Facebook releases new post-NSA-Prism-leak privacy settings

Most police have access to tools that can retrieve cleartext data from about 50% of the phones they confiscate, reports The New York Times. Phone-hacking tools typically exploit security flaws to remove a phone's limit on passcode attempts and then enter passcodes until the phone unlocks. Because of all the possible combinations, a six-digit iPhone passcode takes… READ THE REST

Mashable has a great new piece — in video, and in text — about the intersections between COVID-19 restrictions and surveillance-style privacy invasions. The reporting by Tulika Bose and Jack Morse is smart and nuanced enough that it doesn't veer into anti-masker conspiracy theories, and rather, takes a rational skeptic's approach to the potential abuses… READ THE REST

A small Chinese firm known as Shenzhen Zhenhua Data Technology has been systematically collecting personal data and crawling social media posts since 2017 for the stated purpose of providing intelligence to Chinese military, government and commercial clients, "according to a copy of the database that was left unsecured on the Internet and retrieved by an… READ THE REST

Stress is par for the course these days. If you've found meditation helps to quiet those interior voices of doubt, fear and confusion, then you have every reason to continue that practice. But as soothing as meditation can be, it can also serve another purpose: to focus your attention, sharpen your performance and forge you… READ THE REST

When the history of Earth is ultimately told by aliens or time travelers or whoever stumbles across what's left of our planet a millennia from now, these beings will need to understand what a hair tie is and why it was created…because it's guaranteed they find them everywhere during their study. Today, hair ties are… READ THE REST

Ask most Apple Watch users about their biggest beef with the most popular wearable in tech today and many will likely answer with the same beef had by many users of wirelessly charged devices. It just isn't so simple making sure your wireless charger is lined up properly with your device to get a steady,… READ THE REST