Apple has shared a roundup of some Apple Pay holiday deals to give customers discounts at certain retailers.
YouTube Releases Rewind 2019 Video
Last year’s YouTube rewind video did not go down well. At all. In fact, it became the most disliked video on the platform ever. This year, YouTube decided to play it safe. It admitted its users are “better at this than we are” and brought together all the most popular clips from the year. The finished video is not that exciting then, but it is certainly less cringe-inducing than last year’s offering. It also gives a good insight into where the site is going as we head into the next decade.
Shure MV88 Digital Stereo Condenser Microphone for Apple Devices: $149
We have a deal on the Shure MV88 Digital Stereo Condenser Microphone, a high-quality condenser mic for iOS and iPadOS devices. It’s MFi-certified, features 5 DSP preset modes (Speech, Singing, Flat, Acoustic Instrument, Loud), matched cardioid and bi-directional 0.4″ (1cm) cartridges, and other high-end features. It’s $149 through our deal.
Homeland Security Cancels Facial Recognition Plan for Americans
Homeland Security had a plan to expand its use of airport facial recognition to include U.S. citizens. After much outcry the agency will drop that plan, although foreign nationals and visitors will still face mandatory scanning.
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection, which filed the proposal, said the agency has “no current plans to require U.S. citizens to provide photographs upon entry and exit from the United States,” and that it “intends to have the planned regulatory action regarding U.S. citizens removed from the unified agenda next time it is published.”
iOS 13: How to Customize Control Center With Different Tools
Andrew explains how to customize Control Center to give you fast access to tools like camera, Wallet, calculator, and more.
Behind the Scenes of VSCO With CEO Joel Flory
VSCO is my favorite photo editor and TechCrunch’s Kate Clark sat down with CEO Joel Flory to talk about his company.
Without selling ads or customer data, VSCO has developed a sustainable subscription-based business and written a new playbook for social media businesses in a world where Facebook’s advertising-based model is king. For those fed up with platforms that have facilitated bullying and failed to prioritize privacy, VSCO may be a protective corner of the internet.
I have a couple more VSCO articles planned for the future, like a review of the editing tools.
Apple Tech Transitions, Port-Free Prediction – TMO Daily Observations 2019-12-05
Andrew Orr and John Martellaro join host Kelly Guimont to discuss Apple’s technology evolution, and the latest in iPhone speculation.
Credit Bureaus Start to Add Apple Card to Reports
Goldman Sachs tweeted today that credit bureaus are starting to add the Apple Card to their credit reports, starting with TransUnion.
Apple Explains its Location Data Collection on iPhone 11 Models
Security researcher Brian Krebs found that his iPhone 11 Pro accessed his location even when turned off. Now Apple has explained why.
A History of Apple’s Technology Transitions
Martin Pilkington wrote a long blog post detailing Apple’s technology transitions over the years. These are the big, fundamental changes, like going from Motorola 68k to PowerPC in 1994. In fact, the transitions are put into two categories: CPUs and APIs. It’s a great read about Apple’s history.
A lot of the controversy comes down to people not understanding the how or the why of these transitions, and why Apple ultimately drops the old technology. So I thought it would be useful to explore Apple’s history of transitions and try to explain some of the reasons for this latest one in a way everyone can understand.
Here’s How to Get Your Apple Music Replay Mix
Apple Music Replay lets you see the top songs, artists, and albums you’ve listened to this year. Here’s where to find it and download it.
T-Mobile 5G Currently Two-to-Four Times Faster Than 4G/LTE
T-Mobile turned on the U.S.’s first-ever nationwide 5G Network this week. Venturebeat gave it a test-drive.
Thankfully, my initial testing of T-Mobile’s low-band 5G network revealed a more complex reality than the company’s conservative figure. The good news is that low-band 5G downloads peaked at 227Mbps, 2-4 times faster than T-Mobile’s LTE service at the same locations, and far higher than the aforementioned 20% estimate. But the bad news is that you won’t always achieve the peak speeds, and — surprise — early T-Mobile 5G phone adopters can’t actually use 5G for tethering, only smartphone service.
AirPower, And Other Products And Firms That Died This Decade
There are plenty of firms and products that were with us a the start of the decade that are no longer around. CNET compiled a list of some of those that have disappeared or never even existed. This includes Apple’s much-hyped AirPower charging mat, that never got shipped.
Sometimes they just feel dead because a company doesn’t update or even mention them for a while. The Apple iPad Mini, Mac Mini, MacBook Air, Mac Pro and iPod were on our endangered list for years before Apple surprised us with upgrades to all. On the other hand, the company’s AirPort router line and Time Capsule backup drive also were on a long death watch until they finally landed on Apple’s vintage and obsolete product list this year. You just never know… Apple, with its much-hyped-but-never-shipped AirPower wireless charging pad is my Could’ve Been King of the decade. Google’s Project Ara modular phone and Theranos’ unproven blood-testing tech are other rivals for the position, but while highly newsworthy, neither felt as eagerly anticipated by the tech world as the AirPower.
Consumer Groups Call For Investigation into 'Predatory' Collection of Children's Data
A collection of consumer groups is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to look into how digital media firms target children.
Apple Music Users Teased As People Share Their #Spotifywrapped Playlists
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!