Apple

Apple has long been a proponent for strong on-device encryption, most notably for its iPhones and the iOS operating system. This has often frustrated law enforcement agencies both in the US and overseas, many of which claim the company’s encryption tools and policies are letting criminals avoid capture by masking communications and securing data from the hands of investigators.

Apple struck a huge deal that will push its chip-making ambitions forward. The tech giant agreed to pay $600 million in total to Dialog Semiconductor, a UK-based chipmaker that has been working with Apple since the first iPhones came out.

Today, Apple released a minor update to iOS 12.

iOS 12.0.1 fixes a handful of early bugs users faced with September 17's major release, most notably problems with WiFi connectivity and charging on new iPhones.

Some users of the newly released iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max discovered slower WiFi speeds than expected on their new devices. After digging deeper, users also discovered that the iPhone XS sometimes joined Wi-Fi networks that were available in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands in 2.4GHz even though the phones support 5GHz.

Malware on Apple's MacBook and iMac lines is more prevalent than some users realize; it can even hide in Apple's curated Mac App Store. But the relatively strong defenses of macOS make it challenging for malware authors to persist long-term on Apple computers, even if they can get an initial foothold. Additionally, the avenues available for lurking on macOS are so well known at this point that technicians and malware scanners can flag them quickly. That's why more subtle approaches are significant.

Once again, a way of bypassing the iPhone’s passcode lock to expose users’ photos and contacts has been discovered.

Jose Rodriguez, who has uncovered vulnerabilities in iOS’s lock screen security on a number of occasions in the past, has produced a video demonstrating an (admittedly convoluted) way of accessing information on locked iOS devices that really should be out of bounds.

With last year's iPhone X, Apple introduced the most significant redesign to the iPhone since the iPhone 4. All three of the phones Apple announced this fall—the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR—are modeled after that blueprint.

Landing 10 days after the release of watchOS 5, the new watchOS 5.0.1 is a performance and bug fix update to the wearable device's software. Along with the general improvements advisement, the release notes for the update highlight three issues it fixes.

The first solves a problem where a small number of users seeing increases in exercise minutes, making the tracking of user activities throughout the day inaccurate. A second bug fix addresses an issue where some users did not receive Stand credit in the afternoon.

Okay, we probably wouldn't be responsible adults if we didn't mention that you can give your old iPhone to your kids or a charity. We definitely wouldn't be fiscally sensible if we failed to point out that you can get a little trade-in value on your old device. Now that's out of the way, though, here's how you can make that phone do a brand new job just for you.

Actually, make that many, many new jobs. Each of which is free, comes with a subscription you use elsewhere, or is extremely low cost.

The fourth iteration of the Apple Watch still looks like a tiny iPhone on your wrist, but for many, it was the most exciting device announced at Apple's event earlier this month. A larger screen, faster performance with improved sensors, fall detection, and ECG readings are just a few of the features that inspired quick interest in the Apple Watch Series 4. The steps forward in health monitoring alone point to a new era for Apple's wearable, and users who could benefit most from them have a compelling reason to shell out $399 or more for the Series 4.

The recent epidemic of Apple Store thefts throughout California have reached the location in Steve Jobs' hometown of Palo Alto- the day after CEO Tim Cook appeared at the store for the launch of the new iPhones.

On Saturday afternoon, according to Palo Alto Online, a group of eight young men took "new demo iPhones" as well as iPads, before fleeing in multiple cars. Then, in a separate theft discovered early the following morning, someone shattered the store's front door and made off with another $50,000 worth of iPhones and iPads, the site said.