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How Apple Disrupted Certificate Authorities With Safari

Andrew Orr ·

In February, Apple implemented a rule in Safari in which TLS certificates have a lifespan of 398 days. According to ZDNet, Apple made this decision on its own without going through the standard procedure with certificate authorities.

Instead of calling for a vote, Apple simply announced its decision to implement 398-day lifespans on its devices, regardless of what the CAs in the CA/B Forum thought of the issue.

What took place this year is, in no simpler words, a demonstration that browser makers control the CA/B Forum, and that they hold full control of the HTTPS ecosystem, and that CAs are merely participants with no actual power.

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Here’s Why This Company Won’t Add ‘Sign In with Apple’

Andrew Orr ·

Today is the deadline for developers to add Sign In with Apple to their apps. One company, AnyList, doesn’t want to add it and explained why.

After considering the merits of Sign in with Apple, we have decided not to support it. We understand that this may surprise some of our customers, so we’d like to explain in detail why we made this decision.

A couple arguments make sense, but I’m not buying some others. 1) I’m not a programmer so I don’t know how hard it is to add Sign In with Apple. 2) Saying iCloud isn’t “real email” is stupid. 3) AnyList removed its Facebook login, which is still a privacy-positive move even without adding Apple login.

NASA is Sending a ‘Helicopter’ to Mars
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NASA is Sending a 'Helicopter' to Mars

Charlotte Henry ·

NASA is set to launch the Mars rover Perseverance in the coming weeks. On board will be a small ‘helicopter’ which will be the first human vehicle to take-off from the surface of the Red Planet and fly in its skies. Forbes has the details, including an interview with one of the project managers involved.

Before the primary science phase of the mission begins, however, the rover will deploy its flying companion on the surface. Called Ingenuity, the small vehicle – just 0.5 meters tall – is equipped with two counter-rotating blades that will enable it to hover in the air. It will be deployed on the Martian surface at some point in the first 90 days of the mission. A team back on the ground will then command the helicopter to perform some checks, before attempting a first flight… It will be capable of one flight per day, with 30 days in total allocated for its mission. While it does have camerad on board and will take images, this is mostly a technology demonstration to see if rotorcraft could be useful for future missions to Mars, perhaps even human missions.

Podcast

Former Apple Senior Director Michael Gartenberg (#11) - BGM Interview

John Martellaro · · 1 Comment

Michael Gartenberg spent three years as Apple’s Senior Director of Product Marketing, reporting directly to SVP Phil Schiller. He is currently a freelance writer and has become a regular guest here on Background Mode. This BGM Interview is his 11th appearance.

We explored the WWDC 2020 Keynote in detail. We started with the production values and layout and how some elements of this new kind of presentation might show up in future events. Then we turned to the Mac on Apple Silicon transition and some of the considerations for users. Later, there was a healthy discussion of iOS 14, Scribble and then macOS 11 Big Sur’s design language and how that differs from the nature of the Mac for UNIX users. Michael always delivers keen insights on how Apple markets its products and always helps us better understand the WWDC Keynote.