Author: Dan Moren

Addressing a widespread hack of celebrities’ photos, Apple on Tuesday issued an update on its investigation into the incident and said that it was continuing to work with law enforcement on the matter.

According to the company, more than 40 hours of investigation from the company’s engineers has established that the accounts that were compromised were the subjects of a “very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions.” While previous reports suggested that a flaw in iCloud was responsible for the hack, Apple says that none of the cases it has looked into were tied to any vulnerability in the company’s systems.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

We’ve heard rumor after rumor, but now it’s official: Apple will be holding a press event on September 9, kicking off at 10 a.m. Pacific/1 p.m. Eastern. Invitations dispatched to press on Thursday morning were even more cryptic than usual, with a white-on-white Apple logo, the date, and a message reading “Wish we could say more.”

The event takes places at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts in Cupertino, an unusual venue for the company, which either tends to use its own campus’s Town Hall or the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco.

The company’s expected to announced a new iPhone—or possibly multiple models with larger screens—at the event, while other recent rumors have focused around an unveiling of the company’s entry into the wearable space.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

It was just back in late May that Apple announced it was buying Beats Electronics and Beats Music, but on Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook officially welcomed the company to the Apple family.

Cook posted a welcome message on Twitter and linked to a new splash page on Apple’s site that welcomes Beats into the fold:

Today we are excited to officially welcome Beats Music and Beats Electronics to the Apple family. Music has always held a special place in our hearts, and we’re thrilled to join forces with a group of people who love it as much as we do. Beats cofounders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre have created beautiful products that have helped millions of people deepen their connection to music. We’re delighted to be working with the team to elevate that experience even further.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple’s been on a bit of an acquisition kick over the last couple years, and it seems to be continuing apace. This week, the company has confirmed the acquisition of two separate firms, both of which may help improve the company’s algorithms for recommending content.

Over the weekend, Re/code reported that Apple was aiming to buy Swell, an app described as “Pandora for talk radio.” Among the company’s partners: ABC News Radio, PRI, NPR, and TED. The service focused on figuring out what users like to listen to and then suggesting similar content. (In and of itself, it’s not different from the NPR One app we recently reviewed, albeit with more sources.) Re/code also reported that the deal would be worth $30 million. As of Tuesday, the Swell app is no longer available for download, and the website has been replaced with a thank-you message; the Wall Street Journal’s Daisuke Wakabayashi tweeted that he had confirmed the sale with Apple.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Apple TV might not yet rival the hundreds of channels on your cable box, but that’s not to say they aren’t getting close. On Tuesday morning, the company added a few more options to its set-top streaming box, including some aimed at specific countries.

Two new major networks dominate the offerings, at least in the U.S. First is a CNBC channel, which streams programs from the business network in real time, as well as providing access to on demand clips of its many shows.

The second is Fox Now, which offers full episodes from the network’s broadcast shows, including the likes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Sleepy Hollow, and New Girl. It also sports bonus content, and a personalized home screen, complete with recommendations based on your viewing preferences. And if you’re a binge-watcher, you’ll be glad to know that when you finish one episode, the Fox app will automatically cue up the next one for watching, so that you can never ever escape your couch again.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Macworld’s live coverage of Apple’s financial results for the third quarter. How many iPads, iPhones, and Macs did the company sell? How healthy were its profits? We’ll have all the details right here.

Information security has never been a more sensitive subject than it is these days, so it’s little surprise that allegations from a security researcher that iOS contains a “backdoor” permitting access to users’ information provoked a strong response from Apple.

Those accusations came from security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski, who was presenting at the Hackers on Planet Earth conference earlier this week. In his talk, “Identifying Back Doors, Attack Points, and Surveillance Mechanisms in iOS Devices,” Zdziarski claimed to have found systems within iOS that could be used to access users’ information, including photos, address-book information, voicemail messages, and more.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

It’s that time again—time to once more pore over page after page of financial details, to stare at endless columns of numbers, hoping that some obscure truth, unseen by most, will pop out at us. Yes, it’s time for Apple financials.

On Tuesday, Apple will release the numbers for its third quarter. Here’s a bit of what you can expect from the company’s announcements, as well as the subsequent skeet shoot Q&A from analysts. As ever, Macworld will be on hand with live coverage of the conference call, starting at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET.

The numbers

As usual, Apple provided guidance three months ago on how much money it would rake in during the third quarter. Back in April, outgoing CFO Peter Oppenheimer said the company expected revenues between $36 billion and $38 billion, with a gross margin between 37 percent and 38 percent. How, you might wonder, does that compare to the previous quarter and the year ago quarter?

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Music fans—especially those based in the United Kingdom—will be glad to hear that, for the eighth year running, Apple plans to hold its massive iTunes Festival in London. The event will feature more than 60 acts performing throughout the month of September at the city’s Roundhouse.

Among this year’s featured artists are Maroon 5, Pharrell Williams, Beck, Blondie, and many more. Tickets are, as ever, free, but are available only via contests, either those run by the company’s partners like Global Radio and the London Evening Standard, or by entering ballots on iTunes.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Historically, enterprise computing hasn’t been one of Apple’s strong spots. But ever since the introduction of the iPhone and iPad, the company’s presence in the business market has seemed to be almost continuously expanding. On Tuesday, that presence expanded even further as Apple and IBM announced a joint venture of mobile business apps and services.

“For the first time ever we’re putting IBM’s renowned big data analytics at iOS users’ fingertips, which opens up a large market opportunity for Apple,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the companies’ joint press release. “This is a radical step for enterprise and something that only Apple and IBM can deliver.”

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple’s certainly no stranger to accusations of location tracking, but the latest allegations come from what may be a surprising source: China’s state-sponsored media. As reported by the Wall Street Journal over the weekend, China Central Television called the iPhone a “national security concern,” suggesting that it could even compromise “state secrets” if the device is being used by Chinese state officials. On Monday, Apple responded to the charges. 

At issue is a feature of iOS called “frequent locations”—you can find it squirreled away under Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Frequent Locations. This feature keeps track of places you go to often, which helps with providing location-specific information. Though it’s enabled if you opt into Location Services, it’s easy enough to turn off—of course, you have to find it first.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Stories, stories, everywhere a plethora of Apple-related stories. We’ve collected some of the more prominent floating around the Web on Tuesday.

Siri Will Soon Understand You a Whole Lot Better

Reports suggest that Apple is building up an internal speech-recognition team, perhaps to reduce its dependence on Nuance, the company whose technology currently powers Siri. A lot of the discussion in this Wired piece revolves around using neural networks to enhance speech recognition, something that other companies like Microsoft, IBM, and Google are using, but that Apple does not seem to at present.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Seems like the school year just ended, but it’s already time to start planning ahead for next fall. Apple on Tuesday kicked off its annual Back to School promotion, offering incentives for picking up its devices for the upcoming school year.

As in the past, Apple is offering gift cards for the Apple Store along with the purchase of Macs, iPads, and iPhones. Qualifying products include the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, and Mac Pro; the iPad Air, iPad with Retina display, iPad mini, and iPad mini with Retina display; and the iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 4s. (You’ll also be able to snag some modest education discounts on the Macs and iPads—no such luck with the iPhone.)

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here