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U.S. Census Goes Digital With The iPhone 8

Charlotte Henry ·

It’s census year in the U.S., but this time around it’s going to be different. Each enumerator tasked with getting the data is to be handed an iPhone 8 instead of a pen and paper. CNet looked into how it is all going to work, and the risks involved.

In an effort to make the door-to-door process, which is the most laborious and expensive part of the census, faster and more efficient, the bureau is arming 500,000 enumerators with the Apple iPhone 8. But as the census goes mobile, instantaneously beaming respondents’ answers to data centers and cloud servers, it opens itself up to those who may want to access or manipulate such valuable information. The stakes to pull off a census have always been high, but with this year’s adoption of new technological methods, the pressure to succeed is even higher.

TMO Deals

Restly Sleep App Lifetime Subscription: $39.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on a lifetime subscription to the Restly sleep app. According to the developers, Restly provides a scientifically-based method of falling asleep—male and female voices plus different calming sounds to get you through to the shortened journey of dozing off. The app also features a smart alarm clock, sleeping timer, and statistics to best fit the app’s behavior according to your body rhythm. A lifetime subscription for this app is $39.99 through our deal.

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New 'Share to Instagram Stories' Feature Seen in iOS 13.4.5 Beta

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple Music users are going to be able to share music they’re listening to on Instagram and Facebook Stories. That’s according to an iOS 13.4.5 beta, which 9to5Mac had a look into. There’s also a lovely Twitter thread from Emily Ross who, as an intern, helped start the process that made this happen.

Sharing a song on Stories with iOS 13.4.5 is very simple. You just have to open the Music app on your iPhone or iPad, choose a song, and then tap the share option. If you select Instagram, for example, it will automatically generate a vertical image with the album cover, the name of the song, and an animated blurred background. From there, you can also share these Stories directly to Facebook. After sharing a song on Instagram Stories, other people can listen to it on Apple Music with just a tap. Apple continues to improve Apple Music to make it more attractive to users. Recently, the company introduced several new curated playlists, including the “Get Up! Mix”.

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Apple Doubling COVID-19 Recovery Donation to China

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple has doubled its donation towards China’s COVID-19 recovery donations. The money is being focussed on aiding long-term recovery efforts.

Apple more than doubled its donation to China’s efforts to fight COVID-19 to over 50 million yuan ($7 million), CEO Tim Cook posted on Weibo on Wednesday, weeks after the iPhone maker said it had opened all its 42 stores in one of its largest markets. Apple will contribute the rest of the money to support longer-term public health recovery efforts, he said. “China has shown incredible spirit and resilience during the COVID-19 outbreak and we are grateful to our teams, partners and customers for their support during these challenging times,” Cook said in a message on China’s Twitter equivalent Weibo.

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New Zoom Bug Can Be Used to Steal Passwords, Access Your Webcam, Microphone

Andrew Orr ·

Security researcher Patrick Wardle disclosed two Zoom bugs today. They can be used to steal Windows passwords and access your webcam and microphone. They do however require physical access to the machine.

In this blog post, we’ll start by briefly looking at recent security and privacy flaws that affected Zoom. Following this, we’ll transition into discussing several new security issues that affect the latest version of Zoom’s macOS client.

At this point, Zoom should just rewrite its software completely.

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OpenWRT is Vulnerable to Remote Code Execution Attacks

Andrew Orr ·

For three years, router firmware OpenWRT has been vulnerable to remote code execution attacks.

The researcher also found that it was trivial for attackers with moderate experience to bypass digital-signature checks that verify a downloaded update as the legitimate one offered by OpenWTR maintainers. The combination of those two lapses makes it possible to send a malicious update that vulnerable devices will automatically install.

This is especially concerning because OpenWRT is commonly recommend by privacy advocates as an alternative to built-in proprietary router firmware.

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SiriusXM Premier is Free Through May 15

Andrew Orr ·

Announced by Howard Stern, Sirius XM is giving people free access to Premier content through May 15, starting today.

Listeners will have free access to more than 300 channels of dynamic programming, featuring the acclaimed The Howard Stern Show , hundreds of exclusive ad-free music channels, and vital news and information sources.  SiriusXM is also adding entirely new curated content, and bringing back some beloved music channels by top artists.

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Zoom Meetings Aren’t Encrypted End-to-End, Despite Marketing

Andrew Orr ·

Along with recent news that Zoom sent your data to Facebook (although it stopped) now we learn that its video calls don’t use end-to-end encryption, despite the company marketing it as such.

…But despite this misleading marketing, the service actually does not support end-to-end encryption for video and audio content, at least as the term is commonly understood. Instead it offers what is usually called transport encryption, explained further below.

It just keeps getting worse for Zoom. It’s unfortunate the company has chosen such tactics, because it really is one of the better video calling apps out there.