Month: November 2021

Android 12 launched a month ago and Amazon Appstore still won’t run on it

As much as we’d like it to be, Installing a major operating system update isn’t always the most trouble-free process. Even if everything does go well with the update itself, there’s still the possibility that some of your go-to apps aren’t going to be too happy about the change. That’s what some users of the […]

The post Android 12 launched a month ago and Amazon Appstore still won’t run on it appeared first on Liliputing.

As much as we’d like it to be, Installing a major operating system update isn’t always the most trouble-free process. Even if everything does go well with the update itself, there’s still the possibility that some of your go-to apps aren’t going to be too happy about the change. That’s what some users of the Amazon AppStore are learning about the move to Android 12.

Android 12 started arriving on devices late last month, primarily on Google’s own Pixel phones. When it did, users who had Appstore installed found that it was no longer working. That might not seem like a huge deal, but because of the way Amazon handles DRM it also means that apps and games installed from the Appstore can’t be launched.

Reports started popping up on Amazon’s digital and device forum almost immediately. Though they were acknowledged fairly quickly by an Amazon staffer, there’s been little activity in the weeks that followed. It’s now been nearly five weeks since the original post. While additional users have reported running into the issue, the only responses that have been posted state that “our technical team is still investigating the issue.”

Interestingly enough, one commenter has shared a temporary workaround. Those who aren’t averse to a little software tinkering can download the affected apps’ APKs on another device, decompile them, comment out the references to Amazon’s DRM and recompile with a self-signed certificate. The apps can then be installed on an Android 12 device even if the Appstore is still non-functional.

Unfortunately, that’s not something most Android 12 users are going to be comfortable doing and it seems pretty clear that the issue with Amazon Appstore is affecting more than just the 90-plus users who have posted comments on the month-old thread. There have been nearly 3,800 total views, so there appear to be plenty of Android 12 early adopters who would like something done about the problem.

It’s easy enough to see why decision makers at Amazon not feeling like this is a major priority right now. Amidst the flurry of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales from its own stores and big box retailers, Amazon is probably far more focused on the shoppers who are frantically purchasing new Kindle Fire tablets at steep discounts.

Amazon does claim to be “Earth’s most customer-centric company,” after all. Presumably at some point that will also include Appstore customers who have upgraded to Android 12.

via Slashdot

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MPA Seeks Person to Investigate Online Pirates & Their Technical Infrastructure

Whether they supply content, technical infrastructure or even coding skills, those involved with the online distribution of pirated movies or TV shows can expect to get noticed by the Motion Picture Association. How the Hollywood group goes about its investigations isn’t public knowledge but for one talented individual, becoming a member of the team is now on the horizon.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

mpaEver since it’s been technically possible to distribute pirated copies of movies and TV shows online, the Motion Picture Association has been attempting to stop it.

From the earliest torrent sites, through to file-hosting and streaming platforms, the Hollywood group has been developing strategies to counter the latest threats, something that has resulted in countless shutdowns, civil copyright complaints, and even criminal trials.

But despite all of the work and massive expenditure over the past couple of decades, pirates always find ways and means of sharing premium content with the masses. This hasn’t deterred the MPA of course, quite the opposite in fact. Together with its partners in the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, MPA investigations now have a truly worldwide reach via the organization’s Global Content Protection team.

And for one talented individual, there’s now a chance to become a key part of it.

Get Paid For Investigating Pirates

Most people’s experiences of pirate sites and services are on the consumer end but what takes place behind the scenes is arguably much more interesting. The latter aspect is of course of major interest to the MPA too, since knowing those details helps them to take enforcement action. This is where its investigators play a crucial supporting role.

“The Internet Investigator is primarily responsible for contributing to the global Internet strategy and protecting the motion picture and television industry’s business activities by investigating and reporting on individuals and organizations engaged in (the facilitation of) copyright infringement,” a new MPA job listing reads.

The MPA says it needs a “self-starter” with the ability to deliver professional results on short deadlines. They must also have a keen eye for detail, creative problem-solving skills, and the ability to work with minimal supervision.

Key Responsibilities

A key aspect of the role includes shaping and executing the MPA’s enforcement strategy, which necessarily includes the juicy stuff such as spying on major pirates and how they operate.

“Conduct detailed investigations of key players and other global targets involved in copyright infringement, including the investigation of individuals, organizations, and technical infrastructures,” the listing reads.

This statement has plenty of scope but appears to cover everyone from site administrators to app developers and everyone in between. Given that countering the threat posed by pirate IPTV subscriptions is a major goal of the MPA and ACE, there is little doubt that most entities in that supply ecosystem will be considered potential targets too, including hosting and similar services.

Investigations Lead to Enforcement Actions

The successful candidate will be required to deliver “forensically sound” investigative reports that will help to determine the next steps against potential targets. Those will necessarily differ on a case-by-case basis but it will be up to the investigator to recommend appropriate measures, including escalating the case for civil litigation or even a criminal referral.

As we have reported on many occasions, not all cases investigated by the MPA and/or ACE will result in a full-blown lawsuit. Indeed, the groups do seem to prefer confidential settlements and controlled shutdowns when it is deemed appropriate. Either way, investigators will be involved in these and similar processes while coordinating with MPA member studios, law enforcement, attorneys, and various internal departments.

Rinse and Repeat

If there is one thing that the MPA isn’t short of is potential targets. There are easily hundreds, perhaps thousands, of live piracy operations at any given time and certainly more than any single investigator could handle in an entire career. Nevertheless, the successful candidate will also be expected to proactively identify new potential targets, perhaps helping to nip them in the bud before they gain too much traction.

That necessarily leads to how pirates utilize new ways of distributing pirated content online. Part of the role will involve monitoring, analyzing, and reporting on emerging technologies, ensuring that the MPA is always prepared to tackle the latest trends which, thanks to social media, can blow up extremely quickly.

The Ideal Candidate

Given that much of the investigator’s work will be carried out online, it’s no surprise that internet-based skills are a must. An understanding of TCP/IP, Internet routing, HTTP(S), and DNS is strongly preferred, and those with a good grasp of the relationships between ISPs, domain names, whois, IP addresses, hosting providers, and reverse proxy providers will have an advantage.

An understanding of streaming, file-hosting, peer-to-peer sharing, and live broadcasting would also be a plus, along with a basic knowledge of anti-piracy and copyright infringement issues.

Unsurprisingly, the MPA also requires someone with the highest level of work ethics, which includes keeping the details of their investigations a closely guarded secret.

The full listing can be viewed here

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Google Play apps downloaded 300,000 times stole bank credentials

Crooks find new ways to prevent Google from detecting malicious packages.

Google Play apps downloaded 300,000 times stole bank credentials

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Researchers said they’ve discovered a batch of apps downloaded from Google Play more than 300,000 times before the apps were revealed to be banking trojans that surreptitiously siphoned user passwords and two-factor authentication codes, logged keystrokes, and took screenshots.

The apps—posing as QR scanners, PDF scanners, and cryptocurrency wallets—belonged to four separate Android malware families that were distributed over a span of four months. They used several tricks to sidestep restrictions Google has devised in an attempt to rein in the unending distribution of fraudulent apps in its official marketplace. Those limitations include restricting the use of accessibility services for sight-impaired users to prevent the automatic installation of apps without user consent.

Small footprint

“What makes these Google Play distribution campaigns very difficult to detect from an automation (sandbox) and machine learning perspective is that dropper apps all have a very small malicious footprint,” researchers from mobile security company ThreatFabric wrote in a post. “This small footprint is a (direct) consequence of the permission restrictions enforced by Google Play.”

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Two months in, Windows 11 is still a work in progress

Features have been added and bugs have been fixed, but things are still missing.

A PC running Windows 11.

Enlarge / A PC running Windows 11. (credit: Microsoft)

When we reviewed Windows 11 nearly two months ago, it was obvious that some areas of the operating system were still under construction. Many of the built-in apps were still in need of updates, and a handful of features that had been promised back at Windows 11's unveiling in June were still either in preview or missing entirely.

Windows 11 now has two months of updates under its belt. Many of those have focused on fixing the OS's early problems, but others have slowly added features to bring it closer to what Microsoft originally announced. We've covered many of those updates as they've been released. But if you're still on the fence about upgrading and you haven't been following closely, we've put together a quick list of bug fixes and features that have come out since Windows 11 was launched, things Microsoft has been testing since early October, and a few things that we still haven't seen.

Available to the public

The initial release of Windows 11 was build number 22000.194 (you can see this number by running "winver" from the Run box or the Start menu's search bar). As of the November 2021 update, build number 22000.348, the following things have been added, tweaked, or fixed:

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Big Tech firms should pay ISPs to upgrade networks, telcos in Europe claim

Over a dozen ISPs complain their networks are “monetized” by Big Tech platforms.

A person's hand holding a roll of 50-Euro notes.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Alicia Llop)

The CEOs of 13 large European telecom companies today called on tech giants—presumably including Netflix and other big US companies—to pay for a portion of the Internet service providers' network upgrade costs. In a "joint CEO statement," the European telcos described their proposal as a "renewed effort to rebalance the relationship between global technology giants and the European digital ecosystem."

The letter makes an argument similar to one that AT&T and other US-based ISPs have made at times over the past 15 years, that tech companies delivering content over the Internet get a "free" ride and should subsidize the cost of building last-mile networks that connect homes to broadband access. These arguments generally don't mention the fact that tech giants already pay for their own Internet bandwidth costs and that Netflix and others have built their own content-delivery networks to help deliver the traffic that home-Internet customers choose to receive.

Today's letter from European ISPs was signed by the CEOs of A1 Telekom Austria Group, Vivacom, Proximus Group, Telenor Group, KPN, Altice Portugal, Deutsche Telekom, BT Group, Telia Company, Telefónica, Vodafone Group, Orange Group, and Swisscom. They wrote:

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Here are the best Cyber Monday deals we’re seeing for less than $60

Including 4K streamers, board games, Fire HD tablets, microSD cards, and more.

Pictures of the new Chromecast.

Enlarge / The new Chromecast with Google TV. It comes in colors. (credit: Google)

Over the past week, we've tracked all sorts of discounts to help you save some cash while the gift-giving season kicks into gear. Just because a deal might be a good value, though, doesn't mean it's necessarily affordable.

So for this roundup, we're cutting things down for those strictly shopping on a budget and hoping to get the most bang for their buck—specifically for less than $60, since many of the better bargains we've found have been in that price range. We've also included a handful of deals just beyond $60 that we feel provide a similar bargain for the extra few bucks.

Below you can find deals on our favorite streaming stick, device protection, and some affordable smart home devices, among other deals. For a roundup of all the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals still running, head over to our full guide to the best deals we can find.

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Daily Deals (11-29-2021: Cyber Monday edition)

It’s Cyber Monday, which means that… a lot of the same deals on tech products that were around on Black Friday are still here. Amazon Fire tablets are selling for $35 and up. Kindle eReaders are $50 and up. And Fire TV Sticks start at $18. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for […]

The post Daily Deals (11-29-2021: Cyber Monday edition) appeared first on Liliputing.

It’s Cyber Monday, which means that… a lot of the same deals on tech products that were around on Black Friday are still here. Amazon Fire tablets are selling for $35 and up. Kindle eReaders are $50 and up. And Fire TV Sticks start at $18. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for Amazon’s sales.

Since there are so many things on sale today, I’m just going to call out a few favorites in today’s daily deals post. But if you want to share a particularly good deal that’s not mentioned here, feel free to leave a note in the comments!

Acer Swift X

Here are some of best Cyber Monday 2021 deals I’ve found so far:

Laptops

Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 13

Convertible laptops

Acer Chromebook 311

Chromebooks

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Kids

Tablets & eReaders

Media Streamers

Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro

Wireless audio

PC Games

Synology DiskStation DS420+

Other

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