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New Public Sculpture Coming to Apple Park Visitor’s Center

Charlotte Henry ·

There’s a new public sculpture coming to the Apple Park Visitor’s Center. It is called ‘Mirage’ and will be created by Katie Paterson and Zeller Moye. Ms. Paterson described the work, which will be installed next year, in a blog post:

Mirage blends art, architecture, science and nature. It will have strong material presence, connecting to the elements. Social and connective, it will create an unexpected gathering place for visitors and staff. The glass columns are glimpsed through the trees from the Visitor Center, the highway and beyond, generating a sense of discovery.

[Image credit: Katie Paterson and Zeller & Moye]

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Researchers Hid Malware Inside an AI’s Brain

Andrew Orr ·

This is straight out of a sci-fi novel. Researchers created a proof-of-concept technique that let them hide malware inside of an AI’s neurons to avoid detection.

According to the paper, in this approach the malware is “disassembled” when embedded into the network’s neurons, and assembled into functioning malware by a malicious receiver program that can also be used to download the poisoned model via an update. The malware can still be stopped if the target device verifies the model before launching it, according to the paper. It can also be detected using “traditional methods” like static and dynamic analysis.

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Patent Suggests AR Functions Coming to iPhone Measure App

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple is looking to incorporate AR technology into the iPhone’s Measure app in a bid to improve accuracy and allow automatic annotation of the object you’re interested in. That’s according to a new patent, seen by AppleInsider.

In future, pointing your iPhone camera at an object could automatically get you an on-screen notification of its measurements. It will do it through AR, and it will do it in part through Machine Learning on different types of objects. “Automatic measurements based on object classification,” is a newly-revealed patent application. It’s concerned with how to determine which object you’re interested in, then how measure it accurately. The patent application is particularly broad, including “devices, systems, and methods that obtain a three-dimensional (3D) representation of a physical environment.” The detail generated is based on a whole series of different sensors and measurements to do with “depth data and light intensity image data.”

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Catholic Publication Used Location Data Against a Priest

Andrew Orr ·

Catholic media publication The Pillar used location data from gay dating app Grindr to track the movements of a priest, then publicly outed him for “improper behavior.”

It wasn’t clear who had collected the information about Burrill. USCCB spokespeople declined to answer questions Tuesday about what it knew about the information-gathering and what its leadership feels about it, except to say the USCCB wasn’t involved. They also declined to comment on whether they knew if Burrill’s alleged actions were tracked on a private or church-owned phone.

This is a good example of how our data can be used against us, and not just by advertisers.

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Akamai DNS Outage Took Out Airbnb, LastPass, Steam, UPS, FedEx, Others

Andrew Orr ·

Akamai’s Edge DNS service experienced an issue at around 11AM ET with dozens of websites and apps getting knocked offline. At the time of this writing the outage has been resolved.

Akamai said it was “actively investigating the issue,” but when reached a spokesperson would not say if its outage was the cause of the disruption to other sites and services that are currently offline. Akamai would not say what caused the issue but that it was already in recovery.

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HBO Shuts Down Apple TV Channel, Forcing Move to HBO Max

Charlotte Henry ·

HBO shut down its Apple TV channel on Thursday, meaning users have to move to HBO Max. However, MacRumors reported that there are also login issues.

Simultaneously, as HBO shuts down its ‌Apple TV‌ channel, several users are reporting across social media that HBO has removed the ability within its HBO Max app to sign in with an Apple ID account. Users who were previously signed up to HBO via the ‌Apple TV‌ channel had done so through their ‌Apple ID‌. Now, with the channel shut down and the ability to sign in with an ‌Apple ID‌ missing, some users are locked out from their accounts until further notice.

An iPhone 7 Photo Won the 2021 iPhone Photography Awards
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An iPhone 7 Photo Won the 2021 iPhone Photography Awards

Andrew Orr ·

The winners of the 2021 iPhone Photography Awards have been announced, and the grand prize winner is Istvan Kerekes from Hungary whose photo was of two Transylvanian shepherds (pictured above) shot using an iPhone 7. In first place is Sharon Shetty of India with a photo of a man and horse using an iPhone X. In second place, Dan Liu from China submitted a beautiful landscape using an iPhone 11 Pro Max. Finally, the third place photo is from Jeff Rayner in the United States, with a photo of a little girl on an iPhone X.

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FCC Increases Enforcement Efforts Against Right to Repair Violations

Andrew Orr ·

On Wednesday the FCC voted to increase law enforcement efforts against violations of Right to Repair laws.

The policy statement adopted today is aimed at manufacturers’ practices that make it extremely difficult for purchasers to repair their products or shop around for other service providers to do it for them. By enforcing against restrictions that violate antitrust or consumer protection laws, the Commission is taking important steps to restore the right to repair.

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UK Man Joseph O’Connor Arrested for Hacking Apple’s Twitter Account

Andrew Orr ·

Joseph O’Connor, also known as “PlugWalkJoe” has been arrested for hacking Apple’s Twitter account in 2020. He also faces charges for “takeovers of TikTok and Snapchat user accounts.”

O’Connor openly identified himself as “PlugWalkJoe” and confirmed that the hackers had obtained Twitter credentials to take over the accounts via an internal company Slack. At the time, O’Connor was fairly bullish about his involvement and apparent safety, “They can come arrest me. I would laugh at them. I haven’t done anything,” he told the Times.

He had also compromised the Twitter accounts of Elon Musk, former President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, President Joe Biden, and a few others.