Podcast

Cutting The Coax — Mac Geek Gab 881

John F. Braun & Dave Hamilton · · Add Comment

Cool Stuff Found starts the day here, with things for printing webpages, controlling your trackpad/mouse, and organizing your life. Need a VPN at home? Your two favorite geeks have got you covered! Plus, the cable companies have priced it such that cutting the cord isn’t enough. Listen as Dave tells John — and all of you — what he’s learned. Press play and learn five new things!

‘Monodraw’ is a Multi-Purpose Mac ASCII Editor
Cool Stuff Found

'Monodraw' is a Multi-Purpose Mac ASCII Editor

Andrew Orr ·

Monodraw is an editor for Mac that lets you design ASCII art and create diagrams, mind maps, banners, and more. From the website: “Monodraw allows you to easily create text-based art (like diagrams, layouts, flow charts) and visually represent algorithms, data structures, binary formats and more. Because it’s all just text, it can be easily embedded almost anywhere. Of course, exporting as images is also supported (PNG and SVG).” You can download a free trial or buy a license for US$$9.99.

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WhatsApp Content Moderator - ‘I Sold My Soul.’

Charlotte Henry ·

WhatsApp content moderators have to review some of the most disturbing content floating around the internet. Time spoke to some of them about the lack of support and their allegations of pay discrimination.

Content moderators working at Accenture for WhatsApp are entitled to 30 minutes of “wellness” breaks per eight-hour shift, employees say, as well as one-on-one access once a month to “wellness coaches” provided by the company. They also undergo training to prepare them for the kinds of content they are expected to look at on the job. But even Accenture acknowledges that the help these resources provide is limited. Moderators working on a Facebook contract for Accenture in Europe were required to sign a document in January 2020 acknowledging “that the wellness coach is not a medical doctor and cannot diagnose or treat mental health disorders.” TIME viewed a copy of the document, which was first reported by the Financial Times. It requires employees to acknowledge that “the weCare Program [wellness] services, standing alone, may not be able to prevent my work from affecting my mental health.” It also notes that the work “could even lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.” (Facebook told the Financial Times it did not review or approve the document, and was not aware of it.)

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Anonymous Wars With China With Crypto Token ‘Anon Inu’

Andrew Orr ·

Hackivist collective Anonymous is back, and its warring with China and possibly Elon Musk with a cryptocurrency token dubbed “Anon Inu.”

In a recently released video, Anonymous started by touching upon the ongoing crackdown on Bitcoin mining in China. The “sudden flip” by Chinese authorities regarding mining was not only shocking but also bloody for the Bitcoin market.

Apart from China, Anonymous did not mention specifics about waging a war against Elon Musk, but looks like the #Dogefather may meet his match soon in this so-called “meme-war” against “Anon Inu token.”

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Apple Employees Angry as Getting Approval to Work From Home Gets Harder

Charlotte Henry ·

The row over Apple employees returning to the office continues. The Verge reported that staff members feel it is becoming increasingly difficult to get approval to work from home, with some with medical conditions particularly concerned.

One employee said they were currently on an Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation that allowed them to work from home, but were told that accommodation would be denied when the company went back to the office. “I will be out of a job in September,” they wrote in Slack. Apple typically gives employees 30 days to find a new job within the company if their current team denies a medical accommodation. But one worker said in Slack that there weren’t any open remote positions. Some employees say they were told only people with documented medical conditions would be approved for permanent remote work. But the form that Apple employees use to request such an accommodation asks them to release their medical records to the company, which made some people uncomfortable.

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Firefox 90 Update Introduces SmartBlock 2.0 for Tracking Protection

Andrew Orr ·

Mozilla released Firefox 90 recently and it comes with an improved version of its tracking protection called SmartBlock 2.0.

The newest version of Mozilla’s built-in SmartBlock privacy feature makes it easier for users to keep their tracking protection settings cranked up, without breaking individual websites. The updated version seems to especially target Facebook login, which is increasingly used around the web as a third-party authentication and login tool.

Image credit: ArsTechnica

‘Doodle God Universe’ is Out on Apple Arcade
Cool Stuff Found

‘Doodle God Universe’ is Out on Apple Arcade

Andrew Orr ·

Fans of Doodle God, rejoice! The newest game in the series, Doodle God Universe, is now available on Apple Arcade. In this addictive puzzle & world building game mix and match different combinations of elements to create an entire universe. As you create each new element, watch your 3D planet come alive in amazing animation. But beware, the power of creation may have unintended consequences, inventing the wheel might just trigger a zombie plague or a powerful volcano,

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Google Adds Tool to Quickly Delete Your Last 15 Minutes of Searches

Andrew Orr ·

Google is adding new protections for your search history like quick deletion, requiring verification to access the My Activity section, and more.

You can also try out a new way to quickly delete your last 15 minutes of saved Search history with the single tap of a button. This feature is available in the Google app for iOS, and is coming to the Android Google app later this year.

You could also just turn disable your search history altogether, too.

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Latest iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8 Betas Allow System Update Installations With Just 500 MB of Available Storage

Charlotte Henry ·

The latest beta versions of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8 are out now. As 9to5 Mac spotted, they allow system updates to be installed with under 500 MB of storage available.

In the release notes for the latest build of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8, which can be found on the Apple Developer website, the company says that today’s updates fix an issue that could prevent users from installing system updates with low available storage on the device. Here’s what Apple says: “Software Update: Resolved in watchOS 8/iOS 15 beta 3: You can now update your device using Software Update if less than 500 MB of storage is available. (78474912)” There aren’t many details about what has been changed or how this will work since some updates actually come in large files, but the release notes claim that system updates can now be installed on the iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch even when “less than 500 MB of storage is available.”