Host Kelly Guimont chats with Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro about this round of Project Titan Layoffs, and ARM processors coming to Macs.
TikTok Fined 5.7M Over Illegal Data Collection of Kids
TikTok is being fined US$5.7 million over allegations that it «illegally collected images, voice recordings, and geolocation of children, some younger than 13.»
The amount, part of an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday, is the largest civil penalty ever issued by the agency in a child privacy case. FTC commissioners Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter also filed a separate statement calling for TikTok executives to be held accountable in any future cases. «In our view, these practices reflected the company’s willingness to pursue growth even at the expense of endangering children,» the statement read.
Halide's New App Spectre Gives You AI-Powered Long Exposure
Halide is a fantastic camera app for the iPhone, and one that I use exclusively. The team created a new app called Spectre. It gives you long exposure photography powered by machine learning.
Spectre reimagines long exposures: its intelligent shutter takes hundreds of photos during the exposure time and merges the result. That means you don’t just get a final still image, but also a video of the entire exposure as it happened.
The app is on sale with an introductory price of only US$1.99.
Like Apple News, Privacy is a Feature of Apple Podcasts
It’s hard for publishers and individuals to make money via Apple’s platforms like News and Podcasts. Jason Snell’s argument seems to be that competitors like Spotify might do better than Apple because advertisers can’t collect user statistics from Podcasts. It’s a conundrum, because I think you can have both good privacy and good advertising. But Apple is never going to give up privacy in favor of deeper advertising. Hopefully there can be a happy medium.
Maybe it’s all for the best. There aren’t too many examples of enormous tech companies opting not to take advantage of their dominance in a market. Perhaps Apple’s light touch on the world of podcasting will continue, at least until a competitor does something to get its attention.
Do Not Track Setting Could Return With a Vengeance
Apple plans to remove the Do Not Track setting from iOS and macOS because it doesn’t actually do anything. Websites only have to voluntarily obey it, which means that the majority don’t. But a stronger DNT could be coming.
In January 2017 the European Commission announced an initiative to update the ePrivacy Regulation, a proposal that would revisit a 15-year-old directive dealing with privacy protections and how users consent to being tracked by cookies.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Echos Tim Cook on Privacy
At the Mobile World Congress 2019, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella echoed publicly the notions of Apple’s Tim Cook on customer privacy. Computerworld’s Jonny Evans has the story.
Nadella’s Microsoft seems to be moving in a similar direction as the old guard of more responsible technologists join forces to combat the unintended consequences of tech firms who have moved fast and loose in their treatment and support for user privacy.
Evans concludes: «Ultimately, it’s all about trust.»
ActiveDock For Mac Lifetime License: $14.99
We have a deal on ActiveDock for Mac, an improved dock utility that adds several features designed to help you better manage your Mac. It looks and behaves like the regular macOS Dock, but adds in preview features, window management features, and more. Our deal is for a lifetime license for $19.99, but coupon code DOWNLOADIT takes off 25% for a checkout price of $14.99.
Email Scams Increasingly Involve iTunes Gift Cards
Email scams are increasingly involving iTunes gift cards, instead of the old wire transfers. Lily Hay Newman as the scoop.
This trend is on the rise among scammers, both for individual targets and organizations. The Federal Trade Commission reported in October that 26 percent of people who report being scammed in 2018 said they bought or reloaded a gift card to deliver the money, up from seven percent in 2015. The FTC says that gift card-related losses reported to the agency totaled $20 million in 2015, $27 million in 2016, $40 million in 2017, and $53 million in the first nine months of 2018 alone.
A Facebook Clear-History Tool is Coming in 2019
A Facebook clear-history tool is going to be with users by the end of 2019. That’s according to its CFO David Wehner, who spoke Tuesday at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference 2019 in San Francisco, CNBC reported. CEO Mark Zuckerberg originally announced the features in 2018. Mr. Zuckerberg promised in a post that the tool, when it arrived, would be «a simple control to clear your browsing history.»
The feature will allow users to see information about apps and web sites they’ve interacted with and delete this information from their Facebook accounts. Wehner said the feature will make it harder for Facebook to use data collected by third parties to target ads to users. «Broadly, [clear history is] going to give us some headwinds in terms of being able to target as effectively as before,» Wehner said.
Thunderbolt Vulnerability, Warrant Canaries – TMO Daily Observations 2019-02-27
Andrew Orr and Charlotte Henry join host Kelly Guimont to discuss the new Thunderbolt vulnerability and the latest in warrant canaries.
