Samsung dominated the European smartphone market in Q2, while Apple held its third-place position but lost 17 percent of its market share.
Apple Releases First Trailer for 'The Morning Show'
The first trailer for forthcoming Apple TV+ series The Morning Show landed Monday. The show stars Jennifer Aniston, Reese Withersppon and Steve Carell. The trailer hit many of the notes you might expect about a program set around morning TV in this current day and age. Intense piano music? Check. Dramatic dialogue? Check. Lingering shots of a TV newsroom and control room? Check. This trailer does not give much away then, but it shows preparations for releasing series on Apple TV+ is gearing up.
Def Con 2019 and Hacking iOS Contacts
Another Apple hack shown off over the weekend at Def Con 2019 involves iOS Contacts and a SQLite vulnerability. But it’s not something we need to worry about. Emphasis mine:
Documented In a 4,000-word report seen by AppleInsider, the company’s hack involved replacing one part of Apple’s Contacts app and it also relied on a known bug that has hasn’t been fixed four years after it was discovered…
They replaced a specific component of the Contacts app and found that while apps and any executable code has to have gone through Apple’s startup checks, an SQLite database is not executable.
Basically, it sounds like the bug is only available if you specifically remove a key component of Contacts.
Apple Launches AR Art Walking Tours
Apple launched a collection of augmented reality art walking tours in six major cities in partnership with the New Museum in New York.
Twitch is Not Having a Good Time Right Now
Popular gaming platform Twitch had a bad week last week. A very bad week. First, leading Fortnite streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins left the platform for a rival. Then, it inadvertently promoted porn on the channel he left behind. And that is not Twitch’s only problem. Eurogamer summed it all up:
After Tyler “Ninja” Blevins left Twitch for rival platform Mixer 10 days ago, visitors to his channel were redirected to a variety of other Fortnite streams – and one stream in particular got Twitch into serious trouble. Last night, Blevins tweeted a video criticising how Twitch had turned his channel into an “ad page” – and one of the promoted streams was a porn broadcast. “I’ve been streaming for eight years to build that brand and build that channel”, Blevins said. “There was a porn account that was number one recommended on my channel. And I have no say in any of this stuff.”
Apple's ASMR Venture, LOL Samsung, AAPL Buybacks with Charlotte Henry - ACM 520
Apple has posted plenty of “Shot on iPhone”: videos, but four new ASMR videos mark the first time where the content is more about the experience than it is about the device that made it. Bryan Chaffin is joined by guest-host Charlotte Henry to discuss it. They also talk about Samsun’s lame decision to pull an old ad from its YouTube channel that mocked an Apple move that Samsung is following today. So lame. They also look at Apple’s gargantuan effort to buy $24 billion of its own stock in just the June quarter.
JunoPower Kaebo Braided Anti-Tear Charging Cable 3-Pack: $13
We have a deal on a 3-pack of JunoPower Kaebo braided, anti-tear charging cables. They’re made from aluminum and nylon, a meter long, and flexible. And the 3-pack is just $13 through our deal.
All About Apps Phoning Home. And Firewalls
The Eclectic Light Company writes:
A few years ago, most Mac users had firewalls in their routers which blocked all incoming connections, and that was all they wanted. Over those years, we’ve increasingly installed software firewalls on our Macs to block outgoing connections. This article looks at some of the issues that arise from doing that.
The rules of the game keep changing, and this article brings us up-to-date.
News+: Don't Give Money to Ransomware Scammers
In the latest issue of PCMag, Max Eddy writes that you shouldn’t give money to ransomware attackers when they ask.
First, most cyberattacks—including ransomware—don’t last long. The command and control servers that issue the unlock commands and receive payment can be found and taken offline…In either case, anyone who has been infected and not paid the ransom can no longer get their system unlocked, even if they pay.
This is why keeping several backups is important, one online, one offline. And keep your operating system up to date with the latest security patches and improvements.
This is part of Andrew’s News+ series, where he shares a magazine every Friday to help people discover good content in Apple News+.
FBI to Monitor Social Media for Domestic Terrorism Threats
The FBI wants to monitor Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for domestic terrorism threats in real time.
The FBI ultimately wants an interactive tool that can be accessed by all headquarters division and field office personnel via web browsers and through multiple devices. Interested vendors should have the capabilities to offer the agency the ability to set filters around the specific content they see, send immediate and custom alerts and notifications around “mission-relevant” incidents, have broad international reach and a strong language translation capability and allow for real-time geolocation-based monitoring that can be refined as events develop.
Just ask the NSA.