linkman

AppleInsider said:

In Austin, Texas for instance, drivers along Interstate 35 have occasionally been pelted by rocks dropped from bridges.

Correction to this. That rock thrower was caught. It was initially thought that rocks were being thrown from bridges or an access road that ran parallel to a low-lying section of I-35, but it turned out it was the work of one man that would throw rocks from his vehicle to the other side running in the opposite direction. He is serving a 40 year sentence.

AppleInsider said:

Earlier supply chain rumors about the iPhone X speculated that orders would be trimmed because of its high price, with one report suggesting orders would drop from 50 million units to 30 million.

We read of predictions like this every quarter.

And every quarter we find they were wrong.

AppleInsider said:

A report from Bloomberg on Tuesday, and a forthcoming report from China Labor Watch both allege that goggles and earplugs for workers are not always available to workers. The sites have frequent spray of tiny metallic particles, and noise in excess of 80 decibels on the factory floor, according to the workers.

The noise level report here is problematic. Did these workers interviewed by CLW have their own noise level measuring equipment? Do they have calibrated ears? Typically sound level measurements in a workplace require workers to be equipped with sound level loggers and be worn for an entire shift for valid results. Source: I was involved with a hired industrial audiologist that ran a study where I work to determine noise levels and OSHA compliance. 80 dBA is typically far below any threshold for needing hearing protection even for extended periods of time.

https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=9735

bobjohnson said:

linkman said:

The flaw is that we can't be certain that Microsoft/Skype/Signal hasn't placed a backdoor in the app where the keys for every conversation get sent to a third party because of some secret law/order.

The signal protocol is designed to mitigate this with renewable session keys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Ratchet_Algorithm

You'd have to intercept literally everything - after obtaining the keys - to access the contents of one message. We're talking targeted NSA-level surveillance here, and for people considering that a component of their threat model I don't think Skype is on the table anyway.

A feature built into the app to send keys and the messages to the surveillance group would have them monitoring the communications with no problem. It would be no different than each end of the pair receiving the messages.

Now if I could just find a reasonably priced adapter so I can plug the earbuds that come with an iPhone 7 into a Mac. I don't know of any unreasonably priced one either. Or a Frankensteinian contraption to do it either...