The San Jose McEnery Convention Center plaza outside the  WWDC. (Wikimedia commons, CC0) For Apple enthusiasts, September means two exciting events: Apple’s annual announcement (September 12 ) and OS (operating system) updates. While speculations abound on the internet, details for the OS updates have already been announced at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Updates…

Intel, AMD, Nvidia, ARM; no CPU is safe from Spectre. (Unsplash, CC0) On January 3, 2018, three central processing units’ (CPU) vulnerabilities known as Spectre and Meltdown were announced to the public (two types of Spectre and one of Meltdown). Any device with a CPU is a possible target, putting most devices in danger of…

Information you post on social media is open for all to see. (Flickr, CC0) One function of social media is to check out the latest trends, but horror stories of people getting important information leaked and having their identity stolen are now common.  Though Facebook obtains personal information upon the creation of a new account,…

It is possible to block potential ways of tracking simply by looking through a browser’s settings(Screenshot/James Cao’20/Technical editor)   Ads are a part of most people’s lives: they line up on the sidelines of websites, load in the middle of videos, and pop up when you least expect them to. Some people don’t mind them…

Andrew Barren’22 created 360 degree films for Project Discover. Jacob Liu’20/Staff) Every year around March, Columbus Academy 8th graders begin participating in Project Discover. As the name suggests, the project gives students the opportunity to explore new interests such as music, art, dancing, or in Andrew Barren’s case, 360 degree videos. Barren initially became fascinated…

The universal symbol for bitcoins. (Unsplash, CC0) In 2008, a person with the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper about a payment system that was independent of any central authority and was semi-anonymous. This payment system and its currency was and still is referred to as Bitcoin. Traditional online payment methods and the Bitcoin…

Pexels, CC0) Caption: These two vulnerabilities can leak information from almost any type of device. Increasing worries about two aptly named vulnerabilities in hardware called Spectre and Meltdown are problematic because hackers can exploit them to gain private data from almost any type of device. Spectre is a vulnerability in hardware that allows attackers to…

(Unsplash, CC0) Caption: Protests at Telecom Prom After December 14th, the repeal for net neutrality started, but its effects aren’t really showing. As it turns out, Google, Netflix, Facebook, and other large tech industries are against the repeal as these companies could face heavy charges from ISP’s to not be throttled. ISP’s are also stating…

The crowd at CES. (Flickr, CC0) From January 9-12, 2018, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) annual convention took place in Las Vegas. CES,  a technology-oriented event, features products and trade ideas from the biggest tech companies from around the world, except Apple, which has its own mini-CES: WWDC.)  CES showcases the latest creations in entertainment,…

Caption: Chairman Ajit Pai speaks for the FCC. (flickr) On Tuesday, November 21, FCC’s chairman, Ajit Pai, released a controversial proposal to dismantle regulations, coined as net neutrality, that protect equal access to the internet. If this plan passes, ISP’s (Internet Service Providers like Time Warner Cable, Verizon, etc.) can charge consumers more for a…