Firmware remote vulnerability in Intel business products
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Intel's Management Technology is indeed vulnerable
Date: Tue, 2 May 2017 19:49:54 +0200 (CEST)
From: I love OpenBSD <lampshade(a)poczta.fm>
To: misc(a)openbsd.org
INTEL-SA-00075
There is an escalation of privilege vulnerability in Intel® Active Management Technology (AMT), Intel® Standard Manageability (ISM), and Intel® Small Business Technology versions firmware versions 6.x, 7.x, 8.x 9.x, 10.x, 11.0, 11.5, and 11.6 that can allow an unprivileged attacker to gain control of the manageability features provided by these products.
Can I preview a bitlink before clicking on it?
https://support.bitly.com/hc/en-us/articles/230650447-Can-I-preview-a-bitli…
Arstechnica:
http://bit.ly/2qyHCQn
Semiaccurate:
http://bit.ly/2pB2MjO
Intel's PDF:
http://intel.ly/2qAK4G0
an open source clone of Google Play Services. not 100% compatible, but
good enough for many apps. Certainly good enough if, like me, you intend
to use mostly apps from f-droid and other alternative app stores (I want
the hardware, and the open-source side of the software. don't want the
proprietary or spyware crap).
https://shadow53.com/no-gapps/
craig
ps: i've pretty much decided on a Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Plus....going to
look at one today ($439 from JB - i'm sure it'll be cheaper if i wait a
bit longer, but that can go on forever...or at least until it disappears
from the market entirely and i have to research a new generation of
devices).
specs are good, there are no clear warning signs saying "avoid, do not
buy", and what i've googled about it looks good. it's well supported by
at least Lineage OS, and there's a Lineage image with micro-g. If the
hardware build quality seems solid (i.e. it doesnt seem like cheap crap
that will break in 6 months) i'll get one.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/thinkpad-tablet/development/unofficial-lin…
--
craig sanders <cas(a)taz.net.au>
On Fri, Jun 02, 2017 at 03:08:14PM +1000, David Tulloh wrote:
> As a few others have suggested your specs are rather ambitious.
they don't seem ambitious to me. They seem to be fairly common specs
for android tablets from several manufacturers.
what i was after was recommendations or notes from people who actually
have one of the more recent models.
> As an example a high resolution 10" screen uses a fair bit of juice,
> just reading a PDF for a few hours will drain some batteries. The
> brute force solution, more batteries, hurts your portability and blows
> out the cost.
most of the 9.7"/10"/larger models on the market advertise at least
10-20 hours of video-watching time. even assuming that's marketing
exaggeration (i.e. a lie), reading an epub or even a PDF with WIFI
disabled should get at least that much. i'd prefer longer, but that's
acceptable.
> There are Kindle models which solve this with e-paper displays but
> that is black/white only and significantly compromises refresh rate.
i've tried e-ink e-readers before. too slow and way too fragile for my
liking. From what i've read, current e-ink displays are a lot faster
than when i last used them but they're still as fragile. I broke two
kobos in less than six months before getting my nexus 7 which has lasted
me 5+ years.
My first kobo broke in my satchel when i tripped while running and also
resulted in a broken wrist so that's forgivable. The second was from
falling asleep reading in bed, which is totally unacceptable as that's
SOP for me...so i got a nexus 7 - and i can't count the number of times
i've fallen asleep reading with it (at a guess, probably over 50% of
the last 5 years worth of nights, so over 900 times) and it ends up
either under me or dropped onto the floor beside the bed....there's a
few little dints in the plastic shell but the screen is still uncracked
and works perfectly.
> I looked into tablets a few months ago and landed on the Lenovo Yoga
> which
Yeah, i've looked into the Lenovo Yoga. My overall impression is that
it has seriously underwhelming specs for the price. The screen is
larger than my Nexus 7, but the resolution is the same (1280x800) so
will look blocky and ugly, certainly won't improve readability. it has
double the RAM and a 10" screen but otherwise is no better than what
i've already got (and at 16GB it has half the storage but does have a
micro-SD slot). for just under $300. i'll pass.
hmmm...they have some better models, worth another look.
Their '10" BusinessTablet' seems better. 4-core 1.3Ghz (only slightly
better than my Nexus 7), 2GB RAM (double the nexus), 32GB storage,
micro-SD slot, and 1920x1200 resolution. $284 at JB. worth considering
but i want something a bit better. cheaper and better than the Tab3.
Their 'Tab 3 Plus 10" Tablet' seems better again, 8-core 1.8Ghz
snapdragon 652 CPU, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, micro SD slot, and 2560x1600
resolution (so should have beautifully crisp and clear readable text on
the 10" screen - that resolution is better than my 27" desktop monitor).
it's a bit pricey at $484 (JB again) but certainly matches the kind of
specs i'm looking for. I'll put this one on my shortlist.
> http://androidbiits.com/lenovo-yoga-tab-3-plus-yt-x703f-android-7-1-1-nouga…
this seems to be for the Tab 3 Plus, not the earlier models....but
that's fine, it's the model i'm most interested in. thanks
craig
--
craig sanders <cas(a)taz.net.au>
On 01/06/17 19:40, Craig Sanders via luv-talk wrote:
> Both my phone (~2010 HTC Desire HD) and my tablet (2012 Nexus 7) are
> ancient so it's about time to upgrade one or both of them. looking for some
> recommendations...
If you were to go down the tablet only route, I would suggest the
Samsung Glaxay Tab S2 (4G, 9.7").
I have had one of the original strain (SM-T815Y) for 18 months, and
ebook reading is one of its primary uses. The OLED gives good battery
life at decent brightness.
There is a re-issue (SM-T819Y) of the same model with a few tweaks, none
enough to make me update.
The S3 is now out, but I'm hearing that all-glass may not be the best idea.
It may be worth digging around for the 815/819 at a "superceded" discount.
On Fri, Jun 02, 2017 at 04:12:19PM +1000, russell(a)coker.com.au wrote:
> On Thursday, 1 June 2017 7:40:40 PM AEST Craig Sanders via luv-talk wrote:
> > Both my phone (~2010 HTC Desire HD) and my tablet (2012 Nexus 7) are
> > ancient so it's about time to upgrade one or both of them. looking
> > for some recommendations...
>
> What exactly do you want from a new phone given your stated plan to
> use no apps other than a simple calculator?
4G is about the only good reason I have to upgrade the phone and even
that's not essential.
other than 4G, the main motivation for replacing it is that it's ~ 7
years old now, and won't last forever. Also, i've already replaced
the battery on it once, doing that again (probably necessary in the
next year or so) seems like a waste of money that could be put towards
a newer phone. The CPUs and other componenets have improved a lot in
those 7 years.
> > - ARM CPU fast enough that I won't have to consider upgrading for
> > another 5+ years
> > - 1920x1080 resolution absolute minimum. more is better.
> > - 8" minimum, 10" or larger preferred. something that can fit a
> > full A4 or US Letter PDF page and still be readable without having
> > to squint.
>
> Maybe a larger phone would be an option. A Nexus 6P meets most of
> those criteria, it's screen at 5.7" isn't that much smaller than your
> stated minimum and may allow you to only carry one device.
not as a tablet replacement. i want something with a larger, higher
resolution screen than my nexus 7.
i mostly want it for more of what i'm currently using it for plus i've
recently re-discovered qpython and want to write my own custom apps for
it (mostly simple database things without the spyware and excessive
permissions demanded by the garbage in google's play store). Also Termux
and command line sh, awk, perl etc scripts - with a bluetooth keyboard
and Termux I can use it as a tiny laptop substitute.
i do some of that now with the 7" nexus, but the screen's a little too
small and squinty for that to be comfortable.
Tablet size and weight does not bother me. i never go anywhere without
at least my roughly A4-sized satchel and often a small backpack too.
> > One last thing - if I get a tablet that has 4G capability, does
> > anyone know if it's possible or easy to put my SIM card in the
> > tablet and use my existing HTC phone as a handset via bluetooth or
> > wifi?
>
> That might be difficult as phones aren't designed for it. But most
> (maybe all) tablets that will take a SIM can make and receive calls.
> As they support bluetooth they should work with a bluetooth headset
> in the same way as a phone, or you could use wired headphones with a
> built-in microphone for calls.
i'll stick to separate devices for phone and tablet then. which means
i'll probably only upgrade the tablet. the phone can wait until either
the HTC dies or 4G becomes essential.
i remember seeing a brand of phone & tablet a few years ago that could
do this, was one of its selling-point features. might have been one of
the LG models, maybe not. but it seemed like it was a brand-specific
bit of software...i was hoping that there was a generic app to do it.
searching for anything on google's play store that you don't already
know the exact name of is beyond pointless - there's so many worthless
spammy and/or spyware and/or malware shit apps there(*) that you can't
find anything, millions of turds hiding the rare useful thing.
fdroid's better, but they didn't have anything like that when i
searched.
(*) hooray for the "free market". hooray for "consumer choice".
> > (*) Why purge the youtube app? because every time i enable wifi
> > on the tablet, it becomes completely unusable for at least 10-20
> > minutes while youtube, hangouts, and the rest of the thundering herd
> > of unwanted apps that can't be removed go apeshit trying to connect
> > to google spyware HQ.
>
> You can configure recent versions of Android to not allow those
> apps to talk to the Internet in the background. There's a "network
> restrictions" page that allows you to set which Wifi APs are running
> on 3G/4G (or otherwise pay for data) and which are unlimited and
my nexus 7 runs Android 5. there doesn't seem to be any such option.
i made the mistake of NOT rooting it and installing cyanogenmod as soon
as i got it and now i've got too much stuff on it that i don't want to
lose (rooting it will erase it) or have to backup and then sort through
and manually copy/reinstall. laziness, i know...it would only take a day
or so to backup, root, re-flash, and then restore my data.
cyanognmod/lineage may have more recent versions, but this tablet is
barely capable of running v5.x. When I get another tablet, I'll wipe
this one and install an AOSP-based Android 4 ROM on it.
> Turn off background data on youtube, hangouts, play services (play
> store), maps, and Chrome and you'll achieve your stated aim.
no, i won't.
i want these apps not to run at all. i want them to not even be
installed. there's no reason for them to be running in the background,
and there's no reason for them to be even installed. I *never* use
them so there's no excuse for them to be running, ever. this is not
an exaggeration or me just forgetting that i sometimes use them, it
is the literal truth - i NEVER use them and NEVER want to use them.
I looked at youtube once on this tablet years ago and decided "nope,
too slow, too annoying. and no adblock", but apart from that I have
never once chosen to run them, ever....but they always start up when
wifi is enabled. this is an anti-feature - i have no idea what, if
anything, they are reporting to google, or why all these apps are trying
to connect, and it certainly does not benefit me at all for the tablet
to become unusable for 10 minutes if i enable wifi to quickly (ha!)
check something on the internet or fetch something from my network.
when i want to watch something on youtube, i have a perfectly good
desktop machine with a choice of browsers and a nice 27" 1440p monitor
for that.
by "unusable", i mean that the tablet can take a minute or more to
respond to any touch event. per touch. after 10 or 20 minutes or so it
settles down and becomes usable again, but is noticably noticably slower
than when wifi is disabled even if i'm not actively using the network. i
usually run the tablet in airplane mode to maximise battery life.
> > PS: i am in no great hurry to upgrade, so if there's a new
> > generation of cpus/screens etc just about to be released, i'm happy
> > to wait for that.
>
> Maybe there is. Google has no tablet offering at this time and the
> range of tablets that Kogan is offering is very small.
The Samsung Tab A is one of the models I'm considering. I've seen some
reasonable prices (around $330-$380) for 2016 models, but that's with
only 16GB storage which is not quite enough. My nexus 7 has 32GB and
with a faster tablet i'm likely to use it for more things and thus use
more storage space.
craig
--
craig sanders <cas(a)taz.net.au>
Hello,
I have given Mum my old Nexus 6P. It worked perfectly when I had it, but
now it regularly loses all mobile reception (shows no signal) every 1 to
7 days. The only way to fix the problem is to reboot it.
Any ideas?
--
Brian May <brian(a)linuxpenguins.xyz>
https://linuxpenguins.xyz/brian/
Hi,
My preference is a good mobile for WiFi hotspot -- the right radios for
the /right/ network that you need to use. Nothing else much matters for
the hotspot device, other than it should have updates for the software
to keep it reasonably secure (as secure as a mobile phone can be). It's
a bonus if it us good otherwise and/or if it otherwise provides for all
other mobile needs.
The non-phone devices, all that they need is WiFi. And any device for
mobile phone calls, well it needs the right network to be useful for any
location I'm in (for calls, not data).
I had a 6GB data mobile plan with unlimited standard AU calls, dropped
that down to a 3GB data plan with unlimited calls. On my hotspot phone,
I nnow have 50GB of 4G LTE data. The phone plan mobile (with 3GB now)
rarely does data other than as a WiFi client via the hotspot;
occasionally I need to turn on data for MMS, which is a pain.
So, 53GB of mobile data never gets close to be used, but I also never
have to worry about going over my limits in normal circumstances. If I
needed more data, I have other options (on the road I mean). As for
fixed line services, I have unlimited data, but even then due to the
huge amount of mobile data available to me, I don't even worry about
switching back to non mobile data these days when that is served via
hotspot to other portable devices -- except for the laptop, that plugs
in to the wired network and WiFi is switched off. Almost all my more
serious "data" work is done from fixed wire connections. I'm not a big
fan of using mobiles more than necessary, but it is handy having plenty
of data available if or when I need it from time to time.
Whenever I want mobile tablets or laptops on the road, then it is very
easy to connect to my regular hotspot phone and therefore those other
devices have no need for any 4G SIM slots with possible /less good/
radio connectivity.
SIM slots are only useful, in my view, for devices that make calls or
devices that offer me hotspot services.
I actually
