Reading app Libby has rounded up the best 16 books to read for celebrating Earth Day 2021. These books focus on topics like climate change, environmentalism, and activism and can be borrowed for free from your local library. Books include The Hidden Life of Trees (decent read), The Overstory, The Invention of Nature (been on my list for months), Losing Earth, Walden, How to Give Up Plastic, and many others. Speaking of nature books, a couple of my own favorites include The Wild Trees by Richard Preston, The Songs of Trees by David George Haskell, and What a Plant Knows by Daniel Chamovitz.
We have a deal for you today on a magnetic iPhone holder. This device is ergonomically-designed with a bracket that easily extends after being attached to a laptop, computer monitor, or vertical flat surface. It also has a reserved charging port so that you can power up your phone. It’s $24.99 through our deal.
First discovered a year ago, malvertising campaign Tag Barnakle has infected over 120 ad servers to insert malicious code into ads.
Stein says that while last year Tag Barnakle had targeted users of desktop browsers with redirects to malware download sites, over the past year, the gang has switched to going after mobile users and redirecting them to online scams peddling various scammy products.
A new proposal from lawmakers reveals how Congress wants to take steps to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
A new proposal by Republican lawmakers to overhaul a critical law that protects online platforms already looks dead in the water, according to one legal expert, though another prominent legal scholar believes it could fuel bipartisan reform for tech regulation.
The Republican members’ proposal submitted Thursday calls for, among other things, modifying 230 to strip liability protection for Big Tech if their content moderation practices discriminate against political affiliations or viewpoints, a frequent conservative talking point.
· Bryan Chaffin · The Mac Observer's Daily Observations Podcast
Charlotte Henry joins guest-host Bryan Chaffin to break down how Apple Music and Spotify pay artists and labels, and what that might mean to the music industry as a whole.
Greyhound and Servant were both victorious at Friday night’s Motion Picture Sound Editors Awards. As The Hollywood Reporter’s break down highlights, in some cases, they actually beat other Apple TV+ content. No doubt the company will be pleased to be competing in technical, as well as creative, categories.
Greyhound and Soul, along with Mank, News of the World, and Sound of Metal are nominated for the Oscar for sound–a new category combining what was previously two separate categories for sound editing and sound mixing. All five movies are also nominated for Cinema Audio Society Awards for sound mixing, which will be handed out during a virtual ceremony on Saturday.
The PlayStation Store will remain available for PS3 and PS Vita users. President & CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment, announced the change of course on Monday.
Today I’m happy to say that we will be keeping the PlayStation Store operational for PS3 and PS Vita devices. PSP commerce functionality will retire on July 2, 2021 as planned. When we initially came to the decision to end purchasing support for PS3 and PS Vita, it was born out of a number of factors, including commerce support challenges for older devices and the ability for us to focus more of our resources on newer devices where a majority of our gamers are playing on. We see now that many of you are incredibly passionate about being able to continue purchasing classic games on PS3 and PS Vita for the foreseeable future, so I’m glad we were able to find a solution to continue operations.
Professional photographer Scott Kelby has recently published The iPhone Photography Book. It’s filled with tips and tricks to help iPhone users get the most of out their camera and editing techniques. I particularly thought the guide on how to pose people was helpful. To me, taking a good photo of a person is more difficult than taking a good photo of a landscape or building. Travel and landscape photography are covered, as well as how to best organize your photo library and apps you can use to shoot and edit. It’s US$29.95 on Amazon for the paperback, and US$17.29 for the Kindle edition.
Charles Geschke (pictured above), who co-founded Adobe and helped develop the PDF, passed away aged 81 on Friday. He helped found the software firm in 1982 and a decade later was kidnapped at gunpoint, eventually being released unhurt after four days. BBC News reported on the tribute paid to Mr. Geschke by the current CEO of the company he created.
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said Geschke, widely known as Chuck, “sparked the desktop publishing revolution”. “This is a huge loss for the entire Adobe community and the technology industry, for whom he has been a guide and hero for decades,” he wrote in an email to the company’s employees. “As co-founders of Adobe, Chuck and John Warnock developed ground-breaking software that has revolutionized how people create and communicate,” he said.
The second season of Tiny World was one of a number of new nature documentaries released on Apple TV+ on Friday. In a newly released clip, some of the camera operators reveal the groundbreaking technology and techniques used to get amazing shots inside a coral reef.
· John F. Braun & Dave Hamilton · Mac Geek Gab Podcast
Sometimes your iPhone’s silent, and sometime it’s not. But what about when it decides what to do, not you? That’s when you call John and Dave! Or you can email them. Or you can text them. Or you can post in the forums. Either way, they’ll answer your questions and try to help solve your problems. Listen to all your questions answered, Cool Stuff Found and Quick Tips shared, and you’re guaranteed to learn at least five new things hanging out with your two favorite geeks!
The creator of The New Oil shared his website that gives people resources on privacy. But it’s not just a list of private tools to use. Instead the goal is to give people context and explain concepts like data breaches, why strong passwords matter, encryption, and more.
Most of us are not strangers to the concept of surveillance capitalism and targeted advertising. Most of us don’t particularly care, either. After all, who wouldn’t want relevant ads for movies or products that might actually appeal to you or improve your life? The thing is, most of us don’t understand the aggressive measures these companies go to to create those marketing profiles, or the devastating effects they can have on people.
We have a bit more news about the SolarWinds hack this week. NPR has wrapped up an investigation and reveals the “behind-the-scenes” story.
“Imagine those Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups going into the package and just before the machine comes down and seals the package, some other thing comes in and slides a razor blade into your Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup,” he said. Instead of a razor blade, the hackers swapped the files so “the package gets sealed and it goes out the door to the store.”
