In 2018 Apple announced it would turn off Back to My Mac on July 1, 2019 for all versions of macOS. That day has arrived.
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
Gen Z: "If you don't have an iPhone it's kind of frowned upon."
The iPhone is the most popular device with Gen Z, the generation coming after millennials. Specifically, teens these days use iPhones so that no one is left out of iMessage group chats. Business Insider also found that iPhone ownership has created a “culture of multitasking” which I agree with, but I don’t think it’s limited to iPhones.
Some experts blame the rise of smartphones — and especially the iPhone — for fueling a pervasive culture of multitasking. Teens who spoke with Business Insider said they recognized that multitasking was not efficient. “It doesn’t really work out that well,” Jimenez said, acknowledging that she does it anyway. Experts say that trying to process two or more things at once may not even really be possible.
Apple Catalyst Team Explains How it Works
Ars Technica spoke with members of the Apple Catalyst team to find out how it works and how it will affect the Mac ecosystem.
Apple seeks to funnel some of its success with the iOS App Store over to macOS using Catalyst. We’ll go over how developers use what Apple has built step-by-step, as well as what challenges they faced. And we’ll share Apple’s answers to our questions about how the company plans to maintain a high standard of quality for Mac apps as an influx of mobile-derived apps hits the platform, what Apple’s long-term plans for cross-platform apps across the entire ecosystem look like, and more.
Australian Women's Cricket Team uses Apple Watch to Train
The Australian Women’s Cricket team uses the Apple Watch to train. Collected data includes mood and sleep as a way to avoid major injuries.
A Cashless Society Could Affect Strippers and Other Sex Workers
I’ve written musings here and there about the cashless society, but sex work as an affected industry hadn’t crossed my mind. I think it’s an important conversation to have, though. I wonder what an alternative could be? Special jewelry with NFC chips that can accept peer-to-peer payments? Imagine tipping a stripper with Apple Pay. Sorry Tim Cook.
But without cash, the club I work at is free to exploit. Cash handed directly to a dancer gets pocketed, but credit card charges are skimmed—and because workers are more or less off the books, we have no recourse to contest absurdly high fees. When a customer pays several hundred dollars to spend time in a dark room alone with a dancer, the club takes a 70 percent cut.
Using macOS Catalina Hands Free to Design a Logo
It’s a short video, but developer Camera Cundiff tweeted a video in which he used macOS Catalina Hands Free to design a simple logo.
video: time-lapse screencast, dictating commands to XD via macOS voice control, demonstrating the use of Number and Grid targeting to create overlapping shapes and type.
Hands Free is such a powerful feature, and combined with Siri makes the Mac feel like a Star Trek computer.
Apple Music Up Next Live Will Bring Live Music Around the World
Today Apple announced Up Next Live, a series of musical performances featuring a variety of musicians and hosted in local Apple retail stores.
Japan Power Outage Ruined 6 Exabytes of Hard Drives
The cost of flash storage could increase in the future due to a power outage in Japan. Western Digital and Toshiba were affected.
100,000 Live Radio Stations Coming to iPhone, HomePod
Apple announced at WWDC19 that over 100,000 live radio stations would be coming as part of iOS 13. Some people report it working already.
Eddy Cue on Apple TV+, Steve Jobs, and More
Eddy Cue sat down for an interview with GQ, talking about Apple TV+, Steve Jobs, iTunes, and more.
Today, says Cue, most people subscribe to a satellite or cable service. “But do you think that’ll be the case ten years from now? I don’t think even the cable and satellite people are going to raise their hands. There’s a pretty rapid change coming.”
News+: How to Stay Safe and Secure Online
In the latest issue of Mac Format magazine, Adam Banks writes a guide on how to stay safe online. This is a PDF version and on page 66.
Using a Mac makes you safer than average when going online. That’s partly because of Apple’s efforts to secure the operating system; partly because the Mac App Store gives you somewhere to get most of your third-party software safely. It’s also partly because bad actors – in the security industry sense, not the Hollyoaks sense – tend to be less interested in targeting macOS. But that doesn’t mean either you or your Mac can’t get fooled. Know your way around the common risks and basic protections to keep yourself out of harm’s way.
This is part of Andrew’s News+ series, where he shares a magazine every Friday to help people discover good content in Apple News+.
Google's New reCAPTCHA is an Invisible Tracking Beacon
Google’s reCAPTCHA bot detector is now an invisible web beacon and currently on over 650,000 websites.
With reCaptcha v3, technology consultant Marcos Perona and Akrout’s tests both found that their reCaptcha scores were always low risk when they visited a test website on a browser where they were already logged into a Google account. Alternatively, if they went to the test website from a private browser like Tor or a VPN, their scores were high risk.
How Apple Maps Iconography Has Grown Over the Years
Mercury Intermedia dived into Apple Maps iconography to give us a history of it, and how it has changed over the years with each iOS update.
2019 Mac Pro Production is Moving to China
Apple’s 2019 Mac Pro production will be moved to China. Quanta Computer Inc will be the contractor.
DeepNude App That Could Undress Women Taken Offline
Yesterday Vice reported on an app called DeepNude. It used machine learning to turn a clothed photo of a women into a naked version. It has since been taken offline.
The developers have now removed the software from the web saying the world was not ready for it. “The probability that people will misuse it is too high,” wrote the programmers in a message on their Twitter feed. “We don’t want to make money this way.” The developers also urged people who had a copy not to share it, although the app will still work for anyone who owns it.
I mean, if we’re being pedantic, you can’t really misuse technology specifically designed for ill intentions unless you try to use it for good intentions, if that’s even possible.
Second Singapore Apple Store Opening July 13
Apple’s second Singapore Apple store will open Saturday, July 13 at 10:00 AM. It will be at the Jewel Changi Airport.
Trump Administration Talking About Banning Encryption
Politico reports that the Trump administration is in talks about banning encryption, or at least certain forms of it that law enforcement can’t crack.
The encryption challenge, which the government calls “going dark,” was the focus of a National Security Council meeting Wednesday morning that included the No. 2 officials from several key agencies, according to three people familiar with the matter…Senior officials debated whether to ask Congress to effectively outlaw end-to-end encryption, which scrambles data so that only its sender and recipient can read it…
Great. I can’t wait for Russia and China to intercept all of our insecure communications.
Sir Jony Ive Will Leave Apple to Start Design Company LoveFrom
In surprising news, Apple just announced that Sir Jony Ive will leave the company later this year to start his own design company.
Twitter Starts Flagging Tweets From World Leaders That Break its Rules
In a blog post today, Twitter said it would start labeling tweets from Donald Trump government officials that break its rules against bullying and abusive behavior.
A critical function of our service is providing a place where people can openly and publicly respond to their leaders and hold them accountable.With this in mind, there are certain cases where it may be in the public’s interest to have access to certain Tweets, even if they would otherwise be in violation of our rules.
On the rare occasions when this happens, we’ll place a notice – a screen you have to click or tap through before you see the Tweet – to provide additional context and clarity. We’ll also take steps to make sure the Tweet is not algorithmically elevated on our service.
Pokémon Masters Coming to iOS Later This Summer
A new game called Pokémon Masters is heading to iOS this summer. On the island of Pasio, players will form teams of Trainers and their partner Pokémon and engage in 3-on-3 real-time battles.
Players can team up with duos such as Korrina & Lucario, Brendan & Treecko, Clair & Kingdra, and many more. With all sorts of Trainers on Pasio, there are sure to be some exciting and unexpected encounters in this new story. At launch, there will be 65 sync pairs to recruit in Pokémon Masters, with additional sync pairs to come following the game’s release.
Apple Music Reaches 60 Million Subscribers Worldwide
Eddy Cue said today that Apple Music has 60 million subscribers worldwide. Beats 1 also has “tens of millions of listeners.”
Apple Stores Now Sell One Drop Blood Glucose Monitor
Long sold online, Apple stores have now added the One Drop blood glucose monitor to its inventory.
How to Download macOS Catalina Public Beta
Now that people aren’t hammering Apple’s servers all at once, it’s a good time to download the macOS Catalina public beta.
Private Social Network MeWe Reaches Over 5 Million Members
MeWe is a social network with privacy in mind, and it recently surpassed 5 million members. Additionally it closed a US$4.5 million offering, bringing the company’s total funds raised to US$15 million.
MeWe is on track to have 30 million members by yearend, and projects 150 million by the end of 2020. MeWe achieved 405% growth in 2018 and is already growing twice as fast on a daily basis in 2019. MeWe’s growth is organic—it runs no paid marketing campaigns.
It’s good to see MeWe doing well. I don’t use it anymore, but I still recommend it to people looking for a private social network.