Facebook doesn't actually offer user privacy - and we all knew that. The thing is, Facebook does some pretty shady stuff with user data that breeches the FTC rules on user privacy. That is not good - but again, not suprising. The downside is that at this point, your data is probably in the hands of Russian hackers and Kim Jong Un. The good news is that I expected that and have won the office pool. In the end, the fine could be huge, but it is probably payable from Facebooks petty cash drawer.

Such a violation, if eventually confirmed by the Federal Trade Commission, could lead to many millions of dollars in fines against Facebook, said David Vladeck, who as the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection oversaw the investigation of alleged privacy violations by Facebook and the subsequent consent decree resolving the case in 2011. He left that position in 2012.

Source: WashingtonPost

According to a Crypto-Rig builder, gamers just need to suck up the high prices of GPUs. The fact is that if you invest big in the mining world, you can pay off your GPU in the first year (potentially). Then, you'll end up with a flaky, heat-stressed GPU for playing video games for minutes between crashing. What a wonderful world we live in where not only can we make the money back we spend on a GPU NOT playing games, but we can also spend a ludicrous amount of money on electricity and contribute to more polution by way of coal-fired electricy to power the system. There are a lot of reasons why mining sucks, and the cost of entry and cost of production are just a couple.

While miners look to make a profit on their expensive investment, gamers just want to have fun. That’s not the tack they should be taking according to Easy Crypto Hunter‘s founder and Managing Director, Josh Riddett. During a sit down with Digital Trends at the London Crypto Investor show, he suggested gamers should be mining, too.

Source: DigitalTrends

SSD storage is usually pretty small when compared to the mechanical counterpart, but that is changing with the latest drive from Nimbus Data. The drive is the ExaDrive DC100 and they manage to cram an incredible 100TB of data into a 3.5-inch drive. It won't fit in your laptop, and it certainly won't fit into many budgets at this time. The price isn't available, but it will be into the "tens of thousands of dollars". Still, it kind of makes me want to see how long it would take to fill up. Four of these in a NAS would be pretty epic.

As you might guess, this is intended for servers where capacity takes priority over everything else, including performance (the 500MB/sec is nothing to write home about). A data center could hold 100 petabytes of data in a single rack instead of needing large swaths of server room space. That's helpful for cloud services, AI and other technologies that may need massive amounts of data.

Source: Engadget

We have just posted up Episode #428 of Weekly Tech Update!In this episode we will be discussing Android tops iOS in customer satisfaction, What’sApp extends the “I shouldn’t have said that” feature and free games for Amazon Prime members. We have those stories and more...

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The good folks over at Kaspersky Lab have just found another malware strain that is likely produced and paid for by the governemnt. This nasty bit of code affects MikroTik routers and is called "Slingshot". It spies on PCs through a multi-layered attack that is pretty complex in the exectution. The guys over at Kaspersky call the two-pronged attack a "masterpiece" in a very bad way for the user. Congratulations, your government hates you and wants to render you useless to protect yourself against attacks, both cyber and physical.

The combination of this sophistication with the spying focus led Kaspersky to believe that it's likely the creation of a state agency -- it rivals the Regin malware GCHQ used to spy on Belgian carrier Belgacom. And while text clues hint that English speakers might be responsible, the culprit isn't clear. Just shy of 100 individuals, government outfits and institutions fell prey to Slingshot in countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Libya and Turkey.

Source: Engadget

If you enjoy Epic Games' Fortnight on the PC or on the PS4, you may be happy to note that it is coming to iOS and Android in the near future. What's even more interesting than having yet another game draining the battery on your mobile device is that the game will support cross-platform play. That's right, if you have Android or iOS, you'll be able to play head-to-head against players on PC and PS4 systems as well. That is really good for the PC crowd as they will be able to do even better against this odd match-up.

But, the announcement also came with another surprise, with Epic Games announcing a partnership with Sony to introduce official cross-play and cross-progression support between "PlayStation 4, PC, Mac, iOS and eventually Android." Although cross-play between Xbox One and PlayStation 4 has occurred accidentally in the past, this official implementation curiously doesn't include the Microsoft console, perhaps due to Sony's reluctance.

Source: Neowin

Best Buy's Geek Squad is coming under fire for working with the FBI to tip them off when customers have things on their computer they shouldn't have. Catching 'bad guys' is of course the rationale for them working with the FBI, however, there are some privacy issues that are being raised as undoubtedly many peoples privacy was invaded. This one could turn into a big deal for Best Buy when it comes to asking customers to trust them with their computers that they are fixing.

Engadget has more on this story.

When the defense in a California doctor's child pornography case accused the FBI of paying Geek Squad's crew to look for evidence in the defendant's computer, Best Buy denied it enjoys close ties with the agency. Now, according to the EFF, the big-box retailer's team of IT technicians are even closer to the feds than previous reports indicated. The non-profit has received the results to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) it filed last year and found that Best Buy has been enjoying "a particularly close relationship with the agency" over the past 10 years, at least.

According to a new report, Android users are more loyal than their iOS counterparts. Both smartphones have a loyal following with Android having a 91% loyalty rate and iOS trailing with a still impressive 86%. TechCrunch has the story.

Samsung’s new Galaxy S9 may not quite live up to the iPhone X when it comes to Samsung’s implementation of a Face ID-style system or its odd take on AR emoji. But that’s not going to matter much to Samsung device owners — not only because the S9 is a good smartphone overall, but because Android  users just aren’t switching to iPhone anymore. In fact, Android users have higher loyalty than iOS users do, according to a new report today from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP).

We have just posted up Episode #427 of Weekly Tech Update! In this episode we will be discussing BlackBerry sues everyone, Dell jumps on the Ryzen mobile bandwagon and if you can't steal Bitcoins, steal the computers used to mine them. We have those stories and more...

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The GPD Pocket is pretty nifty - in theory. It's a small little machine that is quite powerful and has a solid overall fit and finish. During the unboxing, they are impressed with the fit and feel of the keyboard, although it is a little cramped. When folded up, it's a small 7.17 x 4.29 x 0.78 inches. 

Source: Neowin