Business

Preventing cross-site tracking and web cookie sharing

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Last week, a group of ad agencies blasted Apple for Safari’s emerging anti-tracking technology, which would clearly undermine current advertising practices.

Here’s a link to that story, as well as to another post with Apple’s official response to that shot across their bow.

I was doing a bit of reading on the issue and found myself on the WebKit.org post that started the whole kerfuffle, a blog post by John Wilander entitled Intelligent Tracking Prevention.

From the post:

WebKit has long included features to reduce tracking. From the very beginning, we’ve defaulted to blocking third-party cookies. Now, we’re building on that. Intelligent Tracking Prevention is a new WebKit feature that reduces cross-site tracking by further limiting cookies and other website data.

And:

Websites can fetch resources such as images and scripts from domains other than their own. This is referred to as cross-origin or cross-site loading, and is a powerful feature of the web. However, such loading also enables cross-site tracking of users.

Imagine a user who first browses example-products.com for a new gadget and later browses example-recipies.com for dinner ideas. If both these sites load resources from example-tracker.com and example-tracker.com has a cookie stored in the user’s browser, the owner of example-tracker.com has the ability to know that the user visited both the product website and the recipe website, what they did on those sites, what kind of web browser was used, et cetera. This is what’s called cross-site tracking and the cookie used by example-tracker.com is called a third-party cookie. In our testing we found popular websites with over 70 such trackers, all silently collecting data on users.

It all comes down to privacy. Do you want the ability to browse the web without being tracked? Do ad agencies have the right to impose a “tracking cost” as the price of you being able to browse? Is it their web? To me, there’s an underlying presumptuousness, arrogance, in portraying agencies as the injured party because they are losing their right to track users.

About the new iPhones and T-Mobile’s band 71

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Last Thursday, we ran a piece about the new generation of iPhone hardware not supporting T-Mobile’s emerging 600 MHz network, known as Band 71.

There was a lot of discussion about this, both on whether the new network will be out soon enough to even matter, and whether support for this future network should impact someone’s choice of T-Mobile as a network.

Peter Cohen sheds light on the coverage issue here, well worth reading if you are a T-Mobile customer or considering a carrier switch.

iPhone 8, iPhone X, and rapid charging

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ZDNet:

As if laying out $1,000 on a new iPhone X isn’t expensive enough, Apple hasn’t even included the equipment necessary to benefit from its new fast-charging capability.

Ignore the “hasn’t even included” rhetoric and read on.

The feature is available in the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X unveiled this week by Apple. It means a flat battery can reach a half charge within 30 minutes, which is as fast as new flagship Android devices that support fast charging.

Apple’s specs page for the all three devices says they’re “fast-charge capable.” But then, in fine print, Apple declares that it tested fast-charging on the devices with Apple USB-C power adapters, and lists its 29W Model A1540, 61W Model A1718, and 87W Model A1719 power adapters.

Bottom line, the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X will rapid charge if you use a 29W adapter, which you likely have if you own a MacBook or MacBook Pro with a USB-C port. Not certain of this, but I suspect they will also rapid-charge on an iPad 29W charger. [Dave: Nope, no iPad 29W charger. Musta dreamed that.]

And, I also suspect less expensive 3rd party chargers will be hitting the shelves as well, though do a bit of homework first to make sure the chargers are properly tested and recommended by folks that do that sort of thing.

UPDATE: Here’s a good thread discussing the various chargers. And another. Some nice detail in both. [H/T Mark Crump]

The incredible architectural secrets of Steve Jobs Theater

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[VIDEO] Lance Ulanoff, Mashable:

Apple explained that, yes, there were some interesting acoustics in the space, one that, incredibly, doesn’t have a single column to hold up the ceiling or to slice up the sound, but I might have noticed that there were no echoes during the iPhone X launch event. People, they said, act as a natural sound absorber. If there were a small gathering, though, Apple might choose to put a bit of temporary acoustic absorption up on the walls.

And:

What you see when you look at the Steve Jobs Theater from the outside is simplicity in the extreme. Inside, there’s no visible frame, pipes, wires, or speakers to break the illusion. The secret, though, is that it’s all there.

The carbon fiber roof is supported by the glass frame. Foster + Partner also hid the wires and pipes in plain sight. Twenty of the thin joints separating each glass panel house specially-designed water pipes for the sprinkler system, itself hidden under dozens of recessed circles in the carbon fiber roof. The remaining joints are home to wiring for power, data, and audio.

This is just a taste. Great read. Take a look at the video embedded in the main Loop post. The elevator turns as it goes up and down. A magical space.

Insane collection of Hollywood props up for auction

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This is a great collection. Just a taste of this massive catalog:

  • Indiana Jones’ whip
  • Xenomorph egg from Aliens
  • Marty McFly’s 2015 Nike Shoes from Back To The Future Part II
  • Conan’s sword from Conan the Barbarian
  • Bill Murray’s original jumpsuit costume from Ghostbusters

Lots, lots more. Here’s the Prop Store auction link. Let me know if there’s anything particular that jumps out at you.

How the Equifax breach affects your enrollment in the iPhone Upgrade Program

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Lory Gil, iMore:

Recently, Equifax announced it had been compromised and as many as 143 million U.S. residents may have had their personal information exposed, including home addresses, birth dates, credit account information, and Social Security numbers. One suggestion from the credit reporting agency, as well as many banks and credit card companies, is to freeze your credit report.

A credit freeze is a way for you to restrict access to your credit report to protect you from identity theft. If you’ve put a freeze on your credit report, it doesn’t affect your credit score or keep you from being able to apply for loans. There are some caveats though.

If you’ve put a credit freeze on your credit report, there are a few things you should know about applying for your iPhone Upgrade Program loan.

This is worth reading, certainly for the specifics on the iPhone Upgrade Program, but also to wrap your head around the implications of freezing your credit report.

My 2 cents: If you choose to not freeze your credit report, do a regular check on your credit report to see who is running credit checks on you. Believe it or not, there are companies out there that sell product purely on credit to someone who has the right credentials. In other words, they will ship out an Xbox if you have the right combination of social security number and other identifying personal information AND if they can run a credit check.

Freeze your credit and that can’t happen. If you don’t freeze your credit, pay attention. Identity theft is a painful thread to unwind.

Ad groups blasting Apple for Safari cookie blocking tech “sabotage”

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Ad Week:

The biggest advertising organizations say Apple will “sabotage” the current economic model of the internet with plans to integrate cookie-blocking technology into the new version of Safari.

And:

Six trade groups—the Interactive Advertising Bureau, American Advertising Federation, the Association of National Advertisers, the 4A’s and two others—say they’re “deeply concerned” with Apple’s plans to release a version of the internet browser that overrides and replaces user cookie preferences with a set of Apple-controlled standards. The feature, which is called “Intelligent Tracking Prevention,” limits how advertisers and websites can track users across the internet by putting in place a 24-hour limit on ad retargeting.

From the perspective of the folks whose living depends on ad sales, I do understand this anger. But.

From the perspective of the user, the ability not to be tracked is absolutely fair. I do not want to be tracked. Period. Don’t try to sell me on the supposed benefits of tracking my behavior. To me, it smacks of snake oil.

When I see an ad for something I momentarily glanced at on Amazon appearing again and again as a browser ad, I don’t see that as a benefit. Instead, I see it as psychological manipulation. You are not showing me that ad repeatedly to help me. Instead, you simply want the money that ad brings in.

My ultimate reaction to this article is a sense of appreciation for Apple. While they certainly are not perfect, again and again I get the feeling that they have my back in this relationship. More than anything else, that sense keeps me on board the ecosystem.

Craig Federighi on Conan

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[VIDEO] Surprised to see Craig Federighi fielding questions on Conan yesterday. As always, video embedded in the main Loop post.

Welcome to the Steve Jobs Theater

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John Gruber:

Five, ten years from now, the Apple Watch Series 3, the iPhone 8, and even the iPhone X are just going to be old products sitting around in drawers. But the public debut of Apple Park, the grand opening of the Steve Jobs Theater, and the company’s first public tribute to its founder — that’s what I’ll remember most about yesterday.

It somehow feels appropriate, too, that the most interesting thing revealed in the event that came as a genuine surprise, that hadn’t been leaked, was a message from Steve Jobs himself.

Two things:

  1. I was deeply moved by the opening moments of yesterday’s Apple Event. As I said here, “Today’s Apple event opening montage is phenomenal, a real love letter to design and to Steve.” I will freely admit that hearing Steve’s voice got me a little choked up.

  2. This writeup by John Gruber is worth reading stem to stern. This post is about Steve and the theater that bears his name.

iTunes, App Store removal, and a whole bunch of broken links

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Kirk McElhearn:

As I reported here yesterday, Apple released an update to iTunes. The latest version, 12.7, has some minor changes, but one big revolution: the App Store is no longer available.

And:

If they go to your website, and click on the Download on the App Store button, something strange will happen. They will not be able to go to the App Store, because it no longer exists.

In fact what happens after that click is interesting. The user’s web browser opens a web page which displays a message, above a spinning gear, that says Opening the iTunes Store. The browser eventually redirects to iTunes, which redirects back to the browser displaying a webpage showing information about the app. However, there is no way to purchase an app from this page. And there aren’t even any hints as to how one might go about this, such as suggesting that the user copy the URL and email it to him or herself to be able to access the information about this app on the iOS App Store.

To be clear, this is a Mac issue, an effect of the App Store being removed from iTunes. To see this for yourself, go to Safari on the Mac and hunt for an app link. For example, go to TouchArcade and scroll down, click on one of the App Store links.

For example, here’s a link to a game called CSR Racing 2.

If you click the link, one of two things will happen. Either you’ll be flipped back and forth a few times between Safari and iTunes as your Mac tries to follow a protocol that no longer works, or you’ll end on a Safari page with no way to make a purchase.

Either way, something big is broken here.

Add a splash of color to your Apple Watch

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Add a colored accent to your Apple Watch to exactly match the color of your Sport band. This came up because the Series 3 Cellular comes with a red dot on the Digital Crown.

This is pure fashion, a thing for people who own and wear different color bands for style. Unfortunately, it will not allow you to make calls on a non-cellular Apple Watch. Heh.

BGR: T-Mobile just got burned by Apple and the iPhone X

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Chris Mills, BGR:

Apple announced the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus today. They’re all great phones in many ways, but they have one fatal flaw for T-Mobile and its customers: No support for T-Mobile’s new LTE network.

Right now, T-Mobile is in the early stages of rolling out a brand-new 600MHz network nationwide. The first sites are already online, and T-Mobile is expecting to cover a million square miles by the end of 2017. But the 600MHz network uses a brand-new LTE channel, Band 71, and very few devices support it yet. Sadly for T-Mobile, you can’t add the iPhone 8 or iPhone X to that list.

And:

The specs page for the iPhone X confirms that it supports all the usual North American LTE bands, but not Band 71. However you frame this, it’s a blow for T-Mobile. The iPhone X is widely expected to spark an upgrade “super-cycle” that will see people on the iPhone 6 and 6S spring for the upgrade, since they’re buying a phone that they expect to last for years. That phone — expected to last for at least two years — won’t be compatible with the LTE band that T-Mobile is expecting to be the backbone of its network going forwards.

Here’s the iPhone X specs page, look for yourself. Scroll down to the Cellular and Wireless section. No Band 71 mention.

Wondering if this support is something that can be rolled out in the future via an upgrade, or if it has to be baked in. If I was going to order an iPhone X and used T-Mobile, I would definitely want to know about this before I pressed the Buy button.

Any experts disagree with Chris’s take? Please do let me know.

New Apple Watch comes in two flavors, here are the detailed differences

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Serenity Caldwell, writing for iMore, digs into the differences between the Series 3 Apple Watch and the previous Apple Watch models, as well as the differences between the GPS-only and GPS+cellular Series 3 models.

A few points that stand out:

The GPS + Cellular Series 3 has double the storage capacity: 16GB to the GPS-only’s 8GB.

And:

the GPS-only Series 3 is limited to just aluminum Sport and Nike+ casings (silver, gold, or space grey) with their Ion-X glass screen. In contrast, the GPS + Cellular Watch retains the higher-end casings formerly present with the Series 2 in addition to the aluminum Sport and Nike+ casings. This includes options like stainless steel, white and grey ceramic, and Hermès steel.

And:

All Series 3 GPS + Cellular watches have a red dot on the Digital Crown.

And the biggest point of all, on battery life while talking via the Apple Watch:

3 hours connected to iPhone, 1 hour w/ Cellular

Three hours connected via my iPhone might as well be infinity. If I’ve got my iPhone, I’m going to be talking using my iPhone. I talk via my Apple Watch very rarely, and usually for very short calls when I just can’t get to my iPhone.

One hour battery life talking on my Apple Watch without my iPhone seems extremely low. If I make a half hour call, presumably that’s half my battery gone. Gonna need a recharge.

Perhaps Apple’s marketing research shows that likely buyers want the freedom to not carry an iPhone (runners, for example), want to stay in touch, but don’t anticipate making calls on a regular basis. That would work.

Good, detailed post from Serenity. Check it out if you are thinking about moving up to the Series 3.

The five biggest questions about Apple’s new facial recognition system

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Russell Brandom, The Verge:

Because phone’s all-glass front leaves no room for a home button, Apple is ditching Touch ID in favor of a facial recognition system powered by a new camera array and a specially modified A11 chip.

Not quite sure “leaves no room for a home button” quite captures the motivation for the change. But no matter, the article goes on to ask 5 questions, with thoughts for each.

Here are the questions:

  • Will Face ID make it easier for police to unlock my phone?

  • Could my face leak or get stolen?

  • Will Face ID have a racial bias problem?

  • Can you spoof Face ID with a picture of someone else’s face?

  • Will Apple ever use Face ID for anything other than unlocking phones?

Tempting to just dismiss these questions (the first four with a no, the last with Animoji), but they are interesting topics. Lots of food for thought here.

One particular point:

Soon, millions of people will be enrolled into Face ID, giving Apple control over a powerful facial recognition tool. In the current system, that data stays on phones, but that could always change. The hashing would make it difficult for anyone other than Apple to use the data, but there’s no real limit on what they use it for, particularly if they start to store information outside of specific phones. On Twitter, privacy advocates worried about Face ID data being used for retail surveillance or attention tracking in ads. You could also imagine it as next year’s delightful product breakthrough, integrated into Apple Stores or Apple Cars as a way of carrying over logins no matter who walks in.

Some good thoughts, there. One I’d add: Apple is going to gather a tremendous amount of machine learning data, with incredible value (especially in the phone arms race), if they find a way to bring that data back to their central servers. This is a mighty new frontier.

Apple TV 4K brings back the gigabit ethernet port

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Andrew O’Hara, iDownloadBlog:

Though most of the changes to the upcoming Apple TV 4K are internal, one notable change to the exterior is the addition of a gigabit ethernet port.

Good catch. Nice to be able to do a WiFi only setup, but with 4K comes 4 times the data, making a gigabit ethernet port much more important.

From a related iDownloadBlog post:

The new Apple TV 4K has brought back the speedy Gigabit Ethernet port (the previous box uses the slower 10/100 Mbps Ethernet for wired Internet), but it’s lost the handy USB-C port.

I checked the Apple TV 4K spec page, and it seems this is true. I wonder how you’ll do restores if things go south. Via Ethernet? Wifi?

UPDATE: Much digging, much discussion, here’s my current thoughts on life without the USB-C. For most folks, a failure of the Apple TV will mean a trip to the Apple Store. For developers, Xcode 9 lets you connect to the Apple TV (here’s a post, H/T Jack Webster) as long as you are on the same network. So, ethernet port is your friend there, network debugging. If your Apple TV goes south, not sure how end users or devs would do a restore. Interesting.

The new Apple accessories

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Jake Underwood does a nice job digging through the new accessories Apple rolled out, including iPhone cases (love the new iPhone X leather folios), Apple Watch bands, and charging mats.

The new Apple TV Siri remote

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Juli Clover, MacRumors:

Alongside the new 4K Apple TV, Apple today quietly released a new, slightly redesigned Siri Remote to go along with it. Priced at $59, the updated remote features a new more prominent Menu button with a white circle around it.

Aside from the redesign to the Menu button, the new Apple TV Siri Remote appears to be identical to the previous-generation model. At $59, the remote is $20 cheaper than the previous-generation Siri Remote.

I’ve long wished Apple would make a change to the remote to make it more obvious which end of the remote is which. In low light, it’s easy to end up with the remote pointed the wrong way, and there’s not enough of a tactile difference to be able to easily feel which end is which.

I’ve not gotten my hands on the new remote, so it is possible that this “more prominent” Menu button will solve the problem. At the very least, glad to see the price drop.

Tim Cook on how Apple champions the environment, education, and health care

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Adam Lashinsky, Fortune:

We’re here to put a dent in the universe,” Steve Jobs once famously said. “Otherwise why else even be here?”

And:

For Jobs the dent that he intended for Apple to make in the universe revolved almost totally around creating new products that would change people’s lives. Those products would be gorgeous and useful and fun and surprising, but rarely “good” in and of themselves. Despite a hippie-dippie veneer and earnest marketing, Apple under Jobs was a ruthlessly efficient moneymaker that largely left social programs to others.

I just love that intro. That said, this is an interview with Tim Cook.

Terrific read, lots to process. Way too much to quote out here, but take the time to dig in. Be on the look out for Tim’s comments on how he sees Apple changing the world (products, education, environment, human rights), a discussion of high margins, the Apple economy, health and research, and a lot more.

It’s about to get tougher for cops, border agents to get at your iPhone’s data

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Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica:

According to security experts who have reviewed early developer versions of the forthcoming iOS 11, law enforcement will soon have a harder time conducting digital forensic searches of iPhones and iPads.

And:

Prior to this latest version of the firmware, in order for an iOS device to be “trusted” by a computer that it was physically connected to, that device had to be unlocked first via Touch ID or passcode. Next, the device would prompt the user: “Trust This Computer?” Only then could the entire device’s data could be extracted and imaged. Under iOS 11, this sequence has changed to also specifically require the passcode on the device after the “Trust This Computer?” prompt.

While the change may seem minor, the fact that the passcode will be specifically required as the final step before any data can be pulled off the phone means that law enforcement and border agents won’t have as much routine access to fully image a seized device.

Subtle change, interesting.

[H/T, The surreptitiously supercilious Not Jony Ive]

Jean-Louis Gassée on the “hiccuping coexistence” of pedestrians and cars

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Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note:

Imagine the 1 pm Sunday scene with crowded sidewalks and sticky car traffic. In today’s world, pedestrians and drivers manage a peaceful if hiccuping coexistence. Through eye contact, nods, hand signals, and, yes, courteous restraint, pedestrians decide to sometimes forfeit their right-of-way and let a few cars come through. On the whole, drivers are equally patient and polite.

That’s the current picture. But with self-driving cars, what then?

Can we “algorithmicize” eye contact and stuttering restraint? Can an SD car acknowledge a pedestrian’s nod, or negotiate “turning rights” with a conventional vehicle?

No, we can’t. And we don’t appear to have a path to overcome such “mundane” challenges.

Great post by Jean-Louis, per usual. Read the whole thing.

Apple product that lived its entire life without once being in stock

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Great observation from Benjamin Mayo:

https://twitter.com/bzamayo/status/907371511354404865

A simple, but profound observation. To a business like Apple’s, inventory is the enemy. Inventory is sunk cost with the possibility of zero revenue in return. Yes, the AirPods did spend brief moments in stock, but this is as close to zero moments on the shelf as Apple products get.

Do the AirPods represent the future of Apple’s inventory management? Interesting.

Apple Watch vs Android Wear: Why most smartwatches still suck for women

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Serenity Caldwell, iMore:

When I first heard about Android Wear last year, I thought the folks behind the OS were doing a lot of things right. And I still do: the approach to notifications is smart, custom watch faces are neat, and Google Now — while creepy — works exceptionally well at providing smart information for your day.

There’s only one problem: There’s not a single Android Wear device designed to fit a small-wristed person.

Read the post, check out the pictures. If there are new Apple Watch models, I hope they continue to each ship in both 38mm and 42mm sizes. Great design sense on Apple’s part.

Why talk of a $1000 iPhone is overblown

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Jan Dawson, Tech.pinions:

There’s been a lot of talk about Apple releasing a $1,000 iPhone next week, and a lot of pushback from financial analysts in particular on the idea that people would actually buy such a thing.

And:

In the US, the vast majority of premium smartphones are sold through the major wireless carriers, with the largest four being AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless. Each of those companies has been through a transition over the past few years away from the traditional subsidy model, under which customers paid a portion of the price of a phone up front, to a combination of installment and leasing models, where the cost of the phone is broken up into monthly payments.

And:

Compare that to current monthly prices for the base model iPhone 7 Plus, a phone that costs roughly $200 less to buy outright, which run from $25 to $36, and you’ll see that the real difference in price between a $770 phone and a $1000 phone isn’t $230 for most customers but a monthly price difference of anything from zero to $15.

Most interesting to me:

On top of that, bear in mind that the new iPhones are likely to be the biggest carrier switching event the US market has seen since 2014, so we’re going to see a lot of discounts, offers, and other promotions which lower the effective price even further.

A massive carrier switching event. Subtle point, big business. Keep that in mind as you explore your iPhone options next week.

Get your Marvel, Star Wars fill now. In 2019, they’ll move exclusive to Disney streaming

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CNBC:

Marvel and Star Wars titles will be streamed exclusively on the new Disney streaming platform when it launches in late 2019, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger.

“I have described a very rich, treasure trove of content for this app,” Iger said at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2017 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference in Los Angeles on Thursday. “We’re going to launch big, and we’re going to launch hot.”

This is a chess move. More than anything else, it will impact Netflix, who have made waves with Marvel series such as Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones. Presumably, Netflix will lose the rights to carry these series once the Disney platform goes live in 2019.

It’d be interesting to see if Apple can make a deal with Disney to carry the Disney stream on Apple TV. After all, Apple has long had a historically close relationship with Disney, with Steve Jobs as the funder of Pixar and, before his death, as one of Disney’s largest shareholders.

[Side note: Even with the recent sale of half her Disney stock, Laurene Powell Jobs still owns a hefty chunk of the company.]

Official Equifax statement on massive hack, execs sell off stock before announcement

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  1. Here’s the official Equifax post about the massive hack.

  2. Here’s the official site Equifax set up to see if your information was exposed. Beware of other sites masquerading as the real deal. I do not understand why they didn’t go with a subdomain, such as haveIbeenHacked.equifax.com or some such. More to the point, I don’t understand why you have to enroll in their service to see if you are affected, even if it is free.

  3. Three Equifax execs sold almost $2 million of stock after the breach, but before the announcement. Even assuming they were not aware of the breach when they sold their stock, they will still benefit from a situation of their own making.

Not crazy about the way this is playing out.

UPDATE: According to this tweet, if you sign up with Equifax to check to see if your information was compromised, you waive your rights to sue Equifax or to be part of a class action suit. Can this be correct? [H/T @varunorcv]

Hacking Siri

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[VIDEO] FastCoDesign:

Chinese researchers have discovered a terrifying vulnerability in voice assistants from Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung, and Huawei. It affects every iPhone and Macbook running Siri, any Galaxy phone, any PC running Windows 10, and even Amazon’s Alexa assistant.

Using a technique called the DolphinAttack, a team from Zhejiang University translated typical vocal commands into ultrasonic frequencies that are too high for the human ear to hear, but perfectly decipherable by the microphones and software powering our always-on voice assistants. This relatively simple translation process lets them take control of gadgets with just a few words uttered in frequencies none of us can hear.

First things first, this is not terrifying. But it is interesting.

You can watch a demo in the video embedded in the main Loop post. Not sure there’s a software fix to prevent this. Seems to me the audio in processor would have to have access to the frequency of the audio coming in, then filter it if it was outside some specified audible range.

Not sure this threat, which seems relatively minor, is worth the effort.

Also, DolphinAttack, cool name.