This Week's Sponsor:

Copilot Money

The Apple Editor’s Choice Award App for Tracking Your Money. Start Your Free Trial Today

Posts tagged with "apple"

Starbucks Signs Up For Square

Announced just a short time ago, it has been revealed that Starbucks has partnered with Square, who will process all US credit and debit card transactions by this fall across their 7,000 locations. Additionally, Starbucks will be integrating “Square Directory” into its own “apps and digital network, unlocking other Square merchants to Starbucks patrons new and old to Square” as TechCrunch reports.

In a letter by Jack Dorsey (co-founder and CEO of Square), he drew parallels between the small and humble beginnings of both Square and Starbucks. But Dorsey assured other Square merchants that this big deal with Starbucks won’t change Square’s dedication to building “simple, affordable, and fast tools that level the playing field for everyone”.

Square began with a really simple idea: everyone should be able to accept credit cards. It should be easy and free to get set up, it should use simple technology people already own, and, most importantly, it should instantly adapt to any size business—from the person chasing a dream to the largest organization on the planet. By embracing Square, Starbucks has validated these ideas as powerful tools—not just for small businesses, but for smart businesses.

TechCrunch also reports that Starbucks is investing $25 million in Square with CEO Howard Schultz also joing Square’s Board of Directors. You can view the full letter from Jack Dorsey below the break.

Read more

Amazon And Apple Take Steps To Fix Security Holes Revealed By Mat Honan’s Hack

Amazon and Apple have taken serious steps today in responding to news of how Mat Honan was hacked, which was done not with brute-force but by using social engineering to trick Apple and Amazon support staff to give out various pieces of information and reset some passwords. Amazon reacted first and arguably more decisively by enacting a new security policy of no longer allowing users to change account settings (such as credit card information and email addresses) via the phone.

Apple has meanwhile enacted a 24-hour freeze on resetting account passwords over the phone whilst they review their security practices. When Wired then tried to reset an AppleID password through Apple support staff on the phone, the representative said “Right now, our system does not allow us to reset passwords. I don’t know why”.

An Apple worker with knowledge of the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Wired that the over-the-phone password freeze would last at least 24 hours. The employee speculated that the freeze was put in place to give Apple more time to determine what security policies needed to be changed, if any.

[via Wired (1) (2)]

Apple Posts New iPad Advert: “All On iPad”

Apple has today released a new advert for the 3rd generation iPad called “All On iPad”. It runs though a bunch of tasks that you can do, ‘all on iPad’ - highlighting apps such as iBooks, FaceTime, Keynote, Square, Real Racing 2 and iPhoto.

Read it. Tweet it. Be surprised, be productive. Make a sale, make some lunch. Make a movie night. Play a game or an old favourite.
Do it all more beautifully with the retina display on iPad.

Apple previously released “This Good” and “Do It All” adverts for the 3rd generation iPad.

Mat Honan: How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking→

Mat Honan: How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking

You may have heard about Mat Honan (Wired writer) being hacked last week, with his Twitter account being compromised and the hackers using iCloud to remote wipe his iPhone, iPad and Mac. Today he’s written up a detailed article on Wired that goes through how exactly the hackers got access to it all. The scary thing is that it wasn’t done by brute force, but rather by using social engineering to trick Apple and Amazon support staff.

But what happened to me exposes vital security flaws in several customer service systems, most notably Apple’s and Amazon’s. Apple tech support gave the hackers access to my iCloud account. Amazon tech support gave them the ability to see a piece of information — a partial credit card number — that Apple used to release information. In short, the very four digits that Amazon considers unimportant enough to display in the clear on the web are precisely the same ones that Apple considers secure enough to perform identity verification. The disconnect exposes flaws in data management policies endemic to the entire technology industry, and points to a looming nightmare as we enter the era of cloud computing and connected devices.

It’s undoubtedly a scary story about the perils of putting our entire lives in the hands of a cloud service - because more so than ever, physical access isn’t needed to wreak havoc. It’s also a friendly reminder to ensure you’re using strong passwords, isolating critical accounts and creating local backups wherever feasible as a last resort if indeed this or something similar does happen to you.

My experience leads me to believe that cloud-based systems need fundamentally different security measures. Password-based security mechanisms — which can be cracked, reset, and socially engineered — no longer suffice in the era of cloud computing.

Permalink

Angry Birds Update Adds New “Power-Ups”, 15 New Levels

Rovio may have just released Amazing Alex a few weeks ago, but it’s committed to bringing more levels to its Angry Birds franchise that continues to be popular. In an update released today, the original Angry Birds game for iOS got 15 new tropical levels that sees the “piggies continue their beach vacation”, that is, until the birds show up.

Today’s update also sees the addition of four power-ups; King Sling, Birdquake, Super Seeds, and Sling Scope.

  • King Sling upgrades your slingshot for “maximum power and velocity”
  • Birdquake will bring the pigs’ defenses “crashing to the ground”
  • Super Seeds will turn your bird into a “pig-popping giant”
  • Sling Scope lets you use laser targetting for “pinpoint precision”

Upon launching the update you’ll get 20 free uses of a power-up and each day you get one additional use. But of course, if you can’t wait that long there’s a bunch of in-app purchase bundles to give you more uses of those power-ups, ranging from a 5-pack of any power-up for $1.99, 10 uses of a single power-up for $0.99 or you could go all in for 125 power-ups for $20.99.

A little side-note, Rovio has now (finally) brought full retina support for the iPad 3 so you can enjoy the game on the wonderful Retina display.

July 2012 In Review

July was an interesting month for MacStories as we covered the launch of the latest version of OS X, Mountain Lion, and launched our first eBook. Containing all our Mountain Lion coverage from the site in addition to exclusive articles, the book was a challenging but immensely rewarding project. With the exception of some advice from a few trusted people, we handled the book’s creation entirely by ourselves and are very proud of the end result. If you haven’t grabbed a copy yet, it’s not too late to change that — and remember that 30% of all proceeds will go directly to the very worthy cause that is the American Cancer Society.

Besides Mountain Lion, the other notable pieces of news were Google’s acquisition of Sparrow, and the all-but-confirmed rumour that the next iPhone and iPad mini will be announced on September 12th. Apps-wise, July was a quiet month as developers readied theirs for Mountain Lion, but we did see the release of the Tweetbot for Mac alpha along with Rovio’s new franchise, Amazing Alex. For stories, we had two great interviews, an excellent piece on discovering and making music on the iPad, talked about the apps and tools we use to write more efficiently, and created some hands-on examples of what the rumoured 7.85” iPad would look and feel like.

Jump the break for the full month in review, and feel free to read previous ‘Month in Review’ editions from 2012.

Read more

Chuck Skoda’s September 2012 Rumor Roundup→

Chuck Skoda’s September 2012 Rumor Roundup

Speaking of Apple’s rumored event for September 12, Chuck Skoda has posted a good roundup of products and updates Apple could be working on.

We’re still months out, but I see Apple’s fall announcements shaping up to be substantial. Tim Cook finished off the new iPad announcement with the words “across the year, you’re going to see a lot more of this kind of innovation, we are just getting started.” Since then, we’ve seen a new Retina MacBook Pro as well as some moderate updates across the MacBook line. But Cook seemed to really be driving home that this year has a lot in store.

The last event that was so heavily rumored to set the stage for several product releases was WWDC. While many predictions before June 2012 didn’t quite turn out to be true, Apple didn’t disappoint either.

Permalink

Apple To Hold New iPhone Event On September 12→

Apple To Hold New iPhone Event On September 12

According to multiple websites that have posted the rumor today, Apple’s next generation iPhone will be unveiled at a media event on September 12th, 2012. iMore was first to report on the rumored date, claiming that Apple will announce a new iPhone and a smaller iPad at the event.

iMore has learned that Apple is planning to debut the new iPhone at a special event on Wednesday, September 12, 2012, with the release date to follow 9 days later on Friday, September 21. This information comes from sources who have proven accurate in the past.

The iPad mini will be announced at the same September 12 event, as will the new iPod nano.

Following the iMore post, typically well-sourced John Paczkowski at AllThingsD wrote:

IMore was first to report that the company has scheduled a special event for Wednesday, September 12, and now we’ve confirmed it as well. Sources tell AllThingsD that Apple is currently planning an event for that week.

The Verge also confirmed the media event with their own sources:

 The rumor cycle this time around for the next iPhone has been a bit unusual — multiple leaks have all depicted the exact same components — but it looks like we’ll be seeing what Apple has up its sleeves come Wednesday, September 12th. Our own sources familiar with the matter have confirmed that date, and multiple websites have similar reports as well.

And last, always-reliable Jim Dalrymple at The Loop weighed in with his “Yep” on the rumor.

Both Dalrymple and iMore have been accurate with their predictions and “confirmations of rumors” in the past. iMore correctly predicted the new iPad launch date earlier this year, and the iPhone 4S pre-order date last year. AllThingsD also successfully predicted a number of Apple-related rumors in the past, including one about the January 2012 education event.

The new iPhone is rumored to feature LTE, a bigger display, and a design similar to the 4S. According to recent speculation, the smaller iPad will feature a 7.85-inch screen with the same resolution of older-gen iPads.

Permalink

Mountain Lion Downloaded 3 Million Times In Four Days

Apple hast just announced over 3 million copies of OS X Mountain Lion were downloaded in four days of sale on the Mac App Store, translating to roughly $60 million in revenue on launch day. Apple says it has been the most successful release in the history of OS X.

Just a year after the incredibly successful introduction of Lion, customers have downloaded Mountain Lion over three million times in just four days, making it our most successful release ever,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

On the MAS, Mountain Lion has over 7000 ratings with over 5200 being five-star reviews. Apple has not made Mountain Lion available offline via a $69 USB key as they’ve done with Lion, so far sticking to the Mac App Store (or the purchase of a new Mac) as the only upgrade paths. Apple customers whom have purchased a new Mac between June 11th and July 25th are eligible for a free upgrade through Apple’s Up-to-Date program.

By comparison, OS X Lion exceeded 1 million downloads on its first day of sales (Lion was priced at $29.99); 76 days later, on October 4th, Apple announced 6 million copies of Lion had been downloaded.

Mountain Lion, available for $19.99, includes a wide assortment of new features, including AirPlay Mirroring, the Notification Center, Game Center, Messages, Power Nap for compatible Macs, and apps such as Notes and Reminders. You can read more about Mountain Lion’s new features in our comprehensive review.