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.
Apple plans to remove the Do Not Track setting from iOS and macOS because it doesn’t actually do anything. Websites only have to voluntarily obey it, which means that the majority don’t. But a stronger DNT could be coming.
In January 2017 the European Commission announced an initiative to update the ePrivacy Regulation, a proposal that would revisit a 15-year-old directive dealing with privacy protections and how users consent to being tracked by cookies.
Apple is working with the NHL to promote Shot on iPhone billboards, featuring photos of players taken by teammates on iPhones.
Email scams are increasingly involving iTunes gift cards, instead of the old wire transfers. Lily Hay Newman as the scoop.
This trend is on the rise among scammers, both for individual targets and organizations. The Federal Trade Commission reported in October that 26 percent of people who report being scammed in 2018 said they bought or reloaded a gift card to deliver the money, up from seven percent in 2015. The FTC says that gift card-related losses reported to the agency totaled $20 million in 2015, $27 million in 2016, $40 million in 2017, and $53 million in the first nine months of 2018 alone.
The Hulu free plan price is going from US$7.99 to US$5.99/month. However, its Live TV plan is increasing to US$44.99. [Hulu Pause Ads Have Arrived] Hulu Free Plan Reduction The company announced the change last month as a response to Netflix’s price increase. The changes went into effect yesterday. Existing subscribers will see their bill…
The FBI really really dislikes end-to-end encryption, saying that it’s a problem that infects the law enforcement community (paywall).
The so-called going-dark issue…is a problem [that] infects law enforcement and the intelligence community more and more so every day,” said Amy Hess, executive assistant director with the FBI, in an interview. Ms. Hess, who previously oversaw the FBI’s science and technology branch, testified to Congress on the problem during Apple’s 2016 clash with the bureau.
Apple and others are worried about Australia’s encryption ban, and it could be a test case for the rest of the Five Eyes.
Hiya has released its first Global Robocall Radar Report, and the results are troubling. Global spam calls grew 325% to 85 billion calls.
Nintendo announced the arrival of Pokemon Sword and Shield that will come to the Nintendo Switch later this year. It brings with it the eighth generation of Pokemon. We saw a sneak peak of three starter Pokemon: Grookey, a chimp full of boundless curiosity; Scorbunny, a rabbit bursting with energy; and Sobble, a timid water lizard.
Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield will be set in Galar, an expansive region with many environments—idyllic countryside, contemporary cities, thick forests, and craggy, snow-covered mountains. The people and Pokémon live together in this region, and they’ve worked together to develop the industries here.
I recently bought a Switch and I’m currently playing Pokemon Let’s Go: Eevee. I haven’t kept up with the previous generations but I look forward to getting this game.
Privacy email provider FastMail is losing customers because of Australia’s new anti-encryption laws, and faces calls to leave the country.
The Private Internet Access 2.8.0 update brings a network management tool. When you enable the feature PIA will automatically turn itself on when you connect to untrusted Wi-Fi networks. You can add networks you do trust to a whitelist, including your cellular network. If you set it not to trust cellular networks and you turn on the option to protect all networks, it means that the VPN will automatically turn itself on all the time.
The update also adds support for IKEv2. Internet Key Exchange (IKE) is part of the IPsec protocol suite, and it’s used to set up a security association. Jargon aside, IKEv2 is responsible for making a secure connection between you and the VPN server. It does this by authenticating you both and establishing which encryption methods will be used.
During the 2018 midterm elections U.S. Cyber Command blocked internet access to Russians seeking to interfere.
Although it’s not illegal to create duplicate apps under different names and/or developer accounts, it takes advantage of the App Store.
I’ll go on the record to say that, while I think foldable phones are interesting, I also think they are gimmicky and Apple doesn’t need to chase that trend. But in a new interview with Steve Wozniak, he says he wants a foldable iPhone.
“Apple has been a leader for quite a long time in a few areas such as touch ID, facial ID, and easy payment with the phone,” Wozniak said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “They’re not the leader in areas like the folding phone, and that worries me because I really want a folding phone.”
Yesterday Cloudflare released its transparency report for the second half of 2018. It revealed it’s expanding its use of warrant canaries.
Bloomberg claims that Apple Watch sleep tracking features could arrive by 2020.
Wall Street was surprised when Apple chose to partner with Goldman Sachs. According to a new article by WSJ, other financial institutions like Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase offered their services to Apple as well.
Goldman can’t do it on its own either. It is new to consumer banking, having spent most of its 150-year history catering to big companies and billionaires. Without branches, it needs other ways to find customers for its online savings and lending business. Apple, too, needs new engines of growth as iPhone sales slow.
Zac Hall reminds us that right before Apple announced the HomePod, Craig Federighi showed a slide of speakers that would support AirPlay 2. But where is the Beats AirPlay 2 speaker? It’s been two years and we haven’t seen it.
A Beats AirPlay 2 speaker would still need Wi-Fi though. Wi-Fi would be new to the current Beats lineup, but it wouldn’t be the first Bluetooth + Wi-Fi combo AirPlay 2 speaker. Libratone’s versatile Zipp speaker retroactively added AirPlay 2 support to its existing portable Wi-Fi + Bluetooth speakers last year.
Three security flaws found in 4G and 5G networks could be used to intercept phone calls and track peoples’ location.
1TB microSD cards are here, and it’s insane that the technology has reached this point. Western Digital, Samsung, and Micron have announced 1TB cards at Mobile World Congress.
The new SanDisk card can record with 90MB/S write speeds with up to 160MB/s read speeds. Western Digital says the card can transfer files with twice the speed of standard UHS-1 microSDs. That’s paired with 1TB of storage, designed to expand the memory of a smartphone or to manage large files in action cameras and drones. The card will also launch in a 512GB version.
First, YouTube inadvertently helped pedophiles find underage content. Now, the YouTube Kids app shows kids how to commit suicide.
Most smartphones coming out are designed to work on higher frequency cellular bands. But there aren’t any current phones that work on the 600MHz band.
Hot takes abound in the wake of a report from DigiDay about how publishers are frustrated with Apple News. One of the cited issues is a lack of user targeting, which is great for users. One problem I see with Apple News is that the rumored News subscription might reward clickbait. But privacy is a big reason why I use Apple News. I can put up with ads, but the less time I spend on publishers’ websites infested with trackers, popups and autoplaying videos, the better. I have my favorite sites I subscribe to, but I do it through Apple News so the companies can’t sell my credit card information.
And while publishers remain frustrated with Apple News as a source of revenue, some said they appreciate where Apple is coming from. “I respect Apple and that they believe in privacy,” one source said. “It just makes it incredibly challenging to sell there.”
Meghan Moravcik Walbert writes how she introduced her son to podcasts and audiobooks with a streaming service called Pinna.
I’ve been wanting to introduce him to podcasts for some time. He’s the sort of kid who plays while he watches TV, so he tends to listen to a show more than fully watch the show. Plus, he loves to read and create his own comic books, so storytelling in general is something that he, like most kids, is very much into.
You can now get a limited edition rainbow Venmo card until supplies last. It will be available starting March 4.
We launched the Limited Edition rainbow card based on the positive response we received from our customers when we launched the initial set of six colorful cards. We know our users love to pick a card color that best suits their own personality and style, so the card design is inspired by many of our existing card colors and gives our users an even more vibrant option for their wallets and at checkout.
The card looks great and if I used Venmo I would totally get one.
Apple made changes to iCloud.com and made it easier to download iCloud photos in bulk.
