The 02 cellular network suffered a major UK outage on Thursday, thought to be down to a software issue from third-party provider Ericsson.
Google Trainee Placed Fake Ad by Mistake
A Google trainee placed a fake advert across a large number of websites and apps (via The Financial Times). The trainee accidentally placed a “buy” order during a training exercise. Nobody noticed the error for 45 minutes. The incident will cost the search giant millions of dollars.
The error, which happened late on Tuesday California time, saw the fake advert — a blank yellow rectangle — appear on many websites and in apps viewed in the US and Australia for a period of about 45 minutes. The failure to prevent such a basic human error is a black eye for Google, which has led the automation of online ad placement and is widely recognised as the leader in applying artificial intelligence to how such markets work.Google confirmed the mistake on Wednesday and said it would “honour payments to publishers for any ads purchased”. It would not comment on the scale of the problem, but one ad industry source put the potential cost at $10m.
Apple Still Hasn't Got 'Undo' Right on iOS
Daring Fireball’s John Gruber noticed something interesting when he was going through Apple’s Best of the Year awards. When talking about its iOS app of the year, Procreate, Apple had to explain how to Undo and Redo. This would not be necessary on a desktop – there are established conventions for these functions. While there are conventions iOS, they are not implemented with anywhere near the force they are on desktops and so for some apps something so seemingly basic required explanation.
What it comes down to, I think, is that the menu bar has become a vastly underestimated foundation of desktop computing. Once heralded, the menu bar is now seen as a vestige. I’m not arguing that iOS should have a Mac-style menu bar. I’m simply pointing out that without one, iOS is an 11-year-old platform that is still floundering to establish consistent conventions for some basic features, let alone complex ones, that are simple and obvious on the Mac.
The Ultimate Mobile App Development Certification Bundle: $41
We have a deal on the the Ultimate Mobile App Development Certification Bundle. It’s designed to be a complete 63-hour track for mastering the most up-to-date tools in mobile app development and design. It includes six different training courses covering iOS and Android, and it’s $41 through our deal.
Microsoft's Edge Browser Coming to macOS
Ever since Satya Nadella took over Microsoft as CEO, the company’s mantra has been to bring its tools and solutions to all popular platforms, not just Windows. This will be the case in 2019 with Microsoft’s Edge browser coming to macOS. It’s going with the Chromium flow. TechCrunch explains.
Facebook Spyware, Credit Card Privacy – TMO Daily Observations 2018-12-06
Today is all privacy, talking Facebook spyware and how to keep your credit card safe, with Andrew Orr, Charlotte Henry, & host Kelly Guimont.
Pandora Launches its Podcast Platform Today
There are over 100,000 episodes covering a wide range of topics.
Microsoft Edge Browser Coming to macOS in 2019
Microsoft Edge browser will be coming to the Mac next year. It was launched on iOS and VP Joe Belfiore made a blog post announcing it.
Microsoft Edge will now be delivered and updated for all supported versions of Windows and on a more frequent cadence. We also expect this work to enable us to bring Microsoft Edge to other platforms like macOS.
Microsoft also announced that it will rebuild Edge using Chromium, a move that further solidifies Google’s Chrome hegemony. If you’re a Mac user and don’t like Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, I guess give Edge a try? Or use Chromium because it’s open source and Edge will be built on top of it anyway.
watchOS 5.1.2 Brings ECG Function to Series 4
watchOS 5.1.2 is rolling out to everyone, and if you’re the owner of the Apple Watch Series 4 you’ll be getting the ECG heart functionality.
Pro Photographer Tyler Stalman Reviews iPhone XR, XS Cameras
Professional photographer Tyler Stalman reviews the iPhone XR and iPhone XS cameras in a video. He talks about all of the new features, like Smart HDR, the new image signal processor, and how the wide-angle lens is slightly wider than previous models. Speaking of Smart HDR, he noted that it only works with video shot at 30 fps or lower. But it works whether you’re shooting in 720p, 1080p, or 4K. Mr. Stalman also notes something he found that can correct the blurring problems around the edges of subjects when you shoot in Portrait Mode.