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Google Wants COPPA to Change so it can Keep Collecting Kids’ Data

Andrew Orr ·

The Federal Trade Commission is considering a revamp of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Google wants to help them change the rules, and asked the agency to eliminate rules that categorizes anyone watching kids content online as actual kids.

In September, Google agreed to pay US$170 million to the FTC to resolve claims that YouTube violated COPPA by serving targeted advertisements to children under 13…After the FTC settlement, YouTube told creators that they would have to identify when videos are aimed at children under 13. When that happens, YouTube now turns off ads that rely on web browsing behavior and other targeting data, which earn more for YouTube and creators.

Podcast

TMO UK Associate Editor Charlotte Henry (#3) - TMO Background Mode Interview

John Martellaro · · Add Comment

Charlotte Henry is a London-based technical journalist. A self described media junkie, she writes about Apple – and now for the Mac Observer as well as our UK Associate Editor. She has also written for City A.M. (London’s daily business tabloid,) Computer Business Review, the Independent on Sunday and CapX. Her new book is: Not Buying It.

In this special holiday edition of BGM, Charlotte and I chat about our favorite Christmas movies and what makes them so great for us. There are also some honorable mentions. We finish with a diagnosis of Apple TV+ The Morning Show.

Podcast

When Your Mac Sleeps Too Deeply – Mac Geek Gab 792

John F. Braun · · 1 Comment

Sleeping computers are good, until they don’t wake up. Thankfully, John and Dave are here each week to answer your questions, including this one. But that’s not all! Listen for answers to questions about Apple Watch hourly chimes, registering Apple devices, and tips on using the camera adapter between two iPhones, opening windows in new tabs, and more. Press play and enjoy learning at least five new things on this week’s episode of Mac Geek Gab.

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Yubico Authenticator iOS App Now Supports NFC

Andrew Orr ·

While Yubico has a security key that plugs into your iPhone via Lightning, the app also supports NFC YubiKeys now.

Instead of storing the time-based one-time passcodes on a mobile phone or computer, Yubico Authenticator generates and stores one-time codes on the YubiKey. A user must present their physical key in order to receive the code for login. This not only eliminates security vulnerabilities associated with a multi-purpose computing device, but also offers an added layer of convenience for users that work between various machines.

Massive Procreate 5 Update Brings a Ton of Features
Cool Stuff Found

Massive Procreate 5 Update Brings a Ton of Features

Andrew Orr ·

Procreate is one of the most popular drawing apps on iOS, and it got a bunch of new features today with Procreate 5. Here are just some of them: Animation Assist helps you create rich illustrative animations, animatics and looping GIFs to share with others. Brush Studio lets you create your own brush has never been easier with the new seamless textures generator. An expanded Drawing Pad sets you free to experiment. Save a reset point at any time and keep on refining. You can also import ABR Photoshop brushes. The new Valkyrie engine gives artists the most flexible and versatile painting system on iPad. If you want to make a glazed brush that wet mixes, has color dynamics, and also has wet edges with burnt edges? You can. And all with Procreate’s trademark performance. App Store: US$9.99 (Offers In-App Purchases)

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Swiss Company Launches Apple TV Remote Alternative

Andrew Orr ·

Swiss company Salt has launched an Apple TV remote alternative with more buttons and less touch pad.

Thanks to Apple’s input, the alternative remote doesn’t require any pairing with ‌Apple TV‌ and works out of the box. It includes directional arrows in place of the Siri Remote’s glass Touch surface, a power button in addition to a Menu button, along with separate volume and channel rockers and traditional media playback buttons.

Supposedly Apple even worked with Salt to create this.

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File Speeds Using iOS Files are Terrible Compared to Finder

Andrew Orr ·

Redditor u/j1ggl did a test to compare Finder and Files using a folder of 2048 texture files. The folder was only 1MB, but iOS Files still handled different tasks way worse than Finder. For example, using the app’s built-in zip function, zipping the folder took 3 seconds with Finder and 38 seconds with Files. Unzipping took 7 seconds versus 42 seconds, respectively.

Conclusion: The Files app for iPhone/iPad is badly optimized and not ready to handle a larger amount of files, even though they take up just 1MB in total. It is also worth noting that the iPad required several reboots to even achieve the zipping and unzipping of the folder.

TMO Deals

The 2020 Limited Edition Mac Bundle with Parallels, iMazing, TextExpander, More: $48

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have another opportunity for you to get a discount on the bundle of Mac apps called the 2020 Limited Edition Mac Bundle. This bundle has 13 Mac apps, including Parallels, iMazing, and TextExpander. You’ll also find PDF Expert, Windscribe VPN Pro, RapidWeaver 8, Disk Drill Pro, Aurora HDR 2019, and more. Which is probably why Stack Commerce has already sold 10,000 of these bundles. The 2020 Limited Edition Mac Bundle is $59.99 through our deal, but coupon code GREENMONDAY20 brings it down to $48.

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Where Are we With The 5G Rollout?

Charlotte Henry ·

5G is on the way, probably including a compatible iPhone in 2020. ArsTechnica has a good rundown of the state of the rollout of the superfast network.

The first thing to know about 5G is that it’s a family affair—and a sometimes-dysfunctional one. Wireless carriers can deploy 5G over any of three different ranges of wireless frequencies, and one of them doesn’t work anything like today’s 4G frequencies. That’s also the one behind the most wild-eyed 5G forecasts. Millimeter-wave 5G occupies bands much higher than any used for 4G LTE today—24 gigahertz and up, far above the 2.5 GHz frequency of Sprint, hitherto the highest-frequency band in use by the major US carriers.

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The 16-Inch MacBook Pro's Very Quiet Arrival

Charlotte Henry ·

The 16-Inch MacBook Pro arrived with relatively very little fanfare. At Forbes, Ewen Spence asked why the device is not being more heavily promoted.

Following its launch event in October 2018 for the new MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and iPad Pro models, Tim Cook was expected by many to hold an October event. This could have amplified the launch of the iPhone 11, given the iPad a springboard into the festive gift-buying period, and allowed the 16-inch MacBook Pro a moment in limelight as the largest screened MacOS laptop launched in the last seven years. But there was no event. Apple declined to push forward its hardware, instead focusing on the launch of Apple TV – one of the many services that Apple’s management believe is the future for the company. Reinforcement of the iPhone 11 was not a necessity and Apple snuck out the seventh generation iPad in late September. It was the MacBook Pro that lost out on a significant push with the mainstream media.

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How the De-Aging Process Behind ‘The Irishman’ Worked

Andrew Orr ·

Filmed by Martin Scorsese, The Irishman tells the story of Mafia hitman Frank Sheeran and the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa.

Their first concern was making sure the actors would be comfortable. “The process doesn’t use animation, it actually records the faces of actors with every nuance of their performance and replaces them with the younger CGI faces,” Prieto explains. “The advantage is that you don’t have to place motion-capture marks on the actors’ faces or helmets with little cameras. In fact, they don’t even wear makeup. It feels perfectly natural to them. This was a prerequisite for Scorsese — he did not want the actors to be encumbered with any VFX paraphernalia.”

It’s a long, 3.5-hour movie but I thought it was good.

Cool Stuff Found

Meet Emily Dickinson, Apple TV+'s Complicated Heroine

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple TV+ show ‘Dickinson’ is great, and well worth watching if you haven’t yet had a chance. In a new video posted over the weekend, showrunner Alena Smith, star Hailee Steinfield, and others let us meet Emily a little bit more. It gives great insight into how the show got its unique style. It also explains why they all felt it was so important to tell the story of Emily Dickinson.

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Saudi Aramco Expected to Beat Apple as ‘Most Valuable Company’

Andrew Orr ·

Oil giant Saudi Aramco recently had the world’s biggest IPO of US$25.6 billion. At that level it has a market valuation of US$1.7 trillion, beating Apple to become the world’s most valuable company.

Aramco did not say when shares would start trading on the Saudi stock market but two sources said it was scheduled for Dec. 11.

Saudi Arabia relied on domestic and regional investors to sell a 1.5% stake after lukewarm interest from abroad, even at the reduced valuation of $1.7 trillion.

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Robocalls and Scams are Killing Phone Calls

Andrew Orr ·

Sarah Hagi writes how the phone call is dying thanks to the rise of robocalling. Now, many people don’t answer unknown callers and instead send them to voicemail.

Speaking to so many people, it struck me how resigned everyone was to this fact: that this is seemingly just the way things are now, with no hope of it getting better, only worse. And while many believe millennials killed talking on the phone because we fear real connection, maybe it’s because we are too scared of getting scammed.

It’s appropriate to come across this article today because I’ve gotten an increase in robocalls in the past couple of days. Aside from using a robocall-blocking app, I go to Settings > Phone > Silence Unknown Callers.

TMO Deals

Track Your Cards and Cash in One Place with this Digital Finance and Budgeting Tool: $34

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on the Toshl Medici plan, a financial tracking service that unlocks all the features available in Toshl Finance. That includes all graphs and the option to automatically import data from your bank, credit card or other financial services. You can get a 3-year subscription through us for $39.99, but coupon code BFSAVE15 brings the price down to $34 at checkout. There’s a 1-year option available in the deal listing, too, and the coupon code works on it, too.