You might want to think twice before plugging your iPhone into a friend’s laptop for a quick charge. 
Security researchers have discovered an all-new type of iOS hack called “trustjacking” that uses a little-known Wi-Fi feature to access a device’s data, even when the targeted device isn’t in the same location anymore.

The hack works this way: 

             1) An iPhone user plugs into the USB port on a friend’s computer.

             2) iOS asks if you want to trust the computer and mentions that it will have access to your data.

             3) You can then enable iTunes Wi-Fi Sync from the PC giving the devices the ability to communicate
​                 anytime they’re on the same network. Hence the name “trustjacking.”

iTunes Wi-Fi Sync is a useful feature when you’re at home and connected to a network you trust. But researchers at Symantec say, “everything is possible,” as far as attacks go if you trust the wrong computer.

The Discovery of Trustjacking. “We discovered this by mistake actually,” said Symantec’s Adi Sharabani in an interview with Wired.” Roy was doing research, and he connected his iPhone to his computer to access it. But accidentally he realized that he was not connected to his own phone. He was connected to one of his team members’ phones who had connected their mobile device to Roy’s desktop a few weeks before. So, Roy started to dig into what exactly he could do and find out if he were an attacker.”

Once your iPhone is synced to a hostile computer, the attacker could install malware on your phone or initiate a backup to pull all your photos, apps and text messages. Hackers could also use the flaw to watch your screen in real-time and take screenshots that sync back to their computer.

The good news is researchers haven’t found any instances of trustjacking attacks out in the wild yet. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist though. Apple tweaked the Wi-Fi Sync feature with iOS 11 so that it asks for the device’s passcode before trusting. Researchers say Apple needs to do more though to let users see what networks they’ve given trust to. 

If you’re worried that you may have given a malicious computer access to your iPhone you can scrub all your connections by going to Settings >> General >> Reset >> Reset Location & Privacy.

A new lidar sensor could equip thousands of driverless cars with the sensing abilities required to drive at high speeds on the open road.

Lidar has become the primary way most driverless cars sense the world around them, bouncing laser light off nearby objects to create 3-D maps of their surroundings.

For years, the industry leader in lidar has been Velodyne, which builds some of the most expensive, ultra-high-resolution sensors available. But the rapid growth of self-driving vehicle research prompted other firms to start making them too – among them, a startup called Luminar, which was set up by Stanford drop-out Austin Russell and came out of stealth last year.

Luminar’s technology is different to other lidar systems. It uses a longer wavelength of light to operate at higher powers, allowing it to see darker objects over longer distances. It’s also able to zoom in on areas of specific interest.

But its sensors, which use a mechanical mirror system and expensive indium gallium arsenide semiconductors, were difficult and pricey to produce. Early units cost at least tens of thousands of dollars and required an entire day of human labor to assemble.

Over the last year, Russell, who was one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 in 2017, says the firm has taken steps to change that. It acquired a chip design firm called Black Forest Engineering, hired consumer electronics experts, and set up its manufacturing complex in Orlando – all with the aim of building its sensor at commercial scale.

As a result, Russell says that the latest version of the sensor is approaching being auto-grade, meaning it should be ready for extreme temperatures, inclement weather, and other adverse conditions a production car might be exposed to (though it’s yet to be certified as such). The careful redesign of its laser detector chip, meanwhile, has cut its cost from tens of thousands of dollars to just $3, and automation means the sensors can now be built in eight minutes.

All of that means Luminar reckons it can offer a set of sensors for “a few thousand” dollars, Russell says. At the same time, it’s also boosted the specs, so the sensor can detect objects that are 250 meters off—enough for 7 seconds of reaction time at 75mph.

Ingmar Posner, an associate professor of information engineering at the University of Oxford and founder of the university’s autonomous-driving spinoff Oxbotica, says that the specifications and price point of the sensor “sound great.” But he also points out that the price will need to fall further if the sensors are to be used in affordable consumer vehicles.

That could yet happen. Russell points out that the sensor cost is related to the scale of production, and by the end of the year Luminar plans to be building 5,000 of its sensors every quarter. That’s a lot – more than the 10,000 sensors that competitor Velodyne planned to build last year – and would give it enough, Russell claims, to equip every autonomous test car on the roads by the end of this year.

The major hurdle to that kind of market dominance is convincing other research groups and automakers to switch from their existing sensors – something that would require rewriting control software and re-mapping entire cities so cars can navigate using the new sensors. Russell likens the situation to “ripping off a Band-Aid,” because it will need to happen at some point as carmakers switch to using auto-grade, rather than experimental, sensors.
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What remains to be seen for Luminar, though, is just how soon that Band-Aid gets pulled.

As humanity creates more and more digital information, we'll need better ways to store it. That's why newly-developed nanoparticle-based films may be so critical. They're over 80 times thinner than a human hair and could create materials that can holographically archive at least 1,000 times more data than a DVD in a 10-by-10-centimeter piece of film. 
“In the future, these new film
s could be incorporated into a tiny storage chip that records 3D color information that could later be viewed as a 3D hologram with realistic detail,” says Shencheng Fu, who led researchers from Northeast Normal University in Changchun, China in a press statement. “Because the storage medium is environmentally stable, the device could be used outside or even brought into the harsh radiation conditions of outer space.”

Not only can the films hold tremendous amounts of data, but they can also retrieve that data at the speeds of 1 gigabyte per second. Most current USB 3.0 drives, for example, max out at 100 megabytes per second.

Holographic data storage is the process of using lasers to create and read a 3D holographic recreation of data in a material. Lasers can record and read millions of bits at once, give them substantial speed advantages over magnetic storage systems typically seen today. It's not widespread yet, but companies ranging from Hitachi to Nintendo have experimented with it.

There have been potential problems with holographic data storage, however, including the fact that UV light has been shown to corrupt and erase data stored by previous experimental holographic methods. Testing showed that this film, a mere 620 nanometers thick, was able to record efficiently and with a degree of high stability around UV light. The next step is attempting to use the films outside. 
​
It will be some time before we see products using this technology sold in stores, given how the holographic memory would also need the development of high efficiency 3D image reconstruction techniques. One step at a time.

It's quickly becoming apparent that blockchain technology is about far more than just Bitcoin. Across finance, healthcare, media, and other sectors, innovative uses are appearing every day.

Here are some examples of blockchain in use today. While some may fail to live up to their promises, others could go on to become household names if blockchain proves itself to be as revolutionary as many are predicting.

Cybersecurity. Guardtime – This company is creating “keyless” signature systems using blockchain which is currently used to secure the health records of one million Estonian citizens.
REMME is a decentralized authentication system which aims to replace logins and passwords with SSL certificates stored on a blockchain.

Healthcare. Gem – This startup is working with the Center for Disease Control to put disease outbreak data onto a blockchain which it says will increase the effectiveness of disaster relief and response.

SimplyVital Health – Has two health-related blockchain products in development, ConnectingCare which tracks the progress of patients after they leave the hospital, and Health Nexus, which aims to provide decentralized blockchain patient records.

MedRec – An MIT project involving blockchain electronic medical records designed to manage authentication, confidentiality and data sharing.

Financial Services. ABRA – A cryptocurrency wallet which uses the Bitcoin blockchain to hold and track balances stored in different currencies.

Barclays – Barclays has launched several blockchain initiatives involving tracking financial transactions, compliance and combating fraud. It states that “Our belief ...is that blockchain is a fundamental part of the new operating system for the planet.”

Maersk – The shipping and transport consortium has unveiled plans for a blockchain solution for streamlining marine insurance.

Aeternity – Allows the creation of smart contracts which become active when network consensus agrees that conditions have been met – allowing for automated payments to be made when parties agree that conditions have been met.

Manufacturing and Industrial. Provenance – This project aims to provide a blockchain-based provenance record of transparency within supply chains.

Hijro, previously known as Fluent, aims to create a blockchain framework for collaborating on prototyping and proof-of-concept.

SKUChain – Another blockchain system for allowing tracking and tracing of goods as they pass through a supply chain.

Blockverify -  A blockchain platform which focuses on anti-counterfeit measures, with initial use cases in the diamond, pharmaceuticals and luxury goods markets.

Transactivgrid – A business-led community project based in Brooklyn allowing members to locally produce and cell energy, with the goal of reducing costs involved in energy distribution.

Charity. Bitgive – This service aims to provide greater transparency to charity donations and clearer links between giving and project outcomes. It is working with established charities including Save The Children, The Water Project and Medic Mobile.

Retail. OpenBazaar is an attempt to build a decentralized market where goods and services can be traded with no middle-man.

Blockpoint.io – Allows retailers to build payment systems around blockchain currencies such as Bitcoin, as well as blockchain derived gift cards and loyalty schemes.
​
Media. Ujomusic – Founded by singer-songwriter Imogen Heap to record and track royalties for musicians, as well as allowing them to create a record of ownership of their work.
It is exciting to see all these developments. Not all of these will make it into successful long-term ventures but if they indicate one thing, it’s that blockchain is presenting a vast potential to many industries.

If there's one downside to powerful computers, it's that they're too big.
Luckily, that's about to change. At least, if IBM has anything to say about it.

Earlier this month, IBM held its flagship conference, Think 2018, where the company unveiled what it claims is the world's smallest computer. They're not kidding: It's smaller than a grain of salt.

But don't let the size fool you: This little fella has the computing power of the x86 chip from 1990. Okay, so that's not great compared to what we have today but cut it some slack — you need a microscope to see it.

The computer will cost less than ten cents to manufacture, and will also pack "several hundred thousand transistors," according to the company. These will allow it to "monitor, analyze, communicate, and even act on data."

It even works with blockchain. Specifically, this computer will be a data source for blockchain applications. It's intended to help track the shipment of goods and detect theft, fraud, and non-compliance. It can also do basic AI tasks, such as sorting the data it's given.

According to IBM, this is only the beginning. "Within the next five years, cryptographic anchors — such as ink dots or tiny computers smaller than a grain of salt — will be embedded in everyday objects and devices," says IBM head of research Arvind Krishna. If he's correct, we'll see way more of these tiny systems in objects and devices in the years to come.
​
It's not clear yet when this thing will be released — IBM researchers are currently testing its first prototype. But one thing's for sure: The future is here. You just might need a microscope to see it.