Contactless payment system users, such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, are on track to hit 450 million by 2020, and Apple is going to account for half of them around the world. That’s according to a new report from Juniper Research.
Cops Are Getting Access to Broadband Surveillance
The government gave AT&T free rights to the 20MHz broadband spectrum, as well as US$6.5 billion for the network rollout.
Ways That Apple Could Improve the Phone App
u/beyondthetech recently posted in the Apple subreddit about ways to improve the Phone app. I think it’s an interesting list, and it could improve the iPhone experience.
I certainly believe that these changes are not too difficult to implement, and I’ve been asking Apple for years to make this happen. Maybe CallKit and Do Not Disturb were their first implementations to my request, but honestly, they’re still both very basic and very naive. With everything else in iOS getting more robust and more smart, Apple needs to really take a fresh look at this area and address it much better this time around in time for iOS 12’s release, or at least in a 12.1 release, if they are already time-constrained.
Cyber Warfare Has Three Aspects, Including Cognition
Cyber warfare has three aspects: physical, informational, and cognitive. So writes Richard Forno for The Conversation. It seems to me that cognition would be a subset of informational warfare, instead of being a separate dimension. Cyber tools can be used to target your thoughts and perceptions of reality, and we’re seeing this virtually in real time.
However, I believe this isn’t a new form of war at all: Rather, it is the same old strategies taking advantage of the latest available technologies. Just as online marketing companies use sponsored content and search engine manipulation to distribute biased information to the public, governments are using internet-based tools to pursue their agendas. In other words, they’re hacking a different kind of system through social engineering on a grand scale.
10-Foot Cloth MFi-Certified Lightning Cable: $14.99
We have a deal on a 10-foot long, cloth covered MFi-Certified Lightning cable. The cloth is designed to be tangle-resistant, making charging from across the room that much easier. This very long Lightning cable is $14.99 through our deal.
TSA Tracking Involves Everyone, Not Just Terrorists
Federal air marshals collect information under a secret domestic surveillance program.
Bryan's Whole Home Listening Concept for Siri - TMO Daily Observations 2018-07-30
Bryan Chaffin and the Maccast’s Adam Christianson join Jeff Gamet to talk about Bryan’s vision for whole home listening for voice assistants and why an iPhone in our pocket doesn’t count.
Verizon VPN is a Thing Now. How Safe Is It?
It costs US$3.99/month and blocks advertising. But is it safe to use?
There's an Original Mac on Display at Microsoft's Headquarters
There’s an original Mac on display at Microsoft’s headquarters commemorating the fact that Microsoft Office was released first for Apple’s computer platform, and not the PC. That’s pretty cool because the company could’ve easily chosen to not recognize that bit of history and most people would’ve been none the wiser. Apple played a significant role in Microsoft’s early growth, so seeing a Mac with Office installer floppy discs, as Business Insider notes, next to Bill Gates’ original business card is great. You can check out the ancient Mac at Microsoft’s visitor center in Redmond, Washington.
Senator Wyden Wants US Government to Stop Using Adobe Flash
Flash is dead and any remaining support for the former king of online multimedia officially ends in 2020, so Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) is urging U.S. government agencies to drop the platform. In a letter to the National Institute of Standards and Technology he said,
While Flash will continue to exist past this point, it will no longer receive necessary technical support, significantly magnifying its existing cybersecurity deficiencies.
Considering the ridiculously long list of security flaws in Flash, ditching the platform is something the government should’ve done long ago.