Monthly Archives: April 2020

Tuning an Apple Extended Keyboard II →

April 29, 2020 · 11:08

Carlos Fenollosa:

When the keyboard finally arrived, I tried to type on it, and unfortunately I didn’t like its sound at all. After a month reading about clicky keyboards, watching Youtube videos and remembering an IBM Model M I had at college for some time, the AEKII had muffled, plain, boring keystrokes […]

Now there are two options: stick with it, as is, or open the keyboard and see that could be done. Since I had opened and repaired my laptop, my old Gameboy, and almost every object that had fallen into my hands, why not a keyboard? I might learn something as a collateral.

If you’re into AEK II’s, this is a must read.

John Gruber: ‘The Whole Thing With 3D Touch and Haptic Touch Is Confusing’ →

April 29, 2020 · 10:21

John Gruber, on Daring Fireball:

But the whole thing with 3D Touch and Haptic Touch is so confusing, and has been handled so poorly by Apple in terms of how 3D Touch was used in iOS and which devices had it and which did not […] that you can’t possibly expect regular iPhone buyers to understand that the reason the new SE doesn’t support long-pressing notifications […]

The single thing I still miss most in my iPhone is 3D Touch. It’s been a few years now and Haptic Touch — long-pressing something — still feels so amazingly awkward, while slowing down the interaction at the same time. One of my favourite uses of the feature was to position my cursor precisely where I wanted to, when editing text. This is still possible by long-pressing the Spacebar and then moving the cursor to the desired location. The problem with the latter is that I often have to let go and restart this interaction, because I ran out of space on the screen to continue my drag. I really hope 3D Touch comes back one day, but I won’t be holding my breath.

Why I’m Returning the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard

April 23, 2020 · 21:44

First of all, as you may have noticed, I love me a good keyboard. Despite the Magic Keyboard not being mechanical and having an excellent trackpad, it’s simply too expensive. It costs 330 EUR or so over here (around 360 USD), which I can’t realistically accept, especially since I have a MacBook Pro right next to me. I can always use it instead, when I do need to write something longer.

Sorry Apple, you have made a truly excellent product, but it’s just simply not worth the money that you’re asking for it. And I’m a guy that loves (mechanical) keyboards, your trackpads, iPads and Macs. Oh well, back to my beloved Think6.5° in e-yellow…

Reuters: Flaw in iPhone and iPads May Have Allowed Hackers to Steal Data for Years →

April 22, 2020 · 21:11

Christopher Bing:

The bug, which also exists on iPads, was discovered by ZecOps, a San Francisco-based mobile security forensics company, while it was investigating a sophisticated cyberattack against a client that took place in late 2019. Zuk Avraham, ZecOps’ chief executive, said he found evidence the vulnerability was exploited in at least six cybersecurity break-ins. 

An Apple spokesman acknowledged that a vulnerability exists in Apple’s software for email on iPhones and iPads, known as the Mail app, and that the company had developed a fix, which will be rolled out in a forthcoming update on millions of devices it has sold globally. 

Apple declined to comment on Avraham’s research, which was published on Wednesday, that suggests the flaw could be triggered from afar and that it had already been exploited by hackers against high-profile users.

Is Apple’s iPad Pro Magic Keyboard Worth 299 USD?

April 22, 2020 · 13:17

No. It’s an amazing piece of hardware and I have been using it for two days now, but there’s nothing in its design that justifies it being so expensive. This is a product that should cost 199 USD at most, for the 12,9” model at that. There are comparable products for competing computers out there that cost even less (129 or 159 USD for Microsoft’s Type Cover; the kickstand is built into the Surface itself).

What’s worse, looking at Apple’s past practices, is that I don’t see the current Magic Keyboard being compatible with the next iPad Pro. It was shocking to see that it supports the 2018 iPad Pro, but if I were a betting man, I’d say that the next generation iPad, whether is comes in late 2020 or in 2021, will not support this accessory. If that indeed happens, it would make the current price point to be even more absurd.

Please stop milking your customers Apple. You’re better than that.

Vulnerability in Safari Allowed Unauthorized Websites to Access iOS and macOS Webcams →

April 3, 2020 · 23:55

Ryan Pickren:

This vulnerability allowed malicious websites to masquerade as trusted websites when viewed on Desktop Safari (like on Mac computers) or Mobile Safari (like on iPhones or iPads).

Hackers could then use their fraudulent identity to invade users’ privacy. This worked because Apple lets users permanently save their security settings on a per-website basis.

If the malicious website wanted camera access, all it had to do was masquerade as a trusted video-conferencing website such as Skype or Zoom […]

[…] Apple considered this exploit to fall into the “Network Attack without User Interaction: Zero-Click Unauthorized Access to Sensitive Data” category and awarded me $75,000.

My Photography (78) — Paneláks, Wałbrzych, Poland, 2003

April 2, 2020 · 13:04

Now that I’m looking through all of my older DSLR photos, I can see how much work I put into experimenting with long exposures at various times of day — something which I avoided doing on film (I was too impatient to wait for the film to be developed and it wasn’t exactly cheap back then either, to just throw away 24 or 36 shots on a simple cityscape).

This shot above was taken in Wałbrzych, in southwestern Poland, presenting the wonderful architecture of paneláks1 (a word which I just learned today) and that white monstrosity, called a church by some.

Shot with Canon 300D + EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6: 18mm, f/3.5, 5s, ISO 100.

  1. In Poland, they are called “bloki” (blocks) or “wielka płyta” (the great panel). ↩

How Rob Lost Control of His Bank Accounts to a Phone Scammer →

April 1, 2020 · 14:32

Rob Griffiths, on Robservatory:

Yesterday, instead of having a productive afternoon at home, I had the privilege of sitting at the bank for a couple of hours, resolving a problem completely of my own doing: I fell for a phone scammer. My wife and I had to close our accounts—which were in excess of 25 years old—and set up new ones. I then spent hours updating our various bill paying services, Quicken account access, etc.

Do yourself a favor, and don’t be me. I never thought I’d be “that guy” either, as I keep current on scams, look for signs of fishiness on phone calls, etc. Still, they got me, and it was painful—not necessarily in terms of financial loss (we’re out $500 for maybe 60 to 90 days while they investigate), but in terms of time: Time to fix what I did, and even more time spent beating myself up over my stupidity.

I have a strict rule — I do not give out any personal data or passwords to anyone, especially over the phone, even if I know it’s the bank calling me. I will either ask to call them back, to make sure I’m dialling the correct number, or I’ll go down to their branch personally.

Luckily Rob should pull through this one fine — he’s out some $500, which he’ll probably get back. It could have been much worse.

My Photography (77) — University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland, 2003

April 1, 2020 · 14:24

This was one of my first proper long exposure shots ever. A DSLR made this so much easier, especially since small exposure corrections were so easy to do, at practically no cost — all I needed was some more space on my CF card. I was so proud of this photo at the time, that I actually went to a lab and had it transferred onto a slide. I later presented it to our local photography group and they couldn’t believe it was a digital photo. And it has only 6 MP at that, from a JPG (I hadn’t yet switch to RAW at this time)!

Shot with Canon 300D + EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6: 21mm, f/8, 5s, ISO 100.

These Aren’t the Star Wars Editions You Are Looking For →

April 1, 2020 · 09:06

Drew Stewart, for Wired:

Nearly eight years ago, Disney gave George Lucas $4 billion for what is arguably the biggest film franchise in the world. Since then, Disney has released an additional five Star Wars films, raking in almost $6 billion worldwide at the box office. In those intervening years, the Mouse House also launched its own streaming service, Disney+, which now offers fans new 4K restorations of the original Star Wars trilogy and its prequels. Having those films all in one place, a place where the new films will also one day live, is a huge selling point for the streaming service—but it could be so much more massive […]

These aren’t the versions that were nominated for 17 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. These movies didn’t change the world. They’re not the phenomena that upended the way movies were made from that moment on. Moreover, these aren’t the movies that fans want to see. Look at the comments on any article about the aforementioned Skywalker box set. Half of them are people asking if they’re going to include the theatrical cuts, and the other half are people saying how they’re not going to buy the sets because they already downloaded a fan restoration of those original movies.

Amazing comparison of all the changed and added scenes in the Original Trilogy, including an explanation of how and why they came to be.

I recently rewatched all the Star Wars movies, including Harmy’s Despecialized Editions, and Episodes IV, V, and VI are just so much better without the subsequent changes. If you’re a fan of Star Wars, search the internets for them — they’re a must-see.