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Senators Introduce COVID-19 Consumer Data Protection Act

Andrew Orr ·

Today a group of Republican senators announced plans to introduce the COVID-19 Consumer Data Protection Act.

The legislation would provide all Americans with more transparency, choice, and control over the collection and use of their personal health, geolocation, and proximity data. The bill would also hold businesses accountable to consumers if they use personal data to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

A good move, I think. We need thoughtful legislation passed to preempt the contact tracing train.

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SteamVR Drops Support for Mac Customers

Andrew Orr ·

Steam announced today that SteamVR is dropping support for macOS so the team can focus on Windows and Linux.

We recommend that macOS users continue to opt into the SteamVR [macos]branches for access to legacy builds.

Users can opt into a branch by right-clicking on SteamVR in Steam, and selecting Properties… -> Betas.

SteamVR first came to the Mac in 2017 when Apple added support for external GPUs. They’re most likely reacting to a lack of interest on the part of users and a lack of commitment on Apple’s part.

TMO Deals

The Start-to-Finish Guide to Launching a Successful Podcast Bundle: $44.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on another training bundle for your #stayhome time, the Start-to-Finish Guide to Launching a Successful Podcast Bundle. It features 9 different  courses on creating, producing, and distributing a podcast, including how to conduct an interview, marketing, and more. It has more than 500 lessons and 39 hours of video content. The whole bundle is $44.99 through our deal.

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Apple Results Show Reason For Positivity

Charlotte Henry ·

Lots of Apple watchers think there is plenty to be positive about, following the company’s latest results announcement. Ed Hardy on Cult of Mac outlined his five reasons to be cheerful.

A significant part of the increase in company revenue came from growth in services like the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and others. “Our long-running investment in our services strategy is succeeding,” said CEO Tim Cook. “This business is growing and is a reflection of our enduring, large and growing installed base.” The company did not break out how its new video and gaming services are doing from the general increase in revenue.

Cool Stuff Found

Apple TV+ Taking Viewers on 'Unbelievable Journeys'

Charlotte Henry ·

There appears to be a big push to bring in more Apple TV+ subscribers. Maybe it’s because of the ever-growing competition. Maybe it’s because a load of people will be getting their new iPhone SE soon and the company wants to remind them they get a year’s free subscription. Whatever it is, this is the second advert to land in about 24-hours. It focusses on the “unbelievable journeys” Apple TV+ can take viewers on and highlights some of the original flagship shows.

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The ORG Domain Won’t Be Sold to a Private Entity After All

Andrew Orr ·

The board of the Internet Association for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICAAN) has rejected the sale of the Public Interest Registry to private equity firm Ethos.

Since 2003, PIR has operated the .ORG generic top-level domain (gTLD) as a not-for-profit organization, as well as six other gTLDs. Per the gTLD Registry Agreements, ICANN must either approve or withhold consent of a proposed change of control, the deadline for which is 4 May 2020.

After completing its evaluation, the ICANN Board finds that the public interest is better served in withholding consent as a result of various factors that create unacceptable uncertainty over the future of the third largest gTLD registry.

Good news for public organizations with .ORG websites. We don’t need another private company jacking up prices.

TMO Deals

The Become a Social Media Manager Certification Bundle: $28.98

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on the Become a Social Media Manager Certification Bundle, a collection of 7 different tutorials focused on social media management. Instagram Marketing for Newbies & Small Business, LinkedIn Marketing: Build a Brand & Generate Leads, Blogging For Business: Triple Your Traffic Without Paid Ads, and four more tutorials are included. There are 223 different lessons and 18 hours of content in this bundle, all for $28.98.

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Get a Raspberry Pi Camera With This New $50 Product

Andrew Orr ·

The Raspberry Pi Foundation announced a camera board built around a 12MP Sony IMX477 sensor, and it supports interchangeable lenses.

The High Quality Camera is compatible with almost all Raspberry Pi models, from the original Raspberry Pi 1 Model B onward. Some very early Raspberry Pi Zero boards from the start of 2016 lack a camera connector, and other Zero users will need the same adapter FPC that is used with Camera Module v2.

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Apple Could Let You Edit iMessages in the Future

Andrew Orr ·

A patent filed in December reveals a method to let Apple customers edit iMessages as a method of correction. The edit history would also be available so everyone can see what the sender originally wrote.

The patent filing has an example to demonstrate Apple’s system for editing previously-sent texts. Two people are discussing a trip, and one of them accidentally writes and sends “Can I get a ridiculous up with you?”

They then press and hold on that text to bring up a windows with “Edit” as an option. They make the change so the text reads “Can I get a ride up with you?”

This is a great feature and I hope Apple adds it to iOS. Memojis and Animojis are fun, but Messages needs features like this that are actually useful to people.