Monday, April 20, 2020

France says its contact-tracing application, which would likely send tracking data to a state-run server, won't work with iOS Bluetooth privacy protections (Helene Fouquet/Bloomberg)

Helene Fouquet / Bloomberg:
France says its contact-tracing application, which would likely send tracking data to a state-run server, won't work with iOS Bluetooth privacy protections  —  - Minister says Apple protocol slows government's app deployment  — Government developing app without using Google-Apple platform



Guru, an enterprise-focused knowledge management software provider, raised $30M Series C led by Accel with Slack among returning investors (Mary Ann Azevedo/Crunchbase News)

Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
Guru, an enterprise-focused knowledge management software provider, raised $30M Series C led by Accel with Slack among returning investors  —  Guru, a Philadelphia-based collaborative knowledge management software provider, has raised $30 million in a Series C funding round led by Accel.



Self-drive car and bike rental firms likely to see high demand this year

These vehicle subscription firms could emerge as the only large buyers of new vehicles, including unsold inventories of BS4 and BS6 vehicles lying with dealers. https://ift.tt/2VrJUmV https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The rise & hard fall of SoftBank

Masayoshi Son was the only bid in town for most young startup founders. But with snowballing setbacks, that bid is gone. https://ift.tt/2xNlpax https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Self-drive vehicle rental companies spot a fast lane to riches

Vehicle subscription services may grow as users avoid public transport, shared mobility https://ift.tt/3ao8xoA https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

E-commerce firms defer hiring plans after govt's order reversal

Small sellers on e-commerce platforms said they are faced with a working capital crunch and the delay would force them to pay partial or no salaries for April. https://ift.tt/3eCYLCn https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Nintendo accounts are getting hijacked—including one of ours

Video game plumber Mario stands in front of My Nintendo logo.

Enlarge / It's-a me, your My Nintendo account's hijacker! (credit: Aurich Lawson / Nintendo)

Throughout the month of April, and particularly this weekend, users of online Nintendo accounts on devices like the Switch have reported receiving email notices that their accounts have been accessed by outside parties. Our ability to verify these claims was bolstered by an unfortunate intrusion on Monday: the hijacking of an Ars Technica staffer's account.

Roughly one hour before this article's publication, Reviews Editor Ron Amadeo received a plain-text email notice from Nintendo, titled simply, "[Nintendo Account] New Sign-In." The notice included the following sign-in details: a 5:25pm ET timestamp; the sign-in taking place via the Firefox browser (which Amadeo says "is not even installed" on any devices he used today), and a location estimate of "United States," which the email says is "estimated based on the IP address used." IP addresses generally pin users down to the county level when traced in the United States, and they are often as specific as individual cities or states.

The email caught Amadeo's attention in part because all of his Nintendo devices are, in his words, "collecting dust." Our cursory research for other affected users brought up threads on Reddit, Twitter, and ResetERA. One Twitter thread included a questionnaire with questions about possible account variables: whether users had logged into the service via a website (which Amadeo had not), whether users had tied their Epic Games or Fortnite credentials to the service (Amadeo had not), and other questions. He did answer "yes" to one question, which over 90 percent of respondents had, as well: use of the Nintendo Network ID service. (Amadeo had used this for Nintendo's previous home console, the Wii U.)

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https://arstechnica.com

Facebook launches app for livestream gaming

Facebook on Monday launched a standalone gaming app, allowing users to create and watch livestreams of games in a challenge to the Amazon-owned Twitch platform. https://ift.tt/3ezpeRv https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Sunday, April 19, 2020

LG Velvet Teaser Video Shows Off Design, Confirms Snapdragon 765 SoC

LG Velvet video shows of design of the phone as well as the colour options. It also confirms the processor to be the Snapdragon 765 SoC. https://ift.tt/2Vllxaa

Realme Postpones Narzo 10 Series Launch in India Indefinitely

Following the government's fresh order prohibiting the online sale of electronics during the lockdown, Realme has indefinitely pushed back the launch of Narzo 10 series phones in India. https://ift.tt/3bpbO8n

Hidden bug in FPGA chips can help hackers steal critical data

A team of German researchers has discovered a critical vulnerability in FPGA chips, part of Cloud data centres, mobile phone base stations, encrypted USBs and industrial control systems, that can help hackers gain complete control over chips and steal key data of governments and enterprises. https://ift.tt/2wXfQGk

US judge blocks Twitter's bid to reveal government surveillance requests

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Uttar Pradesh becomes first state to geotag community kitchens: Official

The state government has also tied up with Google to 'Geo-map' the locations of all these establishments on the Google Maps app for ease of beneficiaries, he said. https://ift.tt/2XO3hIg

Australia to force Google, Facebook to pay domestic media to use content

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Amazon to extend French warehouse closures after union dispute

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Some advertisers raise brand safety concerns over Meta's content moderation changes, fearing a surge in harmful content and misinformation on its platforms (Financial Times)

Financial Times : Some advertisers raise brand safety concerns over Meta's content moderation changes, fearing a surge in harmful con...