Wikileaks sends shockwaves with big new CIA dump, losing confidence in Confide and Google wants to expand its data scientist pipeline. That and more in The Daily Crunch for March 8, 2017.

1. Wikileaks says this is how the CIA hacks

Wikileaks has dumped a new, huge set of documents, this time consisting of over 8,000 files which, combined, cover its methods for hacking iOS and Android devices, as well as a means to hack smart TVs and use their microphones to listen in on targets.

The giant data dump is making waves, of course, but one company involved says it's old news – Apple released a statement saying that these leaks actually detail vulnerabilities that have mostly been patched in recent updates to iOS, with fixes for the rest being actively worked on.

2. Don't trust Confide to keep secrets, say researchers

Messaging app Confide is used by D.C. insiders, including White House staffers, but its security features might not be as secure as claimed. Security researchers demonstrated how to intercept encrypted Confide messages, and stated that the company can read user messages if they want to. Confide says that isn't exactly true, but the research is fairly rock solid.

3. Google is buying a data science and machine learning community

Google is acquiring Kaggle, a site that hosted data science and machine learning competitions. The Cloud Next conference Google is hosting for developers using its cloud-based platforms this week seems like a good time for the search giant to make the news official.

4. Amazon acquired Do.com to help it build Chime

Amazon's AWS unit purchased startup Do.com, a meeting productivity platform, to help it build Chime, its business-focused comms suite. The Do deal wasn't made public at the time, but its founder now lists himself as a product manager for Chime on LinkedIn.

5. Tinder Select is not for you

Tinder has a secret, exclusive club you probably can't get into: Tinder Select, an elite version of the mobile dating network that caters to celebrities, CEOs, and "people who do really well on Tinder," which sounds like it translates to mean people who are basically really hot.

6. Nvidia's new embedded AI platform is smart

Most smart devices aren't actually that smart on their own, they just connect to a cloud-based supercomputer that makes them seem really smart. Nvidia's new Jetson TX2 is designed to provide AI capabilities at the edge – that is, in the smart cameras, sensors and small industrial robots where the virtual intelligence is actually used.

7. Microsoft is shutting down So.cl

What is So.cl? I'm seriously asking. This is one I couldn't even manage to recall vaguely. I guess it was a social networking project? Well it's gone now.