An anonymous reader shares a report: Xiaomi's November 5 event is shaping up to be a pretty big one. The company has shared many more details about the smartwatch that's about to be unveiled at the event. The Mi Watch, as it'll probably be called, has roughly the same shape as Apple's watch, and a very similar digital crown on the side. Another perspective shows that the Mi Watch will be a bit less rounded and somewhat thicker than Apple's latest Watch 5. Xiaomi went as far to include a picture of the Mi Watch's innards, which show that it will be equipped with Wi-Fi, GPS and NFC chips, as well as an eSIM.

A startup that makes replicas of the iPhone that help hackers find vulnerabilities is accusing Apple of suing it in an attempt to shut it down. Corellium also fired back at Apple and claimed the company owes it $300,000. From a report: On Monday, Corellium, the startup that was sued by Apple for alleged copyright infringement in August, filed its response to the lawsuit. Apple alleged that Corellium's product is illegal, and helps researchers sell hacking tools based on software bugs found in iOS to government agencies that then use them to hack targets. The cybersecurity world was shocked by Apple's lawsuit, which was seen as an attempt to use copyright as an excuse to control the thriving, and largely legal, market for software vulnerabilities. The lawsuit was filed just a few days after Apple announced it would give researchers special "pre-hacked" devices to allow them to find and report more bugs to the company.

"Through its invitation-only research device program and this lawsuit, Apple is trying to control who is permitted to identify vulnerabilities, if and how Apple will address identified vulnerabilities, and if Apple will disclose identified vulnerabilities to the public at all," Corellium argues in its response, echoing arguments made by the security research community. In its response, Corellium essentially argues that using Apple's code in Corellium is fair use and its product makes the world a better place by helping security researchers inspect the iPhone's operating system, find flaws in it, and help Apple fix them. With Corellium, researchers can more easily find bugs by creating virtual instances of iOS and test them more quickly, as opposed to having to use actual physical devices. Corellium attempts to illustrate this by including "before" and "after" images in its response that demonstrate what it was like to try to hack the iPhone before it released its software.

Apple this year differentiated the iPad by creating a superset of iOS that only works on the company's tablet, the cleanly named iPadOS. In theory, iPadOS fixes the many shortcomings of previous iOS versions that tried to serve two masters, the iPad and the iPhone. But some fundamental issues remain. From a column: Apple's iPadOS page is adamant that a world of possibilities is now "ours." The "Features" section provides a long, long list of new iPad talents. Without getting into the embarrassing details about the klutziness that makes me a good product tester because I tend to do things that knowledgeable users already know how to do, I'm confused and frustrated by all of these "possibilities." For relatively simple tasks such as using multiple apps side by side or opening more than one window for an app such as Pages, the iPad support site is cryptic and, in some cases, just plain wrong. As just one example, the on-line guidance advises: "go to Settings > General > Multitasking & Dock..." Trouble is, the General section of Settings on my iPad Pro doesn't have a Multitasking & Dock section. A little bit of foraging gets me to the Home Screen & Dock section where, yes, the Multitasking adjustments are available.

On the positive side, one now has a real Safari browser, equivalent in most regards to the "desktop" version, and the ability to open two independent windows side by side. Because I feel self-conscious about my mental and motor skills, I compared notes with a learned friend, a persistent fellow who forced himself to learn touch typing by erasing the letters on his keyboard. He, too, finds iPadOS discoverability to be severely lacking. There are lot of new and possibly helpful features but, unlike the 1984 Mac, not enough in the way of the hints that menu bars and pull-down menus provide. It all feels unfinished, a long, long list of potentially winning features that are out of the reach of this mere mortal and that I assume will remain undiscovered by many others. Kvetching aside, we know that Apple plays the long game. Today's stylus equipped and mouse-capable iPad shows great promise. (I connected my trusted Microsoft Mouse and its two buttons and wheel -- no problem.) It clearly has the potential to become a multifaceted device capable of a wide range of interactions. From the simplest one-finger control enjoyed by children and adults alike to the windows and pointing device interactions "power users" hope for, the iPad shows great potential -- and the need for more work to make the new features more discoverable.

Apple has released iOS 13.2 today, bringing over 60 new emoji, new Siri privacy settings, and Apple's new Deep Fusion camera technology. 9to5Mac reports: There are over 60 new emoji and emoji variations in iOS 13.2. Apple first previewed these emoji over the summer, and they are now available for everyone. In total, the new 2019 emoji set includes 59 new characters that make up for 75 total variations when gender options are taken into account, and 230 options when skin tone options are included. iOS 13.2 also includes the Announce Messages with Siri feature that was originally meant for iOS 13. This feature allows Siri to read messages back to you when connected to AirPods or other headphones with Apple's H1 chip.

Perhaps most notably, especially for iPhone 11 users, iOS 13.2 includes Apple's new Deep Fusion camera technology. Deep Fusion is Apple's new image processing technology that works in the background to improve image quality for iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro users. iOS 13.2 also includes new Siri privacy settings that allow you to opt in or opt out of sharing your Siri interactions with Apple. You'll see a new splash screen the first time you boot into iOS 13.2 asking your preference. Last but not least, iOS 13.2 also includes support for the just-announced AirPods Pro. This includes settings for Transparency and Active Noise Cancellation modes.

Software developer Chris Krycho writes: Over the past few months, I have been trying to get up to speed on the Apple developer ecosystem, as part of working on my rewrite project. This means I have been learning Swift (again), SwiftUI, and (barely) the iOS and macOS APIs. It has been terrible. The number of parts of this ecosystem which are entirely undocumented is frankly shocking to me. Some context: I have spent the last five years working very actively in the JavaScript front-end application development world, working in first AngularJS and then Ember.js. Ember's docs once had a reputation of being pretty bad, but in the ~4 years I've been working with it, they've gone from decent to really good. On the other hand, when I was working in AngularJS 5 years ago, I often threw up my hands in quiet despair at the utter lack of explanation (or, occasionally, the inane explanations) of core concepts. I thought that would have to be the absolute worst a massive tech company (in that case, Google) providing public apis could possibly do. I was wrong.

The current state of Apple's software documentation is the worst I've ever seen for any framework anywhere. Swift itself is relatively well covered (courtesy of the well-written and well-maintained book). But that's where the good news ends. Most of SwiftUI is entirely undocumented -- not even a single line explanation of what a given type or modifier does. Swift Package Manager has okay docs, but finding out the limits of what it can or can't do from the official docs is difficult to impossible; I got my ground truth from Stack Overflow questions. I've repeatedly been reduced to searching through WWDC video transcripts to figure out where someone says something relevant to whatever I'm working on. Several people have complained in recent years that Apple's documentation is often incomplete or missing altogether. A developer has tried to figure out. Accidental Tech Podcast, a popular podcast that talks about Apple's ecosystem, discussed the issue in a recent episode.

Apple today announced that it is releasing new AirPods Pro earbuds on October 30. Priced at $249, the premium version of its true wireless earbuds includes noise-cancellation feature to block out external sound. From a report: The new Pro model is available for pre-order starting today and will hit the shelves Wednesday, Oct. 30 - but, some hopeful buyers are finding they're already sold out online. The buds have ear tips that could fit deeper inside ears. The larger charging case also has a bigger, longer-lasting battery. Apple says the AirPods Pro can last "up to 5 hours" on a single charge and "over 24 hours" with the case. AirPods Pro cost $249 compared to $159 AirPods and $199 AirPods (with wireless charging case). Pre-orders start today at Apple.com. They deliver on Oct. 30 and will be available in Apple Stores the same day. Apple was widely expected to hold another event where it would have supposedly unveiled the refreshed AirPods and a 16-inch MacBook Pro, but the announcement today was made through a press release. The company has not clarified in that press release what kind of battery improvement the AirPods Pro offer. As it has been documented several times, AirPods' in-built battery becomes useless after a year of use, keeping the accessory on for just a few minutes at best. So unless Apple has somehow made a breakthrough here, it is likely the new AirPods, too, will die after a year of usage. Which means you're effectively paying Apple more than $20 a month for using their wireless earpieces.

David Shayer, who worked as a software engineer at Apple for 18 years across iPod, the Apple Watch, and Apple's bug-tracking system Radar, among other projects, looks at the current iOS and macOS releases and tries to work out why they are so buggy. He writes: 1. Overloaded Feature Lists Lead to Schedule Chicken: Apple is aggressive about including significant features in upcoming products. Tight schedules and ambitious feature sets mean software engineers and quality assurance (QA) engineers routinely work nights and weekends as deadlines approach. Inevitably some features are postponed for a future release, as we saw with iCloud Drive Folder Sharing. In a well-run project, features that are lagging behind are cut early, so engineers can devote their time to polishing the features that will actually ship. But sometimes managers play "schedule chicken" since no one wants to admit in the departmental meeting that their part of the project is behind. Instead, they hope someone else working on another aspect of that feature is running even later, so they reap the benefit of the feature being delayed without taking the hit of being the one who delayed it. But if no one blinks, engineers continue to work on a feature that can't possibly be completed in time and that eventually gets pushed off to a future release.

2. Crash Reports Don't Identify Non-Crashing Bugs: If you have reporting turned on (which I recommend), Apple's built-in crash reporter automatically reports application crashes, and even kernel crashes, back to the company. A crash report includes a lot of data. Especially useful is the stack trace, which shows exactly where the code crashed, and more importantly, how it got to that point. A stack trace often enables an engineer to track down the crash and fix it. Crash reports are uniquely identified by the stack trace. The same stack trace on multiple crash reports means all those users are seeing the same crash. The crash reporter backend sorts crash reports by matching the stack traces, and those that occur most often get the highest priority. Apple takes crash reports seriously and tries hard to fix them. As a result, Apple software crashes a lot less than it used to. Unfortunately, the crash reporter can't catch non-crashing bugs. It's blind to the photos that never upload to iCloud, the contact card that just won't sync from my Mac to my iPhone, the Time Capsule backups that get corrupted and have to be restarted every few months, and the setup app on my new iPhone 11 that got caught in a loop repeatedly asking me to sign in to my iCloud account, until I had to call Apple support. (These are all real problems I've experienced.) Shayer has offered several more possible explanations in the original post.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been appointed chairman of the advisory board at Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management in Beijing, a role that could provide access to top Chinese leaders at a time the iPhone manufacturer is facing mounting challenges in the world's second largest economy. From a report: Cook will assume the role for three years and replace Jim Breyer, the founder and chief executive of Breyer Capital, according to a statement from the university released on Friday. Cook said he would work with other members on the board, who have not been named, to make the Beijing-based school into a "world-class" education institution. Apple's market share in China is sliding as nationalist rhetoric calling for consumers to switch to Chinese phone manufacturer Huawei has gained momentum amid the trade war between China and the United States. New appointments to the board, which is usually stacked with business and political leaders, could offer clues on the relationship between Beijing and some of the world's most influential business leaders at a time when trade tensions have reached new highs.

U.S. lawmakers from both parties slammed Apple and Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook last week for "censorship of apps" at the "behest of the Chinese government." From a report: Senators Ted Cruz, Ron Wyden, Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio and Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mike Gallagher and Tom Malinowski expressed concern about the removal of an app that let Hong Kong protesters track police movement in the city. "Apple's decisions last week to accommodate the Chinese government by taking down HKmaps is deeply concerning," they wrote in a letter to Cook, urging Apple to "reverse course, to demonstrate that Apple puts values above market access, and to stand with the brave men and women fighting for basic rights and dignity in Hong Kong." Apple didn't respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Apple removed the HKmap.live app from the App Store in China and Hong Hong earlier this month, saying it violated local laws. The company also said it received "credible information" from Hong Kong authorities indicating the software was being used "maliciously" to attack police. The decision, and the reasoning, was questioned widely. Cook, in a recent memo to Apple employees, said that "national and international debates will outlive us all, and, while important, they do not govern the facts."

"Kids are outsmarting an army of engineers from Cupertino, California," reports the Washington Post: And Apple, which introduced "Screen Time" a year ago in response to pressure to address phone overuse by kids, has been slow to make fixes to its software that would close these loopholes. It's causing some parents to raise questions about Apple's commitment to safeguarding children from harmful content and smartphone addiction.

When Screen Time blocks an app from working, it becomes grayed out, and clicking on it does nothing unless parents approve a request for more time. Or, at least, it's supposed to work that way. On Reddit and YouTube, kids are sharing tips and tricks that allow them to circumvent Screen Time. They download special software that can exploit Apple security flaws, disabling Screen Time or cracking their parents' passwords. They search for bugs that make it easy to keep using their phones, unbeknown to parents, such as changing the time to trick the system or using iMessage to watch YouTube videos.

"These are not rocket science, backdoor, dark Web sort of hacks," said Chris McKenna, founder of the Internet safety group Protect Young Eyes. "It blows me away that Apple hasn't thought through the fact that a persistent middle school boy or girl can bang around and find them."

Twitter user Kevin Bradley discovered a Lightning port hidden in the Apple TV 4K's ethernet port. There's a number of theories for why the port exists, but one of the more logical explanations is that it's simply there for Apple to use for debugging. 9to5Mac reports: While earlier Apple TV models had Micro USB and USB-C, the Apple TV 4K dropped all outwardly-facing ports other than Ethernet and HDMI. Under the hood, however, there's a hidden Lightning port, as Bradley discovered. The Lightning port is hidden in the ethernet connector on the Apple TV 4K. Bradley teased on Twitter: "None of us looked THAT closely to the hardware of the AppleTV 4K and the magic locked in the ethernet port until fairly recently."

As for getting the Lightning port itself to work, Steven Barker said in a tweet that this is proving to be "difficult." The Lightning port is stuck at the very back of the ethernet port. Ultimately, it's not really clear what the Lightning port discovery could mean. One thing it could lead towards is the expansion of jailbreak capabilities for the Apple TV 4K, though Bradley cautions: "Just because we know it's lightning doesn't mean anything past that. Just because we find a way in doesn't mean anything will DEFINITELY be released due to what we discover. The barrier for entry might be way too high."

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon called his bank's rollout of the Apple Card "the most successful credit card launch ever." From a report: Solomon provided investors with an update on the bank's new initiatives at the start of a conference call Tuesday. "We believe Apple Card is the most successful credit card launch ever," he said. Continuing on the Apple Card, which the bank built in partnership with the iPhone maker, Solomon said that "since August, we've been pleased to see a high level of consumer demand for the product. From an operational and risk perspective, we've handled the inflows smoothly and without compromising our credit underwriting standards."

Over the weekend, reports emerged that claimed that Apple was sending users' browsing details to Tencent to run it against Chinese company's safe browsing feature. In a statement on Monday, an Apple spokesperson has offered a clarification: Apple protects user privacy and safeguards your data with Safari Fraudulent Website Warning, a security feature that flags websites known to be malicious in nature. When the feature is enabled, Safari checks the website URL against lists of known websites and displays a warning if the URL the user is visiting is suspected of fraudulent conduct like phishing. To accomplish this task, Safari receives a list of websites known to be malicious from Google, and for devices with their region code set to mainland China, it receives a list from Tencent. The actual URL of website you visit is never shared with a safe browsing provider and the feature can be turned off.

"Apple, which often positions itself as a champion of privacy and human rights, is sending some IP addresses from users of its Safari browser on iOS to Chinese conglomerate Tencent -- a company with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party," reports the Reclaim the Net blog: Apple admits that it sends some user IP addresses to Tencent in the "About Safari & Privacy" section of its Safari settings.... The "Fraudulent Website Warning" setting is toggled on by default which means that unless iPhone or iPad users dive two levels deep into their settings and toggle it off, their IP addresses may be logged by Tencent or Google when they use the Safari browser. However, doing this makes browsing sessions less secure and leaves users vulnerable to accessing fraudulent websites...

Even if people install a third-party browser on their iOS device, viewing web pages inside apps still opens them in an integrated form of Safari called Safari View Controller instead of the third-party browser. Tapping links inside apps also opens them in Safari rather than a third-party browser. These behaviors that force people back into Safari make it difficult for people to avoid the Safari browser completely when using an iPhone or iPad.
Engadget adds that it's "not clear" whether or not Tencent is actually collecting IP addresses from users outside of China. ("You'll see mention of the collection in the U.S. disclaimer, but that doesn't mean it's scooping up info from American web surfers.")

But Reclaim the Net points out that the possibility is troubling, in part because Safari is the #1 most popular mobile internet browser in America, with a market share of over 50%.

An anonymous reader quotes BuzzFeed News: In early 2018 as development on Apple's slate of exclusive Apple TV+ programming was underway, the company's leadership gave guidance to the creators of some of those shows to avoid portraying China in a poor light, BuzzFeed News has learned.

Sources in position to know said the instruction was communicated by Eddy Cue, Apple's SVP of internet software and services, and Morgan Wandell, its head of international content development. It was part of Apple's ongoing efforts to remain in China's good graces after a 2016 incident in which Beijing shut down Apple's iBooks Store and iTunes Movies six months after they debuted in the country.

A spokesperson for Apple declined comment.

Apple's tip toeing around the Chinese government isn't unusual in Hollywood. It's an accepted practice. "They all do it," one showrunner who was not affiliated with Apple told BuzzFeed News. "They have to if they want to play in that market. And they all want to play in that market. Who wouldn't?"

Chris Matyszczyk from ZDNet retells the draconian story of a Financial Times writer who wasn't able to prove she purchased a ticket for the London buses because her phone died (she used Apple Pay), which led to her being charged a criminal. An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from the report: Today's witness is Jemima Kelly. She's a writer for The Financial Times. Please don't let any personal thoughts about that get in the way of her story. You see, she just experienced a little technological nightmare. A cheery digital convert, she admits she often leaves the house without her wallet. But surely not without her iPhone. Apple Pay is, after all, a contemporary joy. It's right up there with Tinder in its ability to make your life easier.

Kelly, indeed, hops on London buses and uses Apple Pay to tap her payment instead of buying a ticket the old-fashioned way. Which, as she cheerily described, is easy unless a ticket inspector wanders by. Just after your iPhone's battery has died. She couldn't prove that she'd paid, but gave her personal details and assumed there'd be a record of her probity on the transportation company's computers. But then she was charged with, well, not providing proof of payment. Charged as in would be forced to go to court and to plead guilty or not guilty within 21 days. Here's where things got (more) awkward. Kelly produced a bank statement that proved she'd paid. The transportation company -- Transport For London -- insisted this wasn't enough.

It seems she'd failed another digital task -- registering her Apple Pay with Transport For London. She was edging ever closer to criminal status. But did her Apple Pay details need to be registered? Kelly revealed: "They told me, 'there is no requirement for cards to be registered, the same as paying for any goods and services in a shop'. But it's not the same, actually; in a shop, you are given a breakdown in the form of a receipt." So, here she was, contactless and receiptless. Next, she heard that her court case had happened and she'd been found guilty. Oh, and she also owed a fine of around $592. In the end, Kelly managed to get back to court and persuade the judge to void her conviction, but the process took months.

"Her story, however, aptly describes how the digital world demands our complete and unyielding participation," writes Matyszczyk. "Digital systems are designed by those who strive for complete perfection and consistency. Which doesn't describe the human condition at all." Do you think digitizing everything is a good thing?

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Google's October 15 hardware event is fast approaching, and in addition to the launch of the Pixel 4, Google Home Mini 2, Google WI-Fi 2, and a new pair of Pixel Buds, the show should usher in a new Pixelbook. We've known the new Pixelbook would be called the "Pixelbook Go," but other than a few details from Chrome OS commits, the device has mostly been a mystery. Google takes its title as "least secretive device manufacturer" very seriously, though, and recently 9to5Google managed to just get a Pixelbook Go ahead of the event. They took a bunch of pictures and video. Unlike the fairly unique design of the original Pixelbook and the Pixel Slate, the Pixelbook Go mostly just looks like a MacBook. 9to5Google got that vibe from the device in person, too, writing: "We can't fathom that this laptop won't immediately be labeled 'Google's MacBook.'" The one unique design aspect is the bottom, which is a brightly colored, ribbed pad that covers the entire bottom of the device. This device is a near-final prototype, with placeholder logos and product names.

9to5Google reports that the keyboard is "just as good or better than the first Pixelbook" and it "feels great to type on." The trackpad is "a traditional "diving board" trackpad and seemed sufficiently responsive and "clicky." There are single USB-C ports on the left and right side of the laptop, along with LEDs indicating the device's charging status. Like with past Pixelbooks, it seems like you can charge the device from either port. On the right side is also a headphone jack. Other specifications include: Intel Core m3, i5, and i7 configurations; Either 8GB or 16GB RAM; 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB storage; 2 front-firing speakers; 2MP front-facing camera -- 1080p at 60fps; Titan C chip; 13.3-inch touchscreen; and 16:9 aspect ratio, both Full HD or 4K "Molecular Display" options.

You can watch 9to5Google's hands-on video here.

On Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook defended the company's decision to remove a mapping app in Hong Kong, saying that the company received "credible information" from authorities indicating the software was being used "maliciously" to attack police. Bloomberg reports: Apple pulled HKmap.live from its App Store on Wednesday after flip-flopping between rejecting it and approving it earlier this month. Apple made the decision after consulting with local authorities, because it could endanger law enforcement and city residents. Cook echoed that sentiment in an email to Apple employees. "Over the past several days we received credible information, from the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau, as well as from users in Hong Kong, that the app was being used maliciously to target individual officers for violence and to victimize individuals and property where no police are present," Cook wrote in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News. He also said the app violates local laws.

The company has been criticized for the move, and Cook addressed that. "These decisions are never easy, and it is harder still to discuss these topics during moments of furious public debate," the CEO wrote. "National and international debates will outlive us all, and, while important, they do not govern the facts. In this case, we thoroughly reviewed them, and we believe this decision best protects our users." Apple's reversal came after the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper criticized Apple for letting the app into its store.

Apple, a company that loves to talk about its values, has this week demonstrated that when it comes to China -- one of its biggest markets and where most of its iPhones and other products are assembled taking full benefit of low-cost labors -- even the Steve Jobs-founded company lacks a backbone. The company has bowed down to Chinese pressure and pulled an app from the Chinese App Store that helped pro-democracy protesters track cops to ensure their safety. Apple, a company with nearing $1 trillion in market cap, said the app "violates our guidelines and local laws."

The company has also pulled news app Quartz, which has been extensively covering the protests in Hong Kong, from the app store. The explanation from Apple, the company which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to plaster every mall on the face of this planet in recent weeks to tell us that its new iPhone models have an ultra-wide lens? Crickets. On the Chinese App Store, Apple also does not offer The New York Times app because it "violates its policies." That's right. The New York Times, the biggest publication on the planet that wins tons of awards for its reportage each year and is celebrated across the globe and is a partner of Apple for Apple News subscription service, violates Apple's policies in China.

A few other times when x-ray report showed Apple did not have a backbone.

itwbennett shares a report from CSO: iTerm2 users: It's time to upgrade. A security audit sponsored by the Mozilla Open Source Support Program uncovered a critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in the popular open-source terminal app for macOS. ITerm2 is an open-source alternative to the built-in macOS Terminal app, which allows users to interact with the command-line shell. Terminal apps are commonly used by system administrators, developers and IT staff in general, including security teams, for a variety of tasks and day-to-day operations.

The iTerm2 app is a popular choice on macOS because it has features and allows customizations that the built-in Terminal doesn't, which is why the Mozilla Open Source Support Program (MOSS) decided to sponsor a code audit for it. The MOSS was created in the wake of the critical and wide-impact Heartbleed vulnerability in OpenSSL with the goal of sponsoring security audits for widely used open-source technologies. The flaw, which is now tracked as CVE-2019-9535, has existed in iTerm2 for the past seven years and is located in the tmux integration. Tmux is a terminal multiplexer that allows running multiple sessions in the same terminal window by splitting the terminal screen. The flaw was fixed in iTerm2 version 3.3.6, which was released today.