![Improve Your iPhone Screen With ProtectPax Liquid on Indiegogo [Update]](https://www.macobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Image-1.webp)
A company called ProtectPax is crowdfunding a special liquid that can strengthen your iPhone screen. It’s a goo made with titanium nanoparticles, and ProtectPax says it can make your iPhone screen as “hard as sapphire or ruby.” Andrew Orr explains what the company is offering on Indiegogo.
Andrew Orr
Since 2015 Andrew has been writing about Apple, privacy, security, and at one point even Android. You can find him most places online under the username @andrewornot.
Articles by Andrew Orr
iOS 10 Spying Possible With iCloud Backups
A scary piece from Motherboard brings to attention a tool for iOS 10 spying. A company called Mobistealth sells a special monitoring tool that can pull data from iCloud backups. And the device doesn’t need to be jailbroken to work.
Apple's System Status Page Updated With Last Known Outages
Whenever Apple’s online services go down, the company provides basic information on its System Status page. In the past it just gave information on which service was down, with a brief timeline of the outage. Now, Apple updated the page to replace the timeline with something better.
iOS: Long Press Icons For Safari Shortcuts
You might not know it, but Safari has some hidden shortcuts tucked behind some of the icons. This will let you perform certain actions a little faster. Safari shortcuts will save you plenty of time. Andrew tells us how he discovered these shortcuts by accident.
iPhone Screen Repairs By Third Parties Now Get Some Warranty Coverage
Apple recently decided iPhone screen repairs by third-parties don’t fully void your warranty anymore. Affected iPhone will also qualify for warranty coverage as long as the repair isn’t related to the third-party display itself. Before, iPhones with third-party displays weren’t eligible for authorized repair under warranty from an Apple Authorized Service Provider.
iPhone Prototypes Must Be Carried In A Special Case
Whenever Apple tests new iPhone prototypes, they must be used in real world conditions. But how do you test a prototype in public and still keep it secret? By using a special stealth case. MacRumors got its hands on photos of a special case that Apple uses.
iOS 10: How to Make Home Button Touch ID Work Like it Used to
iOS 10 brought a big change to the way the Home Button worked by requiring users to press it, even after your fingerprint has been recognized. But, there’s a feature tucked away under Settings > General > Accessibility that allows you to make your Home Button work like it used to. When this option is turned on, your iPhone or iPad with Touch ID will unlock with just a touch from the lock screen. Here’s how to do it.
New McDonald's Ad Pokes Fun At Apple to Promote 'STRAW'
Fast food chain McDonald’s has a new ad for a product called “the STRAW.” It pokes fun at Apple, in particular Jony Ive, as it features white backgrounds and a British narrator. The product will released along with four new shakes in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Check out the Suction Tube for Reverse Axial Withdrawal in the commercial.
iOS: Easily Print To PDF Emails In Apple Mail
On iOS there is a hidden feature that lets you print to PDF any email you want. It doesn’t require a third-party app or another email client. You can do it inside Apple Mail with a 3D Touch. Andrew Orr shows you how.
Tip: Stop Surveillance By Smart TVs from Vizio, Samsung, and LG
In light of the recent case against Vizio, an article by Consumer Reports gives details on how to stop your smart TV from spying on you with automatic content recognition. This works with television models from Vizio, Samsung and LG. Here’s how to stop the surveillance and protect your privacy.
macOS: View and Grab GIF Frames with the Preview App
Did you know you could use Preview to view a GIF’s separate frames? You can use this method to save a frame as a separate image. Preview is the most common method to view GIFs and watch them animate, but you can go a step further and capture frames. This tip comes courtesy of The Mac Observer’s Jeff Gamet.
BeatsX Headphones Finally Launch On Apple Store
Apple has finally launched the long-awaited BeatsX headphones. The headphones were originally delayed in Fall 2016. Apple’s website listed shipping times of 4-5 business days for White and Black colors, and 8-11 days for Blue and Gray.
Self Publish Your Books With iBooks
If you’re an author, you can self publish your books on iBooks. You’ll want to leverage multiple platforms to increase your visibility, but don’t forget Apple. As The Mac Observer editor-in-chief, Bryan Chaffin, wrote, Apple’s eBook platform isn’t perfect, but it is worthwhile to use.
![Deleted Browser History From Safari Gets Saved To iCloud [Updated]](https://www.macobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_0798.webp)
Deleted Browser History From Safari Gets Saved To iCloud [Updated]
In unnerving news, Forbes reports that your web browsing history in Safari gets stored in iCloud, even if you deleted it. Using a special tool, a security analyst accidentally discovered an iCloud record called “tombstone,” and this is where Apple stores the deleted history.
Pinterest Visual Search Gets A Tool Called Lens
Today Pinterest rolled out a new visual search tool called Lens. It’s a feature found within the app that uses machine learning to classify real-world objects. Lens suggests items in Pinterest that are related to the object. Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp demonstrated Lens visual search to detect a pomegranate, and Pinterest showed him pins about pomegranate bread, sandwiches and helpful tips to peel the fruit. Along with Lens, the company introduced Shop the Look, a tool that identifies objects in pins that you can purchase, and gives you a direct link to buy. Right now it’s only available for five brands. Although currently in beta, Lens is sure to help usher in augmented reality.
macOS Photos: Create Smart Albums Based On Camera Type
A handy tip for macOS Photos users is to create Smart Albums. A Smart Album automatically organizes your photos based on certain criteria that you choose. Today Andrew shows us how to create a Smart Album based on camera model. The album is perfect if you use multiple cameras and need to separate them easily.
Get Pro Mac Apps From Apple With An Education Discount
Apple is offering a brand new educational bundle for students and teachers. The apps, worth $430 separately, are offered at a great discount and include Logic Pro X, Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, Compressor 4 and Main Stage 3. Verification requires an account on UNiDAYS, a savings program for college kids. If you’re a creative student or educator, you may want to check out this deal.
Hackers Post Cellebrite's Smartphone Cracking Tools Online
A hacker dumped 900GB of hacking tools and data used by Cellebrite. The cache of data is on Pastebin, for now, at least. Cellebrite is an Israeli security company that came to public prominence when the FBI used its services to hack into the San Bernadino shooter’s iPhone.
How To (Sort of) Block Emails In Apple Mail On macOS
Using a simple trick, you can block emails from a specific person using Apple Mail on macOS. This should work on all versions of macOS that have Apple Mail preinstalled. Now you have can peace of mind from trolls, exes or spammers. Andrew walks us through this easy tip.
Interactive eBook Standard Could Take on Web Qualities with W3C Merger
Today the World Wide Web Consortium and the International Digital Publishing Forum have completed a merger. The new initiative, called Publishing@W3C, will use web technologies to improve publishing, authoring and reading of interactive eBooks. The goal is to make an eBook a self-contained ecosystem with rich interactions using dynamic documents, search, and multimedia. The self-contained part means that the web elements can work even if you’re offline, without needing an always-on connection. Work is underway on APIs and packaging formats to enable these eBooks to act more like apps or web pages. The move could dramatically overhaul the ebook market, which is currently dominated by Amazon, with Apple’s iBooks as a distant second. It remains to be seen how having the W3C’s weight behind an ebook standard could affect the market, but it could give authors, publishers (including independent authors), and readers more options. It could also have a big impact on the textbook industry.
The iOS Chrome Browser Is Now Open Source
After several years of switching the code, Google made the iOS Chrome browser open source. For the past several years the Chrome team has been updating the code in order to bring it under the Chromium Project. Since iOS browsers must use Apple’s WebKit rendering engine, the app had to support that as well as Google’s Blink engine.
Black AirPods Exist Thanks To BlackPods
A company called BlackPods is offering custom painted AirPods, but as the name suggests they only offer them in black. Matte black, to be specific. You can buy a pair directly from the company, or send in your own pair and pay to have them coated using a custom process.
Apple Extends Developer Promo for App Store Search Ads
Apple is extending the App Store Search Ads offer for developers until March 30, 2017. Originally, the introductory offer launched back in October was set to expire on December 31, 2016. Developers who sign up get free $100 in credits that go toward App Store ads. The reason is unknown, but 9To5Mac offers a guess.
Report Problem iTunes Purchases through Apple's Website
Our own Adam Christianson said that one of his MacCast listeners was able to get a refund for a mistaken purchase using a website where customers can easily report a problem with iTunes purchases. If you or a family member accidentally bought something within the past 90 days, you may be eligible for a refund.
