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A daily dose of today's top tech news, in brief.
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You need to hear this.
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Kaspersky Labs unveils free software in show of good faith
Security software manufacturer Kaspersky Lab will offer free antivirus software globally, seemingly in response to accusations the company colluded with the Russian government. Kaspersky Free is already available in the Unites States, Canada, and several Asian countries, and will launch globally in coming months.
Concerns surrounding Kaspersky's involvement with Russian spy agencies prompted U.S. intelligence agencies to ban the use of all Kaspersky software, as well as prohibiting the use of Kaspersky software by any organization that wishes to connect to intelligence networks.
The software will offer the "bare essentials," according to a blog post by CEO and founder Eugene Kaspersky, which includes email and web antivirus protection. The company says the software has been in development for 18 months, and pilot versions have been tested in Russia, Ukraine, China, and Scandinavian countries.
USB 3.2 specification announced, doubling data rates over existing cables
The increasingly popular USB C is now used across a range of electronics, including recent adoption by laptop makers including Apple, Microsoft, and Lenovo. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group has announced these devices are about to get a boost, with USB 3.2 increasing transfer rates from 10Gbps to 20Gbps over existing cables between two USB 3.2 devices.
"USB 3.2 hasn't yet been finalized, but the specification is said to be 'in a final draft review phase', and is expected to be formally released in time for the USB Developer Days North America event in September," Neowin writes.
Brad Saunders, chairman of the USB 3.0 Promoter Group, said that when it "introduced USB Type-C to the market, we intended to assure that USB Type-C cables and connectors certified for SuperSpeed USB or SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps would, as produced, support higher performance USB as newer generations of USB 3.0 were developed."
It will likely be years before products designed around USB 3.2 come to market.
Researchers hack car washes to attack vehicles and passengers
A group of researchers have found security flaws in internet-connected drive-through car washes, which would allow hackers to remotely control the system, possibly physically attacking the vehicles and their occupants. Vehicles can be trapped inside the chamber as the facilities' doors can also be remotely accessed, and vehicles can be struck by these doors when entering or leaving the wash chamber.
"We believe this to be the first exploit of a connected device that causes the device to physically attack someone," Billy Rios of Whitescope security told Motherboard. Rios' team conducted the research with Jonathan Butts of QUD secure solutions. Their research mainly focuses on the PDQ LaserWash as it is a popular and fully automated system that can run without the need of assistants.
The system runs on Windows CE and has a built in web server, which is also the primary access point for attackers. Though the system requires an username and password to operate, the researchers said the password was easily guessed. They also found a vulnerability allowing them to bypass the authentication process altogether.
"All systems — especially internet-connected ones — must be configured with security in mind," a PDQ representative told Motherboard. "This includes ensuring that the systems are behind a network firewall, and ensuring that all default passwords have been changed."
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But there's more going on in the world than that.
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Op-ed: How Microsoft became the surprise innovator
In an op-ed for the New York Times, Farhad Manjoo argues that Microsoft has become the "surprise innovator" in PCs, largely driven by Apple's apparent lack of commitment to its PC users. Though Microsoft struggled with failed hardware launch after failed hardware launch over the past few years, the Surface Pro lineup kickstarted a run of highly successful product releases that have users taking the company's hardware a bit more seriously.
"In the last two years, while Apple has focused mainly on mobile devices, Microsoft has put out a series of computers that reimagine the future of PCs in thrilling ways," Manjoo writes, highlighting Apple's apparent stagnation on PC releases, with an all but forgotten Mac Pro, MacBook, a polarizing MacBook Pro, and an iPad Pro that just doesn't cut it as a laptop replacement like the Surface Pro does. Along with Microsoft's Surface Laptop release as well as its Surface Desktop announced last year, it appears Microsoft's PC department took the que to step in and deliver exciting products where Apple was not.
"I think Microsoft has recognized over the last couple years that maybe the creative community isn't as locked into the Mac as many people think it is," Jan Dawson, an independent technology analyst told Manjoo. "There's this window of opportunity for Surface to get in there."
Manjoo clarifies he doesn't believe Apple's hardware empire will be toppled anytime soon, but concludes that "anyone who cares about the future of the PC should be thrilled that Apple now faces a serious and creative competitor."
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And you can't not know this.
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Possible ancient Martian hot springs might be a future landing site
An ancient Martian hot spring may have been discovered just south of Mars' equator, a discovery with the potential to change where NASA's Mars 2020 rover lands to begin its search for signs of life. The spot, called Margaritifer Terra, is a heavily fractured location with surface scarring from what appears to be magma or melting rock from asteroid impacts. But new analysis of high-resolution images of the spot suggest there are mineral deposits along the fractures, pointing to a history of hot springs bubbling through the surface.
"That kind of hydrothermal environment is favorable to life on Earth, and may have been so on Mars, too," says study coauthor Rebecca Thomas of University of Colorado at Boulder. Thomas says that this habitat also can also product sulfur or silica-rich mineral deposits, which are good at preserving evidence of life.
Though many have expressed excitement about the new revelations, the possible discovery's impact on NASA's decision making has its critics. J.R. Skok, a researcher at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, says he doesn't "think this will have a large implication on the Mars 2020 plans. Those finalist sites have been selected above many amazing sites over the past several years." Skok does, however, feel the discovery is an exciting and important discovery to display "how interesting, diverse, and potentially habitable ancient Mars was."
The location for the Mars 2020 landing site will be announced in fall 2018.
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