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50 Attorneys General Launch Google Antitrust Probe

Charlotte Henry ·

Attorneys general from 48 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico launched an antitrust probe into Google Monday. The drive was led by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, CNBC reported. It followed the launched of similar action against Facebook on Friday.

The probe includes attorneys general from 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. California and Alabama are not nvolved in the probe, Paxton said at a press conference. Other attorneys general at the media conference emphasized Google’s dominance in the ad market and use of consumer data. “When there is no longer a free market or competition, this increases prices, even when something is marketed as free, and harms consumers,” said Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican. “Is something really free if we are increasingly giving over our privacy information? Is something really free if online ad prices go up based on one company’s control?”

 

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The (In)Security Behind Trump's Twitter Account

Andrew Orr ·

According to an investigation of President Trump’s Twitter security, his account might be vulnerable to being hacked, although some disagree.

The source who shared information about Trump’s Twitter security said they don’t believe the account will be hacked, but that the risk should be kept in perspective. “Remember we are talking about access to a Twitter account, not access to the nuclear launch codes,” they said. “While the optics would be bad if the account were ever hacked, it would not be a national crisis.”

Podcast

Tidbits Managing Editor Josh Centers (#5) - TMO Background Mode Interview

John Martellaro · · Add Comment

Josh Centers is the Managing Editor of Tidbits.com and has published many Take Control (TC) books. He’s the author of Take Control of Apple TV and Take Control of Home Automation. He’s been writing the Take Control books for iOS since version 8, and his latest book is Take Control of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13.

In his fifth appearance on the show, Josh and I explored his latest article (Aug. 30) at Tidbits that explores a controversial user interface issue in iOS 13. Josh is blunt about Apple’s questionable use of the ellipsis. We then took a 30,000 ft. view of the current disarray in the area of IoT, home automation and security. As an aside, Josh and I hypothesize about a new Apple product. We finished with a discussion of what sets iPadOS 13 apart from iOS 13.

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iMessage and Safari Make iPhones Less Secure

Andrew Orr ·

Andy Greenberg writes about security problems in iMessage and Safari, saying that these products make iPhone less secure.

“If you want to compromise an iPhone, these are the best ways to do it,” says independent security researcher Linus Henze of the two apps…He and other iOS researchers argue that when it comes to the security of both iMessage and WebKit—the browser engine that serves as the foundation not just of Safari but all iOS browsers—iOS suffers from Apple’s preference for its own code above that of other companies.

Apple is in a tough position. If a company isn’t great at security, they could get a third-party to audit its software. But that would create a huge target.

TMO Deals

MacX DVD Ripper Pro Lifetime Single License: $19.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on MacX DVD Ripper Pro, software that can convert your DVDs into digital video files for your media library. It supports batch converting for multiple videos at once, can extract audio, and more. The deal listing has more information, and a lifetime license for MacX DVD Ripper Pro is $19.99 through our deal.

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The Apple Watch is a Slow Burning Success

Charlotte Henry ·

When Tim Cook first showed-off the Apple Watch it was not necessarily clear what it was for. But, said James Titcomb at the Telegraph, it has proved to be a success.

New gadgets rarely come out of the gates fully formed; technology is an iterative process. The problem for Cook was that the company’s previous products had delighted instantly. The appeal of the iPod and iPhone were obvious as soon as they were touched. The Watch, by contrast, has been that rare thing for Apple: a slow burner. Unlike its predecessors, which were close to the finished item when launched, the original Apple Watch felt like a prototype, one that has since developed it out in the open. More recent versions have dramatically improved. Apple has dispensed with any pretence of the Watch being a luxury good, and stopped attempting to squeeze aspects of the iPhone onto its small screen.