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Apple’s so-called “periscope” lens for iPhone is on track for 2022, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. It is expected to bring onboard new suppliers to fulfill orders for both lens and voice coil motor parts, reported AppleInsider.

Two new suppliers are anticipated to enter Apple’s supply chain as the tech giant works to build out iPhone’s camera capabilities, Kuo said in a note to investors on Wednesday. Korean lens supplier Semco and Chinese lens supplier Sunny Optical are predicted to furnish parts in the second half of 2020 and in 2021, respectively. Apple is contracting with the new companies to further diversify lens component supply for iPhone, iPad and Mac, the note reads. Lower lens costs and new technology development are also cited as benefits. Semco, for example, is forecast to ship a periscope telephoto lens for iPhone in 2022, with the firm winning an estimated half of all orders. Largan+Alps/Minebea are also expected to provide parts for the new mechanism.

Instagram is rolling out a new way to fundraise. Parent company Facebook made the announcement in a blog posted, published on Tuesday. The tool will be made available to users in the U.S., UK, and Ireland over the coming months.

We’re making it easier to create fundraisers directly on Instagram that benefit such personal causes. To create a Personal Fundraiser tap Edit Profile, Add Fundraiser and then Raise Money. Choose a photo, select a fundraiser category and add details to help tell your story and encourage others to donate. Then you’ll enter your information for Stripe, our payment processor for donations. And when you’re finished, you’ll tap Send to submit your fundraiser for review. All fundraisers go through a review process to make sure they are for eligible causes. Once approved, you can start raising money. Each fundraiser lasts 30 days, but can be extended as many times as you want. You must be at least 18 years old to create a fundraiser.

An iPhone wrapped in tin foil was amongst the possessions found at Ghislaine Maxwell’s hidden New Hampshire home. Ms. Maxwell is accused of being a conspirator of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The tale is amongst a collection of Apple-related crime stories rounded up by AppleInsider.

When the New Hampshire home of Ghislaine Maxwell, the ex-girlfriend and accused co-conspirator of the late mogul and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was raided last month, FBI agents found a cell phone wrapped in tin foil among her possessions. According to federal prosecutors, as cited by CNN, the phone was “a seemingly misguided effort to evade detection, not by the press or public, which of course would have no ability to trace her phone or intercept her communications, but by law enforcement.” It’s not clear if the phone was an iPhone, but Vanity Fair reported that Maxwell had an iPhone, iPad, and laptop with her during her time living incognito. Maxwell, who has been charged with federal crimes including enticing a minor to travel to engage in criminal sexual activity, has pled not guilty.

Despite its court defeat vs Apple earlier in the week, the European Commission doesn’t seem to be changing its approach when it comes to taxing tech firms. EU Observer reported comments from top EU officials.

“We do not consider it normal that the largest corporates get away with paying one percent tax at most,” European Commission executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters. “It is just not sustainable from a tax-fairness point of view, it is not sustainable from a public revenues point of view and it needs to be addressed,” he said. Paolo Gentiloni, the EU commissioner for economy, made similar comments. “A single ruling is not discouraging our commitment in this sense. I would say the contrary.”

The LA Metro said that TAP transit cards will work with Apple Pay later this year, MacRumors reports. The facility had been scheduled to roll out late last year.

The LA Metro said last year that it was working with Apple to add mobile payment support for iPhones by the end of 2019, but the rollout didn’t end up happening and work on the transition continues. In a tweet today, the LA Metro said that ‌iPhone‌ and ‌Apple Watch‌ support for TAP cards will be coming sometime in 2020. Los Angeles has been working to overhaul its TAP system, introducing upgraded fare boxes with real-time data about fares purchased online and developing a new TAP mobile app that allows for payments and TAP account management.

The app for NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service is now available for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. The service has various tiers and features a catalogue of NBCUniversal content. However, there are currently issues with making apps available on Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV.

The EU passed new rights for developers on Sunday. GamesIndustry.biz explained how it will offer App Store developers greater protection.

The scope of the regulation is limited to platforms that allow developers and publishers to offer their games to players, where the platform facilitates direct transactions between developers and publishers and the players. Console manufacturers’ online stores do not, therefore, identify themselves as marketplaces like Apple’s App Store or Google Play, which clearly fall under the new regulation. Instead, they regard themselves as digital retail stores that enter into direct transactional relations with players, and do not fall under the new regulation as “online intermediation services” that facilitate the initiating of direct transactions between developers/publishers and players.

Nokia launched a set of tools for data center networking in collaboration with Apple on Thursday. Reuters reported that the aim is to help firms manage increased traffic as 5G networks are rolled out.

As the usage of 5G networks expands, vast quantities of data will be generated as more household appliances and other machines are linked up with sensors and artificial intelligence tools, creating the so-called “internet-of-things”. Nokia, which competes against China’s Huawei and Sweden’s Ericsson to build 5G networks, has been broadening its portfolio by adding open interfaces to its 5G equipment and launching new networking products. “We worked very closely with (Apple) over the last two plus years to understand their requirements,” said Steve Vogelsang, Nokia’s chief technology officer for IP and optical business.

In a blog post published Tuesday, Microsoft revealed details of a major phishing campaign that its Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) first observed in December 2019. The criminals targeted user accounts in 62 countries,

Based on patterns discovered at that time, Microsoft utilized technical means to block the criminals’ activity and disable the malicious application used in the attack. Recently, Microsoft observed renewed attempts by the same criminals, this time using COVID-19-related lures in the phishing emails to target victims. This malicious activity is yet another form of business email compromise (BEC) attack, which has increased in complexity, sophistication and frequency in recent years. According to the FBI’s 2019 Internet Crime Report, the most-costly complaints received by their Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) involved BEC crimes, with losses of over $1.7 billion, representing nearly half of all financial losses due to cybercrime. While most of the public’s attention in recent years has justifiably focused on the malign acts of nation state actors, the increasing economic harm caused by cybercriminals must also be considered and confronted by the public and private sectors. For our part, Microsoft and our Digital Crimes Unit will continue to investigate and disrupt cybercriminals and will seek to work with law enforcement agencies around the world, whenever possible, to stop these crimes.

Google+, the search giant’s ill-fated social network, is officially no more. It has been replaced on iOS and Android with Google Currents, reported 9to5Mac Google.

This launch is starting with a rebrand of Google+ for Android and iOS to Google Currents. The latest version introduces the blue waveform-like icon and gives the application a Google Material Theme redesign. The core UI is mostly unchanged with a home stream ordered by relevance (or chronology), while posts from company leadership can be given priority with a sparkle icon. Text, links, images, and other content from Drive can be shared, along with polls. Otherwise, this internal community tool carries over the concept of “tags” and “streams” from Google+.

A patent application filed today shows a folding Apple device with a TouchBar and an exposed strip for notifications.

If desired, touch sensors (e.g., a two-dimensional touch sensor), buttons, or other input-output devices may be formed in a region such as region on rear surface R of housing (e.g., so that a user may supply input to one of these regions in response to adjacent content being displayed on protruding portion.

This is probably my own bias showing (because I think folding phones are gimmicks) but I think Apple is going for a folding iPad. That makes sense to me.

FindTheMadness is a new Safari extension from Jeff Johnson. It gives you an alert when a website tricks you by running JavaScript triggered by a click.

FindTheMadness detects when JavaScript on websites overrides the normal expected behavior of your mouse and keyboard […] You may be astonished to discover how often you click what you think is a link on a page, but you’re actually running JavaScript triggered by a click.

Sounds like a nice tool, and it’s free.