Along with other European countries, Germany is now backing Apple and Google’s approach to coronavirus contact tracing apps.
GDPR Hasn’t Been as Aggressive as Critics Would Like
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.
It's Good to Do The Math – Mac Geek Gab 812
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!
You Can Swap Some iPhone 8 Parts Into The 2020 iPhone SE
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.
Taking 'Defending Jacob' From The Page to Apple TV+
Defending Jacob is now available to watch on Apple TV+. A new video, posted on YouTube on Friday, outline how William Landay’s novel transitioned into being a TV series. In the clip, the cast and crew, along with Mr. Landay himself, discuss the process.
Apple Disputes Zero Day Found in Apple Mail
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.
Creative Things to Try for Free
Dr. Mac says some of the bright spots in this dark time are formerly paid services and apps now available at no cost for a limited time in response to the crisis and shares a handful of his faves.
RAVPower 10,000mAh Dual Port Power Bank: $14.99
We have a deal on the RAVPower RP-PB005 large capacity dual-port power bank, a portable battery with 10,000mAh capacity. It features two charging ports with 2.4A max speed on each. This device is just $14.99 through our deal.
iPhone SE Reviews Are In – TMO Daily Observations 2020-04-24
Charlotte Henry joins host Kelly Guimont to discuss the reviews of the iPhone SE and how it can be a worthwhile upgrade for some people, depending.
More Details About Apple/Google Coronavirus Contact Tracing Tech Emerge
Apple and Google have revealed more details about their contact-tracing technology that aims to help tackle the spread of coronavirus.
iPhone 12 Faces Delays and Limits to 5G Capacity
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.
Morgan Stanley: Apple to Announce Better-Than-Expected Revenue
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.
Apple Pay Switzerland to be Supported by UBS Bank
Swiss bank UBS announced that it will be supporting Apple Pay in the near future as it gradually rolls out to customers in the next few weeks.
New Text Bug Causes iPhones to Crash, But Apple Fixed it in iOS 13.4.5 Beta
There’s a new text bug going around that causes iPhones to crash when people receive it through Messages, but there’s a fix in iOS 13.4.5.
Facebook Removes ‘Pseudoscience’ Category for Targeted Ads
Facebook is no longer allowing advertisers to use pseudoscience as a category with which to target people.
The company eliminated the pseudoscience category from its “detailed targeting” list on Wednesday, the spokeswoman said by phone, after tech news site The Markup showed that it could advertise a post targeting people interested in pseudoscience.
The Markup demonstrated that Facebook was allowing such ads after saying it would police COVID-19 misinformation on its platform. More than 78 million Facebook users were interested in “pseudoscience,” it said, citing Facebook’s ad portal.
Good to see Facebook doing this. Now we just need YouTube to stop recommending conspiracy videos.
'Big Night In': Tim Cook Announces Apple Support For BBC Coronavirus Fundraising Efforts
Tim Cook appeared on the BBC’s ‘Big Night In’ telethon and said that “Apple is waiving all royalties” on charity single ‘Times Like These’.
13 Videoconferencing Apps - A Selection Guide
Working from home may mean selecting a quality, secure, easy-to-use videoconferencing app. Here’s a nifty rundown, with text description and comparison chart, on the major ones from the Freedom of Press Foundation.
Apple Orders Comedy Series ‘The Shrink Next Door’ With Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell
Apple is bringing a comedy series to Apple TV+ called The Shrink Next Door based on a podcast by the same name.
Underclocked iPhone SE More Powerful Than Android Phones
Some impressive news for Apple: Not only is the iPhone SE more powerful than the most expensive Android phones, it’s doing that while underclocked.
More powerful than Android phones:
Building your own mobile chipset brings many advantages, and Apple is leveraging them today. Google really needs to do the same, and soon.
Underclocked processor:
Looking at the result breakdown of the iPhone SE (2020), the CPU and GPU yield is closer to the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max that are powered by an A12 Bionic platform. Memory speed is the only thing pushing the 256GB iPhone SE way ahead of the XS family with the result of 77,968, which is in line with the iPhone 11 trio.
No speculation on why it’s underclocked, but one possible reason is heat.
How Apple TV+ Series 'Home' Was Made
One of the new shows coming to Apple TV+ is Home. It tells the tale of how some extraordinary homes around the world are made. In a new clip, we gain an insight into how the series was made.
Netatmo Smart Indoor Security Camera Patched After Security Issue Found
Following an investigation by PCMag and Bitdefender, a patch has been issued for the Netatmo Smart Indoor Security Camera.
The Bitdefender IoT Vulnerability Research Team discovered that the device is susceptible to an authenticated file write that leads to command execution (CVE-2019-17101), as well as to a privilege escalation via dirtyc0w—a local privilege escalation bug that exploits a race condition in the implementation of the copy-on-write mechanism in the kernel’s memory-management subsystem.
Many smart home devices are notoriously insecure, and this is the main reason why I don’t have any of them (Besides my robot vacuum, but I explained my reasoning).
Apple Watch: Remove The Band Before Getting a Repair
Customers need to remove the band on their Apple Watch before going to get the device repaired. If they leave it on, it will no longer be returned. That’s according to update guidance, reported on by Cult of Mac.
It is now explicitly asking customers to remove them. Its new support document warns that any bands sent in will not be returned. Your Apple Watch band and any other accessories that you send won’t be returned, so please remove them before sending your Apple Watch in for service,” read the updated guidelines. Apple also reminds users who own a Link Bracelet band to “remember to separate the link before you remove the band.” In the past, Apple has been known to return accessories, bundled together, when practical. Apple Watch bands would be be reattached, but they would be sent back to the user. It’s possible that practice has now become too time-consuming.
Apple Offers Two Months Financial Support to Premium Resellers in India
Apple has offered significant financial support to its Premium Resellers in India to help mitigate the disruption from the COVID-19 outbreak.
Fortnite is Now in The Google Play Store, but Epic Games Isn't Happy About it
After an 18-month standoff, Fortnite is finally on the Google Play Store. However, Techcrunch reported that gamesmaker Epic Games is not all that happy about it.
“Google puts software downloadable outside of Google Play at a disadvantage, through technical and business measures such as scary, repetitive security pop-ups for downloaded and updated software, restrictive manufacturer and carrier agreements and dealings, Google public relations characterizing third party software sources as malware, and new efforts such as Google Play Protect to outright block software obtained outside the Google Play store,” an Epic Games spokesperson said in a statement. “Because of this, we’ve launched Fortnite for Android on the Google Play Store.” Epic Games withholding Fortnite from the Play Store was a very clear threat to Google’s app profits, though Google argued that downloading Android software outside of the Play Store presented a clear security threat to users who could unknowingly download malware from less reputable sites.