Tech Digest daily roundup: Apple ’embraces’ right to repair movement (sort of)
Apple is now allowing some of its customers to self-repair their own iPhones – after long prohibiting anyone except approved technicians from handling its proprietary parts and software. In a sharp turnaround, the US tech firm announced on Wednesday that users will be able to access genuine Apple parts and tools for consumer repairs on the two newest iPhone models and eventually some Mac computers. The shift is a reflection of President Joe Biden embracing the “right to repair” movement – which affects everything from smartphones to cars and tractors. Sky News
A crowd-funded effort to buy a rare 1787 copy of the US constitution at auction claims to have received more than $40m (£29.6m) worth of cryptocurrency donations. ConstitutionDAO, says it plans “to put the constitution in the hands of the people”. Auctioneers Sothebys had estimated a sale price of up to $20m, at the auction to be held on 18 November. But it is not clear how ownership will be arranged if the bid succeeds. The BBC has approached the group for comment. Published in 1787, there are 13 known copies to have survived from a run of 500 originally printed after the text was settled at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. BBC
Amazon has announced its latest iteration to the tablet/smart speaker with the new Echo Show 15, revealing you can pre-order the new device in time for release on December 9. Coming with a new design that lets you stick it to the wall to clear the clutter from your kitchen countertop or table space, the Show 15 has a 15.6-inch 1080p touchscreen display and a few useful updates to make it smarter, clearer and more useful. We’ve known the Echo Show 15 was coming since September, but now you can place your orders to get yours delivered ahead of Christmas, with prices starting at £239.99.
Facepalm: NordPass has published the 2021 edition of its most common passwords list and to the surprise of absolutely nobody, it’s essentially a rehash of last year’s list. In other words, lots of people are still using incredibly weak and common passwords that can be cracked with ease. The password management service has compiled a list of the top 200 most common passwords based on its research. The list details the password itself, how long it would take to crack it and how many times it appeared in their research. If you guessed that the most common password was “123456,” give yourself a pat on the back. This incredibly common password appeared more than 103 million times in NordPass’ research and would take less than one second to crack. In fact, every password in the top 10 and all but one in the top 50 can be cracked in less than one second. Techspot
Tidal has announced changes to its pricing structure that will see the inclusion of lossless 16-bit 44.1kHz audio streams in its standard plan, and the addition of a free tier that will be exclusive to the USA. Priced at £9.99 / $9.99 / AU$11.99, the newly rebranded ‘Tidal HiFi’ tier includes interruption-free access to audio at up to 1411 kbps (compared to 320kbps previously) as well as offline capabilities and access to features such as Tidal Connect. Tidal’s basic Family Tier will also see the same increase in standard bit rate streams. Meanwhile, customers in the US can take advantage of the service’s first-ever free plan, called (unsurprisingly) ‘Tidal Free’, which offers streams of the company’s complete library of 80 million tracks at 160kbps with “limited interruptions”. What Hi-Fi
