Yesterday we explained what a VPN is and covered the benefits of using one. Today we’re examining how to figure out if you have a trustworthy VPN provider. In place of your ISP, your VPN provider receives your browsing data, and it’s good to shop around and compare privacy policies. Andrew Orr tells us what to look out for.
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
What Is A VPN, And How Can It Help You?
Now that Congress have chosen to allow ISPs to sell your data, many people are turning to VPNs to help. But you may not know how VPNs work, or how a VPN can help you browse the web safely. In this article Andrew Orr explores the technical details and gives you our VPN recommendations.
Head of Apple Mail Terry Blanchard Leaves for Rival Email App
Terry Blanchard, who led the engineering and QA teams for Apple Mail since 2011, is moving on. He’s not going far though. Terry will still manage an email team, but it’s for the Spark email app owned by Readdle. Andrew Orr tells us what this could mean for the future of Apple Mail.
Password Protection Comes To Pages, Numbers, Keynotes on iOS, Mac, iCloud
Apple updated its suite of iWork apps across iOS, macOS and iCloud web apps. The feature that stands out the most is the ability to add password protection to your documents using Touch ID. Andrew Orr takes us through the features.
Coming Soon To Your iPhone: Over 70 New Unicode 10 Emojis
Unicode 10 will be launched in June and it will include a bunch of new, awesome emojis. There are 69 new emojis in total, and some or all of them may eventually make their way into iOS 11. Someone made mockups on Emojipedia in Apple’s style, let’s check them out.
New Type Of Smart Mirror Launches Called Daptly Display
Daptly launched a new product for the smart home called Daptly Display. It was built for a specific consumer in mind—people frustrated with voice-only assistants and want visual cues. Enter the Daptly Display, a smart mirror that acts as a gesture-controlled interface. Amazon Alexa is built in, and the interface is for people who aren’t ready (or don’t want) a voice-only future. As well as acting like a fog-resistant mirror, you can use it as a photo frame, by uploading photos from your phone or choosing among Daptly’s 50,000 photo collection. It’s an interesting take on user interfaces, one that borrows from science fiction while harnessing existing technologies. Check out the promotional video below, and decide if you want to reserve a Display. The device will sell at US$799, but you can get US$200 off if you reserve soon.
GameMaker Studio 2 for Mac in Closed Beta
The game engine from YoYo Games—GameMaker Studio—got a big update today with the release of the second version. It lets developers easily create video games for mobile, console and desktop. Plus, the Drag and Drop system (DnD™) lets people with limited coding skills use it too. You can download a free trial of it too.
Lorek The Robot And The Future Of AI
Lorek the robot represents a big step in robotics because it can understand human language, as well as the gestures we make in conversations. Researchers from Brown University pulled off this feat of understanding by programming uncertainty into the robot. Andrew Orr explains why this is a big deal.
Apple Recruits UK Students With Music Ambassador Program
Apple has started an Apple Music Ambassador program this week to enlist the help of college students. In exchange for promoting Apple Music, students receive perks based on how many people they can sign up.
McDonald's Is Testing Mobile Orders from an App
Fast food chain McDonalds is testing a fancy new way to order using your smartphone, because, you know, that’s what we’re looking for from McDonald’s. Customers in Monterey and Salinas, California can use the McDonalds mobile app to order food from home and have it ready when they get there. Andrew Orr explains.
Pwn2Own Hackers Found Two Safari Zero Day Exploits
Yesterday was the annual Pwn2Own hacking contest, and also marks the contest’s 10th anniversary. Hackers compete in challenges to find security holes in popular software and mobile devices. This year, two Safari zero days were found by the white-hat hackers.
iOS Chrome Browser Gets Read Later, Like Safari's Reading List
Google added Read Later to its iOS Chrome browser, a feature similar to Apple’s Reading List in Safari. As the name suggests, Read Later is a section where you can save articles and websites to read later. When you’re browsing in Chrome, you can tap the three dots icon on the upper right. Tap the share icon, then Read Later. Articles are saved offline, so you can read them wherever you are. So far this feature is only on the mobile version of Chrome, but it’s possible Google will add it to the desktop version in the future. The update is available now as part of Chrome version 57 on the App Store.
Apple Just Hired iOS Security Researcher Jonathan Zdziarski
Apple recently hired a prominent iOS security researcher, Jonathan Zdziarski. Known as NerveGas in the jailbreaking community, Mr. Zdziarski is the author of several books about iPhone forensics and how to secure iOS apps. In light of recent events like the CIA Vault 7 leak, this move may improve Apple’s standing within security and privacy circles.
Googlers Made This Social Video App For iPhone
Google released a new video app called Uptime. The release is significant, in part, because it’s the result of the company’s 20 Percent Time program that allows some employees to spend 20 percent of their time on other projects. Released through Google’s internal incubator Area 120, the app is part social media platform and part video viewer with hooks to YouTube.
Capital One Launched A Natural Language Chatbot Named Eno
Capital One announced Friday an SMS chatbot for customers called Eno. The company claimed Eno is the first natural language SMS chatbot from a U.S. bank, allowing customers to ask questions using natural language. The ability to interact with artificial intelligences using natural language processing is something big companies like Apple, Amazon and Google are working on with their own virtual assistants.
macOS: Create Apple Notes Subfolders With Ease
Did you know it’s possible to create Apple Notes subfolders? Andrew didn’t, until he stumbled upon this by accident. Creating subfolders lets you organize your notes in more detailed ways that make sense to you. Here’s how to do it on macOS.
NASA Offers Free Code In New Software Catalog
Every year since 2014, NASA has published a software catalog, On Wednesday NASA released a software catalog with over 1,000 free code samples. The free code is divided into 15 categories like robotics, aeronautics, climate simulators, biological sensors and guidance systems. Although the code is free, some restrictions may apply. For some, any U.S. citizen can apply to use it. Others can only be used by other federal agencies. And there is even some open-source code in the catalog. Open-source code can be directly downloaded, but most others require you to create an account, or in some cases sign a government contract or a usage agreement. If you’re in the sciences or like to tinker at home, be sure to check out this year’s NASA catalog.
Apple Updates HomeKit Automation Webpage
Apple updated its HomeKit page with a fresh, new look. It includes a brief video that shows the power of HomeKit automation with iOS 10. Examples in the video include lights, window shades, coffee makers, door locks and thermostats. Apple also has several sections that give details of different areas of the Home app.
![Improve Your iPhone Screen With ProtectPax Liquid on Indiegogo [Update]](https://www.macobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Image-1.jpg)
Improve Your iPhone Screen With ProtectPax Liquid on Indiegogo [Update]
A company called ProtectPax is crowdfunding a special liquid that can strengthen your iPhone screen. It’s a goo made with titanium nanoparticles, and ProtectPax says it can make your iPhone screen as “hard as sapphire or ruby.” Andrew Orr explains what the company is offering on Indiegogo.
iOS 10 Spying Possible With iCloud Backups
A scary piece from Motherboard brings to attention a tool for iOS 10 spying. A company called Mobistealth sells a special monitoring tool that can pull data from iCloud backups. And the device doesn’t need to be jailbroken to work.
Apple's System Status Page Updated With Last Known Outages
Whenever Apple’s online services go down, the company provides basic information on its System Status page. In the past it just gave information on which service was down, with a brief timeline of the outage. Now, Apple updated the page to replace the timeline with something better.
iOS: Long Press Icons For Safari Shortcuts
You might not know it, but Safari has some hidden shortcuts tucked behind some of the icons. This will let you perform certain actions a little faster. Safari shortcuts will save you plenty of time. Andrew tells us how he discovered these shortcuts by accident.
iPhone Screen Repairs By Third Parties Now Get Some Warranty Coverage
Apple recently decided iPhone screen repairs by third-parties don’t fully void your warranty anymore. Affected iPhone will also qualify for warranty coverage as long as the repair isn’t related to the third-party display itself. Before, iPhones with third-party displays weren’t eligible for authorized repair under warranty from an Apple Authorized Service Provider.
iPhone Prototypes Must Be Carried In A Special Case
Whenever Apple tests new iPhone prototypes, they must be used in real world conditions. But how do you test a prototype in public and still keep it secret? By using a special stealth case. MacRumors got its hands on photos of a special case that Apple uses.