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• AirPods Pro Teardown Confirms That They're Just As Disposable As Ever
• Incognito Mode For Google Maps Arrives On Android
• Helvetica's Evil Twin, Hellvetica, Will Haunt Your Nightmares
• Uber Allegedly Paid $100K Ransom and Had Hackers Sign NDAs After Data Breach
• Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group Are Merging To Become World's Fourth-Largest Automaker
• US Interior Department To Ground Its Drones Over Chinese Spying Risk
• Google's Sidewalk Labs Leaked Document Reveals Company's Early Vision For Data Collection, Tax Powers, Criminal Justice
• At Least 13 Managed Service Providers Were Used To Push Ransomware This Year
• Netflix Expands Into a World Full of Censors
• The Drone Wars Are Already Here
• Google's Network Congestion Algorithm Isn't Fair, Researchers Say
• Complaints Mounting About iOS 13.2 Being 'More Aggressive at Killing Background Apps and Tasks'
• Defense Innovation Board Unveils AI Ethics Principles For the Pentagon
• Coca-Cola, Nestle, and PepsiCo Are the Top 3 Plastic Polluters on the Planet
• WhatsApp Hacked To Spy on Top Government Officials at US Allies

AirPods Pro Teardown Confirms That They're Just As Disposable As Ever Posted: 31 Oct 2019 07:10 PM PDT iFixit's teardown of Apple's latest AirPods reveals just how difficult it will be to fix them if they break. "The organization awarded the noise-canceling buds a big fat zero repairability score, noting that their 'non-modular, glued-together design and lack of replacement parts makes repair both impractical and uneconomical,'" reports The Verge. "That's the same score as both versions of the original AirPods." From the report: The teardown does reveal a couple of interesting details about the design of the earbuds. First is the fact that they're a whole third heavier than the original AirPods, thanks to new features like active noise-cancellation, and an inward-facing microphone. The teardown also notes that the one user-replaceable part of the earbuds, the silicone ear-tip, uses a custom design that makes them incompatible with third-party models. That said, the popularity of the AirPods all but guarantees other companies will be making third-party tips soon. Most intriguing is the discovery of a watch-style battery inside each earbud. iFixit notes that it's a similar battery to what it found in Samsung's Galaxy Buds which could be replaced. However, the same is not true of the AirPods Pro, whose battery is tethered by a soldered cable. TL;DR: If your $249 AirPods Pro die you'll have to send them back to Apple for recycling, or take part in Apple's "battery service" program at a cost of $49-per-earbud out of warranty. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Incognito Mode For Google Maps Arrives On Android Posted: 31 Oct 2019 06:50 PM PDT Incognito Mode for Google Maps is rolling out to Android users to prevent your search queries and real-time tracked location from being recorded onto your Google account. Engadget reports: It's not something you'll want to use all the time as some features will be disabled, and it's important to note that it doesn't turn off all tracking. The places you go won't be saved to your Location History (if you have that enabled), your searches won't be saved to your account and it won't use your information to personalize the experience. Still, you could be tracked by internet service providers, other apps, or if you're using Assistant and other Google services. Similar to incognito on Chrome, it's more useful as a depersonalized look at recommendations than as a full-fledged privacy protector, and a way to make sure that whatever you're searching for in this instance doesn't affect your recommendations later -- don't worry, we're not judging. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Helvetica's Evil Twin, Hellvetica, Will Haunt Your Nightmares Posted: 31 Oct 2019 06:30 PM PDT Freshly Exhumed shares a report from Fast Company: Hold your favorite graphic design tome close. We now know what the classic typeface Helvetica would look like if it came from the underworld. Yes, it will keep type enthusiasts up at night. The design darling Helvetica -- that ubiquitous sans-serif typeface developed by Max Miedinger in 1957, representative of the crisp Swiss design aesthetic of that period, and star of its own documentary by the same name -- has made a deal with the kerning devil. The results aren't pretty. They're not meant to be. Zack Roif and Matthew Woodward, both associate creative directors at the international advertising agency R/GA, have released a new typeface available free to download, Hellvetica, and it will make all your worst kerning nightmares come true. While each character has the same form as the classic typeface it's riffing on, Hellvetica utilizes inconsistent, variable spacing between each letterform to give an overall effect that something has gone terribly astray. Nope, that wasn't a mistake. You might just say it was intentionally erroneous. The project is a study in playfulness and rule-breaking, "an exercise in going against the 'designer instincts' to fix up that awful kerning. Hundred percent break the rules," says Woodward. "Don't listen to your gut. Forget your training... and make that logo kern in hell!" Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Uber Allegedly Paid $100K Ransom and Had Hackers Sign NDAs After Data Breach Posted: 31 Oct 2019 05:50 PM PDT An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News: New details about how Uber responded to a massive hack attack in 2016 raise questions about the way it handled sensitive customer information. Instead of reporting the hackers to police, the company allegedly paid $100,000 in exchange for a promise to delete 57 million user files the men stole off a third party server, prosecutors said. Within weeks of paying the ransom, Uber employees showed up at Brandon Glover's Winter Park, Florida, home and found Vasile Mereacre at a hotel restaurant in Toronto, Canada, the Justice Department said. The pair admitted their crimes, but Uber didn't turn them over to the cops. Instead, they had the hackers sign non-disclosure agreements, promising to keep quiet. The two hackers pleaded guilty on Wednesday. But there was a third person involved who was unknown to Uber, U.S. attorney for Northern California Dave Anderson told CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave in an exclusive interview. Anderson, who investigated the hack, said there's "no way to know definitively" what actually happened to the stolen data. [...] The hackers also targeted a company owned by LinkedIn in December of 2016, but prosecutors say LinkedIn did not pay and promptly reported the hack to police. Uber eventually did as well -- a year after the hack, when new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, publicly disclosed the attack. The two known hackers were eventually arrested and pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to commit extortion charges. They face a maximum of five years in prison. The third person involved remains at large. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group Are Merging To Become World's Fourth-Largest Automaker Posted: 31 Oct 2019 05:10 PM PDT williamyf writes: This puts Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Chrysler, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram, and Vauxhall under a single corporate parent and merges operations. PSA Group boss Carlos Tavares will be CEO of the 11-person board, with FCA's John Elkann as chair. Fiat Chrysler and PSA said that the 50:50 merger should save more than $4 billion a year from "run-rate synergies without any plant closures." Why is this news for nerds and stuff that matters? Because there are car nerds too, and cars use a lot of software nowadays. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

US Interior Department To Ground Its Drones Over Chinese Spying Risk Posted: 31 Oct 2019 04:30 PM PDT The Interior Department is grounding its entire fleet of aerial drones (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source), one of the largest in the federal government, citing increasing concerns about the national security risk from Chinese manufacturers. The Wall Street Journal reports: The department has more than 800 drones, all of which are either made in China or have Chinese parts, according to a person familiar with the matter. The machines are used to fight forest fires, survey erosion, monitor endangered species and inspect dams. Under an order from Interior Secretary David Bernhardt on Wednesday, the drones will be grounded until the department completes a review of potential security risks of Chinese drones, said department spokesman Nick Goodwin. Exceptions will be made for emergency situations, including natural disasters or when lives are threatened, Mr. Goodwin said. Officials worry that U.S. reliance on Chinese drones might be putting critical infrastructure at risk. They are concerned the drones may be sending information back to the Chinese government or hackers elsewhere to use for cyberattacks or other offenses. The Interior Department's decision is one of the biggest responses yet and may be the only total fleet shutdown in the federal government. It is not coordinating with the White House or other federal agencies. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google's Sidewalk Labs Leaked Document Reveals Company's Early Vision For Data Collection, Tax Powers, Criminal Justice Posted: 31 Oct 2019 03:50 PM PDT An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Globe and Mail: A confidential Sidewalk Labs document from 2016 lays out the founding vision of the Google-affiliated development company, which included having the power to levy its own property taxes, track and predict people's movements and control some public services. The document, which The Globe and Mail has seen, also describes how people living in a Sidewalk community would interact with and have access to the space around them -- an experience based, in part, on how much data they're willing to share, and which could ultimately be used to reward people for "good behavior." Known internally as the "yellow book," the document was designed as a pitch book for the company, and predates Sidewalk's relationship and formal agreements with Toronto by more than a year. Peppered with references to Disney theme parks and noted futurist Buckminster Fuller, it says Sidewalk intended to "overcome cynicism about the future." But the 437-page book documents how much private control of city services and city life Google parent company Alphabet Inc.'s leadership envisioned when it created the company, which could soon be entitled to some of the most valuable underdeveloped real estate in North America, estimated by one firm to be worth more than half-a-billion dollars. Since 2017, Sidewalk has been in negotiations with the government agency Waterfront Toronto to redevelop a lucrative section of the city's derelict eastern waterfront. Both parties have been working toward a development deal ahead of an Oct. 31 vote, which The Globe reported Tuesday is expected to be on terms that are favorable to Waterfront Toronto. That includes a reduction in the amount of land Sidewalk would have control over, better guarantees for privacy in the neighborhood and better opportunities for Canadian entities to profit from innovations there. "Sidewalk will require tax and financing authority to finance and provide services, including the ability to impose, capture and reinvest property taxes," the book said. The company would also create and control its own public services, including charter schools, special transit systems and a private road infrastructure. As for public safety and criminal justice, the book mentions "an alternative approach to jail," using data from so-called "root-cause asseessment tools." "This would guide officials in determining a response when someone is arrested, such as sending someone to a substance abuse center," reports The Globe. "The overall criminal justice system and policing of serious crimes and emergencies would be 'likely to remain within the purview of the host government's police department,' however." Sidewalk Labs released its official plan in June, which includes building ten new buildings, integrating Toronto's light-rail system to serve the new neighborhood, and installing public Wi-Fi. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

At Least 13 Managed Service Providers Were Used To Push Ransomware This Year Posted: 31 Oct 2019 03:13 PM PDT A new report published this week by threat intelligence firm Armor puts the number of managed service providers (MSPs) that got hit with ransomware this year at 13, possibly more. From a report: For those unfamiliar with the term, a managed service provider is a company that manages a customer's IT infrastructure using remote administration tools. MSPs have been around since the 90s, with the dawn of large computer fleets; however, they've been catching on with more and more companies in recent years. [...] Starting this year, ransomware gangs have realized that they could compromise the network of an MSP, and then use their remote access tools to deploy ransomware on the MSP's customer networks, infecting hundreds of companies and thousands of computers, all at once, with the push of a few buttons. In a report published this week, Armor took a deeper look at the entire MSP ecosystem and unearthed several other incidents. In total, the company found 13, but many more could be unreported. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Netflix Expands Into a World Full of Censors Posted: 31 Oct 2019 02:31 PM PDT The streaming giant is having to navigate different political and moral landscapes, and calls for government oversight, as it seeks subscribers worldwide. From a report: In September, Netflix released a trailer for the "Breaking Bad" sequel "El Camino." In it, a character sits in a car, lights a cigarette and holds it out the window, its orange tip glowing. The next day, Netflix Turkey released its own version. In it, the character sparks a lighter and puts his hand out of the window. But there's a difference: The cigarette has been edited out. It wasn't the first time Netflix had censored one of its trailers here. In January, the streaming giant edited one for "Sex Education," a series about a teenage sex therapist, to blur a character's hands so you couldn't see the raised middle fingers. These changes may seem small, but they are a sign of Netflix trying to get ahead of regulation it could soon face in Turkey. [...] In Turkey, and in other countries, Netflix must navigate different political and moral landscapes, and calls for censorship, as it expands worldwide. Its 2018 annual report lists both "censorship" and "the need to adapt our content and users interfaces for specific cultural and language differences" as business risks. India is another country where Netflix has been embroiled in debates around regulation and censorship. In 2017, the company offered viewers "Angry Indian Goddesses," a movie that had been released in Indian theaters in a censored form to avoid offending religious sensibilities.ï Netflix, which is not subject to India's movie theater code, initially showed the censored version anyway, to avoid a backlash from religious viewers. But complaints came instead from viewers who wanted to see the movie uncut. Netflix made that version available and released a statement: "Our members reached out to us and we listened." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Drone Wars Are Already Here Posted: 31 Oct 2019 01:51 PM PDT The skies of Syria, Yemen, and Libya swarm with armed and dangerous unmanned aerial vehicles. And the technology is spreading farther and farther afield. From a report: Three decades ago, drones were available to only the most technologically developed state military organizations. Today they're everywhere, being used by weaker states and small military forces, as well as many non-state actors, including Islamic State and al-Qaeda. "We're seeing a cycle of technological innovation regarding the use of drones and associated systems, and that cycle of techno-tactical adaptation and counter-adaptation will only hasten going forward," says Raphael Marcus, a research fellow in the department of war studies at King's College London. The diffusion of such technology is leveling the playing field, says Marcus, author of Israel's Long War With Hezbollah: Military Innovation and Adaptation Under Fire. He says that because armies no longer have the monopoly on the use of drones, surveillance technology, precision capabilities, and long-range missiles, other actors in the region are able to impose their will on the international stage. "The parameters have changed," he says. That's already leading to greater instability. For example, Hezbollah's thwarted drone strike in August and increasingly sophisticated and more frequent drone attacks by Hamas raise the risk of another war with Israel; meanwhile, Yemen's Houthi rebels made an impact on the global price of oil with a strike on Saudi Arabia, using 25 drones and missiles. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google's Network Congestion Algorithm Isn't Fair, Researchers Say Posted: 31 Oct 2019 01:11 PM PDT Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University say a Google algorithm designed help reduce internet congestion is mathematically unfair, resulting in network management systems that may disadvantage some traffic over others. From a report: Several years back, Google began work on a new open source congestion control algorithm (CCA) designed to improve the way the internet functions. The result was BBR, short for Bottleneck Bandwidth and RTT (Round-Trip Time). The goal of the project: to improve how network packets travel between servers to mitigate congestion on the internet. CCAs have long been used to help manage congestion -- ideally while treating all traffic equally. But in a study unveiled last week at the Internet Measurement Conference in Amsterdam, researchers revealed that BBR doesn't actually do a very good job of that last part. In fact, they found that during periods of congestion, BBR connections would take up 40 percent of the available bandwidth, leaving the remaining 60 percent to be fought over by the remaining users on the network. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Complaints Mounting About iOS 13.2 Being 'More Aggressive at Killing Background Apps and Tasks' Posted: 31 Oct 2019 12:33 PM PDT Apple's iOS 13 has had a rocky start since its release last month, with it being among the most buggy Apple software releases in recent memory. Now, iPhone owners are complaining of yet another issue that may be bug-related. From a report: A growing number of iPhone and iPad users have complained about poor RAM management on iOS 13 and iPadOS 13, leading to apps like Safari, YouTube, and Overcast reloading more frequently upon being reopened. We've lightly edited some of the comments to correct things like capitalization. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Defense Innovation Board Unveils AI Ethics Principles For the Pentagon Posted: 31 Oct 2019 11:53 AM PDT The Defense Innovation Board, a panel of 16 prominent technologists advising the Pentagon, today voted to approve AI ethics principles for the Department of Defense. From a news article: The report includes 12 recommendations for how the U.S. military can apply ethics in the future for both combat and non-combat AI systems. The principles are broken into five main principles: responsible, equitable, traceable, reliable, and governable. The principles state that humans should remain responsible for "developments, deployments, use and outcomes," and AI systems used by the military should be free of bias that can lead to unintended human harm. AI deployed by the DoD should also be reliable, governable, and use "transparent and auditable methodologies, data sources, and design procedure and documentation." "You may see resonances of the word fairness in here [AI ethics principle document]. I will caution you that in many cases the Department of Defense should not be fair," DIB board member and Carnegie Mellon University VP of research Michael McQuade said today. "It should be a firm principle that ours is to not have unintended bias in our systems." Applied Inventions cofounder and computer theorist Danny Hillis and board members agreed to amend the draft document to say the governable principle should include "avoid unintended harm and disruption and for human disengagement of deployed systems." The report, Hillis said, should be explicit and unambiguous that AI systems used by the military should come with an off switch for a human to press in case things go wrong. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Coca-Cola, Nestle, and PepsiCo Are the Top 3 Plastic Polluters on the Planet Posted: 31 Oct 2019 11:14 AM PDT An annual global audit from the Break Free From Plastic movement has found the largest sources of plastic pollution. Coca-Cola, Nestle, and PepsiCo are the top three most identified companies as sources of plastic pollution around the globe. From a report: As part of their audit, Break Free From Plastic conducted 484 cleanups in 50 countries, on six continents. According to the audit, part of the problem is that plastic is not recyclable. Only 9% of plastic produced since 1950 has been recycled. The rest is incinerated, in landfills or left pollution in oceans, land and other areas. When plastic is burned it causes toxic pollution. If not incinerated or recycled, it breaks down into microplastics, which cause harm to ocean life. 43% of collected plastic was marked with a clear consumer brand, like Coca-Cola or PepsiCo. Break Free From Plastic blames our "throwaway culture," for much of the consumer waste. They argue that this throwaway mindset is at the core of many companies' business model. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

WhatsApp Hacked To Spy on Top Government Officials at US Allies Posted: 31 Oct 2019 10:41 AM PDT Senior government officials in multiple U.S.-allied countries were targeted earlier this year with hacking software that used Facebook's WhatsApp to take over users' phones, Reuters reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the messaging company's investigation. From a report: Sources familiar with WhatsApp's internal investigation into the breach said a "significant" portion of the known victims are high-profile government and military officials spread across at least 20 countries on five continents. The hacking of a wider group of top government officials' smartphones than previously reported suggests the WhatsApp cyber intrusion could have broad political and diplomatic consequences. WhatsApp filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Israeli hacking tool developer NSO Group. The Facebook-owned software giant alleges that NSO Group built and sold a hacking platform that exploited a flaw in WhatsApp-owned servers to help clients hack into the cellphones of at least 1,400 users. While it is not clear who used the software to hack officials' phones, NSO says it sells its spyware exclusively to government customers. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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