Our holiday giveaway has officially come to an end, and we’re so excited to share the results! Congratulations to Antoni N.!
CASETiFY Launches New MagSafe Cases for iPhone 12
Tech accessory company CASETiFY has launched a new line of MagSafe cases for the iPhone 12 smartphone line.
Tim Cook and Kara Swisher – TMO Daily Observations 2021-04-05
Charlotte Henry joins host Kelly Guimont to discuss Tim Cook’s appearance on Kara Swisher’s podcast Sway, and what we learned about Tim and Apple.
Supreme Court Sides With Google in Legal Battle Over APIs
Google and Oracle have been fighting for a decade over the copyright status of APIs, or application programming interfaces. But Google just won [PDF].
The high court punted on whether APIs can be copyrighted in the first place. But the court’s fair use reasoning was broad enough that it should provide a strong defense for most API copying, making the question of API copyrights much less important.
QuickTrip Rolls out Support for Apple Pay at Gas Pumps
A report on Monday shows that QuikTrip is rolling out support for Apple Pay at its gas pumps.
The Singularity: Can Computers Make Themselves Smarter?
Writing for The New Yorker, Ted Chiang believes that the concept of a technological singularity, in which computers / AI would be able to make themselves ever smarter, is similar to an ontological argument. In other words, it probably won’t happen.
How much can you optimize for generality? To what extent can you simultaneously optimize a system for every possible situation, including situations never encountered before? Presumably, some improvement is possible, but the idea of an intelligence explosion implies that there is essentially no limit to the extent of optimization that can be achieved.
GoFish Cam Wireless Underwater Fishing Camera: $199.99
Our friends at Stack Commerce have a fun deal for us today on the GoFish Cam Wireless Underwater Fishing Camera, a wireless underwater fishing camera that sits on your fishing line and works with a mobile app so you can see your footage right from your phone. The camera attaches in-line between your main line and leader line, and it allows you to both view and share your underwater fishing footage. It’s $199.99 through our deal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKUJI2R_vlo
This Judge Wants Platforms like Twitter to be Treated as Utilities
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote an argument for the Supreme Court on why digital platforms should be regulated as utilities.
U.S. Retaliates Against Taxes on Internet Companies With Tariffs
The U.S. is preparing a round of retaliatory tariffs against six countries that have imposed taxes on U.S.-based internet companies.
Tim Cook 'Probably' Won't be Apple CEO in 10 Years' Time
Apple CEO Tim Cook has revealed he “probably” would not still be running the company in 10 years’ time in a new interview.
[Updated]Jason Sudeikis Earns SAG Awards 2021 Win for 'Ted Lasso' Performance
Jason Sudeikis continued Ted Lasso’s winning streak, named Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series at the SAG Awards 2021.
M1 Mac Troubleshooting, Quick Tips, and More — Mac Geek Gab 864
M1 Macs have only been available for a few months, but y’all are buying them up like crazy. Of course, troubleshooting them is a bit different than familiar Intel models, and Dave and John talk through some of that while answering your questions. Quick Tips help to make this episode accessible for all, in addition to some non-platform-specific questions about troubleshooting in general. Listen in as your two favorite geeks help share the knowledge, and perhaps you’ll learn five new things, too!
NSA Wants to Spy on Americans Because Reasons
U.S. government servers have been getting hacked left and right. In response, the NSA wants us to think that approval of domestic spying will solve the problem, despite suffering an egregious hack in 2016 where its zero-day exploits were stolen.
“We truly need to look at the ability for us to see ourselves and right now it’s difficult for us to see ourselves,” Nakasone testified on Thursday to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Adversaries like China and Russia “are operating with increased sophistication, scope [and] scale, including operations that can end “before a warrant can be issued,” he warned.
MacBook Lawsuits Gets Approval From Judge
As part of a lawsuit, a judge has decided the suit can proceed, ruling that Apple deliberately sold MacBooks with display issues.
Google Bravely Blocks Apps From Scanning Your Other Apps
Google announced that it will stop Android apps from scanning the list of your other apps in Android 11. Why this behavior was accepted before is beyond me.
Google has another page that lists allowable use cases for Play Store apps querying your app list, including “device search, antivirus apps, file managers, and browsers.” The page adds that “apps that must discover any and all installed apps on the device, for awareness or interoperability purposes may have eligibility for the permission.”
Time to make a fake antivirus app which queries your list of apps to sell to other companies.
Security Friday: Privacy vs Security, App Tracking Updates – TMO Daily Observations 2021-04-02
Andrew Orr joins host Kelly Guimont to discuss new App Tracking Transparency news, other updates, and the difference between security and privacy.
Snapchat Finds a Workaround for iOS 14 App Tracking Transparency
A report says that Snap Inc has developed a workaround for iOS 14’s App Tracking Transparency feature.
Apple Arcade Adds Two New Categories and More New Games
Apple Arcade will now have Timeless Classics and App Store Greats included, plus new games, bringing the catalog up to 180 games.
Apple Starts Blocking Apps That Use ‘Adjust SDK’ for Tracking
A new report says that Apple has been rejecting updates for certain apps, and the cause may be the use of an SDK from Adjust.
Babbel Language Learning Lifetime Subscription (All 14 Languages): $199
We have a deal on Babbel language learning software, and it’s a lifetime subscription at that. Babbel lets you practice with 10-15 minute bite-sized lessons, and Babbel uses speech recognition technology to keep your pronunciation on point. And, it comes with 10,000 hours of online language education. That lifetime subscription is $199 through our deal, and it covers all 14 languages.
Document Collaboration That Doesn’t Need the Cloud
Collabio Spaces is an interesting new office suite that allows for document collaboration without needing external servers. Unfortunately it requires a subscription, but could be a useful tool for sensitive documents.
The P2P software lets multiple people co-edit a document locally — from a mobile device or desktop computer — without A) the risk of uploading sensitive information to the cloud (i.e. as you must if you’re using a shared document function of a service like Google Docs); or B) the tedium of emailing a text to multiple recipients and then having to collate and resolve changes manually, once all the contributions trickle back.
Thursdays with Bob: iPads and iMazing – TMO Daily Observations 2021-04-01
Thursdays with Bob continue, Dr Mac drops by to chat with host Kelly Guimont to share how a new iPad proved the power of iMazing as a backup utility.
Apple to Hold Fiscal Q2 Earnings Call on April 28
Apple will announce its fiscal second-quarter earnings and hold a call on April 28 according to an update on its investor page.
'Ghostwriter' Set to Return to Apple TV+ on May 7
Season two of Ghostwriter will be available on Apple TV+ from May 7 and Apple has shared some clips in a series called ‘Beyond the Page’.
New Patent Reveals Future Siri Could Yell at You
As if Siri wasn’t already fun, a patent published on Thursday reveals how our favorite digital assistant could start shouting or whispering.