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Some of the cases Apple is involved with, especially related to patent infringement, take years to complete. And that’s the case with this particular one. Back in 2015, Apple was ordered to pay millions of dollars to the University of Wisconsin, as the university was able to plead its case that Apple’s A-series chips (the A7 and A8, specifically in this case) infringed on a method of boosting the efficiency of integrated circuits. Apple, of course, appealed, and things have been a bit topsy-turvy ever since. The bill Apple was facing was originally set at $862 million. After that, a subsequent judge considered the valuation of that determination and reduced the payout from Apple’s end, down to $234 million. The determination was that Apple’s infringement of the patents was ruled inadvertent. However, most recently , it was determined that Apple continued to infringe on the patents after taht ruling and therefore Apple was ruled to pay $506 million. Apple, still a...

It has been 10 days since Apple released watchOS 5 to the public, and now the company is back at it with a minor update for the new software. Apple today officially released watchOS 5.0.1 to the public. As the version number suggests, this is a minor update overall. This is a free update. To upgrade, Apple Watch owners simply need to go into the dedicated Watch app on their iPhone, head into the Settings app and then into General. Once that’s done, you need to make sure that the Apple Watch is charged to at least 50%, that it’s connected to the charger, and within range of the connected iPhone. Apple’s release notes mention that a “small number of users” were seeing increased exercise minutes, and this new software is meant to address this. The watchOS 5.0.1 update will also fix any other bugs that have been discovered since the public launch of watchOS 5 earlier this month. The update is also meant to fix an issue that could prevent the smartwatch from ch...

Apple has been subjected to a lawsuit over iMessage and FaceTime for infringing on eight patents of Finnish company MPH Technology. The always-on VPN feature of iOS, a feature primarily used for mobile device management (MDM) by enterprises and corporations, is also a part of the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that MPH tried to license the technology used in iMessage and FaceTime to Apple in 2016 and 2017 to no avail. The Finnish company informed Apple about the patent breach in 2016 first. MPH and Apple representatives discussed the matter further, going so far as to hold multiple teleconference sessions in May 2017 regarding a potential licensing agreement. During one of those calls, Apple counsel intimated the company was preparing an analysis of MPH’s patents demonstrating the IP was invalid based on prior art. That analysis was never delivered. Direct communications between the two companies seemingly ended in July 2017, with MPH sending notification of two patent grants and Ap...

A major theft ring connected to Apple’s physical retail stores has taken a hit, as more than a dozen people have been arrested. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has announced on Thursday that law enforcement has arrested 17 people in connection to the theft ring. According to the announcement, the thieves stole from physical retail stores in 19 different counties. The network of thieves apparently grabbed upwards of $1 million worth of goods from those retail stores. They were able to do this by wearing hooded sweatshirts and running into the Apple Stores in a mob of individuals. In the flurry of shock and awe they would grab the devices that were on display and then escape with them. Attorney General Becerra said, these large-scale networks of thieves “cost California business owners millions”, and that consumers end up paying for it. As it stands right now, the law enforcement agencies connected to the investigation have arrested seven people tied to the ri...

Apple released its latest major update to the desktop operating system recently, and now it’s moving forward with new beta software for a subsequent minor update. Update : Apple has officially seeded the first public beta of macOS Mojave 10.14.1 to the public beta testers. If you are already signed up for the public beta, simply follow the upgrade instructions below to download and install the new software. If you haven’t already signed up but want to, jut click this link . The original article continues below . Today, Apple seeded the first beta of macOS Mojave 10.14.1 to developers. This is more than likely a minor update across the board, meant to address any issues that have cropped up since the public launch of macOS Mojave 10.14 earlier this week. It more than likely also includes performance updates and other bug fixes. To update, registered developers can download and install the new software from the System Preferences and selecting the “Software Update...

Unlike the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, Apple’s other new smartphone , the iPhone XR, has an arrival date in October, which means it had a few more weeks available to get the necessary regulatory approval. One of those required stops is the Federal Communications Commission, which will approve, or deny, a handset based on their own parameters. A new smartphone needs the FCC’s approval before it can arrive on the market, and it appears that the iPhone XR has achieved just that. At the time of publication, though, Apple has yet to remove the disclaimer saying that it’s still waiting for authorization. The iPhone XR is a slightly less expensive new iPhone, with a few tweaks to the available features compared to the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max to help keep costs down. We have the Liquid Retina 6.1-inch display with the minimized bezels and the notch at the top. And the other primary difference is the single 12-megapixel camera on the back. However, the iPhone XR does boa...

Apple tries to make iOS secure with every new release. With iOS 12, the company improved the USB Restricted mode to ensure third-party grey boxes were not able to brute force into a locked iPhone or iPad. However, once in a while, we will see a hack make its way to the internet that will allow one to bypass the iOS passcode and access certain functions of the device. Two new videos have been posted on YouTube where a person through a series of steps using Assistive Touch and Shortcuts app is able to bypass a locked iPhone and access the phonebook and send messages to them. The video is not in English so the steps shown are not exactly clear. However, it is understandable that the bypass relies on Assistive Touch and Siri Shortcuts app to work properly. While the videos above do show one how to bypass the iOS 12 passcode protection, they do not allow one full fledged access to the OS and data stored on the device. The bypass process is not relatively simple, though if you are determine...

Remember the Australian High school teenager who had managed to hack into Apple’s servers multiple times over the course of a year and stole around 90GB of customer data? Well, he has now been handed his punishment. He has been sentenced to eight months of probation and no jail time. This is despite the magistrate calling the offense “serious, sustained, and sophisticated.” However, he has likely been let off lightly due to his age when he carried out the crime. At the time of hacking, the Australian teenager was 16 years old, though he is now an adult. It is also for the same reason that his identity cannot be revealed as per Australian laws. Contrary to the original report though, investigators managed to recover around 1TB of data from the teenager’s PC. He was also helped by another teenager younger to him. Investigators in the case recovered about 1 Terabyte of sensitive information copied from the tech giant’s systems during attacks, a prosecutor told an e...

It’s safe to say that the relationship between Qualcomm and Apple is a bit strained these days , but it sounds like the CEO of Qualcomm has some high expectations that things will go back to normal at some point in the future. Qualcomm chief executive, Steve Mollenkopf has sat down with Bloomberg to talk about the future, and what that looks like between Apple and Qualcomm. Basically, the need to advance technology forward is going to be one of the driving factors that brings the two companies back together. Basically, the “leadership technology” will end up dominating the “business relationship”. Mollenkopf believes that shouldn’t be any different this time around, as it has been like that in the past with other companies. Moreover, Mollenkopf believes that the only reason this particular situation is any different is because of the size of the company Qualcomm is currently disputing with. Mollenkopf says that he believes the “technology leader...

When Apple launched the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the iPhone X last year, the company was ready for the High Dynamic Range craze with three new smartphones that support the richer colors and higher detail. But while the hardware was ready, apps that actually serve content onto those screens weren’t necessarily prepared right out of the gate. Indeed, it wouldn’t be until May of this year before YouTube finally added support for HDR content on those iPhone models. And now that Apple has a pair of new iPhones out there in the world, YouTube needed to get back to the support system and add the new hardware. Thankfully, it didn’t take as long as the first time around. Today, not even a week after the new iPhone’s global launch, YouTube has added support for HDR content on the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. Be aware, though, that with HDR support doesn’t mean higher resolution than 1080p HD while watching YouTube videos, as that’s still the cap. This chan...

While some auto manufacturers were more than happy to put Apple’s in-car infotainment option, CarPlay, into their vehicles, some manufacturers weren’t too thrilled with the idea right away. But it looks like all of that is changing. Toyota was one of the longest holdouts for CarPlay adoption and that company finally announced earlier this year it was supporting the feature moving forward. And now it appears that both Jaguar and Land Rover are going to start supporting Apple’s in-car system feature as well. MacRumors is reporting on Wednesday that a spokesperson for the brands confirmed to the publication that CarPlay support is coming to all of its vehicles, both incoming models and existing units, that feature the InTouch Control Pro and Touch Pro Duo infotainment systems inside. The new models will gain a “smartphone connectivity package” that will offer support for Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto. That package will apparently cost...

Apple Pay continues to expand in the United States, and it looks like Apple has a pretty high bar in mind for the end of 2018. In a new report from Fortune , Apple’s Vice President of Apple Pay, Jennifer Bailey, outlines that the company expects the mobile payment option to be available in 60 percent of retail locations within the United States by the time 2018 comes to a close. “Apple expects that Apple Pay will be in 60% of U.S. retail locations by the end of the year, Bailey said. The Apple Wallet is now in 24 countries, with even faster growth outside the United States. Owners of iPhones can enter public transit with the Apple Wallet in 12 cities worldwide, including Tokyo, Beijing, and Shanghai via closed loop technology and London and Moscow via open loop technology. Transit adoption has reached particularly high penetration in Tokyo, Bailey said.” Apple Pay has expanded to 24 different countries across the globe since its debut back in 2014. The rollout hasn...

Apple released macOS 10.14 Mojave out into the public earlier today , but a newly discovered bypass flaw in the desktop software has already been discovered. BleepingComputer has the report out on Monday, following along with discoveries made by researcher Patrick Wardle. The bypass is facilitated by an unprivileged app, which allows Wardle to access information pertaining to Contacts data. There is a minute-long clip of the bypass in action, which you can watch at the bottom of this article. “…Wardle says that he was able to access the confidential user contacts via an unprivileged app, meaning that it did not run with administrator permissions. He says that the zero-day vulnerability stems from the way Apple implemented the protections for various privacy-related data. “I found a trivial, albeit 100% reliable flaw in their implementation,” he told us, adding that it allows a malicious or untrusted app to bypass the new security mechanism and access the sensiti...

DisplayMate is one of the leading publications when it comes to reviewing and rating smartphone displays, and now it has weighed in with Apple’s newest, and biggest smartphone. The iPhone XS Max, simply put, is the “best ever” when it comes to smartphone displays. Of course, this is a growing trend for Apple and Samsung devices across the board, with the iPhone X setting a high bar last year , which was replaced by the Galaxy Note 9 earlier this year , and now ultimately the bar has been set even higher by the iPhone XS Max. “Apple has continued to raise the on-screen Absolute Picture Quality and Absolute Color Accuracy of their displays by implementing Precision Factory Display Calibration, moving the overall iPhone XS Max display performance up to Record Setting Outstanding levels, and setting many new Display Performance Records, including Absolute Color Accuracy at a very impressive 0.8 JNCD that is Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect, and almost certainl...

Following on the heels of Apple releasing the latest update to macOS , the company is also releasing a minor software update for the fourth- and fifth-generation Apple TV. On Monday Apple released tvOS 12.0.1, which is built specifically for the fourth- and fifth-generation Apple TV set-top boxes. This latest software release arrives just one week after Apple released tvOS 12 to the public , which was a bigger update in comparison. That software update added Dolby Atmos support for improved audio quality for supported content, zero sign-on, and new Aerials background images. The tvOS 12.0.1 update, meanwhile, is minor in comparison. At the time of publication it is not known what changes or additions Apple has made, but it is likely that the update is designed specifically to address any issues that were discovered in tvOS 12 after its public launch last week. However, if it is discovered that any major changes were added with tvOS 12.0.1, we will update this post accordingly. Today, A...

In December of 2017, Apple made the first move to acquire the music recognition service Shazam . In February of this year it was announced that the European Commission would be investigating the planned acquisition, which slowed things down quite a bit. But here we are and things are finalized, following the approval from the EC . Apple has just announced on Monday that the acquisition is final, and some big changes are in store. “Apple and Shazam have a long history together. Shazam was one of the first apps available when we launched the App Store and has become a favorite app for music fans everywhere,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music. “With a shared love of music and innovation, we are thrilled to bring our teams together to provide users even more great ways to discover, experience and enjoy music.” First and foremost, going ad-free. Up until this point, Shazam offered two versions of the app. One was an ad-supported option, which was free. ...

Apple has been heavily investing in original content to bolster its upcoming streaming service offerings. However, just like its brand image, Apple is looking for risque free content without nudity, sex, bold storylines, and any political or religious influence. It also does not want dark content on its platform and is looking for uplifting content. Tim Cook himself struck down many dark elements from “Vital Signs.” The show  –“a dark, semi-biographical tale” — is based on hip-hop artist Dr. Dre. There were also main sexual acts and drug-related scenes in the show which were struck down by Apple CEO himself. Apple wants to cater to a variety of audience of all age with its content but it wants to avoid using profanities, sexual acts, drugs, politics, and religion in its shows. The company currently has over 20 shows in production, out of which only two would receive a ‘TV-MA’ rating. Apple also requested crucifixes being removed from an M....

The Apple Watch Series 4 (and iPhone XS/XS Max) go on sale today, so it makes sense that Apple is starting to rev up that marketing arm. On its official Canadian YouTube channel, Apple has published a brand new ad called “Better You”. It’s a short ad, coming in at just 30 seconds, but it primarily focuses on the Apple Watch Series 4 and what the new wearable has to offer. That includes staying more active, staying healthy, and staying connected. Here is how Apple describes it: “Introducing Apple Watch Series 4. Fundamentally redesigned and re-engineered to help you stay even more active, healthy and connected. It’s all new. For a better you.” You can check out the new ad below. The Apple Watch Series 4 changes quite a bit from previous models, moving some features around, like the microphone, making the speaker even louder, and, most importantly, shrinking the bezels and making the screen even bigger. The device will gain the ability to take an ECG test as ...

We haven’t seen the same buzz for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max like we had seen for the iPhone X last year, which was a major upgrade with the all-new edge-to-edge design and Face ID. But I missed a larger or Plus version of the iPhone X. Apple has addressed it with the launch of the iPhone XS Max, so I pre-ordered it. To start things off for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max launch day, check out our unboxing photos of the gold iPhone XS Max. Like last year’s iPhone X, the iPhone XS Max came in a white box, with the colored picture of the device on the top of the box. There isn’t any iPhone XS Max branding on the box. It just says “iPhone” on the box. I usually prefer the space grey color, but was tempted to get the new gold color. I am glad I ordered it, as the gold iPhone XS Max is absolutely stunning. The back panel is light gold or slightly beige-ish, but the shiny gold chassis transforms the look of the gold iPhone XS Max. Thanks to the edge-to-edge screen, and lack o...