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Amazon is Increasingly Pushing The Limits of Privacy

Charlotte Henry ·

Amazon announced a host of new hardware products at the end of last month. One of those was the Ring Always Home Cam surveillance drone. Wired highlighted how that product, and others, are prompting major privacy concerns about the company.

Meanwhile, the biometric data that Amazon Go will collect is particularly sensitive, because unlike a password you can’t simply change it if a hacker steals it or it gets unintentionally exposed. Amazon has a strong record for maintaining the security of its massive cloud infrastructure, but there have been lapses across the sprawling business. The stakes are already phenomenally high; the more data the company holds the more risk it takes on. “Amazon has a major genomics cloud platform, so maybe they hold your DNA and now they’re going to have your palm as well? Plus all of these devices inside your house. And your purchase history on Prime. That’s a lot of information. That’s a lot of personal information,” says Nina Alli, executive director of Defcon’s Biohacking Village and a health care security researcher.

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EU to Increase Pressure on Apple and Other Big Tech Firms

Charlotte Henry ·

The EU has put significant resources into taking on ‘big tech,’ including Apple, in recent years. According to Politico, that is only set to increase.

Under Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, the bloc’s executive arm is planning to merge two major legislative initiatives on competition into a single text, EU officials told POLITICO. One is the so-called New Competition Tool, a market investigation tool that would allow competition enforcers to act more swiftly and forcefully. The other is a part of the Digital Services Act, a new set of rules due to be unveiled in December for companies like Google, Apple and Amazon. Combined, the new powers would be known as the Digital Markets Act and would carry a hefty wallop for tech giants in its crosshairs. “We’re working on a new legislative proposal focused on digital markets, which would feature two complementary pillars, a combination of ex ante regulation and case-by-case enforcement,” Vestager said in a speech Thursday.

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Spotify Limits Music Transfer App ‘SongShift’ for its Platform

Andrew Orr ·

SongShift is an app that helps you transfer your songs between different streaming services. But Spotify is putting its foot down. Users can transfer songs from other services to Spotify, but not transfer them out of Spotify.

To continue to provide some level of support for Spotify, we’ll still be supporting transferring from other services to Spotify. We will continue to roll out planned features for SongShift. Some quality of life improvements, some new supported services, and other things best left a surprise.

*Any new features will have the same limitation of not supporting transfers out of Spotify.

You’ve heard of Spotify, the company that criticizes Apple for alleged anti-competitive behavior.

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Apple’s Chip VP Tim Millet Talks About Designing the A14

Andrew Orr ·

Tim Millet, Apple’s VP of platform architecture, and Tom Boger, senior director of Mac and iPad product marketing, talk about designing the A14 used in the iPad Air and upcoming iPhone 12.

“One of the ways chip architects think about features is not necessarily directly mapping [transistors] to a user feature in the product so much as enabling the underlying technology, like software in the graphics stack to be able to leverage a new capability in the GPU,” Millet said. “That will inevitably come as a visual feature in a game, or in a snappy transition in the user interface.”

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ARTBAT Drops ‘One Mix’ Exclusively on Apple Music

Andrew Orr ·

Ukrainian duo ARTBAT have recently released their hour-long One Mix and it’s exclusive to Apple Music.

This exclusive new mix features their trademark brand of melodic, emotive and atmospheric techno and comes hot on the heels of their massive No.1 track ‘Best Of Me‘ featuring Sailor & I on Metaphysical.

That tune is their third Beatport main chart No.1 in a row following the massive CamelPhat collaboration ‘For A Feeling‘ and their excellent ‘Keep Control‘ remix.

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Here’s Why the iPhone 12 Could Have a Smaller Notch

Andrew Orr ·

Spotted by @AppleSWUpdates and enhanced by 9To5Mac, design assets were found on the iCloud website that shows a newer iPhone with a slightly smaller notch. It’s not much but it’s noticeable.

These, of course, might also be placeholders to hide the official icons until tomorrow’s event. But the icons are identified as “iPhone13, x” which confirms that they were uploaded to represent iPhone 12, since iPhone 11 is internally identified as “iPhone12, x.”

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Thermosage 7-in-1 Circulation Enhancing Massager: $99.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal for you on Thermosage, a 7-in-1 circulation enhancing massager. It offers Massage, Active Compression, and Hot and Cold Therapy. and its built-in massager has three different modes. The video below goes into detail on these different features, and you can get Thermosage for $9.99 through our deal.

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Report: Some Robinhood Accounts Were Hacked

Andrew Orr ·

Bloomberg reports that some Robinhood users had their accounts hacked and investments liquidated. But Robinhood said that the company itself wasn’t hacked.

A limited number of customers appear to have had their Robinhood account targeted by cyber criminals because of their personal email account (that which is associated with their Robinhood account) being compromised outside of Robinhood. We’re actively working with those impacted to secure their accounts.

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Here Are 6 Privacy Reasons You Should Delete WhatsApp

Andrew Orr ·

Sebastian Meineck shares six privacy reasons people should delete Facebook-owned WhatsApp from their devices.

But WhatsApp also has its flaws. On closer inspection, user privacy and data protection are no longer its priority, and plans to merge it with other Facebook-owned services like Facebook Messenger and Instagram DMs are concerning.

Signal is a good open-source private messenger to use instead.

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Belgium Drops Huawei in Favor of Nokia 5G Contracts

Andrew Orr ·

Amid U.S. pressure to exclude Chinese company Huawei from 5G infrastructure, Belgium is moving forward to work with Nokia.

The Belgian capital Brussels is home to the NATO alliance and the European Union’s executive and parliament, making it a matter of particular concern for U. S. intelligence agencies.

“Belgium has been 100% reliant on Chinese vendors for its radio networks – and people working at NATO and the EU were making mobile phone calls on these networks,” said John Strand, an independent Danish telecoms consultant.

“The operators are sending a signal that it’s important to have access to safe networks.”

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Nearly Half of iPhone Users Think Their Device Has 5G

Charlotte Henry ·

Nearly half of iPhone users believe that their device is 5G enable, despite the fact no 5G iPhone exists… yet. AppleInsider reported on the finding of a survey by Global Wireless Solutions.

The study, performed by Global Wireless Solutions, asked 5,000 U.S. smartphone users if they believed their iPhone could access 5G. While 49% answered yes, 29% of all smartphone users were unsure whether their phones could access 5G. Some of the confusion could be attributed to the carriers. For instance, AT&T had falsely displayed a 5G E connectivity logo on consumers’ phones connected to 4G networks as early as February of 2019. This was months before the first 5G phone from any manufacturer would even be available for purchase, and a year before the carrier started rolling out its 5G network. GWS points out that when only looking at users that purchased a phone in 2020, nearly a quarter were unsure about their phone’s 5G capabilities. Much of the uncertainty comes from rural and suburban folks. About 45% of rural consumers and 47% of suburban consumers are unsure whether their carrier provides 5G. Nearly 73% of urban users believe their carrier offers 5G.