Thursday Morning News

Articles
#1

customize-toolbar-100652495-largeAccording to the Washington Post and as covered by Ars Technica, it’s possible, even likely, that the FBI paid grey-hat hackers for a zero-day exploit that allowed them to access the data stored on the iPhone involved in the San Bernardino shootings. The Washington Post lists anonymous sources for the news, Apple isn’t interested in knowing about how the FBI gained access to the device, so the kind of zero-day attacks used to access the device will live on.

More next-generation iPhone leaks speculate on whether the device will feature dual rear cameras, a thinner design, iPad Pro-like Smart Connector, the death of the 3.5 headphone jack, stereo speakers, or any combination of the above. Without some solid part leaks it’s kind of hard to nail down exactly what features the next iPhone will have, though.

A different kind of the January 1, 1970 date bug has been discovered, where setting the time to January 1, 1970 via an NTP update, will cause strange behaviour, such as the clock counting backwards. They’re really lowering the barrier for entry to membership for Time Lords these days, aren’t they?

Recent surveys of the US teen market say that the Apple Watch is dominating the marketplace with 71% of smartwatch purchases being an Apple Watch.

When The Verge says Apple copycats are becoming true iPhone competitors, they’re not wrong. Just take Meizu’s Pro 6, for example — the hardware design was ripped straight out of Jony Ive’s playbook, right down to the curved edges, better-looking antenna bands, and bottom hole arrangement. Then there’s the software, which looks vary familiar to anyone who has used 3D Touch, or lamented how the lockscreen now disappears too fast on the newer iPhones.

Something that slipped past the radar yesterday was Pocket Weather 5.2, dubbed the Autumn update. The iPad version is no longer a waste of space (both literally and figuratively), and the iPhone version has received many bug fixes that resolve issues with the widget not updating, or the app not loading weather information when launched.

9to5Mac’s steps to rationalise Apple’s MacBook lineup splits the range into three different sizes, with two base models for each. Of course, this isn’t including the good old non-Retina, 2012-era 13-inch MacBook Pro, which is still being sold today and well on its way to becoming the longest-selling Mac, ever.

Apple has delivered the first of many updates to the Safari Technology Preview, bringing a slew of bug fixes and improvements.

Microsoft’s Word Flow beta for iPhone has begun, and even though it’s a private beta, iMore has managed to snag a few screenshots of what Microsoft’s third-party keyboard for the iPhone will be like.

Macworld tells us how to optimise the Finder toolbar to suit our own needs. It’s one of those little-known Mac tricks that can be applied to a few different Mac apps, including Preview.

Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2016/04/thursday-morning-news140416/

#2

That’s once nice looking phone. Somedays I think about giving Android a bash… but then I like my Apple Ecosystem too much with Apple watch controlling the music playing from my Mac Mini and so on :smiley:

#3

Yet still no word on the useless Watch complication?

#4

Haven’t they said it’s a watch OS limitation?

#5

A nice improvement on the iPad…

#6

Other complications can update every hour, why not Poclet Weather?

#7

Carrot Weather manages just fine.

1 Like
#8

Something to bring up with the devs, then.

#9

Too complicated.

Which reminds me… Complications is the strangest/weirdest use of the word I have ever heard. What does it actually mean, in the context of a Watch???

#10

It’s what they’re traditionally called on analog watches. Maybe because it adds complexity to the mechanism?

1 Like
#11

I still don’t get it. I’ve never come across a complication on an analog watch. WTF is it? What does it do? Whats the difference (in terms of the Apple Watch) between a complication and an app? Its just weird.

#12

You’ve never seen a Rolex or Omega or any watch with a smaller dial on the face? Those are complications…

http://robertmaron.com/images/P/rx-6263-CartierDaytona-1-01.jpg

#13

Yes, I’ve seen them. Had no idea they called them anything like complications. And I still think its a weird use of the word.

From Oxford:
Definition of complication in English:

complication
Pronunciation: /kɒmplɪˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/
NOUN

1A circumstance that complicates something; a difficulty:
there is a complication concerning ownership of the site

1.1 [MASS NOUN] An involved or confused condition or state:
to add further complication, English-speakers use a different name

2 Medicine A secondary disease or condition aggravating an already existing one:
she developed complications after the surgery

I guess the word applies in a very lateral sense. It must have been an American thing. They do strange things to language.

#14

It actually dates from as far back as the 16th century (way before America or American language).

#15

I’m sure it does. English is a very old language. But in that context?? Doubtful

#16

Horology

1 Like
#17

There would be many words in specialised fields that mean something different to what their common meaning may be - it doesn’t mean they’re a new concoction or any less genuine. In horological circles the word Complication has meant what it does for many centuries, but it is really only in the last few months that the word in the context of timepieces has become more prominent.

#18

Thanks for the reference recd. Makes it all much clearer