Tuesday Morning News

Originally published at: https://appletalk.com.au/2018/10/tuesday-morning-news021018/

The first recorded case of federal law enforcement agencies in the US requiring a suspect to unlock a device using Face ID has opened a Pandora’s box of what this means for the future of iOS security. Over at Ars Technica, they discuss the legalities of border protection agents forcing suspects to glance at their Face ID-protected devices to unlock them, which with the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, happens faster than ever.

Apple VP of iOS, iPad, and iPhone Product Marketing Greg Joswiak was recently on the Thrive Global Podcast, where he spoke about the Screen Time feature in iOS 12 with Ariana Huffington. Joswiak said that information was the cornerstone of what Screen Time is trying to do, and that it’s likely many people will leave the feature on so they can get some awareness of how much their device gets used, without having to resort to setting limits for apps.

An iOS security issue allows access to a locked iPhone’s Contacts and Photos, even on models protected by Touch ID or Face ID. The good news is, you’ll need to perform a multi-step dance to successfully execute the exploit, even requiring you to call the target device with another device. It’s definitely a security hole, but not something that could used en-masse.

An iOS App Store bug is showing the full size of apps, as opposed to their size when installed on a device. App thinning, introduced with iOS 9, lets your device download a size-optimised version of an app, but for whatever reason ever since the introduction of iOS 12, the App Store has been showing the universal download size instead of the size optimised for your device.

One of the new and improved aspects of macOS Mojave is ye olde screenshot tool, with a single menu now encompassing all the previous screenshot options. You can activate the screenshot menu using Ctrl+Shift+5, and MacRumors has more tips on what all the other options do.

Microsoft has released Office 2019 for the Mac, although bear in mind this is the standalone release that you can buy if you’re not an Office 365 subscriber. On the other hand, if you are an Office 365 subscriber, and have installed that version of Office for Mac, it’ll have all the features found in Office 2019 and more, despite being confusingly named “Office 2016”. This is Microsoft, remember, and if the Xbox is anything to go by, they have problems counting.

Fast Company reports Apple is investing in a huge mangrove forest in Columbia, as part of ongoing environmental initiatives. Apple Vice President of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiates Lisa Jackson explained Apple’s move to protect and restore mangrove trees across 27,000 acres as an important move in the battle against climate change, due to the mangrove’s ability to absorb and store ten times more carbon dioxide than a regular land-based forest.

While everyone was distracted by Apple’s event last month, Google announced it would be killing off its Inbox app. Sometime by March 2019, the best features of Inbox will be absorbed into Gmail. Although you won’t get some of Inbox’s saner inbox-managing tools just yet, a few features have already made the transition, and Google says they’re working on the rest.

Benjamin Mayo doesn’t like Marzipan apps on the Mac, and if you’ve had a play with any of the Marzipanned apps (I have no idea what term people are using to refer to News, Home, Stocks, and Voice Memos apps) on macOS Mojave, you’ll know why. They’re noticeably different from their other counterparts, and while some of that’s teething issues while Apple works out the kinks, there’s a good chance we can expect a lot more disharmony before they feel like first-class citizens, and not simply “ports”.

Over at Macworld, Jason Snell isn’t too bothered by them, saying that while things are a little rocky, iOS apps on the Mac will improve apps on both platforms. Some Mac apps desperately need to be brought up to scratch with their iOS counterparts, as anyone who’s an avid user of Messages will tell you, and there’s plenty of Mac-specific features that could be brought to iOS apps, too.

iPhone X.

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Windows 95, 98, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10…

I confirm your point there with another example @bennyling!

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Windows 10p? Never heard of it :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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