California company Meditab, which makes medical records software for hospitals, doctor’s offices, and pharmacies, exposed data on a server without a password (via TechCrunch). [Apple Health Records Gets Positive Feedback From Patients] Meditab Leak Besides medical records software, Meditab also processes faxes for healthcare providers, and it was a fax server that wasn’t secured. Dubai…
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.
Articles by Andrew Orr
Apple's Latest Privacy Ad is Relatable to Everyone
Writing for ZDNet, Chris Matyszczyk thinks Apple’s latest privacy ad is a joke. He was expecting a serious message about privacy and thinks the video was too superficial.
We’re offered scenes from everyday life, in which people assert their need not to have their conversations overheard, yet they’re played for comedy. There are times when you need to lock strangers — or teachers or even members of your family — out of your personal life.
In my opinion, that’s exactly why I think the ad was great. Most non-tech people don’t want or don’t understand conversations about encryption, open-source, VPNs, etc. Non-tech people are still using Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram despite the awful things Facebook does. Non-tech people are who Apple makes products for.
Your Phone Number Shouldn't Be Your Identity
Brian Krebs wrote a good article on how our phone numbers have become security and authentication tools, and thus closely tied to our identity. But there’s a problem with that.
Phone numbers stink for security and authentication. They stink because most of us have so much invested in these digits that they’ve become de facto identities. At the same time, when you lose control over a phone number — maybe it’s hijacked by fraudsters, you got separated or divorced, or you were way late on your phone bill payments — whoever inherits that number can then be you in a lot of places online.
Which Styli Are Compatible With the New iPads?
Which styli are they compatible with the new iPads? Andrew does some research to find out.
Facebook Can't Find Enough Local News for its Platform
Facebook is in a bit of a dilemma when it comes to news. Back in November it launched a feature called Today In, which would give people local news in their area. But the company is having trouble filling Today In with enough news, and this is because Facebook is a big contributor to the demise of news.
Today In may be live in 400 cities, but it’s unavailable across large parts of the country that perhaps most need it, namely, those with few or no local newspapers. Of course, Facebook contributed heavily to death of so many local news outlets as a large portion of advertising spending shifted from legacy media to the web, leading to dwindling newspaper revenue. Facebook isn’t the only reason hundreds of outlets have bitten the dust. Consolidation and mergers have played a role, but the likes of Facebook and Google have certainly been key factors.
Apple Releases New iPad mini, iPad Air with Apple Pencil Support
The iPad Air is a 10.5-inch model, while the iPad Mini keeps the 7.9-inch form factor.
Use iNaturalist to Identify Flora and Fauna
I’ve used iNaturalist for a couple years and think it’s a great tool. Two features that help the app stand out from competitors are 1: The machine learning it uses. Once you take a picture, it can automatically suggest what species you’re looking at. 2: With every photo you upload and tag with location and other metadata, you’re contributing to real science. iNaturalist shares data with scientific data repositories like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
The app is a joint initiative between The California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society and works sort of like a Shazam for Nature in that it lets you snap a shot of something you come across and instantly get an answer for what that planet, animal, or bug might be.
Beto O'Rourke and the Cult of the Dead Cow
Beto O’Rourke is a Democratic candidate for the 2020 presidential race. In a recent interview he revealed he was part of the Cult of the Dead Cow, the oldest hacking group in the U.S.
The hugely influential Cult of the Dead Cow, jokingly named after an abandoned Texas slaughterhouse, is notorious for releasing tools that allowed ordinary people to hack computers running Microsoft’s Windows. It’s also known for inventing the word “hacktivism” to describe human-rights-driven security work.
Watch 2019 March Madness on Apple Devices
Roger Fingas put together a brief guide to watching the 2019 March Madness tournament on your Apple devices.
For college basketball fans, the NCAA’s March Madness tournament is nigh — 2019’s games run March 19 through Apr. 8. Here’s how to follow along on an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV if you’re not watching on cable or satellite.
DARPA Builds Open Source Voting System
DARPA is building a US$10 million open source voting system to ensure elections can’t be manipulated.
Snapchat Gaming Platform to Launch Next Month
Reports suggest that a Snapchat gaming platform will launch next month, which is currently codenamed Project Cognac.
The new games initiative will be unveiled at Snap’s first-ever summit for content and developer partners in Los Angeles on April 4, the person said, adding that video initiatives like more original shows will also be announced. An invitation to the event that was seen by Cheddar includes the tagline, “Less talk. More play.” — a nod to the gaming platform.
Everyone seems to be trying to conquer gaming now. Facebook, Apple, Google, and now Snap.
Japanese Copyright Amendments Halted Over Internet Worries
Certain Japanese copyright amendments that would criminalize every instance of copyright infringement have been halted.
Qualcomm Owes Apple $1 Billion Rebate Payment
A federal judge recently ruled that Qualcomm owes Apple almost US$1B in patent royalty rebate payments.
Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on Thursday ruled that Qualcomm, the world’s biggest supplier of mobile phone chips, was obligated to pay nearly $1 billion in rebate payments to Apple, which for years used Qualcomm’s modem chips to connect iPhones to wireless data networks.
Ajit Pai Calls Renewed Net Neutrality Efforts a Political Strategy
In a visit to New Jersey, FCC chairman Ajit Pai called Democrats’ net neutrality efforts a “political strategy.”
Security Expert Talks iPhones and Viruses
Security expert Maik Morgenstern talks about iPhones and viruses and how in theory an iPhone could get one.
“In theory, yes,” Maik Morgenstern, chief technology officer for AV-Test, told Digital Trends. “However, the practical hurdles are quite high, and it is unlikely for a normal user to get affected. But vulnerabilities exist that can be exploited by attackers.”
Spectre Camera 1.1 Adds More Stabilization Support
The developers of the Spectre camera app shared some news about their app. They added stabilization support for iPhone 7, iPhone 6s, and iPhone SE.
With Spectre 1.0, we only supported stabilization on iPhone 8 and later. Stabilization pushes your phone to its limit, and if it can’t keep up, it creates a noticeable drop in quality. We hoped to someday bring it to older devices, but wanted to under-promise and over-deliver.
iCloud Outage Latest Service to Fall
Following on the heels of Facebook, it appears that iCloud is also suffering some outages as shown on Apple’s System Status page.
Free Dropbox Users Now Limited to Three Devices
Dropbox has quietly updated the terms for its free Basic tier. Free Dropbox users are now limited to three linked devices.
If that’s too confining, you’ll have to shell out for a $10 Plus or $20 Professional subscription. You can keep any links you’ve already established, but you won’t get to add any more until you go below that three-device maximum.
As kind of an aside, because I use iCloud instead of Dropbox, I wonder how much Dropbox would be affected if Apple added the ability to share entire iCloud folders, instead of just individual files.
Privacy Social Network MeWe Reaches 4 Million Members
MeWe, a social network that champions privacy (and no ads) announced recently that it has surpassed 4 million members.
Poor People Need Privacy As Much as Everyone Else
Elizabeth Brico writes how privacy might be turning into a luxury, and how poor people can’t afford the legal costs if their identity is stolen because of all the data breaches.
For her part, Gilman argued that many times, names and addresses can be enough to commit the types of identity fraud she has helped her low-income clients battle. “It can cost time and money to clean up the effects of identity theft because low income people are already living on the economic margins, any loss of funds can be catastrophic,” she said. “You have less privacy as a poor person,” Muentz added. “Privacy is becoming a luxury.”
WWDC 2019 Announced June 3-7 in San Jose
Apple just announced the dates for WWDC 2019 which will be held in San Jose, California. The dates are from June 3 to June 7.
RTL Group in Talks With Apple for Video Content
RTL Group, which owns My Brilliant Friend and Femantle, creator of American Gods, is in talks with Apple to supply video content.
Was the Facebook Outage Linked to This Criminal Investigation?
Conspiracy theory time. Yesterday Facebook suffered its biggest outage in its entire history. Other affiliated services like Instagram and WhatsApp were also affected. Facebook is also under a federal criminal investigation over its data sharing practices. Do you think the outage had anything to do with law enforcement seizing some of the company’s servers?
“We are cooperating with investigators and take those probes seriously,” a Facebook spokesman said in a statement. “We’ve provided public testimony, answered questions and pledged that we will continue to do so.”
Apple Acquires Machine Learning Startup Laserlike
Apple has acquired Laserlike, a young startup founded by three former Google engineers. It’s a machine learning startup that could help Apple improve its recommendation algorithms in News, TV, Apple Music, etc (paywall).
An Apple spokesperson confirmed the acquisition of the four-year-old startup, which was founded by three former Google engineers, Anand Shukla, Srinivasan Venkatachary and Steven Baker, and had raised more than $24 million from Redpoint Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures, according to CrunchBase. Terms of the deal could not be learned.
I look forward to getting better recommendations.