Apple Pay Cash, Apple's mobile peer-to-peer payments service, could be available sooner rather than later in some European markets.
French tech blog iPhon.fr reports today that an iPhone user in France discovered screens on his new Apple Watch and iPhone XS Max overnight inviting him to set up Apple Pay Cash using a credit card issued by a French bank. Similar reports are also coming in from Apple device owners in other European countries.
Apple Pay Cash arrived on iOS devices in December 2017, although it's currently only officially available to users in the United States. The system allows for quick person-to-person money transfers, much like competing services Square Cash and Venmo.
In addition to the setup screens shared over social media, an Apple support page for Apple Pay Cash has been discovered localized in German that went live on Apple's servers on September 30.
Apple Pay Cash can be transmitted via iMessage and funds are instantly added to the recipient's Apple Pay Cash card in the Wallet app.
When new users receive money for the first time, the funds are added to their new Apple Pay Cash card once they accept Apple's terms. The card's funds can then be used to make purchases using Apple Pay in stores, in apps, and on supported websites, or withdrawn to a bank account within one to three business days.
When Apple Pay Cash does arrive outside the U.S., Apple device owners wanting to use it will need an iPhone 6 and later, iPhone SE, any iPad Pro model, a fifth-generation iPad, iPad Air 2, or iPad mini 3 running iOS 11.2 or later.
Opera Touch was released today for iOS. The "light, fast, and secure" browser is specially designed for all-screen devices with no home button like the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, and comes with an interface that's optimized for one-handed use.
Thanks to a floating "Fast Action" menu button located at the bottom of the screen, users can touch to access a radial menu and swipe through several actions, enabling them to open and close browser tabs, perform searches, and navigating forwards and backwards through web pages with their thumb.
The main screen includes quick access to top and recent websites, and the browser also features built-in ad blocking and comes with protection against disguised online cryptocurrency mining, or "cryptojacking".
Elsewhere, the app makes use of Opera's My Flow feature, which allows users to transfer URL links, images, and note clippings between devices running Opera over a secure and private connection.
Opera Touch is available for iPhone and iPad in several languages and can be downloaded directly from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Tile, known for its range of battery-powered Bluetooth-enabled tags for tracking various items, today announced the launch of upgraded Tile Mate and Tile Pro accessories.
The new Tile Mate and Tile Pro feature a longer range, louder volumes when pinging them from an iPhone, and, for the first time, batteries that can be replaced.
Previous Tile versions have not had user-replaceable batteries and thus had a limited life, but the new Tile Mate and Tile Pro can be used indefinitely. The batteries that are included with the Mate and Pro are expected to last for one year before needing replacement.
Both Tile Mate and Tile Pro have improved range. Tile Mate has a Bluetooth range of 150 feet, while Tile Pro has a Bluetooth range of 300 feet.
Along with new products, Tile is introducing Tile Premium, a subscription service that offers free battery replacements, smart alerts, and 30-day location history.
Tile Premium is priced at $29.99 annually or $2.99 per month. The service provides Smart Alerts that let you know when you leave home without specific Tiled items, and unlimited sharing, so more than one user can access the same Tile device.
Location history for each Tile device is available, and Tile provides an extended warranty for three years with premium service. Free battery replacements are also an included feature, with subscribers eligible to receive automatic free annual battery replacements for each Tile.
Tile Mate and Tile Pro are available today from the Tile website and major retailers that include Amazon and Best Buy. Tile Mate retails for $25, while Tile Pro retails for $35.
The Intel XMM 7560 LTE modem in the iPhone XS and XS Max beats the Intel/Qualcomm modems in the iPhone X, but it isn't quite as fast as the X20 modem used in the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, according to data sourced from Cellular Insights and Ookla and shared by PCMag.
Cellular Insights compared Apple's iPhone XS Max with the iPhone X equipped with an earlier Intel modem, the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, and the Google Pixel 2 using the 20MHz channel of Band 4, used by Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and several major Canadian carriers. Download speeds were tested at full strength and at a lower signal to determine overall comparative performance.
According to the data, in situations where there is strong signal, the 4x4 MIMO antennas in the iPhone XS and XS Max offer double the speeds compared to the iPhone X, and also help improve speeds in weak signal conditions. Compared to the Note 9 and the Pixel 2, the iPhone XS Max is a bit slower, but the difference is slimmer as signal gets weaker.
At signal levels below -120dBm (around zero and one bar of reception), the iPhone XS Max becomes more competitive with the Android phones using the Qualcomm X20 modem, but at the lowest signal, the Qualcomm X20 modem outperforms the Intel modem in the new iPhones.
Real world testing pulled from Ookla speed test results also suggest the iPhone XS is a good deal faster than the iPhone X. On average, the iPhone XS offers 6.6Mb/s faster download speeds on all U.S. carriers, and even better performance on Canadian carriers with a 20.2Mb/s speed boost.
AT&T is the carrier in the United States that appears to be seeing the biggest speed boost, while the difference is smaller on Verizon and Sprint. AT&T and T-Mobile iPhone X models used Intel modems and Verizon and Sprint used Qualcomm modems, which could account for the difference.
Samsung's Galaxy Note 9 with Qualcomm X20 modem outperformed the iPhone XS in both the United States and Canada, with the Galaxy Note 9 offering mean download speeds of 43.2Mb/s and the iPhone XS offering mean download speeds of 38.9Mb/s. Data for Ookla's speed comparison was collected during the week of September 24.
Despite the favorable results on these performance tests, many new iPhone XS and XS Max users have complained of LTE connectivity issues on the new devices. PCMag speculates that this is due to problems with the first versions of the iPhone XS firmware, which could be causing trouble with signal reception.
During testing, PCMag was unable to find "any issues in the hardware" that would explain negative experiences, suggesting problems people are experiencing can perhaps be fixed through a future software update.
The Apple Watch Series 4 introduces two new watch faces that are exclusive to the new wrist-worn device, Infograph and Infograph Modular. Both of these watch faces take advantage of the larger display on the Series 4 to offer up access to eight complications from Apple and third-party apps.
We took a closer look at the Infograph watch face and the multiple ways that it can be customized in our latest YouTube video, which is worth checking out for anyone who wants to get more out of the Infograph face or who is considering an Apple Watch Series 4 purchase.
With the standard Infograph face, there's an analog clock face with four customizable complications under the watch hands and another four available at the sides of the device.
The Infograph Modular face supports six complications -- one in the upper right, one next to the digital time readout, a larger complication with more info in the center, and three small complications at the bottom.
Built-in complication options available include Activity, Alarm, AQI, Battery, Breathe, Calendar, Date, Digital Time, Earth, Heart Rate, Moon, Monogram, Music, Reminders, Solar, Solar System, Stocks, Stopwatch, Sunrise/Sunset, Timer, UV Index, Walkie-Talkie, Weather, Weather Conditions, Wind, Workout, and World Clocks.
For the dial complications, you can choose to set your favorite contacts to one of the complications so you can contact a person with a tap on the watch face. You can also customize the color of the analog face on the Infograph face.
There are a number of third-party complications available as well, and these will vary based on which third-party apps you have installed on your iPhone and Apple Watch.
There are limitations on which of the available complications can be used in each spot, but most spaces have multiple options available. On the Modular face, for example, you can choose from Activity, Calendar, Heart Rate, Stocks, or Weather Conditions for the large middle spot, while a greater range of complications are available for the smaller spots.
The best way to customize the Infograph and Infograph Modular faces is through the Face Gallery section of the Apple Watch app on the iPhone, which gives easy access to all of the options. It can be done right on the Apple Watch as well, but it's simpler and quicker on the iPhone.
What do you think of the new Apple Watch Series 4 watch faces? Let us know in the comments.
Greg Joswiak, Apple's VP of iOS, iPad, and iPhone Product Marketing, recently sat down with Arianna Huffington on the Thrive Global Podcast to discuss the new Screen Time feature that Apple implemented for the iPhone 5s and later in iOS 12.
According to Joswiak, information is the "cornerstone" of what Apple is doing with Screen Time. The company's goal is to provide people with information about how they're using their apps so they can come to their own conclusions about whether they're happy with their usage statistics.
If you ask people how much they're using their devices, they can only guess. If you ask them how much they're using a particular app or category of app, they can only guess. I almost guarantee you their guesses are wrong. So what we wanted to do was provide people with the real information about how much they're using devices, apps, categories of apps, and how many notifications they're getting. These things are very measurable.
With Screen Time, built into iOS 12, users can get a complete overview on how much time is spent on each of their devices on a daily or weekly basis, with Apple offering up a weekly report. Joswiak says Apple wanted to make it as easy as possible, which is why iOS 12 asks people to opt in at sign up and delivers automatic reports each week.
Apple is hoping people will be "more cognizant" of what they're doing on their devices, using the Screen Time information to make better choices. Joswiak believes the vast majority of people will turn Screen Time on and will use the information to regulate behavior. That's how he uses Screen Time - awareness without imposing limits.
For me, I couldn't imagine leaving my home in the morning without my iPhone. I think like most people. I still found it fascinating to be able to open up the Screen Time app and see where I was spending my time. [...] That information was useful for me to regulate myself a to the behavior that I want. I didn't need limits, I just needed that information.
Even with children, Joswiak thinks parents will benefit most from being able to have an "intelligent conversation" about device usage with real data usage rather than implementing parental controls, but the controls are there for parents who need them.
Because of Apple's focus on user privacy, no data about Screen Time or app usage information is sent to Apple or any third party. Apple can tell who has Screen Time enabled and who doesn't for users who send diagnostic information to the company, but data is otherwise "available only to you."
Joswiak also highlighted iOS 12's features for cutting down on notifications, such as Instant Tuning, which lets you quickly turn off notifications for a particularly bothersome app without having to dig into the settings. Do Not Disturb has also been expanded in iOS 12 with new options that let it be turned on for an hour or a critical event.
Apple was not concerned with people using their devices less as a result of Screen Time, because it aims to provide the best usage experience, not the longest. "We don't need to make you use it every minute of every day," said Joswiak. "Our business model doesn't depend on how much you use your devices."
Screen Time was not developed because of the well-known shareholder's letter that called on Apple urging Apple to do more to protect children from smartphone addiction. Screen Time was conceptualized well over a year ago with the idea that Apple "wants to empower people with Apple."
"It's not a kids thing," explained Joswiak. "It's an everybody thing." Apple didn't set out to create a solution for parents to lock down their children's devices, it was created to give everyone information on how devices are being used. "Apple is not reactionary," said Joswiak. "We bring out features we think are going to help people."
Screen Time is available for all devices starting with the 2013 iPhone 5s, and bringing these kinds of new features is to millions of iOS users is something that only Apple can do, according to Joswiak. He says that soon, 80 percent of the user base will be using the latest version of iOS 12, which is "staggering."
Joswiak says that Apple has "lots of ideas" on how to take Screen Time further in the future. "We know there's lots more we'll want to do over time," he said.
Apple this afternoon shared several of the best "Shot on iPhone" photos that it's seen on Instagram and Twitter from customers who have purchased one of the new iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max devices.
The photos were collected from Instagram and Twitter users who included the hashtag "#ShotoniPhone" alongside their photos, with images showcasing Portrait Mode, Smart HDR, more advanced bokeh, Depth Control, and other features introduced with the iPhone XS and XS Max.
Apple's new iPhones continue to offer the same 12-megapixel dual-lens telephoto and wide-angle camera system introduced in the iPhone X, but multiple upgrades result in pictures that are better than ever before.
The iPhone XS and XS Max are equipped with an improved wide-angle image sensor that's 32 percent larger than the sensor in the iPhone X and twice as fast for better image fidelity, greater color accuracy, and improved performance in low light conditions.
A new image signal processor and second-generation Neural Engine included with the A12 Bionic chip allow Apple to process photos in a new way, using a Smart HDR feature for better dynamic range. The new hardware also powers Depth Control and better bokeh when using the iPhone's Portrait Mode for artful background blurring.
MacRumors and Anker have partnered up again this week in a new sale that nets our readers as much as 42 percent off the popular accessory maker's iPhone cases, portable batteries, headphones, Lightning cables, and more. There are twelve total items in this sale, and all of the accompanying promo codes will last for about two weeks, expiring on Sunday, October 14.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
To take part in the exclusive sale, add one of the below items to your cart on Amazon, proceed to checkout, enter the relevant promo code into the Gift cards & promotional codes field, and then click "Apply." Discount prices in this article don't include taxes or shipping costs, but Amazon Prime subscribers can get the typical free two-day shipping on their orders.
Note that only one code can be used per order, so if you'd like to order more than one type of item, you'll need to place separate orders.
Sebastiaan de With, the developer behind photography app Halide, has taken an in-depth look at the front and rear-facing cameras in the iPhone XS and XS Max, providing some insight into complaints about a possible skin smoothing "beauty mode" that results in less realistic selfies than prior iPhone models.
A soft filter on selfies "doesn't exist," says de With, with the smoother look attributed to more aggressive noise reduction techniques and the merging of exposures that eliminates sharp light and dark contrasts where light hits the skin.
Camera differences between iPhone X and XS Max demoed by a Reddit user
Both the front and rear-facing cameras in the iPhone XS and XS Max are using computational geography to improve photo quality, a feature that takes multiple shots at once and then merges them into a single perfect photo.
Apple's iPhone XS website explains all of the different things that are going on behind the scenes when an image is captured, and part of the process involves taking shots that are underexposed, overexposed, and captured at different times, with the camera taking the best elements of each shot and combining them.
Apple says the iPhone XS performs 1 trillion operations per photo
According to de With, this results in a "whole new look" for photos that represents a "drastic departure" from images captured with previous-generation iPhones. As the Halide blog post explains, the small areas of contrast seen in photos from older iPhones can make images look sharper, but these areas of deep contrast have been eliminated in the iPhone XS models.
Using the exposure merging techniques, the iPhone XS reduces the brightness of the bright areas and the darkness of the shadows. While the detail is still there, we see it as less sharp because of this loss of contrast. Skin ends up looking smoother because the "light isn't as harsh."
The iPhone XS and XS Max are also using much more aggressive noise reduction techniques than in previous iPhones. de With says this is because the iPhone XS models prefer a faster shutter speed and a higher ISO level, capturing photos quicker but resulting in more noise. Taking care of that noise sacrifices some detail and contrast.
Noise in a RAW iPhone X image (left) compared to RAW iPhone XS image (right)
In the front-facing camera specifically, which uses a smaller sensor than the rear-facing camera, the heavy noise reduction paired with the image merging techniques leads to the noticeably smoother selfies that people have seen with the iPhone XS camera.
The tradeoff is that selfies, which traditionally are worse in mixed or harsh lighting (the majority of lighting!) are now no longer blown out, and in most cases it just looks better, if just a little on the smooth side.
According to de With, Apple can tweak these settings through software updates if the majority of people are unhappy with the selfie camera, so we may see a better compromise between noise reduction and the filtering of harsh lighting in the future.
All in all, de With believes the iPhone XS camera is better than the iPhone X camera thanks to its superior dynamic range, with some post processing able to re-add the contrast where necessary.
There are issues with RAW image capture because of the noise level. When taking RAW photos with an app like Halide, de With says it is a must to do so manually and to reduce the exposure. Otherwise, RAW images will end up looking worse than Smart HDR JPEGs.
To account for the changes to RAW image capture, Halide is gaining a new Smart RAW feature that uses the new sensor tech in the iPhone XS to get better images. It avoids Smart HDR all together to cut down on noise reduction and pull out more detail.
Halide's full blog post is well worth a read for anyone interested in an in-depth look at the camera changes Apple has introduced in the iPhone XS and XS Max. The Halide app can be downloaded from the App Store for $5.99. [Direct Link]
Verizon's 5G home broadband service is today launching in parts of Indianapolis, Houston, Los Angeles, and Sacramento, Verizon announced this morning.
Verizon began accepting pre-orders for the 5G Home service on Thursday, September 13, and customers who signed up will now be able to access their 5G connections.
"The world's first commercial 5G service is here," said Ronan Dunne, President, Verizon Wireless. "We've formed incredible partnerships with many of the world's leading technology companies, the international technical standards bodies, public officials, developers and our own customers to drive the 5G ecosystem forward, faster than most had predicted. And now, actual customers. It's been an incredible journey...and we're just at the starting line."
New Verizon customers were provided with the option to receive a free Apple TV 4K in lieu of a traditional cable box, along with free YouTube TV service for three months.
5G Home is built on Verizon's Ultra Wideband 5G network and it is the first commercial 5G service to launch in the United States.
Verizon's 5G internet service will be priced at $50 per month for customers who are also Verizon Wireless customers, and $70 per month for those who are not already Verizon Wireless customers.
The monthly fee includes all taxes and other fees, and there are no hardware charges or annual contract. According to Verizon, 5G Home customers will see typical network speeds of around 300Mb/s and depending on location, peak speeds of nearly 1 Gig. There are no data caps.
Following the initial rollout to Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Sacramento, Verizon plans to rapidly expand its coverage area. Customers can visit the 5G Home website to receive updates on when the service will be available in their area.
One year ago Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak backed a new online learning institute that is aimed at educating users in coding and other digital skills. Called "Woz U," the subscription-based platform is now facing blowback from participants who cite a lack of quality in the courses and experience offered.
CBS News spoke to one student, Bill Duerr, who said that he expected quality from the $13,200 program (which lasts 33 weeks), but faced ongoing issues. Duerr said the system was full of problems, like live lectures coming pre-recorded and out of date, unqualified mentors, frustrations with typos while coding, and sometimes completely missing instructors for certain courses.
Duerr compared Woz U to a "$13,000 e-book."
"I feel like this is a $13,000 e-book," Duerr said. While it was supposed to be a program written by one of the greatest tech minds of all time, "it's broken, it's not working in places, lots of times there's just hyperlinks to Microsoft documents, to Wikipedia," he said.
"When you're doing code and you're following along, and there's a typo, and you get an error, you don't have any idea why you got the error," Duerr said. "And you're like how can – did somebody not proofread this? Did somebody not make sure it worked?"
Besides Duerr, CBS News interviewed more than two dozen current and former Woz U students and employees, all referencing similar complaints. One employee was Tim Mionske, an "enrollment counselor" who sold Woz U to prospective students. Even when he began to have second thoughts about Woz U and its validity, the company was focused intently on driving as many sales as possible.
CBS News asked Mionske if he regrets his time with Woz U, and if he felt like he had to do something that wasn't right.
"I regret in the aspect to where they're spending this money for, it's like rolling the dice. ... But on the reverse side, I have to support my family."
"In this case, do you feel like you had to do something that wasn't right?" Dokoupil asked.
"At times I did," Mionske responded.
Wozniak responded to Business Insider in an email, claiming he had not seen the CBS News report and that he is "not involved in any operations aspects" of Woz U, and as such could not answer any questions. Woz U president Chris Coleman said in a statement that the company is aware of certain errors in course content and that it has implemented a quality control system to catch them. He denied students being pressured to enroll and claimed that Wozniak reviews all of Woz U's curriculum.
In Woz U's original announcement, the platform was billed as a way to get people into the workforce quickly and affordably. At launch and shortly after, programs trained users in computer support, software development, data science, mobile application development, and cybersecurity. Woz U is an online learning course with an app and website, but the institute said last year it plans to open physical campuses in more than 30 cities across the United States and around the world.
Apple Music is partnering with ABC's late night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" for a series of live performances by emerging artists, as part of a second season of its "Up Next" program introduced last year, according to Variety.
"Up Next" artist 6LACK performs on The Late Late Show with James Corden
In addition to the live performances on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show, the partnership will include the creation of a custom content package for each emerging artist or group, including production of a live EP and a filmed interview with DJ Zane Lowe for Beats 1, the official radio station of Apple Music.
The first group to be featured will be K-Pop dance act NCT 127, who are scheduled to perform next Monday, October 8.
As part of its "Up Next" program, Apple has highlighted one emerging artist per month with a featured banner in the "Browse" tab of Apple Music. Promoted content has ranged from short videos and documentaries to playlists and EPs. The video content is usually promoted on YouTube and Twitter as well.
The first season of "Up Next" featured Grammy-nominated artists Khalid, 6LACK, and Daniel Caesar, in addition to Latin sensation Bad Bunny, Aria-winning Amy Shark, Billie Eilish, Greta Van Fleet, Stefflon Don, Sigrid, and others. Some of the artists performed live on The Late Late Show with James Corden.
Apple has a new employee challenge kicking off this month, this one focused on mindfulness and meditation. Apple is said to have partnered with the app 10% Happier [Direct Link] for the challenge, tasking employees to meditate for a specific amount of time per day for 25 days (via MacGeneration).
While the challenge is focused on 10% Happier, employees can also use any mindfulness app that ties into Apple's Health app on iOS. One of the areas that Health measures is mindfulness, showing you how many "Mindful Minutes" you've accumulated over the past day, week, month, and year. This information can be filled by mindfulness apps like Headspace, Aura, Calm, 10% Happier, and Apple's own Breathe app for Apple Watch.
Image via MacGeneration
Employees who complete the challenge will be awarded with a T-shirt that displays the Breathe app's blue and green logo. Apple has held similar internal challenges for its employees in the past, although they have mostly focused on physical exercise of some kind.
In April 2017, employees who completed the stand, movement, and exercise rings on the Apple Watch each day for a month received an Activity rings pin in gold, silver, or bronze, based on how many days in the month they achieved 100% ring completion. Another competition like this was held earlier this year, but the prize was an exclusive Apple Watch band.
Google Maps will soon feature an all-new Commute tab that provides one-tap access to live traffic and transit information.
The new tab will tell you if your commute is going to be a normal one, or if you'll need to budget extra time due to things like an accident or heavy traffic. Google is introducing support for mixed-mode commutes that involve both driving and public transit, with helpful information along each leg of the trip.
In addition, transit riders in 80 regions worldwide will be able to see exactly where their bus or train is in real time on the map. Starting in Sydney, Australia, Google Maps will also indicate how full the next bus or train is. Google says the latter feature will be coming to more cities around the globe soon.
Last, Google says it is making Spotify, Apple Music, and Google Play Music playback controls accessible within Google Maps.
The new features will start rolling out globally on iOS and Android this week.
Everyone Can Create is designed to allow teachers to easily incorporate creativity into their existing lesson plans in any subject, including language arts, math, science, history, social studies, and coding. The series of guides teach students to develop ideas through drawing, music, video, and photos on iPad.
Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller:
We believe Apple technology can help unleash every child's creative genius. Working closely with teachers, we have built the Everyone Can Create curriculum to help bring creative expression and the arts into the classroom, and to help students stay engaged through creativity and ultimately be more successful.
Apple Stores are also using Everyone Can Create in their Teacher Tuesday sessions. 504 stores in 24 countries have already taught over 5,000 hands-on Teacher Tuesday sessions on topics including coding and app design, video and music creation, and creative visual presentations, according to Apple.
Everyone Can Create includes four student guides for drawing, music, video, and photos, available for free in Apple Books. A companion teacher guide helps bring these projects to life, with 300 lesson ideas across media, projects, and subjects.
On Sunday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law that will bring back strict net neutrality protections to users in the state, four months after net neutrality officially expired in the United States thanks to the FCC's vote to repeal the regulations last December (via USA Today).
Now that California has renewed net neutrality in the state, the United States Justice Department has filed a lawsuit in attempt to strike down the bill. In a statement, the Justice Department says that California's Senate Bill 822 "unlawfully imposes burdens on the Federal Government’s deregulatory approach to the Internet."
Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai also commented on the lawsuit:
Sessions: “Under the Constitution, states do not regulate interstate commerce—the federal government does. Once again the California legislature has enacted an extreme and illegal state law attempting to frustrate federal policy. The Justice Department should not have to spend valuable time and resources to file this suit today, but we have a duty to defend the prerogatives of the federal government and protect our Constitutional order. We will do so with vigor. We are confident that we will prevail in this case—because the facts are on our side.”
Pai: “I’m pleased the Department of Justice has filed this suit. The Internet is inherently an interstate information service. As such, only the federal government can set policy in this area. And the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently reaffirmed that state regulation of information services is preempted by federal law.
“Not only is California’s Internet regulation law illegal, it also hurts consumers. The law prohibits many free-data plans, which allow consumers to stream video, music, and the like exempt from any data limits. They have proven enormously popular in the marketplace, especially among lower-income Americans. But notwithstanding the consumer benefits, this state law bans them."
California is not the first state to pass its own net neutrality bill, but none have yet been as strict. Under the law, California broadband providers will not be able to slow down or block any websites, charge higher fees to customers to receive faster internet speeds, and the law also limits some zero-rated data plans.
Without net neutrality regulations, internet service providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T have the legal ability to throttle any traffic on their networks, and block access to sites and services completely, as long as they inform their customers of their actions. In essence, many have theorized that this could lead to ISPs bundling "packages" of internet sites and selling them like cable companies, as well as putting high-paying customers in "fast lanes" and everyone else in "slow lanes."
Net neutrality opponents, like Pai, say this will lead to "better, faster, cheaper internet access for consumers, and more competition." They also cite the return to an "open" and less regulated internet, seen prior to the 2015 induction of net neutrality.
Numerous technology companies have voiced support of net neutrality over the past year, including Apple, Google, Amazon, Netflix, and more. Apple last year stated that the net neutrality repeal could "fundamentally alter the internet as we know it," and if it passed it would be put in place to the detriment of consumers, competition, and innovation.
For California, a legal battle will now happen between the state and the Justice Department, with a few other individuals opposing California's law. This includes U.S. Telecom Association CEO Jonathan Spalter, who said, "Rather than 50 states stepping in with their own conflicting open internet solutions, we need Congress to step up with a national framework for the whole internet ecosystem and resolve this issue once and for all."
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
A Forbes report has highlighted the first known case of law enforcement forcing a suspect to unlock an iPhone using Face ID.
The incident reportedly happened in August when federal agents obtained a warrant to search the house of a man in Columbus, Ohio, as part of a child abuse investigation.
Apple marketing image for Face ID
According to case documents, FBI agents got 28-year-old Grant Michalski to put his face in front of his iPhone X to activate the Face ID facial authentication.
After the device was unlocked, investigators looked through Michalski's chat history, photos, and other files stored on the phone. Evidence discovered on the device was used to charge the suspect later that month with receiving and possessing child pornography.
Several previous cases have occurred where law enforcement has gained access to digital data by forcing people to unlock mobile devices using their fingers. One case even reportedly involved trying to use the finger of a dead person to unlock a phone, which ultimately didn't work.
However, this appears to be the first case in which Face ID has been used, so it's likely to reignite debate over where the law stands in relation to biometric authentication methods.
In the United States, forcing someone to give up a password is interpreted as self-incrimination, which is protected by the fifth amendment and against the law. Nevertheless, courts have ruled that there's a difference between a biometric recognition system like Touch ID and a passcode that you type into your phone.
In the case highlighted by Forbes, the FBI was eventually locked out of the phone and had to gain a second search warrant to allow them to conduct a more thorough search of the device using a third-party unlocking solution, likely similar to Grayshift.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
A number of iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max owners in the Apple Support Communities and MacRumors Forums report that the devices fail to start charging when a Lightning cable is plugged in while the screen is turned off.
As with many crowdsourced issues, experiences vary. In most cases, the iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max begins charging once the user wakes the device by tapping or raising the screen. However, some users report having to both wake the iPhone and disconnect and reconnect the Lightning cable to get a charge.
In rarer cases, the iPhone stops responding entirely at some point after a Lightning cable is plugged in while the screen is turned off.
Lewis Hilsenteger demonstrated the issue on his popular YouTube channel Unbox Therapy today by plugging a Lightning cable into one iPhone X, four iPhone XS, and four iPhone XS Max units. While the iPhone X began to charge, it appears two of the iPhone XS units and three of the iPhone XS Max units did not.
Unbox Therapy's video uses the hashtag #ChargeGate
Affected customers have documented the issue in at least a dozen discussion threads across the web, including the Apple Support Communities, MacRumors Forums, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and other forums and platforms. It's unclear how widespread the issue is at this time, but not everyone is affected.
Some users have speculated the issue could be related to USB Restricted Mode, introduced in iOS 11.4.1, which prevents an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from communicating with USB accessories via the Lightning connector if one hour or longer has passed since the device was last unlocked.
However, while USB Restricted Mode is enabled by default in iOS 12, Hilsenteger and others say disabling the feature does not help. Apple also has a support document that ensures "your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch charges as usual when it's connected to a USB power adapter" with the feature toggled on.
In the YouTube comments on the Unbox Therapy video, some users claim to be experiencing the same issue on older iPhones and iPads, so there is a decent chance this is a software issue that could be addressed in a future iOS 12 update. In the meantime, there does not appear to be a workaround.
If you are affected by this issue, we recommend contacting Apple Support. Apple frequently passes on device information and diagnostics to its engineering teams to address potential bugs like these, so all feedback helps.
Apple did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but we'll update this article if we receive any information.
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