> What if an Ethereum owner stored their digital money with a private key—the unguessable, 78-digit string of numbers that protects the currency stashed at a certain address—that had a value of 1? > > To Bednarek’s surprise, he found that dead-simple key had in fact once held currency, according to the blockchain that records all Ethereum transactions. But the cash had already been taken out of the Ethereum wallet that used it—almost certainly by a thief who had thought to guess a private key of 1 long before Bednarek had.
And:
> That initial discovery piqued Bednarek’s curiosity. So he tried a few more consecutive keys: 2, 3, 4, and then a couple dozen more, all of which had been similarly emptied. So he and his colleagues at the security consultancy Independent Security Evaluators wrote some code, fired up some cloud servers, and tried a few dozen billion more.
Seems such an obvious tack to take. And reinforces my avoidance of blockchain backed currency even when trying to visit bitcoin gambling sites. Perhaps I simply lack the sophistication to travel in such currencies. But when I read stories about people losing their life savings to stolen or misplaced blockchain currency accounts, it just scares me off.
This is a great read. Visit boonuspart to satisfy your gambling itch.
Something that I heard from a couple of people a few months ago sort of mentioned to me just casually, “Wouldn’t it be funny if you could have a mouse cursors on iPad as an accessibility feature?”
And:
But then I started doing some research and I learned that actually it’s already possible, if you have right accessibility hardware like special joysticks and motors, to have some kind of cursor on iOS. This is already possible and has been possible for years.
But what I heard from sources is that without any adapter you will be able to use a USB-C mouse, on your iPad, as an accessibility device.
And then this followup:
If you missed last week's @_connectedfm, @viticci had a pretty interesting scoop that he'd been sitting on re mouse support coming to iPad as an accessibility feature. As far as I'm aware, that *is* indeed in the works. I feel like every pro user will turn that on, day one ?
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) April 22, 2019
I am fascinated by this possibility. Is this purely for accessibility, or is this a step towards a truly universal merging of iOS and macOS?
This is just so much better than losing your Mac for a week or more, which felt like punishment to me for buying into the new keyboard design.
I’ve been living with an intermittent “r” key failure for a few months now. Instead of taking my Mac in, I’ve just been hammering on the “r” key until I dislodged (temporarily) that piece of micro-crumb.
The other day, my MacBook Pro charger failed and, when I brought my Mac in to see what was what, the Apple Genius asked me about my keyboard experience. I was in a hurry, wasn’t prepared to leave my machine at that moment, but the Genius did tell me that they could have my Mac back to me the next day.
As to my charger, turned out to be a faulty cable, replaced at no charge, in and out in about 15 minutes. Brilliant.
Just got my first set of AirPods two weeks ago. Really enjoying them now that my company has switched to iOS and I tote around 2 iPhones. Then today I just popped them in to walk to the office and an Amber Alert game in. Through the AirPods. Full blast loud. My eyes watered and I threw one out as fast as possible but didn’t quite get the other in time as I tried to dismiss the alert. Holy hell my ears are ringing so loud. Is there any way to turn that down??
Amber alerts are designed to play at max volume, to get your attention. I get that.
But seems to me, Apple should do a bit of testing with AirPods volume, set a max limit for emergency klaxons and Amber alerts. There are people who need their AirPods at full volume, so not clear that a hard volume level cutoff is the right answer, but seems clear that the current in ear volume for Amber alerts and the like is just too loud and, perhaps, harmful to hearing.
Well, we’ve finally got the Samsung Galaxy Fold on our teardown table. This is, without question, an ambitious first-generation device—the idea of having both a smartphone and a tablet in your pocket at all times is pretty exciting! That said, a number of early reviewers had some durability issues with their review units, ultimately leading to a launch postponement. Are these temporary setbacks? Or are we headed for a full-blown AirPower-style product cancellation?
The teardown is full of great pics and details, but this little bit goes to the heart of the matter:
Unlike the dull slabs of glass we’re used to, this smartphone/tablet hybrid has lots of potential entry points—and not the good kind.
To achieve the fold, the thin bezel that surrounds (and protects) the screen leaves a gap where the two halves meet.
And:
This 7 mm gap doesn’t seem like a huge deal, but it leaves the display exposed—so should something accidentally enter, it’s curtains for the screen.
And:
When closed, the screen is protected—but the spine is flanked by massive gaps that our opening picks hop right into. These gaps are less likely to cause immediate screen damage, but will definitely attract dirt.
This all feels like Samsung rushing a poorly thought design to market, letting the analysts do the beta testing.
I do think this debacle will, ultimately, prove valuable to Apple or anyone else who goes down this road. A bit of a “how not to do this” design.
Alphabet Inc’s Wing Aviation unit on Tuesday got the okay to start delivering goods by drone in Virginia later this year, making the sister unit of search engine Google the first company to get U.S. air carrier certification, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
This means Wing can begin a commercial service delivering goods from local businesses to homes, which includes flights beyond visual line of site and over people, the FAA and Wing said. Wing Aviation plans to start commercial package delivery in Blacksburg, Virginia later this year.
I’m honestly not sure how I feel about drone deliveries. There seems to be a lot that can go wrong, but we’ll see.
Change the volume and output device for individual apps. Adjust your Mac’s audio device settings and levels instantly, from anywhere. Even apply built-in and third-party audio effects to any audio on your Mac. It’s all possible right from your menu bar, with SoundSource. This is truly powerful audio control.
For years, if I need an audio utility app, I always go to Rogue Amoeba first. They make great quality apps and chances are they make something that will get the job done. The company’s newest is called SoundSource, but check out the other apps while you’re there.
Over the last few weeks Apple has quietly debuted a new YouTube channel dedicated to one of its services: Apple TV. The Apple TV channel is home to a variety of videos, like trailers for upcoming films and TV shows, exclusive behind the scenes clips and interviews tied to popular shows and movies, and, of course, videos highlighting Apple’s own original content efforts, like an Apple TV+ trailer and Carpool Karaoke previews.
The launch of an Apple TV channel on YouTube is no big surprise, particularly as Apple moves further into the video and entertainment space. However, the channel does have an odd, yet interesting relationship with Apple’s own TV app. While the channel serves to promote the Apple TV service, its videos by and large aren’t available on that service’s app.
This is Apple priming the pump for Apple TV+ in the fall.
A spokesperson for AT&T today told Law360 that the matter has been “amicably settled.” Details on the terms of the settlement have not been shared, but AT&T is planning to continue to use its 5GE branding.
I don’t understand why Sprint settled if AT&T is allowed to continue using 5GE. The whole basis for the lawsuit was that 5GE would hurt Sprint’s planned 5G rollout, which makes sense. I don’t like AT&T’s 5GE branding at all—it’s misleading and has nothing to do with 5G.
I love music documentaries. But I’d be hard-pressed to name 10.
No matter what you think about the order of this list, there’s a lot of good ones to consider here. And as with all lists, there are some worthy candidates left out.
One of my favorites, Muscle Shoals, didn’t make the cut. Any others you’d add?
My friend had her iPhone XR stolen. She’s just realised that the ‘thief’* has made a video – it’s really short but shows the thief – and it’s been uploaded to her iCloud – is there a way I can pull the location data for a video?
Find my iPhone has been now disabled. So she’s out of options there, just wanted to do something to help if I could.
Read the thread to learn about pulling location data from a video (a number of options, and be aware that anyone can pull location data from your videos, just as they can from a still photo).
I wonder how the thief was able to disable Find My iPhone yet the poster was able to retrieve the video, so still had control of the Apple ID and iCloud account. The story appears to be ongoing.
As Apple and Amazon compete for a greater share of consumer dollars and attention, they also have a particularly intimate business relationship: Apple is spending more than $30 million a month on Amazon’s cloud, according to people familiar with the arrangement.
Apple’s cloud expenditure reflects the company’s determination to deliver online services like iCloud quickly and reliably, even if it must depend on a rival to do so.
A decade ago, pre-iPhone, Apple was notoriously behind on large-scale cloud services. But AWS only got started as a service in 2006, the year before the iPhone debuted. It was based on infrastructure Amazon had been working on since the 90s, sure, but it wasn’t a service Apple could even consider until 2006.
iCloud was launched in 2011. That’s 8 years. If Apple is still largely reliant on AWS today, why? Maybe they just honestly figure they don’t need to do it all themselves.
I’ve long wondered why Apple makes such heavy use of AWS. Is this simply because they don’t have the internal chops to deliver bulletproof cloud in the same way as Amazon? Is there more to it, perhaps a subtle piece in the complex business relationship with Amazon (Amazon sells some, but not all Apple products, Amazon’s video streaming service competes with Apple’s coming TV+, Amazon Video lives on Apple TV, etc.)
Ousmane Bah, 18, said he was arrested at his home in New York in November and charged with stealing from an Apple store. The arrest warrant included a photo that didn’t resemble Bah, he said in a lawsuit filed Monday. One of the thefts he was charged with, in Boston, took place on the day in June he was attending his senior prom in Manhattan, he said.
And:
Bah said he had previously lost a non-photo learner’s permit, which may have been found or stolen by the real thief and used as identification in Apple stores. As a result, Bah claimed, his name may have been mistakenly connected to the thief’s face in Apple’s facial-recognition system, which he said the company uses in its stores to track people suspected of theft.
Interesting on several levels. There’s the amount of the claim ($1B, an extraordinary number), the tidbit about Apple using facial-recognition in its stores, and the fact that a second company (Security Industry Specialists Inc.) is named in the claim.
JC Penney (as posted in the linked TechCrunch post):
A third-party credit card brand made the requirement for all merchants to actively support EMV contactless functionality effective April 13, retiring the legacy MSD contactless technology in place. Given the resources and lead time associated with meeting the new mandate, JCPenney chose to suspend all contactless payment options until a later date. Customers still have the ability to complete their transactions manually by inserting or swiping their physical credit cards at our point-of-sale terminals in stores, an option employed by the vast majority of JCPenney shoppers.
As to whether JCPenney will bring Apple Pay back, the TechCrunch post quotes JCPenney CEO Jill Soltau:
“I think that’s one of the key initiatives that we’ll be working on here in the coming months because we’re not being as strategic in how we speak to the customer and engage with the customer through our pricing and promotion,” she said. “And I would frankly say it might be a little bit confusing, and you might not know exactly when you can get the best value at JCPenney,” the CEO added.
The hint here is the importance to JCPenney of customer purchase data, something they lose with Apple Pay:
Customer purchase data allows a retailer to better target its customers with relevant promotions, as stores are able to collect the customer’s name and card number at point of sale, which they can then combine with other demographic data like the customer’s address, phone and email.
Apple Pay, meanwhile, prevents this level of access — something that customers like, but retailers traditionally have not.
The push and pull of marketing and privacy. Is Apple Pay inevitable? Will customers push back on JCPenney’s move away from privacy? Keeping an eye on this one.
Lying on a church pew with his arm over his head, 6-year-old Gordon Andindagaye whimpered a bit — in fear, not pain — as Dr. William A. Cherniak slowly swept a small ultrasound scanner up and down his chest.
Dr. Cherniak and Rodgers Ssekawoko Muhumuza, the Ugandan clinical officer he was training, stared at the iPhone into which the scanner was plugged, watching Gordon’s lung expand and contract.
Gordon had a persistent cough and swollen lymph nodes, and looked tired and unwell. As other boys ran around outside, kicking a soccer ball made of rags and twine, he clung weakly to his mother. The scan on the iPhone’s screen suggested his lungs had fluid in them.
What a great story about phones that aren’t just phones.
Six weeks after the spacecraft completed its orbital launch debut, SpaceX’s first flight-proven Crew Dragon capsule suffered a catastrophic explosion seconds before a planned SuperDraco test fire.
And:
The April 20th event is the first time in the known history of SpaceX’s orbital spacecraft program that a vehicle – in this case, the first completed and flight-proven Crew Dragon capsule – has suffered a total failure. Regardless of the accident investigation’s ultimate conclusions, the road ahead of Crew Dragon’s first crewed test flight has become far more arduous.
After entering the home, the intruder grabbed the victim’s arm and ordered him to connect his computer to the internet.
He put the firearm against the victim’s head and ordered him to follow the instructions. “Fearing for his life, the victim quickly turned to move the gun away from his head. The victim then managed to gain control of the gun,” court records show.
The victim shot the intruder multiple times and called the police.
Read the story. Just wow. But as soon as I read “ordered him to connect his computer to the internet”, I could see how this was going to go.
JC Penney tweet confirming the removal of Apple Pay:
JCPenney made the decision to remove Apple Pay for our stores, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We will definitely forward your feedback regarding this for review.
In all the stories I’ve read on this issue, no one seems to know why this happened. And the “We will definitely forward your feedback regarding this for review” comment makes it look like this was either done with blinders on (accounting making a decision that impacted in store customer experience, for example), or done as a trial, waiting to see if there is any pushback from customers.
Read the thread comments. Pushback happened pretty immediately. It’d be interesting to know the reason for this decision. A definite step backwards. Penney pinching?
Apple’s latest promotional video for the iPhone XS, released last September, includes a stunning scene: a massive avalanche storming down a mountaintop, enveloping everything below in an opaque cloud of white snow.
“The Making of Don’t mess with Mother,” posted on YouTube today, shows that explosives were used in order to generate the avalanche scene used in the video.
Motherboard emailed Dave McClung, a professor of avalanche engineering and research at the University of British Columbia, and asked if there’s anything that we can geographically conclude about this avalanche, based on the video.
It’s an interesting question but the deeper one might be even more interesting – does the behind the scenes footage unnecessarily glorify a particular culture?
The greatest threat in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Thanos, a powerful warlord who obliterated half of all life in the universe by snapping his fingers. But among the greatest threats to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in the eyes of those who created it, is anyone who spoils even the smallest of plot details.
That makes the “Avengers: Endgame” footage that leaked earlier this week almost as terrible as that Thanos snap, as far as spoilers go. While they didn’t respond directly to the leak, directors Joe and Anthony Russo tweeted a letter to fans Tuesday, with the hashtag #DontSpoilTheEndgame, imploring viewers not to give anything away after the movie hits theaters next week.
I honestly don’t get this need to broadcast the spoilers. Why consciously ruin the movie for other fans?
I took a few minutes at the start of this week’s podcast to rant a little about some of the mistakes Apple Music is making lately, and then I talk to Dave about all the things he considered before buying a new TV.
I want to thank Bare Bones Software for sponsoring The Loop this week. Bare Bones Software, makers of BBEdit, is one of my favorite software companies — in fact, I’ve been using BBEdit for more than 20 years. Now, BBEdit is also available in the Mac App Store! Same great features. Same user experience. You can subscribe in the Mac App Store or purchase perpetual licenses directly from Bare Bones Software. Also, you can still get great merch, including Classic and Rebus T-shirts, enamel pins, and more in their merch store!
Earlier that month Facebook had unveiled a major change to its News Feed rankings to favor what the company called “meaningful social interactions.” News Feed is the core of Facebook—the central stream through which flow baby pictures, press reports, New Age koans, and Russian-made memes showing Satan endorsing Hillary Clinton. The changes would favor interactions between friends, which meant, among other things, that they would disfavor stories published by media companies.
And:
Davos provided a first chance for many media executives to confront Facebook’s leaders about these changes. And so, one by one, testy publishers and editors trudged down Davos Platz to Facebook’s headquarters throughout the week, ice cleats attached to their boots, seeking clarity. Facebook had become a capricious, godlike force in the lives of news organizations; it fed them about a third of their referral traffic while devouring a greater and greater share of the advertising revenue the media industry relies on. And now this. Why? Why would a company beset by fake news stick a knife into real news?
This is a perfect weekend read, both riveting and chock full of detail. More detail to add to my growing stack of “Why I don’t use Facebook” arguments. I do love the idea of reconnecting with childhood friends, staying in touch with my family. I wish there was a true, do no evil platform for this.
Smart home devices are potentially one of the bigger security threats since there is no easy way to check what they are up to on your network. That’s a problem Princeton University has set out to solve, with the Princeton IoT Inspector.
And:
The tool is Mac-only for now. Using it, you can see:
a list of all the IoT devices on your home network
when they exchange data with an external server
which servers they contact
whether those connections are secure
Nice find. I’ve long thought about a user friendly device you could add to your network, have it build a list of devices you know about, give them names (such as Dave’s Switch, or Emma’s Mac, etc.), then have it automatically report (send you a text, perhaps) whenever a new, unknown device hopped onto your network.
To extend that idea, how about adding in the ability to detect cellular communications, within a short radius, reporting on those devices as well.
There are lots of solutions out there that do some of these things, but none I’ve found that do all of them, and none in a particularly friendly, efficient way. Please do weigh in if you know of something along these lines.
In the meantime, this Princeton tool is a nice one to explore. Though it’s not part of the Mac App Store, so do so at your own risk.
Facebook confirmed Thursday that hundreds of millions of user passwords were being stored in a “readable format” within its servers, accessible to internal Facebook employees — including millions more Instagram users than previously thought. Affected users will be notified, Facebook said, so they can change those passwords.
“We now estimate that this issue impacted millions of Instagram users,” Facebook wrote. “We will be notifying these users as we did the others. Our investigation has determined that these stored passwords were not internally abused or improperly accessed.”
Facebook is the Samsung of social media. They just can’t stop shooting themselves in the feet. Unlike Samsung, their screw ups can create a lot more damage.
