News on the sidelines week 20-26 August

Apple Watch 7 bigger size, iPhone 13 launch Friday, September 17th, fraudster sneaks thousands of iCloud photos, Samsung A21 burning on a plane, dedicated iCloud band, Face ID case, and other exciting news in the sidelines…

iPhone 13 price hike to compensate for increased chip production cost

Apple is said to be planning to increase the price of the iPhone 13 series as a way to offset the increased costs of producing chips from TSMC. According to the report, TSMC plans to increase the costs of producing the chips, affecting many customers, including Apple. It is rumored that TSMC is looking to increase its costs by up to 20% for what is known as "mature technology". The new changes are expected to take effect in January.

Apple plans to develop a program to improve supply chain security

Tim Cook attended a cybersecurity meeting with US President Joe Biden and executives from other technology companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon. Across its technology supply chain, it will work with suppliers to adopt multifactor authentication, security training and incident response in an effort to improve security.

Google plans to invest $10 billion over five years to enhance cybersecurity as well, and plans to train 20 Americans in technical fields through its Employment Certificate Program. Microsoft has pledged $150 billion over five years to provide more advanced security tools and will invest $XNUMX million to help government agencies upgrade their security systems. And so are the rest of the companies, each made his own opinion in this matter.

An investigation reveals major weaknesses in the child safety measures in the Apple App Store

In a new report by a group of investigators, major weaknesses were revealed in the child safety measures in the Apple App Store that allow minors to easily access adult content such as pornography and gambling, and the group of investigators said that it created the Apple ID of a fake 14-year-old user and used it to download and test 75 apps in the Apple App Store are geared towards adults, such as dating, online chatting, casino, and gambling. Although all of these apps are rated as 17+ in the App Store, the investigation found that an underage user can easily evade the age restrictions of the apps.

Among the results shown were a dating app that displayed pornographic material before asking the user's age, chat apps for adults with explicit photos that did not ask the user's age, and a gambling app that allowed minors to deposit and withdraw money. The investigation also identified flaws in Apple's broader approach to children's safety, and that it was not taking clear steps to prevent it.

In response, Apple said the App Store has proven to be a safe and reliable place to discover and download apps for more than a decade, adding that parental control features built into iOS and iPadOS allow parents to choose which apps kids can use. Downloads, how long they can spend each day on certain apps and websites, and making sure that kids can only buy or download apps that are right for them.

 iPhone 13 may feature advanced Face ID technology that works with masks and fog glasses

Apple is currently testing devices with new Face ID that could allow users to unlock the iPhone while wearing a mask or foggy glasses, according to Jon Prosser, who explained that Apple is testing more advanced Face ID devices with a case that fits snugly on the iPhone. iPhone 12 and later.

Prosser believes this prototype matches the exact design shown in the CAD files of the iPhone 13 earlier this year. It appears that this external Face ID device was required due to the extensive tests that were carried out to collect as much data as possible.

It is not clear if this improved Face ID will arrive with the iPhone 13 or a future iPhone model.

The new custom email domain feature for iCloud + is now in beta

Beginning with iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey, users with a paid iCloud + storage plan can customize their iCloud email address with a custom domain name, such as [email protected], without using the icloud.com domain and the feature is now available in beta.

iCloud + subscribers interested in setting up a custom email domain can visit the beta.icloud.com, and select “Account Settings” under their name, then “Manage” under “Custom email domain.” Users can send and receive email with up to five custom domains, while family members can have up to three email addresses per domain.

After entering a custom domain on the iCloud website, users can add email addresses they currently use with the domain. Users can also create new email addresses after they're done setting up the domain with iCloud, according to Apple. Note that any custom email addresses must not be used with someone else's Apple ID.

The iPhone serves as a gateway to sales of the iPad and Apple Watch more than anything else

The iPhone has failed to act as a gateway product for Mac, Apple TV and HomePods for more than 50% of iPhone users, while iPads, Apple Watches and AirPods have seen better popularity among iPhone owners, according to recently collected data. .

The study highlighted the disparity between PCs and tablets for most iPhone owners. While almost all iPhone users have a computer, only 41% of those users have a Mac, with a Windows device in the majority. On the other hand, 84% of iPhone users own an iPad.

The Apple Watch and AirPods have also been very popular with iPhone owners, three-quarters of whom own an Apple Watch. Similarly, 40% have wireless earbuds, and more than half have AirPods.

For Apple TVs and HomePods, 69% of iPhone owners have a streaming TV device, such as Google Chromecast, Roku and Amazon Fire TV, and only a quarter of these devices are Apple TV. Similarly, among the 45% who have a smart speaker, only 21% have a HomePod.

In general, while Apple has succeeded in selling mobile devices to current iPhone owners, including the iPad, AirPods and the watch.

The report based its findings on a survey of nearly 900 Apple customers in the United States who purchased an iPhone in the past year.

Samsung A21 phone catches fire on a plane

An Alaska Airlines flight was evacuated Monday night after a Samsung Galaxy A21 phone caught fire.

The crew put out the fire, but the smoke forced the passengers to evacuate. The good thing is that the phone didn't burn until after the plane landed at Seattle-Tacoma, and there were no injuries. This brought to mind what happened to the Note 7 phone, which was withdrawn from the market and banned in the airports of several countries.

A scammer hacks into thousands of iCloud accounts to find nude photos

A Los Angeles criminal named Che has pleaded guilty to criminal offenses after breaking into thousands of iCloud accounts to track photos of naked women, he says. He collected more than 620 private photos and videos by impersonating Apple customer support staff and sending emails to trick his victims into providing Apple accounts. and passwords, and did not violate iCloud protection itself.

Che accessed photos and videos of at least 306 victims across the United States, most of whom were girls.

The scam was discovered after he hacked the iCloud account of an unnamed public figure in March 2018 and posted his photos on porn sites. The FBI launched an extensive investigation, and found that the login to the victim's ‌iCloud‌ account came from Che's home.

Che pleaded guilty and now faces up to five years in prison for each crime.

Apple is already scanning iCloud messages for CSAM

Apple has confirmed that it is already scanning iCloud Mail for CSAM child pornography, and the company has been doing so since 2019. An archived copy of Apple's Child Safety Page indicated that Apple uses image matching technology to help find cases of child exploitation. and report it.

Several privacy advocates and security researchers have opposed Apple's plan to scan user photos and messages.

Pegasus virus hacked iOS 14.6 and Apple Blastdoor firewall

Security researchers discovered that the iOS 14.6 update that Apple released months ago under the banner BlastDoor or Locked Door, which aims to protect the user from a vulnerability used by NSO and the famous spyware Pegasus, did not protect anything mentioned, as the hacker team was able to bypass it easily and the report did not make sure that the security update iOS 14.7.1 was able to close the loophole that the Zionist team found in iOS 14.6 or not, but it became confirmed that the 14.6 update did not prevent Pegasus from entering the iPhone.

Miscellaneous news

◉ Apple has released the seventh beta of iOS and iPadOS 15, as well as the seventh beta of watchOS 8, and the seventh beta of tvOS 15 for developers.

◉ Facebook has announced upcoming updates to Facebook Messenger as the app and service celebrate their XNUMXth birthday. New features include new gameplay, stronger integration with Facebook Pay, messaging effects, and more.

◉ Google has launched picture-in-picture support as a beta feature for premium YouTube subscribers, allowing them to view the video in a small floating window when the app is closed.

◉ Apple may be planning to release iPhone 13 on Friday, September 17, and third-generation AirPods on Thursday, September 30, according to an image of an e-commerce app discovered by Chinese-language website IT Home.

◉ T-Mobile was named the fastest mobile network in the US in 2021, according to testing by PCMag.

◉ In a new rumor, the Apple Watch 7 will come in larger sizes 41mm and 45mm, replacing the current 40mm and 44mm options offered since the Apple Watch 4.

◉ Facebook is re-adding voice and video calling features to the main Facebook app after moving the features to Messenger back in 2014, so users in some countries including the US can now make voice or video calls directly from the Facebook app. As of now, Facebook is testing the feature, which aims to reduce the number of times users need to switch to the Messenger app.

◉ A number of Apple employees launched a campaign under the AppleToo slogan, complaining about racist harassment and harassment within the company. This campaign is part of a famous American campaign called MeToo to combat harassment.

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