MacMost has a good video on YouTube where he shares 10 macOS Catalina features. They’re smaller features that don’t get the same attention or shoutout by Apple, but they’re good to know. The first one he mentions is a feature that I noticed but was annoyed about. When you hover or long-click the green fullscreen button in Safari, it now brings up a menu window to enter full screen or tile the window to the left or right. While it makes this capability more obvious it also adds an extra step, when just dragging the window by the green button was faster. In any case the video is pretty helpful and you can watch it here.
Apple Sells Xbox Wireless Controller on Online Store
Apple recently started selling Microsoft’s Xbox wireless controller on its online store. Currently though it’s unavailable for purchase.
New York City Partners With Cellebrite to Hack iPhones
Documents reveal that New York City law enforcement has a partnership with Cellebrite to hack iPhones.
Previously, if law enforcement wanted to get into newer devices, they had to send the phones to one of Cellebrite’s digital forensics labs, located in New Jersey and Virginia. But Cellebrite’s new UFED Premium program gave law enforcement the ability to “unlock and extract data from all iOS and high-end Android devices” on their own, using software installed on computers in their offices.
I’ve always wondered if eventually Apple will remove the Lightning port from the iPhone once wireless charging becomes the norm. Side effects may include better waterproofing and worsened hacking.
iOS 13: Double Tap to Zoom in Safari No Longer Works
You may have noticed in iOS 13 and iPadOS that double tap to zoom in Safari no longer works. Instead you’ll have to do something else.
Instagram Gets Dark Mode in iOS 13
Dark Mode has arrived for the photo-sharing app in iOS 13 to make late night browsing easier, along with a new camera design.
Apple Has to Pay Taxes in Every Country it Operates in
In the future Apple and other companies will have to pay taxes in each country they sell products and services in.
Charging Cables Are Still Apple's Worst Product
ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley Hughes does not like Apple’s charging cables. At all.
I’m not sure what it is about Apple cables, but the brilliant white rubber coating the company uses just doesn’t seem to be all that robust. After about six months of use — you know, the regular stuff like plugging and unplugging it — the outer starts to get soggy and discolored, and then over time becomes more and more fragile, until one day it starts peeling off, and then it is game over for the cable (unless you want to go through the pantomime of patching it, which buys you a little time). While I’ve long given up on using Apple cables for my iPhone and iPad — and even for my Apple Watch — I had hoped that the USB-C-to-USB-C charging cable for my MacBook Pro would be OK. I mean, how badly can you mess up a USB-C-to-USB-C cable? Pretty bad, if you’re Apple it seems.
Netflix Says No to macOS Catalina, Won't Port its App Over
With the release of macOS Catalina and Catalyst, many developers are now porting their iOS apps to the Mac. But not Netflix.
Last year, Apple Inc. software chief Craig Federighi said developers would be able to easily bring their iPad apps to Mac computers, essentially letting coders write an app once and deploy it across millions more devices. So far, the reality has fallen short for some developers and is even leaving consumers paying twice for apps. Major app developers and service providers like Netflix Inc. are also demurring on taking part, at least at this early stage.
I’ll be interested to see if Hulu ports their app over.
Jennifer Aniston: Apple About 'Quality Not Quantity'
Jennifer Aniston, has revealed how the #MeToo movement, and the downfall of broadcaster Matt Lauer, influenced The Morning Show on Apple TV+.
Oops! Twitter Accidentally Used Your Phone Number for Ads
Twitter admitted yesterday that it “unintentionally” used some email addresses and phone numbers for advertising purposes. These phone numbers were specifically used to keep your account safe with two-factor authentication.
We recently discovered that when you provided an email address or phone number for safety or security purposes (for example, two-factor authentication) this data may have inadvertently been used for advertising purposes, specifically in our Tailored Audiences and Partner Audiences advertising system.
This is exactly why SMS-based two-factor authentication needs to go away. SMS is inherently insecure, as the FBI recently noted. Funnily enough, I recently removed my phone number from Twitter, although it’s probably too late.