theverge--2020-02-05--Iowa’s caucus fracas shows we’re still too ignorant about how apps work

By now you probably know the broad outlines of what went down in Iowa on Monday night : a hastily built , poorly written , badly distributed , slipshod app crashed and the Iowa Democratic Party utterly failed to plan sufficient backup solutions , delaying the reporting of caucus results .
The web was awash with postmortems yesterday and rightly so .
It ’ s not the absolute worst way to kick off real voting in the 2020 presidential election , but it ’ s within spitting distance of it .
The votes themselves are secure — thankfully there are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sense of election security has been shaken again .
The fiasco has opened the door to conspiracy theorists and bad actors who want to call this and future results into doubt .
Some of that frankly irresponsible speculation came from major cable news outlets trying to fill the dead air the very night of the caucuses .
Shadow ’ s CEO finally gave an interview late last night to Bloomberg : You ’ re not the only one who feels terrible , bub .
But the thought that keeps running around my head @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been obvious that the app would fail .
The warning signs were manifold , both before the voting started and the day of the caucuses .
That ’ s not exactly a keen insight , but the reason I can ’ t stop thinking about it is that even in 2020 , too many people are weirdly deferential to the idea of an app .
We ’ ve gotten wiser to misinformation on social networks , concerns about privacy violations , and even encryption , but we are still pretty dumb about how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If somebody told you their summer project was building a kit car , you ’ d have a sense of how much work that entails and how likely that person would be to succeed .
But we don ’ t seem to have built up a similar sense of scale for apps .
I don ’ t think everybody needs to “ learn to code , ” but I do think we ’ ve done a terrible job with literacy about code .
I ’ m not here to call anybody ignorant , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the leadership of the Iowa Democratic Party not only didn ’ t know about how apps work , but it didn ’ t know what it didn ’ t know and preferred not to .
Below is a not-so-brief and nevertheless incomplete list of warning signs that I think anybody conversant with computers should have recognized as a red flag .
I don ’ t mean they should have recognized exactly why exactly each thing was wrong , but that they should have had the sense of tech scale to see that urgent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sought out .
These should have been emergency-brake moments , especially with an election at stake : • The consulting group that made the app , Shadow , was paid just over $ 60,000 to develop the app , far less than it should actually cost to develop .
• The party insisted on “ security through obscurity , ” arguing that talking about the app too much would give hackers a heads-up to attack it .
• The app was rushed out so quickly it had to be distributed via two platforms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , TestFlight and TestFairy .
• Installing an app via these methods is not simple even for savvy users , and having voters install it on their personal phones has security implications that I can ’ t even begin to enumerate .
• The app required two-factor authentication ( good ! )
, but the instructions were apparently not sufficient , leading to yet more frustration .
The New York Times reports that “ some [ precinct chairs ] also took pictures of the worksheets they had been given — the PINs fully @ @ @ @ @ @ @ frustration .
Had the app worked , the information might have given trolls or hackers a chance to download the program and tamper with it.
” Yikes .
• What ’ s more , as Nick Statt notes , “ the app was distributed using the TestFairy platform ’ s free tier and not its enterprise one .
That means Shadow didn ’ t even pony up for the TestFairy plan that comes with single sign-on authentication , unlimited data retention , and end-to-end encryption.
” • Shadow itself reportedly didn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the app in the first place , especially on such a tight timeline .
How carefully was this outfit vetted ?
• The whole ecosystem of tech for campaigns is dysfunctional in the first place , with the wheel getting reinvented every four years and widespread distrust in publicly available tools .
Here ’ s an eye-opening Twitter thread about the issue .
• Shadow ’ s previous products caused alarm among security experts .
That includes members of the Biden campaign , which ended its partnership with Shadow after its texting platform @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” a Biden staffer tells the NYT .
• The app itself wasn ’ t stress-tested , and the errors it showed on election night were singularly unhelpful , as Motherboard reported .
• Local volunteers realized the fiasco was coming and the party didn ’ t adjust to open up more phone lines to accommodate the change .
I remember all of the drama and concern around Diebold ’ s election machines in the early 2000s .
I remember the distrust and the widespread call for paper ballot backups .
Luckily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lesson .
But the difference between then and now is that our understanding of computing has moved from discrete machines to the cloud and apps .
Computing has become so diffuse and the language around it so arcane that it ’ s easier to just see it all as [ waves hands ] “ cloud stuff.
” Companies have taken to calling your laptop “ the intelligent edge , ” for heaven ’ s sake !
What that means is that when it comes to integrating , securing , and trusting technology in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ miasmic cloud of “ tech stuff ” to worry about , and it ’ s all too easy to just assume somebody else is handling it .
Knowing the basics of how apps get installed on phones and interact with the cloud is no longer the stuff of expert coders , and we need to raise our expectations for basic literacy on that .
We shouldn ’ t expect everybody to know how to navigate the tech maze , but at the very least we all need to do a better job of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ directions .
It ’ s not looking great for the biggest mobile phone show of the year , Mobile World Congress , which is set to take place in Barcelona this month : └ Coronavirus pushes ZTE to cancel its press conference at the year ’ s largest phone show └ LG Electronics is withdrawing from Mobile World Congress due to coronavirus └ iPhone maker Foxconn will stay shut in China for another week at least └ The new coronavirus is not an excuse to be racist └ Google admits it sent private @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s note on this seems wildly insufficient .
At minimum , people should be informed exactly what videos of theirs were accidentally provided to other users .
└ Google has paid Android developers about half of what Apple has In yesterday ’ s newsletter I was a little sloppy and quoted an old number from a story for Apple ’ s developer payouts ( $ 120 billion ) instead of more clearly citing the newer one ( $ 155 billion ) .
A couple of readers wanted me to expand on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s number and Google ’ s $ 80 billion , specifically that Apple ’ s number included money distributed in China while Google ’ s doesn ’ t .
Fair , but I don ’ t know if that difference really makes up the gap for Android developers — the overall point still stands that despite Android ’ s larger numbers , there still seems to be more money in making iPhone apps .
└ Creators finally know how much money YouTube makes , and they want more of it Here ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 15 billion revenue number from Julia Alexander .
More from The Verge When all you have is a hammer ... └ Google Fiber is dropping its TV package to focus solely on high-speed internet service We talk a lot about how the central problem with broadband access is the lack of fiber cable infrastructure .
Google Fiber ’ s travails are a good example of how hard it is to actually get that done .
Nick Statt points out that Google was paying much higher fees to get access to TV content @ @ @ @ @ @ @ happen to be cable companies , which is another limiting factor to new players trying to lay fiber that I hadn ’ t considered .
└ Netflix ’ s new original series commands viewers to click through to the next episode Ashley Carman is one of the world ’ s best reporters on how seemingly small product decisions influence personal behavior and — in this case — culture .
It ’ s absolutely wild to think about how multi-million dollar productions feel pressure to adopt the same tropes that YouTubers use to engage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their chances in the algorithm .

By now you probably know the broad outlines of what went down in Iowa on Monday night: a hastily built, poorly written, badly distributed, slipshod app crashed and the Iowa Democratic Party utterly failed to plan sufficient backup solutions, delaying the reporting of caucus results. The web was awash with postmortems yesterday and rightly so. It’s not the absolute worst way to kick off real voting in the 2020 presidential election, but it’s within spitting distance of it.
The votes themselves are secure — thankfully there are paper backups for everything — but our sense of election security has been shaken again. The fiasco has opened the door to conspiracy theorists and bad actors who want to call this and future results into doubt. Some of that frankly irresponsible speculation came from major cable news outlets trying to fill the dead air the very night of the caucuses.
“I’m really disappointed that some of our technology created an issue that made the caucus difficult,” said Gerard Niemira, the CEO of political technology company Shadow Inc., in his first interview after the caucus. “We feel really terrible about that.”
You’re not the only one who feels terrible, bub.
But the thought that keeps running around my head is simply this: it should have been obvious that the app would fail. The warning signs were manifold, both before the voting started and the day of the caucuses.
You are reading Processor, a newsletter about computers, software, and tech by Dieter Bohn. Dieter writes about consumer tech, software, and the most important tech news of the day from The Verge. You can read an archive of Processor newsletters here and subscribe to all of The Verge’s great videos here! Subscribe
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That’s not exactly a keen insight, but the reason I can’t stop thinking about it is that even in 2020, too many people are weirdly deferential to the idea of an app. We’ve gotten wiser to misinformation on social networks, concerns about privacy violations, and even encryption, but we are still pretty dumb about how cloud computing and apps actually work.
If somebody told you their summer project was building a kit car, you’d have a sense of how much work that entails and how likely that person would be to succeed. But we don’t seem to have built up a similar sense of scale for apps. I don’t think everybody needs to “learn to code,” but I do think we’ve done a terrible job with literacy about code.
I’m not here to call anybody ignorant, but it seems clear to me that the leadership of the Iowa Democratic Party not only didn’t know about how apps work, but it didn’t know what it didn’t know and preferred not to.
Below is a not-so-brief and nevertheless incomplete list of warning signs that I think anybody conversant with computers should have recognized as a red flag. I don’t mean they should have recognized exactly why exactly each thing was wrong, but that they should have had the sense of tech scale to see that urgent questions needed to be asked and expertise sought out. These should have been emergency-brake moments, especially with an election at stake:
The consulting group that made the app, Shadow, was paid just over $60,000 to develop the app, far less than it should actually cost to develop.
The party insisted on “security through obscurity,” arguing that talking about the app too much would give hackers a heads-up to attack it.
The app was rushed out so quickly it had to be distributed via two platforms mobile developers use to beta-test their software, TestFlight and TestFairy.
Installing an app via these methods is not simple even for savvy users, and having voters install it on their personal phones has security implications that I can’t even begin to enumerate.
The app required two-factor authentication (good!), but the instructions were apparently not sufficient, leading to yet more frustration. The New York Times reports that “some [precinct chairs] also took pictures of the worksheets they had been given — the PINs fully visible — and tweeted them out in frustration. Had the app worked, the information might have given trolls or hackers a chance to download the program and tamper with it.” Yikes.
What’s more, as Nick Statt notes, “the app was distributed using the TestFairy platform’s free tier and not its enterprise one. That means Shadow didn’t even pony up for the TestFairy plan that comes with single sign-on authentication, unlimited data retention, and end-to-end encryption.”
Shadow itself reportedly didn’t have the coding chops to pull off the app in the first place, especially on such a tight timeline. How carefully was this outfit vetted?
The whole ecosystem of tech for campaigns is dysfunctional in the first place, with the wheel getting reinvented every four years and widespread distrust in publicly available tools. Here’s an eye-opening Twitter thread about the issue.
Shadow’s previous products caused alarm among security experts. That includes members of the Biden campaign, which ended its partnership with Shadow after its texting platform “did not pass our cybersecurity checklist,” a Biden staffer tells the NYT.
The app itself wasn’t stress-tested, and the errors it showed on election night were singularly unhelpful, as Motherboard reported.
Local volunteers realized the fiasco was coming and the party didn’t adjust to open up more phone lines to accommodate the change.
I remember all of the drama and concern around Diebold’s election machines in the early 2000s. I remember the distrust and the widespread call for paper ballot backups. Luckily, Iowa at least learned the latter lesson.
But the difference between then and now is that our understanding of computing has moved from discrete machines to the cloud and apps. Computing has become so diffuse and the language around it so arcane that it’s easier to just see it all as [waves hands] “cloud stuff.” Companies have taken to calling your laptop “the intelligent edge,” for heaven’s sake!
What that means is that when it comes to integrating, securing, and trusting technology in our elections, there is a huge miasmic cloud of “tech stuff” to worry about, and it’s all too easy to just assume somebody else is handling it. Knowing the basics of how apps get installed on phones and interact with the cloud is no longer the stuff of expert coders, and we need to raise our expectations for basic literacy on that.
We shouldn’t expect everybody to know how to navigate the tech maze, but at the very least we all need to do a better job of knowing when to stop and ask for directions.
(p.s. I know “caucus” and “fracas” don’t technically rhyme but I couldn’t help myself.)
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Coronavirus
It’s not looking great for the biggest mobile phone show of the year, Mobile World Congress, which is set to take place in Barcelona this month:
More on Google
Google’s note on this seems wildly insufficient. At minimum, people should be informed exactly what videos of theirs were accidentally provided to other users.
In yesterday’s newsletter I was a little sloppy and quoted an old number from a story for Apple’s developer payouts ($120 billion) instead of more clearly citing the newer one ($155 billion). A couple of readers wanted me to expand on the reasons for the gap between Apple’s number and Google’s $80 billion, specifically that Apple’s number included money distributed in China while Google’s doesn’t. Fair, but I don’t know if that difference really makes up the gap for Android developers — the overall point still stands that despite Android’s larger numbers, there still seems to be more money in making iPhone apps.
Here’s that promised analysis of YouTube’s $15 billion revenue number from Julia Alexander.
More from The Verge
When all you have is a hammer...
We talk a lot about how the central problem with broadband access is the lack of fiber cable infrastructure. Google Fiber’s travails are a good example of how hard it is to actually get that done. Nick Statt points out that Google was paying much higher fees to get access to TV content than other broadband providers who also just happen to be cable companies, which is another limiting factor to new players trying to lay fiber that I hadn’t considered.
Ashley Carman is one of the world’s best reporters on how seemingly small product decisions influence personal behavior and — in this case — culture. It’s absolutely wild to think about how multi-million dollar productions feel pressure to adopt the same tropes that YouTubers use to engage their audiences as a way to boost their chances in the algorithm.


theverge--2020-02-05--Motorola’s foldable Razr looks even better in gold

A gold version of Motorola ’ s upcoming foldable Razr has been leaked by Evan Blass , and the color scheme could be our favorite version yet .
The highly anticipated return of the Razr is currently only available in black on Verizon ’ s site for $ 1,499 and a March 3rd delivery .
There ’ s no word on when the gold version might be available , or whether it will carry a price premium .
Blass doesn ’ t share any details about the specs of the leaked handset , so we ’ re assuming that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the standard “ Noir Black ” Razr .
These specs include a mid-range Snapdragon 710 processor , and a 6.2-inch foldable plastic OLED panel , which Motorola worryingly warns may be prone to developing “ bumps and lumps.
” Meanwhile , multiple rumors suggest that Samsung is preparing to launch a phone with a very similar form-factor next week called the Galaxy Z Flip alongside its Galaxy S20 lineup .
The upcoming foldable is thought to include an “ Ultra Thin Glass ” display , which could be more durable than the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Samsung first-generation Fold .

A gold version of Motorola’s upcoming foldable Razr has been leaked by Evan Blass, and the color scheme could be our favorite version yet. The highly anticipated return of the Razr is currently only available in black on Verizon’s site for $1,499 and a March 3rd delivery. There’s no word on when the gold version might be available, or whether it will carry a price premium.
Blass doesn’t share any details about the specs of the leaked handset, so we’re assuming that the gold model will feature the same specs as the standard “Noir Black” Razr. These specs include a mid-range Snapdragon 710 processor, and a 6.2-inch foldable plastic OLED panel, which Motorola worryingly warns may be prone to developing “bumps and lumps.”
Beyond the new color, the rest of the handset appears unchanged. Image: Evan Blass


theverge--2020-02-05--Your Philips Hue light bulbs can still be hacked — and until recently, your network

Four years ago , security researchers showed how a flying drone could hack an entire room full of Philips Hue smart light bulbs from outside a building , by setting off a virus-like chain reaction that jumped from bulb to bulb .
Today , we ’ re learning that vulnerability never got fully fixed — and now , researchers have figured out a way to exploit that very same issue to potentially infiltrate your home or corporate network , unless you install a patch .
That ’ s the word from cybersecurity research firm Check Point Software , and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safe from the worst part of the hack .
If the Philips Hue Hub that controls your bulbs is connected to the internet , it should have automatically updated itself to version 1935144040 by now , which contains the patch you want .
( Check Point informed Philips in November , and a patch was issued mid-January . )
I just checked my own hub ’ s firmware version in the Philips Hue app , and I ’ m good .
It ’ s also nice to know it might have taken a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this vulnerability in the first place .
In addition to presumably uploading a malicious over-the-air update to a Hue bulb ( the technique used in 2016 ) , it relies on messing with that hacked bulb ’ s color and brightness long enough to trick the owner into resetting and re-adding that bulb to their own network , at which point the hacked bulb overwhelms the Hue Hub with data , taking control of the Hub in turn .
Here ’ s how Check Point explains that part : The hacker-controlled bulb with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vulnerabilities to trigger a heap-based buffer overflow on the control bridge , by sending a large amount of data to it .
This data also enables the hacker to install malware on the bridge – which is in turn connected to the target business or home network .
But it appears that once again , the bulbs themselves may still be vulnerable to hacks .
When that flying drone set off a miniature IoT virus in 2016 , companies found a way to solve for that worst-case scenario by restricting those bulb-to-bulb hops @ @ @ @ @ @ @ due to design limitations ” , the bulb ’ s vulnerability remained , leading to the new hack — and perhaps other yet-to-be-discovered hacks in our future , as long as these bulbs remain in service .
Leaving these bulbs vulnerable might be more dangerous than simply letting a hacker flick on and off your lights at will .
And though Check Point hasn ’ t necessarily tested other brands yet , its researchers claim this vulnerability may not be limited to Philips Hue bulbs and hubs .
It ’ s in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smart home brands , including Amazon ’ s Ring , Samsung SmartThings , Ikea Tradfri , Belkin ’ s WeMo , as well as Yale locks , Honeywell thermostats , and Comcast ’ s Xfinity Home alarm system .
It ’ s going to be interesting to see how many of the devices homeowners and businesses have purchased — ones they presumably expect to last for years — might open them up to security vulnerabilities years down the road .
And we ’ re still wondering when the next massive IoT botnet built @ @ @ @ @ @ @ head , as well .

Four years ago, security researchers showed how a flying drone could hack an entire room full of Philips Hue smart light bulbs from outside a building, by setting off a virus-like chain reaction that jumped from bulb to bulb. Today, we’re learning that vulnerability never got fully fixed — and now, researchers have figured out a way to exploit that very same issue to potentially infiltrate your home or corporate network, unless you install a patch.
That’s the word from cybersecurity research firm Check Point Software, and the good news is you should already be safe from the worst part of the hack. If the Philips Hue Hub that controls your bulbs is connected to the internet, it should have automatically updated itself to version 1935144040 by now, which contains the patch you want. (Check Point informed Philips in November, and a patch was issued mid-January.) I just checked my own hub’s firmware version in the Philips Hue app, and I’m good.
Related How to check and update your Philips Hue firmware
It’s also nice to know it might have taken a fairly clever, patient hacker to exploit this vulnerability in the first place. In addition to presumably uploading a malicious over-the-air update to a Hue bulb (the technique used in 2016), it relies on messing with that hacked bulb’s color and brightness long enough to trick the owner into resetting and re-adding that bulb to their own network, at which point the hacked bulb overwhelms the Hue Hub with data, taking control of the Hub in turn. Here’s how Check Point explains that part:
The hacker-controlled bulb with updated firmware then uses the ZigBee protocol vulnerabilities to trigger a heap-based buffer overflow on the control bridge, by sending a large amount of data to it. This data also enables the hacker to install malware on the bridge – which is in turn connected to the target business or home network.
But it appears that once again, the bulbs themselves may still be vulnerable to hacks. When that flying drone set off a miniature IoT virus in 2016, companies found a way to solve for that worst-case scenario by restricting those bulb-to-bulb hops, writes Check Point. But “due to design limitations”, the bulb’s vulnerability remained, leading to the new hack — and perhaps other yet-to-be-discovered hacks in our future, as long as these bulbs remain in service. Leaving these bulbs vulnerable might be more dangerous than simply letting a hacker flick on and off your lights at will.
And though Check Point hasn’t necessarily tested other brands yet, its researchers claim this vulnerability may not be limited to Philips Hue bulbs and hubs. It’s in the Zigbee communications protocol used by loads of smart home brands, including Amazon’s Ring, Samsung SmartThings, Ikea Tradfri, Belkin’s WeMo, as well as Yale locks, Honeywell thermostats, and Comcast’s Xfinity Home alarm system.


theverge--2020-02-05--The Iowa caucus debacle shows why tech and voting don’t mix

Heading into 2020 election , our minds — my mind — have often been focused on the election of 2016 .
How will Russia attempt to interfere ?
What role will misinformation play in the outcome ?
Will tech platforms play a deciding role ?
The problem with fighting the last war , of course , is that the next war always plays out differently .
You plan for threats that may no longer exist , or have transformed into something you won ’ t recognize .
Meanwhile , new disasters lurk outside your field of view .
The threat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you from the thing that ’ s gon na get you today .
Which brings us to The App .
Here ’ s Elizabeth Lopatto in The Verge : There ’ s a lot to say about The App — who made it , how it failed , and why it matters — but the first thing to say is that the actual voting process , however flawed the Iowa caucuses may be , went off just fine .
People voted ; their votes were counted and written down on paper “ preference @ @ @ @ @ @ @ collected for safekeeping in the event of the need for a recount .
Messy as the counting was , in other words , the vote went off just fine , and some healthy portion of Monday night ’ s breathless coverage can be written off as the disappointment of a cable-news chattering class that found itself unexpectedly without anything to chatter about .
( See L.M .
Sacasas on the Iowa caucuses as a “ pseudo-event ” and how the lack of instant results last night eliminates the point of holding them : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ capacity to extend care toward the past or the future.
” ) Still , there were some obvious lessons to be drawn from The App ’ s failure .
One , misinformation loves a vacuum .
When Democratic officials said that results would be delayed while they were vetted , Trump associates pounced , asserting that the contest must have been rigged .
It was part of a sustained effort on the right to delegitimize the contest ’ s winner , which also included a viral article from Judicial Watch falsely suggesting that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It now seems clear that legitimacy will be a primary battleground of the 2020 election .
Partisans of the losing candidate will be quick to declare widespread fraud on the slightest of evidence , and partisans of the winning candidate will be called to marshal incontrovertible evidence of their victory .
Two , the use of new technology in elections should be treated with skepticism and perhaps even hostility .
Keeping elections as analog as possible is an article of faith for close observers of the technology world — here ’ s a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , citing concerns from 2000 — but the message seems not to have reached Democrats .
The party contracted with a for-profit company called Shadow to build an app to transmit caucus results to the Iowa Democratic Party , but it didn ’ t work .
Many precinct captains struggled even to install the app , which required that they go through a process outside the usual app installation process .
It seemed clear that the app had not been adequately tested before Monday .
As Kevin Roose put it in the New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ debacle is already reshaping other primaries .
Nevada , which also employs a caucus system , had planned to use The App to conduct its primary on Feb. 22nd .
On Tuesday , Nevada Democrats said they had abandoned that plan .
That caucus will now be under much more scrutiny than it had been before — and it remains unclear how good the party ’ s Plan B is .
In the meantime , prominent Democrats are calling for the end to the Iowa caucuses altogether .
Here ’ s Senate Minority @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Morning Joe : Neither , sadly , is the technology upon which Iowa Democrats relied .
And if The App indeed does end the caucus for good , it will be a most familiar Silicon Valley story : an untested new technology emerging , seemingly from out of nowhere , to topple what came before .
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms .
Trending down : Trump expanded his travel ban to more countries , but this time Silicon Valley isn ’ t speaking out .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ban first was first announced , executives from Amazon , Apple And Google have been silent .
Trending down : A bug in Google Takeout exported some people ’ s videos in Google Photos to get exported to strangers ’ archives last November .
This story pairs well with this weekend ’ s Super Bowl ad in which Google asks you to share all of your most intimate data with it .
⭐ A group of powerful companies including Disney , IBM and Marriott are trying to weaken Section 230 .
Each has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the law , but all see an opportunity with Democrats and Republicans voicing their concerns over tech power .
David McCabe at The New York Times reports : Makan Delrahim , the head of the antitrust division at the Department of Justice , recused himself from the Google investigation due to a conflict of interest .
In 2007 , prior to working in government , Delrahim had a contract to lobby for Google ’ s acquisition of the adtech company DoubleClick .
( Cecilia Kang / The New York Times ) Some of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz , are pouring money into Democratic groups that will back the eventual presidential nominee .
The donations suggest that even as candidates like Elizabeth Warren bash Big Tech in the primary , they may need industry money for the general election .
( Theodore Schleifer / Recode ) Bernie Sanders poured money into a last-minute ad campaign on Facebook prior to the caucuses in Iowa .
He spent $ 795,000 on the site from January 26th to February 1st , more than any of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Banga spoke out about Facebook ’ s planned cryptocurrency project Libra .
He said he liked the idea of a global currency , but concerns over compliance and the business model led him to withdraw from the association of companies backing the project .
( Robert Armstrong / Financial Times ) Harvard called off an online harassment training for journalists after a speaker was linked to the prominent spyware vendor NSO Group .
The company has been linked to several hacks against journalists in countries like Saudi Arabia , Kazakhstan , and Bahrain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) The UK government ’ s artificial intelligence advisory group has called for regulation on how social media companies target ads .
In a new report , they said that “ existing regulation is out of step with the public ’ s expectations.
” ( Ryan Browne / CNBC ) In China , despite the government ’ s vast surveillance network , authorities are asking neighbors to inform on one another as they try to contain the coronavirus outbreak .
It ’ s a familiar authoritarian technique that shows even a country with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ human surveillance .
( Paul Mozur / The New York Times ) Jeff Bezos paid more than $ 16,000 in parking tickets while renovating his mansion in Washington , DC .
The tickets mostly came from Bezos-employed contractors ignoring “ no parking ” signs , parking in spots reserved for residents , or blocking crosswalks and obstructing pedestrians ’ paths .
( Ashley Carman / The Verge ) ⭐ Instagram , the photo-sharing app Facebook bought for $ 715 million in 2012 , brought in about $ 20 billion in advertising revenue in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a quarter of the social-media company ’ s revenue last year , say Bloomberg ’ s Sarah Frier and Nico Grant : ⭐ Snap released its fourth-quarter earnings , reporting revenue of $ 561 million , slightly missing analysts ’ expectations .
On the plus side , user growth was a healthy 17 percent .
But the news sent shares plunging as much as 14 percent anyway .
( Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC ) Jigsaw , an organization owned by Google ’ s parent company Alphabet , unveiled a free tool to help @ @ @ @ @ @ @ created with the help of artificial intelligence .
( Davey Alba / The New York Times ) Facebook updated Messenger Kids with new options for parents to see and control how their children use the messaging app .
Parents will now be able to see more details about who their children are messaging with , whether they ’ re video calling them , and a history of anyone they ’ ve blocked in the app .
( Parents should also still not download or use Messenger Kids . )
( Jon Porter / @ @ @ @ @ @ @ short-form video app built by Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann , has been downloaded more than 1.3 million times during its first week .
It ’ s also had to confront a flood of spam from bots filling the comments sections with follow requests .
( Sarah Perez / TechCrunch ) TikTok is testing a user profile redesign that ’ s remarkably similar to Instagram .
The new profile shifts avatars and follow count to the left , and places more emphasis on user bios .
( Dami Lee / The Verge ) Teenagers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with hard-to-parse user data that can ’ t be tied to a single person .
It ’ s a fascinating response to young people ’ s anxieties over surveillance .
Teens !
( Alfred Ng / CNET ) Send us tips , comments , questions , and Iowa caucus results : casey @ theverge.com and zoe @ theverge.com .

Heading into 2020 election, our minds — my mind — have often been focused on the election of 2016. How will Russia attempt to interfere? What role will misinformation play in the outcome? Will tech platforms play a deciding role?
The problem with fighting the last war, of course, is that the next war always plays out differently. You plan for threats that may no longer exist, or have transformed into something you won’t recognize. Meanwhile, new disasters lurk outside your field of view. The threat that overwhelmed you last time might distract you from the thing that’s gonna get you today.
Several precincts in Iowa said that workers are having trouble using a new app to report caucus results. People were unable to download or log into the app, Bloomberg News reported earlier today. That meant caucus workers had to call in their results, delaying their reporting as the phone lines jammed. Originally, the Iowa Democratic party said the delay was due to “quality checks.” Results are now expected to be released later on Tuesday. A letter from the Biden campaign castigated the leaders of the Iowa Democratic party, saying that both the app and the backup system of calling in results over the phone failed. “These acute failures are occurring statewide,” the letter said. One county chair, Tom Courtney of Des Moines, told The Associated Press that the app was “a mess.”
There’s a lot to say about The App — who made it, how it failed, and why it matters — but the first thing to say is that the actual voting process, however flawed the Iowa caucuses may be, went off just fine. People voted; their votes were counted and written down on paper “preference cards,” and those cards were collected for safekeeping in the event of the need for a recount.
Messy as the counting was, in other words, the vote went off just fine, and some healthy portion of Monday night’s breathless coverage can be written off as the disappointment of a cable-news chattering class that found itself unexpectedly without anything to chatter about. (See L.M. Sacasas on the Iowa caucuses as a “pseudo-event” and how the lack of instant results last night eliminates the point of holding them: “The habit of immediacy atrophies the capacity to extend care toward the past or the future.”)
Still, there were some obvious lessons to be drawn from The App’s failure.
One, misinformation loves a vacuum. When Democratic officials said that results would be delayed while they were vetted, Trump associates pounced, asserting that the contest must have been rigged. It was part of a sustained effort on the right to delegitimize the contest’s winner, which also included a viral article from Judicial Watch falsely suggesting that Iowa had a voter fraud problem. It now seems clear that legitimacy will be a primary battleground of the 2020 election. Partisans of the losing candidate will be quick to declare widespread fraud on the slightest of evidence, and partisans of the winning candidate will be called to marshal incontrovertible evidence of their victory.
As Kevin Roose put it in the New York Times:
Using a proprietary app to report vote totals is the kind of thing that sounds simple on a start-up’s whiteboard but utterly falls apart in a chaotic real-world environment, where connections drop, phones malfunction and poorly tested apps strain under a surge of traffic. Add an army of frenzied poll workers, impatient voters and twitchy news media, and you might as well have asked the caucus workers to whip up their own JavaScript.
Third, the Iowa debacle is already reshaping other primaries. Nevada, which also employs a caucus system, had planned to use The App to conduct its primary on Feb. 22nd. On Tuesday, Nevada Democrats said they had abandoned that plan. That caucus will now be under much more scrutiny than it had been before — and it remains unclear how good the party’s Plan B is.
“As we try to make voting easier for people across America, the Iowa caucus is the most painful situation we currently face for voting,” he said. “People who work all day, pick up the kids at day care, do you think they’re headed to the caucus next? Of course not. We’ve got to have a means for people to express themselves that is reliable. Unfortunately, the caucus system is not.”
Neither, sadly, is the technology upon which Iowa Democrats relied. And if The App indeed does end the caucus for good, it will be a most familiar Silicon Valley story: an untested new technology emerging, seemingly from out of nowhere, to topple what came before.
The Ratio
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms.
🔽 Trending down: Trump expanded his travel ban to more countries, but this time Silicon Valley isn’t speaking out. Unlike in 2017, when the travel ban first was first announced, executives from Amazon, Apple And Google have been silent.
🔽 Trending down: A bug in Google Takeout exported some people’s videos in Google Photos to get exported to strangers’ archives last November. This story pairs well with this weekend’s Super Bowl ad in which Google asks you to share all of your most intimate data with it.
Governing
⭐ A group of powerful companies including Disney, IBM and Marriott are trying to weaken Section 230. Each has their own reasons for wanting to scrap the law, but all see an opportunity with Democrats and Republicans voicing their concerns over tech power. David McCabe at The New York Times reports:
The companies’ motivations vary somewhat. Hollywood is concerned about copyright abuse, especially abroad, while Marriott would like to make it harder for Airbnb to fight local hotel laws. IBM wants consumer online services to be more responsible for the content on their sites. But they all see an opening as both Democrats and Republicans increasingly raise their own concerns about the power of the tech industry and the law. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 has helped Facebook, Google and YouTube grow into giants by holding only the people who post the billions of pieces of content on their services responsible for libel or other legal issues.
Makan Delrahim, the head of the antitrust division at the Department of Justice, recused himself from the Google investigation due to a conflict of interest. In 2007, prior to working in government, Delrahim had a contract to lobby for Google’s acquisition of the adtech company DoubleClick. (Cecilia Kang / The New York Times)
Some of tech’s wealthiest citizens, including LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, are pouring money into Democratic groups that will back the eventual presidential nominee. The donations suggest that even as candidates like Elizabeth Warren bash Big Tech in the primary, they may need industry money for the general election. (Theodore Schleifer / Recode)
Bernie Sanders poured money into a last-minute ad campaign on Facebook prior to the caucuses in Iowa. He spent $795,000 on the site from January 26th to February 1st, more than any of his Democratic rivals.
Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga spoke out about Facebook’s planned cryptocurrency project Libra. He said he liked the idea of a global currency, but concerns over compliance and the business model led him to withdraw from the association of companies backing the project. (Robert Armstrong / Financial Times)
Harvard called off an online harassment training for journalists after a speaker was linked to the prominent spyware vendor NSO Group. The company has been linked to several hacks against journalists in countries like Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, and Bahrain. (Russell Brandom / The Verge)
The UK government’s artificial intelligence advisory group has called for regulation on how social media companies target ads. In a new report, they said that “existing regulation is out of step with the public’s expectations.” (Ryan Browne / CNBC)
In China, despite the government’s vast surveillance network, authorities are asking neighbors to inform on one another as they try to contain the coronavirus outbreak. It’s a familiar authoritarian technique that shows even a country with sophisticated facial recognition system still relies on human surveillance. (Paul Mozur / The New York Times)
Jeff Bezos paid more than $16,000 in parking tickets while renovating his mansion in Washington, DC. The tickets mostly came from Bezos-employed contractors ignoring “no parking” signs, parking in spots reserved for residents, or blocking crosswalks and obstructing pedestrians’ paths. (Ashley Carman / The Verge)
Industry
⭐ Instagram, the photo-sharing app Facebook bought for $715 million in 2012, brought in about $20 billion in advertising revenue in 2019. That’s more than a quarter of the social-media company’s revenue last year, say Bloomberg’s Sarah Frier and Nico Grant:
Instagram has become increasingly central to Facebook’s future, with users and advertisers flocking to the app even as sales growth slows at the main social network. Still, Facebook doesn’t disclose revenue for Instagram separately in earnings reports, instead preferring to highlight the integration of its properties, branding them as a “family of apps.” The team in charge of direct messaging on Instagram, for example, now reports to the Facebook Messenger team, and the company is changing Instagram’s branding to “Instagram from Facebook.” Instagram has more than 1 billion users, a figure Facebook hasn’t updated since 2018.
⭐ Snap released its fourth-quarter earnings, reporting revenue of $561 million, slightly missing analysts’ expectations. On the plus side, user growth was a healthy 17 percent. But the news sent shares plunging as much as 14 percent anyway. (Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC)
Jigsaw, an organization owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, unveiled a free tool to help journalists spot doctored photographs — even ones created with the help of artificial intelligence. (Davey Alba / The New York Times)
Facebook updated Messenger Kids with new options for parents to see and control how their children use the messaging app. Parents will now be able to see more details about who their children are messaging with, whether they’re video calling them, and a history of anyone they’ve blocked in the app. (Parents should also still not download or use Messenger Kids.) (Jon Porter / The Verge)
Byte, a new short-form video app built by Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann, has been downloaded more than 1.3 million times during its first week. It’s also had to confront a flood of spam from bots filling the comments sections with follow requests. (Sarah Perez / TechCrunch)
TikTok is testing a user profile redesign that’s remarkably similar to Instagram. The new profile shifts avatars and follow count to the left, and places more emphasis on user bios. (Dami Lee / The Verge)
Teenagers are using group accounts to flood Instagram with hard-to-parse user data that can’t be tied to a single person. It’s a fascinating response to young people’s anxieties over surveillance. Teens! (Alfred Ng / CNET)
And finally...
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theverge--2020-02-05--Rise of Skywalker’s VFX reel shows how Leia was brought back for the finale

Regardless of whether you agree with the decision to bring back the late Carrie Fisher to reprise her role as Leia in The Rise of Skywalker , at the very least it ’ s an impressive technical achievement .
Now , a new visual effects ( VFX ) breakdown from Industrial Light & Magic has shed more light on the process , while also offering a peek behind the curtain at some of the movie ’ s other big set pieces such as Rey ’ s leap over Kylo ’ s TIE Silencer , or the film ’ s final @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surprising to learn just how much of Fisher ’ s scenes were digital .
While her face itself came from unused footage from The Force Awakens , her costume and hair were digitally created to give them a new appearance in the latest movie .
Meanwhile , the scenes of a young Leia training with Luke used raw footage from the original films , Vanity Fair reports , before being digitally inserted over stand-in actors — including Carrie Fisher ’ s daughter Billie Lourd .
You can read more about the process in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Skywalker is nominated for best visual effects at the Oscars It ’ s a small detail , but I really appreciate learning that real horses were used as the basis for the orbaks in the final battle sequence .
The horses were placed in costume , before CGI was used to completely transform them .
It was a completely different story when Ewan McGregor was filming Revenge of the Sith back in 2005 , when he says he had to awkwardly wiggle his body while sitting on a static green box to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Other neat details from the reel include the fact that the entire ocean that swirled around Rey and Kylo during their battle on the Death Star ’ s ruins was CGI .
Although real water was used to soak the actors , this had to be edited out to be consistent with the 4.2 million gallons of water that was simulated in the environment .
Oh , and in case you were wondering how many ships take part in the film ’ s final climactic battle , it ’ s 16,000 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hours of processing time .
The Rise of Skywalker ’ s special effects have earned it an Oscar nomination for best visual effects , where it will compete against Avengers : Endgame , The Irishman , The Lion King , and 1917 on February 10th .

Regardless of whether you agree with the decision to bring back the late Carrie Fisher to reprise her role as Leia in The Rise of Skywalker, at the very least it’s an impressive technical achievement. Now, a new visual effects (VFX) breakdown from Industrial Light & Magic has shed more light on the process, while also offering a peek behind the curtain at some of the movie’s other big set pieces such as Rey’s leap over Kylo’s TIE Silencer, or the film’s final space battle.
It’s particularly surprising to learn just how much of Fisher’s scenes were digital. While her face itself came from unused footage from The Force Awakens, her costume and hair were digitally created to give them a new appearance in the latest movie. Meanwhile, the scenes of a young Leia training with Luke used raw footage from the original films, Vanity Fair reports, before being digitally inserted over stand-in actors — including Carrie Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd. You can read more about the process in this feature from last year.
Rise of Skywalker is nominated for best visual effects at the Oscars
It’s a small detail, but I really appreciate learning that real horses were used as the basis for the orbaks in the final battle sequence. The horses were placed in costume, before CGI was used to completely transform them. It was a completely different story when Ewan McGregor was filming Revenge of the Sith back in 2005, when he says he had to awkwardly wiggle his body while sitting on a static green box to simulate the motion of riding an eopie.
Other neat details from the reel include the fact that the entire ocean that swirled around Rey and Kylo during their battle on the Death Star’s ruins was CGI. Although real water was used to soak the actors, this had to be edited out to be consistent with the 4.2 million gallons of water that was simulated in the environment. Oh, and in case you were wondering how many ships take part in the film’s final climactic battle, it’s 16,000, and rendering them all took 8.4 million hours of processing time.


theverge--2020-02-04--Google’s Pixel Repair Tool might be a faster way to get your Android updates

If the over-the-air updates aren ’ t arriving to your Pixel phone fast enough and you can ’ t stop checking the system update menu , there ’ s a new way to install updates manually : Google ’ s repair tool .
All you need is a web browser , a USB cable and a computer , as 9to5Google reports , instead of the previous method that made you install a chunk of Android ’ s software development kit and type text commands into a terminal just to sideload an update onto your phone .
The process is not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ll want to read these step by step instructions carefully .
You ’ ll need a Pixel 3 or newer phone with Android 10 , and a computer with a browser version that supports WebUSB , including the latest versions of Chrome , Edge , or Opera , to make it work .
Before you get started , make sure you back up your phone ’ s data just in case .
Then , head over to the repair tool landing page where you ’ ll select your phone ’ s carrier .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ steps , and show you any recommended updates available to install .
Note that if there are no updates available , the system will ask if you want to do a factory reset of your phone , which most users will want to avoid — but that ’ s why you backed up your phone , right ?

If the over-the-air updates aren’t arriving to your Pixel phone fast enough and you can’t stop checking the system update menu, there’s a new way to install updates manually: Google’s repair tool. All you need is a web browser, a USB cable and a computer, as 9to5Google reports , instead of the previous method that made you install a chunk of Android’s software development kit and type text commands into a terminal just to sideload an update onto your phone.
The process is not without some risk, so you’ll want to read these step by step instructions carefully . You’ll need a Pixel 3 or newer phone with Android 10, and a computer with a browser version that supports WebUSB , including the latest versions of Chrome, Edge, or Opera, to make it work.
Before you get started, make sure you back up your phone’s data just in case. Then, head over to the repair tool landing page where you’ll select your phone’s carrier. The tool should walk you through the steps, and show you any recommended updates available to install. Note that if there are no updates available, the system will ask if you want to do a factory reset of your phone, which most users will want to avoid — but that’s why you backed up your phone, right?


theverge--2020-02-04--New Oculus Quest update makes controller-free hand tracking much easier

Oculus ’ s newest update for its wireless Oculus Quest VR headset should make tracking your hands in virtual reality without a controller much easier ( via UploadVR ) .
Controller-free hand tracking was first rolled out for Quest headsets in December , but it users had to manually toggle it on and off from the main menu each time they wanted to use it .
After installing the new “ v13 ” update , though , if you have controller-free hand tracking switched on in your Oculus Quest ’ s settings menu , you should just be able to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your Quest start tracking your hands .
We haven ’ t been able to test the feature ourselves , but you can get an idea of what it ’ s supposed to look like in this video from UploadVR : As cool as the feature looks , though , there isn ’ t much you can do with it just yet .
There aren ’ t any games on the Oculus Store that support controller-free hand tracking right now , according to UploadVR , so it ’ s only something you can play @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apps and in the virtual Oculus Home launcher .
And the hand-tracking option is still in the “ Experimental ” tab of Settings , reports UploadVR , so it ’ s likely Oculus may tinker with how the technology works in future updates .

Oculus’s newest update for its wireless Oculus Quest VR headset should make tracking your hands in virtual reality without a controller much easier (via UploadVR).
Controller-free hand tracking was first rolled out for Quest headsets in December, but it users had to manually toggle it on and off from the main menu each time they wanted to use it. After installing the new “v13” update, though, if you have controller-free hand tracking switched on in your Oculus Quest’s settings menu, you should just be able to put your Touch controllers down to have your Quest start tracking your hands.
We haven’t been able to test the feature ourselves, but you can get an idea of what it’s supposed to look like in this video from UploadVR:
As cool as the feature looks, though, there isn’t much you can do with it just yet. There aren’t any games on the Oculus Store that support controller-free hand tracking right now, according to UploadVR, so it’s only something you can play with in the Quest’s built-in apps and in the virtual Oculus Home launcher. And the hand-tracking option is still in the “Experimental” tab of Settings, reports UploadVR, so it’s likely Oculus may tinker with how the technology works in future updates.


theverge--2020-02-05--Apple now sells more watches than the entire Swiss watch industry

The Apple Watch wasn ’ t just the best-selling smartwatch last year , but also put the Swiss watch industry to shame , according to new sales estimates compiled by Strategy Analytics .
The report estimates Apple shipped nearly 31 million units in 2019 , a 36 percent jump over last year .
The Swiss watch industry , which includes brands like Swatch and TAG Heuer , only shipped an estimated 21.1 million units , a 13 percent decline , Strategy Analytics says .
While Apple doesn ’ t break out specific Apple Watch unit sales in its quarterly earnings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ partners and other vendors to arrive at its sales estimates .
“ Analog wristwatches remain popular among older consumers , but younger buyers are tipping toward smartwatches and computerized wristwear , ” writes Neil Mawston , executive director at Strategy Analytics .
According to fellow Strategy Analytics analyst Steven Waltzer , “ Traditional Swiss watch makers , like Swatch and Tissot , are losing the smartwatch wars .
Apple Watch is delivering a better product through deeper retail channels and appealing to younger consumers who increasingly want digital wristwear .
The window for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in smartwatches is closing.
” The Apple Watch has been the market leader in the smartwatch category for many years now and once surpassed the Swiss watch industry in quarterly sales in 2017 , but this is the first full year the product surpassed its analog competitor , MacRumors notes .

The Apple Watch wasn’t just the best-selling smartwatch last year, but also put the Swiss watch industry to shame, according to new sales estimates compiled by Strategy Analytics. The report estimates Apple shipped nearly 31 million units in 2019, a 36 percent jump over last year. The Swiss watch industry, which includes brands like Swatch and TAG Heuer, only shipped an estimated 21.1 million units, a 13 percent decline, Strategy Analytics says.
While Apple doesn’t break out specific Apple Watch unit sales in its quarterly earnings, Strategy Analytics gathers data from retail partners and other vendors to arrive at its sales estimates. “Analog wristwatches remain popular among older consumers, but younger buyers are tipping toward smartwatches and computerized wristwear,” writes Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics.
According to fellow Strategy Analytics analyst Steven Waltzer, “Traditional Swiss watch makers, like Swatch and Tissot, are losing the smartwatch wars. Apple Watch is delivering a better product through deeper retail channels and appealing to younger consumers who increasingly want digital wristwear. The window for Swiss watch brands to make an impact in smartwatches is closing.”


theverge--2020-02-05--Apple’s ‘CarKey’ might let you unlock your car with your iPhone

Apple released the first beta of iOS 13.4 today , and it apparently has an unannounced feature that might let you unlock , lock , and start your car with your iPhone or Apple Watch , as spotted by 9to5Mac .
The iOS 13.4 beta has references to a new “ CarKey ” API , according to 9to5Mac , which could let you hold your iPhone or Apple Watch near an NFC-compatible car to use your phone as a key .
Your digital key may live in your device ’ s Wallet app , and you might be able to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wallet app to someone else ’ s Apple device , perhaps a family member or trusted friend .
Some carmakers already let you use your phone as a digital car key through their apps , but they can have some limitations .
Hyundai has a digital key app , but only for Android , and the app only works with the 2020 Sonata , for example .
Your car may need to have specific features , like how Volvo ’ s On Call app requires a vehicle with a “ Volvo on Call @ @ @ @ @ @ @ version of a digital car key would be more tightly integrated with your iPhone or Apple Watch and work with more cars .
This is only the first beta of iOS 13.4 , though , and it ’ s unclear when the final version of that might come out or if CarKey will be included when it does .

Apple released the first beta of iOS 13.4 today, and it apparently has an unannounced feature that might let you unlock, lock, and start your car with your iPhone or Apple Watch, as spotted by 9to5Mac.
The iOS 13.4 beta has references to a new “CarKey” API, according to 9to5Mac, which could let you hold your iPhone or Apple Watch near an NFC-compatible car to use your phone as a key. Your digital key may live in your device’s Wallet app, and you might be able to share your digital car key via the Wallet app to someone else’s Apple device, perhaps a family member or trusted friend.
Some carmakers already let you use your phone as a digital car key through their apps, but they can have some limitations. Hyundai has a digital key app, but only for Android, and the app only works with the 2020 Sonata, for example. Your car may need to have specific features, like how Volvo’s On Call app requires a vehicle with a “Volvo on Call Telematics Unit.” Perhaps Apple’s version of a digital car key would be more tightly integrated with your iPhone or Apple Watch and work with more cars.


theverge--2020-02-05--Motherboard just published the terrible app that caused chaos at the Iowa caucuses

The IowaRecorder app , the shoddy mobile software developed to tally votes in the state ’ s Democratic caucuses on Monday that threw the entire event into a tailspin , was just published online by Motherboard .
According to editor-in-chief Jason Koebler , “ Trust and transparency are core to the US electoral process , ” and “ that ’ s why Motherboard is publishing the app that malfunctioned in Iowa.
” “ The app ’ s failure — and the widespread attention this failure has received — spurred chaos on election night , followed by speculation , conspiracy theories @ @ @ @ @ @ @ writes in an article that contains a link to the Android APK file , which anyone can download and sideload onto a compatible Android smartphone .
“ To try to combat that misinformation , it ’ s necessary to offer complete transparency on what the app is , what it can and can not do , and why it failed.
” The app itself was developed by a for-profit company called Shadow Inc. , which has financial ties to numerous Democratic political campaigns and was primarily funded by the progressive nonprofit Acronym .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ malfunctioned on the night of the Iowa Caucuses , the software was hastily put together by people lacking adequate technical experience and rushed out the door in less than two months time .
Motherboard has a separate article alongside the one containing the app link that features numerous perspectives and analysis from tech and security professionals , one of which said the software looks basically like an app built by a student learning how to program and following online tutorials .
And Instead of going through proper app store review processes conducted by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing platforms like Apple ’ s TestFlight to distribute the software so it could meet the Monday deadline .
So when it came time for the app to do its most critical role — letting Democratic precinct leaders report results from Iowa on Monday — it failed in every way imaginable .
Some users couldn ’ t even download it to begin with , while others found logging in difficult and those that did get through found the app buggy and non-responsive .
The result was that votes weren ’ t fully tallied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and even now on Wednesday , the Iowa Democratic Party is still attempting to correct reporting errors in the aftermath of the app disaster .
“ By decompiling and analyzing it , it ’ s possible to learn more about how the app was built.
” Now , Motherboard is putting the app out in the wild to help experts further explore what exactly went wrong on Monday , how election tech like this can fail , and to promote more aggressive testing and security vetting of new and potentially risky election software @ @ @ @ @ @ @ firm that analyzed the app found it to be vulnerable to hacking ; for some reason , the Iowa Democratic Party declined an offer by the Department of Homeland Security to test the app in advance .
“ Motherboard obtained a copy of the app .
By decompiling and analyzing it , it ’ s possible to learn more about how the app was built and what might have gone wrong during the Iowa caucus , ” Koebler writes .
He adds that Motherboard waited to put the app online until Shadow CEO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ available .
“ Niemira stressed that no voter data could be accessed from the app or from any of the databases it used , ” Koebler explains .
“ What we are publishing is an inert app that is no longer being used for an election , that the DNC has stated will not be used in future elections , and that is no longer connected to backend servers or services .
”

The IowaRecorder app, the shoddy mobile software developed to tally votes in the state’s Democratic caucuses on Monday that threw the entire event into a tailspin, was just published online by Motherboard. According to editor-in-chief Jason Koebler, “Trust and transparency are core to the US electoral process,” and “that’s why Motherboard is publishing the app that malfunctioned in Iowa.”
“The app’s failure — and the widespread attention this failure has received — spurred chaos on election night, followed by speculation, conspiracy theories, and political jockeying,” Koebler writes in an article that contains a link to the Android APK file, which anyone can download and sideload onto a compatible Android smartphone. “To try to combat that misinformation, it’s necessary to offer complete transparency on what the app is, what it can and cannot do, and why it failed.”
The app itself was developed by a for-profit company called Shadow Inc., which has financial ties to numerous Democratic political campaigns and was primarily funded by the progressive nonprofit Acronym. According to numerous reports since the app malfunctioned on the night of the Iowa Caucuses, the software was hastily put together by people lacking adequate technical experience and rushed out the door in less than two months time.
Motherboard has a separate article alongside the one containing the app link that features numerous perspectives and analysis from tech and security professionals, one of which said the software looks basically like an app built by a student learning how to program and following online tutorials.
And Instead of going through proper app store review processes conducted by Apple and Google, Shadow used beta testing platforms like Apple’s TestFlight to distribute the software so it could meet the Monday deadline. So when it came time for the app to do its most critical role — letting Democratic precinct leaders report results from Iowa on Monday — it failed in every way imaginable.
Some users couldn’t even download it to begin with, while others found logging in difficult and those that did get through found the app buggy and non-responsive. The result was that votes weren’t fully tallied until more than a day later, and even now on Wednesday, the Iowa Democratic Party is still attempting to correct reporting errors in the aftermath of the app disaster.
“By decompiling and analyzing it, it’s possible to learn more about how the app was built.”
Now, Motherboard is putting the app out in the wild to help experts further explore what exactly went wrong on Monday, how election tech like this can fail, and to promote more aggressive testing and security vetting of new and potentially risky election software. According to ProPublica, a security firm that analyzed the app found it to be vulnerable to hacking; for some reason, the Iowa Democratic Party declined an offer by the Department of Homeland Security to test the app in advance.
“Motherboard obtained a copy of the app. By decompiling and analyzing it, it’s possible to learn more about how the app was built and what might have gone wrong during the Iowa caucus,” Koebler writes. He adds that Motherboard waited to put the app online until Shadow CEO Gerard Niemira confirmed it was no longer available.


theverge--2020-02-05--Motorola’s new foldable Razr torn down on video before it even hits stores

Motorola ’ s new foldable Razr doesn ’ t officially arrive until next month , but we ’ re already seeing teardowns posted online .
The first is courtesy of PBKReviews , which posted a detailed teardown video of the device and its folding screen before the phone has even shipped to most customers .
The hotly anticipated Razr is available for presale for $ 1,499 , with current orders not shipping until March 3rd , according to Verizon ’ s website .
The throwback to the Moto RAZR flip phone has inspired feelings of nostalgia among those clamoring for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ original preorder and launch dates of the new Razr due to higher-than-expected demand .
But if this first teardown video is any indication , the Razr will be difficult , if not impossible , for most people to try to repair if it breaks .
The new Razr ’ s screen is paper-thin and delicate The 6.2-inch display screen in particular , which is the last part the reviewer gets to , is thin and flexible — as he says , “ paper-thin ” — and looks delicate enough that it could break @ @ @ @ @ @ @ metal frame .
The reviewer doesn ’ t try to pry open the hinge on the video , and he advises heating the glue holding the plastic front cover on the phone to avoid cracking it if you need to lift the cover off .
The video also shows the Razr ’ s two batteries , one on either side of the hinge , and numerous tiny screws and cables that the reviewer carefully removes .
Its bottom half houses the fingerprint scanner , as well as the USB port .
The reviewer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the video creates some glare at times .
The hinge , he notes , is not as “ crease-less ” after rebuilding the phone as it is out of the box , but the body of the phone feels “ very premium , ” he adds .

Motorola’s new foldable Razr doesn’t officially arrive until next month, but we’re already seeing teardowns posted online. The first is courtesy of PBKReviews, which posted a detailed teardown video of the device and its folding screen before the phone has even shipped to most customers. The hotly anticipated Razr is available for presale for $1,499, with current orders not shipping until March 3rd, according to Verizon’s website.
The throwback to the Moto RAZR flip phone has inspired feelings of nostalgia among those clamoring for old-school devices, with Motorola delaying the original preorder and launch dates of the new Razr due to higher-than-expected demand. But if this first teardown video is any indication, the Razr will be difficult, if not impossible, for most people to try to repair if it breaks.
The new Razr’s screen is paper-thin and delicate
The 6.2-inch display screen in particular, which is the last part the reviewer gets to, is thin and flexible — as he says, “paper-thin”— and looks delicate enough that it could break when removed from the phone’s metal frame.
The reviewer doesn’t try to pry open the hinge on the video, and he advises heating the glue holding the plastic front cover on the phone to avoid cracking it if you need to lift the cover off. The video also shows the Razr’s two batteries, one on either side of the hinge, and numerous tiny screws and cables that the reviewer carefully removes. Its bottom half houses the fingerprint scanner, as well as the USB port.