The project will see the social media giant lay enough of its own cable to more than circle the globe (at its widest point, obviously. Five continents will be connected by the project, helping to “enable greater economic cooperation, facilitate digital inclusion, and open opportunities for technological development in these regions.”

What is internet Waterworth?

Key countries being connected include South Africa, the USA, Brazil, and India among others. There are innovations involved, leading Meta to claim to be making “the longest 24 fiber pair cable project in the world”. The project will be speedier to deploy than usual (apparently) and the cable itself will be laid at depths of up to 7km.

The project will still take several years — don’t expect a substantial internet upgrade any time this year. It will also cost several billions of dollars (even more in South African currency) but Waterworth will allow Meta to “[open] three new oceanic corridors with the abundant, high speed connectivity needed to drive AI innovation around the world.”

Of course, this is all marketing terminology. Meta’s apparent benevolence will benefit the company by opening up potential customers to its current and future services. The official announcement is a little light on that reality, as might be expected. That’s how PR works, after all.

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A security researcher who goes by MG has modified legitimate Apple Lightning cables to allow them to gain access to your device. His cables — which are all made by hand in his kitchen — contain everything a normal Lightning cable would, as well as an extra implant. These extra components are what give an attacker access to your device.

O.MG, really?

The O.MG cable comes loaded with a variety of scripts and commands an attacker can run once you’ve plugged it. For example, they could lock you out then record your password when you try to log back in. The cable also has a ‘kill switch’ built  into the implant, allowing an attacker to hide their tracks somewhat.

MG spoke to a Vice representative at DEFCON, an underground (not literally, it’s usually held at a hotel) hacking conference. “It looks like a legitimate cable and works just like one. Not even your computer will notice a difference. Until I, as an attacker, wirelessly take control of the cable.”

He added, “Apple cables are simply the most difficult to do this to, so if I can successfully implant one of these, then I can usually do it to other cables.”

You see? There’s no reason to fear your own cables, but don’t leave MG in your kitchen alone with them for very long. Maybe think twice about using a cable if you can’t verify from where it came. If they come from this website, for example, maybe be a little afraid. O.MG is out there, somewhere.

Source: Vice

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We can thank AppleInsider for picking up on the patent which details how the cable would function, although from the sounds of it Apple hasn’t exactly nailed down the final design. The general idea is to give the length of the cable different points of stiffness while not making any one part of it any thicker than another part. In doing so, it will be able to discard the “strain relief sleeve” that fits on either end of the cable, which is usually the part that breaks sooner than the rest.

It’s all about the Apple’s core…

In making varying points of the cable stiffer, Apple believes that it will be able to remove any excess strain placed on the relief sleeve and improve the longevity of the cable itself. However, it is always worth mentioning when discussing patents that there’s no promise this will see the light of day; Apple might just want to sit on it in the event that it ever wants to go about saving consumers the time and money it costs to be a new charging cable.

It’s not difficult to imagine how the marketing team could spin this for future products though; one can see a future where Apple doesn’t ship their devices with cables, providing the excuse that it’s better for the environment and that everyone still has their old cable. It did it with the charging blocks for the iPhone 12 last year… who’s saying they won’t do it again?

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