Today Britain rolled out strict privacy protections for kids, like requiring tech platforms to turn on protections by default.
The new rules are the most comprehensive protections to arise from heightened global concern that popular online services exploit children’s information, suggest inappropriate content to them and fail to protect them from sexual predators. The British children’s protections far outstrip narrower rules in the United States, which apply only to online services aimed at children under 13.
The next version of Safari will remove Adobe Flash support. We can see a glimpse of this move in Safari Technology Preview 99.
Google’s Project Zero security team found multiple Intelligent Tracking Prevention flaws in Safari that let users be tracked anyway.
Moment Pro Camera is currently on sale for US$3.99 (regularly US$5.99). You can use the app even if you don’t have a Moment lens. Pro features for filmmakers: Color profiles, bitrates, dual-channel audio meters, real-time waveforms, and fast access to frame rates. Pro features for photographers: Shoot RAW, split focus/exposure, and manually control everything (exposure, ISO, shutter speed, white balance, and focus). Plus there are more features like distortion correction, slow shutter, motion blur, light trails, focus peaking, and more.
Announce Messages with Siri is a feature with certain Apple headphones where Siri reads your incoming messages and lets you reply with voice.
Native Union just released new cases for AirPods Pro, and one of them looks like Nilfgaardian armor from The Witcher series on Netflix. The US$19.99 Curve Case is textured silicon with a dust-repellent finish. Another one is a US$49.99 Italian leather case available in black, tan, navy, and green. These new cases officially go on sale today, January 22.
Featuring two designs carefully crafted from genuine leather and textured silicone, the new cases ensure hassle free access to AirPods Pro, charging port and controls. Both designs are compatible with wireless chargers and provide a seamless fit, adding unmistakable style to your everyday carry without compromising function.
Inside a lab in New York worth US$10 million, specialists are trying to brute force their way into iPhones and iPads.
What’s going on in the isolation room is important, if silent, forensic work. All of the phones are hooked up to two powerful computers that generate random numbers in an attempt to guess the passcode that locked each device. At night, technicians can enlist other computers in the office, harnessing their unused processing power to create a local supercomputer network.
Good news for sci-fi fans: Altered Carbon season 2 arrives on Netflix February 27, 2020.
Season 2 of the sophisticated and compelling sci-fi drama finds Takeshi Kovacs (Anthony Mackie), the lone surviving soldier of a group of elite interstellar warriors, continuing his centuries-old quest to find his lost love Quellcrist Falconer (Renée Elise Goldsberry).
I enjoyed watching the show so I’m excited for season 2. It’s been so long since I’ve seen season 1 that I forgot For All Mankind’s Joel Kinnaman was in it.
Apple is reminding developers that new restrictions for kids apps and HTML5 apps go into effect on March 3, 2020.
At first Apple Card was locked down from money management apps, but there’s now a middle ground: Export Apple Card data to a spreadsheet.
Andrew found seven Apple alternatives to use if you don’t want your data shared with the FBI, including Bitwarden, Cryptomator, and more.
According to Apple’s Legal Process Guidelines, there is a lot of data that the company can provide to law enforcement.
Apple had plans to introduce end-to-end encryption for iCloud backups, but canceled it two years ago after the FBI complained.
In a long read from NYT, Kashmir Hill writes about a startup called Clearview AI that works with law enforcement on facial recognition.
You take a picture of a person, upload it and get to see public photos of that person, along with links to where those photos appeared. The system — whose backbone is a database of more than three billion images that Clearview claims to have scraped from Facebook, YouTube, Venmo and millions of other websites — goes far beyond anything ever constructed by the United States government or Silicon Valley giants.
A report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) shows that the iPhone 11/Pro/Pro Max dominated sales for Q4 2019.
Apple’s original drama series Home Before Dark will premiere on April 3 and has been already renewed for a second season.
In most games and other depictions, necromancers are usually the bad guys. But in Undead Horde you get to play as one. Come to think of it, that could still make it the bad guy. Your enemy is the paladin Benevictor, who defeated you and imprisoned you in a cage. But thanks to an unlikely hero you have escaped. Slay the living, then reanimate them as your own soldiers. Upgrade your character with an endless number of weapons, armor, and magical items, and sell and trade your loot for more gear. And the best part about Undead Horde is that it’s one of those “old-fashioned” games without in-app microtransactions. No coins, gold, gems, etc. Just one purchase and you get to play. App Store: US$5.99
Violet Blue has an interesting take, that of your online activity as a social credit score. The SCC is something we usually associate with China, but we’re seeing trends suggesting America is moving toward a similar system.
Combine this with companies like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and yes, Airbnb deciding what legal behaviors are acceptable for service, and now we’re looking at groups of historically marginalized people being denied involvement in mainstream economic, political, cultural and social activities — at scale.
Andrew uses WordPress every day to write his articles, and he’s back with another tip to make your writing faster.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are joining Apple in its encryption battle with the government.
