Summary: Slashdot: Apple
News for nerds, stuff that matters
DJRumpy points out an article (based on a possibly paywalled
WSJ report) describing how Google and other ad networks wrote code
that would bypass the privacy settings of Apple's Safari web
browser. 'The default settings of Safari block cookies "from third
parties and advertisers," a setting that is supposed to only allow
sites that the user is directly interacting with to save a cookie
(client side data that remote web servers can later access in
subsequent visits). ... The report notes that "Google added coding
to some of its ads that made Safari think that a person was
submitting an invisible form to Google. Safari would then let
Google install a cookie on the phone or computer.' Google says this
mischaracterizes what the code does, claiming it simply enables
'features for signed-in Google users on Safari who had opted to see
personalized ads and other content — such as the ability to “+1”
things that interest them.' Google adds that the data transferred
between Safari and Google's servers was anonymized. John Battelle
writes that the WSJ's story is sensationalist, but that it raises
good questions about the practices of ad networks as well as
Apple's efforts to stymie industry-standard practices.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 17, 2012 - 8:11 am
adeelarshad82 writes "Earlier today Apple announced their next
OS, Mountain Lion. According to an early look, OS X 10.8 does more
to integrate social networking and file-synching into a personal
computer than any other OS. It tightly integrates with the whole
Apple ecosystem that includes iOS devices and the free iCloud
sharing service. Moreover Mountain Lion adds a powerful new line of
defense against future threats where a malware app is prevented
from running even if it is deliberately downloaded to a computer.
Even though Apple's clearly got a lot of fine-tuning to do—and
possibly a few features to add, there's no doubt that Mountain Lion
already looks very fine." Update: 02/16 15:04 GMT by T : New
submitter StephenBrannen writes with some more details culled from
CNET. The newest OS X has now been released to developers, with an
official release date planned for this summer. "Mountain Lion, as
it is called, will further blur the lines between iOS and its Mac
OS. iOS features that are being ported include: Messages (replacing
iChat), Notification Center, Game Center, Notes, and AirPlay
mirroring. Also new to Mac OS is the addition of Gatekeeper, which
should help prevent malware attacks on Apple products. Not
announced is whether Siri will be ported to the Mac."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 16, 2012 - 7:30 am
First time accepted submitter yankexpat writes "The patent
battles in the mobile communications space have taken another turn,
as Apple has asked a court for permission to sue the bankrupt Kodak
for patent infringement. From the article: 'Apple Inc. asked a
bankruptcy judge for permission to sue Eastman Kodak Co. over
allegations it’s infringing patents that Apple says cover
technologies used in printers, digital cameras and digital picture
frames. Apple said in a filing yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court
in New York that it intends to file a complaint against Kodak at
the International Trade Commission and a corresponding suit in U.S.
District Court in Manhattan based on patent-infringement claims.
The suit will seek an order blocking Kodak’s infringement,
according to the filing.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 15, 2012 - 1:09 pm
zacharye writes in with a story about Senior EVP of AT&T
technology and network operations John Donovan's blog post
detailing why customers with unlimited smartphone plans are getting
throttled. "In an effort to justify its policies surrounding data
service throttling for subscribers with unlimited smartphone data
plans, AT&T on Tuesday issued a brief report regarding data
usage on its nationwide wireless network. Senior EVP of AT&T
technology and network operations John Donovan wrote on a company
blog that data traffic on AT&T's network has grown a staggering
20,000% over the past five years. Usage has doubled between 2010
and 2011 according to the executive, due in large part to the
proliferation of smartphones. AT&T sold more smartphones in the
fourth quarter of 2011 than in any other quarter in its history.
And because its smartphone subscribers use so much data, AT&T
seems to suggest it has no choice but to put measures such as data
throttling in place."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 15, 2012 - 11:46 am
An anonymous reader writes "Recognizing Steve Jobs's immense
contribution to music, he was the recipient of the Grammy Trustees
Award at the Grammy's this past Sunday. The award is handed out
annually to 'individuals who, during their careers in music, have
made significant contributions, other than performance, to the
field of recording.'" Eddy Cue, head of iTunes, accepted the Grammy
in place of Jobs.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 15, 2012 - 10:03 am
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "In the wake of news that the iPhone
app Path uploads users' entire contact lists without permission,
Forbes dug up a study from a group of researchers at the University
of California at Santa Barbara and the International Security
Systems Lab that aimed to analyze how and where iPhone apps
transmit users' private data. Not only did the researchers find
that one in five of the free apps in Apple's app store upload
private data back to the apps' creators that could potentially
identify users and allow profiles to be built of their activities;
they also discovered that programs in Cydia, the most popular
platform for unauthorized apps that run only on 'jailbroken'
iPhones, tend to leak private data far less frequently than Apple's
approved apps. The researchers ran their analysis on 1,407 free
apps (PDF) on the two platforms. Of those tested apps, 21 percent
of official App Store apps uploaded the user's Unique Device
Identifier, for instance, compared with only four percent of
unauthorized apps."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 14, 2012 - 10:11 pm
AZA43 writes "Amazon.com has blocked its Instant Video
streaming service on BlackBerry PlayBook tablets, in an apparent
effort to make its Kindle Fire device more attractive to tablet
buyers. And it says Apple is the reason why it blocked the service.
But the company hasn't blocked comparable Android tablets from
streaming Instant Video, and Android tablets hold a much larger
portion of the overall tablet market than PlayBooks. Amazon will
likely succeed only in alienating customer with PlayBooks who have
already purchased lots of streaming video content."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 14, 2012 - 12:23 pm
redletterdave writes "Apple announced on Monday that the Fair
Labor Association has begun inspecting Foxconn's Chinese factories,
upon Apple's request. Apple said that Auret van Heerden, the
president of the FLA, is leading a group of labor rights experts in
the first round of inspections at the sprawling plant in Shenzhen,
China, more informally known as 'Foxconn City.' The FLA's
independent assessment — completely supplementary to Apple's own
auditing practices — will involve interviewing thousands of Foxconn
employees about the working and living conditions, including
working hours, compensation, managerial issues, and health and
safety conditions. Foxconn has 'pledged full cooperation with the
FLA,' and will reportedly allow unrestricted access to all of their
operations. The investigative team will report their findings in
early March on the FLA's website. Apple's other suppliers,
including Quanta and Pegatron, will be inspected later this spring.
By the time summer rolls around, the FLA hopes to have covered 90
percent of facilities where Apple products are built and
assembled."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 13, 2012 - 10:03 pm
redletterdave writes "If you were expecting a radically
different-looking tablet from the iPad 2, prepare for a minor
letdown. In the same way Apple upgraded the iPhone 4 into the
iPhone 4S, the exterior of the iPad 3 mirrors that of the iPad 2,
despite completely renovated and upgraded innards. iLab Factory
reportedly provided Sharp with the necessary parts to build the
high-resolution iPad 3 display, and in a company blog post, various
iPad 3 components are displayed alongside those of the iPad 2 for
quick comparison. In addition to a new camera mount that will
reportedly match or improve upon the 8-megapixel camera system in
the iPhone 4S, the post also revealed that the iPad 3 will be
approximately 1 mm thicker than its predecessor to house Apple's
upgraded components, including a bigger battery, an improved
camera, and a dual-LED lit system to make the 2048 x 1536 display
even brighter."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 13, 2012 - 10:25 am
walterbyrd writes "Apple Inc has asked a federal court in
California to block Samsung Electronics Co Ltd from selling its new
Galaxy Nexus smartphones, alleging patent violations. In a suit
filed last week in San Jose, Apple said the Galaxy Nexus infringes
on patents underlying features customers expect from its products.
Those include the ability to unlock phones by sliding an image and
to search for information by voice."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 13, 2012 - 8:18 am
New submitter davidstites writes "I am a masters computer
science student at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and
in November I performed a security audit of 230+ popular iOS
applications because I wanted to know how secure apps on
smartphones and tablets really are. I made a shocking discovery.
The largest single potential security breach was with the Southwest
Airlines application. Southwest Airlines' iPhone app leaves a
user's information vulnerable to hackers. When you login to the
application on your phone using your Rapid Rewards account, the app
submits your username and password information as plain-text
(unencrypted) to a Southwest remote server (mobile.southwest.com).
A potential attacker can simply sniff for the data on the network
and steal it. This situation is a hackers dream! If a victims
credentials were captured, a hacker could use those credentials to
login to that particular account and they would have access to
anything the victim would have access to, such as addresses,
birthdays, e-mail, phone and credit cards. They could even book a
flight in the victims name." (Read on below for more details.)
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 12, 2012 - 9:32 am
wiredmikey writes "Protests against Apple and Foxconn due to
furor over reports about working conditions have gone digital. A
group known as SwaggSec has successfully hacked computers at
Foxconn, and posted the stolen data to The Pirate Bay website. News
of the hack comes as protesters paid a visit today to Apple stores
around the world to deliver petitions demanding the improvement of
working conditions at factories run by Apple suppliers in China and
other countries. In response to the attack, Foxconn reportedly took
down a website that explains the services it offers to some of its
partners, including Apple, Cisco and Acer."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 09, 2012 - 4:49 pm
Hugh Pickens writes "Bloomberg reports that the FBI has
released a decades-old file it kept on Steve Jobs, the deceased
Apple co-founder, after a background check for a possible
appointment by former President George H. W. Bush conducting
interviews with unnamed associates of Jobs to judge his character,
drug use and potential prejudices. 'Several individuals questioned
Mr. Jobs' honesty stating that Mr. Jobs will twist the truth and
distort reality in order to achieve his goals,' according to the
materials. Several people commented 'concerning past drug use on
the part of Mr. Jobs,' according to the file including marijuana,
hashish and LSD during the period 1970 – 1974. The file also noted
that Jobs was not a member of the communist party."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 09, 2012 - 11:01 am
redletterdave writes "Following the precedent set by commercial
airliners, the U.S. Air Force plans to buy up to 18,000 iPads for
its Air Mobility Command (AMC), replacing heavy flight bags with
light and efficient Apple iPad 2s for the crews that fly cargo
aircraft. The devices will reportedly be used by the crews on the
C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster aircraft. There are several
benefits to using electronic flight bags instead of physical
versions. For one, the iPad can instantly update charts
electronically, while the AMC would require flying charts get
reprinted every 28 days to stay up-to-date. By cutting publication
printing and distribution costs, and exchanging 70 pounds of paper
for a 1.3-pound iPad, the Air Force can save some serious cash,
including more than $1.2 million worth of fuel per year."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 08, 2012 - 4:31 pm
CheerfulMacFanboy writes "Labor Activist Li Qiang wants you to
know that the iPhone 4 in his pocket is not an endorsement of
Apple's policies, just an acknowledgment that the company is doing
a better job of monitoring factory conditions than its peers. The
founder of leading advocacy group China Labor Watch (CLW) told us
that, though the Cupertino company does more-thorough inspections
than competitors, it is responsible for poor working conditions at
its suppliers' factories and needs to invest some of its
record-breaking profits in improving them. 'Although I know that
the iPhone 4 is made at sweat shop factories in China, I still
think that this is the only choice, because Apple is actually one
of the best. Actually before I made a decision, I compared Apple
with other cell phone companies, such as Nokia,' he said through a
translator. 'And the conditions in those factories are worse than
the ones of Apple.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Date Published: Feb 08, 2012 - 3:07 pm
