The Lighthouse IT Podcast - May 20th, 2022
This week, Matt & Griff discuss what's new over at Twitter vs. Musk... again, the CISA warning to MSPs, Meta's new headset and store, Apple discontinuing the iPod and the lighting connector, Edge surpassing Safari, killing the password, Nvidia's totally unexpected release of their GPU's kernel as open-source and more from Netflix, Mastercard, Zyxel, and a cool new product for TRPG players.
Listen here!
News
CISA Says, "Don't Install May Updates to Domain Controllers"
- A new "update" to the PetitPotam exploit has been patched by Microsoft and released for installation - however, it comes at the cost of breaking authentication to Domain Controllers.
- The collection of security updates within the single patch addresses 74 concerns including the new attack vector used by PetitPotam, but is also observed to cause service-level authentication issues on Active Directory Domain Controllers
Zyxel Appliances Vulnerable
- With the help of Rapid7, Zyxel has patched its systems on May 12 for a very serious vulnerability that allows an attacker to gain control of the firewall (and VPN concentrators) and execute code, but the firmware has not been widely adopted yet and is being actively exploited.
Twitter vs. Musk... again
- Musk has been stirring up Twitter. First he announces that he plans on serving as as the temporary CEO after the deal goes through. The current CEO, Parag Agrawal, has only been at the helm for a few months.
- Musk then announces his plans to bring Twitter's revenue from $5 billion to $26.4 billion by 2028 ($12b of that from advertising and $10b from subscriptions) and wants to hit 931 million daily users.
- Parag has now put a freeze on hiring, and has let started letting go some of Twitter's top leadership. Consumer product leader Kayvon Beykpour and the general manager of revenue and head of product Bruce Falck just to name two.
- Musk then said, "Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users." Musk has made cutting down on the amount of "spam and scam bots" and "bot armies" on Twitter a key part of his pitch for improving the service, alongside prioritizing free speech and open sourcing the platform's ranking algorithms. "So how do advertisers know what they're getting for their money?" said Musk.
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Meta's Cambria, Store, and TikTok
- The laptop for your face now has a name (or at least a codename)": Cambria. They plan on releasing it this September for $799.
- Meta Is Opening Its First Store. It's on the Meta Campus. It all looks very Apple. Both the hardware and experience is presented as premium. Portal devices, Quest headsets, and more.
- Instagram is trying to look more like TikTok with its new full-screen feed. It's an effort to "bring video more front and center."
Apple AltStore, iPod Discontinued, and the End of the Lighting connector
- AltStore is building a haven for forbidden iPhone apps
- With more than 1.5 million downloads and growing pressure on Apple to open up iOS, Riley Testut's alternative app store allows users to install apps outside of the Apple Store.
- He started by making this so he could play emulated GameBoy games.
- Apple's Director of Machine Learning Resigns Due to Return to Office Work
- Apple's plan to return to in-person work requires employees to work from the office at least one day per week by April 11, at least two days per week by May 2, and at least three days per week by May 23.
- Apple discontinues the iPod (and iPod Touch) after 20 years
- Apple will ditch its proprietary Lightning port and switch to USB-C on all or possibly some models of the iPhone 15 lineup destined to launch in the second half of 2023
Microsoft Edge Surpasses Safari as 2nd biggest browser
- Microsoft Edge surpasses Safari as the second most popular desktop browser
- Google Chrome: 66.64%
- Microsoft Edge: 10.07%
- Safari: 9.61%
Apple, Microsoft, & Google join forces to kill the password
- Apple, Google, and Microsoft want to kill the password with "Passkey" standard
- On World Password Day earlier this month, Apple, Google and Microsoft made a joint effort to kill the password. They want to "expand support for a common passwordless sign-in standard created by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium."
- Instead of a long string of characters, this new scheme would have the app or website you're logging in to push a request to your phone for authentication.
Nvidia releases their GPU Kernal as Open Source; surprised?
- NVIDIA Releases Open-Source GPU Kernel Modules
- Was this due to the March hack from Lapsus$ when they demanded they release their drivers as open source?
Netflix Ads, forever commercial-free. Wait...
- Netflix's ad-supported tier will reportedly roll out sooner than expected.
- Netflix Exploring Live Streaming
Mastercard to support biometrics for payments
- Mastercard (on Tuesday) launched tech that lets you pay with facial recognition and fingerprint scanning
How about a little AR for your Tabletop?
- Actor Joe Manganiello and a team of friends are developing an AR Tabletop platform called ARcana. I missed out on the kickstarter, but everyone can see and play together and experience by scanning your tabletop.