We finally have the winner of our iPhone 16 Pro international giveaway! Congratulations to Oliver T., and a huge thank you to everyone who participated.
IRS Can Seize Your Bitcoin if you Have Unpaid Taxes
Deputy associate chief counsel Robert Wearing of the IRS said that the agency would seize cryptocurrency assets to settle unpaid taxes.
The perceived authority to seize an asset like bitcoin from the IRS stems from a 2014 notice it issued claiming that “virtual currency is treated as property for Federal income tax purposes.”
But there is still some question as to how the IRS would accurately determine the BTC holdings of taxpayers, let alone compel them to relinquish their bitcoin.
Teradici Partners With MacStadium on High-Performance Remote Mac Access
PCoIP company Teradici is partnering with Mac cloud provider MacStadium to offer high-performance remote access to Macs in the cloud.
Canadian Court Approves Settlement Over Defective MacBook Pros
A Canadian court has approved a settlement in a class-action lawsuit dating back to 2014 over defective MacBook Pro models.
President Biden Signs Order to Improve U.S. Cybersecurity
After the attack on Colonial Pipeline, President Biden has signed an executive order to improve the nation’s cybersecurity.
The executive order requires IT service providers to share certain breach information with the government, modernizes and implements stronger cybersecurity standards in the federal government, establishes security standards for development of software sold to the government and will create an “energy star” label so that consumers can better determine whether software was developed securely.
Apple Engineer Leaves After Two Weeks After Racist, Sexist Comments Criticized
A product manager has left Apple after a couple of weeks in the job following an internal backlash over previous racist, sexist comments.
MoneyGram Will Let People Convert Their Crypto to Cash
On Wednesday MoneyGram announced that it will help people in the U.S. withdraw their cryptocurrency in cash.
Two Months After it Was discontinued, HomePod Models Remain Available to Purchase
The HomePod was meant to be discontinued on March 12. However, 9to5 Mac picked up on reports of the device’s ongoing availability.
Apple announced that the original HomePod would be discontinued on March 12, as it shifted its focus to the HomePod mini. Here’s what the company said back then: HomePod mini has been a hit since its debut last fall, offering customers amazing sound, an intelligent assistant, and smart home control all for just $99. We are focusing our efforts on the mini model. We are discontinuing the original HomePod, it will continue to be available while supplies last through the Apple Online Store, Apple Retail Stores, and Apple Authorized Resellers. Apple will provide customers with software updates and service and support through Apple Care. Over these past two months, evidence has emerged on just how poorly Apple’s smart speaker sold. The YouTuber Michael Kukielka, also known as DetroitBORG, bought at least two HomePods after Apple discontinued the product, and by his surprise, the models he bought were from the launch stock three years ago.
Joel Coen’s 'The Tragedy of Macbeth starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand Coming to Apple TV+
Apple Original Films and A24 are partnering on ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand.
Security Researcher Hacks Apple’s ‘Find My’ Network
Researcher Fabian Bräunlein found that Apple’s Find My location network can be used to “upload arbitrary data to the internet.”
Being inherent to the privacy and security-focused design of the Find My Offline Finding system, it seems unlikely that this misuse can be prevented completely.
Neural Implant Helps Person Write Just by Thinking
Researchers helped a paralyzed person to write just by imagining that we was writing, by using a neural implant.
Detroit Apple Developer Academy Applications Open This Week
Two new Apple Developer Academies in Korea and Detroit, Michigan are coming, with the applications for the Detroit site opening this week.
Apple TV+ Release 'Trying' Season Two Trailer
The trailer for season two of Trying was released on Wednesday. Previously, we had only see recaps from the perspective of protagonists Nikki and Jason. It will premiere on Apple TV+ on May 21.
Apple v Epic So Far – TMO Daily Observations 2021-05-12
Charlotte Henry joins host Kelly Guimont for the latest in the Apple v Epic trial, including bananas, tuxedoes, and app stores.
Epic vs Apple - The Story of the Trial so Far
Apple’s court battle with Epic Games is into its second week, and the result could define the future of the App Store and iOS more widely.
Apple Supports Alliance to Unify Smart Home Devices
Apple, Amazon, and Google are supporting an industry alliance to make it easier for smart home devices from different brands work together.
CIDA Warns of New Ransomware ‘FiveHands’
FiveHands has been around since January but was recently used in a successful attack against an unknown organization.
Attackers were targeting unpatched SonicWall Secure Mobile Access SMA 100 remote access products, for which patches were released in February. The publicly available tools the group users including the SoftPerfect Network Scanner for Discovery and Microsoft’s own remote administration program, PsExec.exe and its related ServeManager.exe.
Bryan and Jeff Peek into the Future of Smarthomes and AI - ACM 546
Bryan Chaffin is joined by Jeff Gamet to speculate about the future of smarthomes and artificial intelligence, looking towards a future when these technologies work smoothly and have a real impact on how we live.
SPADE Smart Ear Wax Remover: $86.99
Boom! We have a deal for you today on an earwax remover. I bet you weren’t expecting that, but it works with an app on your iPhone, making it smart. This device has a soft scoop for inside your ear, and a camera that streams to your iPhone so you can see exactly what you’re doing. It has a magnetic cap, too. This device is $99.99, but coupon code CLEAN13 brings it down to $86.99 on checkout.
Official Trailer for '1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything' on Apple TV+
Apple TV+ released the trailer for 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything on Tuesday. The docuseries, which outlines the way music contributed to political and cultural upheaval in that year, will premiere on May 21. The eight episodes include never-before-seen footage from the likes of The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye, The Who, Joni Mitchell, and Lou Reed.
Backblaze Partners With Veeam for Disaster Recovery
Cloud backup service Backblaze has partnered with Veeam to combat ransomware with a disaster recovery plan.
Brydge Releases Air MAX+ for iPad Air and iPad Pro
Brydge is releasing a new keyboard for iPad Air 4th-gen and iPad Pro 11-inch. It’s available to preorder for US$149.99.
Password Managers: How Do They Work? – TMO Daily Observations 2021-05-11
Andrew Orr and Bryan Chaffin join host Kelly Guimont dig deep into password managers, how they work, and why you need one.
Amazon Data Breach Exposes 200,000 Fake Reviewers
Security researchers at SafetyDetectives found an insecure ElasticSearch database that potentially uncovers over 200,000 fake Amazon reviewers.
These Amazon vendors send to reviewers a list of items/products for which they would like a 5-star review. The people providing the ‘fake reviews’ will then buy the products, leaving a 5-star review on Amazon a few days after receiving their merchandise.
Upon completion, the provider of the fake review will send a message to the vendor containing a link to their Amazon profile, along with their PayPal details.
These are the Most Data-Hungry Health and Fitness Apps
A recent study examined privacy policies of the top health and fitness apps to determine which ones track the most data.