Archive for March 27, 2018

Technology Industry’s Impact Felt in US Economic Growth, Workforce Gains

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 27, 2018 by itnerd

Tech employment in the United States expanded by nearly 200,000 jobs in 2017, to an estimated 11.5 million workers; and at $1.6 trillion, the tech sector is one of the largest components of the nation’s economy, according to Cyberstates™ 2018, the definitive annual analysis of the nation’s industry published today by CompTIA, the world’s leading technology industry association.

The economic might of the tech industry is felt in nearly every state. The industry is a top-five economic contributor in 22 states; and in the top 10 of 42 states.

The outlook for technology employment points to a continuation of the growth trend, which has seen tech jobs increase by about 200,000 each year since 2010. Projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate the base of tech occupations will increase by 626,000 jobs by 2026. When factoring in the need to replace retiring or career-change workers, the total potential tech workforce reaches  1.2 million through 2026.

Beyond the raw numbers of new jobs, many of these positions have salaries well above those in other industries. According to Cyberstates 2018, the average annual wage in the tech industry is $112,890; 107 percent higher than the average annual wage for all jobs ($54,420).

Among other key findings from Cyberstates 2018:

  • 38 states saw positive tech employment growth in 2017, slightly better than 2016, when 36 states experienced growth. The top five states for net job gains in 2017 were California (43,600), Texas (13,400), Michigan (13,200), Florida (12,000), and New York (10,400).
  • On a percentage change basis, the top five states for 2017 tech job growth were Utah (+ 3.6 percent), Michigan (+ 3.4 percent), North Carolina (+3.1 percent), Washington (+ 2.9), and Idaho (+ 2.8 percent).
  • At 10.6 percent, Massachusetts has the highest concentration of tech workers relative to its overall employment base. Following are Washington (9.9 percent), Virginia (9.9 percent), the District of Columbia (9.7 percent), and Colorado (9.7 percent).
  • Nationally, the composition of the tech sector workforce is 66 percent men and 34 percent women, unchanged from 2016. The District of Columbia (39.8 percent) has the highest concentration of women in its tech workforce, followed by South Dakota, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Missouri.
  • The number of tech business establishments across the country grew for the sixth consecutive year, and now totals nearly 503,000 businesses.

Cyberstates 2018 (#cyberstates) is based on CompTIA’s analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, EMSI, Burning Glass Technologies Labor Insights, and other sources. Estimates for 2017 are subject to change as government data is revised and updated. The complete Cyberstates 2018 report, with complete national, state and metropolitan level data, is available at http://cyberstates.org/

GoLookUp Provides Users With a Comprehensive Reverse Phone Search Service

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 27, 2018 by itnerd

Meeting new people is easier now more than ever, and many use dating apps, social media accounts and other online services to expand their social circle. The internet provides a great opportunity to meet people, but it can also hold threats in such encounters. Meeting people online and also in person can be a means for them to commit fraud or even hurt others for whatever reason it may be.

In order to prevent fraud, mental harm or even bodily harm, GoLookUp is providing users with an advanced Reverse Phone Lookup service that allows them to discover important information about others.

Providing Accurate Information Based on Phone Numbers

The only accurate information about people is found in public records held by different authorities across the United States. The public records include contact information, criminal records, mugshots, birth records, records about unclaimed money and much more, and people can access them after filing the proper forms.

In order to allow people to find accurate information about people, GoLookUp provides users with a reverse phone lookup for known and unknown numbers.

After users type in the phone number in question, the people search directory scans billions of public records and provides a detailed report about the person or even company behind the phone number. The report includes contact information, the origin of the phone number, the full name of the person calling, arrest records, sexual offences records and much more.

The people search directory essentially conducts a background check that lets users find out if the person who is calling them has a violent criminal past and whether they should avoid certain people.

Meeting people in the 21st century is easy, but there is no guarantee that they are telling the truth about themselves. In order to allow users to find accurate information about people or even companies whose number they have, GoLookUp has set up a reverse phone directory that scans public records and creates a report about them.

 

Mozilla Releases Firefox Addon That Isolates Facebook From The Rest Of Firefox

Posted in Commentary with tags , on March 27, 2018 by itnerd

Now this is something that a significant number of those who still use Facebook for whatever reason will use. A Firefox add-on that isolates the Facebook website and all its domains to a separate “container” has been released by Mozilla today. The add-on is named Facebook Container and it is meant to address Facebook’s more “sinister” data collection habits.

When you first use Facebook Container, it will zap any existing Facebook cookies and prompt you to log back into their Facebook. The add-on will then create a separate database that will keep all Facebook-related data, such as cookies, cache data, and more. If you go anywhere else other than Facebook, the normal Firefox database will be used. Thus Facebook has no clue what you’re doing.

This is a brilliant idea and hope that those behind Edge, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari as well as other browsers are paying attention as this make Mozilla look like heroes at a time when we could use a hero to protect the world from the evils of Facebook.

Apple Has Education Focused Event To Unveil New iPad And Other Education Focused Items

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 27, 2018 by itnerd

Apple held its first 2018 product launch event at Lane Tech College Prep School in Chicago. The location isn’t an accident as the event focused on education. Something that has traditionally been a focus for Apple in the past, but not so much in the last few years. Now there was no livestream of the event, though a video was promised after the event. But via some live blogging and tweeting, I was able to find out what Apple announced in almost real time:

  • A new 9.7-inch iPad with Touch ID was announced. And interestingly enough, it supports the Apple Pencil which is clearly aimed at the education market. Specs include 8-megapixel rear camera, FaceTime HD front camera, A10 Fusion chip, up to 10 hours of battery life, Touch ID, up to 300 Mbps LTE, GPS and Compass, Apple Pencil support, stereo speakers, accelerometer, and gyroscope. Oh yeah it weighs 1 pound. It’s priced at $329 USD for consumers, $299 USD for schools. So you get more power at the same price point as the previous iPad. The new 9.7-inch iPad is available today and ships later this week.
  • Apple is updating its iWork suite with new versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote that support Apple Pencil. For example, you can use Apple Pencil to add drawings to reports in Pages or Keynote. This update is coming “soon.” And it will be preloaded on iPads free of charge.
  • GarageBand for iOS also getting updated with new sound packs for students. And there will be a new version of Clips as well.
  • Pages will also integrate a facility to make digital books for classrooms. Previously, teachers required a Mac with iBooks Author to do this. Now, it’ll be built into the Pages app. Book authors can include photos, videos, graphics from Apple Pencil and more. Book authoring can be created collaboratively as a group project. Teachers can annotate sent in documents to mark work.
  • Apple will now offer students 200GB of iCloud storage for free, up from 5GB previously.
  • To assist teachers in terms of better leveraging Apple tech, Apple debuted its Classroom app for Mac which will be available in beta this June. Apple also introduces Schoolwork, a new, free cloud-based app designed for assigning handouts and tracking student progress. Schoolwork will also be available in June. Apps integrate with it via Apple’s new ClassKit framework. Oh yeah, Apple also announced ClassKit which is part of iOS 11.3.
  • Swift Playgrounds is getting a new augmented reality module. Likely to fit in with Apple’s larger push into AR via ARKit.
  • Apple is putting together a brand new curriculum called “Everyone Can Create.” Everyone Can Create will be focused on four areas: music, video, photography, and drawing. Everyone Can Create is available for preview starting today. More content will be added to the curriculum this summer.

Now this is what was announced. There’s likely going to be other stuff that “pops up” today. Watch this post for updates. Particularly after 1PM EST today which is when Apple likes to release software updates. I’ll also update this post when the video becomes available for you to see.

UPDATE: The opening video that was used in today’s event is now posted:

UPDATE #2: Apple’s online store was down as usual during today’s event. But it’s come back up now.

UPDATE #3: A new video for the new iPad and Apple Pencil support has been posted:

UPDATE #4: The update to Garageband for iOS that was mentioned in the event is now available. The new GarageBand seems to have ARKit support if you have an iPhone X along with new sounds and effects.

UPDATE #5: Another new video has been posted. This time it’s about how Apple envisions homework.

UPDATE #6: It appears that Clips for iOS has been updated too with new fonts, colors, layouts, animated labels and stickers etc.

UPDATE #7: It seems that Apple will release updates to iWork on both macOS and iOS today based on this press release.

UPDATE #8: Updates to iWork on both macOS and iOS are now available.

UPDATE #9: The full video has now been posted on Apple’s website.

Downloading Your Facebook Archive May Make You #DeleteFacebook Once And For All

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 27, 2018 by itnerd

I’ve said many times over the years that when you use Facebook, you are the product. If you want an illustration of how much info Facebook gathers on you to make you the product, I would suggest downloading your Facebook archive. That will show you how much Facebook knows about you from the moment that you started using Facebook. And that might be enough to make you #DeleteFacebook due to how invasive their data collection practices truly are.

Here’s how you download your Facebook archive:

  • Go to Facebook.com/settings
  • Tap “Download a copy of your Facebook data.”
  • Tap “Download Archive.”
  • It might take a few minutes, but Facebook will alert you when your archive is ready.
  • When it is, click “Download Archive” again, and a zip file will download to your computer.
  • Browse through that archive by opening each file inside the folder.

I strongly suggest that every Facebook user do this and take a look at what Facebook has on you. You might be shocked, horrified, surprised, or all of the above.

Foxconn Buys Belkin, Wemo, and Linksys…. IF Trump Allows It

Posted in Commentary with tags , on March 27, 2018 by itnerd

Foxconn, the company best-known for manufacturing Apple iPhones among other Apple devices has announced that one of its subsidiaries, Foxconn Interconnect Technology, is purchasing U.S.-based Belkin for $866 million in cash.

But there’s a catch. According to The Financial Times, the purchase is subject to approval from the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment. In other words, there is a very real chance the acquisition could be blocked. Seeing as The Trump Administration has blocked other attempts of foreign companies to buy US companies, this has the very real possibility of being shot out of the sky very quickly. Thus I would suggest watching this space to see what happens. It won’t take long to see what happens next I assure you.

 

#PSA: If You Want To Ensure Your Mac Is Secure, Download KnockKnock Today

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 27, 2018 by itnerd

I came across something recently that will help Mac users ensure that nothing bad is running on their computers. While you can run anti-virus software, it doesn’t guarantee that something has snuck onto your Mac. That’s where a piece of software called KnockKnock comes in handy.

KnockKnock is Mac security software from Patrick Wardle. He’s a security researcher who’s well known for looking at the emerging threats on the macOS platform as well as mobile platforms such as iOS. That makes him very qualified to come up with KnockKnock which focuses on “persistently installed software” and accesses the VirusTotal database to help identify malware.

Using it is dead easy. A simple Scan button checks kernel extensions, login items and startup scripts, launch items, browser extensions, Spotlight importers, authorization plug-ins, cron jobs and periodic scripts, library inserts and proxies, login/logout hooks, extensions and widgets. You can click on an item for more info, including signing data, VirusTotal info and a link to show the file in the Finder. That way you can find out what the item is and delete it if required.

Best of all, it’s donation ware. And I’d suggest making a donation as I tried it this morning and used it to find a couple of things that caught my attention. Not because they were evil, but because they were items from programs I thought I had properly uninstalled. KnockKnock is totally worth downloading if you want to ensure your Mac is as secure as possible.

Guest Post: Facebook’s Onavo Protect VPN Might Be Gathering Users’ Psychological Profiles

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 27, 2018 by itnerd

In the midst of growing concerns about Facebook’s stance regarding privacy of its users, Facebook decided to release a free VPN service called Onavo VPN for all its users. The move has been massively criticized since the start, pointing out Facebook’s long-standing tradition of privacy invasions.

Even the VPN app’s description states that all browsing data is actually collected by Facebook to improve its products and services, thus making the VPN obsolete.

According to Google Play, Android version of Onavo Protect alone has already been installed between 10M and 50M times. The popularity of Onavo and of other free VPNs – such as HotSpot Shield – shows many users might not fully understand what they are getting themselves into.

After VPNspecial.com started a minor investigation of Onavo VPN’s Android application, we noticed a few worrying details, which might prove that Facebook’s free VPN is doing much more than just collecting data for Facebook and Onavo service improvement.

After downloading the Onavo Android application apk file, we de-compiled it and opened it with Android Studio. Soon, we noticed that Onavo uses HotKnot, which is mostly used to exchange data by touching two compatible devices one with the other. However, by doing that, a user is also able to make a payment and that information might be tracked. HotKnot is usually used by AMR processors in Chinese and Asian markets for collecting data and using it for market research:

GIF image.gif

Decompiled OnavoProtect APK code tree

We reported our findings to Facebook and were told that HotKnot was not being used with Onavo VPN. After we provided sufficient proof that the files are actually there, the response was more elaborate: “While we did not use them (the functions are empty as you can see when decompiling), they have been removed and will not be included in new versions of Protect.”

Considering that Facebook is inaccessible in China without VPN and that the majority of Chinese citizens are using one, it does not surprise that Facebook decided to access this steadily growing market. Facebook is simply doing what it always does – collecting the maximum possible amount of data, which it can sell or use afterwards.

The use of HotKnot, in addition to the usual Facebook tracking features, would allow Facebook to know its users’ shopping habits, and by correlating the purchase information with geo-location, would be able to gather much more in-depth information, such as psychological profiles and deeply personal preferences.

While Onavo might be helpful to some Facebook users who live in countries with oppressive governments and Internet censorship, others should steer away in order to protect their privacy.

ABOUT VPNSpecial.com

VPNSpecial is one of the biggest global VPN review and comparison sites. Close to 100 professional VPN reviews are provided, with important highlights and speed tests. Users also favor VPNSpecial Server Map tool which depicts physical location of 10 biggest VPNs servers. Started in 2015, VPNSpecial has grown to a website helping half a million privacy enthusiasts select best VPN Service each month.