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You Can Now Earn $1.5 Million From Apple's Bug Bounty Program
Apple’s updated bug bounty program is now live, meaning researchers can earn $1.5 million if they discover key security issues.
267 Million Facebook IDs, Phone Numbers Exposed
A database that contained over 267 million Facebook user IDs, phone numbers, and IDs was discovered on the web. It wasn’t password-protected.
Comparitech partnered with security researcher Bob Diachenko to uncover the Elasticsearch cluster. Diachenko believes the trove of data is most likely the result of an illegal scraping operation or Facebook API abuse by criminals in Vietnam, according to the evidence.
Diachenko immediately notified the internet service provider managing the IP address of the server so that access could be removed. However, Diachenko says the data was also posted to a hacker forum as a download.
Secret Apple Team is Working on Developing Satellite Technology
There is a top-secret team at Apple developing satellite communications technology that may allow it to bypass wireless carriers.
What the Sky Will Look Like When We Collide With Andromeda Galaxy
Our Milky Way galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy are gravitationally bound and will collide in about 4 billion years. Because stars are so far apart in a galaxy, many light years, the term “collision” really means interleave and gravitationally interact. Still, it will light up our sky. NASA has done a simulation to show us what it will look like. That is, if anyone is around to watch!
Adobe Capture Adds Color Shapes and Pattern Builder
Adobe added two big features to the Adobe Capture app. Color Shapes lets you add colors vector shapes to a document in the app, then save to your Creative Cloud library. Pattern Builder lets you create patterns from those vector shapes in your library.
Capture in action. Use your mobile device to turn photos into color themes, patterns, type, materials, brushes, and shapes. Then find those assets in CC Libraries, located right in your favorite desktop and mobile apps — including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Dimension, XD, and Photoshop Sketch — to use them in all your creative projects.
Logitech Offers 4K Magnetic Webcam for Pro Display XDR
Logitech created a 4K magnetic webcam specifically for Apple’s Pro Display XDR you can use with the 2019 Mac Pro. Apple didn’t include a webcam in the display, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It will be used in environments like music studios where people cover up the webcams anyway. But Logitech’s solution is elegant, with an anodized aluminum finish that won’t look out of place with on Apple device. The magnet is strong enough to stay on even if you put the XDR display in portrait mode, and the screen image will automatically rotate along with it. You can buy it for US$199.
Apple Made its HomeKit Accessory Development Kit Open Source
Apple recently released an open source version of its HomeKit Accessory Development Kit. That means anyone can make HomeKit accessories.
Get this Mandalorian T-Shirt Before Disney Shuts it Down
Have you caught a case of Star Wars fever yet? There’s a new movie out, and people who hopped on the Disney+ train early have been enjoying The Mandalorian. Interestingly, Disney hasn’t had a lot of merch around the show yet, leaving others to fill that gap. Like Etsy shop SmokeScreenPrinting, which has a new Beskar Friends! shirt, printed in silver ink. I cannot confirm if any actual Beskar was harmed in the production of these shirts, but I can confirm that the shop takes more forms of currency than Imperial Credits.
Location Data, Listener Mail – TMO Daily Observations 2019-12-19
Dave Hamilton and John Martellaro join host Kelly Guimont to discuss location data and who gets to use it, as well as some listener mail.
Apple Shares ‘Little America’ Trailer Coming to TV+
Premiering on January 17, 2020, Little America is an anthology series to share the true stories of immigrants. Apple shared a trailer for the series on its YouTube channel.
“Little America,” is written and executive produced by Lee Eisenberg (“The Office,” Good Boys), who serves as showrunner, and executive produced by Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick, “Silicon Valley”), Emily V. Gordon (The Big Sick), Alan Yang (“Master of None,” “Parks and Recreation”), Sian Heder (Tallulah, “Orange Is the New Black”), Joshuah Bearman (Argo), Joshua Davis (Spare Parts) and Arthur Spector (The Shack). Heder also serves as co-showrunner alongside Eisenberg.
Private Social Network MeWe Gets More Premium Features
MeWe is a private social network I’ve reviewed before, and the company announced some new premium features today.
Save Space and Regain Power With This USB-C Apple Watch Charging Dock
Satechi has a very smart looking USB-C Magnetic Charging Dock for the Apple Watch. It can neatly plug into your devices, saving the annoyance of having cables everywhere. The dock fits all sizes of Apple Watches and will charge when connected to any powered USB-C device. It costs $44.99 and is available from the firm’s website.
Today at Apple Sessions During 2019
2019 was a big year for Today at Apple sessions. 9to5Mac had a look back at the year that was.
Apple refocused its session offerings around three categories: Skills, Walks, and Labs. Skills sessions introduce essential knowledge in an approachable way for anyone. Walks extend beyond the store and invite customers to explore their surroundings. Labs are deep dives into a specific creative technique. Emphasis moved from rudimentary tutorials to more immersive content. Apple said that Walks were its most popular type of session because they offer experiences you can’t get online. To celebrate the session launches, Apple commissioned artwork for its stores around the world and updated the Apple Store app’s Sessions tab. Sessions were made more accessible to everyone, with iPhones and iPads readily available for customers without their own devices. In summer, the need to have an Apple ID to sign up for a session was dropped, and session passes in the Wallet app arrived in fall. For the iPhone 11 launch, Quick Tips sessions began offering brief, easy to understand skills without the need to sign up at all.
Netflix Put Out Average of One New Show or Movie a Day in 2019
Netflix released a total of 371 new TV shows and movies in the U.S. during 2019, Variety reported. That averages one new one every day.
The streaming giant released 371 new TV shows and movies on the service in the U.S. this year, according to data from Variety Insight. This is an increase of 54.6% over the 240 shows and movies Netflix released in 2018. For context, this figure is greater than the number of original series that the entire U.S. TV industry released in 2005 (the last year Netflix managed to exceed the TV industry’s total). That includes broadcast networks, cable networks and premium cable networks.
Xperi And TiVo to Combine in $3 Billion Deal
Xperi and TiVo have announced that they are to combine in a deal that is said to be worth around $3 billion.
Lawmakers Don't Think Facebook Needs to Constantly Track Your Location
Lawmakers were unimpressed with the reasons that Facebook gave for needing to constantly track users’ locations.
Former Apple Store Employee Robert Shaw Sues Company Over Disability Accommodations
Former Apple store employee Robert Shaw is suing Apple over his claim that the company fired him because of his disability.
FBI Shares 7 Tech Tips to Keep You Safe
The FBI’s Oregon office shared seven tech tips to keep people safe over the holidays, like not letting devices auto-connect to free Wi-Fi. It’s well worth the read.
The kids are getting out of school this week and you are packing your bags for the big trip to the in-laws. Now is not the time you want to talk about cyber security, but we do have a few travel tips to keep you safe while you are on the go.
CleanShot: Capture Your Screen in a Superior Way: $10.62
We have a deal on CleanShot, a screengrab and recording app for your Mac. It helps you swiftly capture Mac’s screen without desktop icons in the background, annotate or blur specific parts, set a custom wallpaper for your screenshots, and lots more. It’s $12.50 through our deal, but coupon code MERRYSAVE15 brings the checkout price down to $10.62.
An Interview With the COO of the Recently Acquired Private Internet Access VPN
Popular VPN Private Internet Access (PIA) was recently acquired by a company called KAPE, now called Private Internet. PIA COO did an interview.
Private Internet is positioned to lead the movement for a private and secure online experience for all. The internet as we now know it is a place where data is harvested and identities do not belong to the users but are traded by privileged few. Private Internet changes that. The new name also reflects the fact that we will now be offering four new privacy products to our product suite.
I’m interested, and wary, of the future of PIA. I’ve seen accusations of KAPE that include malware, but Mr. Sagi does say the app will be open-sourced. Although this quote sounds odd to me: “We’re building an internal roadmap to create a transparent and verifiable infrastructure, in which no one, including ourselves, is permitted access to the servers through which VPN traffic flows.” They had shown in court they can’t produce information regarding user data, so they already shouldn’t be able to access server traffic.
MusicBot is the Shortcuts Companion to Apple Music
Federico Viticci recently announced his shortcut called MusicBot, which he says is the all-in-one assistant to Apple Music.
I created MusicBot for two reasons: I wanted to speed up common interactions with the Music app by using custom actions in the Shortcuts app; and I also wanted to build a series of “utilities” for Apple Music that could be bundled in a single, all-in-one shortcut instead of dozens of smaller, standalone ones.
I haven’t used this yet but Mr. Viticci is a master of shortcuts so I’m confident it’s a great tool to use.
amplify Hi-Fi Wireless Headphone Amplifier: $60.35
We have a deal on the amplify Hi-Fi Wireless Headphone Amplifier. This device offers up to 12 hours of playback and supports current Bluetooth audio codecs such as LDAC, aptX HD, aptX, aptX Low Latency, AAC, and SBC. It’s $71 through our deal, but coupon code MERRYSAVE15 brings the checkout price down to $60.35. I’m linking to the black model, but there’s a silver option available in a pulldown menu in the deal listing.
Notability 9.2 Changes the Highlighter and Supports the Files App
Notability 9.2 didn’t bring a lot of changes, but the changes it did bring are important. Here are three things that were changed: Highlighter color now appears more vivid and behind text, making the text pop; Added ability to identify and troubleshoot unsearchable notes that have not been indexed properly; Can now import documents from the Files app.
Notability is among the best note-taking apps for the iPad, especially if you like handwriting your notes with an Apple Pencil. This update should be a welcome one for users.
Home Automation Standards, Ring "Security" Measures – TMO Daily Observations 2019-12-18
Bryan Chaffin and Andrew Orr join host Kelly Guimont to discuss Apple joining a standards group for smart home devices, and Ring’s security.