Musicians and other live performers could have a new way to stop attendees from using their smartphones to record video, photos, and audio at events thanks to a new patent from Apple. The iPhone and iPad maker was awarded a patent this week for a system that remotely disables recording with infrared signals. The system could be used in other ways, too, like blocking recording in secure facilities, or by governments to prevent free speech.
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TMO Daily Observations 2016-06-27: AAPL, Brexit, Google Blocks
Apple’s stock isn’t a high as it used to be and understanding why can be a little daunting. Bryan Chaffin joins Jeff Gamet to look at Wall Street’s dysfunctional relationship with Apple and the Brexit impact on the stock market. They also check out Google’s new Blocks programming platform for kids.
TMO's Big iOS 9 Content Blocker FAQ
What are Content Blockers? Content Blockers filter what comes from online servers into your Web browser. That can include certain types of code, online trackers, Web cookies, images, and even complete sites. No content blockers (left), and content blockers in action (right) Most people equate ad blockers with content blockers because they are—for practical purposes—pretty…
Marco Arment Yanks Content Blocker Peace from App Store
Peace was an app that enabled iOS 9's Web content blocking feature. It sped up website loading by using Ghostery's database to block superfluous content which includes some on-site ads, but didn't offer fine-tuned controls for choosing exactly which content would be blocked. Mr. Arment said in a blog post on his website, Peace required…
What Will It Take For You To Disable Your Ad/Content Blocker?
Part of what I'm happy about is the change this will bring to our industry as a whole. I'm also happy about some of the specific changes it will bring to TMO. Ad blockers are, of course, a slippery slope. It's easy to start by saying, “well, I'm going to use it on sites that…
iOS 9 Content Blockers - Bring 'Em On!
It's immediately obvious that blocking content which causes web pages to load slowly also means blocking ads. In fact, it almost primarily means blocking ads. Today's standardized web ads are delivered using a series of cascading scripts, meaning one script triggers another and then yet another until one of them has an ad to display.…
Apple Blocks WireLurker Apps to Help Stop Malware Threat
Apple blocks WireLurker trojans from launching An Apple spokesperson told The Mac Observer, We are aware of malicious software available from a download site aimed at users in China, and we've blocked the identified apps to prevent them from launching. As always, we recommend that users download and install software from trusted sources. WireLurker uses…
Steve Ballmer Plans to Take iPads Away from Clippers
Steve Ballmer at a Clipper's Rally Mr. Ballmer bought the Clippers for US$2 billion from Donald Sterling after the disgraced billionaire won a lifetime ban from the NBA for making racist comments on tape. Earlier in 2014, Mr. Ballmer retired from Microsoft, where he spent some 14 years as CEO. Reuters interviewed him for its…
New Zealand Police Credit iPhones and iPads for Helping to Reduce Crime
Constable Neil Gillespie with His iPad Source: New Zealand Police The New Zealand Police force is a national police force that handles all local law enforcement duties, including duties covered by local police in the U.S. The stated purpose of Policing Excellence is, “to free up Police from time-consuming processes and paperwork so they can…
Jurors 'Butted Heads' on Apple's $290 Million Damage Award
That witness was Julie L. Davis, a certified public accountant based in Chicago, who testified as an expert witness on behalf of Apple. Foreman Colleen Allen told Bloomberg that, “Mrs. Davis was on it,” and that she was a, “superstar witness [who remained steady] even when she was cross-examined.” TMO's Bad Reenactment of Apple's Jury…
Google Plans to Use Our Pictures to 'Endorse' Ads, Here's How to Opt-Out
This is why I don't like paying for services through advertising: Google has announced a change in its terms of service that allow the company to use our names, personal information, and likenesses (photographs) in ads for third party companies, products, and services that we have +1'd, commented on anywhere using our Google+ login, rated…
Judge Blocks Apple from Intervening in Lodsys Patent Licensing Attacks
iPhone and iPad app developers were dealt a serious blow recently when a Federal Court Judge ruled that Apple can't intervene on their behalf in in the ongoing patent licensing case patent holding company Lodsys is bringing against them. The patent holder claims app developers must pay licensing fees for in-app purchases even though Apple…
iPhones, Phablets & iPads: Does Size Really Matter? [UPDATED]
A Flurry Analytics report recently suggested that display size and OS choice has all kinds of implications for the popularltiy of small devices, smartphones and tablets. The survey data suggests that phablets are a fad for now and that Android customers aren't really enthusiastic about full-size tablets. I'd like to assess that report. The article…
Microsoft Campus Hit By Thieves, Only iPads Stolen
UPDATE [7:55 PM EST]: TMO has received confirmation from a Daily Post representative that the newspaper clipping, and the story, are indeed true. The article's author, Angela Ruggiero, has also taken to Twitter confirm the story's authenticity. A scanned newspaper clipping purporting to be from the January 4th edition of Palo Alto’s Daily Post appeared online…
3 Free iOS Blockbuster Apps
Nowadays you sit anywhere you want, first come – first seated. In some theaters the seats are more like a comfy reclining couch and less like a hardback stadium chair. Curtains are history and now we’re bombarded with commercials. But the biggest and, in my humble estimation, best change of all is the food that…
San Francisco Blocks Mac Purchases After Apple EPEAT Pull Out
EPEAT is an environmental organization that certifies products based on their recyclability, among other criteria. Apple was one of the founding companies that established those criteria in 2006, and EPEAT certification is now required for purchases by some institutions, including cities like San Francisco. The news that Apple had pulled its Mac products from EPEAT…
BYOD Trend Could Open Door to More iPhones, iPads in Workplace
That horse may have long since left the barn and could be in another state by now, though: a Cisco survey found that 48 percent of IT managers’ companies would never allow employees to bring their own devices, but 57 percent admitted it was happening without consent anyway, and 51 percent said the number of…
iPhone App Path Uploads User Contact Lists to Servers [Update]
We made a mistake. Over the last couple of days users brought to light an issue concerning how we handle your personal information on Path, specifically the transmission and storage of your phone contacts. […]So, as a clear signal of our commitment to your privacy, we’ve deleted the entire collection of user uploaded contact information…
MacOS KenDensed: Patent Wars & Microsoft, Buyer of iPads
Apple & HTC: Making it Real The patent infringement case between Apple and HTC is like the Whole Foods parking lot: it’s gettin’ real. AppleInsider has patent-tracker Florian Mueller poking at the issue. Among the many patents over which Apple has sued the Taiwanese phonemaker is one referred to as the ‘263 patent, which covers…
Go Daddy SOPA Support Leads to Domain Exodus
In response to outcry from the public and angry customers, Go Daddy CEO Warren Adelman stated,Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation — but we can clearly do better. It’s very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on…
On iPhones, iPads & a Little Bit of Mordor
iPad, King of the Tablets Nearly one percent of web-surfing worldwide is done via tablet, and nearly 100 percent of that comes from an iPad. That’s the word from Net Applications. Fortune has the stat tracker saying that, as of May, 0.95 percent of web-browsing on their client sites happened on tablets, 96.8 percent of…
Apple May be Recalling Some Verizon iPads
Apple may be hunting down defective Verizon iPadsIt seems Apple has provided a list of iPad 2 serial numbers to its retail stores detailing which iPad models are to be pulled from inventory, and so far all of the units are Verizon 3G-compatible models, according to 9 to 5 Mac.The devices Apple is pulling back…
iPads, Doctors & Fun with Senate Hearings
iPad 2 Buying: A Full Contact Sport iPad 2 launched in China over the weekend, and it really sounds like things could have gone a bit better at one store. Riot, melee, no way to launch the second version of the future of computing… call it what you will. The Mac Observer compiles a few…
Hack Overcomes Middle East FaceTime Block
Want FaceTime in blocked regions? Try FaceTime HacktivatorApple blocked FaceTime support in several Middle East regions with the release of iOS 4.1 presumably as a preemptive measure to avoid running into problems with local laws.Since FaceTime Hacktivator requires jailbreaking, or hacking your iPhone to allow the installation of third-party apps that aren’t available through the…