Flipboard revealed that an “unauthorized party” accessed its database between June 2, 2018 and March 23, 2019, as well as between April 21-22, 2019.
Apple Creates ‘App Store: Principles and Practices’ Page
Apple has a created a new web page titled, ‘App Store: Principles and Practices’ possibly as a reaction to the accusations that the App Store is a monopoly.
We believe that what’s in our store says a lot about who we are. We strongly support all points of view being represented on the App Store. But we also take steps to make sure apps are respectful to users with differing opinions, and reject apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line — especially when it puts children at risk. For example, we strictly prohibit any app that features pornographic material, discriminatory references, torture and abuse, or anything else in exceptionally poor taste.
NYC Subway Riders Can Use Apple Pay This Friday
NYC subway riders can start using Apple Pay Express Transit at certain subway stations starting Friday, May 31.
Philip Lee Creates the Classicbot Mac Plush
Designer Philip Lee has created the Classicbot Mac plush, giving you a squishy Mac you can hug.
Priced at $72, the Classicbot Giant Plush is rather expensive, but like Lee’s smaller figurines, it’s been designed with quite a lot of detail. There’s a disk insert at the front along with a Classicbot logo in place of an Apple logo, and at the back, embroidered details represent the fan, ports, plus, and more.
A perfect product for Apple collectors.
EU Official Who Fined Apple Billions Wants to Be Commission President
Margrethe Vestager is the EU Competition Commissioner. In that capacity, she has dealt out billions of Euros worth of fines to major tech firms, including Apple. Now, she wants to be President of the EU Commission and told Wired what she thinks of the digital ecosystem.
Six months into her job, in April 2015, Vestager had already reversed that practice, issuing a Statement of Objections – essentially, a “we are coming for you” klaxon – against Google for abuse of its dominant position in the price comparison sector, and launching an investigation into Android’s anticompetitive potential. Both cases resulted in multi-billion fines. It was only the start: over the next years, almost every technology giant would undergo the Vestager treatment. Apple, asked to fork over €13 billion (£11.42bn) in back taxes after being granted “illegal tax benefits” by Ireland…chip-making company Qualcomm, fined €997m (£875m) for paying Apple to ensure that it would not buy chips from other companies.
A Laptop Containing Six Devastating Viruses is on Sale
Normally, computer users, do everything they can to avoid getting malware on their machine. However, there is one laptop on sale that contains six of the world’s deadliest viruses, reported The Verge. Artist Guo O Dong produced the work, called The Persistence of Chaos, to bring digital threats into the physical world.
“We have this fantasy that things that happen in computers can’t actually affect us, but this is absurd,” says Guo. “Weaponized viruses that affect power grids or public infrastructure can cause direct harm.” The six viruses in the laptop (a 10.2-inch Samsung NC10-14GB) were chosen for the magnitude of economic damage they’ve caused. They include the ILOVEYOU virus, a computer bug from 2000 that often appeared as a “love letter” attached to emails; and WannaCry, a ransomware attack that shut down computers in hospitals and factories around the world in 2017, and which intelligence agencies blamed on North Korea.
Galaxy Fold Could Be Delayed Beyond June
More problems reported for the Samsung Galaxy Fold. According to local outlet The Korean Herald, the launch of the much-maligned device could be delayed beyond June. Samsung has taken longer than expected to fix the problems that beset the Galaxy Fold’s initial rollout.
It has been more than one month since the South Korean tech giant officially announced the postponement of the foldable device’s launch in the United States, but it keeps maintaining that a new schedule will be announced in “coming weeks.” Some telecom officials say that the launch is likely to take place after June, Samsung’s initial goal. Since the firm has been conducting network connection tests on devices with local mobile carriers, the process of addressing the display defect is known by industry sources. However, the company denied such speculation saying, “The improvement process is taking place extremely confidentially, and comments from telecom industry sources can’t be confirmed.”
New Pokémon Mobile Game Unveiled
The Pokémon Company announced a new game for iOS and also revealed new cloud and sleep monitoring services at a major press conference.
What You Need to Know: 4K/UHD/HDR Blu-ray Players
Digital Trends writes:
While streaming is obviously more convenient for most of us, anyone who wants the best possible picture and sound quality for their home theater needs Ultra HD Blu-ray. The format offers more stability and better fidelity than streaming, and it’s a pretty significant leap forward from 1080p HD Blu-ray, too
This is a really well-written article and covers a lot of ground.
TMO Background Mode Interview #2 with TMO Contributor John Kheit
John Kheit is a New York attorney and a regular Contributor to The Mac Observer. We share many common interests, including the 4K/UHD/HDR TV revolution, 8K TV and displays, Wi-Fi/5G technologies, and the state of Apple.
We chatted about the legacy magic touch of Apple exemplified by the launch of the iPhone in 2007. Has Apple lost the ability to surprise us with solutions to problems we didn’t know we had? Along the way, the touchy subject of Apple’s Butterfly keyboard came up. In the second segment, we discussed 8K TV, mostly with regard to 8K as a computer display, but also from the perspective of the near future of 8K television and what the HDMI 2.1 standard might bring us. J.K. has some strong opinions, so brace yourself.
