Adobe Creative Cloud App Brings Fonts to iOS 13.1

For the first time Adobe is bringing its fonts in its Creative Cloud app. Your device needs iOS 13.1 or later as that release supports custom font APIs.

If you already have a Creative Cloud subscription, you’ll have the same access as you do on your desktop to over 17,000 fonts from type foundries around the world. Users without a subscription but with an Adobe ID have access to 1,300 fonts included within the app for use on iOS13.1-compatible devices. Any fonts installed in Creative Cloud mobile are automatically activated across all your devices.

Edward Snowden Thinks Facebook is as Untrustworthy as the NSA

Whistleblower Edward Snowden told Recode’s Kara Swisher that he thinks social media giant Facebook is as untrustworthy as the NSA. He made the claims in a soon to be published podcast interview.

“Facebook’s internal purpose, whether they state it publicly or not, is to compile perfect records of private lives to the maximum extent of their capability, and then exploit that for their own corporate enrichment. And damn the consequences,” Snowden told Swisher. “This is actually precisely the same as what the NSA does. Google … has a very similar model. They go, ‘Oh, we’re connecting people.’ They go, ‘Oh, we’re organizing data.’” Although, Snowden said, these companies still don’t know as much as the government, which can gather information from all of the many tech platforms.

Facebook Could Use International Law in Content Moderation

Facebook is under increasing pressure regarding its approach to content moderation. On the Lawfare blog, Hilary Hurd explored how international law might provide a solution.

But there is a potential middle course in the diverging paths to principle and profit. Through the establishment of its new Oversight Board, Facebook could bolster its commitment to free expression globally by requiring governments to justify their take-down requests in keeping with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Article 19 specifically lays out three conditions for when—and under what circumstances—governments can restrict speech. By insisting governments frame their take-down requests in keeping with Article 19’s requirements before removing any content, Facebook would honor its stated goal of promoting free expression globally while shifting the burden to governments to justify their actions. The Oversight Board could in turn make this commitment credible by promising to restore any content removed because of a government take-down request, unless the government adhered to Article 19’s formal steps.

Uber and Lyft Want to Overturn a Law They Say Doesn't Apply to Them

Uber and Lyft are trying to overturn a law in California which is designed to turn workers in the gig economy from contractors to employees. The odd thing, as Wired noted, is that the two firms always said the law didn’t apply to them.

Three mainstays of the gig economy—Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash—this week launched a $90 million campaign to overturn a California law they say doesn’t apply to them anyway. The law, known as Assembly Bill 5, or AB5, would transform many gig workers into employees. On Tuesday, a small crowd of workers for the companies joined in Sacramento to kick off the campaign, which, if it receives enough support to reach the statewide ballot, would be voted on by Californians in November 2020. The companies and their supporters are pitching the initiative as a “compromise” that would create a third employment classification requiring Uber, Lyft, and their ilk to give drivers more perks than the average independent contractor but wouldn’t entitle workers to the full benefits of an employee.

Mario Kart Tour to Test Multiplayer Gameplay on iOS

Mario Kart Tour has proved exceptionally popular on iOS, and it looks like the game is going to expand further. AppleInsider reported that Nintendo plans to introduce real-time multiplayer gameplay, initially as a beta test.

The Japanese gaming giant announced the forthcoming test in a tweet on Thursday, saying access will initially be limited to subscribers of the Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass. “A real-time multiplayer beta test is planned for December and will be available to #MarioKartTour Gold Pass subscribers,” Nintendo said. “Stay tuned here for more details coming soon.” Multiplayer gaming has been a defining feature of Mario Kart since the franchise launched on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992, and its absence on mobile is viewed by some as a hindrance to adoption. Currently, players are limited to racing against AI bots, with in-game incentives like character unlocks and parts pushing users to continue play.

iOS 13.2 Aggressively Kills Background Apps and Tasks

Nick Heer put together a list of people noticing that iOS 13.2 is awfully aggressive in killing apps and tasks in the background.

As bugs go, this is isn’t a catastrophic one, but it absolutely should be the highest of priorities to fix it. It’s embarrassing that all of the hard work put into making animations and app launching feel smooth is squandered by mismanaged multitasking.

Nylon Braided iPhone Lightning Cable in Space Gray or Rose Gold: $9.99

We have a deal on a nylon-braided, MFi-certified Lightning cables in either Space Gray or Rose Gold. They’re 3.3 feet long (just over a meter), and feature Kevlar fiber core, nylon-braiding, and precision laser welding. They’re $9.99 through our deal. I’m linking to the Space Gray version, but check the pulldown menu for Rose Gold and a longer Space Gray version, too.

Third-Party Lenses Still Beat iPhone 11's Ultra Wide Camera

There has (rightly) been a lot of praise for the cameras in the iPhone 11 family of devices. However, on Cult of Mac, David Pierini, argues why a third-party lens still beats the ultra-wide camera on the entry-level model

 if you are a pixel-peeping stickler for quality, the ultra-wide camera may disappoint. The ultra-wide camera does not support RAW shooting or Apple’s new Night Mode. It also has a slow aperture at f2.4, meaning the lenses will not allow in as much light as the iPhone’s standard camera. Zoom in to see how the details are soft and surrounded by digital noise. The higher quality shot will come by placing one of these third-party ultra-wide lens attachments to the standard camera, which has a focal length of 28 mm.

The ProtonMail iOS App is Now Fully Open Source

Since 2015 ProtonMail’s web app has been open source, and today the company announced that its iOS app is, too.

In addition to making our iOS app open source, we have also documented and published our iOS security model. This is important to us because raw code without documentation can be almost unintelligible sometimes, and a documented security model will assist in rigorous assessment and review of our code by the public. Our iOS trust model is also available on our Github page.

How TikTok Broke Rap Music

TikTok has 1.7 billion active users and features videos of teens and tweens lip-synching. And, according to Wired, it has broken rap music, infantilizing a genre once built on rebellion.

“Rap has always had a playful way of delivering lyrics. We’re seeing a renaissance of humour being put back into the music,” says Isabel Quinteros, senior manager of music partnerships and artist relations at TikTok. “TikTok is filled with light-hearted content from people having fun with their videos, and we’re excited to give these artists a platform to directly connect with their fans.” Since TikTok and rap music both grew out of a practice of remixing and re-contextualising music, it’s fitting that rappers seem to be profiting most from this new interaction. Lil Nas X’s completely clean and cowboy cosplay track ‘Old Town Road’ is still by far the most famous example.

Analysts React to Apple's Latest Results

Wall Street analysts were, as ever, quick to react as Apple revealed its latest round of results on Wednesday. Many of them focused on the growth in wearables. AppleInsider insider has a nice roundup of what many of the big names had to say.

Cowen and Company: Reiterating its “Outperform” rating on the stock the iPhone business is performing “better than market expectations in the near term.” The iPhone 11 product family “is being received well by consumers and this could drive a re-rating in shares,” the firm suggests, “especially as a potential low-cost SE2 in C1H20 and a 5G iPhone by C4Q20 could be additional catalysts in the coming year.” Rosenblatt Securities: The 1.58% year-on-year revenue increase is “mainly driven by the wearable segment” and primarily from AirPods, Rosenblatt claims, though this is of limited use to the company as it “does not bring much upside to iOS services” at all. “We believe the lack of upside to services from wearables is why the Street gives low multiples to wearable companies.”

Twitter Leapfrogs Over Facebook and Bans Political Ads

I’m actually impressed with Twitter’s move. A corporation is willingly giving up the money it would make from political ads (Although it’s easy for them since these ads were a “small fraction of Twitter’s revenue). Still, kudos.

[Twitter CEO Jack] Dorsey touched on the conflict between hosting paid political ads and trying to fight the spread of misinformation.

“For instance, it‘s not credible for us to say: ‘We’re working hard to stop people from gaming our systems to spread misleading info, buuut if someone pays us to target and force people to see their political ad…well…they can say whatever they want!'” Dorsey tweeted.