MacRumors

Apple's iPhone 6 Plus has been receiving a huge amount of attention over the last day, following reports of users seeing significant bending after placing the phone in a pocket.

A video made yesterday demonstrated just how far the iPhone 6 Plus is able to bend, and now the video's creator, Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy, has created a second video to test the iPhone 6 and several other Android devices.

The smaller 4.7-inch iPhone 6 appears to be much less malleable than the larger iPhone 6 Plus. While the iPhone 6 Plus bent significantly near the volume buttons under the force inflicted by Hilsenteger, he is unable to do as much damage to the iPhone 6. Aside from a small dent, the phone remains intact. "This one is far more durable," he says.

Based on his preliminary testing, Hilsenteger does not believe that iPhone 6 users will see the same issues that some iPhone 6 Plus users are seeing in regards to bending. As we noted yesterday, it's unlikely that the force Hilsenteger used in the original video will be replicated inside of a pocket, but photos of bent iPhone 6 Plus devices have suggested that it does not take much force to cause a slight curvature in the device.

Bending issues are not limited to the iPhone 6 Plus, as bending has been seen in prior versions of the iPhone, including the iPhone 5 and 5s.

Apple has not commented on the iPhone 6 Plus bending incidents, but iPhone 6 Plus owners can likely prevent bending by removing the phone from their pockets before sitting or by placing the device in a rigid protective case.

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and former SVP of products, Jonathan Rosenberg, recently published a new book entitled "How Google Works, which explores topics like corporate culture, strategy, talent, innovation, dealing with disruption, and more. The duo have done an interview with Bloomberg to promote the title, with Schmidt commenting on the state of affairs between iOS and Google and Apple's new larger-screened iPhones.

According to Schmidt, competition between Apple and Google is more brutal than ever before, with "enormous, enormous racing" going on between the two companies, which ultimately has "enormous benefits for consumers worldwide."

In fact I would say that this brutal competition between Apple and Google over Android and iOS has enormous benefits for consumers worldwide. If you look at the innovation on the Apple side and on the Google side, that competition which I think is the defining fight of the computer industry, it benefits global at the billions of people level.

When questioned about how he feels driving past an Apple Store and seeing people lined up around the block to purchase an iPhone, Schmidt said "I'll tell you what I think. Samsung had these products a year ago." The interviewer further notes that nobody "had a huge party" and Schmidt reiterated that Samsung had larger phones first once again. "I think Samsung had the products a year ago. That's what I think."

Re/code has also published a short excerpt from "How Google Works," where Schmidt writes about a meeting he had with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs in 2010. During the meeting, Jobs made it clear that he believed Android was based on Apple's intellectual property, and Schmidt worried that a dispute was brewing.

The two had sat outside at the California-cuisine-oriented cafe, discussing Google's growing mobile operating system, Android. Steve was convinced that the open-source operating system was built on intellectual property created by Apple. Eric responded that we hadn't used Apple's IP and had in fact built Android on our own. But his argument was to no avail. "They are going to fight us," he thought.

The excerpt goes on to detail the friendship between Jobs and Schmidt and the release of the iPhone in 2007, which led to Schmidt stepping down from Apple's board due to the similarities between iOS and Android. It also covers the differences between Apple's closed system compared to Google's open system, and why both methods work.

Apple's control model works not just because of Steve Jobs's excellence, but also because of how he organized the company. At Apple — just like Google — the leaders are product people with technical backgrounds. When you build a team of great, smart creatives, and put the world’s uber-smart creative in charge, then you have a good chance of being right most of the time. And when you are right most of the time, then a highly controlled model can yield tremendous innovation.

Schmidt and Rosenberg's full 15 minute Bloomberg interview contains additional details on the relationship between Google and Apple and is well worth watching. Their new book, "How Google Works," can be ordered on Amazon for $24.

Craig Hockenberry, one of the developers behind Twitterriffic, has written a blog post warning iOS users about in-app browsers, which he says are "considered harmful." According to Hockenberry, and as outlined in a video, an in-app browser has the ability to record what's being typed, even at a secure login screen.

This means an unscrupulous developer could potentially create an app with an in-app browser to capture the usernames and passwords of users who login to websites like Twitter or Facebook with the browser. Many existing apps use in-app browsers to allow users to do things like login with an already existing social media account simply to make the login process easier, but it appears there's also potential for abuse.

A few things to note about what you're seeing:

The information at the top of the screen is generated by the app, not the web page. This information could easily be uploaded to remote server.

This is not phishing: the site shown is the actual Twitter website. This technique can be applied to any site that has a input form. All the attacker needs to know can easily be obtained by viewing the public facing HTML on the site.

The app is stealing your username and password by watching what you type on the site. There's nothing the site owner can do about this, since the web view has control over JavaScript that runs in the browser.

Hockenberry says that acquiring usernames and passwords works in both iOS 7 and iOS 8, and may also work in earlier versions of iOS, but he is quick to point out that it is not a bug, as the techniques demonstrated in the video can be used for "good as well as evil."

Hockenberry does not have a clear solution in mind for Apple, as fixing the core behavior of both WebKit and UIWebView would require the company to update every version of iOS that included Safari and WebKit, but he does suggest the company could protect users with OAuth.

As for end users, Hockenberry warns not to enter private information when using an app that's not Safari. Browsing web content is safe, but he recommends that users open a link in Safari if there are any concerns about private information. More details on the security of in-app browsers, OAuth, and Hockenberry's recommendations can be found in his original blog post.

Following the release of iOS 8.0.1 this morning, numerous of users found that their cellular service was disabled, reporting "No Service" messages after updating. Affected users also appear to be experiencing problems with Touch ID, which seems to be completely non-functional.

It appears that the issue is limited to users who have an iPhone 6 or an iPhone 6 Plus, but affected devices span several carriers, including AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint in the United States. Rogers subscribers in Canada have reported issues, as have EE subscribers in the United Kingdom and Vodafone subscribers in Germany.

Restarting an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus does not fix cellular functionality, nor does attempting to use "Reset Network Settings," but some users have reported that restoring iOS 8.0.1 via iTunes or doing the initial install from iTunes fixes the cellular connection issues.

Apple support has also recommended restoring iOS 8.0.1 via iTunes to fix the problem, as noted on Twitter and the MacRumors forums.

Users with an iPhone 4s, 5, 5s, or 5c have reported no issues, so iOS 8.0.1 is likely safe for those who do not have an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus. iPad owners have also had no problems with the update.

Update: Apple has pulled iOS 8.0.1 from the Developer Center and it is also no longer available via an over-the-air download.

Update 2: Apple says that it is actively investigating reports of problems and has pulled iOS 8.0.1 in the meantime. The company also says that it will provide information as quickly as it can.

Update 3: It appears that option-clicking on an iOS 8 file in iTunes will allow users to fix the issue without a restore. iMore has outlined the process:

1. Download iOS 8 for iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus
2. Option (Mac) or Control (Windows) click on Update.
3. Choose the iOS 8 firmware file you downloaded in step 1.
4. Let iTunes do its thing

Apple today released iOS 8.0.1, an update that brings several bug fixes to iOS 8, the new operating system released to the public last week. The new version arrives as build 12A402 and can be downloaded via an over-the-air update.

The new update fixes an issue with HealthKit, which prevented apps that support HealthKit from being allowed in the App Store. The problem with HealthKit first came to light shortly before the public launch of iOS 8, and Apple opted to pull all HealthKit-enabled apps from the App Store until a fix was available. Following today's update, apps that take advantage of the HealthKit API will once again be accepted into the App Store.

As noted in yesterday's report on iOS 8.0.1, the update also fixes several other issues with third party keyboards, Reachability, Photo Library, and more.

- Fixes a bug so HealthKit apps can now be made available on the App Store
- Addresses an issue where 3rd party keyboards could become deselected when a user enters their passcode
- Fixes an issue that prevented some apps from accessing photos from the Photo Library
- Improves the reliability of the Reachability feature on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
- Fixes an issue that could cause unexpected cellular data usage when receiving SMS/MMS messages
- Better support of Ask To Buy for Family Sharing for In-App Purchases
- Fixes an issue where ringtones were sometimes not restored from iCloud backups
- Fixes a bug that prevented uploading photos and videos from Safari

Apple will likely be releasing a second update to iOS 8 in the coming weeks, in order to enable Apple Pay, its mobile payment service expected to be released to the public in October.

Update: It appears that there is an issue with iOS 8.0.1 causing cellular service to be disabled. Many early installers are reporting "No Service" messages after updating. There are also reports of problems with Touch ID.

Apple may not be planning to launch the new Apple Watch until February 2015 or later, according to a new report from The Information (via Business Insider). When the Apple Watch was introduced earlier this month, Apple gave a non-specific "early 2015" timeline for its release, with no additional information on when we might expect to see the device.

One person briefed by the Apple department involved in shipping the watch quipped that Apple would be "lucky to ship it by Valentine's Day." Apple has said only that the watch would ship in early 2015, and a spokeswoman did not comment for this article.

According to the report, Apple initially planned to have the watch ready to ship in time for the 2014 holiday season, but had problems finishing software development in time. Hints of a delay on the software side first surfaced shortly after the keynote, as members of the press who were invited to spend some hands-on time with the devices noted that none of the display units were running the actual operating system, Watch OS.

Instead, the devices displayed only screenshots of various functions and while some Apple employees gave demos of functional units, reporters were not able to explore the software themselves. Apple has also opted not to divulge the battery life of the device, possibly because it is continuing to tweak the Watch OS software for the best results. Concrete information on battery life likely can't be determined until software development is finished.

Apple Watch includes several new cutting edge technologies that have not been incorporated into previous devices, including the pressure-sensitive Force Touch that can determine the difference between a tap and a press, and the Taptic Engine, Apple's unique haptic feedback vibration engine designed to deliver alerts in a subtle way.

When it goes on sale in early 2015, the Apple Watch will be available in an array of materials and with several different band options, with pricing starting at $349.

Apple CEO Tim Cook sent a company-wide memo out to all employees this morning, thanking them for their hard work during the month of September, which saw the release of the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 8 and the announcement of the Apple Watch. Cook also announced that Apple employees will be receiving additional vacation time during the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, as they have in past years.

"Each of these introductions represents years of innovation and hard work by teams all across Apple," wrote Cook in the letter, which was first shared by 9to5Mac. "Many of you have put the best work of your lives into these amazing new products, which bring together world-class hardware, software, and services in the way only Apple can."

Without you, none of these accomplishments would have been possible. Our people are the soul of our company, and we all need time to refresh and renew. To provide that time, and to recognize all of these achievements -- as well as your boundless talent and dedication -- I'm happy to announce that we're extending the Thanksgiving holiday this year. We will shut down with pay on November 24, 25 and 26 so our teams can enjoy the whole week off.

Apple will be shutting down during the week of Thanksgiving, giving employees November 24, 25, and 26 off in addition to the actual holiday on November 27 and 28. While stores will remain open, retail employees will be given the same amount of time off, but at varying dates. International teams will also receive extra vacation.

Apple routinely closes up shop for multiple days around Thanksgiving and Christmas, giving employees time off to spend the holidays with family. While iTunes Connect shuts down during the Christmas holidays, it has, in the past, remained functional over Thanksgiving leading to little end impact on customers.

Third-party systemwide keyboards have been one of the biggest hits of iOS 8 since its launch last week, with some of the big names in the business leaping straight to the top of the App Store charts. But with that success has come questions about privacy and the security of these keyboards, considering the personal information users are sometimes entering through them.

Concern over these keyboards has been sparked in part by a standard warning displayed by iOS 8 when the keyboards are granted "full access" to enable their entire sets of features. Different keyboard apps break down their feature sets between standard install and "full access" differently, so we set out to find out what is driving those differences.

Full access allows the developer of this keyboard to transmit anything you type, including things you previously typed with this keyboard. This could include sensitive information such as your credit card number or street address.

The early leader among free keyboard apps in the United States and many other countries was SwiftKey Keyboard [Direct Link] which topped one million downloads in less than 24 hours of availability. While the basic keyboard works with a standard installation, several of its key features, including word predictions and the SwiftKey Flow finger-tracing typing method, require that full access be granted to SwiftKey Keyboard. This naturally has caused some concern among users worried that their sensitive information typed on the keyboard is being sent back to SwiftKey for unknown purposes.

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Apple is phasing out Aperture and iPhoto on the Mac, replacing the pair with a new Photos app that is slated to debut early next year. Mac owners who want to access their iCloud photos before this new OS X app is released may soon be able to do so via an iCloud.com version of Photos that is currently under development, reports 9to5Mac.

Screenshots from an Apple iCloud support document clearly show an icon for Photos, suggesting Apple is working on an iCloud version of its Photos app. Error messages obtained when trying to open the presumed URL for the app on the beta iCloud site also reference a "Photos" application that is unable to be opened.

This alert does not appear for any other URL string, so it is not simply a generic message shown for any non-existent URL. It clearly indicates that some form of ‘Photos’ app is in development for the website. The fact it shows only on the beta site is interesting, as iCloud Photo Library is also currently denoted as ‘beta’ in developer builds of iOS 8.

Details on the web app are not available, but it presumably will allow users to view and possibly manage pictures uploaded to Apple's iCloud service from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. The launch date of this iCloud Photos app is, however, unknown.

Apple already offers online versions of its iWork suite including Pages, Numbers,and Keynote, with its new iCloud Drive storage feature rolling out fully when OS X Yosemite debuts later this year.

In a first for streaming music, Pandora, Spotify and Apple's Beats Music are among the leaders in App Store revenue as customers increasingly subscribe to the services using in-app purchases. According to data provided by App Annie and published by Billboard, the music services were among the top ten revenue generators for all non-game applications in the iOS App Store during the month of August.

Internet radio service Pandora lead the trio, maintaining its number 2 spot in iOS App Store revenue. Spotify climbed seven spots from number 14 in July to number 7 in August, while Apple's Beats Music moved up two spots to slide into the top ten at the number 9 slot.

All three services offer free apps that allow customers to purchase a subscription using an in-app subscription option. Pandora offers access to its paid Pandora One plan ($4.99 monthly), while Spotify allows users to pay $12.99 a month for its ad-free, offline premium subscription. Beats Music provides two options, allowing users to choose between $9.99 monthly access or a yearly subscription for $99.

Apple introduced in-app subscriptions a few years ago to iOS 6. As part of the App Store payment process, the company takes a 30 percent share of all in-app subscription revenue.

Adobe today released new versions of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, its lower-cost photo and video editing software aimed at consumers. Both Photoshop Elements 13 and Premiere Elements 13 have gained several new features, focusing on improved editing tools, additional guided techniques, and Elements Live, a new portal that offers tips and tricks directly within each app.

"Our customers don't always have the time or the know-how to get the results they desire," said Shanmugh Natarajan, senior director, engineering, core technologies and products at Adobe. "In Photoshop Elements 13 and Premiere Elements 13, we focused on developing tools that automate the process or guide customers through the steps to create the photos they'll love and want to share."

Photoshop Elements 13, Adobe's image editing software, includes updates that Adobe says were inspired by customer request. One of the main new features is the Photomerge Compose tool, which is used alongside the Refine Selection Brush to allow users to seamlessly copy people or objects from one image to another with just a few clicks.

There are new tools to create matching Facebook cover and profile photos, customizable with text and graphics, plus there are new guided edits available for creating black and white photos with hits of color. Guided edits are Adobe's interactive tutorials, which offer step-by-step instructions on completing various tasks in app.

Photoshop Elements 13 also gains new Effects Variations, offering extra options for each existing effect to give users up to 50 filters that can be applied with a click, and there are impressive new cropping tools that include crop suggestions. The Intelligent Crop Suggestions tool analyzes faces and photo composition to select the four best crops for a particular image.

Premiere Elements 13, Adobe's video editing software, introduces new tools to minimize the time that users spend editing their footage. Favorite Moments can be used to mark the best spots in a video, which can then be automatically assembled into a short movie, and Video Story assembles various clips, adds in transitions, music, and applies a theme for a particular occasion like a birthday party. Simple themed slideshows can also be created.

Premiere Elements 13 offers improved shake stabilization to improve the look of videos shot with hand-held devices like smartphones, and there are new Guided Edits to help users add motion to movie titles and improve dramatic effects in one area of a scene using masking techniques.

Elements Live, available in both Photoshop and Premiere 13, includes content curated by Adobe, tips, tricks, and tutorials. It also lets users see what other people are using the software to create.

Both Photoshop Elements 13 and Premiere Elements 13 for Mac and Windows can be purchased separately on Adobe's website for $99.99 each, with bundles available for $149.99. Existing users can upgrade for $79.99 or $119.99 for the bundle.

Apple has begun rolling out a new print ad on the back of magazines like Rolling Stone showing off how big the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are compared to older iPhone models, as noticed by The Mac Observer.

The ad simply depicts both of the new iPhones at actual size with the tagline "Actual Sizes", and could likely tempt users of older iPhones to compare their current model to the new ones to see the size differences between the phones. Below the iPhones, the ad includes copy that briefly talks about the new features of the phones.

Stunning Retina HD display. Amazing new iSight camera. Powerful 64-bit A8 processor. The most advanced iOS yet. All in an ultraslim design. The new iPhones are bigger than bigger.

Apple has made the larger sizes of the new iPhones one of the cornerstones of its marketing for them, also debuting a TV ad starring Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake that talks about how "huge" the new phones are.

Apple may have acquired Prss, a Dutch-based company that created a web app aimed to help people design magazines for Apple's Newsstand and other magazine platforms, reports iCulture [Google Translation]. While there is no solid proof of the acquisition at this point, iCulture suggests that an inside source has revealed the purchase and Prss co-founder Michel Elings recently moved to the Bay Area.

The Dutch magazine platform Prss was acquired by Apple for an undisclosed amount. This discovery iCulture thanks to a knowledgeable source. This source confirms that several employees of Prss now employed by Apple.

Several other former Prss employees are also now located in the Bay Area according to their LinkedIn profiles, suggesting an acquisition might have taken place in the summer months. Prss announced in April that it would be shutting down in July, and the Prss website is now non-functional.

Prss was known for creating a browser-based collaborative tool that could be used to design magazines for Apple's Newsstand. The tool included a simple drag-and-drop interface and let up to 30 people collaborate on a project, with the team charging 5 cents per magazine download for published content.

iCulture is unsure what role the Prss team will take on at Apple, but suggests the acquisition might have been about talent rather than product. As noted by the site, however, Apple could adopt Prss's publishing platform, making it much simpler for people to publish iPad magazines.

Update: Apple has confirmed the purchase of Prss, giving TechCrunch its standard acquisition statement: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

Apple's former retail chief Ron Johnson is planning to launch a "high-end, on-demand delivery service for gadgets, reports The Information's Jessica Lessin. The startup has reportedly been described as "Best Buy's Geek Squad meets Apple's Genius Bar."

MacRumors has heard similar rumors about Johnson's startup plans, with a source suggesting he's been attempting to recruit former and current Apple employees, including Jerry McDougal, who once served as Apple's vice president of retail under Johnson.

Before leaving Apple, Johnson worked at the company for more than 10 years. He's largely credited with transforming the Apple retail experience and setting the company on a path towards rapid retail growth. In 2011, Johnson left the company to take over as CEO of J.C. Penney, a position that he held for just two years.

Following Johnson's departure, Apple's retail division was left in flux, with no successor named. John Browett, formerly CEO of Dixons Retail, took over as head of retail at Apple in 2012, but he was ousted later that same year. Apple remained without a retail chief until the hiring of Angela Ahrendts, former Burberry CEO, who officially joined the company in May 2014.

Apple might be planning to unveil both its revamped music subscription service and its new branding alongside the upcoming 2015 Grammy Awards, reports Re/code, citing some "industry scuttlebutt."

When will Apple show off the new version of its subscription service and its new brand? Here's a guess backed up by some industry scuttlebutt: February -- presumably timed to the Grammy Awards, which will be held Feb. 8.

News of an upcoming rebrand first surfaced yesterday, after TechCrunch reported that Apple would be shutting down Beats Music. An Apple representative quickly refuted the claim saying it was "not true." Re/code went on to suggest that while Apple won't be shuttering Beats Music, the company may have plans to "modify it over time," changing the brand name.

Apple first acquired Beats Music back in May, and at the time, announced plans to leave the service untouched. There were no plans to integrate Beats Music into iTunes, with the company suggesting the streaming music service would remain as a standalone product. Beats Music was largely seen as Apple's answer to popular services like Spotify, aimed at improving declining music sales.

In recent weeks, Apple has made quite an effort to promote Beats Music, adding it to the list of "Apps Made by Apple" and recommending the app to new iOS users. Apple also added a Beats Music channel to the Apple TV last week alongside the release of iOS 8.

Thus far, there is no word on what Apple is planning for Beats Music, but a source at TechCrunch has suggested that Apple might roll the streaming music functionality into iTunes.