iOS

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News+ How the Upcoming USB4 Tech Could Affect iOS Products

Andrew Orr ·

In the latest issue of Macworld, Jason Cross writes how USB4 could affect iOS products like the iPad.

Simply put, it makes it easier for its iOS devices, Apple TV, and every other product without an Intel chip inside to support all the features of Thunderbolt 3…a future iPad Pro’s USB-C port could be USB4-compatible and hook up to all sorts of monitors, including the Thunderbolt 3 monitor you may have.

This is part of Andrew’s News+ series, where he shares a magazine every Friday to help people discover good content in Apple News+.

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iOS Mouse Support Could Come This Year

Andrew Orr ·

Federico Vittici and Steve Troughton-Smith are saying that iOS mouse support could be coming this year as an accessibility feature of iOS 13. Mr. Vittici mentioned it on the Connected podcast, while Mr. Smith confirmed the rumor via Twitter.

https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/1120447708215554049?s=21

I personally don’t see the need for a mouse on a touch-oriented device. But I’m glad it will be optional, instead of a required component of iOS. Edit: 20190425: I take that back.  I didn’t think of the scenario where many people can hook up an external monitor to their iPad. In that case, mouse support is perfect.

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500M iOS Users Affected by Cyberattack via Chrome Bug

Andrew Orr ·

Roughly 500 million iOS users have been affected by a cyberattack that takes advantage of an iOS Chrome bug.

The attacks are the work of the eGobbler gang, researchers said, which has a track record of mounting large-scale malvertising attacks ahead of major holiday weekends. Easter is coming up, and the crooks are banking on consumers spending a lot more time than usual browsing the web on their phones.

Another research firm says this attack can also affect Safari users. Be careful this weekend.

Cool Stuff Found

This Concept Video Reimagines the macOS Desktop

Andrew Orr ·

German video editor Thomas Weinreich created a concept video that gets rid of the desktop metaphor on macOS. Replacing it is a user interface similar to what we get with the iPad. Windowed apps are replaced by full screen apps that can be displayed into multi-window Split Views. Like Ben Lovejoy said,  it seems like maybe it could be similar to what Apple is thinking of. However, I personally don’t believe the rumors of a macOS/iOS hybrid. Additionally, this concept paradigm doesn’t make sense on Macs that don’t have touchscreens. The macOS desktop metaphor might be aged, but I think it makes sense for devices that use a mouse or trackpad. What do you think?

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News+: What Kind of an iPad Homescreen Redesign Will iOS 13 Bring?

Andrew Orr ·

Writing for the Macworld magazine, Jason Snell shares some ideas for a rumored iPad homescreen redesign in iOS 13.

After more than a decade using more or less the same old app-launching interface Apple introduced with the original iPhone, it takes some effort to imagine how Apple could reinvent the concept of a home screen for the iPad. But reader, I’ve managed to make that effort. Here’s a look at some directions I hope Apple will go, assuming Gurman’s sources are right, when we first see this feature this summer.

One: I cannot wait for WWDC this year to see what iOS 13 brings. I hope the rumors are true that it will be an iPad-heavy release like iOS 11.

Two: This is the first of an occasional magazine article I’ll share as one of our Linked Teasers. Just a way to help people find cool content in Apple News+.

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Updated Apple Devices Display 'Not Secure' in Safari

Andrew Orr ·

If you’ve updated to iOS 12.2 and/or macOS 14.4, you’ve probably seen a ‘Not Secure’ message in the Safari address bar. OSXDaily explains.

By seeing the ‘Not Secure” Safari message on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac you are simply being informed by Safari that the website or webpage being visited is using HTTP rather than HTTPS, or perhaps that HTTPS is misconfigured at some technical level.

Ironically, as the article points out OSXDaily is itself not secure.

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iOS 12.2 Fixes 51 Security Vulnerabilities

Andrew Orr ·

iOS 12.2 patches 51 security vulnerabilities, which is a huge incentive to update if nothing else announced yesterday was enticing.

The list of patches covers a wide variety of bugs an adversary could potentially manipulate to obtain effects like denial-of-service, privilege escalation, and information disclosure to gaining root privileges, overwriting arbitrary files, or executing code of the attacker’s choice.

Podcast

Augmented Reality, Practical Robots, and Modern Cabling, with John Kheit - ACM 505

Bryan Chaffin · · 4 Comments

Bryan Chaffin and John Kheit don their futurist caps and look for the killer app in Augmented Reality. Spoiler: they have different ideas on what form it might take. They also explore the near-term future of practical robots, starting with today’s vacuumbots. They cap the show looking at the slow pace of progress when it comes to modern cabling. Let’s get that Cat 8 and 40 GB/s throughput!

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iOS 12.2 Improves Audio Message Quality

Andrew Orr ·

In the latest iOS 12.2 beta Apple has improved audio message quality by switching to a different codec for files.

Details on the improvement in audio quality were shared on Twitter this morning, and we confirmed the change on our own devices. Apple previously used the .AMR file format for its audio messages, but in the beta, has swapped over to .CAF.

The Opus codec, coming in a 24000 Hz, is a big increase from the old AMR codec at 8000 Hz. Opus is used by other messaging services like WhatsApp, Telegram, and WebRTC.

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iOS 12.2 Beta 5 Now Available

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple released the fifth developer beta of of iOS 12.2, as well as watchOS 5.2, tvOS 12.2, and macOS 10.14.4 Monday.  9to5 Mac took a look at what we’ve seen in the beta versions released so far and what else is new. iOS 12.2 features focussed on Apple Home smart TV support, and also included Animoji, and the release of  Apple News in Canada.

iOS 12.2 and the related software updates largely focus on supporting smart TVs that work with Apple’s Home app. Other changes include new Animoji characters includuing the new shark, owl, giraffe, and warthog options — plus a few more changes. iOS 12.2 beta 2 also includes changes to the AirPlay icon in Control Center plus AT&T ‘5G E’ in certain markets on certain iPhones and iPads.

Podcast

Apple and Content, Marzipan, and the Executive Shuffle, with Charlotte Henry - ACM 502

Bryan Chaffin · · 2 Comments

Where is Apple going with its content drive? Bryan Chaffin is joined by guest-host Charlotte Henry to dive deep into original shows, services, publishing, news, and Apple’s other content ambitions. They also talk about the promise (and potential drawbacks) of Marzipan, and what Apple’s recent executive shuffling might portend.

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Universal Apps Could Include macOS

Andrew Orr ·

An issue I see with this is pricing. People are used to cheap iOS apps, but if you applied the same pricing to macOS apps, that would be bad for developers. Would the price of universal apps fall somewhere in the middle? Or would everything be a subscription? Apple clearly wants the latter, but no one wants a bunch of subscriptions either.

By 2021, developers will be able to merge iPhone, iPad, and Mac applications into one app or what is known as a “single binary.” This means developers won’t have to submit their work to different Apple App Stores, allowing iOS apps to be downloaded directly from Mac computers — effectively combining the stores.

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Comparing Android Security Versus iOS Security

Andrew Orr ·

Keiran Dennie tweeted an interesting chart that compares the security of various smartphone operating systems.

Wondering about Android and Apple phone security? Here’s an objective chart to help you decide.

It’s a well known fact of Android that people have to rely on their carrier to push out security updates. This can take weeks, months, and sometimes they don’t get released at all.

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iOS Screen Recording App Revelations Led to User Privacy Win

Charlotte Henry ·

There was something of a public outcry following the revelation that some iOS apps recorded a user’s screen. They did this to learn what users do whilst in the app.  Apple responded, and told developers that they had to make sure users know that they are being recorded. My colleague Andrew Orr argued that such functionality is not a scandal or an abuse of iOS. He gave legitimate reasons why designers and developers need such functionality. Over on The Next Web, Ivan Mehta wrote that the revelation, and Apple’s subsequent actions, have been a privacy win for consumers.

Most people, including me, would be wary of giving permission to an app to record the on-screen activities unless they specifically tell us what they’re capturing. This’ll make apps be more upfront about their tracking activities. Also, Apple will be checking for screen recording code more often before the developers submit their apps to the App Store, to weed out the privacy-invading code.

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iOS 12.2 Will Remove 'Do Not Track' Option

Andrew Orr ·

In the next update of iOS and macOS Apple will remove the Do Not Track option from Safari. This is okay.

Removed support for the expired Do Not Track standard to prevent potential use as a fingerprinting variable.

Before I see a headline from Forbes titled “iOS 12.2 Has a Nasty Surprise” let me say that removing Do Not Track is good. It never did anything anyway because obeying it was completely voluntary. Which of course means that every website ignored it. And now it can be used to fingerprint your browser. Good riddance.