The latest macOS, Big Sur, was announced last month. Release of this has been delayed until November – likely to coincide with Apple’s event on Tuesday (10th)

We recently recommended that users do not update to Big Sur quite yet. And we are continuing to recommend this, as lots of third party software is still not yet compatible.

The Big Sur update makes significant changes to the macOS operating system, and as such it requires non-Apple companies and providers to update their own software and services accordingly. The more complex the software/service, the more complex the changes that are required to be Big Sur compatible.

For example, ESET are still working on providing full functionality for their internet security solution. They have announced that their next update will be in December, which should resolve this. Please note that if you do update to Big Sur before that time, you will lose key aspects – such as the firewall – which is important for protecting your machine.

If you do need to update to Big Sur right away for a specific reason(s), please ensure that all your software and applications are up to date before then updating to Big Sur.

We are proud supporters of Listen, an app to protect for health professionals and victims of domestic abuse that is currently seeking funding.

The app features safety triggers, which can alert a chosen colleague, friend or family member that the app’s owner is in potential danger. The app will secretly record audio when initiated and/or during scheduled/set times. These sound recordings can be used in a court of law as evidence.

Saved recordings will be completely discreet and hidden from others. Listen will be camouflaged to look like a different app, for example a note taking app. There will be a false homepage and secret access into the recordings, as a failsafe in case the app is opened by someone else

Health workers who visit emotionally unstable or violent patients and those living in dangerous environments at home will be better protected and connected to others.

To view the project, please visit crowdfunder.co.uk/listen-protect.

Apple has announced its virtual event, One More Thing, for November 10th at 18:00 GMT.

Bloomberg has suggested that Apple will launch three new MacBooks at the event, a new 13-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, and a new 13-inch MacBook Air. All three MacBooks are said to be powered by the new Apple-designed Arm chipsets, codenamed Apple Silicon.

The new Arm processors will be based on the A14 chip found in the latest iPhones and iPad Air. The new machines will also have Apple-designed graphics and machine-learning processors.

Early tests of these new Arm-based CPUs indicate improved power efficiency over the Intel parts they are replacing. It’s important to note that these new processors have completely different architecture to the Intel chips, and therefore software and applications run in a different way. Apple have been working closely with partners such as Adobe to emulate apps running on current Macs on the new Arm machines. How this emulation actually performs in real use cases remains to be seen.

This year we have already seen the release of the Apple Watch Series 6 and SE, Apple Fitness+, the new iPad Air and iPad, and Apple One in Apple’s September event, Time Flies. Watch One More Thing on Apple’s website.

The EU is investigating whether Instagram illegally exposed the personal details of millions of underage users. Instagram’s parent company Facebook could face a fine of up to 5% of its revenue.

The investigation is being carried out by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), as Facebook’s European headquarters are in Dublin. The investigation comes after a complaint made from US data scientist, David Stier.

Stier analysed almost 200,000 profiles within a year and estimated that at least 60 million users under the age of 18 had their contact information exposed. Anyone can change their Instagram account into a business account, which until very recently used to require phone numbers and email addresses to be shown.

Stier also highlighted that the same contact details were contained in the HTML source code of web pages accessed, which were easily accessible if inspected. Facebook has since removed contact information from the source code of Instagram pages.

The DPC has called for two investigations into Facebook. The first will examine how data is processed, the legal framework Facebook uses to process children’s data on Instagram. The second investigation will delve into Instagram’s profile and account settings, and if they are appropriate and user-friendly enough for child users.

A spokesperson for Facebook has stated that users are clearly informed that their contact information will be displayed publicly, arguing this is different to “exposing” personal information. Since the allegation, several updates to business accounts have been made and people can now opt out of including their contact information entirely.

Mozilla, makers of Firefox, have released a VPN service available on Windows 10, Android and iOS. The VPN will be available soon on macOS and Linux.

Mozilla’s VPN is a full stand-alone product that offers system-wide protection for all your apps. It uses servers from Mullvad VPN which connect via the WireGuard protocol to both encrypt your network activity and hide your IP address. Mozilla claims to be very conscious of user data & privacy, and does not store online activity logs on their servers, which is a common key concern with VPN services.

Also, by using Mullvad, one of the most privacy-focused providers, Mozilla’s VPN is put ahead of most others in trustworthiness. More information about Mozilla’s policy on privacy can be found here – www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/mozilla-vpn.

The Mozilla VPN costs £3.95 pcm, with the option to unsubscribe at any point. They have a large number — 280 plus — of servers in 30 plus countries, showing reliability. Getting started requires creating a Firefox account, but this only involves providing your email address and age.

Mozilla’s VPN includes some great features such as a ‘kill switch’ —which kicks in if the VPN drops, ensuring your traffic won’t accidentally be sent over a suddenly unprotected connection. It also features split tunneling that allows apps which don’t require protection to run on a regular network rather than the VPN, reducing the load and increasing performance and speed of Mozilla’s VPN.

The Mozilla VPN only works with up to five devices, meaning if you want to add a sixth device you will need to remove one first. Currently Mozilla’s VPN is offered in the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia, with plans to extend this to more countries.

Mozilla VPN appears to be a good choice, with good speed, protection and ease of use, however it can’t beat the top names such as ExpressVPN (our recommendation) and NordVPN, who offer more features, apps, locations and range of plans. Nevertheless Mozilla are promising a 30-day money-back guarantee with no small print, so if you are not satisfied you can get a full refund within 30 days despite previous usage. If you’re already a Firefox user and need a VPN, this is certainly worth a try.

In September, Apple officially released its iOS 14 software update, which introduced some new green and orange dots at the top of device screens.

Apple has added these as ‘recording indicators’, which clearly demonstrate to you if an app has access to your device’s microphone or camera – to give you more control over the permissions that apps have

The green dot is used to indicate when the camera is in use, and the orange dot indicates when the microphone is in use. It is then possible to determine what apps are accessing the camera or microphone and, if desired, such access can be turned off.
To change app permissions on iOS, go to Settings and then into Privacy. Read more from Apple on this point here.

Wikipedia, the world famous online encyclopedia, has been a huge part of the web since it started in 2001. For the first time since then, Wikipedia is being redesigned to be more user-friendly and easier to read and navigate.

The site’s parent company, the Wikimedia Foundation, announced that the changes will happen incrementally over a long period of time, allowing users to test the new features before they officially roll out.

The first update that will be made is that the sidebar will be collapsible, making articles easier to read with less distractions. Wikipedia will also add improvements to the in-site search tool to make it easier to find other pages. Contents menus/links will also change, making it easier to skip to sections without needing to scroll. Lastly, the logo is being reconfigured to make it smaller on each page.

You can preview all the proposed new features in this MediaWiki post. Wikipedia plans to complete the redesign of the entire look of their desktop version by the end of 2021.

Twitter is working on a ‘read the article before you retweet’ prompt for all users.

The platform began testing such a prompt in June on Android for users who were retweeting a story they hadn’t read – as an attempt to promote informed discussions on their platform. Headlines often don’t tell the whole story, and can even be actively misleading. Therefore retweeting something that hasn’t actually been read can easily spread misinformation.

Since the testing, Twitter announced that 40% of users opened the article after seeing such a prompt. Users opening articles before retweeting increased by 33%, and some even chose not to post their tweet after reading the article. Demonstrating that the prompt is having a noticeable effect on users thinking twice before retweeting headlines without knowing the full stories.

Twitter is working on making the prompt smaller once you have seen it initially, so as not to become an annoyance in the interface. Twitter claims that these prompts will be applied for all users globally soon.

See Twitter’s thread of these prompts here

Google has announced the G Suite will now be called Google Workspace.

G Suite is now Google Workspace, with different branding and pricing. Google services, such as Gmail, Docs, Meet, Sheets, and Calendar, are being integrated with one another to be more user friendly and attractive to new users.

We have already seen the integration of Google Meet into Gmail, and now Google is stepping up its efforts even further as a competitor to Microsoft 365 by combining more services without need to change tabs. For example, you can now instantly call users that are working on a Google Doc with you, from within the document itself without opening a new chat window.

Further features will be released shortly, such as the ability to create a document directly from a chat window and start a video call from within a presentation. These are said to be coming in the near future (weeks or months).

Google has also changed its pricing tiers a little, adding a new ‘Business Plus’ plan with more device management features.

Business Starter
£4.14 per user per month for first 20 users for 12 months, £4.60pcm thereafter.

• Custom and secure business email
• 100 participant video meetings
• 30 GB cloud storage per user
• Security and management controls

Business Standard
£8.28 per user per month for first 20 users for 12 months, £9.20 thereafter.

Business Plus
£13.80 per user per month.

For the full announcement from Google on Google Workspace see here.