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Luke Dormehl - page 243

Stealthy malware will hold your Mac ransom

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Apple takes a hacksaw to estimated trade-in values for its devices
A rare security threat aimed at Mac users.
Photo: Pictures of Money/Flickr CC

Torrenters beware! The first ransomware attack on Mac users in the wild has been discovered, “courtesy” of Transmission, a BitTorrent client for Mac.

The torrent service received a major update last week, but it unfortunately the new software happened to be infected with ransomware, which went on to quietly install itself on the the Macs of everyone who downloaded the update from Transmission’s website.

Hound, Thumb Drift, and other awesome apps of the week

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Have an 'appy weekend all!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

If you’re looking to unwind this fine Sunday by sampling the latest App Store delectables for your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch, look no further: Cult of Mac has your hookup!

Whether you’re on the hunt for a fun racing game, a new and surprisingly great alternative to Siri, or a promising photo and video-editing app created by a 16-year-old dev, we’ve got what you’re searching for.

Check out our picks below. You won’t be disappointed.

Here are the secret code names Apple gives iOS internally

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iOS 9 is good, but iOS 10 needs to be spectacular.
From the look of things he's running Monarch.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Do you know your “Brighton” from your “Copper?” How about debating the merits of “Eagle” over “Castlerock?”

Every geek worth their salt loves a good code name, and just because Apple (unlike Android), never publicly refers to its mobile OS versions by names rather than numbers doesn’t mean it doesn’t have them.

You can check out the full list below. Who knows, maybe casually name-dropping “Innsbruck” like you’re a real insider will let you slip past the security guards at Apple HQ?

Apple could receive hefty fines for not handing over data in France

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That's a whole lot of euros.
Photo: Godzimama

France’s lower house of parliament has passed an amendment which could see Apple charged heavy fines, and even handed out jail time, if it fails to hand over encrypted data as part of government investigations.

The amendment affects both tech and telecoms companies. The punishment could reach up to €350,000 ($385,000) and five years in jail, although a proposed amendment asking the French government to hand out fines of €1 million was rejected.

Apple plans to sell refurbished iPhones in India

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Apple wants to get more iPhones into customers' hands.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is planning to import and sell refurbished iPhones in India as a way of getting its handsets into more people’s hands.

“An application from Apple regarding import of certified pre-owned iPhones for sale in India and manufacturing certified pre-owned iPhones for sale in India has been received in the ministry of environment and forests,” telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today.

Bizarre obsession with Steve Jobs musicals continues

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Sing different.
Photo: Ben Stanfield/Flickr CC

The oddball collection of Steve Jobs-inspired musicals is set to gain another entry this month, as new “original pop-rock musical” The Crazy Ones makes it debut at 54 Below — the supper club beneath the legendary Studio 54 — in New York City.

Taking its name from a line in Apple’s iconic “Think Different” ad campaign, the musical tells the story of a young Steve Jobs being driven out of Apple — although the wording on its press release makes it sound oddly like the trailer for a 1980s horror movie.

FBI will fight for iOS backdoors even if it loses to Apple

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iPhone hack
Bruce Schneier thinks the FBI isn't going to stop fighting any time soon.
Photo: Ste Smith

The FBI is unlikely to give up trying to pry its way into iPhones even if it loses the current standoff with Apple over encryption, says security expert Bruce Schneier.

Schneier, who is one of the leading experts on modern cryptography, says it is “clear that the San Bernardino case was preselected as a legal precedent case” by the bureau — despite the fact that FBI Director James Comey has claimed this is not the case (only to later contradict himself.)

Don’t expect the iPhone sales slump to last long

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Didn't we like the sharpe edges of the iPhone 5 more anyway?
The end of the iPhone sales boom? Hardly.
Photo: TechRax/YouTube

iPhone sales may be set to level off this year, according to Tim Cook, but don’t think that Apple handsets are entering an irreversible decline.

According to the latest forecast from analysts at IDC, in their Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, iPhone growth should return as soon as 2017 — thanks to Apple’s trade-in programs and expansion into new markets outside the United States.

Apple Support comes to your rescue on Twitter

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Apple's got your back.
Photo: Apple

If you’ve got a question for Apple — or simply want to pick up some new tips and tricks for your iOS device or Mac — Apple has launched a brand new Twitter account to help you.

Launched this morning, @AppleSupport has already sent out 137 tweets, covering everything from Apple IDs to downloading app updates, to its 21,200 users.

Health company offering Apple Watch for $25 if you hit your fitness goals

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Apple Watch
A great idea to get people to stay fit.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Companies like Best Buy offer good deals on the Apple Watch, but one of the most innovative concepts I’ve heard is currently being offered by South African health insurer Discovery Health.

In a program announced this week, Discovery is allowing some customers to buy a $350 Apple Watch for only $25 by hitting fitness-related exercise goals. If users miss their targets, their discount shrinks.

Best part of it? The program is coming to the U.S., too.

Apple looks to attract young talent with new San Francisco office

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235 Second St. might be Apple's new home in San Francisco.
Apple's San Francisco office.
Photo: Todd Johnson/SF Business Times

Apple has never been a company to offer the kind of perks that Google and others do — allowing its stock options and world-beating reputation to make up for the tech giant’s lack of indoor climbing walls and free food.

But a new report suggests that Apple may be slowly rethinking its approach to incentives. And it’s all beginning with San Francisco real-estate.

OLED displays could arrive with next year’s iPhone 7s

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Sharper iPhone displays are just around the corner.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Virtually everyone is expecting Apple to make the jump to OLED displays sooner or later, but according to a new report iPhone users may be able to expect the arrival of the new, sharper displays as soon as next year’s iPhone 7s — around one year earlier than was being predicted.

Apple is reported to have spoken with its display suppliers at both LG and Samsung concerning its desire to ramp up OLED production so that it is ready for next year’s iPhone release.

Does the world really need a thinner iPhone?

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Apple's new aluminum will kill Bendgate.
Do phones need to be this skinny?
Photo: Unbox Therapy

A joke in Zoolander 2 pokes fun at the ’90s craze for tiny cellphones, something which today seems as retro as flannel shirts and Pulp Fiction posters in your dorm room.

With the upcoming iPhone 7, Apple is apparently showing us the next iteration of that ideal by bringing us a smartphone so thin — just 6.1 mm thick — that even Victoria’s Secret models would advise it to eat a sandwich.

But are super-slim iPhones what users really want, or have Jony Ive and Apple’s design team taken things too far?

Apple’s privacy policy could earn it massive fines in France

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That's a lot of euros!
Photo: Godzimama

Although most of the attention on Apple’s privacy standoff with the government has so far focused on the United States, the U.S. isn’t the only place where Apple’s fighting with the authorities over iPhone encryption.

In France, politician Yann Galut, a member of the country’s Socialist Party, has submitted an amendment to a bill designed to strengthen the French government’s fight against terror — by arguing that Apple should pay €1 million per smartphone if it does not “promptly” agree to unlock devices when asked to by law enforcement.

Apple’s top chipmaker will double production ahead of iPhone 7

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TSMC is looking likely to be Apple's sole A10 manufacturer.
Photo: Apple

There’s a lot of talk about slowing iPhone sales, but you wouldn’t get that impression from the manufacturer set to build Apple’s A10 chips for the upcoming iPhone 7.

According to a new report, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is doubling its monthly output capacity from 40,000 12-inch wafers in February to a whopping 80,000 in March.

Why you shouldn’t let an iPad raise your kids

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Yep, kids love their iPads.
The challenges of parenting in the digital age.
Photo: Payless

Steve Jobs didn’t let his kids play with iPads and, far from being out of touch with modern parenting, it turns out that he was being quite progressive.

That’s according to a recent study carried out by the University of Michigan, which found that parents with “difficult” children are far more likely to give them iPads to pacify them — particularly during high-stress times like eating, being in public, doing chores, or going to bed.

Apple files an appeal against creating iPhone backdoor

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iPhone hack
Apple is fighting the court's original verdict.
Photo: Ste Smith

Apple filed an appeal late on Tuesday, protesting the government’s order that it create software to help the FBI to hack an iPhone used by one of the terrorists in the mass-shooting of 14 people in San Bernardino.

The appeal was filed just before 11pm PST, and lists formal objections to Judge Sheri Pym’s order — stating that Apple is making the appeal out of what the company calls,”an abundance of caution.”

Apple leases ex-Pepsi factory for possible Apple Car research

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Apple car concept art shows what Cupertino might put on the road.
Apple may need more space for its Apple Car project.
Photo: Aristomenis Tsirbas/Freelancer

Steve Jobs famously recruited then-Pepsi CEO John Sculley to join Apple with the line, “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?”

More than 30 years later, that iconic line could be rewritten as, “Do you want to bottle sugar water all your life, or do you want to help build the Apple Car?” — because Apple has reportedly leased a former Pepsi bottling plant, which may be used for Cupertino’s rumored electric vehicle research.

Attorney general wants Silicon Valley to help catch terrorists who’ve ‘gone dark’

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Loretta Lynch wants tech companies to work with the government.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Attorney General Loretta Lynch will argue that the U.S. government and the tech industry must work together to take down criminals and terrorists when she speaks at a San Francisco cybersecurity conference today.

While Lynch won’t directly refer to Apple’s current FBI standoff in her speech to tech leaders at the RSA Conference, she will describe the dangers of criminals “going dark” by using technologies such as encrypted smartphones. As such, she wants a “frank dialogue and fruitful partnership” between Washington and Silicon Valley.

San Bernardino survivor’s husband supports Apple against FBI

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iPhone hack
This case is about much more than one iPhone.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The husband of a San Bernardino survivor — whose spouse almost lost her life during the mass shooting which prompted Apple’s hacking standoff with the FBI — has said that he supports Apple’s pro-privacy stance.

Salicin Kondoker’s wife was shot three times during the attack, but in a letter to Judge Sheri Pym, Kondoker writes that Apple’s fight represents, “something much bigger than [hacking] one phone.”

Ron Paul defends Apple: Spying has not prevented one terrorist attack

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Ron Paul says we should all support Apple.
Photo: R. DeYoung/Flickr CC

Siri loves Ron Paul, and apparently Paul’s feelings toward Apple are mutual.

The former congressman and presidential candidate used his weekly column this week to take on the issue of Apple’s standoff with the FBI — arguing that creating a backdoor for the iPhone would absolutely be a “precedent-setting case,” and stating that, “The government spying on us has not prevented one terrorist attack.”

iPhone hacking case is one step closer to being heard by Congress

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iPhone mobile encryption touch id
The iPhone hacking case is becoming one of 2016's biggest stories.
Photo: Olly Browning/Pixabay

Apple has argued that its encryption beef with the U.S. government should be heard by Congress, rather than the courts, and it appears that certain members of the House Judiciary Committee agree.

According to a new report, select Republican and Democratic party members of the House Judiciary Committee are considering filing a “friend of the court” brief to support elevating the case up to Congress level — although no final decision has yet been made.

iPhone 7 will be as slim as an iPod touch

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The iPhone 7 may be Apple's thinnest handset yet.
Photo: Apple

The iPhone 7 is set to be a whole 1mm thinner than the iPhone 6s, according to a new report — making it the same 6.1mm thickness as the fifth-generation iPod touch.

Considering that the first generation iPhone was 11.6mm thick, this means that Apple will have successfully shaved off almost half the thickness of its slimline iPhone over the course of the handset’s lifecycle, should this rumor turn out to be true. That’s a pretty amazing statistic!

Apple’s privacy fight with FBI could land Tim Cook in jail

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iPhone 6s
And all this over one iPhone!
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

With Apple not yet willing to accept court orders to unlock the iPhone at the center of the San Bernardino shooing case, legal experts are weighing in on what penalties the company (and, conceivably, Tim Cook) may face if the parties involved refuse to do so.

The answer? Anything from some pretty big fines to jail-time for Apple’s CEO.