MacRumors

The City of Cupertino, where Apple is building its spaceship-shaped second campus, has today shared an update on the progress of the campus along with a new aerial photo.

Construction continues at a rapid pace, with workers on site throughout the weekday and weekend. Apple appears to have completed much of the foundation of the main circular building and concrete mixers have been on site for the last several weeks. Much of the construction continues to be hidden from view at street level, but heavy construction equipment is visible.

Traffic around the area of the campus remains congested, as several roads continue to be shut down. Pruneridge Avenue is permanently closed, and there have been several lane reductions on Wolfe Road and Homestead Road, which surround the campus.

Along with a new aerial photo shared by the city, a drone captured new footage of the building site over the weekend, giving a clearer picture of the ongoing construction. As seen in the video, several sections of the circular foundation are covered with concrete.

According to a general project schedule, Apple plans to have street utilities and demolition complete by the end of the year, with earthwork continuing on until Q2 2015 and construction on the building itself lasting until the end of 2016.

Apple's completed campus, located in close proximity to the company's existing Infinite Loop campus, will feature the iconic 2.8 million square foot ring-shaped main building, an underground parking facility capable of accommodating 2,400 cars, a 100,000 square foot fitness center, and a 120,000 square foot auditorium.

eBay seller kimberlyk1018 claims to have received a prototype iPhone 6 by accident and is auctioning the device with bids reaching over $89,000 since the auction's posting late last week. While the high bids are undoubdtedly not genuine, the auction is obviously attracting a significant amount of attention.

According to a rather suspect story from the auction description, the device supposedly is a prototype 64 GB iPhone 6 that was shipped to the seller from Verizon Wireless.

Apple does NOT let these phones out of their possession yet I was accidentally sent one upon renewing my contract. As you can see from the photos, iOS8 has not been placed on this device, rather it is in the true developer mode. There are no FCC markings on the rear of the device or a model number. This is the real deal!!! The lightening port is red which is a sure sign of a prototype.

The authenticity of the device and the story behind it cannot be verified, but several photos that accompany the listing suggest it is not a consumer device.

The device apparently does not include iOS 8, instead shipping with several development and testing apps that are similar to those seen on previously leaked prototypes. It also ships with a red-bordered Lightning port and lacks the FCC regulatory information that appears on all consumer iPhone models.

If authentic, this unit joins several previous prototypes that have made their way from Apple to eBay's auction listings. Most of these earlier prototypes were quickly removed from the auction website, likely at Apple's request.

GT Advanced Technolgies, Apple's partner in a sapphire production facility in Arizona, today announced that it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it seeks to reorganize its businesses. The company remains positive that it will continue to be able to meet its obligations during this time of transition.

GT indicated that as of September 29, 2014 it had approximately $85 million of cash. In addition, it is now seeking debtor-in-possession financing, which, once obtained, would provide the company with an immediate source of additional funds. These funding sources will enable GT to satisfy the customary obligations associated with the daily operation of its business, including the timely payment of employee wages and other obligations. [...]

"GT has a strong and fundamentally sound underlying business," said Tom Gutierrez, president and chief executive officer of GT. "Today's filing does not mean we are going out of business; rather, it provides us with the opportunity to continue to execute our business plan on a stronger footing, maintain operations of our diversified business, and improve our balance sheet.

"We are convinced that the rehabilitative process of chapter 11 is the best way to reorganize, protect our company and provide a path to our future success. We remain committed to our roots in innovation and our diversification strategy. We plan to continue to operate as a technology leader across our core set of businesses."

GT's finances have taken a significant hit as it has retooled to support its partnership with Apple, turning its focus to ramping up sapphire production for Apple rather than selling furnaces to other companies. Still, with Apple making a series of pre-payments to GT to help fund the new initiative, the circumstances surrounding the bankruptcy filing are not yet clear.

Apple had been widely expected to include sapphire display covers on at least some iPhone 6 models, but the development did not come to pass. With Apple having no commitment to purchase sapphire from GT, it is possible that an unexpected decision by Apple to omit sapphire from the device put GT into a precarious financial position. Apple is planning to use sapphire on some versions of its upcoming Apple Watch, but it is unclear whether it is indeed sourcing sapphire from GT for the product, and if so, whether the quantities involved would be enough to support GT's investments thus far in the area.

Update 7:47 AM: GT's stock, which was halted prior to the announcement, has resumed trading and is currently down 90 percent.

At its Adobe MAX conference today, Adobe is announcing updates for nearly all of its iOS apps, bringing new features that emphasize the creation of shapes and brushes along with enhanced syncing with the company's Creative Cloud services. The updates come alongside a new Creative SDK public beta to allow developers to build mobile apps connecting to Creative Cloud, as well as a number of enhancements to the core Creative Cloud apps.

Building on its existing Adobe Kuler app, which allows users to create color palettes using any photo and which is now being rebranded Adobe Color CC, the company is now rolling out two additional "Capture" apps for mobile: Adobe Brush CC, which turns photos into brushes for use throughout Photoshop and Illustrator apps, and Adobe Shape CC, which automatically converts high-contrast photos of objects into vector art for use in Illustrator.

Meanwhile, the newest version of Adobe Photoshop Mix is now a universal app for both iPad and iPhone, while Adobe Photoshop Sketch brings new acrylic and pastel brushes and integration with brush sets created in Adobe Brush CC.

Adobe Illustrator Line now allows users to utilize content from the Creative Cloud Market and includes new smart spacing and grid tools. Adobe Lightroom for iOS now allows specified users to comment on photos shared through Lightroom's web interface, and includes additional language support in addition to the ability to sync GPS information from the iPhone with Lightroom desktop.

Finally, Adobe Premiere Clip lets users edit video shot on an iPhone or iPad right from the device, or send to the full Premiere Pro CC for more advanced editing.

Core Creative Cloud apps are also seeing a number of updates today, including new 3D printing support for Photoshop CC, a new Curvature tool for Illustrator CC, interactive EPUB support for In Design CC, SVG and Synchronized Text support for Muse CC, and 4K/Ultra HD viewing support for Premiere Pro CC.

All of Adobe's updated iOS apps require a free membership to Adobe Creative Cloud, while desktop apps like Adobe Photoshop CC and Adobe Illustrator CC require separate subscriptions. Download links for all of the apps can be found below, while the full set of updates for Creative Cloud are expected to be available to members by the end of the day.

- Adobe Brush CC [Direct Link]
- Adobe Shape CC [Direct Link]
- Adobe Color CC [Direct Link]

- Adobe Photoshop Sketch [Direct Link]
- Adobe Photoshop Mix [Direct Link]
- Adobe Lightroom for iPad [Direct Link]
- Adobe Lightroom for iPhone [Direct Link]

- Adobe Illustrator Draw [Direct Link]
- Adobe Illustrator Line [Direct Link]

- Adobe Premiere Clip [Direct Link]

Last week, Russian anti-virus firm Doctor Web disclosed a newly discovered piece of OS X malware known as Mac.BackDoor.iWorm that at the time had affected roughly 17,000 machines around the world. While the exact mechanism of infection was unclear, an interesting twist to the story involves compromised machines running search queries on Reddit to obtain instructions about which command and control servers should be used to manage the botnet.

It is worth mentioning that in order to acquire a control server address list, the bot uses the search service at reddit.com, and -- as a search query -- specifies hexadecimal values of the first 8 bytes of the MD5 hash of the current date. The reddit.com search returns a web page containing a list of botnet C&C servers and ports published by criminals in comments to the post minecraftserverlists under the account vtnhiaovyd.

Once connected to a command and control server, the backdoor opened by the malware on the user's system can receive instructions to perform a variety of tasks, from stealing sensitive information to receiving or spreading additional malware.

In an effort to address the threat, Apple has now updated its "Xprotect" anti-malware system to recognize two different variants of the iWorm malware and prevent them from being installed on users' machines.

First introduced with OS X Snow Leopard, Xprotect is a rudimentary anti-malware system that recognizes and alerts users to the presence of various types of malware. Given the relative rarity of malware targeting OS X, the malware definitions are updated infrequently, although users' machines automatically check for updates on a daily basis. Apple also uses the Xprotect system on occasion to enforce minimum version requirements for plug-ins such as Flash Player and Java, forcing users to upgrade from older versions known to carry significant security risks.

Thanks to a new marketing deal with Bose, NFL players will no longer be allowed to wear Apple's line of Beats headphones around television cameras, according to Re/code. The restriction is in place for TV interviews during training camp, practice sessions and game day, running from before the game or event through 90 minutes after play has ended.

Many professional athletes have sponsorship deals with Beats, with the headphones frequently spotted around the necks of players both before and after games. Beats accounts for more than 60 percent of the premium headphone market.

"Over the last few years athletes have written Beats into their DNA as part of the pre-game ritual," a Beats spokesperson said. "Music can have a significant positive effect on an athlete’s focus and mental preparedness and has become as important to performance as any other piece of equipment."

Beats, which has seen significant success with its athlete endorsements, ran ads last year with NFL stars Colin Kaepernick and Richard Sherman tuning out opposing fans with Beats noise-canceling headphones.

Something similar happened during the World Cup when headphone sponsor Sony banned Beats from stadiums, but not from outside the arenas where players frequently used their preferred headphones. Many advertising industry experts said Beats still won the day with its star-studded "The Game Before The Game" video, portions of which ran repeatedly during World Cup commercial breaks.

Ahead of the third anniversary of Steve Jobs' passing, Apple CEO Tim Cook has sent a memo to Apple employees (via iClarified), asking them to take some time to remember the "many ways Steve made our world better."

Team,

Sunday will mark the third anniversary of Steve's passing. I'm sure that many of you will be thinking of him on that day, as I know I will.

I hope you'll take a moment to appreciate the many ways Steve made our world better. Children learn in new ways thanks to the products he dreamed up. The most creative people on earth use them to compose symphonies and pop songs, and write everything from novels to poetry to text messages. Steve's life's work produced the canvas on which artists now create masterpieces.

Steve's vision extended far beyond the years he was alive, and the values on which he built Apple will always be with us. Many of the ideas and projects we're working on today got started after he died, but his influence on them -- and on all of us -- is unmistakeable.

Enjoy your weekend, and thanks for helping carry Steve's legacy into the future.

Tim

Though Steve Jobs passed away three years ago on October 5, 2011, the former Apple CEO has continued to have a major impact on the company. His fourth floor office has remained untouched since his death, and Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken several opportunities during recent interviews to emphasize Jobs' influence on the company's direction and on the development of new products.

"His spirit will always be the foundation of the company," Cook said in an interview with Charlie Rose, where he said that Steve will always be in his heart. "He is deep in Apple's DNA."

Chinese model Liu Wen may be involved in a fashion-oriented advertising campaign for the Apple Watch, according to an image that she recently shared on Instagram. In a photo that shows her trying on the Apple Watch at Parisian fashion boutique Colette, Wen writes "My second meeting with the #AppleWatch, this time in Colette. The first time? Well, you'll see soon."

Several fashion publications have taken Wen's statement to mean that she is somehow involved in marketing the Apple Watch, possibly taking part in an upcoming advertising campaign designed to promote Apple's wearable device.

Liu Wen is a well-known fashion model, who has modeled for high-end luxury brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Hermes, Gucci, Chanel, and more.

The Apple Watch is Apple's first product that has had a distinct focus on fashion, and the company has been working towards positioning it as a high-fashion accessory. In addition to debuting the Apple Watch at French luxury boutique Colette last week, Apple also made an effort to include high-profile fashion editors and bloggers at the September event where the Apple Watch was introduced along the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

As Apple gears up to launch the Apple Watch in early 2015, it is likely that the company will hold additional fashion-oriented events in order to promote the device. Apple may take several different approaches in its Apple Watch advertising to reach a wide range of potential customers, as June rumors suggested it was also testing the watch with multiple professional athletes, who may also be involved in advertisements.

Ahead of introducing the Apple Watch, Apple made a number of hires from various luxury retailers, including Angela Ahrendts, the former Burberry CEO who now serves as Apple's head of retail, and Paul Deneve, the former Yves Saint Laurent CEO who now works on "special projects." Apple has also picked up Patrick Pruniaux, a former Tag Heuer Sales Director, and famous designer Marc Newson.

The company's Apple Watch, expected in early 2015, will be available in a wide range of materials and at several different price points. On the lower end, the Sport version of the device will retail for $349, and rumors have suggested the higher-end solid gold Edition models could sell for thousands of dollars.

Apple is planning to hold its next fall event on Thursday, October 16, where it is expected to introduce new iPads, reports Re/code. The company is also expected to introduce new Retina iMacs and release OS X Yosemite to the public.

According to Re/code, Apple's iPad event will be more low-key than its September iPhone event, and it will be held at the company's Town Hall Auditorium. The company's iPhone event, which saw the introduction of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, Apple Watch, and Apple Pay, was held at the Flint Center, where the original Mac was unveiled 30 years ago.

Apple has a few more new products to unveil before the year is out, and it plans to show them off in a couple weeks. Sources tell Code/red the company will hold its next special event on Thursday, Oct. 16 -- not the 21st. Headlining the gathering: The latest updates to its iPad line, along with those new iMacs that 9to5Mac told us about earlier this week. Also: OS X Yosemite.

Apple's next-generation iPad Air and iPad Retina mini are both expected to come with updated processors and support for Touch ID, the fingerprint first sensor introduced with the iPhone 5s. The iPad Air may also come in a gold color variation, and it may include a new anti-reflective laminated display.

The Retina iMac, which may come with a "5K" resolution of 5120 x 2880, may be available only in 27-inches and it may also feature AMD graphics. It is expected to use a Haswell processor, as next-generation Broadwell processors for the iMac won't be available until 2015.

As for OS X Yosemite, development on the software is nearing completion and a golden master candidate was seeded to developers earlier this week.

Apple and several of its partners showed off CarPlay at its official unveiling earlier this year, mainstream users are finally getting their hands on the system with Pioneer's release of its promised CarPlay update for for several of its aftermarket car audio receiver yesterday.

Early reviews of CarPlay from Consumer Reports and Australian technology and car blog EFTM suggest the system is indeed easy to use and effective at reducing driver distraction, thanks to excellent Siri integration.

Consumer Reports points out the many benefits offered by Siri, which allows you to send text messages, get directions, set reminders, and more without touching your iPhone.

As handy as Siri’s natural speech recognition is when you’re just walking around with your phone, it really comes into its own in the car. Siri makes it easy to choose music, get directions, and read or send text messages—all by using your voice with natural speech, rather than menu-driven, formulaic commands.

Consumer Reports also notes that updating the AVIC-5000NEX unit was easy, requiring the owner to download the firmware to a USB stick, plug the stick into the receiver, and wait for unit to update itself.

For his part, Trevor Long of EFTM provides a detailed walkthrough with screenshots of CarPlay's major features. Demoing Pioneer's AVH-X8650BT stereo installed in a 2010 Mazda 2, Long shows how easy it is to make phone calls, interact with visual voicemail, listen to music, and more.

CarPlay is a revolution in in-car entertainment. While many of the features have been available for some time on other cars, the genuine integration with your smartphone and capabilities that have been added make it well worth considering if you’re an Apple iPhone user who spends a great deal of time in your car.

If you’re shopping for a new car – ask the dealer – is CarPlay available? and if no – will it be available via a firmware upgrade in the future?

Pioneer this week released its CarPlay firmware update, making it the first aftermarket receiver manufacturer to offer CarPlay to consumers. Among Pioneer's U.S. models, CarPlay is available for the $1400 AVIC-8000NEX, the $1200 AVIC-7000NEX, the $900 AVIC-6000NEX, the $750 AVIC-5000NEX and the $700 AVH-4000NEX. CarPlay is also compatible with Pioneer's new $600 smartphone receiver, AppRadio 4. Consumers can generally find Pioneer's units at significant discounts from list price from a variety of retailers.

The iPhone 6 Plus is expected to account for 60% of total iPhone 6 device shipments as sales of the device are exceeding initial expectations, reports Digitimes. The information comes from industry sources observing parts shipments to longtime Apple suppliers Foxconn and Pegatron.

Foxconn is said to be responsible for the production of the iPhone 6 Plus, while Pegatron is in charge of the iPhone 6. While parts shipments to both suppliers were even as the launch of both devices neared, Foxconn appears to have received more parts shipments for the iPhone 6 Plus as of late.

Apple announced last month that it opening weekend sales of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus topped ten million units, although the company did not specify how that number was divided between both units. Shipping estimates for new iPhone 6 orders remain at 7-10 business days, while the iPhone 6 Plus is still showing a shipping delay of 3-4 weeks.

Apple is asking music labels to cut prices on music streaming subscription services so that it can offer its new, revamped Beats Music service for less than $10 a month, reports Re/code. The Cupertino company is also looking to add new features to the service.

Sources say Apple is talking to the big music labels about a new set of rights and features it would like to include in a revamped version of the Beats Music service it bought earlier this year. Among the things Apple wants is a new pricing structure that would allow it to sell the service for less than the $10 level it’s at now.

Apple isn't planning on overhauling Beats Music until next year, and discussions with music labels are in early stages. In late September, it was rumored that Apple was planning on introducing a revamped Beats Music in early February, presumably timed to debut alongside the Grammy Awards on February 8.

The company has tried to undercut competitors with music rates before, trying to pay half the royalty rate that Pandora paid while in negotiations for what would become iTunes Radio in early 2013.

Re/code notes that music executives were once worried about streaming services cannibalizing CD music sales but eventually agreed to deals with streaming services, which some music industry observers feel is priced too high as the market for consumers who want to pay $10 a month to stream music is limited. In August, a report from Midia Research suggested only 25 percent of consumers pay $10 for music every three months.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has withdrawn from negotiations to play Steve Jobs in Aaron Sorkin's upcoming film about the late Apple co-founder, according to The Hollywood Reporter. DiCaprio was set to begin work on the movie after finishing work on The Revenant, but sources close to the actor have said that he plans to take a lengthy break soon.

Now with DiCaprio out, the studio is eyeing a number of actors to take on the iconic tech figure, who has been both worshipped and reviled. Christian Bale, who Fincher wanted for the title role, is on Sony’s wish list, as is Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Bradley Cooper (though Affleck seems unlikely given that he just signed on for the thriller The Accountant).

The report also notes that the movie will be directed by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle, who was said to be in talks with Sony Pictures this past April. According to information shared by Sorkin, the film will use material from Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography and will focus on three 30-minute scenes showing three of Apple's product launches. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is also working as a consultant on the film. Aaron Sorkin's Steve Jobs biopic has yet to receive a release date.

Apple has described its new Apple Pay payments service, which is designed to be the first step towards the company's goal of replacing the wallet, as "easy, secure, and private." Apple Pay includes several different features that offer customers much greater security than a traditional credit card, including Device Account Numbers that replace credit card numbers, dynamic security codes for each transaction, and biometric payment verification through the use of Touch ID.

Ahead of the release of Apple Pay, TUAW's Yoni Heisler has taken an in-depth look at the security features built into the payments service, outlining the ways Apple is safeguarding customer information.

While Apple Pay is built on existing NFC technology, Heisler's research suggests it is the first implementation of the EMVCo tokenization specification, a newly introduced security framework designed to cover emerging payment methods. According to former credit card executive Tom Noyes, this specification is "the most secure payments scheme on the planet."

As previously rumored, Apple Pay utilizes a "token," which the company refers to as a Device Account Number, to replace a user's existing credit card number on the iPhone. A randomized 16-digit number, the Device Account Number ensures that no merchant is able to obtain a user's credit card number, protecting consumers from retail security breaches, as TUAW points out, because tokens are randomized numbers that cannot be decrypted back into a credit card number.

Device Account Numbers, or tokens, are paired with a dynamically generated one-time use code that replaces the credit card's CCV with every transaction.

Providing an additional layer of security, an Apple Pay-equipped iPhone at the time of each transaction also sends a dynamically generated CVV up the chain along with a cryptogram. The CVV is the three-digit string located on the back of your credit card and, in the case of Apple Pay, is a algorithmically-generated dynamic string that's tied directly to the token. The cryptogram itself "uniquely identifies the device" that created the token and, according to the EMV Payment Spec, is likely composed of encrypted data sourced from the token, the device itself, and transaction data. Note, though, that the precise components of the Apple Pay cryptogram aren't publicly known.

As noted by Heisler, a Device Account Number can't be used in a transaction without an accompanying one-time use cryptogram, which verifies that the "token in transit originated from the device being used." Cryptograms also carry transaction information like the merchant's identity and the amount of money being charged.

The transaction comprising the Device Account Number and accompanying cryptogram is further verified through the use of Touch ID, which essentially replaces insecure verification methods like passwords and PINs.

According to a credit card executive who spoke to TUAW, token transactions as implemented by Apple "are a new and much higher standard of security for electronic payments."

The amount of security built into provisioning tokens and supporting transactions is a new standard that I think will definitely shift fraud patterns going forward.

Apple Pay is expected to go live in October, enabled through an update to iOS 8. Hints of Apple Pay have already been found in the iOS 8.1 beta, which was seeded to developers on Monday. TUAW's full look at the security behind Apple Pay, which covers tokens, Touch ID, and more, is well worth a read.