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.”

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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.