Spotify users have been sharing their #spotifywrapped playlists of 2019, and teasing Apple Music subscribers at the same time.
Amazon to Face Cloud Business Antitrust Probe
Investigators in the U.S. are set to expand their antitrust probe to Amazon’s cloud business – AWS, Bloomberg News reported. The Federal Trade Commission was already investigating the firm’s retail business.
Investigators at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission have been asking software companies recently about practices around Amazon’s cloud unit, known as Amazon Web Services, said the people, who declined to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. The outreach by the FTC signals that the agency, which is already looking at Amazon’s conduct in its vast online retail business, is taking a broader look at the company to determine whether it could be violating antitrust laws and harming competition. The FTC and Amazon declined to comment. The agency’s scrutiny won’t necessarily result in an enforcement action against the company. AWS dominates the market for foundational cloud-computing technology that provides the storage and computing power needed to run applications. It is several times bigger than its next largest rival, Microsoft Corp.’s Azure, according to analyst estimates. Gartner Inc. puts AWS’s share at 48% and Microsoft’s at 16%.
US Among Top 5 Worst Countries for Biometrics Privacy
The United States is one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to the privacy of citizens’ biometrics data.
While there is a handful of state laws that protect state residents’ biometrics (as can be seen in our state privacy study), this does leave many US citizens’ biometrics exposed as there is no federal law in place.
Apple Doesn’t Truly Let You Change Search Engines
Apple lets you go into iOS settings and change your default search engine. But Google is still the default engine when you search via Spotlight.
BMW No Longer Charges for Apple CarPlay
BMW originally charged its customers a US$300 lifetime fee to use Apple’s CarPlay. Now the manufacturer has eliminated the fee.
Calendars by Readdle Now Lets You Add Outlook Accounts
Another popular app got an update today. Calendars by Readdle (and also Calendars 5) now lets you add Microsoft Outlook accounts. Support for multiple accounts was also added. This means you can now have Google, iCloud, and Outlook (Exchange) accounts in the app simultaneously. This is in the Pro version of Calendars 5, which is on sale for 40% off (usually US$3.99). Other features include: Drag and drop events; Manage events both online and offline, Special keyboards; Search, and more. App Store: Free (Offers In-App Purchases)
Dutch Politician Faces Prison for iCloud Hacking
Dutch politician Mitchel van der Krogt., who also moonlighted as a hacker, is believed to have participated in 2014’s Celebgate.
ZapReader Speed-Reading 1-Year Subscription: $8.50
We have a deal on ZapReader, a speed-reading trainer. ZapReader includes advice from experts, and offers scientifically designed exercises to remove bad reading habits automatically. One year of ZapReader is $9.99 through our deal, but coupon code BFSAVE15 brings the price down to $8.50 at checkout. There’s a three-year option available in the deal listing, and the coupon code works on it, too.
Location Data, Background Mode – TMO Daily Observations 2019-12-04
Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join host Kelly Guimont to discuss sending location data to Apple (or not), and John’s new Background Mode.
Why You Should Turn Off Your Sleep Tracker
Sleep trackers, including apps on the Apple Watch, have become increasingly popular. However, an article for Wired suggests they may not be doing us all that much good.
Sleep has become one more thing to feel guilty about, even when the data we’re consulting is often flawed or incomplete. It’s one more number we didn’t hit, one more goal we didn’t achieve. Pangs of guilt follow every new study reminding us of this magical panacea, if we would just turn off Netflix, forget our social lives, emails, and all the dishes in the sink, and just climb into bed. Sleep may be a biological necessity, but our stress over it is a choice. So let’s put the issue to bed. Hit the snooze button on this one!
Apple Admits to Problem with Some 2019 13-Inch MacBook Pros
Apple admitted that there are issues with some 2019 13-inch MacBook Pros, with certain models experiencing unexpected shutdowns.
How to Turn on Apple Pay Express Transit Mode in iOS 13
Apple Pay Express Transit Mode is rolling out in more places, making it easier to pay for travel. It is also incredibly easy to turn on.
Apple Collects Location Data Even if You Say No
Security researcher Brian Krebs discovered something about his iPhone 11 Pro. It continued to collect location data even when disabled.
How to Sign up for Apple News Email Newsletter
You can sign up for an Apple News email newsletter to get daily updates on the top stories of the day, handpicked by Apple editors.
Football Manager 2020 Mobile Does Justice to This Great Game Series
Football Manager 2020 Mobile, available on iOS, is a highly-powered version of the hugely popular sports simulator game series.
Traffic Cameras Could Soon Tell if you Text and Drive
Australia will soon install a camera system powered by machine learning that is designed to spot mobile phones in cars.
To let drivers adjust, warning letters will be sent to those spotted using phones by the cameras for the first three months. Australia uses a points system for drivers — unrestricted driver’s licenses have 13 points. After the first three months, drivers caught using their phones illegally will lose five points and be issued a $344 fine. During other periods, the penalty could increase to 10 points. If a driver loses all of their points, they could lose their license.
Distracted driving is absolutely a serious problem, but I don’t think more surveillance infrastructure is the answer.
Who is Sundar Pichai, And What Happens Now That he is CEO of Alphabet?
On Tuesday, Google’s parent company Alphabet announced that Larry Page and Sergey Brin were stepping aside and that Sundar Pichai was the new CEO. On The Verge, Dieter Bohn looked at what this means for the future of the company.
I see the founding of Alphabet in 2015 as an explicit attempt to start Google’s third era. But what it really was was a midlife crisis. Splitting off experimental divisions into separate companies inside an umbrella corporation might have made sense in theory, but in practice everybody knew the truth: it was all Google and so-called “other bets” on the side. It didn’t really start the new era, is what I’m saying. But now that Pichai is running Alphabet officially alongside (above? contiguous with?) Google, he can do the same product cleanup work for the Alphabet companies. That is, if Page and Brin will let him. They did promise to “continue talking with Sundar regularly, especially on topics we’re passionate about.” It’s something to watch out for in the future, but it’s also not the most important job Pichai has right now.
Wall Street Journal Special Writer Gregory Zuckerman - TMO Background Mode Interview
Gregory Zuckerman is a Special Writer at The Wall Street Journal, a 23-year veteran of the paper and a three-time winner of the Gerald Loeb award—the highest honor in business journalism. At the Journal, Greg writes about big financial firms, personalities and trades, as well as hedge funds, the energy revolution and more. Greg is the author of The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched a Quant Revolution, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.
Greg told me the surprising tale about how he got started covering business issues and how he finally landed at the WSJ. He told me how he develops his contacts and works with them to develop breaking stories. We talked about his award winning work and what kind of effort that takes. We finished with his latest book describing how Jim Simons and his team of physicist-analysts changed investing forever—and got rich in the process.
RemoBell Wireless Wi-Fi Video Doorbell: $76.50
We have a deal on RemoBell, a wireless Wi-Fi video doorbell. It uses AA batteries, communicates with an iOS or Android app, and support Alexa and Google Home. It also uses infrared for night-vision, and it’s US$89.99 through our deal, but coupon code BFSAVE15 brings it down to $76.50 at checkout.
T-Mobile Switches on its 600MHz 5G Network
T-Mobile turned its 600MHz 5G network on, but no one can use it until 5G-capable smartphones are released, like two this Friday.
The “nationwide” 5G deployment relies on a slower form of 5G, using T-Mobile’s 600MHz spectrum. This “low-band” 5G essentially takes airwaves like the ones used for LTE and bundles them together with some new technology to deliver faster speeds.
T-Mobile doesn’t offer specifics on what kind of speeds you’ll see on the new network, and the actual improvements will vary a lot by location. “In some places, 600 MHz 5G will be a lot faster than LTE. In others, customers won’t see as much difference.”
Facebook’s Algorithms Flagged a Power Mac G4 as Sexually Explicit
Not much to the story but I think it’s funny. Someone posted in the Macrumors forums saying that Facebook’s algorithms flagged their G4 workstation with the message, “This listing may go against our rules on overtly sexual content.”
I am trying to sell an old G4 tower on Facebook but their AI is loosing its cool on my G4 MDD’s sexy curves.
That sure wouldn’t happen with a modern, square piece if metal!
Makes me want to keep it…
Vodafone Offering Apple TV 4K With 'Together' Package
Vodafone is getting into the world of TV, and is using the Apple TV 4K as the exclusive set-top box to do it.
Archivists Want to Support LibGen With Resources
Library Genesis (LibGen) is a pirate website containing 33 terabytes of books, comics, scientific papers, and more. Countries and science publishers are constantly trying to take it down, along with its sister site SciHub. But a new project has been launched to help LibGen with seedboxes.
Two seedbox companies (services that provide high-bandwidth remote servers for uploading and downloading data), Seedbox.io and UltraSeedbox, stepped in to support the project. A week later, LibGen is seeding 10 terabytes and 900,000 scientific books thanks to help from Seedbox.io and UltraSeedbox.
LibGen also teamed up with another massive online archiving project, The-Eye, to facilitate the tracking, storage, and seeding of LibGen’s scientific archive.
Sony Updates Smart TV Software With Bring AirPlay and HomeKit 2 Support
Sony has updated the software on some 2018 and 2019 smart TVs, MacRumors reported. The update brings AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support to these devices.
Earlier this year, Sony announced that AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support would come to some of its mid-range and high-end smart TVs by way of a software update. This Android 9 Pie update makes good on that promise, and also includes Dolby Atmos support. The update is available for the 2018 A9F and Z9F models as well as the 2019 A9G, Z9G, X950G, and X850G (55, 65, 75, 85-inch). TV tech site FlatpanelsHD notes that the 2018 A9F and Z9F models weren’t listed as compatible models in Sony’s original announcement, but they’ve since been included.