By Malcolm Owen Saturday, June 22, 2019, 02:59 pm PT (05:59 pm ET)
Niantic and WB Games is expanding the availability of the wildly-popular ‘Harry Potter: Wizards Unite,” bringing the AR-based iOS game to 25 more countries around the world just one day after the title launched in just four major markets.
“Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” went live on Friday in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, following a beta period in the latter two countries. Joining those four are another 25 countries, with players able to download the game from the App Store straight away.
The long-awaited launch in a limited number of countries is thought to be Niantic’s attempt to limit how many players are in the game at the start, so as to not strain its infrastructure. Niantic’s previous and similar title “Pokemon Go” rolled out at a far slower pace, with servers reaching capacity as the game went live in each region.
The latest countries to get the “Harry Potter” title are: Austria, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
The official website advises the game will roll out to more countries “soon.”
“Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” puts players in the role of a protector of the secret wizarding world, tasked with covering up events of “The Calamity” from the non-magical “Muggles.” Similar in concept to “Pokemon Go,” players can walk around their local environment to collect items and to complete challenges, as well as to take part in multiplayer Wizarding Challenges.
During the week we don’t always have time to cover everything, so here are a few releases this week that went under the radar including a new iOS compatible dive computer, a futuristic Hot Wheel set, and more.
SCUBAPRO Galileo HUD
SCUBAPRO Galileo HUD
SCUBAPRO has launched a new mask-mounted dive computer that works wirelessly with iOS devices and Macs.
The Galileo HUD dive computer is built on the popular Galileo 2 wrist-worn dive computer but built into a more convenient heads-up display. By bringing a display right into view instead of affixed to your wrist or your console, divers can keep their surroundings in view. It allows divers to see their critical dive information such as bottom time, NDL, ascent/descent rate, and remaining air through their mask on a full-color OLED panel.
SCUBAPRO Galileo HUD
Galileo HUD is both Trimix and Nitrox compatible thanks to the included gas-integration transmitter. It can be mounted to many popular SCUBAPRO masks.
Post-dive, dive information can be transferred wirelessly via Bluetooth through to an iOS device or Mac (as well as Android and PCs) with the SCUBAPRO LogTRAK software.
The Galileo HUD dive computer is available on Amazon for $1,699 with the air transmitter bundled.
Hot Wheels id
Hot Wheels is bringing its popular cars to the future with Hot Wheels id. Available exclusively at Apple Stores, this new track and car set still features high-quality die cast cars but with embedded NFC chips that allow you to add them to the app and keep track of stuff like their speed around the track.
Hot Wheels id
There is also a new track available that has been redesigned, while still somewhat working with pervious Hot Wheels track.the new track works with the Race Portal which is how you add cars to the app and helps monitor their speed, total distance traveled, and more. The new track also enhances jumping, racing, and — of course — crashing.
Each car will run you $6.99, the Race Portal comes in at $39.99 and the Smart Track Kit is $179.99.
Orico M.2 transparent SSD enclosure
Orico has unveiled a transparent series M.2 NVMe SSD hard drive enclosure. The new enclosure supports UASP and TRIM, and connects through USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port. Orico claims that the enclosure can read & write up to 950 megabytes per second, assuming the drive is fast enough.
Drives up to 2TB are supported, and the enclosure fits the 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280 sizes.
The enclosure retails for $39.99 without a drive, and is available with a heatsink in a variety of colors. A USB-C to USB-C and USB-A to USB-C cable is included.
Targus Quad 4K Docking Station
The new Targus DOCK570USZ docking station uses DisplayLink to allow a single host to connect to four DisplayPort monitors at 3840 x 2160 at 60Hz, or HDMI displays at 3840 x 2160 at 50Hz. Beyond just the displays, the dock provides up to 100W of power to an upstream device via the USB 3.1 type C connector, and has four USB-A ports connecting at USB 3.0 speed.
Network connectivity is supplied by a Gigabit Ethernet port, and it also has a 3.5mm combination audio in and out port.
The Targus DOCK570USZ retails for $399. It debuted at the InfoComm trade show, and will be available for purchase “later in 2019” according to the company.
Apple’s vaunted iOS keyboard, a piece of user interface technology that helped usher in the smartphone revolution, is in infringement of a nearly 20-year-old patent covering similar input solutions, according to a new lawsuit.
Illustration of Higginson’s “Universal keyboard.” | Source: USPTO
Filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, a patent suit from Princeps Interface Technologies alleges Apple’s keyboard infringes on the work of Timothy Higginson, a technology industry lawyer and inventor.
At issue is Higginson’s U.S. Patent No. 6,703,963 for a “Universal keyboard.”
Filed in 2002 and granted in 2004, the intellectual property covers a multifunctional input device in which a set of static keys are programmed to output command signals based on a plurality of functional modes. An example provided presents functional sets, or modes, relating to email, PDA, fax and internet inputs.
These modes are further divided into multi-level domains which, when selected, dynamically change the output model of the device’s keys. For example, alphanumeric mode domains might display different sets of words, symbols or numbers, while domains in an internet navigator mode display URLs. Users can access more than one mode at any given time.
Other keys on the device are dedicated to traditional controls found on QWERTY keyboards. Patent language describes these keys as covering Esc, Alt, Ctrl, Shift, Caps Lock, Tab, Enter, Backspace and other typical inputs. A cursor control, in this case a joystick, is also offered.
According to the lawsuit, the ‘963 patent resolves “technical problems related to data input devices, and particularly, to problems related to the utilization of small profile data input devices.” More specifically, the input device adapts the QWERTY keyboard for one-handed or two-thumb use.
Apple debuted its first onscreen keyboard for a portable device with iPhone in 2007. Offering basic functionality at launch, the UI has been refined over more than a decade to include advanced features like AI-powered predictive text, multi-function key support, gesture integration and more. Apple is slated to introduce a new swipe-to-type keyboard called QuickPath when iOS 13 and iPadOS see release this fall.
Princeps appears to be a non-practicing entity created for the sole purpose of leveraging Higginson’s patents in court actions. The firm owns six properties invented by Higginson that were previously assigned to Yuvee, a tech consultancy and UI development firm he founded in 2004. While Yuvee holds active status in some third-party corporate databases, the company seemingly shuttered in 2016.
Princeps in its suit seeks damages and legal fees from Apple.
By Mikey Campbell Tuesday, May 28, 2019, 08:12 pm PT (11:12 pm ET)
In an interview published on Tuesday, Apple’s former senior director of App Store Review Phillip Shoemaker provided rare insight into the company’s process for approving third-party apps, and expressed concerns over increasing competition with Apple’s own software.
Speaking with Bloomberg, Shoemaker, who worked as Apple’s head app regulator 2009 to 2016, outlined the beginnings of Apple’s App Store review process, saying SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller mandated that humans put eyes on incoming apps instead of relying algorithms and automated tools.
Initially, the company tasked three reviewers to each app, but the time-consuming procedure ultimately gave way to a one person, one app method.
Even with humans gatekeepers, however, Shoemaker said, “There’s a lot of stuff in the store that shouldn’t be there.”
Early on, reviewers working in conference rooms would come in each morning, select 30 to 100 apps and download them to Mac, iPhone and iPad for evaluation. The review team has grown and now rates work spaces that are larger and more collaborative, the report said.
Shoemaker adopted an egalitarian view of the approval process, putting independent app makers on the same tier as industry heavyweights like Google and Facebook. Whether small apps received equal prioritization in the review queue is unknown.
That said, Apple has in the past denied apps — at least temporarily — that posed competition for first-party services. In 2009, for example, Apple blocked Google Voice entry to the App Store, a move that prompted an investigation by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
According to Shoemaker, Apple was concerned that competitors would create a host of apps designed to replace core iPhone functionality.
“That was a real thing. I mean the fear that somebody would come along, a Facebook, a Google, whomever and wipe off and remove all of our items,” Shoemaker said. “Once they started using these other apps, they’d be thinking more about Google now.”
Competition with third-party software is apparently an ongoing at Apple, which continues to grapple with potential disruptions to its ecosystem to this day.
“There is now a conflict as Apple goes into these spaces that are ripe with competition,” Shoemaker said. “I’m really worried about the competition.”
Bloomberg’s conversation with Shoemaker can be heard on this week’s episode of the “Decrypted” podcast.
Apple Card works just like any other Apple Pay account, but the software experience Apple is creating around it to enhance digital banking represents both a new Services venture and also an additional reason for users to keep buying hardware. That’s why Apple is paying its customers to use it.
Apple Card and the reverse subscription
Compared to the other new Services Apple announced in March — Apple Arcade video games, News+ periodicals and TV+ original content — Apple Card isn’t a subscription. Apple Card is actually the opposite of a subscription: using it pays you back via Daily Cash rebates.
This “free money” comes from the merchants who accept credit cards. Whenever you pay with any card, the merchant accepting your payment pays the card-issuing bank a fee. It’s common for card issuers to offer buyers “cash back,” which returns part of the fee collected to the buyer.
The cash back idea — along with no annual fee — was devised by Sears in the mid 80s when it introduced Discover in an attempt to break into the card business. By offering users cash back, it could attract customers otherwise happy with their existing cards. Additionally, the cash back promotion served as an incentive to spend more.
The idea of using credit to not just finance but incentivize consumer behavior was also explored by Apple. A 1984 Byte advertisement outlined “Apple Card,” a credit card exclusively for buying “Apple Computers, peripherals and software.” Twenty years later, Steve Jobs proposed a vanity credit card that paid out points for use in buying iTunes songs. Today a variety of cards offer some system of rewards in the form of points, airline miles, cash back or other incentives.
A less advanced Apple Card, 35 years ago, also sought to influence buyer behavior.
Apple’s original spin on the idea of cash back is to make rebates immediate and obvious, so you are aware that you are “getting money” every time you use it. But it also has a second component: rather than simply applying your cash back to your account, the Daily Cash credits are loaded onto your separate Apple Pay Cash account. That’s the personal spending account Apple earlier set up with Discover to enable free person-to-person Apple Pay transactions similar to PayPal or Venmo.
Offering its vast installed base of the world’s most affluent buyers a new Apple Card account is therefore a two-pronged strategy to induce Apple Pay transactions: when you make a purchase, a small rebate is applied to Apple Pay Cash, encouraging you to use that money to pay a friend or split a tab using a second Apple Pay transaction.
Apple wants to encourage NFC Apple Pay transactions, but more importantly it wants to make using Apple Pay routine. The company has previously noted that in countries where there’s an NFC transit system driving a critical mass of transactions, Apple Pay is more rapidly adopted as a payment system for other purchases, too.
Apple Card’s “Daily Cash” feature also promotes the use of Apple Pay Cash
Apple Pay and NFC vs the Mag Stripes
Apple Pay has been working to push the world toward more secure NFC transactions, which never expose your account number and protect the near field wireless transaction with an encrypted conversation between the terminal reader and a device’s silicon “secure element.”
However, much of the world — including a lot of the United States — is still stuck in the really old world of 1960s-era magnetic stripe transactions, which requires a physical card with a stretch of old cassette tape stuck on the back that can be read by a magnetic head in a credit card swipe machine.
That status quo at the launch of Apple Pay in 2014 informed Samsung’s plans to acquire LoopPay, a company that had developed a way to fake a magnetic swipe by generating an encoded magnetic field conveying the same data recorded on physical credit cards.
Apple — like Google — focused entirely on NFC, meaning that if you have a card enrolled in Apple Pay and a vendor doesn’t accept NFC payments, you have to pull out your physical card to either swipe it or insert it to use the card’s EMV chip.
Rather than try to retain compatibility with old mag stripe readers, Apple built an NFC-only system for iOS with an archaic card to serve as a legacy shim
Apple wasn’t simply trying to move all transactions to its devices; it was purely interested in promoting NFC as the payment solution. One of the benefits of only supporting NFC is that unlike Samsung, Apple doesn’t have to include and support a second mag stripe reader system on its devices, now and into the future.
Apple is notorious for killing legacy and aggressively dragging its users kicking and screaming into the future. If the world were being lead by Samsung, we would never need to phase out mag stripes, and probably wouldn’t. But by shifting its large, affluent base of users exclusively to NFC payments, Apple can make the future happen sooner, just as it did back in 1998 with USB, and now with USB-C.
Many pundits found it very convincing that Samsung would outperform Apple in mobile payments by offering legacy support for the once-ubiquitous old mag swipe readers. Three years after it adopted LoopPay’s technology on its Samsung Pay enabled phones, however, Samsung’s share of mobile wallet transactions was at 17% compared to 77% for Apple Pay.
In 2014, it looked like LoopPay was going to help Samsung Pay beat Apple Pay.
Certainly part of that disparity is due to Apple’s much larger installed base of premium users. Virtually all modern iPhones in use support Apple Pay; Samsung Pay is limited to the company’s higher-end Galaxy S and Note flagships, a much smaller base of users that’s only about a sixth of all Samsung phone buyers. That’s another example of how Samsung’s impact on the future of tech is far lower than its shipments would suggest.
However, NFC use isn’t simply a matter of technology availability. Google pioneered NFC support for Android long before Apple Pay was introduced, and yet despite broad support for NFC on various Androids, the same report noted that Google Pay adoption was only at 6%.
The real challenge for inducing NFC adoption wasn’t merely rolling out technology. It was changing behavior, both in convincing buyers to use it and in convincing banks and merchants to support it. That’s been the task of Apple VP Jennifer Bailey, the executive in charge of Apple Pay.
It certainly helped Apple that Google had spent years and tons of money trying to promote NFC. However, Bailey’s group has also worked to promote Apple Pay to users. Most recently it has worked to link Apple Pay to common transactions, notably transit fares and the area of “access,” which uses NFC to enable campus, hospitality and enterprise Wallet app ID cards to open doors as well as make payments.
NFC is used at Apple Park to control access. Apple has also issued NFC badges to attendees at its Worldwide Developer Conference, but these aren’t loaded into Wallet because it appears there’s currently no way to install a globally unique, non-transferable pass to a specific device. We will likely hear more about Apple Pay and NFC at WWDC19, which is now just over a week away.
Apple on Thursday stopped signing code for iOS 12.2 following the May release of iOS 12.3, ensuring iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices are operating on the latest version of the company’s mobile operating system.
As with past iOS updates, Apple’s halt to iOS 12.2 code signing arrives ten days after iOS 12.3 was pushed out to customers earlier this month.
The latest version of iOS integrates Apple’s refreshed TV app, an entertainment hub that has grown to include new offerings like Apple TV Channels subscription options and the upcoming Apple TV+ service. In addition to laying the groundwork for Apple TV+ original programming, the new TV app includes a revamped user interface with a focus on curated shows funneled into the app from a range of content providers.
Alongside TV app improvements, Apple’s Wallet app also received some attention in preparation of Apple Card. Apple’s branded credit card offering is slated to launch this summer with advanced in-app features like activity tracking, Apple Pay integration, enhanced security features and a cash back rewards system.
Apple routinely stops signing legacy code after the release of current iOS builds to ensure customers are running the most secure version of the operating system. A halt to code signing also keeps iOS devices on the most up-to-date, feature-rich software.
Apple is already beta testing iOS 12.4, with developers and public beta testers furnished with a second evaluation build on Monday.
By Mikey Campbell Wednesday, May 15, 2019, 05:00 pm PT (08:00 pm ET)
A year after Apple rejected it from entering the App Store, Valve’s Steam Link app is now available to stream games from user Steam libraries on Mac and PC to compatible iPhones, iPads or Apple TV devices.
Announced more than a year ago, Steam Link promised to deliver iOS and tvOS access to desktop class games through a clever software solution that streams game video to a client device while simultaneously relaying controller commands back to the host computer.
The app works with both a wired ethernet connection or a 5GHz Wi-Fi network, which is responsible for ferrying the video and game data between linked devices.
Apple initially approved Steam Link for distribution but recanted the endorsement three days later. Valve in a statement at the time said Apple cited a breach of App Store Guidelines, specifically “business conflicts with app guidelines,” in revoking its approval.
Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller confirmed the move in an email to customers, saying the app “violates a number of guidelines around user generated content, in-app purchases, content codes, etc.” The ability to purchase games — through roundabout methods — from the Steam store was thought to be among the issues at play in Apple’s decision.
Schiller went on to say that Apple was working with Valve to update the app for reinstatement. Why it took the gaming company a year to facilitate the changes needed to return to the App Store is unknown.
The recent App Store addition was noted in a tweet from former Valve VR engineer Nat Brown.
By Mikey Campbell Tuesday, May 14, 2019, 05:47 pm PT (08:47 pm ET)
Apple reportedly lent a hand in — or at least facilitated — the creation of a new iOS app designed for the soon-to-open Statue of Liberty Museum, with the title serving both as a modern location-based audio tour and an augmented reality tool that brings Lady Liberty into the homes of millions.
Called “Statue of Liberty,” the app is the brainchild of renowned fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg, who spearheaded a three-year fundraising initiative to build the new Statue of Liberty Museum slated to open its doors on Liberty Island on Thursday.
Developed by Yap Studios in association with the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, the app melds a year’s worth of digital scans and photographs to generate a highly detailed 3D model of sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s iconic figure, reports Vogue.
Leveraging Apple’s ARKit latticework, the title allows users to soar above the statue, view it from different angles, scales and during different times of day, as well as peer inside its skin to reveal the internal frame designed by Gustave Eiffel. A time-lapse mode offers a look at the statue against an ever-changing Manhattan skyline.
According to CNET, the app also includes a location-specific audio guide that details 15 points of interest on Liberty Island and another 20 in the museum itself. MapKit was used to enable indoor mapping, which triggers the audio assets on location.
Apple CEO Tim Cook touted the launch of “Statue of Liberty” in a tweet on Tuesday. It appears a chance meeting with Cook sparked von Fürstenberg’s interest in AR as an innovative solution for the museum.
“I met Tim Cook from Apple, and discovered first of all that he had never been to Liberty Island, so I arranged for him to go,” von Fürstenberg told Vogue. “Not even knowing what I was talking about, I said, Wouldn’t it be wonderful to give people an Apple experience when they go on the Island?’ I met the people who do apps and we started, not knowing where it would all end up. The foundation created this app that will reach hundreds of millions of people.”
At a launch event on Tuesday, von Fürstenberg said she met Cook after filming “Mother of Exile,” a documentary about the statue slated for release on HBO later this year. The designer also narrated a podcast called “Raising the Torch” to go along with the museum’s opening. It is unclear if Cook is involved in the documentary or podcast.
Vogue cites Apple as a “star donor” to von Fürstenberg’s project, though it remains unclear if the company committed funds to the initiative, assisted in development of the app or took part in the podcast production process. Considering the company is not affiliated with Yap or FRQNCY Media, co-producers of “Raising the Torch,” it seems the publication is confusing Apple’s technologies and platforms for active participation in the enterprise.
By Mikey Campbell Monday, May 13, 2019, 07:07 pm PT (10:07 pm ET)
Facebook-owned WhatsApp on Monday disclosed the recent fix of a VoIP-related vulnerability that allowed nefarious parties to remotely install spyware on both iOS and Android handsets.
Discovered in early May, the now-patched bug in the app’s audio call feature allowed hackers to deliver a spyware payload to target devices, a process that worked even if the WhatsApp call recipient failed to answer.
It took WhatsApp less than ten days to patch the security hole following its discovery, reports TechCrunch. How long the vulnerability existed without detection is unknown, but the company confirmed hackers took advantage of the window to install an unknown number of malicious payloads.
Although WhatsApp did not name a specific company or spyware variant associated with the security breach, a statement on the matter points to Israeli vendor NSO Group.
“This attack has all the hallmarks of a private company known to work with governments to deliver spyware that reportedly takes over the functions of mobile phone operating systems,” WhatsApp said.
NSO develops and markets a well-known and notoriously effective piece of spyware called Pegasus. Typically reserved for government buyers, Pegasus is often used by law enforcement agencies to gain wide access to key device functions and data stores.
Apple has in the past attempted to patch flaws in iOS and macOS leveraged by Pegasus, but NSO continues to uncover and exploit zero-day vulnerabilities in iOS to keep its product functional.
WhatsApp believes only a small number of users were impacted by attacks, noting only advanced and highly motivated actors would be capable of leveraging the bug, the report said.
The company alerted the U.S. Justice Department and various human rights organizations after discovering the vulnerability, and urges users to update their respective app versions to protect against future attacks.
“WhatsApp encourages people to upgrade to the latest version of our app, as well as keep their mobile operating system up to date, to protect against potential targeted exploits designed to compromise information stored on mobile devices,” WhatsApp said in a statement.
Parental control and screen time monitoring apps are fighting back against Apple’s decision to strike the titles from the App Store over alleged security risks, saying in separate blog posts that the tech giant’s reasoning is flawed and its statement on the matter misleading.
One of the apps banned from distribution, OurPact, argued for its reinstatement in a post to Medium on Tuesday. As noted by CNET, which spotted the entry, OurPact also calls for Apple to allow parental control apps access to device management APIs.
Last week, a New York Times report highlighted Apple’s targeted removal of popular apps created to help users cut down on device usage or monitor their children’s screen time. Over the past year, the company pulled apps, sometimes without adequately notifying developers, or forced the removal of features that left titles stripped of key functionality.
Developers interviewed as part of the report implied the crackdown was prompted by Apple’s release of a competing iOS feature called Screen Time which debuted in iOS 12 and includes a number of tools designed to encourage iPhone and iPad owners to spend less time on their devices. Screen Time also incorporates parental control features similar or identical to those offered by the now banned apps.
Responding to fallout from The Times article, Apple over the weekend issued a statement in an attempt to explain the app removals. According to Apple, the apps in question used “highly invasive” Mobile Device Management (MDM) technology to accomplish their advertised tasks and thus posed a risk to user privacy and security.
MDM allows wide access to device functions and potentially sensitive data, Apple said. The technology was designed for use in large-scale enterprise device deployments, not public-facing apps available on the App Store. As such, integration of MDM by screen monitoring and parental control apps was a violation of the company’s App Store guidelines.
OurPact disagrees. In its blog post, the developer attempts to undermine Apple’s statement by comparing it with official Apple support documentation on MDM technology. A point-by-point rebuttal suggests properly vetted MDM apps pose little to no risk to end users, even those offered through public channels.
“Unfortunately, Apple’s statement is misleading and prevents a constructive conversation around the future of parental controls on iOS,” the company said. “We want to take the opportunity to set the record straight about MDM for our loyal users and the many families looking for solutions to guide healthy digital habits. Our hope is that Apple will work with developers in this space so that families continue to have a wide selection of parental controls to choose from.”
OurPact also includes a detailed timeline of events leading up to its dismissal from the App Store, noting four years of submission approvals before an abrupt removal in October 2018 “without any prior communication.”
OurPact suggests Apple provide developers with open APIs if it “truly believes that parents should have tools to manage their children’s device usage, and are committed to providing a competitive, innovative app ecosystem.” The call for appropriate screen time monitoring and device management tools was echoed by other app makers mentioned in the original NYT report.
As noted by MacRumors on Wednesday, the co-founders of Kidslox and Qustodio in separate Medium posts asked Apple to release the APIs it used to create the iOS Screen Time feature.
Kidslox and Qustodio last week filed a joint complaint with the European Union’s anti-competition office on allegations that Apple’s forced changes had a negative impact on Kidslox’s business.
