MP3 is not dead, writing software is like making sushi, and more news

A peek at Apple’s mothership rounds out the news. Read on...

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Attributing malware is a sucker’s bet. WannaCry came from North Korea. Some DNC hack was done by Russia. Stuxnet was done by the US. All statements have been said as if they’re 100% true. Baloney. We can't prove any of it. Check out my video above for details.

Reports of MP3’s death are greatly exaggerated. No, MP3 is not dead. In fact, I predict it will be used even more than ever now that the patents on it have been exhausted, thanks to hardware decoding support and ubiquity (or the same things that programmer Marco Arment outlines in his post).

Touring Apple’s mothership. Wired takes a look at Apple’s new spaceship-like complex in California and discusses, with proper reverence, things like the aluminum used on the door pulls. There are a few photos (check the slideshows,) and make sure to laugh a bit at the fact that the company has built a literal walled garden.

Being a code tyrant is not good. Software engineer Adam Fabio writes at Hackaday about how to make sure that the software engineering ecosystem is welcoming to everyone and provides tips on how to act like a mentor instead of like a ruler.

SaaS bills can change with the winds. From $25 to $2,000 – with no change in use. This story happened to a home automation startup, and they documented the saga here. Since the story hit the front page of Hacker News, the company stepped in to make it right, but you have to hope you’d be so lucky in the event you have a billing dispute with a SaaS provider.

Windows 10 is very chatty. Even with policies trying to turn off communication with Microsoft, it appears to continue to send plenty of data to the Internet. This tweetstorm from security guy Mark Burnett explains his findings.

Writing software is like making sushi. Check out how in this LinkedIn article from software engineer Chris Ng.

Making 3D on the Mega Drive. This post and video explain how software engineer Jannis Harder created a polygon rendering engine for a demo that pushes the Sega Mega Drive (or Genesis) to its limits.

In the security corner this week: pasting passwords is good for you, the aftermath of WannaCry, and Tim Cook was right?

• In news I’m certain surprised absolutely nobody, disabling paste into password fields decreases security. That’s the takeaway from this report from the (UK) National Cyber Security Centre.
• WannaCry seemingly fell off everybody’s radar over last weekend, but here’s some other stuff to know about it: here’s some photos of unexpected things that were infected; here’s a report of how much money the authors took in (not as much as you’d think); and the NSA reported the vulnerability exploited by WannaCry to Microsoft… too late and without impressing upon Microsoft the severity of the problem.
• Tim Cook’s FBI fight was right. An op-ed from writer Yoni Heisler states that Apple’s decision to fight the FBI’s attempt to get an iOS backdoor has been vindicated, thanks to WannaCry. Learn more about the rationale in his post.

The rundown will be on vacation next week for Memorial Day. Thanks for reading – as always, if you have feedback, or think there’s something I should cover next time, leave a comment!

Cover photo: Yuri_Arcurs / Getty