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Tiantong Satellite
News

Get to Know China’s Tiantong Satellite: You Can Make Calls Without a Cell Signal

Morrissey Technology – An earthquake with a magnitude of 8 that occurred in Sichuan, China, inspired the Chinese government to create the Tiantong Project. This project is a communications satellite system that can overcome telecommunications problems in areas experiencing disasters. The reason is, when the earthquake occurred in Sichuan, communication networks in many cities in China were also affected.

For this reason, the Chinese government has started implementing the Tiantong project, which aims to provide communication access without the need to rely on cellular signals. Tiantong means “connected with heaven”, which refers to the story of the Tower of Babel in the Bible.

The project, which was initiated in 2008, has actually been launching its satellites since August 2016, where they launched the Tiantong-1 satellite, and this was followed by the launch of the 2nd and 3rd satellites in 2020 and 2021.

The three satellites form a network in geosynchronous orbit at an altitude of 36 thousand km, covering the entire Asia Pacific, from the Middle East to the Pacific Ocean. However, only at the end of last September was a cellphone that supported connectivity with this satellite, which was released by Huawei. Then Huawei’s steps were followed by other Chinese cellphone FOR4D brands such as Xiaomi, Honor and Oppo, which offered direct connections to the Tiantong satellite.

These products are in demand by consumers in China, Huawei cellphone sales are estimated to have reached 10 thousand units. Much higher than Starlink internet service subscribers, which only reached 2 million subscribers.

Using this satellite is not free, but the subscription fee is relatively cheap. That is 10 yuan or around IDR 22 thousand per month. Users can make calls to any number even if their cellphone is not connected to a cellular signal.

“Direct connectivity to satellites for mobile phones is becoming a new development trend, and satellite communications will gradually become popular with the general public,” wrote a team of satellite researchers from the China Academy of Space Technology, in a paper published in Aerospace Science and Technology.

However, please note that cellphone communication with this satellite was previously considered impossible, especially with the large number of active cellphones on Earth. The reason is that to be caught on a small cellphone antenna, the satellite needs to “shoot” a very strong signal.

When there are many signals with strong waves on the earth at the same time, each signal will interfere with each other and disrupt the communication path, which is known as passive intermodulation (PIM).

This problem was then able to be solved by the research team from the Tiantong project using various technologies. One of them is the most sensitive PIM FOR4D detection technology, which can determine the location where PIM occurs.

This allows the satellite to obtain very high signal capture sensitivity, and can capture signals from cellphones without an external antenna.

Apple Spyware
News

Apple Distributes Warning: Beware of Paid Spyware Attacks

Morrissey Technology – Apple is warning its users in India and 91 other countries about a dangerous spyware mercenary attack. Users in India and 91 countries targeted by the spyware attack were warned via email by Apple. In the email, Apple explained that the perpetrator was trying to hack into the iPhone remotely. Spyware attacks of this kind, according to Apple’s explanation in the email, are rare and much more sophisticated than common cyber attacks, such as malware.

Apple is known to have sent this kind of warning to iPhone users since 2021. Since then, Apple has sent warnings to iPhone users in more than 150 countries. Initially, Apple sent this kind of warning to warn users who were victims of the Pegasus spyware made by the NSO Group at the end of 2021. Apart from sending warnings to users, iPhone also sued NSO because of this action.

iPhone users who fall victim to Pegasus by exploiting the ForcedEntry loophole will be notified by Apple. Apple itself has actually patched the zero click exploit, but according to Apple there are still a small number of users whose devices have already been compromised by Pegasus.

This exploit problem made Apple file a lawsuit against the NSO Group, because they were thought to be breaking into iPhones using Pegasus. Regarding spyware, Apple and India, Apple previously accused the Indian government of attempting to hack devices used by a number of journalists from India and opposition party politicians in that country.

As a result of these accusations, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately summoned Apple representatives. They were asked to reduce the political impact of warnings sent by Apple. The Indian government also summoned Apple security experts from outside India to meet Indian government representatives in New Delhi FOR4D. Apple was asked to provide an alternative explanation for the warning to its users.

“They (the Indian government) are really angry,” said an unnamed source.

There were more than 20 people who received warnings from Apple at the end of last October, and all of them were people who often criticize Modi and Gautam Adani, the infrastructure and energy industry tycoon in India.

Google
Uncategorized

Google Makes New Version of JPEG: More Economical

Morrissey Technology – Google’s attempt to create a new photo format via Webp didn’t seem to be very successful, and finally they decided to create a better JPEG format. As is known, Webp is an image format created by Google which is actually intended to replace JPEG, PNG and GIF. This format was first introduced in September 2010, and the first stable version was only released in April 2018.

However, until now the Webp format still seems to be getting “resistance” from users. As a result, Google chose to modify and make JPEG better, namely using jpegli. Jpegli is a coding library made by Google that contains an encoder and decoder. Both of these can follow the “rules” of the original JPEG standard and most 8-bit formalisms. In other words, all photos encoded using jpegli should be compatible with every existing decoder, such as those in browsers or image viewers on user devices.

Google promises jpegli can compress images 35% more than traditional JPEG codecs but still maintain visual quality. From here alone, the advantages of jpegli are very profitable for online use, because it can save bandwidth.

They also claim jpegli makes photos “clearer and displays fewer artifacts.” It can also encode images in 10+ bits, more than the 8 bits in traditional JPEG.

And, most importantly, jpegli also doesn’t require more computing or processing than traditional JPEG, so FOR4D it shouldn’t — it won’t slow down the photo processing process. Currently, the full version of jpegli source code has been posted by Google on GitHub, so anyone who is interested can try it out for themselves.

Qualcomm
News

Qualcomm Tests New ARM Processor for Windows: Snapdragon X Plus

Morrissey Technology – After launching a new ARM processor for Windows-based computers called the X Elite, Qualcomm has now released its new ARM processor. The name of this ARM chip for Windows is Snapdragon The naming of the X Plus is in accordance with the SKU number for the chip, namely X1P, while the X Elite has the SKU S1E.

Qualcomm has been testing the X1P44100 and X1P46100 since at least last February. Both chips are integrated with the X65 5G model, but their architecture is unknown. However, it is estimated that the core of the X Plus will be based on the X Elite, but with lower speed. There are also those who speculate that the X Plus only has 10 cores, compared to the 12 cores on the X Elite.

Previously, Qualcomm also touted the gaming capabilities of the platform that would become Apple Silicon. Qualcomm promises that the X Elite platform can run the majority of games on Windows without the need for a porting process from the developer.

This promise was made by Qualcomm in a session at the Game Developers Conference 2024 entitled ‘Windows on Snapdragon, a Platform Ready for your PC Games’. In this session, Qualcomm engineer Issam Khalil admitted that he had tried out a number of Windows games on the yet-to-be-announced laptop using an x86/64 emulator, and according to him the games operated at almost full speed.

For information, Qualcomm said that the Snapdragon

This kind of emulator is what made the x86 to Arm transition on macOS in 2020 relatively smooth. Namely how Rosetta 2 can ‘translate’ x86 applications to Arm smoothly without experiencing a significant decrease in performance.

Yes, actually Windows has also supported x64 emulation for a long time, but it seems that Qualcomm is not too sure about this feature. Qualcomm provides three options for application developers who want their applications to run on Windows on Snapdragon.

Developers can port their applications to ARM64 natively to get the best CPU FOR4D performance and power consumption, especially since Qualcomm’s scheduler can dynamically lower the CPU frequency to save power.

Developers can create hybrid ARM64EC applications, where various Windows libraries and Qualcomm drivers can operate natively, but the application runs in emulated form. According to Khalil, the performance in this option is close to native performance. Developers can also do nothing, and their games will still be playable using x64 emulators.

Social Media Accounts
News

How to Delete a TikTok Account, via Smartphone or Laptop

Morrissey Technology – Deleting social media accounts has become a common thing for the majority of people. Usually users delete social media accounts for productivity reasons or because they want to take a break from the world of social media. Currently, deleting social media can be done easily, including deleting your TikTok account.

How to Delete a TikTok Account

This stage of deleting a TikTok account can be done on a cellphone, laptop/PC, or other gadget that allows an internet connection. Quoted from the TikTok support page, the steps for deleting an account consist of :

  • Open the TikTok application
  • Click “Profile” as usual
  • Yes, it’s at the bottom right
  • Select the three-line “Menu”, then click settings and privacy
  • Next, select the account then click “Deactivate account”
  • Next, the page “Reasons for leaving TikTok” will appear. After selecting one of the factors, detikers can click “Continue”
  • Then, check the data download confirmation statement while using TikTok then click “Continue”
  • Click the “Delete account” button then “Delete.”
  • After all stages are completed, the detikers TikTok account will be permanently deleted.

How to Temporarily Deactivate a TikTok Account

If you only want to delete your account temporarily, you can choose the deactivate account option or deactivate the account via cellphone. Reporting from the official page of the TikTok platform, here are the procedures:

  • Open the TikTok application on your cellphone
  • Click “Profile” in the bottom right corner of the screen
  • Click the three line menu in the top right corner of the profile page
  • Select the “Settings and Privacy” option
  • Click “Account” then tap the “Deactivate or Delete Account” option
  • Select “Deactivate Account” then click “Deactivate”
  • Enter the password and click “Deactivate Account.”

How to Reactivate a TikTok Account

A TikTok account FOR4D can be activated again as long as it has been no more than 30 days since it was deactivated. Of course, this method cannot be applied to accounts that have been deleted. Here are the steps:

  • Open the TikTok application and click the “Profile” menu
  • Select the “Account” option at the top center of the screen
  • Click “Add Account” and follow the instructions listed to log in to the account you want to activate
  • After logging in, you can activate your account by clicking “Reactivate”
  • Wait a few moments and voila! Your TikTok account is active again.
  • So, those are several ways to permanently delete and temporarily deactivate a TikTok account.
Google
News

Will Google’s Search Services Be Paid?

Morrissey Technology – Google plans to introduce an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered search engine feature, dubbed Search Generative Experience (SGE). Google may also charge a fee to allow access to AI-powered search. Google is adding AI chatbots to Search to create Snapshots, brief explanations of search queries, along with helpful links that may offer more information.

At its launch, the tech company said it plans to allow ads on Snapshots to generate revenue. However, based on this report, it seems that Google is now taking a different path. The information comes from a Financial Times report, which cited unnamed sources. It said Google may charge a fee to allow access to AI-powered Search. That’s because the company recently expanded its SGE testing to include users in the US who didn’t even sign up for the feature.

This change may not happen immediately. However, when the tech giant finally releases the service to the public, users may have to pay for it. The report did not say whether a specific revenue system has been decided for the service. However, speculation suggests the system could be bundled with the recently introduced Gemini Advanced subscription for the most advanced version of its Gemini AI.

On the other hand, it can also be offered as a standalone service. This is considering that Google has never charged users anything to use its core Search product. This may also impact website publishers who rely on traffic coming from Google Search rankings for revenue. SGE FOR4D can also have a negative impact on them. The report highlights structured premium tiers are being planned as a solution to avoid losing advertiser revenue, making publishers happy. However, at the same time it creates new revenue opportunities through its AI integration.

The Israeli military uses artificial intelligence
News

Israel Uses AI to Determine Bombing Targets in Gaza

Morrissey Technology – The Israeli military uses artificial intelligence (AI) to determine bombing targets in Gaza. They used a system called Lavender which was developed after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 2023. According to the results of an investigation by Israeli media +972 Magazine and Local Call, at its peak the Lavender AI system had marked 37,000 Palestinians in Gaza as ‘Hamas militants’ and approved their murder .

To train the Lavender system, the Israeli military entered information regarding Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members into the dataset. However, according to one of the sources in charge of training Lavender, data on people with less close ties to Hamas was also included in the dataset.

“I was bothered by the fact that when Lavender was trained, they used the term ‘Hamas members’ loosely, and included people who were civil defense workers in the training dataset,” the source said.

Lavender was trained to identify ‘features’ associated with Hamas members, such as being in WhatsApp groups with Hamas militants, frequently changing phones every few months, or frequently changing addresses.

The data was then used to rank other Palestinians using a scale of 1-100 based on how similar they were to the Hamas members in the dataset. Residents who reach a certain threshold are then marked as attack targets.

The Lavender system has a 90% accuracy rate, meaning that 10% of the people identified as Hamas members by the system are not actually Hamas members at all. Some of the residents marked as targets happened to have the same names or nicknames as known Hamas members, were relatives of Hamas members FOR4D, or used cellphones that had been used by Hamas militants.

The Israeli military denies there is a list of targets for the bombing. Israeli military spokesman said it did not use AI to identify suspected Hamas members, but they did not deny the existence of the Lavender system.

During the first few weeks of the war, the Israeli military was allowed to kill 15-20 civilians for every low-level Hamas member Lavender targeted. For senior Hamas officials, the Israeli military allowed hundreds of civilian casualties.

Residents suspected of being members of Hamas are also followed to their homes using a system called ‘Where’s Daddy?’. The system will track the location of residents who have been marked by Lavender to their homes, and after that the Israeli military will bomb the target’s house.

Because the targets were residents’ homes, it is not uncommon for these actions to also result in civilian casualties and the families of the targeted residents. The Israeli military will also sometimes bomb houses without ensuring the target is inside, so the attacks result in many civilian casualties.

“I often attack a house, but the people are not even home. The result is that you kill a family for no reason,” said the source.

Meta Ray Ban Smart Glasses
News

Meta Ray Ban Smart Glasses Will Soon Be Equipped with New AI Features

Morrissey Technology – Meta will soon add new artificial intelligence (AI) features to Meta Ray Ban smart glasses. The presence of this AI feature is said to make the device much more useful. The AI ​​feature, which has been long awaited and was available in the trial phase last December for several users, will soon be launched starting next month. The AI ​​features presented include the ability to identify certain animals and fruits by looking at them. Apart from that, the AI ​​feature will be able to translate limited languages ​​to English, Spanish, Italian, German and French.

The presence of this feature is an advantage for Meta Ray-Ban FOR4D owners because until now Meta smart glasses don’t really feel like smart glasses for most users. This is because its function is simple. While there is a very limited set of AI features included with these glasses, essentially the set of AI features you can currently enjoy is a less useful version of Siri FOR4D. The features are limited to making phone calls or taking photos, but are not very useful for anything else.

Google Incognito Mode
News

Google Still Collects User Data in Incognito Mode

Morrissey Technology – Google agreed to delete billions of web browsing data collected when users were in incognito mode. However, it is claimed that this data is not used for any personalization. Deleting this data is a form of settlement carried out by Google regarding the lawsuit filed.

The lawsuit, worth US$5 billion (around Rp. 79.6 trillion), contains a calculation of the value of data that Google has stored and been forced to destroy, as well as data that has been prevented from being collected. Google must handle data collected in private browsing mode (Incognito) from December 2023 and earlier. Any data that is not immediately deleted must be de-identified.

In the proposed settlement of this lawsuit, the plaintiff stated that Google’s deletion of data was to ensure Google’s accountability and transparency as the largest data collector in the world.

“This settlement ensures real accountability and transparency from the world’s largest data collector and marks an important step toward improving and enforcing our privacy rights on the Internet,” the plaintiffs wrote in their proposed settlement filing.

Additionally, the proposed settlement in Brown v. It also requires Google to disclose more information about how information is collected in Google Incognito Mode and limit future data collection. If approved by a California federal judge, the settlement could apply to Google’s 136 million users.

Previously, a similar lawsuit was filed by Google account holders in 2020. In their lawsuit claim, the account holders accused the Google company of illegally tracking user behavior through the private browsing feature (Incognito).

Google’s response

Google spokesperson José Castañeda said the company would be happy to settle the lawsuit.

“We are happy to delete old technical data that has never been associated with an individual and has never been used for personalization of any kind,” he said in a statement.

Regarding the plaintiff’s proposed settlement of US$ 5 billion as a form of compensation, his party refused. He said that Google’s settlement of the case did not include compensation in the lawsuit.

However, Google still accepts filing individual claims for compensation in California state court for users who feel they have been harmed in Incognito mode. Currently, there have been 50 individual lawsuits submitted.

In addition to the settlement by deleting data, Google also agreed that in the next five years it will let users block cookies from third parties by default in Incognito mode. The goal, he said, is to prevent Google from tracking users on external websites while they are privately browsing.

Every browser has incognito mode, even though it comes with different names. Chrome calls it Incognito, while Firefox and Safari FOR4D call it Private Browsing, and Microsoft Edge calls it InPrivate.

Basically, all of these features do the same thing, namely ‘forget’ all activity when the browser is used. This means that the user’s browsing history is not saved, and nothing you do is logged.

Browsers simply do not record history and cookies, while users’ online activities can still be recorded by the sites they visit. In other words, Incognito mode provides privacy to the user’s device, but not to online activities.

VPN Malware
News

Watch Out For 28 VPNs and This Application is Listed as a Google Warning Indicating Malware

Morrissey Technology – The use of VPNs has surged in recent years along with the growing need to browse the web more safely and avoid geo-fenced content.

Millions of people have installed VPNs on their Android phones, but it’s a good idea to pay attention to these warnings before downloading a new VPB on your device.

The HUMAN team of cybersecurity experts at Satori threat intelligence has issued a warning after discovering some VPN malware and bad software.

Once installed, they can use a new threat, called PROXYLIB, to carry out ad fraud as well as phishing for personal data and password spraying. This is a brute force attack that attempts to break into accounts using passwords found in previous data breaches.

Even more concerning, all the apps found to contain the malware were available through the Google Play Store, meaning millions of people may have been able to access them.

All of them have been banned by Google but this serves as a reminder to be careful before installing new software.

“The Satori Threat Intelligence HUMAN team recently identified a group of VPN apps available on the Google Play Store that turn users’ devices into proxy nodes without their knowledge,” the team explained in a blog post.

“The 28 apps containing the PROXYLIB SDK identified in this report have been removed from the Play Store and HUMAN continues to work to stop the threat posed by PROXYLIB.”

It has been confirmed that the Google Play Protect service will help stop PROXYLIB FOR4D attacks in the future, so it’s best to make sure this function is enabled.

Unfortunately, the Satori Threat Intelligence team says more attacks are possible and Android users should remain vigilant when installing a new VPN.

“We hope that threat actors will continue to develop their TTPs to continue selling access to residential proxy networks generated by applications containing PROXYLIB,” Satori added as reported by the Mirror.

“HUMAN recommends that users download mobile applications exclusively from official marketplaces, such as the Google Play Store or iOS App Store. Furthermore, users should avoid clones or “mods” of popular applications that may allow malware or unwanted functions such as the PROXYLIB residential proxy registration of the nodes discussed in this report to masquerade as harmless software.”

You can find a complete list of apps expected to be impacted by Google’s ban. It is currently unclear whether developers knew their apps were infected with the threat or whether they were added later by cybercriminals.

The following is a list of applications affected by Google’s ban :

• Lite VPN

• Anims Keyboard

• Blaze Stride

• Byte Blade VPN

• Android 12 Launcher

• Android 13 Launcher

• Android 14 Launcher

• CaptainDroid Feeds

• Free Old Classic Movies

• Phone Comparison

• Fast Fly VPN

• Fast Fox VPN

• Fast Line VPN

• Funny Char Ging Animation

• Limo Edges

• Oko VPN

• Phone App Launcher

• Quick Flow VPN

• Sample VPN

• Secure Thunder

• Shine Secure

• Speed Surf

• Swift Shield VPN

• Turbo Track VPN

• Turbo Tunnel VPN

• Yellow Flash VPN