In 10 Years, Your iPhone Won’t Be a Phone Anymore
Posted: June 25, 2017 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, Science & Technology, U.S. News | Tags: Activity tracker, Amazoncom, Apple Inc, Apple Watch, Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, IOS, iPhone, iPhone 6, OLED, Samsung Leave a commentSiri will be the conductor of a suite of devices, all tracking your interactions and anticipating your next moves.
Apple Inc. will still sell an iPhone, but expect the device to morph into a suite of apps and services, enhanced with AI and AR, part of a ‘body area network’ of devices, batteries and sensors.
Christopher Mims writes: It’s 2027, and you’re walking down the street, confident you’ll arrive at your destination even though you don’t know where it is. You may not even remember why your device is telling you to go there.
There’s a voice in your ear giving you turn-by-turn directions and, in between, prepping you for this meeting. Oh, right, you’re supposed to be interviewing a dog whisperer for your pet-psychiatry business. You arrive at the coffee shop, look around quizzically, and a woman you don’t recognize approaches. A display only you can see highlights her face and prints her name next to it in crisp block lettering, Terminator-style. Afterward, you’ll get an automatically generated transcript of everything the two of you said.
As the iPhone this week marks the 10th anniversary of its first sale, it remains one of the most successful consumer products in history. But by the time it celebrates its 20th anniversary, the “phone” concept will be entirely uprooted: That dog-whisperer scenario will be brought to you even if you don’t have an iPhone in your pocket.
Sure, Apple AAPL 0.45% may still sell a glossy rectangle. (At that point, iPhones may also be thin and foldable, or roll up into scrolls like ancient papyri.) But the suite of apps and services that is today centered around the physical iPhone will have migrated to other, more convenient and equally capable devices—a “body area network” of computers, batteries and sensors residing on our wrists, in our ears, on our faces and who knows where else. We’ll find ourselves leaving the iPhone behind more and more often.
Trying to predict where technology will be in a decade may be a fool’s errand, but how often do we get to tie up so many emerging trends in a neat package?
Apple is busy putting ever more powerful microprocessors, and more wireless radios, in every one of its devices. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] New Features in MacOS Sierra
Posted: September 7, 2016 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, Science & Technology, U.S. News | Tags: Apple Inc, Apple Music, Google Drive, iCloud, IOS, IOS 10, iPhone, Mac OS, MacOS Sierra, OS X Leave a commentBasics
- Sierra wallpaper
- Storage Recommendations (System Information)
- Optimize Mac Storage (iCloud → iCloud Drive options)
- Remove items from the Trash after 30 days
- Desktop and Documents folder live on iCloud Drive
- Keep folders on top when sorting by name
- Notification Center updated design
- Choose output from sound button in menu bar
- Move any menu bar item
- Prefer tabs when opening documents
- Tabs in maps
- Double space enters a period
- Safari and iTunes Picture in Picture
- Updated Console app
- Dwell Control
- Auto Unlock
- APFS Apple File System
- Universal Clipboard
Photos app
- Memories
- Intelligent Search
- Places
- People
- Large emoji
- Tapback
- Inline video playback
- Inline links
iTunes
- Redesigned Apple Music features in iTunes
Justice Department to Apple: ‘Never Mind’
Posted: March 28, 2016 Filed under: Law & Justice, Science & Technology, Terrorism, U.S. News | Tags: Apple Inc, Apple iPhone 5C, California, Federal Bureau of Investigation, IOS, iPhone, James B. Comey, San Bernardino, The Wall Street Journal, United States Department of Justice Leave a commentThe Justice Department is expected to withdraw from its legal action against Apple, as soon as today, as an outside method to bypass the locking function of a San Bernardino terrorist’s phone has proved successful, a federal law enforcement official said Monday.
[Read the full story here, at USAToday]
The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly, said the method brought to the FBI earlier this month by an unidentified entity allows investigators to crack the security function without erasing contents of the iPhone used by Syed Farook, who with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, carried out the December mass shooting that left 14 dead.
Monday’s withdrawal would culminate six weeks of building tensions.
The foes were poised to exchange legal body blows in a court room in Riverside, Calif., last week before the Justice Department belatedly asked for — and was granted — a postponement.
“It’s not about one phone. It’s very much about the future. You have a guy in Manhattan saying I’ve got a hundred and seventy-five phones that I want to take through this process. You’ve got other cases springing up all over the place where they want phones taken through the process. So it’s not about one phone, and they know it’s not about one phone.”
— Apple CEO Tim Cook, in an interview with Time last week.
Since a federal magistrate in California in mid-February ordered the company to assist the FBI in gaining access to San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook’s seized iPhone, the legal filings and rhetoric between the world’s most valuable technology company and one of the largest crime-fighting organizations in the world had sharpened into verbal vitriol.
This month, Apple said the “Founding Fathers would be appalled” because the government’s order to unlock the iPhone was based on non-existent authority asserted by the DOJ. Read the rest of this entry »
FBI San Bernardino iPhone Case: Apple Officially Responds to Court Order to Comply
Posted: February 25, 2016 Filed under: Mediasphere, Science & Technology, Terrorism | Tags: Apple iPhone 5C, California, Court order, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal government of the United States, IOS, iPhone, IPod Touch, San Bernardino, Sayyid, United States Department of Justice 1 CommentApple has officially filed its mandatory response to the court following an order to comply with the FBI and unlock an iPhone used by the San Bernardino shooter from December. Unsurprisingly, Apple has filed a motion to vacate the order which would force it to comply, telling the court that it shouldn’t have to unlock the iPhone using a modified and insecure software version.
[Also see: Report: Google & Facebook to file court motions officially supporting Apple in FBI fight]
In the response, Apple has referred to the version of iOS that it would need to create to allow the FBI to unlock the iPhone in question using brute force as a Government Operating System, specifically GovtOS.
[Read the full story here, at 9to5Mac]
In the document, Apple maintains its position that the request to unlock this specific iPhone isn’t actually about just one iPhone and would set a dangerous precedent that could be used by governments around the world.
Apple’s position has also been to explain that creating this insecure version of iOS to be used in this case would be all customers at risk assuming the operating system fell into the wrong hands and was passed off as the real thing. Read the rest of this entry »
Apple to Judge: Drop Dead!
Posted: February 17, 2016 Filed under: Guns and Gadgets, Law & Justice, Think Tank | Tags: Apple Inc, Apple iPhone 5S, FBI, IOS, iPad, iPhone, IPod Touch, National security, Patriot Act, San Bernardino, Technician, Terrorism, The Daily Dot, The Guardian 1 CommentWhere would you draw the line between liberty and security?
Stephen Green writes: Here’s the setup.
San Bernardino killer Syed Rizwan Farook owned an iPhone 5c, which may have been used — probably was used — in planning and perhaps even executing the holiday party terror attack with his wife, Tashfeen Malik.
That iPhone 5c, just like any other up-to-do-date iOS or Android smartphone, has disc-level encryption baked into the OS for users who want that level of privacy, for good or for ill.
Yesterday,U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym ordered Apple to bypass the phone’s security functions, and furthermore “to provide related technical assistance and to build special software that would essentially act as a skeleton key capable of unlocking the phone.”
[Read the full story here, at PJ Media]
Here’s what happened next:
Hours later, in a statement by its chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, Apple announced its refusal to comply. The move sets up a legal showdown between the company, which says it is eager to protect the privacy of its customers, and the law enforcement authorities, who assert that new encryption technologies hamper their ability to prevent and solve crime.In his statement, Mr. Cook called the court order an “unprecedented step” by the federal government. “We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand,” he wrote.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond publicly to Apple’s resistance.
The F.B.I. said its experts had been unable to access data on the iPhone 5c and that only Apple could bypass its security features. F.B.I. experts have said they risk losing the data permanently after 10 failed attempts to enter the password because of the phone’s security features.
The Justice Department had secured a search warrant for the phone, owned by Mr. Farook’s former employer, the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, which consented to the search.
Because Apple declined to voluntarily provide, in essence, the “keys” to its encryption technology, federal prosecutors said they saw little choice but to get a judge to compel Apple’s assistance.
Mr. Cook said the order amounted to creating a “back door” to bypass Apple’s strong encryption standards — “something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create.”
Security hawks are on solid ground when they worry (as I do) that Farook’s encrypted iPhone might contain data valuable to government efforts to stop future terror attacks on U.S. soil, or to aid intel efforts to locate, track, and kill Farook’s ISIS contacts overseas.
But that’s not the only worry, as Doug Mataconis explains:
From Apple’s point of view, there seem to be a myriad of issues motivating the decision to take what has the potential to be an unpopular decision given the circumstances of this case. First of all, there is the fact that ever since the company made the decision to strengthen security on its phones in a manner that essentially allows customers to encrypt data in a manner that makes it nearly impossible to access without the appropriate pass code, the concerns about data security have only become more prominent and that providing a backdoor that does not exist right now would only serve to make the data itself less secure overall. Second, as the Post article notes the use of the All Writs Act in this manner appears to be unprecedented and, if upheld, would essentially allow the government to do almost anything in the name of law enforcement and intelligence gathering. Finally, and perhaps most strongly, it’s important to note that law enforcement isn’t asking Apple to provide information that it already has, which is what an ordinary search warrant does. It is essentially asking a Federal Court to compel Apple to do something, in this case create a backdoor that does not exist. This arguably falls well outside the scope of the Fourth Amendment and, if upheld, would give law enforcement authority to compel technology companies to do almost anything conceivable in the name of a purported investigation or surveillance of a target. That seems to go well beyond what the Constitution and existing law permits law enforcement to do.
The Mac Mothership: Apple’s Earliest Ads
Posted: October 25, 2015 Filed under: History, Mediasphere | Tags: 1970s, Advertising, Apple Inc, Apple TV, Code name, IOS, iPhone, Steve Jobs, vintage 1 CommentThe Mac Mothership – Here’s how Apple first started advertising its products in the late 1970s….(more)
Source: vintage everyday
‘Sorry, My Bad’: Chinese Ad Company Who Snooped Apple User Data Apologizes
Posted: October 20, 2015 Filed under: China, Crime & Corruption, Mediasphere | Tags: App Store (iOS), Apple Inc, China, Chinese language, Entity, Free trade zone, Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China, IOS, Mobile payment, Shanghai Leave a commentSource: WSJ
Apple Removes Drone Tracking App
Posted: October 1, 2015 Filed under: Mediasphere, Science & Technology, Space & Aviation | Tags: App Store (iOS), Apple Inc, Apps, Avast, iCloud, IOS, iPad, iPhone, Malware, Xcode Leave a commentWASHINGTON – Apple is known for keeping a pretty tight leash on apps, often blocking or refusing to sell programs it deems too offensive or too sexually suggestive.
The creator of an app that tracks published reports of American drone strikes around the world probably figured his program was in no danger of running afoul of Apple’s strict rules.
But this week, Metadata+ was removed from the App Store for having “excessively rude or objectionable content,” reports CNet.
The app was designed by Josh Begley, one of the editors of The Intercept, to publish data on…(read more)
Source: CBS DC
You Call That an iPad? That’s Not an iPad. THIS is an iPad
Posted: September 9, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, U.S. News | Tags: Apple Inc, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, IOS, iPad, IPad (3rd generation), iPhone, Personal computer, Phil Schiller, Philip Schiller, San Francisco 1 CommentApple Announces iPad Pro With New Larger Screen
Victor Luckerson reports: Apple announced a new big-screen iPad at an event in San Francisco, Calif. Wednesday. The new iPad, the iPad Pro, will have a 12.9-inch screen with a 2732 X 2048 resolution.
The long-rumored tablet will be the most powerful iOS device ever released, Apple marketing exec Phil Schiller said at the event. The iPad Pro’s A9X chip will be 1.8 times faster than the A8X in the iPad Air 2. The device will also have a 10-hour battery life and a four-speaker audio system for improved sound performance. The iPad Pro is 6.9 mm thick, just a bit thicker than the iPad Air’s 6.1 mm, and also features an 8 megapixel camera.
The cheapest model the iPad Pro will cost $799 and have 32 GB of storage. A 128GB version will cost $949, and a 128GB version with LTE capability will cost $1,079. Read the rest of this entry »
Apple TV 4 Hardware Revealed: A8 Chip, Black remote, 8/16GB Storage, Same Ports, no 4K
Posted: September 2, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, U.S. News | Tags: 9to5Mac, App Store (iOS), Apple Inc, Apple TV, Buzzfeed, IOS, iPad, iPhone, iTunes, John Paczkowski, Mark Gurman, Siri Leave a commentPriced at $149, will include universal search for finding content across providers.
Mark Gurman reports: The fourth-generation Apple TV, set to be unveiled at an event on September 9thand released in October, will feature a mix of new and familiar hardware, according to reliable sources. While the new device will sport a much faster processor than the current Apple TV, a color-matched remote control, and a somewhat larger body, it will lack support for 4K video streaming and have the same basic ports as the third-generation model…
[Also see – Apple TV Rumor Roundup: Everything We Think We Know – Gizmodo]
The current Apple TV design, first released in late 2010, has 8GB of internal storage for caching media, and the fourth-generation boxes in testing surprisingly range from 8GB to 16GB of storage. We are told that Apple has considered two pricing strategies: the simultaneous release of a $149 base model with 8GB of storage alongside a $199 16GB model, or the release of the 16GB Apple TV alone at $149. In either case, Apple will offer a $149 Apple TV.
While the new Apple TV will include an App Store for deep support for gaming, sources say that the limited storage offered by 8GB and 16GB flash memory is appropriate for the new model, as all content outside of applications will be streamed directly from the Internet. Additionally, the new Apple TV runs an iOS 9 core, and iOS 9 includes several new features for reducing the file size of App Store apps, including the ability to load games in level-sized chunks and stream rather than store videos within app binaries.
[New Apple TV Will Feature Universal Search, Start At $149 – BuzzFeed]
[Also see – The next-gen Apple TV could be the most exciting product Apple has released in years – BGR.com]
Sources indicate that the new Apple TV will be powered by the A8 chip found in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, coming in behind the A9-based iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. In iPhones, the A8 is notably less powerful than the A8X chip found in the iPad Air 2, which includes an additional processing core and improved graphics. Read the rest of this entry »
Robotic Sports: Ready for Prime Time
Posted: July 28, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Robotics | Tags: Anonymous (group), Apple TV, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Artificial Intelligence, Bitcoin, Central Intelligence Agency, Comedy Central, ESPN, Facebook, Fox Sports (United States), IOS, Mark Zuckerberg, Monday Night Football, National Football League, NFL Game Pass, United States Leave a commentRobotic Sports Will One Day Rival the NFL
Cody Brown writes: When I was 13, I watched a season of Battle Bots on Comedy Central then attempted to build a killer robot in my parent’s basement. You might think, oh, you were probably a weird kid (and you’d be right) but I think eventually this is behavior that will become normal for people all around the world. It’s had some moments in the spotlight but a bunch of factors make it seem like robotic sports is destined for primetime ESPN in the next five years.
1.) A drone flying through the forest looks incredible at 80 mph.
A new class of bot (FPV Quadcopter) has emerged in the past few years and the footage they produce is nuts. Robots can do things we’re fascinated by but can’t generally achieve without risking our own lives. Drones the size of a dinner plate can zoom through a forest like a 3 pound insect. A bot that shoots flames can blow up a rival in a plexiglass cage.
You can make an argument that the *thrill* of these moments is lightened if a person isn’t risking their own life and limb and this is true to a certain extent. NASCAR crashes are inherently dramatic but you don’t need to burn drivers to make fans scream.
Just look at the rise of e-sports. This League of Legends team sits in an air conditioned bubble and sips Red Bull while a sold out arena screams their lungs out. They’re not in any physical danger but 31 million fans are watching online.
The thing that ultimately matters is that the sport looks incredible on video and fans have a connection to the players. And right now, the video, in raw form, is mesmerizing.
2.) Robot parts have gotten cheaper, better and easier to buy.
When I was a kid, I was limited to things available at the local Radio Shack or hardware store. Now I can go to Amazon, find parts with amazing reviews and have them delivered to my house in a day. The hobby community has had many years to develop its technology and increase quality. Brands like Fat Shark, Spektrum, and adafruit have lead the way.
3.) Top colleges fight over teenagers who win robotics competitions.
If you’re good at building a robot, chances are you have a knack for engineering, math, physics, and a litany of other skills top colleges drool over. This is exciting for anyone (at any age) but it’s especially relevant for students and parents deciding what is worth their investment.
There are already some schools that offer scholarships for e-sports. I wouldn’t be surprised if intercollegiate leagues were some of the first to pop up with traction.
4.) The military wants to get better at making robots for the battlefield.
This one is a little f***ed but it’s worth acknowledging. Drones (of all sizes) are the primary technology changing the battlefield today. DARPA has an overwhelming interest to stay current and they’re already sponsoring multimillion dollar (more academic) robotics competitions. It’s up to the community to figure out how (or how not) to involve them. Them, meaning the giant military apparatus of the United States but also military organizations around the world who want to develop and recruit the people who will power their 21st century defense (and offense). Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Comedy: Apple’s #WWDC Opener
Posted: June 11, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Humor, Mediasphere | Tags: Airline hub, Apple Inc, Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Apps, El Capitan, IOS, Keynote, Macintosh, OS X, Streaming media Leave a commentApple did something out of the ordinary to open WWDC this year. Before CEO Tim Cook took the stage, the company played a bizarre opening video that showed a behind the scenes look at the opening number it had planned but that never came to fruition…100 MORE WORDS
Tesla Hires Head Apple Recruiter After Losing Own Recruiter to Apple Car Team
Posted: May 13, 2015 Filed under: Science & Technology, U.S. News | Tags: Apple Inc, Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Cupertino, Electric car, Elon Musk, IOS, iPhone, Mark Gurman, Silicon Valley, Sport utility vehicle, Tesla Motors 1 CommentMark Gurman writes: Tesla has taken its recruiting of Apple employees to the next level: the electric car and energy company has hired away Apple’s Senior Director of Corporate Recruiting, Cindy Nicola, to become Tesla’s new Vice President of Global Recruiting. Nicola has already noted her new role and start month of May on her LinkedIn profile.
Notably, Apple actually hired away Tesla’s Lead Recruiter in 2014 for its own electric car project, as we noted in our extensive profile of Apple’s automotive related hires. Interestingly, that former Tesla recruiter Lauren Ciminera has already left Apple to work on a new “confidential” project, according to her own LinkedIn page and confirmation from a source… Read the rest of this entry »
Before the Apple Watch There Was The Hewlett Packard Calculator Watch, Before That, The Seiko Watchman TV Watch
Posted: April 29, 2015 Filed under: Mediasphere, Science & Technology, U.S. News | Tags: Android Ice Cream Sandwich, Apple Inc, Apple Watch, Asus, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, IOS, iPhone, Microsoft, Personal computer Leave a commentBefore the Apple Watch, there was the Hewlett Packard calculator watch. And before that, there was the Seiko Watchman TV watch. A curator from our Museum of American History talks about the evolution of wrist tech on Smithsonian Science News
via Smithsonian
Twitter Launches Livestreaming App ‘Periscope’ – Its Own Version of Meerkat
Posted: March 26, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: Al Gore, Astro Teller, Austin, Edward Snowden, Google, IOS, Mobile World Congress, South by Southwest, Streaming media, Twitter 1 CommentKurt Wagner writes: Twitter is officially pulling back the curtain on Periscope, a livestreaming video app that’s been in beta since the company acquired it back in January, reportedly for $100 million.
Periscope streams live audio and video from a user’s smartphone that other people can watch and comment on within the app — the link to the livestream can be shared on Twitter as a way to spread the word and boost the audience.
The free app, which is only available on iOS for now, provides immediate competition to Meerkat, a similar livestreaming app that took off at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Texas, earlier his month.
Meerkat, which launched just two weeks before the conference, relies heavily on Twitter’s platform. It uses Twitter login and had used its social graph to help users find people to follow before Twitter cut it off.
Given the relationship between the two products, speculation that Twitter might buy Meerkat made sense, but it bought competitor Periscope instead. Things haven’t been all bad for Meerkat, though. The app has more than 400,000 users, according to CEO Ben Rubin, and it just raised $12 million in a deal that values it at $52 million.
The two apps work in a similar way, but Twitter-owned Periscope is actually more independent from Twitter than Meerkat. Unlike Meerkat, where any Likes and comments are reflected on your Twitter profile, all the engagement on Periscope is kept within the app. Read the rest of this entry »
College Students Prefer Their iPhones Over Sex and Beer
Posted: February 11, 2015 Filed under: Education, Entertainment | Tags: Apple Inc, California, FaceTime, Fortune (magazine), IOS, iPad, IPad Mini, iPhone, IPod, Macintosh Leave a commentAccording to a super not scientific study
But those people are wrong. There is one thing college students care about more than sex, drugs, parties or anything else. And that is their iPhones. At least, according to a recent study conducted by Student Monitor. Researchers surveyed 1,200 undergrads around the U.S. to choose “what’s in on campus” from a list of 77 options, Fortune reports.
Apple’s iPhone earned the most votes, with 66% of students selecting it. The next most popular results were coffee, texting, Facebook, iPads and Instagram. Beer was #7 on the list and “hooking up” was #12. Read the rest of this entry »
Swatch Planning Cross-Platform Smartwatch & Mobile Payments to Compete with Apple Watch, says CEO
Posted: February 5, 2015 Filed under: Mediasphere, Science & Technology, U.S. News | Tags: Apple, IOS, iPhone, Smartwatch, Swatch 2 Comments
How People Ignored Each Other Before Smartphones
Posted: January 19, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Humor | Tags: Android, IDevice, IOS, media, Mobile Phones, Painting, satire, Smartphones, Twitter, vintage 1 CommentHow people ignored each other before smartphones. pic.twitter.com/OZvhvWLBPK
— Scott E. Bartner (@SBartner) January 18, 2015
Joanna Stern: OS X Yosemite Review
Posted: October 17, 2014 Filed under: Mediasphere, U.S. News | Tags: Apple, Google, IOS, iPhone, Mac, Mac OS, Wall Street Journal, Yosemite Leave a commentMacs and iPhones finally speak the same language.
I can begin replying to an email on my phone, then walk over to my laptop and finish it off there. While my phone charges on my nightstand, I can pick up calls from my mom with a mouse click at my desk. And when someone texts me a photo, it’s already on my laptop, where I can quickly jazz it up in Photoshop then tweet it.
With the Thursday release of the Mac’s free OS X Yosemite update, Apple is finally getting its devices to behave like a real, happy family—a family that not only talks to each other but even looks very much alike. The Mac operating system has acquired apps and features from iOS—and vice versa—over the past few years, but this is the biggest leap toward each other yet.
The advantage is so big that if you are an iPhone or iPad owner but don’t have a Mac, Yosemite might get you to consider buying one. It makes living in Apple’s ecosystem harder to resist. But before you fall into the Apple trap, keep in mind that there are still plenty of reasons to play with Google (and even Microsoft ) on a Mac or iPhone.
An iOS-Inspired Face-Lift

OS X’s icons have been revamped to look flatter and more modern. Drew Evans/The Wall Street Journal.
Late one night, Jony Ive, Apple’s design chief, threw on the “White Album,” took out a bucket of translucent primer, mixed it together with some of his rainbow-colored iOS paint and tossed it at the computer screen. At least, that’s how I imagine the Mac operating system got its new look.
There are traces of iPhone and iPad design everywhere you look. Icons have been revamped to look flatter and more modern. The edges of windows are translucent so you can see what’s behind them. The red, yellow and green window-position buttons look like a futuristic traffic light. Even the notification pane now has a “Today” view that is identical to the iPhone’s. Read the rest of this entry »
Phone Apps Spy on Hong Kong Protesters
Posted: October 2, 2014 Filed under: Asia, China, Mediasphere, Science & Technology | Tags: Android, Apple, China, Google, Hong Kong, IOS, Lacoon, United States Leave a commentSecurity experts say China is a leading source of hacking attacks aimed at foreign governments and companies to computers in China
HONG KONG (AP) — The Chinese government might be using smartphone apps to spy on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, a U.S. security firm said.
“The Xsser mRAT represents a fundamental shift by nation-state cybercriminals from compromising traditional PC systems to targeting mobile devices.”
The applications are disguised as tools created by activists, said the firm, Lacoon Mobile Security. It said that once downloaded, they give an outsider access to the phone’s address book, call logs and other information.
The identities of victims and details of the servers used “lead us to believe that the Chinese government are behind the attack,” said a Lacoon statement.
China is, along with the United States and Russia, regarded as a leader in cyber warfare research. Security experts say China is a leading source of hacking attacks aimed at foreign governments and companies to computers in China. Read the rest of this entry »
Reality Check: Despite Apple’s Privacy Pledge, Cops Can Still Pull Data Off a Locked iPhone
Posted: September 19, 2014 Filed under: Law & Justice, Mediasphere, Science & Technology, U.S. News | Tags: Apple, Facebook, Instagram, IOS, iPhone, iPhoto, iTunes, Jonathan Zdziarski Leave a commentA reminder to iPhone owners cheering Apple’s latest privacy win: Just because Apple will no longer help police to turn your smartphone inside out doesn’t mean it can prevent the cops from vivisecting the device on their own.
“I am quite impressed, Mr. Cook! That took courage. But it does not mean that your data is beyond law enforcement’s reach.”
— iOS forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski
On Wednesday evening Apple made news with a strongly-worded statement about how it protects users’ data from government requests. And the page noted at least one serious change in that privacy stance: No longer will Apple aid law enforcement or intelligence agencies in cracking its users’ passcodes to access their email, photos, or other mobile data. That’s a 180-degree flip from its previous offer to cops, which demanded only that they provide the device to Apple with a warrantto have its secrets extracted.
In fact, Apple claims that the new scheme now makes Apple not only unwilling, but unable to open users’ locked phones for law enforcement. “Unlike our competitors, Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access [your personal] data,” reads the new policy. “So it’s not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS 8.”
“I can do it. I’m sure the guys in suits in the governments can do it. And I’m sure that there are at least three or four commercial tools that can still do this, too.”
But as the media and privacy activists congratulated Apple on that new resistance to government snooping, iOS forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski offered a word of caution for the millions of users clamoring to pre-order the iPhone 6 and upgrade to iOS 8. In many cases, he points out, the cops can still grab and offload sensitive data from your locked iPhone without Apple’s help, even in iOS 8. All they need, he says, is your powered-on phone and access to a computer you’ve previously used to move data onto and off of it. Read the rest of this entry »
Apple will No Longer Unlock User’s Mobile Devices for Police, Even with Search Warrants
Posted: September 18, 2014 Filed under: Law & Justice, Mediasphere, Science & Technology, U.S. News | Tags: Apple, Edward Snowden, iCloud, IOS, iPad, iPhone, National Security Agency, Washington Post 1 CommentThe Washington Post reports: Apple said Wednesday night that it is making it impossible for the company to turn over data from most iPhones or iPads to police — even when they have a search warrant — taking a hard new line as tech companies attempt to blunt allegations that they have too readily participated in government efforts to collect user information.
The move, announced with the publication of a new privacy policy tied to the release of Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 8, amounts to an engineering solution to a legal quandary: Rather than comply with binding court orders, Apple has reworked its latest encryption in a way that prevents the company — or anyone but the device’s owner — from gaining access to the vast troves of user data typically stored on smartphones or tablet computers.
The key is the encryption that Apple mobile devices automatically put in place when a user selects a passcode, making it difficult for anyone who lacks that passcode to access the information within, including photos, e-mails and recordings. Apple once maintained the ability to unlock some content on devices for legally binding police requests but will no longer do so for iOS 8, it said in the new privacy policy.
“Unlike our competitors, Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data,” Apple said on its Web site. “So it’s not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS 8.”
As the new operating system becomes widely deployed over the next several weeks, the number of iPhones and iPads that Apple is capable of breaking into for police will steadily dwindle to the point where only devices several years old — and incapable of running iOS 8 — can be unlocked by Apple.
Apple will still have the ability — and the legal responsibility — to turn over user data stored elsewhere, such as in its iCloud service, which typically includes backups of photos, videos, e-mail communications, music collections and more. Users who want to prevent all forms of police access to their information will have to adjust settings in a way that blocks data from flowing to iCloud. Read the rest of this entry »
Analyst: Apple plans to release cheaper iMacs, 8 GB iPhone 5s at WWDC
Posted: May 28, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Science & Technology, U.S. News | Tags: Apple, Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, iMac, IOS, iPhone, Macintosh, Ming-Chi Kuo, OS X 1 CommentFor 9to5Mac, Mike Beasley reports:
KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has made a few more predictions about what we’ll see from Apple in the near future. According to a new KGI research note, Apple could potentially release cheaper versions of the iMac and iPhone 5s during its developer conference next week to accompany its software announcements.
Earlier today new references to an unreleased iteration of the the iMac appeared in an OS X developer preview, likely indicating the impending release of a new model. It’s quite possible that this could be the cheaper iMac referred to in the report. Read the rest of this entry »
Learning to Fly Your Personal Spy Drone: DJI Phantom 2 Vision
Posted: December 6, 2013 Filed under: Guns and Gadgets, Science & Technology | Tags: Central Park, IOS, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, Phantom, Secure Digital Leave a commentPopMech takes the Phantom 2 to Central Park, where we get the hang of flying a drone and operating its camera at the same time
David Dunbar writes: This recently released quadrotor isn’t designed to deliver best-selling novels or any other online-ordered cargo from the warehouse to your doorstep. But, theoretically at least, it could go looking for, say, an Amazon Prime Air delivery that’s gone MIA. That’s because the Phantom 2, which is simple to assemble and operate even for a drone rookie like me, has a Wi-Fi HD camera slung beneath its body that you can monitor and manipulate via an app on your iOS or Android smartphone. (Hey, I see the Amazon delivery drone that has my book, in a holding pattern 5 blocks east of my house.)
We recently got our hands on this commercial drone from Shenzhen-based DJI, a follow-up to the Phantom we flew as part of our guide to flying your own drone. The camera capability makes the pricier Phantom 2 an intriguing option. When a retired Coast Guard admiral watched me flying the rig over Thanksgiving at a waterside park in Greenport, Long Island, he shouted out “homeland security!” after introducing himself, adding, “It’d be great for harbor surveillance.” He even invited me to demo the Vision on a Coast Guard cutter that was scheduled to dock at Greenport the following week.
Honda announces Siri Eyes free availability for select vehicles ahead of iOS in the Car unveiling next week
Posted: November 26, 2013 Filed under: Guns and Gadgets, Robotics, Science & Technology | Tags: Acura, Apple, Honda, Honda Accord, IOS, iPhone, Mercedes-Benz, Siri Eyes Free Leave a commentAs we reported late last week, Honda just announced that it’s finally rolling out the promised Siri Eyes Free update that will enable hands-free use of Siri from a connected iOS device in select Accord and Acura models. This feature isn’t to be confused with Honda’s new implementation of iOS in the Car, which sources told us was slated for a December 3 unveiling.
icePhone: Because everyone wants to look like they’re talking on a popsicle
Posted: November 5, 2013 Filed under: Food & Drink, Japan, Mediasphere, Science & Technology | Tags: accessories, Asia, gadgets, Humor, Ice cream, IOS, iPhone, Japan, media, Mobile device, novelty, Smartphone, technology Leave a commentWhen you’re a little kid, any slightly long object turns into your own personal phone. The remote control, a banana, maybe even a sausage have all served as substitute talking devices for children not quite old enough to have their own fully-functional mobile device.