Another great ‘Today in Apple History’ from Cult of Mac today. On this day in 1987, the legendary Macintosh II was launched.

Although four Mac models already have been released, the definitive, full-number name of the Macintosh II makes clear that this is a major upgrade for the product line. With a massive hardware boost, optional color display (!) and a new open architecture, it does not disappoint! By far the biggest change with the Mac II? Its open architecture, which allows users to expand the computer. More than just a tech upgrade, this marked a fundamental shift in the way Apple engineers thought about the Macintosh.

Apple is set to pay up to $500 million to settle a U.S class action related to iPhone slowing allegations, Reuters reported. Claimants said that Apple slowed down devices to encourage users to upgrade to newer ones.

The preliminary proposed class-action settlement was disclosed on Friday night and requires approval by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California. It calls for Apple to pay consumers $25 per iPhone, which may be adjusted up or down depending on how many iPhones are eligible, with a minimum total payout of $310 million. Apple denied wrongdoing and settled the nationwide case to avoid the burdens and costs of litigation, court papers show.

A former NSA hacker argued that stealing and then repurposing Mac malware can be more powerful than creating it from scratch. Patrick Wardle demonstrated one example of how he went about it at RSA Conference, ArsTechnica reported.

Patrick Wardle, who is now a security researcher at the macOS and iOS enterprise management firm Jamf, showed how reusing old Mac malware can be a smarter and less resource-intensive approach for deploying ransomware, remote access spy tools, and other types of malicious code. Where the approach really pays dividends, he said, is with the repurposing of advanced code written by government-sponsored hackers. “There are incredibly well-funded, well-resourced, very motivated hacker groups in three-letter agencies that are creating amazing malware that’s fully featured and also fully tested,” Wardle said during a talk titled “Repurposed Malware: A Dark Side of Recycling.” “The idea is: why not let these groups in these agencies create malware and if you’re a hacker just repurpose it for your own mission?” he said.