Late Tuesday, Apple posted some 12.9 inch iPad Pros that are in the company's online store. Refurbished models are either a returned product, or the buyer had simply changed his/her mind about the purchase.
To see the latest offerings, click here.
(Yes, this is real, folks!)
CNNMoney (New York):
It's for a "steering device" on large vehicles with pivot joints to help them turn. Think of accordion buses or the way semi-trucks work.
But according to the approved patent filing published Tuesday, the invention could be intended for vehicles in a "war situation."
So what gives?
While the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple the patent, the original applicationwas approved last year for BAE Systems Hägglunds Aktiebolag, a Swedish subsidiary of the huge global defense company.
The invention is designed to better connect and steer two compartments of a vehicle inside a special "ballistic protection" enclosure.
Russell Phillips, an author of military tech books, believes the proposed tech is designed to improve something like the Bandvagn 202, an all-terrain truck used by the Swedish army.
The Bv 202 is actually two different vehicles, according to Phillips, and is used more for logistics transportation than combat.
The new device would help steer the front and back units simultaneously.
If the vehicle is turning left, for example, then the invention would steer the back wheels to the right to make the turn more easily.
It's unclear why Apple would want a device that seems to serve such a specific military purpose. But many technologies were designed first for defense departments and later adapted for civilian use.
GPS and autopilot navigation features are two big examples.
This was one of 80 patents that Apple was granted Tuesday, according to PatentlyApple.
BAE Systems and Apple did not respond to request for comment.
“Apple’s TV efforts have undergone several plot twists in recent years, but its latest strategy finally appears close to being ready for prime time,” Buster Coen writes for TheStreet. “According to a recent report from Recode, Apple has focused on developing a TV guide that will allow users to navigate programming more easily via the Apple TV user interface. The company would reportedly explore the possibility of a single sign-in for the many services that a user may be subscribed to, such as Netflix and Time Warner’s (TWX) HBO GO.”
“This news comes off of The Wall Street Journal‘s recent report that Apple was exploring the possibility of developing a skinny bundle last year, before tabling the idea because of failed negotiations,” Coen writes. “The idea was promising, but the Journal reports that Apple executives were too cocky in the negotiating process, remaining stubborn about their pricing and bluffing network executives into thinking that Apple had already made deals with other networks. As a result, Apple was unable to pull together the skinny bundle that it wanted.”
“However, the company still recognizes the need for innovation in the TV sector to boost flagging sales — hence the TV guide,” Coen writes. “The proposed TV guide will certainly make it easier for users to find their desired content, but whether it will be enough to compel people to go out and replace their current set-top box with Apple TV is another story.”
Read more in the full article here.
Fake Bitcoin wallet apps are routinely leaking through Apple's App Store vetting process, leaving users' accounts at risk of being compromised and their coins stolen.
That's according to developers of the Breadwallet app, who estimate that fake wallets in the App Store have already lost users of the digital currency up to $20,000.
The suspect apps were first identified by the company in a post on Reddit, warning users that at least eight fake wallets on the App Store were using the same, or very similar, names to existing official mobile wallet apps.
The scam apps appeared to be aping portions of source code, icons, and graphics from legitimate apps to fool users into thinking they were using official wallets.
Breadwallet discovered a fake version of its own app which was added to the App Store on July 29, using the same name and icon as the official version. The company took immediate action and contacted Apple to remove the offending app, after customers inadvertently downloaded the fake and reported stolen funds.
"We talked with one customer who claims to have lost about $10,000, and if we go and look at the coin address where those coins were deposited, last I checked there was $20,000 listed at that address," said Breadwallet co-founder Aaron Voisine, speaking to Motherboard. "So, that's our current estimate for how much customers have lost."
Apple has since removed the offending apps listed by Breadwallet, but their appearance on the App Store has left Bitcoin wallet developers and users questioning the robustness of Apple's vetting process for financial apps.
"I think it would be good for Apple to go through some extra process to make sure they have the identity of the person posting any app in the finance section," Voisine said.
Founder of SSL security certificate company BlackCert, John Casaretto, told SiliconANGLE that the Application Development Signing Certificates, the Apple Developer Program, and the application review process had all been negated by a handful of malicious apps making it onto the Store recently.
"For a long time, it seemed as though Apple's tight controls over its ecosystem were a fairly impenetrable measure against nefarious applications, malware, and junk," said Casaretto. "Clearly that is not the case anymore."
