Apple Crosses 1 Billion Active iPhone Users

According to CEO Tim Cook, there are now more than 1 billion iPhones being used by customers around the world. The new milestone comes as the company earned over $100 billion in a single quarter for the first time in the company’s history. 9to5Mac reports: Cook shared the new milestone in an earnings-focused interview with Reuters. The new metric is part…

Google Deletes Nearly 100,000 Negative Reviews of Robinhood App

According to The Verge, Google has removed nearly 100,000 negative reviews of the Robinhood app from the Google Play Store. From the report: After some disgruntled Robinhood users organized campaigns to give the app a one-star review on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store — and succeeded in review-bombing it all the way down to a one-star rating — the…

Apple Adds ‘BlastDoor’ To Secure iOS From Zero-Click Attacks

wiredmikey shares a report from SecurityWeek.com: Apple has quietly added several anti-exploit mitigations into iOS in what appears to be a specific response to zero-click iMessage attacks observed in the wild. The new mitigations were discovered by Samuel Grob, a Google Project Zero security researcher, [with the first big addition being] a new, tightly sandboxed “BlastDoor” service that is now responsible…

Facebook Looks To Take its Fight With Apple To Court

A long-simmering public dispute between Facebook and Apple has neared a boiling point. The Information: With the aid of outside legal counsel, Facebook for months has been preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple that would allege the iPhone-maker abused its power in the smartphone market by forcing app developers to abide by App Store rules that Apple’s own apps don’t have…

iCloud For Windows Gaining Support For iCloud Passwords Chrome Extension

Apple yesterday released a new version of iCloud for Windows 10, and based on multiple reports and the update’s release notes, it appears Apple is introducing an iCloud Passwords extension designed for Chrome, which will allow “iCloud” Keychain passwords to be used on Windows machines. MacRumors reports: As noted by The 8-Bit and a few other sources, the update adds support…

Brad Cox, Creator of Objective-C Programming Language, Dies At 76

We have learned that Brad Cox, computer scientist known mostly for creating the Objective-C programming language with his business partner Tom Love, died on January 2, 2021 at his residence. He was 76. From a Legacy.com post: Brad was born on May 2, 1944 in Fort Benning, Georgia, to the late Nancy Hinson Cox and Dewey McBride Cox of Lake City,…

DDoS-Guard To Forfeit Internet Space Occupied By Parler

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Krebs On Security: Parler, the beleaguered social network advertised as a “free speech” alternative to Facebook and Twitter, has had a tough month. Apple and Google removed the Parler app from their stores, and Amazon blocked the platform from using its hosting services. Parler has since found a home in DDoS-Guard, a Russian digital…

Pebble Founder Says His New App Brings iMessage To Android With a Little ‘Trickery’

Beeper is a forthcoming app from the founder of Pebble that claims to be a hub for all your messaging services, including support for iMessage on Android. Gizmodo reports: Instead of managing half a dozen apps for keeping in touch with friends, family, and co-workers, Beeper allows you to funnel everything to one interface. According to its website, the app supports…

There’s Still No Sign of Privacy Labels On Most Google iOS Apps

As of December 8, Apple has been requiring developers to provide privacy label information to their apps, outlining the data that each app collects from users when it is installed. Many app developers have included the labels, but there’s one notable outlier — Google. schwit1 shares a report from MacRumors: Google has not updated its major apps like Gmail, Google Maps,…