Apple reveals iOS 14 -- here's what's new
Apple's WWDC 2020 event was held virtually, open to everyone around the world to view for free. Among the many announcements to come from the event was iOS 14 -- and there's a lot to look forward to for iPhone owners.
What can you expect? Major improvements and changes are being introduced to the home screen and the way app pages work, and widgets are getting a serious overhaul. Siri sees a number of improvements, as does messaging. There's also an entire new type of apps called App Clips. Let's take a closer look.
Jailbreak your iPhone or iPad with Unc0ver 5.0
Jailbreaking your Apple device opens up a whole new world of life outside the walled garden. The iPhone-maker has long played a game of catchup with developers producing jailbreak tools, and now the renowned Unc0ver team have come up with a tool that can unlock just about every iPhone and iPad.
Unc0ver 5.0 goes far further than other jailbreaking tools. The team behind it says that it offers "full-fledged support for all devices on iOS 11.0-13.5 with Cydia and tweak injection".
Slack for iOS unveils a radical new user interface -- once it's been switched on
Business communication tool Slack has just released a major new update to its iOS app for iPhone and iPad. Slack 20.05.10 sees the app get ready for more than a simple facelift, with a complete redesign that brings it into line with improvements unveiled back in March on the desktop.
Be warned though: the user interface is actually a server-side update, which means not all users will immediately feel the benefit of updating -- nevertheless, install the app now and when the new UI is switched on, you’ll be able to use it.
Twitter gives some users the ability to edit tweets... sort of
For years people have been asking -- nay, begging -- Twitter to add the option of editing tweets, and for years the company has resisted. Now, for a handful of iOS users, this is changing.
If you've been holding your breath for an Edit Tweet button, exhale now before you pass out. A proper editing option is not likely to arrive any time soon -- if at all -- but as part of an experiment, Twitter is testing the ability to "revise" tweets.
Microsoft releases Forza Street for free on iOS and Android, but the game is a total clunker
While video games on PCs and consoles can be great, the titles released for smartphones are often quite bad. On-screen controls can be inaccurate and hard to use, leading to a very frustrating experience. Alternatively, developers can "dumb down" their games for mobile with simpler controls, but this often makes them nothing more than time-wasters -- something to do while sitting on the toilet, for instance.
Today, Turn 10 Studios (a Microsoft-owned game studio) releases Forza Street for iOS and Android. The racing game is "free" to play, which is cool, but sadly, it does offer in-game purchases to try and suck some money from your wallet. I installed it on my iPhone, and from what I can tell, the game kind of stinks. In my time "racing" I didn't even get to steer the car! Seriously. Instead, you just hold down a virtual gas pedal. Around turns, you let go of the pedal when the road turns yellow and then hold it down when it turns yellow again. That's pretty much it -- that seems to be the game. Maybe it gets better later, but I won't be finding out. Does the game look good? Absolutely. Is it fun? Heavens, no!
macOS Image Capture bug can fill up hard drives with empty data
Coronavirus pandemic means Apple will probably delay the next iPhone release
It's only a matter of weeks since Apple revealed the 2020 iPhone SE, but many people are holding out for this year's flagship from the company -- the iPhone 12 range, some of which will be 5G devices.
But it seems like anyone waiting to get their hands on the handset will have to wait a little longer. The chaos caused by the spread of COVID-19 around the world is said to have forced Apple to delay the launch of the phone by a month.
Zero-day vulnerabilities in iOS Mail are being actively exploited to target high-profile users
Security firm ZecOps has published research about security vulnerabilities affecting iPhones and iPads. The critical flaws are yet to patched by Apple and are said to be actively used to target high-profile users such as journalists, employees of Fortune 500 companies and VIPs.
What's particularly worrying about the flaws is that they can be exploited by sending a message that appears to be blank. Opened in iOS Mail, the message can be used to run code and spy on activity without the need for any interaction from the victim. There is a suggestion that a nation-state could be involved.
Spotify now lets you hide songs from other people's playlists
If you've been looking for one more reason to cough up for a Spotify Premium subscription, the ability to hide songs in playlists could be it.
You may well have found a number of near-perfect playlists that other people have created, but there's a reasonable chance that there's at least one song you can't stand. Now, rather than having to skip the track -- or manually recreate the playlist yourself with the offending song removed -- you can simply tell Spotify to hide it.
Apple thinks the new iPhone SE is worth much less than a quartet of Mac Pro wheels
Apple is not a company readily associated with low prices, and its hardware is always markedly more expensive than something comparable from other companies.
Over the years we've become used to Apple phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops (typically) being relatively expensive -- but where the company really stands out is with the pricing of its accessories. Take the newly announced iPhone SE, for instance. With a starting price of $399, Apple values the phone less than a set of wheels for a Mac Pro, and only marginally more than a set of feet for the same computer.
Apple's new iPhone SE is as fast as the 11 Pro, but way more affordable
Facebook releases a messaging app that's for couples only
With no fanfare whatsoever, Facebook has launched a new messaging app -- one with a difference. Coming from its New Product Experimentation team, Tuned is an iPhone-only messaging app designed with couples in mind.
Tuned finds itself vying for attention in an already-saturated messaging market, so just what's the point? Is there any reason for anyone to consider using Tuned?
Until Apple patches this security flaw your VPN traffic might not be secure
The recently open sourced ProtonVPN has issued a warning about a bug in iOS that leaves some VPN traffic unencrypted.
Apple is yet to release a fix for the VPN bypass vulnerability which affects iOS 13.3.1 and later. The flaw means that some connections may exist outside of the secure VPN tunnel for several hours, leaving traffic open to interception and potentially exposing users' real IP addresses.
Zoom apologizes for Facebook privacy fiasco and updates app to stop data sharing
After an investigation by Motherboard's Vice, video-conferencing app Zoom was found to be sharing user data with Facebook. Data was being sent from iPhones to Facebook, regardless of whether users had Facebook accounts or not, and the fact that data was being shared was not made apparent in privacy policies.
Zoom's popularity has skyrocketed recently, with more and more people looking for remote working solutions during coronavirus lockdowns. Now the company has apologized for the secretive data sharing, saying that it takes privacy extremely seriously. There's also a new version of the app available that doesn't use the Facebook SDK.
Operation Poisoned News used local news links to hit iPhone users with spyware
Research published by security firms Trend Micro and Kaspersky reveals details of a watering-hole campaign targeting iPhone users.
Dubbed Operation Poisoned News, the campaign used malicious links on local news websites to install the LightSpy malware. Hackers have been exploiting vulnerabilities in iOS to install the spyware which can gather huge amounts of information and can also be used to take remote control of a device.
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