TMO Deals

Bendy Suction Phone Mount: $23.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on a very interesting smartphone mount. It’s bendy and it has suction pads on it, which makes its name appropriate: Tenikle 2.0.  It’s essentially modeled after a three-tentacled octopus with suction pads on each of those limbs. You can then wrap one or two of the limbs around whatever you need—or use them as feet—and use the suction pads on the third limb to hold your iPhone (or Android device). And you can roll it into a ball for storage and portability. Tenikle 2.0 is $23.99 through our deal.

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How The Colorful iMac Saved Apple

Charlotte Henry ·

The iMac is credited with saving Apple during its darkest days. Designed by Sir Jony Ive, it is the first Apple machine I remember really being conscious of. The colorful range of computers first went on sale in the U.S in August 1998 and by April 2001 five million had been shipped. On AppleInsider, William Gallagher reflected on the device’s staggering success.

This machine took the innovation Apple had done before, it took the company’s ethos of strong design and a complete appliance-like tool, and it shouted about it all. Where the Mac had literally said “Hello,” the iMac figuratively said, “look at me.” And people listened. The iMac was announced by Steve Jobs on May 6, 1998, but it didn’t go on sale in the US until August 15 that year. Two weeks later, it was released in Europe and Japan. Two years, eight months, and four days later on April 19, 2001, Apple announced that it had shipped its five millionth iMac. That makes approximately 5,112 iMacs sold every day. It’s one iMac every 1.183 seconds. No wonder it saved the company.

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Cloudflare Tool ‘Is BGP Safe Yet’ Tells You if Your ISP is Safe

Andrew Orr ·

Cloudflare recently released a tool called Is BGP Safe Yet. It lets people check whether their ISP has security protections against BGP hijacking.

Those improvements are most effective with wide adoption from ISPs, content delivery networks like Cloudflare, and other cloud providers. Cloudflare estimates that so far about half of the internet is more protected thanks to heavy hitters like AT&T, the Swedish telecom Telia, and the Japanese telecom NTT adopting BGP improvements. And while Cloudflare says it doesn’t seem like the Rostelecom incident was intentional or malicious, Russian telecoms do have a history of suspicious BGP meddling, and similar problems will keep cropping up until the whole industry is on board.

Neither my ISP nor my VPN provider are safe against hijacks.

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Leaks Reveal Google Pay Card as Rival to Apple Card

Andrew Orr ·

Leaked images of a Google Pay Card reveal that Google is busy creating a rival to Apple Card. There will also be an associated virtual card with it.

The Google card and associated checking account will allow users to buy things with a card, mobile phone or online. It connects to a Google app with new features that let users easily monitor purchases, check their balance or lock their account. The card will be co-branded with different bank partners, including CITI and Stanford Federal Credit Union.

I remember getting a card associated with my Google Pay account back in 2015 or so. They released it long before the Apple Card, but like many Google products it eventually got canceled.

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First Look at Apple TV+ Series ‘Defending Jacob’

Andrew Orr ·

Apple uploaded a trailer for its upcoming Apple TV+ show Defending Jacob, giving us the first glimpse into this thriller.

In this gripping, character-driven thriller, a shocking crime rocks a small Massachusetts town and one family in particular, forcing an assistant district attorney to choose between his sworn duty to uphold justice and his unconditional love for his son.

Based on the 2012 New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, this limited drama series stars Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery, Jaeden Martell, Cherry Jones, Pablo Schreiber, Sakina Jaffrey, Betty Gabriel, and J.K. Simmons.

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Google Blocking 18m Coronavirus Scam Emails a Day

Charlotte Henry ·

There has been a deluge of attempted phishing attacks during the coronavirus outbreak. BBC News reported that Google is now blocking 18m coronavirus-related scam emails on a daily basis.

The company said it was blocking more than 100 million phishing emails a day. Over the past week, almost a fifth were scam emails related to coronavirus. The virus may now be the biggest phishing topic ever, tech firms say. Google’s Gmail is used by 1.5 billion people. One of the scam emails impersonates the World Health Organization Individuals are being sent a huge variety of emails which impersonate authorities, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), in an effort to persuade victims to download software or donate to bogus causes.

TMO Deals

HideMyAss VPN 2-Yr Subscription: $79.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on a 2-year subscription to HideMyAss, a VPN featuring 256-bit AES encryption and a strict no logging policy. The subscription is good for unlimited installs with up to 5 connections at once, and 2-years is $79.99 through our deal.

InvisibleShield and Gear4 Announce iPhone SE Screen Protectors
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InvisibleShield and Gear4 Announce iPhone SE Screen Protectors

Andrew Orr ·

InvisibleShield and Gear4 have released cases and iPhone SE screen protectors. The InvisibleShield Glass Elite VisionGuard+, Glass Elite+ and Glass+ provide customers with tempered glass protection for extreme impact and scratch protection. Meanwhile, Gear4 is manufacturing antimicrobial iPhone SE cases with D3O reinforced backplate and others made with recycled materials.

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Google Fi Customers Can Use iPhone eSIM

Andrew Orr ·

Google watchers have noticed that Google Fi customers can use the iPhone’s eSIM, although Google says this feature is in the process of rolling out.

A modern Apple device is required — XR, XS, XS Max, and 11 series, while this simplified iOS eSIM activation is currently only available to “new users who sign up for Google Fi.” The just-announced iPhone SE should also support eSIM, according to tech specs for the device.

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Change Your Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Password Now

Andrew Orr ·

Linksys Smart Wi-Fi customers are being asked to change their passwords after hackers hijacked some accounts and changed router settings to direct users to malware sites.

The company decided to lock accounts and prompt a password reset because it couldn’t detect which accounts were hacked and which were not, and decided to act on all.

“Linksys is doing everything we can to make it tougher for the bad guys. But there are no guarantees,” Linksys said.

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The Second Beta of macOS 10.15.5 is Available

Charlotte Henry ·

The second beta of macOS 10.5.5 has been released. AppleInsider took a look at the new Battery Health Management feature.

Apple has made privacy a tentpole of this new Battery Health Management feature. The company says that all charging data is kept on-device unless the user opts-in to sharing anonymous analytics data with Apple. Finally, Apple is enabling the Battery Health Management feature by default, but users can turn it off by unchecking a new Battery Health Management box in System Preferences, under the Energy Saver category. This is similar to the Battery Heath features that have come to the iPhone over the last two years. On the iPhone, Apple allows users to manage their Battery Health and capacity, and disable performance throttling caused by reduced battery capacity. iOS 13 also quietly added a new Optimized Battery Charging feature, which aims to extend the lifespan of your iPhone’s battery to reduce how often the battery stays at 100% charge.