Category: Apple Insider

On November 30, 1988, Steve Jobs gave one of the first public demonstrations of the then brand-new NeXT Computer to the Boston Computer Society. An audio recording was made of the entire event and it has now been released online.

Harry McCracken was in the audience at the time and has written about the experience of that night, and of the new audio discovery, for Fast Company.

“Sitting there being wowed by the machine was an oddly bittersweet experience,” he writes. “At $6,500, it was so far out of my price range that desiring one was purely aspirational, like lusting after a Lamborghini. But at evening’s end, as we streamed out of Jobs’s reality-distortion field back into the chilly Boston air, each of us got a NeXT product to take home: a glossy poster depicting the cube in all its unattainable glory.”

The Boston Computer Society used to regularly video its meetings and presentations. “The NeXT session, however, was not among the ones that had been videotaped,” says McCracken.

“[But] in 1988, when I was basking in Jobs’s presentation, [Charles] Mann was elsewhere in the hall recording it [on audio].”

This audio recording is one of three that feature Jobs, and one of 92 that were made of Boston Computer Society meetings and similar events. It’s a trove of computing history, as spoken at the time by the likes of Jobs, Bill Gates and more.

The episodes, covering nine years from the early 1980s, are all available now on SoundCloud.

The GrayKey device first gained notoriety in 2018, as a relatively inexpensive encryption bypass tool primarily intended for use by the police and law enforcement organizations. It is meant to allow investigators entry to a locked iPhone, without requiring the user’s permission.

Relatively few photographs of the device have been distributed, with the company and its clients attempting to maintain secrecy about it. Earlier releases revealed it to consist of a small gray square box with two cables sticking out, intended for connection to mobile devices, but not much further information stemmed forth about its design.

The LEDs and Lightning cables at the front of the GrayKey unit

In FCC filings first reported by Motherboard, the GrayKey is shown to have remarkably few external details. On one side, there are three LEDs, with two above each of the short Lightning cables and one in the middle above the label “Status,” while on the back are ethernet and USB ports used to connect it to a computer for reading the data, and a power socket.

On the base is a sticker advising of support and sales website and email addresses, and a phone number.

Opening up the GrayKey, the device is found to be made using an ARM processor from Compulab. A mainboard at the base is protected by a metal plate, which has a further loosely-fitted slim board attached on top to connect the Lightning cables to the rest of the circuitry.

An FCC teardown of the GrayKey

Some of the images for the internals has an SSD on top of the mainboard, though the design of the device suggests the drive isn’t actually part of the assembly. It seems likely that the SSD is put in place to hide the underside of the circuit board.

Devices sold in the United States typically have to be submitted to the FCC to acquire an FCC ID, meaning it will comply with FCC standards and is safe for sale. Given the nature of GrayKey, it seems unusual that a security device used by law enforcement would be subjected to less than secretive treatment such as an FCC filing.

GrayShift has found many clients for the GrayKey, as law enforcement grapples with the issue of wanting to gain access to devices owned by suspects, but are unable to secure a passcode or to pass biometrics to do so without the suspect’s cooperation. The device has reportedly been used in some high-profile investigations, including one by the FBI in late 2019 where it was allegedly used to gain access to a locked iPhone 11 Pro Max.

In March, GrayShift started to market a software tool that could be used to reveal an iPhone’s passcode without cracking the device. The digital forensics tool named “Hide UI” reportedly consists of spyware that can be installed via GrayKey and acts as a keylogger, one that monitors for when the user enters their passcode.

Previously listed on Apple’s event page, the September 15 event has now been promoted to the top spot on the company’s official front page. Plus, a six-second introductory video has started popping up on YouTube pre-roll videos.

Unusually, it appears that Apple’s own streaming of the event will solely be carried on its US website. Other territories are showing the same new “It’s almost time” headline, but then say “Watch a special Apple Event on our US site.”

The event will stream worldwide over YouTube, and Apple appears to be readying how that will look. Apple’s YouTube ad is labelled as a “YT Pre Roll” and is likely a preview of the general graphical styling of the event.

The “Time Flies” event is expected to concentrate on the launch of the next Apple Watch, previously thought to be called the “Apple Watch Series 6.” Recent rumors have said that this year’s release may instead feature an “Apple Watch Pro.”

There are still rumors that Apple will use this event to announce the forthcoming “iPhone 12” range as well. However, it’s more likely that Apple will launch a new iPad, and possibly also the long-expected “AirTags.”

For full details of what is expected, and the odds of each appearing, check out the continually updated AppleInsider preview of the event. AppleInsider will also be covering the launch live from its start at 10:00 PT, 13:00 ET.

The special offer at Staples is also $20 cheaper than the next lowest price on AirPods Pro, which can be found at Amazon, according to our Price Guide. The $199 deal at Staples matches the lowest price we’ve ever seen on the popular earbuds as well, with Staples’ own previous sale selling out within hours back in July.

Latest Apple AirPods deals

AppleInsider and Apple authorized resellers are also running additional exclusive specials that will not only deliver the best Apple prices on many of the items, but also throw in bonus savings on AppleCare, Office 365 and more. These offers are as follows:

The short, five-second video posted to Twitter by YouTube channel EverythingApplePro reveals what appears to be a next-generation iPhone chassis complete with iPhone 4-inspired design, cutouts for a triple-lens camera array, a rumored LiDAR Scanner aperture, repositioned SIM slot and more.

Referred to as the “official iPhone 12 Pro chassis,” the metal casing looks to be of production quality, with milled edges, a white glass backing and a selection of assembled innards. Inside, a covering for what appears to be a wireless charging pass-through is seen in a circular area cut out from component shielding.

A module holding the handset’s camera cover glass sports five large apertures — three for the main imagers, one for a flash, and another for the rumored LiDAR Scanner. Apple’s top-end “iPhone 12 Pro Max” is anticipated to boast a rear-facing LiDAR system borrowed from the fourth-generation iPad Pro.

The glass side of the supposed chassis offers a better view of the camera stack and a faint Apple logo layered by white paint.

While most design aspects shown off in the video have been discussed in previous reports and parts leaks, today’s video reveals a small rectangular window located on right side of the device, below the power button. The purpose of the strip is unclear, though at least one prior report notes its existence in early CAD drawings.

Close in appearance to iPad Pro’s magnetic Apple Pencil charger, the window could be a design consideration for new accessories like a more compact wireless charging case.

Apple is widely expected to unveil “iPhone 12” this fall, though a release will come weeks later than the usual September launch. An upcoming special event scheduled for Sept. 15 is thought to bring word of new Apple Watch — and potentially iPad Air — models, suggesting iPhone’s debut will be pushed to October.

When we reviewed the Base Station Pro, we were very impressed with the wireless charger’s ability to power up any Qi-enabled device almost anywhere on the surface. It was surprisingly freeing to merely toss a device down on its padded leather surface and see it start charging after just a few moments.

We found it a suitable AirPower replacement but noted the absence of any Apple Watch charger. Other Nomad Base Station products have integrated charging pucks, but the first Base Station Pro was focused purely on the FreePower charging surface. Many readers agreed and responded that some form of Apple Watch charging is a must.

It seems Nomad was listening.

Nomad Base Station Pro Apple Watch adapter

While it isn’t the fully integrated MFi charging puck we’d hoped for, Nomad is offering a free Apple Watch adapter to purchasers. This allows users to insert their own magnetic charging puck into a plastic unit that clicks onto the back of the Base Station Pro.

You still have to run a separate USB cable for the watch, but the adapter blends it all in nicely to create a better user experience than having your watch placed elsewhere on a desk or nightstand.

Users who already preordered the Nomad Base Station Pro should be receiving an email from Nomad letting them know that the Apple Watch adapter has bundled with their order. New orders will see an option to include the free adapter at checkout through Nomad’s website.

Nomad Base Station Pro with Apple Watch adapter

Additionally, Nomad has already pushed a firmware update for early units of the Base Station Pro that will be live on shipping units. This firmware update works on both Mac and PC and brings improvements to device detection speed, improved support for Samsung and Google devices, and improved charging performance when two or three devices charge simultaneously.

The fact Nomad is already pushing out performance updates is positive as they refine the user experience.

The Nomad Base Station Pro is available to preorder now for $229 with shipping starting in September. Due to the number of parts required for the Base Station Pro, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, initial supply might be tight and the first batch of units has already been sold out.

Nomad’s new Apple Watch adapter will be shipping separately and should be available in December.

Called Protect Scotland the free app is an opt-in coronavirus tracking measure administered by NHS Scotland’s Test and Protect program.

Like other apps utilizing the Exposure Notification framework, Protect Scotland operates in the background and uses Bluetooth to exchange anonymous, encrypted identifiers with other devices running the app. When the app discovers another user, it records the distance between devices and the length of time they were in contact with each other.

The solution does not store data on central servers run by Apple or Google, but instead silos anonymized Bluetooth beacons on user devices until participants elect to share the information with an outside party.

If a user tests positive for coronavirus, they can input a test code assigned by a contact tracer into the app. This will trigger transmission of an automated notification to other app users who came in contact with the infected person.

Protect Scotland also includes a feature that enables users to share the app with friends and family, hopefully boosting adoption rates.

Scotland’s launch follows similar digital contact tracing efforts from a number of countries around the world. As of mid-August, some 16 countries including Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Uruguay were using the Apple-Google API.

While international support has been relatively strong, U.S. states have been slow to adopt the Exposure Notification system. Only six states currently use the API, while another two are expected to launch compatible apps in the coming weeks.

On Wednesday, Colorado announced upcoming support for Exposure Notification Express, technology that allows owners of iOS and Android smartphones to participate in contact tracing efforts without downloading a dedicated app. The new protocol was pushed out to iPhone users with the release of iOS 13.7 last week.

Issued last week, iOS 13.7 includes new capabilities for Apple and Google’s coronavirus Exposure Notification system. Specifically, users can now opt in to the program without first downloading an app developed by their local government.

In addition, the new Exposure Notification Express feature enables Apple to present health instructions to users if it is determined that they were potentially exposed to the virus. This is accomplished without a third-party app, though data sharing with public health authorities is required for full functionality.

The outgoing iOS 13.6.1 arrived in August to fix a number of minor bugs including a thermal management issue that could cause an iPhone’s screen to display a green tint. Also remedied was a problem with Exposure Notification alerts, as well as an issue that prevented the deletion of unused system files.

Today’s stoppage means users can no longer download the out-of-date operating system from Apple’s servers. Apple regularly ceases signing of older code to prevent installation of past iOS versions following the release of a new variant, a practice that keeps users safe from new threats and ensures devices are running the latest feature-rich software.

Apple’s iOS 13.7 could be the version’s final point update as the company moves toward the release of iOS 14, a next-generation operating system expected to debut alongside new iPhones in the coming weeks.

As rumors persist that Apple will announce the date of its “iPhone 12” event, a new report claims that production is now or shortly to be underway on Apple’s “AirTags,” certain models of “iPhone 12,” and new iPads.

According to the Nikkei Asian Review, Apple has managed to shorten the coronavirus-induced production delays to weeks instead of months. The “iPhone 12” range is reported to be about to begin limited manufacturing, before ramping up toward the end of September or the start of October.

“We’ve managed to shorten the delay significantly and we are not stopping here,” a supply chain executive reportedly said. “The final assembly for some models is still going to be early October, but we are working to keep moving the production as early as possible.”

Backing up other recent rumors, Nikkei Asian Review says that the “iPhone 12” production is going to start with the expected 6.1-inch OLED “iPhone 12 Max.” Reportedly this model amounts to 40% of all the 5G iPhone orders Apple has placed

It’s claimed that Apple has ordered components for up to 80 million 5G iPhones, but two sources have told Nikkei Asian Review that it’s more likely only between 73 and 74 million will be produced before the end of the year. The remainder will be produced in early 2021.

While production on the “iPhone 12” range builds up, Nikkei Asian Review also says that Apple is already mass producing the forthcoming “AirTags” accessory. Plus it has increased production for new iPads, reportedly aiming for 27 million devices between September and December.

That’s claimed to be almost as many as Apple produced of its entire iPad range in July to December 2019.

Nikkei Asian Review sources also deny rumors of an annual refresh of the iPhone SE. Reportedly multiple sources say that there won’t be a 2021 version.

LG has continued its rollout of the Apple TV app to selected 2018 model television sets, and at the same time stated that it will be bringing AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support “later this year.” This follows a report last week that the company had cancelled plans to support these technologies despite a previous pledge.

The prior report of there no longer being any plans to support these technologies also came from a tweet by the same official LG Twitter account. It stated that “LG has no plans to update its pre-2019 TVs with AirPlay 2or Homekit unfortunately.”

LG had previously committed to adding this support to various 2018 smart TV models and to do so by October 2020. The models included its “SK” and “UK” LED sets, plus the “B8” through “Z8” OLED ones.

The “no plans” tweet did cause a series of complaints from users over the next few days. It’s more likely, however, that it was a mistake, although users spotted that previous references to the forthcoming support had also been removed from the LG website.

The new announcement was intended to promote how LG 2018 OLED and Super UHD TVs now have the Apple TV, and also how UHD TV models will shortly. This continues the recent rollout of the Apple TV app to models in the range.