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‘SolarWinds’ Hackers Used iOS Zero Day Against Government Officials

Andrew Orr ·

The Russian hackers behind the SolarWinds attack used an iOS zero day to steal credentials from Western European governments.

Attacks targeting CVE-2021-1879, as the zero-day is tracked, redirected users to domains that installed malicious payloads on fully updated iPhones. The attacks coincided with a campaign by the same hackers who delivered malware to Windows users, the researchers said.

Google published a blog post about zero-days here, and you can read coverage from Ars Technica at the link below.

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Netflix Moving Into Games is a New Challenge For Apple

Charlotte Henry ·

Netflix announced the hiring of Mike Verdu as vice president of game development, on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported. The potential move into this new area increases the competition between the streamer and Apple, with its Arcade service.

Video games give Netflix another way to lure new customers and also offer something none of its direct competitors currently provides. Walt Disney Co., AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMedia and Amazon.com Inc. all have access to live sports, but they don’t have gaming within their main video services. Ultimately, the move may make it easier for Netflix to justify price increases in coming years. Games also serve the purpose of helping market existing shows. Many of the largest tech companies do sell gaming options in addition to their video services. Apple Inc. has a platform called Arcade for games — as well as a TV+ service for original video projects. But it charges extra for the gaming.

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Amazon Launches Pay-To-Read Serial Novels in ‘Kindle Vella’

Andrew Orr ·

Amazon has launched a service called Kindle Vella that introduces pay-to-read serialized books. In this case, “pay-to-read” means that these books offer the first three ”episodes” for free, with later episodes offered through “Tokens” that can be purchased in bundles.

We designed Kindle Vella as a mobile-first experience because we know readers are becoming more and more interested in stories that can be read quickly on their phones. At the same time, readers want the connection that you get from reading a story or author for a long period of time.

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Spotify’s Top Lawyer Leads the Monopoly Campaign Against Apple

Andrew Orr ·

Spotify’s top lawyer, Horacio Gutierrez, is a key player in the monopoly accusations against Apple.

The landscape looks a lot different than it did when Gutierrez first began talking about Apple. His actions “have spawned a lot of the other Apple-related activity across the globe,” says Thomas Vinje, who’s worked with Gutierrez on antitrust issues in Europe. “It’s a snowball Spotify got rolling.”

Image credit: Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg

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You Could Run New Windows 365 OS on iPad

Andrew Orr ·

Microsoft revealed a new OS on Wednesday called Windows 365. It’s a cloud-based operating system designed to run in a browser. As Mr. Ortolani points out this means you could run it on an iPad.

The new service is only available for businesses at first, but given Microsoft’s emphasis on cloud platforms, it is highly likely that it will become available for consumers at some point in the future. Microsoft is offering Windows 365 for businesses of all sizes, whether you are a one-person show or a giant organization.

Windows 365 will be available on August 2.

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Is Jason Sudeikis Actually Like Ted Lasso?

Charlotte Henry ·

Jason Sudeikis (pictured above) is the August cover star for GQ. In the accompanying feature, he reflects on “landing like an Avenger” following upset in his personal life and his time on SNL. He also reveals how his castmates think he is similar to Ted Lasso.

After a while, every time he tried to wave off Ted, fellow castmates or old friends of his would correct him to say: “No.” They’d say: “No, that is you. That is you. That’s not the best version of you.” It’s not you on mushrooms, it’s not you hanging off a boat, it’s just…you. One of Sudeikis’s friends, Marcus Mumford, who composed the music for the show, told me, “He is quite like Ted in lots of ways. He has a sort of burning optimism, but also a vulnerability, about him that I really admire.” Hearing people say this, over and over again, Sudeikis said, “brought me to a very emotional space where, you know, a healthy dose of self-love was allowed to expand through my being and made me…”

Cool Stuff Found

How to Draw Yourself as a Peanuts Character

Charlotte Henry ·

In a new video, The Snoopy Show storyboard artist Krista Porter and Anthony from Today at Apple provide a guide on how to draw yourself as a Peanuts character. To follow along, viewers need an iPad or iPhone and the Pages app, with the Apple Pencil optional. Share your efforts in the comments below!

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It's Never 69 Degrees on the Apple Weather App

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple’s native Weather app won’t ever give the temperature as 69 degrees, The Verge reported. Yes, it’s worth a giggle, bu there’s a couple of explanations as to why this might be.

It’s not clear if this is a bug or an intentional attempt from Apple to cut down on 69-related humor. The rounding is only visible in the weather app itself: clicking through to Apple’s source data from Weather.com will show the proper temperature, as do Apple’s home screen widgets. But the iOS weather app will refuse to show 69 degrees anywhere in the forecast, whether it’s for the current temperature, the hourly forecast for the day, or the extended forecast. A possible explanation for the issue (as pointed out by several people on Twitter) is that Apple may be sourcing data for its iOS Weather app in Celsius and then converting it to Fahrenheit. For example, 20 degrees Celsius converts to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, while 21 degrees Celsius converts to 69.8 degrees Fahrenheit — which rounds up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The app appears to have similar issues with temperatures like 65 degrees (where 18 degrees Celsius converts to 64.4 degrees Fahrenheit, while 19 degrees Celsius is 66.2 degrees Fahrenheit).

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New Twitter Feature Lets You Control Who Can Respond to You

Andrew Orr ·

Twitter is rolling out a new feature that lets users control who can respond to specific tweets.

Building on a 2020 feature that lets users choose who can reply when composing a message, this update could prove especially useful for folks whose posts receive unexpected attention or unwanted responses. Simply tap on the three-dot menu in the upper right corner of a tweet to modify the “Change who can reply” option.

‘ProtonVPN’ Introduces a New Smart Protocol Selection
Cool Stuff Found

‘ProtonVPN’ Introduces a New Smart Protocol Selection

Andrew Orr ·

ProtonVPN got an update on Tuesday with a new feature called Smart Protocol Selection. It will automatically detect and use the VPN protocol that works best on a given network, such as OpenVPN and IKEv2. This update also prepares the app for something called VPN Accelerator which will be in a future update. There are new Info buttons to provide additional information about features and supported streaming services, and the VPN connection stability has been improved.

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UK Cops Seize US$249m Worth of Bitcoin Following Money Laundering Probe

Charlotte Henry ·

England’s Metropolitan Police Service has seized almost £180m (US$249m) worth of bitcoin. The seizure came as the result of an investigation into international money laundering, The Guardian reported.

“While cash still remains king in the criminal word, as digital platforms develop we’re increasingly seeing organised criminals using cryptocurrency to launder their dirty money,” said the Metropolitan police’s deputy assistant commissioner, Graham McNulty. A 39-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of money laundering after the first haul was discovered and has been interviewed under caution over the £180m discovery. One bitcoin is worth about £23,500, having fallen from a peak in April of £47,126.48, meaning the sum confiscated may have been worth nearly double three months ago. The assets were seized by the force’s economic crime command and the investigation is continuing.