Essential Apple Podcast 250: Runaway vacuums and more

We’re back! There’s not a huge amount of Apple news but some tech stuff did catch our eye. Lawmakers gonna legislate, UK Gov plans anti encryption PR and the Data Watchdog says that’s stupid. A couple of stories literally arrive while record… and a cheeky little robot vacuum cleaner makes a break for fresh pastures! Meanwhile Nick and Simon try and make sense of it.

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Recorded 23rd January 2022

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On this week’s show

NICK RILEY

@spligosh on Twitter very occasionally.
Sometimes appears on Bart Busschots’ Let’s Talk Apple
Sutton Park Circuit church worship on YouTube
Nick’s church stream videos on You Tube

APPLE

T-Mobile begins blocking iPhone users from enabling iCloud Private Relay in the US – 9to5Mac
- T-Mobile says it has not broadly blocked iCloud Private Relay – 9to5Mac
Woman sentenced to prison for stealing 3,000 iPods intended for studen… – Engadget
Possibility of huge changes to App Store as US antitrust bill proceeds to committee – 9to5Mac
Apple’s US Education Store Now Requires Institution Verification to Buy Discounted Products – MacRumors
- Apple Walks Back UNiDAYS Verification Requirement for U.S. Education Store – MacRumors
Safari bug leaks your browsing activity and Google account detailsSafari bug leaks your browsing activity and Google account details (https://www.cultofmac.com/763871/safari-leaks-browsing-activity-google-account/) – Cult of Mac
- Apple is fixing the dangerous Safari bug that can leak your history – Mashable

TECHNOLOGY

Gran becomes first patient to be fitted with bionic eye in science breakthrough – The Mirror
Man gets genetically-modified pig heart in world-first transplant – BBC

SECURITY & PRIVACY

macOS, Windows, Linux all targeted by new cross-platform exploit – AppleInsider
- “SysJoker” backdoor revealed after going undetected on Windows, Linux, and macOS for several months – Wccftech
UK Government Readies Anti-Encryption Publicity Campaign to ‘Keep Children Safe’ Online – MacRumors
- Encryption: UK data watchdog criticises government campaign – BBC
Democrats unveil bill to ban online ‘surveillance advertising’ (https://flip.it/OFG23m) – The Verge
European data regulators issued €1.1 billion in GDPR fines in 2021 – ITPro

WORTH A CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS

Making Digital Confetti Accessible – Rogue Amoeba
UK businesses urged to join four-day working week trial – ITPro

JUST A SNIPPET

For things that are not worth more than a flypast

Robot vacuum cleaner escapes from Cambridge Travelodge – BBC

NEMO’S HARDWARE STORE (29:46)

Scoshe chargers – some are or aren’t available on Amazon UK/US depending…

PowerVolt PD30 30wW Mini Fast USB C Car Charger – $25 USD
ReVolt QC Quick Charge Car Charger – $15 USD
PowerVolt PD30W 30W USB C Fast Charger – $30 USD
MagicMount Pro Charge4 Window/Dash Wireless Charger Dash/Window Mount – $60 USD

Essential Apple Recommended Services:

All Things Secured – Online security made simple by Josh Summers.
Pixel Privacy – a fabulous resource full of excellent articles and advice on how to protect yourself online.
Doug.ee Blog for Andy J’s security tips.
Ghostery – protect yourself from trackers, scripts and ads while browsing.
Simple Login – Email anonymisation and disposable emails for login/registering with
33mail.com – Never give out your real email address online again.
AnonAddy – Disposable email addresses
Sudo – get up to 9 “avatars” with email addresses, phone numbers and more to mask your online identity. Free for the first year and priced from $0.99 US / £2.50 UK per month thereafter… You get to keep 2 free avatars though.
ProtonMail – end to end encrypted, open source, based in Switzerland. Prices start from FREE… what more can you ask?
ProtonVPN – a VPN to go with it perhaps? Prices also starting from nothing!
Comparitech DNS Leak Test – simple to use and understand VPN leak test.
Fake Name Generator – so much more than names! Create whole identities (for free) with all the information you could ever need.
Wire and on the App Stores – free for personal use, open source and end to end encryted messenger and VoIP.
Pinecast – a fabulous podcast hosting service with costs that start from nothing.

Essential Apple is not affiliated with or paid to promote any of these services… We recommend services that we use ourselves and feel are either unique or outstanding in their field, or in some cases are just the best value for money in our opinion.

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