Meta Tests Age Verification-Facebook Dating; Apple AR Headset May Ship 2nd Half of 2023; Hackers in China Stole Millions in COVID Relief; DHL Buying Fleet of Ford EV Vans
Posted: December 5, 2022 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentMeta is testing age verification tools for Facebook Dating, in an effort to make that product safer…and to get ahead of an expected tightened regulatory environment. Axios.com reports that Meta and other tech platforms think the government is getting ready to crack down on them, in an effort to make things safer for children and teens online. Facebook Dating rolled out in 2019, and the age verification tools they are testing are borrowed from co-owned Instagram. One method of verification includes video selfies, which are screened by partner company Yoti’s software…which guesses the age from the uploaded image. The other method is via ID uploads. You DO trust Meta with an image of your driver’s license, right? Anyway, Meta claims these techniques have kept 96% of teens on Instagram who tried to edit their birthdays from doing so…or so they think.
We just reported last week that Bloomberg said Apple’s mixed reality headset should be out next spring. Now, according to macrumors.com, noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says it will be delayed until the second half of next year, due to unspecified ’software-related issues.’ Kuo says shipments of components WILL start in the first half of 2023, but the fully assembled units won’t be out until the 2nd half of the year. Originally, rumors had Apple introducing the system in January, but now it could be revealed at WWDC in June. As we noted earlier, the Apple mixed reality headset will be pricey. Kuo thinks they will ship less than a half million of them next year for that reason.
Hackers linked to the Chinese government stole at least $20 million in early COVID relief funds…both via SBA loans and from unemployment funds in over a dozen states, according to the Secret Service. NBC says the theft was by a hacking group in China called APT41. It may not be close to all of the theft, either. The Secret Service, through spokesman Roy Dotson says “It would be crazy to think this group didn’t target all 50 states.” The Secret Service declined to confirm the scope of other investigations, saying there are more than 1,000 ongoing investigations involving transnational and domestic criminal actors defrauding public benefits programs.
Courier company DHL is buying a couple thousand Ford E-Transit electric vans for last mile deliveries. Arstechnica.com reports that the vans will be used in both the US and Europe. EVs are particularly suited to last mile use, as they are never terribly far from their bases, and can return for charging relatively easily. DHL already runs some 27,000 electric vans worldwide. Some have been converted from diesel motors. They also use EVs from Rivian, and from a maker called BrightDrop.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Apple Mixed Reality Headset; Tesla Delivers EV Semis; Vendor Certificate Leak Allowed Android Malware; Hive Shut Down Issues-Back Working Today
Posted: December 2, 2022 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentApple 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.
clarkreid 
Recent Comments