When Epic first brought its incredibly popular video game Fortnite to smartphones two years ago, the company sidestepped the App Store and Google Play by offering its own Android app launcher. Eventually Epic made its game available in the official Android and iOS app stores, but company officials were never happy about having to split […]
Tag: security
Lilbits: Toshiba ends notebook business, Snapdragon chip vulnerability, and jailbreaker infighting
Toshiba was one of the first companies to release a portable computer that could reasonably be called a laptop. But that was 35 years ago. The company formally exited the personal computer space a few years ago when Toshiba sold its laptop business to Sharp, which formed a new subsidiary called Dynabook. But Toshiba still […]
Have I Been Pwned code base is going open source
Since 2013, developer Troy Hunt has been offering an invaluable online security tool called Have I Been Pwned. Enter your email address, and the site will let you know if it’s been found in any known security breaches… giving you a pretty good idea of whether it’s time to change your password. Now Hunt says […]
Lilbits 7-07-2020: Xiaomi Mi TV Stick gets FCC certification, Google Loon goes live in Kenya
8 Comments on Lilbits 7-07-2020: Xiaomi Mi TV Stick gets FCC certification, Google Loon goes live in Kenya The Xiaomi Mi TV Stick is expected to be one of the smallest Android TV devices to date, packing the guts of a powerful media streamer into a small stick that plugs into the HDMI port of your television. In May Xiaomi confirmed it was planning to bring the Mi TV Stick to market this […]
Apple releases iOS 13.5.1 (and patches the vulnerability used by unc0ver jailbreak utility)
Last week developers released a tool that allowed you to jailbreak pretty much any iPhone or iPad running iOS 11 through iOS 13.5. Today Apple released iOS 13.5.1 and iPadOS 13.5.1, and they patch the security vulnerability exploited by unc0ver. In fact, that’s pretty much the only thing that’s new in this update. It’s a security […]
Lilbits 403: Microsoft release GW-Basic source code, hackers get an early crack at iOS 14
Microsoft’s GW-BASIC is a programming language that was released in 1983 and bundled with MS-DOS on early PCs. It was the first programming language many students and developers learned in the 80s, and nearly four decades later, Microsoft has released the source code. Available from Github, the code is being released “for historical reference/interest purposes,” […]
HP ThinPro Go is a USB stick that turns any PC into a thin client
HP is introducing two new Thin Client solutions that will be available in the coming months. The HP mt22 Mobile Thin Client looks like a laptop, but it’s designed to let enterprise customers connect to a remote server. Meanwhile the new HP ThinPro Go is a USB stick that converts any existing computer into a thin […]
iOS 13.5 will make it easier to unlock an iPhone while wearing a mask
Apple introduced Face ID with the iPhone X in 2017, allowing users to unlock the company’s flagship phones by looking at them… which is fine under normal circumstances, I guess. But all the fancy 3D face scanning tech in the world isn’t much use when your face is partially obscured by a mask. So Apple […]
Sophos releases Sandboxie source code (although its future is uncertain)
Sandboxie is a utility that allows you to run Windows applications in a “sandbox” that’s isolated from the rest of the operating system to prevent malware, spyware, or adware from infecting or just slowing down your system. The software has been around since 2004, and it’s been owned by cybersecurity company Sophos since 2017. Last […]
Apple’s 2020 iPad Pro mic can be disconnected (when you use a compatible case)
Every Apple MacBook released since 2018 has had a privacy feature that disconnects the microphone hardware when the lid is closed so that nobody can take control of your computer and listen when you think the system is sleeping. Now Apple is bringing the same hardware mic disconnect feature to iPads, starting with this year’s […]