Month: June 2021

Enlarge (credit: Apple)

There’s a bug in iOS that disables Wi-Fi connectivity when devices join a network that uses a booby-trapped name, a researcher disclosed over the weekend.

By connecting to a Wi-Fi network that uses the SSID “%p%s%s%s%s%n” (quotation marks not included), iPhones and iPads lose the ability to join that network or any other networks going forward, reverse engineer Carl Schou reported on Twitter.

It didn’t take long for trolls to capitalize on the finding:

Enlarge (credit: Grace Cary / Getty Images)

Some Texas residents who opted into programs that remotely raise thermostat temperatures during heat waves regretted that decision last week.

Power companies in multiple states offer promotions to enroll users into services that let the companies remotely adjust smart thermostats' temperatures by a few degrees when energy demand is high. These programs apparently worked as intended during a heat wave in which the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) requested that thermostats be set at 78°F (26°C) or higher to cut electricity use. But some residents who didn't realize what they'd signed up for were taken by surprise, according to local news reports.

Deer Park resident Brandon English said his wife and their daughters, including a 3-month-old, "woke up sweating" after an afternoon nap during which their thermostat had been remotely raised to 78°, according to a KHOU story on Thursday. English said he unenrolled the family's thermostat from the program after discovering that it was being operated remotely.

Enlarge / Rocky Linux 8.4 (Green Obsidian) is bug-for-bug compatible with RHEL 8.4 and should serve admirably as a CentOS Linux replacement. (credit: RESF)

Rocky Linux—one of at least two new distributions created to fill the void left when CentOS Linux was discontinued by parent corporation Red Hat—announced general availability of Rocky Linux 8.4 today. Rocky Linux 8.4 is binary-compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4, making it possible to run apps designed and tested only for RHEL without RHEL itself.

Bug-for-bug, not just feature-for-feature

One of the questions we've gotten repeatedly since first covering CentOS Linux's deprecation is "why not just use [my favorite distro]?" Linux and BSD users tend to be so accustomed to the same software working on multiple distributions, with similar package names and installation procedures, that they forget what using and installing proprietary software is frequently like.

Rocky Linux and competitor AlmaLinux (which released its own binary-compatible RHEL 8.4 clone in March) aren't simply "Linux distros" or even "Linux distros which closely resemble RHEL." They're built from the same source code as RHEL 8.4, which guarantees that a wide array of proprietary software designed with nothing but RHEL 8.4 in mind will "just work," regardless of how obscure a feature (or bug!) those packages depend upon in RHEL 8.4 might be.

Enlarge (credit: National Park Service)

When people flush their old prescription (or off-prescription) drugs, the compounds invariably make their way into the waters nearby. The same is true even when people using these chemicals urinate them into the sewage system. Once there, these compounds—from prozac to cocaine—can end up in the bodies of aquatic creatures. And, research suggests, the chemicals can impact them: birth control, for instance, affects frog breeding after it enters the water.

We metabolize many of the drugs we take, and water treatment plants remove some of rest. But some concentration can still remain as the water is released to the surrounding lakes and streams.

So far, there's not been much research into how, if at all, other drugs like cocaine and various opioids, affect aquatic life—but scientists say negative effects are not wholly impossible. And there is now some evidence that at least some classification of drugs do cause trouble. New research suggests that a common antidepressant, citalopram, can change the behavior of crayfish, making them bolder than they would be otherwise.

Enlarge (credit: National Park Service)

When people flush their old prescription (or off-prescription) drugs, the compounds invariably make their way into the waters nearby. The same is true even when people using these chemicals urinate them into the sewage system. Once there, these compounds—from prozac to cocaine—can end up in the bodies of aquatic creatures. And, research suggests, the chemicals can impact them: birth control, for instance, affects frog breeding after it enters the water.

We metabolize many of the drugs we take, and water treatment plants remove some of rest. But some concentration can still remain as the water is released to the surrounding lakes and streams.

So far, there's not been much research into how, if at all, other drugs like cocaine and various opioids, affect aquatic life—but scientists say negative effects are not wholly impossible. And there is now some evidence that at least some classification of drugs do cause trouble. New research suggests that a common antidepressant, citalopram, can change the behavior of crayfish, making them bolder than they would be otherwise.

(credit: MA Department of Public Health)

Over the weekend, Google and the state of Massachusetts managed to make creepy COVID tracking apps even creepier by automatically installing them on people's Android phones. Numerous reports on Reddit, Hacker News, and in-app reviews claim that "MassNotify," Massachusetts' COVID tracking app, silently installed on their Android device without user consent.

Google gave the following statement to 9to5Google, and the company does not deny silently installing an app.

We have been working with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to allow users to activate the Exposure Notifications System directly from their Android phone settings. This functionality is built into the device settings and is automatically distributed by the Google Play Store, so users don’t have to download a separate app. COVID-19 Exposure Notifications are enabled only if a user proactively turns it on. Users decide whether to enable this functionality and whether to share information through the system to help warn others of possible exposure.

Google's statement doesn't really address the issue of auto-installing an app without asking. The "functionality" of COVID exposure-tracking apps are built into Google Play Services as an API that government apps can use for their tracking initiatives and can be "automatically distributed by the Google Play Store."

Enlarge / Using hydrogen in some of these applications probably makes more sense than building out a network of hydrogen filling stations for passenger cars. (credit: Scharfsinn86/Getty Images)

In just the last week, General Motors signed agreements with not one but two companies to develop applications for its Hydrotec hydrogen fuel cell systems. At first glance, that might seem a little surprising, since last week we also saw Honda discontinue its hydrogen fuel cell-powered version of the Clarity. That move was just the latest bit of support for the hypothesis that hydrogen power might join Betamax and the Zune in the history books.

In fact, the history books are where you'll find GM's first hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle, the 1966 Electrovan. And in recent years we've seen some fuel cell EVs developed by GM for military applications. But neither of these new deals involves making a hydrogen-powered car.

Instead, last Tuesday the automaker announced it would work with Wabtec—which has already developed a battery-electric locomotive—to engineer freight locomotives powered by GM's fuel cells and batteries. Then, on Thursday, GM revealed it was working with Liebherr-Aerospace to develop aerospace applications (like auxiliary power generation) for fuel cells. Intrigued, I spoke to Charlie Freese, GM's executive director for Global Hydrotec and the man in charge of GM's fuel cell program. Why does the company still think the lightest gas only has room to expand?

Enlarge / Garmin's Vivomove series. (credit: Corey Gaskin / Ars Technica)

As we continue digging, we found some Ars-recommended fitness trackers among Prime Day's many deals. In particular, a slew of our favorite smartwatches from Garmin and Fitbit are on sale.

All these deals are today only, so if you're a Prime member looking for a fitness tracker or running watch, this is your moment. There are also discounts on the Apple Watch Series 3 and Series 6 if pure smartwatch capability is more important to you than fitness tracking.

Our experience with Garmin watches

The Garmin Forerunner series is a top choice for runners. (credit: Corey Gaskin)

Garmin’s watches took a few top spots in our recent smartwatch buying guide. We picked the Forerunner 45 as our favorite runner’s watch while the Vivo series took top honors as the most stylish. Both devices are seeing record discounts for Prime Day. We especially like some older models of the Vivomove. Today's discounts bring the newer versions, the Vivoactive 4 and 4s, down to about the same price.