Month: February 2017

Analyst: “Apple will win an Oscar within the next 5 years”

Dan Uff February 27, 2017 0

“Apple hasn’t even released an original program yet, but analysts are already speculating about when the company will bring an Oscar back to its Cupertino headquarters,” Emily Bary reports for Barron’s. “‘We think Apple will win an Oscar in the next five years,’ wrote Andrew Murphy, a former Piper Jaffray analyst who now works at venture capital firm Loup Ventures.”

“Apple is finally wading into original content and plans to come out with two shows in the spring. These shows are nothing special and most likely not particularly expensive,” Bary reports. “The company hasn’t even gotten started on movies yet.”

“But Murphy expects that Apple will ramp up its content spending in the next few years in hopes of being competitive with Netflix and Amazon,” Bary reports. “Netflix may spend $7 billion on content in 2017, Murphy estimates, and that number could reach $10 billion in five years. He expects Apple to spend $5 billion to $7 billion on programming five years from now, up from less than $200 million today.”

Read more in the full article here.

AT&T Announces Two New Unlimited Data Plans called “Unlimited Choice”

Dan Uff February 27, 2017 0

AT&T will launch two more unlimited data plans available to Apple iPhone owners, Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Choice, hoping to steer people away from similar plans recently offered by its rivals.

The first of the plans, Unlimited Plus, costs $90 per month for a single line. By default streaming video is scaled back to 480p resolution, but HD can be turned back on through the myAT&T app or Web portal.

The plan also includes 10 gigabytes of full-speed hotspot data, after which it's throttled back to 128 kilobits per second. The plan as a whole may be throttled after the 22-gigabyte mark.

A multi-line option costs $145 for two smartphones, with additional devices (up to 8 more) costing $20 per month each. For a limited time both single- and multi-line customers can get a $25 monthly credit towards DirecTV or DirecTV Now, though there are some limitations —the credit only starts within 2-3 billing periods, for instance, and it can't be used in tandem with Now's $35 "Go Big" tier.

The other new plan, Unlimited Choice, starts at $60 per month for a single line or $115 for going multi-line, with the same $20-per-device add-on rule. All Choice customers are limited to a top speed of 3 megabits per second though, and video is capped even tighter at 1.5 megabits, just enough for 480p.

Choice customers also get no hotspot support or discounts on DirecTV service.

Just a little over a week ago, AT&T unveiled an unlimited plan costing at least $100 per month, with four lines priced at $180. The plan didn't offer any hotspot tethering.

All four major U.S. carriers recently launched new unlimited plans in an intensifying battle over subscribers. The companies appear to be reacting almost instantly to each other, with T-Mobile for example offering free HD and 10 gigabytes of hotspot data in response to Verizon.

Via: AppleInsider.com / AT&T

Hello again!

Dan Uff February 26, 2017 0

Well, it seems that we have been locked out of this site for the past few days. Thanks to some investing, it seems we're able to login again.

Please give us a few hours to ramp up things again to begin reporting.

Thanks for your patients!

Dan Uff
Senior Editor.

New RansomeWare found for Mac promising decryption add-on for popular software

Dan Uff February 22, 2017 0

(AppleInsider.com): New ransomware for the Mac has been discovered by security researchers, with the "poorly coded" malware created in Swift encrypting the user's files and demanding a payment, without any possibility of decrypting the files even if the ransom is paid.

Circulating via BitTorrent sites and called "Patcher," the malware poses as a crack for pirates to get around copy protection and licensing systems used in popular software suites. Researcher Marc-Etienne M.Léveillé found two different fake patchers that used the same code, posing as ways to unlock Microsoft Office for Mac 2016 and Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017, but suggests there may be more instances of the malware circulating around under different names.

When extracted from the archive and executed, the malware opens up a window advising users to press the start button to patch the pirated software. If clicked, the ransomware then spreads around a "readme" file to various user directories, before encrypting all other user files using a randomly-generated 25-character key in an archive, and deleting the original files.

The Readme file explains to the user the files are encrypted, and to pay 0.25 bitcoin to a specific wallet address to unlock them within seven days. While it is claimed files will be decrypted within 24 hours of the random's payment, another option to pay 0.45 bitcoin is also offered, touting decryption within ten minutes.

To read the rest of the article, click here.