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Amazon Echo Still has no Killer Apps

Charlotte Henry ·

Amazon’s Echo range of smart speakers are hugely popular. However, the device has not triggered a huge range of apps, nor standout successes, in the way smartphones did. Both the Apple App Store and Google Play store have far more apps on them, and generate farm more revenue for developers. Bloomberg News spoke to some developers to discover what the issues were.

Echo-branded smart speakers have attracted millions of fans with their ability to play music and respond to queries spoken from across the room. But almost four years after inviting outside developers to write apps for Alexa, Amazon’s voice system has yet to offer a transformative new experience. Surveys show most people use their smart speakers to listen to tunes or make relatively simple requests—“Alexa, set a timer for 30 minutes”—while more complicated tasks prompt them to give up and reach for their smartphone.

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Apple Still Offers Interactive Tour of iPhone 3GS

Andrew Orr ·

As discovered by Reddit, Apple still offers an interactive tour of the iPhone 3GS and all of its features. A tour of the iPhone 4 is available as well.

Meet the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet. iPhone 3GS features video recording, Voice Control, up to 32GB of storage, and more.

It’s so interesting to see how far the iPhone has come in terms of hardware and software. This is a cool blast from the past.

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Companies Affected by Box Enterprise Oopsie

Andrew Orr ·

Dozens of companies—including Apple—have been affected by a Box enterprise leak. Data stored in Box enterprise accounts are private by default. But people can share files and folders, which makes the data publicly accessible.

The discoveries were made by Adversis, a cybersecurity firm, which found major tech companies and corporate giants had left data inadvertently exposed…Using a script to scan for and enumerate Box accounts with lists of company names and wildcard searches, Adversis found more than 90 companies with publicly accessible folders.

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Facebook vs Snapchat is Like Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates

Charlotte Henry ·

Facebook’s so-called “pivot to privacy” has elicited a number of reactions. One of the more incisive ones comes from Kara Swisher. In a New York Times Sunday review column, Ms. Swisher compared Facebook’s attempts to bolster private messaging, in direct competition with Snapchat, to the battle between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. In that case, Mr. Jobs’s “stunning creativity” eventually “won out.” This time, the size of Facebook may mean Mr. Zuckerberg can make a success of the Snapchat model. If he really means it.

Mr. Zuckerberg is to Bill Gates as Mr. Spiegel is to Steve Jobs. Mr. Jobs always had better ideas and vision than Mr. Gates. But Apple spent a long time in dire straits while he pushed his high-level concepts about security, privacy, and design and simplicity. Mr. Gates, on the other hand, was an unqualified genius at business models and systems, and he clearly understood the depressing truth that good enough was good enough for a lot of consumers.

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Going Cashless is in Our Near Future

Andrew Orr ·

Jefferson Graham writes how going cashless is the future, with contactless payment apps like Apple Pay ushering this reality in.

“It seems that people are moving away from cash and technology is making it easier than ever to tap and go.” Advantage: faster checkout lines, and the elimination of fees for armored car cash pickups and fear from employees about getting robbed.

For the most part I’m already mostly cashless. The only thing I need cash for is laundry. For everything else I use a debit or credit card.

TMO Deals

Manage Complicated Projects and Tight Deadlines with Aeon Timeline 2: $14.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

Check out today’s deal on Aeon Timeline 2. I personally love this software. It’s a timeline app for Mac or Windows that allows you to track and/or plot timelines. I like it for managing story lines when I’m working on fiction, but it’s designed to use for a large variety of projects—anything that involves time. It’s very cool, and you can get it through our deal for $14.99 using coupon code DOWNLOADIT at checkout.

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Be Sure to Properly Remove Data from Devices

Andrew Orr ·

David Nield implores us to make sure we properly remove data from our devices before we get rid of them.

Your personal data—be it financial spreadsheets or web searches—is not something you want to be leaving behind for other people to find, and totally wiping your activity off devices or the web takes a few more steps than you might have realized. Don’t worry though, as we’re going to walk you through the process.

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Verifications.io Leaked 809 Million Records

Andrew Orr ·

An email marketing company called Verifications.io—which has been taken offline—exposed 809 million records in a database.

In general, the 809 million total records in the Verifications.io trove include standard information like names, email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses. But many also include things like gender, date of birth, personal mortgage amount, interest rate, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram accounts associated with email addresses, and characterizations of people’s credit scores (like average, above average, and so on).

As always, use the tool HaveIBeenPwned.com to see if your email was included in a data breach.

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Silicon Valley Workers Look to Improve Conditions for Contractors

Charlotte Henry ·

The treatment of contractors was a key issue raised by the recent Google walkout, and by workers and other Silicon Valley firms. Apple itself has been criticized for how non-permanent staff are treated. Now, some workers at Facebook are getting organized. FastCompany reported that they have started a group called Workers for Workers, and are surveying permanent and contractor colleagues about their working conditions.

The fight for solidarity may now be spreading to Facebook, with the launch this week of a group called Workers for Workers. Its website features anonymous stories by Facebook contractors, known as “contingent workers.” The first (and thus far only) post, by someone called “Alice,” states: “The number one thing I’m worried about right now is being stuck in these kinds of contracting roles forever. Never making more than $25 an hour, and being a permanent contractor . . . ”

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Apple AR Headset Set for 2020, According to Top Analyst

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple’s forthcoming AR headset is set to be released 2020, according to high-profile Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. He added that manufacturing will beging by the end of 2019, according to AppleInsider. Significantly, it looks like your iPhone is going to most of the hard work, while the glasses act as a display.

 Kuo claims the first generation of Apple’s AR glasses will only act as a display, with a nearby iPhone performing all of the processing, including rendering scenes, providing a data connection, and location-based services like GPS. It is unclear if the accessory would be connected by a cable or take the wireless route and use Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or another similar technology for close-range communications.

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In 2023 Apple Wants to Have Zero Net Cash

Andrew Orr ·

Apple has US$245 of gross cash and other things like long-term securities. It has US$115 billion in long-term debt. This makes its net cash position US$130 billion, and Apple CFO Luca Maestri has said eventually the company wants to have a net cash neutral position. Tiernan Ray writes about issues that may arise because of this.

Come 2023, will investors balk at an Apple suddenly less generous with its capital returns? And if Apple puts off that day as much as possible, plodding along with no significant increase in capital returns, will it lose the support of those fickle buyers hungry for shares with meaningful dividend buyback increases every year?

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There is Only One Blockbuster Left in the World

Charlotte Henry ·

And then there was one. The Blockbuster video rental store in Bend, Oregon is to be the last one remaining. A store in Morely, Australia announced Thursday that it will be closing its doors to rentals. It will permanently close at the end of March, the Verge reported. It is hardly surprising that the Blockbusters are going given the growth of online streaming, but it is nostalgia-inducing all the same.

For anyone who’s been paralyzed by choice at the sheer volume of films available on Netflix, having your choice limited by a physical selection of discs can feel particularly freeing. After today’s final day of rentals, Australia’s last Blockbuster store will remain open until the end of the month to sell off its stock, including DVDs, Blu-rays, and even “shop fittings and fixtures.”

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Musicians Are Happy With Apple Right Now

Andrew Orr ·

Spotify, Google, Pandora, and Amazon are joining forces to appeal a ruling by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board that would increase payouts to songwriters by 44%. Can’t have the people producing music for your service making more money. But Apple isn’t joining the appeal, which makes musicians happy.

We thank Apple Music for accepting the CRB decision and continuing to be a friend to songwriters,” he said. “While Spotify and Amazon surely hope this will play out in a quiet appellate courtroom, every songwriter and every fan of music should stand up and take notice. We will fight with every available resource to protect the CRB’s decision.

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Update Your Chrome Browser Right Now

John Martellaro ·

PC Magazine writes:

Google is urging Chrome users [Mac, Windows, Linux] to update the web browser right away to patch a zero-day vulnerability that is being actively exploited.

In a Tuesday tweet, Google Chrome Security and Desktop Engineering Lead Justin Schuh said users should install the latest version of the browser—72.0.3626.121—right away.

Like…right now.

TMO Deals

The iPhone XS Max 256GB + AirPods Giveaway

Bryan Chaffin ·

Check out the The iPhone XS Max 256GB + AirPods Giveaway we’re running with Stack Commerce. All you have to do is sign up—or log in to our Deals site if you’re already signed up—and click the green Enter to Win button. One winner will be drawn in about a month.

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T-Mobile to Launch LTE Home Internet With 5G Coming

Andrew Orr ·

T-Mobile will start testing an LTE Home Internet service soon, and will also offer 5G Home Internet once it’s rolled out.

Home broadband is one of the most un-competitive industries in existence. The New T-Mobile & 5G can and will change all that. And we’ve already got this in the works. T-Mobile will soon begin a pilot of Home Internet service using a 4G router operating over T-Mobile’s LTE network. Customers will get the router for free, and after the merger, it will be upgraded to include 2.5 GHz spectrum and 5G compatible hardware.

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Apple VR Headset Could have Motorized Headband

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple’s much speculated upon VR headset looks evermore likely thanks to a couple of recent patents. Whatismore, it could come with a motorized headband. Cult of Mac noticed that Apple has applied for a patent for a motorized adjustment system. It also filed a patent for a “Thermal Regulation for Head-Mounted Display.”

The description is written in the stilted language of such things. It says, in part, “the adjustment mechanism includes a variable volume structure that changes fit of the headband relative to the head of the user by volumetric expansion or volumetric contraction.” It gets a bit more eyebrow-raising when the filing mentions “an electric motor that changes fit of the headband relative to a head of the user by constricting or expanding a length of the headband.”

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Iranian Hackers Target Hundreds of Firms Including Microsoft

Charlotte Henry ·

Iranian hackers attacked hundreds of global firms over the last two years. Those targeted included Microsoft. The Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft traced the attack against it to a group called Holmium. It had been tracking the group for 4 years. At the time of this writing, it had not been reported that Apple was a target.

The campaign, the scope of which hadn’t previously been reported, stole corporate secrets and wiped data from computers. It caused damages estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity and affected oil-and-gas companies, heavy-machinery manufacturers and international conglomerates in more than a half-dozen countries including Saudi Arabia, Germany, the U.K., India and the U.S., according to researchers at Microsoft, which deployed incident-response teams to some of the affected companies.

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Ira Flatow Says Apple Watch 'Saved' his Brother

Charlotte Henry ·

Science Friday host Ira Flatow revealed Thursday that the Apple Watch had “saved” his brother. The device alerted Mr. Flatow’s sibling that he had a very high resting heartbeat. It told him to go to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed tachycardia, AppleInsider reported.

Posting to Twitter, host of radio show Science Friday Ira Flatow revealed his brother was “saved by his Apple Watch,” alerting him to a higher than normal heartbeat. According to the personality, the heart beat was in excess of 200 beats per minute, prompting the sibling to take a trip to the hospital. Doctors issued a diagnosis of tachycardia, a condition when the heart rate exceeds the normal resting rate, which for most adults would be a resting heart rate of over 100 beats per minute.

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U.S. Government Tracks Journalists in Database

Andrew Orr ·

A startling investigation by NBC 7 journalists reveals how the U.S. government tracks journalists through use of a database.

Documents obtained by NBC 7 Investigates show the U.S. government created a secret database of activists, journalists, and social media influencers tied to the migrant caravan and in some cases, placed alerts on their passports.

In fact, their own government had listed their names in a secret database of targets, where agents collected information on them. Some had alerts placed on their passports, keeping at least two photojournalists and an attorney from entering Mexico to work.

This is why private services like end-to-end encrypted messaging apps are so important. It’s bad enough if a foreign government is surveilling you. We don’t need our own government to do the same.

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No, Apple Doesn't Keep a Location List to Track You

Andrew Orr ·

Paige Leskin’s article about location tracking is a bit misleading. She mentions that Apple keeps a detailed location list of every place you’ve visited. Which is false, because Apple doesn’t know anything about your location. Your iPhone does though, but that data doesn’t get sent to Apple unless you specifically opt in to send analytics to Apple. This is more than semantics, because your data staying on your iPhone is the foundation of Apple’s privacy stance. If you go to Settings > General > Privacy > Location Services, you can tap on the blue text at the top that says “About Location Services & Privacy.” This section clearly states “This data is encrypted and stored only on your device and will not be shared without your consent.” And if you did consent to share it with Apple, you’re probably not worried.

Apple tracks and stores where you’ve been and how often (and when) you visit. But it gets even more detailed than that: Your iPhone compiles locations specific to a single address and tracks when you leave there and even how long it took to get there and by which mode of transportation.

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That Ominous Figure in the Corner of Your Digital Living Room is Mark Zuckerberg

Andrew Orr ·

Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to be your “digital living room” where you can privately share your thoughts, messages, and photos of your kids that the company will use for advertising purposes. Which was a topic left out of his essay on his new “privacy-focused vision.”

I understand that many people don’t think Facebook can or would even want to build this kind of privacy-focused platform — because frankly we don’t currently have a strong reputation for building privacy protective services, and we’ve historically focused on tools for more open sharing. But we’ve repeatedly shown that we can evolve to build the services that people really want, including in private messaging and stories.

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Guy Kawasaki: 'Customers can't tell you how to create a revolution'

John Martellaro ·

Over at Forbes, Alejandro Cremades provides an updated thumbnail of Guy Kawasaki, the former Apple star evangelist. Included are three counter-intuitive principles Kawasaki learned from Steve Jobs, Guy’s list of the only three true visionaries in the history of American business, and info on Guy’s new book: Wise Guy. Want to get in touch with Kawasaki? That’s also included.