Month: February 2016

FBI Orders Apple to Create a "Backdoor" on iPhone for San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone – Tim Cook Responds

Dan Uff February 17, 2016 0

Over the past few days, a battle has been brewing between the U.S. FBI and Apple about providing a back door into an iPhone that one of the shooters used in the San Bernardino case. The Government agency has gone as far as to issue an order to Apple for providing such a backdoor, which a federal judge has approved.

Now, Apple's CEO has responded with an open letter to its customers about the subject, which reads in part:

"The United States government has demanded that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers. We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.

This moment calls for public discussion, and we want our customers and people around the country to understand what is at stake."

The subject has even reached presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, in which he has said during an interview on Fox and Friends Wednesday morning:

"I agree 100% with the courts," Trump said, "In that case, we should open it up. I think security over all -- we have to open it up, and we have to use our heads. We have to use common sense."

The candidate continued, discussing that the FBI wanted to get into the women's shooter's cell phone:

"But to think that Apple won't allow us to get into her cell phone," Trump continued, "who do they think they are? No, we have to open it up."

You can read the entire open letter by clicking here.

Apple is aware of the 1970 bug – Fix coming in next update

Dan Uff February 15, 2016 0

On Saturday, we reported about a bug with a special date that will brick your iOS device.

Early Monday, Apple has said that the company is aware of the bug, and a fix will be included in the next operating system update.

Don't try this at home: Putting in the date – January 1st, 1970

Dan Uff February 13, 2016 1

Editor's Note: This article is for informational purposes only. We do not take any responsibility for a device if someone is that stupid enough to do the below.

It seems that a little known bug has popped up on iOS devices. If a user resets the devices date to January 1, 1970 and reboots the device, it will basically disable (often know as bricking) the device.

The reason for this is simple. On that date, the Unix operating system was officially created on that date, and has been counting forward ever since. Putting that date in will basically make the operating system have a melt down.

Many of today's electronics use Linux as a main "brain", so this isn't only the iPhone that maybe effected.

Now, why would scrolling all the way back to January 1, 1970 (00:00:00 in Unix time) turn your iPhone into a brick? If your time zone isn't GMT, your iPhone might think you're in a time beforeJanuary 1, 1970 -- or before zero. Though Unix time can be negative, it's possible that something about that makes your iPhone go haywire.

 Pay

Apple Pay now Accepted at 2 Million Locations and More Stores soon

Dan Uff February 4, 2016 1

iPhone and Apple Watch owners can now pay for their items at more than 2 million locations.

According to a report from Bloomberg, published by The Business Times, Apple's in-house payments initiative is developing as planned after the company blew past internal goals to roll out compatibility at 1.5 million retail outlets by the end of 2015.

Aside from currently existing deployments, big chains like Crate & Barrel, Chick-fil-A and Au Bon Pain have plans to integrate Apple Pay as a checkout option in the near future. Additionally, online merchants are flipping the switch on in-app payments, like Zappos.com did on Tuesday.

"We've been getting requests from customers to use Apple Pay for quite a while," said Zappos' mobile chief Aki Iida. "It makes the customer experience easier, why not try it?"

Not a highly touted feature, in-app payment integration is on the rise, Apple said. The company noted purchase volume more than doubled in the trailing half of 2015 compared to the first six months of the year, the report said.

Apple Pay is considered a young product in the payments space. As such, both merchants and consumers are reluctant to commit when traditional offerings remain widely available. The company is still investigating how best to boost adoption in the U.S., a culture that has not yet evolved past swipe credit card transactions.

Apple intends to expand Apple Pay into China as part of a partnership with card processor Union Pay, a region of massive growth potential both for payments and the company's hardware. Last month, touchless Apple Pay transactions were reportedly working in some areas ahead of an official launch.