Lit Apple Mac, iPhone, iPad User Group

[sultrysandy]

Thank you. I was concerned that I would lose a lot of music that took a lot of time to upload. I had no reason to think that the file was corrumpted. I'm just happy it all works and I carry all my music on my phone.

Not singling you out or picking on you Lincoln, merely using as an example.

Something I've observed is people don't backup, until experiencing a catastrophic event (i.e. loosing, bricking, or device dies) and loosing it. Only you can answer what it's worth to you Is it replaceable (i,e, photos of children growing up), how much time will it take to replace? what much money will it cost you. Are there documents you will want to use in the near future?
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[sultrysandy]

Lawsuit claims Apple 'perpetuates' iTunes gift card scams

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This lawsuit was filed a week ago, but I simply haven't posted t.

A class-action complaint lodged on Friday claims Apple not only enables iTunes gift card scams, which have become increasingly widespread over the past few years, but also profits from the activity.

Filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the suit alleges Apple is at fault for allowing iTunes gift card scams to continue despite their relatively straightforward and predictable nature.

Further, Apple's control of the App Store, iTunes and backend payments processing system supposedly affords transparency into, and veto power over, fraudulent transactions. The company is able to end scam transactions at multiple points in the process, but fails to act in the interest of its customers, the complaint argues.

In support documents, Apple notes scams typically follow a "formula" in which an attacker persuades a victim — sometimes under duress — to send them money in the form of an iTunes gift card. With a card number in hand, scammers can redeem the funds by making in-app purchases in apps they control. Alternatively, scammers can resell the card number on the black or gray markets.

Scammers net a diminished take of the gift card's value in the above scenarios, but Apple comes out ahead with its customary 30% share of App Store purchases. This money is not returned to victims, the lawsuit notes.

As purveyor of iTunes gift cards and the App Store, Apple has unique insight into fraudulent dealings and can monitor, halt and reverse such processes with minimal effort, according to plaintiffs.

As noted in the complaint, Apple knows where gift cards are purchased, the Apple IDs to which card values are applied and where the funds are spent. The company also holds iTunes gift card payments for approximately 45 days before transferring the money to third-party app makers, a window that could be used to investigate complaints and reverse fraudulent transactions.

The case further claims Apple misrepresents its ability to deal with iTunes gift card scams. The company in its support documentation says, "Once [card] numbers are provided to the scammers, the funds on the card will likely be spent before you are able to contact Apple or law enforcement." Terms and conditions outlined by the company attempt to limit its liability when cards are lost or stolen. Today's suit in part challenges those claims.

"Even if that limitation of liability applied by its terms - which it arguably does not - Apple cannot disclaim liability for loss or damage resulting from scams which it intentionally aids, abets, and perpetuates," the filing reads. "Any attempt by Apple to disclaim liability for loss or damage resulting from iTunes gift card scams would be unconscionable and unenforceable in light of its role in those scams and the profit that it makes and retains from such scams."

Losses from victims who reported iTunes gift card scams to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission exceeded an estimated $93.5 million between 2015 and 2019. While exact numbers are unknown, the suit asserts only a small percentage of affected consumers report incidents to the FTC. If the true value of collective scam operations hit $1 billion, for example, Apple would have retained some $300 million in commissions.

Plaintiffs claim violation of the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, violation of the California Unfair Competition Law, violation of the California False Advertising Law, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, aiding and abetting intentional torts, violation of the California Elder Abuse Law, violation of the Elder Abuse Laws of Other States, and violation of the Oregon Elder Persons and Persons with Disability Abuse Prevention Act. They seek class certification, damages and court fees.
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[sultrysandy]

Following security breach, report says Twitter contractors have been caught spying on

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This keeps getting better.

Multiple Twitter accounts were recently hacked through Twitter’s own internal tools, affecting high-profiles like Apple, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and more. While the company is still investigating the issue, a new Bloomberg report claims that Twitter has been warned about potential account violations for years.

According to former Twitter employees, CEO Jack Dorsey and the board of directors have been warned of concerns about the security of users’ personal data since 2015.

The report says that there are about 1,500 employees who are directly related to internal account management, which gives them access to email addresses and phone numbers of millions of social network users.

While they can’t get direct access to these accounts, employees can easily use this personal data to snoop and even hack into Twitter accounts, a former employee told Bloomberg.

A group of workers used to create false support tickets to spy on celebrity accounts, including Beyoncé. With these support tickets, Twitter employees can check things like the IP address and the approximate location of the accounts.

Some of the Twitter contractors who were caught spying on celebrity accounts were employed by Cognizant Technology Solutions, but they have now been fired. However, Bloomberg sources say there are other employees who still snoop on those profiles.

In this recent attack in which 130 accounts were hacked, Twitter was able to confirm that the hackers got help from employees with access to an internal control panel.

A Twitter spokesman said the company has all the necessary tools to control who can access specific internal tasks, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped hackers from invading multiple accounts to share a cryptocurrency scam. The company is now under pressure from users to improve the security of its data.

However, former security employees claim that Twitter doesn’t prioritize security improvements internally.

Twitter management has often dragged its heels on upgrades to information security controls while prioritizing consumer products and features, a source of tension for many businesses.

The FBI is now investigating the recent attack and Twitter certainly has a lot to explain to the public about all these security breaches.

You can read the full story on Bloomberg’s website.
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[sultrysandy]

Antitrust hearing to accuse Apple and others of ‘copy acquire kill’ strategy

Two reports yesterday suggest that today’s congressional antitrust hearing will accuse Apple and other tech giants of having a ‘copy acquire kill’ strategy when it comes to dealing with potential competitors.

The term refers to copying what other companies are doing; acquiring companies as a way of gaining exclusive access to features; and killing apps after acquisition in order to deny them to customers on rival platforms …

The Washington Post reports that the congressional antitrust committee has strong evidence of this approach.

Some of the evidence lawmakers have amassed is set to be furnished publicly for the first time Wednesday. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), one of the panel members who will question the companies, said a few of the documents evince a “copy-acquire-kill” strategy on the part of tech companies to buy or suppress potential rivals. The Democratic lawmaker said the committee has seen some “very specific language from top-level executives about that,” but she declined to offer specifics.

“We need to move very quickly, as a Congress, to reassert our authority into regulation of these tech companies and [their] anticompetitive practices,” she said.

Some of that language from ‘top-level executives’ is likely to have come from Tim Cook’s emails, reviewed by congress during an earlier evidence-gathering phase on the investigation.

It’s likely to be argued that the ‘copy acquire kill’ approach harms both small businesses and consumers.

Small businesses because they can see their ideas ‘Sherlocked’ by Apple. The term was named after Apple’s precursor to Spotlight on the Mac, Sherlock. A popular third-party app called Watson supplemented Sherlock’s capabilities, but was effectively killed when Apple copied its features and incorporated them into Mac OS X 10.2.

Tech companies may do this with hardware as well as software. For example, Apple is expected to launch AirTags, which replicate and improve on the functionality of Tile tags. Tile already complained to congress about alleged anticompetitive behavior, with Apple subsequently announcing changes in iOS 14 to create a more level playing field.

Consumers are hurt if they lose access to apps and services on their preferred platform after an acquisition. For example, Apple shut down the Android version of the hugely popular weather app Dark Sky after buying the company.

“This is the big moment for the [companies] to really show that what they’re doing is pro-innovation and pro-consumer,” said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, which counts some of those companies’ officials on its board of directors.

“If they don’t do that well, and if the members push back enough, you could see it as a turning point where from now on, it’s going to be much harder slogging for the industry,” Atkinson said.

Bloomberg Law notes that the pace of acquisitions by tech giants like Apple has increased this year.

The biggest U.S. technology companies have gone on a buying spree this year, waving off intense scrutiny from competition watchdogs and critics who say they’ve bolstered their power by snatching up nascent rivals.

The number of acquisitions by the five largest companies — Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Facebook Inc., and Microsoft Corp. — came at the fastest pace through June since 2015, according to data compiled by Bloomberg […]

Through June 30, the five companies announced 27 deals, according to Bloomberg data, up 29% from the same period last year, when they did 21 deals.

The speeding up of tech deals could give ammunition to economists, lawyers and lawmakers who warn that the tech companies have used their abundant cash to gain leverage over existing competitors and increase already high market shares.

The piece argues that these purchases mostly escape scrutiny because the deals are comparatively small, but that doesn’t mean they are unimportant.

An even bigger worry is that the tech companies are potentially choking off competition by acquiring firms that, while small, could one day emerge as robust rivals. After all, the tech giants were all startups once.

This charge is likely to be more of an issue for Amazon, Facebook and Google than it is for Apple
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[sultrysandy]

Arizona Attorney General Leading Multi-State Probe on Apple iPhone Throttling

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Apple is facing another probe on its iPhone "throttling" practices, this time from Arizona attorney general Mark Brnovich, reports Reuters.

The probe, which may also involve Texas, has been ongoing since October 2018 and is attempting to determine whether Apple's deliberate slowing of older iPhones "violated deceptive trade practice laws."

Last week, reports suggested that Texas was involved in an investigation aiming to determine whether Apple deceived customers, though no other information was available at the time. It's likely that the probe in Arizona is linked to the Texas report, with both states looking into Apple's 2017 *iPhone* slowdown practices.

Apple in iOS 10.2.1 (which was released in early 2017) introduced a performance management system designed to eliminate unexpected shutdowns by throttling the maximum performance of iPhones with chemically aged batteries.

Apple did not disclose how its power management system worked, leading to customer outrage when it was discovered *iPhone* performance was being downgraded. Apple said that this was to make sure that the *iPhone* lasted as long as possible, even as the battery failed.

After it was discovered that Apple was limiting *iPhone* performance, Apple apologized and ultimately launched a battery replacement program that saw the company offering replacement batteries for older devices for $29. Replacing a failing battery successfully resolves the problem that leads to shutdowns, which is why power was limited by Apple in the first place.

In addition to offering low-cost battery replacements for a year, Apple has also agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle a class action lawsuit over the issue.

Apple's performance management system is now disabled by default and it turns on only if an *iPhone* suffers an unexpected shutdown. Even then, it can be disabled, and Apple also provides much more detailed information on battery health so customers can opt for a replacement when necessary.
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[sultrysandy]

Telegram rails against 'colossal' App Store cut in EU antitrust complaint

Secure messaging platform Telegram has become the third big developer to file an antitrust complaint against Apple in the European Union, railing against Apple's control and fees on the App Store.

Filed on Thursday morning, Telegram's complaint with the European Commission is mostly focused on Apple's fees and rules it implements in the App Store. Specifically cited were Telegram's attempt to open a gaming platform in 2016, that Apple shut down, claiming it violated app store rules.

Telegram says that because of Apple's rejection, the company as a whole "risked being deleted from the App Store." It isn't clear why the company believes this is the case, as apps can be rejected during the App Store review process, without impacting other apps that a company has developed. At present, no supporting documents are publicly available to validate this claim.

In the complaint, spotted by the Financial Times, Telegram also alleges that the rejection is a prime example of Apple's power in the marketplace, and the ability it may have to "curb innovation thanks to its 'monopolistic power' on the app market."

Telegram's complaint follows an open letter, published on July 27 by the company. In the letter, Telegram rails against Apple's App Store fees, and cites "7 myths" about it, commonly used to defend the fee.

Specifically, Telegram decries arguments that the fee is used to maintain the app store, it allows Apple to reinvest in building better iPhones, and the argument that the 30% fee is in-line with what other platforms are charging. Other points include a debate about if there is actual competition offered from other platforms.

Beyond Telegram's questionable claim in the note that "Apple has been trying to catch up with Android phones in features and hardware," it also isn't clear where the some of the seven points are sourced from. For instance, Apple also doesn't claim that the 30% commission allows Apple to reinvest in building better phones. Additionally, in regards to the first argument that Telegram makes, It isn't a requirement in any country that the App Store be financially run at the break-even point.

Apple did publish a study showing the 30% fee is in line with other paid stores, but the study only briefly touched on alternatives, sometimes free, to Android app distribution. Neither the report nor Telegram's open letter mention that Xcode users can load apps on a phone that have to be re-signed once a week for free users, and once a year for paid developer account.

Telegram's complaint with the European Commission follows Spotify and Rakuten complaints, over similar matters. It also comes less than 24 hours after Tim Cook testified in front of a US Congressional panel, intended to get to the bottom of anti-trust issues that big tech companies face.
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[sultrysandy]

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So much could post about Twitter, Facebook, and Apple's third Quarter Earnings, devices, services, all will carry me through the weekend, However instead going to start with this

Apple announces 4-1 stock split as shares cross $400 following record Q3 earnings



Apple’s Q3 earnings have just come in and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the company saw a record June quarter with $59.7 billion in revenue. The company’s stock is up over $400 a share on the news and it’s also just announced a 4-1 stock split.

Apple had an incredible quarter with 11% growth YoY during the global health crisis. On the big news, AAPL shares are up almost 5% in after hours trading, pushing them above $400.

The remarkable performance means Apple’s market cap is getting closer to that $2 trillion mark with the current valuation approaching $1.7 trillion. On the $59.7 billion quarterly revenue, Apple saw $11.25 billion profit.

More big news for investors includes Apple’s board of directors approving a 4-for-1 stock split. Apple announced the details of the split that will happen at the end of August in a Newsroom post today covering its Q3 earnings.

The Board of Directors has also approved a four-for-one stock split to make the stock more accessible to a broader base of investors. Each Apple shareholder of record at the close of business on August 24, 2020 will receive three additional shares for every share held on the record date, and trading will begin on a split-adjusted basis on August 31, 2020.

Ahead of the stock split, a cash dividend of $0.82 per share will be paid on August 13 based on the close of the market on August 10.

Apple’s Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.82 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on August 13, 2020 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 10, 2020.

The last time AAPL shares saw a split was back in 2014 which was a 7-1 split and before that it was 2005 when the stock saw a 2-1 split.






This is not the first time Apple has cleaved its shares, although it isn't exactly a habit for the high-flying company. It enacted 2-for-1 splits three times -- in June 1987, June 2000, and February 2005 -- and a 7-for-1 split in June 2014.

This three month chart shows the low reached during the coronavirus.

From the April 1 low of $241 to yesterday's close of $385, the stock is up sixty percen, in three months.

Noticed the the 52 W L and decided to look back during the past year, showing how it was performing before the pandemic and the low nearly a year ago

 

[sultrysandy]

Apple overtakes Saudi Aramco to become world's most valuable company

The day after an incredible earnings report, Apple has overtaken oil giant Saudi Aramco to become the most valuable public traded company in the world on Friday.

Following the company's earnings report Thursday, Apple's stock price surged as high as 10.5% in intraday trading. Ultimately, shares of AAPL closed at $425.18 at end of trading on Friday.

Altogether, that give Apple a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, based on share price and number of outstanding shares. That allowed Apple to close with a market valuation higher than Saudi Arabian oil juggernaut Saudi Aramco, which has held the number-one spot since it went public last year.

The Cupertino tech giant reported earnings on Thursday that smashed Wall expectations, with revenue clocking in at $59.7 billion even during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Apple also announced a four-for-one stock split that could make AAPL more accessible to a broader range of investors.

Following the earnings report, Apple's share price passed the $400 price-per-share milestone.

Apple is already in the top spot when it comes to U.S.-based publicly traded companies. Earlier in 2020, the company also became the first U.S. firm to pass the $1.5 trillion market valuation milestone.

Shares of Apple have proven themselves resilient, even during COVID-19. In the June quarter, Apple's iPhone segment actually grew 2% year-over-year even as smartphone sales are on the decline. Other product categories, including iPad, Mac and Services, also showed rock-solid growth.

Apple's stock price is up 84.74% since a pandemic-caused low point on March 23 that rocked the entire market. Apple recovered to pre-coronavirus levels in May, and has continued growing roughly 30% since then.

#35 08-02-2018
Apple is the first US company worth $1,000,000,000,000
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[sultrysandy]

Apple confirms iPhone 12 will launch ‘a few weeks later’ than usual

During Apple’s Q3 2020 earnings call today, Apple CFO Luca Maestri confirmed that the release of this year’s iPhone 12 will be slightly later than usual. This is a rare confirmation and acknowledgment of delays on Apple’s part.

While covering what to expect from Apple during the company’s fiscal Q4 2020, Maestri explained that Apple began selling new iPhones in September of 2019. This year, Maestri says Apple currently expects the new iPhones to come several weeks later.

“As you know, last year we started selling iPhones in late September,” Maestri said during the call. “This year, we expect supply to be available a few weeks later.”

The iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro were released on September 20 last year. A three-week delay this year would mean the iPhone 12 lineup could be released in mid-October at the earliest.

Apple’s confirmation that the iPhone 12 will come later than usual is an unprecedented announcement by the company. In the past, Apple has refused to even acknowledge that a new iPhone is coming, let alone confirm any sort of details about a release date or delays. During the question and answer part of the call later on, Maestri was asked to clarify his comments:

“I said in my remarks that a year ago we launched new iPhone in late September. And I said that this year, the supply of the new product will be a few weeks later than that.”

Prior to Apple’s announcement, there had been quite a bit of evidence that Apple would be forced to slightly delay the release of the iPhone 12. Just yesterday, Qualcomm said that a key flagship smartphone with 5G was being pushed back, though it did not mention any specific names.

It is not at all uncommon for Apple to push the release of new iPhones into October or even November. In fact, 2019 marked the first time in three years that Apple launched its entire flagship iPhone lineup at the same time. In 2017, the iPhone X was announced in September but not released until November. In 2018, the iPhone XR was announced in September but not released until October.

This year, Apple is expected to release four different iPhone 12 models — each of which will feature 5G connectivity and OLED displays. Apple will release one 5.4-inch iPhone 12 model, two 6.1-inch models, and a 6.7-inch model. The differentiating factors between each of these models will primarily be the camera technology. The iPhone 12 Pro — one of the 6.1-inch choices and the 6.7-inch model — will feature triple-lens camera setups with a new LiDAR Scanner on the back.

 

[astuffedshirt_perv]

This year... Apple will release one 5.4-inch iPhone 12 model

WooHoo! Small screen form factor + top of the line performance! Yes!

 

[LincolnDuncan]

Not singling you out or picking on you Lincoln, merely using as an example.

Something I've observed is people don't backup, until experiencing a catastrophic event (i.e. loosing, bricking, or device dies) and loosing it. Only you can answer what it's worth to you Is it replaceable (i,e, photos of children growing up), how much time will it take to replace? what much money will it cost you. Are there documents you will want to use in the near future?
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No problem. I don't feel singled out. I did back up my music by converting to data stored on discs. I was able retrieve some of that music but not all. Although I've made progress, I still can't locate all of my music. Icoud seems to be the problem.

I hate to give up on apple since I purchased a lot of music from them and use my iphone as my listening source. The apple techs tried but to help but were unable after many hours on the phone screen sharing.

I'm looking for another option to keep and play music.

 

[sultrysandy]

‘Mastermind’ Florida teen behind Twitter hack arrested and facing 30 felony charges

It looks like the person behind the massive Twitter hack that happened two weeks ago may have been caught as a Florida teenager has been arrested for the exploit on 30 counts of felony. 17-year-old Graham Clark has been taken into custody in Tampa, Florida.

The huge Twitter hack saw major accounts like Apple, Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and more compromised and used to spread a bitcoin scam. Notably, it went on for hours as Twitter scrambled to find a way to stop the exploit. Eventually, the platform blocked verified accounts from tweeting.

Friday, reported by local News Channel 8 in Tampa, 17-year-old Graham Clark has been accused of the serious hack and arrested with a total of 30 felony charges. Those include organized fraud, communications fraud, fraudulent use of personal information, and more.

Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren filed 30 felony charges against the teen this week for “scamming people across America” in connection with the Twitter hack that happened on July 15. The charges he’s facing include one count of organized fraud, 17 counts of communications fraud, one count of fraudulent use of personal information with over $100,000 or 30 or more victims, 10 counts of fraudulent use of personal information and one count of access to computer or electronic device without authority.

California and Florida along with the FBI, IRS, as well as Secret Service worked to investigate the crimes before making the arrest today.

“I want to congratulate our federal law enforcement partners – the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, the FBI, the IRS, and the Secret Service – as well as the Florida Department of Law enforcement. They worked quickly to investigate and identify the perpetrator of a sophisticated and extensive fraud,” State Attorney Warren said in his statement.

Two others have also been charged in the crimes including a 19-year-old from the UK and a 22-year-old from Florida.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California, Clark is one of three people charged for their alleged roles in the Twitter hack. The two other suspects were identified as 22-year-old Nima Fazeli, a.k.a. “Rolex,” of Orlando and 19-year-old Mason Sheppard, a.k.a. “Chaewon,” of the United Kingdom.

Twitter also shared an update on its blog about the hack that used an elaborate social engineering approach worked. 130 accounts were attacked with 45 being tweeted from during the exploit and DMs of 36 compromised accounts were accessed.

The social engineering that occurred on July 15, 2020, targeted a small number of employees through a phone spear phishing attack. A successful attack required the attackers to obtain access to both our internal network as well as specific employee credentials that granted them access to our internal support tools. Not all of the employees that were initially targeted had permissions to use account management tools, but the attackers used their credentials to access our internal systems and gain information about our processes. This knowledge then enabled them to target additional employees who did have access to our account support tools. Using the credentials of employees with access to these tools, the attackers targeted 130 Twitter accounts, ultimately Tweeting from 45, accessing the DM inbox of 36, and downloading the Twitter Data of 7.

Twitter also detailed how it’s changed its policies since the attack to better protect users:

Since the attack, we’ve significantly limited access to our internal tools and systems to ensure ongoing account security while we complete our investigation. As a result, some features (namely, accessing the Your Twitter Data download feature) and processes have been impacted. We will be slower to respond to account support needs, reported Tweets, and applications to our developer platform. We’re sorry for any delays this causes, but we believe it’s a necessary precaution as we make durable changes to our processes and tooling as a result of this incident. We will gradually resume our normal response times when we’re confident it’s safe to do so. Thank you for your patience as we work through this.

 

[sultrysandy]

.


Hi All.


In another thread, members were posting that someone had posted SPAM bringing it to my attention.


If you notice someone has posted SPAM, off-topic, inappropriate, et cetera, posts, in my threads, and doesn't appear that I'm aware, please let me know to take care of it.



Appreciate it,

Sandy


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[sultrysandy]

Report: Apple led global Q2 tablet shipments with 14 million iPads

Apple posted record results for the June quarter which sent its stock price soaring. Now Canalys is out with its estimates on global tablet shipments that detail how much Apple is leading Samsung, Amazon, and others.

Apple’s June quarter performance included $59.7 billion in revenue with $11.25 billion in profit. One of the strongest areas of growth for the quarter was iPad revenue, with the company highlighting it saw an increase of 31% compared to the same quarter in 2019.

Apple doesn’t break out unit numbers but just shared that iPad brought in $6.58 billion in sales in Q2 (fiscal Q3). Canalys is out today with its estimate on how many units Apple shipped and how it compared to the competition.

The analysis points to 14.2 million iPads shipped in the June quarter giving Apple a 38% market share of the global tablet sales for the period. Samsung came in second with 18% of the market. Huawei and Amazon came in third and fourth, respectively with 12% and 8% shares.

Interestingly enough, even though Apple certainly had an amazing quarter, Canalys estimates that Samsung, Huawei, and Amazon all saw greater growth when it came to tablets. The firm pegged Apple’s iPad unit growth at 19.8% while Samsung saw 39.2%, Huawei had 44.5%, and Amazon achieved 37.1% unit growth.

That contributed to Apple losing 2% of its global market share. The entire tablet market saw growth of 26.1% YoY.

 

[sultrysandy]

Apple updates 27-inch iMac with new 10th-gen Intel CPUs, T2 chip and a 1080p webcam

Apple has today updated the iMac with a few tech spec bumps. Although the rumored redesign did not come to pass, Apple has updated the 27-inch models with new 10th-generation Intel CPUs, a higher-resolution 1080p webcam.

Apple has also standardized SSDs across the lineup for fast internal storage, finally adding the Apple T2 chip. The 21.5-inch iMac also gets the SSD chip, with Fusion Drive as a build-to-order option.

As far as specs are concerned, the 2020 iMac update features 10th-gen Intel CPUs across the board, in 6 and 8 core options. There’s also a 10-core option for the first time on the consumer iMac. You can spec the machine with up to 128 GB of RAM.

The storage system is now based around solid-state by default, able to be configured up to 8 TB. Apple is finally including the T2 chip inside the iMac, offering high-bandwidth write and read speeds. The T2 chip also brings security benefits, as we’ve seen deployed across the rest of the Mac line over the past five years.

With no major external design change to be seen, the iMac still features rather ungainly bezels. However, Apple is updating the 27-inch display to feature True Tone for better adaptive color balance. Customers can also choose a nano-texture matte glass option, first seen in the Pro Display XDR.

The 27-inch iMacs now features the same 1080p FaceTime camera as the iMac Pro. Apple has also upgraded the microphones to its latest ‘studio quality’ system, which the company debuted with the 16-inch MacBook Pro last year.

The new 27-inch iMacs start at $1799 and are available to order from today. The base model features a six-core CPU, 8 GB RAM, a Radeon Pro 5300 GPU, and a 256 GB SSD.

Unless you desperately need a new desktop, it may be wiser to wait for the next-gen Apple Silicon iMacs. Most people assume Apple is holding back on a major iMac external chassis redesign — with slim bezels and the like — for its new lineup of ARM-based desktops
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[sultrysandy]

Apple tweaks iMac Pro lineup with more powerful base model, but no nano-texture displ

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Apple tweaks iMac Pro lineup with more powerful base model, but no nano-texture display option

In addition to the improvements to the consumer iMac today, Apple has also made some very minor adjustments to the iMac Pro lineup. The base model iMac Pro now includes a 10-core Intel Xeon processor, but unfortunately, the iMac Pro misses out on the new nano-texture glass option.

With today’s changes, Apple has dropped the 8-core iMac Pro from the lineup completely, and instead moved the 10-core iMac Pro down into that spot. This means that the $4,999 base model iMac Pro now features a 10-core Xeon processor, but you can still configure it up to 18 cores.

As Jason Snell at Six Colors explains, the 2019 iMac was already close to the iMac Pro in performance, so these changes are designed to help better separate the two lineups:

Last year’s iMacs already pushed up against the performance of the iMac Pro, and these will undoubtedly beat it—especially that 10-core model. In an acknowledgement of this, Apple has rejiggered the iMac Pro line, dropping the old base eight-core model and moving the 10-core model to the base price. So now the iMac line ends at 10 cores and the iMac Pro line begins there.

For the non-Pro iMac, one of the biggest changes is the introduction of a new nano-texture display option. While the iMac still comes with a glossy display by default, you can upgrade to a nano-texture coating for $500. Apple’s nano-texture glass was first introduced with the Pro Display XDR, where it’s a $1000 upgrade.

But while the iMac Pro buyers would likely be the target market for the $500 matte upgrade option, Apple has not made that choice available. Instead, the nano-texture upgrade is available only for the iMac and the Pro Display XDR; not the iMac Pro.

The iMac also added a new 1080p webcam today, as well as Apple’s T2 security chip and improved microphones and speakers. Apple has also abandoned spinning hard drives in favor of an all-SSD lineup.
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[sultrysandy]

The Apple Store app is hiding a virtual surprise party

The Apple Store app turned 10 this past June, and Apple is celebrating the milestone with a fun Easter egg. Hidden inside the most recent update is a virtual surprise party.

Open up the Apple Store app on your iPhone or iPad and tap the Search tab. Type in “10 years,” and press search. Surprise! Blue balloons reading “10” will float up from the bottom of your display and bounce around. Tap on each balloon to pop it with a burst of haptic feedback or drag the balloons around and have fun.

This isn’t the first time Apple snuck a surprise into the Apple Store app. The “let is snow” Easter egg, which simulates a virtual snowstorm on your phone, is the Apple community’s favorite secret. The feature was silently added many years ago and reappears on social media for holiday fun every winter.

Surprise! Hidden inside the Apple Store app is a new Easter egg that celebrates the app’s 10th anniversary. Search for “10 years” and watch the balloons appears. Tap each one to pop it. pic.twitter.com/YsGdKP8r5L

— Michael Steeber (@MichaelSteeber) August 5, 2020

You can grab the update here in the App Store.



note
Lit censors the link for pic.twitter.com, remove the secen spaces from the URL below:
https:/ / t . c o / YsGdKP8r5L
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[sultrysandy]

Automated mistake by Apple kills all Mac developer’s apps

An automated mistake by Apple resulted in the company remotely killing all of a Mac developer’s apps. Users were unable to open them, and a message flagged them as malware, advising users to delete the apps to avoid damaging their Macs.

Developer Charlie Monroe, creator of the Downie video downloader, among other apps, said that Apple didn’t even send him a message saying it had happened, and for several hours he didn’t know whether he still had a business or not…

Monroe described the experience in a blog post:

On Aug 4, 2020, I woke up to a slightly different world — I had lost my business as it seemed. Full inbox of reports of my apps not launching (crashing on launch) and after not too long I found out that when I sign into my Apple developer account I can no longer see that I would be enrolled into Apple’s developer program […]

After more investigation, I found out that the distribution certificates were revoked — evidently by Apple as no one else has access to them and I was sound asleep when all this happened. Each macOS app these days needs to be co-designed using an Apple-issued certificate so that the app will flawlessly work on all computers. When Apple revokes the certificate, it’s generally a remove kill-switch for the apps.

I got really frightened as all of sudden, no user was able to use my apps anymore […] As it was 7 a.m. (all times are CET), Apple’s contact form only showed the option to send them an email — so I did. At 9 a.m. with my teeth grinding, I went for the phone option where you leave a number and they call you back. Didn’t.

At this point you no longer know whether you have a business or not. Should I quickly go and apply for a job? Or should I try to found another company and distribute the apps under it? What should I do?

He said one of the most alarming aspects of it was the damage to his reputation.

The most damaging to me is the message shown to user:

I really find the above borderlining on slander.

This was echoed by a Downie user.

Hi. I want to let you know that I spent two and a half hours on the phone with @Apple trying to get them to say exactly how Downie (change the name) will harm my computer. They said it was malicious code detected. If that was an error, your reputation has absolutely been harmed.

— JTWilliams.me (@JTWilliams_me) August 5, 2020

He said that it took Apple 24 hours to partly fix the problem, removing the flags, though that still left him having to recompile, re-sign, and redistribute everything. This was initially done without any contact from Apple.

Apple did later call back, explaining that his account was “erroneously flagged by automated processes as malicious and was put on hold.”

It seems incredible that all this could happen without human intervention. Apple does, of course, have to act swiftly when there is a chance of malware in the Mac App Store, but you would have thought it would have pinged a human being to verify the situation before inconveniencing significant number of Mac users, and potentially doing permanent damage to a developer’s reputation. Most app users will never know the story behind this, only that they bought an app, Apple told them it was malware, and they deleted it as instructed.
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[astuffedshirt_perv]

It seems incredible that all this could happen without human intervention. Apple does, of course, have to act swiftly when there is a chance of malware in the Mac App Store, but you would have thought it would have pinged a human being to verify the situation before inconveniencing significant number of Mac users, and potentially doing permanent damage to a developer’s reputation.

I would err on the side of caution here, if something is flagged as malware, pull it first and then ask questions. Even a few hour's delay--had it actually been malware--could have far more damaging effects than potential damage to a developer's reputation.

 

[sultrysandy]

Apple launches macOS Big Sur public beta

Apple made its public betas available for iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 back in July and we’ve been eagerly awaiting the macOS Big Sur public. Now it’s available giving anyone the ability to test out the all-new design, widgets, Safari experience, and much more.

macOS Big Sur includes a big refresh to the UI that’s inspired by iOS. Other new features include Control Center, Safari improvements, new Messages app features like pinned messages, customizable widgets, and much more.

Now the macOS Big Sur public beta is available to test out for free from Apple’s beta website.

Keep in mind it’s usually not a good plan to run the beta on your primary Mac. Apple also highlights “some applications and services may not work as expected and their data may not be backwards compatible. Be sure to back up your Mac using Time Machine before installing the software.”
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[sultrysandy]

Compared: $4,999 27-inch iMac vs $4,999 iMac Pro

Although the iMac Pro carries Apple's professional designation, your money may be better spent on a 2020 27-inch iMac.

Before the refresh of the standard iMac on Tuesday, the iMac Pro was really the only choice for a workstation-class Apple all-in-one. With a few key upgrades, however, the 27-inch iMac has taken its throne.

Here's how the base model iMac Pro, which starts at $4,999, compares to a 27-inch iMac upgraded to the same price. Both are discounted with exclusive promo code deals found in the AppleInsider Mac Price Guide.


iMac Pro versus $4999 27-inch iMac — Specifications

For the purposes of this comparison, we've taken the 27-inch iMac and made key upgrades to bring its price up to $4,999 to match the base model iMac Pro.

iMac Pro versus $4999 27-inch iMac — Performance

When the iMac Pro first launched in 2017, Apple touted it as the most powerful Mac that it had ever made. That was three years ago, however.

The base model iMac Pro is equipped with a 10-core Intel Xeon W processor, which is a workstation-class chip rated at 3.0GHz with Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz.

It's been long enough without an update that the 27-inch iMac's consumer-grade Intel chip is faster, however. The top-line iMac processor — a 10-core, 10th-generation Intel Core i9 CPU Comet Lake chip — is rated at 3.6GHz with Turbo Boost speeds up to 5.0GHz.

Although benchmarks aren't always indicative of real-world performance for any given user, there are a useful in this instance. The iMac Pro in this comparison clocks in with a single-core score of 1125 and a multi-core score of about 9480 in Geekbench 5 testing, at about 140W TDP. It remains a custom part for the iMac Pro.

Although it isn't yet clear which specific chip model the new iMac has, it's based on the Comet Lake architecture and is probably the Intel Core i9-10910. This Comet Lake Intel Core i9 processor benchmarked a single-core score of about 1420 and a multi-core score of around 11000, with about 125W TDP.

What is a question here, is the thermal situation between the two machines. To handle that 140W, The iMac Pro had a custom cooling situation, and eschewed the RAM door to get that done. The 27-inch iMac still has that door — but also has a different motherboard than previous models and slightly less TDP. We'll know more about this after we get our hands on the new iMac.


iMac Pro versus $4999 27-inch iMac — input and output

Input and output, networking, and Wi-Fi are very close. Both are still using 802.11ac, both have Bluetooth 5.0. The iMac Pro has four 40 Gbit/second Thunderbolt 3 ports versus two on the 27-inch iMac, and both have four 5Gbit/second USB-A ports.

This is a big differentiator to those with a large number of external devices, or multiple monitors that need to be connected externally. This can be avoided somewhat with external Thunderbolt 3 docks or eGPUs, but this may be the determining factor between models for those with big input and output needs.


iMac Pro versus $4999 27-inch iMac — RAM & internal storage

Comparing the 27-inch iMac to the iMac Pro gets a bit more interesting when it comes to RAM and internal storage. Both upgrade options can cost a user a lot of money at the time of purchase.

Apple's iMac Pro comes standard with 1TB of internal SSD storage. Upgrading the iMac's SSD to 1TB costs an additional $200, though we've chosen to bump that up to 2TB in our comparison.

There are two main differences when dealing with RAM between the two machines given that the speed is effectively the same between the two models — the RAM door for user upgrades on the 27-inch iMac, and the ECC RAM on the iMac Pro.

Furthermore, we don't recommend users upgrade their 27-inch iMac RAM at the time of purchase. For this analysis, given that the vast majority of users stick with the RAM that they purchased originally, we've chosen to bring the model in-line with the iMac Pro's baseline RAM of 32GB.


iMac Pro versus $4999 27-inch iMac — Graphics

The base model iMac Pro sports a Radeon Pro Vega 56 with 8GB of HBM2 memory. The 2020 27-inch iMac comes standard with a Radeon Pro 5500 XT with 8GB of GDDR6 memory, but we configured it with a Radeon Pro 5700 XT with 16GB.

Looking at benchmarks, the Radeon 5700 XT delivers much better performance across several metrics. And that's the Radeon 5700 XT equipped with 8GB of RAM, and not 16GB like our model.

While it gets the job done, the Vega 56 in the iMac Pro is starting to show its relative age. And, supplies of the chip suitable for the iMac Pro and eGPU solutions like the BlackMagic one are running low.


iMac Pro versus $4999 27-inch iMac — Display

The iMac Pro and the 2020 27-inch iMac have what is essentially the same display. Both have a 27-inch Retina 5K display with a resolution of 5120 x 2880 and support for one billion colors. They both feature P3 wide color support and 500 nits of brightness.

As with our previous iMac comparison, there are two noteworthy differences with the new 27-inch iMac model.

For one, the 27-inch iMac now features a True Tone display, which should make reading a bit easier on the eyes in some cases.

Like we've done in this like-price comparison, the 27-inch iMac can also be configured with Apple's high-quality, anti-reflective nano-texture glass. For the purposes of this comparison, we've configured our iMac with the feature as a point of departure with the iMac Pro. The iMac Pro doesn't currently support the upgrade.


iMac Pro versus $4999 27-inch iMac — the final verdict

The iMac Pro was at the very pinnacle of Apple's desktop lineup when it launched in 2017. Since then, it's been dethroned by the Mac Pro in terms of raw desktop performance.

But now, with the release of the refreshed 27-inch iMac, the internals on the iMac Pro is certainly showing its age. Our comparison proves that you'll get more bang for your buck if you upgrade a 27-inch iMac than you would for a base iMac Pro.

That's not even considering the fact that you can upgrade the RAM in the 27-inch iMac yourself, and save $600 while doing so. And, you can leave off the $500 for the nano-texture display too. This results in an all-in-one machine with slightly more performance for most users, for $1100 less, depending on where you get your RAM.

In other words, the 27-inch iMac is going to be a better and faster computer for just about every type of user. As we mentioned, that's due to the iMac Pro's age. But until Apple issues an actual update of its all-in-one workstation, we recommend the 27-inch iMac in almost every scenario.
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[sultrysandy]

20 years ago, Steve Jobs built the “coolest computer ever”—and it bombed

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A work of art —
"Nobody ever made anything like that," said Steve Jobs.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Power Mac G4 Cube, which debuted July 19, 2000. It also marks the 19th anniversary of Apple’s announcement that it was putting the Cube on ice. That’s not my joke—it’s Apple’s, straight from the headline of its July 3, 2001, press release that officially pulled the plug.

The idea of such a quick turnaround was nowhere in the mind of Apple CEO Steve Jobs on the eve of the product’s announcement at that summer 2000 Macworld Expo. I was reminded of this last week, as I listened to a cassette tape recorded 20 years prior, almost to the day. It documented a two-hour session with Jobs in Cupertino, California, shortly before the launch. The main reason he had summoned me to Apple’s headquarters was sitting under the cover of a dark sheet of fabric on the long table in the boardroom of One Infinite Loop.

“We have made the coolest computer ever,” he told me. “I guess I’ll just show it to you.”

He yanked off the fabric, exposing an 8-inch stump of transparent plastic with a block of electronics suspended inside. It looked less like a computer than a toaster born from an immaculate conception between Philip K. Dick and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. (But the fingerprints were, of course, Jony Ive’s.) Alongside it were two speakers encased in Christmas-ornament-sized, glasslike spheres.

“The Cube,” Jobs said, in a stage whisper, hardly containing his excitement.

He began by emphasizing that while the Cube was powerful, it was air-cooled. (Jobs hated fans. Hated them.) He demonstrated how it didn’t have a power switch but could sense a wave of your hand to turn on the juice. He showed me how Apple had eliminated the tray that held CDs—with the Cube, you just hovered the disk over the slot and the machine inhaled it.

And then he got to the plastics. It was as if Jobs had taken to heart that guy in The Graduate who gave career advice to Benjamin Braddock. “We are doing more with plastics than anyone else in the world,” he told me. “These are all specially formulated, and it’s all proprietary, just us. It took us six months just to formulate these plastics. They make bulletproof vests out of it! And it’s incredibly sturdy, and it’s just beautiful! There’s never been anything like that. How do you make something like that? Nobody ever made anything like that! Isn’t that beautiful? I think it’s stunning!”

I admitted it was gorgeous. But I had a question for him. Earlier in the conversation, he had drawn Apple’s product matrix, four squares representing laptop and desktop, high and low end. Since returning to Apple in 1997, he had filled in all the quadrants with the iMac, Power Mac, iBook, and PowerBook. The Cube violated the wisdom of his product plan. It didn’t have the power features of the high-end Power Mac, like slots or huge storage. And it was way more expensive than the low-end iMac, even before you spent for a necessary separate display required of Cube owners. Knowing I was risking his ire, I asked him: just who was going to buy this?


“That’s easy!”

Jobs didn’t miss a beat. “That’s easy!” he said. “A ton of people who are pros. Every designer is going to buy one.”

Here was his justification for violating his matrix theory: “We realized there was an incredible opportunity to make something in the middle, sort of a love child, that was truly a breakthrough,” he said. The implicit message was that it was so great that people would alter their buying patterns to purchase one.

That didn’t happen. For one thing, the price was prohibitive—by the time you bought the display, it was almost three times the price of an iMac and even more than some PowerMacs. By and large, people don’t spend their art budget on computers.

That wasn’t the only issue with the G4 Cube. Those plastics were hard to manufacture, and people reported flaws. The air cooling had problems. If you left a sheet of paper on top of the device, it would shut down to prevent overheating. And because it had no On button, a stray wave of your hand would send the machine into action, like it or not.

In any case, the G4 Cube failed to push buttons on the computer-buying public. Jobs told me it would sell millions. But Apple sold fewer than 150,000 units. The apotheosis of Apple design was also the apex of Apple hubris. Listening to the tape, I was struck by how much Jobs had been drunk on the elixir of aesthetics. “Do you really want to put a hole in this thing and put a button there?” Jobs asked me, justifying the lack of a power switch. “Look at the energy we put into this slot drive so you wouldn’t have a tray, and you want to ruin that and put a button in?”

But here is something else about Jobs and the Cube that speaks not of failure but why he was a successful leader. Once it was clear that his Cube was a brick, he was quick to cut his losses and move on.


“A spectacular commercial failure”

In a 2017 talk at Oxford, Apple CEO Tim Cook talked about the G4 Cube, which he described as “a spectacular commercial failure, from the first day, almost.” But Jobs’ reaction to the bad sales figures showed how quickly, when it became necessary, he could abandon even a product dear to his heart. “Steve, of everyone I’ve known in life,” Cook said at Oxford, “could be the most avid proponent of some position, and within minutes or days, if new information came out, you would think that he never ever thought that before.”

But he did think it, and I have the tape to prove it. Happy birthday to Steve Jobs’ digital love child.
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[sultrysandy]

Today in Apple history: It’s time to ‘Think different’

August 8, 1997: At Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs introduces the world to Apple’s new slogan, “Think different.” The catchy marketing reassures fans that Apple is exiting its mid-1990s dark age and once again making products customers will love.

It’s the beginning of Apple’s most iconic advertising campaign since the original “1984” Macintosh ad.


Apple goes back to TBWA Chiat/Day ad agency

“Think different” was a homecoming for Apple in a few ways. It was the first Apple ad produced by TBWA Chiat/Day in more than a decade. Apple dropped the ad agency in 1985, following the notorious “Lemmings” commercial. (A follow-up to “1984,” this poorly received campaign showed computer users marching off a cliff.)

In TBWA Chiat/Day’s place, Apple brought on rival agency BBDO. However, when Jobs resumed control of Apple, he wanted to switch back.

The “Think different” phrase came from TBWA Chiat/Day copywriter Craig Tanimoto. As I detailed in the book The Apple Revolution, one of Tanimoto’s ideas for a new Apple ad included a Dr. Seuss-style poem about computers. It wasn’t good, but he liked the two words “think different” — despite their now infamous lack of proper grammar.

“My heart started racing because no one had really voiced that idea for Apple,” he told me. “I looked over at [a picture I had drawn] of Thomas Edison and thought, ‘think different.’ I [next] drew a little sketch of Einstein and wrote ‘think different’ next to him as well and drew a miniature Apple logo.”

The “Here’s to the crazy ones” lines for the “Think different” ad were written by other copywriters, Rob Siltanen and Ken Segall. (Segall also named the iMac.)

Steve Jobs:You have to think Differently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rco9xujjAak&feature=youtu.be



Think different: A trial run

Although the campaign wasn’t finished by the time of the 1997 Macworld Expo, Jobs tried a variation on the words in front of the audience of Apple fans. His presentation planted the seeds for the ad so it would seem more organic when Apple debuted the new marketing push.


Jobs said:

“I want to just talk a little about Apple and the brand and what it means, I think, to a lot of us. You know, I think you always had to be a little different to buy an Apple computer. When we shipped the Apple II, you had to think different about computers. Computers were these things you saw in movies [that] occupied giant rooms. They weren’t these things you had on your desktop. You had to think differently because there wasn’t any software at the beginning.

You had to think differently when a first computer arrived at a school where there had never been one before, and it was an Apple II. I think you had to really think differently when you bought a Mac. It was a totally different computer, worked in a totally different way, used a totally different part of your brain. And it opened up a computer world for a lot of people who thought differently … And I think you still have to think differently to buy an Apple computer.”

Apple still thinks different

Apple discontinued the “Think different” campaign with the arrival of the iMac G4 in 2002. However, the slogan’s impact continues to be felt in much the same way as the “1984” Mac ad.

We know, for example, that Tim Cook keeps a copy of one of the original “Think different” ads in his office. With Apple now a market leader, and competitors copying its every move and strategy, thinking different isn’t always easy. But the Cupertino company continues to impress us with some of its bold moves — and its current $1.8 trillion valuation is proof positive things are working.






Apple - Think Different - Full Version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sMBhDv4sik


Apple Think Different - Steve Jobs Narrated Version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEPhLqwKo6g

 

[Stillrandy]

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Sandy, I have often wondered if the 'Think Different' campaign was to go one-up on IBM, whose founder Thomas Watson had all his offices decorated with the word 'Think'.

That Apple logo was so uber-cool! Good post, I enjoyed it.

 

[sultrysandy]

-------------------
Sandy, I have often wondered if the 'Think Different' campaign was to go one-up on IBM, whose founder Thomas Watson had all his offices decorated with the word 'Think'.

That Apple logo was so uber-cool! Good post, I enjoyed it.

It's well known Steve Jobs believed IBM was Apple's enemy. That is until Microsoft released Windows.



And the Think Different campaign struck home with me. Actually a single line, "The ones who see hings differently." There are some even at Lit that know me not as sultrysandy but Sandy the person, and say I talk and think differently than anyone else they know.
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