More Apps Should Use Differential Privacy

News app Tonic is different than most news apps because it uses differential privacy. More apps should do the same.

Before your eyes cross, a real-life example Cyphers gave me is the census. The government has a lot of aggregate data about its citizens—and it probably wants to share demographic information from that set without revealing anything about any one particular individual. Let’s say you live in a small census block with only one or two people. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out personal information about you, given the right parameters. Differential privacy would be a way to summarize that data without putting any one individual at risk.

Answers and Tips for iCloud, iOS 13, iPhone 11, macOS, and More – Mac Geek Gab 781

Lots of new stuff from Apple this week… and lots of technical landmines to navigate. Thankfully, you’ve been sending your questions into John and Dave, and they’ve been doing the research to get you answers. Listen to the answers to your questions – and everyone else’s, too! Press play, and enjoy learning at least five new things… one that might even save your bacon this week!

Safari 13 Just Killed uBlock Origin and Other Extensions

Safari 13 deprecates support for legacy extensions. Instead, you now how to download them through the Mac App Store. A GitHub user explained the uBlock Origin situation and recommends adblocking alternatives.

Get a content blocker. Not nearly as powerful as uBO, but the best option if you want to stay with Safari. Do not get the app called “uBlock”, this is unassociated with uBlockOrigin (read about the split here), and is simply a content blocker with a big negative feature of having acceptable ads built in

Portable 10,000mAh Power Bank: $15

We have a deal on a portable power bank with a 10,000mAh capacity. It features dual USB inputs for faster charging up, and dual 2.4A outputs for charging your smartphone and other devices at high speeds. And, it’s just $15 through our deal.

Apple Reality Composer Available on App Store

The Apple Reality Composer app is now available on the App Store. It’s also included with Xcode so developers can build, test, tune, and simulate augmented reality experiences. Easily prototype and produce AR experiences directly in AR with no prior 3D experience. Drag and drop to place and rotate virtual objects to assemble your scene directly in AR or on the canvas. Build your scene by importing your own .usdz files or take advantage of the ready to use virtual objects in Reality Composer’s built-in AR content library, so you can get up and running quickly. Customize a virtual object’s size, style, and more. Add animations that let you move, scale, and add emphasis like a ‘wiggle’ or ‘spin’ to virtual objects, without having any animation experience. Add spatial audio, all of which can be set up to happen upon a user tapping on those objects, coming in close proximity with them, or other triggers. App Store: Apple Reality Composer – Free

Streaming 'a Whole New World' in November, Says Netflix Boss

Netflix is going to be under a lot of pressure come November when Apple TV+ and Disney+ launch. Variety reported on boss Reed Hasting’s comments to the Royal Television Society Friday, in which he looked ahead to what comes next.

“While we’ve been competing with many people in the last decade, it’s a whole new world starting in November…between Apple launching and Disney launching, and of course Amazon’s ramping up,” said Hastings, who also cited NBCUniversal’s coming Peacock service. “It’ll be tough competition. Direct-to-consumer [customers] will have a lot of choice.” He said Netflix would continue to hew closely to its core strategy of offering content for binge viewing, the phenomenon it helped create. That means the service isn’t moving into live sports, as Amazon Prime Video has, and won’t experiment much with different release models, including for its expanding catalogue of original films. “They may have a qualifying run for theatrical, but it’s fairly small.”

A Deep Dive Into Apple's A13 Bionic Chip

Om Malik wrote a great dive into the A13 Bionic chip that powers the latest iPhones.

Apple’s new chip contains 8.5 billion transistors. Also, there are six CPU cores: Two high-performance cores running at 2.66 GHz (called Lightning), and four efficiency cores (called Thunder). It has a quad-core graphics processor, an LTE modem, an Apple-designed image processor, and an octa-core neural engine for machine intelligence functions that can run over five trillion operations per second.

Big numbers are amazing, and I still marvel at the fact that this chip can do five trillion operations per second. That is astoundingly fast. Five trillion seconds is 158,550 years. Just one trillion seconds ago (31,710 years) was before written history, before the pyramids were built.

Science Journal Admits Those Bone Horns Were Wrong

Remember the study claiming smartphone usage caused bone horns to grow on millennials? The publisher now admits the conclusion was false. But other scientists say their correction is still false.

While the correction attempts to clarify the record on smartphones, it does not do anything to address the fact that the study’s main finding — that poor posture and age are connected to neck bone spurs — still isn’t supported by the underlying data…

“I actually think Nature should remove the original article as the correction has not proved their point,” said Sara Becker, a bioarchaeologist at the University of California Riverside.

Sayonara Wild Hearts Available on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4

When Apple said that Apple Arcade games were exclusive, it meant that they won’t be on Android. But these games can be released on other platforms. Like Sayonara Wild Hearts which was shown at Apple’s keynote. It’s available for Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4 for US$12.99. In Sayonara Wild Hearts, players follow a young woman after she experiences heartbreak and finds her other self dubbed “The Fool” in an alternate universe. Play as The Fool and journey through a custom-written pop soundtrack, chase scores, and set out to find the harmony of the universe hidden away in the hearts of Little Death and her star-crossed allies: Dancing Devils, Howling Moons, Stereo Lovers and Hermit 64. Additionally, you can get physical copies as well as a vinyl record at iam8bit.com.

Pictar Smart Grip + Wide Angle 16 MM and Macro Lens Bundle: $129.99

We have a deal on the Pictar Smart Grip and a bundle of two lenses. This device is a camera grip that fits most iPhones and Android devices, if that’s your thing, and it does that in a very clever way. Rather than matching physical buttons or even using a wireless connection for camera controls, this device emits high frequency sounds you can’t hear, but that the free companion app can. That allows you to control all manner of camera settings on your iPhone while using very little power. The deal includes the Pictar Smart Lens Wide 16 mm + Macro X12 clip on lens kit, and you get the bundle for $129.99 through our deal.

Don't Storm Area 51, Begs Fan Site Webmaster

Joerg Arnu is fascinated by Area 51. He even runs websites focussed on the site. However, as Wired discovered, he really does not want people descending on the mysterious Air Force base.

Arnu isn’t into it. He is not into the joke that has already inspired at least two people, young Dutch YouTubers, to breach the Air Force’s perimeter. And he is not into the party that threatens to take over his very little locale, a place located freakishly close to Area 51’s back gate. He has tried to put an end to its flight path. With the original festivities scheduled to start today, it’s unclear whether the horde will be huge or whether this bang will end with a poorly attended whimper.

Photographer Heaps Praise on iPhone 11 Pro Camera

Photographer Austin Mann could not wait to get his hands on a new iPhone 11 Pro and test the camera. His conclusion following a trip to China with the device? “If you are a serious photographer, get a Pro.” He explained why in a blog post, which also contained some stunning pictures (including the one featured in this article).

The addition of any new lens is a pretty big deal. You might remember my excitement when we gained the “telephoto” 51mm lens with the iPhone 7 Plus, and today I’m just as thrilled to be putting an entirely new Ultra Wide lens in my pocket. It gives us another format to tell the story, another perspective to visualize, and a better rounded tool for doing our best creative work. I’ve had a blast shooting with the new Ultra Wide on iPhone 11 Pro in all kinds of scenarios here in China.