Friday Tech News Roundup #26

Below are 10 tech news that I found interesting and are related to topics I care about.

Apple AirPods are the latest tech product that can allegedly explode – Another tech product, another explosive allegation. Mashable

Some iPhone source code just hit GitHub, and Apple isn’t pleased – Apple’s legal team has been busy. Mashable

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about Apple’s HomePod – Apple HomePod sounds really great, works with Apple Music, Siri is still meh, and it requires an iOS device to set up. The end, right? Mashable

Microsoft is testing authenticator logins for Windows 10 S users – It seems Microsoft may be aiming to ditch passwords sooner than some may have thought. The company first made their anti-password goals clear back in 2015 with the release of Windows 10 which launched with the “Windows Hello” facial recognition system for logins. Techspot

Intel rolls out random reboot-free Spectre microcode updates for Skylake chips – Back in January, we covered Google Project Zero’s disclosure of massive CPU security flaws Spectre and Meltdown. If you’ve never heard of these vulnerabilities before, here’s the gist: Spectre and Meltdown are two serious CPU security vulnerabilities that allow hackers to steal personal data from computers, mobile devices and servers without a given machine’s owner ever realizing it. Techspot

Hacker group manages to run Linux on a Nintendo Switch – Hacker group fail0verflow shared a photo of a Nintendo Switch running Debian, a distribution of Linux (via Nintendo Life). The group claims that Nintendo can’t fix the vulnerability with future firmware patches. Techcrunch

Nvidia up 10% after Q4 earnings beat, says cryptocurrency demand ‘exceeded expectations’ – Nvidia’s successes are continuing to pile on as the company’s gaming and data center businesses drove revenues up 34 percent year-over-year. Techcrunch

From July, Chrome will flag all unencrypted websites as ‘not secure’ – Google’s fight for a more secure internet continues with the announcement that its Chrome 68 update – to be released in July this year – will see all unencrypted websites (HTTP sites) marked with a ‘not secure’ label. Techradar

Surface Pro 5 release date, news and rumors – You might suspect that the Surface Pro (2017) is the closest we’ll ever get to the Surface Pro 5, but if Microsoft itself is anything to go by, you would be dead wrong. The Surface Pro 5 doesn’t exist right now, as Microsoft Surface leader Panos Panay confirmed last May, but it will when more meaningful changes erupt from the geniuses at Microsoft’s hardware design lab. Techradar

Microsoft is reportedly shifting its Windows strategy as it tries to outmaneuver Apple and Google – Last weekend, long-time Microsoft blogger Brad Sams reported that Windows 10 S – the latest version of the operating system, launched in mid-2017 – is, for all intents and purposes, dead. Business Insider

Friday Tech News Roundup #21

Below are 10 tech news that I found interesting and are related to topics I care about.

Apple on Meltdown and Spectre bugs: ‘All Mac systems and iOS devices are affected’ – Apple just confirmed that nearly all of its devices are impacted by the serious vulnerabilities affecting processors made by Intel and other chip makers. Mashable

Cybersecurity agency: The only sure defense against huge chip flaw is a new chip – The tech world continues to come to grips with Wednesday’s revelation of very serious vulnerabilities associated with central processing units (CPUs) that affect, well, just about everyone with a computer. Mashable

The iMac Pro is tough to repair but has vastly improved cooling – Apple’s iMac Pro is the most powerful desktop computer Apple has ever created — well, at least until the launch of the all-new Mac Pro later this year. Mashable

Intel claims its new security updates make PCs ‘immune’ to Meltdown and Spectre CPU bugs – Intel says it and its partners have “made significant progress” in rolling out security patches and firmware updates to protect against two major CPU bugs. The flaws were disclosed by Google’s Project Zero team this week, and the industry is scrambling to issue fixes and secure machines for customers. Dubbed “Meltdown” and “Spectre,” the flaws affect nearly every device made in the past 20 years, and could allow attackers to use JavaScript code running in a browser to access memory in the attacker’s process. That memory content could contain key strokes, passwords, and other valuable information. The Verge

Burn-in test shows the iPhone X beating Samsung’s Note 8 and S7 Edge – As more phones are launched with OLED displays, burn-in problems have become even more relevant. As part of its ongoing iPhone X review, Korean tech site Cetizen tested Apple’s handset against Samsung’s Note 8 and S7 Edge in a burn-in test, and it was the iPhone that came out on top. Techspot

iOS 11.2.5 beta delivers Siri-powered, hands-free news podcasts – If you’re the type of person who tends to wake up to a cup of coffee and a newspaper, you might now be able to eliminate both of those steps if you own an iPhone. As reported by 9to5Mac, iPhone owners who opt in to Apple’s iOS 11.2.5 beta will be given the opportunity to stream a news podcast by simply saying “Hey Siri, give me the news.” Techspot

Apple just shared some staggering statistics about how well the App Store is doing – Apple has an annual tradition in early January of announcing how well its App Store is doing. Business Insider

Here’s what happens with your data when you use a Chinese messaging app – Verbal sparring between two Chinese billionaires over data privacy has shone a rare spotlight onto a topic in China that has also dogged global social media companies from Facebook to Twitter: who owns the content generated by the users and how to handle it. Business Insider

Chrome is turning into the new Internet Explorer 6 – Chrome is now the most popular browser across all devices, thanks to Android’s popularity and the rise of Chrome on Windows PCs and Mac computers. As Google continues to dominate our access to the web, information through its search engine, and services like Gmail or YouTube, Chrome is a powerful entry point in the company’s vast toolbox. While Google championed web standards that worked across many different browsers back in the early days of Chrome, more recently its own services often ignore standards and force people to use Chrome. The Verge

Intel Titan Ridge Thunderbolt controllers look to the future and the past – Thunderbolt 3 (TB3) can be pretty awesome, even if getting access to the 40 Gbps of bandwidth isn’t as straightforward as Intel has advertised. The standard has yet to really spread across the entire PC market, as it’s currently reserved primarily for relatively high-end laptops and Apple’s premium products. Intel is hoping to spread the adoption of TB3 with its just-announced JHL7x40 “Titan Ridge” series of TB3 controller chips. Techreport