Dr. Mac has tested many screen protectors; check out his recommendations in this week’s Dr. Mac’s Rants & Raves.
FlipNetik Kinetic Desk Toy: $22.99
I’m a sucker for fidget toys, and I love today’s deal on the FlipNetik. It’s designed to roll, so to speak, even though its shape in no way looks like it should roll. There’s a square model and a hexagon, and they come in gold, silver, or black. I’m linking directly to the black hexagon listing, but there’s a pulldown menu for the other options, including buying both a square and a hexagon at a discount. Spoiler, that’s what I did! One is $22.99, while two are $34.99.
Get Apple TV+ Free For a Year With T-Mobile's New TVision Service
T-Mobile has announced its new cord-cutting option, TVision, and subscribers can get Apple TV+ free for a year and an Apple TV 4K for $99.
HP Print Drivers Slash Malware – TMO Daily Observations 2020-10-27
John Martellaro joins host Kelly Guimont to discuss a technical issue that causes HP printer drivers to appear on your Mac as malware.
Comedy 'Platonic,' Starring Rose Byrne And Seth Rogen, Coming to Apple TV+
‘Platonic,’ a comedy starring Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen’ is heading to Apple TV+ after Apple ordered 10 half-hour episodes.
Linksys Wi-Fi 6 Velop AX42000 Available for $250
Linksys Wi-Fi 6 Velop AX4200 mesh systems is now available to purchase for US$250. The company claims it can cover up to 2,700 square feet with Wi-Fi.
Apple Music For Android Gets Crossfade Feature Before iOS
Apple Music for Android got an update Monday with the arrival of version 3.4 of the app. Amongst other things, AppleInsider noted that the latest version includes Crossfade, a feature not yet available to iOS users.
The Autoplay feature also makes the transition to Android, with users able to let Apple Music select the next songs to play once a playlist has been exhausted. When enabled, Apple Music will analyze the playlist and select songs that seem to be similar, such as the same artist or genre. Social media users will be able to share their current listening selection with others, by using the Share Song option in the menu to post to Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat. One unusual option that Android has is Crossfade, a feature that has Apple Music overlapping the end of one song with the beginning of another for a few seconds, fading between the two for a semi-seamless and continuous listening experience. While the option is available on Mac, it has yet to be made available on the iOS or iPadOS versions of the app.
Zoom Rolls Out End-to-End Encryption for Video Calls
Starting next week, video conferencing app Zoom is finally adding end-to-end encryption to its platform.
Zoom’s E2EE offering uses public key cryptography. In short, the keys for each Zoom meeting are generated by participants’ machines, not by Zoom’s servers. Encrypted data relayed through Zoom’s servers is indecipherable by Zoom, since Zoom’s servers do not have the necessary decryption key. This key management strategy is similar to that used by most end-to-end encrypted messaging platforms today.
Good to see Zoom doing this; they’ve certainly had misses in the past. Update: The new version is now available for most users.
UK Mobile Firms Face Ban on Selling Locked iPhones And Other Devices
Mobile phone providers are to be banned from selling “locked” handsets, including iPhones, in the UK from December 2021.
Link Previews in Chat Apps Could Leak Your IP Address
Security researchers found that link previews in chat apps could expose data like IP addresses if not implemented properly. Or they could be downloading as much as gigabytes of data in the background. They tested a variety of different messaging apps, and iPhone users will be relieved to know that iMessage didn’t experience any of these security leaks.
We think there’s one big takeaway here for developers: Whenever you’re building a new feature, always keep in mind what sort of privacy and security implications it may have, especially if this feature is going to be used by thousands or even millions of people around the world.
