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GDPR Hasn’t Been as Aggressive as Critics Would Like

Andrew Orr ·

Two years later, Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation has struggled with a lack of enforcement, not enough funding, limited staff resources, and stalling tactics by tech companies.

Privacy groups and smaller tech companies complain that companies like Facebook and Google are avoiding tough oversight. At the same time, the public’s experience with the G.D.P.R. has been a frustrating number of pop-up consent windows to click through when visiting a website.

I expected a lot more out of it as well. Sounds like the government needs to take it more seriously.

Podcast

It's Good to Do The Math – Mac Geek Gab 812

John F. Braun & Dave Hamilton · · 1 Comment

USB Power Delivery isn’t as clear a concept as it could be, and your two favorite geeks help sort this out. That’s not all, of course, because John and Dave are here to answer ALL of your questions. This week that includes issues with Spotlight, Backups, displays for your Mac mini, managing your external DAC, and more. Press play … and enjoy!

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You Can Swap Some iPhone 8 Parts Into The 2020 iPhone SE

Charlotte Henry ·

As has been widely noted, the 2020 iPhone SE has the same body as the iPhone 8. An iFixit teardown showed that you can swap certain parts of the old device into the new one.

The good parts first: iPhone SE’s cameras, SIM tray, Taptic Engine, and display assembly (including the microphone and proximity sensor) are all swappable with iPhone 8 parts. And that screen should be cheaper to replace than any new iPhone we’ve seen in years. However, as with any modern iPhone screen swap, you will lose True Tone unless you have access to a screen programmer. And home buttons are still not interchangeable—you’ll need to hold on to your original home button in the event of a repair, substitute an aftermarket home button with no Touch ID, or else pay Apple whatever they ask to fix it for you.

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Apple Disputes Zero Day Found in Apple Mail

Andrew Orr ·

Apple disagrees with a report from security company ZecOps that found an exploit that took advantage of the default iOS Mail app.

In the now-disputed report, ZecOps had said the critical flaw was located in the Mail app and could be triggered be sending specially manipulated emails that required no interaction on the part of users[…]

The critics said if the exploit was able to delete the emails ,it would have been able to delete the crash log data as well. The critics said that failure and some technical details contained in the ZecOps report strongly suggested the flaw was a more benign bug that was triggered by certain types of emails. Also skeptical, the critics said, is that an advanced exploit would cause a crash at all.

An interesting update to this saga. The bug certainly caused these devices to crash, but it remains to be seen whether that resulted in stolen data.

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iPhone 12 Faces Delays and Limits to 5G Capacity

Charlotte Henry ·

There are more indications that the iPhone 12 will face delays. Available options may also differ depending on the availability of faster 5G networks, according to Cult of Mac.

Options also could be limited in the United States and in other countries, where faster mmWave 5G technology is available. Elsewhere, customers may have a complete iPhone 12 lineup to choose from, but with slower 5G technology, according to the source. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has placed question marks on whether Apple’s next-generation iPhone lineup will arrive on time. Many reliable sources remain confident that Apple plans to launch new phones in September, as is traditional.

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Morgan Stanley: Apple to Announce Better-Than-Expected Revenue

Charlotte Henry ·

Morgan Stanley thinks that Apple will announce better than expected revenue in its next earnings call. That’s according to a note by Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, seen by AppleInsider.

That assessment is based on several factors, including a normalizing of factory activity in China where production of the company’s iPhones appear to be outpacing estimates. Huberty is now forecasting 41 million units produced during the current June quarter, roughly 25% higher than her original 33 million unit estimate. Combined with a strong balance sheet and stabilizing expectations of a 5G iPhone later in the year, Huberty named Apple her top pick amongst the IT Hardware companies Morgan Stanley tracks as part of the group.

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Facebook Removes ‘Pseudoscience’ Category for Targeted Ads

Andrew Orr ·

Facebook is no longer allowing advertisers to use pseudoscience as a category with which to target people.

The company eliminated the pseudoscience category from its “detailed targeting” list on Wednesday, the spokeswoman said by phone, after tech news site The Markup showed that it could advertise a post targeting people interested in pseudoscience.

The Markup demonstrated that Facebook was allowing such ads after saying it would police COVID-19 misinformation on its platform. More than 78 million Facebook users were interested in “pseudoscience,” it said, citing Facebook’s ad portal.

Good to see Facebook doing this. Now we just need YouTube to stop recommending conspiracy videos.