The MacValley blog
Welcome to the MacValley blog, your first stop for all the latest MacValley news and views.
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The MacValley blog Editor: Tom Briant
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Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Senior Correspondent Arnold Woodworth's Weekly Web Wrap-up for Tuesday, 3-27-2018
Video:
How to connect your HomePod to your Apple TV or Mac
https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/03/25/video-how-to-connect-your-homepod-to-your-apple-tv-or-mac
Video:
Apple's home pod brings the bass
https://www.cnet.com/videos/apples-homepod-brings-the-bass-siri-voice-control/
HomePod Diary: I want another one for sure, maybe two more
Siri is the most convenient way to control HomeKit devices, and the HomePod is hands-down the most reliable and convenient way to invoke it.
The HomePod can hear you from further away than any other device, and it’s the only thing that can understand you while music is playing.
The real convincer on the Siri front, though, has been my partner. I used Siri all the time anyway; Steph almost never did before HomePod. Now she too uses it daily.
https://9to5mac.com/2018/03/20/more-than-one-homepod/
Apple “Watch OS” finally has a competitor from Google
Google calls it’s operating system for watches “Wear OS”.
A table in this article compares their features.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/wearables/wear-os-vs-apple-watch/
People are accidentally setting off Apple’s Emergency SOS alert
If you sleep on your Apple Watch the wrong way, you might get a wake-up call from the police.
The feature is called Emergency SOS. The premise is simple enough: if you’re in danger or otherwise in need of help, holding down the right buttons will let you summon help without drawing attention to yourself. It’s a potentially life-saving feature, but of course butt dials are going to be more common than actual emergencies.
The exact sequence of buttons varies from device to device. A Watch will slip into an alert just from holding down the crown button long enough, which seems to be a particular danger if you wear it to sleep.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/18/17129440/emergency-sos-iphone-apple-watch-accident
iPhone X's Face ID is years ahead of Android competition
Android phones won't get comparable 3D tech until 2019, industry insiders estimate.
Apple's facial recognition technology, embodied by Face ID on the iPhone X, is estimated to have a two-year lead on the Android competition, according to "three major parts producers" who talked to Reuters.
Android phone manufacturers are struggling to acquire the same tech that Apple already has.
https://www.cnet.com/news/iphone-x-face-id-2-years-ahead-of-android-report/
Separate sources close to local and federal police investigations in New York and Ohio, who asked to remain anonymous as they weren't authorized to speak on record, said it was now relatively common for fingerprints of the deceased to be depressed on the scanner of Apple iPhones.
Once a person is deceased, they [legally] no longer have a privacy interest in their dead body.
You cannot assert your privacy rights when your friend's phone is searched and the police see the messages that you sent to your friend.
Report examines how police use fingerprints of dead people to unlock iPhones & how Face ID is also vulnerable
https://9to5mac.com/2018/03/22/police-fingerprints-iphone-face-id/
Apple iMac Pro review: Iron fist in a velvet glove
This is a ludicrously powerful machine. It’s intended to deal with the sorts of power-hungry tasks that bring even the most powerful consumer systems to their knees.
The iMac Pro screen’s color quality, when I tested it with our in-house colorimeter, it was absolutely spot on.
http://www.alphr.com/pcs/1008835/apple-imac-pro-review
Artists push Apple's iMac Pro to the limit using powerful rendering tools
To demonstrate the power of iMac Pro, Apple invited a group of renowned filmmakers, CG artists, and motion graphics designers to create a personal piece of work using its advanced technologies. Six different groups of people created two videos each: First, a beautiful video that took a lot of computer power to make and, second, a video on how they made their work of high-powered video art.
https://www.apple.com/imac-pro/films/
Spitfire Test iMac Pro Vs Mac Pro For Media Composition
This video will be very interesting to professional music people.
The composer who made this video compares the performance of his old Mac Pro to his new iMac Pro.
His new iMac Pro did perform noticeably better, but his old Mac Pro was still more than up to the job.
He felt that his new iMac Pro was a good investment, but he felt reassured that he could still use his old Mac Pro if anything went wrong with his new iMac Pro.
https://www.sonicstate.com/news/2018/03/17/spitfire-test-imac-pro-vs-mac-pro-for-media-composition/
Upcoming Apple iOS 11.3 Release: It’s Going to be The Big One
Apple has to deliver a satisfactory solution to the biggest iPhone scandal to date and it faces a race against time to fix a serious bug before release. But what has been forgotten is iOS 11.3 also gives Apple one big advantage over everyone else…
iOS 11.3 will change the game when it comes to battery transparency. The update will offer every user a detailed breakdown of their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch’s battery health, battery degradation over time, new performance options and reminders to replace their battery should it threaten system stability. No rival desktop or mobile operating can come close to this.
Competitors will be very hard pressed to catch up.
Apple confirms it will fix bug that caused Siri to read out hidden lock screen notifications
Apple says it will fix a bug that caused Siri to read out hidden lock screen notifications to anyone who asks.
Anyone can just hold down the home button on most iPhones or a side button for the iPhone X to activate Siri without voice recognition and ask to read notifications. The problem remains in iOS 11.3 beta and iOS 11.2.6 devices until Apple issues the fix.
The seven best iPhone or iPad apps for learning to play the guitar
Tim Cook speaks out on the Cambridge Analytica scandal, says Facebook's collection of user data 'shouldn't exist’
"I think that this certain situation is so dire and has become so large that probably some well-crafted regulation is necessary," Cook said after being asked if the use of data should be restricted in light of the Facebook incident. "The ability of anyone to know what you've been browsing about for years, who your contacts are, who their contacts are, things you like and dislike and every intimate detail of your life — from my own point of view it shouldn't exist."
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ceo-tim-cook-on-facebook-cambridge-analytica-scandal-2018-3
Apple’s privacy stance is a huge ‘competitive advantage’ over Facebook and Google
Apple has been largely insulated from privacy concerns because of its focus on monetizing hardware, not software and not advertising.
Apple's privacy policy does not allow its users' data to be shared for marketing purposes, and it could turn out to be the company's biggest “competitive advantage”.
"We view the future as consumers owning their own health data," Apple's Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams told CNBC.
Apple has maintained that all of the medical records are in full control of the user.
Amnesty International is launching a new social media campaign targeting Apple over its betrayal of millions of Chinese iCloud users by recklessly making their personal data vulnerable to the arbitrary scrutiny of the Chinese government.
“Apple’s influential ‘1984’ ad challenged a dystopian future but in 2018 the company is now helping to create one. Tim Cook preaches the importance of privacy but for Apple’s Chinese customers’ these commitments are meaningless. It is pure doublethink.”
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/apple-privacy-betrayal-for-chinese-icloud-users/
Remember to check this web site every day for new bargains on apps for iPhone and iPad.
How to use AirDrop with iOS and macOS
Here's how to turn on AirDrop and use it to move files between an iPhone and a Mac.
This article has everything you need to know to use this valuable tool.
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3265709/apple-ios/how-to-use-airdrop-with-ios-and-macos.html
How to increase your editing options in Photos for macOS by using app extensions
Photographers will be familiar with the editing tools offered by Photos in macOS, but sometimes the available selection just isn't enough. AppleInsider shows how to add more options to the editing roster, by taking advantage of extensions offered by other image editing applications.
7 MacOS display settings to help you see your Mac better
There's more to your Mac's display settings than just brightness.
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/7-macos-display-settings-to-help-you-see-your-mac-better/
Why Apple Is Among Those Most at Risk From a Trade War With China
Few companies have as much to lose from a U.S. trade war with China as Apple.
http://fortune.com/2018/03/26/apple-china-iphone-trump/
Mac developer slides in crypto-miner in exchange for premium features, Apple doesn’t mind
Crypto miners are tools designed to harness the processing power of users’ computers, typically unbeknownst to them. The practice is called cryptojacking, marrying the terms. cryptography and hijacking.
But in the case of Calendar 2 and its crypto-mining feature, the developer has been more than straightforward, stating loud and clear that if users want all the advanced features without paying the $0.99 a month, they can allow the app to “unobtrusively generate crypto-currency in the background.”
While not malicious in nature, mining tools are often used by webmasters or developers to essentially hijack end-users’ CPUs without their consent. These practices have become so common that AV vendors, including Bitdefender, now detect and classify browser-based crypto-miners as malware.
Bitcoin-Tracking System Used by Danish Police To Make Drug Traffickers Arrests
The recent news that the Danish police have become the first in the world to hunt down Internet drug traffickers by analyzing related transactions is, in a way, a positive for the image of the top digital currency in the world, Bitcoin.
Though researchers in the US had earlier announced they had created an analysis tool for US law enforcement that can be used to overcome the challenges of criminals using Bitcoin for transactions, the Danes consider themselves “much unique in the world at this point, because there are not really any others who have managed to use these trails as evidence.”
It's an exciting time for cryptocurrency. As of March 2018, there are more than a thousand currencies in existence, with a combined market capitalization of over USD $460 billion.
For comparison, this is a little more than half the size of Apple Inc., the largest publicly-traded company in the world, valued by markets according to its $375 billion in assets and $230 billion in annual revenues in 2017.
Just one year ago, this combined crypto market capitalization was less than $19 billion. Two years ago it was less than $8 billion. A lot of apparent wealth has been created in a very short space of time.
https://github.com/nickwb/cryptographic
Interesting Crypto-Currency Chart
https://i.imgur.com/YGwn9n9.png
John McAfee: Short-Term Crypto Investors "Can Hope for Mediocrity at Best, Oblivion at Worst”
Trying to time the rocky crypto markets right now is the fastest way to financial ruin.
That's according to cybersecurity savant and crypto guru John McAfee, who didn't mince his words Wednesday about the benefits of long-term crypto investing versus short term.
Of the 28 most popular digital coins on the market today, 27 have been and still are "in the red" so far this year.
Long-term crypto investors – those who've been in the game for several years – have seen this kind of volatility plenty of times before. And to them, these price drops mean one thing: price surges later on.
These 3D printed homes cost $4k and take less than 24 hours to make
Non-profit New Story has unveiled a 3D-printed house that may help provide safe and affordable homes in developing countries. Each printed home ranges in size from 600 to 800sqft and can be created within a 24-hour timespan. At the same time, the printing technology keeps waste to a minimum.
The homes are printed using Vulcan, a 3D printer that creates the frame of the house one layer at a time.
Using the Vulcan printer, ICON can print an entire home for $10,000 and plans to bring costs down to $4,000 per house.
The use of cement as a common material will help normalize the process for potential tenants that question the sturdiness of the structure. “I think if we were printing in plastic we would encounter some issues.”
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/12/17101856/3d-printed-housing-icon-shelter-housing-crisis
Printing Your Own Phone Is Not Far Away Thanks to Four-in-One 3D Printer
The printer is being presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 21 March.
“Each printing technology has its own limitations,” says Jerry Qi, a materials scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, who led the design of the multimaterial printer. “We put four 3D-printing technologies under one platform.”
Although current 3D printers can already produce electronic parts and devices made of multiple materials, if a structure requires more than one printing method, a different machine is required for each. But moving an object from one printer to another is usually impractical for the micrometre-level precision that is required in 3D printing, and is inefficient if multiple materials are used in a single layer, says Qi.
Video:
Facebook deals with Cambridge Analytica fallout
Video:
Facebook scandal widens:
Obama campaign's Carol Davidsen admits Democrats sucked out "the entire social network of the US", kept the data and still have it.
So the 2012 Obama campaign was scraping data from Facebook, got caught, and was specifically told they were allowed to do things "they wouldn't have allowed someone else to do because they were on our side."
https://twitter.com/cestlaviv/status/975874116229255169
Facebook users are deleting their profiles in protest over reports that they allowed Cambridge Analytica (a political data firm) to harvest private information.
FACEBOOK users are deleting their accounts in droves following news that their personal information was harvested for use in Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Users of the world’s largest social network have begun deleting or deactivating their accounts in droves, following news that Cambridge Analytica was allowed to harvest users’ personal information for use in US President Donald Trump’s 2016 political campaign.
How Facebook made it impossible to delete Facebook
We’ve adapted our entire culture around Facebook. That makes “just quitting” easier said than done.
There are three main reasons most people can’t just up and leave Facebook, and they all serve to illustrate the extent to which Facebook has altered the landscape of our digital lives.
1) Facebook Ecosystem
Many mobile and web-based apps actually require you to have a Facebook account — and only a Facebook account — before you can use the app.
For example, up until very recently you were required to have a Facebook account to use Tinder (a dating web site).
When you create an infrastructure that assumes everyone is using only one or two major platforms for their daily internet use, you create an internet where using only those two platforms becomes a tacit requirement.
2) Some jobs or education opportunities require a Facebook account.
3) Facebook is, for better and worse, a tangible tie holding many people to their communities.
https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/3/22/17146776/delete-facebook-difficult
Leaving Facebook isn’t a clear-cut path to data privacy. As HuffPost explains, deactivating your account leaves your data intact. It’s possible to permanently delete your account—and with it, all the information Facebook has gathered about your political leanings, relationship status, and shopping habits—but it’s a long and complicated process. Besides, in our current state of surveillance capitalism, even if you get off Facebook, other tech companies like Google are busy auctioning off your data to advertisers, too.
That said, a large exodus of people from Facebook would be a way to send a message to CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the need for the company to overhaul its approach to privacy protections—and perhaps locate its moral compass.
The Complete Guide to Facebook Privacy
https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-privacy-apps-ads-friends-delete-account/
Facebook makes their money by exploiting and selling intimate details about the private lives of millions, far beyond the scant details you voluntarily post. They are not victims. They are accomplices.
https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/975106627513729024
Spooked by the Facebook privacy violations? This is how much your personal data is worth on the dark web
Facebook logins can be sold for $5.20 each because they allow criminals to have access to personal data that could potentially let them hack into more of an individual’s accounts. The credentials to a PayPal PYPL, +0.70% account with a relatively high balance can be sold on the dark web for $247 on average, the report found.
One’s entire online identity, including personal identification numbers and hacked financial accounts, can be sold for only about $1,200 on the dark web, Fractl found.
Logins for food delivery websites such as Grubhub can be sold for about $9 because they allow criminals to fraudulently order expensive food and alcohol.
And a login for the lodging site Airbnb can be sold for about $8 because it opens up “a world of scams”.
Video:
Facebook can still track you even if you delete your account — here's how to stop it
http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-tracks-people-not-on-site-ads-privacy-2016-6
Video:
How to stop your Facebook friends from giving away your data
http://www.businessinsider.com/remove-apps-facebook-privacy-issue-data-tip-fix-2017-11
Want to see what Facebook has on you (at a minimum)?
Follow the instructions at the link below.
https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/status/977447495239319553
People are freaking out that Facebook's Android apps collect call and text data — but Facebook says it got permission
Dylan McKay downloaded the archive of all his Facebook data — and found that the social network had been keeping extensive records of the calls and texts he had made from his Android phone.
Privacy fears around Facebook are at an all-time highfollowing the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where 50 million users had their data used improperly by a political research firm.
Apple's iOS, the operating system on the iPhone and iPad, doesn't allow that kind of access to call and text data at all without very specific permission. That means Apple fans don't have to worry as much about Facebook having call or text records.
The State Department Has Reportedly Purchased a $15,000 iPhone Encryption Cracking Device
The device is called “GrayKey”.
GrayKey can allegedly crack an iPhone just by attaching it to one of two Lightning cables sticking out of the side and injecting some kind of program that eventually causes the affected iPhone to display its passcode.
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