Category: Apple

Apple Blocks Older Adobe Flash Versions In Safari

It would appear that, regardless of browser choice, there’s a plugin to cause problems. Years ago the primary culprits would have been toolbars, but now it’s the turn of Oracle’s Java and Adobe Flash Player. If you use either, you’ll notice frequent updates to protect against vulnerabilities.

While Adobe has already fixed the flaws being exploited, Apple instituted the plug-in-blocking feature in its Safari web browser to safeguard users who may not have downloaded the latest patches. The change affects Macs running OS X Mountain Lion, Lion, and Snow Leopard.

[quote]

From Apple’s support document:

To help protect users from a recent vulnerability, Apple has updated the web plug-in-blocking mechanism to disable older versions of the web plug-in: Adobe Flash Player.

[/quote]

Users who have not yet downloaded the most recent version of Flash, designated as version 11.6.602.171, will see a “Blocked Plug-in” alert in Safari. Selecting the prompt will bring up a pop-up window containing a link to download and install the most up-to-date version of Adobe’s software.

Apple is making this work through OS X’s inbuilt Xprotect malware scanner; maybe not an orthodox method, but it’s getting results for the company, driving down consumer problems simultaneously. Not everyone knows about Xprotect, and information about it is thin on the ground, but it certainly seems to be flagging outdated software effectively.

Earlier, Adobe rolled out an update to address three vulnerabilities in Flash, two of which supposedly targeted Mozilla’s Firefox browser.

[Neowin]

March 3, 2013
Judge Cuts $450 Million From $1 Billion Award To Be Paid By Samsung To Apple, Second Trial Ordered

A judge on Friday cut $450 million from the $1 billion award to be paid by Samsung in a landmark patent lawsuit from Apple, saying a jury had wrongly calculated the damages.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, today reduced the jury’s damages award by $450.5 million and said Samsung deserves a new trial on infringement claims over its Galaxy Prevail and other smartphones. Koh rejected Apple’s request to enhance the jury’s award, saying the amount Samsung owed was heavily disputed and the jury wasn’t bound to accept either side’s damages estimate.

[quote]“It is not the proper role of the court to second-guess the jury’s factual determination as to the proper amount of compensation,” Koh said in her ruling.[/quote]

The rulings are the latest twist in the global litigation war between Apple and Samsung. The case at issue covers a series of older Samsung products that Apple says violated its intellectual property. A second lawsuit is pending before Koh in which Apple makes similar claims against Samsung’s more recent smartphones and tablets.

[quote]”We are pleased that the court decided to strike $450,514,650 from the jury’s award,” Samsung said in a statement. “Samsung intends to seek further review as to the remaining award. We are also pleased that the court earlier found that Samsung had not acted willfully, denied Apple’s request for a permanent injunction, and denied Apple’s motion for increased damages.” [/quote]

While not an outright loss for Apple, the ruling is not the best news for a company that’s been on bit of legal losing streak.

March 3, 2013
Rumour : MacBook Air With Retina Display Coming In Q3

The MacBook Air could be in line for a Retina Display upgrade later this year, according to reports.

Taiwanese newspaper the Economic Daily, citing those infamous ‘supply chain sources’ is claiming the ultra-portable laptop will be fitted with a super hi-res display and launched in the third quarter.

The report added that both the 11.6-inch and the 13.3-inch iterations have been earmarked for the screen technology first utilised on the iPhone 4, before the 4S, 5, iPod touchand iPad 3 got in on the act.

The tech also arrived on Apple’s computing products in 2013, with a 13-inch MacBook Pro with a 2560 x 1600 Retina Display and a 15-inch Pro with a 2880 x 1800 Retina Display launched.

Apple last week cut the price of its 256GB MacBook Air by $100, to $1,400. The move was a response to it dropping the price of its MacBook Pro with Retina down to $1,500. Apple also boosted processor speeds in its MacBook Pro line.

In addition to talk of improvements to the MacBook Air, another report out of Korea today said Apple’s next-generation iPad would come with GF2 display technology, a thinner alternative to what’s currently running in the device. Apple’s iPad Mini uses GF2 display technology. The addition of GF2 should make it easier for Apple to deliver a thinner full-size iPad.

This news comes after Google today launched the Chromebook Pixel.

The Chromebook Pixel from Google features a 12.85-inch touchscreen display that has a resolution of 2560 x 1700 pixels, amounting to a pixel density of 239 pixels per inch (ppi). Google says that the display on the Chromebook pixel is the best screen that has ever been put on a laptop. The display is a step ahead than Apple’s 13.1-inch Macbook Pro with Retina display that has pixel density of 227 pixels per inch.

February 22, 2013
Apple Hit With ‘Planned Obsolescence’ Lawsuit Over Fourth-Generation iPad

Apple’s legal troubles in Brazil grew on Thursday, as news emerged that the company has been hit with a class-action suit alleging that the quick release of the fourth-generation iPad constitutes “planned obsolescence” with regard to its predecessor.

Brazil’s Jornal do Comérciao reports that the Brazilian Institute of Politics and Law Software (IBDI) has filed suit against the iPad maker, claiming that the company could have, when launching the third-generation “New iPad,” implemented all of the technological upgrades it introduced in the fourth-generation model. Apple’s failure to do so, the suit alleges, amounts to planned obsolescence and unfair business practices.

“Consumers thought [they were] buying high-end equipment not knowing [it] was already an obsolete version,” says IBDI attorney Sergio Palomares.

The New iPad and iPad with Retina display are different in three ways.

For one, the current generation tablet includes an A6X processor versus the A5X processor that came with the discontinued iPad 3. It also includes a FaceTime HD camera. The previous model included a VGA front-facing videophone camera. Finally, the iPad 4 includes Apple’s new Lightning connector. The iPad 3 included a 30-pin connector.

It should also be noted that iPad 3 buyers who had purchased their tablet within 30 days of the iPad 4 announcement were able to make a return. In addition, some retailers extended this policy even further.

Apple also faces a struggle over rights to the iPhone brand in the country, having lost the right to the trademark after a court found in favor of Gradiente Electronica, a company that first registered the iPhone trademark in 2000.

February 22, 2013
Apple Releases iOS 6.1.2 Update, Evad3rs Release Evasi0n 1.4 Jailbreak Tool

Apple today released iOS 6.1.2, the latest iteration of the mobile operating system for iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices, following widespread reports of errors caused by calendars connected to Exchange servers.

The affects of the bug also caused the battery life on the iPhone or iPad to suffer significantly.

Microsoft came up with a few ideas to prevent the overloading, such as switching off the calendar function altogether or simply banning all iOS 6.1 users from accessing the network.

Just a few hours after Apple released its latest iOS update yesterday, the Evad3rs team was out with Evasi0n version 1.4 designed to work with iOS 6.1.2 devices. An Evad3rs team member tweeted the news late yesterday.

Even the prior version of Evasi0n seemed unaffected by the iOS 6.1.2 update, at least according to preliminary testing. But Evasi0n version 1.4 makes it official.

Apple hasn’t spoken out about publicly about the Evasi0n jailbreak. But the company did update its jailbreak warning page a day before the tool was unleashed earlier this month.

The page cautions people about the side effects of the practice, such as instability, security vulnerabilities, shortened battery life, unreliable voice and data, disruption of services, and the inability to apply future software updates.

Unfortunately, Apple failed to address a security vulnerability enabling hackers to bypass an iPhone’s lockscreen and access core device functions.

February 20, 2013
GLBenchmark Result Shows Apple iPhone 5 Running iOS 7!
A GLBenchmark result page, sent to us on Facebook by Akash Sukhija, shows the Apple iPhone 5 running on iOS 7, the next version of the Apple mobile operating system. On top of the results page, the OS tab reads “iPhone OS 7.0”.

This comes at a time when Apple is set to release its promised fix for an iOS 6.1 bug that enables intruders to by-pass a user’s passcode and access certain areas of the phone, could be released this week. The rollout of iOS 6.1 hasn’t gone as smoothly for Apple as the company would have liked and it would be eager to make sure that iOS 7 does not follow a similar path.

Running iOS 7, the iPhone 5 scores :
- 3290 Frames (29.1 Fps) in GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD C24Z16 – Offscreen (1080p)
- 4515 Frames (40.0 Fps) in GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD C24Z16 – Onscreen
- 31721 ms (35.6 Fps) in GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD Fixed Timestep – Onscreen
- 48806 ms (23.2 Fps) in GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt HD Fixed Timestep – Offscreen (1080p)
- 1808 MTexels/s Fill Rate
- 133 MTriangles/s Textured Triangle Throughput
Apple launched iPhone 5 in September along with iOS 6, and it has been reported that the new iPhone will be released in the middle of 2013. Reports last month suggested that Apple could unveil the next version of its iPhone and iOS 7 as early as the spring of 2013.

Back in January, App developers had found references in their usage logs to a new version of the iPhone – identified as iPhone6,1 – and to iOS 7.

This webpage all but confirms Apple’s iOS 7 testing. Thanks Akash!

You can find the webpage here.
February 17, 2013
Apple To Release iOS 6.1.2 Next Week To Fix Major Security Issue

Apple’s promised fix for an iOS 6.1 bug that enables intruders to by-pass a user’s passcode and access certain areas of the phone, could be released this week.

According to a report from German site iFun, which was dead-on about the release of iOS 6.1.1, the iOS 6.1.2 release date could come as soon as next week, possibly by February 20th.

The rollout of iOS 6.1 hasn’t gone as smoothly for Apple as the company would have liked.

Not only did the initial release introduce the security issues and battery problems, in addition to a wallop of a 3G connectivity bug for iPhone 4S users in Europe, the follow-up version, iOS 6.1.1 released last week, introduced a bunch of new issues.

iPhone users are still reporting Exchange connectivity bugs, so severe that Microsoft is suggesting affected devices be booted from the server so as not to slow down the rest of the network.

Earlier this week a video was posted online showing how a complex series of button pushes could nullify the passcode and unlock photo albums, calling logs, voicemail and enable the hacker to modify contacts.

Apple has acknowledged the problem, which is almost identical to one which surfaced in 2010, and said it is hastily working on a fix.

February 17, 2013
Real Racing 3 To Be Free-to-Play, Releasing On February 28th For iOS And Android

Electronic Arts has announced that the third release from its popular Real Racing series will be landing at the Google Play Store for Android, and the App Store for iOS, as of the 28th February. The iPhone 5 launch gave us a glimpse of things to come from Real Racing 3, but while the snippets appeared remnant of Gran Turismo, fans have had to wait quite a while for a solid release date.

Now, the wait appears to be almost over, and by the end of the month – provided no unforeseen delays crop up – the mobile arena’s favorite racer will be back for a third lap.

The title promises “46 licensed vehicles covering 3 classes, a 22 car grid, real world tracks, 8 varied event types and 900+ events.”

As you might expect, not all of that content will be free right away. Though players will be able to unlock all content for free over time, they can also skip the rigmarole by simply purchasing cars and tracks with real cash, according to CNET.

The freemium model has worked wonders for many other developers, as it entices gamers to try out a game in the first place. At $9.99/INR 550, one is only likely to spend money having played before, but if a gamer can try – and enjoy – a title for free having just found it while browsing the App or Google Play Stores, the inclination to spend further money is certainly higher.

Much like other racing games, Real Racing revolves around racing around in cars. The first game was critically acclaimed with an average review score of 94 percent on Metacritic. The series is praised for its visuals and intelligent AI.

The second game was released in December 2010. It features a number of real cars, including the 2006 BMW Z4 M Coupe, the 2010 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, and the 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, among others. As with the first game, it features an extensive career mode, time trials, and online play.

[CNET, Redmond Pie]

February 13, 2013
Apple Paid A Record US $ 8 Billion To iOS Mobile Developers

Apple has announced it has paid out a total of $8 billion to developers since the inauguration of the App Store in 2009.

This is an increase of $1b since January 13th, when Apple last reported the numbers, and a milestone for an industry that increasingly relies on developer interest to beckon customers to a particular platform. While Android has proven successful for developers in usage numbers, recent statistics cite iOS developers as earning four times the amount, on average, for paid apps.

The App Store reached 775,000 apps back in September, with some apps becoming multi-billion dollar businesses. Cook couldn’t resist pointing out the lack of tablet-optimised apps in rival’s stores, saying: “We have over 300,000 apps custom designed for the tablet. The other guys have a few hundred.” This taunt is not dissimilar to one that Steve Jobs used during one of his WWDC keynotes a few years ago.

With iTunes bringing in a sizeable amount of money, too, Apple’s online services are definitely paying off.

Speaking also about what Apple would and would not do to earn cash, specifically with “affordable” products, Cook let it be known that the company’s “North Star” is “a great product.” Cook continued speaking about how they’d actually tried to make cheaper products, but found that instead of creating a Mac for under $500, it made more sense to make the iPad. Thus that product ecosystem was born.

February 13, 2013
Report : Google To Pay Apple $1 Billion To Be Default Search Engine

Despite their continuing legal battles, new reports have suggested search giant Google will pay bitter rival Apple as much as $1 billion (£638.24 million) to be the default search browser on the company’s market dominating hardware ranges. In 2009, the search giants paid only $82 million for the privilege.

It seemed like an impressive win for Mozilla when the new three-year, $900 million deal with Googlewas announced. The Foundation derives the bulk of its funding from that search deal and in return Google gets billions of search hits. But that deal may pale in comparison to what it pays Apple.

Business Insider brings a little hyperbole into the equation, saying that if the iPad continues to grow that it’ll surpass PCs in 5 years — at which point an Apple switch to another search provider could be devastating for Google. They base this speculation on the recent news that iPhoto has dropped Google Maps as a location provider, which some feel is an indication that Apple no longer needs Google at all.

For every dollar of revenue Google makes on iOS thanks to advertising and data collection, Apple gets 75 cents from Google. The number is only going to increase in the coming years if iOS sales keep growing.

Are you an Apple iDevice or Mac user? Do you stick strictly to the Google search options of your device or make use of alternatives such as Bing?

[Business Insider]

February 12, 2013
Australia Orders Apple, Microsoft, Adobe To Pricing Inquiry

Apple Inc has been ordered to appear before Australia’s parliament with fellow technology giants Microsoft Inc and Adobe Systems Inc to explain why local consumers pay so much for their products, despite the strong Aussie dollar.

The House of Representatives launched a probe in July last year to see if some goods were more expensive in Australia than in other parts of the world.

Consumer bodies have often complained that Australians are overcharged.

The firms have previously made written submissions to the committee but have so far declined to appear in person. They are now scheduled to appear before the committee on 22 March.

Ed Husic, a member of the Australian House of Representatives, says that some estimates suggest Australian prices on some products are up to 60 percent higher than in the U.S. Husic told Kotaku Australia that “in what’s probably the first time anywhere in the world, these IT firms are now being summonsed by the Australian Parliament to explain why they price their products so much higher in Australia compared to in the U.S. Adobe, Apple and Microsoft are just a few firms that have continually defied the public’s call for answers and refused to appear before the IT Pricing Inquiry.

Husic took aim at Apple last week over local taxes paid by the company, telling parliament that Apple generated A$6 billion in revenue in Australia in 2011, but paid only A$40 million in tax – less than one percent of turnover.

Good move!

February 11, 2013
Evasi0n Jailbreak Installed On 7 Million iOS Devices In Four Days

Within around four days of launch, the evasi0n jailbreak has been reported to have jailbroken over 7 million iDevices on iOS 6. This data comes from Saurik the developer of Cydia using his server logs.

[quote]As of Thursday night, Freeman’s alternative app store had received visits from 5.15 million iPhones, 1.35 million iPads, and 400,000 iPod touches that were jailbroken with evasi0n, the first jailbreaking software for the iPhone 5 and iOS 6.1.[/quote]

While that’s not a whole lot when compared to the installed base — there are over 500 million iOS-based devices out there, and Apple sold nearly 140 million in 2012 alone — but seven million devices jailbroken in less than a week points to a very healthy demand for increased customization options on iOS.

The statistics come from Cydia creator, Jay Freeman, who claims demand for an untethered jailbreak has been pent up, since this was the longest iOS users have had to wait between a new iPhone release and a cracked OS.

Forbes points out that even one of the more popular jailbreaks of 2011, Jailbreakme3 from Comex, only drew 1.4 million downloads during its first nine days online. Freeman attributes this to the amount of time that it took to crack iOS 6 – 136 days – compared to the 98 days that it took to unlock the iPhone 4S.

Have you jailbroken your iDevice yet?

[Forbes]

February 10, 2013
Evasi0n Jailbreak Version 1.1 Released, Fixes Weather And Long Reboot Bugs

The untethered jailbreak tool evasi0n for iOS 6.x which has been downloaded by over four million users has seen a bit more news come out over the past 24 hours, led by an update designed to address a pair of bugs discovered in the initial version.

Available from the evasi0n Web site, version 1.1 fixes one problem of long reboot times for any jailbroken device, according to blog site iPodnn. It also squashes a bug that caused the default Weather app to crash.

Both fixes had been posted earlier on the Cydia app store for jailbreakers, the evasi0n team tweeted today. Users who’ve already jailbroken their devices can grab the fixes from Cydia rather than installing the new version of evasi0n from scratch. People trying out evasi0n for the first time can simply grab version 1.1 from the tool’s Web site.

Evasi0n is able to jailbreak all iOS 6 and 6.1 devices on the market, including the iPhone 5, the iPad Mini, the fourth-generation iPad, and the fifth-generation iPod Touch. The tool is considered simple to use, at least in comparison with other jailbreak methods.

If you haven’t already jailbroken but plan to do so, just make sure you download the updated version before performing the process. If you’ve already been to the evasi0n website, you may need to clear your internet cache to see the update.

Will you jailbreak your iPhone before iOS 6.1.1? Have you even updated to iOS 6? Leave your comments below!

February 8, 2013
Apple Still Leader In Tablet Market, But Samsung Closing In

Apple’s share of the tablet market declined again in the fourth quarter of 2012 but the company still has twice the share of its nearest rival, Samsung.

Research firm IDC and their latest numbers are showing that current market leader Apple with their iPad are losing tablet market share. Apple’s tablet market share dropped from 51.7% to 43.6%, where in the last three months of 2012 Samsung jumped up to 15.1%.

When taking in consideration the year-over-year numbers, Samsung’s growth has been huge where a year ago they sold just 2.2 million tablets, and twelve months later they’re seeing sales of 7.9 million units.

IDC said the strongest growth came from Android, including tablets made by South Korea’s Samsung and Taiwan’s Asus, which makes a Google-branded Nexus tablet.

The survey found that Microsoft, which launched its new Surface tablet in the quarter, failed to break into the top five sellers and shipped a modest 900,000 of the devices in the quarter.

IDC said Amazon, which does not provide its own sales data, delivered some six million tablets in the quarter to retain its spot as the number three vendor.

That represented 26.8 percent growth, giving Amazon a market share of 11.5 percent, IDC said.

Fourth place belonged to Asus, which sold 3.1 million tablets, year-on-year growth of more than 400 percent. That gave the Taiwan-based firm a 5.8 percent market share. Barnes & Noble sold one million of its Nook tablets and accounted to 1.9 percent of the market, the survey found.

The tablet market is expected to get much more serious this year, with multiple Nexus tablets from Google, as well as Microsoft’s upcoming Surface Pro slate.

February 3, 2013
Rejoice! iOS 6 Jailbreak Confirmed, May Come Out On Sunday!

After many tantalizing hints, the team behind the upcoming evad3rs jailbreak has confirmed it will come as early as Sunday. The crew, noted jailbreak developers @pod2g, @planetbeing and @musclenerd, are working hard on the front-end code for the jailbreak, but the team members have individually assured the world that it is untethered and compatible with iOS 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2 and the newly-released 6.1.

According to the team, the new jailbreak will support every iOS device on the market except for the Apple TV 3rd gen, including the iPhone 5 and iPad 4. While jailbreak has since lost some of its steam due to the addition of many consumer-facing features in iOS 6, many users still clamor for the enhanced experience of BiteSMS and Infinidock, among others.

[quote]”We (+ @MuscleNerd @planetbeing @pimskeks) are the @evad3rs. We don’t take any donations ATM, please don’t be fooled at donating to others,” tweeted Pod2g.[/quote]

For those unaware, the iOS jailbreak eliminates the limitations forced by Apple on devices running the company’s latest operating system through the use of software tweaks on devices that include iPhones, iPads, and more. A tethered system means the procedure must be repeated every time the smartphone reboots.

The information about evad3rs possession of the jailbreak was revealed by pod2g to iDigitalTimes.

[quote]The hacker talked about the success of the team of developers saying: “6.0 is jailbroken, 6.1 beta 4 also. Now we are waiting 6.1 to confirm and release. For your information and this is important to me that everybody knows about it also, this jailbreak will be @planetbeing and @pimskeks.”[/quote]

Pod2g also added that he was only a small part of the jailbreak’s discovery as the majority of the work was done by @planetbeing and @pimskeks.

While the team allegedly has the iOS 6 untethered jailbreak, they are holding on to it until Apple releases iOS 6.1.

January 30, 2013