While there are some benefits to the WFH, let’s be honest, endless video meetings and Zoom calls are not one of them. CNet’s Jesse Orrall decided to see if he could prerecord himself  and fool his colleagues for a whole week.

Ecamm Live lets me prerecord various “Scenes” to play on demand. The audio and video from those scenes were routed through the virtual camera and microphone and into whatever video conferencing application we were using for a particular meeting (Zoom, Hangouts, etc.). Ideally, it would be a step up from the dummy and audio system used in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. For one whole week I used my prerecorded videos in video meetings instead of my live feed

Attacking Apple’s App Store policies and Google’s equivalent is relatively easy. Over on Pando, Aimee Pearcy takes the counterview – that while the model is not perfect,  changing it drastically would be to the benefit of hackers and fraudsters, not users.

While Apple and Google have wildly inconsistent policies for their stores — Netflix got a free pass from paying Apple Tax on its $853 million U.S. annual iOS revenue back in 2018 — their payment features are a major asset for developers. Credit card-stealing malware is already a huge problem. If anyone could link to their own third-party checkout page, Hacker groups like Magecart would shit themselves with excitement. Every checkout page would have to be manually checked. It would be a huge ask for users to unknown developers with side payments. And Epic certainly isn’t a shining example. Its game Fortnite has been described as a ‘money laundering paradise’, with money launderers using stolen credit cards to buy V-bucks.If third-party side payments were allowed and credit card fraud became a problem –and make no mistake, it would become a problem — Apple and Google would have zero transparency.

Both Twitter and Facebook have announced new measures to fight misinformation, Reuters reported. The moves from the social media giant’s come in the run-up to the U.S. election.

Twitter’s move will involve coming up with new policies “that emphasize accurate information about all available options to vote, including by mail and early voting.” “We’re focused on empowering every eligible person to register and vote through partnerships, tools and new policies,” Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, Twitter’s vice president for public policy in the Americas, told Reuters in an email. Facebook, meanwhile, launched a Voting Information Center to help users with accurate and easy-to-find information about voting wherever they live.

Steve Jobs was not exactly known for his calm and understanding demeanor. Photographer Doug Menuez encountered this first hand when photographing the Apple co-founder. (A signed copy of the cover shot that day was recently auctioned for over $16,000.) However, he found a way to answer back and win the row. He told Cult of Mac how.

“He took one look at my setup and announced, ‘This is just stupid. We are not doing this,’” Menuez recalled. Jobs then got in Menuez’s face and yelled, “This is the stupidest fucking idea I’ve ever seen!” By this point, everyone else had vanished from the room… “I was absolutely terrified,” Menuez said. “Despite having been shot at, kidnapped, and threatened at knifepoint during my news career I felt as if I was ten years old.” But he kept repeating quietly that he thought it was a good idea and that, having short six covers for Fortune before, Jobs could trust him. Finally, Jobs spat out, “You just want to sell magazines.” Menuez looked at him and said, “And you just want to sell computers.” Jobs laughed and then said, “OK, great. Where do you want me?”