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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.

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Check Out These New iPhone Battery Wallpapers

Ben Vessey has released some new iPhone battery wallpapers as part of the Dynamo series. These wallpapers use shortcuts automation to automatically change depending on the state of your battery: Full, Low, and Charging. There are two new packs available: an album pack for music fans based on popular music icons; and a Mac-themed pack inspired by the Apple Macintosh. Each pack includes three sets of wallpapers optimized for the iPhone 6s and later. You install them using iCloud and Shortcuts running on iOS 14, with instructions included in the download.

New Ransomware ‘Tsunami’ Destroying Supply Chains

The REvil hacking team is back with new malware. Brand new, still developing, but their ransomware called “Tsunami” is wreaking havoc.

The software in question, Kaseya VSA, is popular among so-called managed service providers, which provide IT infrastructure for companies that would rather outsource that sort of thing than run it themselves. Which means that if you successfully hack an MSP, you suddenly have access to its customers. It’s the difference between cracking safety deposit boxes one at a time and stealing the bank manager’s skeleton key.

Russian Spies Abuse VPNs to Target Organizations

On Thursday, U.S. and British authorities said that Russia’s military spy agency is using VPNs and Tor to attack governments and private sector targets.

The advisory did not identify any of the targets by name, saying only that they were mainly in the United States and Europe and included government offices, political parties, energy companies, law firms and media organizations.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Russian officials routinely reject allegations that they employ hackers to spy on rival nations.

This Man Wants to Decipher the Languages of Animals

Aza Raskin was the person who invented the “infinite scroll” feature we see often on social media. Now he wants to use machine learning to decipher animal language.

A library of all the different animal communication data sets that were machine learning ready. Everyone was working in their own silos, and we saw an opportunity to create a kind of perspective-changing machine: to look at the difference between humpback communication and elephant communication and sperm whale communication and bat communication.

Israeli Wallet Company Says Apple Pay Is Killing Physical Wallet Industry

Israeli wallet brand Emmanuel Wallets is boycotting digital wallets like Apple Pay, saying it’s harming the physical wallet industry.

Classic wallets have accompanied the human race for centuries and serve as a practical means of maintaining a means of payment and a fashionable accessory. A wallet is the type of item one holds, such as a phone… so it’s part of its unique style and personal branding. No technological gimmick, not even one promoted by the world’s largest tech company, will succeed in reducing the popularity of a physical wallet.

“No digital wallet will succeed in reducing the popularity of a physical wallet.” Well then, what’s all the fuss about?

Twitter Lets You Use a Security Key as Only 2FA Option

Twitter announced on Wednesday that it will let people use a security key as their only form of two-factor authentication.

Today, we’re adding the option to use security keys as your sole 2FA method — meaning you can enroll one or more security keys as the only form of 2FA on your Twitter account without a backup 2FA method. We know this is important to people because not everyone is able to have a backup 2FA method or wants to share their phone number with us.

Apple Offers Free Downloads of OS X Lion, OS X Mountain Lion

Until now Apple charged US$19.99 to download codes for OS X Lion and OS X Mountain Lion. But now they’re free from Apple’s website.

Lion runs on Macs that came prior to the launch of Mountain Lion in 2012. Mountain Lion runs on the Macs below, but you may not be able to downgrade to it unless you completely reformat the drive. You can’t install an old OS on top of a newer one. Also, the oldest OS an M1 Mac can run is Big Sur.

Parts of AT&T’s 5G Network Will Run on Microsoft Azure Cloud

Microsoft and AT&T announced a joint venture on Wednesday that will have the carrier run core parts of its 5G network using Microsoft’s Azure cloud.

The newer generation of networks, which AT&T began rolling out in 2018, is designed to rely more heavily on software and data centers for routing traffic rather than telecommunications specific gear.

Microsoft intends to use the newly acquired technology – plus the experience gained helping AT&T run the network – to build out a product it calls Azure for Operators, which it will use to go after core network business from telecommunications companies in the 60 regions of the world where it operates.

That sounds really cool to me that some phone traffic can run through data centers. I wonder if this move would make it easier for harder for government surveillance.

How Apple Arcade Shows an OS Merger Isn’t Wise

Alex Blake of Digital Trends writes how the nature of Apple Arcade shows the pitfalls of merging iOS and macOS.

You see, Apple Arcade is a showcase for all that’s wrong with taking two very different operating systems and mashing them together into a mixed-up medley where no one wins. Because developers have to make games that work on the tiniest iPhone and the largest iMac, they are forced into compromises that weaken the games on both platforms.

I see his point and I think I agree with him. No one wins except maybe the lowest common denominator. Maybe the more powerful M1 chip would change that, but probably not. iPadOS apps haven’t yet taken full advantage of the chip, as one example.

Hackers Sell Personal LinkedIn Data From Leak Affecting 700M Users

Hackers are selling the personal information of over 700 million LinkedIn users. Here are the data types that were leaked:

Email Addresses; Full names; Phone numbers; Physical addresses; Geolocation records; LinkedIn username and profile URL; Personal and professional experience/background; Genders; Other social media accounts and usernames

On June 22nd, a user of a popular hacker forum advertised data from 700 Million LinkedIn users for sale. The user of the forum posted a sample of the data that includes 1 million LinkedIn users.