Apple’s Jony Ive helped design a Christmas tree with no lights

Jony Ive and Marc Newson have designed a range of products that have little to do with their work at Apple, but their latest is something… different. They’ve worked with set designer Michael Howells on the Claridge’s Christmas tree for 2016, and it largely lives up to your “if Jony Ive designed this, it would…” stereotypes. Just as your new Mac or iPhone is devoid of ports, there are no conventional tree lights in this hotel display — you’ll see 13-foot light boxes beaming images of snow-covered birches, but the actual tree arrangement is bare. It’s like Ive was sent on a mission to destroy your holiday memories with his signature minimalism.

The collaboration isn’t coming out of the blue: Ive and Newson are “long-time friends” of Claridge’s. And while it’s definitely non-traditional, you will remember it if you wander through the hotel’s lobby in the weeks ahead. However, it’s not about to reassure critics concerned that Ive and Newson are devoting less time than they could to Apple products. Wouldn’t it have been great if they’d poured that energy into something more permanent that you could actually take home?

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Claridge’s

Apple reportedly stops making WiFi routers

We hope you weren’t dead set on getting a new AirPort Extreme any time soon. Bloomberg sources claim that Apple has “disbanded” its WiFi router division, quietly ramping it down over the past year as team members joined other divisions (including the Apple TV group). Reportedly, the shutdown is meant to “sharpen the company’s focus” on those devices that make up the bulk of its revenue. A spokesperson wouldn’t confirm the move, but Apple hasn’t introduced a new router since 2013 — it’s not as if they had a lot of work on their plate.

It’s a quiet end for a team that, at one point, was crucial to the proliferation of WiFi. The original AirPort Base Station, along with the first iBook laptop, helped popularize the very concept of wireless networking. Remember a keynote crowd freaking out when Steve Jobs showed that he didn’t need an Ethernet cable to surf the web? For a while, Apple was usually one of the first companies to adopt a new WiFi standard — it would even use draft specs and update once the technology was finished. It also made important strides in networked audio (through the AirPort Express) and fully integrated network backups (Time Capsule).

However, it’s not surprising if Apple is bowing out. Much like what we saw when it stopped making displays, the company is facing an increasingly commoditized market where rivals have to compete on purely iterative upgrades like increased coverage. Even speedy 802.11ad WiFi isn’t a big selling point. How does Apple stand out (and thus make a profit) when most routers are fast enough, cloud backups are simple and networked audio is just a matter of buying a wireless speaker? As sad as it might be to see the AirPort line fade away, it’s not nearly as important to Apple’s success as it once was.

Source: Bloomberg

‘Poison Tap’ USB Device Hijacks User Data From Screen-Locked Macs

A developer has created a $5 device that can hack into screen-locked Macs and potentially other computers as long as a web browser is left running on the desktop.

Samy Kamkar made a YouTube video showing what happens when his creation hacks into a target computer. Called a “Poison Tap”, the device runs on a Raspberry Pi Zero which plugs into a computer’s USB port.

Once attached to the locked and password-protected Mac, it hijacks all web traffic by posing as a standard internet connection, after which it sets about siphoning and storing the user’s HTTP cookies.

The attacker can then potentially use the stolen cookie data to access websites the user visited and log-in as them without having to enter username and password information.

Speaking to the BBC, Trend Micro security researcher Rik Ferguson said the device was a plausible threat to users who frequently left their computer unattended.

[In normal circumstances] Even when you are not using a web browser it is still making requests and communicating – due to updates or ads. Once the device is plugged in it exploits that communication and steals session cookies from the top one million websites.

Two-step verification would be susceptible to the same attack, explained Ferguson, because the device is able to intercept the cookies and pretend it is already in an open session. The only way to guard against such an attack would be for websites to use an encrypted connection such as HTTPS.

Otherwise, the best solution is for users to ensure they close their browser every time they leave their Mac unattended, or else close it down completely.

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iCloud logs your calls, but it’s not leaking anything

Apple scored points with privacy advocates early in 2016 by resisting the FBI’s attempts to crack into the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone. But the tech giant gave the government one concession: If the phone’s data had been backed up to iCloud, Apple would have handed it over to help the investigation. Which gives some cause for concern — like from a Russian security firm, which discovered that if users sign up for iCloud Drive, their devices secretly sends call records back to the tech giant’s servers. But this is exactly how it’s supposed to work, says Apple.

The security firm Elcomsoft illustrated the privacy issue in a brief: If users have iCloud Drive active, they can’t prevent it from uploading their call history every time the phone is synced up. Conveniently, the security firm is also announcing a new version of its cloud-cracking software that can extract call logs and contacts even if the targeted phone is locked and its passcode is unknown.

In short, Elcomsoft is advertising a new tool for law enforcement to sidestep iCloud’s security protections while alleging that Apple keeps those call logs for up to four months. But as The Intercept points out, a hacker used the software back in 2014 to break into over 100 celebrity iCloud accounts and steal compromising photos.

But far from denying it, Apple confirmed that it logs calls to its servers. That’s how you have the same call, Facetime and text data synced across all your iCloud-connected devices:

Apple’s statement to me on call history sync via iCloud and security thereof. Article/explainer to follow: pic.twitter.com/LhmF9W62n2

— Rene Ritchie

That’s not to say it’s clear-cut what activity iCloud saves and doesn’t save automatically. In July 2012, an Apple forums user asked whether iCloud backups contain recent calls. They do, someone replied, pointing to iCloud’s backup overview page — but that changed in the interim, since call logs are no longer listed in the summary bullet list of backed-up data. Even then, most recent call recovery methods for iOS devices instruct users to restore from backups.

The crux of the issue is both disclosure of the logs and whether the government would have easier access to them given how long they’re stored on Apple servers. But call histories are as protected as the rest of your iCloud data — that is, they’re locked behind your Apple ID and password, along with two-factor authentication if that’s enabled. More alarming, the chief technologist of the ACLU told The Information, was the revelation in September that Apple keeps records of end-to-end encrypted iMessage conversation metadata. The government can get call logs in other ways, the expert said, but keeping those encrypted text message info on Apple servers might be the only way officials could get to them.

Via: The Information

Source: Elcomsoft