Enter our new international giveaway for a chance to win the brand new iPhone 16 Pro.
Why You Got Weird Text Messages The Other Day
Did you get a lot of weird text messages on November 7th? Popular Mechanics looks to have the answer. It seems a glitch meant old, possibly previously unsent, messages ended up going through.
If you’re one of those people, it looks like this (probably) wasn’t a hack. According to a post from 92 Moose, an FM radio station in Maine, U.S. Cellular confirmed that the ghost texts are the result of a glitch in telecommunications infrastructure, specifically to the “cross carrier messaging system,” which is a joint venture that the four major phone carriers committed to in late October. According to an October press release from Sprint that also involves AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, the “Cross Carrier Messaging Initiative” will “deliver the next generation of messaging to consumers and businesses” by developing a new messaging standard that the companies said would roll out in 2020. It looks like the point was to improve group chats across carriers when sending photos and videos. Think about all the green bubble people out there getting weird messages that iPhone users have “emphasized” a message in iMessage, which basically just repeats the text, but shows none of the animation that blue bubble iPhone users see, like fireworks, thumbs-up signs, and more.
iPhone 11 Pro Max on DxOMark Scores Third Place
The iPhone 11 Pro Max on DxOMark scores third place with an overall score of 117. This is the same score as Samsung’s Note 10 series.
'The Morning Show' Has a Ton of Apple Product Placements
During The Morning Show, a new series for Apple TV+, Apple product placements are visible for an average of 32 shots per episode.
Use Apple Pay With Uber Eats to Get $5 Off
The newest Apple Pay promotion is here. Use Apple Pay with Uber Eats to get US$5 off your order from November 8 to November 10.
We're Still Waiting for Sign In with Apple to Take Off
Sign In with Apple is a private, convenient way for Apple customers to create accounts with apps and websites. But so far only a smaller number of developers have implemented it. Apple says that if apps include other single sign-on options like Facebook and Google, they have to include Sign In with Apple. April 2020 is the deadline and it can’t come soon enough.
While other companies such as Facebook and Google already offer their own sign in buttons, those options allow app makers to access more of users’ personal information…By comparison, Sign in with Apple only shares your name and an email address with the app maker, and using your real email address is optional.
Amazon Ring Surveillance Cameras Leak Customer Data
Romanian security company Bitdefender found that Amazon Ring doorbell cameras were leaking customer data like Wi-Fi credentials.
Bitdefender researchers have discovered an issue in Amazon’s Ring Video Doorbell Pro IoT device that allows an attacker physically near the device to intercept the owner’s Wi-Fi network credentials and possibly mount a larger attack against the household network.
At the moment of publishing this paper, all Ring Doorbell Pro cameras have received a security update that fixes the issue described herein.
You can view the whitepaper [PDF] here.
China Blocks Apple Services Like News, Arcade, More
Apple has been wooing China for years now but it sounds like it’s an increasingly one-sided relationship as China is blocking Apple services.
Google Malware Scanners, Apple Family Leave – TMO Daily Observations 2019-11-07
Charlotte Henry and Bryan Chaffin join host Kelly Guimont to discuss Google announcing better malware scans and Apple’s updated family leave.
Apple Gets Closer to 50% Share of Smartwatch Sales
The Apple Watch absolutely dominates the smartwatch market. It sales made up nearly 48% of smartwatches solde in the third quarter of 2019, according to research by Strategy Analytics reported on by AppleInsider.
It is claimed Apple Watch shipments reached 6.8 million units in Q3 2019, up 51% from the 4.5 million believed to have shipped in the same quarter in 2018. To Strategy Analytics Executive Director Neil Mawson, Apple “remains a long way ahead of the chasing pack,” and “continues to fend off strong competition from hungry rivals like Fitbit and Samsung.” Wearables were a big help for Apple’s recent financial results, with it and Services helping plug a shortfall in revenue from iPhone sales to bring Apple up to $64 billion. In the period, wearables revenue rose year-on-year by 54% to $6.52 billion… In terms of market share, Apple makes up 47.9% of smartwatch sales in the quarter, up from 45% in Q3 2018, and edging ever closer to the 50% mark.
Google Releases Cardboard VR Viewer Open Source Project
Google announced an open source project for its low-cost Cardboard VR viewer, making the Google VR SDK open source for developers.
Hohem iSteady Multi 3-Axis Universal Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer: $169
We have a deal on the Hohem iSteady Multi, a 3-axis universal handheld gimbal stabilizer. It is designed to mount digital compact cameras, action cameras, and smartphones, and has 6 working modes allowing you to shoot in different ranges and angles. It’s $169 through our deal.
Apple Releases iOS 13.2.2 and iPadOS 13.2.2 with Bug Fixes
The biggest issue fixed is an issue that caused apps running in the background to quit.
T-Mobile Offers First Responders Free 5G for 10 Years
T-Mobile CEO John Legere said that his company will give first responders free 5G service for a decade. However, there’s a catch.
Apple Expands Policies to Help New Parents Coming Back to Work
Apple will allow new parents to work flexibly and part-time for 4-weeks, on full pay, when they return from parental leave.
This Website is Hosted on a Macintosh Color Classic II
This cool website is being hosted on a Macintosh Color Classic II at 33MHz. This Mac was sold from 1993 to 1995.
This website was formerly hosted on a Macinosh SE/30 – the SE/30 is a 16MHz computer built in 1989. Mine shipped with 2 megabytes of RAM, a floppy drive, and an 80-meg internal SCSI (“Scuzzy”) hard drive. It has recently been upgraded with a custom 32-bit ROM, 68 megabytes of RAM, and a 4,000-megabyte Solid-State Drive. She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, kid. I’ve made a lot of special modifications myself.
A neat look back in time. Sign the guestbook while you’re there. The creator shared some info about it on Reddit.
Spanish Siri Brands Bolivian President a 'Dictator'
Apple tries to steer clear of political controversy (not always successfully, as we saw with Hong Kong). It probably won’t have gone down well in Cupertino then that the Spanish Siri has been branding controversial Bolivian president Evo Morales a dictator. As Cult of Mac noted, it’s not the first time the virtual assistant has strayed into politics.
Morales recently won a controversial fourth presidential term in Bolivia. However, thousands of citizens have marched across the country decrying voter fraud. It seems that Spanish language Siri was spiritually among them. When asked in Spanish, Siri said that, “The dictator of Bolivia” is Evo Morales. Siri described Morales as president in the English version. The issue was rectified after Apple was notified about it by Reuters. This isn’t the first time one of Siri’s answers has caused problems. For years, users asking about abortion centers were directed toward adoption centers. Apple finally changed this in 2016. More recently, an issue with the Russian version of Siri seemingly resulted in it expressing homophobic sentiments
Google Seeks Better Android Security via App Defense Alliance
Google wants Android to have better security so it’s teaming up with other firms to create the App Defense Alliance.
'Many Concerns' About Apple Pay, Says EU Antitrust Chief
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said “many concerns” had been raised to her about Apple Pay.
DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials Returns to Safari
DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials is a Safari extension that blocks trackers and provides a privacy dashboard for each website you visit.
Two Twitter Employees Charged With Spying for Saudi Arabia
A complaint unsealed in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco revealed that two Twitter employees have been charged with spying for Saudi Arabia.
The complaint also alleged that the employees — whose jobs did not require access to Twitter users’ private information — were rewarded with a designer watch and tens of thousands of dollars funneled into secret bank accounts. Ahmad Abouammo, a U.S. citizen, and Ali Alzabarah, a Saudi citizen, were charged with acting as agents of Saudi Arabia without registering with the U.S. government.
I wonder if this is a separate incident from Saudi’s Twitter mole.
Trailer for Sneaky Sasquatch - Now on Apple Arcade
The game Sneaky Sasquatch is now on Apple Arcade. It is a task-based game in which you need to complete challenges – the only rule is don’t get caught. Apple posted a trailer for the game on its YouTube channel. This game doesn’t appear to have the high production values of some of the others on the subscription service, but it still looks quite fun.
Chirp Books Gives You Limited-Time Deals on Audiobooks
For several years now I’ve been using a wonderful service called BookBub. It sends you alerts when ebooks go on sale. You pick the genres you’re interested in and you’ll get an email or notification every day. Literally about five minutes ago I got an email from them about another service they have called Chirp. It gives you the same deals except for audiobooks.
To thank you for being a BookBub member, I want to invite you to be one of the first to access our new platform for audiobook deals, Chirp! Chirp offers audiobooks selected by the same BookBub editors you trust at up to 95% off.
I love listening to audiobooks on my daily commute, while cleaning up around the house, and even while exercising. With Chirp I can binge audiobooks and discover new authors without breaking the bank.
The best part is that there’s no subscription fee or commitment, and new deals are added daily!
Google's Secure Enclave, Saving Streaming Subscribers – TMO Daily Observations 2019-11-06
Andrew Orr and Charlotte Henry join host Kelly Guimont to discuss Google’s secure enclave, and how streaming services can retain subscribers.
Leaked Internal Facebook Documents Reveal Disturbing Information
Today a trove of 4,000 internal Facebook documents reveal how the social media giant profits off user data and battles rivals.
Here are some of the key revelations from the document dump, including from reports published from earlier leaks:
Facebook wielded its control over user data to hobble rivals like YouTube, Twitter, and Amazon.
Facebook executives quietly planned a data-policy “switcharoo.”
Facebook considered charging companies to access user data.
Facebook whitelisted certain companies to allow them more extensive access to user data, even after it locked down its developer platform throughout 2014 and 2015.
Facebook planned to spy on the locations of Android users.
The PDF can be found here but currently it’s taking forever to load. Grab it while it’s hot.