A recent article by NPR shed light on a shocking new development in New York’s fight against COVID-19. Last week, drone footage and photos began circulating on social media of what appeared to be a mass grave on New York City’s Hart Island. Hart Island, which is located off the coast of the Bronx, has served as a burial ground for the unidentified or unclaimed dead for over 150 years. 

New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed public concerns affirming that while the number of burials on the island has increased, it is not directly associated with overflow due to the death toll of COVID-19. Still, he assured the public that the only people being buried on the island are those who have gone unclaimed. The people buried there are not just victims of COVID-19 but victims of several diseases and fatalities. The unfortunate reality is that the state has experienced more deaths each day than ever before, for many reasons. New York City has had more than 92,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 5,800 deaths. The majority of the state’s fatalities have occurred in New York City. 

A spokesperson for New York’s Department of Correction who oversees the burials shared that burials on Hart Island have increased “five-fold” and have required the addition of two new trenches. According to a memo from the city’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner, city morgues will hold a body for up to 14 days during the pandemic. Mayor de Blasio ensured the public that the city’s morgues have “the ability to deal with even more challenging situations” in terms of death tolls. In fact, the city has already enlisted refrigerated trucks to hold bodies of COVID-19 victims. In the event that temporary burials become necessary, it would be conducted on an individualized basis, so that families could reclaim the remains once the crisis is over. 

Ultimately, there is no way of knowing what the future holds for New York state or the nation as a whole. The uncertainty of the pandemic has led to unprecedented decisions on behalf of government officials and medical professionals on the front lines. At the end of the day, the well being and health of the collective is the priority, and the situation must be handled accordingly.

The president of AT&T John Stankey stated that as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic consumer behavior will be permanently altered.  In his article for CNBC, Kevin Stankiewicz reports that the far-reaching consequences of the pandemic have yet to be fully understood and consumer behavior will inevitably shift as a result according to Stankey.  He also made it clear that these impacts will not just affect companies like AT&T but also nearly every player in the business landscape.  Stankey argued that these unprecedented last few weeks have shown the incredible value of connectivity and the important role it will continue to play in consumers lives going forward.  Services like Zoom, despite coming under fire for privacy issues recently, have demonstrated that technology has the potential to give our lives a sense of business as usual and normalcy despite the circumstances.  Stankey in the same interview also pointed out  that this health crisis has further shown consumers seemingly insatiable desire for more content and stories to engage with.  He states that this will impact the entertainment industry in unforeseen ways in the coming months and years. 

This article for me was eye opening in that it helped me to put in perspective how far reaching the consequences of this pandemic will be in the future.  Nearly every aspect of life has been changed in some way as a result of the virus sweeping across the globe.  It will be interesting to see in the coming weeks as life slowly returns to normal what aspects of life will be changed as a result of COVID-19. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/01/atts-stankey-consumer-behavior-will-be-changed-from-coronavirus.html

Security experts have fun weak spots in Apples Safari browser that could be used to spy owners of apple products. The microphone and camera in the Ipad, Iphone, and Mac were all compromised according to researchers, all an attacker would need is for you to click on a malicious link and they would have access to you. Luckily thanks to Apples Bug Bounty program the flaw was found and a hacker who discovered the flaw was the recipient of a $75,000 check.

There were seven flaws total in safari, 3 of those were used for the ability to hijack victims webcams. Normally each app must ask for permission to access someone’s devices, however Apples own apps do not require this function. To make matters worse new technologies have been emerging and gaining more of a foothold in our lives do to the corona virus like Skype and Zoom. These platforms utilizes safaris permission to access your device without having to ask for the users permission first. For an attacker to take advantage of these systems they would make a Fake URL that tricks safari into thinking the hacker controlled site is “secure”. Safari then gives the attacker complete permission to access the webcam via MediaDevices Web API.

Apple patched the web came vulnerabilities in a January update and the other remaining flaws in March. The discloser came out after last week two Zoom flaws in the macOS web conferencing platform were discovered.  

Image: https://www.macobserver.com/columns-opinions/devils-advocate/apple-security/

Article: https://threatpost.com/apple-safari-flaws-webcam-access/154476/

In this app, it explains the different add ons Pinterest is adding to their platform and how much of a rise of use they see amid the coronavirus outbreak. The platform is seeing tons of traffic on their app, and they are taking advantage of it. They just added a segment that makes people be able to shop their pins. Now that people are looking for a replacement for physical shops, this is allowing Pinterest to take advantage of that and also helping to boost Pinterest’s broader eCommerce ambitions. “Pinterest is adding a new ‘Shop’ option to your created Pinterest boards, which will provide buyable product recommendations based on the Pins you’ve added to your collection,” the article states. More times then not, when I am on Pinterest, I am always trying to figure out where I can get certain items I’ve pinned, or other people have pinned. It makes recommendations based on interest, as well. It has a “For you” tab, which gives you items you have pinned or similar that the app thinks you may like. This is the right way for people who want to decorate there home or have ideas for there homes to go and find their dream items. I have many pins on my Pinterest that I have always wanted to buy somehow, and this gives me and others a chance to do that. There are items from clothes to decor to furniture and more. Pinterest is where people go to get inspiration, and they are bringing peoples inspirations to life.

In this app, it explains the different add ons Pinterest is adding to their platform and how much of a rise of use they see amid the coronavirus outbreak. The platform is seeing tons of traffic on their app, and they are taking advantage of it. They just added a segment that makes people be able to shop their pins. Now that people are looking for a replacement for physical shops, this is allowing Pinterest to take advantage of that and also helping to boost Pinterest’s broader eCommerce ambitions. “Pinterest is adding a new ‘Shop’ option to your created Pinterest boards, which will provide buyable product recommendations based on the Pins you’ve added to your collection,” the article states. More times then not, when I am on Pinterest, I am always trying to figure out where I can get certain items I’ve pinned, or other people have pinned. It makes recommendations based on interest, as well. It has a “For you” tab, which gives you items you have pinned or similar that the app thinks you may like. This is the right way for people who want to decorate there home or have ideas for there homes to go and find their dream items. I have many pins on my Pinterest that I have always wanted to buy somehow, and this gives me and others a chance to do that. There are items from clothes to decor to furniture and more. Pinterest is where people go to get inspiration, and they are bringing peoples inspirations to life.