Juli Clover:
Russia has blocked Apple’s FaceTime video calling app in an ongoing effort to eliminate private communication methods, reports Reuters. Russia claims FaceTime is being used for criminal activity, and that blocking the app is a legitimate law enforcement measure. Social network Snapchat and multiplayer gaming platform Roblox were also banned this week.
[…]
FaceTime is now restricted nationwide, and has likely been blocked at the network level, so it may still be accessible through a VPN. Moscow residents are seeing a “User unavailable” message when attempting to use FaceTime , which is the error displayed when a FaceTime call is unable to connect. The app still opens and activates, so Apple hasn’t removed it.
Osmond Chia (Hacker News):
Russia has blocked access to popular gaming platform Roblox due to concerns over child safety and extremism, including the spread of LGBT-related content.
The country’s media regulator said Roblox had become rife with “inappropriate content that can negatively impact the spiritual and moral development of children”, according to local news outlets.
[…]
The Roskomnadzor also flagged reports of sexual harassment of children and the sharing of intimate images on the platform. Other countries have raised similar issues, and the platform is already banned in certain countries, including Turkey, over concerns about child safety.
[…]
Last month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the platform over “flagrantly ignoring” safety laws and “deceiving parents” about the dangers it posed to young people.
Previously:
Children FaceTime iOS iOS 26 iOS App Lawsuit Legal Roblox Russia Snapchat Texas
Simon Fondrie-Teitler (Hacker News, Slashdot):
In October Kohler launched Dekota, a $600 (plus monthly subscription) device that attaches to the rim of your toilet and collects images and data from inside, promising to track and provide insights on gut health, hydration, and more. To allay the obvious privacy concerns, the company emphasizes the sensors are only pointed down, into the bowl, and assures potential buyers that the data collected by the device and app are protected with “end-to-end encryption”.
Kohler Health’s homepage, the page for the Kohler Health App, and a support page all use the term “end-to-end encryption” to describe the protection the app provides for data. Many media outlets included the claim in their articles covering the launch of the product.
However, responses from the company make it clear that—contrary to common understanding of the term—Kohler is able to access data collected by the device and associated application. Additionally, the company states that the data collected by the device and app may be used to train AI models.
E2EE has become a marketing term, and I no longer believe it unless the company also provides a technical description of what they mean by it. For over a decade—before iCloud Advanced Data Protection—Apple marketed iMessage as being E2EE. This was technically true, because the protocol was E2EE, but in practice the system was not E2EE because Apple had access to the key (in the iCloud backup). In Kohler’s case, there seems to be nothing that’s actually E2EE. It’s “simply HTTPS encryption,” combined with “technical safeguards and governance controls.”
Previously:
Artificial Intelligence iOS iOS 26 iOS App Kohler Privacy
Paul Kafasis (release notes):
You can now play audio through multiple outputs at once, with grouped output devices.
[…]
SoundSource has outstanding new support for sending audio to AirPlay devices like HomePods, Sonos systems, and more. That means you can route an individual application to one or more AirPlay devices, while leaving the rest of your audio playing from a local output. You can also stream all of your Mac’s audio to multiple AirPlay devices, in sync.
[…]
The new Audio Devices window gives you tremendous control over the audio devices connected to your Mac.
These days, I only use my own ToothFairy app, but if you have more advanced audio needs SoundSource has lots of features and a nice interface.
Previously:
AirPlay Audio Mac Mac App macOS Tahoe 26 SoundSource
GitLab (via Hacker News):
Our internal monitoring system has uncovered multiple infected packages containing what appears to be an evolved version of the “Shai-Hulud” malware.
Early analysis shows worm-like propagation behavior that automatically infects additional packages maintained by impacted developers. Most critically, we’ve discovered the malware contains a “dead man’s switch” mechanism that threatens to destroy user data if its propagation and exfiltration channels are severed.
[…]
The malware infiltrates systems through a carefully crafted multi-stage loading process. Infected packages contain a modified package.json with a preinstall script pointing to setup_bun.js. This loader script appears innocuous, claiming to install the Bun JavaScript runtime, which is a legitimate tool. However, its true purpose is to establish the malware’s execution environment.
Previously:
Bun GitLab JavaScript Malware Node.js Open-source Software Programming Security
