Tag Archives: Apple

Apple Withdraw iOS8 Update

September 25, 2014 Kris Price

Apple has been forced to withdraw an update for the iOS8 operating system for iPhones and iPads as it has ended up causing iPhone and iPads users a number of unexpected problems.

The update was meant to fix some bugs within the operating system which have been reported by iPhone and iPads users.

It has been reported that some users who have downloaded and applied the latest update suddenly started to have problems to make phone calls and use the fingerprint feature to unlock their phone.

On the plus side for those who have yet to upgrade their iPhone to the iPhone 6, it seems as though they are less likely to suffer any of the difficulties than those who have applied the update onto their iPhone 6.

A spokeswoman for Apple has confirmed that they are currently investigating the issues that have been reported and that in the meantime, they have decided to withdraw the update.

The spokeswoman stated, “We have received reports of an issue with the iOS 8.0.1 update. We are actively investigating these reports and will provide information as quickly as we can. In the meantime, we have pulled back the iOS 8.0.1 update.”

Affected users have already taken to social media website Twitter to express their irritation at the problems caused by the iOS update and to warn others not to download and apply it.

Such tweets included one user stating, “Not happy with my phone not working as a phone now. DO NOT UPDATE TO iOS 8.01” whilst another user stated, “Do not upgrade to iOS 8.0.1! Touch ID stops working but worse yet, you can’t connect to your wireless service.”

Before applying any updates, it is always good to test it first to ensure that it isn’t going to cause you unexpected problems or to wait a few days to see if anyone has experienced any issues.

It is also important to ensure that you have a successful backup of your data before applying any updates to give you the flexibility of rolling back before the update if any unexpected issues are encountered.

Have you applied the latest iOS8 update? Have you experienced any unexpected issues?

Google and Apple Introduce Encryption by Default

September 23, 2014 Damien Garvey

Google has revealed that their next mobile operating system, Android L, will encrypt users’ data by default. Apple has also confirmed that devices that are running its latest operating system, iOS8, will also encrypt data by default.

These measures are to make it more difficult for thieves or law enforcement agencies to obtain the data.

This isn’t the first time that Google and Apple have offered encryption for mobile devices but it was optional and needed to be enabled. As a result, many users were actually unaware of the capability to encrypt their data or hadn’t enabled it.

A spokesman for Google stated, “For over three years, Android has offered encryption, and keys are not stored off of the device, so they cannot be shared with law enforcement. As part of our next Android release, encryption will be enabled by default out of the box, so you won’t even have to think about turning it on.”

It is thought that the step to encrypt data by default is more to do with data privacy than protection as US firms will not have to hand data over to law enforcement agencies. As Google and Apple will not possess the data due to it being in an encrypted format and having no knowledge of the encryption keys, it will be unreadable to them.

Google and Apple are already part of an alliance group called Reform Government Surveillance which has been set up in an attempt to persuade the US government to drastically change its surveillance programmes.

It is now very important that any confidential or sensitive data is stored in a secure state as the threat of cyber-thieves is increasing. They are developing more sophisticated methods of attacks as the value of obtaining confidential data is increasing.

Did you know about the data encryption feature? Have you enabled the encryption?

Apple iPhones Most Targeted by Thieves

September 9, 2014 Kris Price

A report that has been compiled by the Home Office indicates that Apple iPhones are the most desirable for thieves.

The report states that the Apple iPhone models such as the iPhone 5, 5C, 5S and 4S topped the table with the Blackberry 9790 making up the top five.

The collated results were based on information received from the Crime Survey for England and Wales and analysis of crime data in London form 1^st August 2012 to 5^th January 2014. According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, 742,000 phones were reported as stolen between 2012 and 2013 whilst the Metropolitan Police reported that nearly 100,000 phones were stolen in 2013 in London alone.

The report also states that 14-24 year olds are most at risk of having their phone stolen with women also being targeted by thieves.

Home Secretary Theresa May who published the report believes that the number of phones being reported stolen is a concern because of the sensitive data that is now stored on.

May stated, “Crime has fallen by more than 10% under this government. However, the level of mobile phone theft remains a concern and people are increasingly carrying their lives in their pockets, with bank details, emails and other sensitive personal information easily accessible through mobile phones.

May added, “This is why it is vital that government, police and industry work together to tackle this crime.”

Metropolitan Police intelligence has also shown that there has been a reduction in thefts of iPhones after Apple released new security measures in its iOS 7 operating system in September last year.

An Apple spokesman stated, “Apple has led the industry in helping customers protect their lost or stolen devices since the launch of Find My iPhone in 2009 by allowing customers to remotely set a passcode or erase all their personal data.”

The spokesman added, “With iOS 7, Find My iPhone includes a feature called Activation Lock, which is designed to prevent anyone else from using your iPhone… if you ever lose it. This can help you keep your device secure, even if it is in the wrong hands, and can improve your chances of recovering it.”

As mobile phones have become more desirable to thieves, it is important as ever to ensure that confidential data is not stored on the device unless it is needed. It is also important to remain vigilant and to keep the mobile phone in a secure place to reduce the chances of thieves getting their hands on your phone.

If your phone is stolen, it is important that regular backups have been taken to ease the overall impact of replacing your phone.

Microsoft Office Released for iPad

March 31, 2014 Kris Price

Well the day has finally arrived when Microsoft launches its Office products for Apple’s iPad. The App Store now has Microsoft favorites, Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

The stripped down versions of the products allow users to view but not create or edit documents but there are some features designed specifically for Apples flagship tablet. For the full user experience, subscribers will need to create an Office 365 account which costs around 70$ a year.

New Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says “When it comes to Office 365, the vision is fairly straightforward, it is to make sure that the one billion Office users have access to the high fidelity Office experience on every device they love to use. Today’s announcement marks one more step in that direction.”

Carolina Milanesi who is the strategic director of Kantar Worldpanel ComTech believes that Microsoft are finally giving users what they want and that they have been very clever by keeping the connection with Office365.

Milanesi stated, “Microsoft is giving users what they want.The connection to Office 365 was also interesting in that this puts users within Microsoft’s ecosystem at some point.”

It has been a very long time since Microsoft has released a product on a rival O/S before it has been launched on Windows but the move has been welcomed by iPad owners. At the moment the three apps, Word, Excel and PowerPoint are ranked No. 1, 2 and 3 on the App Store’s free iPad app list.

Have you downloaded these apps onto your iPad? Will you create an Office365 account to benefit from the full user experience?

Apple Fix OS X Security Hole

February 27, 2014 Damien Garvey

Apple has finally released a security fix through its software update service which closes a security hole in its OS X operating system.

Before the security fix was released, thousands of Apple computers were left vulnerable to a security hole which could have resulted in confidential data dropping into the hands of a hacker.

The vulnerability in the code for the OS X operating system meant that security certificates weren�t being authenticated properly when a secure connection was being made to a website. This meant that hackers could pose as a website and gather the data that was being sent before it was received by the real website.

The security hole was first found on Apple�s mobile devices which run on the iOS operating system and the same problem was then seen with the OS X operating system. A security fix was released for the mobile devices running on the iOS operating system last week but as the fixes weren’t released simultaneously, thousands of Apple computers have been left exposed.

Ryan Lackey who founded CryptoSeal expressed his disappointment with this on Twitter and that whoever made the decision should no longer be employed by Apple.

Lackey stated, “Whoever at Apple decided to wait 4+ days for 10.9.2 to patch the OSX vulnerability needs to no longer be in that position.”

Researchers believe that the security flaw has been present for months but that no one had reported it publicly.

Graham Cluley who is a security analyst believes that Apple has seriously dropped the ball and that there is no telling whether hackers have exploited the security hole.

Cluley stated, “It’s pretty bad what Apple have done, they’ve seriously dropped the ball. How much the problem has been exploited is hard to say. Hackers may now be trying to take advantage while users wait for the security fix.�

Have you applied the security fix? Do you think that security fixes for the OS X and iOS operating systems should have been released simultaneously?

Microsoft Windows 8.1: Rumoured Price Drop.

February 26, 2014 Kris Price

Following on from the announcement last month of a release date for Windows 9, which will come as welcome news to pretty much everybody in the world (we blogged about here), Microsoft are rumoured to be reducing the costs for Windows 8.1, as an added incentive to increase uptake of the software giant’s most recent flagship OS.

Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft are prepared to reduce the cost to OEM�s by up to 70% in a bid to counter the growing popularity of alternative OSs on platforms like of Google�s cheaper Cromebook.

Targeting the low cost PC and tablet market, currently Microsoft charges OEM�s $50.00 per device that retails for under $250, this means the price will reduce to just $15.00.

Microsoft is hoping this new incentive will also help out its floundering (but resugrent, if �you believe the analysts) tablet market share, which is worth a total of $80 Billion table. This is after posting its worst annual decline on record last quarter. With global computer shipments falling and with a continued decline predicted, and the ever increasing popularity of tablets, Microsoft has to act fast to try and attract users away from Apple and Google products, who already have a huge head start on Microsoft. �

This is no easy task, as Apple and Google Chrome Operating Systems currently account for 95% of the tablet and smart phone market. However, if Windows 8.1 builds some momentum on the backup of this price drop, that could change.