TMO Deals

Babbel Language Learning Lifetime Subscription (14 Languages): $199

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on a lifetime subscription for Babbel language learning software. Babbel lets you practice with 10-15 minute bite-sized lessons, and Babbel uses speech recognition technology to keep your pronunciation on point. And, it comes with 10,000 hours of online language education. A lifetime subscription is $199 through our deal, and it covers all 14 languages.

Link

Apple, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla Take on Kazakhstan Government

Andrew Orr ·

Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla are teaming up to ban a root certificate used by the Kazakhstan government to decrypt HTTPS traffic for residents in the country’s capital, the city of Nur-Sultan.

Kazakh officials justified their actions claiming they were carrying out a cybersecurity training exercise for government agencies, telecoms, and private companies.

The government’s explanation did, however, make zero technical sense, as certificates can’t prevent mass cyber-attacks and are usually used only for encrypting and safeguarding traffic from third-party observers.

Cool Stuff Found

‘Documents’ by Readdle Updates Video Player With Chromecast Support

Andrew Orr ·

Documents by Readdle got major updates to its video player recently. Users can now extract audio from video, multitask with a video mini-player, stream with Chromecast, and more. Extract audio from video. Get an mp3 file with the sound while your original video remains untouched. This is great for lectures and music videos. Multitask with Video mini-player.Watch a video in a small window while doing other things in Documents. “Always Landscape” mode. Enjoy movies comfortably as Documents plays videos in the landscape orientation no matter who you rotate your iPhone. Chromecast support. Stream videos from Documents to your TV with Google Chromecast and use your iPhone with Documents as a remote control. Lots of our users were waiting for this.

Podcast

Battery Management, Nuking, Paving, and More — Mac Geek Gab 849

John F. Braun & Dave Hamilton · · Add Comment

Sometimes you Nuke, sometimes you Pave. Sometimes all you need to do is make a tweak. You’d think we were talking about building (and destroying) roads, but no… your two favorite geeks are talking tech! Apple tech, mostly. Listen as John and Dave answer your questions, share your tips and Cool Stuff Found, and generally help all of us learn at least five new things every week!

Link

Like Apple, Microsoft is Designing its Own ARM Chips

Andrew Orr ·

Microsoft is working on its own in-house designs for ARM chips. The company is exploring server processors as well as another variant that may be used in its Surface line of consumer computers.

Microsoft’s efforts are more likely to result in a server chip than one for its Surface devices, though the latter is possible, said one of the people. The company’s chip design unit reports to Jason Zander, head of the Azure cloud business, rather than Panos Panay, who oversees Surface products. Representatives of Microsoft and Arm declined to comment on whether Microsoft is working on server and PC processors.

Link

Facebook Warns of iOS 14 Privacy With App Banners

Andrew Orr ·

Facebook’s latest move is to display banners in its business apps saying there will be an impact to marketing efforts. In this case, the “users” that Mr. Espósito refers to in his article are the actual users—the advertisers. This banner is seen in Facebook Business Suite and Facebook Ads.  The problem with Facebook’s argument though is that, like Tim Cook tweeted, they can still track you across all the apps like before. What angers Mark Zuckerberg is user consent (sorry, product consent, products being the people that use Facebook).

The fact that Facebook is now showing these messages in its iOS apps criticizing Apple demonstrates that the company is trying to get popular appeal to change Apple’s mind about its new App Store privacy rules.

Link

Audiophile Gives AirPods Max ‘B-‘ Score in Detailed Review

Andrew Orr ·

Crinacle.com has given a detailed review of AirPods Max. Overall, while the conclusion says don’t get the headphones if you’re expecting US$500 sound quality, the headphones do get a score of B-.

But I’ll deviate a little for the sake of the “typical usecase” for the APM. After all, one does not buy an Apple headphone purely for sound quality, much like how one does not purchase an iMac for raw horsepower. Looking at the APM’s immediate competition, we have the two biggest ones: the Bose 700 ($350) and the Sony WH-1000XM4 (also $350). Effectively, the APM is a $200 premium over the two, so begs the question: can that be justified?

Link

Barack Obama Names Apple TV’s ‘Boys State’ Among Favorite Movies

Andrew Orr ·

Former President Barack Obama has shared his favorite movies and TV shows of 2020, and one of them is “Boys State” from Apple TV+.

Like everyone else, we were stuck inside a lot this year, and with streaming further blurring the lines between theatrical movies and television features, I’ve expanded the list to include visual storytelling that I’ve enjoyed this year, regardless of format.