Hasta La Gadget!

A few years ago, OtterBox announced a rather interesting wireless battery charger called the OtterSpot. For those unfamiliar, the OtterSpot are a series of stackable wireless batteries shaped like pucks, making them easy to be recharged all at once, and letting you wirelessly recharge a phone on the go.

However, the company has since announced that they will now be initiating a voluntary replacement program for the device. This is because it appears that under certain multi-stack and higher temperature conditions, the devices may experience battery swelling which can be dangerous as it is sometimes a precursor to the battery exploding.

The good news is that this doesn’t seem to affect the newer units that were produced and according to OtterBox spokesperson Julie Campagnoli, it impacts units that were manufactured during the first two months of production between July and August of 2019. The affected units have the battery serial number starting with 229, 250, and 259 which can be found on the bottom of the device.

Thankfully, no injuries have been reported as of yet, but if you’re uncomfortable with the idea that something could happen, like we said, OtterBox has launched a replacement program at no extra cost. Just head on over to the company’s support page for the details on how you can get in touch with the company to get your unit replaced.

OtterBox Announces Voluntary Replacement For Its OtterSpot Wireless Charging Battery

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One of the hardware features of Apple’s Mac computers is the inclusion of the T2 security chip. This chip allows the computer to decrypt and encrypt data on the fly and it is basically meant to help keep Apple’s Mac computers and its data safer and more secure.

Unfortunately, it seems that it isn’t quite as invulnerable as Apple has made it out to be. Passware, a company that specializes in password cracking tools, has recently announced that their latest software can actually be used to defeat the T2 chip and bypass the brute force mitigations that Apple had put into place.

Apparently this is achieved by exploiting a vulnerability in the T2 chip that allows the software to circumvent how many times passwords can be attempted. This means that in theory, attackers would need to apply a password dictionary and brute force their way into the computer and decrypt its data.

However, brute force is all about probability which means that depending on how long your password is and how complex it is, it can take a while before Passware’s software is able to figure it out. Also, it will require physical access to the Mac and it only works on Intel-based Macs, so for the most part, it’s not the easiest hack to pull off, so that’s comforting to know.

Apple’s T2 Security Chip Can Now Be Cracked

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The decision comes after some celebrities reacted with fury over reports that there would be no vaccination requirement at the Academy Awards.

With the speculative nature of cryptocurrency, those who got in early on crypto like bitcoin when it was worth a few hundred bucks or even a few thousand might have found themselves becoming millionaires in a short period of time, with returns that put even the most successful securities to shame.

So if you’re sitting on a bunch of crypto currency and you’re looking for a way to spend it, if you live in the state of Colorado, it seems that you could soon be able to start paying your taxes using your cryptocurrency holdings. This is according to an announcement by Jared Polls, the governor of Colorado who suggested that this could come into effect this summer.

Speaking to CNBC in an interview, Polls said,“We expect by this summer — pretty soon — to accept crypto for all of our state tax-related purposes. Then we plan to roll that out across all of state government for things like, could be as simple as driver’s license or hunting license within a few months after that.”

Colorado wouldn’t the first state to try and embrace crypto. For example, the state of Wyoming has introduced legislation meant to attract crypto miners, while New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, wanted to make the city the “center of the cryptocurrency industry”. Granted, none of this beats El Salvador who back in 2021 embraced bitcoin as legal tender.

Colorado May Soon Let Residents Pay Their Taxes With Cryptocurrency

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Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Todd Young (R-IN), along with Rep. Susan DelBene (D-WA) introduced a bill today that would create a $20 million pilot program with the Department of Labor to incentivize states and cities to test out portable benefits. The idea that benefits like health insurance and paid vacation should be universal, rather than tied to your job, has gained steam in recent years. Such social insurance programs, normally backed by Democrats, have sparked interest from some Republicans motivated by the rapidly changing workforce and economic climate following the pandemic.

“More Americans than ever are engaging in part-time, contract or other alternative work arrangements. As the workforce changes, it is increasingly important that we provide workers with an ability to access more flexible benefits that can be carried to multiple jobs across a day, a year, and even a career,” said Sen. Warner in a statement.

Under the bill, the Department of Labor would create a $20 million grant fund to incentivize states, cities and nonprofits to experiment with portable benefits for independent workers. It’s not the first time Warner and DelBene have introduced such legislation. The duo has been regularly pushing to pass portable benefits bills since 2017 — none of which have gotten very far. One of their measures, to provide states with emergency unemployment benefits for gig workers, was folded into the CARES Act.

The bill gives states and cities a lot of room to figure out what their portable benefits program will look like. This could include unemployment benefits, life and disability insurance, sick leave, worker training and health insurance.

A number of states such as California, Massachusetts, Illinois, New Jersey and Colorado have looked at implementing portable benefits programs of their own. But critics of portable benefits warn that such a system would mean that gig economy companies like Uber, Lyft, Doordash and others would be largely off the hook. Indeed, Uber and other gig companies have backed portable benefits legislation in their fight to continue to classify their workers as independent contractors.