Weekly Recap: Apple vs FBI the Sequel, Linux Mint Hacked, Atlas the Robot, Facebook Reactions and the Bi
Apple vs FBI: take 2
The war between Apple and the US government rages on... The Department of Justice even filed a motion to force Apple to come up with a way of unlocking the San Bernandino terrorist iPhone, but Apple will not budge. After the Cupertino company published its letter to explain how it wished to "defend civil liberties," a lot of people took a stand, with most politicians siding with the FBI (including Donald Trump calling for an Apple boycott), while Silicon Valley big sharks (such as Google, Yahoo, WhatsApp and Facebook) voicing their support for Apple. Even while Tim Cook affirmed that granting the FBI its wish would be like "the software equivalent of cancer," he conceded that his company was in an "uncomfortable position" and expressed his wish to find an agreement with the government. http://on.mash.to/1TGZh4i
The Linux Mint site hacked
Those who downloaded Linux Mint on February 20 may have unfortunately acquired a malicious version instead! That's what project lead, Clément Lefebvre, reavealed this week in a surprising message. Hackers managed to attain the Linux Mint website and replace legit download links with a backdoored Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon Edition version instead. Hackers probably entered though the Linux Wordpress blog. The hacked OS contained a trojan horse called Tsunami, which grants access to the host system through IRC servers. Downloads made before or after Feb. 20 are not affected by the problem. http://bit.ly/1L5iee5
The Google Atlas robot
The new Atlas robot kind of sends shivers down our spine! The Google robotics division, Boston Dynamics, launched a video presenting an improved version of Atlas, more humanoid than ever. Atlas can lift boxes, open doors, and even take a walk into the woods, showing an adaptative capacity never previously seen on a machine. According to analysts, this type of robot will become more prevalent in the next few years, and mostly be used for defense, hazardous waste management, and bomb detection applications. What bothers us most, in fact, is that Google folks seems to be kind of rude with Atlas. Better to play it nice; what would happen if it rebelled? http://cnb.cx/1QdiMLK
Facebook Reactions is here
We announced it last fall, but this week, Facebook Reactions was finally deployed for everyone. It is not only possible to "like" a status now, but also to associate it with 5 more emotions. You can see these by hovering with the mouse (or your finger on a mobile) on the Like button, then sliding to select a reaction. Reactions can be undone (unfelt?), but not chosen simultaneously (with means either Love OR Wow for all of your cousin's cat pictures). By default, Facebook only displays the 3 most popular reactions to a status, but the others can be seen by clicking on the number of reactions. This new feature made some people nervous, because of its potential for creating snafus, such as the public denunciation of people as say, racists or homophobics based on their reaction to a status... http://on.mash.to/1UmRojS
Japan considering making Bitcoin a real currency
Japanese financial authorities want to have the bitcoin defined in the same way as a true currency. The legislation proposal would also include other lesser known cryptocurrencies, such as the dogecoin. The change would make it easier to regulate and tax bitcoins, in order to better prevents the Tokyo-based Mt. Gox disaster in 2014. Mt. Gox, which was the most important bitcoin exchange in the world, brutally collapsed due to hacking, leading in hundreds of million dollars in losses. The most popular of about 600 virtual currencies in the world, the bitcoin currently has a current capitalization of about $6,2 billion US. http://s.nikkei.com/1ozOX0J
