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Google Will Offer Consumers Checking Accounts

Charlotte Henry ·

Google is going to partner with banks to start offering checking accounts. Techcrunch reported that the consumer service will begin next year.

The initial financial partners that Google is working with include Citigroup and Stanford Federal Credit Union, and their motivation per the WSJ piece appears to be seeking out and attracting younger and more digital-savvy customers who are increasingly looking to handle more of their lives through online tools. Per Sengupta’s comments, they’ll also benefit from Google’s ability to work with large sets of data and turn those into value-add products, but the Google exec also said the tech company doesn’t use Google Pay data for advertising, nor does it share that data with advertisers.

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Phil Schiller Explains How Apple Reinvented The MacBook Pro Keyboard

Charlotte Henry ·

One of the key complaints about the previous MacBook Pro was the scissor keyboard. Users worldwide have highlighted issues with the famously flimsy keyboard. Apple has tried to fix the issue in the new 16-inch model. The firm’s head of marketing Phil Schiller explained its thinking to CNET.

The challenge, says Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller, was taking the best of the Magic Keyboard, an accessory designed for desktop computers such as the upcoming Mac Pro, which launches in December, and adapting and evolving it for the new notebook. «People sometimes underestimate how much work goes into a keyboard, and that’s why most keyboards in the industry don’t change for 10 or 20 years,» Schiller said in an interview. «We decided that while we were advancing the butterfly keyboard, we would also — specifically for our pro customer — go back and really talk to many pro customers about what they most want in a keyboard and did a bunch of research. The team took the time to do the work to investigate, research, explore and reinvent.»

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Disney+ Alters Scene Between Greedo and Han Solo

Andrew Orr ·

Disney+ has altered the shoot out scene between Greedo and Han Solo, making this the third alteration over the years.

You can see the footage isn’t as lightened as some previous editions. It does lean on the grainier look used in the 1977 reel, but it is longer overall. That is because an additional bit of dialogue was added to Greedo. Not only does the version make it more difficult to tell whether Greedo shot first, but it sees them shout something at Han Solo before being killed.

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Privacytools.io Delists Startpage Over System1

Andrew Orr ·

Privacytools.io delists Startpage from its list of privacy tools and services. Startpage had been taken over by Privacy One Group, which itself is owned by System1. System1 is a targeted advertising company with a business model that seemed—to many—to be in conflict with Startpage’s own privacy-centric model.

Because of the conflicting business model and the unusual way the company reacted, claiming to be fully transparent but being evasive at the same time, we have no choice but to de-list Startpage from our recommendations until it is fully transparent about its new ownership and data processing. Remaining questions include…

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Suspicionless Searches of Travelers' Devices Ruled Unconstitutional

Andrew Orr ·

A federal court ruled that suspicionless searches of travelers’ phones and laptops is unconstitutional, a win for privacy rights.

The ruling came in a lawsuit, Alasaad v. McAleenan, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and ACLU of Massachusetts, on behalf of 11 travelers whose smartphones and laptops were searched without individualized suspicion at U.S. ports of entry.

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504th Military App Could Expose Soldiers’ Data

Andrew Orr ·

The 504th military app gives soldiers weather updates, training changes, and other logistics. But its terms of service say it collects a lot of personal data, and if the app was hacked it could potentially expose top-secret information.

The app’s permissions — which suggested it could pull GPS location data, photos, contacts and even rewrite memory cards — frustrated soldiers who have taken extreme precautions they felt were glossed over by Trotter and other senior leaders…The worst-case scenario, he said, was “our cover might be blown.” While the app said permissions could be disabled, the soldiers said there was a failure of confidence it was secure. Senior leaders checked the phones of subordinates to ensure they had the app installed, soldiers in the unit said.

Why it’s especially concerning: “The app developer, Straxis LLC, is based in Tulsa but has a subsidiary in southern India.”

TMO Deals

GO-TOUGH Reinforced MFi Lightning Cable: $21.24

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on the GO-TOUGH reinforced MFi Lightning cable. 6.5 feet in length, this cable is made from heavy-duty PET reinforced cable with reinforced stress points for reduced fraying. It’s $24.99 through our deal, but coupon code BFSAVE15 brings it down to $21.24 at checkout.

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Twitter Wants Users to Help it Finish Deepfakes Policy

Charlotte Henry ·

Twitter announced proposals for its policy to tackle deepfakes on Monday. Now, The Verge reported, it wants users to help it finish the job.

Late last month, the Twitter Safety team announced it’d be seeking feedback on what a deepfake and synthetic media policy would look like on the platform. In a blog post on Monday referencing that announcement, Twitter vice president of trust and safety Del Harvey wrote that if manipulated media was flagged on the platform, Twitter could end up placing a notice next to it alerting users that it’s been distorted, warning them that it’s false before they share it, or adding context in the form of a link or news article breaking down why others believe that it’s untrue. Twitter could also remove the content, Harvey wrote.

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How Apple Became the Most Valuable Public Company Again

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple’s stock hit a new record high following its recent third-quarter earnings report. The recent Motley Fool podcast discussed how.

It’s all about the services with Apple, at least on the growth side. As you mentioned, the iPhone business, as we’ve talked about, pretty stagnant now. They continue to make really good iPhones. The iPhone 11 is seeing good reception. But revenue up 2%, a little higher than guidance. If you back out the iPhone, growth is up 17%. But really about the wearables. The wearables business continues to drive a lot of the growth on the services side, which includes the wearables. Up 18% on the sales. Now makes up 20% of sales but 33% of the gross profits. They now have 33,000 apps across all the platforms. It was the best quarter ever for AppleCare.