The iOS 13.1 Beta and a Possible Link to Trump Tariffs

Charles Arthur believes that the reason we’re seeing iOS 13.1 betas already could be linked to Trump’s tariffs.

Apple’s management also knows it can just about find a win-win solution here. If 13.1 proceeds as if it were 13.0, then it will be ready roughly when the “normal” 13.0 would have been, roughly a week after the new iPhones are launched, but about a week before they go on sale. That means that it can be the “GM” when it’s announced.

I don’t buy his Occam’s Razor logic because that is about finding an explanation with the fewest assumptions, and not his stated «most rational explanation.» And his theory, although interesting nonetheless, makes more assumptions than the current explanation of «Apple is holding features for iOS 13.1 to make iOS 13.0 more stable.»

SurfShark VPN 2-Year Subscription: $69

We have a deal on SurfShark VPN. This service features unlimited data, military-grade AES-256-GCM encryption, IKEv2 and OpenVPN protocols, and more. The company also has a no logging policy. Two years with SurfShark is $69 through our deal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_93KzDGmCI

Apple Korea Shares a Video of Creative AirPods Cases

Apple Korea posted a YouTube video showing off some creative AirPods cases and skins that customers are using.

창의성 충만한 여러분의 손길을 거쳐 변신한 개성만점 각양각색 AirPods. 여기 저마다의 매력을 뽐냅니다.

A variety of unique AirPods transformed through your hands full of creativity. Here’s their charm.

Apple Pay Makes Up Just 9% of U.S. Mobile Payments

The U.S. is a long way behind when it comes to mobile payments. A report by CNBC  found that Apple Pay made up just 9% of payments in the U.S.

“The U.S. is not a leader when it comes to mobile payments — at best, it’s the middle of the pack compared to other countries,” said Gerard du Toit, partner and head of the banking and payments sector of Bain’s financial services practice in North America. It seems odd considering the ubiquity of iPhones and Androids in the United States. More than 81% of Americans own a smartphone, up from 35% just eight years ago, according to Pew Research Center. While experts say mobile payments in the U.S. will eventually close the gap, they see legacy financial systems, a lack of a need for other options, and rewards cards as major headwinds.

Latest iOS Hack is a Game Changer

We are only starting to understand the full extent of the iOS hack revealed Friday by Google researchers. At Wired, Andy Greenberg and Lily Hay Newman argued it changes everything we know about iPhone hacking.

The attack is notable not just for its breadth, but the depth of information it could glean from a victim iPhone. Once installed, it could monitor live location data, or be used to grab photos, contacts, and even passwords and other sensitive information from the iOS Keychain. With such deep system access, the attackers could also potentially read or listen to communications sent through encrypted messaging services, like WhatsApp, iMessage, or Signal. The malware doesn’t break the underlying encryption, but these programs still decrypt data on the sender and receiver’s devices. Attackers may have even grabbed access tokens that can be used to log into services like social media and communication accounts. Reed says that victim iPhone users would probably have had no indication that their devices were infected

When Elon Musk Met Jack Ma

Two of techs’ biggest names, Elon Musk and Jack Ma, had a head-to-head debate at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. Bloomberg News laid out some of the highlights from the billionaires’ discussion.

Musk: People underestimate the capability of AI. They sort of think like it’s a smart human. (But it’s going to be) much smarter than the smartest human you will ever know.

Ma: I never in my life say human beings will be controlled by machines, it’s impossible…Human beings can never create another thing that is smarter than human beings.

Musk: I very much disagree with that. The biggest mistake I see people making is to assume they’re smart.

Ma: My view is that computers might be more clever, human beings are much smarter.

The Origins of Unix - Now 50 Years Old

ars technica has posted at terrific story by Richard Jensen on the origins of the Unix operating system back in the late 1960s.

Maybe its pervasiveness has long obscured its origins. But Unix, the operating system that in one derivative or another powers nearly all smartphones sold worldwide, was born 50 years ago from the failure of an ambitious project that involved titans like Bell Labs, GE, and MIT.

A derivative of the original Unix OS, in the family tree of BSD, is the basis for macOS, iOS, and is even running in your Apple Watch.

Rumors Still Live for Apple's Bluetooth Tile Competitor

Apple announced a feature at WWDC 2019 that would let devices running iOS 13 and macOS Catalina to broadcast their location even when offline. The same technology is rumored to show up in a Bluetooth tracking device similar to Tile.

This small beacon device could be attached to personal items such as keys, purses or wallets so that the owner could find them even when out of range of the items. An ARKit «star» image discovered in the Find My app bundle hints at the possibility of using augmented reality to find lost devices or items, similar to Pixie Tracker.

India Just Passed a Law That Will Help Apple

As part of a new proposal, India said that single-brand retail companies like Apple can open online stores before they set up physical stores in the country.

This would allow Apple, which has yet to set up retail stores in the country, to start selling a range of products through its own online store. Currently, Apple sells its products in India through partnered third-party offline retailers and e-commerce platforms such as Amazon India, Flipkart and Paytm Mall.

India is Apple’s next—and perhaps last—country for big potential growth in the electronics market. Keep a close eye on this relationship in the future. I expect Apple to build data centers and other resources in the country, if they don’t have such things already.

Annapurna Interactive to Launch 'If Found..." Game in 2020

Annapurna Interactive will release what they call an «interactive novel» game in 2020. It’s called If Found... and will launch on PC, macOS, and iOS.

In the game, players enter the mind of Kasio, a young, rebellious and creative soul who is destroying her diary on New Year’s Eve. To discover her story and uncover her secrets, players must erase her words and her memories. In this vivid and honest depiction of the West of Ireland in the early 1990s, players explore Kasio’s world through her torn up memories, like moving into an abandoned mansion, hanging out with the band, going to a punk show, breaking into Kasio’s own house, destroying the universe, and finding out who Kasio can be.

Check out the YouTube trailer below.