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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

‘Before Your Eyes’ From GoodByeWorld Games Comes to Mac
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'Before Your Eyes' From GoodByeWorld Games Comes to Mac

Andrew Orr ·

In Before Your Eyes, players embark upon a thought-provoking journey with the Ferryman who is tasked with shepherding souls to the afterlife. They move through time by using real-world blinking to interact and progress through the story. Before Your Eyes’ unique blink interaction mechanic offers a novel way for players to control the story and become more immersed, as their progress is determined through their eyes and detected through the player’s webcam. Purchase Before Your Eyes on Steam as part of a deluxe content bundle including the game, its complete soundtrack in MP3 and lossless formats and an artbook with concept art, character designs and insight from the team for US$13.49. The deluxe content is also available separate from the game for US$7.99.

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New 'Mastercard Installments' Program Helps You Buy Now, Pay Later

Andrew Orr ·

A rumor we heard of in July was that Apple would launch “Apple Pay Later” to let people pay for purchases in installments, like Apple Card customers enjoy. This was not announced at the iPhone 13 event, but in the meantime, Mastercard customers can use a similar service.

Mastercard Installments enables consumers to digitally access BNPL offers, either pre-approved through their lender’s mobile banking app or through instant approval during checkout. Pre-approved installments can be used directly on a merchant’s website, and can be stored in digital wallets including Click-to-Pay, to then be used online or in-store wherever Mastercard is accepted. Instant approvals during checkout will be available through Click-to-Pay shortly after launch.

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Coinbase Direct Deposit Arrives Soon for Crypto Customers

Andrew Orr ·

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is rolling out the ability to let customers deposit their paychecks directly into its system.

Stay in control of your money by depositing as little or as much of your paycheck as you want. Get paid in any of the 100+ crypto available on Coinbase or in US Dollars. Choose to get paid in crypto so you can make recurring buys or earn interest on your income (by getting paid in USDC, DAI, or other interest-yielding assets), or choose to get paid in US Dollars to be ready for any trade or to spend with your Coinbase Card.

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Brazil Fines Apple For Not Including a Charger in iPhone 13 Boxes

Andrew Orr ·

Brazil is issuing a fine against Apple for not including a charger inside the iPhone 13 packages. They also fined the company for the same thing with iPhone 12.

Following Brazil’s fining Apple $1.9 million for not including a charger with the iPhone 12, the company was forced to offer chargers to anyone requesting it. Now, the Procon-SP regulator plans to do the same over the iPhone 13.

According to local publication TechTudo, the $1.9 million fine that was issued in March 2021, was the maximum allowable under Brazilian law. The fine is also limited in how it cannot be applied again fewer than six months after issuing.

Chargers, and also cases. By slightly repositioning the buttons on the iPhone 13 so iPhone 12 cases don’t work anymore, Apple flips off the environment and uses its corpse for Tim Cook’s footstool.

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iPhone 13 Review Shows Impressive Battery Results

Andrew Orr ·

We saw Apple executives on stage mention one or or one-and-a-half extra hours of battery with iPhone 13 models. This review proves it.

Apple was careful not to promise any specific battery life on the new iPhones. I think that’s because of 5G. Depending on 5G frequency and signal quality, the battery life you get can be much shorter than you see here—and the 5G situation is so confusing across different carriers and countries that I don’t think Apple was willing to make a generalization. Of course, you can always turn off 5G.

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Inside Story: How the Mafia is Getting Involved in Cybercrime

Andrew Orr ·

On Monday, police in Europe announced the arrests of over 100 people connected to the Mafia. They were using hackers to support efforts in traditional crime.

The authorities said that the organized crime groups employed hackers who were using phishing, social engineering attacks, and SIM swapping, as well as sending malware to victims with the goal of taking over their bank accounts and stealing their money.

This operation highlights a new trend: traditional organized crime groups, such as the Italian Mafia and Camorra, are now dabbling in cybercrime to support their traditional offline activities, according to Italian and Spanish police investigators involved in the crackdown who spoke with Motherboard.

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AirPods Market Share Dropped From 41 Percent to 29 Percent

Andrew Orr ·

Mashable‘s Alex Perry writes how AirPods revolutionized the wireless earbud space but is currently falling behind.

AirPods market share dropped from 41 percent at the end of 2019 to 29 percent at the end of 2020, according to research firm Counterpoint. That’s still a substantial lead over everyone else, but it does point to what happened in the more than two years since the last AirPods update: Other companies made cheaper and better entry-level wireless earbuds, and consumers took notice.

Photo by Lala Azizli on Unsplash

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'ShadowDragon' Helps Michigan State Police Surveil its Citizens

Andrew Orr ·

An investigation on Thursday shows how Michigan State Police use software called ShadowDragon to collect online data. This helps them identify “persons of interest.”

By providing powerful searches of more than 120 different online platforms and a decade’s worth of archives, the company claims to speed up profiling work from months to minutes. ShadowDragon even claims its software can automatically adjust its monitoring and help predict violence and unrest. Michigan police acquired the software through a contract with another obscure online policing company named Kaseware for an “MSP Enterprise Criminal Intelligence System.”

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Once a Upon a Time, Phones Were Phones. Then the iPhone Came Along

Andrew Orr ·

Vox has launched the newest season of its podcast Land of the Giants. In the first episode they talked to Apple executives about how the iPhone changed everything.

True story. Once upon a time, mobile phones were … phones. You used them to make phone calls. Maybe you’d send some texts, if you were kind of advanced. The iPhone changed all that. And it changed more than the way we used phones: It changed Apple, and it changed culture, and it overturned industries and created new ones. And all of that happened really, really fast: Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone just 14 years ago. But it’s already almost impossible to imagine what life was like before that.

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Mozilla Adds Facebook Messenger, Houseparty, and WeChat to 'Privacy Not Included' Guide

Andrew Orr ·

In a review of the privacy features of 21 popular video call apps, Mozilla said Apple’s FaceTime is safe, while WeChat, Houseparty, and Facebook Messenger are not.

Says Jen Caltrider, *Privacy Not Included Lead at Mozilla: Video call apps are now a routine part of millions of people’s lives. And even when the pandemic recedes, that won’t change. In this new world, people deserve to know if the apps they’re using everyday respect their privacy — or if they’re snooping on them. While video call apps may feel more intimate than social media platforms, there’s still a ton of data being collected, stored, and shared. For that reason, users should assume that anything they say on a video call app could be made public.