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Podcasting app Anchor wants to make it easier for podcasters to connect with advertisers. It’s launching Sponsorships on its platform.

Starting this week, Sponsorships will be integrated into Anchor’s platform, letting users turn the feature on for the full show or on a per-episode basis. Anchor will then match a custom sponsor based on various factors, including size, recording location and podcast topic, sending hosts a note when they’ve found a proper match.

Sounds like a good idea for beginners and experienced podcasters alike. So far the advertisers on board are SeatGeek, Cash App, Ro, Dirty Lemon, Baboon, Living Proof, The Citizenry and Squarespace.

iMore put together a great guide for iOS 12 Apple Books. It covers everything from book samples, downloading/highlighting, PDFs, audiobooks, and more.

Apple Books will now automatically organize your library into several collections, and you can add as many of your own as you wish. In addition to books and audiobooks, you can store PDF files in the app—and all of it can sync among your Apple devices through iCloud.

As you may have known, I’m a big fan of the new Apple Books app and I hope Apple continues to improve it.

A total of 14 organizations recently sent a letter to Congress saying that the T-Mobile Sprint merger should be blocked.

The concerns range from job losses, it being an anti-competitive and anti-consumer deal, to even incentivizing Verizon, AT&T, and the new T-Mobile to “collude.”

After T-Mobile and Sprint shifted their arguments for why the merger would be beneficial, and this latest barrage of concerns from 14 organizations, the odds of it happening seem to be diminishing.

This quote from The Washington Post says it all: “The general view on Wall Street is that as a result of this deal, there are likely to be job cuts and prices are likely to rise,” he said.

iCloud for Windows has been updated, fixing the major compatibility issues that arose following an October 2018 Windows update. AppleInsider reported that users of the service had been stopped from updating to the latest version of Windows as many had run into problems whilst syncing or updating photos, Shared Albums and similar items. However, updated Apple documentation indicates the issue has now been fixed.

Earlier this month Microsoft took the unusual step of blocking iCloud users from upgrading to the latest version of Windows, as people were encountering problems syncing or updating items like photos and Shared Albums. Those trying to do a fresh install of iCloud after updating Windows ran into error messages. Apple doesn’t mention the fix in its release notes, but a support page now lists iCloud as compatible with “Windows 7 or later.

There’s a rumor going around that Apple could have an Apple TV streaming stick in the works. But how likely is that?

On the surface, the idea makes sense: Streaming sticks are popular. For under $100, they’ll give your TV a zippy, modern interface, every app you could ask for, and coveted technologies like 4K resolution and HDR, all in a sleek and slim package. What’s more, Apple is pushing its new TV service and may be looking for an accessible way to peddle its new TV shows and movies.

I didn’t even know a streaming stick was a rumor, but now I want one. I think Mr. Waniata’s argument has a flawed premise though. His whole argument is based on how Apple probably wouldn’t make a cheap streaming stick. But the company could still create one and sell it at or near the price of an Apple TV. And I think it would still sell like hot cakes.

Google employees say that the company doesn’t place values over profits anymore. They continue to call on the company to cancel the censored search engine plans for China.

Eleven Google employees had signed the letter as of its posting, and the number of signatures quickly grew, amounting to more than 100 several hours after it published. By 5 p.m. West Coast time, the letter had 300 signatures.

Did the company ever put values before profits? Is that even possible for a capitalistic corporation? Even Apple’s tune would be different if it was in the advertising business. Even now it still faces controversy over its own forays into China.

Urban Massage, a London-based massage startup, suffered a data breach recently. Among the records were allegations of sexual misconduct by clients towards workers.

But, many records also included allegations of sexual misconduct by clients — such as asking for “massage in genital area” and requesting “sexual services from therapist.” Others were marked as “dangerous,” while others were blocked due to “police enquiries.” Each complaint included a customer’s personally identifiable information — including their name, address and postcode and phone number.

Now that GDPR is in effect Urban Massage could face harsh financial penalties, up to 4% of its global revenue.

Customer service chats are able to show whatever you type as you type it, even if you don’t send it or change it.

Before the customer clicks the “Send message” button, you have a chance to see in real time what the customer is typing. This gives you more time to prepare an answer or solution to the customer’s problem. Customers will appreciate your quick and precise answers.

As long as “real time chat” is clearly disclosed, I don’t really see a problem with this. But it sounds like it’s not clearly disclosed in most cases.

Chat bubble icon made by Fermam Aziz from www.flaticon.com.

Last week the FCC announced several initiatives to help combat SMS spam. But consumer groups say they actually weaken oversight of cell carriers.

By now Ajit Pai has developed a fairly impressive skill: take something that cellular carriers lobbied for, and justify it by insisting it’s essential for overall efficiency and effective consumer protection.

Basically, cell carriers want the FCC to classify text messages as Title I Information Services. This removes certain consumer protections and makes it possible for carriers to censor any speech they think is “controversial.”

A study from researchers at the University of Michigan found that smart speaker buyers tend to brush off privacy concerns.

“What was really concerning to me was this idea that ‘it’s just a little bit more info you give Google or Amazon, and they already know a lot about you, so how is that bad?’” said Florian Schaub, an assistant professor in the University of Michigan School of Information and a co-author of the study. “It’s representative of this constant erosion of what privacy means and what our privacy expectations are.”

It’s too early in the morning and I can’t think of the term for this, but this study seems a bit loaded to me. Do these buyers already not care about privacy, or did buying a smart speaker further erode their concerns?

Seven different countries are accusing Google of GDPR violations. They ask privacy regulators to take action against Google for its location practices.

“These practices are not compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as Google lacks a valid legal ground for processing the data in question. In particular, the report shows that users’ consent provided under these circumstances is not freely given,” it said.

Google’s response is that Location History is off by default, and you can edit, delete, or pause it at any time. Further reading: 6 ways Google tricks you into letting it track your location.

The iPad is a wonderful accessibility tool, and one man with Down syndrome uses his iPad to keep up with his family more easily (via The Loop).

This guy, whose genetic abnormality was once thought to cap his learning ability at the kindergarten level, is becoming adept at computer/information age technology.

You folks made that possible. You paid the taxes that produce the classes and programs that give those of us who have special needs the needed special care.

While the idea of using an iPad as your only device enrages so-called “pundits”, people like Greg remind us that the iPad is the computer for everyone.

No matter how many times Mark Zuckerberg or other CEOs say sorry, corporations will continue to screw us over until someone steps in.

The result is that even if their leaders earnestly wanted to impart meaningful change to provide restitution for their wrongs, their hands are tied by entrenched business models and the short-term focus of the quarterly earnings cycle. They apologize and go right back to problematic behavior.

It’s not just Facebook though, this is every company that puts money over users (so all of them?) Whether you like regulation or not, I think both sides can agree that nothing can be done without outside influence. Like I said in a previous link, criminals don’t voluntarily turn themselves in.

Washington D.C. has made GitHub the central repository for its system of laws. It’s not a copy of the laws, it’s the actual source. And they can be edited.

Last week, I opened the file on GitHub that had the typo, edited the file, and submitted my edit using GitHub’s “pull request” feature. A pull request is a request to the file’s maintainer to review a change and then, if approved, pull it in to the main file.

This is really neat and I hope more states will follow this approach. It creates a different mindset around the law: One of collaboration and transparency, instead of separation and obfuscation.

Besides the Amazon leak, here’s some more troubling news. Researchers demonstrated a side-channel JavaScript attack that made it possible for them to spy on your other browser tabs. And even Tor is susceptible.

This information can be used to target adverts at you based on your interests, or otherwise work out the kind of stuff you’re into and collect it in safe-keeping for future reference. The technique is described in a paper recently distributed through ArXiv called “Robust Website Fingerprinting Through the Cache Occupancy Channel.”

It doesn’t sound like there’s a fix for this at the moment.

Amazon is emailing customers to tell them it leaked their names and email addresses due to a “technical error.”

It then goes on to say, “The issue has been fixed. This is not a result of anything you have done, and there is no need for you to change your password or take any other action.”

None of which is terribly reassuring. Although it doesn’t include the customer’s name it doesn’t look like a phishing attack as there is no link and no call to action.

Amazon says there is no need to change your password but you should change it anyway. If they can’t protect emails and names, why would we trust them with our passwords?