Author: Leri Koen

Apple has long been regarded as a platform that values their users’ privacy above all else. This is one of the reasons used to justify the premium price tag attached to their products. For years, they’ve used their privacy features as a way to keep hold of their market share. But is it all a sham? 

Apple is well known for focusing on the privacy of its users. In the last few years, they’ve worked tirelessly to continue proving just how vital user privacy is to them when compared to other tech giants like Google, Android, and Meta. These features included changes to Apple-delivered advertising, app permission requests to track you, and more. The app also urges users to update their accounts frequently to ensure privacy and security. However, recently some details have come to light that could show Apple is collecting and tracking more of your data than you thought.

This Apple privacy issue was first brought to light earlier this month. The software company Mysk made a post on Twitter in which it brought up its concerns. The company found various forms of user data, including screen resolution and network connection, collected from the Apple App Store and sent directly to Apple. 

After further investigation, Mysk has found that the user’s DSIDs are also being sent to Apple during this collection process. This DSID is a unique identifier that cannot be changed and is directly linked to your account. This account information could include your name, date of birth, contact details, and more. 

Apple has always sent certain analytics from the App Store to Apple, and this contained a label ‘dsld.’ At first, Mysk wasn’t sure if this identifier was the same as a user’s DSID, but from their investigation, they can confirm that it’s the same DSID that identifies your iCloud account. 

This isn’t even the worst part. Adding even more insult to injury, it would appear that this analytics data, which now includes your DSID, is sent to Apple regardless of whether you’ve given permission. Many iPhone and iPad users have disabled the sharing of analytics data, yet this information is still sent to Apple. This also happens when users disallow tracking permission for apps. Although the information isn’t sent to third parties, it’s still sent to Apple.

This is despite their privacy policy that states that ‘none of the collected information identified you personally’ and ‘personal data is either not logged at all, is subject to privacy-preserving techniques such as differential privacy, or is removed from any reports before they’re sent to Apple.’

Despite numerous channels reaching out to the tech giant, Apple has yet to respond to these inquiries making the situation even more suspicious. Keep an eye on our news section to see how this topic develops. Perhaps now is the time for Apple users to think twice about their privacy. If you want to protect your privacy online, you, as the user, need to start taking control and not rely solely on promised privacy features.

The world, especially fans of the Power Rangers franchise, has lost a legend, Jason David Frank. All 90s kids remember huddling around the television to watch an episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and enacting the story on the playground. There would be frequent arguments over who got to be a certain color of these liable heroes. 

We’ve lost one of the original heroes, Jason David Frank, as he passed away on November 19th at the age of 49. Jason David Frank was best known for portraying the role of Tommy Oliver, or the Green Power Ranger, in the first series of the franchise.

The powerful Green Ranger, Jason David Frank

Originally, he was only set to appear for 14 episodes but was brought back because the character was so popular. His return came in two-part episodes, seventeen and eighteen, when he returned as the White Ranger. This was also one of the most famous episodes in the entire franchise’s history.

The Green Ranger had a rather tumultuous story, as he was the new kid in school and therefore didn’t have strong ties with the rest of the group. This made him susceptible to Rita Repulsa’s mind control. Once he was able to break free, he turned into the White Ranger and became the leader of the group of heroes. 

Jason David Frank’s character was so popular, in fact, that he made numerous appearances in other Power Ranger seasons, including Wild Force, Turbo, Zeo, Dino Thunder, Megaforce and HyperForce.

This was just the start of an era that launched Power Rangers much further than just a single series that debuted in August 1993. The first series has been followed by many more and even three feature-length movies. In all, there are 26 different Power Ranger series. These included the following:

• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993)
• Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers (1996)
• Power Ranger Zeo (1996)
• Power Rangers Turbo (1997)
• Power Rangers in Space (1998)
• Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (1999)
• Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue (2000)
• Power Rangers Time Force (2001)
• Power Rangers Wild Force (2002)
• Power Rangers Ninja Storm (2003)
• Power Rangers Dino Thunder (2004)
• Power Rangers SPD (2005)
• Power Rangers Mystic Force (2006)
• Power Rangers Operation Overdrive (2007)
• Power Rangers Jungle Fury (2008)
• Power Rangers RPM (2009)
• Power Rangers Samurai (2011)
• Power Rangers Super Samurai (2012)
• Power Rangers Megaforce (2013)
• Power Rangers Super Megaforce (2014)
• Power Rangers Dino Charge (2015)
• Power Rangers Dino Super Charge (2016)
• Power Rangers Ninja Steel (2017)
• Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel (2018)
• Power Rangers Beast Morphers (2019)
• Power Rangers Dino Fury (2021)

The Power Rangers became so popular that an exclusive line of action figures was released alongside other Power Ranger toys from Bandai. In 1994 Power Rangers action figures were the most popular Christmas toys, bypassing other 90s favorites like Furbies, Tamagotchi and Polly Pockets. By 2001 the media franchise had already generated $6 billion in toy sales. 

The popularity of the franchise has even catapulted the prices of certain rare action figures within the line. While kids could get one of the toys for about $10 back in 1993, they’ve become somewhat of a collector’s item, with certain ones selling for hundreds of dollars. The Green/White Morpher morphing belt, made popular by Jason Davide Frank’s portrayal of Tommy Oliver, is currently the third most valuable Power Rangers toy and can cost you anywhere up to $450. The Power Rangers toy franchise is still going strong. Although we’re seeing much less of the basic figurine sets as the MegaZords are where it’s all at. 

They also didn’t just stop at toys. The franchise also released an extensive range of Power Ranger video games. The Power Rangers video game franchise consists of approximately 40 different games. These games were spread across multiple platforms, from the original Game Boy to the modern PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. Even mobile games are available for die-hard Power Ranger fans to enjoy these games on the go. 

There are also board games and collectible card games available within the Power Rangers franchise. These include Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid, released in 2019 and the Power Rangers: Deck Building Game, released in 2021.

Aside from the extensive range of series, movies and video games – there’s even more. The franchise also released several series of comics over the years. These comics are a spin-off of the television series and act as a way for fans of the franchise to get even more information on these unlikely heroes. In 2015, Boom! Studios won the comic book rights to Power Rangers and started by releasing comics based on the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, of which Jason David Frank was a part; however, these stories took place in a modern setting. 

With a franchise as powerful and long-lasting as this one, it’s sad to see one of the original cast members pass on. During filming of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Jason David Frank did all his own stunts. He continued this tradition in all his future appearances on other Power Ranger episodes. Between 2008 – 2010, Jason David Frank became an MMA fighter since he knew martial arts. No one could’ve pulled off the Green/White Ranger as well as Jason David Frank. This legend specialized in various forms of martial arts and even created his own style known as Toso Kune Do. Jason David Frank, as the legend he was, was also inducted into the World Karate Union Hall of Fame in 2003. 

Our thoughts are with his friends, family and his four children after this sudden passing. At the moment, no further details have been released surrounding his death. Regardless, the world mourns the death of this legend – for bringing Power Rangers alive and for so much more.

From today, web developers for Firefox can sign extensions created using Manifest V3 to the online store. This new software architecture revision appears to be the future of all browser extensions, but Mozilla was a little late to the party.

Firefox DOWNLOAD

Google proposed the new technology in 2018 and stated that this would be the most significant shift in the extension platform since its launch almost a decade ago. Manifest V3 is a complete software architecture revision from Google. It claims to enhance users’ security, privacy, and performance. It will also enable users to use more open web technology, such as service workers and promises. There should be far fewer fake extensions for users to become victims too.

The new technology is being rolled out today, November 21st, 2022, and developers will be able to start uploading Mv3 extensions. However, Mozilla Firefox is not the first platform to allow this. Microsoft already began testing Mv3 in its Edge browser back in October 2020.

Despite all the promises, there are many individuals who aren’t as excited by the release of Manifest V3. Electronic Frontier Foundation recently spoke out against Mv3 and stated that the changes made in this new version won’t stop malicious extensions as promised but might cause harm to innovation and reduce extension capabilities and performance. One of the reasons for this is that ad-blockers and other protective extensions will no longer work on this new version and will need to be amended to work on Manifest V3.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Mozilla has much say in the matter, as it seems all browsers are starting to accept the change, regardless of the new privacy risks that may come along with them. Google controls Chromium, which Firefox is built on, and as such, it has to follow suit with the tech giant. Even Apple had endorsed MV3 for its Safari browser.

Support for MV2, the current extension architecture, will stop support next year, and although it’s been delayed, the support will now end in June 2023 for all chromium browsers. Google is still hammering out issues with MV3, and we hope they’ll be sorted and all privacy issues addressed before support of the existing extensions is removed.

Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has announced a change to users’ personal information that’s long overdue. The social media giant announced they’d be removing four fields from Facebook’s personal information section from next month.

The four fields that will be removed include address, political view, religious views, and sexual preferences, known as ‘Interested In’ on the platform. Users who have any of these fields completed on their profile will receive a message from the platform, similar to this one shared by Social Media Specialist Matt Navarra. 

In the messages, users will be informed that these fields will be removed from December 1st, 2022. A link will also be available for users to download their profiles if they need to before these fields are removed.

Many users wonder why it’s taken the platform this long to remove, as most of its competitors, such as TikTok, don’t require this in-depth personal information. While some users enjoy adding more information to their profiles, others prefer to protect their privacy and leave these fields unanswered. 

A spokesperson for Facebook explained that they’re removing these fields to make it easier for users to navigate the platform. They also expressed that, should users want to share this information, there are still other ways to do so elsewhere on the platform. 

As such, removing these outdated fields seems to be a move from Facebook to streamline its processes. We can’t help but wonder if removing these fields will make that much of a difference to the app’s processes, but maybe it’s more centered on privacy. After all, these aren’t the only changes being made to their services.

The platform no longer uses these fields for ad targeting as of January 2022, which the platform removed to align better with Europe’s GDPR. This information might still be visible to others and can be collected in other ways and used for targeting by third parties. It can also be a way for individual users or groups to target and belittle others if they disagree with their sexuality, political, or religious views. So it’s a move we respect, even if a little overdue.

This news follows the announcement of layoffs of 11 000 Meta workers last week. With 13% of its workforce gone, it’s understandable that the platform wants to streamline processes as much as possible. We look forward to seeing what other changes they make amidst their recent difficulties.

As if Elon Musk’s recent staff purge at Twitter wasn’t enough, many more employees are leaving the company following a hardcore demands letter from the new CEO. This latest departure of employees leaves many departments in the company without staff and is leaving people wondering how the company can recover. There’s also so many Tweeters moving to Mastodon.

Just two weeks ago, Musk, the new CEO of Twitter, purged the company by laying off 7500 employees, including a couple of critical engineers. However, things didn’t stop there as the layoffs continued, with Musk kicking out anyone who dared criticize his new hardcore cultural reset. After these big layoffs, the company only had about 2900 employees remaining.

Following the latest layoffs, Musk sent a form to all remaining employees with a deadline of 5 pm Wednesday. In this form, employees had to indicate if they’ll be staying on and following the new cultural reset, including the hardcore expectations of longer working hours at a higher intensity. Anyone who did not accept these terms would be laid off immediately and receive their severance packages.

Was this ultimatum the straw that broke the camel’s back? Quite possibly, as soon as this ultimatum was set, hundreds of employees flooded Twitter’s slack with farewell messages and emojis. 

Both remaining and resigning employees at Twitter opened up to The Verge and stated that they’re certain that the platform will start breaking down soon following the sheer amount of departures. Multiple critical teams inside Twitter have either completely resigned or almost completely resigned.

These include the traffic and front-end teams that are vital for routing engineering requests to the correct back-end services. The team responsible for maintaining the platform’s core system libraries is also gone – and this team is vital for running the platform. 

Other teams that have been severely gutted include the Command Center, which are the engineers available 24/7 to handle any internal problems, as well as the team that manages the Twitter API for businesses. Twitter has already reached out to other engineering staffers to fill critical roles, but is it too little, too late?

Musk Tweeted on Thursday, saying that the best people were staying and he wasn’t worried. However, it does make you wonder how the few remaining members will cope with managing all these different roles and teams that have left. He wasn’t joking when he said staff would have to put in longer hours at higher intensities, as now there’ll be no other option. Is this all part of Musk’s plan?

Amidst all this staffing chaos is also a lawsuit that has been filed against Twitter. This lawsuit is from an ex-Twitter employee, Dmitry Borodaenko, a disabled employee who was fired for not returning to the office after Musk’s hardcore demands that required employees to work higher hours at the office. Having a disability meant that Mr. Borodaenko worked remotely. In his claim, Mr. Borodaenko says that Musk’s call for all employees to return to the office or quit goes against the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Is this the start of the end for Twitter and the start of an era for Mastodon? Or will Musk’s extreme management style actually reap the rewards in the future? For now, things at Twitter are very uncertain, but we’ll keep an eye out to see how things progress.

After what seems like forever, if you’re a Pokemon fan at least, the latest Pokemon game is finally releasing today! Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is the ninth generation of Pokemon on Nintendo. Along with the release, players can explore a new open-world region in 3D, with a bevy of new and exciting Pokemon to collect. If you don’t have a Switch, you can still play other titles, like Pokemon GO, Pokemon Unite, and Pokemon Cafe Mix

In this latest installment, players will explore the Paldea region. There will be some Pokemon from other regions as well, but players will receive all new starter Pokemon, legendaries, and of course, new Pokemon from the region. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will also feature the all-new Paradox Pokemon, which is a brand new class to collect and train.

So far, at least 107 new Pokemon have been confirmed. For your starter Pokemon, you can choose between the traditional three types – fire, plant, and water. In Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you can choose between Sprigatito (grass – and eventually dark-type), Quaxly (water and eventually fighting-type), and Fuecoco (fire – and eventually ghost-type). The other new Pokemon you can encounter include Floragato, Meowscarada, Crocolor, Skeledirge, and many more.

Also being introduced in the game for the first time are black crystal tera-raids. During play, trainers might come across black crystals. These are different from the crystal you usually interact with from tera raids, and the Pokemon you battle are also much stronger. Beating these opponents, however, will result in rewards that are more exciting than usual.

Unfortunately, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is a Nintendo exclusive, the same as many of the previous story-driven releases. However, that doesn’t mean if you don’t have a Nintendo, you should miss out. There are still free games available for those that want to enjoy the Pokemon experience, like Pokemon GO, Pokemon Unite, and Pokemon Cafe Mix.

In celebration of the release of the new game, Pokemon Unite is holding a special in-game event from November 18th, 2022, until February 1st, 2023. During this time, players will be able to receive Pokemon Scarlet and Violet fashion items, stickers, and more. 

Pokemon Go celebrates the release by revealing a new Pokemon from the series, Gimmighoul. This new Pokemon has been spotted in the wild in Pokemon GO from the start of the week. This has been intentional as it forms part of the promotional event for the release of the game. From 2023, Pokemon GO players will also be able to collect Gimmighoul coins, as the lore states these coins are dropped while the Pokemon is in its roaming form.

The excitement surrounding the release shows just how popular the franchise still is, even after all these years. We look forward to learning more about this new game and any future Pokemon-related developments.