‘Rogue medicine in a bathtub’ 4 experts on the vice and virtue of pharma hacking

In makeshift labs around the country, a ragtag community of tinkerers has taken it upon itself to democratize medicine, disseminate knowledge, and conduct self-experiments not yet sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration.

Gene therapy is a tool for the masses, they say, not an elitist treatment confined to clinics. EpiPen prices too high? Fine, here’s a DIY EpiPencil. When medications aren’t available for everyone, they don’t just whine about it — they try to make their own in mason jars.

Some outsiders worry that the movement has gotten out of hand, as theatrical firebrands perform stunts, sometimes just for the sake of provocation. But even people within the DIY medicine scene have begun to check the rearview, pump the brakes, and reconsider their route.

We got in touch with a few figures in the field (including a biohacker, pharmahacker, and two bioethicists) and had a chat about the risks and rewards of DIY medicine — from unsanctioned gene therapy to medication made on the kitchen counter. These conversations have been edited and condensed for clarity.

Dr. Josiah Zayner

Zayner, a NASA scientist-turned-biohacking businessman, is arguably the most visible figure in the biohacking community. After a brief stint at the space agency, Zayner, who holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics, turned his attention towards The Odin, a company he runs that sells CRISPR gene editing kits and other assorted biohacking goodies to amateur and professional scientists alike.

In Zayner’s view, science — both the practice and it’s products — should be for the masses. Over the past few years, he’s walked the walk of self-experimentation, performing a fecal transplant, jostling with the FDA over the sale of glow-in-the-dark beer making kits, and even injecting himself with a CRISPR construct to see if it’d make his muscles grow. (It didn’t.)

As a self-proclaimed provocateur, Zayner has always been aware of his stunts would bug traditionalists. But now that less specialized biohackers have begun to follow in his footsteps, Zayner says he’s reconsidered the best ways to set others up for success…

Dr. Josiah Zayner The Odin

Zayner: “I was a little bit naive back then. The hardest thing to see in life is how things will scale. So it’s easy to imagine what happens when genetic engineering and gene therapy are in the hands of a few people. But what happens when a thousand or ten-thousand or a million people know how to do this? That really kind of changes your outlook on things.

“We have to prevent people from doing stuff that they don’t know could hurt them. I don’t regret the things I’ve done. I tend to be a provocateur because it makes people think, respond, and learn. But I’m trying to be more thoughtful to set people up for success rather than for failure.”

“If an individual can be trained [to edit genes] why should only scientists be able to do it?”

Digital Trends: Is that both in regards to what you’re selling and the type of experiments you’re running?

Zayner: “Yeah, both. We recently started working on genetic engineering kits using frogs. A lot of people are into gene therapy and some have just injected themselves without thinking about it, without testing it, without knowing what it’s going to do. That’s not such a great experiment.

“What happens if instead we teach people how to work with animals? Then, if they really are serious about using a gene therapy on themselves, they could test it out on a model system, do some actual science first, and make sure it works and won’t hurt them. There are easy ways to test all these things in animals.”

DT: What’s included in this frog kit?

Zayner: “Right now it’s just a gene therapy with this gene called Insulin-like growth factor 1. It’s expressed in humans mainly during puberty. It’s a great first target because you’re looking for a physical response to the gene therapy that’s easy to see and easy to measure.

The Odin

“We’ve experimented on 20 or more frogs and seen really positive results. The next step is to teach people how to safely and humanely work with these animals. I see no reason that only scientists should be able to do this stuff. If an individual can be trained to do it why should only scientists be able to do it?”

DT: I guess the counter-argument would be that scientists are better trained to understand the limits and risks, and that the gene therapy for frogs could give an amateur an inflated idea about what they can actually do.

“But what’s the other alternative? That people just suffer and die and nothing happens?”

Zayner: “Well is that a bad thing? Are you saying because they tried something on the frog and it worked and injected it into a human, it’s a bad thing?”

DT: Yeah, I could imagine that having unforeseen negative consequences.

Zayner: “I can’t see it but, I mean, it’s possible. The whole point is to set up a system so that the negative consequences are very far removed. Obviously there’s always the possibility for negative consequences in every situation. But there’s this hunger and thirst for gene therapy because so many people are suffering and dying. So, I’ve got two options morally: I can do nothing because I want to follow our laws or I can help.

“How do I work within the system to help these people in the best way possible? I can’t sell them the gene therapy directly to use. For one thing, I’ll be shut down by the FDA. But what I can do is teach them how to create their own gene therapy. Obviously everything is dangerous and somebody’s going to get hurt eventually. But what’s the other alternative? That people just suffer and die and nothing happens?”

DT: Do you really think it’s inevitable that someone gets hurt?

Zayner: “Oh, of course. Has there ever been a technology where somebody didn’t get hurt? Here’s the thing about technology — you kind of need people who are smart to develop them and also need people who are stupid enough to try them. Flying planes, going to outer space, driving automobiles. I can imagine the first person to do it probably wasn’t the smartest guy. I’m talking about myself here also. It takes somebody who has a little bit of crazy because otherwise nothing gets done.”

At Def Con, children show how easy it can be to hack an election

The security of voting machines and government databases has long been a topic of concern among cybersecurity experts and officials. However, the danger is still very real, and Def Con, an annual hacker’s convention meeting in Las Vegas, is hoping to shed some light on the problem.

One group set up a number of voting booths inside Caesar’s Palace hotel and casino and asked the convention’s attendees to see what they could do with the machines. The results ranged from amusing to somewhat alarming. As CNN recounts, one hacker was able to make a voting booth play music and display basic animations.

Turning a voting machine into an MP3 player is kind of neat, but that, obviously, isn’t where the real danger is. The bigger concern is about how easy it might be to manipulate votes and impact the outcome of an election. So how easy is it? Well, it turns out that is literal child’s play. The organizers of Vote Hacking Village told the Register that they had to bring children in because adults would find it far too easy.

In order to demonstrate this, Def Con recruited Brian Markus to create replicas of government election result websites. Markus has been part of Def Con for years and previously severed on the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. Aside from Markus,  engineers from secure-communications platform Wickr were brought on to help with the design. Throughout the course of the event, 47 children took part in the event and 87 percent of them managed to breach the replica sites.

“The really important reason why we’re doing this is because we’re not taking the problem serious enough how significantly someone can mess with our elections,” Wickr founder Nico Sells told Tech Crunch. “And by showing this with 8-year-old kids we can call attention to the problem in such a way that we can fix the system so our democracy isn’t ruined.”

Despite these concerns, a statement issued by the National Association of Secretaries of State cautioned against reading too much into this demonstration. The organization praised Def Con for its work in raising awareness of this issue but expressed skepticism regarding the accuracy of the replica websites.

Well this is interesting. National Association of Secretaries of State issues statement against the Def Con Voting Village. Says its attempt to recreate (and likely hack the shit out of) a connected mockup of the election process isn't realistic. pic.twitter.com/c1uy694UPA

— Kevin Collier (@kevincollier) August 9, 2018

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Samsung SmartThings adds A.I.-based Wi-Fi for faster, smarter home networking

Samsung’s new SmartThings Wifi router uses artificial intelligence and mesh networking to optimize whole-home Wi-Fi coverage while it also functions as a smart home hub.

Combining Plume‘s A.I.-based Wi-Fi management with a Samsung SmartThings Hub, the new Samsung product is a multifunction smart home networking appliance that boasts three technologies: Mesh networking for better coverage throughout your home, A.I. for faster speeds for the devices that need it, and a smart home hub to support a universe of smart home products.

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Samsung enlisted Plume’s A.I.-based Wi-Fi mesh networking technology for broad coverage throughout your home and optimized performance. A single SmartThings Wifi router covers up to 1,500 square feet, according to Samsung.

If you have network “dead zones” or if your home is larger than 1,500 square feet, you can distribute SmartThings Wifi routers in different locations for strong signals in all areas.

“Mesh networking” refers to the ability to merge together, or “mesh,” multiple Wi-Fi access points to simplify set up and use. When you connect a device to a meshed Wi-Fi network, you don’t have to choose between multiple access points because all of the meshed routers in the house share the same network identifier.

Plume’s A.I.-based management apportions network bandwidth according to the needs of individual devices, rather than allocating resources evenly.

For example, if you use one computer in your home for gaming and a tablet for video streaming, they each need higher speed and more bandwidth than a Wi-Fi connected printer that sits idle most of the time, or a computer you use for email and shopping.

According to Samsung, “The platform adapts to internet usage in the home and intelligently allocates bandwidth, mitigates interference, and delivers maximum Wi-Fi capacity across the home, accounting for every connected device and selecting the optimal band and frequency channel so users can get the fastest speed possible.”

In addition to network traffic control, the SmartThings Wifi lets parents manage children’s screen time and create guest logins and passwords so visitors only have access to applications and data the homeowner chooses.

The integrated smart home hub in the SmartThings Wifi saves counter space and cables and simplifies configuring smart home devices to the network and hub at the same time. The SmartThings Hub enables connection and control, not only of Samsung’s SmartThings brand devices, but a vast number of third-party smart home gadgets including lights, locks, cameras, thermostats, switches, and voice assistants.

Available nationwide, the Samsung SmartThings Wifi lists for $120 for a single unit and $280 for a pack of three.

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UK Deal: SanDisk’s tiny 32GB Cruzer Fit is down to just £6 for today only

Store, protect and transfer your files with this minuscule USB flash drive.

Today only, Amazon has reduced the price of the SanDisk Cruzer Fit 32GB USB Flash Drive to just £6.31. This is its lowest ever price and it’s currently selling for less than the 16GB and 8GB models.

The key feature of the Cruzer Fit is its diminutive size. It has a super low-profile design, barely any larger than the USB connector itself, meaning you can leave it connected to your machine without running the risk of it being caught or pulled out when moving around. It also comes with a clip-on cap to protect the connector in transit if you don’t plan to keep it connected to your machine.

It has 32GB of storage, support for 128-bit AES encryption for sensitive files and works with PC or Mac computers. While it’s only USB 2.0 in speed, its benefits in storage size and portability make it great value for money at just over £6. This deal ends today, so don’t miss out.

For more UK deals coverage, be sure to keep an eye on Thrifter UK, sign up for the UK newsletter and follow the team on Twitter.

See at Amazon UK

This one-day sale has discounted Anker chargers, battery packs, and cables

ABC. Always. Be. Charged.

As part of its daily deals, Amazon has a variety of popular Anker charging accessories on sale with prices starting at just $7.99. There are car chargers, home chargers, charging cables, and even portable battery packs, so there is definitely something here for everyone.

Anker is a trusted brand that makes durable smartphone accessories that don’t cost a small fortune to own. If you’ve been dealing with older charging gear and want to unlock the full potential of your current phone, this is the way to do it. Some of the deals include:

• USB-C Cable (3-foot) – $7.99 (Was $12)
• Micro-USB Cable (5-pack) – $9.68 (Was $13)
• Lightning Cable (10-foot) – $13.49 (Was $19)
• Quick Charge 3.0 Dual USB Home Charger – $17.99 (Was $24)
• Quick Charge 3.0 Dual USB Car Charger – $18.19 (Was $26)
• 5000mAh Ultra-Slim Portable Battery – $22.49 (Was $30)
• 20000mAh Quick Charge 3.0 Portable Battery- $41.99 (Was $56)

Some of these items are available in multiple colors, so be sure to check out the complete sale and stock up on this discounted charging gear today!

See at Amazon

Latest Firefox iOS Update Brings New Dark Mode and Tab Features

Firefox received an update on iOS today that brings a new dark theme and a handful of new tab functions to the popular web browser.

For some time now, Mozilla’s mobile browser has had a “Night Mode” option, which reverts the colors of web pages except for images and certain other elements, similar to the way Smart Invert works for iOS.

From left to right: Standard view, Night Mode, and Night Mode plus Dark theme.
Version 13 of the app, released today, adds a new Dark display theme that essentially augments the Night Mode by darkening the interface. Used in tandem, Firefox offers users probably the best night-time browsing experience currently available on iOS.

To activate the night-time options, tap the Menu button (the three-line icon at the lower right of the interface) and enable the Night Mode using the toggle button. Then select Settings -> Display, and choose the Dark theme.

In addition to the above, version 13 of Firefox adds a couple of useful functions for users who tend to have a lot of tabs open at the same time. There’s now a search bar in the open tabs screen to help you find tabs containing specific content, and individual tabs can now be dragged to rearrange them.

Firefox web browser is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tag: Firefox for iOS
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Xiaomi sub-brand Poco is all set to unveil its first phone on Aug. 22

The Pocophone F1 will make its global debut in New Delhi on August 22.

Earlier this month, Xiaomi announced that it was creating a sub-brand called Poco that targets the mid-range segment. Not much is known about the brand other than the fact that Xiaomi’s Lead Product Manager Jai Mani would be overseeing the project, but that’s set to change next week. Poco’s Indian arm sent out a tweet saying that its first phone will be unveiled in New Delhi on August 22.

More than peak performance, more than speed – the best of smartphone innovation is almost here. Brace yourself for the #MasterOfSpeed. See you on August 22, 2018. #POCOF1 pic.twitter.com/Uwt0ZcB26N

— POCO India (@IndiaPOCO) August 13, 2018

The device in question will be the Pocophone F1. Numerous leaks over the course of the last month have given us an accurate picture of the device and its specs, which will include a Snapdragon 845, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, 4000mAh battery, 20MP front camera with face unlock and AI-based portrait mode, and USB-C connectivity. The F1 will have a notch, and it will be powered by MIUI on the software side of things.

We’ve seen a slate of new devices make their debut in this segment recently — including the Huawei Nova 3 series — and it’ll be interesting to see if Xiaomi can carve out a niche for itself with the Pocophone F1. Thankfully, we don’t have to wait long to find out all there’s to know about the Pocophone F1.

In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the upcoming phone?

Latest IDC numbers show Xiaomi carving out a healthy lead in India

With a market share of 29.7%, Xiaomi is extending its lead over Samsung.

The latest IDC numbers for the second quarter of 2018 show Xiaomi building on its lead in the country. Xiaomi overtook Samsung at the end of last year to become India’s largest smartphone manufacturer, and IDC’s Q2 2018 figures show the company dominating in the online space. Xiaomi accounted for over 56% of all sales in the online segment, and with the company’s increased focus on the offline sector saw 33% of sales coming from retail stores.

The Indian handset market as a whole grew by 20% YoY, recording shipments of 33.5 million units. The segment also saw increased average selling prices to $167, up from $157 a year prior.

Xiaomi announced earlier in the year that the Redmi Note 5 series racked up over 5 million sales in just four months, and the Redmi 5A along with the Redmi 5 continue to do remarkably well in India. In fact, these four models by themselves made up 26% of all phones sold in India last quarter.

One out of four smartphones sold in India was a Redmi phone.

As a whole, Xiaomi accounted for 10 million shipments in Q2 2018, amassing a 29.7% market share. Samsung came in second with 8 million shipments and a market share of 23.9%, followed by Vivo at 12.6% and OPPO at 7.6%. Transsion, which owns offline-focused brands like Tecno and Infinix, came in fifth.

It’s an interesting time in the Indian handset market as there are plenty of manufacturers vying for market share in each segment. Samsung in particular is facing stiff competition across categories — Xiaomi in the budget segment and OnePlus in the mid-range category — and although the South Korean company saw a healthy boost in sales from Q2 2017 (up 21%), it lost out to OnePlus in the premium category.

According to IDC, it’s the budget models that deliver meaningful sales for Samsung in India, with the likes of the Galaxy J7 Nxt, Galaxy J2 2017 and Galaxy J2 2018 driving most of the volume. IDC noted an “incremental demand” for Samsung’s high-end sales, but that wasn’t enough to stave off OnePlus. With the Galaxy Note 9 set to make its debut in India later this month, Samsung is going for an aggressive strategy to win back sales, but only time will tell if it pays off.

How to Send and Receive SMS Messages on iPad and Mac via Text Message Forwarding

Ever since iOS 7, Apple has provided a Text Message Forwarding service that can push SMS messages received through your iPhone’s cellular network to your other Apple devices.

Using the same network, the forwarding service also allows you to send messages from your iPad or Mac to other phone numbers, even if they don’t support Apple’s iMessages platform (dumbphones and Android devices, for example).

For whatever reason, the Text Message Forwarding feature may not be enabled on your iPhone, so if you tend to miss standard text messages coming through to your phone when you’re engaged with something on your Mac or iPad, it’s definitely worth enabling.

Once activated, those messages will show up on all your devices in the Messages app as green chat bubbles, allowing you to distinguish them from regular blue iMessages. Keep reading to learn how to activate the feature in iOS 11.

How to Activate Text Message Forwarding in iOS 11

Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.
Tap Messages.
Tap Send & Receive.
Tap Use your Apple ID for iMessage.

Tap Sign in to use your Apple ID for iMessage, or tap Select Other Apple ID and then enter the login credentials for the account you want to use.
Wait for a moment while iMessage activates. Click OK in any dialog boxes that confirm your Apple ID is now being used for iMessage on your other devices.
Tap back to Settings -> Messages, and tap the new Text Message Forwarding option in the menu.

Use the toggle buttons next to the devices in the list to include or exclude them from the Text Message Forwarding service. Note that only devices logged into the same iCloud account and connected to the same Wi-Fi network will appear in the list.
A security code may appear on the devices that you enable – make sure to type the code into your iPhone to activate them for the service.If you followed the steps above but the Text Message Forwarding option doesn’t appear in your iPhone’s settings app, check that your device is connected to Wi-Fi and the internet connection is good.

Another solution is to turn off and then restart iMessages via Settings -> Messages -> iMessage. You can also try signing out of iMessage and signing in again: Select Settings -> Messages -> Send & Receive, tap your Apple ID at the top, and then tap Sign Out.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
Discuss this article in our forums

Police bust a massive interstate SIM card hijacking ring

Krebs on Security has reported that Florida law enforcement have arrested a man accused of being part of an interstate cybercrime ring that used hijacked phone numbers and SIM cards to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrencies and cash.

On July 18, Ricky Joseph Handschumacher was arrested in Pasco County, Florida, and charged with grand theft and money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty, though he has admitted to being part of the organization.

While Handschumacher was arrested in Flordia, the first break in this case occurred in Michigan. In February of this year, a mother called the police when she heard her son talking on the phone and pretending to work for AT&T. Upon responding to the report, police found numerous cell phones and SIM cards, as well as computer files that contained “an extensive list of names and phone numbers of people from around the world.”

In March, police followed up on their investigation and discovered the same person using a library’s public Wi-Fi to access personal data. From there, the police seized several dozen SIM cards, a computer, and a Trezor Wallet. The next month, the son’s mother called the police again, saying that her son had gotten another cell phone. After obtaining permission to search the young man’s room, the police found an extensive collection of SIM cards, cell phones, and forged documents.

The police used the forged documents to contact some of the victims of this crime. Three of the victims reported that, together, they had lost roughly $350,000 in various cryptocurrencies. However, that was only the beginning as follow-up investigations revealed that this ring extended far beyond Michigan. The group, which reportedly consists of at least nine people, was spread across multiple states. They made use of Discord and Telegram to plan their heists.

The group’s biggest score, that authorities know of, came in May of this year when members worked together to steal 57 Bitcoins from a single victim. The value of Bitcoin tends to fluctuate, but at the time, the 57 Bitcoins were worth almost $470,000.

While the group’s heist of 57 Bitcoins was a large one, their ambitions were set even higher. During the course of the investigation, law enforcement allegedly uncovered the group discussing their plans to hack the CEO of Gemini Trust Company, a cryptocurrency exchange.

As for Handschumacher, Discord appears to be his undoing. The efforts of law enforcement officers in Michigan allowed the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office to obtain a warrant to monitor the group’s Discord chat. From there, they allegedly saw that Handschumacher was bragging about the group’s success and using his share of the earnings to buy a host of expensive items including a new house and real estate.

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