Cool Stuff Found

Apple Shares Featurette of ‘Truth Be Told’

Andrew Orr ·

Apple shared a video that gives us a look at its upcoming Apple TV+ show Truth Be Told.

When new evidence compels podcaster Poppy Parnell (Octavia Spencer) to reopen the murder case that made her a national sensation, she comes face to face with Warren Cave (Aaron Paul), the man she may have mistakenly helped to put behind bars. Her investigation navigates urgent concerns about privacy, media and race.

Truth Be Told is created by Nichelle Tramble Spellman and stars Octavia Spencer, Aaron Paul, Lizzy Caplan, Elizabeth Perkins, Michael Beach, Mekhi Phifer, Tracie Thoms, Haneefah Wood and Ron Cephas Jones.

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Why Teaching Privacy to Your Kids is Important

Andrew Orr ·

Siobhan O’Flynn writes about all the ways that companies like Google collect data from kids in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. It starts when schools increasingly turn to Google services in education.

Alphabet Inc. dominates child-directed and child-featured content online through YouTube Kids and has now colonized online educational spaces through Google Docs, G-Suite, Chromebooks and the associated Gmail accounts for children that are required for use. This means that Google’s access to children’s data spans entertainment (YouTube and YouTube Kids), search and purchase histories (via associated parental accounts), and educational sectors.

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How a Phone Call Led to OS X And The Return of Steve Jobs

Charlotte Henry ·

It was a not particularly interesting phone call between an Apple exec and a midlevel manager at NeXT. However, as Cult of Mac’s ‘Today in Apple History’ noted, it started a chain overs that led to the creation of OS X and the return of Steve Jobs.

Garrett L. Rice’s communication with Ellen Hancock, Apple’s chief technology officer, is the first formal step in a long process. It ultimately leads to Apple buying NeXT, the creation of OS X, and Steve Jobs returning home to the company he co-founded… By November 1996, Jobs was speaking with Amelio again (albeit only very recently). Jobs advised that Be was not the right choice for Apple. The November 25 phone call from NeXT’s Rice presented the option Jobs surely wanted all along: that Apple acquire the rights to put a version of OpenStep on Macs. By early December, Jobs visited Apple HQ for the first time since his ouster. A deal would bring both NeXT and Jobs aboard — the best decision Apple made in years.

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Sir Tim Berners-Lee's Plan to Save The Web

Charlotte Henry ·

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, one of the founders of the web, launched The Contract for the Web on Monday. It is his plan to save the internet, according to The Guardian. However, a number of organizations were involved in the project.

The contract, which has been worked on by 80 organizations for more than a year, outlines nine central principles to safeguard the web – three each for governments, companies and individuals. The document, published by Berners-Lee’s Web Foundation, has the backing of more than 150 organizations, from Microsoft, Google and Facebook to the digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation. At the time of writing, neither Amazon nor Twitter had endorsed the principles. Those who back the contract must show they are implementing the principles and working on solutions to the tougher problems, or face being removed from the list of endorsers.

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What Google Stadia Means for the Future

Andrew Orr ·

Alex Cranz reviewed Google Stadia, a game service where games are streamed to you instead of you loading them onto your device.

With Stadia, you can slip into a game typically found on a PC or console using almost any device. It makes you wonder why we’ve tethered ourselves to hardware for so long when the internet can give us all of that power at a considerably lower cost (and smaller energy bill). The problem is that Stadia rarely works perfectly. Instead, it offers us a glimmer of the future before crashing back down into the muddy present.

”It makes you wonder why.” Here’s why we’re still tethering ourselves: Because arguably you own physical copies of media like games, books, and movies. The “future” that Mr. Cranz’s headline alludes to is the Ideal Corporate World in which no one owns anything because it’s all a subscription.

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Prison Profiteer Global Tel Link Charges Prisoners by the Minute for Reading

Andrew Orr ·

Prison libraries of paper books are slowly disappearing. In their place prisoners are getting tablets. But profits are being made when prisoners send emails, videoconferencing with family, listening to music, and reading.

In West Virginia, a company called Global Tel Link has the contract to provide prisoners in ten prisons with “free” tablets, for which they charge $0.05/minute for reading ebooks, primarily drawn from Project Gutenberg, a free online service of volunteer-produced, public domain and CC-licensed ebooks.

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Database of 1.2 Billion Records Found With Scraped Data

Andrew Orr ·

A database filled with 1.2 billion records of data was found on the dark web back in October. I hesitate to call this a data breach because:

While the collection is impressive for its sheer volume, the data doesn’t include sensitive information like passwords, credit card numbers, or Social Security numbers. It does, though, contain profiles of hundreds of millions of people that include home and cell phone numbers, associated social media profiles like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Github, work histories seemingly scraped from LinkedIn, almost 50 million unique phone numbers, and 622 million unique email addresses.

In other words this is all data that people have willingly put on their social media profiles. While it can be used for nefarious purposes (especially phone numbers) this is less of a breach and more of a database of scrapes. Nevertheless I’m using our “data breach” tag.

TMO Deals

This Ultra-Portable Monitor Gives Your Laptop a Second Screen Anywhere: $179.35

Bryan Chaffin ·

Check out the Mobile Pixels DUEX Pro, a portable display that connects to your laptop to give you a second display wherever you go. This device connects to your Mac, Windows, Chrome, or Linux laptop via a USB cable, and you attach it physically to the upper lid of your laptop so that it’s always with you. It slides out when you want to use it, and there’s a mirroring mode that allows you to turn it around soo you can share your screen with someone sitting across from you. It’s offers 1080p resolution, and it’s $211 through our deal. Use coupon code BFSAVE15 at checkout to bring it down to $179.35.

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iPhone 12 to have 6GB of RAM, Predict Analysts

Charlotte Henry ·

Barclays analysts believe that the new iPhone 12 and 12 Pro will have 6GB of RAM and be 5G enabled. They also made predictions about the iPhone SE 2. MacRumors got a peek at their predictions.

In a research note viewed by MacRumors, the Barclays analysts said the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max will likely have 6GB of RAM, up from 4GB in the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. They also expect both models to feature rear-facing 3D sensing and mmWave support for higher-performance 5G. The base model iPhone 12 is expected to have 4GB of RAM, equal to the iPhone 11. While the iPhone 12 is also expected to be 5G enabled, the analysts did not indicate whether the device will support mmWave, sub-6GHz, or both. Last, the analysts indicated that the so-called “iPhone SE 2” is still in the pipeline

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Uber's London License is About To Expire

Charlotte Henry ·

Uber’s London license expires on Monday, November 25th. However, Reuters reported that the firm does not yet know if it is going to be renewed.

Transport for London (TfL) rejected a renewal request in 2017 due to shortcomings it said it found in the firm’s approach to reporting serious criminal offences and driver background checks, prompting legal action. A judge in 2018 then granted Uber a probationary 15-month license, after the Silicon Valley-based company had made several changes to its business model. In September, TfL gave Uber just a two-month extension, far short of the maximum possible five years, and imposed further conditions covering ride-sharing, appropriate insurance and driver document checks.

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Elon Musk Used Steve Jobs' 'One More Thing' Trick at The Tesla Cybertruck Launch

Charlotte Henry ·

Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s Cybertruck on Thursday. The event was notable for being full of glitches. But, as Cult of Mac, noted, it as also notable for another thing – Mr. Musk used Steve Jobs’ famous “one more thing” trick.

“Oh by the way, we made an ATV,” he said, before it was driven onto the stage. The Cybertruck was shown off during a crazy, science-fiction-style event. The vehicle ranges in price from $39,900 for the base model to $69,900 for the fully kitted-out version. It is scheduled for release in 2020. The demonstration didn’t go entirely according to plan. The vehicle’s “unbreakable” windows broke twice, after which Musk seemed to lose a bit of his stage confidence. However he regained it when it came to the event-closing “one more thing” line. While Musk didn’t say the actual line, he paused, held up a single finger and then let the crowd yell “one more thing.” At that point, the electric ATV was driven on stage. The ATV uses the same design language as the truck. It can be driven on board via an unfolding loading ramp. It can then charge from the truck’s battery.

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Would Apple Leave Russia Over Device Ban?

Andrew Orr ·

Going into effect on July 2020, Russia just passed a law that would ban the sale of devices that don’t come pre-installed with Russian software. This obviously butts up against the integrity of iOS. Would Apple have the “courage” to leave the country if the Kremlin tried to force them to install their surveillance software? Because of course it’s for surveillance. Why else would a government meddle with device makers in this way?

The law will not mean devices from other countries cannot be sold with their normal software – but Russian “alternatives” will also have to be installed.

The legislation was passed by Russia’s lower house of parliament on Thursday. A complete list of the gadgets affected and the Russian-made software that needs to be pre-installed will be determined by the government.