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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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Netflix Introduces New 'Fast Laughs' Feature for iOS

Andrew Orr ·

Netflix is introducing a new feature on its mobile apps called Fast Laughs. It’s a way for people to browse short, funny clips from its video content.

Fast Laughs offers a full-screen feed of funny clips from our big comedy catalog including films (Murder Mystery), series (Big Mouth), sitcoms (The Crew) and stand-up from comedians like Kevin Hart and Ali Wong.

You access the feed through your bottom navigation menu by clicking on the Fast Laughs tab. Clips will start playing – when one ends another begins, to keep the laughs coming.

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Watch the Trailer for New Series ‘Calls’ Coming to Apple TV+

Andrew Orr ·

“Calls” is a unique series coming to Apple TV+ told through a 12-minute phone calls. Based on the French series of the same name (Apple ordered an English adaptation in 2018), Calls is an immersive television experience that masterfully uses only audio and minimal abstract visuals to tell bone-chilling stories. Launching in a binge model worldwide, all nine 12-minute episodes are told through a series of phone calls that use sharp writing, compelling voice talent and graphics to aid in transcribing the darkly dramatic conversations onto the screen. These relatable scenarios transport the audience into familiar situations that quickly become surreal with thrilling and frightening moments. Featuring Lily Collins, Rosario Dawson, Mark Duplass, Pedro Pascal, and others. It arrives March 19.

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M1 Support Coming to Open Source Email Client ‘Thunderbird’

Andrew Orr ·

In the latest beta version of Thunderbird the company added a welcome surprise in the notes: Future support for Apple’s M1 Macs. These notes apply to Thunderbird version 87 beta 1 released February 26, 2021. What’s New: Native support for macOS devices built with Apple Silicon CPUs; New user interface for adding attachments; Clicking on an already-selected pill in the recipient list will now allow editing the address; Copying a large message to an IMAP server would sometimes prematurely display a time-out error; OpenPGP: Messages with a high compression ratio (over 10x) could not be decrypted; and other fixes and improvements.

Run Virtual Machines on M1 Macs With ‘UTM’
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Run Virtual Machines on M1 Macs With ‘UTM’

Andrew Orr ·

UTM is an app I recently discovered that lets you run virtual machines on M1 Macs. It uses Apple’s Hypervisor virtualization framework to run ARM64 operating systems on Apple Silicon at near native speeds. On Intel Macs, x86/x64 operating system can be virtualized. In addition, lower performance emulation is available to run x86/x64 on Apple Silicon as well as ARM64 on Intel. For developers and enthusiasts, there are dozens of other emulated processors as well including: ARM32, MIPS, PPC, and RISC-V. Under the hood of UTM is QEMU, a decades old, free and open source emulation software that is widely used and actively maintained. While QEMU is powerful, it can be difficult to set up and configure with its plethora of command line options and flags. UTM is designed to give users the flexibility of QEMU without the steep learning curve that comes with it. Mac App Store Link

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How Apple’s Walled Garden is a Double-Edged Security Sword

Andrew Orr ·

Patrick Howell O’Neill shared an interesting argument for MIT Technology Review: Apple’s locked-down ecosystem is both good and bad for security.

He argues that while the iPhone’s security is getting tighter as Apple invests millions to raise the wall, the best hackers have their own millions to buy or develop zero-click exploits that let them take over iPhones invisibly. These allow attackers to burrow into the restricted parts of the phone without ever giving the target any indication of having been compromised. And once they’re that deep inside, the security becomes a barrier that keeps investigators from spotting or understanding nefarious behavior.

Put another way: Apple’s locked down systems naturally select for the best hackers. And the best hackers have the skill to create the most devastating hacks. “This means that even to know you’re under attack, you may have to rely on luck or vague suspicion rather than clear evidence.”

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Twitter Announces ‘Super Follows’ and Communities

Andrew Orr ·

Twitter announced a couple of features on Thursday that will arrive in the future and change the nature of its platform.

The payment feature, called Super Follows, will allow Twitter users to charge followers and give them access to extra content. That could be bonus tweets, access to a community group, subscription to a newsletter, or a badge indicating your support.

Twitter also announced a new feature called Communities, which appear to be its take on something like Facebook Groups. People can create and join groups around specific interests — like cats or plants, Twitter suggests — allowing them to see more tweets focused on those topics.

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New Paramount+ Service Will be $5 a Month With Ads

Andrew Orr ·

Paramount+ is a rebranded and expanded version of CBS All Access. In a virtual investor event on Thursday executives revealed pricing. It launches March 4.

And they said that Paramount+ will cost $4.99 per month with ads in the U. S. (less than the $5.99 charged for CBS All Access), or $9.99 without ads and with additional sports, news and live TV content. There are also plans to bundle this with the company’s premium subscriptions, such as Showtime.