Apple Insider – Page 132

Posted on October 4, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Apple sued over AirDrop technology

Patent troll Uniloc returned to form on Wednesday after a months-long hiatus from lobbing allegations against Apple, this time challenging the company’s AirDrop file sharing technology with a 2006 Philips patent.

Filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Uniloc’s latest attempt to extract damages from the tech giant leverages a single patent first filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2000.

Invented by Jonathan Griffiths, U.S. Patent No. 7,136,999 for a “Method and system for electronic device authentication” details techniques of creating a secure environment for transferring data between two devices. In particular, the IP covers methods of providing authentication over a variety of wireless protocols including Bluetooth.

According to the patent’s first claim, an initial authentication procedure is performed over a short-range wireless link. Once authenticated, the two devices are then able to connect when out of range of the first wireless link protocol. As noted in following claims, the devices can exchange initial authentication information — a key or password — via an alternative communications link.

The USPTO issued a grant for the ‘999 patent in 2006.

The IP has changed hands multiple times since its filing in 2000, first from Griffiths to Philips Electronics that same year. It was assigned to patent aggregator IPG Electronics 503 Limited in 2009, then on to Pendragon Wireless in 2012 before landing in Uniloc’s coffers in February 2018. Uniloc Luxembourg subsequently assigned the patent to Uniloc 2017 LLC in July.

Uniloc’s U.S. licensing entity, with the recently formed Uniloc 2017, is leveraging the patent-in-suit against Apple and AirDrop.

Introduced alongside OS X 10.7 Lion in 2011, AirDrop is a first-party ad hoc protocol designed to simplify the process of transferring large files from one device to another.

Initially developed to connect two Macs over Wi-Fi, the service first appeared in the OS X Finder. Running AirDrop allowed two Macs to quickly create an ad hoc connection without need for passwords or complex network configuration. Simple drag-and-drop functionality made the system a more attractive alternative to direct link, cloud storage and similar file transfer solutions in use at the time.

Apple later extended — and modified — AirDrop to accommodate its mobile operating system with iOS 7 in 2013. Unlike legacy AirDrop technology, the revamped version employs a dual-link structure that relied on Bluetooth for discovery and token setup, and Wi-Fi for file transfers. Again, users are presented with an easy-to-use interface in Share Sheets that features automatic device discovery and tap-to-send capabilities.

It is this second iteration of AirDrop that Uniloc is targeting in its latest lawsuit.

The non-practicing entity is alleging infringement of claims 13 and 17 of the ‘999 patent, which relate to establishing a secure link between two devices through exchange of authentication information over two separate communications links. Named in the suit are all devices compatible with Apple’s current implementation of AirDrop, including all iPhones from iPhone 5 to iPhone XS Max, fourth- and fifth-generation iPads, all iPad mini generations, all iPad Air models, iPad Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, the fifth-generation iPod and fourth- through sixth-generation iPod touch models.

Uniloc in its suit seeks unspecified damages, reimbursement of legal fees and other relief deemed fit by the court.

The AirDrop case is the latest in a string of Uniloc lawsuits targeting Apple technologies. In the middle of 2017, the non-practicing entity went on a spree, filing suit against the iPhone maker almost once a month.

Last April, Uniloc sued over Maps, Apple ID and remote software updates, while a second batch of filings homed in on AirPlay, autodialing, battery technology in May. Device wake-up, step tracking and Apple Watch were added to the growing pile last June, AirPlay and Home in July, the Apple TV Remote app in August and Apple Watch’s GPS in October.

Uniloc is one of the most active patent trolls in the U.S., leveraging reassigned patents or vaguely worded original IP against a number of tech firms including Activision Blizzard, Aspyr, Electronic Arts, McAfee, Microsoft, Rackspace, Sega, Sony, Symantec and more.

Posted on October 3, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Publishers laud Apple News’ human touch, wary about monetization prospects

By Mikey Campbell
Tuesday, October 02, 2018, 09:54 pm PT (12:54 am ET)

As Apple attempts to woo major publishers to its Apple News platform, the outlets — many anonymously — chimed in on the effort, saying human-driven article curation and a massive iOS device install base is winning over some converts. At least for now.

Speaking with Digiday, publishing executives gave points to Apple for its approach to content curation. Like Apple Music, Apple News relies on human curation in the form of an editorial team tasked with policing content quality.

“They’re attentive, and you have the sense they’re human beings that are trying to nurture a relationship of some kind,” said a publishing executive who is in regular contact with Apple.

Apple News is in many ways the antithesis of Facebook, which is experiencing a media exodus of sorts due to recent troubles over the 2016 elections and a rejiggering of user news feeds designed to quell criticism over conspiracy theories run rampant.

According to the report, certain top-tier news organizations are in constant conversation with Apple’s editorial team. One such outlet, CNN Digital, is in touch with Apple on a daily basis. S. Mitra Kalita, SVP of news, opinion and programming at CNN Digital, says the availability enables the channel to reach a diverse audience.

“This is very much a human interaction,” Kalita said.

She pointed out, however, that monetization options lag behind the competition. Other publishers seemingly agree. New York Post chief digital officer Remy Stern at the Digiday Publishing Summit last week said his publication makes “hundreds” in revenue despite catering to an audience that numbers in the “millions.”

Advertising is typically the main source of revenue for online publications, and Apple’s cloistered platform only recently began allowing publishers to serve Google DoubleClick ads. One anonymous publication is looking to make “a few hundred thousand” dollars this year through Apple News, while the New York Post estimates it brought in only $600 in six months.

Apple is supposedly pushing for publishers to adopt subscription models, a tactic the company is also applying to apps sold in the App Store. How Apple intends to set its strategy apart from the crowd is unclear, and the company has shared little on the matter with publishing partners.

“They’re very condescending in their approach,” one anonymous source said. “It’s, ‘We’re doing this and we’ll tell you when we figure it out.'”

Further, Apple currently takes its customary 30-percent cut of all subscription sales, a larger chunk than Facebook and Google.

That could all change if and when the tech giant rolls out a widely rumored paid service for news and magazines — and potentially video and music content — next year. For now, however, most publishers appear willing to tough it out in hopes that Apple News becomes a key facet in Apple’s booming services business.

Posted on October 1, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Tests show iPhone XS LTE speeds best iPhone X, can’t match Galaxy Note 9 or Pixel 2

Though a handful of early iPhone XS adopters are complaining about less-than-desirable cellular reception, a new test reveals Apple’s latest flagship smartphones boast much improved LTE performance over last year’s model. However, the XS models, which rely on Intel modems, are still behind handsets that use battle-tested Qualcomm silicon.

Conducted by PCMag in partnership with Cellular Insights, the evaluation pitted iPhone XS and XS Max against top industry performers including Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 and Google’s Pixel 2. Last year’s Intel-powered iPhone X, using the chipmaker’s XMM7480 modem, was also included for reference.

For 2018, Apple opted to ditch Qualcomm in favor of Intel’s next-generation XMM7560, an LTE modem capable of communicating with networks run by the four major U.S. wireless carriers. The latest iPhones are also the first to sport 4×4 MIMO antennas, boosting top-end speed and enhancing performance in areas where cell signals are weak.

Testing involved creating a 20MHz channel of Band 4, employed by AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and major Canadian carriers, with Rohde & Schwarz equipment capable of supporting 4×4 MIMO configurations. Cellular Insights attenuated an LTE signal from -85 dBm, a strong signal, and slowly decreased reference power until the phones ceased to download data.

Overall, iPhone XS Max performed nearly on par with the Galaxy Note 9 and Pixel 2, both of which sport Qualcomm modems in the X20 and X16, respectively. At -85 dBm, all three smartphones achieved nearly 400 Mbps download speeds. The XS exhibited a precipitous drop in performance at -86dBm, while the Pixel 2 and Note 9 saw nearly identical dips at -89 dBm and -90 dBm, respectively.

Apple’s phone stopped receiving data at -128 dBm, while the Note 9 ceased reception at around -131 dBm. Interestingly, the Pixel 2’s X16 modem continued to function beyond the measured range, though performance degraded to approximately 10 Mbps.

As can be expected from two nearly identical smartphones, Apple’s XS and XS Max put in largely similar performances. The larger iPhone XS Max pulled ahead at certain signal levels, but the slight deviation would go unnoticed in a real-world scenario, the publication said.

Apple’s latest iPhone, while trailing a bit behind competitors using Qualcomm modems, is markedly improved compared to it predecessor. Lab testing saw the iPhone XS Max handily outperform the iPhone X at all signal levels, nearly doubling the 2017 iPhone under good conditions. The gains are primarily attributed to 4×4 MIMO antennas, though fine tuning of Intel’s new XMM chip seemingly helped iPhone XS Max perform with relatively weak signals.

Real-world testing bore similar results, with iPhone XS Max seeing an average download speed increase of 6.6Mbps on all U.S. carriers, according to statistics provided by speedtest specialist Ookla. AT&T was most improved with an 8Mbps bump in performance. In Canada, overall download average deltas jumped to 20.2Mbps, with Telus being the network most greatly benefitted from the changes Apple made this year.

Comparatively, Samsung’s Note 9 displayed average LTE download speeds of 43.2Mbps during the week of Sept. 24, while iPhone speeds averaged 38.9Mbps for the same period. Again, download figures massively improved in Canada, where the Note 9 averaged speeds of 97.7Mbps to XS Max’s 85.4Mbps, the study found.

Finally, the publication notes a bump in iPhone X performance when upgrading from iOS 11 to iOS 12. Notably, download speeds on an iPhone X running iOS 12 neared performance levels seen by Qualcomm versions of the device running iOS 11.

The test results arrive roughly one week after early iPhone XS and XS Max customers began to complain of poor cellular and Wi-Fi reception. Today’s findings — lab tests in particular —

suggest Apple’s hardware is not to blame, leaving hope that a firmware update will solve the sporadic issue.

Posted on October 1, 2018 by — Leave a comment

FBI makes suspect unlock iPhone X in first confirmed instance of forced Face ID

By Roger Fingas
Sunday, September 30, 2018, 08:33 pm PT (11:33 pm ET)

The FBI recently ordered a suspect unlock his iPhone X via Face ID, in the first known example of police doing so anywhere in the world.

The incident occurred on Aug. 10, when the FBI searched the house of Grant Michalski in Columbus, Ohio during a child abuse investigation, Forbes reported on Sunday, citing court documents. Special agent David Knight ordered Michalski to face the iPhone, triggering Face ID.

Michalski was ultimately charged with receiving and possessing child pornography. The search uncovered related Kik conversations, including a chat with someone who was really an undercover officer.

Only some data was obtained from the iPhone however as the FBI didn’t have Michalski’s passcode, which put up roadblocks for forensic tools after the device had been locked for more than an hour. Knight noted he wasn’t able to document things like app use or deleted files, but added that he’d discovered that the Columbus Police Department and the Ohio Bureau of Investigation have “technological devices that are capable of obtaining forensic extractions from locked iPhones without the passcode,” presumably referring to hardware offered by Cellebrite and/or Grayshift.

A lawyer for Michalski, Steven Nolder, told Forbes that the FBI turned to Cellebrite, but has so far failed to get anything useful. He also commented that police are now using boilerplate language in warrants to cover Face ID.

Mandatory Touch ID unlocks have been happening for years, even being used on corpses. Though controversial the practice is currently legal, and sometimes claimed to be necessary by U.S. law enforcement since suspects can’t be forced to turn over their passcodes. Conventional forensic tools are often defeated by the full-disk encryption and other security measures in iOS.

Cellebrite and Grayshift recently scored major contracts with the U.S. Secret Service, valued at $780,000 and $484,000, respectively. Grayshift also picked up a $384,000 deal with Immigration Customs Enforcement.

Posted on September 29, 2018 by — Leave a comment

New iPhone XS owners should get these essential apps from the App Store

Everybody’s different but there are some tools that help us all. Apple makes plenty of them and is getting better at including most on the phone but there are more. AppleInsider picks the apps that should be on your new iPhone.

Icons for Pages, Numbers, Keynote and Siri Shortcuts

This has the word legal written all over it. For years, Apple made certain key iPhone apps yet didn’t install them. You had to know they existed and then deliberately go download them yourself. It’s probably a legacy of when some of these apps were paid purchases and now they’re free, but whatever the reason, it was a pain.

Things are much better since the iPhone 6 and in particular phones with greater storage capacity. Starting with the 64GB version of the 6, Apple installed the iWork apps on larger iPhones. Today it officially installs them on everything.

That’s officially, though. In practice you may not notice if you’re an existing iPhone user. Unless you choose to setup your shiny iPhone XR, XS or XS Max as a new phone, each time you move to a new one you bring along your previous apps.

And it’s not as if the days of Apple choosing to hide great apps is over: just try looking for the Siri Shortcuts app on your new phone.

Then alongside the Apple-made apps, there are some essential apps —or categories of app —to get every iPhone ready for serious use.

About that Shortcuts app

It’s a mystery why Apple would tout this app as one of the key new features of iOS 12 and then not give it to you. Go get it yourself from here.

To be fair, Shortcuts is a slightly schizophrenic feature for iOS 12 in that it’s deeply embedded into Siri whether you have this app or not. It’s just that without it, you’re severely limited as to what you can create a shortcut to do.

Specifically, you’re limited to what Siri believes would be useful and then offers to you. Many apps include features to help setup Siri Shortcuts but the sole way to create one from scratch is via this Apple app that you haven’t got.

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You’ll take a time to really grasp all Shortcuts can do for you: first you have to notice something you do repeatedly and that takes several steps. Then you need to see how you can tell Shortcuts those steps.

If you’ve used Workflow on iOS or something like Automator on Mac then this will be familiar. If you haven’t, you’ll just have to experiment. Open the Shortcuts app and tap on Gallery at bottom right. This will show you what uses other people have found for the feature —and how they did it.

Hidden or ignored

If that iPhone XR, XS or XS Max is your very first iPhone then you’re lucky in so many ways. One of them, though, is that you definitely escape an issue that can affect those of us who move from iPhone to iPhone. If you always choose Restore from Backup then you won’t have the iWork apps installed on your phone.

These are the word processor Pages, the spreadsheet Numbers and the presentation software Keynote

Ironically, when you do have these apps you tend to ignore them specifically because they’re pre-installed. There is a perception that Pages, for instance, is inferior to Microsoft Word. That’s partly because it genuinely isn’t as powerful and partly because Apple hides features to avoid distractions. Yet it’s also because it’s provided free just like the Weather and Stocks apps.

You can see why Apple might have left the iWork apps off back when it used to sell iPhones with just 8GB of storage space, which it did until the iPhone 6 in 2014. Then, too, you could easily argue that it wasn’t practical to run Pages, Numbers or Keynote on an iPhone with a small screen.

We did, though, and especially with an external keyboard we did it often. Now that we have the iPhone X range’s size and quality of display, however, you can genuinely do all the work you used to do on a laptop.

Get them while you can

If you haven’t got them, download all three the next time you’re on Wi-Fi. These are the apps that will help you get serious work done when you find yourself stuck without a MacBook.

You can't download apps larger than 150MB unless you're on Wi-Fi

Only, you must get them when you’re on Wi-Fi. Numbers, for instance, is currently 476.7MB which is astonishingly small for a spreadsheet —but it’s more than Apple will let you download over cellular. The ceiling for that is 150MB so you can’t download Pages (511MB) or Keynote (691MB) either.

Apple’s oddities

You could download Apple’s Music Memos app which comes in at just 102.2MB. It’s not an essential for everyone: this is an app that lets you quickly take down ideas for songs or other music by recording yourself humming or playing an instrument.

However, it’s also an app that is like the iWork ones: made by Apple specifically for iPhones and free. It’s more like Siri Shortcuts, though: it is still not installed with iOS.

If you are a musician then also check that GarageBand has been installed on your iPhone: if it isn’t there, you can get it now. Note that it’s 1.7GB, though.

That is substantial and if you also had to grab iMovie you’d need another 707.1MB. Get iMovie, GarageBand, Music Memos plus the iWork trio and you’re looking at 4.2GB.

If you have them but just never launch any of them, you could save yourself some room on your iPhone. It’s just that as 4.2GB goes, these are very productive apps.

They’re also ones that typically provide most people with most things they need to do to get working. You can write any document you need in Pages, and export it to Word later it you want. You can do any spreadsheet work and export to Excel,

You can do any presentation work in Keynote and then later regret exporting it to PowerPoint when you see how bad Microsoft’s software is.

If it’s about getting maximum use for your iPhone then we’d want Siri Shortcuts installed and make the Stocks app be one you have to download.

Maximum use

There are apps that will show off what your iPhone can do and there are ones that you will simply relish using. However, there are two more that you must look at: two that we would see baked into iPhones if we possibly could.

It’s really two categories of app and the first is a password manager. We didn’t say these were exciting. What we said was that you must look at them and we mean you must pick one and install it.

A password manager is a secure app that creates strong passwords for you and remembers them, too. Increasingly Safari is doing this but a password manager app can also hold your bank details, your credit card ones and all your app login or licence details.

Security is one great thing but the sheer speed and convenience of access to your private details is another. Password managers make logging into a site or paying for something with your credit card be startlingly fast.

It’s still a couple of steps but your new iPhone comes with iOS 12 which has added a feature called AutoFill to help you use password managers more readily.

The four main password managers for iOS are 1Password, LastPass, Dashlane and Keeper.

Have iPhone, will travel

You are not going to confine your iPhone to your home or office. It is a tool you’ll carry with you everywhere and, what’s more, that you’ll use everywhere too. With having that great technology at your display, though, comes an issue of security.

That airport Wi-Fi network you just joined could belong to the airline. However, it could belong to the suspicious person who’s been sitting in Departures for a long time. Before you do anything on your phone that sends sensitive information like logins and passwords out across Wi-Fi, get a VPN.

It stands for Virtual Private Network but it’s a case where knowing what the words are doesn’t explain what it does. VPNs often get described instead as tunnels: they connect you from your iPhone to the site or service you want to use and they do it in such a way that nobody else can see.

Really, they encrypt all the data you’re sending or receiving over the internet. So you could be using that fake airport Wi-Fi to check your online banking and you’d still be safe.

A byproduct of this security is that VPNs also mask where you are. To the site or service you’re using, you’re logging in from one of the VPN company’s servers and that could be anywhere across the world.

That means you can escape geographic restrictions. Say you’re a US Hulu subscriber just waiting for the new series of Veronica Mars but you’re currently visiting the UK on an extended holiday. You’re paying Hulu so you should be able to watch it, but because you’re outside your home region, it won’t work.

Unless you use a VPN.

It’s not guaranteed: Netflix now tries to identify and block traffic coming in from a VPN but then this is a byproduct of the tunnelling technology, it’s not the main aim.

There are dozens of VPN services for iOS and Mac. Try NordVPN which provides this service for $3.99 per month or TunnelBear which is free for light use with in-app purchases starting at $6.99.

The main aim

You should be able to get your iPhone set up and letting you do serious work on it right from the start. That means being secure and having the best apps available.

Seriously, we wonder about why Siri Shortcuts isn’t pre-installed. Still, we’re relieved to see that Apple’s main iWork apps now usually are.

Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.

Posted on September 29, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Complex iOS passcode bypasses grant access to iPhone Contacts and Photos

A pair of extremely involved passcode bypasses discovered in Apple’s latest iOS 12 can grant attackers access to Contacts and Photo data on a user’s iPhone, including models protected by Face ID.

Unearthed by Jose Rodriguez, the exploits are rather complicated, each containing multiple steps involving Siri, Apple’s VoiceOver screen reader feature and, in one case, the Notes app. Both methods work on iPhones running the latest version of iOS, including models with Face ID or Touch ID biometric security.

The first of the the two videos posted to Rodriguez’s Spanish language YouTube channel explains a vulnerability that allows a potential attacker to bypass both Face ID and Touch ID security protocols.

Demonstrating the process, Rodriguez activates VoiceOver through a Siri request. From there, he calls the target iPhone with a separate device and, with the call dialogue displayed, taps the “Message” button to create a custom text message. Once in Messages, Rodriguez moves the text selector to the “+” symbol, denoting the addition of another contact, then uses the secondary device to text the target iPhone, triggering a notification to appear. Double tapping the screen on the target iPhone while the notification is displayed appears to cause a conflict in the iOS user interface.

Rodriguez confirmed to AppleInsider that the second device is required to perform the bypass.

With the screen now blank, Siri is once again activated and quickly deactivated. The screen remains blank, but VoiceOver’s text selection box is seemingly able to access and navigate Messages’ user menu. Swiping back through the available options and selecting “Cancel” retrieves the original Messages screen, where a nefarious user can add a new recipient. Selecting a numeral from the soft keyboard brings up recently dialed or received phone numbers and contacts that contain metadata associated to that number.

Going further, the entire address book can be accessed if a displayed contact or number presents an “i,” or info, button next to its respective entry. Disabling VoiceOver, again via Siri, and tapping on the “i” icon displays a contact’s information. Performing a 3D Touch gesture on the contact avatar brings up options to “Call,” “Message,” “Add to Existing Contact” or “Create New Contact.” Selecting the latter displays a full list of contacts.

Finally, Photos are retrievable by once again enabling VoiceOver and swiping down to “Camera Roll” on an unseen user menu. Navigating through recent photos, screenshots and other folders via gestures and audio cues allows an attacker to assign individual pictures to a contact’s user icon.

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A second video details a lock screen bypass that, while limited in scope, demonstrates yet another bug exists in Apple’s mobile operating system.

Rodriguez again invokes Siri, but this time creates a new note. After adding a picture to the note, he locks the phone and repeats the process. Tapping on the inserted image in the second note presents a media sharing icon that, when selected, brings up a blank share sheets UI. Asking Siri to enable VoiceOver provides access to an unseen menu containing a user’s default sharing options.

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Apple has yet to address the vulnerabilities in the latest iOS 12.1 beta.

Concerned users can minimize exposure to the apparent bugs by disabling Siri lock screen access in Settings > Face ID & Passcode or Settings > Touch ID & Passcode under the “Allow access when locked” heading. The second attack can be thwarted by enabling password protection for Notes by navigating to Settings > Notes > Password.

Rodriguez discovered a number of lock screen bypasses in past versions of iOS, including an obscure SIM card-related flaw in iOS 6.1.3.

Posted on September 28, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Apple accused of unsavory business practices in ‘Memoji’ trademark lawsuit

A lawsuit filed on Thursday alleges Apple snaked the Memoji trademark from an Android app of the same name through a series of questionable behind-the-scenes moves, one of which allegedly involved the creation of a single-purpose LLC.

A complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California claims Apple’s Memoji mark, used to describe a marquee iPhone X and XS feature, infringes on a similar trademark — “MEMOJI” — currently in use by Android app maker Social Tech.

According to the suit, Social Tech filed an intent-to-use application for the MEMOJI mark in April 2016, but before registration was obtained, Apple made a play for its version of the name.

The app maker alleges Apple formed a subsidiary called Memofun Apps LLC to obtain a “forgotten and abandoned” app using the name “Memoji.” Along with goodwill, Apple sought prior rights to a then-suspended “Memoji” trademark application from owners Big 3 ENT and Lucky Bunny. A deal was apparently reached, as Memofun assigned rights to Memoji to Apple on June 4, 2018, the same day Memoji for iOS was introduced at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

Further, Social Tech said an unknown person inquired about buying the rights to MEMOJI in May, just two weeks prior to Apple’s Memoji debut. The person, who declined to identify the company he worked for, was told the MEMOJI name was not for sale. Social Tech believes the unknown man was a representative of Apple.

On June 30, Social Tech filed a Statement of Use with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The agency subsequently registered the mark on Sept. 18, with a “first use” and use “in commerce” dated June 28, the day the app was made available on the Google Play store.

In its complaint, Social Tech says Apple’s Memoji launch “completely swamped” efforts to associate the mark with the app maker’s brand. Beyond name recognition, the debut of Memoji for iOS in June forced Social Tech’s hand, the company says, prompting the developer to release a “basic but functional” version of MEMOJI that was not fully baked. A more complete iteration would have hit market if Social Tech was able to stick to its planned release schedule, the filing claims.

“Apple’s infringing product has, since the day of its announcement, caused Social Tech to lose control of its brand: a Google search and YouTube search for MEMOJI is dominated by Apple’s Infringing Memoji,” the complaint reads.

Counsel for Social Tech in early June informed Apple that the MEMOJI app would soon launch on Google Play, and that registration for MEMOJI would be sought from the USPTO. In response, Apple said it would be able to cancel the registration because its “common law rights” predate those of Social Tech’s April 2016 application. Social Tech refutes these claims.

Exacerbating the situation is the relative similarity between the two products marketed under “Memoji” and “MEMOJI,” Social Tech argues. For example, both apply to messaging features offered to mobile platform users.

Beyond their messaging functions, however, the two products are grossly divergent.

Widely publicized as a highlight iOS 12 feature, Apple’s Memoji creates three-dimensional avatars which users can animate using facial expressions captured by iPhone’s TrueDepth camera system. Social Tech’s version, on the other hand, allows users to edit videos and photographs and send the results as messages.

Social Tech seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions restricting Apple from using the Memoji trademark, damages, profits attributable to Apple’s unauthorized use of the name and confirmation of rights to the mark.

Ironically — and perhaps typical of Google’s wild and woolly storefront — there are already multiple copycats on the Google Play store taking advantage of Apple’s “Memoji” hype. Dozens of apps incorporate “Memoji” in search term metadata, while at least seven include the term directly in their name. Whether Social Tech is also seeking redress from publishers of those Android apps is unknown.

Posted on September 27, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Australian teen receives 8 months probation for hacking Apple’s corporate network

By Mikey Campbell
Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 08:40 pm PT (11:40 pm ET)

An Australian teen who gained unauthorized access to Apple’s corporate network has been sentenced to eight months probation for his crimes, which included the collection of about one terabyte of sensitive data gleaned from company servers.

Apple’s “global command” data center in Mesa, Ariz. | Source: The Republic

As scheduled, the Melbourne teen, who has not been named because he was a minor at the time of the crime, received sentencing on Thursday.

The now adult defendant faced two charges related to hacking, one carrying a maximum sentence of two years in custody and another carrying a maximum sentence of one year. He entered a guilty plea in August.

During the proceedings, a magistrate told the Children’s Court that the offenses carried out by the defendant were “serious, sustained and sophisticated,” reports Bloomberg.

Over the course of two years, the defendant conducted a series of attacks on Apple’s internal systems, using highly protected “authorized keys” and software to remotely access offsite servers. Apple security personnel ultimately discovered the intrusion and notified the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, which handed the case over to the Australian Federal Police.

A raid of the boy’s suburban home last year yielded two Apple laptops, a mobile phone and a hard drive associated with the hack. In all, nearly one terabyte of secure files and customer data was stolen, some of which landed in a file named “hacky hack hack.”

Apple in a statement said no customer information was compromised due to the attack.

In past reports, the teen was described as a fan of Apple who dreamed of one day working for the company.

Posted on September 26, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Publications reportedly embracing Apple News for ad revenue potential, not immediate returns

By Andrew O’Hara
Tuesday, September 25, 2018, 09:40 pm PT (12:40 am ET)

News outlets have seen extensive growth in readership within Apple News as of late, with many prioritizing its audience over other forms of distribution. The only issue? Few — if any — have been able to actually monetize it, according to a new report.

The recent claims were outlined in an extensive report that highlights the potential pitfalls of embracing Apple’s pre-installed iOS newsstand.

Numbers shared by Slate are quite telling. The publication has experienced a huge increase in traffic from Apple News, yet it is largely unable to monetize that influx of new readers. In fact, Slate earns more money from an article that pulls 50,000 views on its site than 54 million page views on Apple News.

The report, citing sources, says other news outlets are seeing much the same, with Apple News now ranking as a top traffic driver alongside Facebook and Google.

Since launch, Apple News lacked support for many of the common ad platforms used by online publishers. While it recently added support for Google’s DoubleClick ad manager, the platform’s restrictions mean articles viewed in Apple News display far fewer ads than the same content on a publication’s site. Further, the ads that are shown in News don’t earn much.

Yet publications are not jumping ship. Indeed, many are embracing Apple News, hoping for a turnaround. The app comes pre-installed on every iOS device, opening the door to a massive potential audience considering there are over a billion iPhones and iPads in use around the world.

The recent surge in Apple News readership comes as Facebook has seemingly culled the amount of content that appears in users’ newsfeeds, a response to increased criticism over “fake news,” its part in Russia’s interference in U.S. elections and seemingly lax data privacy practices. Facebook was the place to be for news outlets a couple years ago, but traffic is not what is used to be for many news and media companies.

Google AMP, Twitter and Apple News were among those outlets to see increases as Facebook’s faltered, though Apple News has garnered many media outlets focus, even if they aren’t able to earn much on the platform. At least not yet.

Publications may be embracing Apple News at the moment, but that could change if Apple doesn’t find a way to help them earn revenue rather than simply distributing their content.

The big difference between Facebook’s audience and that of Apple News is that Facebook routed readers to the publication’s website, where page views translated into ad impressions. Apple News, on the other hand, keeps users within the app itself, largely restricting the number and types of ads that can be displayed.

Apple has been heavily investing in the news platform in recent years, exploring possible methods of monetization and scooping up subscription service Texture, the latter of which has yet to be folded in to the News app.

Posted on September 25, 2018 by — Leave a comment

Instagram co-founders latest executives to leave Facebook

By Mikey Campbell
Monday, September 24, 2018, 08:51 pm PT (11:51 pm ET)

Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have resigned from their posts at Facebook and will depart the company in the coming weeks, leaving the massively popular photo sharing app solely in the hands of Facebook executives for the first time.

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom (left) and CTO Mike Krieger. | Source: Toyokeizai

CEO Systrom and CTO Krieger notified Instagram leadership and Facebook about their departure on Monday, according to The New York Times.

Following the report, Systrom posted a short message to Instagram’s official blog confirming the move, saying he and Krieger are “now ready for [their] next chapter.”

“We’re planning on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again,” Systrom said. “Building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that’s what we plan to do.”

Over the past eight years, the co-founders turned Instagram into a social media monolith with more than one billion users worldwide.

The app started life on Apple’s iOS platform in 2010, quickly rising through the ranks to become one of the App Store’s most popular titles. Instagram remains in the upper echelon of the App Store, currently sitting in the No. 2 spot for free-to-download apps behind Google’s YouTube.

Systrom and Krieger did not explain the reason for their departure, sources said.

The resignations are the latest in a series of high-profile departures for Facebook. Over the past few months the social network lost a number of high-ranking executives, including VP of communications and public policy Elliot Schrage and VP and general counsel Colin Stretch, amidst criticism over the company’s data collection policies. In April, WhatsApp founder Jan Koum, who joined Facebook when the messaging app was purchased by Facebook in 2014, announced he was leaving after expressing concern over the company’s handling of user data, The Times said.

It was in April that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced Congress to explain how political data consulting firm Cambridge Analytica gained unauthorized access to the personal data of some 87 million users.

Facebook, as well as other social media platforms including Instagram and Twitter, were also condemned for their part in disseminating false information leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Specifically, Russian operatives created accounts and Facebook groups, bought ads and conducted maneuvers with an intent to disrupt the election process.

Whether Systrom and Krieger took their leave due to Facebook’s user data woes is unclear, though a report from TechCrunch cites tensions with Zuckerberg as a potential catalyst for action.

Facebook purchased Instagram six years ago for $1 billion in what is seen as its most successful acquisition to date.