Apple's AirPods are in stock today on Best Buy's website, with a free 2-day shipping option placing the wireless headphones to arrive later this week for customers in the United States. Faster one-day alternatives are available for around $20.
Users who purchase on Best Buy's website will also get free in-store setup and advice from Geek Squad.
AirPods have had a six-week shipping estimate on Apple.com since the launch last December, and Apple has yet to give any indication when the headphones might be available sooner for customers.
Update: Best Buy is no longer showing immediate shipping on AirPods. New orders are estimated to ship in approximately two weeks, which is still sooner than Apple's six-week estimate, but may be less certain.
Disclaimer: MacRumors.com is an affiliate partner with Best Buy and may get paid if you click one of the above links and make a purchase.
TD Canada Trust recently announced that the Apple Financial Services program has been discontinued for individuals in Canada.
Canadians with an Apple Financial Services credit card issued by TD will no longer be able to charge purchases to the account as of July 26.
Through the program, any approved customer in Canada could receive three months of same-as-cash or no-interest financing on Apple Online Store purchases of $750 or more. The program was not valid for in-store purchases.
Apple removed the "consumer" section of the financing page on its Canadian website about a month ago, signaling the entire program is discontinued. Apple continues to offer financing to businesses and educational institutions in Canada.
The newest smartphone ratings from Consumer Reports have been shared this week, and the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ have beaten out its smartphone competitors, including Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, in categories related to design, battery life, camera, and more. Apple's current generation of iPhone (launched September 2016) is older than the Galaxy S8 family (launched April 2017), so it makes sense that Consumer Reports' ratings would end up favoring the newer devices.
Still, this week's report has some interesting points to make about why the Galaxy S8+ in particular received top marks, and how the upcoming "iPhone 8," as well as the "iPhone 7s" and "iPhone 7s Plus," might address the iPhone 7's shortcomings. Namely, Consumer Reports points out that the Galaxy S8 devices "have no bezels on the side," and only limited bars at the top and bottom. The testers particularly liked the S8's 5.8-inch screen.
The look of the S8 and S8+ is minimalist, modern, and elegant—and the design allows for a bigger screen in the same-size device.
Those numbers may not sound terribly different, but when you hold either phone in your hand, it feels novel: easy to grasp even if you have a small grip, but with lots of screen real estate. The S8 is 5.8 inches diagonally (that's the way screens are measured), while the S8+ is 6.2 inches.
Richard Fisco, Consumer Reports' lead phone tester, said that the S8 is comfortable to hold, while pointing out that one-handed operation becomes difficult on the devices, particularly the S8+'s 6.2-inch display. Even though the fingerprint scanner on the back of the S8 worked well, the report also described it as "awkwardly placed," explaining that they had to constantly poke around to find it and normally smudged the camera lens while doing so.
Following last year's Galaxy Note7 battery-related issues, Consumer Reports now described the newest Galaxy smartphones as being more reliable and having "some of the best smartphone battery life we've seen," throughout a range of tests related to Wi-Fi, cellular, and talk-time usage. The testers explained that the beefier battery life on the S8+ is the main reason why the larger phone ranks above the smaller S8.
In terms of the camera, Consumer Reports said that the S8's photo-taking abilities produce colors that are rich even in low-light environments, and particularly excels in reducing the over-sharpening produced by the camera. The site also called out the iPhone 7 in this section, and its perceived advantage over the S8 in this category for having a dual rear-facing camera system. Despite the S8 and S8+ lacking this kind of set-up, Consumer Reports doesn't think the Samsung phones are at a disadvantage at all.
Finally, a few top-end cameras, including the iPhone 7 Plus and the LG G6, have dual rear-facing cameras, to enhance either zoom or wide-angle photography. The Samsung phones haven't gone that route yet—and we don't think they suffer for it.
Consumer Reports pointed towards water resistance as an advantage of the S8 line -- up to at least 5 feet of water for around 30 minutes -- while one major disappointment was found in Samsung's smart assistant Bixby. The AI helper hasn't rolled out wide yet, so it makes sense that the early version tested might have been unreliable, with the testers saying that Bixby "just isn't there yet."
Although the Galaxy S8 and S8+ might have won over iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in these ratings, essentially all of the categories are related to improvements that Apple is rumored to be adding into the 2017 line of iPhones. For Apple's tablet devices, a reduction of bezels and bigger display area have already been seen in the newest iPad Pros that just launched last week during WWDC.
One of the cons related to the Galaxy S8 and S8+ is the price of Samsung's latest smartphones, starting at around $750 and $850 for 64GB carrier unlocked models, respectively. The iPhone 8 isn't expected to beat Samsung in this category, with rumors pointing towards a premium-priced iPhone that could cost more than $1,000. Some analysts disagree with that price and suggest an iPhone 8 that will have competitive pricing with the Galaxy S8+, potentially selling a 64GB iPhone 8 for $850 to $900 and a higher-end 256GB model for $950 to $1,000.
iFixit has published a 10.5-inch iPad Pro teardown that provides a closer look at the tablet's internal design.
For the most part, the inside of an 10.5-inch iPad Pro looks similar to the 9.7-inch model it replaced, with only a few minor differences.
In the Wi-Fi version, for example, iFixit discovered some mysterious plastic blocks where the LTE antennas might be found in cellular models. It speculates the blocks are there to add support to the display assembly.
In the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, Apple has affixed the display cables down the center of the device, which puts them out of harm's way when prying open the display. The display cable bracket is affixed with standard Phillips screws.
The teardown confirms the 10.5-inch iPad Pro has 4GB of 1600MHz LPDDR4 RAM from Micron Technology, with flash storage supplied by Toshiba, which is currently selling its NAND memory division that produces those chips.
iFixit awarded the 10.5-inch iPad Pro a very low repairability score of 2 out of 10 due to Apple's continued use of strong adhesives for the display, logic board, speakers, ribbon cables, and other components.
Apple only announced its augmented reality developer platform ARKit last week at the Worldwide Developers Conference, but some video clips have already been posted online by developers eager to showcase the impressive potential of the software.
ARKit enables iPhones and iPads running iOS 11 to superimpose computer-generated graphics over the real world, allowing developers to take their apps beyond the screen and into the user's environment.
Apple ARKit running Unity and Overwatch Widowmaker, by Cody Brown
By using the built-in camera, processors, and motion sensors found in iOS devices, virtual content appears on top of real-world scenes, and users don't need any special equipment to enjoy them because ARKit does the heavy lifting.
One developer who spoke to Motherboard said Apple had improved upon existing AR solutions like Hololens and Google Tango by making the ARKit framework elegant and simple to use.
"The most impressive aspect of ARKit is that it tends to just work," said Cody Brown, founder of virtual reality production studio IRL, in an online interview with Motherboard. "Other AR software often requires some sort of physical tracking mechanism (like a QR code), which inevitably becomes a major piece of friction if you are trying to get anyone to use this stuff.
"Another incredible aspect of ARKit is how it handles lighting adjustments in real time, continued Brown. "I can only imagine the math and magic underneath this tech to make it work."
Impressed with how well ARKit maps objects to your environment. And easy to get started! pic.twitter.com/0am5dXlXui
— Kyle Russell (@kylebrussell) June 6, 2017
During its keynote at WWDC, Apple demoed a range of effects that ARKit is capable of. One demo by Wingnut Studios wowed the audience with a tabletop sci-fi raider assault. Another showed a user placing a steaming digital coffee mug and a lamp on a table and moving the objects around to show off the tracking and shadow effects.
Apple has invested heavily in augmented reality in recent years, making several VR/AR company acquisitions including PrimeSense, FaceShift, and Metaio. Apple's much-anticipated "iPhone 8", which is expected to be announced in September, is rumored to have 3D sensing capabilities, with augmented reality being one possible use for the technology.
ARKit will come to compatible devices as part of iOS 11, which Apple is set to release in the fall.
Mozilla yesterday announced the release of Firefox 54 web browser with new multi-process architecture that promises to make browsing with multiple tabs open faster and more stable, especially on computers with 8GB of memory or less.
With the latest release, Firefox uses up to four processes to run web page content across all open tabs. This means that a heavy, complex web page in one tab has a much lower impact on the responsiveness and speed of other tabs, according to Mozilla:
The old Firefox used a single process to run all the tabs in a browser. Modern browsers split the load into several independent processes. We named our project to split Firefox into multiple processes 'Electrolysis' (or E10s) after the chemical process that divides water into its core elements. E10s is the largest change to Firefox code in our history. Besides running faster and crashing less, E10S makes websites feel more smooth. Even busy pages, like Facebook newsfeeds, spool out smoothly and cleanly.
In Mozilla's own tests comparing memory usage for various browsers, it claimed that Firefox used significantly less RAM in macOS than both Safari and Chrome. The group has published an article on Medium explaining how the new E10s architecture works.
In one section titled "Why Chrome gets too hot when Firefox does not", Mozilla writes that Chrome's method of creating separate processes for each open tab can end up with each one consuming hundreds of megabytes of RAM, whereas Firefox reuses processes and content engines to limit memory usage.
By default, Firefox now creates up to 4 separate processes for web page content. So, your first 4 tabs each use those 4 processes, and additional tabs run using threads within those processes. Multiple tabs within a process share the browser engine that already exists in memory, instead of each creating their own.
Mozilla claims that Firefox's considerate memory usage means users with 8GB of memory or less can browse the web without the browser hogging resources, allowing them to do other things on their computer. Meanwhile, users with more than 8GB of RAM can bump up the number of content processes that Firefox uses to make it even faster.
To change the number of content processes Firefox uses, enter about:config in your address bar, and adjust the number for the dom.ipc.processCount setting (we'll be exposing a visible preference for this in an upcoming release).
Users can test out the claims by downloading Firefox 54 for free from the Mozilla website.
The first orders for the new 10.5-inch iPad Pro, which was introduced at the Worldwide Developers Conference last week, started arriving to customers today, and the new tablet, along with its larger 12.9-inch sibling, became available for purchase in Apple retail stores this morning.
With the 10.5-inch iPad Pro out in the wild, our videographer Matt was able to get his hands on one, and he spent the day testing it out and making a video that shows off all of the new features.
The 10.5-inch iPad Pro is slightly larger than the 9.7-inch iPad Pro it replaces, but the size and weight difference is hardly noticeable, especially when you take in the much larger display. Apple was able to introduce a 20 percent larger display by shrinking the iPad's bezels by 40 percent.
The iPad's display has an awesome new feature -- ProMotion. ProMotion introduces a 120Hz display refresh rate, which brings smoother, more responsive animations and motion response. For example, there's a dramatic difference when you scroll. It's smooth enough that you can read the text that's scrolling by.
ProMotion also allows for a better experience with the Apple Pencil, bringing 20ms latency, and it can dynamically adjust the refresh rate to save battery when the higher refresh rate isn't needed. The display also supports P3 wide color gamut, True Tone for auto white balancing, and it is 50 percent brighter at 600 nits.
Inside, there's an A10X Fusion chip, so it's incredibly fast, even compared to the speedy 9.7-inch iPad Pro with an A9X Fusion chip, and it uses the 12-megapixel iPhone 7 camera. If you're someone who likes to take photos with an iPad, the image quality here is impressive. There's also a 7-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies and FaceTime. Second-generation Touch ID, four speakers, USB 3 transfer speeds, and fast charging, are all included features. Even with the much faster processor and the brighter display, the iPad Pro continues to get up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge.
The 10.5-inch iPad Pro isn't cheap, though, with an asking price of $649 for the 64GB model. 256GB of storage is available for $749, and 512GB of storage is priced at $949. Cellular connectivity is also available for a $130 premium.
All of the features in the 10.5-inch iPad Pro are also built into the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro, so there's feature parity between the two models for the first time. Pricing on the larger-screened 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at $799.
Sprint today announced that customers of Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, or any other postpaid carrier who bring their eligible iPhone or Android-based smartphone to Sprint will receive one free year of unlimited talk, text, and 4G LTE data. The offer is available for up to five lines per new account opened.
The term "unlimited" has some limitations, including a max of 1080p for streaming video, 1.5 Mbps for streaming music, and 8 Mbps for games. Data de-prioritization applies during times of congestion, and customers that exceed 23GB of data in any billing cycle may be throttled until the next billing cycle.
Unlimited talk includes long distance calls within the United States and Sprint Global Roaming, which includes 2G data and text messaging in over 165 countries for no charge, plus calling for $0.20 per minute. 10GB of high-speed data per line is included to use toward Personal Hotspot, VPN, and Peer-2-Peer usage.
Eligible smartphones must be unlocked and compatible with Sprint's network and SIM card, including the following iPhone models. An asterisk indicates only the Verizon model of that particular iPhone works on Sprint due to CDMA compatibility. Tablets and Personal Hotspot devices are ineligible.
iPhone 5c*
iPhone 5s*
iPhone 6
iPhone 6 Plus
iPhone 6s
iPhone 6s Plus
iPhone 7*
iPhone 7 Plus*
iPhone SE
As to be expected, the offer has some fine print, but there really are no significant catches or anything that should be considered a deal breaker.
New customers only: The offer is not available to customers that already have an active Sprint account.
No annual contract: After July 31, 2018, the free plan will convert to Sprint's standard Unlimited Freedom plan starting at $60 per month with AutoPay. Customers don't appear to be under any obligation to continue paying for that plan and may cancel after the first year of free service if desired.
Keep the same phone number: Port-in from postpaid carrier required.
SIM card purchase required: $2.99 + $10 shipping + taxes online. Also available at Sprint stores. SIM card must be activated prior to port-in.
Activation fee rebated: A $30 activation fee will appear on the first bill and an equal credit will appear within 2 bills.
AutoPay and eBilling required: If AutoPay and/or eBill are removed, up to a $7.99 per month charge will apply.
Taxes and fees: A standard $1.99 admin fee, $0.40 regulatory fee, state and local taxes, and other surcharges may apply each month.
No device upgrade allowed during first 120 days: Any upgrades prior to October 1, 2017 will require a plan change to Unlimited Freedom, and the customer will lose the remaining free months in his or her year of free service.
Apple today released updates for its suite of iWork apps on iOS and Mac, introducing new features for Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. All of the apps have access to a new library that includes more than 500 professionally drawn shapes, and there's a new feature that allows users to reply to comments and join threaded conversations.
Apple is also introducing new auto-correction and text replacement options that are designed to save users time when typing, and these new features are available in Keynote, Pages, and Numbers across both iOS and Mac.
Pages for iOS and Mac now support linked text boxes, and there's a feature allowing users to export documents as fixed layout ePub books. When collaborating with other users on a document, there are new options for changing margins, headers, footers, and paper size in both apps, and in Pages for iOS specifically, there's a new page thumbnail view for better navigation.
In Pages for Mac, Stock and Currency functions will now return data from the previous market day's close.
The same Stock and Currency update is coming to Keynote for Mac, and there's also a new option to edit notes while displaying slides in Light Table view. Also new to the Mac version of Keynote are new pan and zoom options. Light Table view is expanding to Keynote for iOS, and there's an option to edit presenter notes when viewing slides.
Both versions of Numbers are being updated with support for print preview when working on collaborative spreadsheets, and the Insert Stock Quote feature and the Stock and Currency functions now use data from the previous market day's close.
All of Apple's iWork apps are available from the iOS App Store and Mac App Store for free. The apps have been fully free for download since April of 2017.
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.6 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the second 10.12.6 beta and a month after introducing macOS Sierra 10.12.5.
macOS Sierra 10.12.6 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.
No significant features or notable bug fixes were found in the first two macOS Sierra 10.12.6 betas, and because Apple does not provide beta release notes, we may not know what's included in the update until it sees a public release.
macOS Sierra 10.12.6 is likely to be one of the final updates to the Sierra operating system as Apple transitions to macOS High Sierra, which was introduced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
Update: The third beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.6 is also available for public beta testers.
tvOS 10.2.2 is only available for the fourth-generation Apple TV. Registered developers can download the update by connecting the Apple TV to a computer with a USB-C cable and installing the beta software using iTunes.
Due to the installation requirements, tvOS betas are only available for developers, so tvOS 10.2.2 will not be publicly available until the finalized version of the software is released.
No major feature changes or bug fixes were discovered in the first two betas of tvOS 10.2.2, and it appears to focus on minor under-the-hood improvements and security enhancements.
tvOS 10.2.2 will be one of the last updates to the tvOS 10 operating system as Apple is already working on the next-generation version of tvOS, tvOS 11.
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 3.2.3 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the second watchOS 3.2.3 beta and a month after releasing watchOS 3.2.2.
Registered developers can download the watchOS 3.2.3 update through the Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software Update. For the beta to be installed, the Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it has to be in range of the iPhone.
Apple restricts watchOS betas to developers because there’s no way to downgrade software on an Apple Watch. Non-developers will need to wait for the public release to get the update.
No notable features or bug fixes were discovered in the first two betas of watchOS 3.2.3, suggesting the update focuses primarily on under-the-hood improvements.
watchOS 3.2.3 is likely to be one of the last updates to the watchOS 3 operating system, as Apple has shifted its focus to the next-generation version of watchOS, watchOS 4.
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming iOS 10.3.3 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the second beta and a month after the release of iOS 10.3.2, a minor bug fix update.
Registered developers can download the third iOS 10.3.3 beta from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air with the proper configuration profile installed.
No significant features or notable bug fixes were found in the first two betas, suggesting iOS 10.3.3 is an update that's minor in scale and designed to introduce security improvements and bug fixes. It does, however, include new wallpapers for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
iOS 10.3.3 is likely to be one of the last updates to iOS 10 as Apple starts shifting its full focus to iOS 11. The first beta of iOS 11 was released to developers on June 5 following Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote.
Update: The third beta of iOS 10.3.3 is also available for public beta testers.
At E3 this week, Sony announced a new social multiplayer experience for its PlayStation 4 console called "PlayLink," which will use iOS and Android devices as extensions of gameplay happening on the console. The games offered through PlayLink are designed to be played in a group setting, and will be available for purchase through the PS4's PlayStation Store.
Introducing PlayLink, a brand new initiative for PlayStation that aims to get the whole world playing games. Supports iOS and Android. pic.twitter.com/95ewrK9yBy
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) June 13, 2017
To join in on the game, users will be able to download a free PlayLink companion app, which will then sync with the PS4 system and become a "versatile controller" for the game. Announced games include narrative-driven thriller Hidden Agenda, trivia party Knowledge is Power, mini-game collection Frantics, karaoke competition SingStar Celebration, and personalized comedy quiz show That's You!
The games use a variety of the iPhone's features, including taking selfies, doodling on images, swiping through potential answers, and more. Other games have included communication between consoles and iPhones in the past, like the Jackbox games, but this is Sony's first attempt to launch a suite of titles specifically controlled by smartphones.
PlayLink titles are designed to be played in a group setting, allowing for a truly fun and dynamic experience. The collection of PlayLink games vary from gritty crime thrillers to quick-fire quizzes. If you have a smartphone or tablet with the free companion app installed and your PS4 hooked up to a TV, you’re already set.
PlayLink games turn your smartphone or tablet into a versatile controller – you can swipe, pinch, drag, tilt, rotate or even snap selfies and draw crafty doodles, depending on the game. No matter which title you choose from our PlayLink collection, it’s guaranteed to be a slick pick-up-and-play experience.
Sony gave detailed information on Supermassive Games' Hidden Agenda, which tasks up to six friends with navigating a gritty crime drama by guiding a detective and a district attorney through dangerous traps left behind by a serial killer called "The Trapper." Similar to Supermassive's PS4 game Until Dawn, players will have to use quick-thinking decision making to help each character survive to the end of the story, but a voting mechanic will weigh the characters' decisions toward whichever option receives the most votes.
Additionally, each player will get a hidden agenda at the start of the game, requiring them to ensure that they reach a private goal, even if it goes against the group's overall plan. No release date for each game was yet given, but Sony will offer That's You! as a free download for all PlayStation Plus subscribers beginning July 4. Sony said that more PlayLink games will come from more studios following the initial launch.
Mobile devices have become increasingly important for companies with their own video game hardware, with Sony planning to launch more than five smartphone games by March 2018, focusing on Japan and other Asian countries first.
June 29 will mark ten years since the original iPhone went on sale in the United States. And just days before the anniversary, a new book detailing the smartphone's so-called "secret history" is set to be released.
The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone, by technology journalist Brian Merchant, reflects on how the iPhone transformed the world and turned Apple into the most valuable company ever.
An excerpt of the book, which is said to contain exclusive interviews with the engineers, inventors, and developers who guided every stage of the iPhone's creation, has been published on The Verge today:
If you worked at Apple in the mid-2000s, you might have noticed a strange phenomenon afoot: people were disappearing.
It happened slowly at first. One day there’d be an empty chair where a star engineer used to sit. A key member of the team, gone. Nobody could tell you exactly where they went.
“I had been hearing rumblings about, well, it was unclear what was being built, but it was clear that a lot of the best engineers from the best teams had been slurped over to this mysterious team,” says Evan Doll, who was then a software engineer at Apple…
The book can be pre-ordered for $18.50 on Amazon in hardcover format ahead of its release on June 20. It's also available to pre-order on the iBooks Store for $14.99 in digital format for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Google has hired veteran chip architect Manu Gulati, who worked at Apple for the past eight years, according to Variety.
Gulati is now a Lead SOC Architect at Google, where he began in May, according to his recently updated LinkedIn profile.
Gulati was "instrumental" to the company's efforts to build custom chips for the iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV, according to the report.
Apple's custom silicon ranges from the single-core A4 chip in the original iPad and iPhone 4 to the six-core A10X Fusion chip in the new 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
At Google, his expertise is expected to help the Mountain View company design custom chips for its own Pixel smartphones.
Pixel smartphones are currently powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 821 processor, which is the same chip used in several other flagship Android smartphones. But reports claim Google plans to build its own chips, as it takes on the iPhone more directly in the premium smartphone category.
Gulati is listed as an inventor on over a dozen Apple patents related to mobile processors and integrated circuity. He has over 20 years of industry experience, including lengthy stints at AMD and Broadcom.
Two new pieces of malicious software aimed at Mac computers have been discovered on the Dark Web, offered through Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) and Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) portals and estimated to have been up for around the past three weeks, beginning May 25. Originally spotted by Bleeping Computer, the two portals offer software called "MacSpy" and "MacRansom" as services for potential buyers, as well as any future support that may be needed for the malware (via Motherboard).
Both portals are the work of the same malware developer, but security firms Fortinet and AlienVault described the person behind the scheme as an "inexperienced coder," pointing towards issues like the lack of digitally signed files, meaning the security measures on a standard installation of macOS would still be alerted to the malware. The researchers called MacSpy the "better-coded tool," but said MacRansom was more dangerous since it "has the potential to permanently wreck user files," if users of malicious intent ever wielded it.
Thankfully, the process by which crooks would have to go about getting either MacSpy or MacRansom will likely prevent either piece of malware from spreading. Both portals are described as "closed" offerings, meaning anyone wanting to actually purchase the services off the Dark Web would have to contact the author to receive demo packages, and then directly negotiate payment. As such, "none of these two appear to be part of any active distribution campaigns."
All the same, as Mac-focused security researcher Patrick Wardle told Motherboard, the increasing intent of cyber criminals to infect Apple's computers is "kind of a milestone." Security reporter Ruben Dodge said that macOS and iOS have so many "less technical people" using the software that it's simply too "ripe" of a target for criminals not to take notice. Although MacRansom and MacSpy aren't expected to take off in that way, Dodge said "it's only a matter of time" before another piece of malware or ransomware does.
Ruben Dodge: "There's an ideological shift for Mac and iPhone as being seen as the more friendly OS for older people. [...] It is a market that will be targeted. There are too many less technical people using it not to make it a 'ripe' target for threat actors."
Patrick Wardle: "Apple continues to improve the security of them," Wardle said. "But Mac users should just be cautions, should not be not be overconfident, and should not assume that just because they're using a Mac they're inherently safe."
Malware attacks on Mac computers were up 744 percent in 2016, although that percentage was largely weighted due to adware bundling in software on MacBooks and iMacs, which is far less alarming than any potential wide-scale malware purchased by a criminal on the Dark Web. Still, Bleeping Computer pointed out in its report that Mac ransomware in particular -- which holds user data ransom until a fee is paid -- has been steadilygrowing over the past year.
The number of Macs has grown, and so has the number of Mac-targeting malware. The launch of MaaS portals, even if hard to use and engage with as MacSpy and MacRansom, will drive more crooks towards the Mac userbase, and will lower the entry bar for some individuals and groups that had no previous experience with creating Mac malware.
As a rule of thumb, in order to stay safe users should only download apps and programs from Apple's own Mac App Store, and if an app is available only on a third-party website the developer behind the software should be trusted. Although Apple has long advertised the Mac as a truly anti-virus and anti-malware machine, Wardle reminds Apple fans to remain vigilant online: "Mac users...should not be overconfident, and should not assume that just because they're using a Mac they're inherently safe."
Apple today issued a $1 billion green bond to fund renewable energy generation, according to Bloomberg.
Apple reportedly said it plans to use the proceeds to finance projects involving renewable energy resources and energy efficiency, including advancing its goal of achieving a closed-loop supply chain, through which products are made using only renewable resources and recycled material.
By turning to the debt market, Apple is able to fund its sustainability initiatives without tapping into its offshore cash reserves. Those dollars would be subjected to a 35 percent corporate tax rate if they were repatriated in the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump has reportedly proposed offering a one-time tax holiday where companies like Apple can repatriate large amounts of foreign cash at a reduced tax rate of between 10 and 15 percent. But, as of this month, the relevant corporate tax laws have yet to be reformed in the country.
Apple's bond offering comes just two weeks after Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord, an agreement signed by over 140 countries that vow to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to mitigate climate change. Apple CEO Tim Cook said Trump's decision was "wrong for our planet."
An excerpt of Cook's internal memo to Apple employees:
Climate change is real and we all share a responsibility to fight it. I want to reassure you that today's developments will have no impact on Apple's efforts to protect the environment. We power nearly all of our operations with renewable energy, which we believe is an example of something that's good for our planet and makes good business sense as well.
Apple's preliminary prospectus supplement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission today confirms the bonds will mature in 2027. The sale was arranged by Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and J.P. Morgan.
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.
Mozilla yesterday 
Google has hired veteran chip architect Manu Gulati, who worked at Apple for the past eight years, according to 
