The iOS 12.4 Jailbreak is a Big Deal

It emerged a few days ago that in iOS 12.4 Apple accidentally reintroduced a way to jailbreak the iPhone. This brought with it a number of associated vulnerabilities. Will Bedingfield, writing at Wired, explained why this is a big deal.

Apple first fixed the problem in iOS 12.3 but reintroduced it in the latest version of its code, iOS 12.4, which was released in June. In doing so, Apple has inadvertently made it easier to jailbreak and hack its own product. This weakness let an attacker corrupt the phone’s kernel memory, allowing a security researcher, called Pwn20wnd, to develop and publish an iPhone jailbreak. This is a big deal for Apple, which offers a restricted user experience – apps on its app store are subject to rigorous testing and restrictions, for instance – in return for high security. The last time the newest version of iOS was open to a jailbreak vulnerability was back in 2015, when iOS 9 was prominent, and only for seven days.

Apple Card Transforming Goldman Sachs into Consumer Powerhouse

Apple Card is a key part of Goldman Sach’s work to become a key player in the consumer market, its CEO said. David Solomon made the comments in an interview with CNBC.

“Apple Card is big, but it’s also a beginning,” Solomon said Tuesday in an internal memo obtained by CNBC. “In the decades to come, I expect us to be a leader in our consumer business, just like we are in our institutional and corporate businesses, with customer-centricity at the core of everything we do.” The co-branded credit card rolled out Tuesday to all U.S. customers, featuring a cash-back policy of up to 3% as well as a titanium, laser-etched physical card. “Apple Card makes a typically frustrating application process easy; it provides an interface with more useful information for the customer; and it places greater importance on customer privacy and security,” Solomon said.

Apple's Privacy Rule for Kids Apps Delayed

At WWDC 2019, Apple announced stricter rules for kids apps. Developers of these apps aren’t allowed to use analytics within them. Ads would also be limited. Apple is now delaying the rule to give developers more time.

Apple says it is making the move in part to better protect users’ privacy by shielding children from data trackers, a move that has been lauded by some privacy advocates. But some developers say they fear that the new rules won’t protect kids — possibly exposing them to more adult apps — and could pointlessly reduce their businesses.

Maybe don’t make preying on kids your business model?

Student Studying Disinformation Has Twitter Account Suspended as Part of China Crackdown

On Monday, Twitter suspended over 900 accounts it said were involved in a Chinese disinformation campaign in Hong Kong. One of those people who had their account suspended, 24-year-old Luka Ivezic, told the BBC his account should not have bee amongst those flagged by the social media firm.

Mr Ivezic, who was born in Croatia and says he has never been to China, recently completed his thesis. The subject? “Disinformation, and how artificial intelligence can empower the tools that China and Russia have to misinform us.” “It is a bit ironic that something like this would happen to me,” he said after I contacted him about the list. According to documents released by Twitter on Monday, four of Mr Ivezic’s tweets were flagged, all of which discussed Artificial Intelligence, bitcoin and other related tech subjects. Tweets, which he says, he posted himself… “It doesn’t make any logical sense,” said Marin Ivezic, Luka’s father, a partner with consultancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, working on cybersecurity.

A Frank and Thorough Assessment of the Apple Card

Raymond Wong at Mashable has put the Apple Card through its paces: application process, convenience, UI, benefits, cash back, APR, payments, security and iPhone lock-in. If you’re on the fence about this new credit card, author Wong has every detail covered.

The Bottom Line: Apple Card is a credit card experience unlike any other, but it’ll tempt you to stick with Apple devices and services.

Good stuff here. Detailed and systematic.

The How To Start A Podcast Tutorial Bundle: $19

We have a deal on a set of tutorials called the How to Start a Podcast Bundle. Produced by Lewis Howes, Alex Blumberg, John Lee Dumas, Anna Sussman, and Julia DeWitt, this bundle includes 4 training courses, 57 lessons, and 22 hours of content. It’s just $19 through our deal.

YouTube is Embracing Philosophy, Science, History

YouTube creators are known for makeup tips and stunts. But the i looked into how the platform is aiming to offer content looking at philosophy, science, and history, in partnerships involving its creators and influencers.

YouTube executive Luke Hyams describes the platform as “the biggest video library and resource in the history of civilisation”. It is also a media giant competing in an increasingly crowded video entertainment market. Whereas rival streaming services throw their budgets at star directors, scriptwriters and acting talent, YouTube’s content focus is on its own “YouTubers’”, the creators and influencers who have used the platform to build channels that attract millions of visitors each day. Hyams, who is head of YouTube Originals for Europe, Middle East and Africa, will look to harness this homegrown talent in making a series of ambitious UK-commissioned shows which he hopes will become global hits.

Plex Desktop Lets You Control Your Media From Your Mac

There’s a new Plex desktop app with the features of Plex Media Player and some offline capabilities. It will be available on macOS and Windows.

The desktop “side” of the (admittedly Janus-esque) Plex Media Player will live on in the form of the new desktop app. For the TV layout lovers out there, we want to be clear about this: the long-term plan is for the new desktop app to replace Plex Media Player as our only desktop solution. The new desktop app is notably lacking TV mode, which means that we’re going to stop supporting the traditional HTPC setup (using a desktop computer connected to your TV or home theater) with this app.

We Need a New Internet That Can Withstand Climate Change

The internet infrastructure is vulnerable to climate change. The fiber optic cables that ferry data can handle some water damage, but they weren’t meant to be permanently underwater.

…within the next 15 years, in a scenario that projects about a foot of sea level rise by then, 4,067 miles of fiber conduit cables are likely to be permanently underwater. In New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle, the rising seas could drown roughly 20 percent of all metro fiber conduit. These are the lines that physically ferry our Internet traffic from place to place.

Another 1,101 “nodes”—the buildings or places where cables rise out of the ground, which often house computer servers, routers, and network switches to move our data around—are also expected to be swamped.

New Shazam Discovery Playlist for Apple Music

Today Apple Music launches the Shazam Discovery Top 50 playlist, which is a weekly global ranking of 50 trending artists.

The chart will be updated every Tuesday and is exclusively available to stream on Apple Music. Artists at the top of the first list include Ohana Bam, A$ton Wyld, Tones and I and Regard…The chart ranks songs that are trending in the U.S. and “over 10 countries”; artists from more countries will be featured soon.

Sounds cool but I hope it’s not filled with hip-hop, because that seems to be Apple Music’s focus.

Huawei CEO Expects no Sanctions Relief

In an interesting in-depth interview with the Associated Press, Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei said he expected U.S. sanction against the company to go ahead. He said the firm is planning assuming they will happen. His daughter, the company’s CFO, is fighting extradition from Canada to the U.S. where she faces a number charges.

In an interview with The Associated Press at Huawei’s sprawling, leafy headquarters campus in the southern city of Shenzhen, the 74-year-old Ren said Huawei expects U.S. curbs on most technology sales to go ahead despite Monday’s announcement of a second 90-day delay. He said no one in Washington would risk standing up for the company. The biggest impact will be on American vendors that sell chips and other components to Huawei, the biggest maker of network gear for phone companies, he said. Washington has placed Huawei on an “entity list” of foreign companies that require official permission to buy American technology.

180 CEOs With Tim Cook Want to Redefine a Corporation's Purpose

180 CEOs, including Tim Cook, signed a statement from Business Roundtable to reimagine what a corporation’s purpose is. Instead of (or alongside) maximizing profits for shareholders, there are other important qualities.

Businesses play a vital role in the economy by creating jobs, fostering innovation and providing essential goods and services. Businesses make and sell consumer products; manufacture equipment and vehicles; support the national defense; grow and produce food; provide health care; generate and deliver energy; and offer financial, communications and other services that underpin economic growth.

It’s a nice sentiment, and i hope that these are more than just good PR words.

Chicago Music Summit Coming to Apple Store Michigan Avenue

The Apple Store on Michigan Avenue will host the second Chicago Music Summit it emerged Monday. 9to5Mac outlined some of the details of the event, which which will run for the second time this September. Details of the first two weeks of sessions also appeared as part of the Today at Apple program.

Apple describes the Chicago Music Industry Summit as a time to “connect with others and tap into creative resources to help further your career in music and the arts.” The month-long event collection is a collaboration with Apple Music and organized under the umbrella of Today at Apple, the program of daily creative sessions held in every Apple Store. Like all Today at Apple sessions, Chicago Music Industry Summit events are free to attend and generally take the form of hands-on labs, discussions, and live performances.

YouTube's Original Content May be Reacting to 'Subscription Fatigue'

Either YouTube’s original content managers are reacting to consumer ‘subscription fatigue’ or they’ve somehow learned of Apple’s (possible) plans for its Apple TV+ service to be free to Apple hardware customers. Or Disney’s recent announcements have taken the wind out of their sails. (sales?) PC Magazine writes:

YouTube’s original series, movies, and live events will be available for free starting Sept. 24. Here’s the catch: non-paying viewers will see ads when watching this content, and “only select episodes may be available for streaming [for free] at any time,” YouTube said.

The TV original content subscription war is heating up.

Meet the Professor Behind Netflix's 'The Great Hack'

David Carroll sued Cambridge Analytica after news broke that it used Facebook user data for targeted political advertising. Netflix’s The Great Hack tells his story, and Business Insider interviewed him.

My pursuit is a highly individualized narrative, which obscures the reality that it’s a story about all of us. Quitting your Facebook account doesn’t do anything. You can try to do the work of going through all your settings and being really hygienic about your data, but it’s only going to reduce the scope of data leaking all over the place. It’s certainly not going to have a total effect that people might want.

I’m putting this on my list to watch.

Some Companies Don't Like iOS 13 Location Privacy Feature

App developers wrote a letter to Apple saying how much they don’t like iOS 13 location privacy rules, accusing the company of anti-competitive behavior.

We understand that there were certain developers, specifically messaging apps, that were using this as a backdoor to collect user data. While we agree loopholes like this should be closed, the current Apple plan to remove [access to the internet voice feature] will have unintended consequences: it will effectively shut down apps that have a valid need for real-time location.

The letter was signed by Tile CEO CJ Prober; Arity (Allstate) president Gary Hallgren; CEO of Life360, Chris Hullsan; CEO of dating app Happn, Didier Rappaport; CEO of Zenly (Snap), Antoine Martin; CEO of Zendrive, Jonathan Matus; and chief strategy officer of social networking app Twenty, Jared Allgood.

A helpful list of all the apps I’ll never download. I hope Apple does more when it comes to privacy.

The Retreat That Tech Execs Escape to

The world can rest heavy on the shoulders of top tech execs. The New Yorker revealed the retreat that some, including those from Apple, escape to as they struggle with crises of conscience.

There are many upscale New Age retreat centers (Kripalu, in Massachusetts; Feathered Pipe Ranch, in Montana) where stressed-out executives can spend restorative weekends before returning to work with looser hip flexors and a clearer conscience. But Esalen is just outside Silicon Valley, so the executives who visit it have come from the likes of Intel and Xerox parc—and, more recently, from Apple and Google and Twitter. Esalen’s board of trustees has included an early Facebook employee, a Google alumnus, and a former Airbnb executive. Presumably, had there been such conspicuous overlap between a countercultural think tank and captains of any other industry—fast food, say, or clean coal—there would have been an outcry, or at least some pointed questions. But Big Tech was supposed to be different. It was supposed to make the world a better place.

Facebook Moderator Counselors Under Pressure to Disclose Details of Confidential Sessions

In recent times, reports emerged about the toll being a Facebook moderator took on people. The company introduced access to on-site counselling for staff. However, The Intercept found that some therapists were put under pressure to disclose what was discussed in those confidential sessions.

Access to on-site counseling is one of the few bright points for this workforce. But now even this grim perk has been undermined by corporate prying, according to a letter drafted by a group of about a dozen Austin moderators who work across Facebook and Instagram. The letter alleges that, starting in early July, Accenture managers attempted to pressure multiple on-site counselors to share information relating to topics discussed in employee trauma sessions. This information was understood by both counselors and Accenture employees to be confidential, said several Accenture sources interviewed by The Intercept. It is not clear what specific information related to the sessions was sought by the managers.

Donate to U.S. National Parks Using Apple Pay

From August 17 to August 25, the first 100,000 transactions at Apple retail stores, the online store, or the Apple Store app will donate US$10 to U.S. national parks.

We’re celebrating our national parks with a $10 donation for each Apple Pay purchase at an Apple Store, on apple.com, or through the Apple Store app in the U.S. from August 17 through 25. Limited to the first 100,000 transactions. Subject to $10 minimum purchase.

I think this is great. U.S. national parks could soon get a big US$1 million donation.

The First Woman in Apollo Mission Control

We’ve just finished marking the 50th anniversary of the first man on the moon. Of course, there were a number of Apollo missions before that. National Geographic told the story of Poppy Northcutt.  Aged 25, she became the first woman inside Apollo mission control.

“The whole society discouraged me” from a career in engineering, she recalls. Nevertheless, when she graduated early from what was then the University of Texas with a degree in mathematics, she knew she wanted to work in the space program, and in 1965 she got a job crunching numbers for NASA through TRW, one of the space agency’s contractors. “My job title was ‘computress’—a gendered computer,” she recalls. Computresses were subordinate to all-male teams of engineers… “Interesting little bugs kept showing up,” Northcutt recalls. “A small or inconsequential error could be fatal.” That lesson was driven home during the disastrous Apollo 13 mission, when Northcutt and team had to troubleshoot their return-to-Earth program to get those astronauts home safely.