Facebook Can Get Location Data From Your Photos

iOS users can limit their location exposure to apps that ask for it, but your location is leaking in another area: Your photo metadata.

I took a photo with my iPhone and then uploaded that to my Facebook account. I used Facebook’s app on my iPhone, the same app that has been told “never” to access my location, the same account that knows I have this switched off. But Facebook still collects the location tag from that photo, along with my IP address.

It’s important to note that Facebook and other companies have had this ability for years. This is not, as the Forbes article implies, a response to iOS 14.5 App Tracking Transparency. The app I use to view and edit metadata is Metapho.

WebKit Flaw Crashes Safari, Could Lead to Further Exploits

A WebKit flaw on iOS and macOS can cause Safari to crash and could lead to further malicious attacks.

The vulnerability stems from what security researchers call a type confusion bug in the WebKit implementation of AudioWorklet, an interface that allows developers to control, manipulate, render, and output audio and decrease latency. Exploiting the vulnerability gives an attacker the basic building blocks to remotely execute malicious code on affected devices.

Work from Home Kit with Telescopic Phone Stand, Smart Lens, Light Set: $99.99

We have a deal on the Work from Home Kit, which includes a telescopic phone stand, the Smart Lens, and a light set. The wide-angle lens clicks onto your phone or laptop, providing a 160º angle to capture more than your face. The smart light gives you studio-quality lighting to look great and keep your colleagues focused on what you have to say. The Work from Home Kit is $99.99 through our deal.

Apple Shares Entrepreneur Camp Participants' Inspiring Stories

Apple runs an Entrepreneur Camp in which participants are supported to develop and create new products. It shared the story of some of those involved in the program (pictured above).

Hopscotch founder Samantha John wanted to create an app that ignited the imaginations of young girl coders. Hopscotch is a code-learning app that enables kids to learn to think creatively and learn the fundamentals of code by building their own games, art, and stories. Kids and teens can publish their creations to Hopscotch’s fully moderated community where they can can play and learn together. John first learned the power of code through her coursework in college, but she noticed that a lot of her male friends had learned coding much earlier. “I wanted to make something for little me!” says John. “All my male coder friends had learned when they were kids, and it had not been something on my radar. I wanted to change that for the next generation.”

Get 20 Percent Off Nomad Accessories For Apple Devices

Nomad makes a variety of accessories for Apple devices – including AirTags and AirPods. It is part of the Mission Brand Alliance a group of companies that have come together to push forward social justice causes. As part of a summer sale from the Alliance, Nomad is offering a 20 percent discount on its products with the code MISSIONBRAND.

App That Forced Users to Leave Positive Review Removed From App Store

Apple has removed from the App Store an app that forced users to leave a good review before they could use it, iMore reported. It was, though, possible to leave bad reviews in other ways, such as on the web.

Kosta Eleftheriou highlighted the strange behavior of the app in a tweet. The video appears to show a review prompt that can’t be bypassed, and one that won’t accept anything lower than a three-star review before only letting users hit ‘submit’. The app does have plenty of bad reviews, but these are all about being forced to leave good ones. It is unclear how a developer would be able to bork the App Store review prompt so comprehensively like this, but Eleftheriou claims the developer has more than 15M downloads and “$MILLIONS” in revenue, of which Apple receives a commission.

USB-C Spec Update Could Support Up to 240W

The USB Implementers Forum introduced a version 2.1 update to the USB Type-C specification. We could see the standard support power levels of up to 240W.

Cables supporting 240 watts will have additional requirements to accommodate the new levels. And USB-IF will require the cables to bear specific icons “so that end users will be able to confirm visually that the cable supports up to…240W,” USB-IF said in the specification document.

Tidal and Spotify Now Support Music Downloads on Apple Watch

Apple Watch music fans who use Spotify and/or Tidal can now download tracks and listen to them via the wearable. (The feature is already available with Apple Music.) iMore summed up the recent developments.

Tidal says the app will bring music streaming and playback control to Apple Watch independent of your iPhone, and you can even listen offline, downloading your favorite songs for playback anywhere. Spotify added the same feature to its app earlier this week. Spotify is today rolling out downloads to Apple Watch so that users can listen to content without their phone.

Ambient Noise App ‘Dark Noise’ Updated for M1 Macs

Ambient noise app Dark Noise updated to version 2.4, and this brings support for M1 Macs with other improvements: 2.4 is a minor update with optimizations for running on the new M1 Macs; On a Mac unsupported features should no longer show up in settings; The volume slider on the player page will now work by only changing the audio of Dark Noise while running on a Mac.

Patent Suggests Apple Looking to Make iPhone Display Glass Thinner

Apple is looking to make the glass used for the iPhone’s display thinner. That’s according to a patent spotted by AppleInsider.

In a patent granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday titled “Insert molding around glass members for portable electronic devices,” Apple says you can have the same glass cover that can stick out from the rest of the enclosure like curved glass, but while also maintaining the thinness of the main glass sections across the screen. Apple’s solution is to incorporate a glass structure around the edge of where the glass cover will sit. This glass section acts as an intermediary between the main enclosure and the thin glass cover.