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Bitcoin is Now Legal Tender in El Salvador

Andrew Orr ·

El Salvador recently become the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, other other counties in Latin America may follow suit.

By contrast, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin allow anyone with a mobile phone to send or receive funds, regardless of location. A software app known as a “wallet” manages the cryptocurrency as needed. Such wallets are safeguarded on phones and protected by passwords or biometric mechanisms like fingerprints.

This is what people mean when they talk about cryptocurrency’s decentralization. We don’t notice much in developed countries because we have no shortage of banks to choose from. But banks may be scarce in developing countries, with 70% of people in El Salvador being unbanked. With crypto, you no longer need a bank.

Cool Stuff Found

Pre-Orders For Playdate Handheld Game System Open in July

Charlotte Henry ·

Playdate is a small handheld game system filled with original games. Earlier this week the team behind it announced that pre-orders for the device will open in July. It has a black and white screen, WI-Fi, and Bluetooth. It also has a loudspeaker and a crank which serves as an analog controller. Once set up, users get two brand new games every week for 12 weeks. Playdate costs U.S. $179 plus taxes and shipping.

Product News

WWDC21 Apple Design Awards Winners and Finalists Include CARROT Weather, Bird Alone, 1Password, and Little Orpheus

Dave Hamilton ·

Each year at WWDC, Apple’s Design Awards celebrate the apps which have surprised, delighted, wowed, and otherwise impressed Apple’s internal panel of judges. This year there were six finalists in each of six categories (with a bit of overlap). Of those six finalists, two winners per category were crowned, one for Apps, and one for Games. Links to all of the winners and finalists are presented for you here!

TMO Deals

Big Loud Bluetooth Speaker: $129.59

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on the TREBLAB HD-Max, which is, in a nutshell, a big, loud, Bluetooth speaker with a four-speaker design. It features 50W speakers and 3 sound modes that can function indoors and outdoors. It also has an internal battery and passthrough charging, and boasts playtime of up to 20 hours at 30% volume. This device is $161.99 through our deal, but coupon code WELOVEDAD takes an additional 20% off for a checkout price of $129.59.

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Facebook Messenger on iOS Gets New Chat Themes, QR Code Payments

Andrew Orr ·

Facebook announced new features coming to its Messenger app. Chat themes, a quick reply bar, as well as QR codes and payments links.

We’re all about increasing efficiency, so we’ve added a new quick reply bar to the Messenger media viewer. This makes it easier to have conversations sparked by a cool photo or video without needing to go back to your main chat thread. Just tap on the photo or video and send a response through the quick reply bar at the bottom of the screen. Swipe up to exit the full-screen media viewer and head back to your main chat thread

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Outlook for iPhone Adds Voice Features With Cortana

Andrew Orr ·

An update for Outlook on iPhone adds voice commands powered by Microsoft’s Cortana assistant.

Now Outlook users with an iPhone or iPad can rely on Cortana’s voice capabilities to schedule meetings, search for emails, and read out a reply to an email. Outlook users can hold down the Google-like plus sign icon on iOS (and soon Android), and then tap the microphone icon to “Use Voice” to tell Cortana what to do in Outlook.

App Store: Outlook

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JBS USA Pays $11 Million in Ransom After Cyberattack

Andrew Orr ·

On Thursday, meat supplier JBS said it paid US$11 million after ransomware attack stopped its operations.

In consultation with internal IT professionals and third-party cybersecurity experts, the company made the decision to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated.

I wonder if the FBI will recover this ransom as well, like the Colonial Pipeline money.

Deep Dive

Digging into Apple's iCloud Private Relay

Dave Hamilton ·

At this week’s WWDC Keynote, Apple announced iCloud Private Relay, a privacy feature aimed towards further separating you and your browsing activity from people who want to track and collect data about you. iCloud Private Relay works for anyone with an iCloud+ subscription using iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey, and when enabled it protects all your Safari browsing, all DNS queries, and any insecure web traffic from other apps.

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Mozilla Brings Firefox Redesign to iPhone and iPad

Andrew Orr ·

When Mozilla redesigned Firefox for desktop in the version 84 release, it did the same overhaul for the mobile versions.

We’ve rebuilt parts of Firefox in native components, making it feel more iPhone and iPad-like than ever before. You’ll notice design elements that look and work identically to those found in many other apps, so our browser feels instantly familiar. We’ve also taken a major step up in accessibility. Firefox now supports more text sizes and integrates better with screen readers.