iOS security researchers have found what appear to be backdoors in current versions of iOS, Edward Snowden plans to build new privacy tools, Google strong arms Samsung to drop Tizen, and a new Nvidia Tablet could be landing as soon as tomorrow.

Plus a new gadget to extend your wifi, Android and Linux apps running together, and more!

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Edward Snowden Plans to Work on Privacy Tech

NSA leaker Edward Snowden says he plans to work on technology to preserve personal data privacy and called on programmers to join his efforts.

Speaking via a Google Hangout at the Hackers on Planet Earth Conference in New York

But today he hinted, without providing any further details, that he’s going to be doing some of that work himself. He also wants like-minded hackers to work with him in some capacity.

Forensic Expert Questions Covert ‘Backdoor’ Services Included in iOS by Apple – Mac Rumors

As part of a recent Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE/X) conference presentation, forensic scientist and iPhone jailbreak expert Jonathan Zdziarski detailed several backdoor security mechanisms that are secretly included in iOS by Apple.

Jonathan confirms that iOS is reasonably secure from attack by a malicious hacker, but notes that the mobile OS includes several forensic services and noticeable design omissions that make the OS vulnerable to snooping by forensic tools.

These services, such as “lockdownd,” “pcapd” and “mobile.file_relay,” can bypass encrypted backups to obtain data and can be utilized via USB, Wi-Fi and possibly cellular.

I am not suggesting some grand conspiracy; there are, however, some services running in iOS that shouldn’t be there, that were intentionally added by Apple as part of the firmware, and that bypass backup encryption while copying more of your personal data than ever should come off the phone for the average consumer.

Consumers who want to limit access to these backdoor services are advised by Jonathan to enable a complex passcode in iOS and use the enterprise Apple Configurator application to set Mobile Device Management (MDM) restrictions and enable Pair locking which will delete all pairing records. This solution will block third-party forensic software, but won’t protect the device contents if it is sent to Apple for analysis.

Google and Samsung’s relationship continues to worsen, this time over wearables

Samsung currently sells three smartwatches that run Tizen, including the Gear 2, Gear Neo, and Gear Fit. The company only offers one Android Wear-based smartwatch in the Gear Live. Google wants Samsung to focus its efforts more on Android Wear than Tizen

According to a new report out of The Information, the already tense relationship between Samsung and Google has begun to worsen thanks to both of their own lines of wearables. The report claims that Google CEO Larry Page and Samsung Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee took part in an a “tense” private meeting at the Allen & Co. conference last week in Sun Valley. The meeting reportedly centered around Page being frustrated that Samsung was investing more in its smartwatches running Tizen than the ones running Android Wear.

• Smartwatches Drive New Wedge Between Samsung, Google – The Information

Report: Nvidia Shield Tablet ships July 29 in the US; $299 for 16GB Wi-Fi-only, $399 for 32GB with LTE, $59 for separate controller

On July 22nd NVIDIA will announce its own device, called SHIELD Tablet. It will be accompanied by wireless controller designed specifically for NVIDIA SHIELD family, meaning you will be able to control either SHIELD tablet or SHIELD console.

SHIELD tablet is 8 inch device with 1920×1200 resolution. It has 2GB RAM, Tegra K1 SoC with 192 CUDA cores, QuadCore 2.2 GHz A15 CPU. Tablet has dual speakers and 5 MPIX ‘selfie’ camera.

MicroXwin Creators Have A PC That Runs Debian & Android Together

The company behind MicroXwin, a kernel-based X Windows implementation that claims to be the smallest and fastest X implementation, has come up with a unified Linux distribution that runs Android and Debian/Ubuntu applications simultaneously.

• This demo is running on a RK3066 dual core set top box. Some features of this implementation that your readers may be interested in knowing:

1. Both Android and Debian apps run at native speeds. Debian apps don’t depend on Android unlike other implementation of Debian on Android which are based on VNC running on Android.

2. We did not change Android to implement this (other than start-up scripts). This means we have full compatibility with all Android applications.

3. MicroXwin provides the X-Wndows framework and it is much faster as seen running on ARM based Raspberry Pi

Is Kindle Unlimited worth it? – The Washington Post

Kindle Unlimited is $9.99 per month. So you’ll be paying Amazon, whose chief executive Jeffrey Bezos owns The Washington Post, around $120 per year for the unfettered e-book access. If you’re habitually spending money on more than one book per month, then it’s a service to think about. It has its perks for big book buyers — namely that don’t have to worry about spending money on a book you end up hating.

But, chances are, you aren’t reading more than one book per month. In January, the Pew Internet and American Life Project asked how many books the typical American had read in the past year.

The answer? Five.

Linksys Launches New Wi-Fi Network Range Extenders

On Thursday, Linksys introduced three new additions to its family of wireless networking products: the Linksys AC1200 MAX Wi-Fi Range Extender (RE6500), the Linksys N600 PRO Wi-Fi Range Extender (RE4000W) and the Linksys N300 Wi-Fi Range Extender (RE3000W). Their prices are quite reasonable, costing $99.99 for the RE6500, $79.99 for the RE3000W and $59.99 for the RE4000W.

Prices Range from $59.99 – $99.99 USD.

The new Linksys AC1200 Max Wi-Fi Range Extender dishes out coverage of up to 10,000 square feet.

This range extender also includes four Gigabit ports for connecting wired devices like consoles, smart TVs and Blu-ray players. There is even an audio jack on the back, allowing users to plug in a stereo system or audio speakers to wirelessly stream music from a computer or smart device.