Smartphone spying and more – This Geek in Review for 3 Jul 2020
Tags: geek, dev, tgir
Published: 2020-07-03 21:17:05

---
title: Smartphone spying and more – This Geek in Review for 3 Jul 2020
published: true
date: 2020-07-03 16:03:08 UTC
tags: Geek,dev,tgir
canonical_url: https://ryancollins.org/2020/07/03/smartphone-spying-and-more-this-geek-in-review-for-3-jul-2020/
cover_image: https://i1.wp.com/ryancollins.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tik-tok-phone-in-grass.jpg?resize=332%2C221&ssl=1
---

### The bell rings for thee

Security today is a lot different than security was even 10 years ago. We carry more and more of our personal data in our smartphones. This is why Apple and Google have been strengthening the security of their systems. In iOS 14 Apple is adding an alert to let you know when an Application accesses the clipboard and [it’s already caught TikTok and 53 other iOS apps snooping on you](https://arstechnica.com/?p=1687883). The clipboard stores any information that you copy, such as text and pictures. What is unknown is what these apps are doing with the information from the user’s clipboard. This gets worse if you have a Mac with continuity turned on, which means your iPhone and Mac share the clipboard. Anything you copy to the clipboard on the Mac is automatically placed in the iPhone clipboard.

### 2FA

One of the best security practices you can do is to turn on two-factor authentication on your accounts. Almost everyone uses one factor authentication, something you know in the form of your username and password. Your second factor would be something you have, such as your smartphone. Before a service allows you to authenticate, you not only have to have your username & password, but you also have to have your smartphone. If you don’t turn it on before your an account is compromised then [the crooks may do it for you](https://krebsonsecurity.com/2020/06/turn-on-mfa-before-crooks-do-it-for-you/). Once the crook turns it on, it becomes very difficult to get control of your account again. So, turn it on, do it now! And be sure to save the backup codes in a safe place, such as printing them out and putting them in a safe.

### Next level Pokémon

Grandpa Pokemon has leveled up to [64 phones](https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-06-25-taiwans-pokemon-go-grandpa-has-levelled-up-to-64-phones) on his bike so he can play multiple copies of Pokemon Go. Impressive not only on riding with that many phones, but to also know what’s going on with all of those phones!

### Excel is my DAW

Why spend time and money learning Protools or GarageBand, when you can use Excel instead?

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### 8-Tracks

I love retro tech as much as anybody, and I would love to have a portable way to listen to my copy of Pac-man fever album on 8-track. There is a beautiful genius on Reddit [has made his own 8-track Walkman](https://www.reddit.com/r/cassetteculture/comments/hfzu2m/does_a_homemade_8track_walkman_count_if_not_i/).

### No free rides

If the cost to produce a product goes up, and you want to keep the same profit margin you can either raise the cost of the product or remove items from the product. The rumor is that for the iPhone 12 [Apple will choose the latter option and won’t include a charger in the box or earbuds](https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/28/kuo-no-charger-in-iphone-12-box/). I find this hard to believe, especially if the charging cable is USB-C. A lot of people have extra USB-A chargers lying around, but few have extra USB-C chargers. The earbuds are less of an issue, unless they are upgrading from a phone that had a headphone jack. But, hey, let’s get people to buy AirPods!

### What killed Blockbuster

We never had a local Blockbuster. Even at college we were more likely to go to a small local rental place rather than a Blockbuster. All I heard was that their prices were high.

Oh, and they [had the chance to buy Netflix for $50 million](https://www.businessinsider.com/blockbuster-ceo-passed-up-chance-to-buy-netflix-for-50-million-2015-7).

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