For a variety of mildly defensible reasons — which I will come back to in a moment — Apple does not use a secure PSI protocol to solve their AirDrop problem. Instead they did the thing that every software developer does when faced with the choice of doing complicated cryptography or “hacking something together in time for the next ship date”: they threw together their own solution using hash functions.
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Hence there is a legitimate question about whether it’s politically wise for Apple to make a big technical improvement to their AirDrop privacy, right at the moment that the lack of privacy is being viewed as an asset by authorities in China. Even if this attack isn’t really that critical to law enforcement within China, the decision to “fix” it could very well be seen as a slap in the face.
“The first time I experienced the device was really emotional. I wanted to be a DJ since I was a child. And suddenly here were these turntables, and the night sky, and the stars above me, and this light show in the desert. I felt like, ‘This is the culmination of everything. This is the feeling I’ve been wanting people to experience.’”
Many smartphone manufacturers, including Samsung, Sony, and Google, opt to use the popular Gorilla Glass made by Corning Incorporated. That glass relies on a “really clever trick” called ion exchange, says Wilkinson. The glass is placed in a molten potassium bath, where the small silica atoms present in the glass’s molecular structure switch places with the larger potassium ions in the bath. The potassium ions are physically bigger, and better fill up the space, thus making the glass stronger.
The past few generations of Apple iPhones, starting with the iPhone 12, have used a different technology, called Ceramic Shield, also created by Corning. Apple has claimed (and some reviews have anecdotally borne out) that this kind of screen is more durable than previous iPhone screens. While the exact science is proprietary, Wilkinson thinks Corning likely grows tiny crystals, then creates the glass around the crystals, something called a glass-ceramic. If a crack does happen, it will run into a crystal, making it unable to propagate in a straight line and less likely to shatter the whole screen.
According to Apple, Dr. Austin brings "decades of science and technology experience" to the role, and she has a track record of "advancing innovation and shaping corporate strategy."
Apple has a longstanding policy that its directors cannot stand for reelection after reaching the age of 75. That means it’s time for Gore, who is now 75, to retire, the company announced Thursday.
Apple has released a new firmware update for its Magic Keyboard accessory. The company says that this update addresses a Bluetooth security vulnerability and is available now for a handful of different wireless Magic Keyboard versions.
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Apple says that firmware updates are automatically delivered in the background while the Magic Keyboard is actively paired to a device running macOS, iOS, iPadOS, or tvOS.
Apple today confirmed that up to 32 items can be added to the Find My app on the iPhone and iPad, up from a previous limit of 16.
Killers of the Flower Moon was the first Apple Original Films release to get a wide theatrical run at cinemas, before streaming on Apple TV+.
For me it comes down to two main things that draw me to this app:
1. The app nails pretty much all the details.
2. It’s an app full of nothing but things I’m looking forward to.
Well, here is how things have been going: Every time I arrive at my building’s front door, and then again at the door to my apartment, I have to take out my iPhone, unlock it, pull up the Latch app, and hold the phone over a Bluetooth sensor, usually for two or three seconds but occasionally as long as eight. The whole process takes at least twice as long as it has ever taken me to unlock a normal door. It’s not much time in the general scope of life, granted, but when I’m standing there waiting to be let into my own home, it’s an eternity.
And that’s just when Latch works as it’s supposed to. Sometimes the app freezes and I have to close and restart it before it will activate the sensor. Other times, my phone mistakes the lock for a credit-card reader and launches Apple Pay. Now and then (this tends to happen when my arms are full of perishable groceries or I’m being dragged through my hallway by my impatient dog), the app will log me out and demand that I reenter my email and password before I can open anything. If I forget my phone at home or my battery dies, I have to track down a building-maintenance person to let me in. If I can’t find one, I’m locked out.
What a sad state of affairs. A hearty fuck you to The Tetris Company for ruthlessly shutting down hobbyist clones while refusing to license a decent official just-plain-Tetris Mac app.
When the barcode officially turns 50 this summer, it won’t get a national holiday in its honor or a grand parade down Fifth Avenue with floats in the shape of laser scanners. There is no statue of IBM’s barcode czar, George Laurer; no Halloween costume for Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver, who patented the first barcode; no foundation named after Alan Haberman, who brought together the committee of grocery execs. Perhaps the humble barcode and its creators deserve such an honor. During the design process, IBM and every other company that vyed for America’s symbol supremacy agreed to forgo profit and put the winning symbol in the public domain, part of “the greatest-ever example of industry cooperation with no government oversight,” Frith said.
I wish there are more podcast-listening apps, especially ones that does not rely on a server sitting somewhere for the app to function.
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Thanks for reading.