iPhone X: Software leak appears to confirm name, features, and specs

Enlarge (credit: Marques Brownlee ) Apple’s latest and greatest iPhone is called the iPhone X, according to information pulled from a leaked “Gold Master” of iOS 11, the operating system said to power the new phone. The same software leak also reveals the existence of the iPhone 8 and and iPhone 8 Plus, which are based on a similar design to the existing iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. According to 9to5Mac , which was one of two blogs able to download iOS 11 before it was pulled from Apple’s servers, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus feature a faster processor, wireless charging, and a new glass back panel. Unlike the iPhone 8, the iPhone X features an all-new design with an edge-to-edge 5.8-inch OLED display that removes the chunky bezels and home button. The design—which was originally shown in a separate software leak earlier this year—is a dramatic departure from iPhones to date, which have largely kept the same front-facing aesthetic since the launch of the original in 2007. By shrinking the bezels, much like Samsung did with the Galaxy S8 , Apple can cram a larger display into a smaller body, making the device more comfortable to use with one hand. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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iPhone X: Software leak appears to confirm name, features, and specs

Boston Red Sox Used Apple Watches To Steal Hand Signals From Yankees

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Mac Rumors: Investigators for Major League Baseball believe the Boston Red Sox, currently in first place in the American League East, have used the Apple Watch to illicitly steal hand signals from opposing teams, reports The New York Times. The Red Sox are believed to have stolen hand signals from opponents’ catchers in games using video recording equipment and communicated the information with the Apple Watch. An inquiry into the Red Sox’ practice started two weeks ago following a complaint from Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who caught a member of the Red Sox training staff looking at his Apple Watch in the dugout and then relaying information to players. It’s believed the information was used to determine the type of pitch that was going to be thrown. Baseball investigators corroborated the claim using video for instant replay and broadcasts before confronting the Red Sox. The team admitted that trainers received signals from video replay personnel and then shared them with some players. “The Red Sox told league investigators said that team personnel scanning instant- replay video were electronically sending the pitch signs to the trainers, who were then passing the information to the players, ” reports The New York Times. “The video provided to the commissioner’s office by the Yankees was captured during the first two games of the series and included at least three clips. In the clips, the team’s assistant athletic trainer, Jon Jochim, is seen looking at his Apple Watch and then passing information to outfielder Brock Holt and second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who was injured at the time but in uniform. In one instance, Pedroia is then seen passing the information to Young.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Boston Red Sox Used Apple Watches To Steal Hand Signals From Yankees

YouTube improves stream performance and simplifies live chats

YouTube announced a handful of new features available now for its livestream function. The changes, including reduced latency and simpler chat moderation, are aimed at making YouTube Live a more functional and efficient feature for users. First up, streamers now have the option to enable ultra-low latency, which will bring down streaming video latency to just a couple of seconds. That will make functions like answering questions during a livestream easier and more timely. YouTube has also made moderating chats easier and more efficient. You can now pause a chat feed by pressing “alt/option” and then hover over messages to take them out or approve them. Streamers can also opt in to a feature that will hold possibly inappropriate messages for review. The system, which can learn users’ preferences with greater use, will keep identified messages from posting before users can decide whether to approve them, hide them or report them. YouTube is also introducing hidden users lists that can be shared between moderators and across both comments and live chat as well as the ability to stream directly to the main YouTube app with your iPhone or iPad from any app that supports Apple’s ReplayKit. All of the new features are launching today.

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YouTube improves stream performance and simplifies live chats

The iPhone 8 reportedly swaps the home button for gesture controls

The folks over at Bloomberg got their hands on some images of the next iPhone as well as some information from people familiar with the new model. Some of the features confirmed in their report were already known or at least heavily suspected, but there are also some new details about how the phone will function without the home button. As has been reported before, the images viewed by Bloomberg show that the iPhone 8 will have thin bezels and a larger screen than the iPhone 7. It’s also going to have a facial recognition sensor that, along with the earpiece and front-facing camera, will be contained in a cutout at the top of the screen. Some other physical details include rounded edges for the screen, a longer power button, a glass front and back and stainless steel edges with antenna cuts on the corners. The app dock is also getting a redesign and looks a lot like the iPad iOS 11 dock, according to Bloomberg . But one of the bigger changes — the removal of the home button that’s been a part of the phone for a decade — comes with some tweaks to how users will access the features that the home button has brought them to in the past. Now, what was once the home button’s function is going the way of the iPad and Apple’s laptop trackpads. Gesture controls will now bring you to the main app grid and show you which apps are open. The bottom of the screen will host a software bar that can be dragged upwards to open the phone and also to get to the multitasking interface once the phone is unlocked. The new iPhone is expected to launch on September 12th alongside the 7s and 7s Plus models. Source: Bloomberg

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The iPhone 8 reportedly swaps the home button for gesture controls

Hacker Claims To Have Decrypted Apple’s Secure Enclave Processor Firmware

According to iClarified, a hacker by name of “xerub” has posted the decryption key for Apple’s Secure Enclave Processor (SEP) firmware. “The security coprocessor was introduced alongside the iPhone 5s and Touch ID, ” reports iClarified. “It performs secure services for the rest of the SOC and prevents the main processor from getting direct access to sensitive data. It runs its own operating system (SEPOS) which includes a kernel, drivers, services, and applications.” From the report: The Secure Enclave is responsible for processing fingerprint data from the Touch ID sensor, determining if there is a match against registered fingerprints, and then enabling access or purchases on behalf of the user. Communication between the processor and the Touch ID sensor takes place over a serial peripheral interface bus. The processor forwards the data to the Secure Enclave but can’t read it. It’s encrypted and authenticated with a session key that is negotiated using the device’s shared key that is provisioned for the Touch ID sensor and the Secure Enclave. The session key exchange uses AES key wrapping with both sides providing a random key that establishes the session key and uses AES-CCM transport encryption. Today, xerub announced the decryption key “is fully grown.” You can use img4lib to decrypt the firmware and xerub’s SEP firmware split tool to process. Decryption of the SEP Firmware will make it easier for hackers and security researchers to comb through the SEP for vulnerabilities. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Hacker Claims To Have Decrypted Apple’s Secure Enclave Processor Firmware

Google Pays Apple $3 Billion Per Year To Remain On the iPhone, Analyst Says

In a note to investors on Monday, Bernstein analyst A.M. Sacconaghi Jr. said Google is paying Apple billions of dollars per year to remain the default search engine on iPhones and iPads. “The firm believes that Google will pay Apple about $3 billion this year, up from $1 billion just three years ago, and that Google’s licensing fees make up a large bulk of Apple’s services business, ” reports CNBC. From the report: “Court documents indicate that Google paid Apple $1 billion in 2014, and we estimate that total Google payments to Apple in FY 17 may approach $3 billion, ” Bernstein analyst A.M. Sacconaghi Jr. said. “Given that Google payments are nearly all profit for Apple, Google alone may account for 5% of Apple’s total operating profits this year, and may account for 25% of total company OP growth over the last two years.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Google Pays Apple $3 Billion Per Year To Remain On the iPhone, Analyst Says

Apple Refuses To Enable iPhone Emergency Settings that Could Save Countless Lives

An anonymous reader shares a report: Despite being relatively easy, Apple keeps ignoring requests to enable a feature called Advanced Mobile Location (AML) in iOS. Enabling AML would give emergency services extremely accurate locations of emergency calls made from iPhones, dramatically decreasing response time. As we have covered before, Google’s successful implementation of AML for Android is already saving lives. But where Android users have become safer, iPhone owners have been left behind. The European Emergency Number Association (EENA), the organization behind implementing AML for emergency services, released a statement today that pleads Apple to consider the safety of its customers and participate in the program: “As AML is being deployed in more and more countries, iPhone users are put at a disadvantage compared to Android users in the scenario that matters most: An emergency. EENA calls on Apple to integrate Advanced Mobile Location in their smartphones for the safety of their customers.” Why is AML so important? Majority of emergency calls today are made from cellphones, which has made location pinging increasingly more important for emergency services. There are many emergency apps and features in development, but AML’s strength is that it doesn’t require anything from the user — no downloads and no forethought: The process is completely automated. With AML, smartphones running supporting operating systems will recognize when emergency calls are being made and turn on GNSS (global navigation satellite system) and Wi-Fi. The phone then automatically sends an SMS to emergency services, detailing the location of the caller. AML is up to 4, 000 times more accurate than the current systems — pinpointing phones down from an entire city to a room in an apartment. “In the past months, EENA has been travelling around Europe to raise awareness of AML in as many countries as possible. All these meetings brought up a recurring question that EENA had to reply to: ‘So, what about Apple?'” reads EENA’s statement. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Apple Refuses To Enable iPhone Emergency Settings that Could Save Countless Lives

Firmware suggests the next iPhone will use infrared face unlock

Ever since our close look at an alleged render of the next iPhone back in May, there have been rumors of 3D face scanning plus a large screen-to-body ratio flying about. Today, we finally bring you some solid evidence about these features, courtesy of — surprise, surprise — Apple itself. After digging up new details about the Apple HomePod in its leaked firmware , iOS developer Steve Troughton-Smith came across some code that confirm the use of infrared face unlock in BiometricKit for the next iPhone. More interestingly, in the same firmware, fellow developer Guilherme Rambo found an icon that suggests a near-bezel-less design — one that matches rumored schematics going as far back as late May. For those in doubt, Troughton-Smith assured us that this icon is “specific to D22, the iPhone that has Pearl (Face ID).” These discoveries are by far the best hints at what to expect from the “iPhone 8, ” which is expected to launch later this year . Additionally, we also learnt from our exclusive render that the phone may feature a glass back along with wireless charging this time. That said, there’s still no confirmation on the fate of Touch ID: while the HomePod firmware code seems to suggest that it’s sticking around, there’s no indication as to whether it’s ditching the usual Home button execution in favor of an under-display fingerprint scanner (as shown off by Qualcomm and Vivo at MWC Shanghai). Given how poorly Apple has been guarding the secrets of its next smartphone this time round, chances are we’ll hear more very soon. I can confirm reports that HomePod’s firmware reveals the existence of upcoming iPhone’s infra-red face unlock in BiometricKit and elsewhere pic.twitter.com/yLsgCx7OTZ — Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) July 31, 2017 Me too. New bezel-less form factor as well pic.twitter.com/Y0RrSOk2OO — Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) July 31, 2017 Source: Steve Troughton-Smith , Guilherme Rambo

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Firmware suggests the next iPhone will use infrared face unlock

Remove unused apps in iOS 11 without losing your data

Of the many apps you likely have on your iPhone or iPad right now, how many do you actually use regularly? Chances are that you have at least a few that you’re keeping merely because they have data you don’t want to lose. Well, all that is about to change: iOS 11 will allow you to delete apps, but retain their settings and data. Cydia Geeks first spotted the feature that Apple calls “offloading, ” and it’s great news for people who are constantly struggling with storage space on their phones . The current “Storage & iCloud Usage” option within the iPhone’s settings will be renamed “iPhone Storage” in iOS 11. (Presumably, if you’re working on an iPad, it will be called “iPad Storage.) Within that menu is an innocuous-looking option called “Offload Unused Apps, ” with an Enable option. Apple’s menu description says, “Automatically offload unused apps when you’re low on storage. Your documents & data will be saved.” What’s more, it appears you can choose individual apps to offload if you don’t want to depend on Apple to automatically manage the process for you. Choosing the “Offload App” option for an individual app does the following, according to Apple: “This will free up storage used by the app, but keep its documents and data. Reinstalling the app will place back your data if the app is still available in the App Store.” It’s worth noting that many apps, such as Google Drive, Facebook and Twitter, already store data in the cloud, so it’s easy to delete and reinstall them as needed. But for any apps that you must keep to avoid losing data (such as games), offloading could be just what people with storage issues are looking for. Indeed, this feature could entirely break us of the habit of keeping apps around just in case we need them one day. Via: 9to5Mac Source: Cydia Geeks

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Remove unused apps in iOS 11 without losing your data

Apple Announces New 10.5-Inch iPad Pro With Narrower Side Bezels, 120Hz Refresh Rate Display

At WWDC 2017 today, Apple unveiled a brand new iPad Pro with a 10.5-inch display and 40% narrower bezels. The new iPad features a 50% brighter True Tone display and “ProMotion” technology which increase refresh rates up to 120hz. 9to5Mac reports: The new iPad Pro includes dynamic refresh rate adjustments, screens move from 24hz to 48hz to 120hz. This maximizes battery life and performance, when you need it. The A10x Fusion chip improves CPU and GPU by at least 40%. Cameras have also been upgraded with the same sensor as the iPhone 7 on the back and the front. Apple demoed a photo app called “Affinity Photo, ” to demonstrate the 120hz refresh rates. Apple says new iPad Pro performance compares favorably with a desktop computer. This includes incredibly fast selections and fluid Apple Pencil interactions. Both iPad models start with 64GB of memory and maxes out to 500GB at the high-end. There are also several new software features for iPad, coming this fall with iOS 11: A new customizable Dock that provides quick access to frequently used apps and documents from any screen; Improved multitasking, including a redesigned app switcher that brings Spaces to iOS, making it easier to move between apps or pairs of active apps, used in Split View and now Slide Over; Multi-Touch Drag and Drop, which is available across the system to move text, photos and files from one app to another, anywhere on the screen; A new document scanner in Notes, which lets users easily scan single or multi-page documents, removes shadows and uses powerful image filters to enhance readability; and Deeper integration with Apple Pencil, with support for inline drawing to write along text in Notes and Mail, Instant Markup to easily sign documents, annotate PDFs or draw on screenshots, and a new Instant Notes feature, which opens Notes from the Lock Screen by simply tapping Apple Pencil on the display. New searchable handwriting makes it easy to search for handwritten text or characters. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Apple Announces New 10.5-Inch iPad Pro With Narrower Side Bezels, 120Hz Refresh Rate Display