This is way harder on a Mac than on an iOS device. But no matter where you view it, drawing a perfect circle is tough, if not impossible.

Catalin Cimpanu, ZDNet:

Hackers can abuse Amazon Alexa and Google Home smart assistants to eavesdrop on user conversations without users’ knowledge, or trick users into handing over sensitive information.

And regarding the word “again” in the headline:

The attacks aren’t technically new. Security researchers have previously found similar phishing and eavesdropping vectors impacting Amazon Alexa in April 2018; Alexa and Google Home devices in May 2018; and again Alexa devices in August 2018.

Whack-a-mole. Amazon and Google respond to attacks with countermeasures, new attacks pop up.

As to the specifics, watch the videos embedded in the linked article. The phishing attack asks you for your password. Though there are some people who might actually respond to this, I’d guess most users would instantly get the evil intent here. But still, the fact that such an action exists, that it passes muster enough to be demo-able, does give me pause.

More troubling is the eavesdropping issue shown in the second set of videos. The fact that an action continues, even after you ask Alexa/Google to stop, does seem like it should not be allowed to happen.

Is this lack of security the price you pay for customizable actions?

Washington Post:

It was 116 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade outside the new Al Janoub soccer stadium, and the air felt to air-conditioning expert Saud Ghani as if God had pointed “a giant hair dryer” at Qatar.

Yet inside the open-air stadium, a cool breeze was blowing. Beneath each of the 40,000 seats, small grates adorned with Arabic-style patterns were pushing out cool air at ankle level. And since cool air sinks, waves of it rolled gently down to the grassy playing field.

There are a lot of problems with Qatar in general and their World Cup 2022 bid and preparations but its plan for cooling off the population and fans is very interesting.

BBC Earth:

The world is an amazing place full of stories, beauty and natural wonder. Explore the official BBC Earth YouTube channel and meet the animals and wildlife of your planet.

This is 70 hours of oceanscapes from the BBC broken up into ten hour chunks of seven videos: coral reefs, coastlines, deep ocean, open ocean, frozen seas, ocean surfaces, and sea forests. I don’t know that anyone needs to watch this much ocean video but the BBC stuff is spectacularly beautiful.

Engadget:

It’s been almost exactly a month since Apple Arcade launched. That means that a lot of free trials are about to expire, and it’s time to decide: Is it actually worth your $5 a month? Like you, a number of Engadget editors have been testing out Arcade’s various games in our spare time and, for us, the answer is a resounding “yes.” The subscription gaming service has won us over in a very short time, including those that were initially on the fence.

We all have our own reasons, whether it’s seeing Arcade as a potential solution to skeezy free-to-play mechanics, a tool to play titles across various devices or just a way to play some good games without paying a lot. Join four of us as we dig in a little deeper, and highlight some of our favorite games from the service along the way.

Even if you’re only a casual gamer, there’s lots to like in the Apple Arcade offerings.

Google:

Google Maps has always helped people get from point A to B in the easiest way possible. Today, we’re adding more tools that reflect real-time contributions from the community so you can stay even more informed when you’re behind the wheel. Here’s what’s changing:

First, we’re adding the ability for people to report crashes, speed traps and traffic slowdowns right from their iPhone. This feature has been one of our most popular on Android, and we’re excited to expand it to iOS.

Jim and I discussed exactly this on Your Mac Life this past Wednesday evening. It’s one of the reasons why I prefer the Waze app over Apple Maps or Google Maps.

Aimee Green, Oregon Live:

Police wanted to search the contents of an iPhone they found in Catrice Pittman’s purse, but she never confirmed whether it was hers and wasn’t offering up a passcode. Her defense attorney argued forcing her to do so would violate her rights against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 1 Section 12 of the Oregon Constitution.

But a Marion County judge sided with police and prosecutors by ordering Pittman to enter her passcode. On Wednesday, the Oregon Court of Appeals agreed with that ruling — in a first-of-its-kind opinion for an appeals court in this state.

This is a precedent that will resonate, make it more likely that courts will order defendants to unlock their phones.

Side note, I found this sequence very interesting:

Scott said the ruling won’t affect many Oregon defendants whose phones are seized by police because police already have technology that allows them to crack into most of those phones.

But:

The latest iPhones, more often than other phones, have proven difficult, Scott said.

“For people who want their information private, I would recommend getting an iPhone,” Scott said. “And Apple is not paying me to say that.”

Yet another reason to buy an iPhone.

Kif Leswing, CNBC:

Apple’s forthcoming streaming service could rack up over 100 million subscribers in a year, Barclays analysts estimated in a note on Thursday.

And from the Barclays note:

• We model 222M hardware devices sold by Apple over the next 12 months.

• We assume that about 50% of those buying a device in the first year will accept the service, yielding well over 100M subscribers a year from now. We exclude sales to China and our estimate of second and third devices at families.

• We assume that the trial period will last for one year, at which point we expect subscribers to decline as users opt out, and are partially offset by new additions. Of course the rate of churn will depend meaningfully on how quickly Apple can ramp up its content library.

Compare that to Netflix’s estimated 60 million paying subscribers. Apple has a pretty effective way to ramp up a new service. And the free year of Apple TV+ when you buy a new device gives Apple a year to fill the pipeline, make the service more attractive.

That extra year also gives Apple time to learn from early mistakes, become better at creating original content, better at negotiating with talent/studios, raise the bar for Apple TV+.

It’ll be interesting to see paid subscriber numbers for both Netflix and Apple TV+ one year after launch and again a year after that. I’m bullish on Apple TV+.

Luna Display. A little red device that turned your iPad into a second display for your Mac. Until this happened.

Rather than gripe about their bad fortune, the company behind Luna Display pivoted neatly to some clever new functionality. As you can see in the video embedded below, you can now use Luna Display to turn a second Mac into an external display for your primary Mac.

Nicely done.

Aja Romano, Vox:

In an unprecedented move, Studio Ghibli, the home of such beloved animated classics as award-winning director Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and My Neighbor Totoro has announced a deal with HBO Max to stream its film collection on the platform beginning in the spring of 2020.

The partnership marks the first time Ghibli films have ever been available to legally stream. The catalog includes over 20 films, ranging from the Oscar-winning Spirited Away to Miyazaki’s most recent film for the studio prior to his brief retirement, The Wind Rises, which will arrive in fall 2020.

If you’ve never seen a Studio Ghibli film, it might be because they are very rarely shown outside of theaters. To me, they are some of the best films ever made. Even the English language dubs are excellent.

Interesting that they landed at HBO Max. Not to be confused with HBO, HBO Go, or HBO Now. HBO Max is the new home of Friends and Big Bang Theory. Jarring to see these films packaged along with those two shows. One of these things is not like the others. But I digress.

One point that this does raise is the complete lack of 3rd party content coming to Apple TV+. Apple could easily have big on big tentpole shows like Friends, Seinfeld, Big Bang Theory, to instantly add heft to Apple TV+. But they’ve chosen not to take on those costs and go with a pure slate of self-created shows. Which means they’ll be able to cut any license deals they like, show their complete catalog in any country they choose.

If you’re not familiar, and you get the chance to see a Studio Ghibli movie, especially Spirited Away, do it.

Bloomberg:

Adobe Inc. is nearing the consumer launch of Photoshop for Apple Inc.’s iPads a year after it was officially announced, however the company and early testers have said that the application will lack some key features from the desktop version.

Adobe has been testing Photoshop for iPad under the codename Rocket with a small group of beta testers since earlier this year. Participants have told Bloomberg News that some beta versions don’t include well-established features they expected to be part of the release. They complained about less advanced or missing features around core functionality like filters, the pen tool and custom paintbrush libraries, vector drawing, color spaces, RAW editing, smart objects, layer styles and certain options for mask creation.

I know for a fact that both beta testers and “people at Apple’ are pissed at Adobe for dragging their feet on this launch. But Adobe feels it has no “real” competition in the space and hasn’t made the iPad app a priority at the company. The first version of Photoshop for iPad will be functionally useless for professional users.

From MIT, a fascinating device that puts artificial intelligence in the hands of any guitarist.

To get a sense of what this is about, watch the two videos embedded below. The first gives you a sense of the mechanics of MIT’s Guitar Machine, and the second puts Guitar Machine in the hands of some traditional guitarists.

Read the linked article for more detail on how all this works. I would absolutely love to play with one of these.

BBC News:

After being challenged as to whether homeowners should tell guests smart devices – such as a Google Nest speaker or Amazon Echo display – are in use before they enter the building, he concludes that the answer is indeed yes.

And:

“Does the owner of a home need to disclose to a guest? I would and do when someone enters into my home, and it’s probably something that the products themselves should try to indicate.”

Fascinating ethical question. If you have a device that records, do you need to disclose this to a visitor? Or should all people assume they are being recorded at all times?

Solid interview with Google Senior Vice President, Devices & Services Rick Osterloh.

In today’s edition of “Oh Samsung”:

A flaw that means any fingerprint can unlock a Galaxy S10 phone has been acknowledged by Samsung.

And:

After buying a £2.70 gel screen protector on eBay, Lisa Neilson found her left thumbprint, which was not registered, could unlock the phone.

She then asked her husband to try and both his thumbs also unlocked it.

And when the screen protector was added to another relative’s phone, the same thing happened.

Yikes.

If you do nothing else, check out the side-by-side spec chart on the first page of the review. Tons of detail, visually easy to process. Tip of a very large iceberg (don’t miss the popup menu at the top of the article, a table of contents, the article is 13 pages long).

If I had to pick a second page, it’d be the “Camera – Low light evaluation” page. Unsparingly critical where it needs to be, pointing out flaws, but not sparing the praise, either.

MacRumors:

Apple has posted the first stats for iOS 13 adoption since its launch on September 19th for iPhone.

Apple shared the statistics on the App Store Developers page which was updated today. Apple reports that ‌iOS 13‌ is installed on 55% of all iPhones introduced in the past four years, and 50% of all iPhone devices, as measured by App Store activity.

This year, Apple has broken down the stats between both ‌iOS 13‌ and iPadOS which were launched at different times this year.

Adoption rates are pretty much on par with iOS 12 at the same point in its release.

CNET:

It’s an unfortunate reality that plenty of people still operate vehicles while intoxicated, which can lead to disastrous results for the driver and innocent motorists and pedestrians. “Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes,” says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Despite massive public information campaigns to curb drunk driving, the hard fact is there’s still nothing stopping a driver from getting behind the wheel after too much to drink.

Technology is in the pipeline that would prevent anyone over the legal blood-alcohol content level from firing up a vehicle and motoring off. According to Reuters, this includes devices planted in the steering wheel or push-button ignition to measure a driver’s BAC. If the devices detect it’s too high, via infrared lights shined through a driver’s fingertip, it’s no dice to drive anywhere. Another possible solution are sensors to monitor a driver’s eye movement and breath.

Would you support this kind of legislation if the technology was available and worked as expected?

MacStories:

In many ways, the iPhone 11 Pro’s camera system feels like the culmination of over a decade’s worth of judicious, relentless improvements. Not only is the device’s camera the best and smartest Apple has ever shipped, but it also affords the most photographic freedom, allowing non-professional photographers like me to produce amazing shots with minimal effort.

I’m not a professional photographer, but the camera system in the iPhone 11 Pro, combined with the latest advancements in the Camera and Photos apps for iOS 13, makes me excited to go out and take as many pictures as I can again.

So many stories trumpeting the photographic abilities of the new iPhones are accompanied by really awful photos taken by bad photographers. Viticci “cheats” by being able to take shots in a beautiful location that really does a great job of showing off the capabilities of the new camera system.

Fast Company:

What makes Letterkenny special isn’t just that it’s based on the small-town life of creator and star Jared Keeso, but how it manages to combine quirky dialogue, regional slang, rapid-fire joke delivery, near-constant cussing, and endless sh*t talking with a surprising amount of humanity.

It’s also a direct descendant of lovable hoser comedies that stretch back to SCTV’s Bob and Doug McKenzie of the early 80s, up through the Trailer Park Boys of the early ’00s, both of which managed to build massive fan bases by combining Canadiana with down-to-earth, booze-fueled banter. Over the last few years, Letterkenny has grabbed that bottle and run with it.

It’s a very silly show, kind of like a Canadian Seinfeld. Nothing actually happens but it’s fun to watch. And I bet you’ll pick up on the Canadian slang real quick – “Pitter-patter, let’s get at ‘er.”

One of the biggest shows coming to Apple TV+ is The Morning Show, with Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell headlining a stellar cast.

But, turns out, the name The Morning Show was already a real life show in Australia, so Apple renamed the down under version of the show to Morning Wars (here’s the official Morning Wars trailer, with the new name spliced into place, but with The Morning Show plainly visible throughout).

Things get a little more complex when the real life Morning Show (check the logo as you watch) interviews the cast of the Apple TV+ Morning Show, but as Morning Wars.

Here’s the video (via Benjamin Mayo):

.@AshleeMullany sits down with the cast of Morning Wars, launching exclusively on Apple TV+! #TMS7 pic.twitter.com/zgXxXxDxaL

— The Morning Show (@morningshowon7) October 14, 2019

Morning Show, as Morning Wars, inside Morning Show. Inception.

All good fun, looking forward to Apple TV+ going live.

Tim Hardwick, MacRumors:

After upgrading to macOS Catalina, you may be surprised to discover a shortcut on your Mac’s desktop to a Relocated Items folder that wasn’t there previously. The generation of this folder is actually normal behavior when upgrading an older version of macOS to Catalina, but we’re highlighting it in this article because a lot of users are confused about why the folder exists and what to do with its contents.

Happened to me. Made my way through a bumpy Catalina install, then encountered this brand new folder shortcut on my desktop.

One key takeaway:

The Relocated Items folder you see on the Desktop is just a shortcut that can be safely deleted. Doing so will not remove the folder or its contents from your hard disk. You can find the actual folder in /Users/Shared/Relocated Items.

But if you’ve done the Catalina install, worth spending a minute reading Tim’s explainer.

This Hollywood Reporter take on Apple TV+ is entertaining, messy, and an excellent read. Though I take every word with a grain of salt, the overall writeup rings true for me.

A few tidbits:

The tech giant outbid Netflix for a soapy morning-show drama that would mark Jennifer Aniston’s return to television. Based loosely on the Brian Stelter book Top of the Morning, the series was to be the flagship for an ambitious new streaming service.

But by that fall, producers were starting to panic. They had only just received the first script from writer and first-time showrunner Jay Carson. Meanwhile, the morning TV landscape was being upended by NBC’s ouster of Matt Lauer over sexual misconduct allegations, and it was becoming clear that the #MeToo movement would need to factor into the plot. Apple, producer Media Res, Aniston and co-star/producer Reese Witherspoon began to ponder making a showrunner change as the early script, sources say, didn’t match the standards of those involved. The group then began to look for a more experienced showrunner — and, in success, a writer who could pen a woman’s experience.

And:

Drive down Washington Boulevard through Culver City and it becomes clear Apple is taking its entertainment pursuit seriously. Construction is underway on a sleek, glass-enclosed office building that will house Erlicht and Van Amburg’s Worldwide Video team, which will make up a significant portion of the 1,000 or so workers Apple expects to employ in the neighborhood by 2021.

And:

While showrunner departures are common — especially with straight-to-series orders increasingly frequent at streamers and upstart outlets — some within the creative community attribute Apple’s early hurdles to its lack of Hollywood savvy. “It’s an interesting place because there’s no history or precedent,” notes one lit agent. “They have no systems in place. Two guys who ran a studio are now effectively running a network. They’ve built a collection of executives who individually are great but are working together for the first time.” Adds one top producer who has worked with the company: “The biggest problem is Apple’s insistence that the industry adapt to them and not the other way around.”

Kitsis doesn’t agree. “While they’re a new network, they’re really not,” he says. “Meaning, from top to bottom, everyone we dealt with was a pro with tons of studio and/or network experience. Some of whom we had actually worked with back in our ABC days, so there was an immediate comfort level for us.”

Lots, lots more. If you’re interested in the “how the sausage is made” side of Apple TV+, this is a great read.

Roku press release:

For the first time ever, Roku users can add the Apple TV app via the Roku Channel Store to discover and watch movies, TV shows and more, including accessing their iTunes video library and subscribing to Apple TV channels directly on Roku devices. Starting November 1, Apple TV+, Apple’s home for all-original shows and movies from the world’s greatest storytellers, will be available on the Apple TV app on the Roku platform.

Even with the absence of a back catalog, Apple TV+ is playing the long game. Lots of press and chess moves, all backed by a long term war chest to take on Disney+, Netflix, HBO, and others.

We are just about two weeks away from the official rollout of Apple TV+. From the linked Apple press release:

Beginning November 1, the first three episodes of “For All Mankind” will be available to watch on Apple TV+. New episodes will continue to roll out weekly, every Friday.

And from this Deadline article:

Ahead of For All Mankind’s series debut on Nov. 1 and premiere event tonight, the space race alt-history drama from Ron Moore has been renewed for a second season, which quietly started production within the past week or so.

And:

It is part of a strategy by Apple to get second seasons of most of its scripted series going ahead of lunch, which helps amortize costs and keep the Apple TV+ pipeline of original content going, avoiding lengthy hiatuses. Beyond The Morning Show, which had been picked up with a two-season order, Apple had not confirmed any renewals. Along with For All Mankind, also reportedly renewed or in the process of being renewed for a second season are such upcoming Apple series as the Jason Momoa starrer See; Emily Dickinson comedy Dickinson, starring Hailee Steinfeld, which Apple brass have been very high on; anthology immigrant comedy Little America; and the Hilde Lysiak young detective drama Home Before Dark.

Apple has a pipeline to fill, a back catalog to create.