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Submission + - Journalists test an iPhone-to-HDMI adaptor which demands location/browsing data (404media.co)

Slash_Account_Dot writes: I recently got my hands on an ordinary-looking iPhone-to-HDMI adapter that mimics Apple’s branding and, when plugged in, runs a program that implores you to “Scan QR code for use.” That QR code takes you to an ad-riddled website that asks you to download an app that asks for your location data, access to your photos and videos, runs a bizarre web browser, installs tracking cookies, takes “sensor data,” and uses that data to target you with ads. The adapter’s app also kindly informed me that it’s sending all of my data to China.
The cord was discovered by friend of 404 Media John Bumstead, an electronics refurbisher and artist who buys devices in bulk from electronics recyclers. Bumstead tweeted about the cord and was kind enough to send me one so I could try it myself. Joseph has written about malicious lightning cables and USB cables made by hackers that can be used for keystroke logging and spying. While those malicious lightning cables are products marketed for spying, the HDMI adapter Bumstead has been found in the wild and is just another crappy knockoff cable sold on Amazon’s increasingly difficult to navigate website. This HDMI adapter is designed to look exactly like Apple’s same adapter. Here they are side-by-side:

Comment Re:Look at the mirror (Score 2) 50

Yes comrade, that's it exactly. I just checked my secret NSA spy records and determined that you are indeed a Microsoft user.

So to be clear, my comment had nothing to do with the relationship of the blatant Chinese propaganda in your original post to the article linked at the top of this page describing how Microsoft has been tracking Chinese propaganda on the internet.

Comment Re:Wireless will help consumers a lot. (Score 1) 88

Correct me if I'm wrong but on their site it says that Verizon is the parent company of Visible so they do not appear to be a typical MVNO like Ting, etc. As a matter of fact it looks like direct competition against the traditional MVNOs that have catered to people who want an alternative to the big 3 (i.e. 4-line plans for $150/mo), albeit still using the big 3 infrastructure.

https://www.visible.com/about-...

Submission + - Will the Raspberry Pi ever recover? 1

buss_error writes: With the supply chain issues of the past 2 years, we've seen Raspberry Pi's go from $35 each to over $200 each. Many have moved on from the venerable Pi to other hardware platforms, especially in the embedded or moderately large hobby area.
What does the future hold for the Pi? Eben Upton, CEO of Raspberry Pi Trading, says[1] supply issues should be worked out in 2023, however, as many have moved on, will it matter all that much?

[1] https://www.pcmag.com/news/ras...

Submission + - 2016 Tesla Video Was Faked (reuters.com)

Thelasko writes: A 2016 video that Tesla used to promote its self-driving technology was staged to show capabilities like stopping at a red light and accelerating at a green light that the system did not have, according to testimony by a senior engineer.

To create the video, the Tesla used 3D mapping on a predetermined route from a house in Menlo Park, California, to Tesla’s then-headquarters in Palo Alto, he said.

Drivers intervened to take control in test runs, he said. When trying to show the Model X could park itself with no driver, a test car crashed into a fence in Tesla’s parking lot, he said.

“The intent of the video was not to accurately portray what was available for customers in 2016. It was to portray what was possible to build into the system,” Elluswamy said, according to a transcript of his testimony seen by Reuters.

Comment Re: The money is gone. (Score 1) 155

To expand a bit, required reserves for commercial banks are calculated as a percentage of checkable deposits. Those reserves are required to be kept in the bank's account at the Fed. Excess reserves is anything above required reserves and that is the money used for the calculation to create loans.

Worth noting that the act of issuing a loan does indeed create money since an IOU from the borrower (bank's asset, not money) is balanced by the checkable deposit of the loan (bank's liability, actual money).

In any case, since the excess reserves exist on the asset side of the balance sheet, there probably isn't anything wrong with your statement that loans come from assets. Just a little more nuanced.

Comment Re:Not "could" (Score 2) 71

This might help:

https://www.acheroninsights.co...

For completeness, going to throw this link in too, an excellent layman's explainer on the Fed. It goes into the plumbing such as the difference between reserves and bank deposits, how money is created and destroyed in a fiat system, as well as their dual mandate:

https://www.amazon.com/Central...

It's not really about "crypto" and it's not really about payment methods. Imo, it's much deeper. It's an attempt by central banks to create a tool for navigating the upcoming sovereign debt calamity in as peacefully a manner as possible for its citizens.

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