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Andrew Orr

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.

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Articles by Andrew Orr

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Behind AT&T's Streaming Competitor HBO Max

Andrew Orr ·

AT&T wants to take on the likes of Netflix, Disney, and Apple with its streaming service HBO Max.

By 2025, AT&T aims to reach about 80 million global subscribers, with about 50 million in the United States, a source briefed on the plans told Reuters. They are ambitious targets that would be consistent with Netflix Inc’s (NFLX.O) early progress, and in the mid-range of Disney+, Walt Disney Co’s (DIS.N) Netflix rival, set to launch on Nov. 12.

WarnerMedia hopes this service will get a boost in 2021 when it launches an advertising-supported option at a lower cost, insiders said.

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New Messaging Standard RCS Won't Have Encryption

Andrew Orr ·

Everyone is talking about a new messaging standard the Big Four carriers have agreed upon. It’s called RCS and it’s meant to replace SMS. But your RCS conversations won’t be end-to-end encrypted.

The CCMI neatly fixes both the first and the second problem. Garland says the carriers believe there are some implementation issues with the Universal Profile that the CCMI can address more elegantly, but it will follow the standard to ensure interoperability.

As for encryption, Garland wouldn’t commit. He emphasizes that the CCMI intends to make sure that the chats are “private” and that the app it’s making is “an experience [customers] can trust.”

Having Apple join the project would certainly legitimize RCS, but if it doesn’t have encryption I don’t think Apple will partake.

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Over 175 Musicians Boycott Amazon Over ICE Contracts

Andrew Orr ·

Over 175 musicians have pledged to boycott Amazon festivals and partnerships because of the company’s contracts with ICE.

We the undersigned artists are outraged that Amazon continues to provide the technical backbone for ICE’s human rights abuses. We will not allow Amazon to exploit our creativity to promote its brand while it enables attacks on immigrants, communities of color, workers, and local economies. We call on all artists who believe in basic rights and human dignity to join us.

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New iOS Security Suite Helps Developers Protect Apps

Andrew Orr ·

The iOS Security Suite is a brand new platform for developers. It helps them detect if their apps are running on a secure iOS device. What ISS detects:

Jailbreak (even the iOS 11+ with brand new indicators!)

Attached debugger

If an app was run in emulator

Common reverse engineering tools running on the device

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6 Reasons Why Apple’s New Operating Systems are Buggy

Andrew Orr ·

You may have experienced some bugs with iOS 13 and macOS Catalina. David Shayer shares six possible reasons for this.

The betas started out buggy at WWDC in June, which is not unexpected, but even after Apple removed some features from the final releases in September, more problems have forced the company to publish quick updates. Why? Based on my 18 years of experience working as an Apple software engineer, I have a few ideas.

What I’m most annoyed about is the fact that some shortcuts have been broken by iOS 13.

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Bob Iger Says Disney+ Lets You Keep Downloads Even After Removal

Andrew Orr ·

Disney+ will let you keep downloaded content even if it has been removed from the platform, says Bob Iger.

But Iger said that while these deals would cause some of that content to leave the platform for “brief periods of time,” you’ll be able to download that content onto a device where it will remain so long as your Disney+ account is active. This would give Disney+ a leg up on other services with which it has licensing agreements to make any downloads of that series or film available to Disney+ subscribers.

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Apple Patents Discuss Digital Government ID

Andrew Orr ·

Two new Apple patents discuss methods for replacing paper documents with a digital government ID, and how they could be verified.

US Patent applications numbered 20190325125 and 20190327228, both titled “Identity Credential Verification Techniques,” follow previous reports of Apple hoping to make iPhones central to ID security.

The two new patent applications separate out the functions of such systems into the creation or collection of a user’s identity details, the later authentication of that ID, and then the user’s ability to provide this detail on request.

I’m normally all about privacy but personally I look forward to the day when such documents are digital.

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Travel Platform Autoclerk Just Leaked 179GB of Military Data

Andrew Orr ·

Hosted on AWS servers, Autoclerk leaked 179GB of military data containing sensitive personal data of users and hotel guests.

The most surprising victim of this leak wasn’t an individual or company: it was the US government, military, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Our team viewed highly sensitive data exposing the personal details of government and military personnel, and their travel arrangements to locations around the world, both past and future. This represented a massive breach of security for the governmentagencies and departments impacted.

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LumaFusion 2.1.0 Adds External Drive Support

Andrew Orr ·

Big news for video editors: LumaFusion 2.1.0 adds support for external drives on iOS 13. You’ll be able to browse for files directly within the app.

iOS 13 External drive support fully integrated in the Library. Select the new Files source in the Library, then tap “Add Link To Folder” to connect to any external drive or other app’s shared folder. Browse, preview trim, and add media to your projects. Press-and-hold on a linked folder to remove it at any time.

App Store: US$29.99

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Mophie Launches iPhone 11 Battery Case

Andrew Orr ·

mophie launched an iPhone 11 battery case. The juice pack access case keeps your Lightning port free and your iPhone powered past sunset.

The juice pack access for the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro comes equipped with a 2,000mAh integrated battery, while the juice pack access for the iPhone 11 Pro Max includes a 2,200mAh integrated battery. Each case employs Qi wireless charging technology to pass power to the iPhone while leaving the Lightning port available for simultaneous EarPods use during charging.

You can pick one up for US$99.95.

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School Surveillance: How Millions of Kids are Spied On

Andrew Orr ·

When we hear the word “surveillance” we usually think about the NSA, or perhaps tech companies like Facebook and Google. What we probably don’t think about is school surveillance used to spy on kids.

The new school surveillance technology doesn’t turn off when the school day is over: anything students type in official school email accounts, chats or documents is monitored 24 hours a day, whether students are in their classrooms or their bedrooms.

Tech companies are also working with schools to monitor students’ web searches and internet usage, and, in some cases, to track what they are writing on public social media accounts.

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Firefox 70 Brings Enhanced Tracking Protection Today

Andrew Orr ·

Mozilla released Firefox 70 today and one of the new features is Enhanced Tracking Protection turned on by default on all platforms.

More privacy protections from Enhanced Tracking Protection:

Social tracking protection, which blocks cross-site tracking cookies from sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, is now a standard feature of Enhanced Tracking Protection.

The Privacy Protections report shows an overview, with details, of the trackers Firefox has blocked. It provides consolidated reports from Monitor and Lockwise.