It’s that time again! For the 5th year in a row I’m publishing Bri’s Favorite Things, which can also be used a Holiday Gift Guide for your friends and loved ones. (See also: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014).
Because it’s year FIVE, I’m going BIGGER and BETTER and offering you TONS of options, so…. BUCKLE UP!
Science-fiction movies have a strange way of predicting the future. In case you don’t believe me, let me just name a few recent science fiction movies that will hopefully jog your memory:
Movie: Minority Report (2002)
Technology: Gesture-based user interface
Movie: Total Recall (1990)
Technology: Driverless car
Movie: Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Technology: Wearable tech
Movie: Short Circuit (1986)
Technology: Military robot
Movie: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Technology: Mobile phone
Just a few days ago I linked a popular movie, Enemy of the State, to the national security debate, pitting the tech community vs. governments everywhere. Click HERE if you missed that. Today I’m linking “Kingsman: The Secret Service” to the free WiFi service being installed as we speak in New York City.
If you haven’t seen The Kingsman, it’s about a spy organization recruiting an unrefined, but promising street kid into the agency’s ultra-competitive training program, just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius. With a little help fromIMDB and AceOfGeeks:
The global threat is the release a of new sim card that gives free wifi and calls to everyone around the globe.Thesim cards are weapons, a neural augmentation device that triggers hyper aggression in people when broadcasting on a specific frequency controlled by Valentine. The controller of the sim cards can basically use it it out wipe out (i.e. kill) people who are not “on their side”.
So what’s the link to New York City? Just this week, workers began installing the first LinkNYC access points in New York. The hubs are designed as an update to the standard phone booth, using upgraded infrastructure to provide gigabit Wi-Fi access points. The full network will install more than 7,500 public hubs throughout the city, each replacing a pre-existing phone booth. (New York is finally installing its promised public gigabit Wi-Fi, The Verge)
Whether the service is free or paid, you better believe there will be some sort of “agreement” you must sign/acknowledge if you use this service, sort of like the ones required by Apple for your iTunes account – the ones that no one reads…. While this may not be a way to WIPE out a certain class or generation of people, like in The Kingsman, you can bet your last dollar the NSA (or some other like-minded government agency) will be spying paying very close attention and tracking everything you do whenever you are on this network. #youdecide
You can watch the official trailer for The Kingsman on YouTube. It’s actually a pretty good movie!
“Telegram is the Berlin-based competitor to Facebook’s WhatsApp. Using two layers of encryption, the app claims to be ‘faster and more secure’ than other messaging services. Users can message and send files to friends, create group chats with up to 200 members, or opt for ‘special secret chats’ where messages self-destruct. ISIS terrorists are turning to encrypted underground apps like Telegram to communicate. Laith Alkhouri, director of Research at Flashpoint Global Partners, called it ‘the new hot thing among jihadists.'” (CNN Money)
This is the EXACT type of communication that continues to drive the debate about privacy and national security in America. It also puts Silicone Valley (the tech community) against governments around the world, including the US, and continues to come up in the Democratic & Republic Presidential Debates. Here’s what Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, said in a recent 60-minutes interview:
I don’t believe that the tradeoff here is privacy versus national security. If the government lays a proper warrant on us today then we will give the specific information that is requested. Because we have to by law. In the case of encrypted communication, we don’t have it to give. And so if like your iMessages are encrypted, we don’t have access to those. There have been people that suggest that we should have a back door. But the reality is if you put a back door in, that back door’s for everybody, for good guys and bad guys.
The United States of America has THE strongest and most funded military in the world. Surely it can find a way to use all the intelligence information collected legally by the CIA, NSA, and Department of Defense, and pool both their resources and talent to STAY AHEAD of the curve without violating the rights of ordinary americans, no? #tobecontinued!
Kids have tricked their parents for decades. From the classic “going to the library” with a friend response to “group outings” that are really double dates – some parents have learned all the tricks and are hip to these games! But it’s a new day. Kids are not just into old-school trickery, they are much more tech-conscious and as a result, you definitely should expect and assume they are using most adults’ lack of tech-expertise to fully dupe them in every way possible. Surely you have noticed the trend: kids join Facebook/Instagram and by the time adults catch up and “join” to keep and eye on them, their pages go blank. There’s no more posting or sharing. Adults are left to “enjoy” the site themselves. Why? By the time you find out, the kids have already moved on to another new, cool tool (i.e. Snapchat, see privacy concerns here). Kids everywhere are definitely posting/sharing on some social media platform – you just aren’t aware of what that is yet. Which means you can’t know what they are doing.
So let me ask you a question – if you want to check and see if your kids are taking inappropriate photos, where would you check? The photos app that comes with our phone? The trash to see what has been (temporarily) deleted? The sent folder in your child’s email? All very wrong! Kids are not that stupid.
Enter Calcualtor%. It looks like a regular Calcualtor app and even shows a calculator when you open the app up. But, there’s a secret door! (Yes, like the hidden ones we’ve seen the film Indiana Jones). Users can create a secret code that unlocks additional functionality:
Via Mashable, “But if you know the right sequence of digits, you can unlock a hidden feature that gives you access to a photo album. Inside the photo album, you can import photos you’ve already taken using the iPhone’s native photo app, shoot and save photos directly from the Calculator% app and email any photos saved in the app.”
Be sure to check out the video below which shows a 34-year old District Attorney from Alabama exposing this “secret”. There are also other apps that do the same thing (shocker). You can check them out here.
It’s that time again! For the 5th year in a row I’m publishing Bri’s Favorite Things, which can also be used a Holiday Gift Guide for your friends and loved ones. (See also: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014).
Bri Alys, LLC 