A Single Text Can Disable iOS Messages Forever

Image: Alex Cranz/Gizmodo One of the beauties of iOS versus other phone operating systems is its relative security and stability versus other phone operating systems. There just aren’t a lot of hacks that can harm an iPhone unless it has been jailbroken or hacked by Israeli cyber weapons dealers . But a new exploit will permanently disable the Messages app. So prepare to be wary of any text your asshole friends and colleagues send your way. Read more…

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A Single Text Can Disable iOS Messages Forever

Firefox 52 Borrows One More Privacy Feature From the Tor Browser

An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla engineers have added a mechanism to Firefox 52 that prevents websites from fingerprinting users using system fonts. The user privacy protection system was borrowed from the Tor Browser, where a similar mechanism blocks websites from identifying users based on the fonts installed on their computers, only returning a list of “default fonts” per each OS. While sabotaging system font queries won’t stop user fingerprinting as a whole, this is just one of the latest privacy-related updates Mozilla has added to Firefox, taken from Tor. Back in July 2016, Mozilla engineers started the Tor Uplift project, which aims to improve Firefox’s privacy features with the ones present in the Tor Browser. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Firefox 52 Borrows One More Privacy Feature From the Tor Browser

Bad Year For Piracy: 2016 Was The Year Torrent Giants Fell

From a report on TorrentFreak: 2016 has been a memorable year for torrent users but not in a good way. Over a period of just a few months, several of the largest torrent sites vanished from the scene. From KickassTorrents, through Torrentz to What.cd, several torrent giants have left the scene.Another notable website which vanished is TorrentHound. ThePirateBay is back, but is often facing issues. Not long ago, ExtraTorrent noted that it was on the receiving end of several DDoS attacks. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Bad Year For Piracy: 2016 Was The Year Torrent Giants Fell

Artisans revive the polissoir, a nearly-forgotten woodworking tool

André Roubo’s series on carpentry called L’Art du Menuisier mentions a polissior , a small device made of broom straw for polishing wood. In the two centuries since Roubo’s book, the device had faded from memory until a couple of years ago, when Don Williams recreated one from an illustration in Roubo’s book. It turned out to work amazingly well. (more…)

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Artisans revive the polissoir, a nearly-forgotten woodworking tool

The Gates Foundation Just Invested Millions in Technology to Stop the Spread of HIV

Image: WikiMedia Commons Over the past two decades, HIV has gone from a lethal diagnosis to a manageable condition. And yet, the virus continues to spread as some 1.9 million new people are infected each year. HIV is no longer always the fatal disease it once was, but catching it is still common. An implant that offers to do for HIV what the IUD did for birth control now seeks to change that. Read more…

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The Gates Foundation Just Invested Millions in Technology to Stop the Spread of HIV