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.
Apple thinks the new iPhone SE is worth much less than a quartet of Mac Pro wheels
Apple is not a company readily associated with low prices, and its hardware is always markedly more expensive than something comparable from other companies.
Over the years we've become used to Apple phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops (typically) being relatively expensive -- but where the company really stands out is with the pricing of its accessories. Take the newly announced iPhone SE, for instance. With a starting price of $399, Apple values the phone less than a set of wheels for a Mac Pro, and only marginally more than a set of feet for the same computer.
Apple's new iPhone SE is as fast as the 11 Pro, but way more affordable
It’s been rumored for a while, but today Apple takes the wraps off its second-generation iPhone SE.
Reinvented from the inside out and packaged in a compact design, Apple’s most affordable iPhone comes with a 4.7-inch Retina HD display, paired with Touch ID security in the familiar Home button.
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?
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.
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.
Apple says you can use disinfectant wipes to clean the Coronavirus (COVID-19) off your gross iPhone, iPad, or Mac
Want to know a secret? I have never cleaned my iPhone or iPad. Gross, right? Even more nauseating, I often use them both while sitting on the toilet! Hey, don't blame me for this behavior -- Apple caused it. For the longest time (years), the company never suggested using disinfectant wipes on its products. At the Apple store, I had countless "geniuses" tell me that alcohol would ruin the displays. And so, I just lived with the germs.
With the Coronavirus (COVID-19) dominating the news, however, people are starting to take stock in their hygiene practices. Suddenly, as we all wash our hands more frequently and douse ourselves in Purell, germ-ridden devices become a much more important topic. Thankfully, starting today, Apple has finally given us the green light to use disinfectant wipes to clean the Coronavirus (COVID-19) off the iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers.
Apple now allows ads in push notifications on iPhone and iPad
Push notifications could be about to become rather more irritating for iPhone and iPad users. Apple has updated its App Store Review Guidelines, giving developers permission to use push notifications for advertising purposes.
There is something of a silver lining to this dark cloud, however. App-makers are not being given carte blanche to bombard people with an endless stream of ads; Apple says ads are only permitted when "customers have explicitly opted in to receive them". Nonetheless, it marks a major policy change for Apple.
How to run Android on your iPhone right now
Android and iOS are both great mobile operating systems, but Apple's hardware is considered by many to be second to none. And so, for many years, it has been the dream of many to run Android on an iPhone. Obviously this isn't everybody -- I'd guess the majority of iPhone owners would never want to sully their precious device with a Google-made operating system. Then again, many of them run Chrome, Google Maps, Gmail and YouTube apps on their iPhone, so maybe the search giant's mobile OS wouldn't be looked down upon after all.
Well, regardless of your feeling on the subject, the bottom line is, you can now run Android on your iPhone -- as long as you have a compatible model that is. In fact, you may even be able to run Android on an iPod Touch. Best of all, this is not some old version of Google's mobile OS, but the latest and greatest Android 10! This is all thanks to a new hack called "Project Sandcastle" by Corellium -- a company Apple is already suing. And you'd better believe Steve Jobs (RIP) is rolling in his grave.
You could be in line for a payout from Apple for slowing down your iPhone
Apple has agreed to settle legal action taken against it for deliberately slowing down older iPhones. Having already been fined €25 million by a French consumer watchdog the company has now agreed to settle in the US -- something which could cost it $500 million.
Apple previously admitted to the practice of slowing down phones, saying it was to increase the life of devices with aging batteries. The new agreement in the US could see Apple paying out $25 to those affected by updates to iOS that slowed down their iPhones.
Twitter makes it easier to post tweet threads -- here's what you need to know
One of the issues some people have with Twitter is the character limit imposed on individual tweets. While the restriction is very much the point of the site, there are times when 280 characters is just not enough... hence threading.
There's nothing to stop you from manually creating a tweet thread, but it's not something that everyone is familiar with. So to help out, Twitter has added a new button to make things easier. It's not the tweet editing option people are still begging for, but a way to link tweets together.
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