Apple has ordered a series adaptation of The Mosquito Coast starring Justin Theroux. The series is based on a novel.
Andrew Orr
Since 2015 Andrew has been writing about Apple, privacy, security, and at one point even Android. You can find him most places online under the username @andrewornot.
Articles by Andrew Orr
ImageNet Roulette Shows How ML Classifies You
ImageNet Roulette is part of an art and technology exhibit called Training Humans. Upload a photo and the algorithm will give you a classification. Some of the labels are funny, others are racist.
ImageNet Roulette is meant in part to demonstrate how various kinds of politics propagate through technical systems, often without the creators of those systems even being aware of them.
We did not make the underlying training data responsible for these classifications. We imported the categories and training images from a popular data set called ImageNet, which was created at Princeton and Stanford University and which is a standard benchmark used in image classification and object detection.
I uploaded a photo of me and the label I received was “beard.” Accurate.
Netflix Buys Streaming Rights to Seinfeld Starting 2021
Netflix has bought global streaming rights for Seinfeld. It will begin in 2021, when Hulu’s contract for streaming it expires.
This is the first time Seinfeld will be available on Netflix and the first time that all 180 episodes will be on one service globally and in 4K. Seinfeldmade its streaming debut with the Hulu deal. Internationally, it is streaming on Amazon in a number of territories; that will all be consolidated on Netflix under the new deal.
I watched a couple of reruns of Seinfeld on TV when I was younger, and I never got into it. Maybe I’ll give it another go on Netflix.
Brydge 10.2 Keyboard is Here for the New iPad
The Brydge 10.2 keyboard is here for the new iPad 7th generation. It will be available to ship and stock in October.
Apple Arcade Launches Early for Some Customers
Some people, including Andrew, are noticing that they can subscribe to Apple Arcade ahead of its release on September 19.
HP Printers Send a Ton of Data Analytics Back Home
Software engineer Robert Heaton found disturbing evidence that HP printers request a lot of analytics permissions to send back to the company.
In summary, HP wants its printer to collect all kinds of data that a reasonable person would never expect it to. This includes metadata about your devices, as well as information about all the documents that you print, including timestamps, number of pages, and the application doing the printing (HP state that they do stop short of looking at the contents of your documents).
Wi-Fi 6 Launches Just in Time for New iPhones
Wi-Fi 6 launched today. It’s based on the 802.11ax standard and promises faster speeds, greater efficiency, and better performance.
iPhone 11's U1 Chip Could Spark a Revolution
You wouldn’t know it because it wasn’t mentioned during the iPhone 11 keynote, but the new iPhones have a new chip. Called Ultra Wideband, or “U1” it’s a way for iPhones to figure out their position in 3D space relative to other U1 devices. Apple mentions the use-case of a person pointing their U1 iPhone at another U1 iPhone to send files over AirDrop. Jason Snell writes that this is just the beginning.
But the possible applications of UWB go way beyond AirDrop and tracking tags. Decawave’s Viot says potential applications include smart home tech, augmented reality, mobile payments, the aforementioned keyless car entry, and even indoor navigation. (And it’s not a power hog, either—Viot says that Decawave’s latest UWB chip uses one-third of the power of a Bluetooth LE chip when in beacon mode, as a tracking tile would be.)
LastPass 4.33.0 Fixes Bug That Leaked User Data
Google’s Project Zero security team found a LastPass bug that exposed user credentials on a website they previously visited.
WhatsApp's 'Delete For Everyone' Feature Doesn't Work With iPhones
WhatsApp from Facebook has a feature called Delete for Everyone that lets people unsend messages, photos, and videos from an individual’s phone, or everyone in a group. But it doesn’t delete them from iPhones.
According to Shitesh Sachan, an application security consultant, who found this privacy issue and shared his findings exclusively with The Hacker News, the feature for WhatsApp for iOS has not been designed to delete received media files saved in the iPhone’s Camera Roll.
Apple Joins Academy Software Foundation as Premier Member
The Academy Software Foundation advocates for greater open source software development in the motion picture and media industries. Apple has joined as a Premier member.
To support the continued growth of open source software across our industry, we have the privilege of providing developers with tools that make it easier to contribute code and participate in the community…With Apple as a new member, we hope to work with them to improve support for Apple platforms, which will continue to democratize open source software development.
Spotify Wants to Track Your Location so Friends Don't Use a Family Plan
In more location tracking news today, Spotify wants to track yours because non-family members sometimes use Family Plans *gasp!*.
“The changes to the policy allow Spotify to arbitrarily use the location of an individual to ascertain if they continue to reside at the same address when using a family account, and it’s unclear how often Spotify will query users’ devices for this information,” said Christopher Weatherhead, technology lead for UK watchdog group Privacy International, adding that there are “worrying privacy implications.”
iPhones Can Now Use Yubico NFC Security Keys
Apple is expanding NFC capabilities with iOS 13, and you’ll be able to use Yubico NFC keys or other brands with your iPhone.
SimJacker is a Newly-Discovered SIM Card Vulnerability
SimJacker is a newly-discovered vulnerability in SIM cards that lets an attacker hack your smartphone just by sending an SMS message.
iOS 13 Forced Facebook to Admit it Collects Your Location Data
Yes, I know how shocked you are folks. As it turns out, Facebook lied about yet another thing: It totally collects your location data, and admitted that fact itself in a blog post.
For years the antisocial media giant has claimed it doesn’t track your location, insisting to suspicious reporters and privacy advocates that its addicts “have full control over their data,” and that it does not gather or sell that data unless those users agree to it.
Then, late on Monday, Facebook emitted a blog post in which it kindly offered to help users “understand updates” to their “device’s location settings.”
You may have missed the critical part amid the glowing testimony so we’ll repeat it: “… use precise location even when you’re not using the app…”
Quote from a TMO reader: “Hoping that FB will somehow become secure is as much magical thinking as expecting a wild pig to perform the role Juliet for Bolshoi.”
iPad 7, Apple Watch Series 5 Available for Preorder
News that might have gotten lost in the new of iPhone 11 is that the Apple Watch Series 5 and iPad 7 are available to preorder now, while we have to wait until tonight/tomorrow to preorder the new iPhones.
Apple Watch Series 5: Starting at 32GB of storage, Series 5 has an always-on display, a Compass app, and available in more finishes, colors, and materials, like titanium and ceramic. Preorder it here starting at US$399.
iPad 7th Gen: This is an updated version of what became known as the education iPad. It has a 10.2-inch display with thin bezels like the old 10.5-inch iPad Pro. The 10.2-inch Retina display has almost 3.5 million pixels, an A10 Fusion chip, and for the first time, an 100% recycled aluminum body. Preorder it here for US$329.
Both will be officially out on September 30.
New Exploit Shows We Should Just Skip to iOS 13.1
A contacts exploit was discovered in iOS 13 that lets a person bypass Face ID / Touch ID to see an iPhone’s contacts.
Relatively little is at stake with this exploit. Beyond the inherent danger of an assailant having your iPhone, this method only allows someone to view the contacts within the target iPhone, provided that they have physical access to the target phone and can complete the VoiceOver exploit.
Little is at stake, but there have been so my iOS exploits in the news lately that we might as well go straight to iOS 13.1.
T-Mobile Offers iPhone 11 for 50% Off With a Trade In
T-Mobile has an aggressive strategy for the iPhone 11: People who sign up for a plan and trade in an old iPhone can get the iPhone 11 for up to 50% off.
Here’s the full pricing break down from T-Mobile: Save $550 when you trade in an iPhone XS Max 64GB or 256GB; save $500 when you trade in an iPhone XS 64GB or 256GB; and save $350 when you trade in an iPhone XR 64GB or 128GB, X 64GB, 8, 8 Plus, 7 or 7 Plus.
Those are great deals, especially for people with older models like the iPhone 7.
App Store Guidelines Modified for Kids Apps, Sign In With Apple
Apple has updated its App Store Review Guidelines for kids apps and its new Sign In with Apple technology, giving developers more time.
Apple News isn't Favorable to Local Newsrooms
Apple News is the poster child of the Pareto principle, which states that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of the causes.
Custom Fonts Can Track You in iOS 13
Custom fonts may be able to track you in iOS 13. Google’s Crashlytics admitted as such on Twitter, including a unique identifier.
Walgreens Joins Apple Card 3% Daily Cash Program
Walgreens and Duane Reade join Uber and Uber Eats as part of Apple’s 3% Daily Cash program at stores, its app, and its website.
Apple's Billing Grace Period Should Give You Peace of Mind
Apple is introducing Billing Grace Period as a way to improve the customer experience surrounding subscriptions.
NSA Publishes Threatening Letter Calling for Encryption Backdoors
Glenn S. Gerstell, general counsel for the National Security Agency (NSA) published a letter in the New York Times, writing about how a “digital revolution threatens to upend our entire national security infrastructure.” He thinks backdoors into encryption is one answer (of course he doesn’t use the word backdoor), as well as the agency collecting even more data from citizens. Read his letter by clicking the link below, then read this take by Nefarious Laboratories.
Make no mistake, this letter is a thinly-veiled threat to every major corporation around the globe: provide the U.S. government with access to all of your data or else, “there is another path, and it is the one taken by authoritarian regimes around the world”.