Friday, November 8, 2019

The Chrome Cast 35: A conversation with Chrome EDU Expert John Sowash


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Samsung Galaxy A70s Update Brings Bixby Side Key Function and ‘Link to Windows’, More Features


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Samsung Galaxy S11 Series’ Possible Camera Feature Hinted in the Latest Trademark Filing


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MacRumors Giveaway: Win a Plushie Mac, iPhone, or iPod From Throwboy's Iconic Pillow Collection

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For this week's giveaway, we've once again teamed up with Throwboy to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a pillow from the Throwboy Iconic Pillow Collection, which features plush, squeezable versions of classic Apple products.

The Iconic Pillow Collection features five pillows that are modeled after the 1977 Apple II, the 1984 original Macintosh, the 1998 iMac G3, the 2001 iPod, and the 2007 original iPhone.


After a successful Kickstarter launch in 2018, Throwboy has been offering its plushie Apple products on its website for $39.99 or $189.99 for the full set.


Each of the Iconic pillows have been carefully embroidered with intricate detailing to ensure that they look like their hardware counterparts, and in a review we did earlier this year, we were impressed with the softness, huggability, and impressive detail.


Design details include a click wheel on the iPod with appropriate ports on the bottom, a rainbow logo and floppy disk drive on the 1984 pillow, speakers and a disk drive for the ‌iMac‌ G3, a Home button and speaker for the iPhone, and a full keyboard and display for the Apple II.


Each pillow also features the correct colors for each machine. The Apple II and the Macintosh are a light beige color, while the ‌‌iMac‌‌ G3 is in white and aqua. The iPod is white with a gray click wheel, and the iPhone is silver and black like the original model.


When it comes to size, these are the ideal throw pillows for a couch or a chair, making them a great decoration or gift idea for Apple fans. Each pillow is soft, squishy, and comfortable, both to hold and to lean against, but they're also firm enough to hold their shape. Photos of the pillows in action can be seen on Throwboy's Instagram account.


The Mac versions of the pillows are a bit larger than the iPod and the iPhone versions, but all work well as throw pillows or room decor. Throwboy also makes a few other fun pillows like a classic Mac Finder icon and the well-known spinning rainbow wheel.

We have 10 of the Iconic Pillows to give away to MacRumors readers, and each winner will be able to pick their favorite pillow. To enter to win our ‌‌giveaway‌‌, use the Gleam.io widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, following us on Instagram, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the ‌giveaway‌ restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

Throwboy Giveaway
The contest will run from today (November 8) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on November 15. The winners will be chosen randomly on November 15 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.


This article, "MacRumors Giveaway: Win a Plushie Mac, iPhone, or iPod From Throwboy's Iconic Pillow Collection" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple to Fix macOS Mail Vulnerability That Leaves Text of Some Encrypted Emails Readable

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There's a vulnerability in the macOS version of the Apple Mail app that leaves some of the text of encrypted emails unencrypted, according to a report from IT specialist Bob Gendler (via The Verge).

According to Gendler, the snippets.db database file used by a macOS function that offers up contact suggestions stores encrypted emails in an unencrypted format, even when Siri is disabled on the Mac.

In this email, Gendler demonstrates that the private key has been made unavailable in Mail, rendering the message unreadable. It continues to be available in the database, though.

Gendler initially discovered the bug on July 29 and reported it to Apple. Over the course of several months, Apple said that it was looking into the issue, though no fix ever came. The vulnerability continues to exist in macOS Catalina and earlier versions of macOS dating back to macOS Sierra.
Let me say that again... The snippets.db database is storing encrypted Apple Mail messages...completely, totally, fully -- UNENCRYPTED -- readable, even with ‌Siri‌ disabled, without requiring the private key. Most would assume that disabling ‌Siri‌ would stop macOS from collecting information on the user. This is a big deal.

This is a big deal for governments, corporations and regular people who use encrypted email and expect the contents to be protected. Secret or top-secret information, which was sent encrypted, would be exposed via this process and database, as would trade secrets and proprietary data.
Apple told The Verge that it has been made aware of the issue and will address it in a future software update. Apple also said that only portions of some emails are stored, and provided Gendler with instructions on preventing data from being stored by the snippets database.

This issue affects a limited number of people in practice, and is not something that macOS users should generally worry about. It requires customers to be using macOS and the Apple Mail app to send encrypted emails. It does not impact those who have FileVault turned on, and a person who wanted to access the information would also need to know where in Apple's system files to look and have physical access to a machine.

Still, as Gendler points out, this particular vulnerability "brings up the question of what else is tracked and potentially improperly stored without you realizing it."

Those concerned about this issue can prevent data from being collected in the snippets.db database by opening up System Preferences, choosing the ‌Siri‌ section, selecting ‌Siri‌ Suggestions & Privacy, choosing Mail and then turning off "Learn from this App." This will stop new emails from being added to snippets.db but won't remove those that have already been included.

Apple told The Verge that customers who want to avoid unencrypted snippets being read by other apps can avoid giving apps full disk access in ‌macOS Catalina‌. Turning on FileVault will also encrypt everything on the Mac.

Full details on the vulnerability can be read in Gendler's Medium article.

Tag: Mail

This article, "Apple to Fix macOS Mail Vulnerability That Leaves Text of Some Encrypted Emails Readable" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Samsung Galaxy A71 5G with Exynos 980 Processor, 128GB Storage to Soon Launch in China


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