Enlarge (credit: Clive Mason - Formula 1 / Contributor | Formula 1 )

The new features on Twitter keep coming, as CEO Elon Musk has announced that today the platform will release an early version of encrypted direct messages that will "grow in sophistication rapidly." The move seemingly signaled Musk's intention to entice users to spend more time on the platform by maximizing the privacy of personal communications.

"The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if there was a gun to my head," Musk tweeted.

In the same tweet, Musk said that voice and video chat from Twitter handles would be "coming soon," and he confirmed that any users with the latest version of the app "can DM reply to any message in the thread (not just most recent) and use any emoji reaction."

This data is sent without user consent, unencrypted, and even when using a Google-free #Android distribution. This is possible because of proprietary Qualcomm #software which provides hardware support also sends the #data. #USA

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Federal authorities, tech pundits, and news outlets want you to be on the lookout for a scary cyberattack that can hack your phone when you do nothing more than plug it into a public charging station. These warnings of “juice jacking,” as the threat has come to be known, have been circulating for more than a decade.

Earlier this month, though, juice jacking fears hit a new high when the FBI and Federal Communications Commission issued new, baseless warnings that generated ominous-sounding news reports from hundreds of outlets. NPR reported that the crime is "becoming more prevalent, possibly due to the increase in travel." The Washington Post said it's a “significant privacy hazard” that can identify loaded webpages in less than 10 seconds. CNN warned that just by plugging into a malicious charger, "your device is now infected." And a Fortune headline admonished readers: "Don’t let a free USB charge drain your bank account."

The Halley’s Comet of cybersecurity scares

The scenario for juice jacking looks something like this: A hacker sets up equipment at an airport, shopping mall, or hotel. The equipment mimics the look and functions of normal charging stations, which allow people to recharge their mobile phones when they're low on power. Unbeknownst to the users, the charging station surreptitiously sends commands over the charging cord’s USB or Lightning connector and steals contacts and emails, installs malware, and does all kinds of other nefarious things.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

In 2019, Volkswagen Group had a bold plan. After proving that it made sense to use a few common architectures to design a varied range of vehicles across multiple different brands, it decided to apply that same approach to software. It set up a new division and moved the entire VW Group's software development under that roof, with a mandate to create a new unified automotive operating system for future VW Group EVs.

In fact, the division had to work on three different systems simultaneously. Called E ³ for end-to-end architecture, E ³ 1.1 would be the software to run on VW Group's MEB platform for mass-market EVs. Cars using this software are now on the road, including the VW ID.4, Audi Q4 e-tron, and of course, everyone's favorite, ID. Buzz. E ³ 1.2 is destined for more upmarket EVs from Audi and Porsche, using the upcoming PPE platform. And that unified OS, called E ³ 2.0, would show up mid-decade in a new, unified platform across the entire VW Group .

It hasn't exactly gone smoothly. In 2020 VW replaced Christian Senger as the head of the division—called Car.Software.Org, now called CARIAD—with Dirk Hilgenberg. By 2022, problems with CARIAD's development and buggy software for the launch of the ID.3 and ID.4 EVs saw VW Group fire its chairman , Herbert Diess, along with multiple reports of delays to future group vehicles , including the electric Porsche Macan . The division cost VW Group more than $2 billion last year in the process.

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Google is cracking down on predatory loan apps by cutting off their access to “sensitive” data including debtors’ contacts, photos, and location, after growing criticism that unscrupulous lenders are tapping the contents of borrowers’ smartphones for harassment and blackmail.

The tech company said on Wednesday it would update policies for financial services apps listed on the Google Play Store at the end of May so that “apps aiming to provide or facilitate personal loans may not access user contacts or photos.”

Details provided to app developers for Google’s Android mobile system also show that lending apps will, for the first time, be restricted from requesting access to users’ precise location, phone numbers, and videos. The new policy covers apps offering personal, payday, and peer-to-peer loans, but not mortgages, car loans, or credit cards.

Enlarge / Volkswagen is one of a number of automakers that have migrated to Android Automotive as their infotainment OS. But how long can you expect that OS to be patched and safe? (credit: Volkswagen)

Android is doing a pretty good job of colonizing the in-car infotainment ecosystem. At first, Google's operating system started showing up in new vehicles as custom installations, but more recently the company developed Android Automotive , which you can find in new cars from General Motors, Polestar, Volvo, Honda, and soon, both BMW and Volkswagen Group.

A perennial question that has accompanied the spread of Android Automotive has been the question of support. A car has a much longer expected service life than a smartphone, especially an Android smartphone, and with infotainment systems so integral to a car's operations now, how long can we reasonably expect those infotainment systems to be supported?

So far, a bit more than seven years is the longest any Android phone has received support, before unsupported chips finally called time on the Fairphone . I'm not sure anyone would be OK with having their car sent to the scrap heap after just seven years, however.

Remember Second Life ? The virtual world launched on the desktop web back in 2003 with 3D avatars and spaces for various social activities. Believe it or not, it has been running continually this entire time—and now it's coming to mobile for the first time.

In fact, this will be the first time that Second Life has expanded beyond the PC (across Windows, macOS, and Linux) in any form.

In a post to the virtual world's community web forum , a community manager for Second Life developer Linden Lab shared a video with some details about the mobile version's development, and announced that a beta version of the mobile app will launch sometime this year.