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Forthcoming Apple TV+ Movie 'CODA' Wins Big at Sundance

Charlotte Henry ·

Over the weekend, the movie CODA was purchased to stream on Apple TV+. On Tuesday night, it won the grand jury prize, the directing prize, the audience award and a special jury prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition category at the Sundance Film Festival. Variety reported that this is the first time a movie has won all three top prizes in that category, underlining why Apple Studio was prepared to splash so much cash on it.

“I hope that this opens the door to people getting that audiences want to see these kinds of stories,” director Siân Heder said while accepting the audience award. “And I hope that this means that more stories that center deaf characters and characters with disabilities get put front and center because clearly people want to respond to that.” “CODA” already broke records at Sundance when Apple Studios picked it up for $25 million after a fierce bidding war following the film’s debut on the festival’s opening night

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Porsche’s VP of Chassis Development Heading to Apple Car ‘Project Titan’

Charlotte Henry ·

Porsche’s VP of Chassis Development, Dr. Manfred Harrer, looks to be heading to Apple in a sign of intent for the Apple Car and ‘Project Titan’. 9to5Mac picked up on the rumors, first published by Insider Deutschland.

If there was any doubt Apple fully intends to turn its Project Titan ambitions into a viable vehicle in the future, hiring a senior official responsible for car body development from a respected brand should stoke those concerns. Dr. Harrer has more than a decade of experience at Porsche, most recently adding the Cayenne series to his plate at the company, and his chassis development leadership dates back to 2016. Insider Deutschland says Porsche, Apple, and Dr. Harrer declined to comment on the report. Hyundai, on the other hand, has been making headlines over what its willing to say about Apple and the car rumors. Earlier this month, Hyundai stated on the record that it was in early discussions with Apple about producing its car. For the uninitiated, this is a solid way to guarantee that you are no longer in talks with Apple to produce its car. Nevertheless, additional reporting added that the two companies could reach a deal by March with a goal of vehicle production by 2024.

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Watch Second Trailer for ‘Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry”

Andrew Orr ·

Apple has uploaded a second trailer for its upcoming documentary called “Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry.” It tells the true coming-of-age story of the singer-songwriter and her rise to global superstardom. From award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler, the documentary offers a deeply intimate look at this extraordinary teenager’s journey, at just seventeen years old, navigating life on the road, on stage, and at home with her family, while writing, recording and releasing her debut album “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?”

‘SimpleLogin’ is an Open Source Alternative to Sign in With Apple
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‘SimpleLogin’ is an Open Source Alternative to Sign in With Apple

Andrew Orr ·

Sign In with Apple lets you create accounts with your Apple ID for apps that support it. Its “Hide My Email” feature protects your email by forwarding emails to your actual email. SimpleLogin does the same; it lets you create random email aliases that forward emails to your true email address. This open source alternative to Sign In with Apple helps you keep your email safe from newsletters, websites, and more. It’s free to download and use and there is an optional subscription for advanced features like custom domains, unlimited aliases, or a catch-all alias.

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Washington State Suffers Data Breach due to Contractor ‘Accellion’

Andrew Orr ·

Washington’s state government reported a data breach on Monday that could affect over 1.6 million people. The breach is connected to Accellion, a contractor involved with the state auditor’s office.

During the week of January 25, 2021, Accellion confirmed that an unauthorized person gained access to SAO files by exploiting a vulnerability in Accellion’s file transfer service. Some of the SAO data files contained personal information of Washington state residents who filed unemployment insurance claims in 2020 […] may also include the personal information of other Washington residents who have not yet been identified but whose information was in state agency or local government files under review by the SAO.

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Judges Used "Contradictory Reasoning" in Apple Tax Case, Says EU

Charlotte Henry ·

The EU believes that judges used “contradictory reasoning” when granting Apple’s victory in a landmark tax case. The bloc’s determination to overturn the ruling was revealed in documents that emerged Monday, reported Bloomberg News.

The EU said that the lower court improperly conflated Apple’s lack of employees at two Irish units and the company’s level of responsibility for intellectual property on iPhone and iPad sales across Europe. Judges failed to properly weigh the EU’s analysis of the Irish branches and showed “contradictory reasoning” in a separate part of their findings. The EU court “categorically annulled the commission’s case in July and the facts have not changed since then,” Apple said in a statement. “After a thorough review of the facts and the commission’s claims,” the judges were “clear in their determination that Apple has always abided by the law in Ireland, as we do everywhere we operate.” At the heart of the legal arguments are simple questions on where value is created and where it should be taxed.

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iCloud Keychain for Chrome on Windows Now Available

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple has officially released its iCloud Keychain password feature for Google Chrome on Windows, AppleInsider reported.  The new extension means that when using the new Chrome browser users will be able to sync their passwords across devices running Apple and Windows operating systems.

“[The new] iCloud Passwords is a Chrome extension for Windows users that allows you to use the same strong Safari passwords you create on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac when visiting websites in Chrome on your Windows PC,” says Apple in the extension’s listing on the Chrome Web Store. As well as requiring the Google Chrome browser, iCloud Passwords needs iCloud 12.0 for Windows. That in turn requires Windows 10 version 18362.145 or higher, and can be downloaded from Microsoft. Once installed, iCloud Passwords will let you fill in the passwords created in Safari on Mac, iPhone, or iPad, when visiting a site in Chrome for Windows.

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New Facebook Message Warns You of iOS 14 Ad Opt-In

Andrew Orr ·

In response to an iOS 14 feature that makes developers ask user consent to use their data, Facebook wants to remind people just how beleaguered it really is.

In the post, Facebook says that if users accept the prompts for Facebook and Instagram, the ads you see on those apps won’t change. “If you decline, you will still see ads, but they will be less relevant to you.” The tech giant notes that Apple has said that providing education about its new privacy changes is allowed.

To me, the most offensive part about this isn’t Facebook pretending to care about “businesses other than itself that rely on ads to reach products customers.” It’s how it says “This won’t give us access to new types of information.”

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Data Privacy Day 2021: Tresorit Responds to Encryption Backdoors

Andrew Orr ·

For Data Privacy Day 2021, companies with private products like Tresorit, ProtonMail, Threema, and Tutanota, have issued a joint statement about proposed laws about backdoored encryption.

[…] encryption is an absolute, data is either encrypted or it isn’t, users have privacy or they don’t. The desire to give law enforcement more tools to fight crime is obviously understandable. But the proposals are the digital equivalent of giving law enforcement a key to every citizens’ home and might begin a slippery slope towards greater violations of personal privacy.