I’ve had an interesting 7 days. If you weren’t around last week, I was getting my McRib on and was satiated in its good ole sweet, tangy, and meaty juiciness. This is the last week I’ll be on with Mark Starling and the First News 570 crew. This week, we’re only going to talk about the hackers who are trying to hack da Rona vaccine, and share some insight into the perfect gifts you can get your loved ones. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern.
HACKERS ARE TRYING TO DISRUPT COVID-19 SUPPLY CHAIN
After many months spent indoors, the world is anticipating relief. Pfizer, BioNTech, and the world’s leading biotechnology companies have reached a point in proving a reliable vaccine. While pharmaceutical researchers and scientists have been busy working on a cure, hackers have been busy trying to disrupt the cure from reaching those who need it. Global phishing campaigns have been in effect since September in a bid to try and fool vaccine supplier officials into installing ransomware, spyware, and other malicious code on their computers. IBM security researchers have stated the attacks are aimed at executives and officials at the companies responsible for delivering the vaccine on the cold chain. Pfizer’s vaccine needs to rest at a chill -70 degrees Celsius and hackers have been targeted companies that deliver cold vaccines. This plainly sucks. There will always be people who want to tear things down and can’t make anything of their own. I know this first hand.
IT’S HERE! THE ANNUAL GIFT GUIDE
The annual tradition is back. The 2020 Annual Gift Guide (Pandemic Edition) is up on Pinterest. There is something for everyone on this year’s gift guide but here are some highlights:
This is the first time a waffle iron has been added to the gift guide. William Sonoma’s TRNR waffle maker is not only a heavy duty head turner, but it’s also a snazzy waffle iron. You won’t go hungry as long as you have eggs, milk, baking soda, flour, vanilla, and patience.
The Apple Watch has made a consistent appearance on the gift guide, but we have to put the 6 on here. This watch is the best of its breed. It always stays on, has better battery life, better talk capability, and color. You won’t go wrong with it.
My name is Shaaday, not Sadie! Get it right! Who knows when Sade will next perform live, but you can bet the tickets will sell out within minutes. This boxset is a perfect gift for those who enjoy smooth grooves.
Sometimes I have to wonder what we’re really doing around here. This year’s gift guide features a fire pit, and a personal fireplace. Baby, I know it’s cold outside, but do you have to place your fireplace on my side of the bed?
The Gift Guide’s curators love coffee, but I swear they love coffee makers even more. The Instant Pod is one of this year’s entrants. You can spoil yourself by making the perfect instant espresso. Cheers.
Is it an adult Etch-a-Sketch, or is it an eco-friendly notebook? I’m a lover of paper, but I can also do my part to help the planet. The wipe-away stylings of the Rocketbook made this year’s gift guide. This notebook + app combo provides a reusable pen and ‘paper’ that allows you to sync your notes to the cloud. There is power in writing, and digitizing.
To answer your question, “YES!” The Apple MacBook Air has made this year’s gift guide. Apple’s latest MacBook Air costs $1,000 and may be the most powerful notebook computer in its class in the world. It’s all thanks to Apple’s M1 chip which packs a lot of power and 16 billion transistors on die. I’m tempted to get one for myself. And to answer your second question, “no.” The MacBook Pro won’t be making this year’s list. 16GB of RAM is respectable, and based upon all numbers, any more is unnecessary at this time, but the Pro machine should support higher memory counts.
No one other than First News 570’s morning jock, Mark Starling has recommended the Apple Home Pods for this year’s gift guide. Fashionably late to the party, the Fruit Company’s HomePod may snatch Alexa’s wig and force El Goog to search for its cables. Apple may not be first, but they always executes and with tight integration between machine, phone, watch, and TV it’ll be an interesting fight for the home.
You can find more gift ideas at the 2020 Annual Gift Guide’s Pinterest page. The curators are still adding gadgets and gear you can gift to your girl or guy. Stay tuned and make sure you follow the page.