Friday 11 October 2019

Tech News Flash

Tech News Flash: Friday -- October 11, 2019

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Headline Scan
Setting Up Roadblocks to Social Engineering
Stop Cyberattacks in Their Tracks: Secure IT
Austrumi Linux Has Great Potential if You Speak Its Language
Apple Touts Games, Music, TV in macOS Catalina
Sonos Launches Rent-a-Speaker Pilot Program
Devs Engage in Soul-Searching on Future of Open Source

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Today's Story Highlights

Setting Up Roadblocks to Social Engineering

Since the dawn of the Internet age, criminals have looked for ways to
profit on unsuspecting people while they browse the Web. Viruses,
malware and other schemes were invented to infect and infiltrate
systems, both at the enterprise and consumer levels. One of the most
successful forms of cybercrime is social engineering, also known as the
con man of the Internet.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/86287.html

Stop Cyberattacks in Their Tracks: Secure IT

Stopping cyberattacks requires diligent behavior. One of the themes of
this year's National Cyber Security Awareness Month, or NCSAM, is that
all computer users should take steps to Secure IT. That means shaking up
the passphrase protocol by using not just strong passwords but strong
and unique passphrases. Everyone should double login protection through
multifactor authentication.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/86286.html

Austrumi Linux Has Great Potential if You Speak Its Language

Austrumi Linux is an unusual distribution. With a little more polish, it
could be a good tool for running Linux on any computer you touch without
changing anything on the hard drive. Last updated on Oct. 3 to version
4.08, Austrumi Linux is a bootable live Linux distribution based on
Slackware Linux. It was created and is maintained by a group of
programmers from the Latgale region of Latvia.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/86285.html

Apple Touts Games, Music, TV in macOS Catalina

New versions of operating systems are usually about slick interfaces and
improved performance, but that's not what Apple was flogging about macOS
Catalina upon its release. One of the hot new additions in the OS is
Apple Arcade, a game subscription service featuring a batch of new,
exclusive games. Also bolstering macOS Catalina's entertainment chops
are new music, podcast and TV apps.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/86280.html

Sonos Launches Rent-a-Speaker Pilot Program

Subscription models have taken hold in everything from software to
smartphones, and now Sonos is testing the idea in the premium wireless
speaker market. The Santa Barbara, California, company has launched a
pilot program limited to 500 homes in the Netherlands, which allows
consumers to gain access to Sonos hardware for the equivalent of about
$16.46 a month.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/86279.html

Devs Engage in Soul-Searching on Future of Open Source

Two things to avoid in online discussions are politics and religion.
Open source technology may be an explosive third topic that software
developers should be wary of subjecting to a virtual debate. Automattic
CEO Matt Mullenweg and Ruby on Rails creator and Basecamp cofounder
David Heinemeier Hansson got into an all-out Twitter slugfest last week
about the role of open source.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/86282.html

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OnePlus unveils the 7T Pro

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It's Friday, October 11, 2019.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Dyson won’t make an EV, but Toyota’s adding a plug to its hybrid RAV4 and has given the fuel cell-powered Mirai a stylish makeover. Also, there’s an upgraded OnePlus smartphone coming to some of you, and ESPN is finally jumping into 4K. It’s Friday.

(View in browser.)

But it’s not coming to the US.

The OnePlus 7T Pro is a speedier take on a familiar design

OnePlus’ mid-year smartphone update takes the impressive OnePlus 7 Pro and adds an even more powerful processor and faster charging -- de rigueur for 2019 phone updates, it seems. The new OnePlus 7T Pro features Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 855 Plus mobile chip and comes with a new 30T Warp Charge power adapter. According to OnePlus, that can get the 7T Pro to approximately 68 percent charge in 30 minutes.

There’s the same triple camera array, made of a 48-megapixel f/1.7 main camera (with optical stabilization), 8-megapixel f/2.4 3x-zoom telephoto camera and a 16-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera. The selfie cam is in a pop-up unit to keep the phone pretty much all screen. Alas, there are no plans for the OnePlus 7T Pro or its 12GB/256GB McLaren Edition variant to come to the US. Instead, they're headed to the EU, China and India. The OnePlus 7T Pro will be available in the UK starting on October 17th for £699, roughly $870.

Charge it up at home.

Toyota’s 2021 RAV4 hybrid gets a plug

Ahead of the LA Auto Show, Toyota announced that the RAV4 would get the plug-in hybrid treatment. Like most automotive teases ahead of a major event, it didn’t tell us much about the upcoming vehicle. There's no word on price, range, battery size, etc. The automaker also announced that all 2020 models and beyond -- hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles -- would get a battery warranty upgrade from eight years/100,000 miles (whichever comes first).

The eight-episode miniseries airs next spring on FX.

Alex Garland's new series 'Devs' explores free will in the age of predictive computing

Alex Garland deconstructed the Turing test with Ex Machina and tormented our psyches with a horrifying alien invasion in Annihilation. Now he's tackling free will vs. a deterministic universe in Devs.

These DIY circuit kits are perfect for aspiring engineers

Dell’s new convertible outmatches the classic XPS 13.

Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 review

Sure, this combo-device version of Dell’s XPS 13 could do with a few more ports, but according to Devindra Hardawar, it’s even better than the standard version. Packed with a 10th-generation Intel CPU and graphics, it’s even powerful enough to handle some 3D gaming. The revamped Maglev keyboard fits in its skinny frame without being frustrating to use (we’re talking about you, Apple, and your butterfly keys), and the battery kept it running for 14 hours in our test.

Our review unit featured a 10th-gen Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 1080p screen for $1,597. That’s around $200 more than a similarly specced XPS 13, but the sophisticated design and option for use as a tablet might be worth it.

If you have DirecTV.

Watch ESPN's first 4K broadcast Saturday

ESPN confirmed that Saturday night's college football matchup between Florida and LSU will be the first one it ever broadcasts live in native 4K resolution. It’s planned at least six games to air that way, sponsored by Samsung, but unfortunately it’s not streaming them through the ESPN or Samsung apps. TV providers need to sign up for them, and so far the only one with a deal is DirecTV. Hopefully that list grows soon so more of us can watch the BCS National Championship Game in January using the 4K feed ESPN has planned.

In an internal letter, Cook explained Apple's reasons for pulling HKmap.live from the App Store.

Tim Cook defends Apple’s decision to remove Hong Kong protest app

Less than a day after Apple sparked controversy by removing a Hong Kong protest app, the company’s CEO Tim Cook has defended the decision. At least, internally. In a letter posted internally, Cook said that the app was being used "maliciously to target individual officers for violence”. Such behavior violates Apple’s App Store guidelines.

However, it’s not so clear cut. Critics argue that the app does not actually show the location of individual officers and apps like Waze, which crowdsources information about police locations, remain on the App Store.

All it leaves behind is water vapor and style.

Toyota’s hydrogen fuel-cell Mirai gets a new, luxurious look

Toyota’s new Mirai looks amazing and the automaker is targeting a 30-percent increase in range thanks to advances in the powertrain and larger capacity hydrogen storage tanks. Toyota just hopes it'll be able to sell this car in more places than the current locales of California and the island of Oahu.

But wait, there's more...

1. Pixelbook Go leak reveals its ribbed back, full specs

2. A worldwide material shortage is delaying cassette production

3. What we played in October: 'Untitled Goose Game' and 'What the Golf?'

4. Google wants to reduce Stadia lag with 'negative latency'

5. Dyson ends its electric car project

6. Waymo is close to offering autonomous rides with no backup driver

7. SpaceX Crew Dragon could fly astronauts to the ISS in early 2020

8. Donald Trump is the newest Twitch streamer

9. NASCAR could introduce hybrid race cars by 2022

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Thursday 10 October 2019

Editor's Pick: Stop Cyberattacks in Their Tracks: Secure IT

Stop Cyberattacks in Their Tracks: Secure IT

Peter Suciu Oct 10, 2019 2:40 AM PT
	Stopping cyberattacks requires diligent behavior. One of the themes of this year's National Cyber Security Awareness Month, or NCSAM, is that all computer users should take steps to Secure IT. That means shaking up the passphrase protocol by using not just strong passwords but strong and unique passphrases. Everyone should double login protection through multifactor authentication. [More...]

More Picks:

Getting CX Nuances Right: A Subscription Driver for Brands
National Customer Service Week is the first full week of October -- a designation we've celebrated every year since 1992. The week highlights the importance of customer service and the people who serve and support customers on a daily basis. Customer service is a big deal in e-commerce, as 73 percent of customers reportedly view it as an important factor in their purchasing decisions. [More...]

New Trade Deal Provisions Give US Tech Firms Legal Shields
The Trump administration has begun inserting legal protections into trade agreements to shield online platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from lawsuits. That move could help lock in America's tech-friendly regulations around the world even as they are being questioned at home. The legal protections are included in the administration's two biggest trade deals. [More...]

Tackling Economic Security Governance
If you've ever played chess, you know that each move you make has to be the best move. At one level, this is painfully obvious -- after all, who would choose to make a terrible move instead of a better one? -- but it's illustrative of an important concept. Specifically, the core reason it's true is that each individual move in a game like chess comes with an associated "opportunity cost." [More...]