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UK ISPA Hates Mozilla's DNS Over HTTPS Privacy Tool

Andrew Orr ·

If you use your internet service provider’s default DNS, they can see everything you do on the web. It comes as no surprise that ISPs don’t like privacy tools like Mozilla’s DNS over HTTPS (DoH) technology in Firefox. The UK Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA) declared Mozilla a 2019 Villain, alongside President Trump.

ISPA Internet Villain

Mozilla – for their proposed approach to introduce DNS-over-HTTPS in such a way as to bypass UK filtering obligations and parental controls, undermining internet safety standards in the UK

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Sony is Working on a Rollable Phone

Charlotte Henry ·

While Samsung is stilling working to get its foldable phone released, others are trying to find new form factors. Techradar reported on rumors that Sony is developing a rollable phone.

Considering the lack of solid evidence to back up these claims, we wouldn’t bet your house on them just yet. They are, however, an intriguing hint about where Sony and the rest of the industry might head next. We’ve previously seen patents from Sony detailing how rollable (and foldable) phone screens could work. We also know that LG – tipped to be supplying Sony with flexible screens – has the expertise to make displays that roll up. Add in the news that the likes of LG and Samsung are apparently busy developing rollable smartphones of their own, and this new rumor about a Sony device starts to sound a lot more credible.

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Happy U.S. Independence Day

Dave Hamilton ·

We here at The Mac Observer are taking Thursday and Friday to spend with our friends and families while we celebrate Independence Day here in the USA.

Because I love the way perspective skews each of our individual realities, I’ll share this related anecdote: three years ago – to the day – Billy Beefeater wished me a “Happy Treason Day” while giving us a tour of the Tower Of London. I wanted to quote Game of Thrones and point out it would only be treason if we had lost, but I figured maybe that was better left unsaid… at the time.

In any event, happy Independence Day to everyone in the USA, and wishing a glorious weekend to everyone everywhere!

We’ll return on Monday, July 8th, resuming not only our news, tips, and Cool Stuff Found, but also publishing episodes of three of our podcasts: Background Mode, Daily Observations, and Mac Geek Gab. See you Monday!

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A Very Understandable Primer on Blockchains [with Video]

John Martellaro ·

BBC News has published a very readable/viewable explanation of biockchains. (Something you should know about.)

Enthusiasts say blockchain could become as disruptive as the internet, comparing the technology to the World Wide Web in the 1990s. At that time, many people were clear it would become important – but few really understood it, or foresaw its potential and limitations.

 

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Amazon Alexa Voice Recordings are Stored Indefinitely

Andrew Orr ·

In a letter to U.S. senators Amazon said it keeps your Alexa voice recordings indefinitely unless you manually delete them.

In the letter to Coons, Amazon noted that for Alexa requests that involve a transaction, like ordering a pizza or hailing a rideshare, Amazon and the skill’s developers can keep a record of that transaction. That means that there’s a record of nearly every purchase you make on Amazon’s Alexa, which can be considered personal information.

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Apple 2019 Revenue Up 15% at $39 Billion From App Store

Andrew Orr ·

Apple 2019 revenue for the first half of this year is up 15% from last year, topping US$39 billion from the App Store.

According to a new report from Sensor Tower, the iOS App Store and Google Play combined brought in $39.7 billion in worldwide app revenue in the first half of 2019 — that’s up 15.4% over the $34.4 billion seen during the first half of last year. However, at that time, the $34.4 billion was a 27.8% increase from 2017’s numbers, then a combined $26.9 billion across both stores.