Apple

Although macOS is traditionally considered to be a safe and secure operating system, cybercriminals are still trying to profit from macOS users according to new research from Kaspersky that revealed the Shlayer malware was the most widespread macOS threat last year.

The malware itself specializes in installing adware on users' devices which feeds illicit ads, intercepts and gathers users' browser queries and modifies search results to distribute even more advertising messages.

The design of the iMac hasn’t changed much in over a decade, but Apple is considering a radical facelift. A proposed future model would consist of a pane of glass that surrounds the display, then curves forward to hold a keyboard and a pair of trackpads.

Many concept devices come from artists suggesting cutting-edge designs. This one is different — it’s a proposed iMac design from inside Apple itself. The company filed a patent application for Electronic Device with Glass Housing Member last May, but it was just published by the US Patent & Trademark Office.

According to a report from CNBC, Apple this week introduced "Apple Watch Connected," an initiative that sees the Cupertino company partnering with major gym chains to bring Apple Watch-related technologies and benefits to members of those gyms. Benefits include workout machines that play nice with the Watch, rewards programs based on workout data collected by the Watch, and special deals on products and services.

The European Parliament has renewed its push for a phone charger standard through an amended draft law, and it won't surprise you to hear that Apple has raised objections. The iPhone maker has issued a statement arguing that rules dictating a common connector in phones "stifles innovation" and would hurt the public more than it helped. To support its claims, the company commissioned a study from Copenhagen Economics claiming that a common charger move would cost €1.5 billion (about $1.7 billion), more than negating the €13 million ($14.4 million) in potential environmental benefits.

Release notes for the latest version of the Safari Technology Preview, essentially the beta version of the macOS Web browser, explicitly state that the update ends support for Adobe Flash. This marks the end of the line for that Web technology on Macs.

The change happened in Safari Technology Preview 99 and is likely to hit the public release sometime in the near future.

Almost two years have passed since the appearance of Shlayer, a piece of Mac malware that gets installed by tricking targets into installing fake Adobe Flash updates. It usually does so after promising pirated videos, which are also fake. The lure may be trite and easy to spot, but Shlayer continues to be common—so much so that it’s the number one threat encountered by users of Kaspersky Labs’ antivirus programs for macOS.

EverythingApplePro and smartphone leaker Max Weinbach have predicted that Apple will replace Midnight Green with Navy Blue when they release the "iPhone 12." Currently, there are no other sources to suggest whether or not Apple is planning on making the swap.

In EverythingApplePro's YouTube video, they suggest that like Midnight Green, the anticipated navy color will be restricted to the higher end Pro models.

In a lab in New York City, two computers generate random numbers in an effort to guess the passcodes that keep smartphones seized by crime suspects locked down. The challenge is daunting, but not impossible if you can circumvent Apple's limits on attempts. A four-digit key has 10,000 possible combinations, whereas a six-digit key has one million.

In 2019, FBI investigators working on a case in Ohio were tasked with executing a search warrant on property owned by Baris Ali Koch, reports Forbes. Among the items seized was a locked iPhone 11 Pro Max that, according to the report, investigators subsequently accessed without Apple's help.

Koch stands accused of misprision of a felony for helping his convicted brother flee the U.S. by providing a duplicate driver's license and lying to federal agents. He is currently awaiting sentencing.

In a move that may signal another high-stakes clash over encryption, the FBI is asking Apple for help decrypting two iPhones believed to have belonged to Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, the man suspected of carrying out a shooting attack that killed three people last month at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida.