Category: Apple Insider

The Apple and Google-developed contact tracing API is being used to help track the spread of COVID-19, with health organizations around the world using the API in apps intended to securely and privately monitor the virus. While it is still being rolled out globally, a report on how the project came into being reveals it is down to a group of data scientists in Switzerland.

The profile by Neue Zurcher Zeitung on Saturday explains how VMWare founding CTO Edouard Bugnion heard about a suggestion by epidemiologist Marcel Salathe concerning using an app to track infections in a pandemic. In trying to solve the problem, Salathe observed existing apps in Asia that relied on GPS, but also used a large amount of personal data to accomplish the task.

Bugnion got in contact with Spanish data protection expert Carmela Troncoso to work on a way to make a contact tracing app without using GPS tracking. It was realized Bluetooth LE would be an answer as a data-saving option that doesn’t rely on direct location data, and with the further use of anonymized ID codes, it helped ensure the privacy of users.

Other researchers around the world joined the Swiss effort, but the team determined the assistance of Apple would be required due to Apple’s strict policies over Bluetooth usage in iPhones. Bugnion used contacts based in California to try and get in touch with Apple, but quickly discovered it was hard to establish communication with the company as so many people are contacting it every day.

After being called back by Apple on March 21, Bugnion started explaining the idea in an email, which was then followed by a series of meetings explaining what Apple would have to do, namely relaxing the policies. On determining Apple may not go through with it due to security concerns, Bugnion got hold of Apple head of Health Strategic Initiatives Myoung Cha, who reported to COO Jeff Williams.

By April 5, Apple was willing to invest resources, but it was determined Google had to assist, and that an interoperable system needed to be made. By April 10, Apple and Google made its contact tracing announcement.

“The fact that we, as an international team, had such an impact on these giants, and the fact that we became one of their main partners, is an expression of the high-quality computer science research in Switzerland,” said Bugnion.

If you’ve got a young child who has their own Apple gear, you might be worried that they will stumble upon explicit content on Apple Music. Fortunately, Apple has a setting for that, and even though the option is somewhat tucked away, it only takes a few minutes to change.

1. Open Settings
2. Tap Screen Time
3. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions
4. Toggle on Content & Privacy Restrictions
5. Tap Content Restrictions
6. Tap Music, Podcasts & News
7. Tap Clean

Once enabled, the Apple Music, podcast, and Apple News content will be restricted to all-ages appropriate content only. You will need to enable this feature for every device that you wish to restrict content on — it is not bound to a user’s AppleID.

This also only restricts properly-tagged explicit content across Apple-owned services. Children may still be able to access explicit material through Safari, or third-party apps, like YouTube.

If you wish to block explicit content in Apple Music on your Mac that is running Catalina, the process is much quicker.

1. Open Music
2. In the menu bar at the top of the screen, click Music
3. Click Preferences
4. In the window that appears, click Restrictions
5. In the Restrict section, select Music with explicit content
6. Confirm your choice by clicking Restrict Explicit Content in the Window that appears.

The issue apparently primarily affects devices in the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro lineup, though it may also be present on some iPhone X and XS models. Some reports indicate that the issue has been present since iOS 13.4.1.

According to user reports on Reddit (via MacRumors), the bug occurs when a user unlocks their device. The display will appear “washed out with a green tint” for a few seconds before returning to normal.

Considering both LCD and OLED screens are impacted, the problem is likely a software bug. There is a chance, however, that an issue could be present in Apple’s hardware.

If the issue is software-based, then it’s likely that Apple will patch the bug in an upcoming iOS release.

In comments made during an earnings conference call, Broadcom chief Hock Tan cited a “major product cycle delay” at a “large North American mobile phone” customer as cause for the delayed income.

As Bloomberg reports, Tan sometimes uses the vague descriptor as a sobriquet for Apple.

“We are in,” Hock said, assumedly referring to Broadcom parts in the next iPhone. “The question is timing.”

More specifically, Tan said, “This year, we do not expect to see this uptick in revenue until our fourth fiscal quarter. So accordingly, we expect, our wireless revenue in Q3 will be down sequentially.”

Apple is widely anticipated to debut a next-generation “iPhone 12” this fall, though an exact launch timeline is in dispute due to effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The company typically unveils its latest smartphones in September, but a number of reports have indicated this year’s launch will take place in October or later.

Most recently, reports from the supply chain claimed Apple assembly partners are gearing up for a start to production in July.

Files and code strings uncovered by 9to5Mac reveal references to a “bundle offer” and “bundle subscription” related to Apple’s services management backend. While not directly attached to a specific product, like Apple Music, the language indicates Apple is considering a subscription services combo offer.

Exactly what Apple’s bundle might look like is at this point unknown. The company currently fields four main subscription products in Apple Music, Apple News+, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade. Apple Music and Apple News+ cost $9.99 a month for individuals, while Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade are priced at $4.99 a month. Discounts for each can be had through family plans. Non-content programs include Apple Care hardware support, which varies depending on device.

A potential bundle of two or more services would save consumers money and could boost adoption of less popular products.

Apple has long been rumored to be mulling a subscription bundle, though such a product has yet to materialize. A report late last year claimed the company was close to striking deals with publishing partners that would enable the rollout of a subscription package sometime this year.

Most recently, however, a report in March noted newly signed deals with record labels effectively precludes Apple from launching a combined service in the near term. The tech giant reportedly informed music executives that it plans to combine its digital services under a bundle-style plan, but discussions on distribution rights are ongoing.

Problems began at around 7 p.m. Eastern, with impacted users taking to Apple’s support forums to report the issue.

An update to Apple’s system status webpage reveals multiple outages including iCloud Account & Sign In, iCloud Mail and iCloud Web Apps. Users attempting to access Mail on their iOS or Mac devices are met with login authentication roadblocks, while iCloud.com is completely inaccessible for some.

Certain apps that require Apple ID authentication are also affected, with in-app verification and app-specific passwords not functioning as intended. Some users are also reporting verification failures that trigger a pop-up reading, “The application you have selected does not exist.” These problems appear to be tied to Apple ID’s backend.

It is unclear what caused the issue or how many users are affected by downtime.

Apple has yet to comment on the difficulties and does not offer an estimate as to when the service will regain functionality.

As noted by CNBC, iPhone prices on Apple’s official Tmall store have dropped significantly in the lead-up to 6.18. Identical rates are reflected by authorized Apple reseller JD.com.

For example, a 64GB iPhone 11 is now going for 4,779 yuan ($669.59) on Tmall, a 13% savings off the original 5,499 yuan price tag. The flagship iPhone 11 Pro starts at 7,579 yuan, down from 8,699 yuan, while the iPhone 11 Pro Max can be had for 8,359 yuan, a 13% savings on the original 9,599 yuan. Apple’s budget-minded iPhone SE also benefits from a price drop from 3,299 yuan to 3,099 yuan.

JD.com is offering more aggressive discounts starting with the 64GB iPhone 11, which sells for 4,599 yuan. Apple’s iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max are priced at 6,99 yuan and 7,499, respectively, while the iPhone SE is down to 3,069 yuan with discount. Prices may vary as the online seller might change discount offerings on a daily basis.

Other third-party resellers are also slashing prices on Apple hardware, products that rarely go on sale, let alone new devices like iPhone 11 and iPhone SE.

Beyond its official Tmall store, Apple itself is not participating in the festivities and prices remain constant on the Chinese online Apple Store.

The surprise savings event comes as Apple and other manufacturers scramble to rebuild sales momentum after a dismal first quarter was plagued by complications stemming from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. From the supply chain to retail, the virus severely impacted Apple’s business strategy during the three-month period ending in March.

According to Apple, iPhone generated $28.96 billion in revenue during the company’s second fiscal quarter of 2020, down from $31 billion in 2019. Poor demand in China was partially to blame for the contraction, executives said during a conference call in April.

The tech giant managed to beat expectations and finish the punishing quarter up 1% year-over-year in large part thanks to services and wearables, two categories that are becoming increasingly important to the company’s bottom line.

On Saturday night, Apple Store outlets across the United States were attacked by opportunistic looters willing to break into the retail outlets to steal Apple products. With protests taking place in over 30 US cities over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who died while being arrested, it is anticipated more attacks could be made against stores over the course of Sunday.

As a precaution, Apple is closing some of its stores while events continue, reports 9to5Mac. Apple advised on its store pages “With the health and safety of our teams in mind, we’ve made the decision to keep a number of our stores in the US closed on Sunday.”

Accounts and social media images of the lootings show people forcing their way into stores, grabbing demonstration devices and nearby boxed stock, then leaving the store. The attacks cause considerable damage to the glass-fronted stores, with some like the Hennepin Avenue Minneapolis outlet being closed for an indefinite period for extensive repairs.

Some of the other more notable stores looted and attacked on Friday and Saturday night include Pioneer Place in Portland, Oregon; Scottsdale, Arizona; Philadelphia, and in Washington, D.C.

In preparation for protests and looting attempts, many stores have taken to packing away merchandise and boarding up windows to limit damage. Thieves who take demonstration devices will also find they are of limited use, as they are disabled and tracked when they are outside the range of the store.

The closures are a blow to Apple’s attempts to reopen all of its retail outlets in the world following their temporary closure during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Apple announced on May 26 it intended to reopen 100 US stores over the course of the week, which would bring the total number of open US stores to 132, almost half of all its US-based outlets.

Launched in 2019, “Sign in with Apple” is intended to be a more privacy-focused alternative to website and app log-in systems powered by Facebook and Google accounts. By minimizing the amount of a user’s data that is used for authentication and account creation, the API also helped reduce the amount of tracking Facebook and Google performed on users, in turn making it more private.

Disclosed on Saturday by security-focused developer Bhavuk Jain, a zero-day vulnerability in Sign in with Apple had the potential to let an attacker gain access to, and fully take over, a user’s account on a third-party application. According to Jain, the bug would have enabled a change in control of the application’s user account, regardless of whether the user had a valid Apple ID or not.

The way Sign in with Apple functions is that it relies on either a JSON Web Token (JWT) or a code generated by Apple’s servers, with the latter used to generate a JWT if it doesn’t exist. While authorizing, Apple provides users with options to either share or hide their Apple Email ID with the third-party app, with a user-specific Apple relay email ID created for the latter selection.

After a successful authorization, Apple produces a JWT, which contains the email ID, and is used by the third-party application to log the user in.

Jain discovered in April it was possible to request a JWT for any email ID, and when the signature of the token is verified using Apple’s public key, they are deemed to be valid. In effect, an attacker could create a JWT through this process, and gain access to the victim’s account.

As Apple mandates the inclusion of Sign in with Apple in apps with other social-based login systems, the attack had a very broad base of apps that it was theoretically effective against. An investigation by Apple’s security team determined the vulnerability has not been used in any attacks.

Jain responsibly disclosed the flaw to Apple, which led to an award from Apple’s bug bounty program worth $100,000. Apple has since patched the vulnerability, but it isn’t clear exactly how yet.

Called “The Zane Lowe Interview Series,” the new podcast grants listeners on-demand access to Lowe’s ongoing series of interviews with popular musicians. Lowe announced the podcast’s debut in a tweet Friday.

“Hey I’m excited to share that I now have a new Podcast series where these conversations will live ongoing. You can hear my latest with [Lady Gaga] alongside others right now on [Apple Podcasts],” the tweet reads.

A seasoned DJ and tastemaker, Lowe is known for in-depth, candid one-on-ones with the world’s biggest music acts. Lowe cultivated his intimate style of interviewing while at BBC Radio 1 and continued to hone the process after a move to Apple Music’s Beats 1 in 2015.

The podcast currently features an interview with Selena Gomez recorded in January, a two-part interview with Kanye West recorded in October 2019, a sit-down with Justin Bieber from February and a meeting with Paramore’s Hayley Williams recorded in May. Lowe’s latest episode is a remote with Lady Gaga, who released the hotly anticipated album “Chromatica” today.

Additional episodes from the Beats 1 archive are expected to hit the podcast soon, though release dates are unknown at this time. The streaming service typically airs Lowe’s interviews live or times their delivery to coincide with major releases like “Chromatica.”