A bunch of data belonging to car manufacturers gets exposed, Forbes thinks Amazon should replace libraries, and is our pursuit for thinner machines robbing us from better performance?
Welcome to a special edition of Hashtag Trending! Today’s episode highlights some overlooked stories that were trending last month. Look for our usual format to return on Aug. 14.
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On LinkedIn – people have been chiming in about the latest security guffaw that exposed sensitive information belonging to more than 100 manufacturing companies, including GM, Toyota, Ford and Tesla. The information, according to the New York Times, was exposed on a publicly accessible server belonging to Level One Robotics, a company that provides industrial automation services. The exposed data was discovered by researchers earlier this month, and it was unclear whether anyone else had seen or downloaded the data, which included scanned driver’s licenses and passports on lower level employees, in addition to detailed blueprints and factory schematics.
On Reddit – people are in an uproar after an article in Forbes magazine suggested all public libraries in the U.S. should be replaced with Amazon bookstores. The article, written by a professor of economics at LIU Post in New York, wrote that libraries “don’t have the same value they used to” and should be replaced permanently by Amazon book shops. This amazing idea, and by amazing I mean terrible, led to people sharing stories about their local libraries and the multiple services they provide in communities. As of this recording, the article can no longer be found on Forbes’ website. The lesson here? Library Twitter doesn’t mess around.
And lastly, also on Reddit – An article from Motherboard about the shift away from desktop computers in favour of laptops, is making its way around. The story stemmed from a recent video by YouTuber Dave Lee, who demonstrated that the only way to achieve Apple’s touted performance speeds for the newest MacBook Pro, is by keeping it in a refrigerator. The article concluded that while thermal throttling isn’t unique to Apple, the pursuit of lighter, thinner laptops is a trend that is almost certainly driven by the tech giant and that it’s not going to stop anytime soon.