Lifehacker: You Can Create Your Own Custom iPhone Browser With Quiche

Lifehacker: You Can Create Your Own Custom iPhone Browser With Quiche. “Safari on the iPhone is fast, convenient—and, admittedly, a bit boring. There are plenty of third-party options on the App Store, but seeing as Apple forces them all to use WebKit, most are essentially Safari. However, that hasn’t stopped one indie developer from trying to make things interesting. Greg De J’s Quiche browser is unique, engaging, and fully customizable, down to every button and toolbar you see in the interface. You can take advantage of this to make the browser much more functional, like adding a button dedicated to private mode in the toolbar. Plus, it has many color and layout options to explore for truly fine-tuning your browsing experience.”

Ars Technica: Verizon fell for fake “search warrant,” gave victim’s phone data to stalker

Ars Technica: Verizon fell for fake “search warrant,” gave victim’s phone data to stalker. “Verizon Wireless gave a female victim’s address and phone logs to an alleged stalker who pretended to be a police officer, according to an affidavit filed by an FBI special agent. The man, Robert Michael Glauner, was later arrested near the victim’s home and found to be carrying a knife at the time, according to the affidavit submitted in court yesterday.”

Reuters: Governments spying on Apple, Google users through push notifications -US senator

Reuters: Governments spying on Apple, Google users through push notifications -US senator. “Unidentified governments are surveilling smartphone users via their apps’ push notifications, a U.S. senator warned on Wednesday. In a letter to the Department of Justice, Senator Ron Wyden said foreign officials were demanding the data from Alphabet’s Google and Apple. Although details were sparse, the letter lays out yet another path by which governments can track smartphones.”

Lifehacker: You Can Now Scan Documents in Google Files Too

Lifehacker: You Can Now Scan Documents in Google Files Too. “Last week saw some great updates to Google Drive’s document scanner. First of all, it’s finally available on iPhone (thank god), but the Android version also received some exclusive new features, including automatically capturing documents when the camera detects them, an improved viewfinder, and the ability to upload documents directly from your phone. But apparently Google doesn’t just have its sights set on Drive to serve as your document scanning hub.”

Make Tech Easier: 11 iPhone Photography Tips to Get Better Shots

Make Tech Easier: 11 iPhone Photography Tips to Get Better Shots. “iPhones are renowned for their impressive cameras, but capturing a truly great shot takes more than just pressing the shutter button. This guide presents essential and actionable tips to help elevate your iPhone photography. From mastering lighting and composition to taking full advantage of available features and settings, these tips will help anyone looking to enhance their photographic skills.”

WIRED: How to Not Get Hacked by a QR Code

WIRED: How to Not Get Hacked by a QR Code . “Quishing is an amalgamation of ‘QR code’ and ‘phishing’ —where malicious actors ‘fish’ (often over email) for private information and personal details. If we didn’t already have enough to worry about, now we need to be on guard against quishing. The good news is that the security practices you hopefully already have in place should serve you well here too.”

San Diego Reader: Jim MacDonald’s cellphone captures over 2,000 local performances

New-to-me, from San Diego Reader: Jim MacDonald’s cellphone captures over 2,000 local performances. “Just a Fan Recording Local Music is the name of Jim MacDonald’s YouTube channel; it boasts over 2000 cell phone videos of live performances by local artists, 586 subscribers, and around 191,000 views. MacDonald resides in Ocean Beach, and in 2019, he started walking over to the Farmers Market bandstage on Wednesdays to check out performers like Yvonne Brown of the Kings.”

Opinion: Schools should ban smartphones. Parents should help. (Washington Post)

Washington Post: Opinion: Schools should ban smartphones. Parents should help.. “Understandably, individual schools and school districts — in Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania and elsewhere — are trying to crack down on smartphones. Students are required to store the devices in backpacks or lockers during classes, or to place them in magnetic locking pouches. In 2024, these efforts should go even further: Impose an outright ban on bringing cellphones to school, which parents should welcome and support.”

PsyPost: Smartphone use before bed? It might not be as bad for teen sleep as thought, study finds

PsyPost: Smartphone use before bed? It might not be as bad for teen sleep as thought, study finds. “A new study published in Computers in Human Behavior challenges the conventional wisdom about the negative impact of smartphone use on adolescent sleep. Contrary to expectations, researchers failed to find a clear link between teens’ smartphone use before sleep and their sleep outcomes. This suggests that the impact of smartphones on sleep may be more complex than previously thought.”

Smartphones and smart speakers may be able to detect alcohol intoxication by analyzing voice patterns: Study (EurekAlert)

EurekAlert: Smartphones and smart speakers may be able to detect alcohol intoxication by analyzing voice patterns: Study. “Sensors in smartphones and smart speakers could help determine a person’s level of alcohol intoxication based on the changes in their voice, according to a new study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.”

MakeUseOf: How to Take Long Exposure Photos With an iPhone

MakeUseOf: How to Take Long Exposure Photos With an iPhone. “Although Apple doesn’t let you access your iPhone camera’s shutter speed, there are still ways to recreate long exposure shots on it. We’ll discuss your options for taking long-exposure photos on an iPhone. You can use a built-in iOS feature or a third-party app that specializes in long exposure shots for impressive light trails.”

Bleeping Computer: Google Play adds security audit badges for Android VPN apps

Bleeping Computer: Google Play adds security audit badges for Android VPN apps. “Google Play, Android’s official app store, is now tagging VPN apps with an ‘independent security reviews’ badge if they conducted an independent security audit of their software and platform.”

TechCrunch: Android’s new real-time app scanning aims to combat malicious sideloaded apps

TechCrunch: Android’s new real-time app scanning aims to combat malicious sideloaded apps. “Google initially launched the Play Protect update in India, with plans to soon expand internationally. TechCrunch tried the feature out for ourselves by loading a phone with a variety of malicious and bad apps to see what would make it through.”

New York Times: School Cellphone Bans Are Trending. Do They Work?

New York Times: School Cellphone Bans Are Trending. Do They Work?. “A recent report from UNESCO, the United Nations’ educational and cultural agency, found that nearly one in four countries now has laws or policies banning or restricting student cellphone use in schools. Such bans typically make exceptions for students with disabilities and for educational uses approved by teachers. Even so, the smartphone crackdowns are contentious.”

The Verge: This app is making podcasts more TikTokable

The Verge: This app is making podcasts more TikTokable. “Detail, a podcast recording and editing app, is catering to the growing demand for video podcasts with a new multicam recording feature. Users can record simultaneously from two iPhones to produce a vertical video of two shots stacked on top of each other. It is a format that is optimized for TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, which are becoming increasingly important in the podcast space.”