Blog – Page 23

EPIC Goes MetaHuman, Fake Amazon Reviews Bought in Bulk, and Big Tech Gets Big Exploited…Again

February 18, 2021 by William Mapp Leave a Comment

It’s the unofficial start of the weekend and I’m glad to be back on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, Big Tech gets big exploited again, sellers buy fake Amazon reviews in bulk, and Epic goes Meta-Human. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

EPIC GAMES CREATES METAHUMAN CREATOR I CREEP OUT

Yeah. It’s like that. For real, if you have a moment head over to YouTube an check out Epic’s metahuman creator. Using the latest in AI technology and rendering techniques Epic has created a people maker. The intro video shows an editor that’s not unlike Adobe Photoshop. The editor allows you to pick a human gender, a skin tone, eyebrows, facial hair, eye color, complexion, and more. Epic announced the product as a tool for creators to make more realistic content. It is totally amazing an possibilities are endless.

WANT FREE STUFF, WRITE AN AMAZON REVIEW

If you are an Internet denizen you already know about the, scam. And fake reviews are nothing new. Amazon has tried, and sometimes been successful, in taking down sellers who pay people to write fake reviews. Positive Amazon reviews are worth their digital weight in BitCoin. I was at dinner one night and was asked if I wanted in on a flat panel TV scam. You buy the TV from a specific manufacturer, write a 5 star review, and they’ll PayPal you the total cost of the TV. Well, according to the consumer group, Which?, fake Amazon reviews can now be bought in bulk. For about $30, an Amazon Marketplace seller can purchase one fake review but for a few hundred dollars tens of reviews can be bought. For more, thousands. Once seller had over 702,000 reviewers according to Which?

BIG TECH COMPANIES PAY BUG BOUNTIES TO HACKERS

The hits keep on coming don’t they. Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, and 33 other technology companies have ha their supply chain systems comprised with some companies paying ransoms for being exploited using online, open source packages from NPM, PyPI, and RubyGems. Security researcher Alex Birsan found the exploit by using a technique called squatting where he created a nefarious, but publicly available software component that used the same name as another component. When the supply chain programs automatically downloaded the exploit, he was able to compromise their systems. The moral hear is to be careful, and make sure you are installing the proper packages in your end systems.

Tesla Buys a Bunch of BitCoin, Florida Man Explained, Android Users Get Hacked by Barcode Scanner

February 11, 2021 by William Mapp Leave a Comment

We Now Know, There Something in the Water

The Internet has turned the idea of Florida Man into a joke. This week, we finally know why it’s a thing. It’s the unofficial start of the weekend and I’m glad to be back on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, Tesla’s BTC buy pushes it higher, a Florida water treatment facility gives hackers the red carpet treatment, and ten million Android users get infected. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

TESLA BUYS A BUNCH OF BITCOIN, TREES GROAN

Yesterday, Tesla bought $1.5 billion, with a ‘B’, BitCoin sending the price of the cryptocurrency to a high of $48,000 before coming back down. Investors were bullish on the news thinking that BitCoin will become a part of Tesla’s long term assets. Thing is though, the crypto purchase was counter intuitive. The energy computers are consuming to mine BitCoin is more than the country of Argentina.

FLORIDA WATER SYSTEM COMPUTERS WEREN’T HACKED, THEY WERE UNSECURED

Hacking is both art and science. Hacking usually requires one to know something about the system to be hacked, and a lot about human nature. Recently, hackers were said to have penetrated the computer systems in the Oldsmar, Florida water treatment plants. The intruders had raised the amount of lye by 100 times the normal levels. Well, the hackers didn’t break security or encryption, they connected to the computers via TeamViewer, a commonly used remote control software. The IT department didn’t bother to change the default passwords used to connect to TeamViewer. Moral: always change your password, enable security when it’s there. This isn’t the first high profile intrusion into a public service utility because systems weren’t secured, a water treatment facility in Illinois also left their systems unguarded. All that lye may explain…Florida Man.

ANDROID BARCODE SCANNER INFECTS 10 MILLION USERS

If you’re an Android user and have an app called Barcode Scanner, remove it now. The dangerously titled, Barcode Scanner app, was really a piece of malware that infected over 10 million Android users. Malwarebytes researcher, Nathan Collier, discovered that a software update for the app in December installed new code that caused popup ads to be bombarded on the user’s screen. Essentially, the app was installed without malware and was approved by Google Play. A later update caused the app to turn users’ phones into an annoying ad delivery service. Remove the app now if you have it.

Bezos Steps Down from Amazon, Comcastic Data Caps Delayed, and Gearbox Snapped Up

February 3, 2021 by William Mapp Leave a Comment

This segment, brought to you by Uncle Nearest. I don’t know about y’all, but I’ve had a challenging work week. It’s the unofficial start of the weekend and I’m glad to be back on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, Bezos steps down and has a Jassy replacement, the Pennsylvania AG delays data caps, and Gearbox has been acquired. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

BEZOS STEPS DOWN, JASSY RISES

This week’s big news is that Jeff Bezos will be stepping down as Amazon’s CEO. Andy Jassy, the President and co-founder for Amazon Web Services, AWS, will move in to become the new CEO. AWS powers a third of the Internet’s cloud infrastructure and is responsible for half of Amazon’s income, so the move is a no-brainer and Amazon investors thought the same. AWS is the virtual computing service Amazon sells to other companies. My company uses it, and I personally use AWS. Bezos said he’ll still be around but he wants to spend more time running his non-profit and nurturing the Washington Post. He won’t be hurtin’.

PENNSYLVANIA AG DELAYS COMCASTIC DATA CAPS

When Net Neutrality fell we all knew it was coming. Comcast had announced data caps for residential customers and will be charging $10 overage fees for every 50GB consumed over 1.2TB (terabytes). Which, I may say, my household burns up easily. Comcast’s announcement drew the ire of the Pennsylvania attorney general who raised objections that Comcast was implementing data caps in the middle of a pandemic. So instead of having customers pay more in March, the data caps will be delayed until July. Comcast will also waive early cancellation fees if you want to switch, but many people live in regions with one ISP. Of course, Comcast will be more than happy to sell you an unlimited plan. If you live in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, as well as parts of North Carolina and Ohio be prepared to watch your bill. I switched to Verizon FIOS.

LAST INDY GAME MAKER SNAPPED UP

The Swedes have picked up Gearbox. If you’re a Borderlands fan the Swedish company, Embracer has purchased Gearbox for $363 million in cash and stock, which could balloon to $1.2 billion if Gearbox meets revenue projections. The company’s employees in Texas and Quebec will become shareholders in Embracer. Embracer claims that Gearbox will operate independently. Gearbox represents the last of the major independent studios. Microsoft bought the storied Bethesda Softworks in a Zenimax acquisition last year and Codemasters was recently bought by EA. Gearbox is famously known as the license holder for Duke Nukem. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll now get a real treatment for Duke Nukem Forever.

Apple Posts Serious Security Update, El Goog’s Workers Organize, and GameStop Rises Like the Phoenix

January 27, 2021 by William Mapp Leave a Comment

I’m Never In On the Beginning of These Surges

It’s a new week with a new President and I’m glad to be back on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, gamers rescue GameStop, Google’s employees organize in a new union, and Apple posts a security update you should really install. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

APPLE POSTS SECURITY UPDATE TO FIX SERIOUS FLAWS

We’re going to start this segment off with real news. If your smartphone is made by a fruit company you should seriously consider installing the latest update. Apple is encouraging iPhone and iPad users to immediately update their devices to the latest version of iOS. Current iDevices users are susceptible to a chain of software exploits where hackers can hijack the device being able to run arbitrary code of their choosing, including downloading contacts. The latest iOS, 14.4, was released last Tuesday and can be installed by many users over the air.

WORKERS ORGANIZE UNDER THE GOOGLEPLEX

Tuesday was a busy day. Google employees from around the world have formed a coalition called Alpha Global which is made up of 13 Google employee unions from around the world. Alpha Global consists of 10 unions including the US and Canadian based union, the Alphabet Workers Union. The AWU consists of 700 workers across the United States and Canada and is a member union affiliated with the larger Communications Workers of America union. Google employees have formed these unions after high profile firings and investigations of Google employees questioning the company’s use of AI technologies.

GAMERS KEEP GAMESTOP ALIVE WITH STOCK PURCHASES

As more game consoles make downloadable content accessible and require less and less physical media, Gamestop has struggled. The company has lost hundred of millions of dollars in 2019 and 2020 and things were looking pretty bleak. Hedge fund investors have been eyeing the company in an attempt to short the stock. Over the last several weeks, the gaming faithful have banded together andused social networks to cause Gamestop stock to rally. Gamestop stock had been trading around $2.57 per share at the end of December. Yesterday, Gamestop shares have been trading at $347 per share yesterday afternoon. The only thing driving Gamestop shares now is demand as the company continues to lose lots of money.

Injury Ends Pro-Gamer’s Career, Google Investigates Another AI Ethicist, and Amazon Wants in on COVID-19 Vax Distribution

January 20, 2021 by William Mapp Leave a Comment

It’s a new week with a new President and I’m glad to be back on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week, a Call of Duty gamer has to retire early, Google investigates another AI ethicist, and Bezos and Co want to deliver your COVID-19 vaccine with a smile. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.

INJURY DERAILS PRO GAMER’S CAREER

Yesterday, professional video gamer, Thomas ‘ZooMaa’ Papparatto announced his retirement from the New York Subliners because of a thumb injury. The 25 year old Call of Duty gaming professional says that, “it breaks my heart to step away from a game I put my heart and soul into, every day for eight years.” ZooMaa had struggled through his thumb injury, and tried to play hurt, but needed surgery for his injury. ZooMaa is weighing his options and admitted he can’t simply walk away from the game.

EL GOOG LOCKS OUT ANOTHER AI ETHICIST

Yesterday, Axios reported that Google is investigating one of the co-leads of its Ethical AI team, Margaret Mitchell. This follows the firing of another one of its AI ethicists, Timnit Gebru. Google locked Margaret Mitchell’s corporate account because they detected that several files containing company IP were exfiltrated from Google through her credentials. Margaret Mitchell had tweeted about doing her own investigation of Timnit Gebru’s firing. Google has had a rocky time with its employees since working on Project Maven, an AI project designed to assist military drone strikes. Employees had threatened to unionize in protest of Project Maven. Firing AI ethicists don’t give confidence.

AMAZON WANTS TO LEND A HAND WITH VACCINE DISTRIBUTION

It’s no secret that COVID-19 vaccine distribution in the United States hasn’t gone well. Since a large number of Amazon’s 800,000 employees are considered essential workers, the company with the smile on the box has offered to help the Biden administration’s efforts in distributing the vaccine. They have gone as far to say that Amazon will aid the government with operational support, infrastructure, and IT support in order to meet Biden’s goal of 100 million vaccines in 100 days. I say they should take Bezos up on his offer.

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