Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck called on Congress to regulate the use of consumer location data in an op-ed published by The New York Times. He further said such regulation should include three principles: 1.) Location data requests in apps be tied to an actual service; 2.) Transparency for users, 3.) That companies getting location data agree to “do no harm.” It’s an interesting read, especially from one of the big players in location data use. Here’s a snippet:
There are no formal rules for what is ethical — or even legal — in the location data business. We could all take a Hippocratic oath for data science (as in medicine: “First do no harm”), and hope that living by such an oath would curb abuses. But even in the best of circumstances, that oath is voluntary. It’s time for Congress to regulate the industry.
We have a deal on a pair of TREBLAB Z2 Bluetooth 5.0 Noise-Cancelling Headphones. This is an updated version of the TREBLAB Z2 headphones, with an all-black design and support for Bluetooth 5, as well as the active noise cancellation.
Apple’s Beats By Dre announced Solo Pro on Tuesday, the company’s first on-ear, noise-canceling headphones. They also include support for “Hey Siri,” Apple’s voice assistant. According to the company, Solo Pro offers an “exceptional frequency response with lower total harmonic distortion.” It also has two beam-forming microphones and and what Beats says is an “updated speech-detecting accelerometer” for voice calls. They’re $299.95, and will ship onOctober 30th in Black, Ivory, Gray, Dark Blue, Light Blue and Red. You can preorder now.
Apple updated AirPort Utility to version 1.3.6 on Tuesday, the first update to the software in a year. The patch notes specify little or nothing, but it’s a safe bet it was updated to better work with iOS 13 (which was updated to iOS 13.1.3 Tuesday, as well).
Apple has released an Apple TV app for Roku devices, bringing the company’s Apple TV+ subscription service to the Roku platform. Apple TV+ launches November 1st, but the app will also allow users to, “Buy or rent new release movies or explore the catalog of over 100,000 movies and shows—including the largest catalog of 4K HDR movies.” In other words, you can get content from the iTunes Store, or whatever Apple is calling that aspect of its business these days. You can download the Apple TV app for Roku devices from the Roku Channel Store.
We have a deal on Luminar 3, photo editing software for Mac and Windows. It features Accent AI 2.0, which lets you make dozens of adjustments using one slider; “human-aware” technology that recognizes people and applies adjustments selectively for more realistic results; you can enhance the skies in your photos with AI Sky Enhancer; and, more than 70 instant looks hand-crafted by pro photographers. Luminar 3 is $29 through our deal.
Savannah Reising of Astropad posted a killer blog post (via Dave Mark at The Loop) offering six tips for how to handle being sherlocked by Apple. Getting sherlocked means that Apple just announced the product, software, or feature that you built your business on, and it’s a known risk for Apple ecosystem veterans. It happened to Astropad when Apple announced Sidecar at WWDC this past June. Her lessons include Know your true competition; Don’t wait to diversify; Build a culture of experimentation; Go where your customers go; Seize the narrative; and, When Apple goes wide — dive deep. It’s a very good read, and I strongly recommend it.
But now that the Sidecar dust has settled, I want to share our experience with other players in the Apple ecosystem. My intent is two-fold: On a personal level, it’s therapeutic to reflect on how this has impacted our work. But more importantly, my hope is that by candidly sharing our story, I can pass along some of the painful insights we learned along the way — like how you can prevent getting sherlocked, and what to do if it happens to you.
North Korean hacking group “Lazarus Group” has been targeting Macs with a bit of fake website used to promote an open source app that served as a trojan horse. The fake site was called JMT Trading, and was designed to look like a trading platform. To use the trading platform, you had to download an app from Github, but even though the app was open source, it contained malware for Macs, with the whole scheme being part of North Korea’s efforts to steal Bitcoin. Check out Forbes‘s report:
The hackers may then go a step further by contacting administrators and users of cryptocurrency exchanges, asking them to test and review their new app, Wardle told Forbes. If they get lucky, they get a bit of leverage in an official cryptocurrency vendor and start infecting targets.
Called “The End,” the Season X finale for the world’s most popular game ended with the island that plays host to the game being sucked into a black hole.
Bitcoin remains the cryptocurrency of choice on the dark web, according to a report from TheNextWeb. That might be mostly a matter of inertia, however, as privacy-oriented cryptos are gaining steam. Cryptos like Monero and Dash, as well as others, have features baked into their underlying blockchain that can make it much harder to trace transactions. From TheNextWeb‘s coverage:
Bitcoin is still very much the dark web‘s favorite cryptocurrency, but those looking to cover their tracks are slowly learning to use privacy-focused alternatives. […] Authorities say there has been a more “pronounced shift” towards more privacy-orientated cryptocurrencies, and expects this trend to continue as criminals become more security aware.
There’s a new Kickstarter project for a PC case making waves because of its similarity to Apple’s as-yet-unshipped Mac Pro. That mostly because it looks exactly like Apple’s as-yet-unshipped Mac Pro. Honestly, I’d be surprised if Apple doesn’t attempt to squash it, and I’d be only slightly less surprised if they failed to do so. In any event, this case looks like the Mac Pro, but is designed for off-the-shelf PC components. It will come with a front that looks more like Apple’s original cheese grater Mac Pro, but there’s an optional “patent pending” “noise dampener” front and back that looks like Apple’s new cheese grater. The accompanying image would be that optional front, on the left, and the accompanying back plate, on the right. There are many more pics on the rather slick website linked below. No pricing has been announced, but it launches on Kickstarter on October 21st.
We have a deal on a 3-year subscription for CuriosityStream, the streaming and on-demand service with more than 2,000 documentaries and shows. It works in a browser, iOS, Apple TV 4 and above, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Xbox One, and more. It’s $45 through our deal.
We have a deal on a Nomad Lightning cable that has its own built-in 2,800mAh portable battery. It’s a 1.5 meter nylon-wrapped MFi -certified Lightning charging cable, and the housings at either end are made of aluminum. And then embedded in the cable is that 2,800mAh battery. This device is just $19.99 through our deal.
We have a deal on the PM Leather Protective Wallet Case. This wallet-style case is made from PU leather, and it includes slots for credit cards, ID cards, and one large pocket for your bills. It also has a kickstand function for propping your iPhone up. We’re linking to the black case for the iPhone 11 for $12.99. There’s a pulldown menu for iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, too, as well as several color choices.
