Month: August 2020

HBO Max and Peacock TV will only work with Apple TV Boxes (for now)

Dan Uff August 8, 2020 0

Because of contract disagreements between Amazon, Roku, HBO Max, Peacock, and the other streaming boxes, it seems that Apple TV is the best option for customers who want to have one or the two streaming services.

As Ben Mayo of 9to5Mac.com reports, that may be the ONLY option for a while.

HBO Max and Peacock cannot agree on terms with Amazon and Roku. As such, you cannot get the HBO Max app, or the Peacock app, on an Amazon Fire TV device or on a Roku stick.

Amazon wants HBO to include all of its Max content as a Channel inside the Amazon Prime Video experience. HBO Max doesn’t want to do this because they don’t want to be aggregated onto someone else’s platform in a UI they don’t control, with enforced revenue sharing and a limited customer relationship… HBO Max doesn’t have ads at the moment, but they want to launch an ad-supported tier as soon as next year. Roku wants HBO to agree to a revenue-sharing agreement for the commercials served through the Roku HBO Max app. HBO naturally doesn’t want this… Peacock is balking at Amazon’s and Roku’s terms for similar reasons.

For as much as we have heard recently about Apple’s draconian and potentially anticompetitive App Store policies, it seems like a walk in the park as far as access to the Apple TV platform is concerned. The terms for these companies to be available in the tvOS App Store are straightforward: Apple gets a cut of subscriptions made inside the app using Apple In-App Purchase or users can login with account information they got from elsewhere. Apple likes these apps to feature full integration with the TV app and Siri and everything else, but it’s not mandatory. HBO Max and Peacock have been available on Apple TV from day one.

Wait! Don’t spend money on password managers….If you use Safari or another browser, you may already HAVE one!

Dan Uff August 8, 2020 0

Password managers are great. Especially when you have different passwords for different web sites. Sure, you can write them down on a notebook (not recommended!) or try and remember what password is for which web site, or you can spend $$$ for a password manager that, if you decide not to use anymore, you'll loose all of your passwords. OR you can use a free password manager that's built in to some popular web browsers such as Firefox, Safari, and others. But how do you use them?

Most of the time, when a user first uses a browser and goes onto a site to enter an username and password, the browser will ask him/her if they want it to save the username and password from then on. But there maybe times when a user has to manually enable the option.

Here's how to get in to the password manger in Safari:

While in Safari, select Safari > Preferences.
Click on the Password option.
Enter the system password.
That's it.

Here's where all of your usernames and passwords would be stored. You can search for a website and reveal a username and password for that site.

For other web browsers, you may want to check the web browser's documentation for information on how to use it.

U.S. President Trump is Expanding Access to Telehealth Services and Ensuring its Future

CompuScoop Staff August 7, 2020 0

EXPANDING TELEHEALTH SERVICES: President Donald J. Trump is unleashing America’s innovation to provide millions of citizens with healthcare services during a global pandemic.

Today, President Trump is signing a new Executive Order to further expand access to telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in rural communities.
Through this order, the President is also taking action to extend the availability of certain telehealth services after the current public health emergency ends.
These telehealth expansions build on the work the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has done during the public health emergency to more than double allowable telehealth services, greatly expanding access to high quality care.
- The Administration has also allowed additional types of practitioners to provide telehealth services and additional telecommunications applications.
Likewise, the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense have taken action to expand telehealth services for veterans, active military, and their families.
At this critical time, President Trump is focused on ensuring American’s have continued access to high-quality healthcare and expanded telehealth services is a key part of that effort.

IMPROVING RURAL HEALTHCARE ACCESSIBILITY: The President is using every tool to ensure rural Americans have access to medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The expansion of telehealth services especially offers benefits to Americans living in rural communities, who might otherwise not have access to these services.
Through his order, the President his Administration to deploy strategic investments in our rural communications infrastructure.
The order requires the Department of Health and Human Services to announce a new payment model testing innovations that empower rural hospitals to transform healthcare in their communities on a broader scale.
To improve connectivity, the President’s order also directs the Federal Government to launch a joint initiative in 30 days to improve the healthcare communication infrastructure and to expand rural healthcare services.

KEEPING AMERICANS SAFE AND HEALTHY: President Trump is delivering a vast array of strong actions to protect the health of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Last month, President Trump signed four Executive Orders to help lower prescription drug costs for Americans.
The President has placed special focus on protecting the health of our most vulnerable communities during the pandemic and has surged support to nursing homes across America.
To empower patients to choose the best doctor at the best price, President Trump is giving Americans transparency with the price and quality of services before care is received.
President Trump stopped surprise medical billing during the pandemic by prohibiting physicians and other providers accepting funds from the Provider Relief Fund from balance billing patients for COVID-19 testing and care.

U.S. President Trump signs Executive Order banning TikTok and WeChat

Dan Uff August 7, 2020 1

Early Friday, President Trump signed an executive order banning the social media app TikTok and WeChat from all U.S. App Stores. The ban is in response to reports that China is using those apps as a way to spy on Americans and other national security issues.

Below is a copy of a letter sent to the Speaker of the House about the ban:

Dear Madam Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)

Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order (the “order”) that takes additional steps to deal with the national emergency with respect to the information and communications technology and services supply chain declared in Executive Order 13873 of May 15, 2019 (Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain). Specifically, the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. At this time, the order takes action to address one mobile application in particular, TikTok.

TikTok, a video-sharing mobile application owned by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd., automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage. TikTok also reportedly censors content that the Chinese Communist Party deems politically sensitive, such as content concerning protests in Hong Kong and China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. TikTok may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party.

To deal with this threat, the order prohibits, beginning 45 days after the date of this order, to the extent permitted under applicable law, any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd. (a.k.a. Zìjié Tiàodòng), Beijing, China, or its subsidiaries, in which any such company has any interest, as identified by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary). The Secretary will identify the transactions subject to this prohibition 45 days after the date of the order.

I have delegated to the Secretary the authority to take such actions, including adopting appropriate rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA as may be necessary to implement the order. The order also directs all department and agencies to take all appropriate measures within their authority to implement the order.

I am enclosing a copy of the order I have issued.

Sincerely,

DONALD J. TRUMP