MyAppleMenu - Wed, Oct 7, 2015

Wed, Oct 7, 2015The Deep-Packet-Inspection Edition

Apple Approves An App That Blocks Ads In Native Apps, Including Apple News, by Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

It’s unclear if Apple is setting a precedent, or has only accidentally allowed the approval of a new app, known as Been Choice, into the iTunes App Store. The app claims to block advertisements not only in mobile applications, but also in native mobile apps, including Facebook and even Apple’s own News application. To make this work, Been Choice offers a combination of a content blocker for Safari and a VPN service, the latter which allows it to filter out ad traffic using deep packet inspection.

Apple’s New Two-Factor Authentication Bumps Up Security And Ease Of Use, by Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

Apple is slowly rolling out a revised system to let you use a second factor with iCloud and other services that use an Apple ID.

iPhone Malware Is Hitting China. Let’s Not Be Next, by Andy Greenberg, Wired

The good news, Mogull says, is that both malware outbreaks found only limited ways to circumvent the iPhone’s security measures, not to fundamentally break them in a way that would allow for a more widespread attack. “As interesting as I find this—and I do think we’ll see it again—it’ll never be like the malware days of Windows XP, for instance,” Mogull says of the Xcode attack. “There are scalability issues…Apple’s decisions have made it very difficult to get sustained, mass exploitation.”

Microsoft's Fall Colors

Microsoft Reveals New Band 2, Lumia Phones, Surface Pro 4, And Surface Book, by Mitchel Broussard, MacRumors

At a media event today, Microsoft announced a handful of new products and several updates to existing products coming from the company in 2015 and beyond. Topics fortoday's event included the Microsoft Band 2, Lumia 950 and 950 XL smartphones, Microsoft Surface Pro 4, and the all-new Surface Book.

With The Surface Book, Microsoft Is Taking The Game To Apple, by Samuel Gibbs, The Guardian

The fact that Microsoft – the purveyor of the Windows operating system which runs on almost every laptop that doesn’t run Apple’s OS X or Linux – has finally made a notebook is a turn up for the books. But it was the laptop’s fancy bending hinge, and the fact that the screen was detachable and became a Surface tablet on its own, which set pulses racing.

How The Surface Book Compares To The iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, And Surface Pro, by Jacob Kastrenakes, The Verge

The Surface Pro is obviously striking a chord with consumers. Sales are up, and literally everyone is starting to copy it. Apple with the iPad Pro. Google with the Pixel C. And I'd sure be willing to bet that Microsoft's hardware partners are close to unveiling new Surface competitors of their own. Microsoft pushed that forward today with an even more powerful version of its flagship tablet, the Surface Pro 4. It manages to both be thinner and lighter, while including a slightly larger display without making the body any wider or taller.

Stuff

Apple’s Beats Announces The $229 Pill+, Will Hit Shelves Next Month, by Drew Olanoff, TechCrunch

Combining the cool of the Beats brand with the hardware design sensibility from Apple should be an interesting combination to watch out for in the near-future.

Tweetbot For Mac Updated To Version 2.1 With iOS Feature Parity, Bug Fixes, by Mike Beasley, 9to5Mac

The all-new Activity view has been added to the Mac client. Like in the iOS version, you’ll find all of the recent favorites, retweets, and other interactions you’ve received in this tab. Quoted tweets also show in the mentions tab to help improve conversation flow.

Mementum An Easy-To-use Voice Recorder For Mac OS, by Dennis Sellers, Apple World Today

It lets you record vocal memos, then sort your recordings by categories. You can also write accompanying text notes. With version 1.1 it adds new keyboard shortcuts and interface improvements.

TripGo - iOS Review, by Luke Murphy, Tapscape

TripGo is a free navigation app that will combine every possible transportation method tell you the quickest, cheapest or most efficient way to get to your destination, available for iPhone, iPad and the Apple Watch.

NetSpot For Mac OS X Updated With Three New Features, by MacTech

Develop

Apple Removes Game Center Sandbox, Migrates Test Servers To Release Environment, by Softpedia

Fixing Safari View Controller, by Dan Provost, Studio Neat

Tweetbot 4 now takes advantage of the Safari View Controller (and I don’t blame them). However, there is only one way to dismiss the view: the Done button waaaayyyy up in the upper right corner.

But here is the egregious error: when you scroll, the Done button goes away. That’s right: your only escape hatch is hidden as soon as you move.

Notes

Apple Begins Selling Official Apple Watch Lugs To Third-Party Band Makers&utm_content=FeedBurner), by Roger Fingas, AppleInsider

The lugs are all stainless steel, and come with the phrase "Made for Apple Watch" etched on them. 38- and 42-millimeter versions are available in lots of 25 or 200. Costs range between $278.75 for 25 38-millimeter lugs, to $1,866 for 200 42-millimeter units.

Apple Planning To Launch New 4K 21.5-Inch iMac Next Week, iPad Pro In Early November, by Mark Gurman, 9to5Mac

The new 4K iMacs will physically look like the current non-4K version, so the highlights of the upgrade will be the new 4096 x 2304 screen and much faster graphics cards.

Apple's Court-Appointed Monitor Says The Company 'Has Been Its Own Worst Enemy', by Joseph Ax, Reuters

In his report, Bromwich said Apple had for the first time created a set of antitrust procedures, implemented training and improved engagement among its senior executives.

However, the company still rejected many of Bromwich’s requests for information "for no good reason," he wrote.

Why Google Is Beating Apple In The Battle For The Classroom, by Wayne Rash, Yahoo! Tech

The bottom line is that, because of their comparatively low acquisition and operating costs, Google’s Chrome OS devices are gaining ground, followed by Microsoft. Apple, it seems, may have priced itself out of the game.

How Three Survivors Of Suicide Spent Their Last Days On Earth, by Michelle Woo, Upvoted

Their stories often go unspoken due to stigma, shame and a fear of triggering dangerous ideas in others. (Talking about suicide in the context of care and empathy does not, in fact, lead to more suicide.) This silence in society has consequences—survivors frequently experience deep isolation, while family members, friends and mental health professionals are left with little insight on how they can connect with those struggling with suicidal thoughts.

Though the climate of secrecy is changing. Through online forums, peer-to-peer support groups and taboo-breaking movements such as Live Through This and Time To Change, people are talking about their attempts and finding compassion, connection and the strength to step back into their lives.

In a haunting Ask Reddit thread, three survivors wrote openly about the day they tried to end their pain. We spoke with them about the moments before, during and after their attempts, along with their reflections today.

Loving The Competition

"As the majority of hobbyists must be aware, most of you steal your software. Hardware must be paid for, but software is something to share. Who cares if the people who worked on it get paid?" -- ex-CEO from a company that used to mostly sell software.

Thanks for reading.