Candidates echo Apple’s stance on encryption & national security during Democratic debate

by | Jan 18, 2016 |

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Last week, Apple was at the heart of a conversation during the Republican presidential debate over encryption and national security. Candidates such as Jeb Bush explained that, even if companies like Apple aren’t willing to give up user data, the government has “got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue.” Last night, NBC held a Democratic presidential debate out of South Carolina, and once again, encryption and technology’s role in national security were hot button issues during the debate.

The NBC debate was co-run by YouTube and featured questions from prominent YouTubers. Popular technology reviewer Marques Brownlee, or MKBHD, brought up the issue of privacy and how the government has been calling for backdoor access into user devices. “Tech companies are responsible for the encryption technology to protect personal data, but the government wants a back door into that information,” Brownlee stated. “So do you think it’s possible to find common ground? And where do you stand on privacy versus security?”

The question was directed by the moderators towards Governor Marin O’Malley. O’Malley’s comments echoed some of the same sentiments that Tim Cook has voiced support for, including the idea that no one should ever give up their personal privacy towards national security. With help from The Washington Post’s transcript:

O’MALLEY: I believe whether it’s a back door or a front door that the American principle of law should still hold that our federal government should have to get a warrant, whether they want to come through the back door or your front door.

And I also agree, Lester, with Benjamin Franklin, who said, no people should ever give up their privacy or their freedoms in a promise for security.

So we’re a collaborative people. We need collaborative leadership here with Silicon Valley and other bright people in my own state of Maryland and around the NSA that can actually figure this out.

But there are certain immutable principles that will not become antique things in our country so long as we defend our country and its values and its freedoms. And one of those things is our right to be secure in our homes, and our right to expect that our federal government should have to get a warrant.

I also want to the say that while we’ve made some progress on the Patriot Act, I do believe that we need an adversarial court system there. We need a public advocate. We need to develop jurisprudence so that we can develop a body of law that protects the privacy of Americans in the information and digital age.

Senator Bernie Sanders was then asked about how the United States government should go about fighting home-grown terrorists. Sanders took this opportunity to inform Americans of how much information private companies are collecting about their users, while noting that the United States government has to work with Silicon Valley to insure that groups like ISIS are not using U.S. technology to transmit information.

Lester Holt: You have all talked about what you would do fighting ISIS over there, but we’ve been hit in this country by home-grown terrorists, from Chattanooga to San Bernardino, the recent shooting of a police officer in Philadelphia. How are you going to fight the lone wolves here, Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: OK. I just wanted to add, in the previous question, I voted against the USA Patriot Act for many of the reasons that Governor O’Malley mentioned. But it is not only the government that we have to worry about, it is private corporations.

You would all be amazed, or maybe not, about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment.

And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow ISIS to transmit information…

HOLT: But in terms of lone wolves, the threat, how would you do it?

SANDERS: Right. What we have got to do there is, among other things, as I was just saying, have Silicon Valley help us to make sure that information being transmitted through the Internet or in other ways by ISIS is, in fact, discovered.

But I do believe we can do that without violating the constitutional and privacy rights of the American people.

Hillary Clinton was then given 30 seconds to respond the issue of fighting “lone wolf” terrorists. During her time, Clinton praised the current White House Administration for its decision to meet with Silicon Valley executives two weeks ago. During the meeting, Tim Cook allegedly used the opportunity to again voice his opinion that there should be no backdoor access to user data and that it is up to the White House to be straightforward and say “no backdoor.”

Clinton also commented on speculation that during the White House administration’s meeting with Silicon Valley, no progress was made in the fight to use technology to counteract terrorism.

CLINTON: Well, I wanted to say, and I’ll do it quickly, I was very pleased that leaders of President Obama’s administration went out to Silicon Valley last week and began exactly this conversation about what we can do, consistent with privacy and security.

We need better intelligence cooperation, we need to be sure that we are getting the best intelligence that we can from friends and allies around the world. And then, we’ve got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans.

And it is not only shameful, it is dangerous for the kinds of comments you’re hearing from the Republican side.

We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans.

HOLT: And Andrea Mitchell has a follow-up.

MITCHELL: But — but — Secretary Clinton, you said that the leaders from the intelligence community went to Silicon Valley, they were flatly turned down. They got nowhere.

CLINTON: That is not what I’ve heard. Let me leave it at that.

If the most recent Republican and Democratic presidential debates are any indication, encryption and technology’s role in national security will continue to be crucial issues as we head into the 2016 election this November. The candidates in both parties seem to have differing views on the issue, so it will be interesting to see how American’s cast their votes.

Filed under: Tech Industry Tagged: Apple, Encryption, National Security, Politics

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9to5Toys Lunch Break: iTunes Gift Cards 20% off, Ooma VoIP Home Phone $75, Fitbit Aria $89, more

by | Jan 18, 2016 |

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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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iTunes Gift Cards 20% off w/ free shipping: $100 for $80, $50 for $40 — Save on apps, music, movies, more

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Ditch your landline with Ooma’s Telo Home Phone Service for $75 shipped (Reg. $110)

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Track your body fat percentage & BMI w/ Fitbit’s Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale: $89 shipped (Reg. $130)

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App Store Free App of the Week: Lifeline text-adventure game goes free for the first time (Reg. $3)

The Trace Murder Mystery Game for iOS hits its lowest price yet: $1 (Reg. $4)

A Dark Room for iOS goes free as IGN’s Game of the Month (Reg. $1)

10 PopCap Mac games for $10: Plants Vs. Zombies, Monopoly, Scrabble, more ($80+ value)

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

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Speck CandyShell iPhone 6/6s Case: $12 or two for $14 Prime shipped (Reg. $35 each)

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iOrange MFi Apple-Certified Lightning Cables: 6-ft. $7 (Reg. $14), 10-ft. $9 (Reg. $15), more

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This Nintendo-inspired Bluetooth speaker is just about perfect in every way

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Phāz takes note of iPhone 7 rumors with new Lightning-connected headphones

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys Lunch Break

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Swift is quickly rising in popularity as a developer language … but how much is Apple using Swift?

by | Jan 18, 2016 |

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The TIOBE index uses search engine rankings to track popularity of programming languages. In January, Swift overtook Objective-C to become the 14th most popular language in the TIOBE index. The surge in popularity was spurred by the release of Swift into open-source in December. With developer interest growing, Ryan Olson was interested in how much Apple is using Swift for its own apps.

Despite producing the language, Apple is not ahead of the curve on Swift adoption. In his blog post, Olson finds that in iOS 9.2 only one Apple app uses Swift: Calculator.

Swift has quickly gained popularity among many third party developers, but what about for Apple’s own code? As of iOS 9.2, Calculator.app is the only place in the system that you’ll find any Swift. I expected to find at least a few other apps or frameworks that had incrementally adopted Swift for new code, but that doesn’t appear to be the case for now.

Calculator.app is actually almost “pure Swift” with only 2 of its 22 classes written in Objective-C. Just like third party apps that use Swift, Calculator.app has to bundle the Swift libraries it links to. There are no Swift libraries included with the OS because the ABI is not yet stable.

Calculator is being used as a testbed for Swift within Apple, apparently, written mostly in the new language. However, it’s the only stock app to use Swift. Usage beyond Calculator in iOS is non-existent. For its apps in the App Store, Apple has used Swift for its Apple Store Watch app and some parts of the WWDC app. On The Talk Show, Craig Federighi said that the OS X 10.11 Dock uses Swift. Beyond these cases, however, Swift usage in public Apple code is non existent.

Apple isn’t lagging behind for no reason. Federighi said Apple engineers are free to use Swift where it makes sense. Accounting for normal development timelines, the community is generally expecting significant uptake of Swift for Apple’s apps going forward, especially with OS X 10.12 and iOS 10 later in the year. The interoperability with Objective-C makes it straightforward for engineers to add Swift features gradually into existing projects.

A big factor for the lack of update is that the Swift Application Binary Interface (ABI) is not locked down. Until this happens, a goal for Swift 3, it is practically impossible for Apple to make stable Swift frameworks without breaking application compatibility with every release.

Filed under: AAPL Company, Developers, iOS, iOS Devices, Mac Tagged: Apple, developers, iOS, Swift

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Feature Request: Apple TV 4 needs a way to watch TV shows from multiple sources in one universal app

by | Jan 18, 2016 |

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Apple released the new Apple TV in the fall. Despite the clunkier fatter physical appearance, the new Apple TV 4 features better performance, a cool new Siri Remote touchpad and an App Store. The App Store unlocks unlimited potential for the Apple TV as a content platform: rather than waiting for content deals between Apple and the networks, TV channels can release their own apps as they please. When the new Apple TV was announced, Tim Cook said the ‘future of TV is apps’. It is true this is a substantial improvement over the previous-generation Apple TV in terms of content (for UK residents like me, addition of BBC iPlayer is a huge win) however there are big user-experience issues with the app model that current Apple TV software does not address …

Everything is segregated into apps, which means to watch TV, I have to constantly switch between the Home Screen and an app just to check the channels and content inside each sandboxed application. You have the cognitive load of remembering which app (Netflix, CBS, BBC, iTV, etcetera) contains the show you are looking for. Each app has completely different UI, so watching a show from one network against another can yield very different results in terms of enjoyment, because of the quality of the corresponding app each show comes from.

For my personal Apple TV watching habits, I have to contrast the user experience between Now TV and iPlayer. iPlayer is the good citizen here. It has rich media visuals with bright colours signifying each channel’s section. You can also jump straight to live broadcasts from the same view. There are also several category options to further refine and search for something interesting to watch. Most importantly, there is content to watch available instantly on application launch.

Now TV is terrible, by comparison. The categorization is somewhat random and requires a lot of scrolling grids to drill down to a show. If you finish watching an episode, the app returns you to the main menu and forgets which season you are currently in the middle of, requiring more fuss and micro-management after the end of each episode. These inconveniences add up. I want everything to be as elegant as the iTunes Store experience, regardless of who owns the content or where it is bought.

The biggest problem, however, with all of these apps is there is generally no way to favorite or bookmark specific shows. With most of the apps, there is no facility to say ‘I like this show, make it easier for me to find it in the future’. You have to hunt and peck every time you sit down on the couch. The Netflix app is a bit better because it has a ‘My List’ feature, but it’s only accessible from within the Netflix app. This is a huge step back in usability from a cable TV experience.

With a DVR, you simply record shows and they appear automatically collated into a menu of active subscriptions. When new episodes arrive, you can just scroll the list and watch them. There’s no jumping between apps or channels — it’s one simple list of new TV. You don’t have to initiate different actions and menus for every type of content. All networks and shows are basically treated equally.

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Squire will unify your TV shows into one interface … if you manage your own media from a computer or NAS.

This is my feature request for Apple TV. I want Apple to add a feature where I can subscribe to shows from any source into one centralised ‘TV Shows’ application. Sort of like an RSS reader, new episodes across all networks would automatically arrive in this one place — an ‘inbox’ of TV as it were. Think of it like bookmarks in a web browser. Clicking on a show could launch the native app with the corresponding TV show ready to watch with one click. I want unification in the same way a DVR works. Regardless of what company owns the rights to it, as longs I have paid for it, it should show up in this one single unified place. Imagine Newsstand … but for Apple TV television shows.

When it comes to watching TV, I can now open one canonical app and see everything that I’m interested in removing the need to hunt in each app for possible new stuff. Perhaps Apple could badge the Home Screen icon with the number of unwatched episodes automatically too, so you can know as soon as you wake the device if there is something ready to watch. There is no solution to this with current Apple TV. Theoretically, you could laboriously voice search for every show every time you sit down in front of the TV set but that’s just an unrealistic proposition  … even if you did do that, it’s still a manual process to see if there are new episodes available.

Similarly, as more live content comes to Apple TV, there should be a centralized universal TV guide where users can go and see all live content currently airing, just like an EPG. Scroll through everything at once, no diving in and out of apps.

Right now, Apple TV has a limited form of this through Siri and universal search. It lets you think about TV shows and not the networks they come from. However, it isn’t permanent. A Siri request is forgotten as soon as it is dismissed. It does seem like Apple could build on these integrations for the hypothetical ‘TV Favorites’ app however. There may be some value in having a centralized Films library too, however you don’t return to the same films week after week so it’s less of a problem with that medium to find what you want separately.

Netflix has a Favourites feature through 'My List', but it only works with Netflix content.

Netflix has a Favourites feature through ‘My List’, but it only works with Netflix content.

Obviously, this feature request is a bit pie in the sky. I think Apple would love to have a feature like this; integration and simplification is the name of the game. However, I feel like TV networks would hate the idea of Apple showing their licensed content alongside everyone else’s in a UI controlled by Apple. This is the sticking point here: getting everyone to agree that it is okay. Even Siri universal search is limited to just a few partners in a handful of countries right now.

One small step Apple could take is to make this feature and publish an API for other third-party apps to integrate with. At least then, Apple has theoretically made the feature available. It would then be up to content providers to add support for the feature on a case-by-case basis.

The long-rumored Apple cable subscription service could be the answer. Although it wouldn’t have everything, a skinny bundle of 30-40 channels would probably be the single largest collection of TV shows on Apple TV (that isn’t the pay-per-episode iTunes Store). If Apple could present all of this content in one unified app interface, it would go a long way in replicating the traditional cable DVR experience.

However, as it stands today, having all TV separated by app with no central location to find everything is a pain. Sadly, the best answer is piracy. Using an app like Plex or Squire (pictured above) you can have everything collated into one consolidated experience, as long as you can be bothered to find the shows through illegal channels.

The future of TV is apps, but in addition, there needs to be a unifying layer to glue it all together into a coherent experience. Ultimately, Apple TV should be the answer for this and it probably will be in the future — the question is how soon?

Filed under: AAPL Company, Apple TV, Apps, Feature Request, iOS Tagged: Apple TV, Feature Request, Netflix, Plex, Squire, unified

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Apple celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day with home page commemoration

by | Jan 18, 2016 |

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Like last year, Apple is once again dedicating the entirety of its Apple.com home page to commemorate Marin Luther King Jr Day. A black and white photo fills the entire width and height of the browser, with all product marketing removed to focus on the celebration. The quote used cleverly reflects Apple’s company values in products as well as their goals towards society and ecology: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”

Apple CEO Tim Cook has often said that Martin Luther King was his inspiration, promoting equal treatment for all. Martin Luther King Day is often a public holiday for companies in America. Last year, Apple encouraged employees to volunteer and offered to donate $50 to charity for every hour volunteered. It is unclear if the company is running the same policy again in 2016.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: holiday, Martin Luther King

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Apple employees at headquarters in Cork, Ireland evacuated following bomb threat

by | Jan 18, 2016 |

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According to local news, Apple’s plants in Cork, Ireland have been evacuated following a potential security threat in the area. Around 4000 workers have been told to leave premises at Apple’s facilities in Lavitts Quay, Hollyhill and Model Farm Road. Although details are scarce, Defence Forces told The Independent that explosive ordnance disposal teams are on standby in case they are needed. Employees have been waiting outside for over 2 hours now, as local ‘Gardai’ police respond to the bomb threat.

Update: Apple has confirmed plant evacuation of Cork facilities following ‘threatening emails’ the company received.

Joe Leouge captured a photo of the employees waiting outside one facility in Hollyhill. The bomb scare is thought to have come via an email tip off.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple, Bomb threat, Ireland

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WhatsApp is now free for all users forever, dropping subscription fees entirely in favor of other revenue models

by | Jan 18, 2016 |

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Today, WhatsApp has announced a pretty major shift in its business model. The popular chat client is going completely free. Facebook-owned WhatsApp used to run on a trial model: users could use the app for free for a year. Subsequent years would cost $0.99 cents each. The paid model notably made WhatsApp stand out from the crowd, as almost every other social networking is free to use from the customer perspective. Although WhatsApp will stop charging customers from today, it will take a few weeks for the payment UI in apps to go away as app updates roll out to the store.

WhatsApp says although a 0.99 cent charge is not onerous, it prevented growth as a lot of customers do not have access to credit cards. This is its major motivation for taking out the annual revenue model. Naturally, users of WhatsApp will wonder how the application plans to monetize going forward ….

Via Recode, WhatsApp says it plans to move to a model where businesses pay to target relevant communications with customers. For example, airlines would be able to contact users through WhatsApp to discuss flight cancellations or delayed schedules. Similarly, a bank could use WhatsApp to communicate important fraud warnings to customers. WhatsApp says the company does not want to include third-party traditional advertising like intrusive banner and interstitials, which can annoy people.

In summary, as is common nowadays, if you are not paying for it, you are the product with the new WhatsApp model. Some privacy-conscious individuals may fear data sharing with parent company Facebook, naturally. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming months.

Naturally, people might wonder how we plan to keep WhatsApp running without subscription fees and if today’s announcement means we’re introducing third-party ads. The answer is no. Starting this year, we will test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organizations that you want to hear from. That could mean communicating with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight. We all get these messages elsewhere today – through text messages and phone calls – so we want to test new tools to make this easier to do on WhatsApp, while still giving you an experience without third-party ads and spam.

WhatsApp has over 900m active users, across its platforms, making it one of the largest chat apps on the Internet. No doubt its meteoric growth will only continue now that it is free. Download WhatsApp from the App Store here.

Filed under: AAPL Company, Apps, iOS, iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: app, free, Updates, WhatsApp

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The Logic Pros: 3 overlooked tricks to keep your Logic sessions tidy and efficient

by | Jan 17, 2016 |

Logic Pros- Hero

In this week’s episode of The Logic Pros, we will be taking a look at three handy little tricks to keep things moving, a little more tidy and some helpful plug-in quick keys/shortcuts. Sometimes it’s the little things that keep our minds focused on the task at hand, whether it be tedious straight-line editing for film/TV/app work or carefully crafted creative ideas. LPX is at its best when I forget I’m even using it. Personal plug-in menus, customized default plug-in settings, templates and a deeply comprehensive instrument library are just a few things Logic uses to make our lives easier every day. So we thought a new mini series was in-line, covering some of our favorite LPX experience-enhancing shortcuts. Here are a few to get started:

Logic Pros- EQ

I think I just want this plug-in to be set like that every time I open it. I know, me too. In the main menu of every Logic Pro X plug-in is an awesome little feature known as “Save as Default”. With this setting we can quickly and easily have Logic open a plug-in or effect with custom settings. If you find yourself opening the same plug-in, and then setting it the same way for multiple tracks, or in multiple projects, it can be very handy having them just open that way every time. For example, having the Chanel EQ open with a more aggressive High-Pass filter setting, or Logic’s Overdrive plug-in with the filter wide-open and the gain staging just the way you like it.

Logic Pros- Overdrive

Let’s use the Overdrive plug-in for today’s example. Simply load it up on any track in your project, then adjust the controls until it is just how you like it. For my case, I will open the filter (“Tone”) all the way up set the Drive to about 6.00dB, and then set the Output to -6.00dB. This just happens to be a familiar place for me start from every time I use this plug, regardless of where the parameters may end up in any given scenario. Now that every thing is set the way we want it, simply head up to the main menu and hit “Save as Default”. Now, every time you open this plug-in, it will be set just like you left it.

Logic Pros-Track Names

I really have to name all these background vocal tracks manually? Well, yes. But there is one thing. There are times when we have numbered groups of tracks in our projects, whether it be background/vocal takes, groups of doubles, SFX, parallel compression tracks, folders of alternates for clients, and well, it goes on. Now, while I always recommend detailed and precise naming of tracks, especially in busy projects, here is one quick and dirty little trick when the time is right:

Highlighting a group of tracks on the Mixer window (click and drag across them or shift/option click them) will allow us to name them with consecutive numbers in one move. Highlight them, then just name the first or left most track you have selected as usual (double click on its current name at the bottom of the track on the Mixer), and name it with the number 1 at the end. For example, putting a track title of BG VX 1, will then name all the tracks you have highlighted from left to right in succession: BG VX 2, BG VX 3, BG VX 4, BG VX 5, and so on. In fact, you can start with any number you choose.

You might as well hit option>C to bring up the Color selector while you have the group of tracks selected as well.

Logic Pros-View

Look at the size of this guy’s plug-ins. The only thing better than some of the plug-in redesigns (Compressor, I’m looking at you) is the ability to blow them up to get a good look at what you’re doing. You may have noticed the “View” menu in the top right corner of Logic plug-ins. This simple, but often over-looked little menu allows us to blow up the size of the plug-in to a few different preset sizes. Alternatively we can just drag the right corner of the UI, but I find this to be a little clunky, for the most part. Plug-ins like the Arp, Sculpture and more, with a a ton of little controls can really benefit from the up view.

Clicking the “V” key will hide your currently giant in-view plug-ins, with another quick click bringing them back again in full screen glory. Another plug-in quick key I like is the ability to flip through presets with the “[“ and “]” keys. In fact, it’s my favorite way to A/B settings.

Logic Pros- COMP large

The Logic Pros is a regular series exploring all of the most interesting gadgets and software for making music on your Mac/iOS devices. If there is any gear you would like us to take a closer hands-on look at, let us know in the comments section below or shoot us an email.

More The Logic Pros:

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: auto track names, Chanel EQ, Compressor, how to, Logic Pros X, LPX, Overdrive, Save as Default, the logic pros

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Microsoft developing iPhone version of its Swype-like Word Flow keyboard for Windows Phone

by | Jan 17, 2016 |

Word Flow keyboard

Microsoft appears to be planning to port its Windows Phone keyboard called Word Flow to the iPhone as a third-party keyboard, according to WinBeta. The company is currently reaching out to enlisted software testers to recruit iOS users with iPhone 5s or later to test the Windows Phone keyboard.

Word Flow works similarly to gesture-based third-party keyboards like Swype, which let you trace your finger across letters to suggest words for quick typing. The keyboard also supports traditional typing in the same interface. Emoji characters are even recommended when typing words so ‘dog’ might show the dog emoji when typing the word out.

This is how typing with Word Flow looks on Windows Phone minus gesture typing :

Microsoft is currently recruiting beta testers already in its Windows Insider Program with the following message:

Word Flow keyboard has long been one of the highly praised features on Windows Phone and was used to break the Guinness World Record for fastest texting. We are now working on extending this keyboard to other platforms, starting with iOS.

Before publicly releasing this keyboard to the App Store, we’d love to give Insiders like you a preview. With your feedback, we’ll build a roadmap of improvements to the keyboard over time.

Most third-party keyboards since Apple added the capability with iOS 8 haven’t been real home runs due to speed and performance issues, so we’ll have to see how Microsoft works around this. The company is certainly no stranger to developing for iOS with nearly 60 iPhone apps on the App Store to date.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: Keyboards, Microsoft, swype, third-party keyboards, Word Flow

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Ex-Jailbreakers now working to secure iOS for consumers and enterprises with comprehensive platform

by | Jan 17, 2016 |

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For nearly half a decade, teams of hackers and programmers have worked tirelessly to crack Apple’s iOS software code in order to inject new features, themes, and applications. Now, a team led by noted former jailbreak developers Will Strafach, otherwise known as “Chronic”, and Joshua Hill, known as P0sixninja, is working to secure Apple’s mobile platform. The duo, along with a list of unnamed former jailbreak developers, has been working on a new comprehensive platform to secure iOS devices for both enterprises and consumers. Strafach provided us with a preview of the platform known as “Apollo,” the first security product from his new company Sudo Security Group.

In a phone interview, Strafach started out by answering the likely first question of those who may be interested in such an application: why should jailbreak developers be trusted with securing devices? As Strafach explained, he and his team likely know more about the inner-workings of iOS and other mobile platforms than any other group of developers, save for those at Apple, because of their experience in tinkering with the operating system’s core.

“We know the iOS system inside and out due to the years we’ve spent buried in disassembly tools seeing how things work. We know what weak spots to keep a close eye on, we know what bits are bloated and may be vulnerable in ways which have not yet been considered,” Strafach said, adding that his team has now “taken on the equally important task of figuring out how to make things better” instead of just figuring “out how to make things break.”

The Apollo security platform, as Strafach explained, can be broken down into two parts: the enterprise path and the consumer application. Let’s start with the enterprise software. Many large corporations use Mobile Device Management software, known as an “MDM” service to manage large numbers of iPhones or iPads, for example, that are used by their employees. For instance, Apple offers its own native tool while major software developer VMWare has its own solution called AirWatch.

The Apollo suite moves to differentiate itself by focusing on security: at a high level, the application uses a backend service known as “Guardian” that scans applications installed on a user’s iPhone to check if the applications include code that can steal user data, inject malware, make background installation attempts, conduct email-based phishing, and weaken the file system’s security. Specifically, Strafach shared the following list of application security checks that Apollo is capable of for employees that bring their own devices to the enterprise:

  • Leakage of sensitive data (Intentionally, or due to insecure connections)
  • Communications with servers in a non-allowed/sanctioned region(s)
  • Utilization of private and/or privacy-invading APIs
  • Binary download attempts from unsafe sources
  • Suspicious application behaviors which may require a second-look

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The service also has a long list of stronger security features for devices given to employees, not brought by employees into the enterprise:

  • Strict application whitelist and blacklisting abilities
  • Lock down devices as much or as little as needed, configurable based on user group or even individual users
  • Disable system applications such as App Store, Messages, and more.
  • Disable system features such as screenshots, data sync, and more.
  • Web content filtering, both liberal and strong options available
  • Heavy monitoring for network I/O activity to watch out for threats
  • Activation Lock Assistant – Never get locked out of a company-owned device by a personal Apple ID again!
  • Special case malware monitoring – Assure dangerous skimming malware does not find it’s way to your point-of-sale iPad or iPhone.
  • Block removal of our MDM and protection software from the device – Even if a hard reset / restore (“DFU Restore”) is performed!
  • Perform full system data wipe to be performed at any time
  • Prevent company-owned devices which were lost or stolen from ever being used again

Richard Lutkus, an eDiscovery attorney who is also a company advisor at Sudo Security Group, told us that the software is ideal for companies wanting 100% control over their own corporate data on untrusted end points, especially with Sudo application security monitoring software that ensures the device stays malware free and compliant. This is relevant as some companies now ask employees to bring their own hardware. However, Lutkus made it clear to us that the software balances user privacy by sheltering personal data away from the manager of the Apollo system.

  • Perfect isolation of personal data and sensitive Work Data.
  • Wipe any Work-related contents from the device, while not touching any personal data.
  • Maintain full control over anything Work-related on all BYOD devices, while allowing users to still maintain full control over their personal applications and data with no compromises needed.

Beyond identifying and preventing potential attacks, Apollo has a remediation system integrated for fixing breaches:

  • Shape policies to encourage self-remediation by end users to streamline processes and reduce IT workload
  • Create powerful workflows to fit different levels of security problems
  • Send message to device owner to inform them of any detected security violation.
  • Send message to manager of device owner or IT department to inform them of detected security violations.
  • Automatically generate IT helpdesk tickets for more serious violations
  • Remove non-compliant applications from work devices.
  • Prevent access to Work Apps until security problems are fixed.
  • Prevent access to Work Email until security problems are fixed.
  • Prevent access to Work VPN until security problems are fixed
  • Prevent connection to Work WiFi network until security problems are fixed.
  • Prevent use of Single-Sign On until security problems are fixed.
  • Prevent ability to open Work Documents and Data until security problems are fixed.
  • Require system Re-scan in Security Center Agent after problems are fixed to ensure that system integrity is intact and no threats are present.

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Besides all the deeply technical details and features, perhaps the most intriguing capability for the enterprise suite is its Touch ID integration as a “dead man’s switch.” This system would throw a pop up at the user every certain amount of days, like every 5 days in the above example, that asks the user to authenticate their fingerprint. This system is designed to ensure that the device is still being used by its owner. This is an interesting use case for Touch ID that goes beyond simply logging into an application. Strafach explained that this “provides a cryptographically secure and verified mechanism for verifying that a user themselves is in possession of a device. There is no workaround besides using the genuine fingerprint of the user due to the way we have leveraged PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) and the device’s built-in Secure Enclave to undoubtably verify device possession.”

The enterprise system also has a simple method for blocking employee access to certain types of applications. For example, a CTO could ensure that employees running on a device with the Apollo platform cannot install apps that access contacts or retrieve GPS data. Strafach tells us that the system is customizable to either completely block installation or simply send a warning to the individual employee. Strafach tells us that the server used for analyzing applications would need to be hooked into a company’s on-premise or cloud-based server infrastructure. His team, however, also hopes to roll out a small business version in the future that works around this current requirement.

Due to App Store limitations, Strafach says that the aforementioned consumer application cannot actually read which other apps a user has installed, so its capabilities revolve around checking for malware in the OS and connections to malicious servers. In our interview, Strafach touched upon this and the general App Store approval process:

In the consumer-level app, we have indeed been able to be creative about adding useful detections in an App Store compliant way. But there are certain things which are off-limits to the allowed APIs, as everyone knows, so that is one way our enterprise offering ties into this. The Apple MDM Enterprise APIs allow gathering more information than what App Store complaint APIs allow, so we have leveraged this to benefit users as well. The company wants data to be kept secure and assure sensitive data cannot leak out, so part of this involves utilizing our binary analysis engine to assure that certain invasive apps won’t be loaded on devices. If we are already doing that though, it made sense to us to take this a step further: We have added detections which companies may not care as much about, but which a user absolutely would in terms of their privacy, such as applications which send your location or gender to advertising providers. This increases the incentive for employees to enroll their devices in their employer’s BYOD program as it can actually benefit them, allowing us to distance our offering further away from the current notion of being a “big brother” type solution that is forced onto devices, and instead create an experience that benefits both sides.

Strafach tells us that his company plans to release the enterprise system during the first half of 2016. Special pilot programs and a beta of the free consumer application will become available for 9to5Mac readers in the near future. A website to register interest is also now live, and it will soon be updated with additional information on the platform.

Filed under: Developers, Enterprise, iOS, iOS Devices Tagged: @chronic, Apollo, consumers, enterprise, iOS, iPad, iPhone, jailbreakers, jailbreaking, Joshua Hill, MDM, P0sixninja, Richard Lutkus, Security, Sudo Security Group, Will Strafach

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