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Buster Hein - page 109

Researchers find gaping hole in Apple’s iMessage encryption

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Federal judge shoots down down group iMessage lawsuit.
iMessage contains a critical encryption flaw.
Photo: Apple

Encryption researchers at John Hopkins University have found a serious flaw in the encryption of Apple’s iMessage platform that shatters the FBI’s stance that encryption on devices like the iPhone is unhackable.

The group of researchers discovered a bug that would allow attackers to decrypt pictures and video sent over iMessage. The flaw wouldn’t help the FBI in its investigation of the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, but it shows just how hard it is to get air-tight encryption right, even for a company with as much talent and resources as Apple.

Silicon Valley nerds get new boss in Season 3 trailer

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Erlich Bachman is back in the saddle.
Erlich Bachman is back in the saddle.
Photo: HBO

Silicon Valley, the HBO comedy about the hard knocks of startup life, is coming back for its third season this April, and based on the first trailer that was released today, it’s going to be every bit as whacky as the first two seasons, if not more.

The Pied Piper gang gets a new CEO to kick things off, after last season ended with founder and CEO Richard Hendricks getting booted from his top spot by the board. It appears that Richard hasn’t completely left the company despite getting fired, while Gavin Belson and the Piper’s other rivals are still trying to kill the nerdy compression company.

Watch the first trailer below:

DOJ surprises Apple with evidentiary hearing request

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Bruce Sewell
The DoJ has thrown another curveball at Apple's lawyers.
Photo: House Judiciary Committee

The Department of Justice has pulled another surprise on Apple this week by making a last minute request to turn the company’s court appearance on March 22nd with the FBI into an evidentiary hearing.

Apple lawyers told reporters this morning that they were caught-off guard by the last minute request which should have been submitted weeks ago.

Apple Events app brings March 21 keynote to Apple TV

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Apple March 21 event invite
The iPhone SE is nearly here.
Photo: Apple

The new Apple Events apps for tvOS has finally arrived, giving Apple TV owners a way to watch the iPhone SE keynote from the comfort of their living room.

Apple’s ‘Loop you in’ event will be the company’s first keynote to stream on the new Apple TV, only unlike previous event channels, you’ll have to download it from the App Store to tune in.

Major iPhone 7 changes revealed by leaked case

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iPhone 6 inside an iPhone 7 case.
iPhone 6 inside an iPhone 7 case.
Photo: Unbox Therapy

New video of an alleged iPhone 7 case appears to show major changes destined for Apple’s next-gen smartphone.

If it is accurate, the case appears to confirm that Apple will kill the headphone jack and add stereo speakers to the bottom of the device, which should be revealed later this year.

11 juicy quotes from Tim Cook’s interview on encryption

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Tim Cook
Tim Cook is pushing for end to end encryption.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple CEO Tim Cook has vowed to continue fighting ‘the good fight’ for the American people in its war against the federal government over encryption.

Cook sat down for a lengthy interview with Time as part of the magazine’s March 28 cover story on Apple, saying that he’s a “big optimist that we ultimately arrive at the right thing” in the battle between privacy and national security, however the company is prepared for a long and important battle.

The long ranging interview touches on everything from Apple’s case with the FBI, cybersecurity, civil liberties, and even Donald Trump. We read the entire transcript so you don’t have to and pulled out the 11 most revealing bits below:

‘Leaked’ iPhone SE packaging confirms 16GB storage and Apple Pay

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iPhone SE will be the star of Apple's March 21 keynote.
iPhone SE will be the star of Apple's March 21 keynote.
Photo: Martin Hajek

The official debut of the iPhone SE is just days away, but it appears that packaging for the new device has already been spotted in the wild, and it confirms some of the device’s new features.

A photo of what appears to be an iPhone SE box was posted on Weibo this morning. If the box is indeed the real deal, Apple’s new 4-inch device will definitely be called the iPhone SE, and it’ll be the first budget-sized iPhone to support Apple Pay.

Here’s a look at the packaging:

Pro-Apple protesters plan to swarm courthouse outside FBI hearing

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data privacy
Protesters in San Francisco line up with pro-privacy signs outside the downtown Apple Store in 2016.
Photo: Traci Dauphin/Cult of Mac

The FBI will be greeted by protestors when it faces off against Apple at the U.S. District Courthouse in Riverside, CA on March 22nd.

Fight for the Future — the same group that rallied at Apple Stores across the country last month — is organizing another protest against the FBI’s federal court order compelling Apple to weaken security in iOS so the government can hack the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone 5c.

Tiny chip could give iPhone 7 Plus more storage than ever

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Sneeze and it's gone: iPhone 7 may be super-duper thin.
iPhone 7 Plus will pack tons of storage despite being super thin.
Photo: Yasser Farahi

The iPhone 7 Plus may boast more storage than any smartphone Apple’s ever created, if the company uses a tiny new chip by SanDisk that packs 256GB of flash storage.

Photos of the new chip destined for smartphones surfaced on an Italian tech blog comparing them to the old 64GB NAND flash chip SanDisk made for Apple in the past.

Check out how little the new chip is next to the old 64GB model:

Everything Apple will announce at its March 21 keynote

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iPhone SE will be the star of Apple's March 21 keynote.
iPhone SE will be the star of Apple's March 21 keynote.
Photo: Martin Hajek

The invites are out and the rumors are in. Apple’s first event of 2016 is going down March 21, when the company will loop fans in on some shiny new products coming soon to Apple Stores.

Apple is expected to introduce a new 4-inch iPhone aimed at budget customers and people who want to be able to hold their smartphone with one hand, but a new 9.7-inch iPad that’s every bit as impressive as the iPad Pro could steal the show (along with some other new goodies).

Here’s what to expect from Apple’s big event.

Apple accuses FBI of using All Writs Act like ‘magic wand’

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Bruce Sewell
Apple's legal team has lobbed its latest response at FBI.
Photo: House Committee on the Judiciary Hearings

Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell said the FBI threw “all decorum to the winds” in its latest federal court filing, but in the company’s official response today it has vowed it does not “intend to response in kind.”

The iPhone-maker says in its latest filing that the FBI’s claim that it exhausted all viable investigative alternatives is false because it improperly reset the iCloud password before consulting Apple. The company also admits that it didn’t take a public stance on privacy and encryption until the release of iOS 8.

14 weird and wonderful gowns from Apple’s fashion exhibit

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This 3D printed dress will be part of Apple's Manus x Machina exhibition.
This 3D printed dress will be part of Apple's Manus x Machina exhibition.
Photo: Nicholas Alan Cope/The Met

Apple’s upcoming fashion exhibition at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art is set to open in May, but if you can’t make it to the Big Apple to see which designer pieces Jony Ive and Co. hand-picked as examples for how technological advancements have altered fashion, the museum has given a sneak peek at some of the weird and wonderful gowns that will be on display.

The exhibit will feature over 100 pieces made from the 1880’s up to 2015, including gowns from icons like Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Dior, Miuccia Prada, Yves Saint Laurent, and more.

Take a look at some of the pieces coming to the Manus x Machina exhibit:

Woz reveals formative moment that turned him into a geek

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wozniak
Woz has the magic touch with computers.
Photo: Reddit

Before Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple Computers, he was just a super-nerdy kid who loved to operate HAM radios. In a new video interview detailing the most formative moments in his totally geeky life, Woz explains how he went from tinkering with electronics to teaching himself binary by 5th grade, and then made a machine that played tic-tac-toe in 6th grade.

Woz eventually got so good with machines that he could design a mini-computer in two days. Those skills led to his creation of the Apple II computer, which put his and Steve Jobs’ fledgling company on the map.

Watch as Woz recounts his childhood obsession with computers, during the humble beginnings of Silicon Valley, below:

The seventh OS X 10.11.4 beta is here

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el-capitan-beta
New El Capitan beta is here.
Photo: Apple

Apple is not quite done tinkering with OS X 10.11.4 before its public release.

The company seeded the seventh beta of OS X 10.11.4 to developers this morning, a little over a week after Apple released the last beta for the desktop operating system.

This could be our first look at the iPhone 7

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"Leaked" iPhone 7 with Smart Connector (left) and iPhone 6s.
Photo: Bastille Post

The iPhone 7 may come with a Smart Connector if photos of what appears to be an early iPhone 7 Plus unit can be believed.

Photos of the alleged iPhone 7, leaked by a Chinese website, show Apple integrating a dual-lens camera into the design of the rear case. If the case is accurate, it looks like Apple won’t be ditching its protruding camera lens this year.

Photos of alleged iPhone 7 dual-lens camera sensor leak

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Got a new iPhone? Set it up right.
iPhone 7 might have to cameras in the back
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

The first images of what could be the iPhone 7’s dual-lens camera leaked online today, giving fans a possible sneak peek at the future of iPhotography.

Apple is rumored to be including a dual-lens camera sensor on at least the iPhone 7 Plus. If the leaked sensor shown below is the real deal, it appears that one lens will be wider than the other to provide optical zooming.

Check it out:

Apple seeds yet another iOS 9.3 beta

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ios-9-3-notes
IOS 9.3.2 beta 2 is here.
Photo: Apple

It seems like iOS 9.3 has been in beta for years now, but Apple isn’t quite done fine-tuning its biggest software update of the year.

Apple released iOS 9.3 beta 7 to developers this afternoon, exactly a week after the last version was seeded to devs and public testers. iOS 9.3 adds new features such as Night Shift mode, multiple Apple Watch pairings on one iPhone, improved Apple News and Apple Music apps, and some great education features for iPad.

Developers can grab the new beta directly from the Apple Developer Center portal or via an over-the-air update if you have the previous beta installed.

Here’s a roundup of the new features to expect:

Counterterrorism expert says FBI isn’t being honest about iPhone hacking

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Your iPhone will always need to be recharged everyday.
The FBI isn't really trying to unlock the San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The guy that warned George Bush about an imminent al-Qaida attack before 9/11 is taking Apple’s side in the company’s fight against the FBI over whether it can be compelled to break into the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone.

Richard Clarke, who served as the senior counterterrorism official in the US for nine years, sat down for an interview this morning regarding encryption and the FBI’s efforts to hack the iPhone. Despite FBI Director James Comey’s insistence that the FBI has tried everything, Clarke says all it would take to hack the device is a call to Fort Meade.

You can already buy an ‘iPhone SE’ in China

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Is that really the iPhone SE?
Is that really the iPhone SE?
Photo: Nick Beeep

The iPhone SE isn’t an official Apple product yet, but if you’re lucky enough to live in Shenzhen, China, you can already get your hands on a new 4-inch iPhone that looks like the love child of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 5s.

Small shops at the infamous Huaqiangbei market are selling the closest thing to a real iPhone SE. In a new video claiming to spot an alleged iPhone SE in the wild, a Chinese YouTuber shows just how easy it is to roam the corridors of China’s “Silicon Valley of Hardware” and buy the new iPhone before it’s even been announced.

See for yourself:

Donald Trump’s Apple boycott disappears in a flurry of tweets

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Yeah, we're pretty incredulous about your ideas, too, Mr. Trump.
The brief has been successful despite support from big companies.
Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr CC

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s bid to make America great again by boycotting its most valuable company has already failed.

Three weeks ago Trump called for a boycott of all Apple products because the company has refused to comply with a federal order to unlock the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone 5c, but it looks like his love for iPhone ultimately won.

This morning, Trump unleashed a flurry of tweets. Only instead of going with an Android, his itsy-bitsy hands embraced the iPhone once again:

Everything we know about the new 9.7-inch iPad

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Get ready to meet the iPad Pro's smaller sibling.
Get ready to meet the iPad Pro's smaller sibling.
Photo: Apple

The iPad Air lineup hasn’t been updated since October 2014 but that is finally set to change on March 21st when Apple is expected to unveil a new 9.7-inch iPad that will undoubtedly be the best tablet to ever come out of Cupertino.

Thanks to a flurry of rumors and leaks over the winter we have a pretty solid idea what Tim Cook and company will reveal when Apple loops us in at 1 Infinite Loop. If you want Apple’s first keynote of 2016 to be a surprise, stop reading now.

Here’s everything to expect from Apple’s new iPad:

Cola Messenger wants to streamline texting with ‘bubbles’

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Cola's bubbles want to take over your texting experience.
Cola's bubbles want to take over your texting experience.
Photo: Cola.

Most iPhone users spend more time texting than in any other app. Everything from scheduling meetings to finding out what your buddies want to eat tonight is done through texting, the only problem is the experience really hasn’t evolved since iOS was first introduced.

Cola is a new messenger app that wants to fix that by streamlining your communication with little bubbles that let you do stuff like create polls, make a to-do list, and much more so you can spend less time texting and more time enjoying life.

DOJ accuses Apple of deliberately making iPhone unhackable (no duh)

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Apple wants to keep everyone (even the feds) out of iOS.
Apple wants to keep everyone (even the feds) out of iOS.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a new motion in court today regarding its battle against Apple to compel the iPhone-maker to unlock the iPhone 5c that belonged to San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook.

In the new filing the feds argue that Apple has “deliberately raised technological barriers” on iOS to make it harder for the government and other attackers to hack Apple devices. They also claim that demanding Apple to unlock one iPhone won’t result in a security vulnerability for all users.

Everything we know about Apple’s new 4-inch iPhone

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That iPhone in your pocket is much more well-traveled than you are.
That iPhone in your pocket is much more well-traveled than you are.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is expected to unveil a brand new iPhone in a little over a week, only instead of going big, the first new iPhone of 2016 will be perfect for people with tiny hands and those who don’t want to spend a lot on a new smartphone.

The rumor mill has been serving up juicy bits of gossip on Apple’s upcoming handset for over a year, so as the big day approaches we have some pretty solid clues about the next iPhone’s design, hardware, price, name and much more.

Here are the probable answers to all your iPhone SE questions.