iMessage Spam Exploit Rears Its Ugly Head

Apple’s iMessage system is being exploited by a supposed AppleScript that has the potential to flood up a user’s account and crash the service. A report by The Next Web says the denial of service lock up is being targeted at a group of small developers right now, but paints a larger potential to reach a wider userbase.

Right now, the incident seems confined to the jailbreak community (any device, jailbroken or otherwise, can be a target). The AppleScript, as demonstrated by app developer iH8sn0w, is capable of flooding a person’s iMessage account so severely that the app could crash. Or, at the very least, messages could come so frequently that it would make the experience very limited because of the amount of notifications.

“What’s happening is a simple flood: Apple doesn’t seem to limit how fast messages can be sent, so the attacker is able to send thousands of messages very quickly,” said iOS developer Grant Paul. Paul also explains that users can send complex message using unicode characters to crash the app to crash and unable to reopen.

While this issue is so far only confined to a small number of users, the potential to be used more widely is there. Right now, there’s no way to block a specific iMessage sender, so if someone knows your account info, you’re open to attack. Of course, you can disable your iMessage number and handle, but that’s not exactly the solution people will be ok with in the long run.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Apple “iRadio” Service Reportedly Launching this Summer

Apple will reportedly launch its own music service, possibly dubbed “iRadio,” later this summer sources speaking to The Verge said Friday. Apple has struggled to get music labels on board with its alleged plans to launch either a subscription music service or a radio service similar to Pandora, but apparently it has made headwinds with Warner and Universal, two companies who had previously been wary of such a service from Apple.

“iRadio is coming,” one source told The Verge. “There’s no doubt about it anymore.” Depending on the rates Apple earns, potential competitors such as Pandora could take a huge hit. We imagine that the product will be announced when the iPhone 5S is unveiled in June, although it’s possible that Apple will hold a separate event for it.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Apple launching marketing campaign for Final Cut Pro X

The LA Times is reporting that Apple, stinging from criticism from professional users that the 2011 redesign of Final Cut Pro X (US$299.99) had made it a "cheap product aimed at consumers," is launching an online marketing campaign today to try to win back professional video editors who may have switched to competitive software.

The start of the campaign is timed to begin getting the word out prior to the start of the National Association of Broadcasters convention on April 6. Apple's campaign features Final Cut Pro X users like Julian Liurette of the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper, who was skeptical of the app and waited a year before trying the new version. Liurette liked the new version so much that he's moved the newspaper's video operations from the old version to Final Cut Pro X. According to Liurette, "It's better on all fronts. Its interface is 100 times more interesting. And it's much, much faster."

Apple hopes to change the mindset of people like Harry Miller, head of the American Cinema Editors' technology committee, who said "Personally, I'm still suspicious of Apple...I don't want to invest money in any of their hardware or software when the might drop features in new versions."

To do so, three stories will be posted on the website today including that of Julian Liurette. Also expected to tout the features and speed of Final Cut Pro X are Tsui Hark, a big name in Hong Kong cinema circles, and Azteca Telenovela editor Jonathan Contreras. The latter pro says that "For a TV editor, speed is everything. And Final Cut Pro X is faster than any other editing application I've used."

The campaign has begun, and the videos are viewable on the Final Cut "In Action" web page.

[Source: TUAW]

Apple Working on 4K 'Ultra HD' Television Set for Late 2013 or Early 2014 Launch?

Apple's rumored television set project has a long history of claims from various sources, and while the "iWatch" has taken on a more prominent place in the rumor mill in recent months, an Apple television continues to be on the radar of a number of industry watchers. 

Digitimes now reports on word from unidentified supply chain sources that Apple is working on an "Ultra HD" or "4K" television set that would carry a resolution of 3840 x 2160. The report claims that Apple's Internet-connected television set will support voice and motion control and is targeted for launch late this year or, perhaps more likely, early next year.

The sources said that Apple and Foxconn Electronics have been in discussions for quite some time in terms of the TV's mass production schedule, but that Apple has been considering where panel supply for the TV will come from, as Ultra HD TV panel makers, most of whom are based in Taiwan, are expected to be producing at nearly full capacity in 2013 in order to meet demand from China-based TV vendors. 

Additionally, other panel makers in Apple's supply chain that may have the ability to produce Ultra HD TV panels are expected to allocate most of their panel production to the company's iPhone, iPad and iPad mini products instead, as ultra-mobile devices are expected to be popular in the market during 2013, the sources noted.

Pricing is a major issue on the first Ultra HD televisions announced so far, with price tags generally starting around $20,000, although Westinghouse is planning to launch a line of"budget" Ultra UD televisions this year starting at $2500 for a 50-inch model. Additional equipment will, however, be needed to take full advantage of the 4K capabilities.

But unlike Sony and LG, Westinghouse’s models will be barebones displays with no on-board Smart TV features and no elaborate 4K up-conversion video processing technology. 

Instead, [Westinghouse senior vice president of marketing Rey] Roque said, Westinghouse expects viewers to use the 4K video processing converters that come built into select Blu-ray Disc players, A/V receivers and other devices to handle that load. To present pictures from regular sources, the sets will have only simple 4K up-scaling circuitry and 120Hz refresh rates.

The most recent Apple television set rumor from a mainstream news source came last December when The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple and Foxconn have beentesting prototypes, but a source noted that the effort was still in the early stages and wasn't yet a "formal project" for Apple.

[Source: MacRumors]

Apple.com world's 8th most popular website in new ComScore ranking

For 2012, Apple's website was ranked as the world's 11th most popular. However, that ranking did not take mobile access into account -- just desktop access. Now web analytics firm ComScore has added mobile visitors and viewers to their count, pushing Apple up to the number 8 spot on the MMX Multi-Platform Top 50 Properties list.

The first five sites on the list are not surprising, with Google sites taking the lead followed by Yahoo!, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon. Sites run by TUAW parent company AOL are in the 6th spot, followed by Glam Media and finally Apple. Rounding out the top 10 are Wikimedia sites and CBS Interactive.

Apple's total "digital population" on the ComScore list is counted as 115,920,000 unique visitors/viewers, about half that of list leader Google's count. Not surprisingly, Apple's mobile audience viewed as an incremental percentage to the desktop numbers was 54 percent, indicating a strong mobile presence on the web.

[Source: TUAW]

New 'in-app purchases' warning on iTunes, after furore

Remember that family whose son racked up £1,700 worth of in-app purchases in 10 minutes on his dad's iPad? Apple is taking steps to ensure that kind of thing doesn't happen again, by introducing a warning on iTunes for apps that encourage you to spend once you've downloaded, the Guardianreports.

Any such app now bears the warning "Offers In-App Purchases", as you can see from theTemple Run 2 icon here. But is it enough?

Initially, the warning only appeared on the desktop version of iTunes, so if you were browsing on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, it didn't show up. It was quickly extended to mobile devices, however, and a good thing too -- more than two thirds of iTunes downloads go directly to iOS devices.

The Cupertino company has been in hot water recently over in-app purchases (or freemium apps). As well as reimbursing the family whose five-year-old spent £1,700 on Zombies vs Ninja, Apple has settled a US lawsuit concerning similar cases, agreeing to shell out £66 million in refunds to disgruntled parents.

Apple has said it's up to parents to familiarise themselves with the parental controls on its devices, which you can do here. Parents can turn off in-app purchases in the settings.

I think a large burden falls on the parents to monitor what their kids are up to on their devices, but obviously this isn't possible at all times. Apple should get tighter on what's allowed to be sold in-app. Virtual items costing £70 a pop, in a game suitable for nine-year-olds, for example, seems frankly ridiculous to me.

And it's not just apps on iTunes that let you rack up a huge bill either -- Android's app emporium isn't completely innocent either.

[Source: CNET]

Apple Acquires Indoor Mapping Startup WiFiSlam for $20 Million

It appears that Apple is looking to improve its Maps product with its latest acquisition, WiFiSlam.

Over the weekend The Wall Street Journal confirmed that Apple had acquired the two-year-old startup WiFiSlam for $20 million. The startup developed a method by which phones can detect where a user is inside a building by using Wi-Fi signals. The company has been in the process of offering up the technology to retail and social networking developers for some time now.

Google has been developing its own version of this technology for some time now, although it has been restricted to locations such as malls, stadiums and airports. Apple has not confirmed what it plans to do with WiFiSlam as of yet, but considering that the company replaced Google Maps with its own mapping app last year – much to the chagrin of users – it is probably a safe bet that this is eventually destined for the company’s own product.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

iTunes is more than earning its keep

As writer John Paczkowski notes in an AllThingsD article today, iTunes was originally "conceived as a low-margin 'break-even' operation intended to drive hardware sales" -- in particular sales of iPods. Now that the iTunes Store is used to sell more than just songs and videos, it's turning into a "significant profit center for the company".

Paczkowski was commenting on numbers from Asymco analyst Horace Dediu, who notes that now that Apple has folded its in-house software group into iTunes, Apple software is having "significant implications for iTunes margins." The software, including items like iWork, iLife, Final Cut Pro, Aperture and more, has much higher profit margins than traditional iTunes items like music, books, video, and apps.

Dediu deduced that Apple sold about US$3.6 billion worth of its software products in 2012, and that profit margins for software is usually about 50 percent. If that's the case for Apple -- and Dediu is usually correct in his assumptions -- then iTunes is generating operating margins of about 15 percent on gross revenue. That's about $2 billion in profit for 2012, or as Paczkowski so eloquently put it, one "hell of a way to break even."

[Source: TUAW]

Apple is Aware of Apple ID Exploit, is Working on a Fix

Soon after word hit about the unbelievably easy Apple ID exploit, Apple has responded by saying it’s already working on a fix. As it should be. If it’s not happening on the mobile side, issues are springing up elsewhere.

In a statement to The Verge, the company lamented the glaring issue and said it takescustomer privacy very seriously. Let’s hope Apple can tie this one up quick, too. All someone needs to take control of someone else’s Apple ID is their email and date of birth—you can get that kind of information on Facebook very easily.

As of now, Apple has taken down its iForgot password reset tool as a temporary solution. That might be an acceptable short-term fix, but in the long run, let’s hope Apple develops a stricter protocol when reseting a password. Apple IDs are the key to Apple’s content kingdom; if user IDs start running rampant, who knows what kind of backlash the company will face.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Apple adds two-factor authentication to your Apple ID

Apple is beefing up the security of its Apple ID by adding two-factor authentication to the account login process. Customers concerned about unauthorized access to their Apple ID can login to their account at Apple'sMy Apple ID webpage and turn on the feature as described below

1. Go to My Apple ID (appleid.apple.com)
2. Click the "Manage your Apple ID" button to login to your Apple ID
3. Enter your Apple ID and password and click "Sign In"
4. Select "Password and Security" in the left-hand column
5. Type in the answers to your account security questions if you are prompted to answer them.
6. You will see Two-Step Verification at the top of the page. Click on "Get Started" and follow the on-screen instructions.

If you have two-factor verification enabled, you will be required to enter both your password and a 4-digit code to verify your identity. According to Apple's support page, you will need this information whenever you sign in to My Apple ID to manage your account, make an iTunes / App Store / iBookstore purchase from a new device or get Apple ID-related support from Apple. You can read more about the security feature on Apple's support website, and check out Glenn Fleishman's thorough pros and cons rundown on TidBITS.

[Source: TUAW]

iPhone 5S Home Button, Flex Cables Leaked

We typically begin to see hardware parts leak before the launch of any major product, and now we’re getting a glimpse of what are allegedly the home button, flex cable and internal vibrator for the iPhone 5S, thanks to a leak from a Japanese vendor.

As MacRumors notes, the odd part about this leak is that the home button looks similar to theiPhone 5 save for the positioning and size of the flex cable, which means we’re not looking at the a home button with the rumored fingerprint scanner. Either these aren’t for the iPhone 5S, or the fingerprint reader rumors aren’t true, or it’s built-in to that part and we just can’t see it.

The vibrating mechanism was also leaked. This part is what vibrates the phone when you put it on silent, and it looks similar to the part on the iPhone 5, again reiterating the idea that the iPhone 5S probably won’t offer much in the way of a major industrial design change.

We suspect these are the first of many parts to leak, so stay tuned for more in the coming weeks and months.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Apple In Trouble with EU Commission Over Warranty Coverage

Apparently Australia isn’t the only market where Apple fails to properly inform consumers of extended warranties beyond the company’s standard one year coverage. The European Union also has rights that protect consumers under a two-year warranty.

Tuesday, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding discussed a review of 27 EU states on whether Apple has properly advised buyer’s coverage rights, explicitly, the extension of two-year coverage under EU laws.

Most Apple consumers are likely familiar with the up-sell of Apple Care products when purchasing new Apple goods, however in some nations the standard warranty for specified classes of goods are automatically covered in extended warranty coverage. In the EU, that coverage extends to two years. Apple has been accused of not properly informing consumers that they have this coverage and employees have apparently been pushing Apple Care services without informing customers they already have two years without additional cost. Regarding practices in Europe, Reding said Apple’s approach is “simply not good enough.”

Apple has already faced fines and additional action in Italy, where employees failed to properly inform consumers of their product warranty protection, and instead were pushing Apple Care services. Apple ended up remedying the matter by simply pulling Apple Care off the shelves in Italy.

As of yet, no statement or reaction from Apple has been issued.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]