Engadget Daily: Ads on your thermostat, eBay’s password breach and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours – all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Google ads could be coming to thermostats, refrigerators and car dashboards
A Google filing with the SEC hinted that it’s considered displaying ads on a variety of devices that include “refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses, and watches.” The company has since commented on the issue, saying that, “Nest, which we acquired after this filing was made, does not have an ads-based model and has never had any such plans.”
eBay asks all users to change their passwords following cyberattack
eBay looks like it’s the latest company to suffer a security breach after it alerted users that an attack had “compromised a database containing encrypted passwords and other non-financial data.” Change those passwords, stat!
Oculus VR and Palmer Luckey being sued by CTO’s former employer
Zenimax Media, owner of id Software, is suing Oculus VR co-founder Palmer Luckey, alleging that Luckey and Oculus VR stole and misappropriated trade secrets related to virtual reality technology. Oculus VR responded and said this lawsuit has no merit.
Old console, new tricks: Getting the most out of your Xbox 360
If you’re still holding on to your Xbox 360 but feel like it’s getting a bit long in the tooth, don’t fear! Engadget’s own Richard Lawler has a few tips that will ensure you’re getting the most out of your favorite game console.
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Apple Planning Expansion to Seven-Building Sunnyvale Campus
Apple has agreed to lease a new seven-building campus in Sunnyvale, CA, where it could move up to 1,450 employees, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Image via San Jose Mercury News
In the most recent expansion, Apple intends to occupy a 290,000-square-foot office complex known as Sunnyvale Crossing that is near the corner of Central Expressway and North Wolfe Road. Menlo Park-based Lane Partners bought the complex and then proceeded with a renovation to transform the decades-old buildings into a state-of-the-art office center.
According to city records, Apple is currently only listed as a tenant in one of the buildings, but plans to occupy the six other buildings as well. Additionally, building permit applications have been filed for all seven of the buildings for “interior improvements”, though those must be approved by Sunnyvale’s city planning commission.
The new Sunnyvale campus is yet another part of Apple’s plan for expansion, alongside a new two-building Santa Clara campus that would hold 1,200 employees and Apple’s already iconic Spaceship Campus, which will hold around 14,000 employees and is currently under construction.
Virtual weed farms and the sticky state of Apple’s App Store restrictions
I was just about to tell you about Weed Firm, an insanely addictive app that tasks you with building a marijuana empire from your house in the suburbs, but I feel a little bad about gushing… because it’s no longer available to download. Yes, it’s been pulled from the App Store. (It’s also been removed from Google Play, but for unrelated reasons.) As recently as yesterday, the free app held the number two position on the charts in Apple’s store, and it’s almost guaranteed that it disappeared due to concerns about illegal or otherwise “controversial” content. (Apple’s famously mum about the reasons behind booting certain apps.)
Even though the Weed Firm app includes a disclaimer about not encouraging illegal activities, the fact is you’re growing Purple Haze, smoking up customers, paying off crooked cops and probably loving every minute of it. It seemed a bit strange that Apple — not to mention Google — approved the app in the first place, but considering how many weed-related apps are still available for download through Apple, it’s a bit odd that it’s now gone.
According to a statement released by Manitoba Games, the studio behind Weed Firm, the game may have been pulled because of its material — combined with the fact that it became so successful so quickly:
“We guess the problem was that the game was just too good and got to number one in All Categories, since there are certainly a great number of weed-based apps still available, as well as games promoting other so-called illegal activities such as shooting people, crashing cars and throwing birds at buildings.”
Throwing birds at buildings might not be exactly the same as growing and selling a drug that’s illegal in most countries, but you get the point. While we’ll likely never know exactly why Apple pulled the plug, it’s worth noting that other apps have never even made it into the App Store despite containing no illegal content. HappyPlayTime, which teaches women about their bodies via an anthropomorphized cartoon vulva, was recently rejected, even though racier apps are available for download.
Tina Gong, who created HappyPlayTime, said that she would focus on developing a web-based version of the app instead. And the makers of Weed Firm may do the same; while explaining that content may need to be adjusted to meet the App Store’s standards, the devs also talk about taking the game elsewhere:
“As for the other platforms, we will endeavor to make it as censorship-free as possible while assigning the highest maturity rating to the game. We do not want kids playing Weed Firm, but we firmly believe that adults should have a choice to do whatever the hell they want as long as they are not hurting anybody in the process.”
Like it or not, the App Store is Apple’s to regulate, so while these titles may seem fairly innocuous, you may have to start looking elsewhere to get your fix. Manitoba Games says Weed Firm should be back on Google Play pending a change in publisher, but iPhone users may be going through withdrawals for a bit longer. Of course, you always have the option of sideloading apps provided you can find the .APK files online. And now’s a better time than ever to back up the apps you’ve been lucky enough to snag while they’re still available.
Filed under: Software, Apple, Google
Source: Manitoba Games
Apple Renews Rights to Liquidmetal Technologies’ Alloys for Consumer Products
Apple has renewed exclusive rights to use Liquidmetal Technologies’ metal alloys in consumer electronics items, according to a filing with the SEC.
The rights were originally purchased back in 2010, to run through February 2014. The new renewal extends the agreement through February of 2015.
On May 19, 2014, Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc. (the “Company”) and Apple Inc. (“Apple”) entered into an second amendment (the “Second Amendment”) to the Master Transaction Agreement that was originally entered into on August 5, 2010 (the “MTA”) and amended on June 15, 2012 (the “First Amendment”). Under the MTA and the First Amendment, the Company was obligated to contribute to Crucible Intellectual Property, LLC, a special purpose subsidiary of the Company, all intellectual property acquired or developed by the Company from August 5, 2010 through February 5, 2014, and all intellectual property held by Crucible Intellectual Property, LLC was exclusively licensed on a perpetual basis to Apple for the field of use of consumer electronic products under the MTA. Under the Second Amendment, the parties agreed to amend the MTA and the First Amendment to extend the February 5, 2014 date to February 5, 2015.
According to a report from earlier this year, Apple is interested in using Liquidmetal’s alloys for home buttons, touch sensors and tamper-resistant screws. The allows possess a number of unique properties including high strength and corrosion resistance while remaining relatively light and able to cast into a variety of forms.
Recalled ‘Nest Protect’ Smoke Detectors Returning to Store Shelves Soon [iOS Blog]
The Nest Protect app-enabled smoke detector will be returning to store shelves soon, the company said today, after being pulled off the market and recalled because of a potential safety issue last month.
The company, which was acquired by Google earlier this year for $3.2 billion, stopped selling the Nest Protect last month after laboratory testing determined that the Nest Wave feature could potentially malfunction. The Nest Wave allows users to silence false alarms by wave at the detector rather than requiring them to manually press a button, which could be inconvenient for those with high ceilings.
The company has stated that there were no cases of smoke detectors turning off in customer homes, but that it wanted to be extremely cautious with such an important consumer device.
Nest and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission have issued a “recall” to ensure that all affected Protects receive a software update to disable the feature. Purchased devices do not need to be returned to Nest and will continue to function normally, albeit with the Wave feature disabled.
Nest told The Guardian that the Nest Protect will be going “back on the market in a few weeks.”
Apple Releases Safari 7.0.4 and 6.1.4 with Security Fixes [Mac Blog]
Apple today released Safari 7.0.4 for OS X Mavericks and Safari 6.1.4 for OS X Mountain Lion and Lion, addressing a significant memory corruption issue in the WebKit engine powering Apple’s browser. It also addresses an issue with handling of unicode characters that could be exploited.
The Safari 7.0.4 update is recommended for all OS X Mavericks users and contains improvements to security.
For detailed information on the security content of this update, please visit:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
The new update comes roughly six weeks after the release of Safari 7.0.3, which included a more substantial list of improvements. Safari 7.0.3 was later bundled into OS X 10.9.3, which was released last week.
Safari 7.0.4 and 6.1.4 are free downloads available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.
Apple Pulls Top Free iOS App ‘Weed Firm’ from App Store
Released earlier this month, somewhat controversial iOS game Weed Firm quickly shot to the top of the App Store charts for free apps. The game centers around a marijuana business, with the player controlling a character responsible for all aspects of growing and selling the product.
Just as quickly as it arrived, Weed Firm has disappeared from the App Store, with the game’s developer, Manitoba Games, tweeting yesterday that the game would be removed for “a few days” to address “a few maintenance things”. That may not be the complete story, however, as Manitoba Games has posted a note on its website (via CNET) noting that the removal “was entirely Apple’s decision, not ours.”
The developers don’t share Apple’s specific justification for the removal, claiming that while there may have been some objections to “illegal activities”, Apple must have simply thought it was “too good” of a game as there are a number of other marijuana-themed apps available in the App Store.
We guess the problem was that the game was just too good and got to number one in All Categories, since there are certainly a great number of weed based apps still available, as well as games promoting other so-called ‘illegal activities’ such as shooting people, crashing cars and throwing birds at buildings.
The Android version of Weed Firm has also been removed from Google Play, but the developer claims that this is due to an issue with the app’s publisher rather than any action by Google.
Manitoba Games promises that Weed Firm will be returning to the App Store shortly, although some of the more controversial aspects of the game may need to be toned down given the close scrutiny Apple will undoubtedly give the app upon review.
Apple maintains a list of review guidelines for App Store submissions, but as part of the document’s broader themes the company also reserves the right to reject “any content or behavior that we believe is over the line”. As such, Weed Firm may simply have been a borderline case that garnered a second look as it soared to the top of the charts. But exactly what changes Apple will require of the app’s developers in order for Weed Firm to return remain to be seen.
Google jumps over Apple and becomes the most valuable brand
Google became the most valuable brand in the world by leaping over Apple, at least according to Millward Brown’s 2014 100 Top BrandZ report. According to them Google had a 40% increase in value and is now valued at nearly $158.9 billion. Google Glass (which is in open beta now) certainly had something to do with that revenue bump.
Apple is not worth approximately $147.9 billion and according to Millward Brown they had a decrease of 20%, unlike Google. This could change when the iWatch and the larger iPhone hit the market though, considering they didn’t already, that might have something to do with the decrease in value.
In the 3rd place is IBM valued at $107,5 billion with a decrease in value of 4%, 4th is Microsoft $90.1 billion and an increase of 29%, and so on. You can check the rest of top 10 most valuable brands on the image above.
VIA: PhoneArena
SOURCE: Millward Brown
The post Google jumps over Apple and becomes the most valuable brand appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Hacker Team Claims Compromise of Apple’s iCloud and Activation Lock, Possibly via SSL Bug
A pair of hackers from the Netherlands and Morocco, identifying themselves as AquaXetine and MerrukTechnolog, claim to have compromised the security of Apple’s iCloud system for locking iOS devices.
The hack will unlock stolen iPhones by bypassing Activation Lock, making it possible for thieves to resell the phones easily on the black market, reports Dutch publication De Telegraaf [Google Translate]. It also may provide hackers with access to Apple ID passwords and other personal information stored in Apple’s iCloud service.
The hackers reportedly worked on the vulnerability for five months, studying the transmission of data between iPhone handsets and Apple’s iCloud services. The pair claim to be able to unlock a locked iPhone by placing a computer between the iPhone and Apple’s servers. In this configuration, the iPhone mistakenly identifies the hacker’s computer as one of Apple’s servers and follows instructions provided by the nefarious computer to reverse activation lock on the handset.
While the hackers did not reveal precise information on how their intercepting computer can spoof Apple’s iCloud activation servers, it appears that they may be taking advantage of an SSL bug that is present in iTunes for Windows, as noted by iPhone in Canada, who spoke to security researcher Mark Loman about the issue. The previously disclosed issue was fixed in iOS 7.0.6 and OS X 10.9.2, but it appears that iTunes for Windows is still affected.
After looking into some claims of the jailbreak community, Mark Loman decided to do some investigating of his own and made a shocking discovery. SSL has two tasks: one, to verify communication with the intended server; and two, to prevent manipulation.
“The problem is with verifying the certificate. Apple appears to have deliberately left out this essential step required for proper secure communication. They fixed it last month for iOS but forgot to fix it for iTunes. But the jailbreak community is already making use of it — which is how I figured it out.”
The vulnerability reportedly allows hackers to intercept Apple ID credentials, which can then be used to unlock iOS devices that have been locked after having been lost or stolen.
Actually, the data IS encrypted. But when an attacker strips SSL during a so-called man-in-the-middle attack the AppleID account name and password can be extracted as they are sent in plain text inside SSL, Mark Loman said in an email sent to iPhone in Canada.
Using this technique, the hackers claim to have unlocked 30,000 iPhones in the past few days. The group allegedly contacted Apple about this vulnerability in March, but Apple never responded, prompting the hackers to go public with the information.
Apple Updates WWDC App for 2014 with iOS 7 Design and New Orange Theme
Apple has updated its WWDC app for this year’s developer conference in San Francisco, with the app confirming that WWDC will kick off with the usual keynote address scheduled from 10 AM to noon Pacific Time on Monday, June 2.
Unlike last year’s update that brought new features such as video integration, today’s update appears to include no significant feature additions, although it does include a new orange theme and a new look more consistent with Apple’s iOS 7 design language.
WWDC 2014 will kick off on June 2, and CEO Tim Cook is expected to lead the keynote with other executives pitching in to help share the latest news on Apple’s hardware and software. Apple’s WWDC app is available free of charge from the App Store. [Direct Link]
