Tech News Roundup for May 29, 2020
Here are a few items from the last couple days that got my interest.
Scammers trying to sell a USB drive with “5G protection”
Conspiracy theories that 5G causes COVID-19 are something that we are having to deal with right now. To be clear, there is absolutely zero evidence that 5G could cause any kind of illness. Not only is 5G not widely deployed, and in fact has no public network in Canada as of yet (though it is being tested by cellular providers). However, that has not stopped scammers from trying to profit on these unfounded theories. A company is trying to sell a device that claims to protect against 5G for £283, which translates to $481 CDN. However, after a teardown, it has been found that "the 5G BioShield is nothing more than a £5 USB key with a sticker on it,"
The Simpsons now streaming in 4:3
When Disney+ launched with the full catalog of The Simpsons episodes, courtesy of Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox, something that sparked ire was that the older seasons were being streamed in 16:9, the common TV ratio today. However, the result was the episodes were cropped to fit the ratio, and parts of the frame were cut off, in some cases removing entire physical/environmental joke elements in the show. As of this week, all seasons of The Simpsons that were created in the 4:3 aspect ratio now appear unlatered on Disney+
Apple releases Mac OS 10.15.5 with new battery health feature
Apple released an update to Mac OS 10.15 this week. The most noteworthy feature is a new optional feature that actually decreases battery life on its laptops. The lithium-ion batteries in all of our devices degrade over time as they are charged and discharged. This results in shorter battery life on older devices. However, some battery management can extend the life of these batteries. Charging from 80-100% causes more stress on a battery, as well as keeping a battery plugged in and charged 24/7. The new battery management features in 10.15 will manage how it charges the battery based on your usage over time, to reduce the number of cycles on the battery, and reduce the amount of times a battery is being topped up from 80-100%. This is an optional feature that can be turned off if you know you need maximum battery at all times.
For a company that already claims to have the most resilient batteries on the market, being rated for 1000 charges instead of the typical 300-500 of its competitors, this is another feature that should help increase the longevity of Apple laptops.
Twitter restricts another Tweet from Donald Trump, as well as the same tweet that was posted to the official White House account.
Days after Twitter issued a fact check on Donald Trump’s tweet about mail-in ballots, the company has restricted a tweet from his account that referenced shooting people who are protesting the killing of George Floyd. A Tweet with identical text was posted to the official White House account, which was also restricted by Twitter. This means that the Tweet is still visible, but does not appear in search, and is downranked in timelines.
This comes after the President signed an executive order which aims to force social media platforms to be held accountable for content posted on their platforms. It is unclear if the President unilaterally has the authority to actually do that, nor is it clear how the President would react if this action were to eventually cause more moderation on his account which often posts statements which are later proven to be false.
Windows 10 Version 2004 now available
Microsoft has made the latest Windows 10 update available, however, not all users will get it right away. IF you’re so inclined, you can manually check for updates in the Windows settings app to see if you can get it. There aren’t too many new user facing features in this release, and most people are just fine to wait for Microsoft to push it to you organically.