This 81-Year-Old Japanese Woman Just Released Her First iOS App

The app economy is alive and thriving, thanks almost entirely to the multitude of young and vivacious, computer-savvy developers from around the world, who’ve collectively given rise to millions of fun, useful, and practical mobile apps. While the majority of these developers, however, may be highly-skilled in the art of navigating Swift or Xcode — and though they may be younger, more ambitious and entrepreneurial constituents of the general population — today it has become clearer than ever before that it’s never too late to start learning, living your dreams, and churning out apps of your very own — regardless of how old you are.

Allow us to introduce Masako Wakamiya, a Japanese native who, at the ripe old age of 81-years-old, just released her debut app for iOS.

Just last week, the Octogenarian woman released ‘Hinadan’, which is meant to honor the ages-old Japanese tradition known as Hinamatsuri. For those unfamiliar with the event, which is known elsewhere in the world as ‘Doll’s Day’ or ‘Girl’s Day’, it is an annually held celebration in Japan — taking place on March 3rd of each year. The tradition is meant to honor the Emperor, Empress and other notable Japanese figures by displaying intricately crafted ‘hina’ on a boat, which is then sent down a river and into the sea, taking with them, according to custom, the troubles and bad spirits that roam the land.

The app is essentially a game, which was designed to help teach players the proper way of organizing their doll displays to take part in the festival. ‘Hinadan’ is a mash-up of the words ‘hina’, meaning doll, and ‘dan’, meaning tier, and is based around the concept of placing the traditional 12 dolls in their respective positions — as they would appear in the festival — on a tiered, three-by-four grid. The game is finished when all 12 dolls have been correctly placed on the grid in their respective spots.

Interestingly, Wakamiya is said to have begun using computers at the age of 60 — just 21-years ago; however, through persistence and a can-do attitude, she has clearly been able to learn much, much more about them than your typical modern granny.

By the way, creating apps isn’t the only thing she is known for. In addition, perhaps the most tech-savvy grandma on Earth runs her own blog, where she not only shares stories about her personal travels, but also teaches people how to create art using Microsoft Excel.

If you want to learn more about Masako Wakamiya, feel free to check out her eye-opening TEDx Talk below, in which she shares her thoughts about the process of aging amidst an increasingly digital landscape.

And if you want to play around with Hinadan for yourself, feel free to download the app on your iPhone or iPad by clicking this link.

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Tim Cook Assures Apple Hasn’t Forgotten About ‘Pro’ Customers

Apple is still highly focused on its ‘pro’ customers, and is ready to double-down on its creative and professional areas, CEO Tim Cook told shareholders at a recent Q&A in Cupertino.

“There’s still a ton of revenue outside of iPhone. The Mac, Watch, services, iPad are all essential to Apple’s growth,” Cook said. “You will see us do more in the pro area. The pro area is very important to us. The creative area is very important to us, in particular.”

Cook’s answers come in the midst of rumors and worry that desktop Mac platforms are getting “left behind” at Cupertino. According to CNET’s Shara Tibken, who covered the shareholder event, Cook’s comments are “likely to raise hopes that Apple will finally update its desktop Macs.” Indeed, it’s been over 500 days since the iMac was last refreshed, and over 860 days since the Mac mini saw an update

“Don’t think something we’ve done or something that we’re doing that isn’t visible yet is a signal that our priorities are elsewhere,” Cook stated. Similarly, in December 2016, Cook promised that “great desktops” are certainly in Apple’s future.

Cook was also faced with a question about whether Apple plans on merging the iPad and Mac lineup into one device or series of devices. While he initially stated that Apple doesn’t “like to talk about future products,” he reiterated that he views them as remaining separate. Specifically, in the future, the iPad may be recognized as a laptop replacement, but not as a Mac replacement — as the Mac “does so much more.”

“To merge these worlds, you would lose the simplicity of one and the power of the other,” Cook reportedly said of the idea.

Given the timeline and how long it’s been since there’s been an update, it’s definitely a possibility that Apple will introduce some sort of Mac refresh at its spring “special event.” At this point, we’re not sure exactly when Cupertino’s event will take place — but, historically, Apple has usually held its spring events in March.

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Battery Explosion Utterly Destroys 2015 MacBook Pro

We’ve seen several instances, over the years, in which a malfunctioning lithium-ion battery has led to a portable device exploding before its owners eyes, while still in the packaging, or even worse, while nestled in their pocket. Of course, when we use the words “exploding” and “battery” in the same sentence, what might come to mind for most of us is the infamous Samsung Galaxy Note 7 battery ordeal that unfolded last summer.

The unfortunate reality, however, as seldom as it occurs, is that Li-Ion batteries are simply prone to this type of demise. From time to time, though not very often, a mobile device will succumb to a self-invoked fiery inferno — simply because it ‘just so happens’, as the result of internal glitches, manufacturing defects, or simply because the battery, itself, is just worn out.

Take today’s scenario, for example, in which we see the charred after-effects of a 2015 MacBook Pro — after its owner, Daniel Dourvaris, reportedly endured the unthinkable.

In a post titled ‘My 2015 MacBook Pro Retina Exploded’, which was published to the popular micro-blogging site, Medium, Dourvaris tells us in vivid detail — with photos to substantiate his claims — about how his 2015 Retina display-equipped machine began showing off some questionable behavior while he was simply laying in bed browsing the internet one afternoon.

He explains that his machine suddenly powered down; but, once he turned it back on, it began emitting a “hissing” sound, followed by the spontaneous emergence of what he alleges was “white smoke and thin flames” emanating from the machine’s bottom side. 

“I got up and ran with the laptop for the bathroom where I could put it on the ceramic tiles,” Dourvaris claims, adding that within a matter of just seconds “the heat from the bottom of the laptop burnt my middle and ring fingers so badly I had to let it drop.” 

At that time, Dourvaris alleges he began hearing the hissing sound coming from the unit, as he slowly backed away from the area, and then — bang — the bottom of the unit “popped off,” which resulted in even more smoke billowing out from the device’s under area.

See the charred MacBook Pro remains below.

Dourvaris’ “entire house” became filled with thick smoke, so he says, which was “so acidic” it began to make his eyes water. He said that after all the flames had been extinguished, the smoke had cleared though his windows, and after the heat had died down, the machine was fully examined to ascertain what, if anything, was able to be salvaged. Unfortunately, the dismal reality is that he’ll probably have to get a replacement.

Fortunately, even despite the fiery fiasco, Dourvaris appears to be looking on the bright side of the situation: “All I have to say is that I was lucky that I was around when the laptop caught fire.” Although these occurrences are quite rare, it’s important to note that they can happen — even as infrequently as they do. We’ll have to wait and see what Apple says about this, as the company has yet to provide comment.

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This Week’s Apple News Video Roundup: February 27th 2017

1. Apple Says Third-Party Screen Repair No Longer Voids iPhone Warranty
2. Tim Cook Commemorates Steve Jobs’ 62nd Birthday
3. Here’s Why Apple Should Use Qi Wireless Charging for iPhone 8
4. Apple Extends MacBook ‘Staingate’ Repair Program
5. Google Lawsuit Accuses Uber of Stealing Self-Driving Technology
6. Uber and FitBit Among Sites Affected By Massive ‘Cloudbleed’ Data Breach
7. Samsung’s Incredible New Chipset Reaches Gigabit Download Speeds
8. Upcoming 10.5-inch iPad to Feature Incredible Bezel-less Display

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Amazon Web Services Failure Literally ‘Broke the Internet’

If you’ve been having trouble browsing the web today, you’re not alone. You’ve probably encountered several Facebook or Twitter posts with friends and followers asking “is anyone else having trouble with [insert website here]?” Or perhaps you’ve received a call from your grandmother or elderly uncle complaining that “the internet is broken.”

Certain internet memes or news stories wash over the internet so quickly and heavily, that they have been said to “break the internet.” A massive Amazon Web Services outage today has, in some ways, literally done just that – “broken the internet.”

Amazon Web Services is the nation’s largest cloud computing company, providing cloud based storage and services for many of the most popular sites on the web. Millions were inconvenienced at work today when they had trouble accessing sites such as Trello, Quora, IFTTT, and Slack. Amazon Web Services provides services for Pinterest, Buzzfeed, Spotify, Reddit, and Netflix, as well – although no major issues were reported with these sites, home users may have noticed some trouble with them at some point during the day. Somewhat ironically, isitdownrightnow.com, a website that helps users discover if a website they are trying to access is down (or if there is a problem on the user’s end), has been inaccessible for a good portion of the day.

Many Alexa devices were affected, and even Nest thermostat owners may have run into trouble today, as there were reports that many Nest devices were unable to connect to their thermostats for a time.

According to TheVerge, “Amazon has suffered brief outages before that have knocked offline services including Instagram, Vine, and IMDB.” It is the most widespread and longest lasting issue that Amazon Web Services has encountered yet.

Amazon has acknowledged the issue, reporting “high error rates” on the Amazon Web Services dashboard. According to USAToday, the outage appeared to have begun around 12:35pm ET, and is centered in Amazon Web Services’ S3 storage system on the East Coast, Amazon’s largest cloud storage service. Many websites that rely on the S3 storage system failed to load completely, while others had missing images and videos.

At the moment, it’s unclear as to when all of AWS’s services will be restored. On its services tracking page, Amazon has said that they are “actively working on remediating the issue.”

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iPhone 8’s Entire Display Could Be a Fingerprint Scanner

Apple has been granted a patent on Tuesday that could help the company to kill off Touch ID’s reliance on the Home button for good.

The patent in question, No. 9,582,102, describes a technology that could potentially allow a user to authenticate their fingerprint by tapping anywhere on an iPhone’s screen. Specifically, the patent calls for a screen to be made out of several layers — including a display layer, one or more conductive layers, and a biometric sensing layer that could read fingerprints. This layer would feature biometric sensing pixels coupled to the transparent conductive layer or layers.

While this biometric layer could be installed on a single portion of the touch display — like where the Home button would normally be — the patent also points out that the sensor could extend over the entire surface of the touch display, allowing users to utilize Touch ID by placing their finger anywhere on the screen.

In addition to potentially doing away with the home button, the patent also points out that this method could allow for faster authentication. Instead of having to perform “a separate authentication step,” a user’s fingerprint would automatically be sensed, even while performing another task on the device.

There’s plenty of evidence and rumors surrounding the fact that Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone will be the company’s first flagship to ditch the home button for good. In October, Apple was granted another patent that could help solve the accuracy issues inherent in a display-embedded biometric scanner. Earlier this month, another patent was discovered that described a Touch ID sensor being embedded within a display. That patent’s original inventor was LuxVue, a company that Apple acquired in 2014.

Patent No. 9,572,102 was first filed for in January 2015, and was made public on Feb. 28 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Its principal inventor is credited as Dale R. Setlak, who is the co-founder of biometric startup AuthenTec, yet another company that Apple acquired in 2012.

Images: © Copyright 2017 iPhone 8 Concept Exclusive, iDrop News. Attribution required. Do not modify.

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Apple Is Getting Serious About AR Technology

In July of last year, a relatively unheard of software company called Niantic partnered with Nintendo and The Pokemon Company to release Pokemon Go and it quickly became a global sensation. With over 100 million downloads in the first week alone, it became the most downloaded app throughout the first week of release in history. Pokemon Go uses a mobile phone’s GPS and camera to superimpose Pokemon characters in real-life locations, allowing the user to find, capture, train, and battle the Pokemon. The game truly brought augmented reality to the mainstream.

The Pokemon Go phenomenon impressed Apple CEO Tim Cook. In an earnings call shortly after the game was released, he called it “incredible” – “In terms of AR and the Pokemon phenomenon, it’s incredible what has happened there.” He continued, “we have been and continue to invest a lot in this… We are high on AR for the long run… we’re probably going to look back at this and say this was when we started to realize that it was real.”

This morning, in a note released to investors from analyst Steve Milunavich of UBS and obtained by Business Insider, he called AR “the next major innovation from Apple”, and noted Apple’s continued research and development in the AR market. “According to some industry sources,” Milunavich writes, “the company may have over 1,000 engineers working on a project in Israel that could be related to AR.” Citing several AR-related acquisitions Apple has made, including Israeli 3D sensing company PrimeSense, German AR company Metaio, and Israeli cyber security and facial recognition company RealFace, UBS believes that Apple could implement AR elements into the next iPhone, as well as a number of other products over the next several years. Seemingly in agreement with Apple Nostradamus Ming-Chi Kuo, who claims that the iPhone 8 will feature a “revolutionary”, 3D-sensing front camera, Milunavich believes that the iPhone 8 may include such AR-related features as “moderate 3D mapping… and possibly an AR development software kit.”

In the note, Milunavich also points out that he believes that Apple is much more interested in Augmented Reality than virtual reality (one of headlining features of Google’s Pixel line of smartphones, released last year). Tim Cook has noted in the past that AR has the ability go connect people as opposed to the isolating experience of VR – “It gives the capability for both of us to sit and be very present, talking to each other but also have other things, visually, for both of us to see.” Perhaps more importantly, however, Milunavich notes that AR can easily be implemented into Apple’s existing devices – devices containing AR technology can be easily sold to Apple’s existing base of customers. Hopefully we’ll begin to see some AR-related features integrated into the iPhone 8, but it’s safe to say that Apple will take their time in ensuring that the AR rollout will be done correctly. “Augmented reality will take some time to get right,” Cook has said in the past, “but I do think that it’s profound.”

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What to Expect from Apple’s 2017 Spring Event

While we’ve yet to be informed of an official announcement, Apple is known to occasionally hold a springtime ‘special event’ — whereat the iPhone-maker typically takes the wraps off a slew of exciting, next-generation products.

Last year, on the 21st of March, for instance, Cupertino held a special event that saw the unveiling of its iPhone SE, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and a slew of festive new Apple Watch bands. The year prior, on March 9th of 2015, Apple unveiled the first-generation Apple Watch, along with its first 12-inch MacBook, and updates to the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops. While there was no spring event held in either 2013 or 2014, Apple had previously held special events back on March 2nd of 2011, and again on March 7th of 2012 — whereat Steve Jobs unveiled the 2nd-generation iPad, and newly appointed CEO, Tim Cook, announced the 3rd-generation Apple TV and iPad with Retina display, respectively.

While the record may give plenty of reason to doubt Apple will hold another special event this year, it’s thus far been widely rumored that such will be the case — which is quite easy to reason, especially since Apple is sitting on a mound of devices that are in desperate need of an update.

Here’s everything we know so far, and what we can expect to see at Apple’s springtime event.

iPad

Apple’s current iPad line boasts a total of five models, including the 9.7-inch iPad Air 2, 9.7- and 12.9-inch iPad Pros, as well as the iPad mini 2 and iPad mini 4.

The last iPad update came at last year’s March 21st special event, which saw the 9.7-inch iPad Pro touch down — and prior to that, we saw both the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and 7.9-inch iPad mini 4, touch down back in September of 2015.

iPad mini 2 and iPad mini 4 are both running on some fairly outdated chipsets, too — the former on Apple’s first-ever 64-bit A7 chip, and the latter on the same iPhone 6-based A8 SoC.

Here’s What to Expect

• It’s so far been rumored that Apple will unveil an all-new 10.5-inch iPad Pro, boasting a bezel-less design, and equipped with an A10X SoC of unknown speed — as well as an updated 9-inch iPad Pro 2 boasting upgraded components across the board.
• Apple has also been slated to release a more budget-friendly, 9.7-inch iPad, which could be exclusively geared towards the education sector.
• Likewise, conflicting reports have clashed on whether or not the company will release an updated ‘iPad mini Pro’, featuring a 7.9-inch True Tone display, a 12 MP camera with LED flash, and quad-speaker array — similar to the larger iPad Pros before it.
• Should Apple hold a spring event this year, we could see several of the models launch shortly thereafter; however, a recent report has pegged the top-tier, A10X-equipped models for an early May or June launch.

iPhone

Apple has historically waited until the fall quarter to release its flagship iPhone hardware, such as the iPhone 7 last September, iPhone 6s the September before that, and the iPhone 6 back in September, 2014. We don’t expect this tradition to change for the year ahead.

However, last March Apple unveiled its resurrected, 4-inch iPhone SE handset featuring a slew of next-generation internals, camera updates, and either 16 or 64 GB of storage.

Here’s What to Expect

• It has so far been rumored that Cupertino could introduce an iPhone SE boasting even more storage this year — perhaps to the tune of 128 GB, or more. However we’ll have to wait and see if any additional info surfaces.
• It was also recently rumored that Apple could unveil an iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus featuring a Red color treatment, perhaps even under the guise of Product (RED) branding.

Mac

While Apple introduced an all-new, OLED Touch Bar-equipped MacBook Pro last fall, and an updated 12-inch MacBook just six-months prior, the company’s other Mac offerings have been relatively stagnant for quite some time.

Machines including the Mac mini and Mac Pro, for instance, have not been updated since 2014 and 2013, respectively; while the last iMac updates touched down back in 2015.

Tim Cook has also suggested that “some great new desktops” are looming on the horizon, however we currently have no reason to believe they will be coming this spring.

Worth noting, however, is that the company recently extended its promotional discount on select USB C-compatible accessories and peripherals (from December 31st, 2016, now running through March 31st of this year).

Here’s What to Expect

• Given the time that’s elapsed between the last major Mac updates and now, it could be that Apple has a few USB C-equipped models ready to hit store shelves — though only time will tell if that’s indeed the case.

Apple Watch

Here’s What to Expect

• We can almost rest assured the company will be introducing new Watch bands this spring, however, if indeed a special event is held.
• As for the Apple Watch Series 3 — which could boast upgraded internals, a FaceTime camera, and even new display technology — we shouldn’t expect that to come until later this year, at the earliest.

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Here’s Why the iPhone 8 Won’t Feature a USB-C Port

A questionable new report published Tuesday morning by The Wall Street Journal suggests that Apple could be axing its proprietary Lightning port on this year’s 10th anniversary iPhone — and, in its place, the company will be adopting the increasingly popular USB Type C standard for charging and data transfer.

While it would certainly be proactive for Apple to join the ranks of other smartphone manufacturers in adopting USB-C, the Cupertino, California-based company has a long and well-documented history of “going against the grain” — especially when it comes to implementing ‘universal standards’ of the such. Apple’s original iPhone, for instance, featured the company’s proprietary 30-pin to USB cable connector for charging and syncing data — while the majority of manufacturers had, at the time, been employing either micro- or mini-USB. Furthermore, when Apple decided to switch its proprietary 30-pin connector to a newer, faster alternative back in September, 2012, the company ultimately opted for another home-brewed alternative — what we now know as Lightning — in favor of micro USB, which was the ‘universal standard’ at the time.

Nevertheless, while the WSJ report suggests that “Apple would introduce other updates including a USB-C port for the power cord and other peripheral devices,” it’s highly unlikely that this will be the case.. Why? Well, Cupertino, in recent years, has been doubling-down on Lightning connectivity, for starters — having introduced a number of new accessories like the Apple Pencil, AirPods, and even the 4th-generation Apple TV’s Siri Remote, which exclusively rely on the technology. It could also be that Apple will decide to include a Lightning to USB-C cable with the $1,000 iPhone, instead, considering the company’s Mac computers are slowly-but-surely transitioning over to the USB-C (3.1) standard from USB 3.0.

The WSJ report, citing supply chain sources with knowledge of Apple’s current production plans, also reiterated a slew of the ‘iPhone 8’ flagship’s most highly-anticipated features, including its curved-edge OLED display, which will by supplied by Samsung. This would coincide just beautifully with a number of previous reports about an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display that would curve slightly around the edges of the device — similar to the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge flagship. The report, however, would appear to conflict with another recent report — published last week by TrendForce — which suggested that Apple had nixed the curved OLED display due to unforeseeable “production issues.”

Other iPhone 8 features are said to include a wireless charging solution of some sort, IP68 dust- and water-proof certification, a front panel devoid of the iconic Home button, and more — all packed within a “glass sandwich,” according to KGI Securities analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo. The device is likely to be unveiled later on this fall alongside two moderately updated ‘iPhone 7s’ and ‘iPhone 7s Plus’ handsets, which will likely feature an array of next-generation internals.

Featured Image: Handy Abovergleich

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T-Mobile Flaunts Outstanding New Deal in the Face of AT&T

T-Mobile has announced a new promotion, marking yet another salvo fired in the ongoing price battle between the four major U.S. mobile carriers.

Starting on March 1, anyone– both new subscribers and existing T-Mobile customers– can get three lines on the unlimited One tier plan for $100, as opposed to the standard price of $140. The promotion essentially offers an extra line, in a 3 for the price of 2 deal. The savings will be doled out in the form of bill credits.

T-Mobile has noted that the offer is for a limited time only, though the third free line can be kept indefinitely so long as customers remain with the carrier and in good standing. The third line can be allocated for any purpose, whether it’s your smartwatch, tablet, or another smartphone.

The One plan offers unlimited data, with the caveat that customers who exceed approximately 28 gigabytes will be throttled. Comparable unlimited plans are being offered by competitors Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T, all of whom also cap their plans between 22 and 28 gigabytes.

The latter today announced two new plans. The Unlimited Plus plan on AT&T provides unlimited data on a single line for $90 a month, though the resolution on streaming video will be reined in to 480p. The second plan, Unlimited Choice, costs $60 per month on a single line. All customers on the cheaper Choice plan are limited to 3 megabits per second, however.

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Nokia Brings Iconic 3310 Back from the Dead

Nokia has raised the dead — at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the company announced that it would launch an updated refresh of its iconic Nokia 3310 phone, first released almost 17 years ago.

Features

The new 3310, although obviously a thoroughly nostalgic device for many consumers, has been updated for modern use. It’s both lighter and available in more colorful options. Despite that, it only features a 2.4-inch QVGA display, a 2-megapixel camera, and a barebones Opera Mini browser that can handle some basic web surfing — but, on the other hand, the 3310 won’t have any GPS capabilities. It’ll feature a built-in MP3 player, which you can use to listen to music loaded onto an microSD card, as well as the ability to receive FM radio. And yes, before you ask, there’s even a modernized version of Snake.

Battery Life

One of the bigger selling points, of course, is its battery life — which is incredibly impressive when compared to today’s power-guzzling smartphones. The 3310 refresh can last 22 hours of active use, and nearly a month on standby. We can’t speak to the phone’s durability, due to its slightly different and modernized design, but if it’s anything like its original predecessor, it’ll probably be able to handle a drop better than, say, a Galaxy or an iPhone.

But Who Would Want It?

Though not a smartphone by any stretch of the imagination, the updated 3310 might hit all the right marks with the dumb phone niche. With its impressive battery life, the 3310 might make a good device for those in developing markets who don’t have consistent access to electricity. Similarly, it could function well as a temporary “burner” phone, or a secondary backup device for travelers. Other possible markets could be those who want to digitally detox, older users who only need to talk or text, or budget-minded consumers who might balk at the $700 price tag attached to a modern flagship. Though, ostensibly, the 3310 refresh could be a good starter phone for children, its lack of GPS would make it hard for parents to track down their kids if they are lost.

Still, as Bloomberg’s Leonid Bershidsky points out, the re-release of such an iconic device is likely little more than a marketing gimmick for HMD Global’s Nokia comeback. Indeed, over the weekend, press coverage of the 3310 nearly drowned out news of the three Android-based, Nokia-branded smartphones that were launched alongside the iconic refresh. Which is a shame. The 3310 refresh feels more like a novelty than not — it’s kind of ugly, doesn’t offer much functionality, and is pretty much guaranteed to elicit laughter if pulled out in public.

Though we might be nostalgic for the golden era of indestructible, feature-spare dumb phones, I think we take for granted how much value our smartphones have added to our lives. They’ve certainly changed the way we communicate, consume media and obtain information. And while they may have had some negative consequences, smartphones, in my opinion, have largely changed society for the better. If anything, the new 3310 might be a good indicator of just how far we’ve progressed in just 17 years.

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3 Easy Ways to Send Large Files

Sharing files between devices is easier, and more necessary, than ever. Much of the time, we can share a quick photo via a text message, or a short video clip via email. Sometimes, however, we want to share a larger file – say, high-resolution photo gallery or a five-minute long video – in such instances, text messages and emails just won’t cut it. Here are three quick, easy, and free ways to share large files or folders between two devices.

AirDrop

What is AirDrop? AirDrop is a quick and easy way to transfer photos, videos, music, or other files (as well as websites, locations, and more) between your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. AirDrop, which connects two nearby devices via Bluetooth, and transfers files via Wi-Fi, is quick, easy, and secured via TLS encryption. The only downside to using AirDrop, however, is that both devices must be in close enough proximity to one another to establish a Bluetooth connection, so no sharing files to friends across the country.

Learn More: How to Use AirDrop on Mac / How to Use AirDrop on iPad and iPhone

Dropbox

If you’re prone to sending large files a bit more often, popular cloud storage service Dropbox may be a solid option for you. Dropbox is widely used, reliable, and easy to navigate. Signing up for a Dropbox account is free, and the service works seamlessly between platforms – even mobile platforms. However, one of the things that makes sharing files via Dropbox so great is the fact that the person to whom you are sharing a file with doesn’t even need a Dropbox account – they can download directly from a link that you send them. Dropbox’s free tier only allows 2GB of storage, although there are a variety of ways that users can “earn” more space for free – referring friends to Dropbox, for example.

Google Drive

You may be concerned that Google is taking over the world, and/or that they have way too much information on you. Well, if you’re looking for ease of use, Google is hard to beat. It’s a safe bet that nearly everyone you know has a Gmail account – a fairly easy way to share reasonably-sized files in itself. However, Gmail has a file size limit of 25MB, and trying to send a file larger than that will result in an error. The good news is, Gmail users automatically get access to 15GB of storage via Google Drive for free. Users can also share files and folders up to 10GB in size with other Google Drive users, and it’s highly unlikely that users are sharing files over 10GB in size, anyway. The only downside that comes with sharing files via Google Drive is that the recipient of the file must also be a Google Drive user.

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Nokia Makes a Comeback with Three New Smartphones

The Nokia brand is back. Over the weekend, the company unveiled three Android-based smartphones at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

The three devices include the Nokia 3, the Nokia 5, and a new global version of the Nokia 6 — which was originally unveiled as a China-only release back in January. All three are set at an affordable price point, and at launch, they will all run on a clutter-free version of Google’s latest Android Nougat 7.1.1 operating system. They’ll also include monthly security updates, as well as Android’s newest features, like Google Assistant.

Nokia 6

The global version of the Nokia 6 will be a pretty standard Android offering. It’ll feature a 5.5-inch HD display, Dolby Atmos immersive sound, a 16-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. Perhaps as a throwback to the durability of Nokia’s earliest phones, the Nokia 6 is being marketed as “life-proof,” machined out of a single block of aluminum and featuring Corning’s Gorilla Glass. It’ll be available in Matte Black, Silver, Tempered Blue, and Copper. There’s also a separate black, high-gloss Arte edition with extra internal storage and an extra gigabyte of memory.

Nokia 5

The smaller Nokia 5 is also machined from a single 6000 series aluminum block. It’ll be equipped with a 5.2-inch Gorilla Glass display, 16 gigabytes of internal expandable storage, and a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera. Both the Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 will run on a Snapdragon 430 chipset, and the Nokia 5 is also available in the same four colors as the Nokia 6.

Nokia 3

The entry-level, pared-down Nokia 3 will feature a polarized 5-inch Gorilla Glass display, and have an 8-megapixel camera on both the front and back. This particular device will be available in the slightly different color options of Silver White, Matte Black, Tempered Blue and Copper White.

The three smartphones are likely to be an important first step for HMD Global, the Finnish company who bought the exclusive licensing rights to start producing Nokia-branded smartphones. Though solidly mid-range devices, their lower price points might give them a slight edge over pricier flagships from the likes of competitors such as Apple and Samsung. And, unlike previous attempts at revitalizing the Nokia brand, HMD Global’s devices will be able to tap into the vast Android-based app economy.

The Nokia 6 will retail for €229 at launch, with the Arte edition priced at €299. The Nokia 5 will cost €189, and the entry-level Nokia 3 will run just €139.

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New Leaks Show Edge-to-Edge Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

After Samsung was miraculously able to navigate its fiery Galaxy Note 7 fiasco last summer, which saw both the company’s profits and popularity plummet to all-time lows, the South Korean tech-titan is back in full-force this year — as it gears up to release its highly anticipated, next-generation Galaxy S8 and S8+ flagship smartphones.

While a number of leaks have surfaced showing these upcoming devices in the wild, an even newer round of images — this time, complete with a video, for good measure — has surfaced over the weekend courtesy of Slashleaks. See the videos below.

Galaxy S8+

Galaxy S8

The new image clearly shows a pair of devices that align just beautifully with what we know about the flagships so far. First and foremost, the S8 and S8+ are all but certain to launch featuring gorgeous, edge-to-edge AMOLED displays — the former of which is expected to be a curved, 5.7-inch Quad HD+ panel; while the latter, surprisingly, will boast a truly massive, 6.2-inch panel featuring the same 2,560 x 1,440 resolution. Moreover, since the displays on both devices will feature an edge-to-edge-to-edge layout, with very little in the way of bezels on either side, the venerable home button of Galaxy S devices past has been repositioned to the rear-side of the handset right next to the camera module.

Specifications for the S8 and S8+ are slated to include a 12 MP ‘Dual Pixel’ main camera, a stellar 8 MP front-facing selfie-cam, IP68 dust- and water-proof certification, 64 GB of built-in memory (expandable via microSD card) with 4 GB of RAM, an iris scanner, wireless charging, and more — all of which will be powered by Android 7.0 Nougat, and Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 835 CPU, boasting a zippy octa-core setup featuring one quad-core CPU at 2.45 GHz, and a second quad-core CPU at 1.9 GHz.

2017 is clearly shaping up to be ‘The Year of The Smartphone’, already, since Samsung — though it will be first to market — won’t be the only manufacturer to release a ground-breaking new device along these lines. Apple, for instance, is all but certain to release multiple iPhones this fall, including a vastly redesigned ‘iPhone X’ flagship, which will reportedly boast a 5.8-inch OLED display — sans the venerable Touch ID-equipped Home button, which could potentially be replaced by all-new Acoustic Imaging Technology.

As for the Galaxy S8 flagships, Samsung has already sent out an invitation to select media outlets ahead of its annual ‘Unpacked’ event, which will be held this year on March 29th at the Lincoln Center in New York City — while the devices, themselves, will officially launch to expectant users around the globe on or about April 21st.

Will you be picking up a Galaxy S8 or S8+? Or are you all-in for Apple’s 10th anniversary ‘iPhone X’?
Let us know in the comments!

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How to Fix MacBook External Monitor Issues

If you’ve recently purchased a new external monitor for your MacBook, you might notice the default display resolution looks zoomed or terribly grainy. Or in a separate instance, a large black bar could be occupying the the left or right edge of your display. Both of these scenarios are quite annoying, and with that being said, I’ll quickly teach you how to fix both.

How to Change MacBook External Monitor Resolution

In order to make your MacBook’s external display sharper, you must increase the MacBook’s output display resolution. Generally, a higher resolution number means a more crisp picture. Here’s how to do it.

1. Click the Apple button in the top menu bar.
2. Click System Preferences.
3. Click Displays.
4. Under the Display tab, click Scaled.
5. Choose the resolution that works best for you. If none of these resolutions look right for your display, move on to step six.
6. Hold the Option button on your keyboard and then click the Scaled button. This will open more resolutions for you to choose from.

How to Fix Black Bar on External Monitor Connected to MacBook

If you’ve tested every resolution available and your screen is still fuzzy, or it’s still displaying a black bar on the left or right of your display, the issue most likely resides in an unsuspecting place: Your Mini DisplayPort adapter.

Third-Party video adapters (like the ones made by Insignia) will often cause resolution and picture sizing problems. If you’re experiencing issues with your external monitor, and you’re using an off-brand video adapter, chances are the issue will be resolved by returning the third-party adapter and replacing it with a video adapter made by Apple.

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Apple Seeds iOS 10.3 Beta 4 to Developers

Apple seeded the fourth beta of iOS 10.3 to developers on Monday, just one week after releasing beta 3. At this point, it seems that iOS 10.3 beta 4 is an incremental update that includes a number of under-the-hood bug fixes and performance improvements.

There are no additional major features or functionality listed in the changelog of either beta 3 or beta 4. Since iOS 10.3 beta 2, Lightning Video Adapters should now work as expected, nightly backups will no longer fail, and users will not be able to reach the iCloud Analytics page if they have not logged in.

iOS 10.3 itself is a major release for Apple’s operating system, and it adds several new features — including a Find My Airpods tool, some major App Store review changes, and an new Apple File System with improvements over the previous system.

Beyond the major additions and small fixes listed in the log, there are also a handful of smaller and subtler changes discovered since beta 3, including a new App Compatibility menu, small interface changes, and a new settings screen for individual apps in Settings. Anecdotally, the iOS 10.3 betas also make their respective devices quite a bit snappier and smoother — in testing, both an iPhone 5s and an iPhone 7 Plus featured faster responses and app-switching.

iOS 10.3 beta 4 is currently available to download for registered developers via Apple’s developer portal. Those with an existing iOS 10.3 beta on their device, or a beta configuration profile, can download the update over-the-air through Settings > General > Software Update.

A full changelog included with the update can be seen below.

iOS 10.3 Beta 4 Changelog

Find My iPhone

• Find My iPhone now supports Location and Play Sound for AirPods.
• Location and Play Sound should now work as expected.
• Play Sound emits a noise from the AirPods that reaches a high volume after a few seconds. Please remove both AirPods from your ears before testing this feature.

iCloud Analytics

• During setup, users should no longer reach the “iCloud Analytics” page if they have not yet signed in.

iCloud Backup

• Nightly backups should no longer fail with the error message “Some files were unavailable during the last backup.”

LAN Asset Cache

• LAN Asset Cache functionality should now work as expected.

Lightning Video Adapters

• Lightning video adapters should now work as expected.

Managed and Shared Devices

• On managed devices, users should no longer be able to override the current iCloud Document Sync setting.
• Shared iPad settings should now work as expected.

Xcode Simulator

• The legacy iCloud button in Settings has been removed. iCloud settings are now available within the new Apple ID settings pane.

• Scrolling in the Today View should no longer crash.
• Attempting to enable iCloud Drive through the iCloud Drive app before the user is signed into iCloud should no longer cause Settings to crash.

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Upcoming 10.5-inch iPad to Feature Incredible Bezel-less Display

Apple is gearing up to unveil as many as four new iPad models this spring, with at least one of them featuring upgraded internal components over the current iPad Pro flagship. However, rumored to be joining the family this year is an all-new, 10.5-inch variant, which will fall right smack dab in between the current 9.7- and 12.9-inch models. While the details about said device have been scarce, a new report that was published over the weekend by Forbes appears to shed some additional light on the upcoming new model.

Speaking via telephone to Forbes, IHS Markit Director of Tablets and PCs, Rhoda Alexander, explained that Apple’s 10.5-inch iPad variant will boast a higher resolution than the company’s 9.7-inch iPad Pro — upping the ante to an impressive 2,224 x 1,668 resolution, in comparison to the 9.7-incher’s 2,048 x 1,536 resolution.

Interestingly, Alexander goes on to allege that the 10.5-inch iPad — although it will boast a 0.8-inch larger display — will actually be packed into a chassis exactly the same size as that of Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad Pro. And therefore, although the display resolution is notably higher than Cupertino’s venerable offering, numerically speaking, the larger display will feature the same, 264 pixels per inch (ppi) density of the current, 9.7-inch model.

Such a move would be beneficial for Apple, particularly because the company’s current line of cases and accessories — such as the Smart Cover and Smart Keyboard, for instance — would still be compatible with the new unit, while ushering in a slightly larger display to work and play on. Alexander echoed those sentiments to Forbes; while renowned display expert and President of DisplayMate Technologies, Raymond Soneira, also chimed in about the benefits of having a larger display packed into the familiar and comfortable form factor that iPad Air/Air 2/Pro 9.7 users have grown accustomed to over the years.

“I think this is a good move because the 9.7 [inch] display is too small and the chassis size on the 12.9 [inch] is too big,” Soneira explained in an email to Forbes, while adding that the display’s aspect ratio will also change due to the additional real estate. “If the new iPad shrinks the bezel and keeps the outside dimensions the same, then the display aspect ratio will increase from the current 1.33 to as high as 1.50.”

Soneira also went on to explain how, in this way, Apple’s 10.5-inch iPad Pro will boast a display that’s approximately 31% larger than the 9.7-inch model, since it will be stretched out so as to embody a bezel-less design.

In addition to the 10.5-inch iPad, Apple is also slated to introduce a more “budget-friendly” update to the venerable 9.7-inch iPad, according to Alexander — as well as a much needed update to the company’s behemoth 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Countering earlier reports, however, Alexander doesn’t seem to believe that the 7.9-inch iPad mini will be updated this year.

In either case, it won’t be long until we find out for certain, since Apple could be unveiling all these models — and more — at a special event sometime next month, even though it’s been rumored that the larger of these devices likely won’t ship until early this summer.

Are you holding out for Apple’s upcoming iPads? Let us know in the comments.

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Apple Says Third-Party Screen Repair No Longer Voids iPhone Warranty

Good news for chronic iPhone-droppers. Apple has announced today that third-party iPhone screen repairs will no longer void the device’s standard warranty unless the fix has damaged other components. The move reverses Apple’s longstanding policy of nullifying the warranties of iPhones that have received screen replacements from outside of its network.

Apple offers its own screen repair services, but many iPhone owners have opted to seek out third-party repair options for years in order to save money. An out-of-warranty screen replacement at an Apple Store costs between $129 and $149, depending on the model. With AppleCare+ (which costs $129, by the way), the price tag on a new screen comes down to a $29 flat rate across all models.

In an internal memo circulated to store technicians across the US, Canada, and other regions, Cupertino advised Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers that iPhones with third-party screens are now eligible for warranty coverage.

There are some caveats. The warranty does not apply if the requested repair relates to the screen. It also doesn’t cover damage sustained by the iPhone during an unauthorized screen fix. In that case, customers will have to pay the out-of-warranty cost for the in-store repair.

And of course, the iPhone must still be within its warranty coverage period. iPhones come with a standard 1 year manufacturer’s guarantee which can be extended under AppleCare.

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How to Archive Your iPhone’s iTunes Backup to Prevent It from Being Overwritten

If you’re an iPhone user, it’s a good idea to regularly backup your device to iTunes. One way to do this is through iCloud. But, of course, the free version of iCloud only comes with so much storage, so sometimes a more practical route might be to backup your iOS device to your computer’s hard drive.

Of course, if you continually backup your device, older backup files are in danger of being overwritten by new ones in iTunes. To prevent this from happening, you can archive old backups in the macOS version of iTunes. Here’s how to do it.

How to Archive a Backup on Mac

1. Open iTunes
2. Go to iTunes > Preferences > Devices.
3. From here, you’ll see a list of available backups.
4. To safeguard a particular backup, right-click it and select Archive. The backup will then be marked with the specific time and date that it was archived.

Once you do that, your archived backup will be available in the Preferences section of iTunes — even if your device isn’t plugged in. To restore from an archived backup of your phone, in iTunes, just go to File > Devices > Restore from Backup, and select the particular backup you want to restore from.

An important note: the above method only works for iTunes users on Mac. To archive a backup on the Windows version of iTunes, follow these steps.

How to Archive a Backup on a Windows PC

1. Open iTunes, and backup your phone.
2. Open File Explorer, and click on Local Disk.
3. Click on Users, and then your username.
4. Click on the AppData folder — if you don’t see the folder, it’s because it’s hidden. To fix that, click on View in File Explorer and ensure that the box next to Hidden items is checked.
5. Navigate through Roaming > Apple Computer > MobileSync > Backup.
6. Here, you’ll see your backup folder — it’ll be named with a long string of random characters.
7. To “archive it” and ensure it won’t get overwritten, just rename it — it’s smart to include the date in the folder name so you know exactly when the backup is from.

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30 Hilarious iPhone Autocorrect Fails

Useful in theory, autocorrect automatically checks for spelling and capitalization errors in a user’s typing, and corrects any errors, hence the name “autocorrect.” To anyone who doesn’t regularly send text messages, autocorrect sounds like a godsend. However, sometimes it seems as if, more often than not, autocorrect does more harm than good. Everyday phrases and routine sentences often turn into malapropisms, or slightly misspelled words are replaced with completely unrelated ones. And shouldn’t your “smartphone” know by now that “ducking” isn’t an adverb?

Many of us have fallen victim to the iPhone’s autocorrect function, but the good news is that we’re in good company. Thanks to the ease of taking a screenshot, many of the funniest and most embarrassing autocorrect mistakes have gone viral on the web. Here are thirty of our favorite “autocorrect fails”.

Press the Right Arrow Button to Begin the Slideshow.

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Here’s Why Apple Should Use Qi Wireless Charging for iPhone 8

Apple has a long history of being an innovator in the tech field — but there is at least one case in which Apple should strive for practicality above breaking new ground.

Over the last few months, there has been conflicting evidence about what form wireless charging will take on Apple’s upcoming 10th anniversary iPhone lineup. On one hand, Apple is largely rumored to be working with a startup called Energous on a long-distance wireless charging technology. According to those rumors, Apple’s products will feature the company’s long-distance system sometime in the near future.

But the truth might be less exciting. A recent report from The Verge claims that Energous’ long-distance charging system isn’t ready to ship yet, and even if Apple is indeed the startup’s “key strategic” partner, it’s more likely to release traditional wireless charging pads this year, instead of its revolutionary WattUp solution. Taken together, it’s highly unlikely that the iPhone 8 will actually feature a fleshed-up version of true long-distance wireless charging technology.

To further complicate things, Apple just recently — and quietly — joined the Wireless Power Consortium, an organization of over 200 companies that are trying to standardize the Qi inductive wireless charging solution. In fact, Qi is already being used in over 140 smartphones, tablets and other consumer devices — and a modified version of the standard was even used on the Apple Watch.

As previously reported, Energous’ system and Qi aren’t exactly mutually exclusive — Apple could be involved with both simultaneously, and there is even evidence to suggest that Cupertino is working on its own proprietary system. To that effect, Apple could use its new position as a member of the WPC to contribute its own ideas and technology to the Qi standard. That would certainly be a change of face for Apple, though, as the company doesn’t have a history of playing nice with tech industry standards — the Lightning cable comes to mind, as does the fact that the Apple Watch charger was tweaked to be incompatible with other Qi-based systems.

Still, it might be a smart idea for Cupertino to aim for pragmatism over innovation this time around. While an iPhone with long-distance wireless charging would be an industry first, Apple has an opportunity to join-in on a rapidly expanding standard. In a potential future where every hotel room, office, coffee shop, vehicle, bar and airport lounge has standardized wireless charging pads installed, what good would they do if your Apple smartphone isn’t compatible? If Cupertino decides to use their own proprietary system that won’t work with Qi, they’re missing out on a huge opportunity — and it’ll probably force a large segment of the smartphone market to buy another dongle or adapter.

Qi is a chance to democratize a small aspect of the tech industry — to become something as commonplace and useful as USB. Seeing as how ubiquitous that standard is — even on Apple products — it’s not hard to imagine how utilitarian and practical a truly wireless future could be. That is, if Apple decides to jump on the bandwagon.

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Apple Extends MacBook ‘Staingate’ Repair Program

First, there was “antennagate”, which saw many iPhone 4 users experience dropped calls when held a certain way. Then, there was “bendgate”, an overblown controversy that emerged after the release of the iPhone 6, which saw several iPhone 6 Plus users complain that their phones were prone to bending and/or breaking at a weak point near the volume button. Although Apple actually only saw 9 “bent” iPhones returned, Apple strengthened the aluminum casing in the 6s units to avoid a similar controversy. The iPhone 7 release saw a few users complain of a “hissing” sound when the A10 processor was under heavy stress (some people referred to this as “hissgate”), but Apple was quick to replace any faulty units.

Apple is facing yet another scandal – this time, it’s “staingate”.

What is “staingate”? Well, the problem first surfaced in 2015, but has apparently affected units manufactured as far back as 2012. “Staingate” is a problem affecting MacBook Retina displays where the anti-reflective coating wears off, leaving discolored “stains” on the screen. According to staingate.org, the stains “can start as early as 7 months after the purchase. There is no clear pattern as to how it starts: some experience it in small spots around the edge, on other screens it appears in the middle as large patches.” In 2015, Apple began covering the repair of affected displays free of charge up to three years from the date of purchase or up to one year after October of 2015, whichever was longer.

According to MacRumors, Apple has extended the repair program – “Apple will replace Retina displays on eligible models purchased as far back as June 2012 until October 16, 2017, or within three years of the original date of purchase, whichever is longer.” Apple has not publicly announced the extension, and, according to MacRumors, the company is not planning on it. Any devices affected by the issue will be repaired through the AppleCare program throughout the extended repair period, however.

Users who have a MacBook affected by “staingate” are advised to contact Apple Support, call (800)APL-CARE, or make an appointment at their local Genius Bar. Users should be sure to have their serial number handy, which can be found by selecting “About This Mac” from the Apple menu in the upper left corner of the screen. Users who have already paid for an out-of-warranty repair may also be eligible for a refund.

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How to Unlock and Reset an iPhone Backup Password

When you create a local backup of an iOS device and save it to your computer’s hard drive, you have the ability to encrypt it with a password. This ability secures your backup — others won’t be able to access the data contained within without your password — and it allows you to include sensitive information such as passwords, Health and HomeKit data to be included within the file.

But while this ability may safeguard your data — it could be too good at its job. If you lose or forget your encryption password, for example, there’s no option to retrieve it. Counter-intuitively, you can’t reset the encryption with a new password without the original. If you’re at this point, the only way to choose a new password is to delete all of the old backups and start fresh.

Of course, if that’s not going to help you, there is one other option: a password cracker that will use brute force to guess the password — since there’s no limit to the amount of times an incorrect password can be entered into the field. Unfortunately, iTunes password crackers are generally only available for Windows PC — so if you’re on a Mac, follow these steps first (assuming you have a PC to borrow or use). If you’re a Windows user, start at Step 6.

1. Open iTunes > Preferences.
2. Click on the Devices menu.
3. Find the backup whose password you want to crack, right-click and hit Show in Finder.
4. In Finder, search for a file named “manifest.plist” — make sure you’re only searching within the particular backup folder.
5. Copy (don’t move) the file to a USB flash drive, DropBox folder, or another means of transferring it to a different computer.

Once you do that, you can start the password cracking process on your PC. There are quite a few iTunes password cracking apps available, but Tenorshare’s Backup Unlocker is lightweight, easy-to-use and well-rated.

6. Download and install iPhone Backup Unblocker on your PC.
7. Open the application.
8. Once it’s open, click the blue Add button.
9. The program will detect backups automatically, but to ensure you’re unlocking the right one, click Import and navigate to the folder your manifest.plist file is located in (on your flash drive, or in a Downloads folder if you downloaded it from DropBox, for example).
10. Once it’s imported, you should see your device name in the field. Now you can start the cracking process.
11. If you don’t have the slightest clue what your password could be, select Brute Force Attack. This will try different combinations of numbers, letters and characters — and it could take quite a while, depending on the length and complexity of your password.
12. Alternatively, if you know which numbers or characters you typically use, you can customize the password cracking via the Settings menu next to Brute Force with Mask Attack.

At some point, the app will successfully guess your password — in first-hand testing, this has worked on several passwords with mixed uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers. Though, if your password is extremely long or complex, there are no guarantees as to how long the process will take.

On a side note, once the app guesses your password, you’ll have to buy the full version to actually see it. It costs $49.95, which, honestly, is pretty expensive. But if your encrypted backup contains extremely important, sensitive or sentimental data, this is one way to go that’ll work — especially when there aren’t many other options to unlock a backup.

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Google Lawsuit Accuses Uber of Stealing Self-Driving Technology

Waymo– the self-driving company spun out of Google’s parent Alphabet– has filed a lawsuit accusing Uber and its subsidiary Otto of using stolen intellectual property, including key patents covering its proprietary LiDAR system.

In a Medium post explaining the lawsuit, Waymo wrote: “Today, we’re taking legal action against Otto and its parent company Uber for misappropriating Waymo trade secrets and infringing our patents.”

In its filing with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the Google self-driving unit accused a former employee, Anthony Levadowski, of downloading 14,000 highly confidential and proprietary files from Google a month prior to leaving to establish the self-driving truck company Otto in 2016. Otto was acquired by Uber just seven months later for $680 million.

In a twist, Waymo alleges that it was inadvertently copied on an email from a LiDAR supplier to Otto that contained drawings of Uber’s design for a LiDAR circuit board, which bore a striking resemblance to its own secret patents.

In addition, Waymo says that a number of Google employees who subsequently defected to Otto stole additional files containing trade secrets, supplier lists, and manufacturing details before leaving.

LiDAR– short for light detection and ranging– is a self-driving car component that allows vehicles to detect or “see” their surroundings by shooting millions of laser beams off of surrounding objects. Waymo argues that its development was the result of thousands of hours and millions of dollars invested, and likened misappropriating its unique design to “stealing a secret recipe from a beverage company.”

“Otto and Uber have taken Waymo’s intellectual property so that they could avoid incurring the risk, time, and expense of independently developing their own technology,” the suit reads. “Ultimately, this calculated theft reportedly netted Otto employees over half a billion dollars and allowed Uber to revive a stalled program, all at Waymo’s expense.”

Interestingly enough, Google is a major investor in Uber. It invested $250 million in Uber in 2013, before it was apparent that the two companies were becoming competitors.

News of the legal action against Uber– a company that is no stranger to lawsuits– caps off a difficult week for the ride-hailing giant. Earlier this week, former Uber employee Susan Fowler claimed she was sexually harassed by a manager and that her subsequent complaints were ignored by HR. Uber has responded by launching an investigation into allegations of workplace sexism, which will be led by former Attorney General Eric Holder.

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Uber and FitBit Among Sites Affected By Massive ‘Cloudbleed’ Data Breach

Content delivery network Cloudflare, which provides web performance and security services to millions of websites, announced a leak Thursday in a technically detailed incident report posted to its blog.

“The bug was serious because the leaked memory could contain private information and because it had been cached by search engines,” the company’s CTO John Graham-Cumming wrote in the blog post. “We are disclosing this problem now as we are satisfied that search engine caches have now been cleared of sensitive information. We have also not discovered any evidence of malicious exploits of the bug or other reports of its existence.”

The breach– dubbed ‘Cloudbleed’– was the result of a software bug that randomly exposed HTTP cookies, authentication tokens, login information, and more. It has potentially affected thousands of popular websites and iOS apps including Uber, Yelp, Fitbit, and OKCupid, meaning that users of Cloudflare’s popular web clients may have had their personal information exposed and need to change their passwords.

Cloudflare was alerted to the bug last Friday by Tavis Ormandy, a Google Project Zero security researcher who noticed issues with the company’s edge servers. Further investigation revealed that the breach was extensive and could have begun as far back as last September, though Cloudflare notes that “greatest period of impact was from February 13 and February 18” with around 0.00003% of HTTP requests resulting in memory leakage.

The result is that Cloudflare has leaked an unknown quantity of data all over the internet which was then cached by search engines like Google and some of which could contain private information.

Even so, Ormandy took issue with Cloudflare’s post. In an update posted yesterday, he noted that the incident report “contains an excellent postmortem, but severely downplays the risk to customers”, ArsTechnica reports.

“This is a big deal for us,” Cloudflare Matthew Prince emphasized today in an interview with Gizmodo. “This is a really bad bug. This is something that our customers should be very cognizant of and should take very seriously.”

The silver lining is that Cloudflare was able to patch the bug within hours and has not seen any evidence that the bug was maliciously exploited.

“The industry standard time allowed to deploy a fix for a bug like this is usually three months; we were completely finished globally in under seven hours with an initial mitigation in 47 minutes,” Cloudflare announced. Still, it’s advised that you change your account passwords, just to be safe.

Other Sites Affected By Cloudbleed Include:

• Producthunt.com
• Medium.com
• Prosper.com
• Digitalocean.com
• Zendesk.com
• 23andme.com

Check for other domains that might be affected, here.

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Apple Investigates ‘Melting’ iPhone 7 Plus

A startling video that was uploaded to Twitter earlier this week shows a Rose Gold iPhone 7 Plus emanating fumes and its case melting away, after having allegedly exploded, according to Twitter user Brianna Olivas via Mashable.

So my IPhone 7 plus blew up this morning 🤗 was not even using it, literally no explanation for this http://pic.twitter.com/sQ8CJt4Y69

— Bree✨ (@briannaolivas_) February 23, 2017

The video, which was allegedly captured by Olivas’ boyfriend prior to being uploaded to the social media site later on that afternoon, appears to show a consistent cloud of smoke billowing out from one side the device — while the case in which it was housed can be seen melting away.

Olivas had apparently been using some sort of sparkly and decorative, liquid-filled iPhone case, which several Twitter users speculated could be a potential reason for the exploding and ensuing drama — however there’s obviously no evidence suggesting that the case was even responsible for the fiery issue at all. Olivas, for her part, alleges that just one day prior, the handset had been showing signs of faltering — where it wouldn’t power on properly, despite having been purchased from Sprint just this past January. Accordingly, she took the iPhone 7 Plus into her local Apple Store, where employees ran tests that ultimately determined everything about the device was just fine.

“The next morning I was asleep with my phone charging next to my head, my boyfriend grabbed the phone and put it on the dresser,” Olivas said via a direct message on Twitter. “He went [to] the restroom … and from the corner of his eye he saw my phone steaming and [heard] a squealing noise. By the time he got over to the phone it had already caught fire, he quickly grabbed the phone and threw it in the restroom … as soon as he threw it in the restroom [it] blew up and more smoke started coming out of the phone.”

Olivas claims that she has since turned the iPhone 7 Plus over to Apple, who in turn assured her that company representatives were “looking into the situation”, conducting tests, and that they expect to know more about the problem in a week or so.

This whole ordeal might seem like reason for iPhone 7 Plus owners be concerned; however, while this wouldn’t be the first instance of an iPhone spontaneously bursting into flames, there’s no other evidence, at this point, suggesting that Olivas’ experience can be tied into a broader problem.

How’s your iPhone 7 Plus holding up these days? Let us know in the comments!

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Tim Cook Commemorates Steve Jobs’ 62nd Birthday

Apple CEO Tim Cook commemorated the memory of Jobs on Friday: “Remembering Steve, whose words and ideals will always inspire us. ‘There is no reason not to follow your heart,’” Cook wrote on Twitter, quoting a line from a commencement speech Jobs gave at Stanford University in 2005.

Steve Jobs was born on Feb. 24, 1955. He passed away on October 5, 2011 after a long battle with cancer. He would have been 62 today.

Remembering Steve, whose words and ideals will always inspire us. “There is no reason not to follow your heart.” http://pic.twitter.com/MihKSnbYiQ

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) February 24, 2017

Most of us know the story of the late Apple founder because of his vision and innovation, and his sheer dedication to perfection in design. After founding Apple with Steve Wozniak in 1976, he left the company in 1985. Nearly 12 years later, he returned to Cupertino, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. In the years that followed, he reversed Apple’s course and turned it into the world’s most valuable company by 2011 — just two months before his death. During his years as CEO, he was largely responsible for introducing some of Apple’s most iconic products: the Macintosh in 1984, the iPod in 2001, and the iPhone in 2007.

And Jobs’ legacy still lives on at Apple. Apple’s second campus, the newly dubbed Apple Park, was originally conceived by Jobs — and the 1,000-seat theater building will bear his name. Construction of the campus should be completed by this summer.

“Steve’s vision for Apple stretched far beyond his time with us. He intended Apple Park to be the home of innovation for generations to come,” Cook said of Jobs’ involvement with the project. “The workspaces and parklands are designed to inspire our team as well as benefit the environment.”

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New iPad Models to Ship By June 2017

Originally, a handful of rumors have pegged the launch date for the trio of iPad models to be as soon as March. But even if the iPads are unveiled next month, industry sources in Asia have now stated that the two larger models aren’t likely to ship until at least several months later, according to DigiTimes. Two of the three iPad models expected to be unveiled this year might not ship until May or June. Previously, the publication’s supply chain sources reported that the new iPads won’t be launched until the second half of 2017.

The two models in question are an updated 12.9-inch iPad Pro and an iPad Pro with a new, 10.5-inch form factor — and both are expected to run on Apple’s next A10X chipset. The 10.5-inch iPad Pro is also rumored to be the first Apple tablet to ditch the home button and feature an edge-to-edge display with minimal bezels. Interestingly, there hasn’t been any word as to whether the 12.9-inch iPad Pro will do the same. While the two iPad Pro models might be delayed, an entry-level 9.7-inch iPad aimed at the education sector is still reportedly on track to launch in 2017’s first quarter, DigiTimes reported. That particular iPad is expected to feature a lower-cost A9X processor.

Other evidence pointing at an upcoming iPad release include frequent out-of-stock notifications on Apple’s online website for the current 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the 9.7-inch iPad Air 2, indicating that supply for both models are drying up. On the other hand, Apple has begun airing a series of ads touting the benefits of the current iPad Pro — something that Cupertino doesn’t usually do so close to the end of a device’s life cycle. In any case, Apple is still on track to unveil the iPads sometime this year — and evidence points toward a launch date being sooner than later.

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iOS 10.2.1 Fixed 80% of Unexpected iPhone 6 and 6s Shutdowns

If you’re the owner of an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, or 6s Plus, you’ll likely know about — or have even experienced first-hand — the spontaneous iPhone shutdown issue that was first brought to light later last year. For those not so “in the know,” an undisclosed number of iPhone 6s devices were reportedly plagued by a since identified issue that resulted in unpredictable shutdowns, oftentimes when as much as 30% of a user’s battery was still in the tank. In essence, several users had logged complaints about their device spontaneously “going dark” — a troubling issue, to be sure, that could only be rectified when the affected device was plugged into an outlet.

Well, it seems as if Apple has been taking a number of steps to mitigate these troublesome issues — and while we can’t exactly say the company has outright eliminated them, altogether, the company is reporting some rather encouraging statistics that have been pouring in courtesy of users who’ve updated their handsets to the latest iOS 10.2.1.

According to Apple, via a report that was published this week to TechCrunch, of the roughly 50% of users who’ve updated their devices to iOS 10.2.1, approximately 80% of iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users, and an estimated 70% of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users, have been enjoying a problem-free device.

“With iOS 10.2.1, Apple made improvements to reduce occurrences of unexpected shutdowns that a small number of users were experiencing with their iPhone,” the company said. “iOS 10.2.1 already has over 50% of active iOS devices upgraded and the diagnostic data we’ve received from upgraders shows that for this small percentage of users experiencing the issue, we’re seeing a more than 80% reduction in iPhone 6s and over 70% reduction on iPhone 6 of devices unexpectedly shutting down.”

Apple was quick to note that iOS 10.2.1 has ushered in the ability for affected devices to restart automatically, without being connected to a power source — while assuring users that these unexpected shutdowns are not a safety issue; but rather, merely an “inconvenience,” and that the company is continuing to take additional steps to fix them entirely.

It appears as if these issues were directly related to the general wear-and-tear that is constituent of simply using a device — charging and depleting the battery, day in and day out, over an extended period of time. Unfortunately, this is just an unavoidable reality of lithium-ion batteries and until Apple — or, for that matter, mobile device manufacturers, et al — can muster up an alternative battery technology, it’s merely something users are just going to have to accept. Apple even makes note of this over on its official website.

Not all hope is lost, however, as we’ve already learned that Apple is hard at work developing a next-generation battery technology, which could easily make the li-ion battery drama an issue of the past, sooner rather than later.

In the interim, for those whose iPhones have been plagued by this issue, Apple’s latest iOS 10.2.1 includes a new feature that makes it possible to restart the device automatically, without plugging it into the wall. Furthermore, the company notes that within the next few days, users running iOS 10.2.1 will begin to see a new “your battery needs service” message when it’s determined that they’ll need to head over to an Apple Store to have it swapped out.

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This Tool Will Crack and Extract Data from Any iPhone 6

Cellebrite– the Israeli firm believed to have assisted the FBI with unlocking the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter– has announced that its Advanced Investigative Service (CAIS) product is now capable of unlocking and extracting full file data from the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

In a tweet posted on Wednesday, Cellebrite’s director of forensic research Shahar Tal announced the product, adding that extractions would only be performed legally: “Cellebrite’s CAIS now supports lawful unlocking and evidence extraction of iPhone 4S/5/5C/5S/6/6+ devices (via our in-house service only).”

On their website, Cellebrite boasted that it is capable of circumventing encryption “to unlock and access previously undiscoverable data on the latest Apple iOS and Samsung Android mobile operating systems.” In addition to Apple devices, Cellebrite advertises that it is capable of cracking the Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy Note 5 and some Galaxy S7 devices. It added that “[t]hese capabilities dramatically increase law enforcement’s ability to access critical digital evidence and solve cases faster, by providing forensically sound access and extraction capabilities not found anywhere else in the industry.”

Cellebrite came to prominence last year in the wake of the San Bernardino terrorist attack. Apple famously refused the FBI’s request for aid in cracking the iPhone 5s owned by shooter Syed Farook. The Bureau eventually bypassed Apple and paid an undisclosed sum to a company rumored to be Cellebrite, though neither organization has publicly confirmed this.

The Justice Department has also refrained from disclosing details requested by the media, arguing that it could help criminals develop countermeasures.

Three news organizations– the Associated Press, USA Today, and Vice Media– have petitioned a US federal court to compel the FBI to reveal information about the tool, including its cost and the identity of the company that developed it. They argue that the request has been narrowly tailored to avoid jeopardizing national security interests.

“While it is undisputed that the vendor developed the iPhone access tool, the government has identified no rational reason why knowing the vendor’s identity is linked in any way to the substance of the tool, much less how such knowledge would reveal any information about the tool’s application,” their lawyer wrote in a filing to the U.S. District Court in Washington.

In January, an unidentified hacker stole 900 GB of data from Cellebrite. The hacker released a cache of files to the public earlier this month to make the point that “when you create these tools, they will make it out.”

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iPhone 8’s Stellar Battery Life Will Skyrocket Sales

Apple’s upcoming flagship will have longer battery life, along with a bevy of other highly anticipated new features such as wireless charging, an edge-to-edge OLED display, and fingerprint scanner, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty.

Morgan Stanley has raised Apple’s stock price target accordingly from $150 to $154 in anticipation of high demand for the upcoming iPhone. Earlier this week, Apple’s stock closed at a record high $136.68 on the back of Huberty’s positive research note.

Huberty’s research note, which was acquired by Macrumors, states:

“In addition to more modest updates to current iPhone SKUs, we expect Apple to launch a higher priced device with AMOLED display that allows for a curved form factor and longer battery life, wireless charging technology, 3D sensors, and more advanced AI software capabilities. While we see accelerated upgrades for Apple’s highest end users in all regions, our work suggests China users are especially sensitive to new technology and form factor changes.”

Huberty writes that high demand for the so-called “iPhone 8” in China will help drive a greater volume of sales in the upcoming “supercycle”.

The Morgan Stanley note corroborates an earlier report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who wrote that the iPhone 8 will adopt a stacked logic board design to make room for a bigger battery. Kuo added that the phone’s battery life would also be bolstered by the integration of an OLED panel, as they are “more energy-efficient than their TFT-LCD counterparts”.

These adjustments, combined with software enhancements and the integration of more efficient chipsets, ought to boost the iPhone 8’s battery life noticeably, driving up demand and enticing people to upgrade their devices.

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