Microsoft releases Forza Street for free on iOS and Android, but the game is a total clunker
While video games on PCs and consoles can be great, the titles released for smartphones are often quite bad. On-screen controls can be inaccurate and hard to use, leading to a very frustrating experience. Alternatively, developers can "dumb down" their games for mobile with simpler controls, but this often makes them nothing more than time-wasters -- something to do while sitting on the toilet, for instance.
Today, Turn 10 Studios (a Microsoft-owned game studio) releases Forza Street for iOS and Android. The racing game is "free" to play, which is cool, but sadly, it does offer in-game purchases to try and suck some money from your wallet. I installed it on my iPhone, and from what I can tell, the game kind of stinks. In my time "racing" I didn't even get to steer the car! Seriously. Instead, you just hold down a virtual gas pedal. Around turns, you let go of the pedal when the road turns yellow and then hold it down when it turns yellow again. That's pretty much it -- that seems to be the game. Maybe it gets better later, but I won't be finding out. Does the game look good? Absolutely. Is it fun? Heavens, no!
Zero-day vulnerabilities in iOS Mail are being actively exploited to target high-profile users
Security firm ZecOps has published research about security vulnerabilities affecting iPhones and iPads. The critical flaws are yet to patched by Apple and are said to be actively used to target high-profile users such as journalists, employees of Fortune 500 companies and VIPs.
What's particularly worrying about the flaws is that they can be exploited by sending a message that appears to be blank. Opened in iOS Mail, the message can be used to run code and spy on activity without the need for any interaction from the victim. There is a suggestion that a nation-state could be involved.
Spotify now lets you hide songs from other people's playlists
If you've been looking for one more reason to cough up for a Spotify Premium subscription, the ability to hide songs in playlists could be it.
You may well have found a number of near-perfect playlists that other people have created, but there's a reasonable chance that there's at least one song you can't stand. Now, rather than having to skip the track -- or manually recreate the playlist yourself with the offending song removed -- you can simply tell Spotify to hide it.
Facebook Gaming app launches today
Facebook is now a multi-faceted beast, and the latest weapon in the social network's growing arsenal is a dedicated gaming app.
The company is launching Facebook Gaming today, providing users with an app to livestream game content. Reports says that the app will also include "casual games and access to gaming communities". Competing with Amazon's Twitch, Google's YouTube and Microsoft's Mixer, the app lands on Android today, and is also due on iOS pending approval from Apple.
Facebook releases a messaging app that's for couples only
With no fanfare whatsoever, Facebook has launched a new messaging app -- one with a difference. Coming from its New Product Experimentation team, Tuned is an iPhone-only messaging app designed with couples in mind.
Tuned finds itself vying for attention in an already-saturated messaging market, so just what's the point? Is there any reason for anyone to consider using Tuned?
Security researcher discovers vulnerabilities in iOS and macOS that could be exploited to hack webcams
After discovering a no fewer than seven security vulnerabilities in Safari for iOS and macOS, a researcher has received a $75,000 bug bounty pay out from Apple.
Ryan Pickren, a former Amazon Web Services (AWS) security engineer, found a series of security flaws in Apple's web browser, some of which could be exploited to hijack the camera of a Mac or iPhone to spy on users. The webcam hacking technique combined a total of three zero-day bugs.
Apple buys Dark Sky, and that’s terrible news for Android users
When a huge tech corporation like Apple or Microsoft buys a company, it can either go very well or terribly wrong for consumers. Microsoft’s purchase of Wunderlist in 2015 was bad, as the Windows-maker ended up killing it. Apple’s purchase of SoundJam MP in 2000, however, turned into iTunes and revolutionized the music industry. As you can see, it can go either way.
Today, Apple buys popular weather app Dark Sky and it seems to be terrible news. No, the iPhone-maker isn’t killing it entirely — it will still be available on iOS for the time being. Unfortunately, Apple is shuttering both the Android and Wear OS versions, leaving users of Googles’s mobile operating systems without access to the popular app.
Shutterstock makes over 17 million videos available on Android and iOS
If you need access to video footage while on the go, then you’ll be interested in today’s announcement from Shutterstock which sees the company make over 17 million videos available to license on both Android and iOS.
The footage is offered in SD, HD, and 4K quality and you can search, save and license whatever footage you require.
Until Apple patches this security flaw your VPN traffic might not be secure
The recently open sourced ProtonVPN has issued a warning about a bug in iOS that leaves some VPN traffic unencrypted.
Apple is yet to release a fix for the VPN bypass vulnerability which affects iOS 13.3.1 and later. The flaw means that some connections may exist outside of the secure VPN tunnel for several hours, leaving traffic open to interception and potentially exposing users' real IP addresses.
Zoom apologizes for Facebook privacy fiasco and updates app to stop data sharing
After an investigation by Motherboard's Vice, video-conferencing app Zoom was found to be sharing user data with Facebook. Data was being sent from iPhones to Facebook, regardless of whether users had Facebook accounts or not, and the fact that data was being shared was not made apparent in privacy policies.
Zoom's popularity has skyrocketed recently, with more and more people looking for remote working solutions during coronavirus lockdowns. Now the company has apologized for the secretive data sharing, saying that it takes privacy extremely seriously. There's also a new version of the app available that doesn't use the Facebook SDK.
Operation Poisoned News used local news links to hit iPhone users with spyware
Research published by security firms Trend Micro and Kaspersky reveals details of a watering-hole campaign targeting iPhone users.
Dubbed Operation Poisoned News, the campaign used malicious links on local news websites to install the LightSpy malware. Hackers have been exploiting vulnerabilities in iOS to install the spyware which can gather huge amounts of information and can also be used to take remote control of a device.
Why is Zoom secretly sharing data with Facebook?
With so many people now working from home, video conferencing service Zoom has become a household name virtually overnight. But while millions of users appreciate the ability to connect with the office, colleagues, friends and family for free, a worrying privacy issue has been found.
The Zoom iOS app has been spotted sharing data with Facebook... even for users that don't have a Facebook account. So what's going on?
Google Podcasts comes to iOS, and it’s really good
Podcasts are wildly popular these days, and it is not hard to see why. If you can think of a topic, there is probably a podcast about it! For instance, the coronavirus is the hot subject of the moment, and there are countless shows dedicated to that pandemic. If you want a distraction from the virus, however, you can listen to podcasts that cover sports, news, cooking, and more.
Just as there are many podcasts, there are also many podcast apps too. If you are an iPhone user, for instance, you can use Apple’s stock podcast app or head to the App Store to download a third-party option. Now, iPhone users are getting yet another option. You see, Google has long had a podcast app for Android, and the company recently redesigned it. Now, the search-giant is bringing the newly refreshed app to iOS.
MX Player launches free movie and TV streaming service in US, UK and more
MX Player is not only a nifty media player, for some time it has also offered free streaming services in India. Now this is expanding into seven new markets including the US, the UK and Australia.
While not linked to the coronavirus pandemic, the offer of free entertainment will please many people who find themselves stuck at home. MX Player is home to both licensed and original content, which is currently enjoyed by 175 million monthly users.
Apple internally acknowledges Personal Hotspot problems in iOS 13 and iPadOS 13
If you've been having trouble using your iPhone or iPad as a hotspot for other devices, you are not alone. Many people have experienced problems using the Personal Hotspot feature, either failing to connect at all, or suffering frequent disconnections.
Although Apple is yet to publicly acknowledge that there are issues, leaked internal documents show that the company is aware of the problem and has warned Authorized Service Providers that there may be an influx of queries from customers.
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