The BBC reviews iOS 12 and specifically highlights features which may be beneficial to journalists, especially mobile journalists or “mojos.”

It’s surprising to note that many journalists continue to use their smartphones simply as phones – which isn’t very smart, given the power of the device they carry with them all the time. It’s also surprising that iOS 12 will run on every device that currently runs iOS 11. This will therefore include iPhone 5s from way back in 2013 – now something of a dinosaur.

Mojo-friendly features include Voice Memos, Siri Shortcuts, AR, and more.

Scientists from SETI have found 72 mysterious signals from a galaxy 3 billion light years away. They did this by using AI to examine 400 terabytes of data.

The signals they spotted – fast radio bursts (FRBs) – are bright and quick pulses which were first discovered in 2007 and are believed to come from distant galaxies, although it is not yet know what causes them.

The nature of the object emitting them is unknown. There are many theories, including that they could be the signatures of technology developed by extraterrestrial intelligent life.

Aliens are possible, but not probable. More likely candidates for these signals include pulsars, quasars, and maybe even black holes or neutron stars.

A French data regulator is asking for more powers to remove out-of-date or embarrassing content from the web. This effectively turns the ‘right to be forgotten’ rule into a censorship tool.

In the latest ECJ case to be heard in Luxembourg on Tuesday, the French data regulator is seeking to extend that power so that it applies universally. That would permit national regulators to hide articles deemed unacceptable not only from their own cyberspace such as google.fr, but also from global domains including google-com and from those of other countries.

Google of course is resisting this, saying it would create a precedent for authoritarian governments to limit free speech. We don’t need a Ministry of Truth, thanks.

Besides advertising, corporations use our data to train AI systems. And now the companies are deciding how AI will affect our future.

The ethical use of AI is a matter of public discourse but Google (and others) seem unfazed by the potential dark side of their products and practices. We know this because they keep pressing forward to implement their visions of the future – visions they may not necessarily see a need to reveal to the public.

Companies, especially those in the tech industry, move faster than governments. And we need governments to create ethical guidelines on how AI should be used. Because if we leave it up to corps like Google, every single facet of our lives will be collected for monetization, even more so than now.

Glenn Fleishman reminds us that iCloud Drive shouldn’t be used solely as your backup service.

Apple doesn’t offer any way to let you backup the data for which it has the only copy. And, in many cases, you may have a mix of information that could make it hard to restore, even if you have a full copy.

I used to use iCloud Drive-only, but now I’ve diversified. An ideal solution is a combination of cloud storage and physical storage. There are cloud services like Backblaze you can use for your Mac, as well as an external hard drive. For iPhones and iPads, you can use a special flash drive like iXpand. Earlier this year I bought a wireless SanDisk that I can use both with my iDevices and Mac.

Michael Kwet says that Google and Apple are secretly tracking you in retail stores, and with a phrase like, “What the media isn’t telling you,” you know it will be juicy.

Apple claims to be better than Google – they are a “hardware company”, not data miners, they insist. Yet iBeacons provide just one example of many to the contrary.

I think the subject is worth discussing, but Michael doesn’t give evidence that Apple is tracking you in the same way Google is. Because of this I think his article is flawed. I don’t know if iBeacons are used outside of Apple retail stores. But it sounds like customers have to opt-in for iBeacon to work. According to TechRepublic, iBeacon is “simply a location tool and doesn’t gather excessive data or track users…” 

One of the big headlines of the day is how Google wants to “kill” Uniform Resource Locators, or URLs.

Google is keeping tight-lipped on its ideas for future URLs and is aware of the enormous uphill task ahead of it. URLs are ubiquitous, and any major change will inevitably be resisted. For now, the Chrome engineers are working to better understand how URLs are used in various contexts before making a new recommendation.

It sounds to me like Google doesn’t want to get rid of URLs. It just wants to hide them like Apple’s Safari does. In 2014 Google did have a project like that called origin chip, but abandoned it because of complaints and security concerns.

Paris Marx writes that Apple is privatizing public space by changing its Apple retail stores. Angela Ahrendts wants Apple retail stores to be town squares, a.k.a. community gathering places. Mr. Marx has an issue with this for some reason.

The issue is with Apple’s plans for the exterior of its stores. The company wants more green space, and more places for people to hang out even if they aren’t shopping. Essentially, Apple intends to create privatized public spaces centered around its pseudo-religious glowing white apple. It hopes these public-private spaces will entice people to indulge their consumerist temptations — to take a bite out of the apple, as it were.

Ah yes, because comparing Apple to a religion hasn’t been done before. He also says that Apple retail stores use private security to “remove those who did not serve these spaces’ newly commercialized purpose (read: poor and homeless people).” I highly doubt Apple is kicking out poor people. As for homeless people? That’s what a homeless shelter is for, which any retail store, let alone that of Apple, is not. But sure, let’s blame “the libruls.”

Credit for the featured image I used goes to Michael Steeber of 9to5Mac.

Redditor u/FizzyBeverage (You can tell I’m on Reddit a lot) found an old forum post on DSLReports.com. A person with the username Cortland predicted the iPhone with an entry called “Why Apple Must Come Out With iPhone:”

This is an important opportunity for Apple. And the window is a good three years. Right now Windows phones are stuck in a dead end with bugs, crashes and an operating system that needs to be purged. But their ego and inertia won’t let them backpedal.

Whether Cortland had inside information or just did some educated analysis, it’s an interesting comment. Not many people believed him/her either. User MacThrasher wrote in response: “I think the phone market is well saturated enough that the iPhone would not be much money for Apple.”