Daily Tech News 12 July 2023

• The state of Massachusetts has been sued over colluding with Google to put spyware on residents' phones. (The Federalist)
  
  The spyware in question was a COVID contact-tracing app, which was nominally entirely voluntary but became rather less so when citizens failed to volunteer.
  
  According to the suit, the software was installed without the users' awareness or permission, reinstalled itself automatically if it was removed, and communicated with other nearby devices over Bluetooth.*
  
  Massachusetts' Attorney General has filed for dismissal on the grounds that while they did indeed murder all those people, the point is moot because they are not murdering anyone at this precise moment in time.
  
  Take a moment to admire the chutzpah while you are gathering the tar and feathers.
  
  * Disable Bluetooth when you are not actively using it. It's not so much a security hole as a security rabbit warren.

• The Samsung 990 Pro - the company's current top of the line consumer SSD - is currently available for $129 for 2TB. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  A year ago that would have been a good price for a 1TB model. And if you that's enough storage for your needs, the 1TB model is now just $59, which was a price reserved for bargain-basement drives not so long ago.
  
  
  
• Intel is set to stop making NUCs. (AnandTech)
  
  This is their line of mini-PCs - about four inches square and two inches high - that they've been producing for the past ten years. There are numerous competitors, from Taiwanese brands like Asus and Gigabyte, to Chinese models like Minisforum and Beelink, but with Intel there was a bit more assurance that the products would still be around next year... Until there wasn't.
  
  
  
• Amazon says it is not a VLOP - a very large online platform - under the EU's new rules governing VLOPs. (Ars Technica)
  
  As far as I can tell, though, the rules are very broad - EU laws tend to be like that, unlike US laws that tend to be very specific because of constitutional restrictions - and Amazon is full of shit.
  
  
  
• VanMoof (who?), an e-bike maker that raised $200 million, seems to have spent it all. (Tech Crunch)
  
  Oops.
  
  Their bikes are kind of cool: All the electrical stuff is completely hidden, so they look like regular bicycles with chunky frames. Horribly expensive, but that doesn't matter since you can't buy one anyway.
  
  
  

posted by Pixy Misa at 04:22 AM

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