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Buffer Overflow Bug Found in SUDO Dubbed ‘Baron Samedit’

Andrew Orr ·

Tracked as CVE-2021-3156, a heap overflow bug found in sudo and dubbed “Baron Samedit” has been found recently. It allows an unprivileged user to gain root privileges on a vulnerable machine using a default sudo configuration.

The vulnerability itself has been hiding in plain sight for nearly 10 years. It was introduced in July 2011 (commit 8255ed69) and affects all legacy versions from 1.8.2 to 1.8.31p2 and all stable versions from 1.9.0 to 1.9.5p1 in their default configuration.

2020-02-03: Looks like macOS is affected after all.

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Steve Jobs Unveiled the iPad 11 Years Ago Today

Charlotte Henry ·

January 27 is a significant date in Apple history. On this day in 2010, Steve Jobs took to the stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and unveiled the first iPad. MacRumors has a great write up of the day and a summary of iPad milestones.

“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” said Jobs, in a press release on January 27, 2010. “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.” The original iPad featured a 9.7-inch display, a single-core Apple A4 chip, up to 64GB of storage, 256MB of RAM, up to 10 hours of battery life, a 30-pin dock connector, and a headphone jack. Notably, the original iPad did not have any cameras. Pricing started at $499 for the Wi-Fi model and $629 for the cellular model in the United States.

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Research Indicates Apple Has Had Its Best-Ever Quarter in India

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple’s latest earning call will take place on Wednesday, and you can expect to hear lots about progress in India. TechCrunch reported on new research that indicated that last quarter was the company’s best-ever in the crucial market.

Apple shipped more than 1.5 million iPhone units in India in the quarter that ended in December, up 100% year-on-year, making this its best quarter in the world’s largest smartphone market to date, according to research firms Counterpoint and CyberMedia Research. Thanks to the improved sales of older generation iPhone 11, iPhone XR, iPhone 12 and the newer iPhone SE, Apple doubled its market share in India to 4% in the quarter, the research firms said. Overall, Apple shipped more than 3.2 million iPhone units in India in 2020, up 60% year-on-year, Counterpoint said. The shipment growth comes months after Apple launched its online store in the country and offered customers a wide-range of financing and upgrade options, AppleCare+, and lucrative perks such as a free set of AirPods with the purchase of iPhone 11. The company plans to open its first physical retail store in the country later this year.

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Tim Cook to Address European Data Protection Conference

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple CEO Tim Cook is set to speak at the Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection conference this week. Apple’s senior director for privacy, Jane Horvath, is also set to appear, 9to5 Mac reported.

As first reported by Macerkopf, Cook will appear virtually during the CPDP conference on Thursday, January 28. The focus of the CPDP conference this year is “”Enforcement of rights in a changing world,” and Cook specifically will speak at the beginning of the session in a talk titled “A path to empowering user choice and boosting user trust in advertising.” Cook will appear alongside a handful of other privacy executives and politicians, including Apple’s own senior director for privacy Jane Horvath: John Edwards, New Zealand privacy commissioner; Marcel Kolaja, vice president of the European Parliament; Lucy Purdon, policy director, Privacy International; Marshall Erwin, chief security officer, Mozilla; Jane Horvath, senior director for privacy, Apple.

Preorder Otterbox Gaming Accessories That Ship in February
Cool Stuff Found

Preorder Otterbox Gaming Accessories That Ship in February

Andrew Orr ·

Known for its smartphone cases, this year Otterbox presented a range of gaming accessories for mobile gamers. I was privy to the company’s video presentation at virtual CES and was impressed with these new products. Otterbox partnered with Microsoft and several of these accessories are made for the Xbox controller. However, they did inform us in the video that the mobile gaming clip is compatible with all console game controllers. You can preorder them today and they start shipping mid-February.

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Twitter Client ‘Tweetbot’ Becomes a Subscription App

Andrew Orr ·

Tweetbot was updated to version six on Tuesday and it brings several notable features, including the move to subscription pricing.

Even though the Tweetbot subscription isn’t expensive, I think Tapbots owes its users more than it has delivered. It’s a shame because Tweetbot remains one of the premier third-party Twitter clients for iOS. Hopefully, the lack of new features in this update will be addressed in subsequent releases.

Another subscription app that I’ll be deleting. For me, the only advantage Tweetbot has over Twitter is the lack of sponsored tweets, aka ads. While that is a notable feature worth paying for, one downside to Tweetbot includes never getting timely notifications.

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HBO Max Harry Potter Series in Early Development

Charlotte Henry ·

A live-action Harry Potter series for HBO Max is apparently in the works. The Hollywood Reporter revealed that such a project is though in the very early stages of development.

While it’s news that executives at HBO Max and Warners are engaged in meetings to find a writer and pitch for a Harry Potter TV series, no writers or talent are currently attached as the conversations are still in the extremely early stages and no deals have been made. “There are no Harry Potter series in development at the studio or on the streaming platform,” HBO Max and Warner Bros. reaffirmed in a statement to THR. Expanding the world of Harry Potter remains a top priority for HBO Max and Warner Bros., which along with creator J.K. Rowling, controls rights to the property. Harry Potter is one of Warners’ most valuable pieces of IP. (It’s also worth pointing out that while Harry Potter remains a beloved franchise, Rowling sparked backlash from the trans community after saying that transgender individuals should be defined by their biological sex.)

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Cut Fiber Cable Causes Verizon Outage on East Coast

Andrew Orr ·

A cut fiber cable has been giving Verizon Fios customers issues on the East Coast.

On Twitter, which many still were able to access, people reported they were seeing issues with their Verizon Fios Internet service. Verizon’s customer support team said on Twitter Tuesday that a fiber had been cut in Brooklyn, which could possibly account for some of the issues. The support account on Twitter quickly became inundated with customers asking why their internet was slow and bumpy.

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Elon Musk's SpaceX Launches 133 Spacecraft in Single Day

Charlotte Henry ·

SpaceX launched the most spacecraft in a single day on Sunday, Reuters reported. Elon Musk’s company sent 133 into space on one of its reusable rockets.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 10 a.m. EST from the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It flew south along the eastern coast of Florida on its way to space, the company said. The reusable rocket ferried 133 commercial and government spacecraft and 10 Starlink satellites to space – part of the company’s SmallSat Rideshare Program, which provides access to space for small satellite operators seeking a reliable, affordable ride to orbit, according to the company. SpaceX delayed the launch one day because of unfavorable weather. On Jan. 22 Musk, also chief executive of Tesla Inc., wrote on Twitter: “Launching many small satellites for a wide range of customers tomorrow. Excited about offering low-cost access to orbit for small companies!”