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How to Use Regular Expressions, or Regex, in Shortcuts

Andrew Orr ·

Regular expressions, or regex for short, are certain characters used as search functions. They are powerful, confusing tools. Justin Meredith wrote a guide on how to get started.

In case you don’t know, a piece of text within another piece of text is called a “string” in programming. For instance, the word ‘green’ is a string of characters from the text “I wore green pants today.”

So put another way, regex is a way to locate a string of text in a larger body of text. And because regex is written in code, you can use it to perform some pretty complex operations.

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Researchers Uncover a Phishing Kit Used by Two Criminal Gangs

Andrew Orr ·

Led by Noam Rotem, vpnMentor’s research team has discovered two separate criminal gangs using slightly altered versions of the same phishing kit to scam people across the globe.

It appears the phishing kit was being used to target people mostly living in Israel and France by two separate criminal gangs. However, we believe these two groups operate phishing websites and SMS operations based on the same phishing kit, possibly obtained from the same source. In addition, at least one of them is potentially affiliated with the OpIsrael political hacking group.

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‘Ted Lasso’ Stars and Writers Set for Big Pay Day From New Contracts

Charlotte Henry ·

The stars and writers of Ted Lasso have scored a big day as a result of the Apple TV+ comedy becoming a bonafide hit. Those involved in the contract negotiations for season three include Jason Sudeikis (pictured above, left, with Brendan Hunt), as well as executive producer Bill Lawrence.

Sources say negotiations have been ongoing for the past month or so with central cast members including Emmy nominees Hannah Waddingham (Rebecca), Goldstein, Juno Temple (Keeley) and Hunt, who all scored raises that take them from the $50,000-$75,000 range they earned per episode for seasons one and two to the $125,000-$150,000 territory. Sources say Waddingham, Temple and Goldstein have already closed rich new deals for season three, joining Sudeikis. Goldstein also negotiated a second payday for his role as writer and exec producer on the series, with Hunt doing the same…Other actor deals are also expected to close in the coming weeks as Warners and Apple solidify a new licensing deal, with the latter taking on added costs of the show. As for Lawrence, the prolific writer-producer (Scrubs, Cougar Town, Spin City), is seeking a rich new deal that could admit him into the increasingly crowded nine-figure club other prolific showrunners like Shonda Rhimes, Greg Berlanti and Alex Kurtzman.

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Apple Security Updates Fixed iMessage Flaw Used by Pegasus Spyware

Andrew Orr ·

The security updates that Apple released today have fixed the zero-click iMessage exploit that NSO Group used for its Pegasus spyware.

What this really highlights is that popular chat programs like iMessage are currently the royal road for nation state groups, and mercenary hackers to target phones. Ubiquitous chat and messaging apps are a serious attack surface. And it’s time for them to get a lot more secure.

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Revenue From Streaming Music Totaled $4.6 Billion in First Half of 2021

Andrew Orr ·

A mid-year report from the RIAA showed streaming music services have bounced back in 2021.

Within the overall streaming landscape, paid streaming subscription revenue totaled $4.6 billion — growing at the same 26% clip — and accounted for 78% of overall revenues in the first half of the year. Limited tier subscription revenue jumped to $452 million, accounting for 10% of streaming dollars, while ad-supported revenues — which took a large pandemic-related hit last year — grew 54% to $741 million. Digital and customized radio, including SoundExchange distributions, increased 3% to $585 million.

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Security Researcher Finds CloudKit Bug That Broke Apple Shortcuts

Andrew Orr ·

Security researcher Frans Rosén wrote about a CloudKit bug he accidentally found that affected Apple News, Shortcuts, and iCrowd+.

On the third day, I started to connect the dots, realized how certain assets connected to other assets, and started to understand more how things worked. This is when some of the first bugs popped up, finally restoring my self-esteem a bit, making me more relaxed and focused going forward.

I dug up an old jailbroken iPad I had, which allowed me to proxy all content through my laptop. I downloaded all Apple owned apps and started looking at the traffic.

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Coinbase Adds Option for Two-Factor Authentication Security Keys

Andrew Orr ·

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced an important update to its mobile app. Users can now secure their accounts with a two-factor authentication security key.

Hardware security keys are encrypted USB devices that you can register with your Coinbase account as a strong form of physical 2FA. Once registered, you’ll be prompted for your security key when logging in. You then plug in the key, or tap via near field communication (NFC), to your mobile device to securely access your account.