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Examining the iPhone SE Single Lens Camera

Andrew Orr ·

The team behind camera app Halide have taken a look at how well the iPhone SE can take Portrait Mode photos with a single lens camera.

The new iPhone SE can’t use focus pixels, because its older sensor doesn’t have enough coverage. Instead, it generates depth entirely through machine learning. It’s easy to test this yourself: take a picture of another picture.

A good write up, and interesting that it can do this purely with software, while the iPhone XR still had some hardware basis for these types of photos.

Podcast

NASA Aerospace Engineer Dr. Craig Hunter - TMO BGM Interview

John Martellaro · · Add Comment

Dr. Craig Hunter is an aerospace engineer at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia with research experience in experimental, theoretical, and computational fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, and aeroacoustics.  He has developed technology-enabling software tools and analysis methods for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, aerodynamic design, and jet noise prediction.

In 2008, Craig founded Hunter Research and Technology to create innovative and compelling apps for the fledgling Apple iPhone, namely Theodolite, Pro Compass and Nav Camera.

Craig is an expert pressing high-end Macs into service for scientific computations. We chatted about his Ph.D work, work at NASA in CFD and jet engine noise simulations, his recent computational review of a US$31,000 2019 Mac Pro, and his iOS app side-business and how that market has changed over the years. Heady stuff.

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8 Year Old Finds iPhone Screen Time Workaround

Andrew Orr ·

An eight year old has found an iPhone Screen Time workaround, after her older brother noticed something odd (His post on Reddit has since been deleted).

It turns out she’d developed a pretty simple trick to keep browsing videos: just access YouTube through the iMessage App Store…For example, the Reddit post specifies that the eight-year-old in question was unable to access YouTube on the iPhone’s Safari app or even in the iMessage version of YouTube. The kid had to go to some lengths to figure out that she could access YouTube by searching for it in the iMessage App Store.

She’s a security researcher in the making.

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Verizon Late Fees for Customers, Small Businesses Waived Until June 30

Andrew Orr ·

Verizon announced today that it won’t terminate service or charge late fees for customers through June 30.

Verizon today signed onto the FCC’s new “Keep Americans Connected” pledge. Verizon’s new customer commitment will help ensure connectivity and offer assistance to customers and small businesses facing challenges from the global crisis.

Good to know if you’re a Verizon customer.

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GDPR Hasn’t Been as Aggressive as Critics Would Like

Andrew Orr ·

Two years later, Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation has struggled with a lack of enforcement, not enough funding, limited staff resources, and stalling tactics by tech companies.

Privacy groups and smaller tech companies complain that companies like Facebook and Google are avoiding tough oversight. At the same time, the public’s experience with the G.D.P.R. has been a frustrating number of pop-up consent windows to click through when visiting a website.

I expected a lot more out of it as well. Sounds like the government needs to take it more seriously.

Podcast

It's Good to Do The Math – Mac Geek Gab 812

John F. Braun · · 1 Comment

USB Power Delivery isn’t as clear a concept as it could be, and your two favorite geeks help sort this out. That’s not all, of course, because John and Dave are here to answer ALL of your questions. This week that includes issues with Spotlight, Backups, displays for your Mac mini, managing your external DAC, and more. Press play … and enjoy!

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You Can Swap Some iPhone 8 Parts Into The 2020 iPhone SE

Charlotte Henry ·

As has been widely noted, the 2020 iPhone SE has the same body as the iPhone 8. An iFixit teardown showed that you can swap certain parts of the old device into the new one.

The good parts first: iPhone SE’s cameras, SIM tray, Taptic Engine, and display assembly (including the microphone and proximity sensor) are all swappable with iPhone 8 parts. And that screen should be cheaper to replace than any new iPhone we’ve seen in years. However, as with any modern iPhone screen swap, you will lose True Tone unless you have access to a screen programmer. And home buttons are still not interchangeable—you’ll need to hold on to your original home button in the event of a repair, substitute an aftermarket home button with no Touch ID, or else pay Apple whatever they ask to fix it for you.

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Apple Disputes Zero Day Found in Apple Mail

Andrew Orr ·

Apple disagrees with a report from security company ZecOps that found an exploit that took advantage of the default iOS Mail app.

In the now-disputed report, ZecOps had said the critical flaw was located in the Mail app and could be triggered be sending specially manipulated emails that required no interaction on the part of users[…]

The critics said if the exploit was able to delete the emails ,it would have been able to delete the crash log data as well. The critics said that failure and some technical details contained in the ZecOps report strongly suggested the flaw was a more benign bug that was triggered by certain types of emails. Also skeptical, the critics said, is that an advanced exploit would cause a crash at all.

An interesting update to this saga. The bug certainly caused these devices to crash, but it remains to be seen whether that resulted in stolen data.

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iPhone 12 Faces Delays and Limits to 5G Capacity

Charlotte Henry ·

There are more indications that the iPhone 12 will face delays. Available options may also differ depending on the availability of faster 5G networks, according to Cult of Mac.

Options also could be limited in the United States and in other countries, where faster mmWave 5G technology is available. Elsewhere, customers may have a complete iPhone 12 lineup to choose from, but with slower 5G technology, according to the source. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has placed question marks on whether Apple’s next-generation iPhone lineup will arrive on time. Many reliable sources remain confident that Apple plans to launch new phones in September, as is traditional.

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Morgan Stanley: Apple to Announce Better-Than-Expected Revenue

Charlotte Henry ·

Morgan Stanley thinks that Apple will announce better than expected revenue in its next earnings call. That’s according to a note by Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, seen by AppleInsider.

That assessment is based on several factors, including a normalizing of factory activity in China where production of the company’s iPhones appear to be outpacing estimates. Huberty is now forecasting 41 million units produced during the current June quarter, roughly 25% higher than her original 33 million unit estimate. Combined with a strong balance sheet and stabilizing expectations of a 5G iPhone later in the year, Huberty named Apple her top pick amongst the IT Hardware companies Morgan Stanley tracks as part of the group.