Apple Mixed Reality Headset; Tesla Delivers EV Semis; Vendor Certificate Leak Allowed Android Malware; Hive Shut Down Issues-Back Working Today

Apple is shooting for unveiling its new mixed reality headset as early as this spring. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg is reporting that they have changed the name of the operating system to xrOS from realityOS. The EX stands for ‘extended reality’. This is an internal name, so the final product could still have a different one for the operating system. The first headset is supposed to be a pricey (from Apple…ya think?) unit with premium hardware. It is expected that the price will blow past Meta’s high end Meta Quest Pro headset. Interestingly, the engineering chiefs for Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Notes, and Apple News are involved…so the headset may be able to run core Apple apps right out of the box. 

Yesterday, Tesla delivered its first electric semi trucks from its Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada. Theverge.com notes that the deliveries are only 3 years later than promised. The rigs are powered by 4 independent motors on the rear axles. They can go from 0-60 in 20 seconds, and have a battery range of 500 miles, hauling a trailer with 81,000 pounds of cargo. The base price starts at about $150,000. The first ones were wrapped with Pepsi and Frito Lay logos…two of the earlier buyers. Walmart and FedEx also have a few dozen each ordered. 

Not something you want to hear about, but there was a vendor certificate leak that allowed malware full control of Android phones. Androidpolice.com report that it is ‘mostly fixed’ for now. It did affect vendors putting apps on both Samsung and LG…which is a major share of Android phones. When the certificate leak happened, it allowed malware makers to sign their bad actor programs so the phones would see them as legit. This is not a new problem….as early as 2016 a certificate leaked out. This leak was reported then allegedly fixed in May, but only now marked as fixed by Google. Google has warned phone makers to limit use of their platform certificate to as few apps as possible. For you, it means…keep your software up to date so it gets patches for issues like this!

Buzzy Twitter alternative Hive shut down completely for a couple days to fix several critical vulnerabilities. TechCrunch.com reports the platform is back up and running now. I checked before this report, and could get in to the still quirky app. What were the issues? They would allow attackers access to all data, including private posts and messages, shared media and even deleted direct messages, as well as the ability to edit other people’s Hive posts. Not cool. Now that these are supposedly fixed, maybe they can get busy on a desktop or browser version. Phones are great, but it’s much easier and faster to type on a real keyboard!

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.