What’s new
Apple fixes Thunderbolt flaw that could steal passwords in 30 seconds
The flaw allowed attackers with physical access to a Mac to plug in a $300 Thunderbolt device that was able to copy passwords via macOS FileVault2, even if the Mac was locked. Security researcher Ulf Frisk explained that the breach was possible because Mac does not defend against direct memory access (DMA) attacks before macOS is turned on. Also, the FileVault password is stored in clear text in memory.
You can read more here.
EU accuses Facebook of giving misleading information on WhatsApp purchase
The European Commission has alleged that Facebook gave misleading or untrue answers during the investigation to approve the WhatsApp acquisition by Facebook in 2014. If it decides Facebook breached EU merger-procedure rules, the commission could fine the company up to 1% of its world-wide revenue. That could work out to up to $179 million based on Facebook’s 2015 revenue.
More info are available here.
New products
Xiaomi Mi VR Play
The headset can hold any smartphone with a 4.7-inch to 5.7-inch display. It is certified to work with all the Google Cardboard apps. It will be available exclusively from Mi.com online.
You can read more here.
Sony Cyber-shot HX350
The Cyber-shot HX350 features 50x super zoom and it has a Sony Exmor R CMOS 20.4-megapixel sensor. In addition to snapping still images, the camera can record video at resolutions up to Full HD.
More info here.
You might want to know about this
Twitter is now showing search results by relevance, not chronological order
The company is using machine learning to help decide how tweets will be ordered. “We can train machine learning models that predict how likely a Tweet is to be engaged with (Retweets, likes and replies). We can then use these models as scoring functions for ranking by treating the probability of engagement as a surrogate for the relevance of Tweets.”, said Lisa Huang, senior software engineer at Twitter.
You can read more here.
Reported internal document reveals Facebook’s guidelines on hate speech
A German newspaper has shared what it’s reporting to be internal documents that show a detailed yet confusing blueprint for how Facebook handles hate speech on its site. The confusion comes from how Facebook organizes which specific groups should be protected by hate speech by labbeling them “protected category” and “non-protected category”.
More info can be found here.
Fun stuff
You can provide eco-energy by working out at the gym
Now you can help the environment with a simple cardio workout. Eco-Powr equipment from SportsArt takes the energy you burn and converts it into usable energy. According to Eco-Powr’s website, a single workout can produce more than 160 kWh of electricity.
You can read more here.
