| Cult of Mac

Today in Apple history: AppleLink Personal Edition is the precursor to AOL

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With AppleLink Personal Edition, Cupertino tried its hand at bringing the internet to the masses.
With AppleLink Personal Edition, Cupertino tried its hand at bringing the internet to the masses.
Photo: Apple Confidential

May 20 Today in Apple history May 20, 1988: Apple launches AppleLink Personal Edition, a user-facing online service that lets customers connect using a Mac-style user interface.

Years before Apple got serious about its internet efforts, AppleLink offered a glimpse of things to come. Unfortunately for Apple, it did not become quite the hit many hoped!

No settlement in sight for Apple vs Qualcomm legal battle

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Qualcomm patents
Qualcomm has become Apple's biggest legal foe.
Photo: Qualcomm

Apple is making zero effort to reach a settlement in its wide-ranging legal battle with Qualcomm.

The iPhone-maker used Qualcomm wireless chips in its devices for years, but the two sides recently started butting heads over how much Apple owes in royalties. Qualcomm alleges that Apple should pay it an additional $7 billion and it looks like it will have to go to war for every cent.

See Tim Cook deliver inspiring MIT commencement speech

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Apple CEO Tim Cook before giving the 2017 MIT Commencement Speech.
Apple CEO Tim Cook before giving the 2017 MIT Commencement Speech.
Photo: TIME

Apple CEO Tim Cook warned MIT’s graduating class of the dangers society faces as a result of rapidly advancing technology during his commencement speech this morning.

Cook challenged the 2017 graduates to measure their impact on humanity on the lives they touch, rather than the likes you get on social media.

Apple hires satellite experts for mystery project

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Is Apple thinking about making satellites?
Is Apple thinking about making satellites?
Photo: NOAA/Flickr

A pair of new Apple hirings may hint that the company is setting its sights on the sky.

Two of Google’s top satellite executives have reportedly left the Alphabet-owned company in recent weeks and were hired by Apple. What they’ll be working on isn’t clear, but their experience indicates Apple could be getting serious about satellite internet.

Android squeaks past Windows to become internet’s most popular OS

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Android rules the Internet.
Android rules the Internet.
Photo: Google

Windows can no longer claim the crown as the most popular operating system on the internet thanks to the rise of smartphones.

During the month of March, Microsoft finally saw its share of worldwide OS internet get eclipsed by Google’s Android operating system, marking the first time a mobile OS is more popular than the software powering PCs.

People love Apple’s doomed AirPort more than any other router

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Apple's routers are #1.
Apple's routers are #1.
Photo: Apple

Apple sure seems to be doing routers right. At least according to the more than 3,000 customers polled in J.D. Power’s 2016 Wireless Router Satisfaction Report.

Apple came out as the top-rated router manufacturer in Overall Satisfaction, which would be great news for the AirPort team — if Apple hadn’t just disbanded it.

Hackers can use this tiny $5 device to attack your locked Mac

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PoisonTap is tiny but deadly.
PoisonTap is tiny but deadly.
Photo: Samy Kamkar

The next time you leave your Mac unattended, make sure to turn it off.

A well-known hacker has created a cheap tool that can steal data off of locked computers in minutes. The clever new device called PoisonTap is created using a $5 Raspberry Pi Zero and some open source code. Attackers can plug PoisonTap into a machine and as long as the victim has a web browser open, it can steal data and leave remote backdoors.

What the modern web looks like on an original iPhone

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Nine years later, the original iPhone is still pretty great at rendering the modern web...  except when it isn't.
Nine years later, the original iPhone is still pretty great at rendering the modern web... except when it isn't.
Photo: Medium

When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone nine years ago this month, he made a big point about iOS Safari, the first desktop-class mobile browser. He said — and proceeded to prove — that Mobile Safari could render the web with no compromises.

But that was a decade ago. The web’s moved on. So how does today’s web look on an original iPhone?

Mozilla missed a golden opportunity with Firefox for iOS

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firefox-for-ios
At long last, Mozilla Firefox for iOS is becoming a reality.
Photo: Mozilla

It’s been a long ride, but Mozilla confirmed that Firefox is in fact almost ready for its official launch on iPhone and iPad. The company announced a limited release of the browser in the New Zealand App Store.

It’s appreciable that Firefox is finally hopping on board with iOS, but at this point it seems Mozilla is far too late to the game to give Firefox a meaningful opportunity for reemergence.