Current Events in October 2014

Q: What does FBI director James Comey have in common with your average computer hacker?

A: They both really, really hate the idea of secure encrypted data.

When Apple launched its iPhone 6 in September, it bragged about the phone's strong security features, including automatic data encryption. Which made Comey, who's been the FBI director since September 2013, predict that encrypted communications could lead to a “very dark place” and criticize “companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law” — as opposed to, say, “Marketing something expressly so people know hackers can't steal photographs and other personal data off their phones.”

On the contrary. According to Comey, the people most likely to benefit by encrypted phones include kidnappers, terrorists and pedophiles: “The notion that people have devices... that with court orders, based on a showing of probable cause in a case involving kidnapping or child exploitation or terrorism, we could never open that phone? My sense is that we've gone too far when we've gone there,” Comey said in a televised interview.

Which does indeed sound terrible, except that (as CNN's Jose Pagliery pointed out) it's not true. Even with encryption, police and the FBI can still get data off your phone —they just can't do it without your knowledge:

The FBI can still get your phone data. Now, they can't do it secretly by going to Apple or Google. Agents must knock on your front door with a warrant in hand -- the way it's always been.

If you don't give the FBI access to your phone, it can ask a federal judge to force you. If you refuse, the government can throw you in jail and hold you in contempt of court.

Make it illegal

Pagliery also pointed out a rather more obvious problem: if data remains unencrypted, thus granting government the ability to remotely get it without your knowledge, that means hackers also have the ability to get your data without your knowledge.

Despite this, Comey has gone so far as to suggest Congress make data encryption illegal, via rewriting the 20-year-old Communications Assistance in Law Enforcement Act to make it cover apps and other technologies which didn't exist back in 1994.

Specifically: since CALEA requires telecom companies to give police access to communications, Comey thinks CALEA should also apply to, for example, the new iPhone 6 – except that, if the phone is encrypted, Apple itself can't get the data on it, and therefore can't hand it over to law enforcement. Only if the data remains unencrypted can Apple or any other phone provider (or a clever hacker) take data off it and give it to police (or an identity thief) without your knowledge.

Easier for hackers

In light of Comey's remarks, it seems safe to say “The FBI, at least under James Comey's aegis, wants all of your private communications and data to stay at risk of being hacked, since that will also make it easier for tech companies and the government to look at that data without your knowing about it.”

But the FBI didn't always have this attitude. On October 12, 2012 – almost exactly two years before Comey's ominous grumblings about the “very dark place” encryption will surely lead us – the FBI's “New E-Scams and Warnings” website published an article warning “Smartphone Users Should be Aware of Malware Targeting Mobile Devices and Safety Measures to Help Avoid Compromise,” including a bullet-pointed list of “Safety tips to protect your mobile device.” And the second tip on the list says this: “Depending on the type of phone, the operating system may have encryption available. This can be used to protect the user’s personal data in the case of loss or theft.”

But James Comey doesn't like it, because it also means that if the police, FBI, NSA or any other government authority wants to read that personal data, they'll need to visit a judge, get a search warrant and physically take possession of the phone. And so, two years after the FBI shared this anti-hacker safety technique with the American people, the FBI director wants Congress to make it illegal.

Facebook has a disaster plan for your family and friends, assuming you're not swept away, crushed or drowned by whatever disaster befalls you.

“In times of disaster or crisis, people turn to Facebook to check on loved ones and get updates. It is in these moments that communication is most critical both for people in the affected areas and for their friends and families anxious for news,” Facebook said earlier this week.

Facebook's answer is something called Safety Check. You can use it to let everyone know you're OK next time a disaster strikes your area.

Here's how it works: When you log into Facebook from an area where there was a disaster, Facebook will send you a prompt asking if you want to let your friends know you are safe.

You then select either "I am safe" or "I'm not in the area." It will give you a list of your friends that might be in the area and will tell you if they are safe.

The tsunami that struck Japan in 2011 was what sparked this idea but Facebook thinks it has applications anytime there's a disaster, whether it's a flood, forest fire, earthquake or just about anything else.

It sounds good. Whether it will work as intended is another question. If there is a widespread power or communications failure following a disaster, Facebook users presumably won't be able to assure everyone they're safe, even if they are. This could cause a lot of unnecessary turmoil, pain and heartache for friends and relatives. 

Farming is a skill that has been around for centuries. Farmers used the sun and the weather as well as some kind of digging apparatus in the very beginning. But these days, farming has become a pretty sophisticated art.

Good thing, too, as many of the issues farmers face today are attributed to climate change and the rapidly changing weather conditions that can have a big impact on farming.

The USDA's national Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has set out to help farmers get the tools they need to meet the situation. It all starts online. NIFA gave a $5 million Agriculture and Food Research Initiative grant in 2011 to Purdue University so they could help farmers make crop-related decisions online.

It resulted in something called the Useful to Useable (U2U) project. It's helping farmers navigate around the weather and make useful decisions.

What's interesting is this science has been done for years with a tractor and some seeds and a great deal of elbow grease. Today the U2U project takes existing weather data and then provides the information in formats that farmers can use to manage their crops. It covers what, where, and when to plant, fertilizing, irrigating and more.

The U2U team consisted of Purdue, Iowa State University, Michigan State University, South Dakota State University, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and University of Wisconsin.

A dashboard of tools

Dennis Todey, South Dakota State University’s U2U program director said “The goal of U2U is to develop a dashboard of tools that people can use for decision-making, not only within the season but also when looking ahead at multiple seasons.”

The project uses many web tools one is called the Corn Growing Degree days. If you have ever gardened yourself you know that how fast your plants grow depends on the warmth they receive. The researchers developed a mathematical formula (based on daily temperatures) that determines how many units of heat the corn accumulates over the course of the growing season. Farmers can then use that data to compare how their crops are actually performing and when they my reach maturity compared to if they might freeze.

U2U’s method has proven to be helpful in both food safety and economic growth for farmers.

It's another way the internet has impacted our lives and how it is making farming a science that can be calculated with perhaps a little more accuracy than maybe the Farmers Almanac.

Perhaps you're a little tired of the regular ghosts and goblins and Snickers bars and you're looking for more of an adventure for your family this Halloween. The ole pumpkin patch and face painting just don't have the same allure anymore? We did a little research on some of the best destinations to celebrate Halloween for a family.

Tombstone, Arizona
The name says it all. This ghost town has one of the country’s best ghost tours. You will get to see where the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral took place. Plus you can visit the graves of the three men killed in the shootout at the Boothill Graveyard as well. That'll scare the BOO out of you!

Savannah, Georgia
Savannah has the title of the most haunted city in America, and these folks live up to it on Halloween. The historic town offers ghost tours in the back of a hearse. Thats pretty creepy! Learn about the spirits that still linger in the historic town as you sit in a real hearse that saw over 15 years of funeral parlor service. 

Salem, Massachusetts
This one is a dead giveaway. The city of Salem is synonymous with witch hunts. Halloween in the historic town consists of haunted harbor cruises, cemetery walks, Halloween balls, and, of course, Salem Witch Trials attractions. Just be careful you don't have a run-in with a witch who will cast a spell on you -- it's been said there were quite a few that hung around that place.

Orlando, Florida
Orlando isn't full of rich spooky history, but it's not anything that Universal Studios and Walt Disney world couldn't muster up. Both theme parks have haunted houses and numerous scary attractions.

Transylvania, Romania
It's a little far away but if you're into some serious scary history you have to check out where Dracula was born. visit the sites of many spooky tales and the homes of famous people that are kept like museums. See the statue of Vlad the Impaler or tour Dracula's castle, complete with an English-speaking guide to give you all the bloody details.

Burkittsville, Maryland
This is where they shot the "Blair Witch Project." That low-budget cult film of 1999 reminded millions that we may have nothing to fear in a dark and gloomy forest but our own imaginations. Try running around that forest on Halloween. Perhaps camp out in order to get the full Burkittsville experience. You are really brave and a little weird if you do this!

Estes Park, Colorado
Another film that could send shivers down your spine was "The Shining." Stephen King visited the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park in 1974 and that's where the story of The Shining was born. He and his wife stayed in Room 217 and he saw fleeting images of children in the hallways of the mountain lodge, and his imagination eventually warped into the story, and psychological thriller of his most famous book and the 1980 movie that followed. Hope you can get some sleep if you stay there.

Manchac Swamp, Louisiana
Nothing like a good swamp to get your Halloween juices flowing. New Orleans has a reputation for haunted places full of voodoo, black magic and all things dark and scary. Just located outside the city is the extremely eery and haunted and very scenic Manchac Swamp. It's actually been ranked over and over again as one of the creepiest places on earth. As night approaches, it is said that you can see the red eyes of ghost alligators as they float above the dark waters. I guess wear fly-fishing boots if you go -- you don't want to mess up a good pair of shoes.

Sleepy Hollow, New York
The legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving’s fact-based tale, made this Hudson Valley village famous. How educational if one of your kids is in the middle of reading it for a book report.

Dating back to the 1640s, Sleepy Hollow is one of the most famous haunted towns in the world. The Old Dutch Burying Ground is one of the oldest cemeteries in America and houses the graves of Irving’s models for Ichabod Crane, Brom Bones and Katrina Van Tassel. Just FYI, there have been sightings of the Headless Horseman both at this cemetery and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where Irving is buried.

Fall River, Massachusetts
The Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast is a top draw. Lizzie Borden was always a popular guest at sleepovers when I was a kid so her name still evokes a response in me. Lizzie was accused of murdering her sleeping father and stepmother with an ax back in 1892. Many people believe her spirit, and those of her victims, still haunt the house she grew up in. It's now a restored B&B that embraces its spooky history. Guests sleep in the very rooms where the Bordens were murdered; search for their spirits on a ghost hunt; attend a séance to try to communicate with the deceased. Go and tell me about it. It's way too scary for me.

After posting a sharp decline in August, new home construction moved up 6.3% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,017,000. That's 7.8% above the rate of 863,000 chalked up a year earlier.

According to figures released jointly by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, single-family housing starts were at a rate of 646,000 1.1% above the August rate, while the September rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 353,000 compared with 304,000 a month earlier.

Sterne Agee chief economist Lindsey Piegza points out that there's been little change from levels at the start of the year, adding that “uneven demand is likely to keep home builders cautious for some time, despite the fact that industry confidence is on the rise thanks to relative improvement in conditions compared to weakness at the start of the year.”

Building permits

Applications for building permits. An indication of developers' intentions a few months down the road, were higher as well.

Authorizations for breaking ground for privately-owned housing units rose 1.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,018,000 -- up 2.5% from September 2013993,000.

Within that sector, permits for single-family homes rose 0.5% to 624,000, while construction of apartment buildings was authorized at a rate of 369,000, versus 343,000 in August.

The full new home-construction report is available on the Commerce Department website.

Suzuki Motor of America is recalling 23,073 model year 2011-2014 GSX-R750 and 2009-2014 GSX-R1000 motorcycles.

If a gear is missed while upshifting, the strain applied to the drive chain after the next shift may cause the rear axle to move, damaging the left-side drive chain adjuster. The damage could cause the drive chain to come off, removing power to the rear wheel and increasing the risk of a crash.

Suzuki will notify owners, and dealers will replace the left-side chain adjuster with an improved part. The recall is expected to begin on October 17.

Owners may contact Suzuki customer service at 1-714-572-1490. Suzuki's numbers for this recall are 2A40, 2A41, 2A42 and 2A43.

American Honda Motor Company of Torrance, Calif., is recalling about 15,400 recreational off-highway vehicles.

Vegetation and debris can accumulate on the middle skid plate and make contact with the vehicle’s exhaust system. Dried debris can ignite, resulting in smoke or fire.

The company has received reports of 10 incidents involving fires resulting from vegetation and debris accumulating on the middle skid plate and making contact with the vehicle’s exhaust system. No injuries were reported.

This recall involves all models of the 2014 Honda Pioneer 700 recreational off-highway vehicle (ROV). ROVs are motorized off-road vehicles with a steering wheel, gas and brake pedals, bucket or bench seats, seat belts and an occupant protection structure.

The recalled vehicles came in two-seat and four-seat models and were black with camouflage, olive or red hood and trim pieces. “HONDA” is on the front grill and rear tail gate. “Pioneer 700” appears on a tab on the sides of the vehicle just behind the driver’s and front passenger’s seats. The model and serial numbers are on a certification label affixed to the top rear of the driver's side front wheel well.

The following model numbers and serial number ranges are being recalled:

The vehicles, manufactured in China, were sold at authorized Honda powersports dealers nationwide from August 2013 through September 2014.

Owners should immediately stop using the recalled vehicle and take it to an authorized Honda dealer to have the original middle skid plate removed and an updated middle skid plate installed free of charge.

Consumers may contact American Honda toll-free at (888) 888-3139 from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET Monday through Friday.

Briggs & Stratton Power Products Group of Milwaukee, Wis., is recalling about 8,500 Snapper rear engine riding mowers.

The weld on the drive axle can fail resulting in loss of brake control, posing an injury hazard.

The company has received two reports of brake failure, related to failed weld. No injuries have been reported.

This recall involves 6 models of Briggs & Stratton Snapper rear engine riding mowers. The mowers are red with a black fuel tank, steering wheel and seat. The name Snapper is printed on both sides of the mower. The model and serial numbers are on a label on the engine platform under the right side of the seat.

The following models and serial number ranges are included:

The mowers, manufactured in the U.S., were sold at Family Farm stores, Power Equipment Direct and Briggs & Stratton Snapper dealers nationwide from April 2013 through May 2014 for between $1,300 and $2,000.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled mowers and contact an authorized Snapper service dealer for a free repair.

Consumers may contact Briggs & Stratton Corporation at (800) 935-2967 from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT Monday through Friday.

Shop Packaging of New Bedford, Mass., is recalling approximately 115,505 pounds of chicken wing products.

The products were processed with a releasing agent containing soy lecithin, a known allergen which is not declared on the product label.

There are no reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

The products were produced on various dates between August 8 and October 10, 2014. The following product is subject to recall:

• 20-lb. bags containing “Chicken Mid-joint Wing.”

The products subject to recall bear the establishment number “P-46946” inside the USDA mark of inspection, and were shipped to a distribution location in New York.

Consumers with questions may contact Ron Sylvia, President, at (508) 961-7552.

America's health concerns this fall are focused firmly on Ebola, a deadly virus that appears to kill half its victims.

Though largely confined to West Africa, the death in Dallas of a recent visitor to that region – and the subsequent infection of two medical personnel who cared for him – has made Ebola dominate every news cycle, even when there is nothing new to report.

Dr. Daniel Hussar, pharmacy professor at Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, thinks Americans should take a breath and stop worrying about Ebola. It's the flu we should be worrying about, he says.

Flu is the killer

Ebola might kill, if it spreads in the U.S., which Hussar says is unlikely. But flu, he points out, does kill year in and year out. He says there were 131 flu-related deaths in Pennsylvania alone last flu season. Influenza remains a leading cause of death in the U.S, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“While everyone should get a flu vaccine this season, it’s especially important for infants, children, pregnant women, and seniors because they are most vulnerable to developing serious complications – like pneumonia – if they catch the flu,” he said.

According to its study of the 2012-2013 flu season, the CDC estimates that the flu vaccine prevented 79,000 hospitalizations and 6.6 million illnesses. Still, more than 381,000 Americans were hospitalized because of flu-related illness during that season.

Isolation

Dr. Charlene Chick, a family physician at the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, is also strongly urging consumers to get a flu vaccine. She points out that to avoid contact with the virus you would also have to avoid going out in public during flu season. You couldn't touch things like elevator buttons, door knobs, ATM keypads and stair railings where the flu can be left behind by someone who is infected.

And that, in short, is what makes flu a bigger threat. Unlike Ebola, it can be transmitted through the air, from person to person. Germs left on objects can live for long periods of time, allowing them to infect multiple people.

The Ebola virus is spread through contact with an infected person's bodily fluid. Scientists believe that until an infected person begins having symptoms they can't spread the virus. Ebola viruses left on an inanimate object die very quickly. In short, Ebola is harder to get than the flu.

“Don't let the recent Ebola news headlines distract you from taking measures to protect yourself and your loved ones from the much greater risk of catching the flu,” Hussar said.

Misinformation

Hussar says there is a lot of misinformation about flu vaccines out there. For example, he says the vaccine is perfectly safe for pregnant women. Also, it's never too late to get a flu shot. Even late in the season the vaccine can provide protection within two weeks of receiving it.

Don't like shots? Hussar says you can still get vaccinated with the nasal spray option. This vaccine, is commonly known by its trade name, FluMist, and offers protection to healthy adults from 2 to 49 years old who are not pregnant. FluMist contains a live but weakened flu virus that cannot cause flu illness.

Years ago, we fidgeted through a speech by a network news executive who was appalled by the "river of video" that had been loosed on the world. He was referring only to closed-circuit feeds of video from newly-independent news producers. 

Think how he must be feeling today as one network after another puts its precious programming out on the Internet, making it available to anyone -- even those without a cable subscription.

Just yesterday, it was HBO that announced it would go "over the top," as they say in the business. Loosely translated, that means going around (or over) cable and broadcast stations to distribute programming directly to consumers.

If HBO's decision was an unkind cut at cable systems, the CBS move announced today is a club on the head for both local television affiliates and cable systems. 

$5.99 a month

"CBS All Access," as it's been dubbed, is available for $5.99 per month beginning today at CBS.com and on mobile devices through the CBS App for iOS and Android. 

“CBS All Access is another key step in the Company’s long-standing strategy of monetizing our local and national content in the ways that viewers want it,” said Leslie Moonves, President and CEO, CBS Corporation.

All Access offers current seasons of 15 primetime shows with episodes available the day after they air, live streams of local CBS stations in 14 of the largest markets and past seasons of many popular series.

What it doesn't include, at least for now, is NFL Football, although Moonves said that may change.

CBS is also said to be developing a live streaming news feed that may begin to air as early as Oct. 28, according to industry sources -- potentially dealing a major blow to CNN and other cable news channels that are already struggling with moribund ratings and aging audiences. 

To sign up for CBS All Access, visit: http://www.cbs.com/allaccess

Why would a successful Hollywood actress have nude photos of herself on her phone?

Perhaps more than one rational person posed that question in the wake of the recent news that a hacker had broken into a cloud server and seized the racy pictures.

The answer might be – “everyone does it.” Really?

A new study from the University of Utah has found no decline in the number of teens who are sexting – sending and receiving explicit sexual images via cellphone. And the number of teens who are doing this, it turns out, is quite high.

Nearly 20% of the students in the test sample reported they had sent a nude photo of themselves to another using a cellphone and 38% had received such a picture. Of the number who had received a sext, nearly one in five had forwarded the picture to someone else.

Consistent

“The results are nearly identical to the findings from our 2013 study of high school students,” said Don Strassberg, professor of psychology at the University of Utah and lead author on both studies. “We believe the consistency reflects a valid estimate of the prevalence of teen sexting – and the numbers are considerable.”

And disturbing. As we recently reported, when anyone distributes a nude photo of someone under 18 – even if it is a picture of themselves – they are breaking a federal law prohibiting child pornography.

Children as young as 10 have been prosecuted on child porn charges because they either sent a nude photo of a minor or forwarded one to someone else. The law makes no distinction between creepy adults with a problem and clueless kids.

Technology brings risk

Strassberg says the risks of using a cellphone to send intimate pictures or messages goes well beyond sharing print photographs as a form of flirting.

“Nothing has changed in that realm – except that the technology makes it easy and thus, more vulnerable to misuse,” he said. “You lose control of the image the moment you push ‘send.’ From there the risks, which can be especially grave for teens, range from embarrassment and humiliation to unwanted sexual advances to cyberbullying and blackmail, and though rare, possibly to felony charges for pornography trafficking because they are minors.”

Strassberg says sexting is far from a rare occurrence, having become the thing to do in some high school – and even middle school – cliques. The problem, he says, is that once it's out there – it's out there.

“Because once a sext has been sent, the sender has no control over who, or how many, will eventually see that picture,” he said. “Other than the adolescent mentality that overestimates benefits over risks, we don’t yet know why teens are choosing to put themselves at risk.”

Strassberg's study sheds some interesting light on who sends and receives sexts. Equal numbers of men and women reported that they had sent a sext, but significantly more men than women said they had received a sext – 47.1 percent of males versus 32.1 percent of females.

Not surprisingly, men were significantly more likely to have forwarded the picture than were women, 24.2% versus 13%. And while women were most likely to send a sext to their boyfriend, men were much less discriminating. Twelve percent said they would sext someone they “wanted to date or hook up with” and 2.4% would sext someone they just met.

Is your dog on the pill?

It might sound far-fetched because when we think of dog contraception we usually go right to being spayed or neutered but there is a pill for dogs. The dog birth control pill is an alternative to spaying, and is effective if the pills are administered and taken properly.

The pill contains megestrol acetate and is given at the beginning of the heat cycle of the female dog. The pill should delay the cycle.

There can be side effects, some more serious than others. With that said, giving a dog birth control pills does seem like a safer alternative to putting them through a spaying procedure.

Side effects of the dog birth control pill include:

• Frequent infections of the uterus
• Breast cancer
• Breast enlargement
• Weight gain
• Skin problems

Liquid contraceptives

Liquid contraceptives are an option and they are given orally. The drops should be given daily for 30 days prior to the time your dog goes into heat. It is tough to tell when to start the medication, and this may lead to taking it for a prolonged amount of time. The side effects are numerous and include:

• Infertility
• Liver damage
• Increased chance of vaginal infections
• Increased house wetting
• Body odor
• Skin problems
• Vaginal distortion
• Increased urge to ride other dogs
• Personality changes, usually increased aggression
• Vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss

Chemspay tablets

Then there's Chemspay, which may be the future of canine birth control. Developed by Dr. Loretta Mayer, Chemspray tablets are designed to eliminate eggs in the ovaries, effectively sterilizing the dog. At last word, the product was still undergoing testing and has yet to be used in FDA-approved trials, so there is no info available as yet about possible side effects.

"One day, pet contraception could be as simple as taking your dog or cat to the vet for their annual shots," said Joyce Briggs, president of the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs.

Scientists are also working on developing a pet contraception vaccine that would trigger an immune response against the major hormone that kicks the whole reproductive cycle into motion.

Zeuterin, which sterilizes dogs when injected into the testicles, is available in the United States and a drug called GonaCon is showing promise as a contraceptive for cats.

There are options to surgery and it is good to know what's available. Check with your vet and hopefully soon it will be as easy as getting a simple vaccination.

The main problem facing Internet security researchers and tech companies seeking to protect people and businesses from hackers is that, when you get right down to it, certain powerful people with the U.S. government backing don't really want them to.

FBI director James Comey is particularly opposed to data encryption, to the point that when Apple boasted of the secure encrypted communications featured in its new iPhone 6 last month, Comey said he was “very concerned” about what he considers “companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law.”

And Comey expanded upon this theme in a speech he gave to the Brookings Institution, the text of which the FBI posted online today.

Let’s talk about court-ordered interception first, and then we’ll talk about challenges posed by different means of encryption.

In the past, conducting electronic surveillance was more straightforward. We identified a target phone being used by a bad guy, with a single carrier. We obtained a court order for a wiretap, and, under the supervision of a judge, we collected the evidence we needed for prosecution.

[Whereas today, in post-9/11 Patriot Act America, we get to skip all that “get a warrant” and “work under judicial supervision” constitutional stuff, right? Whoops: that's not where Comey's going with this.]

Today, there are countless providers, countless networks, and countless means of communicating. We have laptops, smartphones, and tablets. We take them to work and to school, from the soccer field to Starbucks, over many networks, using any number of apps. And so do those conspiring to harm us. They use the same devices, the same networks, and the same apps to make plans, to target victims, and to cover up what they’re doing. And that makes it tough for us to keep up.

Rewrite the law

Comey wants Congress to rewrite the 20-year-old Communications Assistance in Law Enforcement Act to cover apps and other technologies which plain didn't exist in 1994.

Specifically, since CALEA requires telecom companies to give police access to communications, Comey thinks CALEA should also apply to, for example, the new iPhone 6 – except that, since the iPhone 6 is encrypted, Apple itself can't get the data on it—and therefore can't make it accessible to law enforcement. And Comey has a problem with that.

Encryption is nothing new. But the challenge to law enforcement and national security officials is markedly worse, with recent default encryption settings and encrypted devices and networks—all designed to increase security and privacy.

With Apple’s new operating system, the information stored on many iPhones and other Apple devices will be encrypted by default. Shortly after Apple’s announcement, Google announced plans to follow suit with its Android operating system. This means the companies themselves won’t be able to unlock phones, laptops, and tablets to reveal photos, documents, e-mail, and recordings stored within.

If you find it hard to get excited by a new smartphone or tablet, how about this? Dragan Trenchevski, an industrial designer from Macedonia, has developed the Electrolux Mobile Kitchen -- sort of the Coleman stove of the 2000's.

It's just what the name implies -- a portable kitchen that just happens to be designed like a laptop. (This is not his first invention -- he also has something called an e-roll. It's a rollable e-reader similar to a scroll.)

The "kitchen" comes complete with a 4-tier induction cooktop, a removable cutting board and grater. That's in addition to everything else. It's a touchscreen computer, and of course it has a camera (you need that for Facebook food pics) and Internet connectivity for looking up recipes; you can watch cooking videos and yak with your friends all at the same time.

It was inspired by notebook computers. You can take it camping or cook in the luxury of your own home. The battery is pretty large so it can power quite a bit of cooking.

The Electrolux Mobile Kitchen is still in the concept stage but things are starting to cook. 

If this sounds a bit over the top to you, keep in mind that Electrolux has been making induction ranges for home use for years. It's a little counterintuitive, but these devices heat food through induction current. Instead of a hot burner, you put the food on the range top in a cast iron or stainless steel cooking pan and powerful currents make the pan heat up, thereby cooking the food.

The advantage is that induction cooking produces more heat, faster and with more control than a standard electric range. It's said to be more efficient than either gas or electricity.