The global memory shortage hits the MacBook Air; plus, Samsung bans smart TV apps that share users’ internet connections with strangers
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is TechCrunch.
How is the global memory chip shortage impacting MacBook Air availability?
The global memory chip shortage is affecting the availability of Apple's most popular Mac. That's according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman says that the shortage caused by the demands of chip-hungry AI companies had already affected Apple's more niche computers, the Mac Mini and Mac Studio. But it seems the company is now struggling to keep the MacBook Air in stock. with retailers saying that supply seems to be more constrained than ever before. Indeed, anyone trying to buy a MacBook Air from the Apple website will have to wait until the back half of August, or for certain configurations until September. Gurman says Apple is working to address the issue by raising prices and sourcing memory from Chinese suppliers.
Meanwhile, the company delayed its latest back-to-school promotion from June, and for the first time, the marketing material is more focused on the base model of the MacBook Pro.
Why is Apple raising prices and sourcing memory from Chinese suppliers?
It even warns, MacBook Air subject to availability. Several popular Samsung smart TV apps contain code that share the owner's internet connection with strangers, potentially putting millions of Samsung smart TVs at risk of hijacking. Some of these apps claim to have been installed on hundreds of millions of smart TVs in people's homes.
Which Samsung smart TV apps were found sharing users’ internet connections?
And at least one of the smart TV apps was a simple Pac-Man game that Samsung had endorsed and prominently featured in its Editor's Choice section on customers' TV screens. These apps contain software that funnels outsiders' web traffic through ordinary home and office Internet connections known as Residential Proxy Networks or ResProxies, which are increasingly being linked to cybercrime. When opened, apps with ResProxy code can turn the smart TV into an always-on tunnel for outsiders to funnel their web traffic through, known as an exit node, even when the app is no longer open. The security research by Norwegian cybersecurity company Mnemonic describes a perfect storm of problems that allows low-quality apps to proliferate across Samsung's App Store, containing code that puts users at risk of having their internet connections tapped by a rogue app.
Many of these apps are bare-boned shells made from only a few lines of code and are designed solely to load content from another website, such as a game. While such smart TV apps load content from another server, any review of these apps sees only the few lines of code within, and not necessarily the content itself. Harrison Sand, an offensive security consultant at Mnemonic, said what was reviewed is not necessarily what is running. After TechCrunch contacted Samsung with a request for comment about the research, the electronics giant said in an emailed statement that it was banning apps that share their users' internet connections and will remove apps that contain the functionality. the Samsung spokesperson wrote, we have already restricted new app registrations that incorporate such proxy functionalities on our smart TV platform.
We are currently implementing strict platform-wide developer policies explicitly banning residential proxy SDKs, and we are working to identify and remove all apps currently available in our store that contain these components.
How do residential proxy (ResProxy) networks enlist smart TVs and other devices?
The move comes after LG said last month that it would ban apps that contain ResProxy software after recent reporting found that around 42% of apps on the company's App Store enlisted a smart TV into a proxy network. The research also offers a rare look inside a residential proxy network. ResProxy code can also be found in regular consumer phone apps as well as other consumer electronics, like digital frames and Android streaming boxes, which then share that device's internet connection. Anytime a ResProxy app or device connects to the internet, an outsider can also pay to use it. ResProxies are not inherently illegal. Some are used for evading censorship by routing internet traffic through ordinary-looking residential homes.
AI companies, for example, increasingly rely on ResProxies to scrape data from multiple places on the internet in one go to train their AI models.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–0:10
2
How is the global memory chip shortage impacting MacBook Air availability?
0:10–1:15
3
Why is Apple raising prices and sourcing memory from Chinese suppliers?
1:15–1:42
4
Which Samsung smart TV apps were found sharing users’ internet connections?
1:42–4:01
5
How do residential proxy (ResProxy) networks enlist smart TVs and other devices?
4:01–5:47
6
What steps are Samsung and researchers taking to ban or detect ResProxy apps?
5:47–7:53
Speakers
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