This Week I Learned - Week #187

This Week I Learned -

* Intruders exploit every unprotected resource that travels between your websites and your users. Images, cookies, scripts, HTML … they’re all exploitable. Intrusions can occur at any point in the network, including a user’s machine, a Wi-Fi hotspot, or a compromised ISP, just to name a few. One common misconception about HTTPS is that the only websites that need HTTPS are those that handle sensitive communications. Every unprotected HTTP request can potentially reveal information about the behaviors and identities of your users. HTTPS is a key component to the permission workflows for new web platform features and updated APIs like geolocation - Web Fundamentals

* Twilio now runs texts, alerts and voice calls on the Uber app in most parts of the world. Its largest customer, Whats­App which accounts for about 13 percent of its revenue, uses Twilio to verify customer accounts and logins. Founded in 2008, Twilio is exceedingly simple to use and charges no upfront fees, so programmers often use it to test an idea or product. In 2004, Twilio's founder Jeff Lawson joined the team in Amazon that built Amazon Web Ser­vices (AWS), and helped build the technology that Amazon launched publicly in 2006. Along with two friends, Evan Cooke and John Wolthuis, Jeff developed a prototype of Twilio and put it up on AWS. The service allows any developer to easily add voice and text messaging to web and mobile applications. Today Twilio connects to the global telecommunications network through 22 data centres in seven regions and has agreements with most of the major carriers that allow it to deliver a message to pretty much any phone on the planet. - Forbes

The smartphone you use reflects more than just personal taste ... it could determine how closely you can be tracked, too. There is a glaring difference between the encryption used on Apple and Android devices

We've stopped trusting institutions and started trusting strangers. While we used to place our trust in institutions like governments and banks, today we increasingly rely on others, often strangers, on platforms like Airbnb and Uber and through technologies like the blockchain.

A tiger team is a diversified group of experts brought together for a single project, need, or event. They are usually assigned to investigate, solve, build, or recommend possible solutions to unique situations or problems. They are almost always populated with mature experts who know what's at stake, what needs to be done, and how to work well with others. Their strengths are diversity of knowledge, a single focus or purpose, cross-functional communications, decision-making sovereignty, and organizational agility. Once their venture is completed they cease to be a team and usually go back to their previous assignments.

People of Indian origin—whether they are Indian-born or American-born—make up about 1% of the American population.

Before frozen veggies get thrown into a freezer, they actually get boiled! They undergo a cooking technique called blanching, which involves immersing ingredients in boiling water or steam. This, in turn, stops enzyme actions that can cause loss of flavor, color, and texture. The process also helps to minimize nutrient loss during storage and transport - Go Ask Alice!

* Only in France - France is known as the birthplace of liberté, égalité, fraternité, but apparently the strike-prone country isn't done gifting the world with new rights and freedoms. The country's government just enshrined "the right to disconnect" into law. According to Article 25 of France's new (and apparently much contested) El Khomri law, which governs labor rights and conditions, "the development of information and communication technologies, if badly managed or regulated, can have an impact on the health of workers. Among them, the burden of work and the informational overburden, the blurring of the borders between private life and professional life, are risks associated with the usage of digital technology" - Inc.com
Image: WSJ

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