Apple Readies Slew of Hardware; Your Data Post Roe; Stardust-1st Period App End-to-End Encrypted; Ukrainian Women Only Fans Raises Money to Fight Russians

Apple is apparently planning a slew of hardware upgrades this fall. Macrumors.com reports that Mark Gurman, in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, is preparing to drop new Mac Mini models with M2 and M2 Pro chips, new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, and a new Mac Pro tower with M2 Ultra and “M2 Extreme” chips. Also, later in the year, look for possible new Apple TV boxes with an A14 chip and more RAM, a new HomePod (hopefully with a less eye-watering price) with essentially the same sound and footprint as the original…albeit with an updated top of speaker display. For the Apple Watch, look for an S8 chip…but Gurman says it will have the same specs as the S7 and S6 chips. Of course, the 4 new iPhone models will probably drop as usual in September….they are rumored to be in production now. 

As some states move to criminalize abortion, advocates of digital rights note that such things as your internet history, text messages, and location data may be used as criminal evidence. According to businessinsider.com, “The concern about digital privacy security and data safety within the abortion access movement — people seeking an abortion — is all very real,” said Daly Barnett, a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit data rights group based in San Francisco. Woman may want to go back to old fashioned paper calendars for period tracking, and use a vpn and browser like Duck Duck Go for web searches. Also, if planning an out of state abortion, it may be prudent to temporarily buy and use a burner phone. 

Period tracking app Stardust is announcing that they are the first such app to offer end-to-end encryption. Mashable.com says the app, which combines traditional menstrual tracking with movements of the moon and planets had planned the update before the Supreme court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. Other ‘safer’ period trackers (not necessarily safe from government intrusion) include Clue, Drip, and Euki. Stardust’s encryption goes live June 28th.

A group of Ukrainian women has launched an Only Fans type project to raise money for Ukraine’s defense against Russia. Business Insider says it’s called TerOnlyFans, and it has raised over $700,000 since March. The women are selling nude pictures of themselves, with most of the money going to Ukraine’s Territorial Defense. A small amount has been donated to refugees and animal shelter organizations. So far, 35 women and 3 men are involved. They have gotten money from people in the Netherlands, France, and the UK. They note that they don’t take requests for pictures, since they aren’t sex workers. They have picked out the pix themselves. Founder Nastsassia Nasko says ‘We will end this project when Putin dies and Russia stops their aggression.