Apple published a rare public comment discussing “Apple?s Commitment to Customer Privacy” in the wake of reports on the United States’ “Prism” surveillance program.
So Apple gets permission to reveal how many government requests it gets and what it does. Not too suprising
But the interesting thing in their response is this:
For example, conversations which take place over iMessage and FaceTime are protected by end-to-end encryption so no one but the sender and receiver can see or read them. Apple cannot decrypt that data.
Doesn’t this sound very different today than it did a few months ago?
”iMessages between two Apple devices are considered encrypted communication and cannot be intercepted, regardless of the cell phone service provider.”
If you have been using iMessages or Facetime, the Feds can only see you have sent them, not what is inside.
So I guess they can get meta-data of a sort but none of the actual information. As I said, encryption should be used by every teleco. Why in the world are our emails sent in the open (with the passwords) without high level encryption?
I htink this is why they are so upset about this going mainstream.
I wonder when we will see the first ads from Apple stating that iMessages are safe from government intrusion?
One of my favorite patterns in our industry is when the old and established are wiped out by disruption, irrelevance, or changing fashions. Like a forest fire, clearing out the old is very destructive and shouldn’t be taken lightly. But what’s left behind is a clean slate and immense opportunity.
I don’t think we’ve ever had such an opportunity en masse on iOS. After what we saw of iOS 7 yesterday, I believe this fall, we’ll get our chance.
The App Store is crowded: almost every common app type is well-served by at least one or two dominant players. They’ve been able to keep their leads by evolving alongside iOS: when the OS would add a new API or icon size, developers could just add them incrementally and be done with it. Established players only became more established.
iOS 7 is different. It isn’t just a new skin: it introduces entirely new navigational and structural standards far beyond the extent of any previous UI changes. Existing apps can support iOS 7 fairly easily without looking broken, but they’ll look and feel ancient. Their developers are in a tough position:
Most can’t afford to drop support for iOS 6 yet. (Many apps still need to support iOS 5. Some unlucky souls even need to support 4.3.) So they need to design for backwards compatibility, which will be extremely limiting in iOS 7.
Most can’t afford to write two separate interfaces. (It’s a terrible idea anyway.)
Most have established features or designs that won’t fit well into a good iOS 7 design and will need to be redesigned or removed, which many existing customers (or the developers themselves) will resist.
One of the times when it might be easier to start up a new app than convert an old one. If you don’t have a business model that can deal with this, you will be in trouble.
We attract a different type of person‐‑a person who doesn’t want to wait five or ten years to have someone take a giant risk on him or her. Someone who really wants to get in a little over his head and make a little dent in the universe.
Jobs certainly did make a dent in the universe. And Apple deserves some credit for making it possible for just regular people to make their own dents in the universe.
Sure this is a marketing video but is one of the best filmed, edited and paced ones I have ever seen. I want to see a TV show which just examines the worldwide effects of mobile apps.
Not a single Apple employee is identified in the video. It focusses on people, working in the places they live around the world from Africa to the Arctic.
It also shows just how different the world is today than 5 or even 3 years ago. Things are getting so much better in so many bottom-up ways that have a hard time getting the attention that top-down “The End is Near” approaches clammer for.
While Apple’s devices are featured here, there is so much more, so many instances of what people can do with technology The health official riding an easily maintained motorcycle whose mobile app help provides medical care, the parathlete with state-of the art prosthetics controlled by an app so she can row and wear high heels, the Inuit woman working to save the language of her people by speaking into a portable super-computer, the 10-year old disabled child who ‘spoke’ for the first time on the day he got a tablet,
I dare anyone whose heart still beats to make ti through this video and not be joyful at what people have done. The ability to craft solutions that fit their personal needs is a hallmark of the current age.
Instead of mass-marketed tools, they can have personalized ones. We would have gotten here eventually but Apple, with its disruption of the mobile market and the creation of the app economy, deserves credit.
We can now all make our own dents in the universe.
The US International Trade Commission’s Office of Unfair Import Investigations (OUII) has recommended an import ban against Samsung’s Android devices infringing upon four Apple patents, rejecting contradictory, flawed arguments by Google.
Wow. Google’s lawyers really got smacked down, and they were just bystanders to the case between Samsung and Apple. It’s not good to tick off the judges, even if you are right.
Which does not appear to be the case here, which is why they got smacked down so hard.
Ever wanted to visit an alien planet? The technology to “boldly go where no man has gone before” may not be here yet, but one cutting edge company wants to offer average citizens what it hopes is a close second – the opportunity to join the search for alien worlds.
Now begins the final push. We are really close to the goal but there are many things in the pipeline. Check out the video contest. Or the great stretch goals.
There are also special things for special milestones, such as getting 10,000 supporters. This is a big one.
Having a large base of supporters is probably more important than how much total money is raised. These are people who really, really care.
How about becoming one of them? Your children, grandchildren, friends and even the people you only see in the grocery store will be thankful.
During Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on Monday, the most stage time wasn’t allotted CEO Tim Cook, or marketing head Phil Schiller, but to Craig Federighi, the software chief who stepped out from his “behind-the-scenes” role and into the spotlight.
I wrote about Federighi a while ago. He was at NeXT with Jobs, came over to Apple a bit ago and now is the face of all Apple software. I expect we will see much more of him.
What everyone seems to say about him is that he not only gets the programming aspect, he knows how to bring people together to solve problems., even people who are lousy at collaboration.
Rumors were that iOS7 was behind schedule, as was the OS X timeline, and might not even make the unveiling that the developers conference. Yet both were unveiled in very useful ways.
And Apple may need a better ‘spokeperson’ than either Cook, who while brilliant in his balliwick, is not the most inspiring, or Ive, who simply does not want the job.
Here you can see an early example of his coolness, as he reveals his name is “Hair Force One.”
And here he is from Monday, providing the sort of awe-struck observation, mixed with inside jokes, that made Steve Jobs so much fun.
But that is what Jobs had – the ability to bring disparate groups together and get them to produce. Will we see more of him?
This is getting really interesting. The cross-examination of the government’s witness – who was supposed to provide credible evidence that Apple forced the publishers into anti-trust behavior – flipped this around, reducing Turvey’s credibility tremendously.
He could not name anyone who told him the facts that he stated in his deposition. Wow.
You know a witness is having a bad day when the judge kindly lets them leave – for now – by saying, “Let’s allow Mr. Turvey to escape so he can enjoy his Thursday.”
I’m not so sure he will enjoy his Friday, Saturday or Sunday. He will be back on Monday.
If you run into a complete stranger wearing Google Glass, that person might take your picture with just a wink. But rest assured that Glass probably won’t be able to tell its wearer your name, date of birth, and turn-offs.
In a Google+ post Friday, the Project Glass team noted that “many have expressed both interest and concern around the possibilities of facial recognition in Glass.” For now, Google is playing it safe on facial recognition. “As Google has said for several years, we won’t add facial recognition features to our products without having strong privacy protections in place,” Google said. “With that in mind, we won’t be approving any facial recognition Glassware at this time.”
Of course, this just means that Google will not officially be responsible – to many lawsuits I guess. But since Google Glass is extremely hackable – there are already ways to turn off the recording light or to control things by a wink – this will not really do much.
In fact, it might be nice to have facial recognition tied to my contact list, allowing my memory to be refreshed without embarrassment. And since Google already has a lot of such access – personal photos, etc. – it does seem like in their wheelhouse.
But at the moment, no such official app. Lots of unofficial apps I expect.
Those that want to (ab)use Google Glass will be able to with little problem. And Google can change their view at any time.
Demonstrating again the versatility of the device, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a cradle and app that turns Apple’s iPhone into a powerful biosensor in the vein of Star Trek’s fabled tricorders.
Here is the video demonstrating doing a spectral analysis of two samples. Pretty amazing.
And getting to set up for actual medical examination of things like vitamin A deficiency.
Their technology uses photonic crystals o detect all sorts of molecules. This material, which they can deposit directly on a slide, affects specific wavelengths of light – whether they are reflected or transmitted. It provides a useful waveguide for examining what happens when different wavelengths of light hit a biological substance on the slide.
They can prime the device allowing them to look for a specific molecule, such as a protein or DNA. And they say that the $200 in parts is as accurate as a $50,000 spectrophotometer.
In a recent paper, the researchers describe how they used the system to detect the presence of an antibody in a concentration dependent way.
Noted KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple’s much-rumored iWatch will hit store shelves late next year, not in 2013 as many market watchers expect, with a 1.5- to 2-inch screen, focus on biometrics and deep integration with existing iOS devices.
Generation of personal health data is going to explode in the next year. As I wrote yesterday, Scanadu will provide a ton of data.
With biometrics, the iWatch can better safeguard an owner from unwanted user access, while providing advanced healthcare features
What happens if we can wear the device that gets our walking data – like the FitBit does – and heart rate and who knows what else? And that data is communicated wireless to the iOS device in our pocket?
It may well be that the reason for the 2014 date is not only due to its development. It may, just as the Scanadu Scout must, have to pass some FDA approval processes if it can act as a medical device.
Scanadu, the healthcare company trying to build a real-world version of “Star Trek’s” tricorder, is looking to raise $100,000 on Indiegogo, but it would prefer that you don’t refer to its campaign as crowd-funding or pre-ordering its Scout device. It’s using Indiegogo to crowd-source the hunt for willing participants in a usability trial required by FDA — the money is secondary, or at least that’s how Scanadu views the initiative.
“We’ll learn a lot about how end users are going to treat the medical readings,” says Scanadu CEO Walter de Broweur. “If they want to, and are going to, change based on these readings.” He says that interest in the company’s product has far exceeded expectations — unsurprising, given the constant “Star Trek” references — and the campaign will allow Scanadu to learn from a few of its more fervent fans.
Scout has changed since last November, when de Brouwer showed me the device’s capabilities in a crowded Starbucks. It’s more circular and more powerful — de Brouwer says that it’s the same size but weighs a bit more — and, due to popular demand, is no longer restricted to one user per device. The new Scout will allow you to collect your children’s and parents’ heart rate, blood oxygenation, and, yes, temperature, among a slew of other stats.
An innovative way to garner FDA approval! This is how they descirbe this effort:
We are creating a medical-grade device, which is not yet fully accurate and not FDA-approved. Hence this is not a medical device. Via this campaign, you may contribute and your input may affect the final design and characteristics of this revolutionary tool.
The exploratory version of the Scanadu Scout™ is not a medical device and makes no medical claims. As a research tool, it can be used to collect data that will be submitted in a marketing application to the regulatory authorities.
Before Scanadu Scout™ can become a medical device it will have to go through the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval process and this is where your help comes in. With the Scanadu Scout™ you will help us by Scouting yourself and giving us feedback to refine the Scanadu Scout™.
This will happen in the framework of official clinical studies in which you will be invited to partake, ONLY IF YOU OPT-IN. For each study, some of you will be contacted and will have to sign an Informed Consent form. With your help we can put Scanadu Scout™ through FDA to become an over-the-counter consumer-grade diagnostic tool.
When do I get to sign the Informed Consent document? At several moments. When you receive your Scanadu Scout™, you will also be receive the Informed Consent document which will enable you to take part in the community, participate in our usability study, and help us define the final properties of the device.
Damn. I’m too late to get the special deal. And their project is already well overfunded.
The Scout will be able to determine a lot of useful information.
But what is kind of cool here is that the FDA requires all sorts of validation data for medical devices. Usually the company has to pay a lot of people to accomplish this. Validation costs money.
Here, they are recruiting 1000 people – who all paid to be part of the trial – to help gather the data the FDA requires. A great idea.
And they will be validating their ScanaFlo – a urine testing device – in a similar fashion. Stay tuned.
There’s a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company’s tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they’re holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International (AOI), which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world.
While both Republicans and Democrats went after Tim Cook, the feedback on this article is fascinating. Usually when Apple is involved it is pretty evenly split between pro and con.
But in this case, almost everyone sees Apple as simply doing what Congress allows it. If Congress wants things to be different, then change the law.
Virtually no one was on the side of the senators.
If they expected this to be a launching point for going after Apple, I don’t think that is going to happen.
Here are the first two paragraphs in the relevant story:
Harvard University, the world’s wealthiest university, has liquidated its stake in Apple Inc. as the iPhone maker’s shares tumbled after reaching a record high of $702.10 in September.
The university, which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has a $30.7 billion endowment, sold shares valued at about $304,000, according to a quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The sale comes as growth in demand for the iPhone has lost steam and investors and consumers await new products from Tim Cook, the chief executive officer who replaced Steve Jobs.
Except there was nothing to suggest that Harvard sold their stake – all 571 shares (!) – for this reason. Simply talking correlation as causation it would be just a legitimate to say that Apple’s stock dropped because Harvard sold all their shares.
Except that is so obviously ludicrous.
Bloomberg has been accused of being a vehicle to allow hedge funds to move stocks. So maybe the reporters are simply not used to ferreting out stories on their own, having been spoonfed so many.
Ger Tysk makes woodworking look effortless. As wood chips and splinters fly, sticking to her shirt and rebounding off her plastic safety goggles, her face remains as still and calm as water. Her arms move back and forth, the wooden block in her hands an extension of her limbs, pushing it through the saw and flipping it over to push again in one fluid motion.
This was a fascinating piece. Very well written with a wonderful story to tell. But it was the how that story was told and the story itself that astounded me.
The site – Polygon – does not just look like a regular news outlet because it is adapting some of the new approaches of web site markup to gie a very visually appealing look. They also have a 10 minute video embedded in the story that gives an incredible look into what one ordinary person has done.
And what that one person has done is extraordinary. Because her story demonstrates how helping other people can be a way to helping oneself.
Apple is inundated with so many requests from law enforcement agencies to decrypt seized iPhones that officials must endure a waiting list before their case is handled.
