MacRumors

A federal jury in Tyler, Texas has ordered Apple to pay $22.1 million to patent firm Acacia Research for violating U.S. Patent No. 8,055,820, related to cellular network technologies, according to court documents filed electronically this week. The monetary award is a running royalty for Apple's infringement through March 2016.

The jury said Apple did not prove with clear and convincing evidence that any asserted claims of the patent are invalid as obvious or based on improper inventorship. Apple's infringement was found to be willful, which in patent litigation means the patent holder can request that the judge enhance the damages by up to three times, or up to roughly $66.4 million in this particular lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed in January 2014, accused Apple of selling multiple products that infringe upon the patent, including the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPad mini 2. U.S. Patent No. 8,055,820, titled "apparatus, system, and method for designating a buffer status reporting format based on detected pre-selected buffer conditions," is highly technical and at one point was assigned to Nokia.

AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Boost Mobile were also named as defendants for selling the infringing iPhones, but none of the carriers were named in the jury verdict. U.S. Magistrate Judge K. Nicole Mitchell presided over the case in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas, a popular region for non-practicing entities like Acacia Research and VirnetX to bring patent litigation against companies like Apple.

Acacia Research, based in Newport Beach, California, says it has returned over $705 million to patent owners. The corporation creates a subsidiary company for each set of patents it enforces through litigation, including Cellular Communications Equipment, LLC in this particular Apple lawsuit.

Our partnership with patent owners is the cornerstone of our corporate strategy. Acacia is an intermediary in the patent marketplace unlocking financial value in patented inventions.

Apple has not confirmed if it will appeal the decision.

A group of three news outlets, including Gannett, the Associated Press and Vice Media, filed a lawsuit today against the FBI on grounds relating to the bureau's decision to keep its method of hacking into San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook's iPhone a secret. The news organizations are looking for more information about how exactly the FBI entered the iPhone, what "outside party" helped with the process, and how much the government paid for it (via USA Today).

Gannett, the AP, and Vice Media have each sought details on the hack under the Freedom of Information Act, but the FBI denied the requests, arguing that "revealing the records would imperil its enforcement efforts." Now the organizations are teaming up and asking the court to force the FBI to release the requested information.

While the security drama swirls, University of Cambridge researcher Sergei Skorobogatov has released proof countering the FBI's claim that it couldn't get into Farook's iPhone without Apple's help. In his report (via Engadget), Skorobagatov detailed his process in bypassing the passcode retry counter of an iPhone 5c running iOS 9, which he said "does not require any expensive and sophisticated equipment."

This was achieved by desoldering the NAND Flash chip of a sample phone in order to physically access its connection to the SoC and partially reverse engineering its proprietary bus protocol. The process does not require any expensive and sophisticated equipment. All needed parts are low cost and were obtained from local electronics distributors. By using the described and successful hardware mirroring process it was possible to bypass the limit on passcode retry attempts. This is the first public demonstration of the working prototype and the real hardware mirroring process for iPhone 5c.

After removing the NAND from the iPhone -- which requires "a temperature above 300 ºC...due to heavy heat sinking of the main PCB" -- he created a backup of it and placed it onto a custom-built, special test board. To continue the NAND mirroring process, following a successful creation and verification of the backup copy, the original chip is placed back into the iPhone 5c, where the researcher entered six passcode attempts, and then power cycled the device. In total, the process takes 90 seconds each time, meaning the true password could feasibly be discovered in "less than two days."

Once the phone is powered up and the screen is slid the passcode can be entered six times until the delay of one minute is introduced again. Then the process of mirroring from backup can be repeated again and again until the correct passcode is found. On average each cycle of mirroring for six passcode attempts takes 90 seconds. Hence, a full scan of all possible 4-digit passcodes will take about 40 hours or less than two days.

The fight between Apple and the FBI began earlier in the year when Apple refused to help the government unlock Farook's iPhone 5c under the belief that it could set a fearful precedent for security and privacy moving forward. The FBI didn't know what could potentially be on the device, but believed that any information gathered from it would potentially help move the case of the San Bernardino shooting forward in meaningful ways.

Although that particular case is over, FBI director James Comey said that he expects litigation over the encryption of mobile devices to continue, as encryption is "essential tradecraft" of terrorist organizations like ISIS. Technology and security have intersected more and more as smartphones grow more popular, with Comey also stating that WhatsApp's new end-to-end encryption was already "affecting the criminal work [of the FBI] in huge ways."

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.

This tutorial explains how to reset an iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and how to activate Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) mode to troubleshoot your device if needed. Apple has changed the reset process with the iPhone 7 series, and with the devices now making their way into users' hands, it's a good time to let everyone know what to do when things go wrong.

A hard reset basically force-reboots your iPhone, which is useful if the device is freezing, throwing up errors, or has stopped responding completely. DFU mode, on the other hand, restores an iPhone if a reset or standard Recovery Mode doesn't solve the problem you're experiencing.

DFU mode lets the device interface with iTunes, update the firmware and restore the OS without automatically installing the last downloaded version. It's useful for installing older versions of iOS if a beta persistently hangs your phone, or if a jailbreak goes bad.

Note for iPhone 6s and earlier owners: Apple has had to alter the hard reset process and DFU mode activation on the iPhone 7 because the physical-click home button has been replaced with a Force Touch-based Taptic Engine, which is rendered unresponsive if the OS isn't functioning properly. Owners of iPhone 6s/6s Plus or earlier devices should therefore consider all mentions of the "lower volume button" in the below steps to indicate when the home button should be held down instead.

➜ Click here to read more...

Following in the footsteps of Best Buy, Target has emailed customers that pre-ordered the Apple Watch Series 2 today to inform them that orders may not be delivered by the original date promised upon checkout.

Target said it is experiencing delays in receiving Apple Watch Series 2 models from Apple, adding that it will expedite all orders as inventory becomes available to get customers their new Apple Watches as soon as possible.

No updated date was provided for when orders will begin. Target will be emailing a complimentary $50 gift card to affected customers in the next 24 hours to help assuage any inconvenience or frustration the delay may have caused.

Apple Watch Series 2 launched today in the U.S. and select other countries, including pre-order deliveries and limited in-store availability at Apple and authorized resellers. The second-generation models feature improved water resistance up to 50 meters, a built-in GPS, a two-times brighter display, and a faster dual-core S2 chip.

After a string of emails about delayed shipments sent to pre-order customers of the Apple Watch Series 2 and iPhone 7 earlier in the week, Best Buy this morning has begun sending out notifications to a few users who pre-ordered the Apple Watch Series 1, informing them that the new shipping date is October 13, nearly a month after the devices launch today to the public.

Again, this is for the Series 1 , i pre ordered it since day 1. Smdh. Never again Best Buy. Funny thing is , it is letting me do a store pick up pre order and it says available for my store near me. Im thinking to just do another transaction , get it in store and cancel the other one. What a nightmare.

Instead of the gift card offer given to Series 2 and iPhone 7 customers, Best Buy is appearing to simply offer paying for "the amount of shipping" on each order, which will be applied whenever the order moves to shipping status. For u8miladoo, that amounts to $12.97 in credit.

A few Best Buy locations are said to have Apple Watch Series 2 and Series 1 stock when the stores begin opening this morning, so there's a chance online pre-order customers with pushed-back shipping dates can purchase their Apple Watch in store, and then cancel the order online when they get home. Since the stores haven't opened yet, however, no one has tried out this method to success.

Amid a global recall of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones which have been identified as a potential fire hazard, Samsung has taken the unusual step of directly addressing customers in a video message posted on its website.

In the video, Samsung America president and COO Tim Baxter admits that "we did not meet the standard of excellence that you expect and deserve".

For that, we apologise, especially to those of you who were personally affected by this. To those of you who love the Note, the most loyal customers in our Samsung family, we appreciate your passion and your patience. We take seriously our responsibility to address your concerns about safety. And we work every day to earn back your trust, through a number of unprecedented actions and with the extraordinary support of our carrier partners, suppliers, and the United States Consumer Productions Safety Commission.

Here are the facts: the CPSC has worked closely with us to develop, expedite and execute a plan to protect American consumers. We notified them of a potential defect in the original Note 7 batteries and then issued a global directive to stop sales immediately. To date, we have already exchanged a 130,000 units - a fast and meaningful start. And with the CPSC's partnership, we will continue implementing corrective steps to exchange every single Note 7 on the market.

To be clear, the Note 7 with the new battery is safe. The battery cell issue is resolved. And this finding has been affirmed by a recognized independent lithium-ion battery expert. To our Note 7 owners, if you have not yet replaced your original Note 7, please, please, power it down, and return it.

The video was timed to coincide with an official CPSC announcement of the recall that came on Thursday, which prohibits by U.S. federal law the sale of Note 7 handsets.

The directive comes 13 days after Samsung first acknowledged the magnitude of the problem and Consumer Reports urged the company to prevent all sales of the potentially dangerous phone, which has caused 55 recorded cases of property damage and 26 burn cases so far.

According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. officials say that the company has "exacerbated the situation in the way it has communicated with regulators and consumers" by offering initially "conflicting information". The video appears to be a response to that charge.

Samsung promises that replacement phones will be ready for exchange no later than next Wednesday, September 21.

Apple is quietly phasing out HomeKit hub support for the third-generation Apple TV, meaning users who update their iPhones and iPads with iOS 10 will not be able to use the remote access feature in the Home app unless they have a fourth-generation set-top box.

Since HomeKit's announcement in 2014, iOS device owners running iOS 8.1 or later have been able to communicate with their third-generation Apple TV over iCloud remote access, which enables the set-top box to relay commands to HomeKit accessories when they're away from home.

However, Apple has been confirming via its Twitter support account that once users update their devices to iOS 10, only a fourth-generation Apple TV or later is able to act as a HomeKit hub using the Home app to communicate remotely with the home automation platform. Apple has updated its support document on HomeKit remote access to reflect the change.

The news will no doubt come as a blow to owners of third-generation Apple TVs who use the feature, with the lack of HomeKit support in iOS 10 signaling another nail in the coffin for the older set-top box, which lacks native tvOS features like the App Store and Siri integration only available on the later model.

On Tuesday, Apple released tvOS 10 for the fourth-gen Apple TV, which added Siri support for managing HomeKit accessories, the ability to control HomeKit using third-party apps, and a whole host of other new features.

Update: Apple has published an updated support document to reflect the fact that the third-generation Apple TV works with remote access in iOS 10 (with the exception of HomeKit-enabled cameras), but does not support set-up of HomeKit automation or user permissions.

On iPhone, Apple has a neat way to organize your favorite contacts and even access them quickly, thanks to its Home screen widget system. In addition to adding one-tap phone calling icons, you can customize whether each contact icon will call, FaceTime, text, or email the person you tap on.

Note that the basic communication preferences stored within each contact card on your iPhone will come into play when customizing your new favorites widget, so be sure to add in any phone numbers and email addresses before you start if you haven't done so already.

Customize Favorites in the Phone App

Follow these steps to navigate through the new way you can customize favorites in the phone app.

1. Launch the Phone app on your iPhone.
2. The app should open on the Favorites tab, but if not tap to it.
3. Tap the "+" button in the top-left corner of the screen.
4. Search for the contact you want to add and tap it.
   
   

5. Choose between Message, Call, Video, or Mail as your shortcut.
6. To pick a number or email other than the one shown as default, tap the small down arrow to the right of Message, Call, Video, or Mail to pick from any number/email already stored in your phone for this contact.
7. Return to the Favorites tab and your new quick access contact will be at the bottom of your Favorites list.
8. Tap Edit in the top-right corner to delete or reprioritize contacts. You can also swipe left on a favorite in your Favorites list and tap Delete to remove it.

When organizing your new favorite contacts, be sure to note that the first four contacts will receive top billing in the favorites widget, but a total of eight can fit.

Setting Up the Favorites Widget

The favorites list's granular settings allow you to jump into the contacts you only text with, while still accommodating those people you more often speak with on the phone. The personalization doesn't stop there, however. Follow the next few steps to get your favorites widget up and running.

1. Navigate to the widgets screen by swiping right on your iPhone's main Home screen, Notification Center, or Lock screen.
2. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of your widgets and tap Edit.
3. Find Favorites and tap the small green plus button to add it to your widgets.
   
   

4. Use the triple bar or "hamburger" icon on the right side of the screen to move favorites further up or down the list.
5. Hit Done to save your changes.
6. You'll see your favorite contacts as a widget, with the top four contacts getting premium placement.
7. Tap the little chevron in the top-right corner of the widget to expand it for a total of eight contacts.

Since the favorites widget can show up to eight contacts, you can return to the phone app to add and rearrange your most important friends, family members, and co-workers to see the changes reflected in the widget.

Your customization options include: adding multiple methods of communication for one person (all four if you contact one person multiple ways frequently), removing the default phone call options for message-focused contacts, and setting your top four most used contacts to save room on the widgets screen, without needing to use the "Show More" option.

iFixit has published a work-in-progress Apple Watch Series 2 teardown that reveals a 273 mAh battery in the 38mm model, which is 33% larger than the 205 mAh battery in the original 38mm Apple Watch. However, battery life is equal to Series 1 models, likely because of the additions of a GPS and brighter display.

The teardown says the Apple Watch Series 2's adhesive is "much stronger" than the original Apple Watch, and iFixit assumes this is related to improved water resistance. It also appears that Apple has added a larger metal shield next to the Digital Crown, which is also likely an improved waterproofing measure.

Apple Watch Series 2 is marketed as swimproof, with an improved water resistance rating of up to 50 meters that makes it safe to use while swimming, showering, fishing, washing hands, jogging in the rain, and similar shallow water activities. Apple does not recommend scuba diving, waterskiing, or other high-velocity water activities.

The teardown also revealed the Apple Watch's new S2 chip, larger Taptic Engine for haptic feedback, new antenna module with a GPS, the addition of a second microphone, and a redesigned speaker that is designed to fill with water, then vibrate to pump excess water from the body of the speaker.