Month: June 2020

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  A surprisingly long list of devices makes the iPadOS 14 list—but my own iPad 4th gen didn't make the cut. [credit: Apple ]

Today's WWDC virtual conference exposed tons of new and exciting features for devices across the entire Apple ecosystem. If your device supports the newest version of its OS, it will get those features for free in an over-the-air update. For the most part, if you bought your Apple device new in 2015 or later, you made the cut—but there are some exceptions both ways.

The Apple Watch line is the easiest to understand, since it has so few models available. All Apple Watch models in Series 3 or later can update to watchOS 7—at least, they can as long as they're paired to an iPhone which can run iOS 14.

All iPhones newer than the iPhone 6s (which came out in September 2015) can upgrade to iOS 14. This includes both generations of the iPhone SE. The seventh-generation iPod touch can also upgrade to iOS 14; all previous generations of iPod are out of luck. If you're not certain which model of iPhone you own, you can find identification tips at Apple's support site here.

Enlarge (credit: Pexels)

Hackers are abusing Google Analytics so that they can more covertly siphon stolen credit card data out of infected ecommerce sites, researchers reported on Monday.

Payment card skimming used to refer solely to the practice of infecting point-of-sale machines in brick-and-mortar stores. The malware would extract credit card numbers and other data. Attackers would then use or sell the stolen information so it could be used in payment card fraud.

More recently, these sorts of attacks have expanded to use against ecommerce sites after hackers have compromised them. Hackers use the control they gain to install unauthorized code that runs deep inside the back-end system that receives and processes payment card date during an online transaction. The malicious code then copies the data.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

Mixer, the game-streaming platform acquired by Microsoft in 2016, is done. Xbox team lead Phil Spencer confirmed the news on Monday, announcing a 30-day end-of-life period before Microsoft formally pulls the plug on July 22.

What's more, Microsoft used the opportunity to offer all of its users, particularly its moneymaking "partner" members, a transition path to another streaming service: Facebook Gaming.

"Beginning today, Facebook Gaming will make it easy for anyone in the Mixer community to join, if they choose to do so," Spencer writes at Xbox Wire. He guides affected users to check out a Mixer FAQ on the transition, but unsurprisingly, the guidance about jumping from Mixer to Facebook Gaming is full of caveats about "eligibility" and having financial agreements matched by Facebook "as closely as possible."

Enlarge (credit: NASA/APL/SRI)

Pluto’s recategorization as a dwarf planet may have caused some past anger, but there has never been a better time to be a Pluto fan. Since the New Horizons mission gave us our first real look at Pluto in 2015, researchers have been digging into the rich reality of this icy world. The latest question under the magnifying glass: what was Pluto like at its birth?

Beneath its surface—composed of frozen water, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and more—Pluto is today thought to have a liquid water ocean surrounding a rocky core. But scientists are trying to figure out how long it has been that way. In the "cold start" model, Pluto's interior ocean is thought to have been frozen but then gradually thawed due to heat from radioactive decay in the core. But it remains possible that a "hot start" model is more accurate, one where the planet started out warm enough to form some liquid water.

Cold start vs. hot start

Although the dwarf planet’s beginnings are buried deep in the past, its two possible origins should have left marks on the surface.

Enlarge / Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity comes in for a landing after its first suborbital test flight. (credit: GENE BLEVINS/AFP/Getty Images)

Last October, the space tourism company Virgin Galactic, founded by Sir Richard Branson, became publicly traded. After opening at $11.75 a share, the SPCE stock value generally declined, briefly reaching a low just under $7 a share late in 2019.

At around the same time, the company's chairman, venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, began to talk about developing point-to-point suborbital travel. This advance, he said, would come after Virgin Galactic developed its space tourism business based upon a small rocket-powered spacecraft launched from a large airplane. Such trips, which provide a few minutes of weightlessness, cost at least $250,000 per person. Commercial service may begin in early 2021.

Moving from this technology to a rocket-powered vehicle capable of carrying passengers on long suborbital hops around the world represents a significant step forward. It would involve getting a larger, much more powerful spacecraft to work, making it safe, convincing regulators to allow spaceflights near populated areas, and finally bringing costs down to something that more than a handful of the ultra-wealthy can afford.

Enlarge / The participating businesses have decided the best way to show "dislike" is to withhold money. (credit: GreyParrot | Getty Images)

Update: Late Thursday, Verizon joined the list of companies participating in the Facebook advertising boycott, becoming the first telecom firm and also the largest company by far to join in to date.

"We have strict content policies in place and have zero tolerance when they are breached, we take action," Verizon said in a written statement. "We’re pausing our advertising until Facebook can create an acceptable solution that makes us comfortable." The company also added that its withdrawal from Facebook was similar to the way it temporarily stopped advertising on YouTube in 2017 after its ads appeared next to extremist content on that platform.

Verizon made the choice to withdraw from Facebook and Instagram advertising after the Anti-Defamation League identified a Verizon ad "appearing next to a video from the conspiracy group QAnon drawing on hateful and antisemitic rhetoric," CNBC reported.