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Apple And Google Displayed Unaccountable Power Over COVID-19 Contact Tracing

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple and Google have had a major influence in how COVID-19 contact tracing has progressed, or hasn’t, in various countries. Writing for Businesss Insider, Tom Loosemore, a cofounder of the UK’s Government Digital Service, expressed concern at their unaccountable power.

I hope I am wrong, but I fear that Google and Apple’s approach will not prove particularly valuable in the messy real world of contact tracing. It is just too crude. Google and Apple have given governments an abacus in an era of machine learning. I’ll admit I was instinctively pleased when I heard of Google and Apple’s decision. Throughout my career, I’ve defended people’s privacy from your typical state’s propensity to collect ever more data about their citizens, often without reason. But in the weeks since April 10, I’ve reflected more on the nature of power. Who has power? And how is it held to account?

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Everything You Want to Know About iOS 14 Notes and Reminders

Andrew Orr ·

Ryan Christoffel has a nice write-up of iOS 14 Notes and Reminders in the developer beta, which I’ve been avoiding since I don’t have spare test devices. If you specifically want to know about Apple Notes and Reminders like me, check out the article. I was hoping for more features, like tags for notes, but I’m glad the texture is gone.

Though neither app’s improvements have been held up as tentpole features of this fall’s releases, Apple has nonetheless given noteworthy attention to making the user experience for each app better in a variety of key ways. You won’t find fundamental evolutions in how either app works, but these updates prove the power of iteration.

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Starting Today Get ’Magic: The Gathering Arena’ on Mac

Andrew Orr ·

Starting today, gamers can download “Magic: The Gathering Arena” on Mac through the Epic Games Store.

Our macOS release will feature full cross-platform support in parity with our Windows client, including the upcoming release of Core Set 2021. New and current players will find the same cards, formats, events, play queues, and features on macOS as they can on Windows.

TMO Deals

With an AI Smart Chip, This Massage Gun Adjusts to Your Muscle Condition: $84.95

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on Actigun, a percussive massager with what the company calls an AI Smart Chip that offers you a humanized intelligent interactive experience by reacting to the condition of your muscle. In other words, it self-adjusts according to what the device senses as it goes to work. It comes with 4 massage heads to suit all your massage need, and it’s wireless. It’s $84.95 through our deal.

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‘Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act’ is Latest Encryption Attack

Andrew Orr ·

Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) introduced the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act yesterday. It seeks to bring back the Crypto Wars of the 1990s by crippling encryption with the introduction of backdoors.

Yet increasingly, technology providers are deliberately designing their products and services so that only the user, and not law enforcement, has access to content – even when criminal activity is clearly taking place.  This type of “warrant-proof” encryption adds little to the security of the communications of the ordinary user, but it is a serious benefit for those who use the internet for illicit purposes.

”Adds little to the security of the communications of the ordinary user.” That’s the level of contempt these people have for the rest of us.

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Apple Silicon Goes Beyond ARM

Charlotte Henry ·

Undoubtedly one of the biggest announcements from WWDC 2020 was the forthcoming rollout of Apple Silicon. As AppleInsider explained, the move is about more than ARM-chips.

Many custom software optimizations already developed for iOS — such as Metal graphics — can be brought over to the Mac directly now that both share the same access to Apple’s own sophisticated silicon. Currently, Apple has had to develop two versions of Metal, one for iOS and another for the GPUs used on Macs. So Apple isn’t just arbitrarily moving from “x86 to ARM,” but rather using its custom silicon work to enhance the performance, features, and deep integration on its Macs. Moving “to ARM” is sort of a side effect of Apple’s wanting to use its own custom silicon. Up to this point, Apple has been limited to adding a helper chip like the T2 to its Intel Macs to handle custom features like Touch ID and Touch Bar.

Podcast

Science Communicator Dr. Kiki Sanford (#9) - TMO Background Mode Interview

John Martellaro · · Add Comment

Dr. Kiki Sanford makes her ninth appearance on Background Mode. Kiki is a neurophysiologist with a B.S. in conservation biology and a Ph.D. avian neurophysiology from the University of California. She’s a popular science communicator and creator/co-host of This Week in Science (TWIS) podcast and radio show.

In this episode, we spend the first segment clearing up some confusion about COVID-19. Mask theory of use, the value of lockdowns, how the U.S. is doing compared to Europe, how blood type affects the body’s response, presymptomatic vs. asymptomatic, and what we know about how the virus survives on surfaces. In part II, we discussed how computer neural networks trained to learn like developing human brains also need something akin to sleep. Also, how dogs have a genetic desire to save their owner from trouble. And more. As always, Kiki is delightful as she makes science both fun and interesting.