Be Cautious of AltStore, the New Alternative App Store

There are reports of an alternative App Store that doesn’t require jailbreaking. It’s called AltStore, and it lets you download these alternative apps via a server you install on your Mac. While the developer says that the code for AltStore is open source, that doesn’t mean the apps within are. I urge caution about installing unknown apps outside of the App Store. If they can’t make it through the app review team, there’s probably a reason for that. For example, this quote from the blog:

From the beginning, AltStore was intended to serve as a way for developers to distribute entirely new apps that push the boundaries of iOS in ways not possible with Apple’s app review system.

Hopefully, “pushing the boundaries” doesn’t include apps full of malware.

Amazon Unveils Echo Buds Amid Host of New Hardware

Amazon unveiled a host of new and upgraded hardware at an event on Wednesday. The Verge has a rundown of what waas announced, including the new Echo Buds headphones.

The company announced 15 new products, including the Echo Buds truly wireless headphones, the Dolby Atmos-equipped Echo Studio speaker, and the Echo Frames, which have built-in microphones so you can chat with Alexa. A few of the announcements were minor revisions, like the Echo Dot smart speaker with an integrated clock, and the Alexa Smart Oven that can convection bake and air fry food items (in addition to being a regular microwave). But there were more than a few unexpected surprises, including the Echo Loop smart ring, the new, affordable Eero mesh Wi-Fi router, the Amazon Fetch pet tracker, and more.

Teardown of the Apple Watch Series 5

Thinking of getting an Apple Watch Series 5? Got one on the way?  iFixit have a very interesting teardown of the device.

The Series 5 uses Apple’s new S5 system-on-chip, which packs in twice the storage and the new compass. But it also contains the same CPU and GPU as the S4 chip in the Series 4, and the overall performance specs are the same. Other than that, the Series 5 is very similar to the Series 4 on the inside. But Apple has made enough minor changes that many parts are not interchangeable, thanks to redesigned connectors on the taptic engine, display and battery. Now, about Apple’s claim that the Series 5 Sport cases are made from “100% recycled aluminum.” While using recycled materials is great, the truth is most of the world’s aluminum is already recycled, and recycled aluminum is dramatically cheaper than the freshly-mined variety. The real question is whether Apple uses any recycled aluminum that wouldn’t have been recycled anyway. And after analyzing Apple’s statements on the matter, the answer seems to be no.

White House Blocks Audit of its Offensive Hacking Strategy

The White House is blocking an audit by Congress for its offensive hacking policy it has already used for cyberattacks against Russia and Iran.

The policy, which loosened the reins on military strikes against U.S. adversaries, has been withheld for more than a year from lawmakers — even those who regularly review classified material. Lawmakers from both parties are concerned the Trump administration could plunge the country into a cyberwar without congressional approval or oversight, or at the very least, provoke retaliation that causes serious damage at home.

The White House hacking strategy is: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.

Elevate Your Displays in Style While Charging Your Devices Up to 4x Faster: $144.99

We have a deal on the ProBASE X Aluminum Monitor Stand with a Fast Charging port. It also features a storage drawer on the left and a 6-port hub on the right. It connects to your computer via USB 3.0, and for output, it has two USB 3.0 ports, an SD card slot, a MicroSD card slot, an ethernet port (10/100/1000Mbps), and that QuickCharge port. This device is $144.99 through our deal, 8% off retail. 

Phone Carrier Visible Appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Visible is a prepaid phone carrier I subscribe to that runs on Verizon’s network. Last night they had a funny commercial on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Guillermo Rodriguez talks to a store clerk about how he’s headed to the phone store to sign up for a “confusing and expensive phone plan.” Don’t worry, the clerk says, you don’t have to camp out at the phone store anymore. Instead you can sign up for Visible which doesn’t have any stores and offers its services through an app. You can watch the video on YouTube here, and read my review to see if Visible is right for you.

2020 iPhone May Look Like iPhone 4

The 2020 iPhone could resemble the iPhone 4. That’s according to a research note from Ming Chi Kuo, reported on by MacRumors.

In his research note with TF International Securities, Kuo says Apple will change its flagship iPhone design “significantly” next year. Specifically, the new devices will feature a new metal frame with “a more complex segmentation design, new trenching and injection molding procedures, and sapphire or glass cover assembly to protect the trench injection molding structure.”
We predict that the new 2H20 iPhone design will change significantly […] The metal frame and the front and rear 2/2.5D glass are still used, but the metal frame surface will be changed to a similar design to the iPhone 4, replacing the current surface design.

An iPhone 6s Fell From an Airplane... And Survived

iPhones are tested to be resilient. However, The Next Web spoke to someone whose device took that to the next level. Haukur Snorrason’s iPhone 6s fell from an airplane into the Icelandic wilderness. The device was found over a year later. It still worked.

Last year, photographer Haukur Snorrason was on an aerial photo tour of the Skaftá river in South Iceland to grab pictures of the yearly glacier river floods. Unfortunately, when he grabbed his iPhone to film the flood, the phone got swept away by a gust of wind. Falling 60 meters (200 feet) down on rocky terrain — where a massive river was overflowing and rupturing roads — the time came for Haukur to say goodbye to his phone forever – or so he thought. Or so he thought, until 13 months later, when he received a phone call from people that had found his phone while hiking. After falling from a plane, and spending over a year exposed to the harsh Icelandic elements, it still worked!

Cloudflare Releases Warp VPN for Everyone

Cloudflare announced its Warp VPN earlier this year and created a waiting list for it to be rolled out. Although the company had technical difficulties, the list is gone and Warp VPN is available for everyone today.

Let me start with the apology. We are sorry making WARP available took far longer than we ever intended. As a way of hopefully making amends, for everyone who was on the waitlist before today, we’re giving 10 GB of WARP Plus — the even faster version of WARP that uses Cloudflare’s Argo network — to those of you who have been patiently waiting.

This Friday I intend to publish a list of five VPN apps for iOS, and Warp will be included.

Bob Iger Reveals Why he Quit the Apple Board

Disney CEO and Chairman Bob Iger has revealed why he quit Apple’s board of directors. Speaking to CNBC’s Jim Cramer, he said the two companies’ paths were “conflicting.”

“The reason I got off the board as they got more and more into creating television shows and movies, it became more clear to me our paths were conflicting rather than converging,” Iger said in an interview with CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer. “I just thought it was the right thing to do.” The business is still relatively small for Apple, but meaningful for Disney, and it wasn’t right,” Iger continued. Iger resigned from Apple’s board of directors on Sept. 10, the day Apple announced the price and release date for its streaming service.

iOS 13 Bug Affects Third-Party Keyboard Apps

A bug in iOS 13 and iPadOS affects keyboard apps. They can be granted full access even if you haven’t approved that.

Third-party keyboard extensions in iOS can be designed to run entirely standalone, without access to external services, or they can request “full access” to provide additional features through network access. Apple has discovered a bug in iOS 13 and iPadOS that can result in keyboard extensions being granted full access even if you haven’t approved this access.

Because Apple mentions an “upcoming software update” I assume this bug also affects iOS 13.1.

Thriller Novelist Carter Wilson - TMO Background Mode Interview

Carter Wilson is the USA Today and #1 Denver Post bestselling author of six critically acclaimed, standalone psychological thrillers, as well as numerous short stories. He is an ITW Thriller Award finalist, a three-time winner of the Colorado Book Award, and his novels have received multiple starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal. His latest novel, The Dead Girl in 2A, was released in July 2019.

Carter didn’t plan to become a novelist. It was really quite by accident. He got his bachelor’s degree from Cornell and planned to work in hotel services. Then, on a spring day in 2003, an exercise to ward off boredom during a continuing-education class evolved into a 400-page manuscript. Since that day, Carter has been constantly writing. We chatted about the craft of thrillers, his writing technique, killing off characters, and how he plans his storylines. It’s been an amazing journey.

Russian Confesses to JPMorgan Chase Hack

Russian national Adrei Tyurin confessed to the 2014 hacking of JPMorgan Chase which stole the data of over 80 million customers.

Tyurin carried out the hacks at the direction of co-conspirator Gery Shalon, who used the stolen data to further a variety of schemes, including securities fraud. One scheme involved artificially inflating the price of certain publicly traded stocks by marketing them in a deceptive and misleading manner to customers of companies Tyurin had hacked.