Leaked Apple memo urges employees to stop leaking company info

Bloomberg got its hands on a leaked Apple memo today regarding, funnily enough, leaks. The company is well-known for liking to keep things under wraps, but its leadership isn’t pleased with how often Apple employees are leaking information to the press. According to the memo, Apple caught 29 individuals — employees, contractors and supply chain partners — who leaked information last year and 12 of them were arrested. “Leakers do not simply lose their jobs at Apple. In some cases, they face jail time and massive fines for network intrusion and theft of trade secrets both classified as federal crimes,” it reads.

Apple’s memo, posted to an internal blog, warns company employees about getting too cozy with journalists and bloggers. “While it may seem flattering to be approached, it’s important to remember that you’re getting played,” said Apple. “The success of these outsiders is measured by obtaining Apple’s secrets from you and making them public.” It adds that in these situations, Apple staffers have “everything to lose” if they give in.

This isn’t the first time that Apple has tried to discourage leaking. Last year, it held a briefing (which was also leaked) wherein company leaders explained to around 100 employees that leaks originating from Apple’s campus were more common than supply chain leaks in 2016. And though we obviously don’t hear about every firing resulting from unauthorized sharing of company information, the firing of the employee whose daughter leaked the iPhone X was pretty public.

“The impact of a leak goes far beyond the people who work on a project,” Apple argues. “Leaking Apple’s work undermines everyone at Apple and the years they’ve invested in creating Apple products.” The memo ends on a note from executive Greg Joswiak. “Everyone comes to Apple to do the best work of their lives — work that matters and contributes to what all 135,000 people in this company are doing together,” he said. “The best way to honor those contributions is by not leaking.”

Via: 9to5Mac

Source: Bloomberg

MoviePass teams with iHeartRadio for three-month limited movie plan

MoviePass’ various indiscretions with user privacy hasn’t deterred too many people from subscribing to the service, which just added another 500,000 paying subscribers. The typical $10 per month plan supplies you with one 2D movie per day at any participating theater. Now, MoviePass and iHeartRadio are teaming up to provide a $29.95 three-month plan that limits you to four 2D movies per month but adds a free trial of iHeartRadio’s All Access on-demand streaming package.

While calling this deal a $150 value is strictly true, it’s still a more limited proposition than the standard MoviePass subscription. Getting iHeartRadio on-demand might be your cup of tea, but the lure of inexpensive (or “free”) movies is likely the draw, just like the regular service. You’d think that giving potential new subscribers a taste of the real deal would be a better loss leader than a limited set of monthly movies. If nothing else, MoviePass could bring in new subscribers from the iHeartRadio promotion machine, who then might eventually convert to the full MoviePass experience.

Source: MoviePass

Leaked Apple Memo Warns Employees About Leaking Info to Media

Apple recently posted a “lengthy” cautionary memo on its internal website that uses aggressive scare tactics to warn employees against leaking details about future products to the media, reports Bloomberg.

In 2017, Apple said it caught 29 leakers and that 12 of those people were arrested. “These people not only lose their jobs, they can face extreme difficulty finding employment elsewhere,” the company said in the memo.

Images of iPhone X components that leaked well ahead of the device’s launch
The memo details several instances where sensitive data had been leaked to the media, such as the leaked iOS 11 GM, which divulged details on the iPhone X, and meetings where Craig Federighi detailed delays to planned functionality in iOS 12 to focus on improving existing features. The employees who leaked this info were caught and fired, said Apple.

It also warns Apple employees against befriending members of the press, analysts, and bloggers and “getting played.”

Apple told employees that leaking information about an unreleased product can impact sales of current models, lead to fewer sales when the product is released, and give competitors more time to mimic product features. “We want the chance to tell our customers why the product is great, and not have that done poorly by someone else,” Apple’s Greg Joswiak said in the memo, the full text of which is below, courtesy of Bloomberg:

Last month, Apple caught and fired the employee responsible for leaking details from an internal, confidential meeting about Apple’s software roadmap. Hundreds of software engineers were in attendance, and thousands more within the organization received details of its proceedings. One person betrayed their trust.

The employee who leaked the meeting to a reporter later told Apple investigators that he did it because he thought he wouldn’t be discovered. But people who leak — whether they’re Apple employees, contractors or suppliers — do get caught and they’re getting caught faster than ever.

In many cases, leakers don’t set out to leak. Instead, people who work for Apple are often targeted by press, analysts and bloggers who befriend them on professional and social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook and begin to pry for information. While it may seem flattering to be approached, it’s important to remember that you’re getting played. The success of these outsiders is measured by obtaining Apple’s secrets from you and making them public. A scoop about an unreleased Apple product can generate massive traffic for a publication and financially benefit the blogger or reporter who broke it. But the Apple employee who leaks has everything to lose.

The impact of a leak goes far beyond the people who work on a project.

Leaking Apple’s work undermines everyone at Apple and the years they’ve invested in creating Apple products. “Thousands of people work tirelessly for months to deliver each major software release,” says UIKit lead Josh Shaffer, whose team’s work was part of the iOS 11 leak last fall. “Seeing it leak is devastating for all of us.”

The impact of a leak goes beyond the people who work on a particular project — it’s felt throughout the company. Leaked information about a new product can negatively impact sales of the current model; give rival companies more time to begin on a competitive response; and lead to fewer sales of that new product when it arrives. “We want the chance to tell our customers why the product is great, and not have that done poorly by someone else,” says Greg Joswiak of Product Marketing.

Investments by Apple have had an enormous impact on the company’s ability to identify and catch leakers. Just before last September’s special event, an employee leaked a link to the gold master of iOS 11 to the press, again believing he wouldn’t be caught. The unreleased OS detailed soon-to-be-announced software and hardware including iPhone X. Within days, the leaker was identified through an internal investigation and fired. Global Security’s digital forensics also helped catch several employees who were feeding confidential details about new products including iPhone X, iPad Pro and AirPods to a blogger at 9to5Mac.
Last year Apple caught 29 leakers.

Leakers in the supply chain are getting caught, too. Global Security has worked hand-in-hand with suppliers to prevent theft of Apple’s intellectual property as well as to identify individuals who try to exceed their access. They’ve also partnered with suppliers to identify vulnerabilities — both physical and technological — and ensure their security levels meet or exceed Apple’s expectations. These programs have nearly eliminated the theft of prototypes and products from factories, caught leakers and prevented many others from leaking in the first place.

Leakers do not simply lose their jobs at Apple. In some cases, they face jail time and massive fines for network intrusion and theft of trade secrets both classified as federal crimes. In 2017, Apple caught 29 leakers. 12 of those were arrested. Among those were Apple employees, contractors and some partners in Apple’s supply chain. These people not only lose their jobs, they can face extreme difficulty finding employment elsewhere. “The potential criminal consequences of leaking are real,” says Tom Moyer of Global Security, “and that can become part of your personal and professional identity forever.”

While they carry serious consequences, leaks are completely avoidable. They are the result of a decision by someone who may not have considered the impact of their actions. “Everyone comes to Apple to do the best work of their lives — work that matters and contributes to what all 135,000 people in this company are doing together,” says Joswiak. “The best way to honor those contributions is by not leaking.”

Apple has always been an intensely private and secretive company, but as it has grown, leaks have become harder to contain, both among its own corporate employees and from its supplier partners. In 2012, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple was going to “double down on secrecy on products,” but each and every year, details on new products manage to leak out ahead of launch.
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MacRumors Giveaway: Win a Leather Case for iPhone X, 8 or 8 Plus From Casetify

For this week’s giveaway, we’ve teamed up with Casetify to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a high-quality Leather Case for the iPhone X, iPhone 8, or iPhone 8 Plus.

Casetify is well-known for its range of fun customizable cases for iOS devices, but the company also makes several simple, stylish, cases with a more traditional design, like the Leather Case.

The Leather Case is made for the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus, and it comes in two variations: the standard Leather Snap Case for $49 and a Leather Card Case, able to hold a few credit cards, for $59.

Available in Black, Sand, or Cherry, Casetify says its Leather Case is made by hand from a fine Italian leather sourced from top quality tanneries with careful stitching and attention to detail. The case is slim in design and does not add a lot of bulk to Apple’s flagship iPhone lineup.

The Leather Case covers the side buttons of the iPhone, while leaving the mute switch open. There’s also a cutout for the camera on the back, and the Lightning port at the bottom is left open and accessible.

A small lip at the front of the case keeps the display of the iPhone safe when it’s placed facedown, and the leather material the case is made from adds grip.

Casetify’s Leather Snap Case features a smooth back, while the Leather Card Case can accommodate a few credit cards, a driver’s license, or a bit of cash, and there’s an option to have the cases monogrammed with your initials in multiple colors.

All of Casetify’s cases are compatible with wireless charging, so these cases will work with Qi-based wireless charging accessories.

We have seven Leather Cases available for MacRumors readers, with winners able to choose the style, color, and size. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

a Rafflecopter giveawayThe contest will run from today (April 13) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on April 20. The winners will be chosen randomly on April 20 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.

Tags: giveaway, Casetify
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FCC Filing Confirms Apple Planned on Launching Gold iPhone X

Apple appears to have designed a gold iPhone X, according to documents filed with the United States Federal Communications Commission.

When releasing a new device, smartphone companies must share details with the FCC, which Apple did for the iPhone X in September of 2017. In the document, Apple appears to have used an iPhone X in a gold colorway that was not ultimately released.

The document in question, which again, was filed back in September, includes several images of a gold iPhone X from multiple angles to outline included features and the device’s dimensions. The gold shade of the iPhone X appears to be similar to the gold color of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

Other documents indicate Apple had prepared its FCC filing in July, suggesting the photos were taken as much as several months ahead of the iPhone X unveiling in September. While many of the documents in the filing were available soon after submission, external photos and other sensitive details were subject to a six-month confidentiality clause that only recently expired.

Given the timing of the document, it’s likely Apple planned on releasing the iPhone X in three colors – gold, silver, and space gray – but was ultimately forced to shelve the gold color option ahead of release due to production issues.

Prior to the launch of the iPhone X, most rumors did indeed suggest it would come in three colors. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, for example, said that Apple was experiencing problems manufacturing a “Blush Gold” iPhone X, and he suggested in September that the gold version could go on sale at a later date to give Apple time to work out the problems.

It’s possible that the stainless steel frame of the gold device was causing issues, as Apple was able to release the iPhone 8 – which uses an aluminum frame – in gold. Whatever the reason, Apple ended up only launching the iPhone X in silver and space gray.

It is not clear if Apple still has plans to debut a gold iPhone X, but recent rumors have speculated that Apple may be aiming to introduce the new color in an effort to boost mid-year sales of the device. If that is the plan, it could perhaps make a debut at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

It would have been logical to introduce the new shade alongside new spring Apple Watch bands or alongside the recently announced (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, so it’s also possible that Apple is going to hold off on debuting the new color.

Provided manufacturing issues have been worked out by this point, we could see Apple’s 2018 iPhone lineup in the traditional gold, silver, and space gray options, regardless of whether or not Apple releases a gold iPhone X ahead of when those devices debut in September.

Related Roundup: iPhone XBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Neutral)
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Meater review: A wireless smart thermometer for the next-gen kitchen

As we get more and more “connected” around the house, our favorite place to see new smart devices is probably the kitchen. Whether dealing with someone who is adept and knows their way around the room or someone looking to learn more, today’s connected kitchen offers a lot of opportunities — and fun gadgets. One such device is the Meater, a wireless smart meat thermometer.

Ask five people how they like their steak prepared and you may receive five different replies. Rare? Well done? How much longer do you leave it on the grill before taking it off? How many minutes difference is there between medium-rare and medium? How hot is the grill to begin with?

Whether cooking steak on the grill, a ham in the roaster, or chicken in the oven, dealing with meat isn’t always easy. If you’re not preparing something familiar, you may be constantly cutting into the meat to see if it’s ready. Pull it out of the oven, check, put it back. Repeat.

Meat thermometers are not new. They’ve been around quite a while, and can be very helpful. The problem, though, is that some of the so-called smarter ones can have extra hardware pieces, or cables that connect to a probe. These can get damaged or wear out over time. Cleaning and maintenance can be pesky. The Meater ($69) makes aims to address some of those pain points.

What it is and what it does

The Meater has the thickness of a mechanical pencil but is roughly two-thirds the length. It’s a single unit that pairs to your phone over Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi. In short, you stick the Meater into your food and then wait for your phone to tell you when it’s done.

The initial setup and first meal is a breeze to get started. You’ll be walked through the process by the app and then handed off to start cooking. It’s here where, in the app, that you tell it what you’re cooking or grilling and how you like it prepared.

Getting a ham ready for a holiday dinner? Maybe you’re throwing a couple of filets on the grill. Simply tell the app what you’re doing and let it do the rest.

Anything else?

Aside from just registering the internal temperature of your meat, the Meater also measures the ambient temperature, too. This way you know if you even have the right amount of heat. Moreover, it will constantly monitor and report the temps, graphing them and estimating the time for finish.

Don’t worry about keeping your eye on the app; it will push out notifications when things are ready. Give yourself a five minute warning if you’d like that way you can begin setting things aside or prepping to pull the food off.

Charging

The Meater comes in small box about the size of what might house a fancy ink pen. Constructed of bamboo, it is where you’ll charge it up using one (included) AAA battery.

The thermometer is silver with a black handle and features an etched line. This is essentially how far you you’ll want to insert the unit into your food. The black part is what measures the environmental temperatures, tracking how hot it gets under the roaster lid or inside of the closed grill.

We tried cooking using the Bluetooth connection and found it had pretty poor range. When using it with an Easter ham inside of a counter-top roasting oven we found that we couldn’t get more than a couple of feet away. This was a nuisance as it kept us, or the phone, within a small circle in the kitchen.

Fortunately, we have multiple phones and tablets in the home and the thermometer can be setup using Meater Link. In essence, you leave one device close enough to stay in range and then others on the same WiFi network can monitor and manage the cooking. If you have a dedicated tablet for the kitchen, you’ll want to install the app on it right away and use it as the central device.

Conclusion

We had a lot of fun with the Meater and look forward to using it this summer as we grill out. It’s easy to setup, almost impossible to screw up, and simple to clean up. For just $69 you’ll have something that takes the guesswork out of cooking new and exciting meals or precisely-grilled steak. Not only that, but it gives you a cool device that you get to show off and discuss over dinner.

Google is learning to differentiate between your voice and your friend’s

We may be able to pick out our best friend’s or our mother’s voice from a crowd, but can the same be said for our smart speakers? For the time being, the answer may be “no.” Smart assistants aren’t always right about who’s speaking, but Google is looking to change that with a pretty elegant solution.

Thanks to new research detailed in a paper titled, “Looking to Listen at the Cocktail Party,” Google researchers explain how a new deep learning system is able to identify voices simply by looking at people’s faces as they speak.

“People are remarkably good at focusing their attention on a particular person in a noisy environment, mentally “muting” all other voices and sounds,” Inbar Mosseri and Oran Lang, software engineers at Google Research noted in a blog post. And while this ability is innate to human beings, “automatic speech separation — separating an audio signal into its individual speech sources — while a well-studied problem, remains a significant challenge for computers.”

Mosseri and Lang, however, have created a deep learning audio-visual model capable of isolating speech signals from a variety of other auditory inputs, like additional voices and background noise. “We believe this capability can have a wide range of applications, from speech enhancement and recognition in videos, through video conferencing, to improved hearing aids, especially in situations where there are multiple people speaking,” the duo said.

So how did they do it? The first step was training the system to identify individual voices (paired with their faces) speaking uninterrupted in an aurally clean environment. The researchers presented the system with about 2,000 hours of video, all of which featured a single person in the camera frame with no background interference. Once this was complete, they began to add virtual noise — like other voices — in order to teach its A.I. system to differentiate among audio tracks, and thereby allowing the system to identify which track is which.

Ultimately, the researchers were able to train the system to “split the synthetic cocktail mixture into separate audio streams for each speaker in the video.” As you can see in the video, the A.I. can identify the voices of two comedians even as they speak over one another, simply by looking at their faces.

“Our method works on ordinary videos with a single audio track, and all that is required from the user is to select the face of the person in the video they want to hear, or to have such a person be selected algorithmically based on context,” Mosseri and Lang wrote.

We’ll just have to see how this new methodology is ultimately implemented in Google products.

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AMD’s second-generation Ryzen CPUs hit the market next week for $199

Although device manufacturers have alluded to the chips over the past few days, AMD is announcing its second generation of Ryzen desktop processors. As seen in previous leaked specifications, there are only four chips based on the company’s refined Zen CPU design, dubbed as Zen Plus (aka Zen+). All four support the company’s new X470 motherboard chipset although they will work on the current 300 Series chipsets too. 

Here they are: 

Ryzen 7 2700X 

Ryzen 7 2700 

Ryzen 5 2600X 

Ryzen 5 2600 

Cores: 

8 

8 

6 

6 

Threads: 

16 

16 

12 

12 

Base speed: 

3.7GHz 

3.2GHz 

3.6GHz 

3.4GHz 

Boost speed: 

4.3GHz 

4.1GHz 

4.2GHz 

3.9GHz 

Cache: 

20MB 

20MB 

19MB 

19MB 

Power draw: 

105 watts 

65 watts 

95 watts 

65 watts 

Cooler: 

Wraith Prism
(LED) 

Wraith Spire
(LED) 

Wraith Spire
(No LED)

Wraith Stealth
(No LED) 

Price: 

$329 

$299 

$229 

$199 

Availability: 

April 19 

April 19 

April 19 

April 19 

While Intel boasts about bringing six-core processors to the mainstream audience, AMD already has you covered with eight-core chips for a low price. Intel will supposedly offer eight-core variants later this year based on its current eighth-generation “Coffee Lake” design, but until then, AMD is still ahead of the core-counting game. 

As shown above, the Ryzen 7 2700X has a nice performance increase over the first-generation Ryzen 7 1700X chip with a 300MHz higher base speed, and a 500MHz higher boost speed. But it also requires a bit more power, consuming 105 watts versus the former chip’s 95 watts. Meanwhile, the power consumption of the Ryzen 7 2700 stays the same compared to the first-generation chip despite a 200MHz boost in the base speed and a 400MHz boost in the maximum speed. 

On the Ryzen 5 front, the Ryzen 5 2600X replaces the current Ryzen 5 1600X using the same power requirement and base speed but provides a 200MHz boost in the maximum speed and a higher amount of cache (19MB vs. 16MB). Replacing the Ryzen 5 1600 is AMD’s new Ryzen 5 2600 chip with a 200MHz higher base speed, and a 300MHz higher maximum speed while drawing the same amount of power (65 watts). 

What we don’t see in the new mix are replacements for the Ryzen 5 1500X, the Ryzen 5 1400, and the Ryzen 7 1800X processors, nor did AMD reveal Ryzen 3 replacements. There is a good chance AMD may shove its Ryzen 7 1800X successor under its upcoming Threadripper refresh while the Ryzen 3 replacements will come later this year. For now, AMD appears to be keeping the CPU options a bit more refined than the first-generation launch. 

Of course, the four new processors sit just fine in current motherboards with the AM4 CPU socket. But to take full advantage of the new chips, you might want to consider swapping out the motherboard with new solutions packing AMD’s latest X470 chipset. The company says X470 has an improved power structure to handle higher clocks on the Zen+ design.

The chipset also supports AMD’s new StoreMI technology. In the company’s test system, World of Warcraft loaded in 41.37 seconds when moving from the character select screen to the virtual world without StoreMI, and 14.74 seconds with StoreMI enabled.

All four processors will be available on Thursday, April 19, with a starting price of $199. 

Is the PlayStation 4 a great Blu-ray player?

If you enjoy Blu-rays for their ultra-high quality, the PS4 isn’t all the way there.

The DVD player in the PlayStation 2 is a big part of why that console was so popular. Parents were able to put a DVD player that was cheaper than most of the other DVD players on sale at the time in their kid’s room, and it also had tons of games! Sony continued this momentum into the PlayStation 3 with a Blu-ray player at a time when standalone BR players were both expensive and overly complicated.

But with the PlayStation 4, Sony didn’t push the envelope quite as much. The Blu-ray player in this latest generation of consoles works in most situations, but how good is it compared to the other DVD players out there? Let’s take a look!

Not one kind of Blu-ray

All Blu-ray players are not created equal, which may be a difficult thing to wrap your head around. Some players are slower than others because of the processor used to power the experience, for example. In many cases, you’ll find streaming apps alongside the ability to play the physical disk, so there’s a single remote for playing DVDs and watching Netflix.

But even after you set aside things like remote control features and how fast you can go from putting the Blu-ray in the player to watching a movie, there are different kinds of Blu-rays that require specific players to be fully functional.

Where Blu-ray brought physical media from 480p to 1080p so everyone could enjoy HD movies with better sound, Ultra High Definition or UHD Blu-rays bring the resolution up to 4K and frequently include extras like HDR video and Dolby Atmos audio support.

Put plainly, the difference between watching a Blu-ray and a UHD Blu-ray on a 4K UHD TV with a decent sound system is more than a little noticeable. It’s also worth pointing out UHD Blu-rays are frequently more expensive than normal ones, but in many releases often include a standard Blu-ray for those interested in future-proofing their movie collection.

How good is the PlayStation 4 Blu-ray player?

The Blu-ray player in all versions of the PlayStation 4, from the original released in 2013 to the 4K-ready Pro model released in 2016, is a standard 1080p Blu-ray player. Because it uses the same processor used to play visually intense games, it’s one of the faster Blu-ray players you can buy. The control interface uses the PlayStation 4 controller by default, but you can pick up a PlayStation 4 Universal Media Remote for $25 if you’d rather have a traditional remote. Your PlayStation also has access to basically every streaming app ever, so if you use your PS4 as a Blu-ray player you can also use it to stream everything else. You can even watch live TV on it, with a PlayStation Vue subscription.

If you’re after 4K Blu-rays, you’re looking at a standalone player, or an Xbox One X.

This is an excellent Blu-ray player for an HD TV, offering a ton of features with room for expansion, but if you use a 4K TV it’s not quite 100% anymore. This console lacks UHD Blu-ray support, even in the 4K-enabled PlayStation 4 Pro, which means you won’t be able to play UHD Blu-rays and enjoy things like Dolby Atmos audio support with your 4K HDR video. You can use the PS4 Pro to stream 4K, but the lack of UHD Blu-ray support makes it less than ideal for getting the best possible picture on your 4K TV.

So how good is the PlayStation 4 at playing Blu-rays? It depends on what you want. If you have a 4K TV with a killer sound system, you’re better off getting a standalone UHD Blu-ray Player or an Xbox One X if you have one. But if you haven’t made the upgrade to 4K and aren’t planning to anytime soon, the PlayStation 4 Blu-ray player is fantastic.

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Kobra’s Bluetooth OBD-II car code reader is down to just $8

Figure out what’s wrong without taking it into the shop.

This Kobra Bluetooth OBD-II car code reader is down to $8.03 on Amazon with code UKLW9NL5. This is the lowest price we’ve ever seen, even through previous coupon codes. It has sold around $13 for several months now.

The Kobra Bluetooth code reader can connect to and read the code from any car made after 1996. It can then use Bluetooth to transmit the readings to the free app, or third party apps like Torque Pro on Android. It can retrieve both generic codes and car manufacturer specific Diagnostic Trouble Codes. Clear that Check Engine light that has been pestering you for months. More than 655 reviewers give this reader 3.9 stars.

This reader does not work with iOS devices. If you need one for your iPhone, this Kobra deal from the end of March is still active. It’s not Bluetooth, it’s Wi-Fi, but it works with all three platforms.

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