According to Apple, if someone searches for words like “Asian” and “teen” it must be for pornography. So discovered Charlie Stigler.
Apple Considers Letting Users Set Default iOS Apps
Apple is reportedly in talks to let iOS users set third-party apps as the default, like for mail, music, and the browser.
This Startup Wants to Build a “GitHub for Data”
A startup called Gretel wants to build a “GitHub for data” so developers can safely access sensitive data.
Often, developers don’t need full access to a bank of user data — they just need a portion or a sample to work with. In many cases, developers could suffice with data that looks like real user data.
This so-called “synthetic data” is essentially artificial data that looks and works just like regular sensitive user data. Gretel uses machine learning to categorize the data — like names, addresses and other customer identifiers — and classify as many labels to the data as possible. Once that data is labeled, it can be applied access policies. Then, the platform applies differential privacy — a technique used to anonymize vast amounts of data — so that it’s no longer tied to customer information.
This Company Sells Your Credit Card Data
Yodlee is the biggest financial data broker in the U.S., and it routinely sells your credit card data to investment and research firms.
The Yodlee document describes in detail what type of data its clients gain access to, how the company manages that data across its infrastructure, and the specific measures Yodlee takes to try and anonymize its dataset…Once logged into Yodlee’s server, clients download the data as a large text file, rather than interacting with the data in a dashboard or interface that stays solely within Yodlee’s control, according to the document.
Apple Acquires Rights to ‘Swan Song’ With Mahershala Ali
Apple has acquired the rights to Swan Song, starring Mahershala Ali and written and directed by Benjamin Cleary.
Native Union Releases Drop XL Watch Edition Charger
Native Union today announced the release of its newest product, the Drop XL Watch Edition. It’s a wireless charging pad for your Apple Watch, iPhone, and AirPods, and they can all be charged at the same time. The charging puck for the Apple Watch is detachable, so you can free up the device for an additional USB-A port if needed. The design looks a lot like Apple’s failed AirPower product, and it’s covered in a slate-colored fabric. It comes with AC Power Adapter and a 6.5ft / 2m USB-C to USB-A braided cable. You can order one today for US$149.99.
HDR Mode is a Quick Trick to Make Your Photos Look Better
The next time you take a picture, consider turning on HDR mode. It can help you deal with clipped highlights and shadows.
iPhoneography Tips, iCloud sync vs Backup – TMO Daily Observations 2020-02-19
Andrew Orr joins host Kelly Guimont to discuss some tips for improving your iPhone photos, and a reminder that iCloud sync is not a backup.
SurfShark VPN 2-Year Subscription: $69
We have a deal on a 2-year subscription to SurfShark VPN. This service features unlimited data, military-grade AES-256-GCM encryption, and IKEv2 and OpenVPN protocols. The company also has a no logging policy. Two years with SurfShark is $69 through our deal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_93KzDGmCI
If Jeff Bezos Really Wants to Help Fight Climate Change, He Should Look at His Own Company
This week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced he was donating $10 billion to help fight climate change. Wired science editor Matt Reynold’s suggests he might want to look closer to home if he’s serious about making a difference.
While Bezos has – belatedly – stepped-up to the plate with big gestures of climate support, this shouldn’t distract from the more mundane ways that Amazon continues to avoid its climate responsibility. A 2019 investigation from Greenpeace found that in Virginia – where Amazon houses the core of its cloud infrastructure – the firm’s data centres were powered by only 12 per cent renewable energy.
New Microsoft Office App Available to Download
Today Microsoft announced the public release of its new Microsoft Office app for iOS. It combines Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single office suite. It integrates the company’s Lens technology so you can convert images you take with your smartphone into editable Word and Excel documents, scan PDFs, and capture whiteboards with automatic digital enhancements to make the content easier to read. But you can also make quick notes, sign PDFs, scan QR code’s, and transfer your files between devices. App Store: Free (Offers In-App Purchases)
Is iOS Really Adware? Not yet.
iOS is adware for Apple’s services, according to Tumblr software engineer Steve Streza. William Gallagher of AppleInsider, does not agree, at least for now.
The key part though, is in the argument that iOS is nothing more than adware. The argument turns on the words “nothing more,” and it turns both ways. On the pro-Apple side, “nothing more” is practically an insult because iOS is so very much more than an advert platform. However, on the anti-Apple side, disputing the phrase “nothing more” means accepting that iOS is at least a little like adware. But we are in a world where waiting 6 seconds before we can skip a YouTube ad feels a long time. And speaking of which, you try persuading YouTube that you will never want its Music service, or that you’re fine without music continuing after you’e left a tab. Apple is doing what you would, too, and it’s probably doing what it must. That doesn’t mean we have to like it, but the notion that everything is over, iOS is just adware now, is pointless hyperbole.
Apple Seeks to Stop Distribution of 'App Store Confidential' Book
Apple is taking legal action against a former employee behind a tell-all book who used to manage the App Store in Germany.
Adobe Celebrates Photoshop’s 30th Anniversary With Updates
Adobe launched Photoshop 30 years ago in 1990, and it’s celebrating with updates to Photoshop for iPad and Mac.
Apple Reopening 10 More Stores in China
Apple is set to reopen 10 of its retail outlets outside of Beijing today, which were closed following the Coronavirus outbreak.
Onelink Safe & Sound Now Supports AirPlay 2
First Alert’s Onelink Safe & Sound now supports AirPlay 2. The device is a combination of smoke alarm, carbon monoxide detector, and speaker.
Larry Tesler, Legendary Apple Employee Behind Cut, Copy, And Paste Passes Away Aged 74
Former, Apple employee Larry Tesler, who invented Cut, Copy and Paste and co-founded Arm, passed away on February 17, aged 74.
IRS Sues Facebook for $9 Billion Over Offshore Profits
The IRS is suing Facebook for US$9 billion, saying the company kept profits in subsidiaries based in Ireland.
The IRS argues that Facebook understated the value of the intellectual property it sold to an Irish subsidiary in 2010 while building out global operations, a move common among U.S. multinationals…Under the arrangement, Facebook’s subsidiaries pay royalties to the U.S.-based parent for access to its trademark, users and platform technologies. From 2010 to 2016, Facebook Ireland paid Facebook U.S. more than $14 billion in royalties and cost-sharing payments, according to the court filing.
If the IRS succeeds this would be one of Facebook’s biggest fines.
Filmage Screen Screen Editor and Video Editor for Mac: $29.99
We have a deal on Filmage Screen, an all-in-one video app for the Mac. It features an integrated screen recorder, basic audio recorder, professional video editor, useful video converter and video player to let you handle your videos once for all.
ISPs Sue Maine, Saying Privacy Law Violates Their Free Speech
ISPs are suing Maine over a privacy law that will go into effect this July, saying it violates their free speech rights. The law would force them to obtain user consent before collecting and selling their data.
Stock Market School, AAPL Style – TMO Daily Observations 2020-02-18
Bryan joins host Kelly to chat about Apple’s updated guidance, what guidance is, why it matters, and what exactly this update means for Apple stock.
Apple Pencil May Include a Grip-Monitoring Haptic System in The Future
Future versions of the Apple Pencil may include a haptic system that will monitor the user’s grip. That’s according to AppleInsider, who noticed a recently granted patent.
In a patent granted by the USPTO to Apple on Tuesday titled “Touch-based input device with haptic feedback,” the filing details how a system could be used to perform two jobs: providing haptic feedback to the user, while also being able to read force measurements from the user’s grip. Apple’s proposal involves the use of a piezoelectric device attached to the inside of the housing, one that would be connected to the user grip region of the housing. The grip section would be deformable, both inwards and outwards, allowing it to be used for providing information to the user as well as taking in grip data. The piezoelectric device would theoretically push out the housing in the grip region when it needs to alert the user via haptic feedback.
Smartphones Could Help Death Photography Make a Comeback
The New York Times has a piece today about death photography, and how it’s returning with the help of our ubiquitous smartphone camera.
“But we are returning to the older ways,” she went on, “a movement backward that some say began in the ’70s, with the back-to-nature movement and midwifery and natural births. The natural death movement is part of that. And these photos are unsurprising, too, because we carry our smartphones all the time, and it’s almost like if there isn’t a photo it didn’t happen. Now everyone is a photographer.”
Wait? Could HQ Trivia Come Back?!
HQ Trivia may live-on according to the CEO, despite the collapse of the company behind the live game-show app.