Twitter Is Getting Tough On Apps

August 4th, 2018

Twitter has long had a reputation for being at the mercy of bots that have been used to sway public discourse and opinion.

Often, these bots are controlled via Twitter API apps that allow the authors to automate most of their actions, such as tweets, follows, and likes.

Girl Scouts Can Now Earn New Badges For High Technical Skills

July 30th, 2018

The girl scouts have officially moved into the 21st century.

The Girl Scouts of America recently announced the creation of a whole raft of new badges that address (in the organization's words) "some of society's most pressing needs."

 

A total of 30 new badges will be available exclusively for girls between the ages of five to eighteen for efforts and advocacy in the following areas:

Computer Science
Cybersecurity
Environment
Robotics
Space Exploration

Badges are awarded on the basis of completing specific tasks.

Adobe Releases Massive Update To Patch Its Products

July 18th, 2018

There's a lot to like about the contents of Adobe's most recent "Patch Tuesday" update. It's well worth downloading and installing, even if you normally take a pass on all but the most critical updates.

Included in this release are security patches for 112 vulnerabilities across four different products, including:

 

Flash Player
Acrobat and Reader
Experience Manager
Adobe Connect

We've provided more details below:

Updates For Flash Player

The security update includes patches for both desktops and browsers, including a patch for one critical issue (CVE-2018-5007).  This is a new, worrisome attack vector that exploits "type confusion", allowing an attacker to execute commands on a targeted system in the context of the current user.

Open Database Exposes Info Of 340 Million People

July 16th, 2018

Internet security researcher Vinny Trola recently made a huge and disturbing discovery.  A marketing firm called Exactis had left a massive database unsecured, allowing anyone who stumbled across it to access it.

As a marketing firm, Exactis collects simply mind-boggling amounts of data on consumers all over the globe.

LTE Networks May Be Vulnerable To Hacking

July 10th, 2018

Researchers from Ruhr-Universität Bochum and New York University in Abu Dhabi have discovered serious security flaws in 4G LTE networks that allow hackers to spy on, listen in on, intercept, and disrupt phone calls and text messages.

Given that billions of people rely on 4G LTE networks for cellphone communications, it's a serious issue, and there are no easy fixes.

Apple Extends Warranty For Certain Malfunctioning Macbook Keyboards

July 9th, 2018

If you own a Macbook or a Macbook Pro and your keyboard has "butterfly switches," you may have noticed some strange things with the way it operates.

Users have been talking about the issue on forums scattered around the internet, but until recently, no one had a definitive answer for why the problem was occurring or how to fix it.

Microsoft Edge Mobile Browser Blocks Android And iOS Ads

July 7th, 2018

As most people know, Microsoft Edge was the company's "reboot."  After trying for years to patch and update their beleaguered Internet Explorer, Microsoft ultimately decided to scrap it and start fresh.  Since Edge's launch, it has struggled to gain traction with users.

New SSD Drive Can Hold 8TB of Storage

July 5th, 2018

Good news for the business world in general, and the owners of data centers, in particular.

Mass storage is about to get vastly more efficient thanks to Samsung's recently launched solid state drive, which manages to pack an impressive 8TB of storage into a delightfully small footprint, measuring just 11cm x 3.05cm.

Vulnerability In Mac OS Went Unnoticed For Years

July 3rd, 2018

Researchers at Okta Security have stumbled across something big.  Recently, they discovered a flaw in Apple's OS that would have allowed hackers to completely undermine Apple's code signing process.

While at first glance that doesn't sound so bad, the implications are terrifying.