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iPads Can’t Kill Laptops But They are a Viable Alternative

Andrew Orr ·

It’s the tenth anniversary of the iPad. Steve Jobs introduced the device on January 27, 2010. Nathan Ingraham writes about the iPad but insists Apple is still trying to kill laptops. But I think he disproves his own point when he shares what Mr. Jobs said:

Shortly after the iPad launch, Jobs nailed his famous metaphor, comparing iPads to cars and traditional laptops and PCs to trucks, saying he believed that for most people, a car met all their needs. That clearly has not come to pass for a majority of computer users, but that doesn’t mean Jobs was wrong.

The metaphor is correct. Apple isn’t trying to kill laptops, they’re saying that for many people iPads are a good alternative. Alternative, not replacement.

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Facebook Deeply Committed to Keep Lying Political Ads

Andrew Orr ·

Facebook remains committed to keep lying political ads on its platform, saying that private companies shouldn’t make decisions about them.

Instead of banning such ads across the platform, Facebook has opted to introduce new tools for users to limit the way they interact with political ads. The company has expanded its Ad Library tool, an archive which shows all the political ads running on Facebook or Instagram, by adding information on approximately how many people ads reach.

Why would Facebook ban its source of income?

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Russian Dairy Cows Wear VR Headsets to Reduce Anxiety

Andrew Orr ·

The RusMoloko farm is experimenting with giving cows VR headsets. They claim it can reduce anxiety and thereby increase milk production.

“Examples of dairy farms from different countries show that in a calm atmosphere, the quantity, and sometimes the quality, of milk increases markedly,” it read.

Researchers will examine the effects of the programme in a long-term study. The developers reportedly hope to expand the project if positive results continue.

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Facebook is Fine With Political Lies But Bans Pro-Vaccination Ads

Andrew Orr ·

Facebook is happy to let politicians lie in advertisements on the platform, but it bans pro-vaccination ads that are rooted in science.

The study, published today in the journal Vaccine…found that a small group of “well-connected, powerful people” promoting broad anti-vaccination messages had successfully leveraged the platform’s targeted advertising service to reach select audiences…Meanwhile, those behind pro-vaccine messages well far less well funded and centralised, with their advertising often focusing on inoculating against specific conditions.

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Apple May be Partnering With Valve on AR Headset

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple is said to be developing an AR headset with Valve, the game developer behind the Steam platform. MacRumors picked up on a report from DigiTimes:

DigiTimes is reporting this morning that Apple has partnered with U.S. game developer Valve to develop its rumored AR headset, which is expected to launch next year. ‘Apple reportedly has partnered with US game developer Valve to develop AR head-mounted display devices, which may be released in the second half of 2020 at the earliest, with Taiwan’s ODMs Quanta Computer and Pegatron said to handle the assembly job, according to industry sources.’ Creator of the popular Steam digital storefront and delivery platform, Valve launched Steam machine consoles in 2015 and released its first VR headset, Valve Index, in April 2019. Notably, Valve worked with Apple in 2017 to bring native VR headset support to macOS High Sierra, leveraging the operating system’s then-new eGPU support with a Mac version of Valve’s SteamVR software. However, Apple’s latest partnership with the company is said to be focused on AR, not VR.

 

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Twitter Leapfrogs Over Facebook and Bans Political Ads

Andrew Orr ·

I’m actually impressed with Twitter’s move. A corporation is willingly giving up the money it would make from political ads (Although it’s easy for them since these ads were a “small fraction of Twitter’s revenue). Still, kudos.

[Twitter CEO Jack] Dorsey touched on the conflict between hosting paid political ads and trying to fight the spread of misinformation.

“For instance, it‘s not credible for us to say: ‘We’re working hard to stop people from gaming our systems to spread misleading info, buuut if someone pays us to target and force people to see their political ad…well…they can say whatever they want!'” Dorsey tweeted.

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Bob Iger Says Disney+ Lets You Keep Downloads Even After Removal

Andrew Orr ·

Disney+ will let you keep downloaded content even if it has been removed from the platform, says Bob Iger.

But Iger said that while these deals would cause some of that content to leave the platform for “brief periods of time,” you’ll be able to download that content onto a device where it will remain so long as your Disney+ account is active. This would give Disney+ a leg up on other services with which it has licensing agreements to make any downloads of that series or film available to Disney+ subscribers.

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Oops! Twitter Accidentally Used Your Phone Number for Ads

Andrew Orr ·

Twitter admitted yesterday that it “unintentionally” used some email addresses and phone numbers for advertising purposes. These phone numbers were specifically used to keep your account safe with two-factor authentication.

We recently discovered that when you provided an email address or phone number for safety or security purposes (for example, two-factor authentication) this data may have inadvertently been used for advertising purposes, specifically in our Tailored Audiences and Partner Audiences advertising system.

This is exactly why SMS-based two-factor authentication needs to go away. SMS is inherently insecure, as the FBI recently noted. Funnily enough, I recently removed my phone number from Twitter, although it’s probably too late.

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TikTok Bans Political Ads in U.S. and EU

Charlotte Henry ·

Short video sharing app TikTok said Friday it will not allow political ads in the U.S. and EU, The Next Web reported. It already had a similar policy in India.

This is quite a different approach as compared to US-based tech platforms such as Gooogle, Facebook, and Twitter. All of them allow paid political ads but with transparency programs that allow people to see who paid for the ad. While we won’t see some hilarious attempts from politicians to connect with youth trough ironically funny videos, we might still see a lot of political content around. In this year’s assembly elections in India, the platform made a significant impact in making the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi more popular.

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Safari 13 Just Killed uBlock Origin and Other Extensions

Andrew Orr ·

Safari 13 deprecates support for legacy extensions. Instead, you now how to download them through the Mac App Store. A GitHub user explained the uBlock Origin situation and recommends adblocking alternatives.

Get a content blocker. Not nearly as powerful as uBO, but the best option if you want to stay with Safari. Do not get the app called “uBlock”, this is unassociated with uBlockOrigin (read about the split here), and is simply a content blocker with a big negative feature of having acceptable ads built in

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Mark Zuckerberg Heads back to Washington D.C. for Dinner with Senators

Charlotte Henry ·

On Wednesday, Axios exclusively revealed that  Mark Zuckerberg was set to return to Washington D.C. The site later reported that the Facebook CEO dined with senators Thursday evening. It was his first visit to the city since his high profile hearings on Capitol Hill.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed election security and privacy with a group of senators over dinner ahead of his return to Capitol Hill Thursday, said a spokesperson for Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who organized the meeting. Warner’s spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Axios that he organized Wednesday’s dinner at Facebook’s request. “The participants had a discussion touching on multiple issues, including the role and responsibility of social media platforms in protecting our democracy, and what steps Congress should take to defend our elections, protect consumer data, and encourage competition in the social media space.”

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The Most Memorable Apple Ads Over the Years 1984-2019

John Martellaro ·

Business Insider has collected in one place all the most memorable Apple ads over the years.

  • We looked at the ads that have aired in the years since [1984] and highlighted the most memorable one each year, from dancing iPod silhouettes to the “Get a Mac” ad campaign.

This trip down memory lane is great to mull over as we’ve watched Apple grow and change.

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iOS 13 Code Hints at Apple AR Headset With 'StarBoard'

Andrew Orr ·

Code within iOS 13 hints at an Apple AR headset, with a codename called ‘StarBoard’ that can launch apps, similar to iOS’s SpringBoard.

Namely, internal builds of iOS 13 include a “STARTester” app that can switch in and out of a head-mounted mode, presumably to replicate the functionality of an augmented reality headset on an iPhone for testing purposes. There are two head-mounted states for testing, including “worn” and “held.”

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Instagram Testing New Messaging App Called Threads

Charlotte Henry ·

Instagram is testing a new messaging app as it looks to challenge Snapchat. The Verge got hold of some screenshots. It reported that the new product from the Facebook-owned picture-sharing service is called Threads.

Screenshots reviewed by The Verge show an app that’s designed to promote constant, automatic sharing between users and the people on their “close friends” list on Instagram. Opt in to automatic sharing, and Threads will regularly update your status, giving your friends a real-time view of information about your location, speed, and more. At the moment, Threads does not display your real-time location — instead, it might say something like a friend is “on the move,” according to sources familiar with the matter. You can also update your status manually, with statuses appearing in the main feed along with messages. It’s the latest effort to automate status sharing using mobile phone sensors and one-tap status sharing.

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Google's AMP URL Technology Spreads to Images

Andrew Orr ·

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is a Google invention that is meant to speed up web pages on mobile devices. But since it wraps the page in a Google-controlled container, it’s a harmful technology to the open web. The company has started to bring AMP URL technology for Google Images.

When you select an image, you’ll see a preview of the website header at the bottom of the screen. You can keep scrolling through Google Images, or swipe up on the preview to load the AMP (accelerated mobile pages) version of the site.

Earlier I found a shortcut that can clean AMP URLs. Or, use an alternative search engine like DuckDuckGo.

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Bitcoin Inventor Claims Battle Heads to Court

Charlotte Henry ·

Craig Wright says he is Satoshi Nakamoto – the inventor of Bitcoin.  Many dispute his claim. That includes Ether creator Vitalik Buterin. The two men clashed a conference and now Mr. Wright is going to court, Bloomberg News reported.

The supposed fraud is Craig Wright, an Australian-born technologist who gained notoriety three years ago when he declared himself the inventor of Bitcoin. The provocateur is Vitalik Buterin, a baby-faced Russian-Canadian programmer who helped create another popular digital currency called Ether. No one disputes Buterin’s role in Ether; many reject Wright’s claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious genius behind Bitcoin…At some point, Wright determined the courts could be a useful venue for achieving his own goals. Wright, who says he holds a master’s degree in law from Northumbria University in the U.K., hopes a series of lawsuits can establish himself as the father of Bitcoin. “This will give me the chance to prove my credentials in front of a judge, rather than being judged by Twitter,” Wright told Bloomberg in an email.

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