On Labor Day, NASA Astronaut Nick Hague tweeted an amazing photograph of the eye of Hurricane Dorian. He is currently posted on the International Space Station. He said that «you can feel the power of the storm when you stare into its eye from above.»
A Billion Android Phones Exposed to Phishing Attacks
Researchers at security firm Check Point have discovered a flaw in Android phones, Wired reported. It means a billion or more users could be vulnerable to phishing attacks.
The researchers say their proof-of-concept research worked on the Huawei P10, LG G6, Sony Xperia XZ Premium and Samsung phones including the S9, when they tested it. They say the issue may have impacted up to half of Android phones. There are more than 2.5 billion Android devices in use around the world. «It needs only a cheap USB dongle with SIM card,» says Slava Makkaveev, a security researcher at Check Point who was behind the work. «There are many freely available software tools to generate client-provisioning SMS messages. It’s enough to send crafted SMS messages and attack a phone anywhere in the world.»
Primate Labs Geekbench 5 Has Arrived and it's 64-Bit
Geekbench 5 is the latest update to Primate Labs’ benchmarking software. It’s available for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
Geekbench 5 is 64-bit only, dropping support for 32-bit processors and operating systems. Geekbench 5 does not include any of the compromises required to run on 32-bit systems. This enables Geekbench 5 to include more ambitious benchmark tests with larger data sets and longer running times.
Thieves With Sledgehammers Attack 2 Apple Stores
Six people wielding sledgehammers stole almost $300,000 worth of products from two Apple stores in Western Australia Tuesday. The Next Web shared the video.
The first attempt was an unsuccessful one. After smashing the front window to gain entry, the group ended up fleeing due to the presence of a nearby taxi. “We know the presence of the taxi caused the group to flee the scene,” Detective Senior Constable Matt Whelan said. 40 minutes later, the group tried again at another store. This time they threatened a security guard before making entry with a sledgehammer and fleeing with $300,000 in Apple products — mostly iPhones.
Astronomer Dr. Clay Sherrod (#2) - TMO Background Mode Interview
Dr. Clay Sherrod’s astronomical studies began, soon after his Ph.D. work, in 1970 with the Arkansas Sky, Inc., his private non-profit and educational research and educational program. Although now retired, the work, publications and outreach from him via the Arkansas Sky Observatory ranks among the top in private non-profit facilities.
In his second appearance on the show, Clay and I talked about his latest book which covers the entire spectrum of the change in the Earth’s climate. We noted that climate science has deep roots into the planet’s history and is based on the scientific method. Not everyone speaks the language of science, and so it’s important to identify authoritative sources that can be trusted. We tried to cover as many aspects as we could to deliver a broad picture of the perils facing the Earth.
Next Firefox 70 Update Will Reduce macOS Power Usage
Mozilla announced that the next Firefox 70 update will reduce power consumption on macOS by up to three times.
But according to Mozilla engineer Henrik Skupin, Firefox devs have finally made a breakthrough, and believe they fixed Firefox’s power consumption on macOS. Skupin said that a current fix for the battery drain issue has been deployed on Firefox Nightly, where it managed to reduce power usage by three times. The fix is expected to land in the stable version of Firefox in late October 2019, with the release of Firefox 70.
New Lego Star Wars Battles Arrives in 2020
Lego Star Wars Battles is a mobile game coming to iOS in 2020, combining competitive combat, character collecting, and tower building with the classic charm and humor of LEGO.
Lead an army of LEGO Star Wars characters into real-time multiplayer PvP battles in arenas inspired by iconic locations from throughout the galaxy. Collect and upgrade characters and vehicles and craft both light and dark side armies to take into battle. Build LEGO towers on the battlefield to strategically combat, defend, and capture territory as you push toward the enemy base to claim victory.
Botnet Takedown, Apple's AR Plans – TMO Daily Observations 2019-09-03
Bryan Chaffin and Andrew Orr join host Kelly Guimont to discuss the latest botnet takedown and the new wave of Apple «headset» speculation.
AirPod 5-Piece Case Cover and Accessory Pack: $12.99
We have a deal on an AirPod 5-Piece case cover and accessory pack. It includes a case to protect your AirPods case, an anti-loss strap for those times when you might be concerned about losing your AirPods, a watch band holder that holds your AirPods on your watch band, ear tips to provide a comfortable fit and sound isolation, and a carabiner that connects to the case. You can get all that for $12.99 through our deal. I’m linking directly to a black model, but there are also options for pink, red, blue, gray, and yellow.
French Police Defeat Retadup Botnet Infecting 850,000 Computers
French police have defeated a botnet that infected over 850,000 computers. It was created with the Retadup malware. With the help of a web host, they cloned the command & control server and used it to disinfect the zombie computers.
«The malware authors were mostly distributing cryptocurrency miners, making for a very good passive income,” the security company said. “But if they realized that we were about to take down Retadup in its entirety, they might’ve pushed ransomware to hundreds of thousands of computers while trying to milk their malware for some last profits.»
