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Welcome to Cyber Dump number 5, your weekly summary of what's happening in this insane age of technology that we live in. There's lots to cover this week, so let's get started. As always, all source links are below.
- Youtube link
- Archive.org mirror
- Torrent
- Keybase mirror
TAILS
TAILS released version 2 of their privacy focused OS this week. 2.0 has lots of new changes to the desktop environment. It also fixes many security issues in the OS, making use of the GNOME Shell and Debian 8. Check the site for full details.
- https://tails.boum.org/news/version_2.0/index.en.html
BITCOIN
Jan Hubik from the Insitute of Cryptoanarchy in Prague posted a video demoing Bitcoin payments using an NFC implant. You basically can swipe your hand to automatically pay or check your bitcoin balance. I'm not sure what the security is like for this, but it looks very interesting.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdauofdGFBM
Staying with Bitcoin, Andrew Barisser posted about a new project he's working on called The Bitiverse. It uses the Bitcoin blockchain to create something like an uncensorable website slash domain name system. Interesting sounding project, and I look forward to seeing how he develops it.
- https://medium.com/@abarisser/a-decentralized-web-site-anchored-in-the-blockchain-14b91cef0e4c#.jhgjrd7oe
VIRTUAL REALITY
Tim Sweeney and Mike Fricker from Epic Games uploaded a preview video showing the new VR editor for the Unreal Engine. Combining the HTC Vive headset with the Oculus motion controls, users can create VR content while being totally immersed in their virtual worlds. Objects can be manipulated and copied at will and in real time. Pretty cool.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKO9fEjNiio
PRIVACY
Security researchers have found that the Windows Edge privacy mode isn't as private as you might think. Forensic Focus found that the browser collects the users browsing data locally when it said it wasn't.
- http://betanews.com/2016/01/30/stop-using-microsoft-edges-inprivate-mode-if-you-value-your-privacy/
In other browser news, Brendan Eich, the creator of Javascript and one of the founders of Mozilla, has released his own browser. It's called Brave and is all about speed and privacy. It's got a bunch of interesting features like built in ad blocking, out of the box support for privacy extensions like HTTPS everywhere, and it even has a bitcoin wallet built in. Check it out at brave.com
- https://brave.com
DRONES
We've probably all seen those videos of birds attacking drones, well now The Dutch National Police Force have been harnessing this seemingly in-built avian hatred for human flying machines, by training eagles to identify, take out and recover drones from places they're not supposed to be. The idea is that this simpler method is much faster than drone capture nets, especially in dangerous, time-sensitive situations.
- http://time.com/4202469/dutch-police-eagle-drones
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HifO-ebmE1s
STEGANOGRAPHY
Doctor Web security researchers have found a unique trojan virus in the Google Play store. The researchers found that the malcious code is hidden inside the apps images using steganography, allowing it to bypass standard detection methods.
- http://www.techworm.net/2016/02/beware-some-android-games-host-malicious-code-inside-images.html
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Gatebox uploaded a concept video for a holographic personal AI. The video's in japanese, but this seems to be a product similar-ish to the Amazon Echo, in that you speak to it and it does things for you. Looking at their website, they are planning on crowdfunding the development of this later in the year.
Although the digital girlfriend thing seems a bit weird, I can definitely see this kind of technology catching on, especially when it'll be connected to other internet of things devices in peoples homes.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcCHYLIRayk
- http://gatebox.ai/
VIDEOS
Two awesome videos this week. The first is one on Vimeo called Drone-2000 and is a 15min look at all the different ways drones are impacting our lives, and what the future implications might be. This one is a must watch.
The next vid is of a recent talk given by Dr. Aubrey de Grey, the awesome 9th level wizard in search of eternal life. This talk is called Rejuvenation biotechnology; ending aging, and is an overview of the different ways that as a species, we could actually be on the edge of significant life extension technologies and perhaps even immortality.
- https://vimeo.com/140162035
- http://www.drone2000.net/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr9ZW3ngTpY
THIS WEEK ON NODE
This week we have a howto guide showing how to add a super slimline wifi board to the Pi Zero.
There have also been a few new additions to the NODE shop, including a ASCII bitcoin tshirt, and a new customizable sticker that shows a QR code of your public bitcoin address.
If you'd like to check out the shop and support NODE, that'd be awesome. In the meantime, I just want to say thanks for watching, and I'm glad you seem to be enjoying this series. If you've got any news tips or suggestions, leave a comment below or tweet me. Cheers, until next time.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbv5mqv32tc
- http://n-o-d-e.net/shop/
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