What you need to know

Bezos has long pointed the finger at Saudi Arabia.
A new report commissioned by him suggests a WhatsApp video might have carried a payload.
That video came from an account used by crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

Amazing if true.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos may have had his iPhone X compromised by a video he received via WhatsApp, according to a report his security team commissioned. Amazingly, that video appears to have been sent from an account belonging to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

The New York Times reports on the file and the fact that it might have given attackers access to anything and everything on the iPhone X owned by Bezos. That would include messages and images that became part of the reason for the billionaire’s divorce from his wife.

Amazingly, the message appears to have come from the prince after he and Bezos exchanged phone numbers at a prior meeting. It’s likely the message in question was sent by someone other th…

Orangetheory, Crunch, YMCA, and Basecamp Fitness are going to offer different earned rewards based on your activity!

What you need to know

Apple has announced its new Apple Watch Connected program.
It’s an extension of GymKit that can connect you to different rewards based on your activity, like a discount on your membership.
Initial partners are Orangetheory, Crunch, YMCA, and Basecamp Fitness, which is going to give members an Apple Watch Series 5 and let them pay it off by completing goals.

Apple has announced its new Apple Watch Connected program, which will connect users with different rewards based on their activity.

As reported by CNET:

Apple’s newest gym partnership, announced Thursday, is aiming to knit the gym experience and the Apple Watch experience more closely together by connecting your Watch’s activity data to gym reward programs. The ”Apple Watch Connected” program is an extension of the GymKit technology that pairs Apple Watches to gym equipment, and the f…

We’re speed leveling to max out Wizards Unite and have learned a trick or two along the way to completing a registry and beating Fortresses. Here’s what you need to know.

It’s clear that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is a game with many facets, most of which are designed to get you out of your house and playing the game as much as possible. While the game is easy to hop into, there are aspects of it that can be done a certain way to help you maximize your game time and the XP you earn.

Here at iMore, we’ve been playing since the game released, and we’ve been working on tips and tricks to help you as you start your Wizards Unite Journey. This list is not exhaustive; we will keep adding to it as we find out new things to help you beat the Calamity!

Play during events!

This is our biggest tip to anyone playing Harry Potter: Wizards Unite because not only is it a fantastic way to gain XP, Runestones, new Foundables, and those elusive Restricted Books, it’s also a ton of fun. Plus, you’…

Since Portrait mode was introduced with the iPhone 7 Plus, anyone could take some nice looking portrait photos without a complex DSLR rig. With Apple’s implementation of Portrait mode, it’s easier than ever for any of us to take professional-looking photos with just our iPhones, with no extra gear to lug around. In fact, Portrait mode is one of my favorite ways to shoot photos with my phone, so I use it whenever I’m able to.

How to shoot great portrait pictures: iPhone photography tips & tricks

But one problem remains, even for Portrait mode: low light situations. Trying to get a good portrait of someone but there isn’t enough light? Sure, you can go with the built-in LED flash on your iPhone, but that isn’t always the best solution. Here are some tips and tricks to help you get better Portrait mode images in low light situations.

Make use of Portrait Lighting
Use the brightness slider
Look for a light source or make your own
Aim for brighter colors
Experiment with a backligh…

What you need to know

Some stores have received new Apple Arcade displays.
They feature iPad Pros and new imagery.
Apple Stores are also changing how accessories are displayed.

All change.

Some Apple Stores are undergoing refreshes to further promote Apple Arcade, including new displays that feature multiple iPad Pro devices looping videos.

The new areas replace existing gaming-focused displays as noted by 9to5Mac. The areas were previously dedicated to things like Sphero and Anki products, although Apple Arcade was also there. That has now changed to bring Apple’s game service front and center.

Apple has also reportedly changed how it is displaying third-party accessories at some of its stores. Toys appear to have been replaced with game controllers and headphones, again allowing the displays to focus on accessories that gamers might need if they’re diving into Apple Arcade on iPads, iPhones, and Apple TVs.

As Apple continues to lean on its services business, moves like th…

The deal will cover music in its videos and its new Resso streaming service!

What you need to know

A report claims that TikTok is set to announce a deal with global licensing agency Merlin.
It will allow Tiktok to use music from tens of thousands of independent music labels in its videos.
It will also pave the way for TikTok’s new music subscription service, Resso.

TikTok has announced a deal with Merlin that will allow it to use music from tens of thousands of independent labels in its videos, as well as on its new music streaming service Resso.

According to TechCrunch:

TikTok, the fast-growing user-generated video app from China’s Bytedance, has been building a new music streaming service to compete against the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. And today it’s announcing a deal that helps pave the way for a global launch of it. It has inked a licensing deal with Merlin, the global agency that represents tens of thousands of independent music labels and hundr…

What you need to know

The Macintosh SE/30 debuted in 1989.
Spotify is a modern music streaming service.
And someone made them play nicely together!

I need an SE/30.

If you hop on over to 68kMLA right now you can see the closest thing to magic you’ll come across this year. Because someone took Spotify and made it work on a Macintosh SE/30. And it’s glorious.

As you might imagine making it all work isn’t just a case of powering up the old, old computer and installing Spotify from the internet. It’s all considerably more complicated than that and required the building of a whole new app. It’s called MacPlayer and it’s up on GitHub.

The first version is pretty basic, it just plays your Spotify playlists. You can browse tracks, and the app displays 1-bit album art, which I think is a bit of fun.

Forum-goer ”ants” even had to create a workaround just to sign in, with Spotify’s use of OAuth causing authentication issues for the aging computer.

Another problem I had to solve …

The issues were first raised by Google back in August and seemingly addressed by Apple in December.

What you need to know

Google Chrome engineering director Justin Schuh says that Apple has still not fixed issues raised with its Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature for Safari.
Google told Apple about problems with the feature back in August, and Apple was thought to have addressed it in December.
Commenting on the release of a soon-to-be-published paper, it has now been suggested that the issue is still a problem.

Google Chrome engineer Justin Schuh has suggested that a problem with Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature for Safari may still not have been resolved.

Reports are flying all over the web regarding a Financial Times piece titled ’Apple’s privacy software allowed users to be tracked, says Google’. This article covers a ”soon-to-be-published” paper detailing issues that were found in Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature for its Safari Web Browse…