Local residents of Putian, a city in southern China’s Fujian province, have called for more effective government intervention in curbing the skyrocketing price of betrothal gifts that many families say now place an unbearable financial burden on them. Last month, a Putian resident voiced complaints over the issue to the party secretary of Fujian on an online government message board. He claimed that the average cost of betrothal gifts in 2023 is now 780,000 yuan, and underscored that gifting in richer places like the towns of Zhongmen and Dongzhuang may even hit between 800,000 yuan and 2 million yuan soon.
Over the last couple of weeks, Microsoft has made clear its hardware requirements to run Windows 11, while also reaffirming customers whose PCs don’t meet the standard that it won’t leave them in the lurch just like that, saying they will still be able to install the OS via an ISO.
Now it appears that the company is having a Mr. Hyde moment and telling all who do the latter that there is a catch: while users can install the Windows 11 via ISO, it will withhold the Windows Update feature if it detects that PC’s components are not up to its specifications.
While it is clear that the existence and function of Windows Update will certainly divide the room, one cannot argue that withholding the program means that said PCs will lack the ability to automatically download and install important security updates from the parent company over time. Even if some of us are perfectly content with having the feature disabled and turned off.
At this point, there is really no reason for Microsoft to act this way, especially if Microsoft intends for wider adoption of Windows than what it already has. However, as The Verge puts it, this could just be a “cover-your-ass” measure, aimed at discouraging the masses from thinking that it would offer a warranty or technical support for PCs that fail to meet the requirements.
Mind you, this isn’t Microsoft outrightly saying that its withholding updates for Windows 11 altogether; in theory, users adamant about sticking with systems running on CPUs older than Intel’s 8th generation Coffee Lake or AMD’s 1st generation Zen architecture can still get the update, albeit by manually downloading and installing said updates, on a per release basis.
Ultimately, Microsoft’s “selfish” act of withholding the updates can be viewed from a couple of viewpoints. The first is that the company would rather threaten its customers indirectly, rather than backtrack and make changes to the system requirements for Windows 11. The second? The move is Microsoft’s not-so-subtle way of pressuring PC owners into updating their systems with the latest hardware currently on the market.
NVIDIA’s plan to acquire Softbank’s Cambridge-based chip manufacturer ARM has been placed on indefinite hold, as we’ve previously covered back in April. The block was issued by UK regulators, citing that the acquisition was grounds for national security concerns.
Speaking to The Telegraph newspaper on Sunday, Qualcomm CEO Christiano Amon expressed that the company is open to the idea of investing in ARM, provided that the NVIDIA-Softbank deal fails. “If ARM has an independent future, I think you will find there is a lot of interest from a lot of the companies within the ecosystem, including Qualcomm, to invest in [the company],” he explained. Concurrently, the CEO said that Qualcomm has had discussions with others “that feel the same way”, but did not name these would-be investors.
“If it moves out of SoftBank and it goes into a process of becoming a publicly-traded company, [with] a consortium of companies that invest, including many of its customers, I think those are great possibilities,” Amon added. When reached out by CNBC in regards to Qualcomm’s suggestion, NVIDIA commented that an Initial Public Offering (IPO) wouldn’t be enough to support ARM’s growth.
The UK-based chip manufacturer, which runs on an open-licensing model, maintains a neutral approach towards its wide range of tech industry clients. Those that are relying on ARM’s semiconductor business include key players such as Apple, Samsung, and even NVIDIA’s closest rival AMD. Suffice to say, NVIDIA’s plan to buy off ARM from Softbank was met with a huge backlash from these tech giants, who share the same concern of a potential monopoly.
Addressing this, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang promised that the company would respect and not hinder ARM’s business practices and neutrality after the acquisition. However, as mentioned earlier, Huang’s words failed to convince the concerned parties and eventually led to the deal’s current state of limbo.
Last weekend, a set of databases that contain personal data from 533 million Facebook users was listed on a well-known data marketplace. First reported by Alon Gal, the Co-Founder and CTO of a cybersecurity company called Hudson Rock, around 11.6 million of those users were from Malaysia.
If you are wondering whether your details are included in the leak or otherwise, you can now use the popular online tool Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) to verify it. In case you are not familiar with HIBP, it was launched in December 2013 and is the brainchild of Australian cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt.
For Malaysians, they may remember that Troy had added the Jobstreet database into HIBP after the massive national-scale data breach of 2017. In the case of Facebook though, you can verify the involvement of your personal data by providing your phone number to HIBP’s search engine as each of the records within the leaked database contained a phone number.
Do note that you need to include the country code in your phone number to perform the search. As an example, if your phone number is 012-3456789, the search term that you should use would be 6012345789.
If your phone number is part of the leak, the result would be shown as per the image above. Else, it would look like this:
Regardless of that, users are facing the risk of being phished or scammed since their Facebook’s personal data is now out there in the open. Hence, we would like to once again remind you to take the necessary action to protect yourself against such attempts.
Who hasn’t heard of Clubhouse by now? The trendy social network for voice messaging is gaining unprecedented momentum, and competitors such as Twitter and Facebook promise to present their analogues as soon as possible.
But right now only owners of iOS devices have official access to this platform, just like when Instagram was first launched. However, if you like a challenge and don’t lack command line skills, you have the opportunity to join the Clubhouse right now.
How? Let’s figure it out
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to create an account without an iPhone. It’s easier to ask for an invite, and, having received a text message to your number, register online using a friend’s iOS app. Then you can exit the app and leave your friend in peace.
If this is problematic, you can use a service for testing iOS applications that provide a “virtual” iPhone for your needs, like BrowserStack, but such services aren’t usually free. For example, BrowserStack’s Desktop & Mobile package costs $39/month. Too much to our needs.
It is based on the hacked Clubhouse protocol and the author promises to remove the app after the official version for Android is released. For it to work, you need Python version 3.7 or higher. The application works on Windows and macOS.
First, as of February 19, 2021, the agora-python-sdk library compilation for Windows is broken, so instead of installing via pip, it’s better to build the project by hand. The tutorial is available here.
Secondly, for macOS, you need to give Terminal and Python access to Microphone and Accessibility. And also, you will probably need to change the key combination for the “raise your hands” command, since in macOS the module for binding hotkeys will not work properly. To do this, open cli.py in any editor and change:
if not channel_speaker_permission:
print("[*] Press [Ctrl+Shift+H] to raise your hands for the speaker permission.")
keyboard.add_hotkey(
"ctrl+shift+h",
_request_speaker_permission,
args=(client, channel_name, user_id)
)
to
if not channel_speaker_permission:
print("[*] Press [3] to raise your hands for the speaker permission.")
keyboard.add_hotkey(
"3",
_request_speaker_permission,
args=(client, channel_name, user_id)
)
Thirdly, on macOS, you will have to run apps via sudo:
sudo python3 cli.py
After launching, the app will ask you to specify the phone number and enter the authentication code, after which it will save the received token in settings.ini
This is how the program window looks like:
And here is a small video demonstrating the working app:
If 20 channels and 20 users in rooms is not enough for you, you can increase the limit by making changes to cli.py
Apple’s Find My app might get a new safety feature to help prevent someone from using the kinds of devices tracked in the app to stalk you instead. “Item Safety Alerts”, spotted in the iOS 14.5 beta, will notify you if an unknown device being tracked on Find My is “moving with you” so you can remove it or disable it, 9to5Mac reports.
The feature seems designed to counteract a scenario where a Find My-compatible device is hidden in a pocket or bag and then used to track someone’s movements. The Item Safety Alerts setting was found in early versions of iOS 14.3, according to AppleInsider, but was removed until its reappearance in iOS 14.5. The setting is enabled by default in the beta and Apple seems to want it to stay on. If you turn off the setting off, the system will warn you that unknown devices can see your location without you being notified, Apple blogger Benjamin Mayo shared on Twitter.
Addressing the risk of stalking in Find My is newly important because of Apple’s plans to open up the app to third-party accessories. Hiding an iPhone, iPad, or MacBook in someone’s bag to track them is difficult, but a small keychain-sized device like Samsung’s Galaxy SmartTag or Tile’s upcoming ultra wideband (UWB) tracker could be a lot easier. Apple’s rumored AirTags could also be a candidate for misuse, and reintroducing this feature into iOS might mean they’re on their way to release.
While it’s not necessarily as powerful as a GPS beacon with a cellular radio, Apple’s Find My network may have more reach than you’d think. If an Apple device comes near one of these supported trackers, it can update its location, even if the tracker doesn’t have its own connection to the internet. Tile’s “Community Find” feature works similarly. AirTags could theoretically expand the reach and precision even more, with an added UWB signal in the tag that can make items easier to find behind walls and in other rooms.
There are at least a few examples where gadgets like this have been abused: In 2018, a woman in Texas noticed her ex-partner kept showing up at restaurants, other people’s houses, and even an out-of-town trip, without a clear way of knowing where she was, ABC 13 reported. She’d later learn her ex had stashed a Tile tracker in the front console of her car, and was using it to find her. A Texas beauty queen shared a similar stalking story in 2016.
