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Submission + - Apple's Brain Drain In Post-iPhone Era Proves It Can Handle Executive Turnover (bgr.com)

Submitted by anderzole
anderzole writes: In light of the executive and employee turnover Apple, many analysts and armchair pundits online have begun asking if Apple is losing its magic. The departures, along with rumors of Cook stepping down, have naturally sparked questions about stability within the company, not to mention Apple's ability to keep churning out and developing best-selling products in the years ahead. This speculation is understandable, but Apple is structured in a way such that it can survive any number of key executive departures. This isn't a theory, but rather something that Apple already proved a little more than a decade ago in the years following the release of the iPhone.

If anything, the brain drain following the iPhone release was far more significant than what Apple is experiencing right now. Still, Apple is set up in such a way that it can survive any one person leaving, no matter how important.

Submission + - How Google is using the law to stop text message scams (bgr.com)

Submitted by anderzole
anderzole writes: Google this week filed a lawsuit against a large scam text operator responsible. Google's legal action is comprehensive and is intent on completely dismantling Lighthouse's operations. The search giant is bringing claims under RICO, the Lanham Act, and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

Submission + - NTP Solicits Donations 2

Submitted by ewhac
ewhac writes: Coming on the heels of FFmpeg having to cope with slop bug reports from Google (without attendant fixes), the Network Time Foundation, the stewards of the Network Time Protocol (NTP) and reference software implementation that keeps billions of computers' internal clocks set to the correct date and time, is having a donation drive. Depending on which page you look at (ntp.org or nwtime.org), the Foundation's goal is to raise a king's ransom of... $11,000.00. Yes, eleven thousand dollars.

Submission + - Steve Jobs wanted the first iPhone to have a permanent back button like Android (bgr.com)

Submitted by anderzole
anderzole writes: Brian Merchant’s new book, The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone, provides a captivating and intriguing look at how the most revolutionary product of our time was designed and developed. Through a series of interviews with Apple engineers and designers who played an integral role in the iPhone’s creation and development, Merchant maps out how the iPhone came to be after more than two years of non-stop work at breakneck speed.

One of the more interesting revelations from the book is that the iPhone design Apple unveiled in January of 2007 might have looked vastly different if Steve Jobs had his way. According to Imran Chaudhri, a veteran Apple designer who spent 19 years working on Apple’s elite Human Interface Team, Steve Jobs wanted the original iPhone to have a back button in addition to a home button. Believe it or not, the original iPhone could have very well looked like a modern-day Android device.

"The touch-based phone, which was originally supposed to be nothing but screen, was going to need at least one button," Merchant writes. "We all know it well today – the Home button. But Steve Jobs wanted it to have two; he felt they’d need a back button for navigation. Chaudhri argued that it was all about generating trust and predictability. One button that does the same thing every time you press it: it shows you your stuff."

"Again, that came down to a trust issue,” Chaudhri explaind, “that people could trust the device to do what they wanted it to do. Part of the problem with other phones was the features were buried in menus, they were too complex.” A back button could complicate matters too, he told Jobs.

“I won that argument,” Chaudhri says.”

Submission + - Once mocked, Facebook's $1 billion acquisition of Instagram was genius (bgr.com)

Submitted by anderzole
anderzole writes: In 2012, Facebook shocked the tech world when it acquired Instagram for $1 billion. At the time, the acquisition raised quite a few eyebrows, along with many more questions than answers. Not only did people wonder how Instagram would fit into Facebook’s existing business, many also questioned if Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had lost his mind by outlaying $1 billion for a company that, at the time, had no revenue.

Nearly five years later, Facebook’s Instagram acquisition not only looks like a bargain, but a full-fledged stroke of genius. Today Instagram still shows no signs of slowing down, Instagram’s active user base jumped from 500 to 600 million in just the last 6 months alone, marking its “fastest growth rate ever.” Incredibly, Facebook saw the longterm potential and impact of Instagram and managed to swoop in and acquire the company long before its user base began to accelerate wildly.

From an economic standpoint, Instagram is already paying dividends via highly targeted and lucrative ads. During the first quarter of 2016, for example, it was estimated that revenue from Instagram checked in at $572.5 million and accounted for 10% of Facebook’s overall revenue. In fact, analysts at Credit Suisse believe that Instagram will have delivered $3.2 billion in revenue for Facebook by the time 2016 comes to a close. That’s not bad for a $1 billion acquisition that Facebook is still in the relatively early stages of monetizing.

Submission + - Tesla shocks Wall St. with huge earnings surprise and actual profits (bgr.com)

Submitted by anderzole
anderzole writes: Tesla on Wednesday posted its earnings report for the quarter gone by and investors will have a lot to cheer about. While analysts on Wall St. were expecting Tesla to post a loss, Tesla during its September quarter actually posted a profit, and an impressive profit at that. When the dust settled, Tesla posted a quarterly profit of $22 million and EPS of $0.71. Revenue for the quarter checked in at $2.3 billion.

Illustrating how impressive Tesla’s performance was this past quarter, Wall St. was anticipating Tesla to post a loss amid $1.9 billion in revenue for the quarter.

Submission + - Tesla admits defeat, quietly settles Model X lawsuit over usability problems (bgr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: We can talk about how innovative Tesla is for days on end. Indeed, there’s no disputing the fact that the company, in injecting a bit of Silicon Valley ingenuity into the tried and true auto design process, has completely turned the auto industry on its head. At the same time, Tesla helped kickstarted the EV revolution, even causing traditional automakers like Porsche and BMW to start taking electric cars more seriously.

But in Tesla’s zeal to move extraordinarily quickly, problems have inevitably begun to creep in. Specifically, quality control issues still seem to be plaguing the Model X.

According to a recent report, avowed Tesla fan named Barrett Lyon recently returned his Model X and filed a lawsuit against Tesla arguing that the Model X was “rushed” and released before it was ready for sale.

Now comes word that Tesla has since quietly settled the lawsuit.

Submission + - Mugger arrested after victim spots him on Facebook's 'people you may know' (bgr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In a somewhat bizarre story which proves that truth is often stranger than fiction, a serial mugger in England was arrested after one of his victims spotted him under Facebook’s “People you may know” section.

Originally reported by the BBC, 21-year old Omar Famuyide had a long history of theft, muggings and armed robberies to his name. Not too long ago, Famuyide brandished a knife and stole a car. Flash forward a bit, and the victim of said car robbery was recently shocked to see Famuyide’s face pop up as a suggested friend he might want to add on Facebook.

The victim promptly called the police who quickly managed to tie him to a large number of other violent crimes. By the time the dust settled and the full extent of Famyide’s criminal rampage was revealed, Famuyide was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Some of the charges levied against him included robbery, attempted robbery, and possession of a firearm.

Submission + - Tim Cook defends Apple, teases exciting new products in the pipeline (bgr.com)

Submitted by anderzole
anderzole writes: Apple’s earnings report last week saw the company report a year over year decline in profits for the first time since 2003. The biggest contributing factor to the decline, not surprisingly, is that year over year iPhone sales dropped by 16%. Notably, Apple’s most recent quarter represents the company’s first iPhone sales decline in history.

Consequently, the usual contingent of pundits and analysts have come out of the woodwork, all exclaiming that we’ve reached ‘peak iPhone’ and that Apple at this point has nowhere to go but down. In an effort to inject a bit of good news and all-around optimism to a particularly negative Apple news cycle, Tim Cook earlier today appeared on CNBC with Jim Cramer where the Apple CEO teased that Apple’s still has a lot of innovation left to do and some interesting items in the product pipeline.

“We’ve got great innovation in the pipeline,” Cook said to Cramer. “New iPhones that will incentivize you and other people that have iPhones today to upgrade to new iPhones. We are going to give you things you can’t live without that you just don’t know you need today. That has always been the objective of Apple is to do things that really enrich people’s lives. That you look back on and you wonder, how did I live without this.”

Submission + - iPhone in 2017 may sport curved glass and AMOLED display (bgr.com)

Submitted by anderzole
anderzole writes: With calls for Apple’s upcoming iPhone models to be “spectacular”, it appears that pundits and those who have been quick to proclaim that we’ve reached ‘peak iPhone’ have nothing to worry about. While we’ll know what type of wild new features the iPhone 7 will incorporate in just about three months, a new report from reputed analyst Ming-Chi Kuo provides us with some interesting insight as to what Apple has planned for 2017 when it releases what will presumably be called the iPhone 7s.

According to a research note Kuo provided to investors, Apple is busy working on an iPhone model with curved pieces of glass and an AMOLED display. What’s more, the report relays that Apple also has plans to shake up its iPhone lineup with a model sporting a 5.8-inch display. Further, Kuo believes that the bezels on the iPhone 7s will be smaller than they are on Apple’s current iPhone lineup.

Submission + - Godfather of encryption explains why Apple should help the FBI (bgr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Famed cryptographer and Turing Award winner Adi Shamir has an interesting if not surprising take on Apple’s current legal tussle with the FBI. While speaking on a panel at RSA Conference 2016 earlier this week, the man who helped co-invent the vaunted RSA algorithm (he’s the ‘S’ in RSA) explained why he sides with the FBI as it pertains to the San Bernardino shooter’s locked iPhone.

It has nothing to do with placing trapdoors on millions of phones around the world,” Shamir explained. “This is a case where it’s clear those people are guilty. They are dead; their constitutional rights are not involved. This is a major crime where 14 people were killed. The phone is intact. All of this aligns in favor of the FBI.”

“Even though Apple has helped in countless cases,” Shamir continued, “they decided not to comply this time. My advice is that they comply this time and wait for a better test case to fight where the case is not so clearly in favor of the FBI.”

Fair points, but the problem here, as Apple has argued time and time again, is that this case doesn’t just involve one iPhone. If the FBI gets its way, Apple argues that there’s nothing to stop the FBI or other law enforcement agencies from requesting that Apple develop all sorts of specialized software designed for particular surveillance purposes.

Submission + - Samsung's latest smart fridge has cameras and a huge display (engadget.com) 2

Submitted by anderzole
anderzole writes: One of the highlights of CES is always the wacky new appliance tech (and associated bickering) from Samsung and LG. This year looks to be no exception thanks to a new "Family Hub" refrigerator from Samsung. The imposing-looking model is equipped with a 21.5-inch, 1080p monitor and cameras inside so that you can watch your mayonnaise go bad in real time. You can even check the contents remotely via a smartphone app to see what's in there while you're shopping, in case you forgot whether you need that jar of sweet pickles or not.

Submission + - FDA approves software for iPhone-based vision test (tuaw.com)

Submitted by anderzole
anderzole writes: The FDA recently gave clearance to Vital Art and Science Inc. (VAS) to market software which enables people with degenerative eye conditions such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy to monitor their vision at home with their iPhone. The software, which is called myVisionTrack, isn't a replacement for regular visits to the doctor, but rather allows patients to keep tabs on their vision in between visits with eye care professionals.

VAS notes that retinal diseases affect approximately 40 million individuals worldwide and 13 million in the United States. While treatments have been developed to deal with degenerative eye conditions, early diagnosis is of paramount importance — which is why the software is so important.

Submission + - German Court finds Apple's 'slide to unlock' patent invalid (tuaw.com)

Submitted by anderzole
anderzole writes: Germany's Federal Patent Court on Thursday invalidated all of Apple's claims for its slide to unlock patent.

They death blow for Apple's slide to unlock patent was likely a Swedish phone called the Neonode N1m that launched well before the iPhone and featured its own slide to unlock implementation. The N1m was released in 2005 while Apple's own patent for slide to unlock wasn't filed until December of 2005.
Security

Submission + - MIT crypto experts win 2012 Turing Award ("Nobel Prize in Computing") (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: A pair of MIT professors and security researchers whose work paved the way for modern cryptography have been named winners of the 2012 A.M. Turing Award, also known as the “Nobel Prize in Computing.” Shafi Goldwasser, the RSA Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and Silvio Micali, the MIT Ford Professor of Engineering, are recipients of the award, which will be formerly presented by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) http://amturing.acm.org/byyear.cfm on June 15 in San Francisco. According to the ACM: “By formalizing the concept that cryptographic security had to be computational rather than absolute, they created mathematical structures that turned cryptography from an art into a science." Goldwasser and Micali will split a $250K prize.

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