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Windows 11: What Apple Can Learn From Microsoft's Upcoming OS

Charlotte Henry ·

Microsoft recently unveiled Windows 11. With the first test builds now available, Mac user Parker Ortolani decided to give it try for 9to5Mac and see if there is anything Apple can learn from it.

Windows has never looked “beautiful.” It’s always been a mashup of different eras going back to the ’90s with some paint on the surface. Windows 10 did a nice job of covering up some of the mess and it made the OS more usable. But Windows 11’s biggest feature by far is its new design language that extends across the system. It’s still familiar and recognizable as Windows, but it feels like they really care about the way this operating system looks and feels in a way they haven’t before. The company has implemented a fresh new look for the task bar and the start menu. Icons have fun new playful animations, and many also have a new look with more personality and depth. The default wallpapers included in Windows 11 complement the new taskbar really nicely as well.

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Hackers Sell Personal LinkedIn Data From Leak Affecting 700M Users

Andrew Orr ·

Hackers are selling the personal information of over 700 million LinkedIn users. Here are the data types that were leaked:

Email Addresses; Full names; Phone numbers; Physical addresses; Geolocation records; LinkedIn username and profile URL; Personal and professional experience/background; Genders; Other social media accounts and usernames

On June 22nd, a user of a popular hacker forum advertised data from 700 Million LinkedIn users for sale. The user of the forum posted a sample of the data that includes 1 million LinkedIn users.

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VSCO Releases Set of Three Infrared Photography Presets

Andrew Orr ·

VSCO announced on Tuesday the release of three presets designed to emulate infrared photography.

The first filter is built for landscape images to ensure that plants whose color so often spills past green into yellow still turn to red and pink with the filter. However, people may turn odd colors in some situations with this look, and for that reason, we’ve created a second filter that is similar to the first but with more consideration for skin tones remaining natural colors.

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‘Best days’ For Both Mac and iPad Still to Come, says Analyst

Charlotte Henry ·

The “best days” for both the Mac and iPad may still be ahead. That’s according to a new analysis from Loup Ventures, seen by AppleInsider.

Loup Ventures cofounder and analyst Gene Munster recently analyzed Mac and iPad lead times, or the expected shipment date after an order is placed. Spot checks of estimated order delivery suggest that Apple was correct in its guidance that demand would be supply gated, and not demand-gated. Although the extended lead times are attributable to ongoing chip supply constraints, Munster sees them as a positive indicator of iPad and Mac demand. The analyst believes that both lineups are continuing to see tailwinds from a work-from-home and remote education environment, despite the lifting of stay-at-home orders and other restrictions in many regions.

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Pixelmator Pro 2.1 Update Comes With ML Crop, Quick Fill

Andrew Orr ·

The Pixelmator team has released its 2.1 “Coral” update for Pixelmator Pro. New features include ML Crop, Quick Fill, Stroke with Brush, and an improved Type tool.

The new Quick Fill feature lets you drag and drop colors from colors wells onto layers to quickly fill them with colors. It’s incredibly fun and so convenient when you want to quickly change the color of a shape, some text, or even an image layer.

As of this writing, Pixelmator Pro is also 50% off.

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Glenn Close Joins Cast of Apple TV+ Thriller 'Tehran'

Charlotte Henry ·

Glenn Close is joining the cast of Apple TV+ Israeli thriller Tehran. She will be a regular in the forthcoming second season, Variety reported

Close, who has been nominated for multiple Academy Awards, will be a series regular in the upcoming second season of the show, which aired on Apple TV Plus last summer and has become a global hit for the platform. The show originally premiered on Israel’s KAN public broadcaster last June. Variety understands that Apple TV Plus picked up the title from distributor Cineflix Rights as an acquisition, but following its success for the streamer, boarded the show as a co-producer. Close is slated to play the role of Marjan Montazeri, a British woman living in Tehran, according to Apple. The first season of the series told the story of Tamar Rabinyan (Niv Sultan), a young Mossad agent undercover on a top secret mission in the heart of Tehran.

[Image credit: lev radin / Shutterstock.com]

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Opossums on Parade: Linux 5.13 Adds Support for Apple M1 Silicon

Andrew Orr ·

The Linux 5.13 kernel is shipping under the code name “Opossums on Parade” and it adds preliminary support for Apple M1 Silicon.

Linux 5.13 brings initial but still early support for the Apple M1 with basic support but not yet accelerated graphics and a lot more to iron out moving ahead. There are also new Linux 5.13 security features like the Landlock LSM, Clang CFI support, and optionally randomizing the kernel stack offset at each system call.

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Snapchat Crashing for iPhone Users But Fix on Way

Charlotte Henry ·

Snapchat users on iPhone have started to notice the popular app crashing repeatedly, 9to5 Mac reported. However, a fix is said to be on its way.

The influx of complaints correlates to the release of version 11.34.0.35 of the Snapchat application, which was pushed out less than one day ago. According to many users, the Snapchat application will immediately crash upon being opened, and no fix is currently available. Snapchat acknowledged the issue in a post on Twitter this morning, saying that it is working on a fix that will be released to the App Store soon.

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Synology DSM 7.0: What's New 2021

Dave Hamilton & John F. Braun ·

Synology DSM 7.0 comes out Tuesday, but you’re going to want to watch this segment from Mac Geek Gab 878 before you decide to install. In fact, you might just want to wait a few weeks, but see what John and I have to say about it first, then make your decision.

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Opera Browser Update Includes Pinboards, Video Pop-Outs

Andrew Orr ·

Codenamed “R5” an update to the Opera browser adds ways for users to save web content and improve the experience of video calls.

The new Pinboards feature is exactly that: a virtual pinboard that lets users collect websites, images, links and notes in visual form and share them with others, regardless of the device they access it from. Sharing a pinboard involves simply sharing a link, and those who it’s shared with can view everything the pinboard owner posts, as well as react with emojis.

Video conferencing popout pops the video out of the tab and keeps it on top of other tabs. This happens automatically whenever you’re switching to another tab and video pops in when you switch back to the video call tab

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Snap's Deal With Universal Music Group Lets Users Access Music

Andrew Orr ·

Snap Inc. and Universal Music Group have reached a deal that would give Snapchat users access to thousands of songs to share in messages and posts.

Snap users will be able to use songs from Universal in messages and posts in the app, the two companies said Thursday. Music fans also can share links to full songs from their streaming service of choice. Financial terms of the partnership, which includes new features that tout Universal artists, weren’t disclosed.

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Web Hosting Service 'DreamHost' Leaked 814 Million Records of Customer Data

Andrew Orr ·

A database owned by Dreamhost was found unsecured and publicly accessible online. It contained 814 million entries of exposed usernames, display names, and emails for WordPress accounts.

The exposed log files contained what appears to be 3 years of records that range from 3/24/2018 to 4/16/2021 and each contained information about WordPress accounts hosted or installed on DreamHost’s server and their users. On May 4th a DreamHost representative acknowledged the discovery and informed us that the finding was being passed on to their legal team.

Update: DreamHost reached out to say that none of those records contain data that would have allowed access to DreamHost accounts. They consist entirely of entries that include object update records, error reports, and log entries. Data from just 21 individual websites were involved. More information can be found on its website.

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New Features in GitHub Issues for Planning and Tracking

Andrew Orr ·

New beta features within GitHub Issues help development teams improve their planning and tracking.

Today, we are announcing new beta features within GitHub Issues to connect your planning directly to the work your teams are doing, and flexibly to adapt to their needs: project tables that are built like spreadsheets, custom fields, a keyboard driven command palette, improved task lists, and issue forms.

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John McAfee - Man, Myth, Legend, Dies by Suicide in Jail

Andrew Orr ·

John McAfee, founder of the antivirus software company McAfee, has died by an apparent suicide. He was held in a Spanish jail cell awaiting extradition to the U.S.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Spanish High Court had agreed to extradite McAfee, who has been charged with a number of federal financial crimes in two districts in the United States. McAfee was hit with a 10-count indictment in the Western District of Tennessee in October for allegedly evading taxes on millions of dollars in income. He was also charged in a separate indictment in Manhattan federal court in March for a pump and dump scheme involving cryptocurrencies that he was touting on social media.

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Apple Exec Says Users Who Want ‘Sideloading’ Move to Android

Andrew Orr ·

Apple released a whitepaper [PDF] about the safety of the App Store, and the company’s head of user privacy, Erik Neuenschwander, spoke to Fast Company about it.

Without iOS, users wouldn’t have a mobile operating system platform they could choose from that is impossible to be targeted by malicious sideloading. In Apple’s view, in other words: Do you want the best privacy and security possible? Your choice is iOS. Do you want sideloading? Your choice is Android.

First, “if you want X move to Android” is a bad argument. I like Cory Doctorow’s text on the subject. Second, it’s not “sideloading” it’s downloading your software from the internet like desktop users have enjoyed for decades. Apple has smart people and I’m sure they can figure out a way to bring Gatekeeper to iOS.

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7,000 Crypto Mining Computers Seized in Iran

Andrew Orr ·

Police in Iran have recently seized 7,000 computers used as cryptocurrency miners, it’s biggest haul so far. These miners were located inside an abandoned factory.

In late May, Iran banned the mining of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin for nearly four months as part of efforts to reduce the incidence of power blackouts blamed by officials on surging electricity demand during the searingly hot and dry summer.

According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, around 4.5% of all bitcoin mining takes place in Iran, giving it hundreds of million dollars in revenue from cryptocurrencies that can be used to lessen the impact of U.S. sanctions.

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Amazon and Apple Most Valuable Brands, but Chinese Firms Closing in

Charlotte Henry ·

Amazon and Apple are still the world’s most valuable brands according to a Kantar Brand Z survey. However, as Reuters noted, Chinese firms are hot on their heels.

“Chinese brands are steadily and slowly progressing, and have made significant headway as more companies leverage their own technological developments and demonstrate their abilities to align with the major trends shaping China and the global market,” said Graham Staplehurst, global strategy director at Kantar BrandZ. Five brands more than doubled their value, led by Chinese e-commerce giants Pinduoduo (PDD.O) and Meituan (3690.HK), China’s top liquor maker Moutai (600519.SS), China’s TikTok and America’s Tesla (TSLA.O). Tesla, founded in 2003, was the fastest growing brand and became the most valuable car brand, growing its value by 275% year-on-year to $42.6 billion, Kantar said.

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WWDC21 Shows How Apple is Building the Metaverse

Andrew Orr ·

I’m not sure who the author is behind Codevoid but they nicely pieced together Apple’s continuing work with AR and the metaverse. I had similar thoughts when I watched WWDC21 and I like the way this article connects the dots.

The AR metaverse aren’t about immersive, focused interactions. Ephemerality will underpin the experiences. Those experiences need to provide you with contextual information when & where you need it — either ambiently as you move about the world, or as part of a more intentional ‘tell me more’ interaction.

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Users Not Excited by iOS 15, iPadOS 15 Features

Charlotte Henry ·

Users appear to be somewhat underwhelmed with the iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 features announced at WWDC 2021. The results of a survey by SellCell, reported by MacRumors, revealed that nearly half were not excited.

Over 50 percent of all of the survey’s respondents said that the ‌iOS 15‌ and ‌iPadOS 15‌ updates are only “slightly” or “not at all” exciting. 28.1 percent rated the updates “somewhat” exciting, but as few as 19.3 percent are “extremely” or “very” excited about them. Within ‌iOS 15‌ and ‌iPadOS 15‌, 23 percent of users said that the most exciting upgrade is ID cards in the Wallet app, 17.3 percent are most excited about enhanced Spotlight search, and 14.2 percent are most excited about new Find My features.

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Low GPU Prices in Europe Could Mean US is Next

Andrew Orr ·

GPU prices in Europe fallen as much as 50% after China ordered that cryptocurrency miners halt operations.

More budget-oriented cards like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT are seeing the most positive results, with a near 50% drop in price compared to last month. For flagship cards like the RTX 3080 and RX 6800 XT, however, prices haven’t moved as much.

In the United States, GPU pricing is slowly catching up to Europe, but it’s still going down nonetheless.