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The Drives-and-Shares Edition Sunday, May 26, 2019

Researcher Exposes Vulnerability In macOS Gatekeeper Security Mechanism, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

In its current implementation, Gatekeeper considers both external drives and network shares as “safe locations.” This means that it allows any application contained in those locations to run without checking the code again. He goes on to explain the user can “easily” be tricked into mounting network share drive, and that anything in that folder can then pass Gatekeeper.

Apple’s Abacus Emoji Is Wrong, by Chaim Gartenberg, The Verge

Apple’s abacus emoji is wrong. Or, technically not “wrong” per se, in that you can probably still use it do math if you actually know how to use an abacus (I do not). But still, that ever useful emoji — added in the Unicode 11.0 update to the emoji standards as part of iOS 12 — is apparently incorrect on Apple devices when compared to nearly any abacus used across the whole of human civilization.

Tim Cook Shows Off 'Chronicles Of San Franciso' Mural, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Through the JR Murals iOS app, people can use their iPhone’s camera to explore the mural. The app is able to recognize the different people and events in the mural, allowing you to tap on people and events to hear audio, read detailed information, and more. The app works whether you’re looking at the actual video mural, or at a picture. You can buy the book version of “The Chronicles of San Francisco” on Amazon, and use the iPhone app to dive deeper into the images.

Stuff

You Need A Password Manager. Here Are The 4 Best Ones, by Scott Gilbertson, Wired

Password managers are the vegetables of the internet. We know they're good for us, but most of us are happier snacking on the password equivalent of junk food. For seven years running that's been "123456" and "password"—the two most commonly used passwords on the web.

The problem is, most of us don't know what makes a good password and aren't about to remember hundreds of them every day.

Free App Safely Records Your Doctor's Visits, by Kim Komando

Regardless of whether it's you or a close relative who has been diagnosed with a serious disease, it is important to understand the information a doctor is giving you. With consultations lasting only 20 minutes or sho, it is difficult to digest what is being said, much less understood.

Then there is the issue of updating family members about what the doctor told you. If you can't understand or remember everything, how are you expected to pass that information along?

A new app has been developed to help you record the information the doctor is relaying to you and share it with members of your family.

Why Your Phone Gets So Damn Hot And How To Keep It From Overheating, by Jason Cipriani, CNET

While a phone can overheat while you're using it, that's a relatively uncommon occurrence. It's more likely that internal temperatures will rise when you're spending a day at the beach after it's been in the sun for too long.

If you find yourself staring at a warning message that your phone is too hot, don't freak out! It only takes a few minutes to get it back down to a suitable temperature.

Develop

The Difference Between Keyboard And Screen Reader Navigation, by Léonie Watson, Tink

People often include screen reader users in the much larger group of keyboard-only users. Whilst this is correct (most screen reader users don’t use a mouse), it also creates a false impression of the way screen reader users navigate content.

How To Get Every Email Returned, by Trish Hall, New York Times

In the course of doing research for a book on how people actually change their minds, and what gets them to say “yes” rather than “no,” I was distressed to find that I knew much less about it than I thought I did. I figured that my nearly five years as the New York Times Op-Ed editor gave me a pretty strong vantage point on what worked and what didn’t. It did — but I didn’t always know why. What I sensed intuitively about effective writing turned out to rest on some deep psychological truths. Understanding them provides tactics that can be exploited in both personal and written interactions.

Some of these rules can be used both in writing and in real life. Until we’ve banished written communication entirely, we’re going to have to keep doing it — so you might as well get your text messages returned.

Notes

Do Not Trust That Stranger's 5-Star Review, by Joanne Chen, New York Times

The experts confirmed what I knew, but resisted, all along. If you really want to find the best product or service for your needs, you’ll need to exert some effort. But it’s also worth remembering that if you don’t, it’s no big deal.

In Baltimore And Beyond, A Stolen N.S.A. Tool Wreaks Havoc, by Nicole Perlroth, New York Times

For nearly three weeks, Baltimore has struggled with a cyberattack by digital extortionists that has frozen thousands of computers, shut down email and disrupted real estate sales, water bills, health alerts and many other services.

But here is what frustrated city employees and residents do not know: A key component of the malware that cybercriminals used in the attack was developed at taxpayer expense a short drive down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway at the National Security Agency, according to security experts briefed on the case.

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After so many years, I still haven't gotten used to Safari's placement of the refresh button inside the URL box.

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