The big social media networks settled a lawsuit over taking our phone’s contacts without our knowledge, but it isn’t costing them much. Bryan Chaffin joins Jeff Gamet to look at the settlement and companies stepping into our privacy, plus they talk about Apple’s new Clips app.
macOS Sierra: How to Disable the Dashboard
You probably don’t use the Dashboard in macOS, except by accident. Ever wondered how you could disable it altogether? Jeff Butts did, and has found a way to do just that.
TSMC Drops Out Toshiba Memory Bidding, Foxconn Still in the Race
The number of companies bidding for Toshiba’s NAND flash memory business is getting smaller now that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, has dropped out of the race. Foxconn is still still in the race with the highest bid at about US$30 billion.
Swift Programming from Scratch - Interactive Learning Platform: $10
We have a deal for you today on a training course to help you learn Swift. It’s called We ❤️ Swift, an ebook and interactive platform designed to teach you Swift from scratch. It includes more than a hundred exercises and custom made playgrounds. You can get it for $10 through our deal.
macOS: Reduce PDF File Size in Preview
This Quick Tip is about a little-known feature of Preview that’ll let you shrink the file size of large PDFs, so you could use this when you’re bumping up against uploading limitations, for example. Come read about how to do it (and why you should pay attention to how your file looks afterward!).
Twitter, Instagram, and Others Agree to Pay $5.3 Million for Privacy Obnoxiousness
Several social media companies have agreed to a US$5.3 million settlement for being obnoxious about user privacy. The suit stems from 2012, when Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, Foursquare, Kik, Path, Gowalla, and Foodspotting all took advantage of the way iOS worked at the time. More specifically, these companies sucked up our Contacts without telling us. iOS later required user permission to access our Contacts. The settlement was reported by Law360, who said the $5.3 million would be used to pay out damages to people who downloaded the above-mentioned apps between 2009 and 2012. What that means is the attorneys in the case get a phat paycheck, the companies get a slap on the wrist, and the millions of users who downloaded those apps will get pennies. Yay!
Sony Announces Prices & Availability of its OLED 4KTVs
Back in January, during CES, TMO wrote up a news story about Sony’s new XBR-A1E BRAVIA OLED 4K HDR TV. At the time, the product was not yet shipping, and we didn’t know what the prices would be. As a recap, Sony has embraced the OLED technology for its new line of 4K/UHD TVs, a market previously held only by LG. Now we know the details from the official press release for the two smaller models. For 55-inch: US$4999.99. For 65-inch: $6499.99. Sony says these TVs will be “available in stores beginning in April 2017.” OLED displays consistently win the picture quality battle against any kind of LCD, and so it’s important and timely for Sony to enter this market. No doubt, prices will be lower for the 2017 holidays.
macOS: Putting a Recovery Partition on Your Mac (Without Reinstalling macOS)
When Jeff Butts was mucking about with his trusty Mac Mini, he managed to mangle his recovery partition. Normally, this would mean a complete reinstall of the operating system, but Jeff found another way. Read on to learn how to get your recovery partition back without resorting to a complete reinstall.
Apple's Clips Social Media Video App Available for iPhone, iPad
Apple’s Clips video editing app for social networks hit the App Store on Thursday. The app lets iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users capture and edit short videos to share on Facebook, Twitter, and more.
Pebble Watches Aren't Dead Yet, Whole-home VPN - TMO Daily Observations 2017-04-06
Good news, Pebble owners, your smartwatch isn’t a paperweight just yet. Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun join Jeff Gamet to share their thoughts on Fitbit making it possible to side load apps onto Pebble smartwatches, plus they explain whole-home VPN protection.
