It costs US$72 (or finance it) and data plans start at US$10/month for 2GB of data, all the way up to US$85/month for 22GB of data.
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
#10YearChallenge: How iOS Apps Have Changed
Here’s a 10 year challenge I can get behind. Valia Havryliuk demonstrates how iOS apps have changed.
Just last year App Store celebrated its 10th birthday. In 2008 it launched with 552 apps and some of them are still live inside your iPhones. Time has passed and design trends have changed dramatically. #10yearchallenge is a good opportunity to see how fast the evolution is and notice changes in the oldest iOS apps.
iOS 7 was definitely the biggest visual overhaul to iOS. iOS 11 introduced UI changes but it was more along the lines of refinement.
Looking at the VSCO Privacy Policy
Recently Bryan Chaffin challenged Andrew to examine the VSCO privacy policy and translate it from lawyer-speak to human-speak. Here’s what he found.
Your Online Profile Consists of Three Layers
Katarzyna Szymielewicz offers a good approach to how you think about your online profile: What you share, what your behavior tells them, and what the machine thinks of you.
Many decisions that affect your life are now dictated by the interpretation of your data profile rather than personal interactions. And it’s not just about advertising banners influencing the brand of the soap you buy—the same mechanics of profiling users and targeting messages apply to political campaigns and visa applications as much as supermarket metrics. When advertising looks like news and news look like entertainment, all types of content are profiled on the basis of your data.
This is a great article, and the most important layer to think about is the data you put online.
New iPhone XR Deal: $18.99/month Offer
Apple continues to promote the cheaper model with a new iPhone XR deal. Sign up in an Apple Store and get it for US$18.99/month.
Mark Zuckerberg's Op-Ed is Tone Deaf
Mark Zuckerberg has written an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, and it’s as tone deaf as ever.
Sometimes this means people assume we do things that we don’t do. For example, we don’t sell people’s data, even though it’s often reported that we do. In fact, selling people’s information to advertisers would be counter to our business interests, because it would reduce the unique value of our service to advertisers. We have a strong incentive to protect people’s information from being accessed by anyone else.
Any service that relies on ad money means the advertiser is the customer. I’d love to hear from an advertiser that would refuse access to peoples’ personal information. Facebook may not sell that data directly to advertisers but you can bet it sells access to the data. Two different words that point to the same destination.
YouTube Reveals it is Part of the Illuminati
YouTube is making it harder to find conspiracy videos on its platform, a move that adds fuel to the conspiracy fire.
If Privacy is a Human Right, Windows 10 is a Crime Against Humanity
Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says privacy is a human right. But Windows 10 is a privacy nightmare.
My own point of view is that it’s a fantastic start in treating privacy as a human right. I hope that in the United States we do something similar, and that the world converges on a common standard.
Facebook Moments is Shutting Down
Facebook Moments is shutting down on February 25, because people weren’t using it. If you did though, here’s how to save your photos.
Features Coming in iOS 12.2, Like Apple News in Canada
The first iOS 12.2 developer beta was released today, and we got a sneak peak into the features that will be coming.
Apple today released the first beta of iOS 12.2 for developers, and while it doesn’t bring as many new changes as we might have hoped for in a 12.x update, there are still quite a few minor tweaks to be aware of.
Some updates coming include Apple News for Canadian users, HomeKit TV Support, Safari search arrows, and more.
Office 365 Launches in Mac App Store
Microsoft just released its suite of Office 365 apps in the Mac App Store. New apps include Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Visible is a New Prepaid Carrier Selling iPhones
Visible is a new Verizon-owned prepaid carrier, and it recently announced it will start selling iPhones at 0% APR.
As for what Visible is actually offering, you pay $40 a month for unlimited text, voice, data and hotspot usage at speeds of up to 5 Mbps. There’s no contract, no extra fees and you manage everything through an app on your phone.
I’m tempted to sign up for Visible. Last year they reached out to me to test the service but I never heard back. Time to test it on my own.
Arizona Porn Bill Would Force Consumers to Fund Border Wall
A porn bill [PDF] introduced in Arizona called the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act would require all internet devices sold in Arizona to be installed with a porn blocker.
Alien Blackout Game Launches Today
The terror of Alien is brought to life in Alien Blackout. Try to stay alive while trapped aboard a crippled Weyland-Yutani space station carrying a deadly Xenomorph as it tirelessly hunts you and the crew. Outsmart the perfect hunter by making perilous choices. Players must rely on the damaged controls of the space station or risk sacrificing crew members to avoid deadly contact, permanently altering the outcome of the game. Survive seven fear-inducing levels by remotely guiding Amanda Ripley’s crew through increasingly challenging tasks using only the station’s emergency systems. The uncertainty and unpredictability of both the alien and her crew can impose total defeat for Amanda and the entire station. Alien Blackout is a unique fear-inducing horror mobile game experience that will test the inner nerves of both Alien and horror fans alike, where life can end in an instant. App Store: US$4.99
New 'Original Tweeter' Tag Could Come to Twitter
Twitter is testing a tag for accounts called Original Tweeter. It would help people tell the difference between fake and real accounts.
35 Years Ago Today Steve Jobs Launched Macintosh
The Macintosh turns 35 today. Steven Jobs unveiled the product on January 24, 1984 during Apple’s annual shareholders meeting.
The original Macintosh was priced at $2,495 in the United States, equivalent to just over $6,000 today, and was a big deal because of its graphical user interface rather than command-line interface. Tech specs included an 8 MHz Motorola 68000 processor, 128 KB of RAM, and a 400 KB floppy disk drive.
Get a Cheap iPhone 6 on Straight Talk for $70
Walmart is currently selling a cheap iPhone 6, 32GB and refurbished, for US$69.99. It comes with a 90-day warranty.
The iPhone 6 remains a fine device even though it lacks the impressive tech of Apple’s latest handsets. If you have kids or an older relative who’d like to have a relatively modern phone but without the advanced capabilities of newer devices, this is a great deal.
More on the Bounty Hunter Location Data Story
There’s more to the bounty hunter location data story that Motherboard reported on earlier this month. One of the data brokers involved was Zumigo.
How to Use Precise Times in iOS Calendar
David Murphy shared a cool tip that lets you set more precise times in iOS Calendar. Instead of times that increment by five minutes, go deeper.
Open the Calendar app and pull up an existing event or create a new event. Your pick. Once you’ve confirmed (or entered in) the title and/or location, tap on the start or end time. You’ll see the little section expand that allows you to scroll up and down to set the date, hour, and minute (in five-minute increments), as well as AM or PM. Double-tap anywhere in this section, and the minute increments will change from five minutes to one minute. It’s that easy.
It’s a handy tip, although I’ll never use it because my calendar events don’t need that much precision. But if you’d like yours to have it, then you’ll like this tip.
Netflix Joins Hollywood Lobbying Group MPAA
The move makes sense given Netflix’s gradual move to original content, and it seems closer to traditional movie studios than tech companies.
New Update Could Cripple Chrome Ad Blockers
Google engineers have proposed changes to Chromium that would break Chrome ad blockers.
In a note posted Tuesday to the Chromium bug tracker, Raymond Hill, the developer behind uBlock Origin and uMatrix, said the changes contemplated by the Manifest v3 proposal will ruin his ad and content blocking extensions, and take control of content away from users.
In totally unrelated news Firefox just gained 50 million new users.
In 2018 Apple Spent $6.6 Million Lobbying the Government
US$6.6 million isn’t even the highest Apple has spent. That goes to 2017 when the company spent US$7.1 in lobbying money.
How to Opt Out of Data Sharing From 40+ Companies
This website is a hub with links for over 40 companies to opt out of data sharing practices they have.
Simple Opt Out is drawing attention to opt-out data sharing and marketing practices that many people aren’t aware of (and most people don’t want), then making it easier to opt out.
At some point I’m definitely going down the list to see which companies I can opt out from.
AirPods 2 Thought to Launch in 2019
AirPods 2 are rumored to launch in the first half of 2019, and could be redesigned to have health monitoring features.