A disturbing report from TechCrunch finds that not only is it possible to find child porn via Microsoft Bing, but the search engine also can suggest it.
T2 Chip Security, New Apple Scams – TMO Daily Observations 2019-01-10
John Martellaro and Andrew Orr join host Kelly Guimont to discuss the security behind the T2 chip and the latest wave of Apple scams.
Chinese Hackers Threaten the Internet and Democracy
Over the past decade Chinese hackers have been increasingly attacking the United States and other countries that threaten the hegemony of The Party.
Many thought the internet would bring democracy to China. Instead it empowered rampant government oppression, and now the censors are turning their attention to the rest of the world.
Chinese hacking groups fall under the category of Advanced Persistent Threat (APT). The United States and China have this weird, sadomasochistic relationship, and while I don’t believe in trade wars, I think it’s important we send a message that the U.S. won’t tolerate such egregious behavior from our partners.
5 Ways to Improve Apple Services
Michael Grothaus writes about five ways to improve Apple services, a drum that Tim Cook has been beating for the past couple years.
The problem for Apple is that the iPhone is such a large part of its business. If the company is going to continue to grow, what product could step up to take the place of lagging smartphone sales?
I’ll paraphrase Kelly Guimont’s comment on a recent episode of Daily Observations. If Apple truly wanted to be a services company, it should have been improving services all along. Don’t wait until the last minute when the iPhone puts you into panic mode.
Wikipedia to Add More Language Support with Google Translate
This adds support for an additional 15 languages, making the total count 121.
How a Designer Uses iPad Pro as the Main Computer
The next iPad-Pro-as-main-computer narrative comes from Hicks Design. Jon shared his reasoning and workflow, as well as shortcomings & workarounds.
It’s started slowly, but the platform has been maturing and I’ve been using it more and more as my main computer. There are limitations and issues, which I’ll come to, but I keep coming back to it as a my main design tool. There’s something very alluring about this light and portable thin slab of glass that can do (almost) everything I need it to.
Zerodium Offers $2 Million for Remote iOS Exploits
Founded in 2015, Zerodium is a information security company specializing in buying and selling zero day exploits. It’s offering US$2 million for remote iOS exploits.
Apple Researching Connected Clothing
Apple is researching connected clothing that could link to your iPhone and other devices, according to a new patent. AppleInsider reported that the patent, filed Thursday, was titled “Fabric with Electrical Components.” It seems likely that any product that did emerge from this work would focus on health monitoring. On Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook again emphasized how important he considers the company’s work in this field. He told CNBC that it is Apple’s “most-important contribution to mankind.”
A patent application from Apple published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday titled “Fabric with Embedded Electrical Components” attempts to work around the problem by describing how fabric-based items could be created, with the fabric itself being the connectivity method. The core of the idea resides with the fabric, in that it is woven together with conductive and insulating yarns. The conductive yarns reside in the inner layers of the weave, while the insulating yarns on the outside prevent any undue contact with the conductive versions.
EU Does not Have a Coordinated Plan to Fight Election Hacking
LONDON – The EU does not have an overall plan to deal with hackers seeking to disrupt its election in May 2019. According to a feature in Wired, each of the 27 states who will be in the EU when the election takes place is expected to secure the vote in their own country. Consequently, smaller member states could be left vulnerable, and cyber-attacks or disinformation could have a serious effect on the election results.
If a tiny member state is left it to go alone against Russia’s state-backed hacking teams and disinformation brigades, the calculus of the European Parliament could be engineered by a third-party state to tilt in its favor. The stakes are huge, and some say the EU hasn’t faced up to the enormity of the issue.
Apple Maps in India Finally Gets Turn-by-Turn Navigation
Turn-by-turn navigation on Apple Maps finally made it to India this week, as did the ability to order an Uber from within the app.