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The O.MG. Cable, a Lightning cable that allowed hackers to remotely take over a victims computer, was demonstrated last summer at Def Con. Now, Fast Company reported, it is being mass-produced.

The O.MG Cable was first reported by Motherboard’s Joseph Cox when the security researcher who created it, a person known as “MG,” first demoed his handmade prototype at the Def Con hacking conference last summer. The O.MG Cable looks like an ordinary Apple-made Lightning cable and works exactly the same—it will charge a device and transfer data to and from the device just like an authentic Lightning cable. However, the O.MG Cable also contains a built-in wireless hotspot. This allows attackers to remotely run commands on the Mac or Windows PC the cable is plugged into, which allows them to do, well, pretty much whatever they want—including reading or even deleting your data… The good news at the time was that the O.MG cable needed to be handmade and was relatively expensive—$200 a pop. But now MG says that he’s found a way to mass-produce the cable in a factory, which will allow thousands of them to roll off an assembly line.

It is eight years since Steve Jobs passed away.  A little over that since Tim Cook succeeded him as CEO of Apple. At Forbes, Chuck Jones argues that Mr. Cook is still not getting the credit his deserves.

Analysts say that there hasn’t been any innovation at Apple over the past eight years, that Cook needs to be replaced and that the company should acquire at least one or more large companies to “take it to the next level.” They seem to ignore some new products that are generating tens of billions of revenue every year… In fiscal 2011 Apple generated just under $3 billion in Services revenue vs. a projected $46 billion in fiscal 2019. Cook has also announced a goal of approximately $50 billion next year, which the iPhone reached in fiscal 2011 or four years after it became available.

Many people rejoiced when we learned that macOS Catalina was going to be the end of iTunes. However, the Verge reported, it is going to be a problem for some DJs.

According to Apple, along with Catalina’s removal of iTunes, users are also losing XML file support as all native music playback on Macs moves over to the official Music app, which has a new library format. XML file support is a popular organizational feature for DJs who use it to sort tracks into playlists and utilize the “Share iTunes Library XML with other applications” option to seamlessly transmit data between apps. Tons of popular DJ apps, like Rekordbox and Traktor, read XML files, and over the years, iTunes became the de facto way for lots of DJs to sort through their massive file libraries and quickly find tracks while performing.

The NFL is going to fine the Pittsburgh Steeler’s quarterback Ben Roethlisberger $5000 for wearing an Apple Watch on the sidelines, ESPN reported.  Electric devices that transmit messaging are banned by the NFL. He is said to be “livid” about the decision.

Roethlisberger wore the Apple Watch on the sideline during the Monday Night Football game. His issue is that he never received any advance warning that he could be in violation, only a fine letter for wearing the device — which he didn’t even realize he had on, according to sources. With Roethlisberger unable to use his right arm, his wife dressed him for the Monday night game and strapped the Apple Watch on his left wrist. Roethlisberger then assumed a position he rarely has in his NFL career — standing in street clothes, including an Apple Watch, on the Steelers’ sideline.

An exploit affecting a number of popular Android devices, supposedly patched in December 2017, has been found in the wild once again, ZDNet reported. It can allow hackers to take control of smartphones, including those from Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Google itself.

Google disclosed today that they found evidence of an Android unpatched vulnerability being used in attacks in the real world — a so-called “zero-day.” The vulnerability resides in the Android operating system’s kernel code and can be used to help an attacker gain root access to the device. Ironically, the vulnerability was patched in December 2017 in Android kernel versions 3.18, 4.14, 4.4, and 4.9, but newer versions were found to be vulnerable…Google researchers also said that the “exploit requires little or no per-device customization,” meaning it should be able to work on a wide range of handsets, although they have not confirmed this with manual reviews, as they did for the devices listed above.

New AirPods could launch later this October, according to the International Business Times. The unveiling is expected at an upcoming event, with some powerful new features set to be revealed.

According to reports, the Cupertino-based tech powerhouse is planning a huge overhauled AirPod design to better compete with Microsoft’s newly launched Surface Earbuds. The news about the upcoming Apple AirPods 3 comes from a new icon unlocked by developers inside the latest iOS 13.2 developer beta. The information showed a new pair of wireless earbuds that can be paired with the iPhone device. Some developers suggest that the upcoming new AirPods will likely be able to work as hearing aids, just like previous wireless earbuds developed by Apple. Other references found inside the latest iOS developer beta suggest that the new AirPods will have different listening modes.

Short video sharing app TikTok said Friday it will not allow political ads in the U.S. and EU, The Next Web reported. It already had a similar policy in India.

This is quite a different approach as compared to US-based tech platforms such as Gooogle, Facebook, and Twitter. All of them allow paid political ads but with transparency programs that allow people to see who paid for the ad. While we won’t see some hilarious attempts from politicians to connect with youth trough ironically funny videos, we might still see a lot of political content around. In this year’s assembly elections in India, the platform made a significant impact in making the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi more popular.

Microsoft unveiled new products this, including an updated, dual-screen, Microsoft Surface. Over at iMore, Rene Ritchie made some suggestions about what Apple could learn from the product.

Apple’s reportedly been kicking around foldable projects since back in the days of iPhone 4 but hasn’t found anything they’d be happy turning into a shipping product yet. For them, the technology just isn’t mature enough yet. And that’s ok. That’s Apple. There were years of Windows Mobile and a decade of Tablet PC before we got the iPhone and iPad, and Microsoft Spot before we got the Apple Watch. Apple wants to learn from this before they do that. But for us nerds, this is still super interesting. Now, what Microsoft showed off weren’t technically foldables. They were more like… hingeables?

Amazon is planning a new cloud data center in Argentina, according to a Bloomberg News report. It will invest $800 million in the project over 10 years.

The Seattle-based company is preparing to invest about $800 million in the project … will reap considerable tax benefits by locating the data center in the Bahia Blanca-Coronel Rosales districts of the province of Buenos Aires, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly. Amazon’s decision to put part of its cloud infrastructure in South America’s second-largest economy is a big win for the Argentine government, which is keen to diversify the economy into digital services, nanotechnology, aerospace and more. Earlier this year, the national congress unanimously passed a law creating incentives for tech companies to set up shop there.