Tuesday Morning Random Stuff…

Microsoft PowerToys 0.14
Changes and bugfixes
Download | Release Info

Intel Chipset Drivers v10.1.18
“Certified for 19h1” That’s awesome except we are on 19h2.
Download | Release Notes

AMD Radeon Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.12.1 Optional
Support for Radeon RX 5300M, fixes for RX 5700. If you don’t have one of those cards then skip this.
Download | Release Notes

Firefox 71
Download: 64-bit (en-US) | All Downloads | Release Notes
Related:
Tor Browser 9.0.2
Tails 4.1

FinalCrypt 5.6.9
Bugfixes and performance improvements
Download | Changelog | Home Page

Kali Linux 2019.4
Lots of changes. Apparently there is an ‘Undercover’ mode. Haven’t had a chance to try it.
Download

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Vulnerability in fully patched Android phones under active attack by bank thieves
“The vulnerability allows malicious apps to masquerade as legitimate apps that targets have already installed and come to trust, researchers from security firm Promon reported in a post. Running under the guise of trusted apps already installed, the malicious apps can then request permissions to carry out sensitive tasks, such as recording audio or video, taking photos, reading text messages or phishing login credentials. Targets who click yes to the request are then compromised.”
See: The StrandHogg vulnerability
Not good. Not good at all.

Wired: I Ditched Google for DuckDuckGo. Here’s Why You Should Too
“It all started with a realization: Most the things I search for are easy to find. Did I really need the all-seeing, all-knowing algorithms of Google to assist me? Probably not. So I made a simple change: I opened up Firefox on my Android phone and switched Google search for DuckDuckGo. As a result, I’ve had a fairly tedious but important revelation: I search for really obvious stuff. Google’s own data backs this up. Its annual round-up of the most searched-for terms is basically a list of names and events: World Cup, Avicii, Mac Miller, Stan Lee, Black Panther, Megan Markle. The list goes on. And I don’t need to buy into Google’s leviathan network of privacy-invading trackers to find out what Black Panther is and when I can go and see it at my local cinema.”
There are good points in the article. I use DuckDuckGo on my computer and phone. I have to say this, for real research there is nothing that tops Google. They know almost everything about almost everyone.

Oregon FBI Tech Tuesday: Securing Smart TVs
“Welcome to the Oregon FBI’s Tech Tuesday segment. Today: building a digital defense with your TV.
Yes, I said your TV. Specifically your smart TV…the one that is sitting in your living room right now. Or, the one that you plan to buy on super sale on Black Friday.”
Unplug it from the internet. My gripe is we went from waiting for the tubes to heat up, to instant on, to waiting for the TV to boot up.

For banks, data on your spending habits could be a gold mine
“For years, Google and Facebook have been showing ads based on your online behavior. Retailers from Amazon to Walgreens also regularly suction up your transaction history to steer future spending and hold your loyalty.
Now banks, too, want to turn data they already have on your spending habits into extra revenue by identifying likely customers for retailers. Banks are increasingly aware that they could be sitting on a gold mine of information that can be used to predict — or sway — where you spend. Historically, such data has been used mostly for fraud protection…Unlike Google or Facebook, which try to infer what you’re interested in buying based on your searches, web visits or likes, “banks have the secret weapon in that they actually know what we spend money on”…“Consumers aren’t aware of the subtle nudges apps are giving them to buy, buy, buy,” Mierzwinski said. “They are basically digging deep into your psyche and figuring out how to manipulate you.”

American jobs are getting worse, new economic index shows
“In 1990, the jobs were pretty much evenly divided” said Daniel Alpert, a founder of Westwood Capital and one of the creators of the index. In the process of running the numbers, he said, “We discovered that 63% of all jobs that were created since 1990 were low-wage, low-hour jobs. That was a pretty stunning statistic.”