A malicious video link that when played in Safari causes iOS devices to crash has been discovered this morning.
Playing the MP4 video in question through Safari appears to have no effect at first, but gradually the operating system slows down before it freezes completely, after which only a hard reset will bring the device back to life. YouTube channel EverythingApplePro has posted a demonstration (i.e. not the original video) showing the exploit in action.
The bug appears to affect iOS builds as far back as iOS 5, while iPhones running iOS 10.2 beta 3 are said to power off and show the spinning wheel indefinitely.
If you fall victim to the prank, you'll need to hard reboot to get your device working again. According to a Reddit post by user Riddle, currently the top level domains hosting the video appear to be vk.com and testtrial.site90.net, but bear in mind that the video could be hosted on other sites quite easily and that URL shorteners can mask the actual address you're being linked to.
This kind of prank isn't new. Three years ago, a text exploit made the rounds that caused both Mac and iOS devices to crash.
Apple's upcoming iOS 10.2 and tvOS 10.1 updates will bring a new "TV" app where users will be able to view much of their TV and movie content from across various apps, all centrally located to make it easy to pick up where you left off and receive recommendations on additional content.
The new TV app has been gradually going live on both platforms for U.S. users during the beta testing period, and it works hand-in-hand with a "Single Sign-on" feature that will let subscribers to certain pay TV services authenticate their accounts once on a systemwide basis and receive access to content across all supported apps for which they are eligible.
When the early beta of Single Sign-on began going live earlier this month, there were four supported TV providers, with Dish Network and its Sling TV subsidiary being the most recognizable while small regional services GVTC Communications and Hotwire rounded out the list.
Full support for Single Sign-on will require apps to be updated to recognize the systemwide authentication, but the provider listings have offered a glimpse at which providers are currently on board with the feature.
As of this week, another major provider has joined the Single Sign-on program, with AT&T's DirecTV now appearing in the TV Provider list for authentication. The addition of DirectTV's 20 million U.S. subscribers makes it the biggest provider to support the feature so far, displacing Dish Network and Sling TV.
The addition of DirecTV isn't necessarily a surprise, as Apple had touted "DirecTV, Dish Network, and more" in its press release announcing the new TV app last month, but it's apparently taken DirecTV a few extra weeks to prepare. Still notably absent are the major U.S. cable companies such as Comcast and Charter/Time Warner, and there's no word on if or when those companies will be coming on board.
Apple has announced that the new TV app will become available to the public in December, indicating the company intends to release iOS 10.2 and tvOS 10.1 within that timeframe.
Apple tonight updated its website with a brand new page teasing a one-day Black Friday shopping event. Apple didn't offer Black Friday deals last year, opting to allow third-party retailers like Best Buy and Target to offer deals instead.
Friday can't come soon enough.
Our one-day shopping event will be here before you know it. Come back this Friday to check off everyone on your list.
Last year, Apple SVP of Retail Angela Ahrendts said the company was backing away from Black Friday promotions because "being good to your employees will always be good for your business."
On its Black Friday website, Apple says that its one-day shopping event will include free shipping on in-stock items ordered by 5 PM. You'll also be able to take part in the event with the Apple Store app and in-store. Those interested in visiting an Apple retail store on Black Friday will need to check their local Apple store's extended holiday hours because there will not be uniform opening and closing times.
Apple has also provided easy links to four holiday gift collections curated by the company, including "Apple gifts," "Music gifts," "Photography gifts" and "Games & Toys."
It's unclear what kind of Black Friday promotion the company will use this year. In the past, Apple has offered gift cards worth variable amounts with the purchase of Apple products. For instance, purchasing a Mac would yield a $100 gift card. However, in its European stores Apple has also opted for more traditional discounts.
Samsung plans to launch a glossy black version of its nine-month-old Galaxy S7 smartphone early next month, according to The Korea Herald.
The report claims the new color will help Samsung compete with the popular Jet Black and Matte Black variants of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The new color could also fuel additional Galaxy S7 sales to help fill the void left by the permanently discontinued Galaxy Note 7 following battery safety concerns.
If the report proves accurate, it would not be the first time Samsung has followed in the footsteps of Apple in terms of smartphone colors. Earlier this year, it released a "pink gold" version of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge after Apple launched the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in Rose Gold last year.
Samsung's existing Black Onyx variant of the Galaxy S7 already has a somewhat glossy finish, so the new color would presumably be even slicker.
Digital image and video stabilization features have been included in modern smartphones for a while now, with each new generation offering improved correction for jumps and jitters that typically occur during handheld shooting.
Still, even the latest handsets can't quite match the benefits that can be gained from using a motorized mount specifically designed to reduce vibration and unwanted shake.
Smartphone gimbals are made for just this purpose. Phone gimbals look similar to selfie sticks, but incorporate special motorized axes that keep shooting balanced and steady by adjusting for tilt, roll and tracking movements.
One brand that's been steadily gaining plaudits for its gimbals is Zhiyun. The Chinese firm's gimbals in its Smooth range have been noted amongst video aficionados for their robust design, multiple operational modes, and relative affordability compared to the competition. Here, we looked at the company's latest Z1-Smooth II ($329) to see what advantages a gimbal offers for iPhone owners.
512 Pixels blogger Stephen Hackett has created a unique video showcasing Apple's new "Designed by Apple in California" coffee table book alongside actual Apple products, ranging from the PowerMac G5 to iPod socks.
The video helps bring the book to life by providing a nostalgic look back on the past two decades of Apple products, starting with the original iMac in 1998 through to the Apple Pencil in 2015. Hackett said most of what it is in the book is a part of his personal collection of Apple products.
MacRumors provided a hands-on look inside Apple's new book last week. "Designed by Apple in California" chronicles 20 years of Apple design with 450 photos of its products and the processes used to make them. The high-quality photos were taken by photographer Andrew Zuckerman.
Apple says it took eight years to design the linen-bound hardcover book, dedicated to late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. It features specially milled, custom-dyed paper with "gilded matte silver edges," and low-ghost ink. It is available now in a smaller 10.2×12.8 inches size for $199 and a larger 13×16.3 inches size for $299.
The book is also available at select Apple retail stores, including Apple Regent Street in London, Apple Opera in Paris, and Apple Ginza in Tokyo, among others. In the U.S., it is available in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, San Francisco, and Palo Alto, and at Apple's campus store at its Cupertino headquarters.
Twelve South today introduced a new product in its HiRise line, called the HiRise Duet, which provides charging stations for an iPhone or iPad, as well as an Apple Watch. The stand supports the Apple Watch's Night Stand Mode, which displays an alarm clock and turns the device's Digital Crown into a snooze button.
The stand has a 3.75” square footprint and includes an integrated Lightning charger for iPhone and iPad, as well as a Magnetic Charging Disc for the Apple Watch, all of which are powered by a single AC cable. The bottom of the stand is lined with a layer of leather to protect the Apple Watch from scuffs.
Unlike plastic stands that get dragged across the nightstand from the weight of the power cord, the all metal HiRise Duet stays put. This mighty one pound, dual charging stand weighs as much as three iPhone 7's. So when you reach for your iPhone in the middle of the night, or go for the snooze button in the morning, both devices will be right where you put them - atop HiRise Duet. You’ll also notice the curves on HiRise Duet mirror the beautiful design of iPhone and Watch.
The HiRise Duet is available from Twelve South for $119.99. The stand supports the iPad mini, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and any recent Lightning-enabled iPhone generation.
Instagram today revealed two major new updates coming to its platform, including transient live videos and direct messages, akin to Snapchat. The company has added live video as a new UI option in the story camera -- Boomerang was added there recently as well -- and the feature lets users go live for up to an hour. As with Facebook's own live video, friends get notifications when the stream begins, and can comment as events unfold.
Live video will also be added into the Explore Tab, so users can see trending and most popular live videos, perhaps from news sources and entertainment accounts as breaking news happens across the world. Just like stories, live videos will disappear when the stream is over, "so you can feel more comfortable sharing anything, anytime," according to Instagram.
The company is continuing its "pressure-free" mantra with disappearing direct messages, which will let users send photos and videos to friends and groups that disappear once they've been viewed. The sender will also be notified if the receiver has replayed the message or taken a screenshot, just like in Snapchat.
While live video is gearing up to rollout globally over the next few weeks, the short-lived photos and videos in direct messages will begin appearing in the Instagram app today. For those who have yet to download it, Instagram is available for free on the App Store. [Direct Link]
Apple has shared a new TV ad called "Frankie's Holiday" in time for the holiday season, accompanied with the tagline "open your heart to everyone."
In the ad, Frankenstein's monster brings a package with ornaments to a town square and starts singing "Home for the Holidays" by Perry Como on his iPhone. While he initially shocks the large group of people in the town, a young girl urges Frankenstein to come forward, and everyone joins along in singing with him.
Frankenstein's monster is portrayed by Everybody Loves Raymond star Brad Garrett, who stands 6'8" tall.
Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller has allegedly responded to an email from software developer Ben Slaney to further clarify why the new MacBook Pro maxes out at 16GB of RAM, noting that supporting 32GB of RAM would require a different logic board design which might reduce space for batteries.
Schiller: The MacBook Pro uses 16GB of very fast LPDDR memory, up to 2133MHz. To support 32GB of memory would require using DDR memory that is not low power and also require a different design of the logic board which might reduce space for batteries. Both factors would reduce battery life.
Slaney himself wrote an article explaining how the new MacBook Pro uses a low power, enhanced version of RAM called LPDDR3E, which maxes out at 16GB. To achieve up to 32GB RAM would have required using DDR4 RAM, but low-power LPDDR4 RAM is not supported by the Intel processors powering the late 2016 models.
Using the iStat Menus tool, Slaney determined that, under normal conditions, the LPDDR3E RAM uses 1.5 watts of power. In comparison, he said the notebooks would use about 3-5 watts if they were using DDR4 memory, although this estimate is rather loosely based on tests of DDR4 RAM on Windows-based notebooks.
Slaney said the 2-5 watts saved translates to 10% of overall power usage being dedicated to RAM versus 20-30% that would be required for DDR4 RAM, which, if accurate, helps justify Apple's power versus performance tradeoff.
To put more than 16GB of fast RAM into a notebook design at this time would require a memory system that consumes much more power and wouldn't be efficient enough for a notebook. I hope you check out this new generation MacBook Pro, it really is an incredible system.
Apple's decision is even more justified when considering background power draw, or the energy a notebook uses to go back into sleep mode after regular usage. Slaney said this figure is estimated to be about 50% of overall power draw on an average system when using DDR4 RAM, but only 20% when using LPDDR3 RAM.
Moreover, the new MacBook Pro would get less than 7 days of standby time if it used DDR4 RAM, compared to 30 days with LPDDR3E RAM, he said.
Apple have been using LPDDR for several generations of their notebooks, and it’s part of the way that they get very long standby time on them. Switching to DDR4 would drastically decrease it from the 30 days of standby time that they get now to less than one week. With DDR4 they’d have produced a notebook that would have a completely drained battery if it was at 50% charge and you closed the lid and left it for a few days. Not only would that be annoying, but by running the battery flat often it would end up damaging a percentage of their batteries because they’d frequently get 100% discharged, which puts a lot of stress on them, and sometimes even kills them.
The rest of the article reflects upon poor battery life in several Windows-based notebooks with 32GB RAM, part of which can be blamed on the FAA's 100-watt-hour limit on notebook batteries brought on airplanes.
Apple has dissolved its division which develops wireless routers and is now sending engineers who worked on the AirPort lineup into other product teams, including one currently working on Apple TV. The news comes from a report by Bloomberg, who said Apple has been slowly shutting down the division over the past year and made the decision "to try to sharpen the company’s focus on consumer products that generate the bulk of its revenue."
Currently, Apple sells three wireless routers, including the AirPort Express ($99), AirPort Extreme ($199), and AirPort Time Capsule ($299), but none of the devices have seen a refresh since 2013. A temporary stock shortage earlier in the year gave hope that a refresh of the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule was coming during WWDC, but Apple never mentioned the products during its keynote. The trio of wireless routers still remain available for purchase for the time being.
Exiting the router business could make Apple’s product ecosystem less sticky. Some features of the AirPort routers, including wireless music playback, require an Apple device like an iPhone or Mac computer. If the company no longer sells wireless routers, some may have a reason to use other phones and PCs.
The central reason for abandoning the AirPort line appears to focus mainly on its small revenue gains in comparison to the company's more lucrative products, like the iPhone. Apple includes its routers in the "other products" category of its annual financial results, a section which generated $11.1 billion in fiscal 2016, or about 5 percent of the company's total sales.
In a new article posted by The New York Times over the weekend, Apple's contributions to the United States workforce and economy are highlighted with a focus on the company's campus in Austin, Texas. Some of its 6,000 employees there (grown from 2,100 seven years ago) were interviewed, providing a glimpse into the employment lifestyle Apple offers its staff members.
The central occupation of the workers in Austin is customer tech support, but there's also employees who manage Apple's network of suppliers, run iTunes and the App Store, update Maps, and keep tabs on Apple's finances. The average income for a call center worker at the Austin campus is $30,000 a year, but following the completion of a one-year contract many become permanent employees and earn $45,000 per year, "plus generous benefits and small annual stock grants."
According to Apple, factoring in senior management staff, the average salary of its Austin staff is $77,000 a year. Although the company didn't tell The New York Times any of its future expansion plans for the U.S., it reiterated on its contributions to the country's workforce, with the iPhone as a launch pad for its employment boost.
“Apple has created over two million jobs in the United States since the introduction of the iPhone nine years ago, including explosive growth in iOS developers, thousands of new supplier and manufacturing partners, and a 400 percent increase in our employee teams,” the company said in a statement. “We made the unique decision to keep and expand our contact centers for customers in the Americas in the United States, and Austin is home to many of those employees. We plan to continue to invest and grow across the U.S.”
In the call center, the entry-level positions open up major possibilities for quality workers later on. One worker, Genny Lopez, began as a basic contractor answering customer calls, and is now on staff fielding and troubleshooting more difficult problems. "You don’t need a crazy technical background to do this job," Lopez said. "A lot of the training is getting really good at talking to people."
In Austin, Apple is also said to encourage employees to test out other team environments, "to allow workers to try a completely different role for six months to see if it suits them and the company." The New York Times met with Brisa Carillo, who was one of the test pilots for the team-switching idea, and found out that she began work at Apple in its call center right after college, but now handles the company's international payroll while she studies for her M.B.A. to continue to move up the ranks of Apple's finance department. A formal program backing the progressive idea is on track to be instituted soon.
Image via The New York Times
Apple prides itself on providing top-notch phone service in 26 languages — 12 are spoken at the Texas call center alone — and the people who handle the calls are expected to follow up on any problem that cannot be quickly resolved. During the recent visit, Stephanie Dumareille, a senior adviser on iOS issues who is fluent in English and Spanish, patiently answered questions from a customer who was worried about saving her résumé online and did not know whether she was using a Windows or a Mac computer.
Much of The New York Times' article is a response to critics, including President-elect Donald Trump, who believe Apple should move its manufacturing plants into the United States to improve its contribution to jobs within the country. A report from last week claimed that Apple asked both Foxconn and Pegatron to look into making iPhones stateside, a request which Foxconn is allegedly studying closely.
Apple's investment in and nurturing of its employees makes up for its lack of product manufacturing stateside, according to Lopez, who said that at the Austin campus "the product that Apple builds here is us."
Check out the full story by The New York Timeshere.
A developer has created a $5 device that can hack into screen-locked Macs and potentially other computers as long as a web browser is left running on the desktop.
Samy Kamkar made a YouTube video showing what happens when his creation hacks into a target computer. Called a "Poison Tap", the device runs on a Raspberry Pi Zero which plugs into a computer's USB port.
Once attached to the locked and password-protected Mac, it hijacks all web traffic by posing as a standard internet connection, after which it sets about siphoning and storing the user's HTTP cookies.
The attacker can then potentially use the stolen cookie data to access websites the user visited and log-in as them without having to enter username and password information.
Speaking to the BBC, Trend Micro security researcher Rik Ferguson said the device was a plausible threat to users who frequently left their computer unattended.
[In normal circumstances] Even when you are not using a web browser it is still making requests and communicating - due to updates or ads. Once the device is plugged in it exploits that communication and steals session cookies from the top one million websites.
Two-step verification would be susceptible to the same attack, explained Ferguson, because the device is able to intercept the cookies and pretend it is already in an open session. The only way to guard against such an attack would be for websites to use an encrypted connection such as HTTPS.
Otherwise, the best solution is for users to ensure they close their browser every time they leave their Mac unattended, or else close it down completely.
Apple is celebrating Thanksgiving this year by urging U.S. Apple Watch owners to bag a special achievement by recording a minimum walking or running distance on Thursday, November 24.
Available through the Activity app this morning, the Thanksgiving Day Challenge is the first activity challenge of its kind from Apple, and includes a share-able Messages app sticker as an enticement to get out and get moving.
To earn the achievement, Apple Watch wearers must record an Apple Watch Workout distance of 5K (3.1 miles) on the day in question, using Apple's Workout app or any third-party app that syncs with HealthKit.
An Apple Watch user's history of achievements can be viewed any time via the Achievements tab on the iOS Activity app.
Amazon has slashed $100 off the official price of Apple's new 13-inch MacBook Pro sans Touch Bar, offering the machine at $1,399 instead of $1,499, presumably for a limited time.
Spotted by AppAdvice, the discount is for the stock 13-inch model, which comes with a 2.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and 256GB storage.
Meanwhile, for anyone still debating whether a Touch Bar equipped MacBook Pro is for them, Red Sweater has released a free Mac app that simulates the OLED keyboard strip as a bar on the screen.
Touché is essentially a test bed for developers, but still includes a fully functioning Touch Bar that dynamically changes based on the app currently in use, allowing anyone curious to see how it augments the physical keyboard.
On a more frivolous note, Facebook iOS developer Adam Bell has managed to hack Apple's new Touch Bar to run classic first-person shooter Doom.
Apple today launched a new repair program for iPhone 6s users whose devices may be unexpectedly shutting down. The issue is a limited one only affecting certain devices manufactured between September and October 2015.
Apple has determined that a very small number of iPhone 6s devices may unexpectedly shut down. This is not a safety issue and only affects devices within a limited serial number range that were manufactured between September and October 2015.
If you have experienced this issue, please visit an Apple Retail Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider and have your device's serial number checked to confirm eligibility for a battery replacement, free of charge.
Apple's resolution for the issue is to replace the device's battery free of charge, although Apple notes that if there are other problems with a user's device such as a cracked screen that could impair the battery replacement procedure, those issues must be repaired for a fee before the battery issue can be addressed.
Users who previously paid to have their batteries replaced for this issue can contact Apple to request refunds.
Just three days ago, Apple launched a repair program for iPhone 6 Plus owners whose devices are experiencing so-called "Touch Disease" where users may see display flickering or a loss of touch sensitivity. That program carries a $149 repair fee, as Apple says the issue is caused at least in part by the device having been "dropped multiple times on a hard surface."
Apple tonight has posted a new Apple Music ad that continues its "distractingly good" campaign. The ad stars Drake, an artist who has developed a good relationship with Apple and its music service.
In the ad, Drake is working out with a friend and listening to music. When his friend leaves, he decides to use Apple Music's curated "Pop Workout" playlist to play Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." Drake then begins dancing around the gym while lip synching. He eventually goes back to his workout, but he's so distracted having a fun time singing Swift's song that he botches the bench press.
The ad works as a companion to an ad from February in which Taylor Swift works out to Drake and Future's "Jumpman." Swift, like Drake, is so distracted by Apple Music that she messes up her workout.
Swift's latest album, "1989", is still exclusive to Apple Music. Drake's "Views" is the first album on the streaming service to be streamed more than 1 billion times. "Views" was also exclusive to Apple Music for a week before expanding to other services. Drake also debuted a 23-minute short film called "Please Forgive Me," which is meant to be a visual companion to the album, exclusively on the service.
Apple design chief Jony Ive and longtime collaborator Marc Newson's take on the London hotel Claridge's Christmas tree has been revealed – and perhaps not surprisingly, there's not a bauble in sight.
Mayfair's landmark festive tree has been drawing crowds since 2009, when notable designers began creating the seasonal decoration each year. But Ive and Newson's interpretation takes the tradition to another level – albeit a minimalist one – by transforming the hotel's lobby into a natural grove of unadorned birch trees as part of a living light and sound installation. The designers had this to say:
Our aim was to create an all-enveloping magical experience that celebrates our enormous respect for tradition while recognising our excitement about the future and things to come. There are few things more pure and beautiful than nature, so that was our starting point, layering various iterations of organic forms with technology.
Design and style magazine Wallpaper described a scene in which a series of vast four meter-high light boxes line the walls, illuminating black-and-white images of snow-capped silver birch trees, against which "towering cast models of Scots pine rise to a canopy of natural green pine".
The accompanying forest soundscape begins with a dawn chorus and features owls, nightingales, sparrows, and foxes. Synced to the audio is specially choreographed lighting that cycles from sunrise to nighttime, creating a dappled effect in the installation space. At the center of the grove, a smaller sapling tree appears to grow in the transitions of light, which the designers describe as a symbol of the future.
The installation is open to the public and free to enter, and will remain in London's Claridge's hotel throughout the festive season.
