tech | joeross.me

Apr 20, 2017 ∞

Sources: Nintendo to launch SNES mini this year

Tom Phillips writes at Eurogamer:

The reality of a SNES mini is certainly exciting - while the NES was unique for being Nintendo's first home console, the SNES arguably boasts the better software line-up, and a catalogue of classics far more advanced than their NES forebears. Compare The Legend of Zelda on NES to A Link to the Past, for example, or Donkey Kong to Donkey Kong Country.
Other top SNES games from Nintendo include Super Metroid, Super Mario Kart and Super Mario World, as well as Earthbound, Star Fox and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. The console also had some of the best RPGs of the era, including Square’s Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana.

Many people use emulation software of questionable legality (not that I have ever done anything even remotely like that, like, at all, ever) but soon there may no longer be a need for emulation. This is exciting and I’ll absolutely be buying one of these.

Feb 3, 2016 ∞

Google begins rolling out free internet to public housing in Fiber cities

This is a big deal. I worked at the Philadelphia Housing Authority for years and talked to a lot of kids and adults about their desire to get online. Philly isn’t yet on Google’s Fiber expansion roadmap, but this is a great development.

Dec 24, 2015 ∞

Katie Floyd's 3 Tips For Family Tech Support

Katie Floyd’s 3 Tips For Family Tech Support

Great advice for every geek dreading the holiday “Can you help me with my computer?” conversations.

Dec 18, 2015 ∞

Laser-armed fighter jets by 2020

Thom Patterson writes for CNN:

Here's how Air Force special ops might use them: The commander of USAF special ops, Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, said last September that by 2020 he wants them on C-130J Ghostrider gunships for landing zone protection.
The laser weapons would take out possible threats like enemy vehicles, or disable infrastructure such as cell towers.

I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens last night (more on that coming in an article later) so laser weapons seem an appropriate story to share today.

Nov 19, 2015 ∞

Vizio TVs spy on you, here's how to disable it

Vizio TVs spy on you, here’s how to disable it

Vizio’s technology works by analyzing snippets of the shows you’re watching, whether on traditional television or streaming Internet services such as Netflix. Vizio determines the date, time, channel of programs — as well as whether you watched them live or recorded. The viewing patterns are then connected your IP address - the Internet address that can be used to identify every device in a home, from your TV to a phone.

This is a damn good reason not to buy a Vizio TV. I won’t rant about opt-out/opt-in again. But I found Vizio generally had a good price-to-quality ratio: not top shelf hardware, but not top shelf prices, either. So this shadiness is a shame.

A shamey-ness?

Anyway, props to Samsung and LG, who, according to Julia Angwin at ProPublica, require user consent before enabling the sort of tracking Vizio turns on by default.

Disable Vizio "Smart Interactivity"

Vizio obviously knows how shady its default spying is because they have a page named after the feature which begins with information on how to turn it off:

VIA TV Interface

Press the MENU button on your TV's remote.
Select Settings.
Highlight Smart Interactivity.
Press RIGHT arrow to change setting to Off.

VIA Plus TV Interface

Press the MENU button on your TV's remote or open HDTV Settings app.
Select System.
Select Reset & Admin.
Highlight Smart Interactivity.
Press RIGHT arrow to change setting to Off.

Nov 12, 2015 ∞

Is the Russian kamikaze sub misinformation or an inadvertent warning to the West?

Apparently,

The screen capture depicts a project called "Ocean Multipurpose System 'Status-6.'" The weapon would apparently be delivered by a nuclear-powered underwater drone, carried externally by a nuclear submarine. The drone would be capable of depths of up to 3,280 feet and capable of speeds of up to 65 miles an hour. It would also have a range of 6,213 miles.

A weapon like this could take out the transatlantic data cables as mere collateral damage…

Nov 12, 2015 ∞

Russian Ships Too Close to Data Cables for U.S. Comfort

The first of two this-is-really-concerning posts you’ll find here today:

The role of the cables is more important than ever before. They carry global business worth more than $10 trillion a day, including from financial institutions that settle transactions on them every second. Any significant disruption would cut the flow of capital. The cables also carry more than 95 percent of daily communications.

I hope there are ways for at least economic, government and military organizations to route around those cables via satellite if necessary…

Nov 10, 2015 ∞

Apple has learned nothing from Microsoft's Surface

Apple has learned nothing from Microsoft’s Surface - The Verge

iPad sales are indeed down, but it does not follow from that fact that iPad use is down. This Time article did the yeoman’s work of aggregating some data about iPad sales. The bottom line is that in the five years since the iPad’s 2010 launch, Apple has sold more than 258 million of the tablets. That’s more iPads in the wild than people living in Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Egypt, Germany, Iran, Turkey, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Thailand, France, United Kingdom, or Italy (thanks Wolfram|Alpha).

My dad has an Android tablet and a Windows PC. Since he got the tablet (which, interestingly from a marketing perspective, he insists on calling an iPad) he does nothing on the PC except pay bills, and that’s primarily because most of the apps you use to pay bills on mobile devices are, to put it mildly, user-hostile antichrists of design and experience.

He is a sample of one, but my dad isn’t even your typical cutting edge older gentleman. For example, he was on Aol dial-up until sometime around 2013, and refuses to use a non-clamshell mobile phone. So his taking so quickly to using a tablet implies to me that the replacement of PCs by iPads and other tablets may be closer than Tom Warren of The Verge thinks, although still far off.

I don’t see my dad using an iPad Pro though because most of his use is on the couch as a second screen. I suspect that the second screen use case coupled with the price point will dampen iPad Pro sales outside of the geek and artist demographics.

Oct 14, 2015 ∞

Hackers Can Silently Control Siri From 16 Feet Away

Well this is concerning:

A pair of researchers at ANSSI, a French government agency devoted to information security, have shown that they can use radio waves to silently trigger voice commands on any Android phone or iPhone that has Google Now or Siri enabled, if it also has a pair of headphones with a microphone plugged into its jack. Their clever hack uses those headphones’ cord as an antenna, exploiting its wire to convert surreptitious electromagnetic waves into electrical signals that appear to the phone’s operating system to be audio coming from the user’s microphone. Without speaking a word, a hacker could use that radio attack to tell Siri or Google Now to make calls and send texts, dial the hacker’s number to turn the phone into an eavesdropping device, send the phone’s browser to a malware site, or send spam and phishing messages via email, Facebook, or Twitter.

You can disable Siri whenever your iOS device is locked by going to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode > Allow Access When Locked and toggling the Siri switch to the “off” (as in not green) position. This doesn’t guarantee a hack like the one deascribed above won’t work on your device, but it does guarantee you’ll see Siri doing something weird and can thus be alerted to the hackery.

Sep 22, 2015 ∞

Thoughts on ad blockers

Most of this article is an extensive discussion of my hunt for the best ad blocker on iOS. It isn’t exhaustive and, given the pace at which the App Store moves, probably won’t remain current for long. That’s why I want to open things with my own thoughts on ad blocking, because I don’t expect those to change any time soon.

Facial Recognition Software Moves From Overseas Wars to Local Police

This is troubling:

Lt. Scott Wahl, a spokesman for the 1,900-member San Diego Police Department, said the department does not require police officers to file a report when they use the facial recognition technology but do not make an arrest. The department has no record of the stops involving Mr. Hanson and Mr. Harvey, and Lieutenant Wahl said that he did not know about the incidents but that they could have happened.

Should police departments be allowed to use facial recognition?

Yes.

Should they be able to use it with minimal consent, oversight and reporting requirements?

No.

Image from Wikimedia

Jul 9, 2015 ∞

iOS 9 Public Beta coming today?

I rarely cross-post from my geekery-focused Tumblr, but I’m so excited about this I had to share it here, where I have literally thousands more followers.

I’ll be writing a proper post about the public beta after I’ve used it for a few days. There are some interesting legal consequences of agreeing to use beta software.

Jul 8, 2015 ∞

The Verge made a FAA drone exemption search engine

Ben Popper reports at The Verge:

We have partnered with the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College to collect data on every commercial exemption the FAA grants. It's a fascinating snapshot of a fast-growing industry still in its infancy. [The result] is an interactive database that allows you to drill deeper into details, exploring the companies that have been given permission to fly and what they are planning to do with their drones. You can also search by state and figure out who near you is planning to put a drone in the sky.

Photo by Capricorn4049

Jul 7, 2015 ∞

Tor Project seeks Executive Director

The Tor Project, makers of anonymizing browsing tools, is looking for a new Executive Director:

The position provides the high-profile opportunity to assume the voice and face of Tor to the world, and particularly to the global community of Internet organizations dedicated to maintaining a stable, secure and private Internet. In this position, the successful candidate will be able to exercise their deep leadership experience to manage a virtual team of culturally diverse volunteer developers. The candidate will have the opportunity to draw support from their stature in the wider community of Internet privacy foundations and activist organizations to advance external development initiatives.

Tor is used by everyone from political dissidents to child pornographers to access a darknet, unreachable from the Internet most people know. Read more about the Tor Project at Wikipedia.

Tor Project logo uploaded by Wikimedia Commons user Flugaal

Jul 1, 2015 ∞

Amazon AWS: Good enough for the CIA

Leena Rao has a fascinating background story at Fortune on Amazon Web Services, built around a profile of its leader, Senior Vice President Andy Jassy. It’s worth reading the whole thing, but this bit was particularly interesting:

Netflix’s adoption also gave other big companies and institutions the confidence to try AWS. Its heavyweight corporate customers now include Samsung, Comcast, and pharmaceutical giant Novartis, to name just a few. In 2013, AWS won a contract from the Central Intelligence Agency—a classified deal that became public knowledge when a competitor sued the government over it. Once that news broke, Jassy recalls, “a lot of companies would say, ‘Well, if the security and performance is good [enough] for the CIA, then it’s probably good enough for us.’ ”

Read about the original disclosure of the deal over at Federal Computing World.

Jun 4, 2015 ∞

NASA, Verizon developing tech to track drones via cell towers

NASA, Verizon developing tech to track drones via cell towers

Mark Harris reports at The Guardian:

That $500,000 project is now underway at Nasa’s Ames Research Center in the heart of Silicon Valley. Nasa is planning the first tests of an air traffic control system for drones there this summer, with Verizon scheduled to introduce a concept for using cell coverage for data, navigation, surveillance and tracking of drones by 2017. The phone company hopes to finalise its technology by 2019.

This is fascinating to me because the documents obtained by The Guardian describe the purpose of the partnership as to “jointly explore if cell towers and communications could possibly support Unmannned Aerial Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) for communications and surveillance of UAS at low altitudes” (emphasis added).

NASA typically focuses on altitudes so high they’re, well, in space, so why are they involved with developing low-altitutde drone tracking technology?

I want to note that I’m not necessarily opposed to someone in the government being able to keep track of all the drones that will inevitably be zipping around. I’m just not sure why NASA is involved, and I wonder whether their choice of Verizon as a partner serves as a tacit confirmation of that cellular network’s claims of coverage supremacy over its competitors.

There will be some related surveillance stories in tomorrow’s Modern Law newsletter, so sign up to get an email with five links I haven’t blogged about yet.

Apr 2, 2015 ∞

Another blow to deceptively marketed "unlimited" data plans

Another blow to deceptively marketed “unlimited” data plans

Jon Brodkin at Ars Technica:

The FCC's new rules ban throttling except in cases of "reasonable network management." AT&T could argue that the throttling is necessary to keep its network running smoothly, but FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has objected to throttling of plans that are supposed to be unlimited and forced Verizon Wireless to back down from a throttling plan last year.

I have no problem with good-faith network management, but if a plan is subject to throttling, it can’t be marketed and sold as “unlimited.” The FTC is sending the right signal here in choosing to pursue this case, and Judge Edward Chen of the US District Court in Northern California has demonstrated that he understands the issue.

The network that can provide real unlimited data at usable speeds with no fine print has an opportunity to significantly increase its user base, but I haven’t found one yet. Let me know if you have.

Mar 20, 2015 ∞

Tesla will enable automated freeway driving this summer

Chris Taylor reporting at Mashable:

So to recap: Tesla cars will start self-driving this summer, on freeways at least. (It seems likely that once we've gotten used to that notion, autopilot for the full ride will be unlocked.) Google could have done the same thing for us a few years back, if the company were not driven by perfectionism and relentless iteration.

This is interesting. Tesla, to me, has made Google look a little old school, in a bad way. What’s more disruptive? Waiting until you’ve perfected automobile automation everywhere, or enable what you’re confident you’ve done well?

Of course, a base Model S goes for $63,570 after the federal tax credit. So I won’t be automated-ly driving around any freeways for at least a decade (student loan reform, anyone?). But the fact that Tesla can enable automated driving with nothing more than a software update speaks volumes to where the industry is headed.

Dec 15, 2014 ∞

The ethics of reporting on the Sony hack

Emily Yoshida (@emilyyoshida), entertainment editor at The Verge, one of my favorite tech news sites, on the publication’s ongoing and deep contemplation of the ethics of reporting on unethically leaked information:

The contents of the leak are already public; they’re just not in a very user-friendly format until a news outlet decides to amplify a piece of it. Which means, one could argue, that the press is merely drawing lines of best fit through a dataset. It could also mean that the press is essentially finishing what the hackers started.

Dec 10, 2014 ∞

HBO without cable confirmed for April 2015

Finally, although HBO’s decision to use MLB Advanced Media instead of HBO’s own streaming tech prompted CTO and former Xbox executive Otto Berkes to resign.