Tech Brew Ride Home - Tue. 09/06 – When “They” Turn Off Your Devices For You

Starting point is 00:00:00 On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the Tech meme right home for Tuesday, September 6th, 2022. I'm Brian McCullough today. Pretty high priority zero day to tell you about. Is Binance about to upend the stable coin market with its muscle? When your electrical utility takes over your smart thermostat, what do you do? And how that rumored always-on

Starting point is 00:00:52 iPhone display might work in practice. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. One of those days, I guess. This probably updated for you automatically, but it's worth double-checked. Google has updated Chrome to address an actively exploited high-severity zero-day vulnerability in Mojo. It's its sixth patch for zero-day vulnerabilities in 2022 for Chrome, quoting, Blooping Computer. This new version is rolling out in the stable desktop channel, with Google saying that it will reach the entire user base within a matter of days or weeks. It was available immediately when Bleeping Computer checked for new updates by going into the Chrome menu, help about Google Chrome. The web browser will also auto-check for new updates and automatically install them after the next launch. The zero-day bug fixed today is a high-severity vulnerability

Starting point is 00:01:50 caused by insufficient data validation in Mojo, a collection of runtime libraries that facilitates message passing across arbitrary inter-and-process boundaries. Google says that this security issue was found by a security researcher that chose to report it anonymously. Even though the browser vendor says the Zero Day was exploited in the wild, it is yet to share technical details or info regarding these incidents. Access to bug details and links may be kept restricted until a majority of users are updated with a fix, Google added. We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third-party library that other projects similarly depend on but haven't yet fixed, end quote. By delaying the release of more information on these attacks, Google is likely aiming to provide Chrome users with enough time to update and prevent exploitation attempts until more threat actors create their own exploits to deploy in attacks.

Starting point is 00:02:41 With this release, Google has issued security updates to address the sixth Chrome zero-day patch since the start of the year. As the Google Threat Analysis Group revealed in February CVE 2022-609 was exploited by North Korean-backed state hackers weeks before the February patch. Furthermore, the earliest signs of exploitation were found in early January, end quote. Binance plans to stop supporting the world's second biggest stable coin, USDC, and instead convert users USDC, USDP, and TUSD into Binance's own stablecoin BUSD. This is going to happen on September 29th, quoting Coin desk. Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange has shaken up the vital stable coin market, announcing it will automatically move customers' funds,

Starting point is 00:03:38 to its Binance-USD or B-U-S-D token from alternatives, including the larger USD-C, or USDC. Binet said on Monday, it will convert all investments in USDC, Pax Dollar, and True-U-S-D into B-U-S-D on September 29th, and customers transferring those tokens to the exchange will see them automatically converted into Binance's stable coin after that date. However, they will be able to withdraw money, denominated in USDC, USDP, or T-U-S-D when removing money from Binance. The decision effectively banishes the second-largest stable coin, USDC, from one of the most prominent purchase in crypto,

Starting point is 00:04:18 erecting an obstacle to overtaking tether as the biggest one. USDT's $68 billion market value leads USDC's $52 billion market cap, while B-U-SD is in third place at $19 billion. USDP and T-U-S-D are far smaller. The surprise move comes as Binance goes after another exchange, rival coin base by undercutting it on price. Stable coins are part of the crypto markets foundation, serving as digital substitutes for the U.S. dollar or other fiat currencies. Stable comes from the fact that their price is pegged to a conventional currency. Each token tied to the dollar,

Starting point is 00:04:53 for instance, is always supposed to fetch almost exactly one dollar, though the quality of the assets backing a stable coin can influence how far the price strays. The business is dominated by USDT's 44% market share, end quote. Yeah, this is wild to me. not just because of how important stable coins have become, but as our friend Brady Dale tweeted this morning, quote, this seems not very crypto. Like nothing quite says, not your keys, not your coins, like this sort of move, no? Now, there was news over the weekend that Amazon's acquisitions in the healthcare space are going to get a very hard look from regulators, as expected, but you've got to figure this is related at least to the idea of that potentially

Starting point is 00:05:41 happening. CVS Health plans to acquire Signify Health, which offers analytics and tech to help 10,000 doctors provide in-home care to 2.5 million U.S. patients, and the acquisition price is around $8 billion, quoting the New York Times. Pharmacies like CVS have been searching for new ways to strengthen ties with their large customer base, particularly as customers increasingly head online for the everyday items that used to draw them into stores. In Signify, CVS is acquiring a company that offers analytics and technology to help a network of 10,000 doctors provide in-home health care to 2.5 million patients across the United States. Signify has a focus on those on Medicare and in underserved communities. Their interest is to take over the home, said Dr. Eric Topol, a professor

Starting point is 00:06:28 of molecular medicine at Scripps Research in San Diego, who noted that any care provided to patients at home, rather than in the hospital, lightens the financial load on insurance companies, including Etna, the insurance business that CVS owns, signify contracts with insurance providers, including Etna. If you're looking at it from Etna's standpoint, this is a way to save big, big expenditures for their people they cover, Dr. Topol said. CVS has been whittling down its store base as it has pushed further into health care. The retailer said last year that it would close roughly 900 stores over three years. Its executives told analysts last month that the chain was looking at deals as a way to tack on

Starting point is 00:07:08 new health services and ways to deliver those services, including in the home. Karen S. Lynch, the chief executive of CVS, reiterated that strategy in a statement on Monday, quote, Signify Health will play a critical role in advancing our health care services strategy and gives us a platform to accelerate our growth in value-based care, she said. CVS has roughly 40,000 physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and nurse practitioners, as well as 1,100-minute clinic locations, which offer care ranging from vaccinations to physicals. CVS's moved toward health care began in earnest nearly a decade ago with its $21 billion acquisition of pharmacy benefits manager Caremark RX. It acquired more than a thousand of

Starting point is 00:07:48 targets pharmacies in 2015 and the health insurer Aetna for $69 billion in 2018, end quote. How did I not know about that last bit? The bit about them owning Etna, wild. This one is something that sounds absolutely wild right now, but guess what? It's going to get common real quick, so I think we better get used to this. Utility company Excel locked around 22,000 Colorado users out of their smart thermostats for hours on August 30th, citing an energy emergency, quoting Denver 7. Excel confirmed to contact Denver 7 that 22,000 customers who had signed up for the Colorado AC rewards program were locked out of their smart thermostat for hours on Tuesday. It's a voluntary program. Let's remember that this is something that customers

Starting point is 00:08:43 choose to be a part of based on the incentive, said Emmett Romine, vice president of customer solutions and innovation at Excel. Customers receive a $100 credit for enrolling in the program and $25 annually. But Romine said, customers also agree to give up some control to save energy and money to make the system more reliable. So it helps everybody for people to participate in these programs. It is a bit uncomfortable for a short period of time, but it's very, very helpful, said Romine. This is the first time in that program's six-year span that customers could not. override their smart thermostats, Remind said. He said the energy emergency was due to an unexpected outage in Pueblo combined with hot weather and heavy air conditioner usage. But one customer said

Starting point is 00:09:25 he had no idea he could be locked out of the thermostat. While he has solar panels and a smart thermostat to save energy, he says he did not sign up to have this much control taken away. To me, an emergency means there is, you know, life, limb, or, you know, some sort of other danger out there. Some massive wildfires, the customer said, even if it's a once in a blue moon situation, it just doesn't sit right with us to not be able to control our own thermostat in our house, end quote. Well, look, insert smart thermostat here, but insert everything from connected car to door locks, to remember the Chinese government wants its own digital coin because that would allow them to stop people from spending when they want, or say, withdraw taxes directly from

Starting point is 00:10:09 folks' wallets. Seriously, smart devices can and probably will be the greatest thing ever to happen to the concept of mass behavioral control. Does anyone see any way to avoid this inevitability? And this one's wild too. Brazil has ordered Apple to stop selling iPhones without a charger in that country and has fined the company around $2.38 million citing deliberate discrimination against consumers, quoting 9 to 5 Mac. The information comes from the Brazilian publication G1. The Justice Ministry wrote, quote, application of a fine in the amount of, and then they quote Brazilian dollars or whatever the currency is, cancellation of registration of iPhone brand smartphones introduced on the market from the iPhone 12 model and immediate suspension of supply of all iPhone-branded

Starting point is 00:11:04 smartphones, regardless of model or generation unaccompanied by the power brick, says the decision. The government decided it won't apply the daily fine. If Apple doesn't suspend iPhone sales without a power brick immediately, this will only occur if the Cupertino company doesn't follow local guidelines in the near future. In October of 2021, the Justice Ministry notified Apple and Samsung about the companies not being clear regarding why they removed the power bricks from their smartphone lines. This may, the government asked Brazil's consumer protection regulator to start with administrative proceedings against Apple and Samsung. With the introduction of Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Z Fold 4, in Brazil, Samsung complied with Brazilian government guidelines and is now including the power brick with the new smartphones. Apple, on the other hand, doesn't have the accessory in the iPhone boxes. In October of 2020, when it introduced the iPhone 12 line, Apple said it was aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030. With customers owning several power bricks at home, according to the company, it would be more beneficial for the environment to not offer a power brick with newer iPhones. That said, governments all over the world have sued Apple or asked for clarification. In some

Starting point is 00:12:09 the company had to distribute the power bricks with new iPhone sales. Apple hasn't commented on the matter yet, end quote. And finally today, you know the iPhone event is happening tomorrow, so the temptation is for me to do a what can we expect tomorrow piece. But instead of doing that, I thought I'd give you speculation on one particular feature that should be announced tomorrow that I probably won't have time to tell you much about, as I'll be too busy collecting all of the headlines tomorrow, a source has detailed the supposed behavior of the iPhone 14 Pro's rumored always-on display feature, including widgets fading in and out to prevent OLED burn-in and customizable visual elements, quoting Mac rumors. The source behind the latest wave of information was also responsible

Starting point is 00:13:03 for the bombshell leak earlier this week that claimed the iPhone 14 Pro's display cutouts will appear to have a single unified pill at the top of the display rather than two distinct cutouts. According to new information from the source shared exclusively with Mac rumors, iOS 16's lock screen will directly interact with the iPhone 14 Pro's always on display, featuring integration with notifications and the depth effect and colors of wallpaper. The iPhone 14 Pro status bar will also purportedly see changes as a result of the increased amount of usable space at the top of the display, moving the cellular signal indicator to the left, and re-implementing the full-width battery status bar on the lock screen and notification.

Starting point is 00:13:42 Center when the device is locked. The source shared several graphics allegedly based on information from Apple that illustrates some of the iPhone 14 Pro's software changes on the Mac Rumors forums and has since provided further information. The iPhone 14 Pro will apparently feature the following features and specific changes. The background of lock screen wallpapers with a depth effect will be removed and fully darkened when the display is in its always on mode, while the foreground will be dimmed. In addition, the foreground will be tinted with color and feature edge highlights depending on user customization. Widgets will be visible on the Always On display but will fade in and out at set intervals unnoticeable to the user to prevent OLED burn-in. Content shown on the Always On lock screen

Starting point is 00:14:27 and the full illuminated lock screen must be configured in the same way and cannot be separated, meaning that they have to share the same wallpaper, color choices, fonts, and widgets. The core visual elements of the Always On display itself can be independently customized. Notifications will be part of the iPhone 14 Pro's Always on Display experience, and like on the normal lock screen, notifications will roll in from the bottom one at a time and remain subtly visible for 10 seconds. Once the display is woken up, the notifications will animate from the bottom and proceed to the user-defined setting of how notifications are presented on the lock screen, such as count, stack, or list. Apple may also allow users to enable a notification counter at the bottom of the Always On display. Apple is also said to be planning to release an update such as iOS 16.0.1, or just 16.1, soon after the launch of the iPhone 14 Pro, that will include fixes for issues with the devices always on display and wallpapers. While the company is now in the feature's final stages of development, it is reportedly still encountering bugs and is scrambling software engineers from different teams, including the Apple Watch to finish the always on display experience before launch, end quote.

Starting point is 00:15:36 So yes, the usual heads up that since the iPhone event tomorrow doesn't begin until 1 p.m. my time, tomorrow's show will drop later than normal and maybe even later than later than normal. Because shortly before the event, I'll be in the Dennis chair, getting two fillings replaced. Definitely not ideal in terms of timing, but for various reasons I couldn't reschedule. So there's the outside possibility that my mouth might still be numbed when I finally get to record the Apple event segment tomorrow. We'll see. We'll see if you notice. Talk to you then.

Tech Brew Ride Home - Tue. 09/06 – When “They” Turn Off Your Devices For You

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