Techmeme
January 29, 2018, 11:50 AM

Top News

Axios:
Memo by a NSC official that's circulating in the Trump administration proposes government pay for and build a nationwide 5G network in 3 years to fend off China  —  Trump national security officials are considering an unprecedented federal takeover of a portion of the nation's mobile network …
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
FCC chairman Ajit Pai says he is opposed to a proposal for the government to build a 5G network  —  Over the weekend, Axios reported that officials within the Trump administration have been proposing the creation of a nationwide 5G network in order to protect against Chinese leadership in forthcoming networking technology.
Alex Hern / The Guardian:
Global heatmap published by fitness tracking app Strava last November can be used to locate military bases around the world, map soldier jogging routes  —  Data about exercise routes shared online by soldiers can be used to pinpoint overseas facilities  —  Sensitive information about the location …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple working on three Mac models, including laptops and a new desktop, with custom co-processors; new iPad to be released toward the end of the year  —  The company already makes many of the chips for its iPhones, iPads, Macs and Watches.  —  For several years …
Catalin Cimpanu / BleepingComputer:
Microsoft releases out-of-band Windows update for manual download to disable Intel's buggy patch for Spectre Variant 2, will wait for a more stable fix  —  Microsoft has issued on Saturday an emergency out-of-band Windows update that disables patches for the Spectre Variant 2 bug (CVE-2017-5715).
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Intel warned China's Lenovo and Alibaba about Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities before warning the US government  —  Decision to disclose issue to select few customers, including Lenovo and Alibaba, has ripple effects through security and tech industries
Philip Ball / Quanta Magazine:
How the current state of quantum computing needs to overcome inherent physics and error correction challenges to make quantum computers truly powerful  —  Quantum computers should soon be able to beat classical computers at certain basic tasks.  But before they're truly powerful …
Isis Almeida / Bloomberg:
The first large scale freight deal has been settled in Bitcoin to deliver 3000 metric tons of wheat from Russia to Turkey  —  Prime Shipping Foundation piloted blockchain payment system  —  Vessel carried 3,000 tons from Rostov to Samsun in December  —  Cryptocurrencies are making inroads into food commodity trading.
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
US Secret Service warning financial institutions about “jackpotting” attacks targeting US ATMs; source close to the matter says Ploutus.D malware is being used  —  ATM “jackpotting” — a sophisticated crime in which thieves install malicious software and/or hardware at ATMs …
New York Times:
How Devumi uses its 3.5M+ automated Twitter accounts, sometimes based on stolen social identities, to sell followers and retweets to 200K+ customers  —  Everyone wants to be popular online.  —  Some even pay for it.  —  Inside social media's black market.

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Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
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Zach Weinberg (Co-Founder & CEO, Curie.Bio) on The Tariff Trap, Self-Inflicted Recession Risk, and Open AI's Fundraise
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Earlier Picks

Jan Wolfe / Reuters:
Yuji Nakamura / Bloomberg: