MacRumors

Facebook this week shared a blog post explaining "new privacy experiences" that will be available on the social network, in compliance with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), coming into effect on May 25. Facebook originally detailed part of its plan for GDPR-related privacy features back in January, and is now following through in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The rollout will begin in Europe this week, but the company described the update as being "for everyone on Facebook," and it'll begin expanding worldwide "on a slightly later schedule." In the new blog post, Facebook chief privacy officer Erin Egan explained that users will be asked to make choices about multiple aspects of the social network from now on, including ads, profile data, and face recognition.

As soon as GDPR was finalized, we realized it was an opportunity to invest even more heavily in privacy. We not only want to comply with the law, but also go beyond our obligations to build new and improved privacy experiences for everyone on Facebook. We’ve brought together hundreds of employees across product, engineering, legal, policy, design and research teams. We’ve also sought input from people outside Facebook with different perspectives on privacy, including people who use our services, regulators and government officials, privacy experts, and designers.

Facebook will ask its users to review information about advertising based on partner data, such as websites and apps that use business tools like the Like button. They will be able to decide if they want Facebook to use data from partners to show them these type of ads or not.

For profile information, users that have opted into sharing political, religious, and relationship information will be asked whether to continue sharing this data, and if they want Facebook to use it. The update will make it easier to delete these personal tidbits from profiles as well.

Face recognition has been on Facebook in most parts of the world for about six years, allowing the service to detect when other profiles might be trying to use someone's profile image, among other features. Egan said that specifically in the EU and Canada, face recognition will return but be defaulted to an off state, and users will have the choice to turn it on. For everyone on Facebook, Egan explained that this feature is still "entirely optional" no matter where the user is located.

This week's blog post explained that these requests -- including an updated terms of service and data policy -- will have specific details relevant only to people in the EU, although "the substance" of the policy remains the same globally. As the update launches around the world, the company will "present the information in the ways that make the most sense for other regions."

Otherwise, Facebook users will also start to see new Settings and Privacy shortcuts around the world this week, allowing them to more easily check their data, delete it, or easily download and export it. The social network is also focusing on protecting teenagers with multiple GDPR compliant features that will be launching worldwide. These include limited advertising, disabling face recognition, defaulting audience options for posts to friends only, and more.

Popular to-do app Things received a "spit and polish" update today for both macOS and iOS. Version 3.5 of the software bundles in 29 features and improvements based on user feedback, including performance tweaks, tagging enhancements, and more.

Collapsible areas in Things has been one of the most requested features, according to the developers, which is why Things 3.5 enables users with particularly long project lists to collapse or hide them using new chevron buttons alongside project titles.

On iOS, users should be able to find and add tags more quickly, now that the tag window is searchable. App-wide tag searches have also been made more broad, so that if a user searches for a tag, they'll see not only items with that tag, but also items with the tag nested under them. Additionally, the "No Tag" filter has been reinstated, due to popular demand.

Things 3.5 introduces some helpful copy/paste features for bringing content into the app, too. For example, if a user copies text from another app then switches to Things and pastes that text, a new to-do is automatically created containing the clipboard data. On top of that, several new to-dos are created when pasting multiple lines of text.

The same thing works with Universal Clipboard, allowing you to copy some text on your Mac and paste it in Things on an iPhone to auto-create new to-dos. You can also drag text from another app into Things to achieve the same thing.

Elsewhere, thanks to a new "update" command it's now possible to edit workflows that make use of the recently launched Things URLs feature (for creating to-dos in Things from outside the app). The Today widget has also received a few tweaks, and now shows icons for checklists and reminders, as well as a moon icon for items in This Evening, and progress pies for projects.

In other notable changes, link and data handling in Things is now more consistent across the app, the iOS settings screen has been redesigned for clarity, and the Things MacBook Pro Touch Bar is now customizable. Lastly, the layout in fullscreen mode on Mac has also been tweaked, numerous bugs have been fixed, and a number of workflows for using Things in business tools are now available.

Things 3.5 can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $49.99 and from the iOS App Store. The iPad version is priced at $19.99 [Direct Link] while the iPhone version (which includes Apple watch support) is priced at $9.99. [Direct Link] A 15-day trial of Things for Mac is available on the Cultured Code website.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.4 update to its public beta testing group, two weeks after seeding the first beta and three weeks after releasing tvOS 11.3, a minor update that introduced a few smaller features.

The tvOS 11.4 public beta can be obtained by going to the Settings app on the Apple TV and navigating to the Software Updates section under "System." "Get Public Beta Updates" will need to be toggled on, and once it is, the Apple TV will download the beta software.

tvOS 11.4 and iOS 11.4 reintroduce AirPlay 2 features that were included in early iOS 11.3 and tvOS 11.3 betas but were pulled from the update ahead of its release.

AirPlay 2 is designed to let you play the same audio content on multiple devices throughout your home, full a whole-home audio experience. AirPlay 2 works with the Apple TV, the HomePod, and it will work with future speakers that implement AirPlay 2 support.

Following the installation of iOS 11.4 and tvOS 11.4, the Apple TV will once again be listed in the Home app, as it was when AirPlay 2 features were available in iOS and tvOS 11.3 betas.

No other major feature changes were discovered in the first two tvOS 11.4 betas that were provided to developers.

Sonos today announced the upcoming debut of new color options for the Sonos One speaker, launching in addition to the device's current colors of white and black. Created in collaboration with Danish design brand HAY, the Sonos One will be available in red, yellow, and green in September 2018.

Although not mentioned specifically, the announcement of the new speaker colors also includes an image with a light pink speaker, so there could be additional colors coming as well. The update is focused on new colors and does not appear to include any changes or overhauls to other features of the Sonos One, but the price will be increased to $229/£229/€259, from $199/£199/€229 (via The Verge).

Inspired by the Danish company's 2018 color palette, the HAY Sonos One Limited Edition Collection will provide customers with a bit more personalization options for Sonos's latest speaker, according to representatives from both companies.

“Our speakers aren’t designed to claim attention but to blend naturally into their surroundings,” says Sonos VP of Design Tad Toulis. Even with the addition of colors to the typically black-and-white Sonos product line, the new HAY Sonos One still manages to maintain that aesthetic subtlety.

“These speakers deserve to be treated like furniture: strong, independent objects that fit different needs and spaces,” says Hay. By leveraging HAY’s singular approach to color, this limited edition collection fully realizes the Sonos philosophy of sonic architecture and harmonizes both brands’ ability to create products that can transform a home.

Sonos announced and launched the Sonos One in October 2017, placing the speaker as an entrant in the ever-growing smart speaker market. In January, on the same day that pre-orders for Apple's HomePod went live, Sonos launched a bundle that included two Sonos One speakers together for $349/£349, saving customers $50 and directly matching HomePod's $350 price tag.

Sonos says that today's announcement is just the start of its collaboration with HAY, so users can likely expect more colorful Sonos devices down the line. The HAY Sonos One will debut this September on Sonos.com and in Sonos flagship stores in New York City, London, and Berlin, and at the HAY House in Copenhagen.

Bang & Olufsen brand subsidiary B&O Play today announced the Beoplay P6, the latest offering in its range of portable wireless speakers.

Designed by Cecilie Manz, the P6 shares a similar aesthetic to the Danish audio company's Beoplay A1 and P2, featuring a dust and splashproof anodized aluminum exterior with square speaker grilles on both sides, and a leather strap looped through one side for carrying.

Across the curved top of the speaker is a strip of Beomaster 6000-inspired integrated flex buttons for controlling volume, playback, Bluetooth, accepting/rejecting calls, and invoking any voice assistant available on the connected device, such as Siri on iPhone. There's also a built-in omnidirectional mic for conference calling.

The Bluetooth speaker weighs 1kg and measures 170 x 130 x 68mm, which makes this a slim unit when you consider it houses a 2600mAh rechargeable battery providing up to 16 hours of playing time at moderate listening levels. Charging time is said to be three hours over USB-C.

The upright design is made to elevate the stereo output from three Class D amplifier channels delivering a total of 215 Watts, while Bang & Olufsen's True360 audio processing promises a uniform radiation of sound from the aluminum chassis.

The Beoplay P6 costs $399/£349 and is available from April 23 in black and natural color options. The speaker comes with a USB-C to USB-A charging cable, while a USB-C to USB-C cable is an optional accessory. See the Beoplay website for more.

When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of Congress last week about the ongoing Cambridge Analytica scandal, he was asked a question about what kind of data Facebook collects from people when they use various apps and websites that have Facebook tools and integrations installed.

Zuckerberg promised to share more information on that topic at a later time, and today Facebook made good on that promise with a detailed article on what data Facebook gets from third-party apps and websites.

Facebook has several plug-ins and tools that allow Facebook to gather data on users even when they're not using Facebook, including social plugins (Like and Share buttons), Facebook login (which lets you log in to services with a Facebook account), Facebook Analytics, and Facebook ads (allows apps and websites to show ads from Facebook advertisers, run ads on Facebook, and measure ad effectiveness).

Facebook says that whenever you use an app or a website that has one of these tools installed, the company receives information even if you're logged out of Facebook or do not have a Facebook account.

According to Facebook, the information collected offline is used to "make [app and website] ads better," with Facebook receiving data that includes IP address, browser, operating system, cookie information, and which app or website you're using, all of which is common information collected when you use an app or a website.

Facebook provides detailed information on how the data collected from each of these tools is used:

• Social plugins and Facebook Login. We use your IP address, browser/operating system information, and the address of the website or app you're using to make these features work. For example, knowing your IP address allows us to send the Like button to your browser and helps us show it in your language. Cookies and device identifiers help us determine whether you're logged in, which makes it easier to share content or use Facebook to log into another app.
• Facebook Analytics. Facebook Analytics gives websites and apps data about how they are used. IP addresses help us list the countries where people are using an app. Browser and operating system information enable us to give developers information about the platforms people use to access their app. Cookies and other identifiers help us count the number of unique visitors. Cookies also help us recognize which visitors are Facebook users so we can provide aggregated demographic information, like age and gender, about the people using the app.
• Ads. Facebook Audience Network enables other websites and apps to show ads from Facebook advertisers. When we get a request to show an Audience Network ad, we need to know where to send it and the browser and operating system a person is using. Cookies and device identifiers help us determine whether the person uses Facebook. If they do, we can use the fact that they visited a business's site or app to show them an ad from that business - or a similar one -- back on Facebook. If they don't, we can show an ad encouraging them to sign up for Facebook.
• Ad Measurement. An advertiser can choose to add the Facebook Pixel, some computer code, to their site. This allows us to give advertisers stats about how many people are responding to their ads -- even if they saw the ad on a different device -- without us sharing anyone's personal information.

App and website usage habits are also used to determine the content and ads that are shown on Facebook. A person who visits a lot of sports related sites, for example, will see more sports-related news stories and ads.

To control what data Facebook is collecting, the company directs users to its News Feed preferences and Ad preferences to remove unwanted advertisers and opt out of certain types of ads. You can disable the feature that lets Facebook provide targeted ads based on your browsing habits, and you can disable the option that lets other apps and websites use your Facebook interests to provide ads.

Facebook says that it will address additional questions that were raised during Zuckerberg's testimony in future posts.

Introduced in iOS 11, lane guidance in Apple Maps is designed to let Maps users know which lane they should be in to avoid missing an upcoming turn or exit.

The lane guidance feature was initially limited to the United States and China when iOS 11 was first released in September, but Apple has been working to expand it to additional countries. Recently, the feature was introduced in Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, and Czech Republic.

With the addition of these five countries, lane guidance is available in a total of 19 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the United States.

The other major iOS 11 Maps feature, which adds speed limit information to the Maps app, remains limited to the United States and the UK at the current time.

A full list of Apple Maps feature availability by country can be found on Apple's website.

Apple's new low-cost sixth-generation iPad with Apple Pencil support has likely spurred many new customers to adopt an iPad or upgrade from an older model. At just $329, the new iPad is much more affordable than the iPad Pro, making it easier than ever to get your hands on a tablet that works with the Apple Pencil.

For new iPad owners, we've rounded up a handful of apps that are well worth checking out if you want to use your iPad for creative tasks like photo editing, sketching, video editing, drawing, and more, plus we've thrown in some useful productivity apps.

• Affinity Photo ($19.99) - Affinity Photo is a desktop-class photo editing app that's available on the iPad, and it's a useful app for both photo editing and drawing with support for unlimited layers, photo adjustment tools, filters, retouching, and more. It requires a powerful processor, so it's only compatible with the iPad Air 2, the 5th and 6th-generation iPads, and iPad Pro models, and you can use the iPad for drawing and selectively editing. Affinity Photo isn't cheap, but if you want one of the best photo editing tools you can get on the iPad, it's worth checking out.
• Procreate ($9.99) - Procreate is a popular and well-known sketching, drawing, and painting app. Because it's been available on the iPad for years, the Procreate team has had a lot of time to make improvements and refinements to the app, making it the go to for many artists who work on the iPad. It has been optimized for Apple Pencil, so you can create works of art with Apple's stylus. It features customizable brushes, support for layers, and a 64-bit painting engine that supports high-resolution artwork. If you want to draw or paint on your iPad, Procreate is one of the apps to check out.
• LumaFusion ($19.99) - If you want to edit video on the iPad but want something more than iMovie, LumaFusion is a powerful video editing option that you'll want to take a look at. Using LumaFusion, you can do everything you might do with a desktop app, like trimming clips, adding in transitions, correcting color, adding effects, using slow-motion, fast forward, and reverse, and adding titles, audio, and more.
• Astropad ($29.99) - Astropad is a unique app that's designed to turn your iPad into a graphics tablet for your Mac, so you can use it like a Wacom tablet or similar device. With Astropad, you can draw on your iPad with Apple Pencil and your drawings will be sent over to your Mac wirelessly. It works with any Mac app, including Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Affinity Photo, and Pixelmator.
• Copied (Free) - Copied is a useful productivity app that can be used to save snippets of text that you've copied on the iPad, letting you keep track of text, links images, and more. Snippets you've saved can be easily inserted into new documents, and on the iPad, Copied supports full drag and drop functionality and multitasking, so saving information is as simple as dragging it from your current app to Copied.

What are your favorite apps for the iPad that new users should check out? Let us know in the comments.

T-Mobile will pay $40 million to the U.S. Treasury for failing to correct ongoing issues with call delivery to rural areas and fooling customers with false ringtones, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced today.

The FCC decided that T-Mobile violated the Communications Act following an investigation launched after T-Mobile subscribers were unable to reach customers served by three rural carriers in Wisconsin. T-Mobile claimed it had fixed the issue, but the FCC continued to get numerous complaints from T-Mobile callers attempting to reach at least 10 rural areas. From FCC chairman Ajit Pai:

"It is a basic tenet of the nation's phone system that calls be completed to the called party, without a reduction in the call quality--even when the calls pass through intermediate providers. The FCC is committed to ensuring that phone calls to all Americans, including rural Americans, go through."

According to the FCC, T-Mobile injected false ringtones into "hundreds of millions of calls" to rural areas to trick T-Mobile callers into thinking the phone was ringing on the other end of the line when it was not. False ringtones can cause a caller to hang up thinking no one is available, and it can also "create a misleading impression" that a caller's service provider is not responsible for the failed call, says the FCC.

The FCC also said that rural call completion problems have "significant and immediate public interest ramifications," leading to lost revenue for rural businesses, impediments for medical professionals unable to reach patients in rural areas, families who can't reach relatives, and "dangerous delays" in public safety communications.

T-Mobile has admitted to violating the FCC's prohibition on inserting false ringtones and failing to correct problems affecting calls to select rural areas. In addition to the $40 million payment, T-Mobile has also agreed to implement a compliance plan to fix these issues.