Tag: apple

Apple Keeps Your Siri Data For Two Years

Apple has revealed that it holds on to voice data that users submit to Siri for up to two years.

Siri keeps your personalized data collected and stored on its servers whenever you pick up your iPhone and ask her a question. The Cupertino firm also assured customers that the files it retains become disassociated from the user after six months, or if they deactivate the personal assistant.

Responding to questions raised by the American Civil Liberties Union yesterday, Apple on Friday dispatched its spokeswoman Trudy Muller who explained to Wired the firm’s data retention policy governing Siri.

Apple may keep anonymized Siri data for up to two years. If a user turns Siri off, both identifiers are deleted immediately along with any associated data.

Based on the information Muller provided, Wired’s Robert McMillan explains exactly what happens when you use Siri:

Whenever you speak into Apple’s voice activated personal digital assistant, it ships it off to Apple’s data farm for analysis. Apple generates a random numbers to represent the user and it associates the voice files with that number. This number — not your Apple user ID or email address — represents you as far as Siri’s back-end voice analysis system is concerned.

Citing the Apple spokeswoman, the site reveals that the company makes sure the data is anonymized. Apple “only collects the Siri voice clips in order to improve Siri itself,” it says.

However, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who had previously raised privacy questions about Siri says Apple should take additional steps to protect its users’ privacy.

According to Nicole Ozer, “There is no good reason for Apple to not include information about privacy practices on their Siri FAQ page.”

[Wired]

April 19, 2013
Apple Named In China Porn App Probe

Apple has been named in an article listing several websites and app stores being investigated in China for providing pornographic content.

The People’s Daily article is not featured prominently in Wednesday’s paper, nor does it make efforts to emphasize Apple, which is listed next to the names of other app stores singled out in the middle of the second paragraph of the article. According to Apple’s terms of use, pornographic content is not allowed on its app store.

Apple has been scrutinized by the Chinese government over pornographic content before, and it’s not the only major company to come under fire for this. Back in 2009, Chine Central Television accused Google of spreading pornography, leading to hacks that cause Google to move its operations to Hong Kong the following year.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, the Chinese government is better known for its crackdowns on politically sensitive content, but it has also long sought to keep pornography off the web in China. To accomplish this quixotic task, it has launched repeated campaigns to block illicit material online, shuttered hundreds of websites and blog accounts, and even called Internet executives into industry-wide meetings to call for greater vigilance. Occasionally the Chinese government will use bans on pornography to censor politically sensitive content, according to analysts.

Apple was recently criticized by Chinese media over its hardware warranty policy, forcing CEO Tim Cook to publicly apologize and announce a few changes to that policy.

[Wall Street Journal]

April 17, 2013
Report : Apple, Yahoo Hold Talks For Deeper iOS Integration

In addition to powering iOS’s Weather and Stocks apps, Yahoo is reportedly in talks with Apple to play a more prominent role in the Cupertino company’s ecosystem. According to the Wall Street Journal, the two companies are discussing “new arrangements, including possible deals to get more content from Yahoo Sports, Yahoo News” and other properties.

While the report does not provide any true specifics regarding what an increased partnership could entail, the report notes that discussions have surrounded increased Yahoo integration into Siri.

Currently, Yahoo’s presence on iOS is limited to the Stocks app, the Weather app, a search option in mobile Safari and sports scores as accessed through Siri.

Yahoo was one of Apple’s initial partners with the iPhone and iOS. Google had a bigger foothold in key areas like Maps and as the default search engine in Safari, but Apple did away with the company’s mapping service as part of iOS 6 last year.

Data from Yahoo Finance and its weather site already come preloaded onto iPhones and Yahoo data like sports stats help power Apple’s voice-activated “assistant” Siri. But the companies continue to discuss new arrangements, including possible deals to get more content from Yahoo Sports and Yahoo News, among other Yahoo Web properties, preloaded onto Apple devices or available through an expanded partnership with Siri, one of these people said.

Yahoo does not have a rival operating system for mobile devices, unlike Google, which has soured the relationship between Apple and Google. That said, Google has been one of the most active major third-party developers on Apple’s iOS platform, bringing many of its services over in app form.

Yahoo’s motives are apparently to grow the company’s mobile presence, and a deeper partnership with Apple could certainly achieve that. The window of opportunity to rely less on Google seems to be opening for Apple, but whether the company will capitalize remains to be seen.

[Wall Street Journal]

April 10, 2013
iOS 7 To See Major UI Overhaul, Running Behind Schedule

There have been some whispers floating around the web tonight that hint that Apple may be having trouble preparing for an iOS 7 launch down the road. Multiple rumors put the debut of iOS 7 some time this summer at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference with a launch a couple months later, but Apple could be struggling to meet that deadline.

In a Branch chat, which at the time of this writing is still going on, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber says, according to what he’s heard, iOS 7 is running behind schedule and that it will bring a significant user interface (UI) refresh.

What I’ve heard: iOS 7 is running behind, and engineers have been pulled from OS X 10.9 to work on it. (Let me know if you’ve heard this song before.)

Gruber went on to say that he’s heard that iOS 7 is a “significant system-wide UI overhaul” and the iOS engineers who are allowed to carry around devices with iOS 7 on them even have special privacy filters on their devices which reduces viewing angles. This is to prevent others from accidentally getting a glimpse of the new iOS design.

Back in 2007, Apple delayed the release of OS X Leopard to concentrate work on iPhone. Gruber claims that since iOS 7 development is “running behind,” it has promted OS X 10.9 engineers to be pulled from their work to lend a hand in getting the mobile OS ready in time for launch.

Rene Ritchie of iMore adds, “Ive’s work is apparently making many people really happy, but will also apparently make rich-texture-loving designers sad.”

As for what could be on the iPhone 5S, both Siegler and Panzarino say they’ve heard a lot about biometrics on the new device. The feature would apparently be used for payments and identification. Panzarino notes it wouldn’t be surprising to see AuthenTec’s biometric technology in Apple devices so soon after Apple purchased the company last July because of the urgency of the deal.

[MacRumours]

April 3, 2013
Rumoured Apple Game Controller May Just Turn Out To Be Legit

Pocketgamer today says it has heard word from mobile game developers that Apple has been operating secret meetings at GDC discussing a game controller.

Long rumoured – and hoped for – GDC 2013 has finally provided confirmation that Apple will release its own dedicated game controller. Of course, there’s no official word yet, but Apple has been active during the conference talking to developers about its plans and ensuring plenty of games will support the joypad at launch.It’s been operating a meeting room at the show, albeit booked under a pseudonym company name to avoid media attention.However, speaking anonymously, multiple developer sources have confirmed the news to PocketGamer.biz

Should Apple’s rumored controller be unveiled alongside an updated Apple TV, such an event would largely confirm earlier rumors that Apple was preparing to make a push to turn its “hobby” into a much bigger pillar within the company. Those rumors had Apple revealing a standard development kit (SDK) and possibly opening the App Store for operation on its set-top box, two elements that would likely be necessary were Apple to release a controller for iOS/Apple TV gaming.

Apple’s iOS devices have in short time become a major platform for game development, with games from previously unknown developers going on to sell in the millions of copies. The touchscreen form factor of the devices, though, has to some extent kept them from functioning as serious, dedicated gaming platforms.

Some major developers have introduced ports of successful titles for Apple’s devices, specially crafted to suit the touchscreen. These titles, though, tend to be from a limited range of game genres.

In the site’s 2012 review of the 3rd generation iPad, AnandTech’s Anand Lal Shimpi and Vivek Gowri let slip a tantalizing tidbit when discussing the iPad’s faculty as a gaming machine: ”I know of an internal Apple project to bring a physical controller to market, but whether or not it will ever see the light of day remains to be seen,” the review reads.

Apple has been filing patents related to gaming devices for quite some time now.

What’s more Apple has been seen bulking itself up with patents that relate to a potential gaming push for at least a few years now.

Update :

It wasn’t long before the unofficial oracle of Apple, Jim Dalrymple of loopinsight.com rained on everyone’s parade. At 1:19 PM today, he posted one of his terse responses in regards to the rumors of an Apple gamepad. The one word assassin “Nope.” Considering that he is well know to have reliable sources within Apple, and that he had an impeccable track record when it comes to rumors, that’s pretty much that.

[Tech Crunch. Pocket Gamer]

March 30, 2013
Apple Patents Wraparound Display For iPhone

A couple of days back the US Patent and Trademarks Office published Apple’s application for a wrap-around form factor for electronic devices. It looks like a curvy, future iPhone.

Well, not “wraps around,” per se, but rather “wraps within.” Patent application 20130076612, published Thursday morning in the US Patent and Trademark Office’s weekly filing-fest, describes a device in which a flexible AMOLED display is inserted into a hollow glass housing, and is pressed against the inside of that housing by “structural support elements.”

In one of its examples, Apple describes a device with two flexible displays that work together.

You can see from Apple’s illustration above what a flexible iPhone might look like. Note the volume controls on the side that are no longer physical buttons, but virtual ones.

This certainly seems like a form factor that would be better suited to the palms of our hands, but it’s unclear how practical it would be in everyday use. A wraparound display may not be as comfortable to type on, and it may not be as suitable as a flat display for things like gaming and watching movies.

The filing also describes a rather simple and permanent-looking connector that handles communications between the display and the device’s logic board, which resides in the center of the transparent housing.

What do you think? Are you excited? Or could all this be used for the rumoured iWatch?

[Forbes, Cult of Mac]

March 30, 2013
Report : Apple Hiring ‘Ground Truth’ Managers To Improve Maps
If job listings are any indication, Apple remains committed to improving its iOS Maps app.

Apple’s woes regarding its Maps mobile app have been well documented, with the company taking a lot of flak from a lot of (lost) people, especially in the weeks following the app’s launch in September last year.

In the clearest sign yet that the Cupertino-based company is set on making the app something you’ll want to actually tap on and open. As the iDownload Blog spotted, Apple has posted job ads on its site for “Maps ground truth managers” at seven locations around the world.

Here’s the job description for the U.S.-based “ground truth manager”:
The Maps team is searching for a manager for the team responsible for regional map quality and ground truth in the U.S. Each of our regional teams is responsible for the quality of our maps in their region. This team’s responsibilities include:
- Testing new releases of map code and data around the U.S.
- Collecting ground truth data to allow for analysis of the impact of potential map code or data changes relative to known truth.
- Utilizing local expertise to provide feedback about U.S.-specific mapping details.
- Evaluating competing products in-region relative to our maps.
As the manager of this team, you will be expected to drive all of this team’s work, determine where and how to allocate resources and clearly communicate test results and other feedback to teams in Cupertino. The U.S. regional team is also responsible for driving communication between engineering teams in Cupertino and our other regional teams as well as evaluating new regional testing initiatives in close coordination with the rest of the Maps quality team before those initiatives are rolled out to the other regional teams.
The job listings not only reflect Apple Maps’ early problems, but also underscore how right Google’s Eric Schmidt was last year when he said that Apple is learning that “maps are really hard.”

Google has been working on maps for years, and relies heavily today on “feet on the ground” products like Google Street View and Map Maker to improve its mapping accuracy. To give you an idea of how far ahead Google is, consider that those two products launched in 2007 and 2008, respectively. And 5-6 years is a long time in internet/tech development.

We’re sure iOS 7 will feature “magical” and “revolutionary” new features in their Maps app.

[Search Engine Land, iDownload Blog]
March 29, 2013
Apple Updates Find My Friends, Introduces Revamped Location Alerts

Apple has updated its Find My Friends app. Version 2.1 now features a new UI to search and set location-based notifications. Probably the nicest part of the update is the ability to set a distance threshold from a certain location.

While Find My Friends is a little harder to setup and tweak compared with the very simple Find My iPhone app, it is a nice way to share your location with friends and family who are using iOS devices.

Find My Friends “Notify Me” page now features a customizable boundary, or geofencing, option that can be expanded or contracted around a located iOS device. Users can adjust the monitored area around a device by selecting the “Change Location” button, which resets the geofencing threshold to allow for more accurate location-based notifications.

With the added functionality, users can select and manipulate the purple circle representing the geofencing around a tracked device, giving a bit more customization to the previous set threshold.

The Next Web reports :

The new interface for setting up those alerts has been tweaked to let you set the exact distance threshold from a location. This lets you fine-tune the sensitivity of an alert for, say, two different buildings on a campus. If you just wanted to know when someone is ‘home’, the older process with a ‘fixed’ zone was fine, but if you were looking to get notices when someone gets into a neighborhood, it was pretty much impossible.

[TNW, Apple Insider]

March 29, 2013
Apple Alleges $85 Million Error In Court Damages Order

Samsung can’t seem to shake Apple off its back and although damages of $599 million were awarded to Apple, the tech giant still isn’t satisfied. In documents filed by Apple, they claim Judge Lucy Koh made an $85 million error in calculating damages. Supposedly, Koh thought the jury had granted $44,792,974 for the Infuse 4G and $40,494,356 for the Galaxy S II on AT&T, Florian Mueller reports for FOSS Patents. However, according to Apple, Samsung’s own statements prove that “disgorgement of profits for design patent infringement”, were permissible.

“The number of products for which the damages award can stand would go up from 14 to 16, while the number of products for which a new determination is needed would go down from 14 to 12. The affirmed damages award would increase from $600 million to $685 million, almost two thirds of the $1.05 billion verdict”.

Apple now seeks the court’s permission to bring a motion for reconsideration, though the request to bring such a motion is, for the time being, conditional.

Apple’s conditional motion cites Civil Local Rule 7-9(b)(3). The related rule of the Northern District of California allows a motion for reconsideration in the event of “[a] manifest failure by the Court to consider material facts or dispositive legal arguments which were presented to the Court before such interlocutory order”.

This is getting interesting!

[FOSS Patents]

March 28, 2013
Apple Acquires WiFiSLAM Indoor Location Tech Startup

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has acquired indoor mobile location positioning firm WiFiSLAM, in a deal worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million.

The Wall Street Journal‘s Jessica Lessin reports:

“Apple has acquired indoor-GPS company WifiSLAM, a sign that the war over indoor mobile location services is heating up. Apple paid around $20 million for the Silicon Valley-based company, according to a person familiar with the matter who said the deal closed recently.

The two-year-old startup has developed ways for mobile apps to detect a phone user’s location in a building using Wi-Fi signals. It has been offering the technology to application developers for indoor mapping and new types of retail and social networking apps.”

Founded in 2010 by former Google engineering intern Joseph Huang and Jessica Tsoong, WifiSlam develops technology that allows mobile apps to find a person’s exact location inside a building by using wi-fi signals. Such tech has been alluring to brick-and-mortar retail organizations that wish to gain more location-based data on customers as they browse a store, not to mention museums, theme parks, malls, and convention centers.

Apple could implement the positioning assets into its much maligned iOS Maps app as an answer to Google’s Indoor Maps initiative, which leverages crowdsourcing to deliver indoor location information for a number of sites worldwide.

[Wall Street Journal]

March 24, 2013
Apple Adds ‘In-App Purchase’ Warning In iTunes

Apple has made a subtle change to the App Store to make consumers more aware of apps that offer in-app purchases. Apple recently added a new “Offers In-App Purchases” warning directly underneath the download button in iTunes following the settlement (as pictured below).

Rather than continue to cash back to users, Apple has attempted to make perfectly clear which apps should be kept out of the reach of children if their folks aren’t savvy enough to password-protect purchases.

Just last week the iPhone-maker refunded the parents of an 8-year-old British boy who had blown £980 (US$1,493, AU$1,429) of very real cash on virtual donuts in the ‘free’ Simpsons: Tapped Out game.

It wasn’t the first time, either. Last month, the company agreed to pay out up to $100m (UK£66m, AUD$96m) in refunds to parents in the United States whose kids had also made unsanctioned in-app purchases.

The new “Offers In-App Purchases” warning is currently only visible within the desktop version of the iTunes App Store; but we would expect that to be rolled out across the iPhone and iPad versions of the store very soon.

The new warning will still not prevent careless parents from allowing their children access to their passwords and running up huge bills but it will give Apple a better legal argument. Also it may be a sign that Apple could offer the ability to filter apps from the App Store that contain in-app purchases; this could be a good option for parents that give their children access to their iTunes password to download free apps.

Making it clearer which apps use IAP is a step in the right direction on the latter front. More may follow at Apple’s WWDC developer event this summer, when the company is expected to unveil its iOS 7 software.

March 23, 2013
New Loophole Lets Attacker Reset An Apple ID With Only Your Birthday And Email Address

A worrying new security hole allows for an Apple ID to be hacked, simply by knowing the user’s email address and date of birth. The Verge first reported the vulnerability after being tipped off to the hack.

The Verge reports:

[T]oday a new exploit has been discovered that affects all customers who haven’t yet enabled [two-step verification]. It allows anyone with your email address and date of birth to reset your password — using Apple’s own tools. We’ve been made aware of a step-by-step tutorial (which remains available as of this writing) that explains in detail how to take advantage of the vulnerability. The exploit involves pasting in a modified URL while answering the DOB security question on Apple’s iForgot page.

The vulnerability affects all customers yet to upgrade to the two-step verification process, leaving those users’ accounts wide open to anyone who knows those not-exactly-hard-to-track down pieces of basic data.

The bad news is that two-step verification is not yet available in many countries. According to the Apple FAQ:

Initially, two-step verification is being offered in the U.S., UK, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. Additional countries will be added over time. When your country is added, two-step verification will automatically appear in the Password and Security section of Manage My Apple ID when you sign in to My Apple ID.

After the discovery, Apple subsequently took down the iForgot password reset page “for maintenance,” and updated the iCloud System Status webpage to inform users of the issue.

In a statement to The Verge the company said, “Apple takes customer privacy very seriously. We are aware of this issue, and working on a fix.”

At the time of posting, Apple has taken down the iForgot page to avoid further hacks.

Update : Several online sources report that the loophole has been fixed.

[Via The Verge]

March 23, 2013
Apple’s Jonathan Ive Pushing For A More ‘Flat Design’ To iOS 7

Back in October, iOS leader Scott Forstall was, along retail SVP John Browett, removed from Apple. It was a surprising decision, even after the nightmare iOS 6 Maps issue, but it quickly emerged that Forstall, in particular, had stepped on more than a few toes within the Cupertino executive ranks. Jony Ive, head of Industrial Design and credited with molding the vast majority of the company’s recent success stories, was said to strongly disagree with Forstall’s rampant skeuomorphism within the iOS UI, and since the Englishman has taken on the role as leader of Human Interface following Forstall’s departure, it now looks as though he plans to remove all remnants of the former iOS Senior Vice President.

Jonathan Ive is pushing for a more ‘flat design’ to iOS 7, reports the WSJ.

In the past, most of the iOS designers were cut out of the loop on specifics relating to the hardware of the devices they were designing for. On prototype projects, Ive used a stealth group of software developers. However, that is slowing starting to change, says the Journal.

The Human Interface team led by Greg Christie is being briefed about industrial prototypes earlier. A source described the change as “a thawing”. Ive now sits in on the team’s review sessions to vet new designs and despite Christie being a blunt talker the sessions are described as “pleasant and cordial”.

Some suggested that in Apple’s next mobile operating system, Ive is pushing a more “flat design” that is starker and simpler, according to developers who have spoken to Apple employees but didn’t have further details. Overall, they expect any changes to be pretty conservative. For the past few years, Apple has unveiled versions of its mobile operating system in the summer.

While this report makes it sound as though there won’t be any earth-shattering changes made to the next version of iOS, a slight makeover could be in the cards. That obviously isn’t going to sit well with anyone that’s hoping for a major overhaul of iOS

[Via WSJ]

March 22, 2013
Analysts : Apple Could Be Holding $170 Billion In Cash By The End Of The Year

Moody’s Investors Service figures Apple’s cash could balloon beyond $170 billion by year’s end if the company doesn’t start returning some cash to shareholders, whether it be through buyback, increased dividend or even distributing those perpetual preferred iPref shares that Greenlight Capital founder David Einhorn proposed.

According to Moody’s, “Unless Apple changes its philosophy towards liquidity/shareholder returns by increasing its $10 billion annual common dividend, or if Apple increases it stock buyback program, we estimate Apple’s cash balances could increase by another $35 billion in 2013 and exceed $170 billion,”

Moody’s Senior Vice President Richard Lane said that if Apple keeps its current dividend levels, it would be holding $40-45 billion in domestic cash since it makes about 20 percent of its “cash flow” in the U.S.

There is no company even close to having as much cash as Apple. Number two on the list is Microsoft who has $68.3 billion. (Yes, Apple has twice as much) Number three is Google with $48.1 billion, and then Pfizer with $46.9 billion. Finally, rounding out the top five is Cisco Systems with $46.4 billion.

If Apple wanted to take on a humanitarian cause, the cash could feed every hungry person in the world three basic meals per day for 245 days based on the most recent statistics!

Apple said it’s been discussing ways to return more money to stockholders, but so far the company has had nothing concrete to offer. Apple has been under pressure from a hedge fund manager named David Einhorn and other major investors to return some of that cash to shareholders.

[All Things D]

March 19, 2013
Apple New Patent Reveals Interactive Augmented Reality System

Apple has been granted a patent today for their invention relating to synchronized, interactive augmented reality displays for multifunctional devices or iDevices.

Image Courtesy : Apple Insider

Published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple’s U.S. Patent No. 8,400,548 for “Synchronized, interactive augmented reality displays for multifunction devices” describes an advanced AR system that uses various iOS device features like a multitouch screen, camera and internet connectivity, among others, to facilitate advanced AR functionality.

Patently Apple reports :

According to Apple, the granted patent is about a device that can receive live video of a real-world, physical environment on a touch sensitive surface. One or more objects can be identified in the live video. An information layer can be generated related to the objects. In some implementations, the information layer can include annotations made by a user through the touch sensitive surface. The information layer and live video can be combined in a display of the device. Data can be received from one or more onboard sensors indicating that the device is in motion. The sensor data can be used to synchronize the live video and the information layer as the perspective of video camera view changes due to the motion. The live video and information layer can be shared with other devices over a communication link.

Image Courtesy : Patently Apple

According to Apple Insider, The patent describes an AR system for iOS devices, which can be used in a variety of different ways. At its most basic, it works by labeling elements of an image in a live video feed, as when it names the parts of a circuit board being shot with the rear-facing camera on an iPad-like device in Apple’s patent.

The iOS device employing the AR tech is also described as being able to show both the straight image itself, and the version with overlaid information at once in windows side-by-side, allowing both an unobstructed view and one with all the contextual information.

Interesting!

[Patently Apple, Apple Insider, Tech Crunch]

March 19, 2013