Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Apple Fights Proposed Right to Repair Legislation With Warnings of Consumer Harm
Apple is fighting Right to Repair initiatives in California by telling lawmakers that consumers could hurt themselves attempting to repair their own devices, reports Motherboard. Over the course of the last few weeks, an Apple representative and a lobbyist for ComTIA, a trade organization representing major tech companies, have been meeting with legislators in California with the aim of killing 
Services really are becoming a bigger part of Apple’s business – TechCrunch
We’ve known for a while now that Apple was going to be putting more of an emphasis on services. As the technical leaps from one iPhone/iPad/Mac generation to the next become less dramatic, product revenue has started to shrink; in response, the company is focusing on driving forward on things like the App Store, iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple Music and its soon-to-launch games and video offerings. 
Facebook Getting Refreshed Look on Desktop and Mobile
Facebook’s developer conference, F8, took place today, and Facebook announced a number of changes coming to the social network in the future. Facebook is set to gain a refreshed design, that’s meant to be “simpler, faster, and more immersive,” situating Facebook Groups more prominently. The new design will “make it easy” for people to transition from public spaces to more private ones. There’s a
Old Facebook finally wants you to ‘Meet New Friends’ – TechCrunch
Facebook’s social graph is aging, full of long-lost acquaintances and hometown friends you don’t care much about seeing in the News Feed any more. But Facebook is now testing a pivot away from its core identity of connecting you with existing friends so it can revitalize the social graph and keep people coming back. Facebook’s “Meet New Friends” lets you browse people from shared communities 
Venezuelans rally as opposition leader Guaido calls for uprising | Venezuela News
Hundreds of Venezuelans rallied on Tuesday after opposition leader Juan Guaido called for a “military uprising” in his strongest move to oust President Nicolas Maduro since declaring himself interim president earlier this year. Guaido, in a video posted on Twitter earlier on Tuesday, said he had started the “final phase” of his campaign to remove Maduro from power, calling on Venezuelans and 
iPads up, iPhones down – TechCrunch
Today’s big story for Apple revenue was once again focused on services. That’s likely to be the tale for the foreseeable future, as the company continues to pump billions into product offerings like Apple TV+. As predicted, hardware was more of a mixed bag for the company. The iPad, a bright spot in an otherwise stagnant tablet market, also marked a key highlight for the quarter, as revenue 
Facebook Dating opens to friends with Secret Crush – TechCrunch
Facebook built Dating to be privacy-safe, hoping to avoid the awkwardness of friends or family checking out your romance profile. But now Facebook has found a way to let you silently express your affection for a friend without them knowing unless they reciprocate. Facebook announced today at its F8 conference that Dating is opening in 14 more countries, bringing the total to 19. It will launch 
Aperture dies the true death in Apple’s next macOS update – TechCrunch
Aperture was a great application for editing photos back in the day, but it hasn’t been supported by Apple for years. You can, however, still run it on the latest Macs, should you need to. But that won’t be the case for long, the company has announced. In a support page pointed out by MacRumors, Apple explains that “for technical reasons, Aperture will not run in future versions of macOS after 
Developers can now verify mobile app users over WhatsApp instead of SMS – TechCrunch
Facebook today released a new SDK that allows mobile app developers to integrate WhatsApp verification into Account Kit for iOS and Android. This will allow developers to build apps where users can opt to receive their verification codes through the WhatsApp app installed on their phone instead of through SMS. Today, many apps give users the ability to sign up using only a phone number — a now 
Over Dozen Popular Email Clients Found Vulnerable to Signature Spoofing Attacks
A team of security researchers has discovered several vulnerabilities in various implementations of OpenPGP and S/MIME email signature verification that could allow attackers to spoof signatures on over a dozen of popular email clients. The affected email clients include Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail with GPGTools, iOS Mail, GpgOL, KMail, Evolution, MailMate, Airmail, K-9 Mail, 
Instagram officially tests hiding Like counts – TechCrunch
Would we feel less envious, shameful and competitive if Instagram didn’t tell us how many Likes a post received? That’s the idea behind Instagram now hiding Like counts from both a post’s viewers and its author as part of an experiment in Canada. A post’s creator can still open the Likers window to see the names of everyone who hearted their post, but they’d have to count them manually. 
Instagram Announces New Camera Design and Create Mode, Tests Hiding Likes in Canada
Instagram today announced the upcoming addition of some new features to the social networking app, including an updated camera design and a new Create Mode, aimed at making it easier to share content without a photo or video. The updated camera design features a wheel with selectable camera modes and effects, along with dedicated sections for live broadcasting and the new Create Mode. Instagram 
Facebook Messenger will get desktop apps, co-watching, emoji status – TechCrunch
To win chat, Facebook Messenger must be as accessible as SMS, yet more entertaining than Snapchat. Today, Messenger pushes on both fronts with a series of announcements at Facebook’s F8 conference, including that it will launch Mac and PC desktop apps, a faster and smaller mobile app, simultaneous video co-watching and a revamped Friends tab, where friends can use an emoji to tell you what 
Energizer’s massive battery/phone proves a viral hit ≠ crowdfunding success – TechCrunch
Oof. This isn’t the sort of thing you want to see when you’re rounding the corner of your crowdfunding campaign: There are long shots and then there’s coming up with $15,000 of your $1.2 million goal. The Indiegogo page for the Energizer Power Max P18K Pop understandably focused on the viral sensation the ridiculously beefy phone with the 18,000mAh battery spurred at Mobile World Congress this 
Apple Says Aperture Won’t Run in Future macOS Versions After Mojave
Aperture hasn’t aged well. If Aperture is all you know, you won’t be able to understand this. Apple was right to abandon it. The photo editing / digital asset management space is very crowded. It has over a dozen major competitors and probably several dozen if you start considering stand alone editor tools without asset management built in. Some of those alternatives are extremely good. I loved 
Rapidly Growing Electrum Botnet Infects Over 152,000 Users; Steals $4.6 Million
An ongoing attack against Electrum Bitcoin wallets has just grown bigger and stronger with attackers now targeting the whole infrastructure of the exchange with a botnet of over 152,000 infected users, raising the amount of stolen users’ funds to USD 4.6 million. Electrum has been facing cyber attacks since December last year when a team of cybercriminals exploited a weakness in the Electrum 
Trump seeks to designate Muslim Brotherhood as terror group: NYT | USA News
The Trump administration is reportedly seeking to issue an order that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, the New York Times has reported. According to the paper, which cited officials familiar with the matter, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi urged US President Donald Trump to take the step during a April 9 visit to the White House. The Muslim 
Tropico Arrives on iPhone, New Features for iPad Version
Tropico from Feral Interactive got its release on iPhone today. The iPad version, released in December, also received an update containing several additional features that are likely to be welcomed by fans of the strategic city builder. Based on the acclaimed series originally published by Kalypso Media, Tropico for iPhone and iPad features intuitive touch controls and a user interface designed 
Samsung sees Q1 profit plummet 60% – TechCrunch
Samsung’s Q1 earnings are in and, as the company itself predicted, they don’t make for pretty reading. The Korean giant saw revenue for the three-month period fall by 13 percent year-on-year to 52.4 trillion KRW, around $45 billion. Meanwhile, operating profit for Q1 2019 came in at 6.2 trillion KRW, that’s a whopping $5.33 billion but it represents a decline of huge 60 percent drop from the 
Unprotected Database Exposes Personal Info of 80 Million American Households
A team of security researchers has claims to have found a publicly-accessible database that exposes information on more than 80 million U.S. households—nearly 65 percent of the total number of American households. Discovered by VPNMentor’s research team lead by hacktivists Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, the unsecured database includes 24GB of extremely detailed information about individual homes, 
Toyota Offering Retrofit CarPlay Upgrades for 2018 Camry and Sienna
Toyota recently announced plans to bring CarPlay to 2018 Toyota Camry sedans and 2018 Toyota Sienna minivans through a new retrofitting program that will be available through Toyota dealers. According to CNET, 2018 Toyota Sienna minivans and Camry sedans will soon be able to visit a dealership to add CarPlay support to their vehicles. Amazon Alexa compatibility is also included. Visiting a 
Monday, April 29, 2019
Apple Engineering Leader Handling 5G Efforts Leaves Company
Rubén Caballero, a hardware engineering executive at Apple who worked with suppliers on modem hardware, recently left the company, reports The Information. Caballero’s departure comes just after Apple settled its lawsuit with Qualcomm and inked a deal that will see Qualcomm supplying chips for future Apple devices, including the 5G chips Apple will need for its 2020 iPhones. Caballero joined 
Amazon is testing a Spanish-language Alexa experience in the US ahead of a launch this year – TechCrunch
Amazon announced today it has begun to ask customers to participate in a preview program that will help the company build a Spanish-language Alexa experience for U.S. users. The program, which is currently invite-only, will allow Amazon to incorporate into the U.S. Spanish-language experience a better understanding of things like word choice and local humor, as it has done with prior language 
Alphabet cites ‘headwinds’ in smartphone sales, teases I/O hardware announcement – TechCrunch
Alphabet’s Q1 earnings were a disappointment for Wall Street, courtesy primarily of ad revenue shortcomings. The hardware team met with some difficulties, as well, owing in part to a stagnating global smartphone market that has impacted virtually all players. CEO Sundar Pichai cited “year over year headwinds” when referring to the company’s smartphone line, following the release of the Pixel 3 
US combat veteran arrested in plot to cause ‘mass casualties’ | News
A US veteran of the war in Afghanistan who prosecutors say plotted to detonate a bomb at a Los Angeles-area rally, causing mass casualties, has been taken into custody following an FBI online sting operation, federal prosecutors said on Monday. Mark Steven Domingo, 26, a US Army infantryman who served time in Afghanistan and later converted to Islam, was taken into custody on Friday after being 
Robotics Company Anki Shutting Down
Anki, a robotics company known for its Vector and Cozmo home robots along with AI-based Anki Drive cars, is shutting down, reports Recode. Anki CEO Boris Sofman today told all Anki staff that they would be terminated on Wednesday and would be given a week of severance pay. Anki has nearly 200 employees. Just days ago, employees were told that Anki was aiming to find additional funding after a 
Why did last night’s ‘Game of Thrones’ look so bad? Here comes the science! – TechCrunch
Last night’s episode of “Game of Thrones” was a wild ride and inarguably one of an epic show’s more epic moments — if you could see it through the dark and the blotchy video. It turns out even one of the most expensive and meticulously produced shows in history can fall prey to the scourge of low quality streaming and bad TV settings. The good news is this episode is going to look amazing on 
Apple Releases Fourth Beta of iOS 12.3 With New TV App to Developers
Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming iOS 12.3 update to developers, one week after releasing the third beta and a month after the launch of iOS 12.2, an update that introduced Apple News+, new Animoji, and more. Registered developers will be able to download the new iOS 12.3 beta from Apple’s Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed 
Is this the vertical-folding Motorola Razr? – TechCrunch
This could be the upcoming Motorola Razr revival. The images purporting to be the upcoming smartphone appeared online on Weibo and show a foldable design. Unlike Galaxy Fold, though, Motorola’s implementation has the phone folding vertical — much like the original Razr. This design offers a more compelling use case than other foldables. Instead of traditional smartphone unfolding to a 
2019 iPhones ‘Likely’ to Have Faster 18W Charger and Lightning to USB-C Cable in Box
Apple is widely expected to release three new iPhone models later this year, and each device will “likely” include a faster 18W USB-C power adapter and a Lightning to USB-C cable in the box, according to Japanese blog Mac Otakara. 18W USB-C power adapter bundled with 2018 iPad Pro, also sold separately This rumor is a big “finally” if true. Despite adding fast charging support to the iPhone 8 
Samsung made a vertical TV for watching smartphone videos – TechCrunch
So it’s come to this. After years of letter boxes and angry commenters, the electronics world is finally giving in and developing hardware designed to view vertical videos. Time to pack it in, the portrait mode shooters have won, and their prize is this ridiculous 43 inch TV from Samsung. The Sero joins a handful of other strange new takes on the flat panel TV, but none speak to the current 
Cyprus police find victims of suspected serial killer | Cyprus News
Police in Cyprus have found human remains in an ongoing investigation into a suspected serial killer thought to have gone on a killing spree that claimed at least seven female victims. Police said the suspect, a career officer in the Cypriot army, has confessed to killing five women and the six- and eight-year-old daughters of two of his victims. He connected with the women on an online dating 
Overcast Podcast Player Gains Audio and Video Clip-Sharing Feature
Overcast has been updated with support for sharing video and audio clips of podcasts, streamlining the process for both podcast creators and listeners. In a blog post on his website, Overcast developer Marco Arment explains why he created the clip-sharing feature: Podcast sharing has been limited to audio and links, but today’s social networks are more reliant on images and video, especially 
Sunday, April 28, 2019
Apple defends its takedown of some apps monitoring screen-time – TechCrunch
Apple is defending its removal of certain parental control apps from the app store in a new statement. The company has come under fire for its removal of certain apps that were pitched as tools giving parents more control over their children’s screen-time, but that Apple said relied on technology that was too invasive for private use. “We recently removed several parental control apps from the 
Apple Shares More Details on Parental Control App Crackdown
Following an email from Phil Schiller to a MacRumors reader yesterday addressing a report from The New York Times on Apple’s removal of a number of App Store apps focused on screen time monitoring and parental controls, Apple has issued a public statement sharing additional perspective on the situation. The statement, entitled “The facts about parental control apps,” is very similar in its 
Spain election: Socialists take clear lead but majority unlikely | Elections 2018 News
Madrid, Spain – Votes were being counted in the national election – dubbed one of the most uncertain in Spain’s history – that will see the far-right take seats for the first time since democracy resumed in 1982. Spanish media reported roughly a five percent surge in voter turnout over 2016, with the Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE) seen as the clear winner with a projected 116 to 121 seats in 
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Malaysia’s interim leader Mahathir Mohamad has said parliament will pick a new prime minister next week following the collapse of the ruling...
-
David Devore Jr is just like any other 18-year-old. On Instagram, he posts pictures with his prom date and of his college acceptance letter....
-
Steven Aquino Contributor Steven Aquino is a freelance tech writer and iOS accessibility expert. More posts by this contributor At this mont...
