Israeli Hacker Steals $1.7 Million in Cryptocurrency

A hacker stole cryptocurrency worth  $1.7 million from victims from various European countries, The Next Web reported. At least one website he was running claimed to be running wallet software.

The perp, 31-year old Eliyahu Gigi from Tel Aviv, reportedly stole Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dash from various foreigners, including Belgians, Dutch, and Germans, Israeli news reports. Gigi is facing charges of theft, fraud, aggravated counterfeiting, use of a forged document, perjury, money laundering, and income tax offenses. According to the report, Gigi had been operating a “criminal enterprise” spanning a number of websites that allowed him to conduct his criminal activity and swindle his victims out of their money. The perp used these websites to distribute software that infected his victim’s computers, and stole cryptocurrencies.

Chuck Schumer Calls For Investigation into FaceApp

U.S. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called on the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate FaceApp over privacy and national security concerns.

The viral smartphone application, which has seen a new surge of popularity due to a filter that ages photos of users’ faces, requires “full and irrevocable access to their personal photos and data,” which could pose “national security and privacy risks for millions of U.S. citizens,” Schumer said in his letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and FTC Chairman Joe Simons.

A misconception around the app is that is transmits all of your photos. It doesn’t; it only uses photos that you willingly upload.

DoNotPay Can Manage Your Free Trials

A service called DoNotPay can manage your free trials. Sign up using its digital credit card number and you won’t be charged when the trial ends.

The Free Trial Card is a virtual credit card you can use to sign up for free trials of any service anonymously, instead of using your real credit card. When the free trial period ends, the card automatically declines to be charged, thus ending your free trial. You don’t have to remember to cancel anything. If you want, the app will also send an actual legal notice of cancellation to the service.

I’m interested to try this out. Currently I use a service called Privacy, which lets me generate virtual cards that I can lock to a certain merchant or money amount. The story by Wired is about free trials, but the app description sounds like it can do more, calling itself a “robot lawyer.”

Explaining the Science Behind Elon Musk's Neuralink

Elon Musk’s Neuralink project presented a medical device Tuesday that could read data from 1,500 electrodes. Wired explained the science behind the ambitious project aiming to link brains with computers.

In a presentation to the California Academy of Sciences on Tuesday evening, Neuralink presented a medical device capable of reading information from 1,500 flexible electrodes connected to a laboratory rat – 15 times faster than current systems embedded in humans. The goal is to eventually implant it in people with paralysis or other medical conditions that will let them control computers with their minds – and the company has ambitious plans to begin human trials as soon as next year. So how does it work? Neuralink says surgeons would have to drill holes through the skull to insert flexible electrodes. But in the future, they hope to use a laser to pierce tiny holes in the skull.

Carpool Karaoke Returning For Another Season

Apple has renewed Carpool Karaoke for a third season, Cult of Mac reported. The show will be exclusively available to Apple Music subscribers. It came out of a segment of James Corden’s Late Late Show.

The cast of Stranger Things have already filmed an episode for season 3. Other celebrity pairings haven’t been announced yet. Last season featured Matthew McConaughey with Snoop Dogg, Kendal Jenner with Hailey Beiber and Miley Cyrus and Boyz II Men with Gisele Bundchen. Apple hasn’t said how many episodes to expect in season three. The first season had 21 episodes while the second had 19. Carpool Karaoke won a 2018 Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series. The series was nominated for an Emmy in the same category this year too.

Goldman Sachs Spent $1.3B on Consumer Transformation

New York-based bank Goldman Sachs isn’t usually associated with average consumers. But it has spent US$1.3 billion to transform itself with initiatives like Apple Card (via CNBC). Goldman Transformation So far in 2019 Goldman Sachs has spent US$275 million on its new businesses like Apple Card and its consumer bank Marcus. In an earnings call…