Link

Salesforce Buying Slack for $27.7 Billion

Charlotte Henry ·

Slack has become a major part of our work lives for many of us in 2020. Now cloud computing giant Salesforce is set to buy a workplace chat app for $27.7 billion, The Verge reported.

Slack has transformed from a fast-rising startup formed as a gaming company in 2009 into a major competitor of Microsoft with more than 12 million daily active users as of October of last year (and likely many more now, though the company has not disclosed concrete numbers) and a market value of close to $25 billion. The company, led by Flickr co-creator Butterfield, started primarily as an email alternative that pitched itself to startups, media companies, and other tech-savvy businesses to better manage interoffice communication. But Butterfield and his team grew Slack into a full productivity suite with video meeting features, file hosting, IT administration, and all manner of other features typically offered by large enterprise corporations.

Link

The iPhone 12 Gets Sent to The Bottom of a Lake. Is it Water Resistant Enough Survive?

Charlotte Henry ·

The iPhone 12 is meant to handle most spills and drips. However, CNet wanted to know how water resistant the device really is. So it sent one to the bottom of Lake Tahoe.

The iPhone 12’s IP68 rating means it can survive up to 19.6 feet (6 meters) of water for 30 minutes. This applies to all four iPhone 12 models: the iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. But we discovered that like its predecessor, Apple’s newest iPhone can handle a great deal more than that. Both of the iPhone 11 models far exceeded the official rating, surviving a 39-foot dive in salt water in Monterey Bay, California. This year we took a brand-new iPhone 12 for a swim in the frigid fresh water of Lake Tahoe, on the other side of the Golden State, to test it out. Teaming up with Mission Robotics, we mounted our iPhone 12 to the company’s underwater drone, Theseus. The drone can go as deep as 984 feet (300 meters) underwater, with the pilot able to see the view from Theseus’ camera, as well as depth and water temperature metrics from a computer on shore.

TMO Deals

FITT360 Hands-Free Neckband Camera: $469.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal today on FITT360, a wearable 360 degree camera you wear around your neck and operate hands-free. It uses 3 FHD cameras to capture everything around you, then connects directly to the free FITT360 companion app to automatically stitch the footage together into a 360 degree format. FITT360 comes with 64GB of built-in internal memory, along with an external memory card slot to add up to 128GB of external storage. The battery provides up to 70 minutes of continuous recording per charge.

Link

Apple Releases Pro Display XDR Calibration Tool

Andrew Orr ·

Apple has released a tool for owners of its Pro Display XDR screen that lets users calibrate their display for specific color workflows.

Every Pro Display XDR undergoes state-of-the-art factory calibration with laboratory grade instrumentation. Pro Display XDR Calibrator enables in-field recalibration of Pro Display XDR for specific color workflows that may require custom calibration. Recalibration with this utility requires one of the following spectroradiometers: Photo Research SpectraScan PR-740, PR-745 or PR-788; Colorimetry Research CR-300

Link

This Terminal Command Can Bypass Mac Privacy Protections

Andrew Orr ·

A UNIX command line tool called “ls” can be used to bypass Mac privacy protections like TCC (Transparency, Consent, and Control) and the sandbox. This provides unauthorized access to file metadata in directories that are supposed to be protected

I continue to believe that macOS “security” is mainly theater that only impedes the law-abiding Mac software industry while posing little problem for Mac malware. It doesn’t take a genius hacker to bypass macOS privacy protections: calling “ls” is a script kiddie level attack.

It affects macOS Big Sur, Catalina, and Mojave.

This Shortcut Lets You Download Podcasts
Cool Stuff Found

This Shortcut Lets You Download Podcasts

Andrew Orr ·

The Podcasts app lets you save podcast episodes to listen later or to archive them, but they remain within the app. What if you want to download podcasts and save them elsewhere, like the Files app? This shortcut lets you do that. I’ve only used it once so far but it worked like a charm. It’s a nice way to archive episodes that you find particularly interesting.

Link

Why Are All The Companies Copying Snapchat?

Andrew Orr ·

As Arielle Pardes points out, you’d think some of the tech companies were merging with the amount of features they’re copying from one another. This market is so free you guys.

Does your head hurt? Mine does, as do my thumbs, which now have three times as many platforms to scroll for short-form and ephemeral videos. I am overwhelmed with content and underwhelmed by features—at least until the next big thing comes along, and everyone lunges to copy that.

I have definitely noticed this when it comes to Facebook, if only because I don’t like Facebook. They’ve copied all they could from Snapchat. In my opinion, Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to be as ubiquitous as WeChat is in China. All interactions, all commerce must flow through Facebook because Mark Zuckerberg can’t conceive of a different business model. Or, he can conceive but he doesn’t care. Why should he? We reward him by using his services.

Link

Take a Good Look at Your Digital File System This Holiday Season

Andrew Orr ·

Victoria Song advises that we should reexamine our digital file system and maybe reduce, reuse, and recycle our content.

Look, 2020 was supposed to be my year. I set out with what I thought were pretty reasonable New Year’s resolutions—one of which was to spend less time on my screens. And then the pandemic hit. During the endless hours that ensued, I noticed something: My digital filing system was a goddamn mess.

I’m taking this opportunity to shamelessly recommend my system of personal information management. It does use a series of structured folders but more importantly it creates a consistent way to write file names.