NC #651 iPhone X Ordering, Sennheiser Headphones, Olympus & Monoprice Tracking, Security Bits

Failure to order two iPhone X’s but at least Steve is getting one. Helma from the Netherlands reviews the Sennheiser PXC 550 Wireless Headphones. Both Olympus and Monoprice are forcing third-party cookie tracking on you when you’re buying from them. Bart Busschots brings us another edition of Security Bits where he talks about insecure child smart watches, how the IRS isn’t worried about the Equifax breach, a macro-less remote code execution problem in Microsoft Office, and how Eltima was hacked. He also tells us how several of the week’s “big” security news stories are not actually stories at all.

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Hi, this is Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast Mac Podcast, hosted at Podfeet.com, a technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Apple bias. Today is Sunday, October 29, 2017, and this is show number 651. Before we get started, I want to warn you that we MIGHT have the show come out on Monday next week instead of Sunday night. Steve and I are going to San Diego to help Lindsay and Nolan move and if they don’t have Internets set up yet we won’t be able to pull it off. It could be Sunday, but wanted to warn you. That means to keep an eye on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and the NosillaCast News if you want to come to the live show!

Chit Chat Across the Pond

Chit Chat Across the Pond is another installment of Programming By Stealth. In 42 of X with Bart Busschots, it’s finally time to tie all the bits and pieces we’ve learned together and create our first web app. Armed with our HTML, CSS, jQuery and JavaScript knowledge, and our Cellular Automata Prototype, Bart walks us through how to bring the Game of Life…to Life! It’s a lot of fun and I understood a great deal of it (I’m not gonna lie, it wasn’t 100% this time.) You can find this episode in your podcatcher of choice by searching for Programming By Stealth OR Chit Chat Across the Pond.

iPhone X Ordering

So it was iPhone X order week and Steve and I both decided to try to get one. In a weak moment on the air during Daily Tech News Show, I said that since technically it was Steve’s turn to get a new iPhone this year, if we only got one for day one delivery, then he gets it. Well sadly for me, that’s exactly what’s happening. Maybe.

Steve and I did everything right. We listened to all of the advice from René Ritchie and others, we read blog posts, and we got everything ready ahead of time. We loaded the Apple Store App on two iPads and two iPhones. We went into our accounts and picked out our model and favorited it. We even bought something small from the Apple Store using Touch ID to be sure it was working.

On game day, we furiously hit refresh on all four iOS devices and for grins and giggles at apple.com on our Macs. So six devices going at it. For 7 minutes from 12:00 till 12:07 when I got in on the iPad. I ordered mine lickety-split and got a day one delivery. I realized I could order another one so while Steve was trying to get in, I tried to order the second one.

In the US, as of right now, you have to buy associated with a carrier. We have AT&T. The screen that Apple pops up (which we didn’t see in testing by the way) asked for three pieces of information: phone number, last four digits of the social security number, and zip code. I typed in Steve’s number, his last four digits of his SSN, and our zip code. I got a screen that said I had a reservation, but not an order number. They said I’d get an email when I could proceed, but nothing came.

Steve continued to try to get in and finally succeeded. He also entered his phone number, four digits of his SSN and our zip code. He got an error saying the zip code and SSN didn’t match. After a half dozen furious retries, we sadly went to bed not knowing what was going on with the order for him.

In the morning, before I got up, he realized what the problem was. They asked for the last four digits of the SSN, but they didn’t say WHOSE SSN they wanted. Turns out, it’s the SSN of the account holder, not the phone number. So they wanted mine, not his, even though it was for his Apple ID, and his phone number. It was mine because I’m the owner of the family plan. So a badly labeled text entry box foiled us.

He figured this out, and went ahead and ordered, and got 5-6 weeks for delivery. Which means I won’t have a phone on day one.

Except…you know how they’re going to have them in store on the 3rd? Well my buddy Pat Dengler and I are going to go give it a try and see if we can stand in line long enough to get one. Let’s just hope this isn’t a remake of the one time I stood in line for the iPhone 4 and it took TEN HOURS to get it… Stay tuned till next time and find out if I’m happy or sad? In any case, we can all agree that I’m a saint for letting Steve have the first phone.

Blog Posts

Helma from the Netherlands has become a lovely friend. She started our friendship by offering to help me with where I was struggling in Programming By Stealth, specifically with CSS. She’s helped me improve the look and feel of podfeet.com and helped me stand on my own two feet by teaching rather than doing. We’ve had a couple of fun play dates over Skype. During the most recent session she showed off her shiny new big girl microphone, I believe it’s the Samson C03U (which is only $90 on Amazon btw.). Anyway when I heard her great audio I told her that she simply must review something for the NosillaCastaways. She scampered out of the room yelling, “hold on!” And came back with her new favorite gadget. I’ll let her tell you in her own words all about it.

Sennheiser PXC 550 Wireless Headphones by Helma

After Helma recorded this we discovered the Sennheiser PXC 550 headphones had dropped in price by $100 so now they’re down to $295 on Amazon. The good news is that Helma was able to get the price reduction too! Thanks again, Helma – I love your voice, your accent, your playful attitude, and the review itself!

Olympus Forcing Users to Agree to Third-Party Cookie Ad Tracker

Vote With Your Dollars – Monoprice Also Using Third-Party Tracking with Criteo

Patreon and Amazon

I want to give a big shoutout to all of the awesome NosillaCastaways who continue to contribute financially to the success of the Podfeet podcasts. These lovely people went over to podfeet.com/patreon, created an account (or used the one they have for supporting other shows), and chose a dollar amount to contribute per show. I only charge the Patrons for the NosillaCast, because it would get complex if I charged for Chit Chat Across the Pond and Programming By Stealth and Chit Chat Across the Pond Lite, right? You’d have to decide which ones you like and the math would be hard for me. By linking it to the NosillaCast, you know that barring a catastrophic event, there will always be a NosillaCast every week. So whether you just like the NosillaCast, just Programming By Stealth, or just Chit Chat Across the Pond Lite, or all three, sign up at Patreon and you’ll get billed for four shows a month.

Security Bits – Child Smart Watches, IRS Not Worried about Equifax, Microsoft Office DDE, Eltima Hacked

That’s going to wind this up for this week. Don’t forget to send in your Dumb Questions, comments and suggestions by emailing me at [email protected], follow me on twitter @podfeet. Remember, everything good starts with podfeet.com/. podfeet.com/patreon, podfeet.com/facebook, podfeet.com/googleplus, podfeet.com/amazon! And if you want to join in the fun of the live show, head on over to podfeet.com/live on Sunday nights at 5pm Pacific Time and join the friendly and enthusiastic NosillaCastaways. Thanks for listening, and stay subscribed.