Private tax companies don’t want you to know this, but if your income is below US$66,000 the IRS offers free tax filing software. If your income is above US$66,000 you can still file for free, but you’ll have to do it manually with fillable forms. However, thanks to the long government shutdown this year, tax returns will end up being late.
Collection 1 is a Massive New Data Breach
Troy Hunt, creator of the Have I Been Pwned? tool, wrote a blog post about the latest data breach called Collection 1.
Let’s start with the raw numbers because that’s the headline, then I’ll drill down into where it’s from and what it’s composed of. Collection #1 is a set of email addresses and passwords totaling 2,692,818,238 rows.It’s made up of many different individual data breaches from literally thousands of different sources.
To find out if your account credentials were leaked, visit haveibeenpwned.com.
Questions for Apple in 2019
Since 2015 Above Avalon has published a list of questions for Apple, across hardware, software, services, and “big picture.” Here are the questions for Apple in 2019.
January is a great time to embrace the unknown rather than come up with Apple predictions for the next 12 months. Accordingly, this is my fifth installment of Apple questions as a new year kicks off.
It’s a big, detailed list and lays out things we wonder and things rumors have suggested.
Facebook to Introduce Stricter Rules in Countries Holding Elections This Year
Facebook will introduce stricter rules on political advertising to a number of countries holding elections this year. The rules and tools aimed at curbing election interference will go live in India, Nigeria, Ukraine, and the European Union. The rollout will begin on Wednesday in Nigeria. Katie Harbath, Facebook’s Director of Global Politics and Outreach, told Reuters that only advertisers located in the country will be able to run electoral adverts there. Rob Leathern, a Director of Product Management at Facebook, also discussed the importance of storing electoral adverts in a searchable library.
We’re learning from every country,” Leathern said. “We know we’re not going to be perfect, but our goal is continuing, ongoing improvement.” Facebook believes that holding the ads in a library for seven years is a key part of fighting intereference, he added.. The library will resemble archives brought to the United States, Brazil and Britain last year.
PDF Converter OCR 6 for Mac: $19
We have a deal on PDF Converter OCR 6 for Mac. This software allows you to make PDFs editable and searchable, while retaining the original layout, graphics, and hyperlinks. You can also scan 27 languages, merge multiple documents, and more. You can get this app for $19 through our deal.
How to Use JavaScript When Creating Shortcuts
Redditor u/keveridge put together a nice guide on how to use JavaScript when creating Shortcuts. JavaScript lets you perform complex actions that would be hard to do with regular shortcut actions.
We make use of the Safari web browser, running within the shortcut, in order to execute the JavaScript. To do so, we:
make an HTML file that contains our code and provides an output;
pass the contents of the file to Safari as a Data URL;
use Get Contents of Web Page to render the page provide the output to the shortcut.
27 Adobe Alternatives to Use on Different Platforms
It seems that Adobe is raising the price of its subscription in specific countries, although U.S. users have been spared. Lifehacker compiled a list of 27 Adobe alternatives in response.
I haven’t tried out all of these apps myself, nor am I the target audience for them—as I don’t really dabble in 3D animation, alas. While we normally recommend apps we’ve used at Lifehacker, in this case, I’ve included recommendations from the various Twitter users who have suggested them when applicable.
On my iPad I quickly bought Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer, and both of them work great for my workflow.
Changing its Mind, Roku Bans Alex Jones
Doing the opposite of most major internet companies, Roku decided for a couple of hours it would allow Alex Jones on its platform.
“After the InfoWars channel became available, we heard from concerned parties and have determined that the channel should be removed from our platform. Deletion from the channel store and platform has begun and will be completed shortly.”
If Roku was going to cave so quickly it shouldn’t have decided to let Alex Jones on in the first place. At least pretend to put up a fight for a couple more days.
Apple's Services Future. It's Going to Be Different.
Apple’s growing services business, and its increasing openness to having its software on other people’s hardware, is one of the most fascinating stories in tech at the moment. Tech blogger turned venture capitalist M.G. Siegler has written an excellent summary of the situation on Medium. As he says, the future for the company “is going to be… different.”
Incidentally, it was a pod that really started to change the equation. The iPod. In order to reach a wider audience with that device, Apple had to do something that was seemingly against Steve Jobs’ DNA: make software for Windows. (Ice water! In Hell!) And the slope ultimately proved slippery, albeit in a slow way. Eventually, we got (and then lost) Safari for Windows. And in the more recent era, Apple Music for Android. And Alexa.
How to Understand Apple Watch Heart Rate Data
Beth Skwarecki wrote a helpful article explaining how to understand Apple Watch heart rate data and what all the numbers mean.
Some major caveats on everything we’re about to say: first, everybody is different, so if your numbers are higher or lower than you’d expect, there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with you. There’s a wide range of normal.
Capture Stunningly Smooth 360° 4K Footage with Insta360 ONE 4K Camera for iPhone: $239.99
Check out today’s deal for the Insta360 ONE 4K Action Camera, a 360 degree camera for your iPhone or iPad. It plugs into your Lightning port, though it can also be controlled via Bluetooth for Android, if that’s your thing. It boosts a 24 megapixel camera, and it supports video up to 4K. The promo video below has a good look at the device, and our deal listing has all the specs and details. It’s $239.99 through us.
Nike Launches Line of Self-Adjusting Basketball Shoes
Nike launched a line of self-adjusting basketball shoes that you can control with your iPhone. They’re based on the company’s FitAdapt technology.
When a player steps into the Nike Adapt BB, a custom motor and gear train senses the tension needed by the foot and adjusts accordingly to keep the foot snug. The tensile strength of the underfoot lacing is able to pull 32 pounds of force (roughly equal to that of a standard parachute cord) to secure the foot throughout a range of movement.
These basketball shoes look slick.
Huawei CEO Said Firm Not a Spy for China
Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei insisted his company does not spy on behalf of China. In a rare public appearance, reported by the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Ren said: “I personally would never harm the interest of my customers and me and my company would not answer to such requests.” It comes as his daughter, the company’s CFO Meng Wanzhou, is fighting extradition to the U.S. after being arrested in Canada.
“No law requires any company in China to install mandatory back doors,” Ren Zhengfei said Tuesday. “I personally would never harm the interest of my customers and me and my company would not answer to such requests.” Mr. Ren’s public comments at Huawei’s campus are his first in years and come as the telecom giant faces challenges on multiple fronts.
Facebook to Invest $300 Million in Local News Initiatives
Facebook announced that it will invest $300 million in local news organizations and initiatives over the next three years. It will put $20 of million of this towards its Facebook Accelerator program that helps publishers develop membership and subscription models. It will also invest $6 million for the UK based Community News Project, $5 million to the Pulitzer Center for its “Bringing Stories Home” initiative, and $2 million for the Report in America initiative that aims to place journalists in local newsrooms. Techcrunch looked at what the money means both for Facebook and the media industry.
As for why Facebook is focusing on local news specifically, Vice President of Global News Partnerships Campbell Brown said in a blog post that after examining “what kind of news people want to see on Facebook” and talking to industry partners, “We heard one consistent answer: people want more local news, and local newsrooms are looking for more support.”
Weed Influencers Online are Helping Firms Get Around Advertising Regulations
Weed firms are using online influencers to get around rules that prohibit the marketing of cannabis, even in U.S. states where the drug is legal. These influencers tend to be young women, who post on Instagram and YouTube, according to a report in Wired. Content can range from confessional videos to product reviews. Even though YouTube said it prohibits content around regulated substances like marijuana and removes the videos when it discovers them, firms marketing the products are benefiting from the influencers’ work.
For marketing agencies and companies selling cannabis products, influencers have been a boon – a creative way to get around regulations, with the added impression of authenticity. Typically, the more people that are looking at your product, or your posts, the better. But as public and legal attitudes to cannabis have shifted, the subcultures immersed in it are being subject to more scrutiny than before.
Verizon Unlimited Customers Get Free Apple Music
Customers of Verizon Unlimited plans will get free, full Apple Music as a perk. This is for the Beyond Unlimited and Above Unlimited plans.
The bonus Apple Music should be launched in the next couple of days, according to the information that we received. Verizon is yet to make the announcement publicly, but the information comes from a source that has proved reliable in the past.
10 Influential Science Photos That Changed Us
In a terrific photo collection, Big Think presents “10 science photos that made history and changed minds.” The power of these photos expanded our consciousness, created new conversations, and changed our way of thinking. I particularly like the “Pale Blue Dot” photo, made famous by Dr. Carl Sagan with one of the most poignant commentaries ever made about our planet and its inhabitants. Check out all the photos. (Earthrise photo credit: NASA.)
Cops Can't Force You to Unlock an iPhone via Face ID, Touch ID
A U.S. federal judge has ruled that law enforcement can’t force you to unlock an iPhone or iPad via Face ID or Touch ID.
In the United States, a suspect’s property has the potential to be searched by law enforcement officials as part of an investigation, but some items are typically left alone. While people are protected from having to unlock their devices via a passcode, biometric security has been considered fair game for use by investigators, bypassing the passcode rules.
This will certainly set a precedent for the future. Although it doesn’t completely stop the investigation, it does give people a bit more freedom.
Arduino Hacker eBook Bundle: $19.99
We have a big bundle of ebooks for you on Arduino today from The Make called the Arduino Hacker eBook Bundle. With 15 different titles in the bundle, topics range from getting started to project-specific books, to more advanced topics, too. You can see the full list (with descriptions) in the deal listing. This bundle is $19.99 through our deal.
How to Prepare Your Digital Life for When you Die
Whitson Gordon wrote a helpful guide on how to prepare your digital for your death. Although no one wants to think about their mortality, it’s an extremely helpful guide.
It’s impressive to me how many times people don’t recognize the extent of digital assets that they own, says Mark Parthemer, Managing Director and Senior Fiduciary Counsel at Bessemer Trust. With many clients, they’re concerned about financial things, but they need to protect the sentimental assets too, like photographs.
I didn’t know Whitson wrote for Popular Science, but good for him because he’s perfect for that site. Anyway, getting your digital life in order is a must. Many people write out wills but often forget about things like social media accounts.
Alexa - Stop Listening To Me
As ever more people buy smart speaker devices likes the Amazon Echo, the privacy concerns around such devices increase too. I’ve always been somewhat wary of them. Not that I’d be discussing much of any interest, but the idea of a device sitting in my home listening out attentively for a keyword, rather freaked me out. For Tom Hoggins, those concerns got too much. He explains in the Telegraph why he unplugged his Amazon Echo Dot.
I am not usually one for tin-hat conspiracies, but with the examples mounting and the increased scrutiny on companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook (among many others) for excessive data gathering, I did start to eye Alexa with some suspicion. It then showed an increased propensity for piping up over the dinner table, playing music without being asked or blurting out random facts when the ‘Alexa’ wake word had not been uttered in earnest. By that point, it was time for Alexa to go unplugged.
Blackmagic eGPU Pro Available This Week
The Blackmagic eGPU Pro will be available this week for delivery and in-store pickup, a month after it became available to order.
Delivery of the Apple Store-exclusive Blackmagic eGPU Pro is scheduled for as early as Tuesday, January 15th. In-store pickup is also available for most regions, and we’re seeing Wednesday availability for that.
Like its predecessor, the $1199 Blackmagic eGPU Pro is aimed at customers looking for a set-it-and-forget-it solution, and don’t mind paying a large premium for the privilege.
U.S. Businessman still Missing Despite Payment of Large Bitcoin Ransom
An American businessman who was kidnapped in Costa Rica remains missing, despite the payment of an approximately $950,000 ransom in Bitcoin. William Sean Creighton Kopko, who owns an online gambling platform, was taken in September. Three suspects were arrested in Zaragoza, Spain in November 2018, The Next Web reported. In total, 12 people suspected of involvement in the kidnapping have been arrested by police in Spain and Costa Rica.
After Kopko’s family paid the Bitcoin ransom, the kidnappers stopped communicating with them, went dark, and fled to Cuba. In early November 2018 three suspects returned to Spain which alerted the authorities. The three suspects were later arrested in Zaragoza, Spain after renting an apartment in the city.
Next FlipBook Maker Pro for Mac Lifetime License: $29
We have a deal for you on Next FlipBook Maker Pro for Mac. This software can turn your PDFs, images, and videos into flipbooks, and it includes templates. Our deal is for a lifetime license for $29.