Project Raven was a team that included more than a dozen former U.S. intelligence operatives recruited to help the United Arab Emirates engage in surveillance of other governments, militants and human rights activists critical of the monarchy. Reuters tells the story.
The operatives utilized an arsenal of cyber tools, including a cutting-edge espionage platform known as Karma, in which Raven operatives say they hacked into the iPhones of hundreds of activists, political leaders and suspected terrorists. Details of the Karma hack were described in a separate Reuters article today.
An interesting story. We know that iOS 14.8 patched a vulnerability used by the Pegasus spyware, but I haven’t heard much about Karma.
Prinics Co., a Kodak Licensee that develops and manufactures photo printers and instant print cameras, has released a new version of the Kodak Photo Printer App, which allows users to shoot, edit and print photos all in the same place. The improved mobile app includes numerous photo-editing tools such as augmented reality, beauty functions, photo templates and borders in addition to printing photos from a smartphone. Users can also print photos directly from their phone to their Kodak instant print camera or photo printer through Bluetooth pairing.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is getting into the space business, but in a new way. Alongside Alex Fielding, a member of the first iMac team and founder of the now-closed *Wheels of Zeus* startup, the Woz has founded space company Privateer. While Privateer’s website is in stealth mode without any real information, Gizmodo uncovered a tidbit about Privateer in an August 2021 press release for a 3D titanium alloy printer. The release describes Privateer as a “satellite company focused on the monitoring and cleaning up objects in space”. More details are expected at the AMOS Tech 2021 conference, running from Sept. 14 through Sept. 17, 2021. Estimates say that the number of active and defunct satellites orbiting the Earth has increased from 3,300 to more than 7,600 in the last 10 years. That number could grow to as many as 100,000 satellites before 2030. With so many other private space companies pushing for space travel for private citizens, Wozniak’s effort to clean up space is definitely a breath of fresh air.
Lots of people were on notch-watch as the iPhone 13 was unveiled on Tuesday. MacWorld has the details on how much smaller it is compared to that on previous models.
The notch has been reduced by 20 percent in width…The iPhone 13’s notch is indeed narrower than the iPhone 12 thanks to the placement of the speaker, which has moved to the top of the phone. However, the notch is still very present and very noticeable and actually looks a bit taller than the iPhone 12’s notch. It likely won’t make too much of a difference compared to the iPhone 12 when viewing full-screen photos and videos.
Researchers have discovered a new type of network vulnerability dubbed SSID Stripping. It causes a network name to appear differently in a device’s list of networks, thus tricking people into joining a malicious network.
The SSID Stripping vulnerability affects all major software platforms – Microsoft Windows, Apple iOS and macOS, Android and Ubuntu. With SSID Stripping, it is possible to create a network name in a way that its display only shows a prefix that is similar to a legitimate network name (e.g. the corporate network name) while the actual network name includes the additional specially crafted information.
New iPads, iPad minis, Apple Watch Series 7, and, of course, the iPhone 13 range. There was a lot announced at the ‘California Streaming’ event on Tuesday. The video is now and YouTube so you can catch up with any bits you may have missed. It’s also available to watch, along with a rundown of the announcements, on the Apple website.
Apple was keen to emphasize the various camera upgrades on the iPhone 13 Pro. To do so, they brought in two-time Oscar-winning Director Kathryn Bigelow and Oscar-nominated Cinematographer Greig Fraser to recreate a variety of cinematic genres.
Tim Cook recently sat down with an interview with iJustine to talk about the newest Apple products. iPhone 13, Apple Watch Series 7, and iPad mini were among the subjects.
One of the key iPhone 13 features announced Tuesday was Cinematic mode. My colleague Andrew Orr wrote a great explainer of this and the other upgrades. Apple also shared a video of the feature in action.
On Tuesday Expedia Group announced some new features for its apps: New widgets designed for iOS 15 and an update that takes advantage of iOS 15 Quick Notes.
· John F. Braun & Dave Hamilton · Mac Geek Gab Podcast
Apple announced new iPhones, iPads, Fitness+ features, Watches, and more on Tuesday, and your two favorite geeks are here to share their reactions. On top of that, listen for Dave’s pre-review of iOS 15 for you and John, as well as advice on how to approach next week’s upgrade. Press play and enjoy learning five new things!
