How Google is tightening encryption for Gmail

As encryption becomes a controversial subject between the FBI and Apple, Google is promising more of it. On Thursday, Google announced new tools to make Gmail – and email sent from Gmail accounts – more secure....
http://m.csmonitor.com/Technology/2016/0324/How-Google-is-tightening-encryption-for-Gmail

Here's how to lock your notes with a password or a fingerprint in iOS 9.3

As we decided to explore this new feature in depth and were left a bit flabbergasted by where to find and enable it, we felt that it's fair to give you heads up on how to lock noted in iOS 9.3 with your fingerprint or a password for that matter...
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Heres-how-to-lock-your-notes-with-a-password-or-a-fingerprint-in-iOS-9.3_id77635

Recycling sunlight: a solar cell revolution? - CSMonitor.com

Scientists have found a way to recycle sunlight and boost the amount of energy captured from the sun's rays.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/0324/Recycling-sunlight-a-solar-cell-revolution

And Now the Good News #182: 3/29/2016

Learn more about the stories featured in this video at the following sources:
 “Sleep Tight, Fruit Fly – New Gene Identified” http://goo.gl/Etmbb4
 “New Catalyst is Three Times Better at Splitting Water” https://goo.gl/KDvsLT
 “New Findings in Humans Provide Encouraging Foundation for Upcoming AIDS Vaccine Clinical Trial” https://goo.gl/o88wjc
Interview:
https://youtu.be/gJGKFh9X2wM

Apple designing its own iCloud servers to avoid surveillance

The NSA is known to intercept tech in-transit through the postal system...
http://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-designing-its-own-icloud-servers-to-avoid-surveillance/

And Now the Good News #181: 3/22/2016

https://youtu.be/l_DDq4TRZNQ

Apple Event March 21, 2016

See the new Apple products, plus how they are protecting the environment and making life better.
http://www.apple.com/apple-events/march-2016/

Michael Hayden: America Is Safer With End-To-End Encryption (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

General Michael Hayden, the former director of the NSA and the CIA, told On Point host Tom Ashbrook that America is stronger and safer with unbreakable end-to-end smartphone encryption. Hayden joined On Point on the day that FBI and Apple testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee over an ongoing legal battle around the locked iPhone of one of the alleged shooters in the 2015 San Bernardino shooting.
Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2016/03/01/michael-hayden-nsa-encryption

Apple On FBI iPhone Request: 'The Founders Would Be Appalled'

Apple says the government "attempts to rewrite history" with its request for help unlocking an iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters by stretching the law far wider than the Constitution and the lawmakers have intended.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/15/470436785/apple-on-fbi-iphone-request-the-founders-would-be-appalled

Apple engineers would rather quit than develop an iPhone backdoor for the FBI

Apple employees are already discussing what they will do if ordered to help law enforcement authorities. Some say they may balk at the work, while others may even quit their high-paying jobs rather than undermine the security of the software they have already created, according to more than a half-dozen current and former Apple employees.
http://bgr.com/2016/03/18/iphone-hacking-apple-engineers-fbi/

And Now the Good News #178: 3/1/2016

Learn more about the stories featured in this video at the following sources:

“UNC-Chapel Hill researchers make groundbreaking discovery, use skin cells to kill cancer”
http://goo.gl/hqVQWG

“Solar cells as light as a soap bubble”
http://goo.gl/Yr7MhT

“Small study finds immunotherapy improves cognition in patients with schizophrenia”
http://goo.gl/yTVIX8
Interview:
https://youtu.be/GMtUc9L0LDw

‘Moth Eye’ Graphene Breakthrough Could Create Indoor Solar Cells

Researchers from the University of Surrey in the U.K. studied the eyes of moths to create sheets of graphene that they claim is the most light-absorbent material ever created. The energy capture method could be used to power Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as smart clothing, wearables and smart wallpaper...
http://www.newsweek.com/indoor-solar-cells-made-possible-moth-eye-graphene-breakthrough-430827

Privacy advocates plan nationwide rallies to back Apple in iPhone case

Digital rights group Fight for the Future is organizing at least 30 rallies Tuesday at Apple Stores and the FBI headquarters to support Apple's refusal to aid the FBI in accessing an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters...
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/2016/0223/Privacy-advocates-plan-nationwide-rallies-to-back-Apple-in-iPhone-case

Apple Moves To Vacate FBI’s Court Order, Says It’s Unconstitutional

"The government demands that Apple create a back door to defeat the encryption on the iPhone, making its users’ most confidential and personal information vulnerable to hackers, identity thieves, hostile foreign agents, and unwarranted government surveillance. The All Writs Act, first enacted in 1789 and on which the government bases its entire case, “does not give the district court a roving commission” to conscript and commandeer Apple in this manner."

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/02/25/3753916/apple-moves-to-vacate/

Former CIA Agent Says Edward Snowden Revelations Emboldened Apple to Push Back Against FBI

We speak with former CIA agent Barry Eisler about the role of Edward Snowden in raising public awareness about encryption and privacy ahead of the FBI’s push for Apple to break the encryption of the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. "So much of Snowden’s revelations were about this very thing. And the fact that the public knows about corporate cooperation with the government now is in part, I think, what has emboldened Apple to push back," Eisler says. "If we didn’t know about these things, I would expect that Apple would be quietly cooperating. There would be no cost to their doing so." Eisner also discusses his new novel, "The God’s Eye View," which he says is "grounded in things that are actually happening in the world. … I realized I was not going nearly far enough in what I had imagined."
Interview:
https://youtu.be/hNI0n-s_nkA

Macworld: Apple is reportedly fighting 12 more iPhone data extraction orders

The company has more than just the San Bernardino court order to contend with.
http://www.macworld.com/article/3036745/security/apple-is-reportedly-fighting-12-more-iphone-data-extraction-orders.html#tk.rss_all

Mastercard's working on selfie-based security for online payments

Instead of typing a password, you’ll soon be able to smile for the camera.
http://www.macworld.com/article/3036743/security/mastercards-working-on-selfie-based-security-for-online-payments.html#tk.rss_all

Macworld: How to boost your Wi-Fi signal without any tricks

The higher-frequency flavor of Wi-Fi used by 802.11n and 802.11ac can have higher power output and further range by picking the right channel.
http://www.macworld.com/article/3033938/networking/how-to-boost-your-wi-fi-signal-without-any-tricks.html#tk.rss_all

Israel Announces $26 Million Cyberattack on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement and Muslims in the West

In coordination with the Israeli tech industry, government unleashes a new spy and sabotage plan.
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/israel-announces-26-million-cyber-attack-boycott-divestment-and-sanctions-movement

Seeking Sites Of Global Genius (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

Athens. Vienna. Silicon Valley. Calcutta. Hangzhou, China. Edinburgh. Florence. All of them are cities that, at different moments in history, have seen genius thrive. With artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, philosophers like Aristotle and Plato, and with our modern tech innovators, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. This hour On Point, the geography of genius and creativity around the globe. — Jane Clayson
Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2016/01/22/geography-innovation-genius