DuckDuckGo Survey Shows People Taking Action on Privacy

A recent survey (n=1,114) by DuckDuckGo found that 79.2% of U.S. adults had taken privacy measures in the past year, like adjusting privacy settings on social media or just using social media less.

43.1% (± 2.9) removed personal information or posts that they didn’t want the network or others to see.

35.0% (± 2.8)made their profile completely private.

34.8% (± 2.8) stopped adding location tags to their posts.

38.2% (± 2.8) changed which data they allow the network to collect and share about them.

I think it’s great to see more people paying attention to their privacy. For most people, privacy is something that you don’t notice often until you start losing it.

How Motorola Helps Enable Government Surveillance

Since 2017 Motorola Solutions has invested US$1.7 billion to support or buy companies that build police body cameras, train the cameras with facial recognition, find suspects in videos, and track vehicle movement via license plates.

The company provided a statement that described its plan to add artificial intelligence products, including object detection and “unusual motion detection,” to a package it sells to public safety agencies. The systems can help flag a potential trespasser or the appearance of smoke, the company said. The company emphasized that the new tools are not meant to make automatic policing decisions but to help officers decide how to act.

Apple Files Amicus Brief in Support of DACA

Apple has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court to support the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy.

Apple has filed many briefs before the Court, but this is the first time that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook and Vice President of Retail and People Deirdre O’Brien are named too.

In its brief, Apple notes that it employs 443 Dreamers who come from more than 25 different countries spanning four continents. Dreamers at Apple run the gamut of roles within the company, including hardware engineering, software engineering, retail, customer support, and operations across 36 states.

Ikea Smart Blinds Suffer From Second Delay

The Ikea smart blinds Fyrtur model have suffered a second delay. The after the first delay they were supposed to be released on October 1. But now the company says “later this year.”

The delay is already obvious to anyone who has been feverishly refreshing the US listing, hoping their local Ikea suddenly shows in-store availability. The blinds are on sale elsewhere. In the UK, for example, the Fyrtur blackout blinds are available for home delivery. Moreover, they’re also selling the less expensive, and more translucent, Kadrilj model that won’t be on sale in the US.

Kamala Harris Asks Jack Dorsey to Suspend Donald Trump's Twitter Account

California Senator and Democratic Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris wrote to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Wednesday, CNBC reported. She asked him to remove President Donald Trump’s account, highlighting a number of the President’s recent Tweets.

In a letter to Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, the senator from California pointed to a series of tweets from the president referring to the whistleblower who filed a complaint about Trump’s July 25 call with the president of Ukraine. Harris said Trump’s tweets were an attempt to “target, harass” and “out” the whistleblower. Harris also pointed to Trump’s tweet that “a Civil War” could break out if Democrats successfully remove the president from office. She said the tweet suggests “that violence could be incited should Congress issue formal articles of impeachment against him.” “Time to do something about this,” Harris tweeted to Dorsey. She included Trump’s tweet calling the impeachment inquiry a “COUP.”

Google Will Tell Users if Their Password has Been Hacked

Google has updated its password manager to tell users if their password has been compromised, Wired reported. The feature, called Password Checkup, resembles those available from other password managers.

The feature, Password Checkup, is built into Google’s existing password manager, and tells you if you username or password has been compromised in a third-party data breach. Along with this service, Checkup will also tell you if your passwords are being reused across different sites, and recommend if your password should be strengthened. Password Checkup is built from a Chrome extension launched earlier this year. Google says the extension has been downloaded more than one million times, with nearly half of those users receiving a warning that their password was compromised. In the future, Password Checkup will be built directly into the Chrome browser by default – users will receive the feature without needing to install a separate extension.

Mark Zuckerberg Discusses Elizabeth Warren and TikTok in Facebook Staff Meeting

On Tuesday. The Verge published leaked audio of Mark Zuckerberg talking to staff during an internal meeting. It has now published further transcripts. They revealed the Facebook CEO’s thoughts on a number of issues, including Senator Elizabeth Warren and TikTok.

Question: With the recent FCC fine, investigation, and with the rise of politicians like Sen. Warren, I was wondering how personally worried you are about regulators coming in and breaking up Facebook? Mark Zuckerberg: Well, I think you want to separate out a couple of things. I’m certainly more worried that someone is going to try to break up our company. Now, there’s a separate question about, at the end of the day, there is the rule of law — which, for all of the concern about the direction the country is going in, as someone running a company that operates in a lot of different countries, I have to say one of the things that I love and appreciate about our country the most is that we have a really solid rule of law, which is very different from a lot of other places around the world.

 

Siri Will Work Better With Third-Party Messaging Apps

Apple said that later this year an iOS update will enable Siri to work better with third-party messaging apps. If you use the assistant to send messages, it will default to whatever message you use the most, instead of defaulting to iMessage or Phone. You can currently use third-party apps with Siri but you have to specify “Send this message via WhatsApp.”

For example, if an iPhone user always messages another person via WhatsApp, Siri will automatically launch WhatsApp, rather than iMessage. It will decide which service to use based on interactions with specific contacts. Developers will need to enable the new Siri functionality in their apps. This will be expanded later to phone apps for calls as well.

If Elizabeth Warren Wins Mark Zuckerberg Will Sue the Government

Mark Zuckerberg is scared of Elizabeth Warren over her plan to break up Big Tech monopolies, and a leaked audio recording reveals a rant in which he pledges to sue the government if she wins. You know, just your typical Tuesday stuff.

You have someone like Elizabeth Warren who thinks that the right answer is to break up the companies … if she gets elected president, then I would bet that we will have a legal challenge, and I would bet that we will win the legal challenge. And does that still suck for us? Yeah. I mean, I don’t want to have a major lawsuit against our own government. … But look, at the end of the day, if someone’s going to try to threaten something that existential, you go to the mat and you fight.

Deep Fusion Appears in Latest iOS Developer Beta

Apple’s Deep Fusion technology blends multiple photo exposures together in a way that gives you more details than regular HDR. It requires the A13 chip so it only works on the iPhone 11 models. It appeared in the developer beta that was released today.

On wide lens shots, it will start to be active just above the roughly 10 lux floor where Night Mode kicks in. The top of the range of scenes where it is active is variable depending on light source. On the telephoto lens, it will be active in all but the brightest situations where Smart HDR will take over, providing a better result due to the abundance of highlights…

The overall result, Apple says, results in better skin transitions, better clothing detail and better crispness at the edges of moving subjects.

This is some “next level” stuff for iPhone photographers, and I can’t wait to see comparisons of Deep Fusion: On versus Deep Fusion: Off photos.

Camera Grip for iPhone with LED Light Bundle: $54.99

We have a deal on the Ligtro Grip for iPhone, which brings the physical dials and buttons on your phone to the handle, making it easier to control the camera functions. This deal also includes the Ligtro LB1 LED Light for flash photography. The grip works with iPhone models from the 6 to the new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. It’s $54.99 through our deal.

Earbuds Commercial Shot on iPhone 11 Pro Max

An ad for noise-cancelling earbuds from Koss Heaphones was shot on the iPhone 11 Pro Max by videographer Martin Moore.

Recently shot this Koss Headphones Commercial on an iPhone 11 Pro Max using FiLMiC Pro on FiLMiC Extreme 4K 24fps, Zhiyun Smooth 4 3-Axis Gimbal. Edited in FCPX and exported with Apple ProRes 422.

Mr. Moore is known for shooting commercials with iPhones. Last year he created several using the iPhone XS Max. It’s a great way to show off the video capabilities of Apple’s devices. You can check it out here.