Apple Card starts credit file reporting to Experian

Malcolm Owen, AppleInsider:

Owners of Apple Card are reporting Apple is finally expanding the number of credit reference agencies it will report to, with claims the Apple-branded credit card is starting to appear on credit reports generated by Experian.

So far, Apple has limited its reporting of consumer balances to one credit bureau, TransUnion, while no reporting was being made to either Experian or Equifax. While this has been the case for months, it now seems that the reporting is being made to more agencies.

Have an Apple Card? Your credit behavior just got more exposure, with Goldman-Sachs being an extra creditor reporting to Experian.

See also, this Reddit thread of folks reporting Apple Card sightings on their Experian credit reports.

Who’s behind Wednesday’s epic Twitter hack?

This starts with a retelling of the hack story, but that’s just the start. The real juice starts down below that.

People within the SIM swapping community are obsessed with hijacking so-called “OG” social media accounts. Short for “original gangster,” OG accounts typically are those with short profile names (such as @B or @joe). Possession of these OG accounts confers a measure of status and perceived influence and wealth in SIM swapping circles, as such accounts can often fetch thousands of dollars when resold in the underground.

And:

In a post on OGusers — a forum dedicated to account hijacking — a user named “Chaewon” advertised they could change email address tied to any Twitter account for $250, and provide direct access to accounts for between $2,000 and $3,000 apiece.

Great Dalrymple’s Beard!!! That can’t be real, can it?

Lucky225 said that just before 2 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, he received a password reset confirmation code via Google Voice for the @6 Twitter account. Lucky said he’d previously disabled SMS notifications as a means of receiving multi-factor codes from Twitter, opting instead to have one-time codes generated by a mobile authentication app.

But because the attackers were able to change the email address tied to the @6 account and disable multi-factor authentication, the one-time authentication code was sent to both his Google Voice account and to the new email address added by the attackers.

“The way the attack worked was that within Twitter’s admin tools, apparently you can update the email address of any Twitter user, and it does this without sending any kind of notification to the user,” Lucky told KrebsOnSecurity. “So [the attackers] could avoid detection by updating the email address on the account first, and then turning off 2FA.”

Lucky said he hasn’t been able to review whether any tweets were sent from his account during the time it was hijacked because he still doesn’t have access to it

Here’s a link to a detailed telling of this story.

Read the whole Krebs on Security post via the headline link. Fascinating and not a little scary. Amazing to me so little damage was done.

As I’ve said before, not convinced that this was the end of this particular misadventure. Would not be surprised if this was just some misdirection to hide a more critical unlocking event that will rear its head in the future.

Rene Ritchie: Wrong about the Apple Silicon Mac

[VIDEO] This is just a great watch, Rene Ritchie presents a master class on Apple’s history with Arm and what it means today. If you have any interest in the Mac’s path to Apple silicon, this is incredibly informative and not too jargony. Video embedded in main Loop post.

Motherboard: Hackers convinced Twitter employee to help them hijack accounts

Joseph Cox, Motherboard:

A Twitter insider was responsible for a wave of high profile account takeovers on Wednesday, according to leaked screenshots obtained by Motherboard and two sources who took over accounts.

And:

“We used a rep that literally done all the work for us,” one of the sources told Motherboard. The second source added they paid the Twitter insider. Motherboard granted the sources anonymity to speak candidly about a security incident. A Twitter spokesperson told Motherboard that the company is still investigating whether the employee hijacked the accounts themselves or gave hackers access to the tool.

And:

After a wave of account takeovers, screenshots of an internal Twitter user administration tool are being shared in the hacking underground.

And this response from Twitter:

After the publication of this piece, Twitter said in a tweet that “We detected what we believe to be a coordinated social engineering attack by people who successfully targeted some of our employees with access to internal systems and tools.”

Were the employees duped by social engineering? Or was there complicity here, was a Twitter insider paid, as indicated by the article.

Also, there is some question as to whether the bitcoin scam was the hackers’ endgame. Or if access to the accounts opened a door that could be exploited later.

Beyond alarming.

Apple iOS 14: Best update for wheelchair users

[VIDEO] Terrific take on the iOS 14 beta, bike elevation data, and the benefits that came to wheelchair users. I’m hoping the Apple Maps and Accessibility team gets a look at this video (video embedded in main Loop post), both for the bravo moment, as well as for the suggestions made for future releases.

How Apple is preparing for its ‘Netflix moment’

Fantastic take from Seeking Alpha (free reg-wall). Just a few highlights from a much longer piece:

Apple has now grown up and realized it is not just about using content to sell devices. Eventually, those devices will stop being as profitable as they are now, but content (and the financial value of that content) lives forever.

And:

The pieces are now finally in place and Apple is steering itself into a new direction. It is showing the industry and shareholders that they have a real roadmap in place, and by next year (COVID-19 potentially notwithstanding), the company thinks it can (at a higher level) compete with the Netflix machine.

The “pieces” being the foundational elements of making and acquiring content, with Tom Hanks and Greyhound as a critical moment.

Greyhound being acquired and launching was step one – and again, make no mistake, the pandemic allowed Apple to basically bypass the lead-up to that step, because as mentioned, it had an award-level film literally drop in its lap. It also doesn’t hurt that this is going to be a very weak year for films because of all the delays, so the bar is not the same as in the past.

And:

Content is king, and Apple is putting together high-level packages that could siphon off projects that originally seemed earmarked for the Netflix pipeline.

As I said in my previous post, I am bullish on Apple TV+.

Apple continues down Tom Hanks “Greyhound” path with Justin Timberlake and “Palmer”

Apple:

On the heels of the blockbuster debut of “Greyhound,” and landing the highly anticipated films “Emancipation,” “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Snow Blind,” Apple is expanding its slate of sought-after original films with “Palmer,” starring Justin Timberlake and directed by Fisher Stevens, from SK Global.

And:

“Palmer” joins Apple original films including the recently announced “Snow Blind,” with Jake Gyllenhaal attached to star; Martin Scorsese’s forthcoming “Killers of the Flower Moon,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro; “Emancipation,” from director Antoine Fuqua and starring and produced by Academy Award nominee Will Smith; “Sharper,” a new film from Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka, starring and produced by Academy Award winner Julianne Moore; “The Sky is Everywhere,” based on the best-selling YA novel of the same name; and the upcoming feature “On the Rocks” from Sofia Coppola, starring Bill Murray and Rashida Jones.

This Apple original films strategy is a big part of why I am bullish on Apple TV+. Remember, Apple TV+ debuted last November, just a bit more than 8 months ago, rolled from scratch, with no back catalog.

What they’ve already achieved is nothing short of remarkable, and the team has set the stage for continued growth. To me, far more important than whether a particular show appeals to me is the wide variety of shows to choose from, and the fact that Apple is building systems to draw big stars and major projects to the platform. And all this less than a year after announcement.

Scary good Tim Cook impression

This is just spot on. I would love to see Apple bring Matthew Friend on stage at an event, just to do a faux opening.

https://twitter.com/jacksonhvisuals/status/1283088276195164161

Wil Shipley Steve Jobs anecdote

Read the thread (and the replies). Solid take on the force of character that helped make Steve Jobs who he was.

https://twitter.com/wilshipley/status/1282098099997954048

Amazingly detailed Nintendo Super Mario LEGO set

[VIDEO] If you carry nostalgia for LEGO, the original Nintendo Entertainment System, and Super Mario, you will love this effort. Watch the video in the main Loop post for the official reveal from Nintendo, and follow the headline link if you’ve got cash burning a hole in your pocket and want one (it goes live August 1st).

Apple partners with Verizon to offer free six months of News+ for new iPad buyers

9to5Mac:

Beginning later this week, Verizon and Apple are partnering on a new promotion for Apple News+. Any iPad activated through Verizon will qualify for a free six-month subscription to Apple News+. The deal arrives as Apple is trying to juice interest in the News+ service, which includes access to a handful of newspapers and ~300 magazines for $9.99 per month.

This approach to onboarding new customers, to give them a taste of your service, seems smart to me. Free trials for Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple News+ give folks the chance to develop some new habits, to develop a fondness for/dependence on a particular service.

I just don’t see the value proposition in the existing version of Apple News+. Could there be an incarnation where Apple News+ catches on, or at least works for me? Sure. Start by making it a lot more customizable for me. Make it easier for me to create a front page that has news I really care about, and zero fluff.

Apple has €13 billion Irish tax bill overturned

BBC:

Apple has been told it will not have to pay Ireland €13bn (£11.6bn) in back taxes after winning an appeal at the European Union’s second highest court.

And:

“This case was not about how much tax we pay, but where we are required to pay it,” Apple said in a statement. “We’re proud to be the largest taxpayer in the world as we know the important role tax payments play in society.”

That’s about US$14.9 billion, at today’s trade rate. And the Irish government has appealed the decision.

My bad. Hopped in the car for the last leg of a road trip, realized the error, but took me til this afternoon to correct. Clearly, the Irish government is on side here.

iOS 14: Here are 7 ways iPhone is improving as a camera

Great read from Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac. For me, the Camera app is one of the most important apps on my iPhone. Improvements to the camera are important distinguishing features between iPhone generations and between models of the same generation. A big camera improvement can trigger iPhone users to upgrade to a newer model.

This particular iOS 14 change jumped out at me:

With iOS 14, Apple says opening the Camera app and taking the first picture is up to 25% faster, while taking two or more pictures is 90% faster. For iPhones with Portrait Mode, photos are taken up to 15% faster.

These changes are automatically enabled to all devices running iOS 14, so you don’t need to change anything to benefit from these enhancements.

Huge gain in both of these paragraphs. How many pictures have you lost because you were just a hair too slow getting your iPhone out and getting that picture snapped?

And, maybe more importantly, the faster speed is enabled across all models, not just the higher end of the range.

Grant Imahara, host of ‘MythBusters’ and ‘White Rabbit Project,’ dies at 49

Hollywood Reporter:

Imahara died suddenly following a brain aneurysm, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. “We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family,” a representative for Discovery said in a statement on Monday.

And:

While part of the Mythbusters team, he sky-dived and drove stunt cars, on film sets he came into contact with some of the most iconic characters in screen history, installing lights onto Star Wars’ R2-D2, creating the robot Geoff Peterson for The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson and working on the Energizer Bunny.

Adam Savage:

https://twitter.com/donttrythis/status/1282885559816347648

Damn.

Gruber: A moment of clarity regarding the raison d’etre for the App Store

Two good reads for the weekend. First, be sure to dig into Jim Dalrymple’s iOS 14 favorite features piece.

Then follow the headline link and read John Gruber’s powerful App Store essay. I’ll quote a few bits, but worth heading over to read the whole thing:

Feel free to file Google’s release this week of an update to their iPad Gmail app with support for split-screen multitasking under “better late than never”, but this is so late it borders on the absurd.

and:

Five years to add support for a foundational element of the iPad user experience. And an email client is near the top of the list of the type of apps where someone would want to use split-screen. Five years.

and:

I worry that it’s not tenable in the long run to expect Apple to continue striving to create well-crafted — let alone insanely great — software when so many of its users not only settle for, but perhaps even prefer, software that is, to put it kindly, garbage.

And:

I’d like to see all the vim, vigor, and vigilance Apple applies to making sure no app on the App Store is making a dime without Apple getting three cents applied instead to making sure there aren’t any scams or ripoffs, and that popular apps support good-citizen-of-the-platform features within a reasonable amount of time after those features are introduced in the OS. I don’t know exactly how long “reasonable” is, but five fucking years for split-screen support ain’t it.

And:

Imagine a world where the biggest fear developers had when submitting an app for review wasn’t whether they were offering Apple a sufficient cut of their revenue, but whether they were offering users a good enough native-to-the-platform experience.

And, finally:

Rather than watch Apple face antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Europe with a sense of dread, I’d watch with a sense of glee. “This company is abusing its market dominance to take an unfair share of our money” is an age-old complaint to government regulators. “This company is abusing its market dominance to force us to make our apps better for users” would be delightful new territory. Only Apple could do that.

Go read the whole post. There’s a lot more. It’s clearly born of epiphany.

At the core of the issue is a basic problem with being a public traded company. Once you put your company up for sale to the public, take public money to use as you will, you are beholden to those shareholders. You can’t help but treat the bottom line as a fiduciary responsibility. And there’s the rub.

Apple, and shareholders, made a ton of money on the iPhone and its wondrous ecosystem. But it’s a hard treadmill to escape. So as the smartphone market matured, Apple shifted to services. And the App Store is one of the more important pieces of that strategy.

No argument with Gruber’s idealism. And I do think it’s possible Apple’s hand will be forced by Antitrust investigation/regulation. But the financial forces, the pressure from shareholders for year-over-year growth, will not change. Some balancing force needs to come to bear here, pressure to make Apple value a world where, as John says, their most used apps are best-in-class.

Great food for thought from Gruber. Go read the whole thing.

Intel’s Lyle Warnke walks through the new Thunderbolt 4 features

[VIDEO] Follow the headline link for all the details, watch the video (embedded in the main Loop post) for more of a guided tour.

To me, these highlights stick out:

  • Thunderbolt 4 implemented as a USB-C port (no change there)
  • Daisy chain up to 4 Thunderbolt 4 devices
  • Video: Support for two 4K displays or one 8K display.
  • Data: PCIe at 32 Gbps for storage speeds up to 3,000 MBps.

And this from Apple:

“Over a decade ago, Apple partnered with Intel to design and develop Thunderbolt, and today our customers enjoy the speed and flexibility it brings to every Mac. We remain committed to the future of Thunderbolt and will support it in Macs with Apple silicon.”

Good stuff.

Another appreciative Apple TV+ “Little Voice” review

While yesterday’s Variety review was safe reading, this Rolling Stone review digs into plot points, has some spoilers.

But suffice it to say, while neither review is effusive, both are thoughtful and appreciative, both make me want to binge Little Voice when it drops tomorrow, July 10th. Or, at least, binge the first three episodes. The remaining six drop weekly, on Friday.

Nvidia is now worth more than Intel

TechSpot:

Thanks to a recent surge in its stock price, Nvidia has overtaken Intel to become the most valuable chipmaker in the US. Following a 2.3 percent jump yesterday afternoon, team green’s shares have now reached $408, putting its market cap at $251.3 billion, ahead of Intel’s $248.1 billion.

Interesting, granted, but I do take exception to the phrase “most valuable chipmaker in the US”.

By that logic, the most valuable chipmaker in the US would be Apple. By far. After all, TSMC makes Nvidia’s chips, and they make Apple’s Arm SoC’s as well. But Intel makes their own chips. Let’s let them keep the crown.

Apple Stores now offer reservations to shop, one-on-one, with a Specialist

Michael Steeber, 9to5Mac:

Starting today, Apple Store visitors can head online before visiting the store in person and schedule a Shop with a Specialist appointment. Booking an appointment guarantees you a time to comfortably browse inside the store and shop without the hassle of waiting or potentially being turned away at the door.

And if you know what you want, this makes the entire shopping experience more efficient, shorter, safer, minimizing the time spent in a public space.

Great way to ease people back into the Apple Store.

Variety reviews Apple TV+ “Little Voice”

If you care about the show, read the review. It’s spoiler free.

Bottom line, this smells like a surprisingly, refreshing winner of a show. It drops Friday. I will definitely be watching it.

AirPods versus AirPods Pro: Apple’s earbuds go head-to-head

Adam Engst, TidBITS:

When it comes to general usage, I haven’t noticed any real difference between the AirPods and the AirPods Pro.

In an attempt to qualify that better, I connected both to my Mac and played my go-to test music—the “Brothers in Arms” album by Dire Straits from Apple Music—through one and then the other. Even with the same song and switching back and forth, I couldn’t really pick a winner.

I’d have to agree with this. As far as audio subtlety goes, they both sound very good, though a pair of top over-ear headphones wins that battle. But convenience reigns. The best earbuds are the ones you have with you, and that you can easily slip into your pocket.

Back to the review:

The noise cancellation in the AirPods Pro, on the other hand, can be near magical. The first time I used them, I was vacuuming the house. They were a revelation. The noise cancellation dampened the vacuum noise so significantly that I can’t imagine vacuuming without them again.

And there’s the value. Again, you can get better noise cancellation, but AirPods Pro noise cancellation is very good, and fit in your pocket.

The AirPods Pro also have shorter stems, which means I can just fit them inside the earmuffs that I wear when mowing the lawn.

I wear a knit cap (I’ve long shaved my head, and the knit cap keeps my head warm) and I find that, especially with the shorter stems, the cap keeps my AirPods Pro in place and, if I pull the cap over my ears, makes the noise cancellation even better.

I love my AirPods Pro, consider them worth every penny and then some.

HomePod Beta 2 lets you select alternative providers for Music, Podcasts and Audiobooks

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

At the current time, third-party music services like Spotify can only be streamed on the ‌‌HomePod‌‌ using AirPlay and an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. The new feature will presumably allow Spotify and other music services to be set as the default music service, letting users ask Siri to stream music from Spotify.

It’d be interesting to know if this new feature was directly driven as a legal strategy.

Apple expands its Independent Repair Provider Program, adding hundreds of new locations

Apple:

Apple is expanding its Independent Repair Provider Program with additional options for customers to access repair services. The industry-leading program enables businesses of all sizes to offer repairs on iPhone using genuine Apple parts, which ensures safety and quality. Following the launch of the program in the US last fall, over 140 independent repair companies have joined with over 700 new US locations now available to customers, and businesses in Europe and Canada can now sign up.

And:

Since the launch of the Independent Repair Provider Program last fall, there are now over 700 Independent Repair Provider locations across the US providing out-of-warranty service for iPhone.

Genuine Apple parts is key here, especially where screen replacement is concerned.

You can verify that your local shop has access to genuine parts and repair resources on this official Apple page.

Steve Jobs, back in 2007, quips about newly minted relationship with Intel

[VIDEO] This bit of video (embedded in the main Loop post) surfaced on Reddit this morning. In it, Steve Jobs, Tim Cook, and Phil Schiller took some questions about Apple’s adoption of Intel chips.

Fascinating to see younger versions of Tim and Phil, and always great to see Steve Jobs in action, this time in an ad hoc forum.

How to hide home screen app pages on iPhone in iOS 14

This is worth making your way through, just to get the mechanics down. You can tell this is non-obvious when the first instruction is:

  • Long press on a blank area of the Home Screen or any additional page of apps.

Nice job by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors.

iOS 14: Everything new in Messages

Juli Clover digs through the iOS 14 beta and lays out all that’s new with Messages, including pinned chats, inline replies, and emoji search.

Interesting to see if the ability to do a deep, efficient search emerges, as appears to be the case with macOS 11.