iPod/iPhone Club
Meeting every Wednesday at 10:30
Waccamaw Library
24 St Paul Place
Pawleys Island SC 29585
843~545~3387
Social Networks
A security expert suggested when you set up an account on a social network lie about everything you can.
Checking known AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Bell Canada & Vodacom Unique Identifier beacons...
Tested on: Fri Mar 20 11:43:15 EDT 2015 Browser/agent: Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; CPU OS 8_3 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/600.1.4 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/8.0 Mobile/12F5047f Safari/600.1.4 Do Not Track: Enabled Broadcast UID: IP address: 199.120.31.18
*Please ensure that you're connecting via LTE/4G/3G, and not over WiFi. (If re-checking, make sure to refresh the page, or wait a few minutes to test again).
If there is a label X-ACR or X-UIDH in the Broadcast UID field at the top of this page, your carrier is actively sending tracking beacons to every web site you visit and every app you use that communicate via HTTP.
If there are other values in the UID field, it is possible unique identifiers are present (I'm currently searching for over a dozen wireless carriers signatures).
Note: Viewing this page with Google Mobile Chrome, Opera Mini, or inside of apps like Flipboard can mask tracking beacons (meaning they wouldn't be detected, even though they are present).
For technical details, see Jonathan Mayer's post or recent coverage at Wired.
Update 11-10-2014:
I think we've struck a nerve here—nearly 1.4 million sniff tests on the site so far, and over 40,000 AT&T and Verizon UIDs were detected in the past two weeks. After a couple of weeks, my own AT&T and Verizon devices stopped transmitting unique IDs, so maybe the OptOuts are finally beginning to be honored. If you didn't see it, there was a nice write up in the New York Times on Friday, as well as a follow-up in Wired on the story. But I think one of the best quotes last week was this in the Washington Post: "Verizon and AT&T have been quietly tracking the Internet activity of more than 100 million cellular customers". If you've emailed and haven't heard back from me, my apologies—my inbox has been flooded with inquries and comments. Please do feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or mail and I'll do my best to get back with you. I'm working on a proper write-up to the story, with full details of the methodology and metrics, as well as suggestions on how to improve your security and privacy on line. Spoiler: A good VPN or proxy service can be one useful tool in protecting yourself. Stay safe folks!
Update 10-31-2014:
To date, there have been 1,147,875 sniffer tests run. Wow! If you haven't seen it, Propublica's piece yesterday has some of the best technical coverage in recent days. Forbes had follow up coverage as well, including both Verizon and AT&T's latest public statements, which are, effectively, that although you can Opt-Out, the UID beacons will continue to be sent. The carriers continue to focus on their internal and ad partner use of the trackers, omitting the crucial fact that any web site or app service using HTTP are also sent your tracker.
If you want a chuckle, take a look at this 2008 article from the Washington Post in which both Verizon and AT&T executives pledged to the US Senate to "Refrain from tracking users online".
As for me, my Verizon UIDH finally changed to a new value, after remaining persistent for 8 days. As Jacob Hoffman-Andrews has written, once a site has associated their own cookie to your UID, it is trivial to create a "bootstrapped" permanent cookie to you, even across week-long rotating carrier IDs. The AT&T ACR has several components, and my 358-character string has remained the same over 9 days now.
Update 10-29-2014: Forbes broke a story last night AT&T Says It's 'Testing' Unique Tracker On Customers' Smartphones. Worth a read. Based on my latest testing, and direct reports from colleagues in the security community and others, the AT&T Opt Out settings do not seem to have any noticeable effect. In my case, 350 characters of the X-ACR tag have persisted over 5 days, even after multiple IP reassignments, and even during a business trip 550+ miles away from home.
Update 10-28-2014: It is not clear if one of the T-Mobile beacons is unique or is derrived from the device model id, but I'm including it in the broadcast string to reflect what was sent.
Update 10-27-2014: My original motivation for this test page arose after reading several ad industry write-ups on Verizon's PrecisionID technology and practices, in particular the fact that in most cases, even after opting out of marketing options via Privacy settings, Verizon continues to inject trackers to every HTTP connection made from your device, whether it's an Access Point, mobile hotspot, tablet or mobile phone.
We are seeing clear evidence across the country of both consumer and enterprise devices having network traffic altered through these tracking beacon headers.
Most importantly, when present, AT&T and Verizon tracking beacons persist even after changing locations or IP addresses, and do so in spite of any browser privacy settings.
In response to many questions about the best defense you can take (short of changing providers), my advice is to use HTTPS wherever possible, or (better) use a VPN service, or possibly a proxy service. Unfortunately, no browser plug-in is going to be 100% effective unless you strictly visit HTTPS sites or trust the plug-in proxy provider. In the case of HTTPS, a VPN or proxy, the HTTP network headers cannot be modified/injected by your cellular ISP.
I recommend raising awareness to your friends and colleagues, as sunshine is probably the best defense here.
Feel free contact me on Twitter: @kennwhite or mail:
admin @ opencryptoaudit . org
The information above is not logged. This test page will probably disappear in a few days. Please behave.
Text to Speech
How to Enable Speak Screen (TTS)
This works with iOS devices running iOS 8 and newer:
Presentations
10 Ingredients for the perfect presentation
A few months ago I wrote a story here titled '10 things you should NEVER say during presentations'. It was shared a lot and received plenty of comments and feedback. Since then I have been to numerous presentations where I could see people making the same mistakes over and over again. Two times I heard someone tell the speaker "you should read Boris' post on speaking because you're making some of those obvious mistakes". That was an embarrassing, but also interesting experience.
The problem with that post, however, is that it mainly focusses on what not to do. And while useful for some, it is generally more useful to focus on improving things, instead of just complaining. So I decided to write a follow-up post with some ingredients for successful presentations.
If you need to do a presentation in the future and want to make a good impression think about these elements. Got your own tips and tricks? Let us know in the comments section below.
Who are you?
At most conferences you will be introduced, and the audience will look forward to hearing your story. But even though they might know something about you it still makes sense to say a little bit extra about yourself. Don't overload them with information but in one or two sentences why your background matters and makes it logical for you to hold the talk you are about to give. That framing makes it easier for people to digest what you are saying, and too often that is overlooked.
Help them find you
A lot of presentations end with a slide that shows the speaker's name, URL, Twitter handle or email address. That slide is the displayed for 3 milliseconds and then they switch off the projector or switch to the next presentation. In other words, before your audience even has time to reach for a pencil or your laptop your information is gone. It helps to show your information on the opening screen and keep it there for a while. Some people show their email address and name in the footer on every slide they show. I generally start and close with my Twitter handle (@Boris) and invite people to contact me there.
Bonus tip: When you are in the audience and feel the end of the presentation coming, get your smartphone camera ready and just take a quick snapshot of that last slide. Don't bother with writing anything down until later.
Real stories
People love stories. The best presentations I've seen didn't feel like presentations at all, they were stories, told by people who had experienced something. If you need to explain something to an audience see if you can translate it into a story, or an anecdote, or even a joke. If you need to convey information then tie that information to a story. If that story is about something that happened to you, even better. If the story is funny, even better!
Entertain as much as inform
Which brings us to the next tip: feel free to entertain your audience. They are taking a break from something else. They've closed their laptops and are focusing on you now. Why not reward them with something interesting or funny. Not every bit of your talk needs to be on topic. It is perfectly fine to start off with something besides the point but entertaining. Don't forget that people are better at listening to you when they feel like they are having a good time.
Perfect timing
When you are doing a presentation you are borrowing time. And it is respectful to be aware of that, and not abuse that trust. When you are given 30 minutes to do a talk feel free to use only 25 minutes. Your main goal is to entertain, inform and make it worthwhile for the audience to give you their time. I used to be very concerned with how much time I had for talks. My nightmare used to be running out of things to talk about. Nowadays my only focus is on giving a great talk. If that means ending in 15 minutes in a 30 minute talk then so be it. You can always take more questions from the audience, and the better your talk was, the more questions you will get.
Something to take home
Whenever I do a talk I try to think about something specific I can include that people copy or apply as soon as they get back to work. I learned that from a speaker at one of our events who had a hugely inspiring story, but then interrupted himself and said something like: "But you can apply this very easily tomorrow by doing the following…" A sigh of relief went through the room as people scrambled for their notebooks. Inspiration is cool and productive, but it really helps if you have something tangible to offer that your audience can apply right away.
Repetition can't hurt
When you do a presentation you assume everybody is paying attention to everything you are saying. Reality is that they hear about 30% of what you say, and that they are constantly translating what you are saying to what they are working on at that moment. Also the things you think are logical might take a few different examples to make sense to people. That is why it never hurts to repeat yourself a few times. If you want to explain a certain principle first explain it. Then give two examples of your principle at work. Then, at the end of your talk go over the different principles you talked about and highlight each one shortly. Now you've explained your principle four times, and that might just be enough.
Help them remember at least one thing
It is very easy to overload people with information. You think you have 30 minutes for a talk and need to tell them a lot of stuff. But most people can't really absorb a lot of information and chances are you are one of many speakers of the day. If you do a talk and 10% of the audience really listened to your story and they remember one, or two, things from it that they can incorporate into their lives, then you would be doing very well. Focus on a big thing that they can remember and that will have impact. Keep your story simple and clear.
Connect with your audience
When you talk you want the audience to get the impression you are talking to each and every one of them personally. The more personal your story is the better it will come across. I'm aware of that and use a few simple tricks to make my story more personal. First of all, when I'm announced as the next speaker and I'm standing on stage, I look at the audience. Not just for a second, but for as long as possible, and at individual audience members. I'll try to look as many people in the eyes as I can, and will smile or even wave, at a few of them. Why this works so well is for two reasons. In a bigger room with a little bit of a distance from the stage, the audience won't really see what or who you are looking at. If you look into the middle person in a group of 50 people they all get the impression you are looking at them individually. By slowly scanning the crowd and smiling at a few people a lot of people get the impression you are looking straight at them. I keep doing that during my talks as well, also to get a feel of how my talk is going over, and to keep my connection with them alive.
Conclusion
Be personal, talk from experience, feel free to entertain as much as inform, be practical, connect with the audience, shorter is better than too long. Your main goal is to tell a story that will inspire, that will be repeated and that people will repeat to others. Feel free to take some liberties with the truth, if it helps your story. Nobody is counting whether a talk titled '10 ingredients' really contains 10 ingredients, if the points are valid and helpful. Or are they?
Presentations
10 Ingredients for the perfect presentation
A few months ago I wrote a story here titled '10 things you should NEVER say during presentations'. It was shared a lot and received plenty of comments and feedback. Since then I have been to numerous presentations where I could see people making the same mistakes over and over again. Two times I heard someone tell the speaker "you should read Boris' post on speaking because you're making some of those obvious mistakes". That was an embarrassing, but also interesting experience.
The problem with that post, however, is that it mainly focusses on what not to do. And while useful for some, it is generally more useful to focus on improving things, instead of just complaining. So I decided to write a follow-up post with some ingredients for successful presentations.
If you need to do a presentation in the future and want to make a good impression think about these elements. Got your own tips and tricks? Let us know in the comments section below.
Who are you?
At most conferences you will be introduced, and the audience will look forward to hearing your story. But even though they might know something about you it still makes sense to say a little bit extra about yourself. Don't overload them with information but in one or two sentences why your background matters and makes it logical for you to hold the talk you are about to give. That framing makes it easier for people to digest what you are saying, and too often that is overlooked.
Help them find you
A lot of presentations end with a slide that shows the speaker's name, URL, Twitter handle or email address. That slide is the displayed for 3 milliseconds and then they switch off the projector or switch to the next presentation. In other words, before your audience even has time to reach for a pencil or your laptop your information is gone. It helps to show your information on the opening screen and keep it there for a while. Some people show their email address and name in the footer on every slide they show. I generally start and close with my Twitter handle (@Boris) and invite people to contact me there.
Bonus tip: When you are in the audience and feel the end of the presentation coming, get your smartphone camera ready and just take a quick snapshot of that last slide. Don't bother with writing anything down until later.
Real stories
People love stories. The best presentations I've seen didn't feel like presentations at all, they were stories, told by people who had experienced something. If you need to explain something to an audience see if you can translate it into a story, or an anecdote, or even a joke. If you need to convey information then tie that information to a story. If that story is about something that happened to you, even better. If the story is funny, even better!
Entertain as much as inform
Which brings us to the next tip: feel free to entertain your audience. They are taking a break from something else. They've closed their laptops and are focusing on you now. Why not reward them with something interesting or funny. Not every bit of your talk needs to be on topic. It is perfectly fine to start off with something besides the point but entertaining. Don't forget that people are better at listening to you when they feel like they are having a good time.
Perfect timing
When you are doing a presentation you are borrowing time. And it is respectful to be aware of that, and not abuse that trust. When you are given 30 minutes to do a talk feel free to use only 25 minutes. Your main goal is to entertain, inform and make it worthwhile for the audience to give you their time. I used to be very concerned with how much time I had for talks. My nightmare used to be running out of things to talk about. Nowadays my only focus is on giving a great talk. If that means ending in 15 minutes in a 30 minute talk then so be it. You can always take more questions from the audience, and the better your talk was, the more questions you will get.
Something to take home
Whenever I do a talk I try to think about something specific I can include that people copy or apply as soon as they get back to work. I learned that from a speaker at one of our events who had a hugely inspiring story, but then interrupted himself and said something like: "But you can apply this very easily tomorrow by doing the following…" A sigh of relief went through the room as people scrambled for their notebooks. Inspiration is cool and productive, but it really helps if you have something tangible to offer that your audience can apply right away.
Repetition can't hurt
When you do a presentation you assume everybody is paying attention to everything you are saying. Reality is that they hear about 30% of what you say, and that they are constantly translating what you are saying to what they are working on at that moment. Also the things you think are logical might take a few different examples to make sense to people. That is why it never hurts to repeat yourself a few times. If you want to explain a certain principle first explain it. Then give two examples of your principle at work. Then, at the end of your talk go over the different principles you talked about and highlight each one shortly. Now you've explained your principle four times, and that might just be enough.
Help them remember at least one thing
It is very easy to overload people with information. You think you have 30 minutes for a talk and need to tell them a lot of stuff. But most people can't really absorb a lot of information and chances are you are one of many speakers of the day. If you do a talk and 10% of the audience really listened to your story and they remember one, or two, things from it that they can incorporate into their lives, then you would be doing very well. Focus on a big thing that they can remember and that will have impact. Keep your story simple and clear.
Connect with your audience
When you talk you want the audience to get the impression you are talking to each and every one of them personally. The more personal your story is the better it will come across. I'm aware of that and use a few simple tricks to make my story more personal. First of all, when I'm announced as the next speaker and I'm standing on stage, I look at the audience. Not just for a second, but for as long as possible, and at individual audience members. I'll try to look as many people in the eyes as I can, and will smile or even wave, at a few of them. Why this works so well is for two reasons. In a bigger room with a little bit of a distance from the stage, the audience won't really see what or who you are looking at. If you look into the middle person in a group of 50 people they all get the impression you are looking at them individually. By slowly scanning the crowd and smiling at a few people a lot of people get the impression you are looking straight at them. I keep doing that during my talks as well, also to get a feel of how my talk is going over, and to keep my connection with them alive.
Conclusion
Be personal, talk from experience, feel free to entertain as much as inform, be practical, connect with the audience, shorter is better than too long. Your main goal is to tell a story that will inspire, that will be repeated and that people will repeat to others. Feel free to take some liberties with the truth, if it helps your story. Nobody is counting whether a talk titled '10 ingredients' really contains 10 ingredients, if the points are valid and helpful. Or are they?
Cannot Send Text Message from iPhone/iPad? Here Are The Fixes
Apple's iOS doesn't often run into serious problems. Most of the times the issues are small but at the same time irritating. One of such glitch is found that some users can't send a regular text message from the iPhone or iPad.
I am pretty sure you would have done the basic troubleshooting like checking the network connection. Even if basic troubleshooting has resulted in nothing, then you have landed on the right page. Just check the list of fixes given here and try them one by one.
Reboot Your iPhone
Let's keep things simple in the beginning. Try restarting your iPhone and then give it a try by sending a text message to anyone. Most of the time software glitches are resolved by simply restarting. If this hasn't solved the problem, then don't worry, we have other fixes as well.
Delete Old Messages
Try deleting old messages from your iPhone. This might sound ridiculous, but garbage of old messages can be the culprit. So give it a try by going to Messages app Edit Select all the messages and then tap on Delete from the bottom right corner.
Toggle On Send as SMS
Before going through the hard way, make sure you have toggled on Messages under Settings. To check that, go to SettingsMessages Toggle ON "Send as SMS". A restart might be required, so better do that and check if you are able to send the text message.
Remove Country Code from Number
Few users over the forum have mentioned that they were able to send text messages after they removed the country code from the number they were trying to send a message. So it's better to give that a try as well, this might help.
Toggle Off Text Message Forwarding
If you have enabled Text Message Forwarding on your iPhone, then that could be creating a problem. Try turning it off by going to SettingsMessagesTextMessageForwardingToggleOFFTextMessageForwarding of all the listed device. After doing that, restart your iPhone and try sending a message.
Reset Network Settings
Sending a text message is related to network and any issue in network settings can be troubling the issue on the subject. Try resetting network settings on your iPhone by going to SettingsGeneralResetResetNetworkSettings.
This will restart your iPhone, wait till it loads and then, try sending the message. If it doesn't work, keep reading below.
Use Data Only for LTE/Mobile Data
If your iPhone supports LTE or VoLTE, then they might be creating the problem. That's because not every area is capable of delivering LTE signal. It's better to turn it OFF or use Data Only. To do so, go to Settings → Cellular/Mobile Data → LTE → Data only OR turn it Off. It's not mandatory, but try rebooting your iPhone and then check if you are able to send a message.
Restore Your iDevice
The most irritating thing is to restore your iPhone. That is because you will lose the data you saved after making that particular backup. Anyways, when things don't work as intended, it's better to take the tough route. Give it a try by restoring your iPhone from the backup when you were able to send text messages perfectly. This should have definitely solved the issue.
Share your feedback in the comment, on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus.
iOS 9.3
With this update your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch gain improvements to Notes, News, Health, Apple Music and a new feature called Night Shift that may even help you get a better night's sleep by shifting the colors in your display to the warmer end of the spectrum at night. New features, improvements, and bug fixes include:
Night Shift
Notes improvements
News improvements
Health improvements
Apple Music improvements
Photos improvements
iBooks improvements
Education improvements
CarPlay improvements
Dolby Digital Plus
Hardware keyboard improvements and fixes
Other improvements
Enterprise bug fixes
Accessibility bug fixes
Other bug fixes, performance and stability improvements
Some features may not be available for all countries or all areas, for more information visit: http://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability and http://www.apple.com/ios/updates/
For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:
