If you come across a song on Spotify that just makes your day, you’re more than likely going to share it with someone. Sharing on the platform is straightforward as it is, but the company wants to make this feature a bit more mysterious. Spotify is testing a feature that will make sharing music a surprise.
Spotify is testing a surprise music feature
When you share a song on Spotify, the recipient knows just what they’re getting themselves into. They’ll see the song you sent along with the album art and other information. It’s a pretty basic function, but the company is looking to spice things up a little.
As spotted by @SaadhJawwadh on Twitter, Spotify is working on a new feature that will let you share music as a surprise. With the feature, you’ll see a new option when you summon the share sheet.
You’ll see a screen with the text “Share it as an audio surprise”. Under that, you’ll see a present icon. When the recipient gets the song, they won’t see the album or any information. They’ll need to tap on it to see what the song is.
This doesn’t only apply when you’re sharing music with other people. You’ll see the present icon when you share music among other apps. In the screenshots, we see that it also applies when you’re sharing this as an Instagram Story. In the Story, users will tap on the Play on Spotify button to play the song.
This is a nice way for people to have a little more fun when sharing music. Users can also make a game out of it if they typically share music with other people. At the moment, we don’t know when Spotify plans on releasing this new feature to the public. Since @SaadhJawwadh was able to get it working, then it might not be that far away from a release.
The European Union has been one of the few governing bodies trying to control the monopoly of tech giants like Apple. As part of these efforts, it introduced a new law called the Digital Markets Act, which aims to address concerns about the monopolistic behavior of tech giants by singling out certain platforms as “gatekeepers,” including Apple’s iMessage service. However, with just days remaining before the gatekeeper designation, Apple is now reportedly challenging the decision, citing the popularity of iMessage in the EU.
Apple says that iMessage can’t be a gatekeeper service
The core objective of the DMA, which was first introduced in October 2020, is to restrict what the EU perceives as the excessive control exercised by major tech companies by labeling their services as gatekeepers. As per the act, for a platform to qualify as a “gatekeeper,” it should boast an annual turnover exceeding €7.5 billion, a market capitalization surpassing €75 billion, and a user base of over 45 million monthly active users within the EU. Consequently, if iMessage were to be categorized as a gatekeeper service, Apple would be required to open up iMessage to third-party operators.
However, Apple contends that iMessage falls short of this last criterion and does not meet the required 45 million monthly active users in the European region. As a result, the EU should not force it to open its doors to competing apps like WhatsApp.
While Apple’s latest decision could be an issue for the law’s enforcement, it also marks a significant shift from its stance in July, wherein the company, alongside Microsoft and other tech giants, issued a general statement acknowledging the applicability of the EU’s gatekeeper law without specifying services like iMessage.
Microsoft is also in the mix
Apple isn’t the only one who has recently shifted its stance, as Microsoft has also joined the company in contesting the inclusion of its search engine Bing in the “gatekeeper” list. Microsoft argues that the EU should not classify its search engine as it only has a market share of 3%.
This has been quite a year for South Florida sports fans with the Miami Heat and Florida Panthers both making the finals in their respective leagues (NBA, NHL), the MLB Miami Marlins battling for a playoff spot, and the current top soccer star in the world, Lionel Messi, playing for Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami squad. The club hasn’t lost a game since the superstar joined the team and Inter Miami even won the League Cup which is an in-season competition between MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX.
Messi’s move to Major League Soccer brings in a huge number of new U.S. MLS Season Pass subscribers for Apple
As it turns out, Messimania is also impacting Apple. As we noted earlier in the year after Messi signed with Inter Miami, we told you why Apple was among the signing’s big winners. The tech giant has the streaming rights to MLS for the next 10 years. The Wall Street Journal notes that Apple added more than 110,000 new MLS Season Pass U.S. subscribers on July 21, the day that Messi debuted with Inter Miami. The day before, it signed up 6,143 U.S. subscribers for the MLS Season Pass according to analytics firm Antenna.
The Inter Miami iOS app
Jonathan Carson, chief executive of Antenna, said, “There is only one Lionel Messi, so this was a very big moment for the sport in this country. Sports are definitely star-driven but that has never before translated into an enormous subscriber bump.” Apple CEO Tim Cook was compelled to mention Messi’s signing with Inter Miami during the company’s latest earnings call. “We are beating our expectation in terms of subscribers, and the fact that Messi went to Inter Miami helped us out there a bit,” Cook said.
What makes this story more appealing is how Messi has performed as advertised the moment his Inter Miami and MLS career started. In 11 games with Inter Miami, Messi has tallied 11 goals and eight assists. Some will point out that the competition certainly isn’t up to the international levels that Messi has competed at, but none of this matters to the Apple bean counters.
Apple charges $12.99 per month for its MLS Season Pass or $25 for the season to those who also subscribe to Apple TV+. Those who aren’t Apple TV+ subscribers must pay $14.99 per month or $29 per season. Season ticket holders to any MLS club received a free MLS Season Pass subscription this year. The data shows that nearly half of the MLS Season Pass subscribers who signed up between February and July had Apple TV+ subscriptions indicating that Major League Soccer has been garnering support from Apple device owners.
Compared to NFL streaming costs, Apple is getting a bargain for the rights to MLS
And Apple was surely happy to see that 15% of those who signed up for the Season Pass package from February to July also signed up for TV+. Perhaps some of the excitement around the sport shown by Apple device owners has to do with the very popular Apple TV+ original series Ted Lasso starring Jason Sudeikis as the titular character. Lasso is an American football coach hired to coach a soccer club in England even though he knows nothing about the sport.
The economics of streaming Major League sports is getting out of hand and explains how some owners can afford to pay their players extremely rich contracts. YouTube’s Sunday Ticket for NFL contests cost Google $14 billion for a seven-year deal. Amazon is paying the NFL $1.2 billion a season for 11 years of Thursday Night Football streams. Because soccer is not considered one of the four major U.S. team sports, Apple was able to lock up 10 years of MLS for a price of $2.5 billion.
The history of U.S. soccer shows that the import of world-caliber players such as Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, and David Beckham resulted in short-lived boosts in interest by U.S. sports fans only to see interest wane when the players left their U.S. teams. Messi’s contract with Inter Miami ends in 2025 and Apple is hoping that Messi can create more U.S. soccer fans who will watch the sport for the rest of their lives.
Tel Aviv, Israel, Sep 05, 2023 — Reflectiz, a cybersecurity company specializing in continuous web threat management offers an exclusive, fully remote solution to battle Magecart web-skimming attacks, a popular type of cyberattacks involving injecting malicious code into the checkout pages.
As the Holiday Season approaches, online retailers face the challenge of protecting their websites against the growing threat of malicious attacks, such as Magecart. However, they struggle to add new security layers due to restrictions on modifying their website code to avoid impacting website performance during the peak shopping season.
Reflectiz, a unique web security tool, ensures 100% readiness for Magecart attacks before and during the Holiday Season. This is made possible by Reflectiz’s external, non-intrusive solution, requiring no code implementation or IT resources. Your website(s) will be fully protected within days, and there will be no impact on your website performance whatsoever.
Reflectiz automatically detects third-party code changes, keylogging, and communication with malicious domains to prevent Magecart web-skimming attacks. It overcomes the most sophisticated malware obfuscation techniques, lets you track changes, prioritize issues, and implement alerts according to their severity level, empowering you to act before the damage is done.
Despite being so powerful, Reflectiz does not affect website performance. It has zero impact on your IT resources, and it does not require any installation on the client. It begins protecting your web assets within days, ensuring continuous monitoring of all crucial and sensitive web pages, not just checkout pages.
“Reflectiz understands the challenges faced by online retailers during this busy time of the year. In fact, in 2023, Reflectiz detected Magecart attacks on more than 150 websites, and the count is still rising. Our advanced technology enables the automatic detection of sophisticated threats throughout your entire online environment, all with quick and easy external implementation. You will be up and running within days” – Ysrael Gurt, Co-founder & CTO, Reflectiz
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Nomad has just unveiled a brand new wireless charger called the Base One Max 3-in-1. It is basically an upgrade to the Base One Max, but now adds a third coil that you can use to charge your earbuds like the AirPods Pro or AirPods.
Like the other wireless chargers from Nomad, this one does come in carbide and silver colors, and it’s also very heavy. Nomad likes to take their weighted bases to a whole new level with the Base One chargers. This is going to be a very heavy charger, which means that when you do pick up your phone, it won’t bring the base with it. That’s pretty important when talking about MagSafe, as those magnets can be very heavy.
The Base One Max is able to charge your iPhone at 15W wirelessly, as well as charging your Apple Watch and AirPods. Since Nomad is not touting speeds for the Apple Watch, this likely won’t use the faster charging that Apple added on the Series 7.
This time around, Apple Watch Ultra is actually compatible
The older Base One Max is a really great wireless charger. However, the Apple Watch Ultra isn’t really compatible. You need to stick something under the watch to get it to line up properly on that one. Which can be a real hassle. Nomad says that the Base One Max 3-in-1 was actually designed with the Apple Watch Ultra in mind. So this is a good thing here.
You can purchase the Nomad Goods Base One Max 3-in-1 from their website now. This is not a cheap wireless charger, in fact it’s one of the more expensive ones we’ve seen. Coming in at $170. But this is also one of the best made wireless chargers you can get right now. So it’s worth the extra cash.
One easy way to help subsidize the cost of your new iPhone is by selling or trading in your old one. And since the iPhone 15 is set to get a price increase this year, it’s more important than ever.
While carriers will offer some pretty good deals for trading in your iPhone 14, you might do better at another website, or even just selling it yourself. Especially if you kept it in good shape. In this article, we’re going to give you different options you can use to get rid of your old phone, including trading it into websites like Decluttr or Gazelle.
US carriers
The US carriers will often times offer some pretty good trade in values for your old iPhone. Some of which are up to $1,000, or the cost of the regular iPhone 15 Pro. However, there are some catches here. For instance, you will need to be on the most expensive plan to get the best trade-in value. Which means you’re paying more per month, for the next year or two (or three, in some cases) just to get a bit more on your trade-in. You also need to stick with that carrier for the next two years or more, to get all of your bill credits.
However, the carriers do make it super simple to trade in your phones. They will ship out a trade-in kit with your new iPhone 15, so you can send in your iPhone 14 (or older) right away and get your bill credits within the next billing cycle. Which is much easier than trying to sell it somewhere like Swappa.
Decluttr & Gazelle
Trade-in sites like Decluttr and Gazelle are great options for trading in your old iPhone (and other phones). They offer some pretty good values for your old devices, not quite as good as the carriers, but you also aren’t paying them every month like you would a carrier.
Just go onto their site, find the phone that you want to sell. You’ll be asked a few questions about how well (or not so well) it works. Whether it’s in good condition or not, and then you’ll get a quote for how much your phone is worth. Then you’ll click on a button like “sell this device” – it’s a bit different wording on each site. You’ll then be told how to erase your phone and remove it from iCloud so it can be used by others eventually. You’ll also get a packing slip and label, so you can pack up and send it out.
Generally within a few days of getting the device and inspecting it, you will get your money. Depending on the site, you might get it on PayPal, as a Zelle transfer, or even a paper check. Now if you want a paper check, you’ll be waiting a bit longer. So we suggest doing a direct transfer, PayPal or Zelle.
I went through the process with my iPhone 14 Pro (256GB) and Decluttr was telling me that they’d give me $582.25 for it. I did select “Good” condition, since there is a scratch on the display. But that’s still right around half of the MSRP for this particular phone. This had an MSRP of $1,099. So not bad at all. And if it was in excellent condition, they’d pay $685.
The best part is, that once you get your quote, it is good for 28 days over on Decluttr. So you can get your quote today and wait until you actually get your new iPhone 15 to send it in. Gazelle is good for 30 days. So either way, you get a good amount of time to wait before you actually send in your phone.
Decluttr also offers a student discount, where students are able to get 10% more. Which is a nice goodie that they’ve added in.
Selling via Swappa or eBay
Another option here is selling the phone yourself, on websites like Swappa or eBay. Both are good options, and you can actually make more money this way. Just keep in mind that you can often times end up with more of a headache, and dealing with unhappy buyers. Whereas with trading in your iPhone, you aren’t really dealing with a buyer.
Swappa is a good way to sell your iPhone, and is actually my preferred way of doing it. However, be careful as Swappa users are really good at negotiating and getting you to come down on your price. Right now, if I were to sell my purple iPhone 14 Pro 256GB on Swappa, the lowest price for “Good” condition is about $808. That’s a few hundred more than Decluttr is offering. But you likely won’t sell it for that much. After all the haggling, it’ll probably sell for about $700, and then you need to pay Swappa and PayPal fees as well as shipping. So it doesn’t always come out to be the better option.
eBay is quite similar. Though there’s no haggling over there, buyers do tend to complain about almost everything. However, the same model iPhone is going for around $879 on eBay right now. So again, better prices, but is the difference really worth all the trouble?
Wrap Up
These are just a few easy ways that you can sell or trade in your old iPhone to help subsidize the price of your new iPhone 15. Of course, there are some other options out there too. Like giving it to a relative, or recycling it – especially if its much older. If you’re in an upgrade program with your carrier or Apple, then none of these options here will work for you. As you do need to return your old phone once you get your new one.
Cryptocurrency casino Stake experienced suspicious funds outflow with $15.7m drained on Ethereum and $25.6 m collectively lost in Binance Smart Chain and Polygon.
Key Findings
On September 4, 2023, the world’s largest Australian cryptocurrency casino and sportsbook platform Stake became a target of a financially motivated cyberattack, losing over $41 million worth of cryptocurrencies.
The hackers exploited a leaked private key to gain access to Stake’s hot wallets, which contain the platform’s most liquid funds.
The hackers stole a total of $16 million worth of Ethereum, $17.8 million across the Binance Smart Chain, and $7.8 million in Polygon.
The hackers converted the stolen funds to Ether and transferred them to multiple externally owned wallets.
Stake has suspended all deposits and withdrawals and is currently investigating the attack.
According to reports from on-chain analyst Cyvers and blockchain researcher ZachXBT, on September 4, 2023, the world’s largest Australian cryptocurrency casino and sportsbook platform Stake became a target of a financially motivated cyberattack, losing over $41 million worth of cryptocurrencies.
Cyves has dubbed it a suspicious outflow of funds, most of which were sent to an account labelled ‘Stake.com Hacker.’ Further probing revealed that the withdrawals resulted from a leaked private key. The casino apparently was targeted by an exploit.
Etherscan reported that the first transaction to the alleged hacker’s wallet took place at 12:48 pm in which $3.9m worth of Tether was transferred followed by two more transactions draining out 6,001 Ether. Hackers kept removing tokens for the next few minutes, stealing $1m in USD coins. Altogether $16m worth of Ethereum, $17.8 across the Binance Smart Chain, and $7.8m in Polygon were stolen.
On X (former Twitter), Cyves shared news of the incident to alert Stake users about the unauthorized draining of funds:
“ALERT🚨Our AI-powered system has detected multiple suspicious transactions with @Stake. (https://etherscan.io/address/0x3130662aece32f05753d00a7b95c0444150bcd3c) address received about $16M in $ETH $USDC $USDT and $DAI. All the stablecoins are converted to $ETH and distributed to different EOAs.”
The hackers converted the stolen funds to Ether. They transferred the amount to multiple externally owned wallets before the withdrawals stopped, leaving the casino with $340,000 worth of Ether and $2.1m in other altcoins.
The casino suspended all deposits/withdrawals, due to which most users cannot access their funds as of now. The platform also confirmed the breach, stating that unauthorized transactions were made from its hot wallets.
“Three hours ago, unauthorized tx’s were made from Stake’s ETH/BSC hot wallets. We are investigating and will get the wallets up as soon as they’re completely re-secured. User funds are safe. BTC, LTC, XRP, EOS, TRX + all other wallets remain fully operational,” Stake’s statement on X read.
Stake is a popular betting platform known for its affiliation with rapper Drake and the Formula One fame Alfa Romeo, recording $2.6 bn in revenues in 2022. It allows users to deposit/play with cryptocurrencies. As per its co-founder Ed Craven, Stake accounted for 6% of all Bitcoin transactions, 15% of all Litecoin transactions, and 12% of all Dogecoin transactions last year.
The draining of such a hefty amount is a big blow for the casino and the cryptocurrency industry as in July 2023, another platform Alphapo lost $31m in suspicious withdrawals. In 2022, over $3.7bn worth of crypto was lost in different exploits and hacks, and this incident highlights that the industry continues to be vulnerable to cybercrime.
According to recent updates, the coming Android 14 update will bring changes to Pixel live wallpapers. This will give users more control over the wallpapers they set on their home and lock screen. Reports have it that the update will give users the liberty to pick different live wallpapers for usage on their home screen and their lock screen.
Currently, this is not possible on Pixel devices, as it is impossible to set different live wallpapers on both the home and lock screen. The system demands that users stick to one live wallpaper, which will display some transition animation once the device is unlocked. Some users might find this rather restrictive, as it limits their access to only one live wallpaper at a time.
So, just like with static wallpapers, you’ll soon be able to pick two different live wallpapers for usage at a time. One will appear on your lock screen and the other on your home screen according to how you set them. This article will provide you with the currently available information on this issue.
Details on the coming changes to the Pixel live wallpaper feature
While this feature is not already available for usage, there is evidence to point out its existence. A few months ago, some experts spotted this feature among some codes. By the time experts first spotted this feature, there was no assurance that the usage of multiple live wallpapers would be coming to Pixel devices.
However, in a more recent report, Mishaal Rahman has spotted this feature again. This time around, the feature is available on the Android quarterly platform release (QPR). At the moment, this release is in its development and will soon be available for beta testers.
Sources go on to say that if this feature makes it through beta testing, users will get it before the end of the year. It is expected that after successful beta testing, this feature will roll out with the December Pixel Feature Drop. But you might get to see the feature in usage even before the feature drop becomes widely available.
Some people might get access to this feature via root access before it finally rolls out. Android 14 beta testers will also be among the first users to get a taste of the feature. Once they get to try out this feature, more details on its usage and visual looks will be available on the internet.
This coming change to the Google Pixel live wallpaper will give you the ability to use different wallpapers on your home and lock screen. While this might not be a major change, it will help improve the design aesthetics of Pixel devices. Would you be willing to give this feature a try once it is available for usage?
It’s not exactly a secret that the iPhone 15 Pro Max will be delayed. We’ve seen a number of reports regarding that, and at this point, it seems to be inevitable. Having said that, the iPhone 15 Pro Max delay time frame has just been revealed.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max delay time frame has been revealed
This information comes from Revegnus, a tipster. He says that yield issues with Sony, Apple’s supplier of image sensors for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, are “severe”. That will cause the delay of the device.
Until now, we did not have an idea how long will we have to wait for the iPhone 15 Pro Max to become available. Well, now we do. Revegnus says that the phone will be “approximately 4 weeks” late. So, about a month.
As a reminder, the iPhone 15 series will launch on September 12. Apple already announced that date. The iPhone 15 Pro Max will be presented as well, but it won’t become available at the same time as its siblings.
Apple did not confirm the release date just yet, but September 15 is mentioned as the day when pre-orders start. The iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, and iPhone 15 Pro are expected to become available to purchase on September 22.
Based on this, the iPhone 15 Pro Max will become available in late October
If this report is accurate the iPhone 15 Pro Max will launch in the latter part of October. You will, of course, be able to pre-order the device early. It will probably be up for pre-order at the same time as the rest of them.
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will both have titanium frames this time around. They’ll also feature thinner bezels than last year’s model. The Pro Max will have the advantage of the periscope camera this time around, though.
All iPhone 15 models will include a Dynamic Island cutout this time around. On top of that, all of them will feature Type-C ports, which is a first for iPhones.
Ever get annoyed when something just doesn’t work quite right? It might be handy, it might have its uses, but there’s still that feeling of having to scoot the chair to crack open the fridge, you know what I mean? Well, sometimes, these irritating quirks come from apps, and it’s a relief when they get fixed, even if it is a minor update. Small updates can make a big difference and it seems like WhatsApp gets that. According to Wabetainfo, WhatsApp is introducing additional control options for its instant video messages feature. If you’ve updated to the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS (version 23.18.1.70) or the WhatsApp beta for Android (version 2.23.18.21), you might spot a new setting in the app. This setting allows beta testers to turn off, if they want, instant video messages.WhatsApp had already made it possible for its users to record and share video messages through the app’s latest updates in July. Without this new toggle, the feature is active by default, which means you can switch between video messages and voice notes by tapping the voice note button.
But for some users who prefer not to use video messages, having to manually select voice messages over video messages every time can be quite annoying. So, with this update, users can simply turn the toggle off, and tapping the voice note button won’t switch to video messages anymore.
However, it’s important to note that this option won’t block short video messages. You’ll still be able to receive and play them, but you won’t be able to send video messages when this option is turned off.
It’s worth mentioning that even if you don’t plan to disable video messages, it’s good to check that toggle. Some beta users have reported finding it turned off unexpectedly, even if they’ve sent video messages before.
The toggle for managing instant video messages is now available to some beta testers who’ve updated their WhatsApp beta for Android via the Google Play Store and WhatsApp beta for iOS through the TestFlight app, and it will reach more people in the next few days.
