In the News

This week, Apple announced an upcoming new service for folks who subscribe to Apple Music called Apple Music Sing.  I suspect that most people will call it Apple Karaoke.  You activate this feature in the Apple Music app by turning on lyrics and then tapping the icon with a microphone and stars.  What makes Apple Music Sing different from just viewing the lyrics is that you can adjust the volume level of the vocal track so that you can replace the original artist's voice with your own or sing along with the artist. Also, the lyrics will dance to the rhythm of each syllable of the vocals.  Background vocals can animate independently, in a smaller font, from the main vocals.  And a Duet view mode will show different lyrics on each side of the screen.  Sami Fathi of MacRumors lists all of the devices that it will work with.  Although this seems like a natural feature for the Apple TV, he says that it will only work with the newest Apple TV 4K that was introduced in 2022, which is a shame because that excludes a lot of folks.  (Perhaps you can use AirPlay to stream to an older Apple TV model from a supported iPad or iPhone.)  The feature also works with the iPad Pro models introduced in 2021 or later, the iPad Air introduced in 2020 or later, the entry-level iPad introduced in 2021 or later, or the iPad mini introduced in 2021 or later.  On the iPhone, there is better support if you have a model without the button: any model without a button introduced in 2019 (iPhone 11) or later will work.  Or you can use the iPhone SE, but only the model introduced in 2022.  Why are only newer devices supported?  As Sarah Perez of TechCrunch reports, Apple isn't removing vocals from music, and instead your device uses "an on-device machine learning algorithm that processes the music in real time" to remove the vocals from songs selected by Apple (80% of the most-played songs). Apple says that Apple Music Sing will be available this month, and I expect it to be a part of iOS 16.2, which could launch as soon as next week.  So get ready to listen to a lot of poor singing voices with great background music this holiday season—especially if you spend any time near me as I check out the feature.  And now, the rest of the news of note from the past week:

• A quick programming note: this week's episode of the In the News podcast will come out tomorrow instead of today due to Brett's travel schedule.
• 'Tis the season to replace AirTag batteries for many folks.  California attorney David Sparks offers advice for doing so, and recommends an Apple TV remote case that holds an AirTag to help you find the remote.
• Starting this week, App Store developers have a lot more choices on what they charge for apps and in-app purchases.  Prices can now start as low as $0.29, with price points every ten cents up to $10 and every 50 cents up to $50.  Prices can go all the way up to $10,000, although the highest prices need to first be approved by Apple.  Chance Miller of 9to5Mac has more details on the new price points.
• If you want to get yourself or someone else an iPhone 14 Pro by this Christmas, your options are very limited, but Jason Cross of Macworld has some suggestions.
• Frank Bajak of the Washington Post reports on Apple's new Advanced Data Protection feature, which I discussed yesterday.  The article notes that the FBI says that it “continues to be deeply concerned with the threat end-to-end and user-only-access encryption pose, but also notes that "cybersecurity experts have long argued, however, that attempts by law enforcement to weaken encryption with backdoors are ill-advised because they would inherently make the internet less reliable and hurt vulnerable populations including ethnic minorities."
• For a while now, the GoodNotes app that you can use to take handwritten notes on an iPad has also worked on a Mac, and I sometimes find it useful to read through my notes when I am working on my iMac.  In a tweet this week, GoodNotes revealed it is working on a similar product for Windows, which will be very useful for folks like me who need to use a Windows computer at work.
• This week, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited the upcoming TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) factory in Arizona along with President Biden.  Cook confirmed that Apple will use chips made at the plant in its products, including the iPhone.  The plant should open in 2024.  I'm curious how much more it will cost Apple to purchase chips made in the USA, although obviously there are some advantages that come along with that.  Don Clark and Kellen Browning of the New York Times have more details on the announcement and its significance.
• Apple’s VP of Fitness Technologies Jay Blahnik shares workout tips in an article written by Sean Keach of The Sun.
• Tim Hardwick of MacRumors put together a good list of iPhone tips.  Check it out to see if there is one that you didn't already know about.
• If you have an iPhone 14 Pro and want to see live sports scores in the Dynamic Island, Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels recommends the Sports Alerts app.
• You knew that this report was coming soon.  We now have the first report of a person being saved by using Apple's iPhone 14 Emergency SOS via Satellite feature.  Juli Clover of MacRumors reports that a man stranded in a rural part of Alaska while traveling by snow machine was rescued. 
• And finally, Apple released a trailer to preview a few shows currently streaming on Apple TV+ and many more that are coming in 2023 including Ted Lasso, CODA, Spirited, Causeway, Masters of the Air, Shrinking, Tetris, Sharper, Wool, Hello Tomorrow!, and more.  Wait, Tetris?  No, it is not a movie about fitting shapes into spaces, but instead is based on a true story about the high-stakes legal battle to secure the intellectual property rights to Tetris.

       

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Apple announces Advanced Data Protection to provide greater protection for your encrypted data on iCloud

Most people have a desire to keep certain information private, but that concern is heightened for lawyers and other professionals with a legally-imposed duty of maintaining confidentiality.  Most folks keep information on their iPhones, iPads, etc. that would be considered confidential—either because it is a personal photograph or because it is a document subject to a confidentiality agreement.  But if you backup your device to Apple using iCloud, are you maintaining the confidentiality of the information?  The confidentiality of cloud storage has been discussed countless times by legal ethics authorities over the years (for example, see here and here), but the key is always to be reasonable in protecting the confidentiality of information.  For example, putting confidential documents on an open website that doesn't have a password is unwise, but storing those same documents on encrypted and password-protected servers in the cloud is typically fine.

Up until now, iCloud backups have been encrypted in transit—meaning the information is encrypted as it travels from your iPhone to Apple's iCloud server.  But once on that server, Apple has a key that it could, in theory, use to unlock the data and look at it.  For example, if a criminal suspect backs up his iPhone to iCloud and the police obtain an appropriate warrant, the police can often obtain from Apple a copy of the backed-up data without having to access the iPhone itself.  (As Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal reports, last year, Apple responded to thousands of such requests in the United States.)  Or, if Apple was hacked, a hacker could potentially gain access to your data on iCloud—although Apple says that this hasn't happened in the past.

Yesterday, Apple announced that when iOS 16.2 comes out later this month, it will include a new feature called Advanced Data Protection.  It will work in the United States immediately, and will roll out to the entire world in 2023.  When you turn this on—it is turned off by default—Apple will store your iCloud data in a way that is encrypted such that even Apple cannot read the data.  And this doesn't just work with iCloud; Apple says it works with 22 other categories of information such as Photos, Reminders, Notes, iMessages, and Voice Memos.

What's the catch?  With Advanced Data Protection turned on, only you have the key to your secure data, such as the password that you use to unlock your iPhone.  If you forget your password, Apple cannot help you because it has no way to unlock your encrypted information.  However, Apple offers two ways that you can get help unlocking your encrypted backup even if you forget your password.

First, you can designate a recovery contact, such as a family member or a close friend, somehow who can verify your identity and help you regain access to your account and all of your data if you ever get locked out. 

Second, you can create a recovery key, a randomly generated 28-character code that you should store someplace very secure such as a lock box.

Advanced Data Protection sounds like a fantastic idea for attorneys and others who want extra protection for their data on Apple's cloud servers.  However, with the extra security comes extra responsibility, so think long and hard about how you will use the recovery contact and/or recovery key feature.

Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal conducted a fantastic, short interview with Craig Federighi of Apple to discuss the new Advanced Data Protection feature.  If you have any interest in turning this on once it becomes available later this month, I strongly recommend that you watch this video:

       

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Apple reportedly prevented most recent software of Coinbase release for NFTs in wallets

Coinbase Global Inc. bought a piece of news for iOS users. It stated that customers using Apple Inc.’s iOS would no longer be able to send non-fungible tokens (NFTs) via the cryptocurrency exchange’s wallet.

Coinbase Wallet said in a tweet, “Apple’s claim is that the gas fees required to send NFTs need to be paid through their In-App Purchase system so that they can collect 30% of the gas fee.”

Even if it tried, Coinbase claimed it would be unable to meet the need because the iPhone maker’s exclusive in-app purchasing system does not enable cryptocurrency.

According to Coinbase, “Apple has introduced new policies to protect their profits at the expense of consumer investment in NFTs and developer innovation across the crypto ecosystem.” The company added that the policy was comparable to Apple trying to charge a fee for each email sent using open internet protocols.

Apple did not immediately answer an inquiry for comment on the subject from a news panel.

Apple’s issues with Coinbase can affect the cryptocurrency exchange 

The 30% fees have been a source of contention between the most valuable corporation in the world and other app developers. The apps included Epic Games, the creator of “Fortnite,” and Spotify, who have both accused the former of abusing its “monopoly.”

Apple’s problem with Coinbase comes at a bad time for the cryptocurrency exchange, whose shares have fallen by around 80% this year. As investors’ interest in cryptocurrencies wanes, the corporation has likewise eliminated positions in order to control costs.

NFTs, which are blockchain-based digital assets with distinctive digital signatures, gained enormous popularity in 2021, and demand has been severely hampered in recent months by the crypto winter.

Higher interest rates and concerns about an economic slowdown are causing investors to sell riskier assets, and the recent collapse of rival exchange FTX is adding to the pressure on the cryptocurrency market.

“Apple’s claim is that the gas fees required to send NFTs need to be paid through their In-App Purchase system so that they can collect 30% of the gas fee,” Coinbase said. “For anyone who understands how NFTs and blockchains work, this is clearly not possible. Furthermore, apple’s proprietary In-App Purchase system does not support crypto, so we couldn’t comply even if we tried.”

However, the block prevents customers who have crypto and NFTs in their personal Coinbase Wallets on iOS from transferring their NFTs while it is in effect. Additionally, it poses a risk to sending NFTs or cryptocurrencies through any iOS app or exchanging one cryptocurrency for another, at least when gas costs are involved. It also makes it difficult for businesses to innovate in the field when people are putting the brakes on innovation by looking for ways for Apple to profit from their apps.

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As deliveries decline due to the epidemic, DoorDash eliminates 1,250 positions

According to DoorDash, it hired too many workers when delivery demand spiked during the COVID-19 outbreak. Thus it is laying go more than 1,200 corporate employees.

All the staff members were informed on Wednesday. CEO Tony Xu announced that DoorDash was understaffed before the pandemic and had accelerated hiring to keep up with its expansion. As a result, it is laying off about 1,250 people.

“Most of our investments are paying off, and while we’ve always been disciplined in how we have managed our business and operational metrics, we were not as rigorous as we should have been in managing our team growth. That’s on me. As a result, operating expenses grew quickly,” he said.

Although more than those would be required to close the gap, Xu stated that DoorDash would continue to focus on reducing operating costs unrelated to staffing. “This hard reality ultimately led me to make this painful decision to reduce our team size,” he said.

Employees of DoorDash will get 17 weeks of pay

Employees who are impacted will get 17 weeks of pay. Additionally, their stock will vest in February 2023. By March 31, 2023, all health benefits will still be available.

“Today’s announcement that 1,250 jobs are to be cut is a recognition that the business needs to take action to rein in costs. This is especially important as the consumer outlook remains uncertain and coming quarters could see households retrench on both meal spending and their use of delivery services,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData.

One of several businesses that recently announced employment layoffs is DoorDash. Twitter, Amazon, Facebook’s parent company Meta, and H&M are a few others.

The news from DoorDash comes shortly after the San Francisco-based firm released good quarterly statistics, noting that its orders increased 27% in the third quarter as a consequence of international expansion and the addition of new grocery and retail services.

The firm expanded its business internationally

DoorDash expanded internationally and introduced new grocery and retail options. As a result, its orders increased by 27% in the third quarter. By defying a general downturn in restaurant delivery in the United States.

439 million orders were placed between July and September, according to the San Francisco-based delivery service. According to experts surveyed by FactSet, that was greater than the 433 million Wall Street projected.

DoorDash expects the trend to hold throughout the remainder of the year. According to the business, gross order volumes increased by 30% in the fourth quarter, from $13.5 billion to $14.2 billion. Additionally, it would surpass Wall Street’s prediction of $13.7 billion.

A few weeks earlier after-hours trading saw a more than 8% increase in shares of DoorDash.However, as costs increased, the company’s net loss increased from $101 million in the same quarter last year to $296 million in the third quarter. Analysts had predicted a loss of 59 cents per share, while the actual defeat was 77 cents per share.

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Under Elon Musk’s leadership, Twitter stops monitoring Covid-19 disinformation and reportedly reinstates 62,000 suspended accounts

Twitter just announced that as of Nov. 23, it would no longer enforce its Covid-19 false information policy. It denotes that the business will no longer give top priority to flagging or removing inappropriate health material about Covid-19.

Twitter announced in December 2020 that it would start identifying and removing incorrect content about the Covid-19 vaccination. It was because thousands of accounts spread false information about the coronavirus and the adverse effects of immunizations.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter and the single owner. Musk has been outspoken in his criticism of health officials’ response to the coronavirus pandemic. The stay-at-home orders, he claimed, were “forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights” during the company’s first-quarter 2020 earnings call. On “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast in 2020, he added that the fatality rate of Covid-19 was significantly lower than what authorities had predicted.

Musk pledged his support for free expression on Twitter, which could help to explain why the adjustment was made. However, internet safety experts argue that his strategy has increased the amount of hate speech, harassment, and false information on the network.

After Twitter laid off thousands of staff earlier this month, some civil rights organizations advised businesses to stop advertising there because they worried that this would make it harder for Twitter to police hate speech and other harmful content.

Even though it is unclear exactly how Twitter has been tracking these impressions, Musk claims that there has been a decline in hate speech since October.

Twitter reinstates 62,000 suspended accounts

The modification comes as more than 62,000 suspended accounts are being worked on by staff, according to the technology newsletter Platformer. This number might include a portion of the more than 11,000 accounts the business suspended for breaking its Covid-19 disinformation policies.

Musk posted a poll on Twitter on November 23 asking users whether Twitter should allow suspended accounts to reactivate, provided they had not engaged in “egregious spam” or broken any laws. Voters chose “Yes” 72.4% of the time, while “No” garnered 27.6%.

On November 19, Musk used the exact Latin phrase, “the voice of the people, the voice of God,” to declare that the Twitter account of the late President Donald Trump would be restored. After Trump promoted the Jan. 6 uprising, Twitter’s previous owner permanently banned his account.

The original rollout of the billionaires $8 per month Twitter Blue service was put on hold after users exploited the system by buying blue checkmarks to impersonate brands and prominent people. The billionaire is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. However, he barred some impersonators before he shut down the service, once more casting doubt on his interpretation of the free expression.

A request for comment from Musk has yet to receive a prompt response.

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China sends out astronauts towards the recently finished space station

As tall as a 20-story skyscraper, the Shenzhou 15 mission’s rocket blazed into the Gobi Desert night sky on Tuesday. It took three astronauts to a rendezvous with the recently finished space station of China.

Even as many of its citizens have been fiercely protesting strict pandemic controls in the streets. The rocket launch of China was a split-screen event and the most recent in a long line of technological advances for the nation.

The air trembled as the massive white rocket launched into the bright, icy night sky just before the waxing crescent moon set.

The mission to the new space station is a significant accomplishment for China’s quickly developing space program. In addition, it will be the first time a crew from Earth will be welcomed by a team of three astronauts stationed in the Tiangong outpost.

Another milestone in China’s race to catch up to the United States and overtake it as the supreme power in space, the Chinese space station will now be permanently manned, similar to the International Space Station.

Chinese space authorities are planning to land astronauts on the moon with a persistent presence in low-Earth orbit aboard Tiangong, just as NASA plans to return to the moon before the end of the decade as part of its Artemis mission.

Zhou Jianping, the head of China’s crewed space program, stated in an interview at the launch facility that “It will not take a long time; we can achieve the goal of the manned moon landing,” He said, without specifying a timeframe for its potential use, that China has been working on a lunar lander.

Less than two weeks have passed since NASA eventually launched its Artemis I mission after numerous delays. The unmanned Orion capsule from that voyage is now orbiting the moon.

China is willing to work with few other countries

Beijing has also launched a charm offensive to court European and developing nations, especially since the Group of 20 summits in Bali earlier this month. That includes seeing into space. In a letter to a United Nations symposium on November 21, China’s president, Xi Jinping, reiterated this issue.

 

“China is willing to work with other countries to strengthen exchanges and cooperation, jointly explore the mysteries of the universe, make peaceful use of outer space, and promote space technology to better benefit the people of all countries in the world,” Mr. Xi wrote.

European countries have not yet shown much interest in Tiangong. Despite cooperating with the United States on the Artemis missions and the International Space Station. Germany has no bilateral space station projects with China. It was reported by a written response from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

Furthermore, Germany and Italy each sent an astronaut to China’s Shandong Province four years ago for training. The training was to fly on a Shenzhou rocket. No nation has yet to arrange to send astronauts aboard a Chinese rocket. However, some European scientists are working on projects that will be transported to Tiangong, such as a high-energy cosmic radiation detector. Through a United Nations program, researchers from Saudi Arabia, India, Peru, and Mexico have also been able to research the Chinese space station.

The program has developed independently

European officials have been apprehensive about expanding space cooperation when tensions over China’s human rights record and military buildup are rising. In order to safeguard the safety of astronauts, they have requested China to give particular information about its space operations. However, like the early American space program decades ago, China’s space program has developed independently of the nation’s military and has been leery of substantial sharing.

That connection to the military was evident at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the desert. Around the site, it was possible to see camouflaged vehicles, and some signage referred to Dongfeng ballistic missiles rather than Shenzhou civilian space rockets, which are utilized in China’s nuclear arsenal.

On their mobile phones, visitors nearing the launch center began receiving a series of brief, automated warning messages from roughly 50 miles away. They had entered a military control zone, where photography was forbidden, and those who violated national security would be put to death, according to the warnings.

The first of these messages, written in Chinese, included a mobile phone number for reporting any sightings of foreigners or unusual activity and warned those stealing secrets that they would be caught and beheaded once they were. Catching enemy spies and capturing them will help everyone greatly.

Before the launch of the Shenzhou 15, Ji Qiming, assistant director general of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, stated during a news conference that China was upholding the legacy of Mao’s “two bombs, one satellite” philosophy. The program’s goals were to develop an atomic bomb, an intercontinental ballistic missile to deliver the bomb, and a satellite to observe Earth.

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Crypto firm BlockFi files for Bankruptcy as FTX Fallout Spreads

According to recent reports, crypto firm BlockFi files for bankruptcy as FTX fallout spreads. Read the entire article to learn more about this news piece.

About BlockFi’s bankruptcy

“BlockFi looks forward to a transparent process that achieves the best outcome for all clients and other stakeholders,” Berkeley Research Group’s Mark Renzi said in a press statement. BRG serves as BlockFi’s financial advisor.

“We do have significant exposure to FTX and associated corporate entities that encompasses obligations owed to us by Alameda, assets held at FTX.com, and undrawn amounts from our credit line with FTX.US,” BlockFi previously said. BlockFi is founded by Zac Prince and he claimed that significant exposure to FTX created a liquidity crisis.

FTX’s new CEO John Ray said in a filing with the Delaware Bankruptcy Court that “in his 40 years of legal and restructuring experience,” he had never seen “such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here.”

“BlockFi’s Chapter 11 restructuring underscores significant asset contagion risks associated with the crypto ecosystem,” said Monsur Hussain, senior director at Fitch Ratings. “Two months ago we looked the ‘same.’ They shut down and have impending losses for their clients,” he said.

“Acting in the best interest of our clients is our top priority and continues to guide our path forward,” BlockFi said.

About BlockFi

For people who do not have any idea about BlockFi, this company provides credit services to markets that do not have access to financial resources. The company aims to empower clients financially all over the globe. The company calls its customer’s clients and gives them all the necessary support and toll to help their clients make effective financial decisions for themselves. The company deals with cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is nothing but digital money. It is not an actual currency, rather, it is a digital currency and once you own it, you can do whatever you want to with it. The company has recently filed for bankruptcy and it seems like the company is drowning just like FTX.

About FTX

FTX is a crypto exchange platform that has been built by traders for traders. The company has been founded and led by Sam Bankman Fried. The company recently filed for bankruptcy, and on the same day, SBF resigned from the company. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, and I would give anything to be able to go back and do things over again. You were my family,” he said. “I’ve lost that, and our old home is an empty warehouse of monitors. When I turn around, there’s no one left to talk to.”

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