Here's How Much Your Car Knows About You

· Andrew Orr · Link

car dashboard

Jon Callas, the Electric Frontier Foundation’s director of technology projects, explained what data newer cars, especially Tesla, collect from you.

“All of these things are at least theoretically able to be logged,” cautioned Callas. “And there is a port that you can connect something to — and there’s lots of hardware and software that you can connect to your car and get all sorts of telemetry information about how the car is running — and just like there are people who hack their computers there are people who hack their cars.”

Apple TV+: Trailer for 'Finch' Starring Tom Hanks

· Charlotte Henry · Cool Stuff Found

The first trailer for Finch, starring Tom Hanks, was released Monday. It gives us an intial peek into the world of a man on a journey for a new home, with his dog and a newly created robot for company. The film apple-tv-plus-november-5/">will premiere on Apple TV+ on November 5.

Here's How to Force Files to Download on iOS

· Andrew Orr · Cool Stuff Found

Redditor u/kevingrabher wrote about a shortcut that can force files in iCloud Drive to download. This helps you keep important files handy for offline access. Here are the steps: Open the Shortcuts app and create a new shortcut. Add Action “Get Contents of Folder” (*). Press the triangle icon and enable “Recursive.”  Add Action “Get Details of Files.” Set the detail variable to “File Size” (if not set by default).   In the first action you’ll probably want to choose Ask Every Time, so you can download a different folder each time.

Here’s How to Force Files to Download on iOS

Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch — Mac Geek Gab 891

· John F. Braun & Dave Hamilton · Mac Geek Gab Podcast

Today the “we” is three with the return of Pilot Pete! The content is the same, only better, as Pete ensures your two favorite geeks complete their explanations for you. Topics today include Time Machine, Watch battery drain, airplanes, and of course your favorite Quick Tips and Cool Stuff Found. Press play and enjoy learning at least five new things with John, Dave, and Pete!

Raspberry Pi Smart Home Device Seeks Crowdfunding

· Jeff Butts · Cool Stuff Found

One of the coolest Rapberry Pi projects I’ve ever worked with is the Home Assistant software. It brings smart home support to the Raspberry Pi in a much wider fashion than anything else really accomplishes. Some of the folks behind Home Assistant are working on a new project based around that utility. Home Assistant Amber, as it’s called, will allow even the most novice Raspberry Pi user to quickly set up their own smart home hub, with thousands of available integrations. When you buy a Home Assistant Amber, it ships prebuilt, so you don’t even have to assemble the device. It’s even going to be forward-compatible with the upcoming Matter standard, which could position Home Assistant Amber to be a runaway success. It is being crowdfunded, of course. We’re all too familiar with Kickstarter projects that never ship. Hopefully, Home Assistant Amber won’t be one of those.

This iPhone 13 Case Gives you a Digital Business Card to Share

· Andrew Orr · Cool Stuff Found

Nomad Goods has prepared a line of iPhone 13 cases that have an NFC digital business card. Simply tap the back of Sport Case to another phone to share your contact info, social media, and more. The company partnered with Popl, the leader in digital business card technology. Download the Popl app to get started here.

This iPhone 13 Case Gives you a Digital Business Card to Share

Do You Have 100 Terabytes of Free Storage? Download the Universe

· Andrew Orr · Link

hard drive in space

Researchers have prepared the Uchuu simulation of the universe, the most detailed ever made so far. It contains 2.1 trillion “particles” in a space 9.6 billion light-years across.

The simulation models the evolution of the universe across more than 13 billion years. It doesn’t focus on the formation of stars and planets but instead looks at the behavior of dark matter within an expanding universe. The detail of Uchuu is high enough that the team can identify everything from galaxy clusters to the dark matter halos of individual galaxies. Since dark matter makes up most of the matter in the universe, it is the main driver of galaxy formation and clustering.

“Fortunately, if you don’t have that much spare change, you can access the data online. The Uchuu team has their raw data on skiesanduniverses.org, so you can explore their virtual universe all you want.”

Photo by Guillermo Ferla on Unsplash

First Look at ‘Foundation’ Coming to Apple TV+

· Charlotte Henry · Cool Stuff Found

Many people are excited about Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, premiering on Apple TV+ on apple-tv-plus-september-24/">September 24. We got a sneak peak on Friday, when a ‘first look’ video was released. Executive Producer David Goyer, along with some cast members, provide an insight into what viewers can expect.

FTC Reveals its Study on Acquisitions From Big Tech

· Andrew Orr · Link

handshake

The Federal Trade Commission will change the way it scrutinizes acquisitions from Big Tech. On Friday it released the findings of its decade-long study on deals that weren’t reported.

The FTC reviewed 616 transactions valued at $1 million or more between 2010 and 2019 that were not reported to antitrust authorities by Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. 94 of the transactions actually exceeded the dollar size threshold that would require companies to report a deal. The deals may have qualified for other regulatory exemptions. 79% of transactions used deferred or contingent compensation to founders and key employees, and nearly 77% involved non-compete clauses. 36% of the transactions involved assuming some amount of debt or liabilities.