Yesterday the Senate voted 97-1 in favor of the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act.
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
Several Years Ago Snapchat Employees Accessed User Data
Several Snapchat employees accessed user data, anonymous sources say. Phone numbers, saved Snaps, and more were up for grabs.
…internal tools that allowed Snap employees at the time to access user data, including in some cases location information, their own saved Snaps and personal information such as phone numbers and email addresses. Snaps are photos or videos that, if not saved, typically disappear after being received (or after 24 hours if posted to a user’s Story).
Because of course they f*cking did.
Get $1 Tacos From Taco Bell With Apple Pay
Yesterday Apple shared a new promo for Apple Pay. You can get US$1 tacos from Taco Bell with Apple Pay through May 29.
GitHub Sponsors Lets You Pay Your Favorite Open Source Contributors
GitHub Sponsors is a way to support the developers who build open source software. It’s currently in beta.
As a thank you for these valuable contributions, GitHub Sponsors charges zero platform fees when you support the work of other developers. We’ll also cover payment processing fees for the first 12 months of the program to celebrate the launch. 100% percent of your sponsorship goes to the developer.
I love this idea. GitHub is one of the only open source “app stores” we have that isn’t tied to Android or Linux.
In The Persistence of Chaos, Buy Six Notorious Computer Viruses For $1 Million
A computer infested with six of the word’s most infamous viruses is being sold as an art piece called ‘The Persistence of Chaos.’ The auction has topped US$1 million.
Bidding for a laptop infected with six of the world’s most famous computer viruses—WannaCry, BlackEnergy, ILOVEYOU, MyDoom, SoBig and DarkTequila—has topped more than $1.1 million at auction. The art project, titled “The Persistence of Chaos,” is a collaboration between Chinese internet artist Guo O Dong, and Deep Instinct, a cybersecurity firm based in New York. Those six viruses have caused billions of dollars in damage worldwide.
Leaked Email Shows Tesla Q2 2019 to Beat Q4 Record
An internal email from Tesla CEO Elon Musk shows that the company will beat its Q4 2018 record of 90,700 vehicles sold.
Play Date is a Handheld Game Console With a Hand Crank
Panic has made iOS and Mac software for over 20 years, like Coda, Transmit, and Prompt. They’re also the creators of the popular Firewatch game. Now they’ve decided to get into hardware with Play Date. To summarize it, Play Date is a black and white Gameboy with a hand crank and a game subscription. There aren’t a lot of details yet, but it sounds like the hand crank acts as a controller, rather than as a way to power the device. The console will cost US$149, ship in early 2020, and come with 12 games as part of “Season One” that will be included.
The games will be delivered over-the-air, once a week for 12 weeks, and they’ll be a surprise: when the new game light flashes, you’ll never know what you’re about to play. Panic recruited some of the world’s best game designers — some well known; others under the radar — to make games exclusively for our system.”
Pegatron Looks to Expand Product Assembly to More Countries
Apple manufacturer Pegatron will start assembling MacBooks and iPads in Indonesia starting in June.
How to Use macOS Keychain Access to Beef up iCloud Keychain
Did you know that iCloud Keychain is synced with macOS’s Keychain Access utility? You can add website logins directly to Keychain Access, and have it synced to your iOS devices.
Reddit Deciphered Harry Potter Wizards Unite Letter
Redditors have deciphered the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite letter, bits and pieces of which appeared in the official trailers.
League of Legends Coming to iOS, Unlikely in 2019
Popular game League of Legends is coming to iOS and Android, but it’s unlikely it will appear in 2019.
One of the sources said Tencent and Riot have been working on a mobile version of “League of Legends” for more than a year, although a separate source said it was unlikely to be launched in 2019.
The sources declined to be identified as details of the project were confidential. A spokesman for Tencent declined to comment. Representatives for Riot did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Vignette App Lets You Update Your Contact Photos Privately
Vignette app allows you to change all those ugly grey circles with initials into actual photographs. By searching Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Gravatar—no login required—Vignette will attempt to pair your contacts with their profile pictures on social media. After amassing all these images, using Vignette’s easy to use interface, you can select which avatar you’d like to use, or none at all. Once you’re all set, Vignette will write those updates to your contacts database on your phone. That means in Messages, Phone, and all of your other apps, you see beautiful images instead of ugly initials. Vignette is free to try, but in order to save the updates to your contact list, you will need to buy the one-time in-app purchase. Vignette app runs entirely on your phone; your contacts stay on your device and are never transmitted *anywhere*. Privacy is a critical factor to Vignette; your trust is important and will not be squandered. App Store: Free (Offers In-App Purchases)
Cannes Lions Names Apple 2019 Creative Marketer of the Year
Apple has been awarded the 2019 Creative Marketer of the Year by Cannes Lions, the world’s largest festival for advertising and creative communications.
Portland Transit Riders Can Add Hop Fastpass to Wallet
Portland transit riders can now add the Hop Fastpass to Apple Wallet, which works with TriMet, C-Tran, and Portland Streetcar.
UN Report Says Making Siri Voice Female by Default is Sexist
A report from the United Nations says that making virtual assistants like Siri have female voices by default is sexist.
As voice-powered technology reaches into communities that do not currently subscribe to Western gender stereotypes, including indigenous communities, the feminization of digital assistants may help gender biases to take hold and spread. Because Alexa, Cortana, Google Home and Siri are all female exclusively or female by default in most markets, women assume the role of digital attendant…
I think it’s a fair point.
Apple’s Privacy Preserving Ad Click Attribution in Safari
In a WebKit post today, Apple has an idea to make online ads private. It’s called Privacy Preserving Ad Click Attribution.
Apple AR Hiring Increases to 33 Positions Since Last Year
Last May Apple had one AR job position open. It gradually increased to five by the end of 2018. Now, Apple AR hiring has increased to 33 open positions.
The hiring upswing is a clear sign that the Cupertino tech giant is looking to make AR a major part of its mobile iOS devices moving forward…Of the current 33 openings, the extreme majority — 30 — are located at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.
New Backlight Service Program Addresses ‘Flexgate’ Problem
Some 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro displays suffered problems with the backlight, and Apple will repair them under a new Backlight Service Program.
Apple will repair affected devices, which includes machines sold between October 2016 and February 2018, for free. Eligible models are listed below:
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
No other MacBook Pro models are included in the repair program at this time.
2018 MacBook Pro, MacBook Air Added to Keyboard Service Program
The new 8-core MacBook Pro brings with it an updated version of the butterfly keyboard. Additionally, the 2018 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are being added to Apple’s Keyboard Service Program.
Apple has updated its official Keyboard Service Program support page with the 2018 and 2019 MacBooks. If you’ve been having issues with your 2018 MacBook Pro or MacBook Air keyboard or any MacBook notebook with a butterfly keyboard, get in touch with Apple Support to get the repair process started. Keep in mind you’ll likely be without your machine for a least a day, if not longer.
Chinese Move to Boycott Apple Because of Huawei
Apple and Huawei are caught in the trade war between China and the United States. There is a growing ‘Boycott Apple’ movement in China.
Federico Viticci’s iPad Manifesto Covering Seven Years
I’m a big fan of MacStories and today Federico released what he calls an iPad manifesto. He writes about his experience using the iPad as his main computing device over seven years.
Seven years after I started (slowly) replacing my MacBook Air with an iPad, my life is different, but one principle still holds true: I never want to find myself forced to work on a computer that’s only effective at home, that can’t be held in my hands, or that can’t be customized for different setups. For this reason, the iPad Pro is the best computer for the kind of lifestyle I want.
Apple Releases the First 8-Core MacBook Pro
Today Apple updated the MacBook Pro line with faster 8th- and 9th-generation Intel Core processors with eight cores.
National Australia Bank Supports Apple Pay
The National Australia Bank (NAB) recently announced support for Apple Pay, letting customers with Visa cards use Apple’s payment service.
Facebook Facial Recognition Opt-Out Not Universal
Consumer Reports found that Facebook facial recognition doesn’t seem to be a universal setting, despite Facebook promising otherwise.
Consumer Reports examined the accounts of 31 Facebook users across the U.S. The participants let us record video as they navigated their Facebook settings under our direction. We found the Face Recognition setting missing from eight of the accounts we documented, or just over 25 percent.
I could be a smart a** and recommend deleting your Facebook account as a way to opt out, but that wouldn’t help the people still on Facebook.