Feb 09

NEW: Say Goodbye to Micro USB Stress

By News, tizi

Small and fiddly, the Micro USB charger is without a doubt one of the most annoying cables out there. We all know the struggle of constantly swapping and changing to fit the connector in correctly – especially as this little cable is used for charging the majority of smartphones, power banks, tablets, and more!
The team at tizi had had enough of battling with this chaotic cable, and so they created: The brand new tizi flip USB-A to Micro-USB cable! Reversible and flexible, this awesome new charger works both ways – not only on the USB end, but on the Micro USB end too! Simply plug in and enjoy top charging speeds for all of your gadgets.

tizi flip Micro-USB

› Flip connectors at each end – works both ways
› Available in 15cm and 50cm lengths 
› Choose your color: Red and black available
› Syncs and charges all Micro USB devices

Want to grab yours while you can? tizi flip Micro USB is available now for just 9.99€ (was 14,99€) on Amazon!

Feb 08

NEW: Mail Designer 365 for Teams

By Company, Mail Designer, News

Hey team players – an exciting new feature has landed at Mail Designer 365! Say hello toMail Designer 365 for Teams.

What is Teams?

This brand new feature allows you to purchase multiple Mail Designer 365 Business plans and assign them to your team members for an ultra productive team workflow. The best part? Teams has a super convenient joint billing feature. Say goodbye to multiple confusing invoices throughout the year. Regardless of whether you pay monthly or annually, you’ll receive one straightforward, summative invoice for your whole team at the end of each billing period.

The Teams feature is easily accessible via your my.maildesigner365.com portal. Click on the Teams tab, where you can set up a team, enter your billing information, and then purchase and manage your Mail Designer 365 Business plans.

Teams is just the start of a brand new journey for Mail Designer 365. We still have loads of exciting things planned on our roadmap for 2018 to make your collaborative workflow easier and more productive than ever. Stay tuned for more!

Interested in setting up a team for your business? Find out more here.

Oct 16

How to protect yourself against WPA2 KRACK attacks

By Company, News, VPN Tracker, World Connect

Keep your WiFi traffic completely secure with VPN Tracker World Connect

Security expert teams are warning about a critical security breach in the current WPA2 WiFi encryption standard. Potential attackers are now able to break, monitor and manipulate WPA2 encryption with so-called “KRACK attacks”; caused by a weakness in negotiating security key management.

Be proactive –  What you can do to mitigate security risks from KRACK-Attacks:

In order to keep your sensitive data safe from prying eyes, you should use a VPN. VPN Tracker World Connect will keep you safe while using WiFi on your Mac and iOS devices until security fixes start to roll out for clients and network hardware.

VPN Tracker World Connect instantly encrypts all your online activity with the highest encryption standards. Whether you are away on a trip, working at the office or simply at home, your data is protected on every WiFi connection.

› Download VPN Tracker World Connect for macOS and iOS

The leading network device providers are currently working on security patches for this issue. Be sure to keep checking if a patch has appeared for your WiFi device. You can find more technical information about KRACK attacks here: https://www.krackattacks.com

Sep 26

Mail Designer 365 has landed at TOWER ONE

By Company, Mail Designer


Great news for all of you design enthusiasts out there: TOWER ONE is taking Mail Designer Pro to a whole new level. Mail Designer 365 is the ultimate new subscription model solution for professional HTML email design.

Under the TOWER ONE brand, we aim to transform Mail Designer 365 into one of the world’s best email newsletter design services and create an easy-to-use, productive tool for creative professionals and email marketers everywhere.

Mail Designer 365: A model for the future

Here at TOWER ONE we are always thinking about the future and how to provide the optimum user experience. Many of the most popular feature requests received by equinux (such as countdowns, analytics, image hosting etc.) require a cloud-based service to work. As part of TOWER ONE, an equinux company with cloud experience, Mail Designer will be improved with ongoing services for cloud features, as part of a subscription model.

Mail Designer 365 offers you continuous feature updates throughout the lifetime of your subscription, and always provides complete compatibility with the latest macOS. The new version is perfectly optimized for great performance with macOS 10.13 High Sierra.

Subscribers can also look forward to an exciting development roadmap we have planned for the next 12 months; containing updates for design tools, creative content, cloud services, and more.

A whole new world of features

Mail Designer 365 has so much to offer:

#MadeForDesigners – Mail Designer 365 reaches new heights with an array of brand new layout and design features. Drag and drop ready-made layout blocks to create complex designs in minutes or save and reuse your own creations with the brand new custom layout blocks feature.

#MadeForCreativity – Professional image editing tools and photo-filter effects allow you to express your creativity right here inside the app. With just one click you have access to a world of effects such as brightness, contrast, sharpness and 10 unique filters for stunning newsletter designs.

#MadeForSmartphones – You can easily use Mail Designer 365 to adapt your designs for the newest mobile devices on the market – including the iPhone 8, iPhone X, and Google Pixel.
#MadeForYou – We designed the new and improved UI especially with you in mind. Larger icons and a search & sort feature help you to find your designs instantly and the brand new Mail Designer 365 News platform provides you with expert design tips and marketing know how.

And there’s even more… See the complete list of features here!

Get started with Mail Designer 365

You can purchase Mail Designer 365 today from our website or from the Mac App Store. Simply install the app and choose the plan for you to get started.
Hey existing customers! If you are already a Mail Designer user, you benefit from an exclusive upgrade offer. Discounted plans start from just $49.99 a year! Lock in your discounted price before October 31st and enjoy your lifetime discount.

 

Sep 22

The secret iPhone 8 feature Apple is not talking about

By tizi

The iPhone 8 has finally arrived in all of its high-tech glory. While Apple is touting the new processor and camera features, there’s one hidden gem they have kept on the down-low. The tizi equinux team investigates:

Older iPhones were equipped with “regular” charging. But in the iPhone 8, Apple has quietly added completely new charging circuits.

The iPhone 7, iPhone 6S, and iPhone 6 charge with 5V and slightly above 1A. The iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6S Plus, and iPhone 6 Plus can charge with 5V and just over 2A maximum. The charging circuit can supply about 6W for an iPhone and about 11W for an iPhone Plus.

The resulting charging times at maximum charging speed were just under two hours for a normal iPhone and just over 3 hours for an iPhone Plus.

What makes the iPhone 8 extra special?

As soon as we got our hands on the new iPhone 8, our equinux tizi hardware team took a closer look in our hardware lab.

We discovered that both the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus have a USB Power Delivery charging circuit. Simply put, it is now possible to charge the iPhones faster. Much faster.

The first high-speed charging iPhones

  • The new iPhone 8 can charge with up to 14.8V and 0.9A, for a total of 13.3W
  • The new iPhone 8 Plus can charge with up to 14.8V and 1.3A – a total 19.2W

This is more than twice the charging speed of the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, with the potential to cut your charging times in half.

We were surprised to find that Apple still only includes the same old Apple USB charger with 5V and 1A with both brand new iPhone 8 models. To take advantage of its full fast-charging potential, you will need to use another charger and the tizi flip ULTRA USB-C to Lightning cable.

Fully charged in under an hour!

With the right USB-C PD charger, the iPhone 8 will charge in about 1 hour – roughly twice as fast as previous models. But: you need the right charger to double your charging speed.

Chargers that support USB-C PD include:

  • tizi Tankstelle 29W
  • Apple 29W MacBook charger
  • Apple 61W MacBook Pro charger
  • Apple 87W MacBook Pro charger

Beware of cheap third-party chargers. The market is crowded with products that do not work with the Apple USB-C to Lightning cables. In our tests, only a USB-C to Lightning cable was capable of fast-charging the latest iPhones and iPads.

Important to know: If you use a USB-C to USB-A adapter, it interrupts the USB PD power delivery profile, which means that your iPhone will not charge at its fast potential speed or it may not charge at all.

So why did Apple only include a 5W charger?

So why has Apple included their old 5W charger when the new iPhone 8 and 8 Plus can charge at up to 18W? The included charger only offers 27% of the potential charging speed?

This could be a strategic move for Apple: Get Customers used to the slow 27% charging speed, then Apple can introduce the Apple AirPower charging pad – a fast wireless charger that everyone will want to get their hands on. Let’s face it – anyone who pays for a premium AirPower pad will want it to offer something special – faster speeds.

How to cut your iPhone 8 charging times in half

We recommend all iPhone 8 and 8 Plus customers get a USB-C Power Delivery charger like tizi Tankstelle 29W. Other tizi chargers with Power Delivery capabilities will follow shortly.

Visit the tizi Tankstelle page and we’ll let you know when new tizi high-speed chargers are available!

Jul 20

VPN Tracker 365 now supports Ubiquiti UniFi Security Gateways

By Company, VPN Tracker

The US Manufacturer, Ubiquiti, founded by former Apple developer, Robert J. Pera, rolled out into the network scene at the right time. Their high-performance wifi technology with easy centralized management have made Ubiquiti one of the most in-demand networking solutions on the market. On top of that, Ubiquiti has been brought to the spotlight with its UniFi Access Points. Their high quality coupled with a relatively inexpensive price tag has made Ubiquiti one of the most sought after brands in the networking market. UniFi also offers great gateway options for small teams, start-ups, and larger corporations.

So how can you use your Ubiquiti UniFi as a VPN gateway for your Mac? No problem with the latest Ubiquiti UniFi Security Gateways firmware and with VPN Tracker 365. With our new and detailed Ubiquiti Configuration Guide  in VPN Tracker 365, getting Macs connected to VPN on your UniFi is effortless.

VPN Tracker 365 Gateway support
NEW More than 25 VPN Gateways are supported

With the latest version of VPN Tracker 365 (Download), we’ve added support for additional new VPN Gateways from well-known manufacturers: D-Link, FortiNet, NETGEAR, Watchguard and ZyXEL.

D-Link: DSR-1000AC, DSR-250N

FortiNet: FortiGate 30-50 Series, FortiGate 60-90 Series, FortGate 100-200 Series, FortiGate 300-500 Series, FortiGate 600-900 Series, FortiGate 1000 Series, FortiGate 3000 Series, FortiGate 5000 Series, FortiOS 5.x und neuer

NETGEAR: UTM 9S/UTM 25S, UTM 50/100

Watchguard: XTM Series, Firebox M-Series, Firebox T-Series

ZyXEL: USG60W, USG60, USG40W, USG40, USG310, USG210, USG110, USG1900, USG1100, ZyWALL 110, ZyWALL 310, ZyWALL 1100

The new models are listed below, you can find all 300+ supported devices on our compatibility page.

Update & Availability: The latest VPN Tracker 365 version with Ubiquiti UniFi Security Gateway Support is free with your VPN Tracker 365 Plan (Download the latest VPN Tracker 365 version here).

New customers can get their VPN Tracker 365  for only 69.99 EUR per year (covers all personal Macs). Benefit from the robust and secure VPN Tracker features for your business and personal needs. Customers with older VPN Tracker versions can upgrade for a discounted offer. VPN Tracker is compatible with macOS Sierra and already supports the latest Public Beta of macOS High Sierra.


          
        

        
      

      
    

    
  

  



  
  
  

    
    

      
      


  
  

    Jul
    14
      

  
  

      

  

      
      

        
                
        

          
          

            
            
 Cracking the code behind Apple’s App Store promo card design

            
            
              By              
            Company, Mail Designer                        
          

          
          
Apple is known for doing things with more attention to detail than most companies. So it should come as no surprise that even App Store gift cards with their promo codes have a few secret details that help make the experience more Apple-like.


So what powers the simple App Store promo codes? Secret fonts, special dimensions, and many more.




Today, we uncover these secrets.


 Read More

          
        

        
      

      
    

    
  

  



  
  
  

    
    

      
      


  
  

    Mar
    08
      

  
  

      

  

      
      

        
                
        

          
          

            
            
 SHA-1 collision and what it means for your VPN security

            
            
              By              
            Company, VPN Tracker                        
          

          
          


Recently, a team of researchers at Google announced that they had successfully created a SHA1-collision. Our VPN experts are going to outline what that means and what security implications it has for VPN users.


What SHA1 is used for


SHA1 is a cryptographic hash function that is used to verify signatures and other security-related files. Basically, it lets you quickly check that the file or digital signature you’re being shown is actually the real deal.


What’s all the fuss about?


In the last few years, researchers theorized that it might be able to create a fake file that matches a genuine file’s SHA1 signature. It was all just a matter of computing power and given the way technology works, that it would be possible in the next few years.

At that’s exactly what has happened: the Google team used a clever technique and Google’s vast server infrastructure to create a fake PDF file with the same SHA1 hash as their reference file.


What does SHA1 have to do with VPN?


When using a VPN, the server and VPN app go through several steps that let each side verify they’re talking to the right person. There’s Phase 1, during which both sides set up a secure channel to talk over. Then they use that during Phase 2 to establish the actual VPN tunnel used to transmit encrypted data.

SHA1 can be used in both of these setup phases to verify the authenticity of the data being exchanged and is configured by default for many VPN vendors.


So is a VPN that uses SHA1 at risk?


For single files like their PDF example or website certificates, Google’s research definitely shows that switching to SHA-2 is an important and necessary step.

However for VPNs, the attack is not feasible due to the short key lifetimes used:


In Google’s research, they needed the equivalent of 6500 single CPU-years to create their fake file.


In your VPN tunnel, a SHA1 hash is only used for 1 hour on average, before it is swapped for a new key. And the hash algorithm is used to verify a packet that has already been encrypted. So an attacker could only use this attack to sneak a fake packet into your data – and they’d have to compute in within 1 hour. To actually read your data would still be impossible, as the encryption algorithm means there are effectively two layers of security an attacker would need to break.


Security setup within VPN Tracker 365




 


Extra protection: use SHA-2 with your VPN


The latest VPN gateways also support SHA-2 hashes (e.g. SHA-256, SHA-384 or SHA-512). These are more modern, highly secure SHA variants that can’t be broken. SHA-2 has been supported in VPN Tracker since 2015 and is in our default configuration for many popular VPN vendors, including SonicWALL.




Secure: SonicWall TZ600 Gateway (uses AES-128, AES-192 and AES-256 with SHA-256)




The future


We always recommend using the strongest encryption available to you. So switching to SHA-2 algorithms if your VPN gateway supports it is a good idea. However SHA1 is still secure, provided you use a relatively short key lifetime and, more importantly, always pair it with a strong encryption algorithm (such as AES-128, AES-192 or AES-256).

          
        

        
      

      
    

    
  

  



  
  
  

    
    

      
      


  
  

    Feb
    20
      

  
  

      

  

      
      

        
                
        

          
          

            
            
 Is Apple changing the way Top Grossing Charts work?

            
            
              By              
            Company                        
          

          
          
Update 21. February: It looks like this experiment is over and the charts are back to the way they were. Was it a sneak preview of things to come? We’ll keep this post updated. 




The App Store Top Charts are one of the most popular ways to find the latest trends on the store. In fact, Apple has received some criticism in the past for an over-reliance on Top Charts for new app discovery.


But with subscriptions becoming increasingly popular, the Top Grossing charts run the danger of becoming stagnant: monthly recurring subscriptions all but guarantee certain apps a spot in the Top Grossing charts, making it almost impossible for new apps to break into the Top Grossing charts.


Now it looks like Apple may be testing out a new algorithm to fix that.



Remix the Charts


As Till noticed, it looks like recurring revenue no longer counts towards your chart position.


We’re very familiar with the charts and where the top apps in that category usually rank. This past weekend, a lot of apps in the Entertainment category suddenly dropped way down in the charts. What the heck?


A quick investigation revealed all the biggest losers offer subscriptions. And left at the top of the charts are big-name brands (such as Netflix who probably have enough new users coming in to keep them in the top spots) and paid apps.


Recurring revenue no longer counts towards your position in the Top Grossing Charts.


So far we were able to confirm this the German iOS App Store, as well as on the Mac App Store.


A boost for paid apps


This change is great for paid apps: They can compete on equal terms with subscription-based apps, now that the subscription app ranks aren’t being inflated by their recurring revenue. A glance at the charts shows a lot more indie paid apps in the top 25 spots.


It’s good to see Apple trying new things out on the App Store and given the emphasis placed on recurring subscriptions last year, this change makes total sense. Lets see what it does to the charts over the next few weeks!


P.S. If you like this and you’re a developer, we’ve got two great tips for you:


          
        

        
      

      
    

    
  

  



  
  
  

    
    

      
      


  
  

    Feb
    13
      

  
  

      

  

      
      

        
                
        

          
          

            
            
 How to build email newsletters that look great in all versions of Outlook – with Mail Designer Pro 3.3

            
            
              By              
            Mail Designer                        
          

          
          


It’s a big day: today we’re rolling out Mail Designer Pro 3.3 – a big update that includes something we’ve been working on for a while… all-new Outlook support.


Just saying the word “Outlook” to a newsletter designer will send shivers down their spine: it has notoriously poor support for HTML standards and a lot of quirks that make it extremely tricky to design for. If that wasn’t bad enough, all versions since Outlook 2007 use Word’s engine to render HTML, so things have actually gotten worse over the years.


In the past we addressed these issues by adding workarounds to our existing HTML code. Extra style commands and table wrappers were added to the code that we write for all other email clients. However, this could occasionally still cause layout issues (e.g. extra spaces, slight misalignments…) and we were never entirely satisfied with the final result.


A New Hope for Email HTML

Last year we got together our email jedis and looked at different solutions. We decided to adopt an entirely new approach and make a bigger change. We decided to re-write our code to use dedicated code sections for Outlook.


How does it work?


Basically all existing code is hidden from Outlook entirely, so we can write nice clean code for all the other email clients, without extra Outlook hacks.


Then we take the content you’ve added and use it to write a second layout section, that is hidden from all email clients except Outlook. This section is tailored to all of Outlook’s quirks.


We do all of this automatically when you send or export your design – so all your content is included in both the Outlook and non-Outlook sections automatically.




So – does it work? In all our tests, the results were great: Designs are much more accurate, check out a Litmus preview:

https://litmus.com/checklist/public/f584679


With the earlier compatibility code, you’d see slight misalignments or extra padding. All of those issues can be avoided with the new code. This new technique also makes it easier for us to improve the code going forward, in case we run into any other compatibility issues.


Existing Designs are automatically improved

So what do you need to do? Nothing!


Whenever you open a newsletter design in Mail Designer Pro 3.3 or later, it’ll automatically be upgraded to use the new Outlook code with all compatibility improvements.


Detailed Outlook improvements:


    

  • 3-column layout blocks are always displayed with correct alignment
    • 

  • Line-height is correctly adjusted in all Outlook versions
    • 

  • A problem that could cause layouts to become misaligned has been fixed
    • 

  • An issue that could cause extra padding to surround an element has been fixed
    • 



Other Improvements


    

  • New Plain text export: When you export as a HTML file, the plain text version is now also included as a separate file
    • 

  • New If you’re sharing documents with colleagues, Mail Designer Pro now lets you know if a font was used that you don’t have on your Mac
    • 

  • When copy & pasting from Microsoft Office documents, we now prevent HTML elements being added inadvertently
    • 

  • We’ve fixed an iPad preview issue under macOS Sierra
    • 

  • You can now use multiple mailto links with advanced options in your newsletter
    • 

  • An issue that could very large newsletters to not upload to MailChimp correctly has been fixed
    • 

  • An issue with image quality has been fixed
    • 

  • A few minor issues with mobile background editing have been fixed
    • 



Want to experience hassle-free email design? Try Mail Designer Pro 3 free today. Mail Designer Pro is available for just $49,99. Owners of previous versions can take advantage of our discounted upgrade offer.