Are You FREAKing Out?

March 17, 2015 — Leave a comment

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With its latest update IOS 8.2, Apple has allegedly solved the so-called “freak” security flaw. We can all relax now. Business as usual. Right? So, what went wrong and why did we need this security update, in the first place? This may come as a huge and painful surprise, but think about the encryption itself?

Why? Unfortunately, Apple’s crown jewel in terms of impeccable security features turn out to be its Achilles’ heel. The hackers could not go through the encryption layers with an ease you move through your favorite cheese, but the illusion is being broken. And now, there is no way back. Right?

The IOS 8.2 among other things was an admittance that the integrated encryption of our messages was not as powerful as we initially thought. Perhaps, the biggest danger, came from our false belief that we are bulletproof while in the encryption zone. We cannot tell for certain, can we?

Yet, it makes a perfect sense, doesn’t it? So, we are safe now. Nothing to worry about. We do not want to spoil this lovely mood, but you should be fully aware that while we are writing something is cooking in Apple’s kitchen. The IOS 8.3 is to hit your device anytime soon. What is the problem, now?

The Dark Decade

March 17, 2015 — Leave a comment

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Whenever the most popular whistleblower in the world has something to say, you simply know it is not going to end up well for our cyber security. Edward Snowden is the usual suspect, when it comes to the most annoying partybreakers. So, what happened this time? Speak out you dark cloud.

It turns out that the bad busy little cyber bee in the NSA and the CIA have worked the entire decade in order to infiltrate the IOS system. They were stubborn and merciless, when it comes to the spying on iPhones and iPads. Have they succeeded? Did they bite the Apple, our precious apple?

That is the catch. We do not know, and probably we will never know, for sure. It also makes a perfect sense to claim that Android was not left aside. However, this simply makes you wonder and become helplessly restless, is there a place in the cyber space you can really feel safe and protected? 

The secret government agencies can simply afford themselves to get some of the leading Apple’s developers. You can scare or buy him or her, or touch an ego with an irresistible James Bond story. Why bother for the entire decade? It just does not make any sense, does it? Edward, what are you hiding?

#ThingsIDidWhenFacebookWasntAround

March 15, 2015 — Leave a comment

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We are not quite sure what went wrong with Facebook’s downtime the last time, or who is to blame. Yet, for what is worth, the consequences on a global level were impossible to be ignored. It turns out that the social network addicts had a rare chance for reevaluating their lives without Facebook.

So, what did we get as a result? You can survive without it, that is for sure. How you are going to feel in return is a completely different thing. Some Facebook users were painfully honest about it. You cannot even imagine how many real-life-likes were out there. Instead of buttons we used our smiles.

At the same time, we have realized that we are so deep in the cyber waters. Probably, too deep to admit it. What does it mean, exactly? We need Facebook so much that in a hypothetical situation or world without it, we would not have the other choice than to invent it again. Is this an exaggeration?

Well, we had hundreds of millions of users, who just could not wait for it to come back. The usual suspected haters were defeated severely. The world did not become a better place without Facebook for a couple of minutes. Maybe, Mark Zuckerberg was playing with us. He wanted to check how long we can manage without him.

Trouble In Facebook Paradise

March 14, 2015 — Leave a comment

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How many young busy little bees all over the world dream about working in Facebook? You do not have to be a rocket scientist to know this answer without using the full capacity of your brain power or the Internet itself, do you? Facebook does not have to worry about the potential employees.

Why? Because, there are so many of them are standing and waiting patiently in the line. However, there are some rumors about the dark side of the moon. Some of them are obviously exaggerated, but some are simply true. You hear them, and you simply know. There are 24/7 on the watch assignments.

You are not supposed to leave a town. Not to mention the drinking during the period of high alert state. In addition, it makes a perfect sense for your family or friends to bother you each day with their annoying requests and questions, because they know you are working for their favorite social network.

What about the relationships between the employees themselves? Sometimes, this can be a living hell, just like in any other company under a tremendous pressure. Finally, Mark Zuckerberg worries more about Google’s business, than his own and only cyber child. Think twice before sending him your CV. Right?

Do You Need A TalkSpace?

March 14, 2015 — Leave a comment

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It is said that a kind word can heal any wound. Maybe, that was the very thought the creators of the TalkSpace app had on their minds when they had designed it. So, what is TalkSpace all about? To make the long story short, while using some plain English expressions, this is a cyber therapy.

When you hit a wall in your heart or head, you can subscribe on a weekly level. What do you get in return? Well, you can talk or chat with a professional therapist. The TalkSpace offers a possibility of attending a video conference in the real time. We should not forget the numerous forums.

These forums, you can attend for free. As you can see, someone has thought of a nice way to benefit from the fruitful world of apps. This is a truly win-win scenario for both therapists and people with the different kinds of psychological issues. Great thing, indeed. Providing therapy with no limitations.
When it comes to the physical pain and troubles, guess we will have to wait a little bit longer. Although, cyber words can heal your soul, cyber hands cannot heal your wounds or fix the bones. For what is worth, your cyber-app-therapist has all the time and patience in the world, just for you. Talk!

In The Palm Of Your Drone Hand

March 12, 2015 — Leave a comment

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There is a lovely flying toy. This mini-drone can easily use the palm of your hand as an airport. The only “trouble” is that it cannot use an action camera. Why? You do not have to be a rocket scientist to answer this question, do you? This butterfly drone simply cannot afford an additional weight.

So, what can we use it for? Unfortunately, the modern drones are quite notorious. Instead of improving our lives, they tend to take them away in an easy, unhuman, and mechanical way. There were some rumors that Amazon plans to use them for the delivery purposes. Is there any good in them?

For what is worth, there were some “tryouts” in a positive direction. One of them is a contest, which asked for you to come up with an idea about a possibility to use drones for good deeds. This is how we have heard about a proposal to use drones for planting the trees in the remote areas.

We sure hope that someone will not come up with a brilliant idea to put some poison on this tiny aircraft, for example. We are not eager nor curious to find out what are the dimensions of the biggest drone in the world, now that we are fully aware of this drone small wings, that is for sure. How about you?

How To Kill A Mockingbird, Who Tweets?

March 12, 2015 — Leave a comment

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Can you guess which top 10 countries are on the Twitter-withdraw-blacklist? You know how it goes, don’t you? You submit a request to Twitter asking for a certain content to be removed, and then you sit and wait for a response. It is not so hard to guess, who is the number one, is it? Turkey, who else.

Turkey submits more than 500 requests, the official ones, on a yearly level, and Twitter answers in about 50% with a green light. The second position is reserved for Russia, of course. However, when it comes to the Russian, then the blue bird answers positively in less than 10% of all cases. Here is a surprise.

Germany has just won the bronze medal. This is a little bit surprising. Now, the remaining magnificent seven: France, the USA, Brasil, the UK, Japan, Netherland, and India. So, what is the moral of this story? Do not you even dare to come up with some reckless parallels between the democracy and Twitter.

For what is worth, it is definitely not a good sign, when you want to remove something on Twitter. It is worth mentioning that both Russian and Turkish politicians like to use Twitter, especially during the election years. You like when Twitter users vote for you, but you hate it when they criticize. Interesting.

Facebook vs The Sitting Bull

March 11, 2015 — Leave a comment

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We all know that native Indians have colorful and meaningful names. However, in the world of modern social networks this can be a huge disadvantage, rather than a “competitive” advantage we can envy them for. So, what is the catch with Facebook and native Indian names?

Well, it turns out that you cannot register on Facebook, if you have a name, which has some other meaning. Why? Facebook thinks that these names are the fake ones. And you know how it goes with the rigorous Facebook policy, when it comes to an unconditional obligation to use only your “real” name, don’t you?

Unfortunately, these Indians have only their own names, as they are. There are no alternatives. So, the Sitting Bull can simply forget about a Facebook account. Why have nit they tried to communicate the Facebook support about this annoying problem? Trust us, they have done their best.

They scanned their IDs. Library membership cards. They wrote letters of explanations and protests. All of those in vain. It seems that Facebook is both deaf and blind, when it comes to some basic rights of native Indians. Do they have to come up with a social network of their own? Any other option?

Cyber Killing – A Safe Feeling

March 11, 2015 — Leave a comment

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What do you know a kill switch has done an amazing job in preventing the problematic epidemic of smartphone thefts. In the first place, we are talking about the iPhones. However, this should be a strong indication for the rest of the smartphone family. The things have changed dramatically.

Three biggest cities in the world of smartphones have become the safest places for your cyber pets. San Francisco has recorded a decrease of more than 40% in the number of stolen smartphones compared to the previous dark periods. New York is not too far away from it with the impressive 25%.

What to say about London and the unprecedented 50% of its theft decrease? The kill switch has changed it all. It simply does not make any sense stealing a smartphone, which is protected with a kill switch, does it? The smartphone empire has obviously found a way to strike back and ensure its wealth.

Our smartphones are safe and sound thanks to the kill switch. Now, we can kindly ask Apple, and Google if interested, to spread the field of cyber protection. We do not need a kill switch for the software itself, but we need something equally effective to make the hackers think twice before they strike.

What Went Wrong?

February 9, 2015 — Leave a comment

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We had almost an entire hour of extremely unpleasant Internet silence for the major league players, such as Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Tinder, AIM, MySpace, and Hipcha. You know how it goes, when you lack official statements and explanations, don’t you? Speculations and rumors run wild.

On the one side, we have some serious rumors about the Lizard Squad involvement in these embarassing events. This was apparently one more successful demonstration of their new and efficient DDoS attacks concept. Yet, somehow we are not convinced. Do these guys really need additional publicity?

On the other side, there were some scary voices that the Islamic State was involved in this. However, there are at least two reasons to doubt this possibility. The first is a serious doubt about the possibility of their hacker’s teams to run something like this on such a big scale. What is the second one?

Well, the Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists simply cannot live without the social networks. A great deal of new members comes as a direct result of their social network activities. Why ruin all of that with a cyber attack? The more we wait for the official explanation, the more likely we are to speculate.