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In 2015 Apple grabbed a 94 percent share of the world's global smartphone profits, sold the only profitable tablets and smartwatch, increased its Mac unit sales,, launched a successful NFC payment platform, took a huge slice of the music streaming market and introduced a new platform for the living room. How can it possibly beat that performance in 2016? That's the premise set out by clickbait legend Jay Yarow of Business Insider, who penned a compendium of worries of potential scenarios of doom for the world's largest and most successful tech company, bravely entitled "Apple is going to have a...

Not content to have Cortana controlling Windows Mobile, Microsoft has released a toned-down version of its personal assistant tool for iOS and Android handsets. Redmond said that Cortana will run in a diminished capacity on the Apple and Google smartphone OSs, but will still allow users to link up their handsets with Windows PCs to sync and automate tasks. "Cortana was created to be a truly personal digital assistant - available on the go, no matter where or when you need help, and on whatever device you carry," wrote Cortana group program manager Marcus Ash. "That's why it's important to...

Detail from the cover of Scientific American's March 9, 1907 issue, which had a glowing article about the telharmonium. (Image: archive.org)It's a tumultuous time for streaming music services. One of the year's biggest albums, Adele's 25, was released on November 20, but not made available on Apple Music, Spotify, or any other streaming app by the artist's own decision. On November 23, music service Rdio, the first smartphone-era music streaming service to try to crack the U.S. market, began winding down after five years of struggling to attract paying subscribers.Rdio, however, was not the first service to allow American subscribers to stream music from their phones. That honor goes to the...

Moscow requires major companies to move information to servers in Russia by start of next year A Russian law could place the personal data of millions of Internet users, including Americans, at risk if international digital companies comply by the start of next year, analysts say. The law, enacted last year, requires digital companies to store the personal information of Russians in servers on Russian soil. While officials in Moscow have cited concerns that Russians’ information could be vulnerable to foreign intelligence services such as the National Security Agency (NSA) if it is located outside the country’s borders, critics of...

The DOJ has filed its response to Apple's claims that unlocking an iPhone 5 would be unduly burdensome. This ongoing dispute over an All Writs Act order (the act itself dates back to 1789) is also an ongoing dispute over the use of encryption-by-default on Apple phones running iOS 8 or higher. The argument started with one of the founding members of the "Magistrates' Revolt" -- Judge James Orenstein -- who, back in 2005, challenged another All Writs order by the DOJ. A decade ago, Orenstein pointed out that the government's use of these particular orders circumvented both the judicial...

Earlier this week, Apple stated that it would be nearly impossible for it to access the data on a passcode-locked iOS device running iOS 8 or later. The company also noted, however, that even if it were possible, it would not feel comfortable doing so as to not tarnish the trust it shares with its customers. The Department of Justice has now dismissed that argument, saying that Apple should be required to unlock encrypted data because iOS is “licensed, not sold” to customers (via DailyDot). “Apple designed, manufactured, and sold [the phone] that is the subject of the search warrant,” the government...

Rush Limbaugh: What Apple’s iOS 9 ad-blockers will unleash Monday, September 21, 2015 · 5:34 pm · Among other things during his radio program, Mac, iPhone, and iPad user Rush Limbaugh on Monday discussed Apple’s iOS 9 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, specifically content- or ad-blockers and what he thinks is Apple’s reasoning and what will result.The 3-hour Rush Limbaugh Show, the highest-rated, most-listened-to talk-radio program in the United States with some 15 million weekly listeners, airs daily on a network of approximately 590 AM and FM affiliate radio stations. The program is also broadcast worldwide on the U.S. Armed...

To take sides in the war against advertising, you have to ask yourself this question: Are you willing to watch an ad to support the creators of the articles and stories you love reading, or should those creators starve until they find a better way of doing business?  It's a popular war too: This morning, the top app on the Apple App Store wasn't Minecraft, Facetune or some new puzzle game. It was Peace, an ad blocker, one of the greatest tools consumers have against ads on their iPhones. But the general who was leading that front has fallen on...

Analysts and industry insiders predict that Apple will unveil updated iPhones along with an Apple TV revamp that may signal a push into the online television streaming sector, dominated by Netflix.

Just days after patching the DYLD_PRINT_TO_FILE vulnerability with a new OS X point release, Apple's desktop operating system has been hit with yet another zero-day exploit that would allow an attacker to gain root access without using a password. Luca Todesco on Twitter The exploit was discovered by Italian developer Luca Todesco, who relies on a combination of attacks — including a null pointer dereference in OS X's IOKit — to drop a proof-of-concept payload into a root shell. It affects every version of OS X Yosemite, but seems to have been mitigated in OS X El Capitan, which is nearing release....

Apple has quietly included a large amount of security fixes in its latest set of patches for its OS X and iOS operating systems, plugging some serious, high-profile vulnerabilities in its code. A tally of the common vulnerability and exposures (CVE) tags in the OS X Yosemite 10.10.4, Security Update 2015-005 and Safari 8.0.7 update packages showed 80 vulnerabilities have been patched by Apple. These range from a flaw that allowed attackers to write to the low-level extensible firmware interface (EFI) - which manages the hardware in Mac computers - when the systems resume from sleep. The EFI zero-day was...

Patrol Officer Zach Ropos of Ohio spotted a little girl selling lemonade, and decided to grab a drink. He talked with the girl for a few minutes, heard what she had to say about why she was raising money, and went about his business. Ropos returned the very next day, and had this to say… “I talked to the little girl, gave her a speech about how courageous and admirable I think her efforts were to save up her money. I asked her how much she saved up, and she said she only had a few dollars.” Initially the girl...

The first time I seriously tried to use the Apple Watch was to board a plane on a recent cross-country trip. The experience showed the promise of wearable devices, but it also revealed there are challenges to solve before smartwatches are worth buying for anyone other than tech enthusiasts eager to try the latest gadget. I previously read that I’d be able to call up my boarding pass on the Apple Watch, so I opened the United Airlines app by tapping its logo in the app menu. But the process was a bit more complicated than I thought. The app...

Apple CEO Tim Cook and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address today, June 8th, at 10am PDT/ 1pm EDT. Apple today will stream the company’s WWDC Keynote live via Safari browser and Apple TV. Live streaming video requires Safari 6.0.5 or later on OS X v10.8.5 or later; Safari on iOS 6.0 or later. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 6.2 or later. The big event starts today at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT here: http://www.apple.com/live/2015-june-event/. Open it in one browser...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) —So much for the argument "Apple computers are safer and bug-free." It's not true. We're accustomed to annoying glitches in PCs. But the past few years have shown that Macs, iPads and iPhones have them too. So far in 2015, five major flaws have affected Apple products. Just this week, we encountered a nasty bug that lets hackers bury computer viruses so deep inside Macs, you'll never find it. A week earlier, a flaw appeared that lets a text message crash an iPhone. These are significant issues, and neither has been fixed yet. Faulty code is found...

The bug that causes an iPhone to collapse when it accepts a text message with a specific string of characters also affects other Apple products, such as iMacs, MacBooks, iPads and Apple Watches. A glitch within the central system common to all of Apple's iOS products that manages text messages causes the crash. When introduced with non-Latin special characters in a particular sequence, which includes Marathi, Arabic, and Chinese, the CoreText system chokes, pushing it to break down and terminate the whole operating system.Apple had informed several media outlets that the company is aware of the iMessage glitch and expect...

Apple instructs users on how to recover from a crash Softpedia was among the first to report a couple of days ago that a newly discovered iOS bug in the Messages app will crash or reboot any iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch device that receives a specially crafted text message.We have also told our users how to prevent their iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch devices from getting crashed by the nasty Messages bug in the iOS 8 or later mobile operating system from Apple.On May 27, WSJ reported immediately after talking with Apple representatives that the Cupertino company is aware...

A recently published exploit for the Safari browser demonstrates a URL spoofing mechanism which might convince users they are visiting a legitimate website, when they are actually visiting another site which may be phishing their details. Deusen researchers have disclosed a vulnerability which may be exploited by hackers to hijack user accounts on a range of websites, from social media to banking. The proof-of-concept invites users to visit what appears to be the Daily Mail website – however, a script will execute the loading of another URL before the page users are directed to can be displayed. Tested using Safari...

A well-known U.S. hacker told F.B.I. agents he took momentary control of an airplane’s engines mid-flight by hacking into its inflight entertainment system, according to a document filed in U.S. federal court and obtained by APTN National News. Roberts, who has been interviewed at least three times by the F.B.I. this year, is under investigation for allegedly hacking into the electronic entertainment systems of airplanes, according to an application for a search warrant to probe seized electronic equipment. The document shows F.B.I. agents investigating Roberts believe he has the ability to do what he claims: take over flight control systems...

A California woman claims she was fired after disabling an app with a GPS function that was required to run on her company iPhone and tracked her 24 hours a day. Myrna Arias was working for money transfer service company, Intermex, last year when she claims her boss, John Stubits, 'bragged that he knew how fast she was driving' at certain times after she had installed the app, Xora, according to the lawsuit. She then objected to being monitored during non-work hours claiming it was an invasion of her privacy and 'likened the app to a prisoner's ankle bracelet'. Arias...