The MacValley blog
Welcome to the MacValley blog, your first stop for all the latest MacValley news and views.
|
The MacValley blog Editor: Tom Briant
|
|
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Senior Correspondent Arnold Woodworth's Weekly Web Wrap-up for Sunday, November 20, 2016
Apple’s New MacBook Pro: Fast and Light, but Not for Everyone
I tested the new MacBook Pros — which cost $1,500 to $2,800, depending on the model — while gathering reactions to the new computers from engineers and information technology professionals over two weeks. I concluded that while the new laptops are capable enough for many professionals, there is no need to rush to buy one.
The jury is still out on whether the Touch Bar will be a must-have. When switching back to a laptop with a normal keyboard, I didn’t feel as if I was missing anything. But much like the iPhone on Day 1, the Touch Bar is essentially a blank slate, and the onus is on app developers to make it more compelling.
How to use Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro 2016
It's pleasingly intuitive to customise the functions that appear in the Touch Bar.
Apple Watch Series 1 review
Bottom line: Apple Watch Series 1 has everything most people need at a lower price than Apple Watch Series 2.
WatchOS 3 is much-improved software over last year.
Video:
Which Apple Watch should you get?
John Hancock insurance is subsidizing the cost of the new Apple Watch
How does a health insurance company go about trying to help address health problems before they arise? Getting people moving is a start. After all, there are plenty of long issues that can be avoided or lessened by living a more active lifestyle.
Apple Watch Series 2 wins Wearable of the Year at TrustedReviewsAwards 2016
Apple’s second-generation Apple Watch only launched two months ago, but it’s already impressed us with its nippy Apple S2 processor, water-resistant design, and built-in GPS.
Here's a whole community of Apple HomeKit-powered smart homes
California home builder KB Home wants to use Apple HomeKit's connected home controls to sell houses -- and it's unveiling the first "HomeKit-enabled community" to help make the sale.
California home builder KB Home wants to use Apple HomeKit's connected home controls to sell houses -- and it's unveiling the first "HomeKit-enabled community" to help make the sale.
Pricing for a three-story, four-bedroom townhouse starts in the low $900,000s. Of course, this is California we're talking about, where real estate is expensive to begin with.
10 hidden iPhone tricks Apple never told you about
Apple agrees to repair iPhone 6 Plus 'touch disease' malfunction ... for a price
Under a new policy, Apple will repair iPhone 6 Plus devices affected affected with the touch screen problems for a service fee of $228.95.
iOS 10 Problems: This iPhone Lock Screen Exploit Lets Hackers Access Your Sensitive Info, But Here's A Quick Fix - See more at: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/186395/20161119/ios-10-problems-this-iphone-lock-screen-exploit-lets-hackers-access-your-sensitive-info-but-heres-a-quick-fix.htm#sthash.RwNb7kAb.dpuf
Quick Fix:
If you do not want people to bypass the lock screen security of your iPhone with this exploit, here's what you can do: disable Siri from your iPhone's lock screen.
An NYC attorney has renewed a call for Apple to reverse its encryption
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said Thursday that he wants Apple's encryption to go back to how it was in early 2014. Back then, police could basically extract any information they wanted after getting a warrant.
"Doing nothing about this problem will perpetuate an untenable arms race between private industry and law enforcement," Vance said on Thursday. "Federal legislation is our only chance to lay these arms aside.”
Vance said he's got 423 "lawfully-seized Apple devices" that his employees can't do anything with. Forty-two of those devices "pertain to homicide or attempted murder cases”.
You can enroll in thousands of online classes for $10 each with this pre-Black Friday deal
This article lists only 15 of the courses, but there are thousands more that you can buy from Udemy.
The offer expires on November 25, 2016.
Video:
On Tuesday, Google launched a new app called Photoscan that lets you easily digitize your old family photos and store them in the Google Photos app.
It lets you use a smart phone to scan old paper photos.
Smartphones' sleep-destroying effect isn't just because of blue light
A pair of new studies shows the flood of light isn't the only problem; it's the flood of information, too.
Defeating Malware With Its Own DNA
Malware DNA, also known as "malware provenance”...
Every malware variant has an immutable part derived from its predecessors all the way back to its original malware family. For example, CryptoWall 3.0 shares the same genome with CryptoWall and the previous CryptoDefense.
The technique is not only very accurate, but also very fast. It can identify malware at machine language speeds and even detect zero day malware -- that is, previously unseen malicious programs.
The technique is not only very accurate, but also very fast. It can identify malware at machine language speeds and even detect zero day malware -- that is, previously unseen malicious programs.
Up to now, malware fighters have been struggling to stem the tide of malware crashing over their systems.
"We've got stacks of Band-Aids," Igor Volovich told TechNewsWorld. "We keep adding more and more bandages, and we stop the bleeding for a while, but we never really fix the root cause."
“All zero day malware is a variance of previously seen malware,” said Arun Lakhotia.
“All zero day malware is a variance of previously seen malware,” said Arun Lakhotia.
"They're mostly not new malware code -- they're mostly variations of previous malware," he told TechNewsWorld.
That's where genetics enters the picture.
Two-thirds of the world's internet users live under government censorship
The report from Freedom House, a pro-democracy think tank, finds that internet freedom across the globe declined for a sixth consecutive year in 2016.
Booming e-business and tight censorship: China wants to have the internet both ways
President Xi Jinping voiced the idea of “cyberspace sovereignty”, an unambiguous announcement that Beijing will step up its censorship and control of the internet.
The problem for Beijing is that it wants to contain the role of the internet in fanning radical social changes, in the way social media facilitated the Arab Spring movement. But it also wants to use the internet to upgrade its economy.
restricted information flows hurt economic activities.
Over 300 million AdultFriendFinder accounts have been exposed in a massive breach
Adult dating service company Friend Finder Network has reportedly been hacked, with over 412 million accounts, e-mail addresses and passwords from their websites made available on criminal marketplaces.
Welcome to the Dark Net, a wilderness where wars are fought and hackers roam.
The Dark Net exists within the deep web, which lies beneath the surface net, which is familiar to everyone. The surface net can be roughly defined as “anything you can find through Google” or that is otherwise publicly indexed for all to see. The deep web is deep because it cannot be accessed through ordinary search engines. Its size is uncertain, but it is believed to be larger than the surface net above it. And it is mostly legitimate. It includes everything from I.R.S. and Social Security data to the internal communications of Sony and the content management system at The New York Times. It includes Hillary Clinton’s e-mails and text messages, along with everyone else’s. Almost all of it is utterly mundane.
Through the eyes of a master hacker turned security expert, William Langewiesche chronicles the rise of the Dark Net—where weapons, drugs, and information are bought, sold, and hacked—and learns how high the stakes have really become.
Through the eyes of a master hacker turned security expert, William Langewiesche chronicles the rise of the Dark Net—where weapons, drugs, and information are bought, sold, and hacked—and learns how high the stakes have really become.
The Dark Net occupies the basement. Its users employ anonymizing software and encryption to hide themselves as they move around. Such tools offer a measure of privacy. Whistle-blowers and political dissidents have good reason to resort to them. Criminals do, too. White fades quickly through gray and then to black in the Dark Net.
The real action on the Dark Net is in the trade of information. Stolen credit cards and identities, industrial secrets, military secrets, and especially the fuel of the hacking trade: the zero days and back doors that give access to closed networks.
A short-lived back door to the iPhone operating system may sell for a million dollars.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment