Monthly Mini-Bytes - August 2025

 

The Increasing Cost of Streaming Apple just raised the monthly price of its AppleTV+ streaming service by 30% from $9.99 to $12.99. Considering it launched at $4.99 back in 2019, this latest increase is a trend that we are seeing across many streaming services. The top Netflix plan is a whopping $24.99 a month before taxes. If you add up all the other streamers it's quite apparent that cord-cutting is becoming just as expensive as cable and satellite services. But there is no reason to pay for each and every streamer every single month. Here is a strategy that you can employ to save some money. Verify Your Subscriptions The first thing is to determine what services for which you have subscriptions. The easiest way to do this is on your iPhone by going to Settings -> [Your Name] ->Subscriptions. Here you can see any active subscription that you have under your AppleID. No, it won't show you Netflix or other services that don't fall under what you can link to your AppleID, but it will at least give you an idea on what you are paying for each and every month to Apple. Implement Periodization The easiest way to save money with cord-cutting is to only subscribe to the services that you are actually using at any given time. If a show comes out on Paramount+ that you like, subscribe to it and watch things from their catalog. After the run of the show, you can cancel your subscription. It's not a big deal as you can just sign up again at any time. I'm not a big fan of Disney+, but I wanted to see Season 2 of Andor. So, I subscribed, watched the run of the show, and then cancelled my subscription. And no, we didn't finish Season 3 of The Mandalorian. Take Advantage of Family Sharing If you have family sharing enabled, your family members can share any active streaming subscription under your AppleID. This is a great way to cancel duplicate accounts to save a little cash.

New iPhone 17 Will Be Here Soon!

It's that time of year again when Apple will refresh the iPhone X (again) with a new chip, even bigger cameras, and new colors that you can obscure with the obligatory case. Yes, I am a little pessimistic. I, along with many in the tech universe, have been disappointed with Apple's lack of innovation over the past several years, and the current leaks about the updated iPhones don't sound all that exciting. Still, from a privacy, security, and usability perspective the iPhone has no equal. And although my eyes may wander to the Galaxy Fold and new Google Pixel, I know that I need something secure and reliable, and that is something that Apple does far better than anyone else. With the iPhone, security is simple to manage, it works across all my devices, and it is protected by Apple's stringent practices in accepting apps that can run on the platform. And if it is time for you to get a new iPhone, we recommend waiting until after the launch of the 17. It's not that you want to pay for the flagship model, but the current crop of phones will be discounted -- some heavily.  Which one to get? Well, we will wait and see. Stay tuned and we promise to cover the phones in an upcoming newsletter.

PayPal Scams Aplenty

Not a day has gone by over the past month where I haven't received one of those PayPal scam emails that claim I just bought an iPhone, a boat, a car, or three Bitcoin. They are annoying and not even convincing in the way that they are laid out, but do bring up something that we all need to be aware of -- old PayPal accounts. Just about all of us have had at least one or more PayPal accounts over the years, and with the rise of Venmo maybe you set up a new account and abandoned an old one. Well, these old PayPal accounts are a vulnerability. They contain financial information that you don't want to fall into the wrong hands. If you have an old PayPal account that you no longer need, then here is what to do: Log into the account -- recover or reset the password if needed Reset the password... if you didn't already do it along with Step 1 Remove any saved Credit Cards or Bank Accounts Delete the Account Remember that you may have set up accounts under old emails -- even ones that you no longer use. So, a little detective work may be needed. Still, it is time well spent to secure your information.

The Micro-Byte - August 2025

 

Passkeys: Are They Worth Using?

In the world of usernames, passwords, multi-factor authentication, biometrics, and all the rest that makes up the bitter stew of account logins comes the new kid on the block: Passkeys. Passkeys have been sold as the solution to the complexities of usernames and passwords, but I am here to tell you right now that they do none of that, but only add to the confusion and mess of it all. What are Passkeys? In the olden days, or before Passkeys... or right now, actually... websites, apps, and the like required a username and password combination for access. This combo was kept at the company that runs the website/app, and if and when their database was breached, both were stolen. The hackers then had full access to those accounts, since they had the two pieces to get in. With Passkeys there is a Public Key and a Private Key. The Public Key is held at the website/app and the Private Key is held by you. The Private Key is secured by biometrics (FaceID or TouchID) or your device/computer password. It is incredibly complex and near impossible to recreate. The Public Key has no information in it that could be used to re-create your Private Key. This means that if the Public Key is hacked, it's worthless. But Passwords are Still Here It sounds good, secure, and a whole lot easier than passwords, and in a world where Passkeys replaced passwords, that would be true, but they do not. You still need a username/password to create any account, and this combo is just as vulnerable as before. Passkeys do not resolve you of good password management. They are just another way to log in, and this adds complexity, which is always bad. Plus, many Passkeys still require you to go through multi-factor authentication. Should You Use Passkeys? Since Passkeys do not replace the old username/password combo, it just adds something else for you to manage. We have also seen where a broken Passkey can lock a user out of an account, even though they still have the old password way of logging in. Implementation has been poor. If you want to play around with Passkeys, use them in non-critical accounts and create the key in the Apple Passwords app. At the end of the day, Passkeys do more to protect the tech companies than they do to add much for the consumer at this point. If they are able to deploy Passkeys in the future to replace usernames and passwords, then they would be worth it. But right now it is all just additional noise in the increasingly cluttered world of technology.