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Amazon Helps Cops Get Ring Surveillance Videos Without Warrants

Andrew Orr ·

A couple weeks ago I shared news that Amazon is requiring police to promote its Ring surveillance cameras. Not that bad, I thought, because at least the police had to have the owner’s permission. But I was optimistic, because Amazon is giving police talking points on how to persuade owners, and even seizing the video footage if the owner said no.

As reported by GovTech on Friday, police can request Ring camera footage directly from Amazon, even if a Ring customer denies to provide police with the footage. It’s a workaround that allows police to essentially “subpoena” anything captured on Ring cameras.

Things like government surveillance and hacking are precisely why I will never buy smart home products. Update: A Ring spokesperson emailed me a correction: The reports that police can obtain any video from a Ring doorbell within 60 days is false. Ring will not release customer information in response to government demands without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us. Ring objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course.

Cool Stuff Found

PDF Expert 7 Pro Features Cost $50 Yearly

Andrew Orr ·

Readdle is launching PDF Expert 7, and Pro features are now a subscription of US$49.99/year. There are still free features available, but if you want to do anything other than viewing a PDF, you’ll have to pay. Free Features: New design; better page management; sticker packs; improved engine that now runs on Metal; Files app integration; advanced search; new Annotation Summary tool. Pro Features: Edit PDF text and images; convert to PDF; reduce PDF file size; organize pages; sign PDFs; protect PDFs with a password; customizable toolbar; regular major updates. If you bought the PDF Expert 6 pro features, you’ll still have them in PDF Expert 7. App Store: Free (Offers In-App Purchases)

 

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Create an Email Filter for Your Bank So You Won't Miss Important Messages

Andrew Orr ·

David Murphy has a good tip: Create an email filter for your bank so you don’t miss important messages like fraud alerts.

Get specific when you set your filters, because you don’t want to accidentally drag in phishing emails that are attempting to pose as your bank. This shouldn’t be a problem if your email service is good about eradicating spam but, when in doubt, I’d probably try to set a combined filter for emails from your bank’s exact domain that contain the word “fraud,” rather than just a filter that catches subject lines with “your bank’s name” and “fraud.”

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Arlo Cameras Get HomeKit Support

Charlotte Henry ·

Smart camera firm Arlo has added HomeKit support to some of its products, DigitalTrends reported. Interestingly, the top-of-the line Arlo Ultra 4K was not amongst the cameras that got the update.

Unfortunately for buyers of the company’s top-of-the-line cameras, the new connectivity to HomeKit only applies to select Arlo cameras, specifically the popular Arlo Pro and Arlo Pro 2 systems. Owners of the VMB5000 model and the corresponding Arlo Ultra 4K will have to wait a bit longer to add their smart cameras to Apple’s smart home ecosystem. On the bright side, the firmware update reduces the need for Apple HomeKit users to use the Arlo app or its corresponding remote control. The select models of Arlo smart cameras will appear in the directory of other HomeKit accessories in a user’s Home app and can also be controlled using Apple’s digital assistant, Siri, via an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch,or Mac computer.

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Amazon Scout Autonomous Delivery Arrives in Irvine, California

Charlotte Henry ·

Amazon expanded its Amazon Scout autonomous delivery service. eDelivery reported that the company started testing the service in Irvine, southern California Wednesday. It initially tested the service back in January 2019, in Snohomish County, Washington.

A small number of the cooler-sized robots will begin delivering from today (7 August) in Irvine, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, in daylight hours from Monday to Friday . They will follow pre-set delivery routes while accompanied by an Amazon employee. They travel at a walking pace, with the ability to avoid obstacles in their path… Customers in the area order as they normally would via the site or app and can choose from the same delivery options including same-day, one-day and two-day shipping for Prime members.

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Understanding Apple's Record Stock Repurchase

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple quietly conducted a record buyback of stock in the second quarter of 2019. It totaled $24 billion. AppleInsider analyzed the move.

It appears clear that Apple expects its share price to grow much higher in the future. So rather than carefully timing its repurchases to only occur when the stock price hits its lowest levels, Apple continues to buy shares back nearly as fast as it can all the time, even as the stock price jumps up and down as it continues to increment higher. Since 2012, Apple has now funded a total of $271.3 billion in stock buybacks. Most of these shares were repurchased at what would today be an incredible discount. While analysts have occasionally picked out a given trough in Apple’s stock price and declared that its buybacks were a huge mistake, it’s hard to imagine in hindsight how Apple could have better invested $271 billion of its past iPhone profits.