Intel unveils hexacore mobile Core i9 chip and gets within spitting distance of 5GHz
In Bejing today, Intel revealed its first mobile Core i9 chip. The hexacore processor (yep... no fewer than six cores) is an eighth-generation chip, and the company says it is "the highest-performance laptop processor Intel has ever built".
Intel also claims that it offers the "best gaming and content creation experience on the go," and with the top-of-the-range Intel Core i9-8950HK processor reaching speeds of up to 4.8 GHz, it's a claim that's easy to believe. A total of 12 threads bring serious improvements over the previous generation chips.
Apple could drop Intel and start making its own chips for Macs
Apple could be planning to ditch Intel and start to manufacture its own chips for Macs by 2020, according to a new report.
The move would be in line with what the company has done for iPhones and iPads -- the A11 Bionic chips are already designed in-house. Intel's share price dropped by 6 percent as the rumors of the plan came out.
Linux 4.16 launches
Just over a week ago, Linus Torvalds said that the release of Linux 4.16 could take place on Sunday April 1. Ignoring the fact that April Fool's day is a terrible day to do just about anything, he made good on his promise.
As predicted, there was no RC8 of the kernel, and Torvalds notes that the final release is very similar to RC7. In a post to the Linux Kernel Mailing List, he also said that the merge window for 4.17 is open, but for now, the focus is on 4.16.
Google kicks cryptomining extensions from the Chrome Web Store
Amid growing concern about a disregard for Chrome Web Store policies, Google is slapping a ban on extensions that mine for cryptocurrencies.
With immediate effect, no more cryptomining extensions will be added to the Store, and as of July 2018, any existing mining tools will be removed. Google says that an astonishing 90 percent of mining extensions ignore rules that state cryptomining must be the extension's sole purpose, and users need to be fully informed about the mining.
Grindr was sharing users' location and HIV status with third parties
Last week there was an outcry after it was revealed that it was relatively simple to determine the location of Grindr users because of a security flaw. The company has now also admitted that it shared information from users' profiles with third parties -- specifically the analytics companies Apptimize and Localytics -- including their HIV status.
Grindr was quick to point out that, firstly, the information was sent via HTTPS, secondly, that the data was not sold to the analytics companies (it was provided free of charge) and, thirdly, that the data was public anyway. All three of these points will come as little comfort to Grindr users, but the company has said that it will now stop the practice of sharing HIV-related information.
6et ready! OnePlus teases the OnePlus 6 and opens forum for the upcoming flagship
There's always a great sense of excitement surrounding the announcement of a new OnePlus phone, and this is something that the company is only too happy to play on.
We've already seen a leaked photo of the yet-to-be-released handset and heard that the phone has an iPhone X-style notch; now OnePlus has (pretty much) confirmed the phone's name and started its "6et ready!" teaser campaign. While we were all but certain about the name, it has now been officially established that it will be called the OnePlus 6. Well ... almost.
Amazon to delete MP3s from its Music Storage service for some users
Subscribers to Amazon's Music Storage service have less than a month to access their music before it is lost forever.
The company has announced that as of April 29, there will be no new subscriptions accepted for the service, and any existing subscriptions will be allowed to expire. If you do not opt to save your MP3s before this happens, you will lose access to them completely.
Bookmark syncing service Xmarks to close on May 1
If you're a user of Xmarks, there's some bad news for you -- the service is closing down in a month's time. The bookmark syncing tool, which is available as an addon for Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari, is to be shuttered on May 1.
Very little fuss is being made about the closure by the company behind it -- something which is perhaps indicative of the level of interest there is in the service these days. A banner at the top of the Xmarks website reads: "LogMeIn is retiring Xmarks from its line of products as of May 1, 2018. After this date, you will no longer have access to Xmarks."
Apple releases iOS 11.3 with a massive focus on privacy
Ahead of GDPR in Europe, Apple has released iOS 11.3, complete with a selection of privacy-focused tools. But while privacy is at the heart of the release, it is far from being the end of the story.
The recent Facebook scandal has focused attention on privacy, and this is something Apple will be more than happy to capitalize upon, bringing GDPR-prompted tools to the world -- not just Europe. But iOS 11.3 also includes an extensive changelog with a range of fixes and updates.
Leaked Facebook memo: 'so what if the social network's growth leads to terrorism and death?'
A leaked memo written by Facebook's vice-president, Andrew Bosworth, entitled "The Ugly" gives a glimpse into the attitude the social network has towards its own growth. "Boz" Bosworth says the "ugly truth" of Facebook's growth is that connecting people could lead to deaths -- but so be it.
In the memo, Bosworth says "anything that allows us to connect more people more often is *de facto* good". He goes on to say: "That's why all the work we do in growth is justified. All the questionable contact importing practices. All the subtle language that helps people stay searchable by friends. All of the work we do to bring more communication in. The work we will likely have to do in China some day. All of it". With the criticism that has been leveled at Facebook recently, the leak could hardly have come at a worse time.
Microsoft releases update that fixes problematic Meltdown patch
As if the Meltdown and Spectre chip vulnerabilities weren't bad enough in their own right, the patches designed to fix them caused a further series of problems. A Swedish researcher recently discovered that Microsoft's Meltdown fixes lowered security in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and now the company has issued a fix.
As the new patch is being released outside of the usual schedule, it is indicative of the importance of the security update. KB4100480 is a kernel update for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 that addresses CVE-2018-1038 problems.
Have I Been Pwned teams up with 1Password to improve post-security breach advice
Data breach checking website Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) -- used by governments and individuals around the world -- has announced a new partnership with 1Password.
The arrangement is a first for Troy Hunt's site, but it comes just over a month after 1Password started using a password-checker he developed. Hunt says that he has turned down numerous offers to sponsor Have I Been Pwned, but feels that teaming up with 1Password makes sense.
European users now have a longer cooling-off period to claim Google Play refunds
Google has introduced new policies for its customers living in the European Economic Area. The updated policies allow users longer to apply for a refund on purchases made through the Google Play Store
While most of the world has a 48-hour timeframe to ask for a refund, this has been extended to a full two weeks in the EEA. The policy changes have come into play to comply with EU law which gives customers a 14-day "cooling-off" period during which they are entitled to ask for their money back -- but it doesn't cover everything.
Ecuadorian embassy cuts off Julian Assange's internet connection
Still holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been given the snip. Ecuador took the decision to cut off the fugitive's internet connection, severing one of his lines of communication with the outside world.
Assange -- who a judge recently described as a man who "appears to consider himself above the normal rules of law" -- has been living in the embassy since 2012 when he was wanted for questioning in Sweden on sexual assault allegations. He has hidden away claiming he could be extradited to the US to face charges over WikiLeaks revelations, but he is also wanted by British police for skipping bail.
Security issues in gay dating app Grindr exposed users' locations
Two security issues have been discovered in Grindr, the gay dating app, which could reveal the location of users even if they opted to keep this information private. There are concerns that the privacy compromise could lead to harassment of Grindr users.
Trevor Faden created a site called C*ckBlocked (that's the actual name, we're not being prudish and getting out our censorship pens) which was designed to give Grindr users the chance to see who had blocked them. By exploiting a security loophole similar to the one exposed in the recent Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, Faden's site was able to access a wealth of private data including deleted photos and user locations.
Sofia Elizabella's Bio
Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson is a queer, transgender journalist based in Poland. She has been writing about technology for more than two decades, and after years working for magazines, her writing moved online. She is fueled by literature, music, nature, and vegetables. You can find her on Bluesky and Mastodon. If you like what you read, you can Buy her a Coffee!
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