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Apple Wants to Kill Tracking, Not Advertising

Andrew Orr ·

Owen Williams writes how Apple wants to “kill advertising” with its newest privacy feature in iOS 13 called Sign In with Apple.

Apple is likely to win consumers over, who think these things sound evil and strange, but without these practices [of using customers’ email addresses] many of our favorite businesses and services simply couldn’t exist or practically reach customers.

I disagree. Apple is trying to kill tracking, not advertising. In Safari, Apple is adding a feature called Privacy Preserving Ad Click Attribution to reduce targeted ads, which only accounts for a small 4% in revenue anyway.

Podcast

Migrating iTunes, Upgrading Macs, and a Quick Tip from Craig Federighi – Mac Geek Gab 765

John F. Braun & Dave Hamilton · · 3 Comments

It’s true, Craig Federighi let loose a perfect little Quick Tip last week at WWDC, did you catch it? Your two geeks did, and they’re here to share it with you. In addition to some more Quick Tips from other listeners, this episode is chock full of answers to your great questions on topics like preparing your iTunes library for Catalina, upgrading to a new Mac, and much, much more. Press play and enjoy learning at least five new things!

Podcast

Apple's New Mac Pro: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, with John Kheit - ACM 515

Bryan Chaffin · · 1 Comment

Bryan Chaffin and John Kheit dig into Apple’s new Mac Pro, covering the good, the bad, and the ugly. They talk specs, costs, some of the things that came out since the keynote, and weigh the very important question of whether they want one. Spoiler, yes, but John’s actually likely to pull the trigger. Bryan also makes sure to give John plenty of room to take his victory laps for the many things he got right leading up to this long-awaited announcement.

TMO Deals

AirDock 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station:

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on the AirDock 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station, which allows you to charge your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods at the same time. There’s a Qi charger for your iPhone, an Apple Watch wireless charger, and cradle with a Lightning port for your AirPods case. This device is $34.99 through our deal.

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Apple Watch Grant Program Launches This Fall

Andrew Orr ·

A limited Apple Watch grant program is launching this fall for ResearchKit and CareKit researchers. It’s part of what Apple calls an “Investigator Support Pilot.”

Apple said the new initiative, which is currently still in development, will have a simple submission process through the redesigned ResearchKit and CareKit website. While details on the new program were light during Apple’s presentation, the company said it would prioritize “studies that advance science and help people to lead healthier lives by uniquely leveraging our ecosystem,” and that more info would be available on the new website soon.

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To Increase Bills Comcast Broke Law 445,000 Times

Andrew Orr ·

A judge recently ruled that Comcast violated Washington state consumer protection law 445,000 times.

The court found that Comcast added the SPP to the accounts of 30,946 Washingtonians without their knowledge, and did not tell an additional 18,660 Washingtonians the true cost of the plan. The court ordered Comcast to refund affected consumers, and pay 12 percent interest on the restitution. The amount of restitution is unknown at this time, but is expected to be significant. The court ordered Comcast to issue the refunds within 60 days and report to the state on the specific details and amounts.

Comcast is being fined a paltry US$9 million for this. Put another zero on it, then we can talk.

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News+: Bad Behavior in the VPN Industry

Andrew Orr ·

Max Eddy reviews VPNs for PCMag. Although he believes most vendors have good intentions, he highlights several examples of bad behavior in the VPN industry.

From my experience working with VPNs, I can say with certainty there is a culture of sabotage and paranoia among some vendors. Anonymous dumps of damning information about one VPN vendor get blamed on another VPN vendor. Tips come in suggesting that corporate ownership is tied to the Russian mafia or some other criminal operation. Commentators hold up one VPN review site as an example of rectitude; others say the same site is secretly run by a VPN vendor with an agenda. When there is this much disinformation and counter-disinformation (which may also be disinformation), it’s impossible to tell who is telling the truth.

Before I came to The Mac Observer, one of my freelancing gigs was writing for a VPN company. I saw some of the same things as Mr. Eddy. In both privacy and security circles, there is a tint of paranoia and conspiracy thinking, at least with some people.

This is part of Andrew’s News+ series, where he shares a magazine every Friday to help people discover good content in Apple News+.