Following the depositions of former Apple head of software engineering Scott Forstall in the Epic vs. Apple case, we’ve come to learn some interesting details about the early days of the iPhone and the App Store. Now Forstall has revealed that Apple once considered letting Adobe bring Flash to iOS, but the results were “embarrassing.”
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Macs are not immune to malware, but they are pretty well-protected. By default, macOS won’t allow unrecognized apps to be installed, and it needs the user to agree to override this. Even when they are installed, sandboxing limits the damage that can be done, which is why most Mac malware is actually adware – annoying but not damaging.
A common way for attackers to get malware onto a Mac is to disguise it as something else, to trick technically naive users into installing it. Fake installers for Adobe Flash Player are particularly favored, and Malwarebytes has found a variant that’s nastier than usual …
Despite a long list of technological disadvantages and better technology emerging, Adobe’s Flash Player has refused to die on its own. That’s finally going to change, however, as Adobe has announced today that it will ‘end-of-life’ the plug-in by the end of 2020.
It’s now seven years since Steve Jobs wrote his famous Thoughts on Flash open letter, in which he explained to Adobe the six reasons why Apple did not allow Flash on iOS devices. These reasons were, in brief:
Most of those reasons are just as valid today, security not least among them …
We’re honestly running out of headlines for these things. In what has now become a routine announcement, Adobe has admitted that yet another critical vulnerability could allow an attacker to take complete control of a Mac, Windows, Linux or ChromeOS machine.
Alongside various new features (Siri, Auto Unlock, Apple Pay) coming in macOS Sierra, Apple’s next major desktop operating system, it also ships with the brand new version of Safari, Safari 10. Safari 10 introduces a major change in the way the browser handles plugins. In short, proprietary plugins like Adobe Flash will be disabled by default when browsing the web.
This means that websites will serve modern HTML5 representations of content as often as possible as they will not be able to detect an installation of Flash at all. Safari is smart however — it will allow you to enable Flash temporarily on demand …
Less than a month after a critical Flash vulnerability allowed an attacker to take control of a Mac, Adobe has issued an emergency update for yet another critical flaw. The latest one is already being exploited by ransomware that encrypts Windows PCs, but while there’s no known exploit for OS X as yet, Adobe says that the same vulnerability exists on all platforms, and users should update immediately …
Adobe has announced the latest in a long line of “critical” Flash vulnerabilities, allowing an attacker to take control of your Mac. The same vulnerability has been found in Adobe AIR. The company has released updates for both, which we recommend you install immediately.
Adobe has released security updates for Adobe Flash Player. These updates address critical vulnerabilities that could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.
Adobe is aware of a report that an exploit for CVE-2016-1010 is being used in limited, targeted attacks.
You can update from the link below …
You can get just about anything at the Shenzhen market in China, and that apparently includes an on-the-spot internal storage upgrade for your iPhone (in addition to a long list of counterfeit Apple products). It’s a service that, save for perhaps the most hardcore DIYers, is unheard of stateside.
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With Apple expected to hold an event next month, iPad Air 3 rumors are continuing to trickle out with various degrees of reliability. The latest is yet another schematic claiming to show the upcoming iPad Air refresh courtesy of Engadget, which cites a “reliable source”. While the blueprint appears to build on existing rumors like the presence of a camera flash, Apple’s new Smart Connector, and a quad-speaker design, the illustration claims to show that the iPad Air 3 will have just barely thicker dimensions than the current 9.7-inch iPad that it replaces.
Even the source Nowhereelse is unsure about this one, but it’s certainly interesting to imagine. A purported blueprint illustration of the upcoming iPad Air 3 tablet claims to show four speakers, not two, planned for the updated 9.7-inch tablet, as well as a possible camera flash for the first time. Apple focused on the larger iPad Pro and upgraded iPad mini 4 last year, and an upgraded iPad Air 3 is expected sometime this year.
This may not be widely known, but it’s an interesting piece of history that’s now confirmed: Steve Jobs personally tried to recruit Kevin Lynch to Apple after the big Flash debate in 2010. Lynch, of course, was Adobe’s chief technology officer at the time and had just went head-to-head with Apple CEO Steve Jobs over Flash and iOS.
Apple later hired Lynch away from Adobe in 2013, giving him the title VP of Technology and a project that would later become the Apple Watch, a hire that was widely seen as a bizarre move. Tim Cook’s Apple hired the guy that Steve Jobs basically destroyed…
[Update 10/16: Somewhat sooner than expected, Adobe has released a new version of Flash available here.]
Here’s a heads-up to Mac users with Adobe Flash Player installed. Adobe has posted a security bulletin this week advising Mac, Windows, and Linux users of a known security issue with the latest version of the Flash Player plug-in, version 19.0.0.207 and earlier. In the security advisory, Adobe details that the ‘critical vulnerability’ in Flash Player could potentially cause system crashes and allow attackers “to take control of the affected system.”
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Amazon may have been Apple’s target when it unveiled its iBooks Store alongside the iPad in 2010, but the digital retail giant’s latest move is helping fulfill Steve Jobs’ vision of a web without Flash. Amazon Advertising issued an update to its technical guidelines today declaring that it will stop accepting Flash-based ads starting next month. Adobe cited “recent browser setting updates from Google Chrome, and existing browser settings from Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari” that interfere with displaying Flash ads.
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Misfit, makers of the popular Flash and Shine wearables for fitness and sleep tracking, today launched a new iOS app that turns its Flash hardware into a remote control for a connected iPhone’s camera, music functions, and more.
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It’s been a rough week for the fate of Adobe’s Flash Player plugin. Yesterday we told you about Facebook’s security chief pushing Steve Jobs’ anti-Flash message and calling on Adobe to announce an end-of-life date for the plugin, and today a major web browser has opted to actually block Flash to protect users from security issues. Mozilla said today that it is temporarily disabling Flash by default until Adobe is able to address recent exploits discovered in the plugin…
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Code found in the first iOS 9 developer betas reveals that Apple is planning to support some significant camera features and upgrades with the new software version. Presumably planned for the next iPhone hardware version, developer Hamza Sood has discovered code in iOS 9 that reveals support for long-awaited changes to the front-facing FaceTime camera. According to the code, iOS 9 adds support for a FaceTime camera with 1080p video capture, up from the current 720p camera on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus…
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Google has been working with Adobe to improve battery life drain caused by Flash and today flipped the switch on a new Chrome feature that does exactly that. The new feature aims to detect Flash on a webpage that is actually important to the main content and “intelligently pause content” that isn’t as important. The result is to hopefully make the web experience with Flash more power efficient to improve battery life on your laptop. Here’s how it works:
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Two of the hottest product categories at this year’s CES were home automation and wearables, which Apple is now tackling with HomeKit and the Apple Watch. As has historically been the case, the price premiums Apple has set for its products have left plenty of room for more affordable alternatives. Misfit, a company co-founded by former Apple CEO John Sculley, is now competing in both categories: the just-released Bolt Wireless LED Smart Light Bulb ($50) joins a small collection of Bluetooth-controlled lights, while its late 2014 wearable fitness and sleep tracker Flash ($33-$50) is in the process of being upgraded to control Bolt.
Misfit’s pitch for Bolt is interesting. It’s billing the color-shifting bulb as producing “gallery-quality light,” and focusing its new Misfit Home app for iOS on creating “Lightscapes” — lighting scenarios including neutral bright white, warm sunrises and sunsets, candlelight, forest and volcanic tones, amongst other “scenes” where the color is set but the brightness is adjustable. When Bolt works, it’s a wonderful source of light, but as is common these days, some post-release tweaks will be needed to exploit its full potential…
Apple today has confirmed that is updating its web plug-in blocking mechanism in OS X to disable all versions of Adobe Flash Player prior to the most recent, which is version 17.0.0.169. On older systems, all versions of Flash prior to 13.0.0.281 are blocked.
There are now several companies selling USB thumb drives for iPhone and iPad since the first ones with built-in Lightning connectors debuted late last year. By connecting a small and lightweight thumb drive directly to your iOS device, you can avoid limitations of onboard storage and cloud services and instead store and stream media like music, video, and photos using the drive’s additional storage.
A few things to consider when searching for the right Lightning drive: some have a battery that requires charging, companion apps for managing and streaming content from an iOS device vary in quality, and I found some have designs that make using the drives and your iOS device at the same time easier than others. Lastly, pricing varies quite a bit based on the the options below with drives ranging from 8GB to 256GB and other options offering bring-your-own storage using a micro SD card slot.
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SanDisk today announced a new thumb drive that is one of the first to include an integrated USB Type C connector, the next-generation USB plug that’s expected to arrive as one of the only connectors on an upcoming MacBook laptop.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGL02_jRFBA&w=704&h=396]
Misfit, maker of the Flash and Shine wearable fitness trackers, today announced a collection of partnerships that will extend Flash’s functionality to include limited remote control of certain apps and home automation accessories. According to Misfit, Flash — a coin-shaped accessory with an integrated accelerometer, button and small lights — will be able to work as a wireless on/off switch in the following situations:
Misfit says that the features are coming to Flash in March, which should be shortly after the release of Misfit Bolt, a $50 light bulb capable of being wirelessly controlled by Flash. Additional partners will be announced in the future.
We first told you about Nova, the Bluetooth flash for iPhone, over a year again when the portable wireless flash was crowdfunding on Kickstarter. After being funded in just two days and raising three times its goal in funding from backers, the wireless flash debuted earlier this year as promised.
We reviewed the Nova wireless Bluetooth flash after its launch earlier this year and found its a really clever accessory for iPhone and even iPad users snapping pictures from dark scenes to simple selfies. Now Nova is announcing that it is available through the Apple Online Store for the first time, and will be available at Apple Retail Stores across the United States and Canada later this month.
You can find the Nova Bluetooth flash for iPhone for $59 through the Apple Online Store now in addition to Amazon and Nova’s web store. Details below.
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