A most interesting hack.  Do you suppose that every phone manufacturer has the ability to turn your phone into a worthless lump of plastic and glass?  If so, would it surprise you to know that my Ethical Hacking students are looking for that secret code?

http://www.pcmag.com/news/350214/samsung-plans-to-disable-all-galaxy-note-7-handsets-in-the-u

Samsung Plans to Disable All Galaxy Note 7 Handsets in the US

The Galaxy Note 7 is a smartphone Samsung wants everyone to forget about as soon as possible, but for now, the company is still trying to stop Note 7 handsets from being used due to the danger they pose.  This is a handset that can explode, after all.

Following a ban by airlines, a recall program, and even a battery charge-limiting update, Samsung looks set to take yet another, much more final step to stop Note 7 use.

An image shared with The Verge shows an alert sent out to a Note 7 owner in the US stating that their phone will be prevented from charging as of December 15.  In other words, the Note 7 is being permanently disabled.

Another amusing hack.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3148819/security/georgia-says-its-traced-an-attempted-voter-hack-to-dhs.html?google_editors_picks=true

Georgia says it's traced an attempted voter hack to DHS

Georgia's secretary of state says the state was hit with an attempted hack of its voter registration database from an IP address linked to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

…   The hacking attempt reportedly took place on Nov. 15, after the presidential election, according to the Wall Street Journal, which saw a copy of the letter.

The continuing saga of “we were breached” “no we weren’t” “were too!”  Were not!”  continues.  Something is going on here, but I don’t see it all yet.

http://www.securityweek.com/russia-says-thwarted-fresh-cyber-attacks-major-banks

Russia Says Thwarted Fresh Cyber Attacks on Major Banks

Rostelecom said in a statement that it "successfully thwarted DDoS (distributed denial of service) on the five biggest banks and financial organisations in Russia" on December 5.

"The most sustained attack lasted more than two hours," it said.

Russia's FSB security service last week said it had uncovered plans by foreign intelligence services to carry out massive cyber attacks targeting the country's financial system from December 5.

…    The FSB did not say which countries' secret services were involved in the latest plot against Russian banks but alleged the attacks would use servers and "command centres" located in the Netherlands belonging to Ukrainian hosting company, BlazingFast.

I expected this long ago.

Super Mario Run requires a persistent internet connection to play, no offline mode due to piracy concerns

…   The game is free to download but features a one-time $9.99 purchase to unlock all levels. iOS software piracy is possible on jailbroken devices with app stores dedicated to downloading cracked apps and games.

From Mashable, Miyamoto says there is no ability to play offline to protect against software piracy

…   According to the transcribed interview, Nintendo is worried about piracy risks as the game is launching in 150 countries on devices it does not control.  He says that the network connection is used to update game saves and sync progress across devices via a Nintendo cloud account.

Perspective.  Big Data keeps getting bigger.  Can future traffic control systems handle this much data?

http://www.networkworld.com/article/3147892/internet/one-autonomous-car-will-use-4000-gb-of-dataday.html?google_editors_picks=true

Just one autonomous car will use 4,000 GB of data/day

…   Vehicles will generate and consume roughly 40 terabytes of data for every eight hours of driving, according to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, speaking at the auto show’s technology pavilion, Automobility.

There is a “flood of data that’s coming,” he told the automotive industry professionals.  And it’s going to be significantly more than the amount of data that the average person generates today.

The averagely driven car will churn out 4,000 GB of data per day, he says.  And that's just for one hour of driving a day.  One can compare that to an average person’s video, chat and other internet use, which Krzanich says is about 650 MB per day and will escalate to 1.5 GB per day, or essentially double, by 2020.  

Are Starbuck customers also gamers?

http://fortune.com/2016/12/09/starbucks-pokemon-go-frappuccino-gyms/

It’s Official: Starbucks Just Came Out with a Pokémon Go Frappuccino

Starbucks’ newest pink drink is being rolled out at some 7,800 stores across the United States—stores that are also being turned into PokéStops and Pokémon Gyms.

In these virtual arenas players can pit monsters they’ve caught in battles against those captured by others—victorious trainers can even take over a gym and then defend it from virtual attack.  All while supping on a Pokémon GO Frappuccino (a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino with raspberry syrup and freeze-dried blackberries.)