Google-Free /e/ OS Is Now Selling Preloaded Phones In the US, Starting At $380

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: /e/ OS, the “open-source, pro-privacy, and fully degoogled” fork of Android, is coming to Canada and the USA. Of course, you’ve always been able to download the software in any region, but now (as first spotted by It’s Foss News) the e Foundation will start selling preloaded phones in North America. Previously,…

Chrome 88 Released, Removing Adobe Flash — and FTP

Google released Chrome 88 this week — and besides improving its dark mode support, they removed support for both Adobe Flash and FTP. PC World calls it “the end of two eras.” The most noteworthy change in this update is what’s not included. Chrome 88 lays Adobe Flash and the FTP protocol to rest. RIP circa-2000 Internet. Neither comes as a…

NSF says Arecibo telescope will be dismantled

Heartbreaking news. After 57 years as a world-class resource for astronomy, the iconic Arecibo telescope is to be decommissioned, or withdrawn from service, the NSF announced today. The dish-type radio telescope – built into a natural depression in the landscape in Puerto Rico – appears to be headed for a “controlled disassembly.” Source: https://earthsky.org/space/arecibo-telescope-to-be-decommissioned…

Backblaze Hard Drive Stats Q3 2020

Backblaze’s Q3 2020 hard drive stats: As of September 30, 2020, Backblaze had 153,727 spinning hard drives in our cloud storage ecosystem spread across four data centers. Of that number, there were 2,780 boot drives and 150,947 data drives. This review looks at the Q3 2020 and lifetime hard drive failure rates of the data drive models currently in operation in…

Google Is Killing Unlimited Drive Storage For Non-Enterprise Users

If you’re one of the Google Drive users who is taking advantage of unlimited storage for $12 per month on G Suite, beware. Workspace is replacing G Suite and offers more features for those who do, but you might not want to switch: unlimited storage on Workspace will cost you at least $20 a month. Jaron Schneider reports via PetaPixel: Currently…

Amazon’s Latest Gimmicks Are Pushing the Limits of Privacy

At the end of September, Amazon debuted two especially futuristic products within five days of each other: a small autonomous surveillance drone, called Ring Always Home Cam, and a palm recognition scanner, called Amazon One. “Both products aim to make security and authentication more convenient — but for privacy-conscious consumers, they also raise red flags,” reports Wired. From the report: Amazon’s…

Apple iCloud, Google Drive and Dropbox Probed Over ‘Unfair’ Terms and Conditions in Italy

Italy’s competition authority has opened an investigation into cloud storage services operated by Apple, Dropbox and Google, in response to a number of complaints alleging unfair commercial practices. From a report: In a press release announcing the probe, the AGCM says it’s opened six investigations in all. The services of concern are Google’s Drive, Apple iCloud and the eponymous Dropbox cloud…

Dropbox Launches Password Manager, Computer Backup, and Secure ‘Vaults’ Out of Beta

Dropbox is officially launching a handful of new consumer features out of beta today, along with some new tools for businesses. From a report: The cloud storage giant first introduced its password manager — replete with a standalone mobile app for Android and iOS — back in June. Similar to other password management apps on the market, Dropbox Passwords stores and…

Body Cam with Military Police Footage Sold on Ebay

“A security researcher was able to access files on a Axon body-worn camera he purchased from eBay that had video files of Fort Huachuca Military Police officers conducting investigations and filling out paperwork,” reports the Arizona Mirror: The files were able to be extracted after the researcher, who goes by KF on Twitter, was able to remove a microSD card from…

Data of Millions of eBay and Amazon Shoppers Exposed

An anonymous reader quotes the “Naked Security” blog of anti-virus company Sophos: Researchers have discovered another big database containing millions of European customer records left unsecured on Amazon Web Services (AWS) for anyone to find using a search engine. A total of eight million records were involved, collected via marketplace and payment system APIs belonging to companies including Amazon, eBay, Shopify,…