Friday, July 17, 2020

Twitter provides an overview about what it knows about Wednesday's hack so far: how it happened, what the attackers accessed, its actions, and the next steps (Twitter)

Twitter:
Twitter provides an overview about what it knows about Wednesday's hack so far: how it happened, what the attackers accessed, its actions, and the next steps  —  As we've been informing via the @TwitterSupport account, on Wednesday, July 15, 2020, we detected a security incident at Twitter and took immediate action.



10 apps that make your smartphone camera do more than clicking photos

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From workplace to yoga classes, Zoom has changed the way people connect: Aparna Bawa, COO

I am not sure that anything about this pandemic is perfectly planned.. We used it as an opportunity to see how we can scale our business, says Aparna Bawa. https://ift.tt/32tavDM https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Chinese firms revive marketing strategies, highlight 'Make in India' in campaigns

Chinese smartphone and electronics brands such as Xiaomi, Vivo, Haier, Oppo and OnePlus are reviving their marketing and advertising spends in India. https://ift.tt/2CIl1MT https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Smartphone shipments in India fell 48% in Q2; Apple least impacted: Canalys

This is the first set of data for the Covid-19 hit April-June period for smartphone sales https://ift.tt/398T4tN https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

US coronavirus response disappointing: Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO expresses concern in interview with Anthony Fauci, US’ top infectious disease expert https://ift.tt/3hawlA1 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Andrew Yang's Data Dividend Project would force social media companies to compensate users, but the plan underestimates difficulty of valuing data (Will Rinehart/Wired)

Will Rinehart / Wired:
Andrew Yang's Data Dividend Project would force social media companies to compensate users, but the plan underestimates difficulty of valuing data  —  He wants social media companies to pay you for the data you produce.  But loopholes abound, it's too expensive, and other plans like it have failed.



Covid-19: Facebook removes 'misleading' post by a doctor on Karnataka govt request

Dr Sanjeev Kumar had posted videos and messages, including a blanket prescription with names of 11 drugs “for very sick patients with low oxygen saturation but unable to find a bed”. https://ift.tt/2ZEr0LD https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Ebay nears $10 billion sale of classified ads unit: Sources

Ebay's classified business includes brands such as Gumtree and Kijiji and offers online ads to more than 1,000 cities around the world. https://ift.tt/2WvCfUF https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Companies like Deloitte and IBM have made millions building state unemployment websites that didn't work, yet keep getting contracts to fix them (Colin Lecher/The Markup)

Colin Lecher / The Markup:
Companies like Deloitte and IBM have made millions building state unemployment websites that didn't work, yet keep getting contracts to fix them  —  In at least one case, that same company is now getting pandemic-relatedcontracts  —  In 2010, California hired the consulting firm Deloitte …



GitHub took a 21TB snapshot of all active public repositories on February 2 and deposited it in the Arctic Code Vault on July 8 using 186 reels of archival film (Julia Metcalf/The GitHub Blog)

Julia Metcalf / The GitHub Blog:
GitHub took a 21TB snapshot of all active public repositories on February 2 and deposited it in the Arctic Code Vault on July 8 using 186 reels of archival film  —  At GitHub Universe 2019, we introduced the GitHub Archive Program along with the GitHub Arctic Code Vault.



This new open source project could be key to securing database applications

Commentary: Cyral has been on a roll with two open source projects designed to make security a natural part of the development workflow.

Thursday, July 16, 2020

EU regulators to probe Alexa, Siri and other voice assistants

EU competition regulators are seeking information from 400 companies to establish if there are problems in the market for voice assistants such as Alexa and Siri and other internet-connected devices that could lead to antitrust cases. https://ift.tt/30hOhlD

Asus ROG Phone 3 looks like a mean gaming machine in these leaked pictures

Asus ROG Phone 3 has been leaked yet again, this time with alleged press renders being posted online, giving us a clear look at the upcoming Snapdragon 865 Plus powered gaming smartphone. The ROG Phone 3 is set to launch globally and in India on July 22. It has been leaked previously as well, revealing some key specifications and now we have a picture that shows off the mean gaming machine in all its glory.

The alleged press renders of the ROG Phone 3 were posted by noted leakster Evan Blass and shows the phone from two sides-- front and back. From these pictures, it can be confirmed that the ROG Phone 3 is slated to come with a triple camera setup on the back with a 64MP primary camera. The big glowing ROG logo takes centre-stage and is flanked by the aerodynamic system which helps in keeping the phone running optimally. Asus seems to have worked on its cooling system for the ROG Phone 3 as it is relatively smaller than the one on the ROG Phone 2. The aerodynamic system also looks likely to have a separate colour and design than the rest of the phone’s body, at least that’s what we can make out from the pictures. 

Asus isn’t doing away with the bezels yet as the ROG Phone 3 features noticeable bezels on top and bottom. The dual stereo speakers make a return, along with a selfie camera and a bunch of different sensors like a Proximity sensor housed in the top bezel. From the pictures, the ROG Phone 3 seems to be a refined version of the ROG Phone 2.

Asus ROG Phone 3 specifications

Asus ROG Phone III is expected to feature a 6.59-inch Full HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) resolution display that uses an AMOLED panel. The screen has a 144Hz high refresh-rate and is HDR10+ certified.

It is rumoured to be powered by an overclocked Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset with an octa-core CPU running at 3.09GHz and Adreno 650 graphics. The phone will reportedly be offered with 12GB/16GB RAM and 256GB/512GB/1TB storage variants.

The triple rear camera setup could have a 64MP primary camera while on the front, we could see a 13MP selfie camera.

As for the battery, the ROG Phone III is expected to come with a 6,000mAh battery with support for 30W fast charging. The phone launches on July 22 at 8:30 PM IST at which point we will know more about the pricing and availability of the ROG Phone 3 in India. It is likely to go on sale on Flipkart in India.

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The PS5 and Xbox Series X are quite heavy consoles

If the Amazon listing is to be believed, then the PS5 will be quite a heavy console. As per the listing, the PS5 will weigh a whopping 4.78 kgs. While we have only seen the console in renders, mockups and videos, people have taken the disc drive and USB port as a reference to see how big the console will be. It is believed to be taller and deeper than the Xbox Series X while remaining slimmer in width. Having said that, the components inside the console along with beefed-up cooling is the reason the console is heavy. So don't expect to carry it around easily in your backpack. Since the PS5 weighs nearly 5kgs, let’s take a look at the history of the PlayStation consoles to see how heavy each console has been.

The PS4 launch model weighed 2.8kgs while the PS4 refresh (with the slimmer power plug) weighed 2.5kgs. The PS4 Slim weighs 2.1 kgs and the PS4 Pro weighs 3.3 kgs.

The only console to give the PS5 a run for its weight is the original fat PS3 which weighed a whopping 5kgs. The slim version dropped the weight down to 3.1kgs and the superslim weighed almost as much as the original PS2 at 2.1 kgs.

Speaking of the PS2, the console was light and weighed 2.2kgs. 

Moving over to the Xbox side of things, it is suggested that the upcoming Series X will weigh 4.45kgs which is marginally less than the PS5. 

The launch model Xbox One weighed 3.5kgs making it much heavier than the launch model PS4. The Xbox One S weighs a modest 2.9 kgs while the 6 Teraflop Xbox One X weighs about 3.8kgs. 

The Xbox 360 launch mode was about 3.5 kgs while the slim model weighed 2.9 kgs.

So it looks like this console generation featuring the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 will have the heaviest consoles of the past decade. The consoles are big in size, featuring ample ventilation so that they don't overheat. Now I guess we will have to wait till 2022 to see the slim version of these consoles to launch which could bring smaller form factors and a more portable design.

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Sources: the US State Department ordered embassies to push back against foreign influence campaigns, as officials worry anti-US views are taking root worldwide (New York Times)

New York Times : Sources: the US State Department ordered embassies to push back against foreign influence campaigns, as officials worry ...