Following yesterday’s surprise announcement that multiple employee computers within Cuptertino had been compromised by a malicious zero-day Java exploit that was uploaded to an iOS developer forum, the owner of the attacked site has spoken out, claiming that not only did he have no idea he had been hacked… Apple never even contacted him to tell him.
For the last two decades of his life, Steve Jobs was a Mercedes man, through and through. But in the 80s, Steve Jobs was a Porsche man. He gave one as an award to the salesman who sold the most Macs in the United States. And in 1980, Apple even sponsored a Porsche to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car endurance race.
The hack in question affected more than just Apple; Silicon Valley giants like Facebook and Twitter were also compromised. How exactly were hackers able to gain access to some of the biggest tech companies’ computers? The source is a single web forum for iPhone development.
Following today’s big story that a number of employee computers within Apple were compromised following a zero-day Java exploit, Oracle has just released update 15 for Java 7 and update 41 for Java 6.
While there’s no specific mention of what has been updated, there’s excellent reason to believe it fixes the vulnerability that compromised both Apple and Facebook.
According to Apple, a “small number” of its employees computers were compromised due to a vulnerability in Java.
How Did It Happen?
It appears that this zero-day exploit is the same one that resulted in a number of Facebook employees having malware installed on their laptops as a result of visiting a mobile developer website that had been compromised: Apple says their employees were infected “through a website for software developers.”
HTC’s much-leaked flagship phone, the HTC One, has just become official in New York and London, but you’ve got to be wondering how the new 4.7-inch Android superphone stacks up against the competition. Wonder no more, we’ve got a spec-by-spec breakdown on how it does compared to the BlackBerry Z10, iPhone 5, Nokia Lumia 920, Samsung Galaxy SIII and Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD, and the answer to that question is: damn well, all specs considered.
Got a new Mac? Trying to get the most out of it – or perhaps the one you’ve had for a few months? There are countless tools out there than can help – but rarely can so many of them be found in a bundle such as this: The Mac Essentials Bundle.
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An Apple retail store in Boulder, Colorado, became the latest target of a “smash and grab” robbery early Saturday morning. A hooded crook threw three rocks through the store’s $100,000 custom glass doors before stealing $64,000 worth of merchandise, including MacBooks, iPads, and iPhones.
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PassWallet, an app that allows Android devices to use passes created for Apple’s Passbook service, has been updated to add supper for NFC. Users can now “beam and redeem” all kinds of passes if they have a supported handset, something Apple’s iOS devices — which don’t support NFC — cannot do.
Yesterday, Amazon’s iOS Kindle app was updated to add multicolor highlights, “Book End Actions” (rate, review, share, see recommendations) and to fix the brightness control, which now stays set across app switching or sleep.
At first I thought “Meh, iBooks has had most of that since forever.” And then I thought “Wait, are there any differences left between these two apps?”
The answer is — of course — yes. But it’s more complicated than that…
Office supply superstore Staples will beging selling Apple products soon in the United States and Canada, according to an exuberant tweet from the company’s senior vice president of global human resources, Regis Mulot. If he seems like an odd mouthpiece for such an announcement, there’s a reason for it: moments later, it was taken down.
Rumors (and credibleleaks) about Microsoft Office for iPad have been swirling for at least a year, but so far, the best you can do is load up Office 365 in your iPad’s web browser. If you want a tablet that natively runs office, you have to buy a Surface.
There’s a reason for that. Microsoft knows that Office is the biggest reason why someone might buy a Surface over an iPad. But by refusing to release Office for iPad, Microsoft is leaving a lot more money on their table than they are taking from it in Surface orders, at least according to one analyst.
Sony is currently experimenting with a tablet-style PlayStation controller, which according to Slashgear would allow for “dynamic 3D motion control and virtual buttons for gaming and other purposes.” They’re even trying to patent it.
It looks like cool hardware, similar to the capabilities of the Wii U console, which was, of course, Nintendo’s answer to the tablet craze that Apple started back in 2010.
So far, so good. Want to take a guess, though, what Sony wants to call their iPad clone?
You probably haven’t heard of a German company called Loewe. The high-end TV maker hasn’t done so well at selling ultra-expensive HDTVs as of late, and its peripheral business isn’t doing so hot either.
It’s amazing to see how Apple can affect the stock value of another company. After a debunked report from last year claimed that Apple was planning to buy Loewe, yet another acquisition rumor has sent Loewe’s stock soaring to new heights. And just like the first time, the situation is all smoke and no fire.
Jefferies' Peter Misek, the face behind almost all of today's Apple rumors.
It’s been a crazy day of rumors. Rumors about iPhone 5 sales slipping, the iPhone 5S coming out this summer, an Apple TV event in March, an iTV launch in September, and something about the 4.8-inch iPhone 6 being “delayed” until 2014. Busy day… but all of that info came from one guy, Peter Misek. And that guy is basically the Digitimes of analysts when it comes to correctly predicting Apple’s next move.
As an analyst for Jefferies, Mr. Misek has a long and comical history of making some crazy claims about Apple’s future plans. Who can blame him? It’s his job to predict the future of Apple so investors can make decisions. The problem is a huge amount of his predictions were wrong, especially when it comes to the Apple HDTV, where Misek has (so far) been almost universally off-point.
Here’s a run-down of some of Misek’s “greatest” predictions.
Apple is no longer the exclusive rights holder to the iPhone trademark in Brazil when applied to handset devices. That means IGB Electronics S.A. and Apple can both sell “iPhones” in the county, even though IGB’s iPhone is, in fact, an Android phone.
When it comes to smartphones, there are really only two companies that matter right now – Apple and Samsung. They’re both championing different mobile operating systems, but the two companies are absolutely dominating the worldwide smartphone market.
Earlier today, Gartner reported that Apple and Samsung now control 52 percent of the worldwide smartphone market, even though mobile phone sales declined 1.7 percent in 2012.
Amazon has topped a poll for the best reputation among 14,000 U.S. consumers, narrowly beating Apple who was last year’s number one. The retail giant achieved an 82.62% positive reputation, according to research firm Harris Interactive, while Apple achieved 82.54%. Google nabbed fourth place with a vote of 81.32%.
During today’s annual Goldman Sachs conference, Tim Cook spoke about the culture of innovation at Apple. While Wall Street has started losing faith in the company’s ability to grow, Cook has “never been more bullish on Apple.”
Cook still sees Apple as the leading innovator in the tech sector, and he believes there are two key aspects that fuel the company’s success.
Samsung EVP David Eun, who is currently part of the company’s Open Innovation Center, believes the ongoing litigation between Apple and Samsung is “a loss” to innovation. Eun was probed for his opinion on the subject during an interview today at the D:Dive Into Media conference in Dana Point, California, and although he wouldn’t say much about the ongoing battles between the two consumer tech giants, he made it clear that he didn’t approve of it.
Here’s an illuminating chart by Horace Dediu. Check out how big Apple’s iTunes and iPhone accessory revenues are, compared to the entire mobile phone revenue of pretty much every smartphone manufacturer except Samsung. It easily dwarves them. Maybe these guys should stop making smartphones and start making iPhone accessories?
Greenlight Capital is suing Apple in an effort to get Apple to send back more of its $137 billion cash reserves in the form of shareholder dividends. Apple took this fairly seriously, and issued a press release explaining where they were at on the issue, including the fact that the Cupertino-based company has already given shareholders $10 billion of a planned $45 billion in cash.
Today, however, a judge in the US Court for the Southern District of New York approved a request by both parties in the suit to move the timetable for a response, with Apple planning to file by the end of the day this coming Wednesday, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.