Twitter got done over from the inside, attacker uses high profile accounts to spread Bitcoin scam
Big chunk of Apple OS updates & Apple doesn’t need to pay Ireland any back taxes
Nissan’s new Ariya electric SUV looks cool, has lots of range and is fast
Use your fancy camera as a webcam so everyone can see your beautiful face in all its glory
Cheap Foxtel Now set top box, Apple HomePod, Google Nest Mini + Google Chromecast combo, Nintendo Switch Lite, Google Nest Hub, Q Acoustics 3050i floorstanding speakers
Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Kanye West, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Apple, Uber and many other high profile accounts all tweeted out a message saying go send Bitcoin to a specific wallet and receive double the amount of Bitcoin back. It was obviously a scam but the wallet received almost 13 BTC (~AU$170,000). In response, Twitter temporarily disabled the ability for verified users to send out tweets to stem the scam's spreading. For a few hours Twitter was basically celebrity, influencer and Donald Trump free! Twitter is yet to say what went happened but Motherboard reckons a Twitter employee was selling access to Twitter's internal administration tools for cash, which some e-hooligans used to do this lame Bitcoin scam. Having all that power and using it just to score $170k is boring. They could have really fucked shit up with some smart messages from the right accounts. I at least hope some juicy DMs between high profile accounts get leaked from this attack.
Two bits of Apple news today - iOS and iPadOS 13.6, macOS 10.15.6 and watchOS 6.2.8 are out. The iOS update adds "digital car keys" (but you can't use it until your car is updated to support it), Apple News got some love that includes a daily audio briefing for iOS and Mac. watchOS got some ECG stuff but we don't have that in Australia because our hearts are strong and never go haywire unlike those in "Bahrain, Brazil, and South Africa". tvOS and HomePod got updates too but they're just bug fixes. Second bit of news is Apple winning its appeal against the EU to avoid paying 13b euro of taxes to Ireland. Apparently "the European Commission did not succeed in showing the requisite legal standard to prove that the Irish government gave Apple an unfair tax advantage". The Commission is going to "study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps" (i.e: they'll probably appeal it).
Nissan has announced an all new from the ground up EV - the Ariya. It's a rather nice looking (IMHO) crossover/SUV style vehicle with one or two motors, in 2WD or 4WD config, with about 480km range on the biggest battery. The 610km Nissan claim is a bullshit number based on Japan's unrealistic WLTC test regime. Unlike the LEAF the Ariya will have "active thermal management" so the battery should last longer before capacity drops (i.e: 10-15 years instead of 6-8 years). It'll have a CHAdeMO plug so with a bi-directional charger at home you can use the huge 90kWh top-spec battery to power your house for over a week. Despite the Ariya being on Nissan Australia's front page, there is no ETA for a local release. In Japan it'll go on sale mid-2021 for five million yen (~A$68,000). Here's Nissan's intro video for the Ariya.
Various camera manufacturers have released Windows and Mac apps that enable your fancy photography machine to be used as a humble webcam on your computer. The increase in quality is massive compared to the internal camera on any computer or even an external webcam, so if you need to give lots of video presentations in this challenging environment during our unusual period in time due to the current circumstances, grab an app. Canon has the EOS Webcam Utility, Fuji has FUJIFilm X Webcam, Olympus has OM-D Webcam and Panasonic has LUMIX Tether for Streaming. If your camera manufacturer doesn't have an app for webcam use (Nikon & Sony, you dogs), your camera isn't supported by the official apps or you don't want to shell out for an expensive HDMI capture card/box, check out Cascable Pro Webcam. It's Mac only, but supports loads of different cameras.
Foxtel Now set top box - $49 at JB Hi-Fi
Apple HomePod - $269.10 at The Good Guys
Google Nest Mini + Google Chromecast combo - $59 at JB Hi-Fi
Nintendo Switch Lite - $294 from Amazon
Google Nest Hub - $99 basically everywhere
Q Acoustics 3050i floorstanding speakers (pair, white) - $999 from RIO Sound and Vision
🎶 Sleazy Bed Track - The Bluetones
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