Episode #820 Comments

[bhelman]

I'm a couple days behind (not commuting an hour each way to work has changed my podcast-listening habits), but managed to get to this week's SN. I'm running an ASUS RT-AC86U with the latest firmware and I don't have the option to auto-download/install firmware (as shown in the graphic in the show notes). Hopefully that will show up in a release in the near future.

On another subject, while I wholeheartedly agree with Steve that The Martian (book, as read by R.C Bray*) was far superior to the movie (which I found to be without any tension/suspense), personally I found Jurassic Park to be one of the few exceptions where the movie was better than the book (with the exception of the casting of Jeff Goldblum, who I find to be a 1-dimensional and incredibly poor actor). *I guess Will Wheaton also narrated the book for Audible and people say it isn't nearly as good as Bray's.

Just a note - I'm an Android user and have been looking at applications to lock photos. You can imagine why this may be a popular app these days, but what I found is the apps are either buggy, single-price expensive ($15) or subscription. No thanks. I just noticed that Lastpass lets you save photos to your vault. Why am I looking for this feature (get your minds out of the gutter!) -- to carry a copy of my COVID Vaccination record! I filed it as a Health Insurance Card in my vault.

 

[Mervyn Haynes]

ASUS RT-AC86U with the latest firmware and I don't have the option to auto-download/install firmware (as shown in the graphic in the show notes). Hopefully that will show up in a release in the near future.

What firmware version are you running? Their latest is Version 3.0.0.4.386.42643 dated 28/4/2021. Maybe that will have the feature you want.

 

[bhelman]

What firmware version are you running? Their latest is Version 3.0.0.4.386.42643 dated 28/4/2021. Maybe that will have the feature you want.

"I'm running an ASUS RT-AC86U with the latest firmware".

 

[PHolder]

been looking at applications to lock photos

Either trust your phone OSes security to keep you safe, or don't put the information on there to begin with. There is no point "locking" a photo because it will be virtually impossible to subsequently view it on the phone without the data being processed in ways that will have it leave the control of the locking app. (On the assumption the app will simply extract the photo to some place where the OS can then show you the picture.)

 

[Mervyn Haynes]

I'm running an ASUS RT-AC86U with the latest firmware

Guess you will just have to wait a bit longer for them to release it. Notice the version you refer to has a .386_43129 extension. Yours .386_42643. Can't be far off release!

 

[Intuit]

FreshTomato
DD-WRT
Open-WRT

 

[bhelman]

Either trust your phone OSes security to keep you safe, or don't put the information on there to begin with. There is no point "locking" a photo because it will be virtually impossible to subsequently view it on the phone without the data being processed in ways that will have it leave the control of the locking app. (On the assumption the app will simply extract the photo to some place where the OS can then show you the picture.)

Yeah, I gotta say that's not very realistic. All phones have flaws (despite Steve's obsession with iPhone "security", it's not nearly as good as he thinks. I may or may not have been a part of the jailbreak community for years before deciding to go to Android. There is no iPhone that can't be jailbroken. It just isn't always easy to consumerize that jailbreak, but I digress). By your philosophy, there's no reason to put passwords on anything or at least you may as well use the phone's browser as your password manager. Realistically, stacking security is ALWAYS better.

 

[bhelman]

Guess you will just have to wait a bit longer for them to release it. Notice the version you refer to has a .386_43129 extension. Yours .386_42643. Can't be far off release!

The good news is, I check regularly for updates. With a night-owl child, it's not always easy to find a time to apply firmware upgrades, but I rarely lag far behind.

 

[mfalkvidd]

Guess you will just have to wait a bit longer for them to release it. Notice the version you refer to has a .386_43129 extension. Yours .386_42643. Can't be far off release!

Yes, seems like AC66U and AC68U happened to be first to get a release that includes the auto update feature.

 

[PHolder]

Well you might be getting some of what you want direct from Google. It appears that they're adding a feature to recent Pixel phones in a "Pixel Drop." I think these sorts of features eventually make it out to everyone. Anyway, here's some info:

Locked Folders. Google previewed Locked Folder in Google Photos at Google I/O last month, and it’s now rolling out to Pixel users. Now, when you take a photo or video that you wish to keep private, you can save them to the Locked Folder. These items won’t show up in shared albums, Memories, or any other apps on your device, and can only be accessed using your passcode or fingerprint.

 

[doopy]

Just a note - I'm an Android user and have been looking at applications to lock photos. You can imagine why this may be a popular app these days, but what I found is the apps are either buggy, single-price expensive ($15) or subscription. No thanks. I just noticed that Lastpass lets you save photos to your vault. Why am I looking for this feature (get your minds out of the gutter!) -- to carry a copy of my COVID Vaccination record! I filed it as a Health Insurance Card in my vault.

I would recommend DroidFS. It's an Android implementation of gocryptfs, which is a cross-platform file-level encryption layer. It has a built-in file manager, camera, and photo viewer. The reason I recommend it is not really because of the added encryption, though, it's because the author of the DroidFS app appears to have been very careful about preventing leakage of data while the encrypted container is open.

For example, the app's default settings prevent screenshots while DroidFS is open, prevent opening files in other apps, prevent exporting files from the container, prevent sharing files to other apps, and automatically locks the container when DroidFS is put in the background. There are settings for allowing each of those things individually, if you need them. You can use the built-in camera and photo viewer without exposing unencrypted data to any other app.

The recommendation about Google's "Locked Photos" feature sounds like it may be what you're looking for, too. It sounds like that's a built-in feature though, not an app you can just download, but I'm not sure.

Either trust your phone OSes security to keep you safe, or don't put the information on there to begin with. There is no point "locking" a photo because it will be virtually impossible to subsequently view it on the phone without the data being processed in ways that will have it leave the control of the locking app. (On the assumption the app will simply extract the photo to some place where the OS can then show you the picture.)

Yeah, if you get a rootkit on your phone or something, then nothing can protect you. Some apps are more secure than others, though. Like the built-in camera and photo viewer in DroidFS.