Since 2015 Andrew has been writing about Apple, privacy, security, and at one point even Android. You can find him most places online under the username @andrewornot.
A federal court ruled that suspicionless searches of travelers’ phones and laptops is unconstitutional, a win for privacy rights.
The ruling came in a lawsuit, Alasaad v. McAleenan, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and ACLU of Massachusetts, on behalf of 11 travelers whose smartphones and laptops were searched without individualized suspicion at U.S. ports of entry.
Minecraft Earth early access is now available for iOS users in the United States. It’s a game that lets players design their creations in AR.
Walmart Voice Order lets customers add items to their cart via voice. The company announced a partnership with Apple that includes Siri.
After being available in its mobile app Pandora Podcasts is launching for Mac and Windows users and also on the web.
Richard Plebler, former CEO of HBO who departed the company back in February is in advanced discussions with Apple over a content deal.
The 504th military app gives soldiers weather updates, training changes, and other logistics. But its terms of service say it collects a lot of personal data, and if the app was hacked it could potentially expose top-secret information.
The app’s permissions — which suggested it could pull GPS location data, photos, contacts and even rewrite memory cards — frustrated soldiers who have taken extreme precautions they felt were glossed over by Trotter and other senior leaders…The worst-case scenario, he said, was “our cover might be blown.” While the app said permissions could be disabled, the soldiers said there was a failure of confidence it was secure. Senior leaders checked the phones of subordinates to ensure they had the app installed, soldiers in the unit said.
Why it’s especially concerning: “The app developer, Straxis LLC, is based in Tulsa but has a subsidiary in southern India.”
Today Facebook announced the launch of its consumer payment system. No, it’s not the cryptocurrency ‘Libra.’ Instead it’s Facebook Pay.
Computer historian David Greelish directed an Apple Lisa documentary called Before Macintosh: The Apple Lisa set to release in early 2020.
Jamf is an Apple IT company and just started its 2019 Jamf Nation User Conference with new product announcements for enterprise.
WordPress is adding a feature that will give websites a new way to earn money: WordPress subscriptions via Recurring Payments.
Severed is normally US$6.99 but now it’s just US$0.99 for a limited time. Winner of the Apple Design Award in 2017 and voted iPad Game of the Year in 2016, Severed lets you take control of a one-armed warrior named Sasha, wielding a living sword on her journey through a nightmare world in search of her family. Dungeon Combat: Master offensive and defensive touch combat techniques to survive intense battles against a menagerie of enemies. Severing: Best enemies in combat for a chance at severing their body parts — then wear them to gain new powers or consume them to upgrade your equipment and abilities. Exploration: Follow branching routes through the unknown, using your wits to avoid hazards and solve puzzles. Award-Winning Soundtrack: Immerse yourself in the haunting original score from Juno- and Polaris-nominated band YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN, featuring Pantayo. App Store: Severed – US$0.99
Microsoft has pledged to abide by California’s privacy law in the rest of the United States, saying it is a strong supporter for the law.
For years there have been anecdotes from people saying that Facebook secretly uses their phone’s microphone and/or camera for targeted advertising. Joshua Maddux tweeted about a bug he found within the Facebook app. By tapping on a profile picture and slowly sliding it down the screen, you can see his rear camera being accessed on the left hand side. He tested it using five iPhones running iOS 13.2.2.
Found a
@facebook#security &#privacy issue. When the app is open it actively uses the camera. I found a bug in the app that lets you see the camera open behind your feed. Note that I had the camera pointed at the carpet.
Writing for 9to5Mac, Zac Hall says that Apple could be holding private press briefings this week. If this is the case then we could see new Apple product announcements as early as the middle of the week.
This week appears to be one of those occasions based both on what 9to5Mac is hearing privately and suggestions by multiple public disclosures. If Apple is holding private press meetings at the start of this week, that suggests we could see the subject of those meetings announced publicly by the middle of the week.
I’m looking forward to the release of Apple’s ‘Tag’ Bluetooth beacons.
Teaming up with Ascension, Project Nightingale aims to collect health data from millions of Americans, without telling patients or doctors.
IT specialist Bob Gendler found that macOS Mail was storing encrypted emails in plain text. He first notified Apple on July 29, but only got a temporary fix from the company 99 days later on November 5.
The main thing I discovered was that the snippets.db database file in the Suggestions folder stored my emails. And on top of that, I found that it stored my S/MIME encrypted emails completely UNENCRYPTED. Even with Siri disabled on the Mac, it *still* stores unencrypted messages in this database!
Mr. Gendler shard a fix in his blog post.
Apple has removed a stalking app called Like Patrol from the App Store after Instagram sent a cease-and-desist order to the developers.
Apple shared the story of an AR app called Healium. It helps veterans manage their anxiety using a blend of storytelling, neuroscience, and game design.
According to YouTube’s new terms of service, your YouTube account can be terminated if it isn’t commercially viable enough. The phrasing is broad enough that some people think this means Google will take action against people using adblockers.
YouTube may terminate your access, or your Google account’s access to all or part of the Service if YouTube believes, in its sole discretion, that provision of the Service to you is no longer commercially viable.
I’m personally not sure if that’s the case. You don’t need a Google account to watch YouTube, nor does Google need you to have an account for it to track you.
Today VSCO announced the launch of a VSCO Snapchat lens called Analog, giving people a chance to unleash their creativity. Here’s how to use it.
A judge recently ruled that law enforcement have the ability to search through DNA database GEDmatch, overriding the choice of its over one million users.
In the wake of that attention-grabbing case, GEDmatch changed its policies in May 2018 to make it less easy for police to access their data. Users now have to opt in to having their data made available to police; information they upload is set to private by default. Rogers told the NYT that as of October, less than 15% of current users, 185,000 out of 1.3 million, have opted in to sharing their data with police.
In a small study (n=80) undergraduate students were fitted with a wireless electroencephalography (EEG) headset. They were then asked to read political news headlines as they would appear on a Facebook feed to determine their credibility. They overwhelmingly chose headlines that aligned with their political beliefs as true.
“We all believe that we are better than the average person at detecting fake news, but that’s simply not possible,” said lead author Patricia Moravec, assistant professor of information, risk and operations management. “The environment of social media and our own biases make us all much worse than we think.”
The iPhone 11 Pro Max on DxOMark scores third place with an overall score of 117. This is the same score as Samsung’s Note 10 series.
During The Morning Show, a new series for Apple TV+, Apple product placements are visible for an average of 32 shots per episode.
