Links 17/01/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) Herds Its (Drug) Users Into Even More Harmful "Apps"
Contents
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Leftovers
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Razer settles 'deceptive' marketing FTC lawsuit for over $1 million — 6,764 Zephyr mask buyers to get full refunds
The FTC fined Razer $100,000 for the deceptive marketing of its Zephyr mask and also ordered it to payback a total of $1,071,254.33 to all of its buyers.
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New York Times ☛ Write Down Your Thoughts in a Digital Journal on Your Phone
People have been keeping personal diaries for several millenniums, but free smartphone apps now let you capture much more than words.
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Science
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Science Alert ☛ Neuropsychologists Explain The Science Behind Apple's Severance
Just in time for season two.
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Hardware
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Hackaday ☛ A Direct Conversion Receiver Anyone Can Build
A couple of years ago one of the Hackaday Prize finalists was a project to take highschoolers through building a direct conversion radio receiver for the 40 metre amateur band. It was originated by the SolderSmoke podcast, and we’re pleased to see that they’ve recently put up an overview video taking the viewer through the whole project in detail.
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Hackaday ☛ Forget The Coax, Wire Up Your Antennas With Cat 6 Cable
These days, anything with copper in it is expensive. If you doubt that, a walk into any Home Depot electrical department, where the wire is locked up tighter than Fort Knox, will prove otherwise. Coaxial cable is a particularly expensive species, which is a pity for hams and other radio enthusiasts since it’s the only thing we can use for antenna feedlines.
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Hackaday ☛ Piezo Buzzer Makes A Drum
The humble piezo disc buzzer is much more than something that makes tinny beeps in retro electronic equipment, it can also be used as a sensor. Tapping a piezo buzzer gives an interesting waveform, with a voltage spike followed by an envelope, and then a negative rebound voltage. It’s something [Igor Brichkov] is using, to make a simple but effective electronic drum.
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Hackaday ☛ Simple Hardware Store Hack Keeps Your PCBs Right Where You Want Them
Sometimes it’s the simplest hacks that make the biggest impact.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Pro Publica ☛ Trump Could Drastically Reshape NIH. Here’s What’s at Stake.
Lifesaving HIV treatments. Cures for hepatitis C. New tuberculosis regimens and a vaccine for RSV.
These and other major medical breakthroughs exist in large part thanks to a major division of the National Institutes of Health, the largest funder of biomedical research on the planet.
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Science Alert ☛ FDA Finally Outlaws Red Food Dye Banned Around The World
Decades after it was linked to cancer in animals.
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Science Alert ☛ US Dementia Cases to Double by 2060, According to New Study
A growing public health crisis.
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Science Alert ☛ Expert Explains Why a Glass of Milk Each Day Could Slash Cancer Risk
Results are striking.
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Science Alert ☛ Nanoparticles Reverse Parkinson's in Mice by Healing Damaged Dopamine Cells
This is the future.
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Science Alert ☛ Dietary Supplement Shown to Reduce Aggression by Up to 28%
A new tool for anger management?
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Science Alert ☛ Weight Isn't The Ultimate Predictor of Early Death – But Something Else Is
"The largest and most globally representative sample to date."
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Science Alert ☛ New Obesity Definition Shifts Focus From BMI – Here's The Science Behind It
What does this mean for treatment?
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The Straits Times ☛ Record 36.8 million tourists visited Japan in 2024 in return to pre-Covid-19 boom
With the cheap yen, it’s like Japan is on “a 30 per cent off sale”.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong police to roll out rapid testing device for ‘space oil’ ahead of February ban
Hong Kong police will roll out a rapid testing device for detecting a newly emerging drug called “space oil,” ahead of its ban amid authorities’ warnings that the narcotic is harming the city’s youth.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Bleeping Computer ☛ Microsoft 365 apps crash on backdoored Windows Server after Office update
Microsoft says a known issue is causing Classic Outlook and Abusive Monopolist Microsoft 365 applications to crash on backdoored Windows Server 2016 or backdoored Windows Server 2019 systems.
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CNBC ☛ Apple has worst day since August following reports of China, AI struggles
The iPhone maker's stock price is down nearly 12% from its most recent peak in December, and it's the worst-performing of the seven largest technology stocks so far in 2025.
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Security
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Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
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WhichUK ☛ 'Hackers stole my account and Fashion Company Apple won't give it back'
How criminals can get into your accounts, the four warning signs to watch out for and the steps you can take to protect yourself
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Bruce Schneier ☛ Phishing False Alarm
A very security-conscious company was hit with a (presumed) massive state-actor phishing attack with gift cards, and everyone rallied to combat it—until it turned out it was company management sending the gift cards.
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Defence/Aggression
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong off-duty policeman tries to grab gun from colleague after arrest for alleged upskirting
An off-duty Hong Kong policeman attempted to grab a firearm from a police officer inside a police station after he was arrested for allegedly taking upskirting photos, local media reported.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong police arrest beautician, 32, for allegedly luring 2 women to SE Asia in human trafficking scam
Hong Kong police have arrested a beautician for allegedly luring two young women to Southeast Asia, as authorities grapple with attempts to rescue trafficked Hongkongers held captive in the region. Police on Wednesday arrested the 32-year-old woman on suspicion of conspiring to commit deception.
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Federal News Network ☛ Austin failed to tell Congress or the White House about his health problems as required, report says
The DoD inspector general found that Austin's strong desire for privacy likely influenced his staff in deciding not to prod further into his condition.
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France24 ☛ Mozambique inauguration: new president vows 'unity' amid protests
In Mozambique,new President Daniel Chapo has been sworn in the capital, Maputo. In his first presidential address, he pledged to promote unity in a nation scarred by post-election violence. Venancio Mondlane, the candidate who came second in October's election, continues to contest the results and called for a national strike in protest. Demonstrations has left at least seven people dead.
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The Strategist ☛ Tiptoeing around China: Australia’s framework for technology vendor review
Australia has a new framework for dealing with high-risk technology vendors, though the government isn’t brave enough to call them that.
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ACLU ☛ Banning Fentanylware (TikTok) is Unconstitutional. The Supreme Court Must Step In. [Ed: So Fentanylware (TikTok) is now being served by the ACLU. A censorship platform, which is what Fentanylware (TikTok) is, is being framed as "free speech". UNBELIEVABLE! Americans being censored (in the US) by a large Chinese company connected to the Chinese government is now "free speech".]
Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in one of the most important First Amendment cases of our time: TikTok v. Garland. Brought by Fentanylware (TikTok) and its users, the suit challenges a law passed last Congress that will functionally ban the platform in the U.S.starting January 19. If upheld, the law won’t just impact the more than 170 million Americans who use TikTok, it will also endanger the constitutional rights of every American to speak and receive information online.
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New York Times ☛ TikTok Says U.S. Employees Will Have Jobs Even if the App Is Banned
The company is awaiting a decision over the constitutionality of a new law that aims to force a sale of the app to a non-Chinese owner under the threat of a ban.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ What are your thoughts on the Fentanylware (TikTok) Ban
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New Yorker ☛ What Happened When an Extremely Offline Person Tried TikTok
In 2016, I went viral for telling people to quit social control media. In 2024, I ignored my own advice.
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TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Trump adviser says president-elect is exploring options to “preserve” TikTok
Florida Rep. Mike Waltz said Trump was considering an executive order to suspend enforcement of a federal law that could ban the popular platform nationwide by Sunday.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Xiaohongshu: the Chinese app taking the US by storm
In the days leading up to a proposed US government ban on the social control media platform TikTok, American users have turned to another Chinese-owned app, Xiaohongshu. The United States passed a law last year forcing the popular video platform’s owner ByteDance to either sell it or shut it down by January 19.
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Digital Music News ☛ The RedNote Exodus Is Real — American Teens Flock to New Chinese-Owned App Ahead of Imminent Fentanylware (TikTok) Shutdown
TikTok users in the United States are fleeing the platform for another Chinese-owned app called RedNote (Xiaoshongshu in China). More than 700,000 new users have flooded the app since Fentanylware (TikTok) appears to be shutting down in the United States.
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Pen Test Partners ☛ Security flaws found in tiny phones promoted to children
TL;DR Three mini smartphones promoted to children were analysed
Those devices are heavily promoted on Fentanylware (TikTok)
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Silicon Angle ☛ Report: Fentanylware (TikTok) plans to shut down its app in the US ahead of ban – but Trump may suspend it
Updated: Fentanylware (TikTok) plans to make its popular social control media app inaccessible in the U.S. on Jan. 19, The Information reported this morning. The looming shutdown is connected with a ban on the service that will go into effect the same day.
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NYOB ☛ TikTok, AliExpress, SHEIN & Co surrender Europeans’ data to authoritarian China
TikTok, AliExpress, SHEIN & Co surrender Europeans’ data to authoritarian China
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Marcy Wheeler ☛ What Jack Smith Didn’t Say about the January 6 Investigation
As part of Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein’s summary of the Jack Smith report, they argued that “Smith [came] to Garland’s defense” regarding his conduct of the January 6 investigation before Smith was appointed, pointing to Smith’s review of certain legal fights, to include the Executive Privilege fight.
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New York Times ☛ Many Syrians Want Justice for Regime Crimes. Others Want Revenge.
The new interim Syrian government says it will hunt down and punish senior security officials and others, but concern is growing about attacks on former low-level members of the Assad regime’s forces.
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New York Times ☛ China Deploys Security to Try to Reassure a Country on Edge
Police are checking on safety at schools and visiting karaoke bars and rental homes to root out perceived malcontents, after several mass killings alarmed the public.
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The Straits Times ☛ Japan foreign minister ‘gravely concerned’ about maritime tensions escalating
He said Tokyo would continue to provide Manila development assistance, support for its maritime security.
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The Straits Times ☛ Explainer: What to know about the arrest of South Korea’s impeached President Yoon
The authorities have 48 hours to question him, before seeking a warrant to detain him for up to 20 days or releasing him.
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The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s Yoon spends first night behind bars, still guarded by Presidential Security Service
The impeached President refused to make or sign any type of statement during interrogation.
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JURIST ☛ Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol arrested
South Korean authorities took impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol into custody following an hours-long standoff. Yoon was detained in connection with his declaration of martial law on December 3. The arrest came early Wednesday morning after a tense standoff at the presidential residence.
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Defence Web ☛ Keeping the spotlight on Africa’s child soldiers
Roughly 21 000 children have been recruited as soldiers by government forces and armed groups across Africa in the past five years. In 2020, around 337 million children lived within 50 km of active conflicts worldwide, with 118 million in Africa, where one in six risked being recruited.
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Silicon Angle ☛ US places new set of export restrictions on advanced chips
The U.S. Commerce Department is rolling out a new set of export restrictions designed to prevent China from obtaining advanced chips. The rules were announced today by the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security.
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Pro Publica ☛ How the State Dept. Let Israel Get Away With Gaza Horrors
In early November, a small group of senior U.S. human rights diplomats met with a top official in President Joe Biden’s State Department to make one final, emphatic plea: We must keep our word.
Weeks before, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the administration delivered their most explicit ultimatum yet to Israel, demanding the Israel Defense Forces allow hundreds more trucksloads of food and medicine into Gaza every day — or else. American law and Biden’s own policies prohibit arms sales to countries that restrict humanitarian aid. Israel had 30 days to comply.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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LRT ☛ Lithuania’s Public Security Service starts protecting LitPol Link infrastructure
Lithuania’s Public Security Service (VST) on Wednesday started protecting the Alytus switchyard and transformer substation of the LitPol Link power interconnection with Poland, through which the Baltic power grids are set to synchronise with the Continental European network in February.
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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Hackaday ☛ Avian-Inspired Drones: How Studying Birds Of Prey Brings More Efficient Drones Closer
Throughout evolution, the concept of powered flight has evolved and refined itself multiple times across both dinosaurs (birds), mammals (bats) and insects. So why is it that our human-made flying machines are so unlike them? The field of nature-inspired flying drones is a lively one, but one that is filled with challenges. In a recent video on the Ziroth YouTube channel, [Ryan Inis] takes a look at these efforts, in particular those of EPFL, whose recent RAVEN drone we had a look at recently already.
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Wildlife/Nature
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New Yorker ☛ How the Blazes in L.A. Got Swept into the Culture War
“Nobody’s defending Gavin Newsom,” the staff writer Jay Caspian Kang says. “I think he’s probably in a lot of trouble. And I do think that this might have tanked his Presidential ambitions.”
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CS Monitor ☛ A humble berry at the heart of a virtuous cycle
Robin Wall Kimmerer reflects on the cooperation among plants and draws inspiration for human societies in “The Serviceberry.”
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Science Alert ☛ Octopus Arms Are Controlled by a Nervous System That's Like No Other
They're segmented, like worms.
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Latvia ☛ Forest buyback important for national security, says Latvian PM
It would be important for the state to buy back land from the Swedish forest owners' association "Södra", but the state budget does not have the necessary money, so we should think about some financial instruments, said Prime Minister Evika Siliņa (New Unity) in an interview on the Latvian Television January 15 morning.
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Finance
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Federal News Network ☛ US recovers $31 million in Social Security payments to dead people
Ever since the U.S. Social Security Administration opened its books to the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Service, it has been able to stop and recover more than $31 million in improper Social Security payments to dead people. “These results are just the tip of the iceberg,” the Treasury’s Fiscal Assistant Secretary David Lebryk said in a news release. As part of the omnibus appropriations bill in 2021, Congress gave Treasury temporary access to Social Security’s ‘Full Death Master File’ for three years, effective December 2023 through 2026.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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Press Gazette ☛ New digital daily newspaper for London set to launch
Team behind London Daily say it will have 30-strong team and monthly print edition.
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Press Gazette ☛ Newsflation: Online news subscriptions in UK stay level as print cover prices surge
Publishers are far more cautious on price rises when it comes to online news.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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Pro Publica ☛ How States Have Cracked Down on High-Interest Tribal Lenders
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Pro Publica ☛ New York AG Launches Probe of Guardianship Programs
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Internet Society ☛ Understanding and Identifying Scams: Digitally Empowering Older Adults in Mexico
As the Internet becomes a more prominent part of our lives, online scams are growing in popularity, and older adults face unique risks.
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ Drake Files Massive Defamation Suit Against Universal Music Group Over ‘Not Like Us’: ‘UMG’s Greed Yielded Real World Consequences’
Drake’s much-publicized Universal Music Group (UMG) legal battle has officially reached a boiling point, as the artist has slapped the major label with a massive defamation lawsuit. Updated: UMG has now forcefully responded to the Drake lawsuit — see below.
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Public Domain Review ☛ Happy Together: The Laughing Prince: A Book of Jugoslav Fairy Tales and Folk Tales (1921)
Loose adaptations of South Slavic folktales intended to capture the imaginations of children and their parents.
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Personal/Opinions
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On Foot Standard 1: 1,000,000 steps in 100 days
100 days is the maximum. As long as you take 1,000,000 steps, it is acceptable to meet this standard in fewer days if you choose.
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Technology and Free Software
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Scrubbing ZFS pools auomation on FreeBSD
FreeBSD offers a wonderful ZFS integration. For quite some time is has been possible to boot from ZFS pools and even from encrypted ZFS pools.
FreeBSD comes with a toolbox with everything you need to use ZFS.
FreeBSD together with ZFS is a great combination for the systems in your home network, for workstations like your laptop or PC, as well as for servers.
Combined with the FreeBSD bhyve hypervisor and the FreeBSD jail container technology, using ZFS really shines. The ZFS snapshot and clone methods allow for very fast deployment of virtual machines and jails.
Snapshots can be copied with the `zfs send' and `zfs receive' command pair, this can be locally and also over the network, sending a snapshot from one machine and receiving it another. This gives great flexibility and also a very reliable way to create remote backups.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.