Lit Apple Mac, iPhone, iPad User Group

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Apple ditched Intel, and it paid off

Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers the keynote address during the 2020 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California.



Apple’s decision to ditch Intel paid off this year.

The pivot allowed Apple to completely rethink the Mac, which had started to grow stale with an aging design and iterative annual upgrades. Following the divorce from Intel, Apple has launched far more exciting computers which, paired with an ongoing pandemic that has forced people to work and learn from home, have sent Apple’s Mac business soaring.

It wasn’t always a given. When Apple announced its move away from Intel in 2020, it was fair to question just how well Apple could power laptops and desktop computers. Apple has used in-house chips for iPhones and iPads but had been selling Intel-powered computers for 15 years. It wasn’t clear how well its macOS desktop software would work with apps designed to run on Intel chips, or whether its processors would offer any consumer benefits and keep up with intensive tasks that people turned to MacBooks to run.

Those fears were quickly quelled.

The first M1 Apple chip was launched in 2020 in a MacBook Air laptop. It was more powerful than Intel’s chip while offering longer battery life and enabling a fanless design, which helped keep Apple’s new MacBook Air even quieter. It proved to be an early success.

In April 2021, CEO Tim Cook said during the company’s fiscal second-quarter earnings call that the M1 chip helped fuel the 70.1% growth in Apple’s Mac revenue, which hit $9.1 billion during that quarter.

Apple launches new iMac.



The growth continued in fiscal Q3, when Mac revenue was up 16% year over year. That quarter, it launched the all-new iMac, which offered a redesigned super-thin metal body that looks like a screen propped up on a stand. It’s slimmer than the Intel models that came before it, while offering other benefits, like a much better webcam, great speakers and a much sharper display than the models it replaced. And Apple made the launch more exciting by offering an array of colors for the iMac, which it hadn’t done since it shipped the 1999 iMac.

There was a slowdown in fiscal Q4, when Mac revenue grew just 1.6%, as Apple, like all manufacturers, saw a slowdown from the burst of sales driven by the start of the pandemic and dealt with supply chain woes. But fiscal Q4 sales didn’t include revenue from its most exciting new computer of the year.

Apple MacBook Pro



The 14-inch MacBook Pro, which launched in October, proved Apple’s processors are capable of serving Apple’s most demanding customers.

The new laptop runs on Apple’s latest M1 Pro and M1 Max processors, which are even more capable of handling intensive tasks such as video editing multiple high-resolution video files at the same time. It has the best screen ever on an Apple laptop that’s brighter, sharper and smoother than earlier Intel models. But, more notably, the laptops still offer long battery life, thanks to the more power-efficient design of Apple’s processors. Paired with plenty of ports that let you attach high-speed accessories, additional displays or more storage, it’s easily the best laptop on the market.

Apple’s fiscal Q1 earnings in January will give an indication of how well all its new computers are selling.

But it’s clear the move from Intel has allowed Apple to move full speed ahead with its own chip development, much like it does for iPhones and iPads, the latter of which has yet to be matched by any other tablet on the market. It’s no longer beholden to delays that plagued Intel, which started to lag behind AMD with its new 7nm chips. And Apple has full control over its “stack,” which means it can design new computer hardware and software together, instead of letting the power of another company’s chips dictate what its computers can and can’t do.

Take, for example, the way M1 is able to improve the quality of the webcam on its computers, even though it’s the same image sensor used in prior Intel models. There are other benefits to owning the hardware and software.

Apple’s new macOS Monterey software will soon let computers running on M1 share a single keyboard and mouse with an iPad, for example, allowing you to seamlessly control multiple devices at the same time. M1 Macs have other exclusive features, such as on-device voice dictation, improved Siri text-to-speech, more detailed Maps and portrait mode in FaceTime, which blurs the background behind you. And while the app selection is still limited, M1 Macs are capable of running some of the same apps that you run on your iPhone and iPad.

Expect the trend to continue next year. Reports have suggested we’ll see yet another new MacBook Air, updates to the most powerful iMac Pro and Mac Pro and more in 2022. And we may see M1 in totally new product categories.

The chip is so good at managing power that it may even be used in Apple’s augmented reality headset. A report in November said Apple’s upcoming AR glasses, which he said will launch at the end of 2022, will be just as powerful as its Macs. That will help the headset stand out against the competition since the headset will be able to run intensive graphics tasks without being connected to a computer or phone.

 

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Apple becomes first U.S. company to reach $3 trillion market cap

Apple hit a market cap of $3 trillion during intraday trading on Monday, tripling its valuation in under four years. Apple broke the barrier when its share price hit $182.86.

The milestone is mostly symbolic but it shows investors remain bullish on Apple stock and its ability to grow. Apple showed annual growth across all of its product categories in its fourth-quarter earnings, with revenue up 29% year-over-year.

While the iPhone is still the biggest sales driver, Apple's services business grew 25.6% year-over-year and delivered more than $18 billion in revenue during the quarter. And analysts see plenty of room to run.

In December, for example, Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty raised the firm's price target on Apple from $164 to $200, and maintained the equivalent of a buy rating, arguing that new products like virtual reality and augmented reality headsets aren't yet baked into the share price.

Huberty also said she expects Apple's App Store revenue to outperform Morgan Stanley's forecasts for the quarter and for Apple to ship 83 million units during the December quarter, 3 million more than anticipated.

Apple sold 27 million pairs of its newest AirPods model over the holidays, driving 20% year-over-year growth for Apple's wearables business during the quarter, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TFI Asset Management Limited said in a Monday note.

Investors also turned to Apple as a safe haven during recent market uncertainty, thanks to its strong balance sheet and prodigious cash flow, which it uses to invest in new products, stock buybacks and to return capital to shareholders through dividends.

Apple became the first publicly traded U.S. company to hit a $1 trillion market cap during intraday trading on Aug. 2, 2018. It hit a $2 trillion valuation just over two years later on Aug. 19, 2020.

Apple's peers aren't far behind. Microsoft is worth about $2.5 trillion, Amazon has about a $1.75 market cap and Google's market valuation is just shy of $2 trillion.

Apple stock is up just under 3% on the day and rose 34% in 2021.

 

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Apple's $3 trillion market cap shows value of share buybacks, dividend

Apple’s rise to $3 trillion market cap shows the value of its massive share buybacks

Apple CEO Tim Cook attends Apple’s “Ted Lasso” season two premiere at Pacific Design Center on July 15, 2021 in West Hollywood, California.



Apple capped off a stunning rise on Monday when it briefly became the first company to touch a $3 trillion market value before closing the day just short of the mark.

The relentless rise of Apple’s stock speaks to the power of Apple’s capital return program. In recent years Apple has been the biggest repurchaser of its own shares in the S&P 500 by far.

Apple spent $85.5 billion to repurchase shares and $14.5 billion on dividends in its fiscal 2021, which ended in September. Apple spends more on buybacks than other companies who repurchase a lot of their shares, including Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook), Alphabet, Bank of America and Oracle.


Share buybacks boost a company’s stock price by reducing the supply of shares in the market, effectively returning the money to investors. In addition, reduced share counts increase earnings per share, a metric used by many value-based investors to judge a stock.

Apple started to pay quarterly dividends and repurchase its shares in March 2012. Since then and through last summer, Apple has spent over $467 billion on buybacks, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, which calls the iPhone maker the “poster child” for share buybacks.

In fact, since August 2018, when Apple first hit a $1 trillion value, its stock is up 252%, compared with a market cap increase of about 200%. The disparity is a direct result of its buyback program, which has reduced the company’s share count from about 19.4 billion at the end of June 2018 to about 16.4 billion now.

Investors are beginning to see Apple as a “flight to safety” or quality trade thanks to the combination of its large cash flow and willingness to return that money to investors.

“The recent rally in shares in part may reflect investor expectations of relatively stable demand and continued strong cash flows and capital return for a stock that has performed largely in-line with the market,” Bank of America Securities analyst Wamsi Mohan wrote in a December note.


Can it continue?

Apple’s prodigious cash flow is one reason why investors believe that Apple can continue to spend significant amounts on share buybacks while still growing its headcount and investing in research and development. Apple reported an industry-leading $104 billion in cash flow in its fiscal 2021. By way of comparison, fellow tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet had about $77 billion and $65 billion in cash flows during their most recent fiscal years, respectively.

Apple’s ability to generate free cash flow could also allow the company to continue its capital return program even when it becomes “net cash neutral,” which Apple CEO Tim Cook describes as a point when Apple’s total cash will equal its total debt.

In Dec. 2017, alongside a new tax law that allowed it to move most of its cash pile from overseas, Apple said that it planned to no longer maintain its huge cash pile and instead planned to return cash to investors over time.

Apple’s buyback pace immediately quickened from $33 billion in fiscal 2017 to $73 billion in fiscal 2018. As of October, Apple has $66 billion in net cash, CFO Luca Maestri said at the time. That’s down from about $163 billion in net cash from when the decision was announced.

In November, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi predicted that Apple would be able to continue repurchasing between 3% and 4% of outstanding shares through 2026 without taking on net debt — Apple has borrowed in recent years to fuel its capital return program but its spending has been offset by its cash pile.

Apple generally updates investors on its shareholder return plans in April alongside its second-quarter financial results. Citi analysts expect Apple to announce another $90 billion in buybacks and to raise its dividend by 10%.

 

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Warren Buffett makes over $120 billion on Apple’s rise to $3 trillion, among his best bets ever

Warren Buffett’s out-of-character bet on Apple may end up being one of his winningest investments, making more than $120 billion on paper as the tech giant shattered yet another record to top a $3 trillion market valuation this week.

Berkshire Hathaway began buying Apple stock in 2016 and by mid-2018, the conglomerate accumulated 5% ownership of the iPhone maker, a stake that cost $36 billion. Flash forward to 2022 and the Apple investment is now worth $160 billion as the massive rally extended into the new year.

“Without a doubt, it is one of the strongest investments that Berkshire has made in the last decade,” said James Shanahan, Berkshire analyst at Edward Jones.

Other than Apple’s giant appreciation in share price, it has also been a lucrative bet for Berkshire because of its hefty payouts. Berkshire has enjoyed regular dividends, averaging about $775 million annually.

Buffett’s aversion to high-flying tech stocks has been well documented, but the “Oracle of Omaha” warmed up to the sector in the last decade with help from his investing deputies Todd Combs and Ted Weschler. Berkshire’s Apple stake now makes up for more than 40% of its equity portfolio, according to InsiderScore.com calculations. The conglomerate is Apple’s largest shareholder, outside of index and exchange-traded fund providers.

The billionaire investor has called Apple Berkshire’s “third-largest business,” after its insurance and railroad interests. Buffett previously said the iPhone is a “sticky” product, keeping people within the company’s ecosystem.

“It’s probably the best business I know in the world,” Buffett said in a CNBC interview in February 2020. “I don’t think of Apple as a stock. I think of it as our third business.”

But you’re not likely to hear from Buffett crowing about the winning trade since that’s not his style and he is often quick to point out when shares appreciate that the gains are not real yet and subject to further fluctuations.

Still, the investor has realized some of that profit in real terms over the years. Since 2018, Berkshire has been trimming its Apple stake slightly with the conglomerate pocketing $11 billion in 2020. However, because of Apple’s repurchase programs, which shrank the number of its outstanding shares, Berkshire’s overall stake in the tech company has actually gotten bigger.

“Berkshire’s investment in Apple vividly illustrates the power of repurchases,” the conglomerate said in its 2020 annual report. “Despite that sale [in 2020] – voila! – Berkshire now owns 5.4% of Apple. That increase was costless to us, coming about because Apple has continuously repurchased its shares, thereby substantially shrinking the number it now has outstanding.”

“But that’s far from all of the good news. Because we also repurchased Berkshire shares during the 2 1⁄2 years, you now indirectly own a full 10% more of Apple’s assets and future earnings than you did in July 2018,” Berkshire said in the report.

The investment in the tech giant played a crucial role in helping the conglomerate weather the Covid-19 crisis in 2020 as other pillars of its business, including insurance and energy, took a huge hit.

 

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15 years of iPhone: Rewatch the original Steve Jobs keynote announcing the iPhone

An iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator. An iPod, a phone… are you getting it?

These are not three separate devices: This is one device, and we are calling it iPhone.

Believe or not, today marks 15 years since Steve Jobs took the stage to announce the first-ever iPhone. Jobs took the stage at the Macworld Conference at Moscone West in San Francisco to announce the iPhone, touting that it was a “widescreen iPod with touch controls,” a “revolutionary mobile phone,” and a “breakthrough Internet communicator.”

Jobs announced the iPhone on January 9, 2007 and it would go on to be released on June 29, 2007. During that year’s Macworld keynote, Jobs teased that Apple was about “to reinvent the phone” with the iPhone’s announcement and release. 15 years later, it’s clear Apple did just that. Somewhat coincidentally, BlackBerry just ended support for all BlackBerry OS smartphones on January 4.

As we celebrate the 15th anniversary of the iPhone’s original announcement, some really interesting coverage has popped up from news outlets. Sascha Segan at PCMag, who shared pictures of his original notes from the iPhone’s announcement:

Fifteen years ago, I was at CES, the big consumer electronics show, while history was being made as Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in Cupertino.

I multitasked. Specifically, I remember squatting in a convention center vestibule trying to make sense of Jobs’ reality distortion field, and then attending a press gaggle where two Cingular (now AT&T) executives explained how important the iPhone would be, from their perspective.



The iPhone keynote

Specifications of the original iPhone included a 3.5-inch touchscreen with a 480×320 resolution, a physical home button, and a 2MP rear-facing camera. The iPhone also featured a pesky recessed headphone jack, a 30-pin dock connector, up to 16GB of internal storage, and was available exclusive with AT&T connectivity in the United States.

The 15th anniversary of the iPhone’s announcement is a great excuse to relive the original keynote from Macworld 2007.

iPhone 1 - Steve Jobs MacWorld keynote in 2007 - Full Presentation, 80 mins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQKMoT-6XSg

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Apple outage takes down select iCloud services, Photos for some users

Some Apple services are experiencing issues – the company has acknowledged that iCloud and Photos are slow or currently unavailable.

Apple says “some users are affected” by the outage. The iCloud status board lists iCloud Backup, iCloud Bookmarks & Tabs, iCloud Drive, iCloud Keychain, and Photos as facing issues right now.

At the time of writing, the outage has been going on for about eight hours. We’ll update our coverage when Apple green lights all of these five services.

In the meantime, you may experience turbulence when trying to use some iCloud services as well as your Photo library with multiple devices.

Apple has not provided any additional details on this outage via its System Status webpage. Instead, the company simply notes that the issue is “ongoing” and first began around 2:54 a.m. PT.

You can also check for updates on Apple’s online service outages here.

2,000px × 1,000px


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Apple iCloud Mail, Photos, and more are again 'slow or unavailable'

For the second day in a row, Apple's iCloud services have been hit by an outage that sees very many of them either running slowly, or not being available at all.

On Monday, Apple acknowledged that multiple iCloud services were running slowly, or not at all, but implemented fixes that appeared to return them to normal. On Tuesday, however, it admitted that very many were again affected.

All 14 current issues were originally acknowledged by Apple at 8:03 a.m. Eastern on January 11. Some 11 of them are listed as affecting "some users," and potentially being "slow or unavailable."

• Find My
  
  
• iCloud Calendar
  
  
• iCloud Contacts
  
  
• iCloud Drive
  
  
• iCloud Keychain
  
  
• iCloud Mail
  
  
• iCloud Notes
  
  
• iCloud Reminders
  
  
• iCloud Web Apps (iCloud.com)
  
  
• News
  
  
• Photos

At the same time, 3 further services were described has having issues where "users may be experiencing a problem with this service."

• iCloud Backup
  
  
• iCloud Bookmarks & Tabs
  
  
• Screen Time

Apple had reported that all its previous issues had been resolved around 10:00 p.m. Eastern on Monday. However, the company's current status board lists five issues from Monday which it now says were not resolved until 7.23 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday.

The five — Backup, Bookmarks & Tabs, Drive, Keychain, and Photos — are also listed has having been an issue from 5:54 a.m. Eastern on Monday. This means that despite Apple's previous claim of resolving by the evening, all five took more than 24 hours to fix.

What's more, all five are again part of the new iCloud outage reported today.

 

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Firefox browser is suddenly failing to load websites, here’s the fix

A bizarre bug in Firefox has cropped up that means users of Firefox are unable to load any website in the Mac, Windows and desktop Linux versions of the browser. While the developers work on a solution to the bug, there is a fix you can apply to workaround the issue …

Affected users are simply seeing their tabs spin forever, never completing loading to show the page.

The underlying issue preventing pages from loading appears to be an infinite loop bug in Firefox’s HTTP3 implementation. This essentially causes the browser process to hang indefinitely.

In particular, the current theory is that one of Firefox’s data analytics services recently upgraded to a HTTP3-powered backend and the browser is failing to resolve it successfully. The actual implementation bug will have existed for a while but it has only come to the fore because Firefox attempts to connect to data analytics servers almost immediately after launching the app.

Luckily, very few real websites actually care about HTTP3 with almost everyone either still using older standards, or providing a fallback. This means HTTP3 capability is not yet required to browse the modern web. The workaround to the bug then is to simply disable HTTP3 loading entirely in Firefox. To do this:

1. Open a new Firefox window.
   
   
2. Type about:config in the URL bar. This will open a settings screen.
   
   
3. Search for the setting ‘network.http.http3.enabled’.
   
   
4. Set this setting to ‘false’ to disable HTTP3.
   
   
5. Then, fully close and restart Firefox.

This workaround applies to all desktop versions of Firefox, so it’ll work regardless of whether you are on Windows and Mac.

Of course, once the actual software bug has been resolved, you’ll want to go back and re-enable HTTP3 so that you can use HTTP3-dependent services in the future.

(The iOS version of Firefox is not affected by the bug as its underlying rendering engine is WebKit, the same as Safari. This is because on iOS, Apple does not allow third-party browsers to use their own engines for security reasons).

 

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Safari Bug Allows Websites to Track Your Recent Browsing Activity in Real Time

Safari bug can leak some of your Google account info and recent browsing history

A serious Safari bug disclosed can disclose information about your recent browsing history and even some info of the logged-in Google account.

A bug in Safari’s IndexedDB implementation on Mac and iOS means that a website can see the names of databases for any domain, not just its own. The database names can then be used to extract identifying information from a lookup table. You can try it out for yourself with this live demo.

For instance, Google services store an IndexedDB instance for each of your logged in accounts, with the name of the database corresponding to your Google User ID.

Using the exploit described in the blog post, a nefarious site could scrape your Google User ID and then use that ID to find out other personal information about you, as the ID is used to make API requests to Google services. In the proof-of-concept demo, the user’s profile picture is revealed.

The proof-of-concept only keeps a lookup table of about 30 domain names, however there’s no reason the technique could not be applied to a much larger set. Almost any website that uses the IndexedDB J a v a S c r i p t API could be vulnerable to such data scraping.

The bug is simply that the names of all IndexedDB databases is available to any site; access to the actual content of each database is restricted. The fix — and the correct behaviour observed on other browsers like Chrome — would be that a website can only see the databases created by the same domain name as its own.

All current versions of Safari on iPhone, iPad and Mac are exploitable. This bugwas reported to Apple on November 28, but it has not yet been resolved.

How IndexedDB in Safari 15 leaks your browsing activity (in real time) - 1:35
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dPeGpCl8s

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Google sued by 4 attorneys general over location tracking

Four AGs sue Google for allegedly tracking you without permission



Four attorneys general are suing Google for allegedly misleading users about when the company was able to track their location.

The bipartisan group of attorneys general from the District of Columbia, Indiana, Texas and Washington allege in separate lawsuits filed Monday that Google deceived users from at least 2014 to 2019 by leading them to believe that turning off “location history” settings would make the service stop tracking their whereabouts. But, the AGs allege, a user’s location could still be tracked by Google unless they also turned off settings in the “Web & App Activity” section.

Google describes Web & App Activity as a way to personalize experiences for users by saving searches and activity in a user’s account.

The AGs allege that Google misled users to believe that once they turned their location history off, their whereabouts would no longer be tracked.

“Yet, even when consumers explicitly opted out of location tracking by turning ‘location history’ off, Google nevertheless recorded consumers’ locations via other means,” the Washington lawsuit alleges. “Although Web & App Activity setting is automatically enabled for all Google accounts, the company’s disclosures during ‘Google Account’ creation did not mention or draw consumers’ attention to the setting until 2018,” the suit charges.

A 2018 report from the Associated Press revealed the basis of the allegations in the lawsuits.

Arizona’s attorney general brought a similar lawsuit in 2020, but D.C. AG Karl Racine said Monday the new lawsuits are distinct in part because they include a focus on so-called dark patterns, which are design choices websites use to steer users toward a certain decision. The lawsuit said that examples of dark patterns “include complicated navigation menus, visual misdirection, confusing wording (such as double negatives), and repeated nudging.”

Racine said it was important to include dark patterns in the complaint “because it shows the level of deception and the level of intention that many companies including Google, engage in to essentially trap the user limit the user’s ability to keep certain areas of their life private. And they do it all the while telling the user in their policy statements, that the user is in control of how the system their system operates. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

The AGs allege that Google profited from the deception by fueling its advertising business with such data. The lawsuits specifically request the court to require Google to offload any algorithms created with the allegedly ill-gotten gains, alongside monetary profits.

The request for algorithms to be included in the prayer for relief is relatively unique, but Racine said it was an important one to deter other companies from pursuing similar types of alleged deception.

“If you have gotten access to a whole body of information that you clearly have programmed and made an algorithm to profit from, I would suggest that that is ascertainable information,” Racine said. “And therefore, we should figure out how much money Google has made using, in this case, D.C. user data on geolocation. Because we’d like to have that money back.”

“The attorneys general are bringing a case based on inaccurate claims and outdated assertions about our settings,” Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement. “We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data. We will vigorously defend ourselves and set the record straight.”

Castañeda added that the Alphabet-owned search giant has updated the way it stores and communicates to users about location settings, including by letting users automatically delete location data on a regular basis beginning in June 2019. In June 2020, it made auto-delete the default for new accounts. The company also has made changes to limit the way it collects location data when users search on Google, to collect the general area a user is searching from rather than a precise location.

Google also pointed to comments a judge in a similar case brought by Arizona’s attorney general made. The comments came in response to a motion for summary judgement, where the judge declined to rule on a claim in the case before it made its way to trial.

“A reasonable fact-finder could find that a reasonable, or even an unsophisticated, consumer, would understand that at least some location information is collected through means other than [‘location history’],” the judge wrote in the recent filing.

 

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Happy Birthday, Apple Macintosh!



On January 22, 1984 during the Super Bowl, Apple ran their famous “1984” commercial. The voice-over intoned:

Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology. Where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!

At that moment, the shocked masses saw the hammer fly through the screen. Then millions saw these words and heard them spoken aloud:

On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like “1984.”

Original 1984 Macintosh desktop






Steve Jobs at a keynote in 1983 presenting “1984” for the first time ever (starts at 4:08):

Steve Jobs speaks in 1983 at an Apple sales conference - 9:47
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl0vhiLUIxk


TV Guide and many other publications have named Apple’s “1984” as the greatest commercial of all time.






Apple’s “1984” ad:


1984 Apple's First Macintosh Commercial - 0:59

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8






Steve Jobs introducing Macintosh to the world before a packed house at Cupertino’s Flint Center on Jan. 24, 1984 at Apple’s Shareholders’ Meeting:

Full 1984 Apple Shareholders Meeting (5 of 9) - 9:56
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckLdxZ-QcO0






Steve Jobs introducing Mac on Jan. 24, 1984 (continued, includes 5 TV spots that introduced the world to Macintosh):

Full 1984 Apple Shareholders Meeting (6 of 9) - 9:51
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpFq8fG4Dxo

 

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iCloud services currently down due to unexpected outage

Some iCloud services are currently down due to unexpected outage

If you’re experiencing problems when trying to access some iCloud services, you’re not alone. iCloud Backup, iCloud Mail, and iCloud Photos are currently down for some users.

Apple has confirmed the outage through its System Status website. The company says that “some users are affected” and that they may be “experiencing a problem with this service.”

According to the website, iCloud Backup, Mail, and Photos are partially or completely offline for some users on Tuesday night.

The outage began around 6:15 PM ET and is still ongoing. Apple doesn’t share an estimated time for getting its services like this back up and running, but we’ll update this post when it does.

 

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Apple's iCloud Service Experiencing Outage [Update: Apple Says Fixed]

Update: Apple's System Status page now says that the iCloud outage, including problems with Game Center, backup, Mail, storage, web apps, and Photos, has been fixed. That said, some Apple customers on social media are still reporting issues, so Apple's fix may not have resolved the situation for everyone yet.

 

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iOS 15.3 now available to iPhone users, here’s what’s new

Apple’s latest round of software updates is now rolling out to the public. iOS 15.3 is now available to iPhone users with performance improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements. Furthermore, iPadOS 15.3 is now available to iPad users, while watchOS 8.4 is rolling out for Apple Watch.

iOS 15.3 foregoes new features in favor of under-the-hood bug fixes and improvements. One of the most notable changes here is a fix for a Safari vulnerability that may have been leaking your browsing history and Google ID data to the websites you visited.

The bug was first discovered by FingerprintJS, which detailed how websites could use an exploit found in IndexedDB (a ********** API used for storing data) to access URLs recently visited by a user and even obtain the user’s Google ID and related personal data. This vulnerability has now been patched in iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3.

• iOS 15.3 RC fixes Safari bug that gives websites access to browsing history and Google ID data
  
  
• Safari bug can leak some of your Google account info and recent browsing history
  
  
• Apple working on a fix for Safari bug that leaks browsing history and Google ID

Apple’s release notes for iOS 15.3 are short and to the point: “iOS 15.3 includes bug fixes and security updates for your iPhone and is recommended for all users.”

You can update your iPhone to iOS 15.3 and your iPad to iPadOS 15.3 by heading to the Settings application, choosing General, then choosing Software Update. The build number of today’s releases of iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3 is 19D50.

Apple is also rolling out watchOS 8.4 for Apple Watch users today. This update also focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements. You can update your Apple Watch to watchOS 8.4 by going to the Settings app on your Apple Watch or using the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.

 

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iOS 15.3 patches 10 major security flaws affecting Safari, root privileges, and more

Along with Apple’s software updates today for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and more, a variety of security issues have been fixed. iOS 15.3 specifically patches 10 notable security bugs ranging from the Safari web browsing leak to a flaw that can give malicious apps root privileges, and more.

We knew about the web browsing and Google account ID flaw being patched ahead of time as it arrived with the RC versions of iOS 15.3 and macOS 12.2 However, Apple has now detailed the full list of security patches with documentation showing up for iOS 15.3, watchOS 8.4, and more.

macOS 12.2 may include the same fixes, but Apple hasn’t published the security update for that just yet.

Beyond the Safari web browsing flaw, others security issues patched include apps gaining root privileges, the ability to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges, accessing user files through an iCloud bug, and more.

Apple tells developers it’s rolling out a fix for iCloud syncing issues impacting third-party apps

Here are the 10 flaws fixed in iOS 15.3 per Apple:

ColorSync

Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)

Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted file may lead to arbitrary code execution

Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved validation.

CVE-2022-22584: Mickey Jin (@patch1t) of Trend Micro

Crash Reporter

Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)

Impact: A malicious application may be able to gain root privileges

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved validation.

CVE-2022-22578: an anonymous researcher

iCloud

Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)

Impact: An application may be able to access a user’s files

Description: An issue existed within the path validation logic for symlinks. This issue was addressed with improved path sanitization.

CVE-2022-22585: Zhipeng Huo (@R3dF09) of Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab (https://xlab.tencent.com)

IOMobileFrameBuffer

Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)

Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.

Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved input validation.

CVE-2022-22587: an anonymous researcher, Meysam Firouzi (@R00tkitSMM) of MBition – Mercedes-Benz Innovation Lab, Siddharth Aeri (@b1n4r1b01)

Kernel

Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)

Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

Description: A buffer overflow issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

CVE-2022-22593: Peter Nguyễn Vũ Hoàng of STAR Labs

Model I/O

Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)

Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted STL file may lead to unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution

Description: An information disclosure issue was addressed with improved state management.

CVE-2022-22579: Mickey Jin (@patch1t) of Trend Micro

WebKit

Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)

Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted mail message may lead to running arbitrary **********

Description: A validation issue was addressed with improved input sanitization.

CVE-2022-22589: Heige of KnownSec 404 Team (knownsec.com) and Bo Qu of Palo Alto Networks (paloaltonetworks.com)

WebKit

Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)

Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution

Description: A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management.

CVE-2022-22590: Toan Pham from Team Orca of Sea Security (security.sea.com)

WebKit

Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)

Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may prevent Content Security Policy from being enforced

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved state management.

CVE-2022-22592: Prakash (@1lastBr3ath)

WebKit Storage

Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)

Impact: A website may be able to track sensitive user information

Description: A cross-origin issue in the IndexDB API was addressed with improved input validation.

CVE-2022-22594: Martin Bajanik of FingerprintJS

 

[sandysgeek]

Apple releases macOS 12.2 with Safari security patch, improved ProMotion scrolling

After a beta period of just over a month, Apple has officially made the latest macOS release available for all users. macOS 12.2 arrives with an important security fix for Safari, improved scrolling in Safari for the new MacBook Pro, and a new native Apple Music app.

Update: As it turns out, macOS 12.2 comes with 13 important security updates:

• macOS 12.2 patches 13 major security flaws impacting Safari, root privileges, iCloud, more

macOS 12.2 is starting to appear for users via OTA. Head to System Preferences > Software update to check if it’s available for your Mac. Apple has also released a new update for those still on Big Sur with macOS 11.6.3.

While it doesn’t come with many changes, macOS 12.2 includes a security fix for a serious Safari flaw along with a few others improvements and fixes.

The Safari exploit was first discovered earlier this month that can leak users’ browsing history as well as Google account IDs. This was first patched by Apple in the iOS 15.3 and macOS 12.2 RC along with today’s official release.

Another fix with macOS 12.2 improves scrolling in Safari with ProMotion on the new MacBook Pro.

And seen since the first macOS 12.2 beta, there’s a new, native Apple Music app. As previously noted:

Some parts of the Music app were already native, such as the music library. But now Mac users will notice that searching for new songs in Apple Music is much faster as the results pages are displayed with a native interface instead of as a webpage. Scrolling between elements has also become smoother with the beta app, and trackpad gestures are now more responsive.

Comparing both apps side by side, the beta Music app may look simpler with some interface effects missing – this is probably because Apple is rebuilding everything and it will take a while before the native version gets all these visual effects back

.

 

[sandysgeek]

macOS 12.2 patches 13 major security flaws impacting Safari, root privileges, iCloud,

Inside of Apple’s latest update for Mac are fixes for a wide range of security flaws. macOS 12.2 patches 13 serious security bugs ranging from the Safari web browsing leak to a flaw that can give malicious apps access to root privileges, kernel privileges, iCloud data, and more.

We already knew about the web browsing and Google account ID flaw being patched ahead of time as it arrived with the RC versions of iOS 15.3 and macOS 12.2 However, Apple has now detailed the full list of security patches with documentation available for macOS 12.2.

Apple has also patched a number of security issues with macOS 11.6.3 and an update for macOS Catalina.

iOS 15.3 comes with 10 security fixes, and 8 for watchOS 8.4. macOS 12.2 comes with the most at 13 security fixes.

Beyond the Safari web browsing flaw, others security issues patched include apps gaining root privileges, the ability to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges, accessing user files through an iCloud, and more.

Apple tells developers it’s rolling out a fix for iCloud syncing issues impacting third-party apps

Here are the 13 flaws fixed in macOS 12.2 per Apple:

AMD Kernel

Available for: macOS Monterey

Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

Description: An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed with improved bounds checking.

CVE-2022-22586: an anonymous researcher

ColorSync

Available for: macOS Monterey

Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted file may lead to arbitrary code execution

Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved validation.

CVE-2022-22584: Mickey Jin (@patch1t) of Trend Micro

Crash Reporter

Available for: macOS Monterey

Impact: A malicious application may be able to gain root privileges

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved validation.

CVE-2022-22578: an anonymous researcher

iCloud

Available for: macOS Monterey

Impact: An application may be able to access a user’s files

Description: An issue existed within the path validation logic for symlinks. This issue was addressed with improved path sanitization.

CVE-2022-22585: Zhipeng Huo (@R3dF09) of Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab (https://xlab.tencent.com)

Intel Graphics Driver

Available for: macOS Monterey

Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

CVE-2022-22591: Antonio Zekic (@antoniozekic) of Diverto

IOMobileFrameBuffer

Available for: macOS Monterey

Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.

Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved input validation.

CVE-2022-22587: an anonymous researcher, Meysam Firouzi (@R00tkitSMM) of MBition – Mercedes-Benz Innovation Lab, Siddharth Aeri (@b1n4r1b01)

Kernel

Available for: macOS Monterey

Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

Description: A buffer overflow issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

CVE-2022-22593: Peter Nguyễn Vũ Hoàng of STAR Labs

Model I/O

Available for: macOS Monterey

Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted STL file may lead to unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution

Description: An information disclosure issue was addressed with improved state management.

CVE-2022-22579: Mickey Jin (@patch1t) of Trend Micro

PackageKit

Available for: macOS Monterey

Impact: An application may be able to access restricted files

Description: A permissions issue was addressed with improved validation.

CVE-2022-22583: an anonymous researcher, Mickey Jin (@patch1t), Ron Hass (@ronhass7) of Perception Point

WebKit

Available for: macOS Monterey

Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted mail message may lead to running arbitrary **********

Description: A validation issue was addressed with improved input sanitization.

CVE-2022-22589: Heige of KnownSec 404 Team (knownsec.com) and Bo Qu of Palo Alto Networks (paloaltonetworks.com)

WebKit

Available for: macOS Monterey

Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution

Description: A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management.

CVE-2022-22590: Toan Pham from Team Orca of Sea Security (security.sea.com)

WebKit

Available for: macOS Monterey

Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may prevent Content Security Policy from being enforced

Description: A logic issue was addressed with improved state management.

CVE-2022-22592: Prakash (@1lastBr3ath)

WebKit Storage

Available for: macOS Monterey

Impact: A website may be able to track sensitive user information

Description: A cross-origin issue in the IndexDB API was addressed with improved input validation.

CVE-2022-22594: Martin Bajanik of FingerprintJS

 

[hisplaceof]

Is there any way to get the ipad batteries to not go kaput after a year or so? I have my 2nd replacement and I am looking for a way to not have to replace it again.

 

[sandysgeek]

Apple (AAPL) earnings Q1 2022

Apple revenue pops 11% to $123.9 billion, Cook says supply chain improving



Apple CEO Tim Cook said on Thursday that the company’s supply chain challenges were improving, sending shares up about 5% in extended trading, while delivering a solid beat on earnings.

Apple beat analyst estimates for sales in every product category except iPads and overall revenue was up 11% annually.

Here is how Apple did in the quarter ending Dec. 25 versus Refinitiv consensus estimates:

• EPS: $2.10 vs. $1.89 estimated, up 25% year-over-year
  
  
• Revenue: $123.9 billion vs. $118.66 billion estimated, up 11% year-over-year
  
  
• iPhone revenue: $71.63 billion vs. $68.34 billion estimated, up 9% year-over-year
  
  
• Services revenue: $19.52 billion vs. $18.61 billion estimated, up 24% year-over-year
  
  
• Other Products revenue: $14.70 billion vs. $14.59 billion estimated, up 13% year-over-year
  
  
• Mac revenue: $10.85 billion vs. $9.52 billion estimated, up 25% year-over-year
  
  
• iPad revenue: $7.25 billion vs. $8.18 billion estimated, down 14% year-over-year
  
  
• Gross margin: 43.8% vs. 41.7% estimated

Apple again did not provide official guidance about expectations for the current quarter. Apple hasn’t provided guidance since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, citing uncertainty.

Apple CEO Tim Cook did provide a forward-looking data point.

“What we expect for the March quarter is solid year-over-year revenue growth,” Cook said. “And we expect supply constraints in the March quarter to be less than they were in the December quarter.”

It was another strong showing for Apple in its most important quarter of the year which includes holiday sales. Every one of Apple’s product lines grew year-over-year from last year, except for iPad sales, despite management warnings from October that supply issues could hurt the company’s sales.

Cook said that the company’s supply issues were improving. He said that in terms of supply challenges, the December quarter was worse than Apple’s September quarter, but that he is projecting the March quarter to improve.

“Our biggest issue is chip supply, it’s chip supply on legacy nodes,” Cook said. “And we’re doing okay on the leading edge stuff.”

Leading edge chips are the powerful processors at the heart of a phone, while “legacy node” chips are the other, less sophisticated parts that run functions like driving displays or managing power.

Apple released new iPhone models in September, and this quarter was the first full quarter of iPhone 13 sales, giving investors a preview of how competitive the devices are in the market. Sales were up 9% annually to $71.63 billion, although they are growing slower than Apple’s overall business.

Cook said that Apple was proud of the 9% increase in iPhone sales. “That’s despite having supply constraints during the quarter,” Cook said.

Services, which include iCloud, Apple Music, search licensing and App Store fees, continued growing strongly, rising 25% annually to $19.52 billion. Services is Apple’s most profitable business unit and its rise contributed to Apple’s higher-than-expected gross margin.

Apple’s other products category, which includes Apple Watch and AirPods, was up 13% year-over-year. This quarter included sales from Apple’s latest Series 7 watch, which has a larger screen, and new AirPods.

Macs had the strongest growth of any of Apple’s hardware lines, growing 25% over last year to $10.85 billion. In October, Apple launched new MacBook Pro models starting at $1,999 that were well-received and featured a new Apple chip instead of an Intel chip.

iPads were the most notable disappointment. Sales shrunk from last year, and missed analyst estimates, but it was likely because Apple could not make enough iPads and prioritized other devices. Cook attributed the iPad results to “significant” supply constraints.

Cook also said that Apple was seeing inflationary pressure.

“I think everybody’s seeing inflationary pressure,” Cook said. “There’s no two ways about that.”

 

[sandysgeek]

Is there any way to get the ipad batteries to not go kaput after a year or so? I have my 2nd replacement and I am looking for a way to not have to replace it again.

I'm guessing you're frequently recharging the battery, which shortens the batteriy's life span, then needs to be replaced.


Perhaps these articles may help:

12 ways to improve iPad battery life
Keep your iPad running longer on a single charge with these battery-saving tips.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/ways-to-improve-ipad-battery-life/


iOS 14 Battery Life Bad & Draining Fast? Here’s Why & How to Fix It
https://osxdaily.com/2020/09/27/ios-14-battery-life-fix/

 

[sandysgeek]

Buffett's Apple investment just went up by $9.8 billion

The value of Warren Buffett’s Apple investment just went up by $9.8 billion in less than a day

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett.



The value of Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings in Apple increased $9.8 billion on Friday as Apple stock rose nearly 7% on a strong earnings report.

Apple reported December quarter earnings on Thursday, posting nearly $124 billion in sales and strong sales growth in every product line except for the iPad. Investors seemed particularly keen on CEO Tim Cook’s remarks that supply chain headaches are improving.

Berkshire Hathaway started accumulating Apple stock in 2016 and now owns 887,136,000 shares of the iPhone maker, or over 5% of Apple’s outstanding stock, according to FactSet data.

Buffett has been one of Apple’s biggest supporters since 2016, although he initially considered high-flying tech investments to be too risky for Berkshire Hathaway before he started buying Apple shares. Apple now makes up over 40% of Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio.

Apple issues regular dividends, which Buffett has said is attractive under his investing philosophy.

“I don’t think of Apple as a stock. I think of it as our third business,” Buffett said in 2020, calling it “probably the best business I know in the world.”

Buffett has also made the argument that Apple’s iPhone ecosystem is “sticky” and encourages customers to regularly upgrade, making it a safer investment and more like a consumer company than a tech company.

Cook has also praised Berkshire’s investment in Apple. “We run the company for the long term. And so the fact that we’ve got the ultimate long-term investor in the stock is incredible,” Cook said in 2019.

The mutual admiration between the two business titans goes beyond investment, though. In 2019, Apple briefly published a game based on Buffett’s childhood that was presented at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting.

 

[sandysgeek]

Data Privacy Day: Protect your identity, personal data, and cash

Data Privacy Day: Protect your identity, your personal data, and your cash

Yesterday is officially Data Privacy Day, designed to highlight steps we can all take to ensure that we are protecting our identity, our personal data, and our money.

The Federal Trade Commission this week revealed that fraud initiated on social media alone cost consumers around $770M last year – and identity theft can create problems that affect you for years.

This highlights the need to be extremely careful when adding friends, and in particular, being suspicious of private messages asking for money. In general, the more urgent the message appears, the more cautious you should be.

More than 95,000 people reported about $770 million in losses to fraud initiated on social media platforms in 2021. Those losses account for about 25% of all reported losses to fraud in 2021 and represent a stunning eighteen-fold increase over 2017 reported losses. Reports are up for every age group, but people 18 to 39 were more than twice as likely as older adults to report losing money to these scams in 2021.

For scammers, there’s a lot to like about social media. It’s a low-cost way to reach billions of people from anywhere in the world. It’s easy to manufacture a fake persona, or scammers can hack into an existing profile to get “friends” to con. There’s the ability to fine-tune their approach by studying the personal details people share on social media.

CNET put together a good checklist:

Set good passwords. Long, random, and unique passwords are best. Don’t be tempted to recycle an old one, even if it’s great. Need help? Get a password manager.

Turn on two-factor authentication. This technique requires entering a second identifier — like a biometric, app notification or a physical key — in addition to your password. This will go a long way toward protecting you if your password gets compromised.

Note: Avoid using SMS messages. Why? SIM swapping, in which cybercriminals steal your phone number by calling your wireless provider and having it switch your number to a new phone and SIM card. It does happen, and if criminals take over your phone number, they’ll get that text message, too.

Keep an eye on your accounts. Monitor your bank and credit accounts for potentially fraudulent charges. If you don’t expect to be applying for credit anytime soon, freeze your credit reports.

Lock down your social media accounts. Make sure the only “friends” you’re sharing your information with are your actual friends. Even then, be careful what you disclose, especially when it comes to social media quizzes and other games. Seemly innocuous bits of information like the make and model of your first car or the elementary school you attended could be used to hack your passwords down the road, because those facts are often used in security checks.

Audit your logins and apps. Using Facebook or Google to automatically log in to your apps and websites gives them access to more of your data. Think twice before you do it. Not using an app anymore? Delete it and take away its access to the data you agreed to share when you first downloaded it.

Update everything. This doesn’t just apply to your operating systems and antivirus software. Your router, apps and all of those “internet of things” devices also need to be up to date. Patches to fix bugs and security problems can’t help you if you don’t install them. If you don’t know how to update your router, call your ISP or check online.

A couple of other important things. First, never open attachments you aren’t expecting, even if they appear to come from someone you know. Second, never click on a link in an email if it then asks you to log in to one of your accounts. Always use your own bookmarks, or type the URL into your browser.

Data Privacy Day is also a good time to ensure your less techy friends are aware of these precautions.

 

[sandysgeek]

Apple launches new ‘Personal Safety User Guide’ amid AirTag concerns and more

Apple has launched a new “Personal Safety User Guide” that aggregates details and support documents that can help users “when your personal safety is at risk.” The launch of this dedicated hub comes after Apple published an initial round of support resources a year ago, and as concerns around AirTag safety and stalking continue to mount.

Apple explains that the purpose of the new Personal Safety User Guide is to “offer strategies and solutions to help you regain control” if you’re concerned someone has unauthorized access to your device or account:

Apple makes it easy to connect with the people closest to you, while helping you stay aware of what you’re sharing and with whom. If you gave someone access to your personal information and no longer want to—or if you’re concerned someone who had access to your device or accounts made changes without your permission—this guide offer strategies and solutions to help you regain control.

The new Personal Safety hub is split into multiple different sections, ranging from ways to take action if you’re in danger to keeping your information safe with strong password and security strategies.

The “review and take action” guide is particularly important. Here are the tips and tricks detailed in this part of the User Guide:

• Manage sharing settings
  
  
• Block unknown sign-in attempts
  
  
• Document suspicious activity with a screenshot or video
  
  
• Share or stop sharing your location
  
  
• Stay safe with AirTag and other Find My accessories
  
  
• Store your data securely in iCloud
  
  
• How to control who can access your location
  
  
• Delete suspicious content from your devices
  
  
• Manage Family Sharing settings
  
  
• Avoid fraudulent requests to share info
  
  
• Securely control your Home accessories
  
  
• How to Erase all Content and Settings
  
  
• Restore the data you backed up

One of the most notable new guides here is the one focused on how to “stay safe with AirTag and other Find My accessories.” Apple explains:

Both AirTag and the Find My network are designed with privacy at their core. AirTag and Find My network accessories have unique Bluetooth identifiers that change frequently. To discourage unwanted tracking, Find My notifies you if an unknown AirTag or other Find My accessory is seen moving with you over time by sending you the message, “Item Detected Near You.” (This feature is available on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 14.5 or iPadOS 14.5 or later).

If you see this message on your device, an AirTag or other Find My accessory that has been separated from the person who registered it is traveling with you, and the owner might be able to see its location. It’s possible that the AirTag might be attached to an item you are borrowing.

Apple also includes specific checklists that people can access for sharing location with other users via the Find My application.

• What to do if you think someone may have access to your device or accounts
  
  
• How to stop sharing your location with people and apps you previously shared with
  
  
• How to stop sharing with someone you previously shared with

You can find Apple’s full Personal Safety User Guide via its support website right here.



This new “Personal Safety User Guide” from Apple is a crucial new hub that Apple users should have saved for quick and easy access. It essentially takes a lot of the information Apple had previously published and puts it all in one central hub, combined with new details on its latest accessories and products.

You can also quickly search the guide for specific information. For instance, you can use the search function to quickly find out who might have access to your information or location if you’re in an iCloud family with someone.

Apple’s timing here is clear. The new “Personal Safety User Guide” comes as some users continue to raise concerns around the AirTag item tracker and how it could make stalking easier and more accessible. Whether or not Apple has any additional changes for AirTag in store remains to be seen.

 

[sandysgeek]

Some macOS 12.2 Users Experiencing Bluetooth-Related Battery Drain Issue During Sleep

Some macOS 12.2 Users Experiencing Bluetooth-Related Battery Drain Issue During Sleep Mode

The issue has been reported by users across multiple forums, including Reddit, and Twitter over the last several days, but it is unclear how widespread it is.

Affected users say their Mac's battery life drops from 100% to 0% while in sleep mode overnight since updating to macOS 12.2. A few users tried to identify a cause in Terminal and found that Bluetooth accessories are frequently causing a "DarkWake from Deep Idle" that results in the Mac repeatedly waking from sleep, which drains the battery. The issue appears to be affecting both Intel-based Macs and M1-based Macs.

Whoa macOS 12.2 21D49 (the current version) is behaving like Windows! Battery went from full to 0% while on sleep mode overnight. Any fix, @AppleSupport? pic.twitter.com/w1kdJXyU7r — fishjourner (@fishjourner) January 29, 2022

@ Apple tweeps: macOS 12.2 breaks something related with bluetooth + sleep/wake. Looking at `pmset -g log`, it seems like it spent all night waking up every few seconds for bluetooth and drained all the battery. [FB9862509] https:// t . c o /5IF81PVw3P pic.twitter.com/qczeDKD5oX — João Pavão (@jpavao) January 28, 2022

Users report that the issue ceases when Bluetooth is disabled or when all Bluetooth accessories are disconnected from the Mac, but this is not an ideal solution.

Apple seeded the first beta of macOS 12.3 earlier this week, but it is not immediately clear if that version fixes the issue.

 

[sandysgeek]

Apple Says Pro Display XDR and 2021 MacBook Pro Can Experience Limited Brightness

Apple Says Pro Display XDR and 2021 MacBook Pro Can Experience Limited Brightness in High Temperatures

Apple today shared a new support document outlining a warning symbol that can show up on the MacBook Pro with Liquid Retina XDR Display or the Pro Display XDR when the screen is running too hot, leading to brightness being diminished.


Apple explains that a caution symbol in the menu bar or Display menu in Control Center on a 2021 MacBook Pro or an Apple Pro Display XDR means the display is in low power mode and "using limited brightness."

This situation can occur if the ambient temperature of the room is high and if bright content has been playing for an extended period of time. Apple offer several solutions for those who see the warning, including lowering the temperature of the room and temporarily putting a Mac to sleep to allow it to cool.

• On MacBook Pro with Liquid Retina XDR display, quit any apps that could be consuming significant system resources.
  
  
• Use the Apple XDR Display or Pro Display XDR reference mode unless your current workflow requires a specific reference mode.
  
  
• Lower the ambient temperature of the room.
  
  
• Close or hide any windows with HDR content.
  
  
• Choose Apple menu  > Sleep to put your Mac to sleep. Let your display cool down for 5-10 minutes, then press any key on the keyboard to wake your Mac.

Apple says that users who see this problem continually when the ambient temperature of the room is under 77 degrees Fahrenheit should contact Apple Support for help.