Chrome Can Be Default on Win Now; Jailbreaking a John Deere; Android Malware-Banking; Zoom Important Mac Update

Starting with something good today. In the latest Dev version of Chrome, you can make Chrome your default browser on Windows 11 with a single click, instead of having to dig through and picking default on every type of file it opens. 9to5google.com reports that you can make the selection right inside chrome. If all goes smoothly, this should be released into the world in a few weeks.

Ok, so you never thought about needing to jailbreak a tractor before…well, neither did I! We have reported here before on the high degree of automation that John Deere has been building into its tractors and implements….like how they can plow a field driverless (no other vehicles to hit, normally.) Now, according to arstechnica.com, if appears farmers have turned to hacking to get around the digital locks that Deer puts on their tractors. This allows the farmers and ranchers to modify and repair the expensive equipment they use (as most farmers have ALWAYS done with their equipment for decades.) At DefCon in Las Vegas over the weekend, a hacker that goes by Sick Codes released a new jailbreak for John Deere tractors. It allows controlling multiple models via their touch screens. No reply from Deer on this, but the battle over ‘right to repair’ is way beyond that smartphone in your hand!

Well, we’ve worked our way down to the bad news portion of this fine blog. Sova malware already had malware on the underground market that functioned as a banking trojan on Android devices. Now, zdnet.com says they have added ransomware to the mix. The banking trojan can harvest usernames and passwords via key logging, and can steal cookies and show false overlays over a whole range of apps. They say in the update it can mimic over 200 banking and payment apps, plus target crypto wallets. Now, with a ransomware feature, it’s even more terrible. Stick with official app stores, and read the reviews before downloading one!

Ok, there was the terrible Android news…now equal time for iOS. Zoom just pushed out a patch for a bug on macOS that allowed a hacker to take control of a user’s operating system. Theverge.com reports that you need to get version 5.11.5 of the app. A word to the wise…I opened the Zoom app, and it downloaded an update right away…BUT it was 5.11.1! Go to the check for updates and click on that if you don’t get 5.11.1 right away. When I hit ‘check for updates,’ the app downloaded the latest bug patching version!

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4; Jolt For You & Your EV; Amazon Palm Payments Expand; Ford Restarts F-150 Lightning Orders

Samsung has unveiled its latest flagship folder, the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Theverge.com reports that it is pretty well an incremental update…nothing earth shaking. It sports a slimmer hinge and bezels, but is less than a millimeter thinner. It remains heavy…but since it’s really a mashup of a phone and small tablet, that’s not unexpected. It runs a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chip system, and the base phone has 256 Gigs of storage…you can get up to a TB. The 50MP primary camera is an upgrade, as is the 3x telephoto. Thanks to a software update, it is a bit better for multitasking. Nope, the price didn’t drop…but it didn’t go up, at least. It’s still a wallet-crushing $1799. Preorders are open now, and it is available August 26th. You can get gray-green, beige, phantom black, and an extra burgundy color option…that one is only available direct from Samsung.

In an EV answer of sorts to the ubiquitous gas station stop and rob, Starbucks is partnering with Volvo for a jolt and jolt. According to geekwire.com, they are installing 60 EV charging stations at some 15 Starbucks locations from Denver to Seattle. The goal is to have the chargers every 100 miles along a route running around 1350 miles. They should be up and running by year’s end. The stations will use the ChargePoint system. Volvo says it will take about 40 minutes for one of their cars with the battery down to 20% to get up to 90%. In a departure from Tesla chargers that only work with Teslas (for now), thee will charge any EV with a standard CCS1 or CHAdeMO plug. Non-Volvo drivers will pay a fee. If you have a Volvo EV, you can top off for free or at a discounted rate. Savor that coffee, check your smartphone, take a leak, and you and your car should be good to go for another few hundred miles!

Amazon is adding its palm payment tech to 65 more Whole Foods locations in California. Engadget.com says they are starting in Malibu, Santa Monica, and LA. More will be getting the tech in coming weeks in Orange country, the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Cruz, and Sacramento. It will be the same as the palm readers they already have had at some Amazon Go locations. You link your palm and payment card to the service, then when you check out, you hover your hand over a scanner to make the purchase. It’s a tad quicker than pulling out your phone or a credit card, but not near like the Just Walk Out system that uses cameras and sensors. Amazon is still looking to get the palm reader in use by 3rd parties, but hitting resistance over concerns about your biometric data being appropriated or stolen. 

Ford sold out in a minute when they unveiled the F-150 Lightning EV truck, but now, they are reopening orders. According to electrek.co, there is upgraded range, new colors, and you can get some new features. The down side? New prices! The prices have gone up between $6000 and $8500, depending on the trim.The cheapie model, dubbed the ‘Pro,’ is now $46,974. The top of the line, gold-plated, loaded model..called the ‘Platinum Extended Range’ is now a princely $96,874! So far, Ford has delivered over 4400 of the new EV pickups. With a new factory coming on line, they expect to be making 200,000 a year by next year. 

WhatsApp 48 Hr Deletion; Lyft Media; Netflix Games-Really? Crypto Fans-More for NFT Cars Than Real Ones

WhatsApp has added a new feature that could be very handy…the ability to delete messages up to 2 days after they are sent. 9to5mac.com reports that there has already been an ‘unsend,’ but this will extend the time period. It can be used in either a private or group chat. Up to now, you have had 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds (for some reason…down to the second!) Now, you will have 2 days and 12 hours. Apple is adding a delete feature for iMessage in iOS 16, but with Apple (at least in the latest beta), you have a miserly 2 minutes to pull the plug on a drunk text you’ve sent.

Lyft has rolled out a new business unit to strengthen its digital ad business across tablets, its mobile app, rooftops, and bicycles. Techcrunch.com says Lyft Media should help Lyft to cash in on the growing market for in-vehicle digital ads, among other income streams. Lyft had picked up Halo Cars in 2020…the business that makes rooftop screens that run digital ads. 

Apparently, very few people are playing the games that come with their Netflix subscription. In other news, Netflix has games! I write about this stuff, but am not a gamer, so I asked several people who are gamers I know…they had no idea Netflix had them, either! According to androidpolice.com, people have downloaded games a bit over 23 million times…and just 1.7 million users grab one on any given day. That is about 1% of all Netflix users. If you are interested in checking them out…now you know!

If you were crazy rich, which would you buy…a legendary classic car, or an NFT of one? This is an easy question for me as a car enthusiast, but apparently…according to thenextweb.com, Vanarama has done some research that finds some buyers have been willing to pay for for an NFT of a car than they could have bought the actual car for! An example…last September, a 3D rendering of a Nissan GT-R went for $2.3 million…which is 10 times the $200,000 price for the real car! A DeLorean NFT is priced at $183,000, but you can pick up the drivable car for $50 grand! If you ARE crazy rich, and want the NFT, cool. As for me, if I come into millions, I’m getting the actual car!

Apple Smart Display; Amazon Buys iRobot; Twitter Security Breach; Feds Probe Tesla Autopilot

Apple is working on a new HomePod and Mini, but also is experimenting with a couple other home devices. According to engadget.com, one is for the kitchen, and is something of a cross between an iPad and a speaker. A second device is a living room oriented product that would combine the functionality of Apple TV, a camera, and HomePod. The devices may or may not see the light of day, but they seem aimed to help Cupertino compete in the home better with Google and Amazon. 

Amazon already vacuums up huge volumes of your data…they probably have more info on people than any company except maybe Google. Now, theverge.com reports that they have made a deal to scoop up iRobot, makers of the Roomba robot vacuums for $1.7 billion. With a detailed map of your home and more data on your coming and going, Amazon will have knowledge of people that Big Brother in 1984 only dreamed of! 

A bug in Twitter’s software has let hackers uncover the identities of more than 5 million ‘secret’ accounts! Androidcentral.com says the flaw let a hacker link the accounts to an email address or phone number. The bug apparently turned up in an update to Twitter’s code last year. Twitter claims that it found “no evidence to suggest someone had taken advantage of the vulnerability” when it first learned about the bug. The horse was out of the barn though…the hacker sold a database of 5.4 million accounts on a hacker forum for $30,000. Twitter says it will notify the account owners, and cautions not to add a publicly known phone number or email address to accounts you intend to be secret.

The feds at NHTSA and the California DMV are both investigating Tesla over concerns that the Autopilot system in the cars has a blind spot for motorcycles at night. According to arstechnica.com, there have been two fatal crashes involving cycles…one in Riverside, CA and another near Draper, UT. The Riverside crash involved a Model Y, and the one in Utah a Model 3. There is still an investigation into the Riverside crash, but the driver in Utah admitted he was using the hands-free driver assist mode at the time of his crash. The NHTSA was already probing Tesla over 11 accidents where Tesla cars in Autopilot mode hit emergency vehicles after failing to recognize them. California’s DMV has filed two complaints calling for administrative hearings over Tesla using the language ‘Autopilot’ and ‘Full Self-Driving’, saying they are “untrue or misleading, and not based on facts.”

Samsung Teases New Galaxy Watch; Time Spent on Apps; Logitech-Secret Handheld Gaming System; Apple Pay Coming to Chrome

Samsung has started teasing a new Galaxy watch for people with a ‘passion for the outdoors.’ Androidcentral.com reports that a new Galaxy Watch 5 series should bow at Samsung’s upcoming Unpacked event next week. Samsung appears to be adding a more rugged Watch version, but they noted the Watch will still keep a focus on Samsung’s Health Connect. The Galaxy Watch should get a boost in battery life with a larger battery that they say may last multiple days. 

Firms have measured for years…or actually decades…the number of hours a day people listened to radio or watched TV. Now, people (especially parents) have a new number to fret about…the hours spent using apps! According to techcrunch.com, there are now 13 countries around the world where people are spending over 4 hours a day using apps. The US is one of them. There are actually 3 countries where people are buried in apps over 5 hours a day…Indonesia, Singapore and Brazil! App use grew during the pandemic, then seemed to taper off a little…but its back up again….by 5% here in the US. 

People have been using their mice, keyboards, and gaming headsets for years…now, it looks like Logitech is working on a new hand held gaming system. Bgr.com says it is being developed in partnership with Tencent Games. The box will use cloud gaming software to deliver titles in and on the go friendly format. With the huge success of the Nintendo Switch, and now the Steam Deck, Logitech sees an opening. (Although Google couldn’t seem to get much traction with their Stadia system.) The Logitech partnership was announced in a blog post yesterday. 

In what would be a major expansion for them, Apple is preparing to release software that will let people make purchases from their phone even if they use Chrome or MS Edge. Mashable.com reports that code was spotted in the latest beta of iOS 16. So far, nothing like that yet has been spotted for desktops…desktop browsers use their own web render engines. The iOS versions of Chrome (and Edge) use Safari’s render engine. The feature could drop soon.

Amazon Emissions Increase; Rich Facebook Friends & Success; Israeli Lidar Coming to VW; Code Indicates iPhone 14 Pro Always On Screen

Amazon may have committed to reducing its carbon footprint, but that’s not what is happening so far…according to Amazon. Engadget.com reports that the company’s emissions grew by 18% last year. While people were isolating and buying more during the pandemic, Amazon rapidly expanded its warehouse operations. The number is actually higher than they report…Amazon only counts emissions from Amazon-branded products. Walmart and Target report emissions for all the goods they sell. It should be noted that many of the 3rd party sellers that ship via Amazon are too small to be mandatory reporters.

From the absolutely no surprise department— new research combing through more than 21 billion Facebook friendships confirms something most people already know…having rich friends helps make you more successful. According to gizmodo.com, the research was done by Harvard’s Opportunity Insights. From the massive 21 billion, the Harvard researchers pulled a dataset of 72 million and crunched the numbers. Low income children saw an 8.2% increase in their adulthood incomes when their share of higher income friends increased from 25 to 50%! 

Israeli lidar startup Innoviz has picked up another big customer…Volkswagen. VW will use their tech for vehicles with automated driving capabilities. TechCrunch.com notes that Innoviz revealed in April that it had a deal with BMW…their lidar will be on 2023 BMW i7 electric vehicles. There is also a third major manufacturer that has signed with the firm, as yet unnamed. Lidar helps self-driving vehicles ‘see’ in conditions where cameras can’t. Tesla famously dropped lidar, to the consternation of both drivers and their own engineers, when Elon Musk said it was just too expensive…they were using Velodyne gear that costs thousands. Infotech says their equipment is priced in the hundreds. 

It’s been rumored, and now the latest Xcode 14 beta software indicates that an always on display is coming to the iPhone 14 Pro next month. 9to5mac.com says that always on will be a key feature Apple will tout on its new top of line iPhones. The always on display will work much like the one on the Apple Watch…the display will dim, but key information will still be visible, while consuming minimum battery power. When you move the phone, it will brighten back to normal level, like with the Watch. The new iPhones should bow the middle of September. 

Amazon Circles Back to Books; Colorful Galaxy Z Flip 4; Twitter Tests Multi-Image Tweets; TikTok Music

In something of a throwback, Amazon is suddenly running an ad campaign to sell…books! Yes, it’s not Whole Foods, nor healthcare…as the online giant tries to acquire One Medical. Zdnet.com reports that Amazon is dropping a large sum into the campaign to get you to buy more books…the very thing the company started with! As yet, no one has figured out why the push for their original product category, but hey…reading can expand the mind!

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 will go on sale August 10th, along with the Fold 4 and the Galaxy Watch 5 series. If you haven’t decided you need a folding phone yet, Samsung is trying to entice you with a riot of colors. According to 9to5google.com, in addition to 4 ‘primary’ colors…blue, Bora Purple, Graphite, and Pink Gold, you will be able to mix and match with Green, Navy, Red, Yellow, and White…for a total of 70…count ‘em 70…color combos. The colors can be applied to either the top or bottom of the phone. If the 4 is priced like the Flip 3, it should run you about $999.

Twitter is testing letting users post multiple images, videos, and GIFs into a single Tweet. Androidcentral.com says you can even re-order the media before firing off the Tweet into the ether. The test run is only with ‘select accounts for a limited time.’ It does allow up to 4 media assets in one Tweet. Presumably, if the feature works well enough, and is liked by the test accounts, they will release it to the public. 

In a move uncovered by Insider, apparently TikTok filed to trademark ‘TikTok Music’ in May. Theverge.com reports that it would allow users to purchase, play, share and download music. Considering how disruptive TikTok has been to social media, this could cause the folks at Spotify and Apple Music to lose some sleep. TikTok owner ByteDance has already danced around the music biz, having launched music streaming app Resso in India, Brazil, and Indonesia back in 2020. Right now, no one knows if they are just going to rebrand that app, or launch a completely new one. 

Google Maps-Aerial 3D View; Microsoft Ignite In-Person Again; Meta Boosts Prices on Quest 2; Google Cam Video to Cops-Same as Ring’s

It’s not ready for prime time yet, but Google is giving us a peek at their 3D ‘immersive view’ now. Engadget.com reports that the preview is coming in an update to Maps for Android and iOS that is rolling out now. You will be able to view around 100 famous landmarks like Alcatraz here in San Francisco Bay, as well as Big Ben in London and the Empire State Building in New York City. It marries AI with billions of images (including satellite and street view pics) to make realistic 3D views. To use it, just look for a landmark in Google Maps and visit the Photos section.

After over 2 years off due to the coronavirus, Microsoft will resume live, in person events this October with Microsoft Ignite. According to theverge.com, the annual conference for developers and IT pros will be in Seattle on October 12th through the 14th. Registration will open late next month. The event will fall just a few days before the 10th anniversary or Surface, so expect some new product announcements.

If you have been considering buying a Quest 2 virtual reality headset, better act fast…Meta is jacking up the price on August 1st. TechCrunch.com says the base model will go up $100  from $299 to $399. The 256 Gig version is bumped from $399 to $499. Meta says it is having to raise the tariff due to increased production costs. 

It’s been known, and complained about with regard to Amazon’s Ring cams, and now were are finding out that…perhaps unsurprisingly…Google has given cam footage to police without a warrant or express permission of the owners, too. This year so far, they have only done so 11 times, according to a vice president of Amazon. The disclosure came due to questioning from Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts. Privacy advocates like the EFF have warned that this sort of warrantless release of cam footage endangers civil liberties. 

Hot Spot Capable Chromebook; Shopify Cuts Staff 10%; VW Starts EV Production in Tennessee

A lot of laptops have the feature, and now it appears that Google is getting ready to add support to Chromebooks for Wi-Fi hotspot use. According to Android Central, a number of Chromebook already ship with native SIM capability. Once the feature starts rolling out, it should work like Wi-Fi hotspot connectivity on your Android phone…you’ll be able to set a network name and password up. Google will probably be testing this for a little while yet before it is released in an update. 

Shopify is laying off around 10% of its staff worldwide, about 1,000 people. Reuters.com reports that the stock dipped 16% on the news. The company said in a memo that they misjudged how long the pandemic-fueled e-commerce boom would last. The cuts will mainly apply to recruiting, support, and sales roles. Like with other e-commerce companies, Shopify has found that consumers have moved at least partially back to pre-pandemic shopping habits. 

Volkswagen has fired up production on its ID.4 electric crossover SUV in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It’s their first EV to be built in the US. More importantly, theverge.com notes that VW is claiming it will start to usher in an era of cheaper EVs. Presently, the ID.4 starts at $41,230. VW had planned to sell the UU made models for around $35,000…which will drop to $27,500 with the federal tax credit. As pricing hasn’t yet been announced, we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see if they can meet that sweet spot pricing figure. 

T-Mobile Settlement; Apple Watch Features Delayed; Huawei’s Nefarious Cell Equipment

T-Mobile has agreed in a preliminary settlement to pay $350 million to customers affected by its big data breach in August of last year. According to android Police, they will also commit to $150 million to strengthen their security measures. Class members will get $100 if in California…$25 elsewhere. A few who were ‘materially impacted’ and took out-of-pocket losses may get up to $25,000. The proposed settlement covers some 44 proposed class-action suits.

Apple plans to roll out 3 models in September, including the rumored Apple Watch Pro. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says the Pro will have a 7% larger display and longer battery life, as previously reported, as well as a new body-temperature sensor. Two long anticipated health sensor features won’t make it into this year’s Watch models, though. The blood pressure monitor apparently won’t be ready until 2025, and the glucose monitoring feature may not be ready until the end of the decade.

More has come out behind the US government’s move to ‘rip and replace’ Huawei cell tech around the country. Theverge.com says the effort starts after the government noticed Huawei equipment on cell towers near military bases in rural America where it wasn’t profitable for them. The feds found that the equipment had the potential to intercept military communications, including form the US Strategic Command! The gear also apparently had the ability to technically disrupt military communications. Starting in 2019, the US started weeding out Huawei equipment, and also that of China based ZTE over national security…and now, we know a bit more about why.