'Commentary'
The Saturday Share - 10/29/16
29 OCT 2016 0
This week we have major companies in hot water, a story straight out of the Cold War, and a grim vision of the future of botnets. Yikes, it's getting rough out there. This might be a good weekend to get together with some friends and watch a scary movie. You know, to calm yourself down.
1. Desperate to cut costs, Twitter is killing Vine, the six second video looping service home to some of the strangest comedy on the internet. My reaction to the news was something like this -
2. Phishing is just about the oldest scam in the book online, but this is a new twist. Some crooks are posing as major UK banks on Twitter in full view of everyone. Pretty ballsy. Tell me why Twitter can't find a buyer again?
3. Hope you weren't excited about the Apple AirPods, because they're not coming this October and Apple won't say why (cue endless variations on "maybe they lost them!” from around the internet)
4. An ex-NSA contractor was arrested this week when it was revealed he had amassed a "mountain” of sensitive confidential information (including the identity of numerous covert agents) in his home, car, and shed. It's not clear if he was trading the information with any other actors or had plans to at this time. How very John le Carre.
5. Hey, good (?) news! The Mirai botnet that wreaked havoc last week was actually much smaller than people thought! On one hand, it's good to see that the initial estimates of tens of millions of infected smartphones is smaller than it was, but that also means they were able to do that damage with comparatively small resources. *Nervously adjusts tie*
6. Of course, security experts are predicting that Mirai is just the beginning of a new wave of hijacked Android devices being used for insidious ends. Yay?
7. There's no subsitute for hard work. A fascinating look at woodworker Mira Nakashima and her 20 year pursuit of perfection.
8. Want to have more interesting conversations? It's not as hard as you might think.
9. Habits can support us or paralyze us. R/GA's in depth look at how designers either work to create helpful habits, or prey on our lazziness in this issue of Future Vision is interesting reading.
10. This is the season for spooky movies with friends, but be careful when deciding what to watch. The horror movie recommendation is a serious responsibility.