Weekly Rewind: Leaked Passwords, Blocking Fake News, New Apple Gear, Google-Approved Homophobic Child Abuse, and More

Danielle from Leaf and Core

6 years ago

Reading Time: 3 minutes.

Last week started out with new products from Apple, and this week will be no different. The week was also full of revelations, like the fact that Facebook hasn’t been securely storing passwords, or that Google has refused to remove an app that advocates for practices that are actually illegal and immoral.

So, without further ado, let’s get into the most important tech news this week from Leaf and Core.

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Leaf and Core Rewind

New AirPods, iPads, and iMacs

Apple started off last week by revealing an updated product every day. They revealed a new iPad Air with Apple Pencil support and the Smart Keyboard, as well as an updated iPad mini with support for the Apple Pencil. The AirPods got a “Hey Siri” update that also improved talk time on battery. They’re also offering a wireless charging case for it now. The iMac got an internal update that improves its processing power and graphics performance.

Google Refuses to Remove Homophobic App Advocating for Child Abuse

Living Hope’s hateful anti-LGBTQ message

Conversion therapy is child abuse. It’s illegal in a few U.S. states, as well as a few nations worldwide. No amount of therapy, torture, or blame can make a person change their sexuality. However, groups that intertwine hate with religion say otherwise. Despite no evidence to support their claims, piles of evidence to refute them, and psychologists agreeing that sexuality and gender are innate, these hateful groups abuse children and young adults.

And Google’s seemingly okay with that. They’ve allowed an app to remain on their store that Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft have all removed.

This isn’t the first time Google has done something like this. They also allow Absher on the Google Play Store, an app that allows Saudi men to track women’s travels and restrict their ability to leave the country. It seems Google’s policies against hateful content don’t apply to LGBTQ people and women, well over half the population.

Change Your Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp Passwords

Facebook’s security has been broken. Again.

Facebook allowed employees to see customer passwords. They were storing passwords in plain text. It’s the ultimate security fail, and Facebook doesn’t care. Therefore, you should immediately change your Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp passwords. You should also consider leaving any service that Facebook owns.

Apple Supports Media Literacy Programs

Apple has shown support for three media literacy programs. These attempt to teach children how to be informed news readers. However, adults are incredibly bad at media literacy. Here are a few tips you can use to avoid fake news, as well as a description of the programs Apple’s supporting.

AT&T’s “5G E” is Slower than Other 4G LTE-Advanced Networks

Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint all have LTE-Advanced technology, and have for many years. Only AT&T disrespects consumers enough to advertise theirs as “5G E.” As it turns out, not only is AT&T’s “5G E” not 5G, it’s also not even as fast as 4G from T-Mobile or Verizon.

And More!

Around the Web

Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou had a MacBook, iPhone, and iPad When She was Arrested: Sean Hollister, The Verge

In China, some companies punish employees for using Apple devices instead of Huawei’s. But what if you don’t like Windows, Android, or perhaps being spied on by the Chinese government? Then you’d use a MacBook, iPhone, or iPad.

As it turns out, Huawei’s CFO, Meng Wanzhou, had a lot of Apple gear when she was arrested in Canada for breaking U.S. sanctions on Iran. Oops?

Kaspersky Lab Files Antitrust Complaint Against Apple Over App Store Policy: Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

Kaspersky complains that Apple’s App Store restrictions made an app they developed useless. It allowed parents to quickly change profiles on their devices to modify the behavior of your iPhone for children. The problem? Apple doesn’t allow apps to change the iPhone so drastically, as it’s a security issue.

Kaspersky sued the U.S. government before, as Huawei is, for not allowing their apps and services to be used by government employees or contractors. Like Huawei, the U.S. government believes the company has been compromised by its home country: Russia.

But do they have a case against Apple? This particular case sounds rather extreme, not one users would want Apple to allow, but it’s one of many antitrust lawsuits against Apple’s App Store.

Google Unveils Gaming Platform Stadia, a Competitor to Xbox, PlayStation, and PC: Stephen Totilo, Kotaku

Google’s ready to compete with the big guys. Instead of releasing a powerful console though, they teamed up with AMD to do server based rendering. That means Google’s servers handle all the hard work of running a game as well as storing it, while all your computer has to do is display what’s on the screen. There’s potential for lag that there isn’t through other console or PC games, but with a fast internet connection, it will hardly be noticeable.

Google also announced a controller, built-in streaming options for YouTube game streamers, and live filters for games.

Firefox Silences Annoying Auto-Play Videos: Jon Fingas, Engadget

Who doesn’t hate auto-play videos? I suppose ad companies who put their ads at the beginning of those auto-play videos. Everyone else hates them. I’ve been using a plugin to block all auto-play content, which can be frustrating for some animations.

Now Firefox will protect me from annoying websites that auto-play ads (I’m looking at you, The Hill).

The new update also squashes another annoying problem with websites: pages that partially load, then move everything around when images or ads load. Now everything will stay in place.