Source: www.darkreading.com – Author: Jeffrey Schwartz, Contributing Writer Source: Panther Media GmbH IBM’s surprise departure from cybersecurity software this week didn’t just rearrange the competitive landscape — it also reshuffled the procurement plans and vendor relationships for many CISOs rebuilding their SOCs. IBM has agreed to sell the QRadar SaaS portfolio to Palo Alto Networks […]

La entrada CISOs Grapple With IBM's Unexpected Cybersecurity Software Exit – Source: www.darkreading.com se publicó primero en CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP.

Enlarge / The RetroArch app installed in tvOS. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Apple’s initial pitch for the tvOS and the Apple TV as it currently exists was centered around apps. No longer a mere streaming box, the Apple TV would also be a destination for general-purpose software and games, piggybacking off of the iPhone's vibrant app and game library.

That never really panned out, and the Apple TV is still mostly a box for streaming TV shows and movies. But the same App Store rule change that recently allowed Delta, PPSSPP, and other retro console emulators onto the iPhone and iPad could also make the Apple TV appeal to people who want a small, efficient, no-fuss console emulator for their TVs.

So far, few of the emulators that have made it to the iPhone have been ported to the Apple TV. But earlier this week, the streaming box got an official port of RetroArch, the sprawling collection of emulators that runs on everything from the PlayStation Portable to the Raspberry Pi. RetroArch could be sideloaded onto iOS and tvOS before this, but only using awkward workarounds that took a lot more work and know-how than downloading an app from the App Store.

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Apple’s grudging accommodation of European law – allowing third-party browser engines on its mobile devices – apparently comes with a restriction that makes it difficult to develop and support third-party browser engines for the region.

The Register has learned from those involved in the browser trade that Apple has limited the development and testing of third-party browser engines to devices physically located in the EU. That requirement adds an additional barrier to anyone planning to develop and support a browser with an alternative engine in the EU.

↫ Thomas Claburn at The Register

If any normal person like you and I showed the same kind of blatant disregard for the law and authorities like Apple does in the EU, we’d be ruined by fines and possibly end up in jail. My only hope is that the European Commission goes through with its threats of massive fines of up to 10 or even 20 percent of worldwide turnover.

So, you just set up a brand new Apple Watch. Apple’s popular wearable is an awesome extension of your iPhone, and it comes packed with features that span health, fitness, communication, and entertainment. But before you dive into all of those fun and exciting options, there are 10 things you should probably do first to maximize your watch straight out of the box.

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Mute it (or lower the volume)

Credit: Jake Peterson

By default, your Apple Watch’s sound is turned on. At first, it’s fun to listen to all the unique chimes and tones that Apple put into its wearable. After a while, though, it might become irritating, especially if you do have a lot of notifications. (More on this later.) If you’re someone who usually keeps their iPhone on silent, you might want to consider the same for the watch.

To mute your watch, just wake it up, swipe up from the bottom, then tap the alarm bell icon in Control Center. To simply lower the volume, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics on the watch or in the Watch app, then use the volume icons to adjust accordingly. You can also access "Silent Mode" to mute notifications from here, if you want.

Set up your watch to unlock your Mac

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

If you have a Mac, especially a Mac without Touch ID, you’ll want to set this feature up. Whenever you wake up your Mac, whether by lifting up your MacBook’s lid or by pressing a key on your iMac, it’ll unlock right away, so long as your Apple Watch is unlocked on your wrist. For more info, check out this walkthrough from Lifehacker writer Khamosh Pathak.

Turn off notifications for apps you don’t want

Credit: Jake Peterson

The Apple Watch ships with a lot of notifications by default, especially if you have a lot of notifications set up on your iPhone. Luckily, it’s easy enough to manage these notifications specifically on the watch.

Open the Watch app on your iPhone and go to Settings > Notifications. Here, go through all apps and disable notifications for any you no longer wish to see. Tailoring this experience is key to fully enjoying your Apple Watch: If you don’t want to see any more breathing reminders, but you do want to see your Messenger alerts, you’ll be happy you took the time here.

For a list of notifications you should enable, check out our guide here.

Delete apps you don’t want

Credit: Jake Peterson

If there are apps from your iPhone on your watch that you don’t want there, just get rid of them! If you told your watch to download all available apps from your iPhone, you might have way more options than you really need. Deleting these apps will make finding the apps you do want to use much easier, since there won’t be a sea of irrelevant options every time you open the app view.

You can remove apps from your Apple Watch by long-pressing on an app on your watch and tapping the (X) that appears, just like on your iPhone. Alternatively, you can open the Watch app, scroll down to the list of installed apps, tap the app you want to remove, and hit the toggle on Show App on Apple Watch to confirm.

Set up cellular (if you have a cellular Apple Watch)

Credit: Jake Peterson

If you have a cellular Apple Watch, it won’t simply give you free cellular connectivity out of the box. Instead, you’ll need to buy a cellular plan through your carrier. You can initiate this process from Settings > Cellular on the watch, or through your iPhone’s Watch app.

Aren’t sure if you have a cellular Apple Watch? There are two easy ways to tell: You’ll only see the Cellular settings page in the Watch app if you have a connected cellular watch. In addition, the red ring on the cellular watch’s crown is a dead giveaway.

To learn more about calibrating your Apple Watch for the most accurate workouts, check out our full guide here.

Set up sleep tracking

Credit: Jake Peterson

For the longest time, Apple didn't have a native sleeping-tracking feature for the watch. If you wanted to track your sleep with your Apple Watch, you were forced to use a third-party app instead. These days, you can track your sleep habits using built-in tools, but they need to be set up first. You can learn more about it in Lifehacker Senior Health Editor Beth Skwarecki's guide here.

Save some battery

Credit: Jake Peterson

If you have a newer Apple Watch, it likely comes with an Always On display. With it, you can quickly glance at your watch to tell the time, look for new notifications, or read data from your watch face without having to wake up the watch at all. While this feature is awesome, it does put a strain on the battery. To maximize your battery life, consider disabling it by going to Settings > Display & Brightness > Always On.

I'd also recommend disabling Background App Refresh as well from General > Background App Refresh. While this feature can be helpful for keeping your various Apple Watch apps up to date with the latest content, it's another battery hog. You're probably better off just loading up the apps when you're interested in seeing what's new. You can go here for more Apple Watch battery-saving tips.

Learn the gestures

Your Apple Watch is a touch-screen device, but doesn't operate exactly like your iPhone. Here's how to navigate watchOS:

• Quick-press Crown: Open app view

• Long-press Crown: Activate Siri

• Quick-press Side button: Pull up Control Center

• Long-press Side button: Expanded menu, including Power, Medical ID, Compass Backtrack, and Emergency SOS

• Swipe down from top of watch face: Notification Center

• Swipe up from bottom of watch face: Widget view

• Long-press watch face: Switch and customize watch faces

• Cover watch face with palm: Put watch to sleep/mute notifications

• There's also a gesture new to Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 called "double-tap": Whenever there's an action you need to tap on your watch face say, to, turn off a timer or answer a call, you can double tap your index finger against your thumb to act as a button press. Even if you don't have one of these watches, however, you can set up something similar through Accessibility settings.

Calibrate it

If you wanted an Apple Watch for fitness, you might have already recorded an exercise or two with it. However, it’s possible that those exercises weren’t recorded as accurately as they could be.

Apple doesn’t advertise it very clearly, but the Apple Watch actually needs to be calibrated in order to record the best and most accurate workouts. It’s not an intensive process—essentially, it boils down to a 20-minute outdoor walk or run in an open, flat environment—but without that calibration, your data might be a bit skewed.

While you're calibrating your workouts, make sure Fall Detection is at least enabled when you're exercising, if not all the time. The feature can contact emergency services on your behalf if the watch detects that you've fallen.

Charge it

If this is still day one using your new Apple Watch, and you haven’t yet, give that battery some juice. Most tech ships with a partially discharged battery, and the Apple Watch is no exception. If you want it to last the rest of the day, or even track your sleep on the first night, put it on the charger for a while. If you have a Series 7 or newer, you can take advantage of quick charging to fill up fast. For fast charging, you just need:

• USB-C power adapter that supports at least 5W

• Apple USB-C Magnetic Fast Charging Cable

To fire up the voice assistant on your iPhone, you can say "Hey Siri" or simply "Siri," followed by your command. This has been true for a long time now, but Apple will finally let you change this to a custom trigger phrase of your choice "to launch shortcuts and complete complex tasks." This is not a blanket system-wide change coming with iOS 18, but it will allow you to set up custom phrases for some tasks in your workflow.

This means that although you won't be able to replace the "Hey Siri" command totally in iOS 18, you'll have the choice to make Siri do some things without calling it by its name.

iOS 18's big push for accessibility

We've written about iOS 18's accessibility features that Apple recently announced ahead of WWDC 2024, and one of these features is called Vocal Shortcuts. This will allow you to use custom phrases to trigger Siri. You'll also be able to launch shortcuts using custom phrases with iOS 18. The example Apple shared shows an iPhone using the phrase "Rings" to display your Activity Rings from the Apple Watch.

This is an accessibility feature designed to help people who face challenges with speech. It is a good example of why companies should invest more in improving accessibility—these features make the iPhone experience better for everyone. Vocal Shortcuts sounds like a great addition to the iPhone, but there are a few concerns that remain to be addressed.

Even the "Hey Siri" command gets triggered accidentally or sometimes isn't understood by the iPhone. It remains to be seen, then, how well Vocal Shortcuts work. There's always the chance that it ends up getting triggered by mistake, which could make the feature less useful. The screenshots shared by Apple show that it works just like Siri's setup process, where your iPhone will ask you to say the phrase a few times to learn how you say it. The Vocal Shortcut will be based on your speech, which should reduce the chances of firing up your shortcuts accidentally.

Apple doesn't put a middle-click button on its mice anymore. Instead, the company now makes two types of mice for its Mac devices—the trackpad (available for desktops via the Magic Trackpad) and the trackpad-like Magic Mouse. But even if you're using one of the touch-focused options that Apple ships with your computer, you can still add a middle-click function to speed up your workflow.

Apple Magic Trackpad

To use this trick anywhere but a MacBook, you'll need an Apple Magic Trackpad or Magic Mouse.

What you can do with middle-click 

Anyone who's ever used a mouse on PC knows that the middle-click button is a part of the scroll wheel, which Apple's current mice don't have. You can click the scroll wheel to execute certain functions, which vary depending on how the mouse is programmed. Macs still have access to these functions, since you can use third-party mice with them, and they include:

• Open links in the background in your browser

• Close browser tabs

• Paste selected text in your Mac's Terminal

These things can save you a lot of time and they're really convenient. If you're switching to Mac from Windows, you're going to find Apple's lack of focus on the middle-click frustrating.

How macOS lets you middle-click by default

Although Macs don't ship with the middle-click button, you can use the Command-left click shortcut to execute a middle-click. This works really well, but it's a little inconvenient compared to pressing one button.

There's a better way to middle-click on your Mac

Credit: Pranay Parab

If your Mac uses a trackpad or Magic Mouse, you can add a simple, free utility called MiddleClick-Sonoma to give it a middle-click feature. The app binds the middle-click to a simple three-finger tap gesture, which is easy to execute on either device. It'll open links in the background on all browsers and close tabs, too. You can select any text in Terminal, and the three-finger tap also pastes it quickly in the app. In my experience, all these features work perfectly every time.

To install MiddleClick-Sonoma, go to its GitHub page and download the zip file. Open it and drag the app to your Mac's Applications folder using Finder, which will complete the installation. You may see a security warning from Apple, but the app is safe. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security on your Mac, and click Open Anyway to run the app.

It'll ask for Accessibility permissions, which are required to allow the app to function. Once this is granted, the last step is to ensure that the app starts when your Mac boots up. To do this, go to System Settings > General > Login Items on your Mac and hit the + button under Open at Login. Use the search bar to find MiddleClick and add it. Now, the app will run as long as your Mac is running.

Apple Magic Mouse

The Magic Mouse is Apple's take on a traditional pointer, but it doesn't middle-click.

Remember to disable the Look Up gesture

Credit: Pranay Parab

By default, the three-finger tap gesture on your Mac is reserved for Look Up. This allows you to select text and look up its meaning, definition, or other information about the term from the internet. I've always found this gesture a little annoying, as I keep accidentally firing it up when I don't need it. 

Since MiddleClick uses the same gesture, it's best to disable Look Up to make sure that your middle-clicking isn't interrupted. You can do this on your Mac by going to System Settings > Trackpad > Point & Click. Now, disable Look up & data detectors. That's all you need to do to ensure you can middle-click in peace.

A paid alternative that has more features

Credit: Pranay Parab

Although MiddleClick-Sonoma is great and free, it requires a bit of setup, and the app is usually forked once a year as someone updates it to work with new versions of macOS. This means that you may have to reinstall the app annually and set it up all over again, so long as you keep updating your Mac regularly (you should).

For some people, that's a big hassle. You can avoid this by opting for a paid app, and I think Middle is worth the asking price of $8. Its developer also made Rectangle, which is a window manager app that we've recommended multiple times. Middle is easier to install and setup, and has the advantage of automatic updates (for as long as the developer chooses to support it).

It also allows you to configure other gestures to execute the middle-click. If you don't like the three-finger tap, you can choose instead to use a Three Finger Click, Four Finger Tap, or One Finger Force Touch. This app also lets you disable the middle-click action in certain apps, which is nice to have.

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Your MacBook has a few features built in to ensure that its battery's health stays intact. It will automatically shut down the laptop if it gets too hot, since higher temperatures reduce the battery's life and capacity to perform. It'll also slow down charging when the battery is at 80% if it determines you won't need a full charge. While these features are good enough for most people, there are some battery management apps that will allow you far greater control over your MacBook's battery health.

Battery Toolkit is the best free app I've found to manage your MacBook's battery. It allows you to keep your MacBook's battery percentage between two predefined values, lets you stop charging your MacBook even when it's connected to power, and even lets you force your MacBook to charge to 100%. Some of these features require you to pay on other battery management apps, such as AlDente. 

Battery management apps are best used by people who like to keep their MacBook plugged in all the time. Plenty of people use their MacBooks with the lid shut, where the laptop is connected to a monitor, an external keyboard, and a mouse. In these situations, plugging in and unplugging the Mac repeatedly to prevent overcharging is a little cumbersome. Why put in all that effort when an app can manage your battery for you?

Installing Battery Toolkit on your MacBook

To start, download Battery Toolkit from its GitHub page. Your Mac may prevent you from installing the app because it's not from a well-known developer, but it is safe to use. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway to install it. 

Set up the app for optimal battery management

Credit: Pranay Parab

Once the app is running, set it up in a way that works for you. Click Battery Toolkit's icon in the menu bar up top and select Settings. Go to the Power tab and set a minimum and maximum percentage value. That way, your MacBook will start charging when it hits the minimum value and stop charging at the maximum. I've set it up to keep my MacBook between 30 and 80%, but you can choose the values that work best for your use. Click OK when you're done.

Note that the app doesn't allow you to let the minimum percentage drop below 20%, and the lower limit for the maximum charge is 50%. This is to prevent damage to the battery.

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Explore additional features

Credit: Pranay Parab

With the initial setup done, Battery Toolkit will run in the background and do what you've asked. You can keep the MacBook plugged in all the time and the app will ensure that its battery stays within the predefined threshold. But there are times when you need to change things around, and the app lets you do that too. Click Battery Toolkit's menu bar icon to see these features.

You can toggle on Disable Power Adapter to temporarily stop the MacBook from charging while it's plugged in. There are two more options here that you should know about:

• Request Charging to Full

• Request Charging to Maximum

These options can be confusing because of the way they're worded, but it's quite easy to understand. Charging to full will force your MacBook to charge to 100%, which you should use when you know you're going to be away from a power adapter for a long time. Charging to maximum will charge the laptop to the upper limit you've specified in the app.

You can also temporarily disable all of Battery Toolkit's settings by clicking its menu bar icon and selecting Quit Battery Toolkit.

iPhone owners are reporting that photos they’d deleted are now back on their phones, after updating to iOS 17.5.

With so many users reporting similar oddities, it would seem something went wrong, or at least different than to be expected. Here are some examples from Reddit:

“When in conversation with my partner, I went to send a picture and saw that the latest pictures were nsfw material we’d made years ago”

“I have four pics from 2010 that keep reappearing as the latest pics uploaded to iCloud. I have deleted them repeatedly.”

“Same thing happened to me. Six photos from different times, all I have deleted. Some I had deleted in 2023.”

When you delete a photo from an iPhone or iPad, it goes into a “Recently deleted” album for up to 30 days to make it easy to recover if the photo is accidentally deleted. However, the above examples vastly exceed this timeframe, and it’s unclear exactly what’s happened here.

When you delete a file, actually all that happens is you remove the pointer that tells you where exactly the file is located. This makes it hard to find, but not impossible. Until the system uses the location of the deleted file and replaces it with other data, the file can be retrieved.

Apple’s last update for iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 came out on Monday with a warning to update your iPhone as soon as possible. That’s because iOS 17.5 fixes 15 security vulnerabilities, some of which are serious. Please don’t let this article stop you from installing the update, but it’s good to be prepared for some unexpected behavior.

At the time of writing, Apple hasn’t commented on the issue.

We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

Source: www.bleepingcomputer.com – Author: Bill Toulas Apple’s antifraud technology has blocked more than $7 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions in four years, the company states in its latest annual fraud prevention analysis. From 2020 through 2023, the company also detected more than 14 million stolen cards and blocked them from transacting on its platform along with […]

La entrada Apple blocked $7 billion in fraudulent App Store purchases in 4 years – Source: www.bleepingcomputer.com se publicó primero en CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP.

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iOS 17.5 is officially out, bringing the latest security updates to all applicable iPhones. Alongside fixing some major security flaws that Apple needed to address, the update also had an unintended effect: It's bringing back deleted photos.

This iOS 17.5 bug has caused quite an uproar in the Apple community, with some raising concerns over Apple's privacy claims, and wondering if the company's software keeps old photos even after you've deleted them.

The big concern here is the possibility for not safe for work photos to unexpectedly rear their heads again: One Reddit user says that nudes (and some less compromising photos) that were deleted "years ago" reappeared in their recent images after updating their phone. You don't even need to be connected to iCloud, according to another Reddit user experiencing the issue. Locally stored photos are supposedly coming back, too.

Unfortunately, there isn't exactly a clear reason for what is happening here. Given that many of the photos are from years ago, it isn't likely to be an issue with the recently deleted settings on the iPhone, which only keeps photos for 30 days after deletion, in case you accidentally delete a photo and need to restore it.

It's possible that these reports could all come down to an indexing issue, some kind of corruption in the photo library, or, in the case of photos backed up online, a syncing issue between iCloud and local devices. Related to the latter point, it's possible that Apple made a mistake while trying to fix a syncing issue reported by users in a previous iOS 17 update.

The explanation is likely innocent, though: Deleted files are never truly gone from a device until overwritten, so it's possible the bug is simply resurfacing them instead of keeping them available to be rewritten. That might also explain a similar bug another user experienced where old voicemails came back.

For the moment, there isn't much you can do to avoid the bug if you already updated to iOS 17.5. However, holding off on the update isn't recommended, as it does address some security flaws that iPhone users will want to resolve as soon as possible. It's arguably more important to protect yourself from a Find My bug that could let a malicious app track your current location, than it is to prevent iOS from resurfacing your old deleted photos—however embarrassing that may be.

All eyes are on Apple's WWDC event next month. That's when the company will no doubt show off their latest operating system upgrades, including its late-to-the-party AI plans for iOS and macOS.

But AI doesn't just mean generative AI. Apple has more traditional features in the works for users to check out, some simply powered by AI. And as it happens, we just got a glimpse at a slew of upcoming iPhone and Mac features that fit that mold, specifically related to accessibility.

Apple unexpectedly announced a batch of these new accessibility features Wednesday. The company says these features are coming "later this year," which almost assuredly means they're shipping with iOS 18. Apple switches between using the language "AI" and "machine learning" to describe how these features work, but rest assured, the underlying tech is part of Apple's AI push this year.

Eye Tracking lets you control your iPhone with your eyes alone

Out of nowhere, Apple announced that both iPhone and iPad users will soon have the ability to control their devices with just their eyes. Apple says the front camera on either your phone or tablet will use AI to calibrate and set up the feature, as well as power it. Most impressive of all, you don't need any additional hardware to use it.

Once Eye Tracking is set up, you can navigate apps, use Dwell Controls to engage with elements, and replicate physical buttons, swipes, and gestures with your eye movements.

Music Haptics let you feel the beat through your iPhone

Apple added a new music feature for users who are deaf or hard of hearing: Music Haptics uses the Taptic Engine to play taps and complex vibrations along to the beat of the song. While it sounds like a great accessibility feature, it also seems like a great way to enhance the Apple Music experience for everyone. This feature works on "millions" of songs in Apple Music, but Apple has also included it as an API for developers to add to their apps.

Vocal Shortcuts and Listen for Atypical Speech

Vocal Shortcuts is a new feature that lets you assign actions to words or phrases. For example, you could set the word "Rings" to open your Apple Watch Activity Rings in Fitness. In addition, Listen for Atypical Speech uses on-device AI to learn your speech patterns, so your device will recognize the way you speak.

These features are designed for users with conditions such as cerebral palsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or stroke—as these conditions affect speech.

Vehicle Motion Cues tries to prevent motion sickness

Apple wants to cure motion sickness. Vehicle Motion Cues places dots on your screen when your iPhone or iPad recognizes you're in a moving car. These dots will then move according to the direction of the vehicle: These moving dots may counter the effects of motion sickness, as Apple says research shows motion sickness happens when there's a conflict between what you're seeing and what you're feeling.

You can choose to have these Motion Cues appear automatically, or enable them manually from Control Center.

CarPlay gets some new accessibility features

Speaking of cars, CarPlay is getting a series of new accessibility features: Voice Control, which lets you control CarPlay with your voice; Color Filters, which lets you fine tune the color space of your CarPlay UI; and Sound Recognition, CarPlay will let you know when it detects sounds like car horns and sirens.

visionOS accessibility features

Remember Apple Vision Pro? That's still around, even if it isn't getting much attention lately. Still, Apple is working on some visionOS accessibility features, including Live Captions. These captions will work in conversations in-person and on FaceTime, as well as from audio in your apps. Apple is also adding new vision features like Reduce Transparency, Smart Invert, and Dim Flashing Lights, as well as support for Made for iPhone hearing devices and cochlear hearing processors.

New VoiceOver features

VoiceOver is getting new voices. Apple didn't say how many, or what they sounded like, but they're coming. In addition, the feature is getting a "flexible Voice Rotor," which lets you control how VoiceOver works, custom volume control, customizable VoiceOver keyboard shortcuts on macOS, and support for custom vocabularies and complicated words.

Magnifier

Apple's Magnifier doesn't get the love it deserves, but it is getting some new features. Coming soon, you'll get a new Reader Mode, as well as quick ways to launch Detection Mode with the Action button on iPhone 15 Pro.

Braille

There are some new Braille features as well: You'll have a new way to start and stay in Braille Screen Input, Japanese will be available, Dot Pad users have support for multi-line braille, and you'll have the ability to choose input and output tables.

Hover Typing

Hover Typing is a new feature that increases the size of the text whenever you're typing in a text field. Plus, you get to control the font and color.

Personal Voice is now available in Mandarin

Apple rolled out Personal Voice last year, an AI-powered feature that can replicate your voice during Live Speech. The feature is now available in Mandarin Chinese. In addition, you can now create a Personal Voice even if you have difficulty with reading full sentences out loud.

Speaking of Live Speech, the feature now comes with categories, and is compatible with Live Captions.

Virtual Trackpad

Apple is adding a virtual trackpad feature as part of AssistiveTouch, so one area of your iPhone or iPad can be used to move a cursor around the screen. I could see this being useful for anyone who wants a trackpad experience, especially on the larger iPads, but doesn't have a physical trackpad to use.

Switch Control

With Switch Control later this year, you can use your iPhone or iPads' camera to recognize finger-tap gestures as switches. Switch Control lets you use hardware to control your iPhone or iPad with switches, so this means you can gesture with your fingers in view of the camera to control on-screen elements.

We've talked more than once about the pomodoro technique, which is built around intensely focusing on a task for 25 minutes and taking a five minute break. There's a lot of software out there for the job, but most of them live on only one of your devices.

Not Focus Timer, an indie app that's been around in various forms for eleven years. The current version works on every Apple platform: Mac, iPhone, iPad, Watch, and even Vision Pro. Your settings—including the current timer—sync via iCloud, all without you having to do much of anything other than install the app on various platforms. It's very convenient, but it's not free: The app costs $40 per year for access on all platforms.

Credit: Justin Pot

That's a lot to pay for a timer, granted, but it is really nice having a Pomodoro timer that follows you everywhere. I, for example, like to get up and walk around the house during my breaks—with this application installed I can start my break on my laptop, get up, and get my "back to work" reminder on my phone.

Credit: Justin Pot

Meaningful Things, the Germany-based four-person team behind the application, offers updates constantly—basically any major Apple feature you can think of is offered. There are versions for Apple Watch and Vision Pro. There's a live activity for the iPhone app, meaning you'll see the realtime countdown on your phone's lock screen as soon as you start a session (even if you start that session on your Mac). There are a variety of widgets available for all platforms. There's extensive support for Apple Shortcuts. There's a menu bar icon for the Mac version.

Credit: Justin Pot

I could go on, but basically if you're the kind of person who likes to take advantage of the latest Apple features, this application has you covered. Focus Timer isn't going to be the perfect Pomodoro app for everyone—the price alone means some people aren't going to touch it—but I recommend at least giving the seven-day free trial a shot. It's rare to find something that works across devices this smoothly.

Your iPhone has more features than you probably ever use, but with this comes with a problem—an overcrowded Settings app. With each new feature addition, toggles get added to or shuffled around in Settings. Every time I need to access an infrequently used setting, I find myself going through multiple pages, even if I use the nifty search feature in my iPhone's Settings app. If you find this frustrating, try SCSettings. This shortcut makes it easy to access of useful iPhone settings, such as wifi, Bluetooth, shut down and restart options, controls for silencing unknown callers, and more. 

Setting up SCSettings

The setup for this shortcut is pretty easy. First, open Apple's Shortcuts app, which is your iPhone's automation hub. Next, download SCSettings from RoutineHub. This a third-party site that acts as a gallery for some of the best shortcuts out there. Tap Get Shortcut and follow the on-screen instructions. 

Once the shortcut is installed, open the Shortcuts app and switch to the Shortcuts tab. Tap and hold SCSettings, select Share, and then tap Add to Home Screen. This will make this shortcut act like an app. You can even drag it to the dock at the bottom of the screen for easier access.

Using SCSettings on your iPhone

Tap the SCSettings icon on your iPhone's Home Screen to launch the shortcut, then select any of the on-screen options to toggle various settings. This is everything the shortcut can do:

• Toggle wifi: This completely switches off wifi. You can't do this from Control Center, which merely disconnects wifi without switching off the radios.

• Toggle Bluetooth: This switches off the Bluetooth radio. Like wifi, you can't do this via Control Center.

• Silence Unknown Callers: Automatically silences any calls from unknown numbers.

• VPN Settings Menu: Lets you access the following VPN settings: Toggle VPN, Toggle Connect on Demand, and VPN Settings.

• Restart Device: Asks for a confirmation and restarts your iPhone.

• Shut Down: Asks for a confirmation and shuts down your iPhone.

• Search Passwords: Allows you to search your iCloud Keychain for saved passwords.

• Settings Shortcuts: Allows you to easily access the following settings:

1. iPhone Analytics

2. App Privacy Report

3. iCloud Private Relay

4. Hide My Email

5. Screen Time

6. Personal hotspot

7. Clear Safari website data

8. Switch camera formats

9. Storage settings

10. Battery settings

11. AirDrop settings

Once you get used to this shortcut, you'll find yourself using it all the time. It's become a mainstay on my iPhone, since my job requires me to play around with settings a lot. As long as you place SCSettings in a prominent place on your iPhone's Home Screen, you'll grow to love it. 

Sometimes, the shortcut may ask you for permissions to send some values. These are safe to allow, and they let the shortcut figure out which option you've chosen and take you to the corresponding Settings page. The beauty of SCSettings is that it works with options your iPhone already has, and just makes them easier to access.

Apple and Google have announced an industry specification for Bluetooth tracking devices which help alert users to unwanted tracking.

The specification, called Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers, will make it possible to alert users across both iOS and Android if a device is unknowingly being used to track them.

The alert would be pushed to the users device and would say “[Item] Found Moving With You.”

In many cases “[Item]” might well actually be an AirTag.

AirTags’ intended use is to let you easily track things like your keys, wallet, purse, backpack, luggage, and more. You can simply set it up with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, attach it somewhere, and the AirTag will show up in your Find My app. However, AirTags have long been associated with this unwanted tracking, which is something Apple apparently did not foresee and has been working on to make this type of abuse harder.

Apple’s first step to discourage unwanted tracking was the “Tracking Notifications” option in the Find My app. This feature is available on iOS or iPadOS 14.5 or later.

Android introduced a similar “unknown tracker alert” to find trackers placed near you or in your belongings without your knowledge or consent.

With the new capability that both tech giants have pushed, users will now get the alert, regardless of the platform the device is paired with. If a user gets such an alert on their device, it means that someone else’s Bluetooth tracker is moving with them.

Android and iPhone users can view the tracker’s identifier, have the tracker play a sound to help locate it, and access instructions to disable it. Bluetooth tag manufacturers including Chipolo, eufy, Jio, Motorola, and Pebblebee have all said that future tags will be compatible.

Apple and Google will continue to work with the Internet Engineering Task Force via the Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers working group to develop the official standard for this technology.

We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

Apple and Google have rolled out a new mobile feature that warns users of unwanted trackers moving with them.

The post Unwanted Tracking Alerts Rolling Out to iOS, Android appeared first on SecurityWeek.

Source: go.theregister.com – Author: Team Register Google and Apple are rolling out an anti-stalking feature for Android 6.0+ and iOS 17.5 that will issue an alert if some scumbag is using a gadget like an AirTag or similar to clandestinely track the user. Basically, if someone places a hidden tracking tag in your bag, car, […]

La entrada Google, Apple gear to raise tracking tag stalker alarm – Source: go.theregister.com se publicó primero en CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP.

Enlarge (credit: Getty)

A study analyzing Apple, Microsoft, and SpaceX suggests that return to office (RTO) mandates can lead to a higher rate of employees, especially senior-level ones, leaving the company, often to work at competitors.

The study (PDF), published this month by University of Chicago and University of Michigan researchers and reported by The Washington Post on Sunday, says:

In this paper, we provide causal evidence that RTO mandates at three large tech companies—Microsoft, SpaceX, and Apple—had a negative effect on the tenure and seniority of their respective workforce. In particular, we find the strongest negative effects at the top of the respective distributions, implying a more pronounced exodus of relatively senior personnel.

The study looked at résumé data from People Data Labs and used "260 million résumés matched to company data." It only examined three companies, but the report's authors noted that Apple, Microsoft, and SpaceX represent 30 percent of the tech industry's revenue and over 2 percent of the technology industry's workforce. The three companies have also been influential in setting RTO standards beyond their own companies. Robert Ployhart, a professor of business administration and management at the University of South Carolina and scholar at the Academy of Management, told the Post that despite the study being limited to three companies, its conclusions are a broader reflection of the effects of RTO policies in the US.

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Source: thehackernews.com – Author: . May 14, 2024NewsroomLocation Tracking / Privacy Apple and Google on Monday officially announced the rollout of a new feature that notifies users across both iOS and Android if a Bluetooth tracking device is being used to stealthily keep tabs on them without their knowledge or consent. “This will help mitigate […]

La entrada Apple and Google Launch Cross-Platform Feature to Detect Unwanted Bluetooth Tracking Devices – Source:thehackernews.com se publicó primero en CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP.

Source: www.bleepingcomputer.com – Author: Bill Toulas A new package mimicked the popular ‘requests’ library on the Python Package Index (PyPI) to target macOS devices with the Sliver C2 adversary framework, used for gaining initial access to corporate networks. Discovered by Phylum, the campaign involves several steps and obfuscation layers, including using steganography in a PNG image file to […]

La entrada PyPi package backdoors Macs using the Sliver pen-testing suite – Source: www.bleepingcomputer.com se publicó primero en CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP.

Source: www.bleepingcomputer.com – Author: Sergiu Gatlan Apple has backported security patches released in March to older iPhones and iPads, fixing an iOS Kernel zero-day tagged as exploited in attacks. In security advisories published today, Apple once again said they’re aware of reports that this vulnerability “may have been actively exploited.” The flaw is a memory […]

La entrada Apple backports fix for RTKit iOS zero-day to older iPhones – Source: www.bleepingcomputer.com se publicó primero en CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP.

Apple has released the latest updates for virtually all of its actively supported devices today. Most include a couple handfuls of security updates, some new features for Apple News+ subscribers, and something called Cross-Platform Tracking Protection for Bluetooth devices.

The iOS 17.5, iPadOS 17.5, macOS 4.5, watchOS 10.5, tvOS 17.5, and HomePod Software 17.5 updates are all available to download now.

↫ Andrew Cunningham at Ars Technica

You know where to get them.

Enlarge (credit: Apple)

Apple has released the latest updates for virtually all of its actively supported devices today. Most include a couple handfuls of security updates, some new features for Apple News+ subscribers, and something called Cross-Platform Tracking Protection for Bluetooth devices.

The iOS 17.5, iPadOS 17.5, macOS 4.5, watchOS 10.5, tvOS 17.5, and HomePod Software 17.5 updates are all available to download now.

Cross-Platform Tracking Protection notifications alert users "if a compatible Bluetooth tracker they do not own is moving with them, regardless of what operating system the device is paired with." Apple has already implemented protections to prevent AirTag stalking, and Cross-Platform Tracking Protection implements some of those same safeguards for devices paired to non-Apple phones.

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Enlarge / The 2024, M4-equipped 13-inch iPad Pro. (credit: Samuel Axon)

The new iPad Pro is a technical marvel, with one of the best screens I’ve ever seen, performance that few other machines can touch, and a new, thinner design that no one expected.

It’s a prime example of Apple flexing its engineering and design muscles for all to see. Since it marks the company’s first foray into OLED beyond the iPhone or Watch, and the first time a new M-series chip has debuted on something other than a Mac, it comes across as a tech demo for where the company is headed beyond just tablets.

Still, it remains unclear why most people would spend one, two, or even three thousand dollars on a tablet that, despite its amazing hardware, does less than a comparably priced laptop—or at least does it a little more awkwardly, even if it's impressively quick and has a gorgeous screen.

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Apple documents another zero-day flaw being exploited on older iPhones and documents security problems in macOS, iOS and iPadOS.

The post Apple Patch Day: Code Execution Flaws in iPhones, iPads, macOS appeared first on SecurityWeek.

Apple released iOS 17.5 to all compatible iPhones earlier today. There aren't a ton of user-facing changes in this latest version of iOS, which isn't a huge surprise as we're only about two months away from our first look at iOS 18.

Still, iOS 17.5 will be another monumental update for some iPhone users, as Apple is adding support for downloading apps directly from the web. Once you update to iOS 17.5, you'll be able to sideload apps on iPhone—as long as you live in the European Union.

App installation via the web (E.U. only)

Following an announcement in March, iOS 17.5 introduces the ability to download apps directly from developers' websites, as opposed to using an app store. The first 17.5 beta gave developers the option to host their apps on the web, while the second beta let users download those apps onto their iPhones. It's the latest fundamental change Apple has made to its platform in the wake of rulings from the European Commission that forced the company to allow developers to run their own third-party app stores, offer true third-party web browsers, among other big changes.

If you don't use iOS, downloading software from a website for use on your phone isn't a novel experience. The practice, known as sideloading, is quite normal on Android, and is essentially the go-to way to get new apps on desktop operating systems like Windows, Linux—and, yes, macOS. Sideloading will also be coming to iPadOS in the near future—again in the E.U. only.

Apple has resisted the practice on the iPhone since iOS' inception, claiming that sideloading puts users at risk. While there is some truth to that, as the lack of oversight invites bad actors to trick users into installing malware, there are plenty of legitimate apps that don't exist on an official app store. As long as users are careful, they should be able to download programs safely.

Apple being Apple, even after this change rolls out, you won't be able to simply download any old app from the internet you want: The company is placing restrictions on both the developers that can offer this service, as well as the apps that can be sold online. In addition, devs will still need to offer a cut of their earnings to Apple, so the entire process won't be that far removed from what goes on in the App Store. Still, it's a step in the right direction—for users in the E.U., anyway. Nothing about Apple's app download policies is changing outside of Europe.

Apple News+ gets some changes

For the rest of us outside of the E.U., there are still coming fun changes that make iOS 17.5 worth installing right away. Apple News+ in particular gets a few updates: If you pay for Apple News, you'll now have a new game to try out: Quartiles. In this game, players pick from tiles containing two or three letters each to build words, which can be made up of one to four tiles. For example, you may see the tiles "art," "ist," "ic," and "ally," which you can play to create the word "artistically." If you pay for Apple News+, you can add this game to your roster of news-based games, including Wordle and Connections.

Also new to Apple News+ is offline mode, which pulls content from the Today feed and News+ tab locally onto your iPhone. That way, you can check out daily updates when you're away from an internet connection, such as when hopping on a flight. Plus, there's now a Scoreboard section in News+ Puzzles, to keep tabs on your stats in Quartiles, Crossword, and Mini Crossword.

Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers

After teaming up with Google, Apple is releasing a new standard for detecting Bluetooth trackers across platforms: Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers. With this standard, any iPhone running iOS 17.5 and any Android device running Android 6.0 or newer will be able to identify a unknown Bluetooth tracker, and alert you with a “[Item] Found Moving With You” message.

According to Apple, if you get that message on your iPhone, it means someone's AirTag, Find My accessory, or
"other industry specification-compatible Bluetooth tracker" is with you. The alert will come with instructions about what the tracker is, how to play a noise to locate the tracker, and how to disable the tracker.

Other changes in iOS 17.5

While iOS 17.5 is a minor update, there are a few new features to check out. The Podcasts widget will now change its color to reflect whatever you're listening to, rather than the stock purple color of Podcasts itself, and there's a new icon for the Passkeys Access for Web Browsers menu in Privacy & Security. As of the second beta, you'll find a tip in the Notes app pointing you to features like tags and checklists, while the Books app has a new shortcut to the Reading Goals section.

MacRumors found features in 17.5's code that may be on the horizon, including a "Block All Participants" button in FaceTime, a Battery Health menu for iPads, and references to the new Apple Pencil and its "squeeze" feature.

Apple is currently behind on the generative AI game, but that could all change soon if recent reports are to be believed. According to insider sources who spoke with The New York Times, Apple is working hard to add generative AI to Siri, which it could debut as soon as its WWDC developer conference in June.

Originally introduced way back in 2011, Siri really hasn’t seen many changes over the years. The digital assistant still struggles in a lot of areas, often misunderstanding questions entirely, and AI presents a way to move forward.

But Apple has a lot of catching up to do to match the likes of ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The company appears to be working overtime, with sources saying the competition's quick progress in overtaking Siri has led to one of the largest reorganizations Apple has seen in over a decade. Now, Apple is supposedly deep in its own AI plans and developments.

Of course, all these insider sources remain anonymous. But if they are to be trusted, Apple will add its own generative AI to Siri soon. Apple has reportedly also even been in talks to license some competing AI models, including Google's and OpenAI's.

More “proof” that Apple is going all-in on AI also comes with the fairly recent news that it had canceled work on the Apple Car, freeing up the company to pursue other projects. These sources also told The New York Times that Apple plans to push the improved Siri as a more private way to use generative AI, as it will process everything directly on the iPhone instead of sending it off to massive data centers for processing.

This, of course, would also save money in the long run, as cloud computing costs for ChatGPT and other models can ramp up significantly depending on the amount of content generated. There is a trade-off here, though, as smaller systems have reportedly been shown to be more likely to hallucinate and return false information—a longstanding problem with generative AI. Whether or not Siri will face that problem is completely up to how Apple approaches development.

Either way, it’s an interesting time for Apple fans. ChatGPT is already gearing up to possibly take on Google by rolling out its own search engine, but we shouldn’t expect Apple to come right out the gate with something so big. Apple doesn’t even have to have the best generative AI yet. It just has to finally get its foot in the door, so it can expand on it as time goes on.

You can get this grade-A refurbished 6th-Gen iPad, along with accessories, on sale for $154.97 right now. The iPad itself is in near-mint condition with a 9.7-inch Retina Display, 32GB local storage, and an A10 chip. At minimum, the battery can hold 80% of its original capacity and lasts up to 10 hours on a full charge. The accessories include a charging cable, adapter, screen protector, stylus, and case. The color of the case and stylus may vary, but they all work the same. 

You can get this grade-A refurbished 6th-generation iPad and accessories on sale for $154.97 until May 22 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices can change at any time. 

Disassembly and enhancements for Apple II DeskTop (a.k.a. Mouse Desk), a “Finder”-like GUI application for 8-bit Apples and clones with 128k of memory, utilizing double hi-res monochrome graphics (560×192), an optional mouse, and the ProDOS 8 operating system.

↫ Apple II DeskTop GitHub page

The goal of this project is to reverse-engineer Apple II DeskTop, and fix bugs and enhance it in the process. I didn’t actually know that the Apple IIgs initially shipped with this instead of the 16 bit GS/OS, which is the operating system I personally associate with the IIgs. Apple II DeskTop was largely 8 bit, and built on top of ProDOS 16, and didn’t really take full advantage of the IIgs hardware. It wasn’t until version 4.0 of the system software that the IIgs switched over to GS/OS.

The latest release is v1.4-alpha9, released a few days ago. Apple II DeskTop is still entirely compatible with Apple II machines and clones from before the IIgs, as well, and it runs in emulators, too. We actually already covered this project a few years ago, but a reminder that this exists never hurt anyone.

Enlarge / One of many human-created objects destroyed in Apple's "Crush!" ad for the iPad Pro. (credit: Apple)

Earlier this week, Apple took the wraps off of a thoroughly leaked iPad Pro refresh with a 1 minute and 8 second ad spot wherein a gigantic hydraulic press comprehensively smushes a trumpet, an arcade cabinet, a record player, paint cans, a piano, a TV, sculptures, a bunch of emoji, and plenty of other tools that one might loosely categorize as "artistic implements."

At the end of the ad, the press lifts away to reveal a somewhat thinner, somewhat faster version of Apple's iPad Pro. The message of the ad, titled "Crush!" and still available via Apple's YouTube channel and CEO Tim Cook's Twitter account, is obvious: look at all of the things we've squeezed into this tablet!

"Just imagine all the things it'll be used to create," wrote Cook.

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The AirPods Max are a luxury item in every sense of the word. They offer one of the highest-tier listening experiences but are also one of the most expensive headphones you can buy. These headphones rarely go on sale and are normally over half a grand, but you can get them for $100 off on Amazon if you have $449.99 to play with. If that's still too much, keep in mind all the other AirPods are also discounted at the moment.

Apple AirPods Max

$449.99 at Amazon

$549.00 Save $99.01

Get Deal

Get Deal

$449.99 at Amazon

$549.00 Save $99.01

When the AirPods Max came out in 2020 (yes, they're old now), there wasn't a lot of competition for headphones that could do active noise canceling (ANC) and ambient awareness and give you good audio well. These days, there's stiff competition in all of those categories, especially at this price point. However, buying AirPods Max is a statement. Even though they don't have the Apple logo, you're paying a premium price for the recognition. If that's what you're after, these headphones are it.

When it comes to features, the AirPods Max aren't jam-packed. But the few they do have are very good quality (on-brand from Apple's minimalist standard). They are one of the best ANC headphones you can buy (they don't give you that weird pressure sensation when you turn them on), have very good ambient awareness to hear your surroundings well, have adaptive EQ and spatial audio which adjusts the audio automatically to you and your environment, and hands-free Siri, according to PCMag's "excellent" review.

Some of the downsides are that they are heavier than regular headphones, at 13.6 ounces. This comes from the choice to use metal for the material of the design. You also can't manually adjust the EQ to your liking, so if you don't like the sound signature, you're out of luck. Finally, the smart case it comes with is ugly and doesn't protect the mesh that rests on your head (a delicate part of the headphones). You also need them to put your headphones in "sleep" mode so your 20 hours of battery aren't drained.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Enlarge / RIP, Neofetch. (credit: Kevin Purdy)

Asahi Linux, the project that aims to bring desktop Linux to Apple hardware with Apple silicon—the M series of chips—is out with Fedora Asahi Remix 40. More hardware features of Apple devices are supported, the Fedora Linux 40-based distro ships with KDE's new Plasma 6 desktop, and untold numbers of bugs are squashed, to be replaced with reams more.

Fedora Asahi Remix is a "fully integrated distro," according to the Asahi team, and you can "expect a solid and high-quality experience without any unwanted surprises." It supports all the M1 and M2 devices in the MacBook, Mac Mini, Mac Studio, and iMac lines. It's OpenGL 4.6 and OpenGL ES 3.2 certified, and comes with "the best Linux laptop audio you've ever heard."

So, should you install it on your Mac? Keep scrolling down Asahi's release page and check the "Device support" section. Still missing from most M-series Apple devices are support for Thunderbolt and USB4, built-in microphones, and Touch ID, as well as USB-C display support. Speakers are not supported on the iMac. And HDMI audio is in rough shape, being able to "break audio on the system completely."

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Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Enlarge / Many different Apple stickers from many different products and eras. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

As a noted sticker enthusiast, I’m always on the lookout for news at the intersection of stickers and technology. Which is why this report from 9to5Mac caught my eye: Apple is apparently starting to wind down its decades-long practice of including Apple logo stickers in the box with all of its products.

If you buy a new iPad Air or iPad Pro, you’ll be able to get some stickers if you ask the people at the Apple Store to include them (stores will get a “limited quantity” of stickers they can distribute on request). But the little sticker insert that has come with Macs, iPods, iPhones, iPads, and other devices and accessories for as long as I can remember will stop being one of the default pack-ins.

Apple is apparently cutting down on its sticker distribution to help meet its environmental goals. The stickers are some of the last bits of plastic included in most modern Apple packaging; in recent years, even the plastic backing layer for the stickers has been replaced with wax paper instead. This happened around the same time that the inner layer of packaging wrapped around new Apple devices also shifted from plastic to paper and when plastic-sealed boxes gave way to tear-away paper adhesive strips.

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While new iPads are always exciting, it was the iPad Pros' M4 chip that stole the show this week. M3 just came out in October, and Apple decides to launch its successor now—in an iPad, of all devices. Still, the chip is here, and is likely what will power Apple's big AI plans this year.

Apple touted M4's 3-nanometer architecture, its four performance cores and upgraded six efficiency cores, and claimed it can deliver up to 1.5 times faster CPU performance over M2. (The company does prefer to compare its chips to two generations prior, rather than one.) Of course, the iPad isn't out yet, so reviewers and users can't test these claims. While we could just take Apple's word for it, we could also just look to Geekbench.

The M4's stats starting appearing on Geekbench, the popular benchmarking site, on Wednesday. It's not clear who is testing the M4 through Geekbench, but it offers an interesting window into the chip's performance. At the time of this article, single-core performance ranges from 3,595 all the way to 3,824, while multi-core performance ranges from 13,910 to a whopping 14,748. (Single-core refers to testing one of the chip's cores, while multi-core refers to testing multiple cores at once. For context, the M4 has 10 total CPU cores.)

The iPad Pros being tested are running iOS 17.5, not yet released, with a base clock speed of 4.4 GHz. They're equipped with 16GB of RAM (although it comes through as 15.05GB on Geekbench).

These scores are impressive, especially considering they're running on iPads (and the thinnest iPads ever made, at that). Based on these scores, M4 modestly outperforms M3. If you look at Geekbench's scores for the M3 MacBook Pro (not M3 Pro or M3 Max, mind you), you see a single-core score of 3,079 and multi-core score of 11,524. If you look at the 6th gen iPad Pro running an M2 chip, the difference is more stark: Geekbench shows this tablet scores 2,613 in single-core, and 10,082 in multi-core. That's a near one-and-a-half times jump in performance, which tracks close to Apple's claims.

I'm interested to see how M4 performs once Apple puts it into a Mac. It's possible Apple is underclocking M4 on iPad since the tablets are so thin and light, they wouldn't be able to efficiency move the heat generated by pushing the chip. Theoretically, even a fanless MacBook Air would have a better chassis for heat distribution, so M4 should perform even better. Put it in something like the MacBook Pro with a dedicated fan, and the results should only improve, at least once you really start taxing it.

But regardless, my main focus now is on the M4's NPU (neural processing unit). This part of the chip is responsible for processing AI, which Apple is likely to focus on big time following WWDC. The company says M4's Neural Engine is capable of 38 trillion operations, and is 60 times faster than the company's first NPU they built for the A11 Bionic chip. (Again, Apple is comparing stats to a chip they released in 2017 for the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X.) While I'm sure the M4 is going to be the best way to experience all the AI features Apple is cooking up, I'm skeptical it's going to be a huge leap over M3, M2, or even M1. Maybe there will be features exclusive to M4, but my guess is Apple's entire lineup of silicon chips will be capable enough to run most of the new AI features in iOS 18 and macOS 15.

Enlarge / A screenshot of the Apple iPad ad. (credit: Apple via YouTube)

An advert by Apple for its new iPad tablet showing musical instruments, artistic tools, and games being crushed by a giant hydraulic press has been attacked for cultural insensitivity in an online backlash.

The one-minute video was launched by Apple chief executive Tim Cook to support its new range of iPads, the first time that the US tech giant has overhauled the range for two years as it seeks to reverse faltering sales.

The campaign—soundtracked by Sonny and Cher’s 1971 hit All I Ever Need Is You—is designed to show how much Apple has been able to squeeze into the thinner tablet. The ad was produced in-house by Apple’s creative team, according to trade press reports.

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Enlarge / The new Chord Track feature. (credit: Apple)

If you watched yesterday's iPad-a-palooza event from Apple, then you probably saw the segment about cool new features coming to the iPad version of Logic Pro, Apple's professional audio recording software. But what the event did not make clear was that all the same features are coming to the Mac version of Logic Pro—and both the Mac and iPad versions will get newly numbered. After many years, the Mac version of Logic Pro will upgrade from X (ten) to 11, while the much more recent iPad version increments to 2.

Both versions will be released on May 13, and both are free upgrades for existing users. (Sort of—iPad users have to pay a subscription fee to access Logic Pro, but if you already pay, you'll get the upgrade. This led many people to speculate online that Apple would move the Mac version of Logic to a similar subscription model; thankfully, that is not the case. Yet.)

Both versions will gain an identical set of new features, which were touched on briefly in Apple's event video. But thanks to a lengthy press release that Apple posted after the event, along with updates to Apple's main Logic page, we now have a better sense of what these features are, what systems they require, and just how much Apple has gone all-in on AI. Also, we get some pictures.

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So, your iPhone was stolen. You're sad, obviously, but must move on, so you file an insurance claim and get a new phone. Some time later, you start receiving worrying texts from a stranger, who claims they've bought your stolen iPhone and now have access to everything you saved to it. They say they have your messages, saved credit cards, passwords, even your SIM, so they intercept all your phone calls.

This stranger doesn't want anything from you, however. No, they're simply a good samaritan, warning you that this iPhone with all your personal identifying information is about to be sold on the black market, and that the smart move would be to remove it from your Apple ID. Then, you can erase the phone, and not have to fear your data falling into the wrong hands. They may even include instructions on how to remove the phone from your account, just in case you aren't sure how.

If you ever find yourself in this position, do not do this. This person isn't looking out for you, and your personal data is not in jeopardy: This is a scam. In fact, the reason they are desperate for you to remove your iPhone from Find My is because Apple's security feature is working too well. Here's what's going on.

How scammers use Find My against you

When you set up Find My on your iPhone, it doesn't just let you locate your phone in the event you lose it. This feature also automatically enables a security feature known as Activation Lock, which binds your iPhone to your Apple ID username and password. Activation Lock cannot be undone by a factory reset: Even if thieves erase your iPhone, they will not be able to set it up without providing your Apple ID credentials first.

It's one of Apple's best security features, and it ensures a stolen iPhone is worth about as much as a fashionable paperweight. Thieves aren't getting in without either your iPhone's passcode or your Apple ID credentials, which is why they need you to remove your iPhone from Find My: It's the only way to disable Activation Lock. Once you do, they're free to factory reset the phone and set it up with their own account.

As long as you keep that iPhone tied to your Apple ID, no one is getting in. Don't listen to aggressive scammers who lie about having access to your personal information: Likely the only reason they have access to your phone number is because you enabled Lost Mode, and possibly displayed your number on-screen as a way for someone to get in touch with you if they find your iPhone.

A locked iPhone isn't impervious

Now, I don't want to give off the impression that an iPhone with Activation Lock is impenetrable. It's perfect against thieves who randomly steal your iPhone, but not all thieves are random. Some are smart, and watch for you to enter your passcode before snatching your iPhone. If they know your passcode, not only can they unlock your iPhone, they can reset your Apple ID credentials as well, locking you out of your own Apple account.

In addition to Activation Lock, you should set up Stolen Device Protection on your iPhone as well. With it, iOS requires a Face ID or Touch ID scan when accessing passwords and passkeys. Following this scan, for certain features, iOS puts a one-hour delay on any major changes when using the iPhone in an "unfamiliar location." After that time is up, you'll need to authenticate again. In short, Stolen Device Protection keeps your iPhone safe from thieves that know your passcode, while Activation Lock protects against forced erasure.

Look, keeping a stolen iPhone on Activation Lock doesn't guarantee you'll get it back. In fact, if that iPhone was taken to another country, you'll likely never see it again. But why let the thieves get away with it? Keep that iPhone on your Find My, and let them stare at their expensive, useless bounty.

Do you sometimes miss the doorbell, or a knock at the door, because you're wearing headphones? Not everyone knows this but there's a built-in feature for recognizing sounds in the iPhone settings. By default this feature, which is in the accessibility section of System Settings, gives you a notification every time a given sound is heard, but you can take things even further by triggering a Shortcut.

Note that Apple's documentation clearly states this feature shouldn't be relied on "to recognize sounds in circumstances where you may be harmed or injured, in high-risk or emergency situations, or for navigation." If the stakes are lower than that, though, it might keep you from missing something.

To get started open System Settings and head to Accessibility > Sound Recognition. Turn the feature on.

Credit: Justin Pot

From here you can toggle which sounds you want the phone to passively listen for. The default list includes alarms, pets, and various household sounds like a kettle boiling or a knock at the door. You can enable sounds and get a notification every time your iPhone "notices" the sound. You can also train your phone to recognize your specific appliances and alarms. The process, which is guided, means triggering the alarm multiple times so your phone can learn to recognize it.

As I mentioned before, you can also use this feature to trigger Apple Shortcuts. The only limit here is the shortcut you manage to build. You could, for example, keep track of how many times you boil a kettle of water every day, or how often the neighbor's dog barks. Or you could, like I did, just set your phone to talk to you every time a fairly common thing happens because you think that's funny.

To get started open the Shortcuts application on your phone and open the Automations tab. Scroll down to near the bottom and you'll see Sound Recognition. You can choose which sound triggers the automation and which shortcut you want to run.

Credit: Justin Pot

Note that you can add as many automations as you like, meaning you could trigger different shortcuts for different sounds. Use this new power wisely.

We've been telling you for some time not to buy iPads if you're the type of person who likes the latest tech, even if the iPad deals are tempting: If you managed to wait, the rumors about the new iPad were confirmed earlier this week during Apple's iPad event. The new 11th-generation iPad Pro will be the first Apple gadget to sport Apple's new M4 chip. You can get your preorders in now at Amazon, Best Buy, the Apple Store, and other retailers. Here are the best ones ready to ship your iPad starting May 15.

The iPad Pro starts at $999

iPad Pro 2024

Ultra Retina XDR Display, 256GB, Landscape 12MP Front Camera/12MP Back Camera, LiDAR Scanner, Wi-Fi

$998.98 at Apple.com

Pre-order Here

Pre-order Here

$998.98 at Apple.com

The iPad Pro has a new design, a new M4 chip, and an OLED display. You can choose between the 11- and 13-inch sizes that start at $999 and $1,299 for the 256 GB and wifi versions, respectively. The iPad Pro is Apple's thinnest product ever made at 0.2 inches thin for the 13-inch screen, according to their press release. iPads completely skipped over the M3 chip, going from the M2 straight to the M4, which is supposed to have a 50% faster CPU performance and up to four times faster GPU performance than the 10th generation iPad Pro's M2 chip. The new "Ultra Retina XDR" OLED screen can get up to 1,600 nits of brightness and claims to give rich, vivid colors and details.

• Best Buy: Best Buy offers the best preorder deal with $50 off for My Best Buy Plus Members, which costs $50 for a year of benefits. You can also get up to $600 off with eligible trade-ins. No matter which route you take, you will also get three months of Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple Fitness, Apple Arcade, and one month of the MLS season pass.

• Apple: If you're looking to trade in some old tech gadgets, Apple is offering up to $580 for eligible products.

• Amazon: Amazon has both the iPad Pro and iPad Air available, but it's offering no preorder deals, at least for now. They have done preorder deals in the past, so it wouldn't surprise me if they did come up with one before the May 15 launch date.

The iPad Air starts at $599

iPad Air 2024

Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M2): Liquid Retina Display, 128GB, Landscape 12MP Front Cam/12MP Back Cam.

$599.00 at Apple.com

Pre-order Here

Pre-order Here

$599.00 at Apple.com

The new 2024 iPad Air now comes in two sizes, the 11-inch model, which starts at $599 and the 13-inch model, which starts at $799. The iPad Air is upgraded to the M2 chip and 128 GB, with 256 GB, 516 GB, and 1 TB options available. The new chip gives it a faster CPU, GPU, and neural engine speed. Some new features on the iPad Air include split view screens, subject lift, and live text features.

• Best Buy: Best Buy offers the same three months of Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple Fitness, Apple Arcade, and one month of the MLS season pass, but no $50 discount for My Best Buy Plus Members. You can get up to $310 if you trade in eligible products though.

• Apple: Apple offers the same trade in deal as the iPad Pro of up to $580 for eligible products.

• Amazon: Like the iPad Pro, there is no preorder deal at the moment, but they might come out with one later.

Enlarge / The new M4 iPad Pro. (credit: Apple)

When Apple announced the Apple M4 chip during its iPad Pro event yesterday, it mentioned that the chip came with "up to" four high-performance CPU cores.

Those short, easily missable words always mean that there's a lower-end version of the chip coming that doesn't include that many CPU cores, and the tech specs page for the new iPad Pro has the full details: iPad Pros with 256GB or 512GB of storage use a version of the M4 with three high-performance CPU cores and six smaller efficiency cores. Only the models with 1TB and 2TB of storage have an M4 with all four high-performance CPU cores enabled.

The 256GB and 512GB models also ship with 8GB of RAM, where the 1TB and 2TB models come with 16GB of memory installed. Though these changes are clearly spelled out on the Tech Specs page, the actual configuration page for the iPad Pros in Apple's online store doesn't give any indication that upgrading storage also upgrades your CPU and RAM.

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Enlarge / Apple's latest iPad Air, now in two sizes. The Magic Keyboard accessory is the same one that you use with older iPad Airs and Pros, though they can use the new Apple Pencil Pro. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Apple has a new lineup of iPad Pro and Air models for the first time in well over a year. Most people would probably be hard-pressed to tell the new ones from the old ones just by looking at them, but after hands-on sessions with both sizes of both tablets, the small details (especially for the Pros) all add up to a noticeably refined iPad experience.

iPad Airs: Bigger is better

But let's begin with the new Airs since there's a bit less to talk about. The 11-inch iPad Air (technically the sixth-generation model) is mostly the same as the previous-generation A14 and M1 models, design-wise, with identical physical dimensions and weight. It's still the same slim-bezel design Apple introduced with the 2018 iPad Pro, just with a 60 Hz LCD display panel and Touch ID on the power button rather than Face ID.

So when Apple says the device has been "redesigned," the company is mainly referring to the fact that the webcam is now mounted on the long edge of the tablet rather than the short edge. This makes its positioning more laptop-y when it's docked to the Magic Keyboard or some other keyboard.

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Apple’s iPad announcements are usually quick, low key affairs: Update the screen, put the latest MacBook chip in the iPad Pro, throw in some skits for razzle dazzle, and call it a day. But today’s iPad event surprised everyone by revealing the next Apple Silicon chip: the M4.

In an unprecedented move, the iPad Pro is actually leaping ahead of the MacBook by getting the first crack at Apple’s newest in-house chip. While it’s not a straight ahead replacement for pro-level silicon like the M3 Ultra, the M4 coming to the iPad Pro first means it’s feasible your next iPad will be more powerful than your current MacBook Air (or 14-inch MacBook Pro for that matter).

This all has major implications for Apple's place in the ongoing big tech AI war, where it has historically lagged behind.

What’s different about Apple’s M4 chip?

The Apple M4 chip is, predictably, all about AI. While M-series chips have always had a neural engine (or NPU) built-in, the M4’s neural engine is getting a massive efficiency boost. It’s still just 16 cores, but Apple claims it can now run “38 trillion operations per second,” a purported sixty times speed improvement over the company’s first neural engine. By comparison, the M3’s neural engine topped out at 18 trillion operations per second.

“The neural engine in M4 is more powerful than any neural processing unit in any AI PC today,” said Tim Millet, VP of Apple’s Platform Architecture division.

That’s a big claim for a chip that’s debuting in a tablet, and one that may not be true for too much longer (more on that later). But the M4 is also improving in more traditional ways: In addition to its four performance cores, the M4 uses six efficiency cores, two more than on the M3. Its 10-core GPU is largely the same on paper as the M3’s, although Apple claims four times faster rendering performance than on the M2—a many fold increase over the claims it made with the M3.

Apple is also planning to continue leading the industry in power efficiency. “M4 can deliver the same performance as M2 using just half the power,” Millet claimed.

Rounding out these improvements is a new display engine, built largely to support the iPad Pro’s OLED screen. This engine will power the device’s 10Hz-120Hz dynamic refresh rate screen, plus aid in brightness and color compensation. Brightness is a typical pain point for OLED, and is something the iPad Pro is trying to fix with its new “tandem OLED” screen, which essentially stacks two OLED displays on top of each other. The display engine will also aid in keeping these screens in sync.

What does M4 mean for Apple AI?

All eyes are on Apple's forthcoming WWDC this June, where the company is finally expected to announce its AI competitor to the likes of ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The M4 chip debuting in a tablet first only lights a fire under these rumors.

With the launch of (and subsequent disappointment in) standalone AI devices like the Humane AI pin and Rabbit R1, it’s clear the market is aching for AI implementation that moves beyond novelty and actually integrates into your mobile operating system. Such an AI assistant could easily set appointments, change phone settings, send texts, and more. Google is expected to be the first to bat with such an AI at Google I/O next week, but the next month could easily see Apple’s mobile operating systems following suit. It’s unclear what the Cupertino developer has in store for iPhone, but when viewed in this light, it makes sense that M4 is coming to the iPad before the MacBook. Putting such a powerful neural engine in the iPad sets Apple's tablets up for success in what is likely to be the next big mobile OS battlefield.

Prior to WWDC, the neural engine in the M4 chip will continue to do what it always has–enable some fun magic tricks in Apple-developed programs. “It can do amazing things even faster,” Millet said. “Like easily isolate a subject from its background in 4K video with just a tap in Final Cut Pro.”

That's impressive, but I'm looking forward to finally seeing that kind of power applied to more robust ends. Until now, the M-series neural engine has come across as a bit of future-proofing, with most AI relegated to the cloud, rather than running locally. The M4 sets Apple up for the next stage of on-device AI.

When will the M4 chip come to the MacBook?

Apple’s M-series chips aren’t just for the iPad. More traditionally, they start off in MacBooks later before coming to the company’s iPads. While Apple doesn’t tend to announce new MacBooks until closer to the fall, the M4 debuting so early sets the groundwork for what the next generation of MacBooks will look like.

First, I'm calling it: Get ready for OLED MacBooks. OLED coming to MacBook has been hotly anticipated for years, as it is already a mature technology when it comes to PC laptops. With the M4 featuring a display engine built specifically to support OLED, there’s little doubt the next line of MacBooks will follow in the iPad Pro’s footsteps later this year.

OLED might even come to the MacBook Air, despite being reserved for the more expensive model of iPad, as the MacBook Pro tends to rely less on the base M-series chip and more on pro-level refreshes, which in this case would be the M4 Pro, M4 Ultra, and M4 Max. The new MacBooks will also likely integrate with whatever mobile-first AI initiatives Apple announces at WWDC. This would provide a quick way for the iPhone maker to establish a niche for itself that Google and Microsoft can’t, as it makes both full-fledged computers (sorry, Chromebooks) and smartphones.

What about AI on Windows?

Even as Apple is working to set the stage for a big AI showcase later this summer, it’s still going to have to play catchup. After Google I/O on May 14, Microsoft has told media that it will be holding a Surface AI event in Seattle on May 20. There, the company will share its “AI vision,” set to focus on Windows on Arm.

Sources “familiar with Microsoft’s plans” told The Verge in April that the company is confident its new Arm-powered Windows laptops will beat the M3 MacBook Air in CPU performance and AI tasks. Even with the M4 chip out now, that represents a significant threat for Apple—Arm is the same architecture powering Apple Silicon, and while it tends to lag behind Intel and AMD chips when it comes to power, it is usually far more efficient. If Microsoft can catch up to Apple on battery life without sacrificing much power, it will take away one of the few remaining hardware advantages MacBooks have over the much more diverse array of Windows machines, especially with M4 being limited to tablets until later this fall.

It remains to be seen just how much power we can expect from Microsoft's new Windows on ARM machines, which are reportedly powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite.