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Week in review: Google and BlackBerry go iOS, 50 billion app downloads, and more!

By Richard Devine, Sunday, May 19, 2013 a 9:20 am

It's been a busy, busy week on iMore, and this time the iOS headlines have been dominated by news from ostensibly competing conferences -- BlackBerry Live and Google I/O. The main conversation topic this week was cross platform messaging from BlackBerry and Google both, though also making the headlines was Google's answer to Game Center, Amazon taking on iTunes on the desktop, and the App Store finally hitting 50 billion downloads. Read on for the recap!

Who has the most satisfying customer experience in the UK? That'll be Apple Retail

By Richard Devine, Friday, May 17, 2013 a 3:43 pm

Leading UK consumer campaigner, Which?, has conducted a survey into customer satisfaction across UK high-street retail stores. While the likes of WHSmith and carrier, EE, scored near the bottom, is there any surprise who topped the table? Apple Retail Stores.

Apple neglects to secure streaming album previews

By Nick Arnott, Friday, May 17, 2013 a 2:52 pm

Periodically, albums become available for live streaming on iTunes prior to their official release date. The hope is that not only do consumers get a chance to hear the album before buying it, but also that by offering a free and legal way to listen to the album before it’s available, there will be less motivation for eager fans to pirate leaked albums. With unreleased albums from Daft Punk and The National currently streaming on iTunes, 9to5Mac has discovered that the streams are being left completely unprotected, offering an easy way for pirates to get high-quality cuts of the albums before they’re officially released.

iOS 6 reports for U.S. defense duty with new approval

By Peter Cohen, Friday, May 17, 2013 a 2:50 pm

The U.S. Department of Defense has approved the use of iOS 6 devices, which may help Apple to build some strength in a market still dominated by BlackBerry devices. The US D.O.D. currently has about 470,000 BlackBerrys in use across its networks, with 41,000 Apple mobile devices and 8,700 Android devices.

The Department of Defense is building a multivendor environment, it said in a press release, with BlackBerry and Samsung Knox devices also receiving similar approval.

The D.O.D. has cracked the door open to Apple and Android users, but it's not a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) environment: The organization doesn't support personal phones to connect to the network.

Multiple Vulnerabilities Found in File Lite and File Pro iOS Apps

By Nick Arnott, Friday, May 17, 2013 a 11:45 am

Bad news this week for any users of the iOS file management apps File Lite and File Pro. Researchers over at Vulnerability Laboratory have published details for three vulnerabilities that they discovered in the latest versions of both apps.

iTunes 11.0.3 brings a number of important security fixes

By Nick Arnott, Friday, May 17, 2013 a 11:15 am

Apple recently released iTunes 11.0.3 with a number of cosmetic improvements including an updated MiniPlayer and songs view. However, this release is more than just a pretty face, bringing a number of security patches which address a wide range of vulnerabilities. Even users not interested in the visual treatments will want to grab this update.

Intel's outgoing CEO explains how they turned down the original iPhone

By Richard Devine, Friday, May 17, 2013 a 9:16 am

Intel CEO Paul Otellini has stepped down from his post, but not before divulging some interesting revelations in the process. As it turns out, Otellini and Intel turned down the chance to work on the original iPhone, now with some element of regret. As Otellini told The Atlantic:

The State of Apple's Location Services and User Privacy

By Nick Arnott, Thursday, May 16, 2013 a 1:24 pm

Apple’s handling of location data has made its way back into headlines recently due to a tool written by security researcher Hubert Seiwert. Seiwert presented the iSniff GPS tool, which makes it easy to capture potentially sensitive iPhone user data, last July at the Blackhat USA security conference and posted the source code to Github a month later. While the tool isn’t particularly new, it has been the recipient of some media attention after being covered earlier this month by SC Magazine. While the disclosure of the sensitive information by iPhones was previously known, iSniff makes the information more easily accessible and is worth a closer look to determine if users need to worry.

New OS X Spyware Discovered at Oslo Freedom Forum

By Nick Arnott, Thursday, May 16, 2013 a 1:08 pm

During the 2013 Oslo Freedom Forum, an annual conference focused on human rights, a new piece of spyware was discovered on an attendee's Mac. The spyware, which was discovered by security researcher Jacob Appelbaum, is currently being analyzed by F-Secure to fully understand what it does.

iPhone 5S component leaks show updated vibrator assembly and more

By Allyson Kazmucha, Thursday, May 16, 2013 a 1:01 pm

Some parts have been posted online that purport to belong to the iPhone 5S, or whatever Apple calls their next generation phone. While the iPhone 5 might continue the tradition of keeping the previous year's form factor, that doesn't mean the internals can't change. If these parts are genuine, they show updates to the vibrator assembly, earpiece and speaker brackets, and more. Here's the image from BGR: