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Ethan Coen’s Hilarious Review of Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” [Updated]

Charlotte Henry ·

Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” has received some decent reviews since it premiered in cinemas and on Apple TV+. One person who was not so receptive was the directors brother and former collaborator Ethan. He provided a hilarious take for the Might Be Wrong Substack, full of expletives and brotherly jibes.

Consider the very decision to adapt Macbeth. The choice belies deep insecurity; Mr. Coen seems, on some level, to understand that he has the talent God gave a balloon full of piss, and therefore needs to latch onto more talented artists like a lamprey sucking the life out of a majestic blue whale. A less insecure director might have been satisfied with a less esteemed piece of intellectual property, but Mr. Coen glommed onto perhaps the best known play by the world’s most renowned playwright in a move that screams “HELP! THE NO TALENT POLICE ARE RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! PLEASE, SOMEONE RESCUE ME BEFORE I’M EXPOSED AS A FRAUD WHO SOMEHOW FELL ASS-FIRST INTO A MOVIE CAREER!”

[Update February 3: In thoroughly disappointing news, it turns out this is a spoof and not really written by Ethan Coen. Still very funny though.]

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Google One VPN for iPhone Now Available to Use

Andrew Orr ·

iPhone owners can now starting using the Google One VPN if they pay for 2TB or more for Google One storage.

Privacy and security are always core to everything we make. Our systems have advanced security built in to help ensure no one uses the VPN to tie your online activity to your identity. Our client libraries are also open sourced, and our end-to-end systems have been independently audited. Our VPN has the full certification from the Internet of Secure Things Alliance (ioXt) and passed all eight of ioXt’s security principles.

Update: According to MacRumors, the Google One app is no longer available through the App Store.

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Here's How to Save 'Wordle' After its Purchase by New York Times

Andrew Orr ·

There’s a method to save Wordle now that the New York Times recently acquired it. The publisher says it will remain free during the transition. As The Verge points out, all you have to do is right-click on the page.

It doesn’t retain my previous progress, just like the web version doesn’t keep your streak intact when you move from playing Wordle in a desktop browser to playing Wordle on a phone — but you could theoretically start building a new one if you want, and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone figures out a way to import progress as well.

On Safari, save it as a web archive, because that preserves the Javascript. In Firefox you’ll see an option for saving it as Webpage (Complete) but that saves just the Javascript. Double-click on the web archive and Worldle will run in your browser.

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Facebook's Failed 'Diem' Stablecoin Now Officially Over

Andrew Orr ·

Facebook had dreams of launching its own cryptocurrency called Diem (formerly Libra) but the company has called it quits (link to original PR piece here, commentary from The Verge below).

The sale of Diem’s assets marks the end of an effort that, in retrospect, was doomed from the start. Facebook, which now goes by Meta, created the apps that would have been the main way people used the token. So even though Facebook formed the Libra Association to govern the token with other companies, people were immediately fearful that Libra would make the controversial tech giant even more powerful. Plus, members of the Libra Association started to drop out, just months after the group had been announced.

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Judge Rules Developer's Lawsuit Can Proceed Against Apple

Andrew Orr ·

A judge ruled that a lawsuit from Kosta Eleftheriou can proceed against Apple. Half of the claims can move forward and Mr. Eleftheriou can amend the other claims that were dismissed.

In his own lawsuit against Apple, Eleftheriou aims to document what he alleges were an unfair series of rejections for his Apple Watch keyboard app, FlickType, from the App Store. At the time, Apple told Eleftheriou his app offered a “poor user experience” and noted full keyboard apps were not allowed for Apple Watch. But, he says, it then allowed competitor keyboard apps as well as third-party apps (like Nano for Reddit, Chirp for Twitter, WatchChat for WhatsApp and Lens for Instagram) to launch on the App Store.

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Treasury Considers ID.Me Alternatives Over Privacy Concerns

Andrew Orr ·

The Treasury Department is looking into ID.me alternatives for accessing the IRS website over privacy concerns.

CEO Blake Hall this week said that the company also used one-to-many technology, which compares selfies taken by users as part of the verification process against a larger database. The company said it maintained an internal database of selfies taken by users and compared new selfies against it using Amazon’s controversial Rekognition technology. As of January 25, 20.9 million users’ selfies had been verified against that database, the company said.

 

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Proton Rolls Out Redesigned 'ProtonMail Bridge' to Paid Customers

Andrew Orr ·

ProtonMail Bridge is being updated with a completely redesigned user interface for ease of use. It gradually rolls out to paid users starting today.

This new version of ProtonMail Bridge is packed with fixes and improvements, but the main change is the new local cache, which now includes full message bodies. This means ProtonMail Bridge stores messages encrypted on your device, so they can be retrieved much faster than when stored remotely on our servers. You can control your cache using the Advanced settings.

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Telecom Lobby in California Loses Case Against Net Neutrality

Andrew Orr ·

Telecom lobbyists in California have lost a case to attack net neutrality law SB 822, considered the strongest such law in the U.S.

The California net neutrality law is now clearly enforceable, and bars telecom companies from blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization, abusing their gatekeeper power in interconnection, or engaging in “zero rating” scams. The court’s decision also clearly paves the way for other states to impose their own net neutrality protections.

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FCC Now Requires Broadband Nutrition Labels for Consumers

Andrew Orr ·

The FCC will force ISPs to disclose broadband “nutrition labels” to give information on prices, introductory rates, data allowances, broadband speeds, and management practices.

The law directs the Commission “to promulgate regulations to require the display of broadband consumer labels, as described in the Public Notice of the Commission issued on April 4, 2016 (DA 16–357), to disclose to consumers information regarding broadband Internet access service plans.” Id. See also Consumer and Governmental Affairs, Wireline Competition, and Wireless Telecommunications Bureaus Approve Open Internet Broadband Consumer Labels, GN Docket No. 14-28, Public Notice, 31 FCC Rcd 3358 (CGB/WCB/WTB 2016) (2016 Public Notice).

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The Search for Infamous Phone Phreaker Susy Thunder

Andrew Orr ·

The Verge has a cool story about searching for Susy Thunder, a phone phreaker and social engineer.

Susan found her way into the hacker underground through the phone network. In the late 1970s, Los Angeles was a hotbed of telephone culture: you could dial-a-joke, dial-a-horoscope, even dial-a-prayer. Susan spent most of her days hanging around on 24-hour conference lines, socializing with obsessives with code names like Dan Dual Phase and Regina Watts Towers. Some called themselves phone phreakers and studied the Bell network inside out; like Susan’s groupie friends, they knew how to find all the back doors.

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Facebook Rolls Out End-to-End Encrypted Chats for Everyone

Andrew Orr ·

End-to-end encrypted chats are now available for all users of Facebook Messenger, the company announced. This includes group chats and calls.

Last year, we announced that we began testing end-to-end encryption for group chats, including voice and video calls. We’re excited to announce that this feature is available to everyone. Now you can choose to connect with your friends and family in a private and secure way.

These secure chats remain opt-in only, instead of encrypted by default like actual private messaging apps.

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An NFT on OpenSea Can Steal Your IP Address

Andrew Orr ·

An NFT found on the OpenSea marketplace can steal visitors’ IP addresses, according to a repot from Motherboard.

Of course, websites often collect and store visitors’ IP addresses in virtue of how the sites function. OpenSea itself likely collects the IP addresses of visitors, like plenty of other sites, apps, or services. But here, an outside third party—the NFT seller—is able to gather information themselves on the people viewing the NFT, potentially without them knowing.

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Contactless iPhone Payments May Be Just Around The Corner

Andrew Orr ·

Contactless iPhone payments could be enabled in a future iOS update, Mark Gurman wrote on Wednesday. It means that small business could accept credit card payments directly with an iPhone, without needing a terminal such as Square. Jeff Butts has more information here.

In order to accept payments on an iPhone today, merchants need to use payment terminals that plug in or communicate with the phone via Bluetooth. The upcoming feature will instead turn the iPhone into a payment terminal, letting users such as food trucks and hair stylists accept payments with the tap of a credit card or another iPhone onto the back of their device.

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ID.me CEO Admits Company Uses '1:Many' Facial Recognition

Andrew Orr ·

ID.me CEO Blake Hall wrote in a LinkedIn post that his company uses 1:many facial recognition. Cyber Scoop explains how this contradicts a press release saying ID.me does not use this technology. 1:many means the technology can identify people within mass databases of photos. It’s the opposite of the 1:1 face match proposed in the IRS + ID.me verification.

“We could disable the 1:many face search, but then lose a valuable fraud fighting tool. Or we could change our public stance on using 1:many face search,” an engineer wrote in a message posted to a company Slack channel on Tuesday. “But it seems we can’t keep doing one thing and saying another as that’s bound to land us in hot water.”

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Apple M1 Max vs Intel Alder Lake Core i9 - Who Wins?

Charlotte Henry ·

Benchmarks are out for Intel’s Alder Lake Core i9 chip. The raw numbers look like a win for PC users, even when compared with Apple’s M1 Max. However, as Macworld pointed out, there is a bit more to consider when making comparisons.

Geekbench 5’s OpenCL graphics benchmark results look dramatic. The PC laptops PCWorld tested have expensive discrete GPUs that offer peak performance, and it shows in the results. But a more applicable comparison is to examine the results for the integrated GPUs. In this case, the M1 Max and its 32-core GPU posts a 183 percent increase over the Alder Lake’s integrated GPU, an Iris Xe.

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Analysts Confident Apple Ahead of AAPL Earnings Call

Charlotte Henry ·

Some analysts believe that Apple has managed to deal with supply-chain issues caused by the Covid pandemic better than its rivals at the end of last year. It could also surpass Wall Street growth targets of six percent when it announces its latest earnings on Thursday. Reuter has a nice round-up of analyst opinion.

We expect Apple to reach its highest market share in China since Apple entered the market in 2008,” said analyst Nicole Peng of Canalys. Investment firm Wedbush Securities forecasts record iPhone sales of more than 40 million units during the holiday period from Black Friday to Christmas. Morgan Stanley estimates total holiday quarter iPhone shipments at 83 million, representing a 4% increase from the previous year. Wall Street analysts expect Apple to post about $118.7 billion in revenue, representing 6.48% year-over-year growth, and quarterly earnings per share of $1.89, according to Eikon data as of Tuesday.

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A Designer's Perspective on AirPods Annoyances

Andrew Orr ·

UI designer Philip Ardeljan wrote a blog post on AirPods annoyances and how they don’t fit Apple’s mantra of “Just Work.”

Annoyance 1: If you have 2 devices, say iMac and iPhone connected to AirPods, when you are using your iMac and unlock your iPhone to check something, sometimes, the AirPods switch to the iPhone. But you didn’t want them to. I get that Apple is trying to be clever and anticipate your moves, which I genuinely appreciate, but when it gets in the way it’s annoying.

This one in particular annoys me too.

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A Crypto Wallet Crack Recovered $2 Million in Tokens

Andrew Orr ·

The Verge had a fascinating story out yesterday about a crypto wallet crack that helped two friends get their tokens back. It’s a long-ish read but not overly technical.

Reich gave up and wrote off the money in his mind. He was willing to take the loss — until the price started to rise again. From a low of around $12,000, the value of their tokens started to skyrocket. By the end of 2020, it would be worth more than $400,000, rising briefly to over $3 million. It would be hard to get into the wallet without the PIN — but it wasn’t impossible. And with potentially millions on the line, Reich and his friend vowed to find a way inside.

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Google Topics Will Categorize Your Browsing for Advertising

Andrew Orr ·

Google Topics will track your browsing and divvy it up into 300 categories for advertising. It replaces Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC).

When you hit upon a site that supports the Topics API for ad purposes, the browser will share three topics you are interested in — one for each of the three last weeks — selected randomly from your top five topics of each week. The site can then share this with its advertising partners to decide which ads to show you. Ideally, this would make for a more private method of deciding which ad to show you — and Google notes that it also provides users with far greater control and transparency than what’s currently the standard. Users will be able to review and remove topics from their lists — and turn off the entire Topics API, too.

 

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Cooking Over FaceTime? New Recipe App 'Pestle' Can Help

Andrew Orr ·

Sarah Perez writes about a new app called Pestle that helps with cooking over FaceTime. It makes use of SharePlay released with iOS 15.1.

The result is a well-built recipe app that provides a better experience for the end user, and one which tries to respect the creator content it organizes by offering source links, tools to discover more recipes from the same creator as they’re published, and a feature that encourages repeat visits to recipe sites. But some of Pestle’s other features make it almost too easy to bypass creators’ websites, which could cause concerns.

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Coinbase Creates Center to Help With Crypto Taxes

Andrew Orr ·

Worried about crypto taxes? Coinbase has created a tax center on its platform to help.

Customers will see all of their taxable activity in one place to determine if they owe taxes, and how much. If they’ve taken more advanced steps like sending or receiving crypto from Coinbase Pro or external wallets, they can receive free tax reports for up to 3,000 transactions from our crypto tax partner CoinTracker. The most complicated time of the year just became more clear.

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Do You Use Coinbase or Venmo? Join the Plaid Lawsuit

Andrew Orr ·

Join the Plaid lawsuit if you’ve ever used Coinbase, Venmo, Robinhood, or dozens of other apps.

Plaid, a middleman connecting bank accounts to other fintech services, says it’s been used by tens of millions in North America. According to the settlement website, Plaid allegedly obtained “more financial data than was needed” and set up log-in pages that deceptively mimicked those of the user’s own bank account, but fed the credentials directly to itself. For its part, Plaid has denied any wrongdoing and argued it was transparent about its practices.

I filed a claim and look forward to getting my US$5.00.

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Someone Reverse Engineered 'Wordle', Here are the Secrets

Andrew Orr ·

Robert Reichel has reverse engineered Worldle and posted a write-up on his blog. It includes a list of words the game uses.

At this point, we’ve done enough digging to know how Wordle is choosing the word of the day. We know that Wordle uses a client-side date-based algorithm to determine which word to use from a static wordlist. Each day is predictable so long as we have all of the code pieced together.

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YouTuber Ruben Sim Must Pay Roblox Over 'Cybermob'

Andrew Orr ·

The Roblox Corporation sued YouTuber Ruben Sim over leading a “cybermob” on its platform and terrorizing players, many of whom are kids.

The original ban, according to Roblox’s lawyers, was issued after the YouTube creator harassed other players using racist and homophobic slurs, allegedly sexually harassed users, and uploaded photos of Adolph Hitler to Roblox. Sim disputed this characterization in a YouTube video uploaded last week.