TECH

"One iPhone hack, please." "Gladly, that'll be two million dollars."

Sven Krumrey

Inglorious holes

Security holes are a much sought-after commodity especially those still unknown to the security community. As there is no defense against these attacks, they're fittingly called zero-day exploits with zero being the number of days software developers have to provide a fix. They are the perfect attack vector to distribute malware, steal data or sabotage computer systems - and there's a global market for them!

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TECH

The certificate war

Sven Krumrey

The bone of content

Google is peeved. And every time Google is enraged, Chrome, the market leader among browsers, is readied for battle. This time, it's about certificates, a cornerstone of the Internet and data security. With the upcoming versions 66 (scheduled for April) and 70 (October), Google seeks to make the web more secure - and tries to settle a few scores in the process. Read on to learn why many sites will soon be flagged as "insecure" and disappear from the top search results!

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TECH

Your voice is unmistakable? Not for long!

Sven Krumrey

When machines do the calling

There's something magical about voices. We grow up with the voices of our parents, recognize our friends by theirs and enjoy listening to memorable lines delivered by talented actors and speakers. So far, computer voices sounded anything but natural whether in the shape of assistants like Cortana or navigation systems. They always sounded alien, robotic and artificial. The Lyrebird software aims to change all that. What was once unmistakable is said to soon become perfectly imitable.

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LIFE

Binge watching - the death of conscious media consumption

Sven Krumrey

Series watching until exhaustion

Recently, I had fallen sick. A serious cold forced me to spend my days on the couch. We like to imagine sick days as a chance to take a break on a comfy sofa with a nice cup of tea and lots of time to read and maybe even a beloved movie interrupted only by the occasional need to clear our throats. In reality, my eyes were burning, my lungs wheezing and may brain obviously restricting its activity to mere life support. So what harm could there have been in picking up the remote and watching a much-lauded series in one sitting?

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TECH

Android always up-to-date - Android One

Sven Krumrey

There are many versions of Android

Until now, the update policy of many Android cellphone manufacturers resembled the nursing behavior of a cuckoo: they took to their heels. This annoyance has been tolerated by buyers for several years, maybe many didn't even realize the importance of regular updates. Only owning a Google-backed device like Nexus or Pixel meant you were on the safe side. Super cheap phones were sometimes even cut off from updates the moment they were sold. This grieved not only users but also Google - and it may finally be about to change with Android One!

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