thanks to machine vision.

Giving robots the gift of sight completely changes what’s possible. Computer Vision, the area of AI concerned with making computers and robots see, has undergone a night-and-day transformation over the past 5-10 years — thanks to Deep Learning. Deep Learning trains large neural networks (based on examples) to do pattern recognition, in this case pattern recognition enabling understanding of what’s where in images. And then Deep Learning, of course, is providing capabilities beyond seeing.

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Update to Cash App Lets People Gift Stocks and Bitcoin

Andrew Orr ·

Block updated Cash App recently to let people gift each other Bitcoin and traditional stocks. It works with a USD balance or debit card.

To make this feature work, users will actually be sending the fiat value of the stock or the bitcoin from either their Cash App balance or a linked debit card, the company explains. While the earlier feature of sending bitcoin was accessed from the investing tab, the new feature is available both from the app’s payment tab or from a new “gift box” button on the investing tab.

Podcast

Apple's Jeremy Butcher talks Apple Business Essentials – Mac Geek Gab 905

Dave Hamilton & John F. Braun · · Add Comment

Apple recently announced-and-released the beta of their new MDM solution, Apple Business Essentials. Today we have Jeremy Butcher, Enterprise and Education Product Marketing Manager at Apple here to help us answer our questions about exactly what Apple Business Essentials can do for us and how it all works in a real-world setting. Press play and enjoy learning five new things about Apple Business Essentials!

Update to ‘Phone Buddy’ Adds Play Sound on Apple Watch Feature
Cool Stuff Found

Update to 'Phone Buddy' Adds Play Sound on Apple Watch Feature

Andrew Orr ·

Phone Buddy is an app that monitors the Bluetooth connection between your iPhone and Apple Watch and alerts you when needed. Alerts can be configured to display when your iPhone connection is lost, when you leave your Apple Watch behind, or when devices move apart with Distance Going Away Alerts. With Phone Buddy, if you step away from your iPhone, you get a notification on your Apple Watch. With Phone Buddy 7.2 you can now trigger a sound to play on your Apple Watch from your iPhone with the Play Sound on Apple Watch feature. This update also includes a new error detection heuristic that aims to reduce errors and failures. As always, core stability updates are also included with this update.