Avanca T1 Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds: $29.95

· Bryan Chaffin · TMO Deals

Avanca T1 Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds

We have a deal on a pair of Avanca T1 Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds. These Bluetooth 5.0 devices allow you to answer and hang up phone calls with a tap on the earphones, and feature up to 30 hours of standby battery life and 3 hours of listening time. They’re $29.95 through our deal.

Reviewing Revue, Substack, and Clubhouse — Media+

· Charlotte Henry · Media+

The Mac Observer's Media+ Podcast Logo

Techcrunch’s Steve O’Hear joins host Charlotte Henry to look at some recent media phenomena – Revue, Substack, and Clubhouse. With the first already acquired by Twitter, should Apple be looking to get involved with either of the other two?

Run Virtual Machines on M1 Macs With ‘UTM’

· Andrew Orr · Cool Stuff Found

UTM is an app I recently discovered that lets you run virtual machines on M1 Macs. It uses Apple’s Hypervisor virtualization framework to run ARM64 operating systems on Apple Silicon at near native speeds. On Intel Macs, x86/x64 operating system can be virtualized. In addition, lower performance emulation is available to run x86/x64 on Apple Silicon as well as ARM64 on Intel. For developers and enthusiasts, there are dozens of other emulated processors as well including: ARM32, MIPS, PPC, and RISC-V. Under the hood of UTM is QEMU, a decades old, free and open source emulation software that is widely used and actively maintained. While QEMU is powerful, it can be difficult to set up and configure with its plethora of command line options and flags. UTM is designed to give users the flexibility of QEMU without the steep learning curve that comes with it. Mac App Store Link

Run Virtual Machines on M1 Macs With ‘UTM’

For The First Time Since March 2020, All 270 U.S. Apple Stores Are Open

· Charlotte Henry · Link

Palo Alto Apple Store

Apple Stores have had to close, open, then close again throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. However, for the first time since March 2020, all 270 U.S. retails locations were open on Monday, according to 9to5 Mac.

While some Apple Stores offer in-store shopping appointments and others can accept Express pickup of online orders only, all 270 US locations are now open in some capacity as of March 1, 2021. Apple Stores in Texas around Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio were the last to reopen today. Over the past 12 months, Apple Stores have weathered a rambling calendar of horrors that began when the pandemic hit. After starting to reopen from May 11, 2020, evolving health guidance and COVID-19 infection spikes forced some stores to reclose and reopen a second, third, or even fourth time. If adapting and responding to new health and safety guidelines overnight wasn’t enough, Apple Stores were then confronted with looting and vandalism, an intense heatwave and wildfire smoke throughout California in the midst of curbside operations, Election Day and Inauguration Day security precautions, and severe winter storms in Texas that pushed back store reopenings in Austin by nearly a week.

Should Apple Really be Trying to Make a Portless iPhone?

· Charlotte Henry · Link

Rumors rage that Apple is working on a portless iPhone. There are some valid reasons why this would be a good move, but there are major issues too. For instance, at the moment, the absence of ports would mean recovery required sending the device back to Apple. (I’m currently experiencing this with my Watch and it’s quite annoying.) Oliver Haslam explored this and the other problems with a portless iPhone for iMore.

The increased water resistance afforded by removing the Lightning port is cool and all, but iPhones survive long enough underwater as it is. And you’d still need a slot for your SIM card and holes for speakers and whatnot. These things won’t be 100% sealed, Lightning port or not. Could Apple make thinner iPhones because of the removal of a port? Possibly. But Apple has a history of iPhones bending and we would all rather more battery than a thinner device. Maybe this is all about adding bigger batteries after all? Next, there’s the potential return of Touch ID that’s built into the screen. Could Apple need more space for whatever black magic phone makers do to make that happen? Maybe, but probably not. The likes of Samsung manage it just fine with their USB-C port in tow.

Apple Shares ‘Hometown’ Shot on iPhone by Phillip Youmans

· Andrew Orr · Cool Stuff Found

In honor of Black History Month, 32 of the country’s most visionary Black photographers showed Apple their hometowns. Phillip Youmans, the youngest ever director to win at the Tribeca Film Festival, follows a number of iPhone photographers as they each celebrate the Black experience, Black excellence, love, and imagination.

How Apple’s Walled Garden is a Double-Edged Security Sword

· Andrew Orr · Link

Apple security device header

Patrick Howell O’Neill shared an interesting argument for MIT Technology Review: Apple’s locked-down ecosystem is both good and bad for security.

He argues that while the iPhone’s security is getting tighter as Apple invests millions to raise the wall, the best hackers have their own millions to buy or develop zero-click exploits that let them take over iPhones invisibly. These allow attackers to burrow into the restricted parts of the phone without ever giving the target any indication of having been compromised. And once they’re that deep inside, the security becomes a barrier that keeps investigators from spotting or understanding nefarious behavior.

Put another way: Apple’s locked down systems naturally select for the best hackers. And the best hackers have the skill to create the most devastating hacks. “This means that even to know you’re under attack, you may have to rely on luck or vague suspicion rather than clear evidence.”