Advances in technology is making online meeting easy and free in our times. We are videoconferencing with people frequently these days. And one of the top trending platforms is the Zoom videoconferencing app. Today, we look at the app’s security vulnerability, and how you can protect your own virtual conversations with the help of secure VPNs.
And on the other side, engineers are trying to fully charge an electric vehicle in less than 10 minutes for Formula E race in 2022.
Finally, moving to engage kids at home, Spotify launches its Kids service in three countries, and parents are allowing their children to use Facebook’s Messenger Kids app.
Zoom’s privacy policies questioned
As millions of people have been advised to stay at home due to COVID-19, videoconferencing app Zoom has become the mainstay for people to connect with each other.
According to market research firm Sensor Tower, Zoom’s cloud-meetings app is currently the most popular free app for iPhones.
As its popularity grew, so did questions surrounding its privacy and data projection policies.
In the last few weeks, Zoom’s screen-sharing feature has been exploited by internet trolls. They hijack meetings and interrupt educational sessions leading to what is now called “Zoombombing.”
New York’s attorney general Letitia James on Monday sent a letter to the company asking if it has taken any new security measure to handle the surge in traffic on its network and to detect hackers, according to a report by New York Times.
The letter outlined several concerns on the company’s slow response to security vulnerabilities on its platform. These gaps could allow malicious third-parties to gain access to users’ cameras.
Zoom had updated its privacy policy on Sunday after users reported concerns, and Monday, its chief executive and founder Eric Yuan said in a statement that the company has taken its users’ privacy, security and trust extremely seriously.
“We appreciate the New York attorney general’s engagement on these issues and are happy to provide her with the requested information,” the statement added.
Protecting yourself online with VPNs
As most of us communicate online, it is important to send and receive messages and data over secured networks.
Most public networks are not secure. They easy targets for people trying to snoop on your data that is sent unencrypted. Accessing a website that doesn’t use HTTPS will make your communication vulnerable to malicious attacks.
A secure website is marked by a green lock icon. If this lock is missing, anyone can view the data you send. So, using a private network helps keep your data safe.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is like a tunnel that you can use to pass through a public network. It helps protect your data in transit from hackers or scamsters. It keeps both encrypted and unencrypted data safe. By changing your IP address, it also protects your privacy to an extent.
So, here are some VPN providers that have been tested by WIRED. They have all been independently audited and have published their results.
ExpressVPN: is known for not keeping customer logs. At one point of time, it failed to produce records on customers in courts even after the Turkish government seized its servers. It costs $6.67 a month for a one year upfront purchase.
TunnelBear: It has a bear animation explaining what a VPN does and what it doesn’t. It also offers the same security features as other VPN providers with a no-logging policy. It costs $4.99 per month for a one year up front purchase.
Mullvad VPN: The Sweden-based company offers total anonymity so you can generate a random account number, write it down and mail it along with cash to Sweden. And no one can connect the sender to the random account. It costs $5.60 per month.
Charging an electric car in about the same time as filing gas
Tesla and Porsche have recently deployed 250-kilowatt public charging stations. These charging units can power some vehicles to full charge in about 40 minutes. That’s a big leap considering how long it used to take for battery vehicle to get charged fully.
Now, as if a 40-minute full charge isn’t short enough, Formula E officials want new cars in the all-electric racing series to pack a full charge in about 10 minutes.
The team had announced the specs for their third-generation all-electric race cars that will debut on the motorway in two years.
Increasing the battery charging rate is a function of how fast lithium ions flow from the cathode to the anode, and how much ion the anode can hold.
Making thicker anodes solved the part of the equation on the storage, but the flow of ions sometimes gets slower as they can’t penetrate the anode fast enough while charging. This delay causes a molecular traffic jam, making lithium to stay on the surface, leading to a phenomenon called lithium-plating.
To solve the flow part, engineers are planning to add silicon to the anode, instead of graphite. According to a review paper on eTransportation, silicon can change the anode’s crystal structure in a way that makes lithium plating less likely.
Enevate, an energy storage company, has been working on this for the last 15 years with pure silicon anode. The company’s researchers announced that their latest generation of batteries could be charged to 75% in just five minutes, according to a report by WIRED .
Spotify Kids app launched in US, Canada and France
Spotify’s standalone app Kids, aimed at kid-friendly music and stories, is being broadly made available in the U.S., Canada and France, the company announced on Tuesday.
The app debuted in Ireland last fall, and was made available to Spotify’s Premium Family subscribers.
Spotify’s Premium Family plan costs $14.99 per month, and it can be accessed by six people in the same household. It offers ad-free music streaming, each with their own personalised accounts.
The Kids app can be customized by age range. Also, the content is hand-curated by Spotify editors, unlike YouTube kids app, which uses an algorithm to suggest content.
More children are using Facebook’s Messenger Kids app
The COVID-19 outbreak that pushed schools to shut has made Facebook’s Messenger Kids popular, according to a report by MIT Technology Review .
The app showed a noticeable increase in downloads as the coronavirus pandemic erupted, according to SensorTower.
Parents are allowing their kids to use the Messenger as it helps them to stay in touch with their friends. Also, it offers them a chance to get on with their own work while their kids engage with their friends.
The app was originally launched in 2017 to allow kids too young to join Facebook to use their parents’ account to chat with other kids.
Parents had full access to their accounts, and had to approve who their children can contact.