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Edge Browser Crashes If You Have Google Set As Default Search

Microsoft’s new Edge browser is randomly crashing when users type into the address bar. The issues appear to be affecting Edge users who have selected Google as the default search engine. Microsoft says it’s aware of the problems and the company’s Edge team is investigating.

Microsoft recommends turning off Search Suggestions in edge://settings/search. This workaround seems to solve the problem if you have Google set as your default search engine.

The Microsoft Edge crashes started at around 7PM EDT, Thursday, 7-30-20 and are affecting macOS and Windows users. It’s not clear why they’re only limited to Google search users in Edge, though.

If you switch to Microsoft’s Bing search engine within Edge, the crashes do not occur.

Credit: The Verge

Get A Fast SD Memory Card For Your New Camera


From the Archives of CTC, Inc:


The newest cameras have capabilities like 4K video, very fast frame rates (120fps) and very long burst shooting. They'll need a speedy memory card.

At the end of this post is a comparison chart for some of these SD memory cards. The write speed is by far the most important for most camera uses. That tells you how fast you can get data on to the card. The read speed, which is often used in marketing, tells you how fast you can get data off of the card.

It’s important to note when buying a card, you may not get much benefit from the fastest cards. It depends on what you’re putting it in. To take advantage of UHS-II speeds you’ll need a camera or reader that’s compatible with UHS-II. If it’s not, the card will still work, they’re backward compatible usually, but you won’t get the highest speeds the card is capable of.

Understanding the Specs

SD, SDHC, or SDXC
Plain SD cards have a maximum capacity of 2GB, while SDHC cards max out at 32GB, and SDXC cards can support up to 2TB. This metric does not affect speed at all.

UHS
Some SD cards have a UHS (Ultra High Speed) classification. This determines the maximum speed at which a memory card can read. Non-UHS cards max out at 25 MB/s, UHS-I cards have a maximum theoretical speed of 104 MB/s, and UHS-II cards allow for a maximum transfer speed of 312 MB/s. UHS-II cards also have a second row of electrical contacts to aid in the speed boost. If your memory card reader or camera does not have the second row of contacts, the speed will be more in line with UHS-I cards. The UHS classification is a good way to help gauge a card’s burst speed.

Speed Class
To determine the minimum write speed of a card, you need to look at its Speed Class rating. This means that the card has been verified to never write slower than whatever it's class rate is. Some cards may write a lot faster, especially since the fastest speed class is currently just 30 MB/s, but they will never write slower.
  • U3: Minimum 30 MB/s Write
  • U1: Minimum 10 MB/s Write
  • Class 10: Minimum 10 MB/s Write
  • Class 6: Minimum 6 MB/s Write
  • Class 4: Minimum 4 MB/s Write

Video Speed Class
The SD Association has also recently introduced a Video Speed Class rating, designed to identify cards capable of 8K, 4K, 3D, and 360° video. This speed class is just another way of verifying the minimum sustained write speeds of cards.
  • V6: Minimum 6 MB/s Write
  • V10: Minimum 10 MB/s Write
  • V30: Minimum 30 MB/s Write
  • V90: Minimum 90 MB/s Write

Comparison Chart
(based on independent tests by havecamerawilltravel.com)

BrandModel #ClassUHSWrite
(MB/s)
Read
(MB/s)
LexarProfessional 2000x LSD32GCRBNA2000RU3UHS-II241.4278.0
ToshibaExceria Pro N101U3UHS-II231.7254.4
SanDiskExtreme Pro SDSDXPU3UHS-II196.8257.7
SanDiskExtreme Pro SDSDXPAU3UHS-I89.294.5
SanDiskExtreme ProU1UHS-I85.494.3
LexarProfessional 1000x LSD32GCRBNA1000U3UHS-II82.2156.3
SanDiskExtreme PLUS SDSDXSFU3UHS-I64.688.7
SanDiskExtreme SDSDXNEU3UHS-I62.589.5
SonySF32UZ/TQNU3UHS-I56.391
SonySF32UX2/TQU3UHS-I55.990.6
KIngstonSDA10U1UHS-I54.292.5
KingstonSDA3U3UHS-I53.191.7
PNYElite Performance P-SDX128U395-GEU3UHS-I51.595.2
SanDiskExtreme SDSQXNEU3UHS-I48.789.2
LexarProfessional 633x LSD64GCBNL633U3UHS-I40.179.4
TranscendTS32GSDHC10U1EU1UHS-I34.695.3
SanDiskExtremeC10UHS-I34.447.4
SanDiskUltra SDSDUNCC10UHS-I17.175
LexarPlatinum IIC10
16.423.6
SanDiskUltra 30MB/sC10UHS-I11.445.9


Credit:nbsp; havecamerawilltravel.com/  and  www.bhphotovideo.com/

How To Use Your Phone As A Wi~Fi Hotspot

iPhone as a Wi~Fi hotspot

You can connect your tablet or laptop to your iPhone to get internet access, and you don't need a third-party app to do it either.

Most laptops and tablets don't have cellular connectivity and rely on Wi~Fi for a connection to the internet. If you need a connection when you're out and about, you could search for some free public Wi~Fi, but that's always a risk, there could be a hacker lurking on the network waiting to steal sensitive information. It would be better to use your iPhone as a portable Wi~Fi hotspot and simply connect your tablet, laptop or another phone to your iPhone and let the other device share its internet connection.

This is called tethering, or internet sharing, and while most carriers initially charged extra to use the functionality, most mobile providers allow this free of charge now. (But if you don't see Personal Hotspot in your iPhone's settings, then speak to your carrier to find out why.) Creating a Wi~Fi hotspot is much like having a mobile Wi~Fi router, but with no extra hardware required.

Once you've enabled the Personal Hotspot on your iPhone, any device with Wi~Fi can connect to the internet via your iPhone's data connection. Please note that the other device will behave as if it's on a home broadband connection and may download app updates, perform backups and other things that can quickly burn through your data allowance, so watch out for this when sharing your connection and keep an eye on your data usage.

(Note: Select any image to enlarge.)

How to enable a Wi~Fi hotspot on an iPhone.

  1. On your iPhone, open the Settings app and tap Personal Hotspot.
  2. Toggle the slider to turn it on if it's not enabled already.
  3. You may be prompted to turn on Bluetooth and Wi~Fi if they are off, but later versions of iOS don't warn you. In fact, in iOS 13, enabling Wi~Fi will disable the hotspot and disconnect any devices using it.
  4. Tap Wi~Fi Password and enter a password. This will be the password you enter after tapping on the hotspot name in the list of Wi~Fi networks on the other device.
  5. Take note of the name of the hotspot so you can provide others with both the Wi~Fi network name and password when they wish to get online using your connection.

Why is my Personal Hotspot not in the list of Wi~Fi networks?

If you can't see your phone's hotspot on the other device, check that Personal Hotspot is discoverable. To do this, open Control Center by swiping down from the top of the screen (up from the bottom on older iPhones).

Long-press or 'deep' press on the top-left section to display the Personal Hotspot shortcut. It's likely it will be greyed out and say 'Off' or 'Not discoverable'. Simply tap it and wait until it turns green and the description changes to 'Discoverable'. Now the hotspot should appear in the list of Wi~Fi networks on your other devices.

From that point, it's as simple as connecting to the Wi~Fi hotspot as you would any other Wi~Fi network on your tablet, laptop or other internet-connected gadget and, once you're done, simply toggle the Personal Hotspot off to save battery life.


Android phone as a Wi~Fi hotspot
  1. Open the Settings menu and tap on 'Network & Internet'
  2. Choose 'Hotspot & tethering'
  3. You'll need to set up the Wi-Fi hotspot for first time use, so select that option
  4. By default your phone will have a Wi-Fi hotspot name, with security turned on and a default password. You can use these as they are or change them to something you're more likely to remember, simply by tapping on each field, entering a new name or password, then tapping Ok
  5. Slide across the toggle at the top of the page to enable the Wi-Fi hotspot, and give your password to anyone you wish to allow access to it. They can then connect to your Wi-Fi hotspot as they would any other wireless network
  6. To improve energy efficiency you can set the Wi-Fi hotspot to automatically disconnect when no-one is using it. Just tap Advanced and then enable 'Turn off hotspot automatically'.

Credit: techadvisor.com/iphone and techadvisorcom/android

How To Know If You've Been Hacked, And What To Do About It

Sometimes your accounts get compromised. It's key to understand the threats.

Everyone is vulnerable to the threat of cybercriminals or hackers getting access to your information, but the threats aren’t equal for everyone.

The average person will likely face fewer sophisticated threats than, say, a senior politician, activist or CEO. More high-profile figures may be targeted with phishing emails that are looking to steal secrets from corporate networks or initiate the transfer of large sums of money. You, your friends and your family will likely face different threats: from people you know seeking revenge, or, more likely, crime groups using automated tools to scoop up credentials en masse.

We all like to think that we’re not susceptible to social engineering or other kinds of cyberattacks but the truth is that even intelligent, self-aware people still get caught up in online scams that can have very damaging consequences. Many people will even admit they don’t click on phishing emails but may still get caught up in online scams. A number of emails may still slip through the net without realization and can have serious effects financially or socially.

Understanding the threats is key. Everyone has their own threat model that includes things that matter most to them, what’s important to you may not be equally important to someone else. But there’s a value to everything you do online, from Facebook and Netflix to online banking and shopping. If one of your accounts is compromised, stolen login information or financial details can be used across the web.

While Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social networks are less likely to contain your credit card details there are other types of risk. Hacked social media accounts can be used to post compromising messages that could embarrass or defame somebody, be used for harassment or building up a picture of who you are and everyone you know.

Discovering if you have been hacked can be a rather complicated task. You could wait to have it proven by losing control to your precious accounts although like anything, it is better to be proactive and stop it from happening in the future. If you think you’ve been hacked, here’s where to start and what you can do next.

The clearest sign that you’ve been hacked is when something has changed. You might not be able to access your Google account using your regular username and password or there may have been a suspicious purchases charged to one of your bank accounts. These are fairly obvious indications that you’ve been compromised in some way and hopefully banks will detect any suspicious payments before things spiral too far.

However, before any of your accounts are compromised there may be warning signs. The account that someone is trying to break into may warn you about unusual attempts to log in, for instance, Facebook and Google will send notifications and emails alerting you to attempts to access your account. This will usually be if someone has tried to get in and failed but alerts can also be when someone has successfully signed-in from unfamiliar locations.
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Chevrolet Is Working On A Full-Size Electric Pickup Truck

GM has revealed its various brands’ electric vehicle plans in its 10th sustainability report, and one of the most notable projects is Chevrolet’s BET Truck. Apparently, Chevy is working on its first full-size electric pickup truck, and it will have the capability to run over 400 miles on a single charge. That’s pretty much all GM revealed about it, and as Autoblog notes, it’s unclear if the EV will be an electrified Silverado or a new model altogether.

A rumor went around last year that GM will release its first electric truck in 2021, but it’s unclear if it’s this particular model. It’s also not clear if the truck mentioned in the report will be one of the 20 electric vehicles GM vowed would be on the road by 2023. GM made the commitment to roll out a substantial number of EVs by mid-2020s a few years ago in hopes that its brands’ lineup will be mostly electric come 2030. Earlier this year, the automaker announced that it’s investing $2.2 billion into turning its Detroit-Hamtramck facility into its first assembly plant that’s completely devoted to EVs.

In addition to a full-size electric truck, GM has also revealed its other brands’ plans in the report. Chevrolet is releasing a mid-sized electric SUV and a Bolt with an SUV design. Cadillac is working on two different three-row luxury electric SUVs and the previously announced electric Celestiq Statement Vehicle. Finally, GMC is developing an electric Hummer, while Buick will release an electric SUV and compact utility vehicle.

Credit: engadget.com

The Changes Coming To Your iPhone With iOS 14

Apple Bytes: 

Apple's next major iPhone update won't officially launch until the fall, but the company made an early version of its iOS 14 software available for free through its beta program on Thursday, 7-9-20. When it launches, iOS 14 will bring a bunch of changes to the iPhone, from the way the home screen looks to upgraded privacy controls, new ways of using apps, and much more.

The biggest takeaway is that Apple is doing much more to help us manage the deluge of apps crowding the home screens of our iPhones. The company has done this by adding tools for managing the sheer amount of apps installed on our phones, and also by creating a new way to access parts of apps when you need them.

Apple has significantly improved widgets in iOS 14, finally bringing the iPhone closer to the level of customization that Android has provided for years. Widgets in iOS 14 have a new design that shows more data and they now come in multiple sizes. Best of all, you can finally drag and drop them onto the home screen.

The most obvious benefit from this has been the ability to make the home screen more than just a hub for your most frequently-used apps. Glancing down at the home screen can now tell you all sorts of information like what's next on you calendar, progress toward your fitness goals, and a to-do list you've recently drafted in the Notes app.

Among the most interesting new widgets is the Smart Stack, which as its name implies is comprised of several widgets piled on top of one another. The widget choices are curated based on the apps you use the most. The stack also rotates throughout the day to show relevant information.

iOS 14 introduces a new section of the home screen known as the App Library, which sorts all of your apps both by category and in alphabetical order. This makes it so much easier to manage your sprawling app collection.

Your iPhone automatically creates folders for your apps in the App Library based on app categories (i.e., social, productivity, utilities), in addition to folders for suggested apps and apps you've recently installed.

Other than these folders, the App Library also lets you browse all of your apps in a list view organized in alphabetical order. The best part, though, is that you can finally choose to hide some app pages and send newly installed apps straight to the App Library.

This makes iPhone feel so much less cluttered. You can choose to hide home screens by tapping the dots positioned above the dock when in jiggle mode.

One of the big themes in iOS 14 seems to be improved organization, and that holds true in the Messages app as well. You can now pin messages to the top of the Messages app in iOS 14, meaning you'll no longer have to scroll through the app to find relevant chats.

This saves a lot of time when contacting the people you text most frequently. Now, being able to pin conversations to the top of the app means those threads are at your fingertips whenever you launch Messages.

Apple's messaging app is also getting another feature that makes it easier to manage conversations, Mentions for group conversations. That means if you're in an ongoing group thread with many people, you can choose to only get notifications when a person mentions you specifically in a new message.

Apple is also introducing a new user interface for incoming phone calls in iOS 14. Rather than dominating the entire screen, which can feel jarring, you'll see an indicator that looks similar to a banner notification near the top of the screen.

You can also continue to use your iPhone as you normally would while receiving an incoming call. That can be useful at times when you may receive an unexpected call just as you're about to hit send on that email.

If you have an iPhone 11 or iPhone 11 Pro, you may have noticed that it can be difficult to take stable Night Mode photos. Apple is addressing that in iOS 14 by introducing a new guidance indicator to help you keep your phone steady during the duration of the shot. This indicator, which leverages the iPhone's gyroscope, looks like a cross that appears in the middle of the screen.

iOS 14 feels like a welcome update that streamlines nearly everything you do on your phone, from checking the news and weather to finding apps and sending texts. But none of these are necessarily new behaviors, and some of these additions, especially widgets, feel more like Apple is catching up to Android rather than introducing new capabilities.

There are some aspects of iOS 14 that could change how you use our phones in the future. App Clips, for example, could help us cut down on the number of apps you install in general and is setting the stage for iPhones that are more proactive by showing you relevant information as you need it.

And the new privacy protections in iOS 14 are designed to hold app makers more accountable for the data they collect by providing more information in the App Store.

The ability to change the home screen alone will make iOS 14 feel like a much more significant update than years past.

Credit: businessinsider.com

How Two-Factor Authentication Keeps Your Accounts Safe

If you want to keep your online accounts safe, adding two-factor authentication (2FA) is the single most important step you can take. While no security measure is 100 percent hackproof, 2FA is going to go a long way to locking down access to your important accounts.

As the name suggests, 2FA adds another level of authentication to the login process. It means you need something besides your username and password to get into your account, and with swaths of login credentials regularly published online, it's in your best interests to put that additional step in place.

It doesn't take long to put 2FA in place, and the next time someone else tries to access your account with a stolen set of login details, you'll be glad you did.

Logging into your accounts with an email address and password is fine, up to a point, but these details can get lost, stolen, guessed, or teased out of you with some clever social engineering. Two-factor authentication adds another access barrier for unauthorized visitors who have gotten hold of your primary login credentials.

Two-factor authentication, and the similar two-step authentication, which is sometimes treated as a different mechanism and sometimes not, means you need another bit of information besides your password and email address. Commonly in most consumer apps, it's either an SMS code sent to your phone, or a code generated by a dedicated authenticator app.

When you're setting up 2FA, you're asked to prove that you're the owner of your phone and the associated cell number, and that gives you the authorization to generate and receive codes. Unless hackers get access to your phone as well as your email address and password, they won't be able to log in. 2FA codes are sometimes sent via email as well, and in some cases can be replaced by a physical object like a USB key, which you'll need to get into your account (Google offers this as an option).

For most services and accounts, this extra code isn't required every single time you open the app or site, that would get tedious very quickly. Instead, 2FA jumps into action when you try to log in on a new device that you haven't used before or haven't accessed in a long time, like a new phone or a laptop that hasn't been associated with your account in the past.
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Apple's Smart Glasses

Apple Bytes: 

There are legions of rumors and leaks that Apple is trying to get into the AR game, specifically, through the lenses of a new kind of eyewear, purportedly called Apple Glass. Apple might have a chance at bringing the eyewear to the mainstream for the first time.

Think about Apple Glass as a companion to your iPhone. Smartphones are already a second screen in some scenarios, so the eyeglasses might be considered your third screen, bringing information from your phone right to your eyes.

The lenses will have a holographic display. Through those lenses, Apple Glass will show anything from texts, to emails, to maps, or games in the wearer's field of vision.

Multiple reports suggest that Apple is considering creating a fully separate App Store for the headset, as well as a special operating system, likely called glassOS. This falls in line with the Apple Watch and watchOS, as well as Apple TV and tvOS.

And then there's two Apple patents from June that suggest the company is working on an optical vision correction system, meaning that the smart glasses will eliminate the need for prescription lenses or contacts. The system will address everything from astigmatism, to farsightedness, and nearsightedness.

If Apple Glass plans to pursue true augmented reality, rather than purely showing floating 2D notifications in the lenses, they'll probably require some connectivity to the iPhone. That way, the iPhone can do the actual video processing, keeping the onboard computing to a minimum in the glasses, themselves, much like the early models of the Apple Watch.

The iPhone could send back 3D imagery to the lenses at a high frame rate per second. Bluetooth wouldn't make sense in that situation, because these bandwidths are too high for it to handle.

Battery life should probably be a minimum of three hours if Apple wants to be neck-and-neck competitive with the HoloLens 2 or Magic Leap 1. There's always the possibility that Apple could extend that battery life with a special glasses charging case, similar to what the company has done with AirPods, thereby extending the battery life in a sense.

Apple Glass marketing materials suggest that the spectacles will give off a Clark Kent-like vibe, but the prototypes reportedly look like an "un-intimidating" pair of plastic frames. There's a lidar scanner on the right side, most likely to help scan your surrounding environment to help overlay 3D images in a realistic manner, but so far no cameras.
Apparently, there are no plans to make the first run of Apple Glass in various tinted varieties, so if transition lenses or prescription sunglasses are your thing, you'll have to wait even longer. But like the iPhone, there's reason to believe you'll see more choices over time.

Apple Glass may be announced as early as this year at the company's September event and roll out in 2021. Or the introduction could come a year later. The company will often announce a product before actually shipping it out, in a similar style to the Apple Watch in its earliest days. Nobody really knows when Apple Glass will roll out, but it will probably be within the next three years.

The glasses will run you $499 at launch, plus the price of any additional prescription that the optical system has to account for. That's much cheaper than Microsoft's Hololens 2, which costs a whopping $3,500. The low price probably has to do with the fact that there's no onboard computer require, the iPhone will handle that.

At the moment, the main competitors in the smart glasses space include the Magic Leap 1, Spectacles by Snap, a new pair of Facebook glasses reportedly under development, the current version of Google Glass, and the Hololens 2.

Amazon is also apparently in the fray, working on a new product called Echo Frames, which is currently under beta. They use the Alexa voice assistant to bring information to you, but don't seem to rely on any holographic lenses or augmented reality.

None of the commercially available glasses have been breakaway hits so far, but it's possible that Apple could change that and make smart glasses a new product category. Apple tends to take a more conservative approach to its product releases, often rolling out technology that other companies have already pursued, but with a more sleek and elegant design.

Plus, it doesn't hurt to have a legion of devoted brand enthusiasts, ready to gobble up the product yesterday.

Credit: popularmechanics.com

3 Search Sites That Don't Track You Like Google And Others Do


From the Archives of CTC, Inc:


When you need to get information or find something online, chances are you go to Google. But while Google is great at Web searches, it’s hardly stellar when it comes to privacy. It saves your search history, scans your Gmail, tracks your location, keeps everything you say to “OK Google,” and a lot more.

Google does this partly to make its services more useful to you, by knowing what you want before you want it. But it also does it so it can serve you ads targeted just for you. Google also owns the digital ad network DoubleClick, which serves those interest-based ads.

Aside from blatant ad targeting, Google also filters results for you based on your search history. This "filter bubble" means that you and a family member can search for the same term, but come up with different results. To be fair, Google does let you wipe your search history, but it's always going to be trying to put two and two together.

If you're tired of Google and its lax view of privacy, here are three private search sites that don't track you. Check them all to find the one that's best for you.


DuckDuckGo is a solid Google replacement that doesn't track or target your IP address or search history. You don't have to worry about targeted search results or being trapped in a filter bubble, which actually means you get more results.

DuckDuckGo includes the nifty calculators and other tricks you've come to expect on Google, but that's not all. You can customize its interface, with search shortcuts and an Instant Answers feature that's just as good as, if not better than, Google's Knowledge Graph. You can also make DuckDuckGo an extension of your browser and activate more privacy settings to keep your search history as protected as possible.


Yippy automatically detects and blocks adult content, including pornography, gambling sites, sex product sites and other websites that are not appropriate for kids. Plus, the site protects your privacy.

It will not collect personally identifiable information about you, like your name, telephone number, address and email address. It may collect anonymous information about your computer, though, such as your IP address. It also uses cookies, but not to track your personal behavior.


Startpage calls itself the world's most private search site. It doesn't record your IP address, browser information or search history, so advertisers can't track you. Startpage also keeps you out of filter bubbles, so you can get the search results you're looking for.

It also gives you the privacy of searching via proxy, so the sites you visit don't even know your real IP address. This is similar to Tor, but without the hassle of setting it up. Startpage's proxy option gives you the most online privacy. It may slow down your searches, but when you select "proxy," Startpage makes you invisible online.



Even if you minimize your use of Google, it's not the only company collecting your information and using it in scary ways. Facebook and hundreds of other sites track and share what you do.

Credit: foxnews.com/tech/, Kim Komando

Apple Expands iPhone Repair Services

Apple Bytes: 

Apple is expanding its Independent Repair Provider Program with additional options for customers to access repair services. The industry-leading program enables businesses of all sizes to offer repairs on iPhone using genuine Apple parts, which ensures safety and quality.

Following the launch of the program in the US last fall, over 140 independent repair companies have joined with over 700 new US locations now available to customers, and businesses in Europe and Canada can now sign up.

“We are thrilled to expand our independent repair program to more locations across the US and to businesses across Europe and Canada,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer. “When a customer needs a repair, we want them to have a range of options that not only suits their needs but also guarantees safety and quality so their iPhone can be used for as long as possible.”

All of the businesses in the program have access to free training from Apple and the same genuine parts, tools, repair manuals, and diagnostics as Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) and Apple Store locations. To verify that a company participates in the program, visit support.apple.com/repair/verify-repair-provider.

Executive Board Minutes


Computer Technology Club, Inc. – Executive Board Minutes
July 10, 2020

The July Executive Board meeting was cancelled due to COVID-19 venue closures.

Year 2038 Problem

The Year 2038 problem (also called Y2038 or Y2k38 or Unix Y2K) relates to representing time in many digital systems as the number of seconds passed since 00:00:00 UTC (primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time) on 1 January 1970 and storing it as a signed 32-bit integer. Such implementations cannot encode times after 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038. Similar to the Y2K problem, the Year 2038 problem is caused by insufficient capacity used to represent time.


Programs that attempt to increment the time beyond this date will cause the value to be stored internally as a very large negative number, which these systems will interpret as having occurred at 20:45:52 on Friday, 13 December 1901 rather than 19 January 2038. This is caused by integer overflow, during which the counter runs out of usable digit bits, and flips the sign bit instead. This reports a maximally negative number, and continues to count up, towards zero, and then up through the positive integers again. Resulting erroneous calculations on such systems are likely to cause problems for users and other reliant parties.

Programs that work with future dates will begin to run into problems sooner; for example, a program that works with dates 10 years in the future will need to be fixed no later than 19 January 2028. Embedded systems that use dates for either computation or diagnostic logging are most likely to be affected by the 2038 problem.

Many transportation systems from flight to automobiles use embedded systems extensively. In automotive systems, this may include anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic stability control (ESC/ESP), traction control (TCS) and automatic four-wheel drive; aircraft may use inertial guidance systems and GPS receivers.

However, this does not imply that all these systems will suffer from the Y2038 problem, since many such systems do not require access to dates. For those that do, those systems which only track the difference between times/dates and not absolute times/dates will, by the nature of the calculation, not experience a major problem. This is the case for automotive diagnostics based on legislative standards such as CARB (California Air Resources Board).

Another major use of embedded systems is in communications devices, including cell phones and Internet appliances (routers, wireless access points, etc.) which rely on storing an accurate time and date and are increasingly based on UNIX-like operating systems. For example, the Y2038 problem makes some devices running 32-bit Android crash and not restart when the time is changed to that date.

There is no universal solution for the Year 2038 problem. However, most operating systems designed to run on 64-bit hardware already use signed 64-bit integers that will not be impacted.

Read the complete article: wikipedia.com





Ransomware Targeting Mac Users Also Steals ...

  ... Your Passwords and Credit Card Information

Apple Bytes: 

For just about as long as there have been computers, there have been people creating tiny pieces of software designed to steal information from other computers. Sometimes that involves stealing money, while other times it's just for the sake of gathering personal information.

Sometimes it's both.

There is an entire industry that exists to try and prevent these little pieces of software from infecting your computer and ruining your day (or worse). That's how we get anti-virus software, VPNs, and firewalls. Of course, if you use a Mac, you've pretty much always just ignored all of that because generally speaking, most of the viruses--as those little pieces of software are known--were made for Windows-based PCs.

Yes, there have been a few that affect macOS but you're more likely to get a sensible answer to a question from Siri than have your Mac infected with a virus. It just doesn't happen very often.

Which is why it's bad news that a new ransomware attack is targeting Macs. Known as ThiefQuest, the malware was discovered by Dinesh Devadoss, a researcher at K7 Lab.

Ransomware is software that encrypts a targeted computer's files and demands a ransom in exchange for the decryption key. Usually, these attacks target local governments or hospitals, or large corporations with large networks of computers. When the ransomware infects the network, the entire thing is encrypted, meaning the organization is essentially paralyzed until it pays up.

So, it's not something you really want on your MacBook Pro.

As if that wasn't bad enough, this particular virus is actually a combination of both ransomware and a keystroke tracker which allows the hacker to monitor a user's keyboard strokes and capture login credentials or payment information. That makes it potentially even more malicious, though putting them together also makes it less dangerous, at least in practice.

Ransomware is definitely bad news, and having someone snooping on your passwords or credit card information is potentially even worse. Except, once your computer's files are encrypted and a ransom note pops up on your screen, it's not all that likely that you're going to start logging into your bank account or Facebook profile. That means the malware isn't likely to actually capture any information from you.

Also, as of now, it appears that the ransomware is being distributed through compromised versions of software installers found on torrent sites. So far it's been discovered in installers for security software Little Snitch, a DJ tool called Mixed In Key, and Ableton, which is a live music production tool. In other words, if you're pirating software, you're putting yourself at risk.

The good news is, it isn't likely that you'll become infected in the normal course of using your Mac. If you only install software that you get from a trusted source like the Mac App Store, or that has been "signed" or verified by Apple, you can avoid many of the risks of installing malware. Sure, that usually means actually, you know, paying for the software you use, but as they say, you get what you pay for.

And sometimes you end up paying a lot more.

Credit: Inc.com

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