iOS

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A $10 Million New York Lab Tries to Brute Force iOS Devices

Andrew Orr ·

Inside a lab in New York worth US$10 million, specialists are trying to brute force their way into iPhones and iPads.

What’s going on in the isolation room is important, if silent, forensic work. All of the phones are hooked up to two powerful computers that generate random numbers in an attempt to guess the passcode that locked each device. At night, technicians can enlist other computers in the office, harnessing their unused processing power to create a local supercomputer network.

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New Keyboard ‘Typewise’ Claims 80% Fewer Typos

Andrew Orr ·

Typewise is a new keyboard that claims to reduce typos by 80% thanks to its hexagonal design. The developers invited me to test the app, and while there is a learning curve it does have a tutorial to follow. I haven’t given up the default keyboard though, but if you’re looking for an alternative I recommend you at least try Typewise out.

Typewise has been completely redesigned to provide an optimal typing experience on the smartphone. The layout was optimized for typing with two thumbs, because, according to the Cambridge study, 74% of users write this way and achieve the highest typing speed. Two space buttons placed in the middle of the keyboard allow these most frequently used keys to be reached as easily as possible.

Podcast

When Your Mac Sleeps Too Deeply – Mac Geek Gab 792

John F. Braun & Dave Hamilton · · 1 Comment

Sleeping computers are good, until they don’t wake up. Thankfully, John and Dave are here each week to answer your questions, including this one. But that’s not all! Listen for answers to questions about Apple Watch hourly chimes, registering Apple devices, and tips on using the camera adapter between two iPhones, opening windows in new tabs, and more. Press play and enjoy learning at least five new things on this week’s episode of Mac Geek Gab.

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File Speeds Using iOS Files are Terrible Compared to Finder

Andrew Orr ·

Redditor u/j1ggl did a test to compare Finder and Files using a folder of 2048 texture files. The folder was only 1MB, but iOS Files still handled different tasks way worse than Finder. For example, using the app’s built-in zip function, zipping the folder took 3 seconds with Finder and 38 seconds with Files. Unzipping took 7 seconds versus 42 seconds, respectively.

Conclusion: The Files app for iPhone/iPad is badly optimized and not ready to handle a larger amount of files, even though they take up just 1MB in total. It is also worth noting that the iPad required several reboots to even achieve the zipping and unzipping of the folder.

Finally a Way to Batch-Rename Files on iOS
Cool Stuff Found

Finally a Way to Batch-Rename Files on iOS

Andrew Orr ·

Every since I bought an iPad Pro I’ve been able to conduct most of my work and personal life on my iPad. But I still need my MacBook Pro for a couple things, like using Automator to batch-rename files (renaming multiple files simultaneously). This isn’t possible to do on iOS, until now. A shortcut I found on RoutineHub lets you do this. It lets you rename your files in custom formats, like alphabetically, prepending text, sorting by date modified, etc.

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Is Facebook Secretly Accessing Your Camera? This Man Found a Bug

Andrew Orr ·

For years there have been anecdotes from people saying that Facebook secretly uses their phone’s microphone and/or camera for targeted advertising. Joshua Maddux tweeted about a bug he found within the Facebook app. By tapping on a profile picture and slowly sliding it down the screen, you can see his rear camera being accessed on the left hand side. He tested it using five iPhones running iOS 13.2.2.

Found a @facebook #security & #privacy issue. When the app is open it actively uses the camera. I found a bug in the app that lets you see the camera open behind your feed. Note that I had the camera pointed at the carpet.