Posted in Commentary with tags Hacked on September 28, 2022 by itnerd
Online magazine Fast Company was the victim of a hack last night where their website was defaced. The website was taken down but you can see what that defacement looked like here. It appears the threat actors somehow gained login credentials that allowed them to access Fast Company’s Apple News account, which in turn allowed them to send out some vile and racist push notifications via Apple News. More on the latter in a moment. The threat actors also claimed to have accessed thousands of employee records, which they intended to share on a forum for trading information stolen in security breaches. If that’s true, that’s not good.
The company confirmed the hack took place via Twitter.
We are investigating the situation and have suspended the feed & shutdown https://t.co/U9iS8QOhkW until we are certain the situation has been resolved.
This story is sure to develop so if I learn more, I will share it here.
UPDATE: Mike Fleck, VP of Marketing for Cyren had this comment:
“As someone who has experienced a breach into a WordPress site, I can sympathize with Fast Company. After experiencing this, I have been a proponent of installing patches ASAP. It’s easy to rollback a patch if something breaks, it’s impossible to rollback a breach.”
“There is a tendency in the cybersecurity industry to focus on the latest technology like artificial intelligence. All organizations need to first master the basics. Know what systems you have, make sure they have the latest security patches, don’t use shared accounts, and enforce strong passwords and multi-factor authentication.”
Posted in Commentary with tags Intuit on September 28, 2022 by itnerd
Intuit the global financial technology platform behind TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, today announced the official opening of its new Canadian headquarters in Toronto’s downtown core. Located in ‘The Well’ at Front Street West and Spadina Avenue, the new space is Intuit’s first global site that has implemented the company’s workplace of the future design.
Intuit
Intuit
Intuit
Intuit
Intuit
Intuit
The modern, 116,000 square foot office was designed to optimize Intuit’s hybrid and diverse culture, while creating the ideal environment to co-create, make connections, and innovate. Design highlights include:
Blended neighbourhoods: A continuum of options ranging from quiet areas to active areas and open collaboration spaces.
Project rooms: Flexible spaces designed for teams that need both individual desks and collaborative furniture settings for longer term projects.
Library: Quiet zones that allow employees to focus without noise or distraction.
Prayer/meditation rooms: Private space for our staff to focus on their mental health and spiritual needs.
Social hubs: Spaces designed for social connections and wellness, such as an outdoor terrace, coffee stations, reflection areas, and an exercise area.
Toronto’s rapid growth as a key technology hub has made the city an attractive home base for innovators globally. In a recent global report, Toronto was ranked the third-largest tech hub in North America due to its depth of diverse talent.
Posted in Commentary with tags Samsung on September 27, 2022 by itnerd
Remember the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fiasco? The one where phones were literally exploding all over the place due to swelling batteries and Samsung had to take every one of them back? Well, it might be happening again.
YouTuber Mrwhosetheboss has posted a video that shows that some Samsung smartphones are suffering from a swollen battery issue. He noted his S6 (2015), Note 8 (2017) and S10 (2019) all had swollen batteries. So he tweeted about it. Samsung saw that tweet and asked him to send the phones for examination. And that’s the last he heard from Samsung as they’ve gone silent for 50 days. Thus the need for him to make a video:
And it appears that he’s not the only one who’s noted this:
I’ve had several Samsung phone batteries swell up years after I stopped using them. Never any other brand. https://t.co/mhbAAkp9UA
This is not a good look for Samsung and it will be interesting to see how or if they respond to this. In the meantime, if you have a Samsung phone hiding in a desk drawer or a storage locker someplace, you might want to check on it. I say that because when lithium comes into contact with air, it creates a very violent reaction that can burn your house down. Thus this is a non-trivial situation that you might want to take seriously until all the facts are known.
Today, Dove is launching Real Virtual Beauty, a series of actions supported by partners across the gaming industry, including Epic Games’ Unreal Engine’s education team and Women in Games, to shatter beauty stereotypes and equip the next generation of young creators and players with the tools to build self-esteem and body confidence.
For over 60 years, Dove has been committed to creating a positive experience of beauty for women and girls – working to shatter the harmful beauty ideals that impact the body confidence and self-esteem of women and girls daily. The Dove Self-Esteem Project has reached more than 82M young people across 150 countries through its academically accredited programmes. Now, with a growing number of women and girls playing video games than ever before, Dove is bringing this commitment to create a more inclusive virtual world.
Dove is starting where intervention is most urgently needed with the launch of a Real Beauty in Games Training –a unique training and accreditation course developed in partnership with Centre for Appearance Research (CAR) and industry experts. Through the training, Dove is inviting game creators to help reflect the diversity we see in everyday life, and to avoid contributing to stereotypes and biases in design. Participants who have completed the course will have the opportunity to showcase their final works through the launch of an online “Real Virtual Beauty” character art collection – curated by Dove and available on Epic Games’ Art Station platform – helping raise the standard for the authentic, diverse and inclusive representation of women and girls across the games world.
In parallel, using a public health intervention model, the Dove Self-Esteem Project is equipping the next generation of creators and players with the tools to build self-esteem and body confidence through the launch of SuperU Story, the world’s first Roblox experience – in partnership with Toya – designed to deliver self-esteem education.
Fun fact: 1.3 billion women and girls make up half of the global games community, with 65% playing video games before the age of 10. New research from Dove – co-published with Women in Games, an international organisation striving for equity and parity for all women and girls in games, and the Centre for Appearance Research (CAR) – reveals that the games industry still reflects narrow beauty standards, making many women and girls feel underrepresented, negatively impacting their self-esteem:
As part of Dove’s ongoing commitment to portraying inclusive beauty, the brand will offer a series of grants and awards to the best Real Virtual Beauty avatar designer, helping fund and expand their work with the opportunity to be featured in some of the industry’s biggest video games.
Part of Dove’s ambition to transform games into a positive space is to see more games experiences that not only entertain, but also inspire and educate the younger generation.
Introducing SuperU Story, the world’s first experience on Roblox, developed by female founded and led games studio Toya, specifically designed to help young girls combat negative self-esteem and build body confidence through a first of its kind virtual experience that encourages users to be their true selves instead of aspiring to stereotypes and unrealistic beauty ideals. Entirely free and available to visit now, the experience is an extension of the Dove Self Esteem Project – the world’s largest provider of self-esteem education. SuperU Story was also incepted with the Dove Youth Board, and validated by psychological experts from the Centre for Appearance Research – an academic institution that focuses on the role appearance and body image plays in people’s lives.
Posted in Commentary with tags Procore on September 27, 2022 by itnerd
Xero, the global small business platform, has partnered with leading global provider of construction management software, Procore Technologies, Inc., to provide a new integration between Procore’s construction financial management solution and Xero’s cloud-based accounting platform.
The new app integration is now available on the Xero App Store in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. It helps solve some of the biggest challenges small and medium construction firms face by enabling them, and their advisors, to connect field and back office teams with real-time, accurate, financial data in the cloud. This in turn supports the delivery of multiple complex projects on time, and on budget.
According to McKinsey, the construction industry accounts for 13 per cent of global GDP, but productivity has grown by just one per cent annually over the past 20 years and digitalization is lower than in nearly any other industry.
Posted in Commentary with tags Roku on September 27, 2022 by itnerd
Today, Roku, Inc. unveiled that its most powerful streaming player, Roku Ultra, is launching in Canada. Roku Ultra has a lightning-fast interface, Roku’s best Wi-Fi®, Dolby Vision®, Dolby Atmos®, HDR10+ compatibility, and channels that launch in a snap. Roku Ultra also includes the Roku Voice Remote Pro, whichfeatures hands-free voice controls, a rechargeable battery, a lost remote finder feature, and more.
Roku Ultra
Roku Ultra comes fully loaded with fast channel launch, Dolby Vision®, Dolby Atmos®, Bluetooth®, Apple AirPlay, and more.
Outrageously powerful: With a lightning-fast interface, smooth UI, and fast channel launch, users can get to streaming in a snap. Roku Ultra is the fastest and most powerful Roku player ever.
Best picture quality: Provides a stunningly sharp 4K picture with lifelike clarity supporting Dolby Vision ® and HDR10+.
Best audio quality with Dolby Atmos®: Provides immersive entertainment with sound that moves all around with realism that provides a deeper connection to shows and movies.Plus, userscan enjoy streaming and private listening via Bluetooth® connectivity.
Best connectivity: A strong, steady Wi-Fi ® connection is important for streaming the highest picture quality, especially in rooms farther from your router. Users can enjoy fast, seamless streaming anywhere in their home with Roku’s best Wi-Fi ® or choose to wire up over Ethernet.
Roku Voice Remote Pro
The Roku Voice Remote Pro offers a rechargeable battery, hands-free voice for easy actions (such as “Hey Roku, show me action movies”), personal shortcut buttons, and more.
Rechargeable battery: Works with any standard USB charger, so users can save money on batteries and keep them out of landfills. The rechargeable battery keeps the remote powered for up to two months on a single charge.
Hands-free: Forget about reaching for the remote. Users can say “Hey Roku” and a command to turn the TV on, adjust the volume, control playback, and more without lifting a finger.
Lost remote finder:Say “Hey Roku, find my remote” and listen for a little chime to locate; or use the button on the Roku Ultra player or by using the free Roku mobile app (available for iOS and Android).
TV controls: Power up the TV, adjust the volume, mute, and control streaming—all with one remote.
Personal shortcuts: Users can set personal shortcuts for one-touch control to launch their go-to channel, pull up search results for their favourite movie, actor, and more.
Private listening: Allows users to watch and listen without disturbing anyone else around them. They simply plug the included headphones into the remote and turn up the volume to enjoy their favourite show.
Push-to-talk: Users who prefer to use Roku voice, can leverage the hardware switch to turn off the hands-free voice feature and use push-to-talk voice controls instead.
Roku OS 11.5
The software updates include:
Home Screen
Featured Free: Roku’s FREE content offering remains important to device users and now includes Featured Free, an improved experience for discovery and engagement. Featured Free is a content discovery feature on the Home Screen Menu, showcasing free unlocked content from local and global partners, all in one place.
Save List: Users can now easily save movies and TV shows from across the Roku platform to create a Save List of entertainment they want to stream later. Search is available as an item within the Home Screen Menu on the TV. Users can create their new Save List with the convenient “Save” option on the title’s details page, as well as manage and add to their list from anywhere with the Roku mobile app.
Audio
Bluetooth ® Private Listening: Compatible with Roku Ultra users can simply head to the device settings to pair their wireless headphones to their supported Roku device. Once connected, they can enjoy sound from their TV through their wireless Bluetoothheadphones to their supported Roku device.
Voice Search
Roku Voice: Roku is adding new visual tools onscreen to help customers get to their desired channel destination while using Roku Voice. This feature makes it easy for users to find exactly what they’re looking for when searching with Roku Voice. In scenarios where there are multiple channel offerings for a voice search, a display will appear at the bottom of the screen with relevant options that make it easy for users to see and select their intended channel.
French Voice: In addition, Roku has added support of French-Canadian voice search and control to the platform. Users can set devices to French and use any voice remote to issue commands in French.
Availability
Roku OS 11.5 will begin rolling out to Roku devices in the coming weeks. The Roku Ultra will be available for $129.99 MSRP at major retailers in Canada in October.
Posted in Commentary with tags Cyderes on September 26, 2022 by itnerd
New research from Cyderes on Exmatter shows new data extortion techniques which destroy rather than encrypt data. The Cyderes Special Operations and Stairwell Threat Research teams found a new sample of malware whose exfiltration behavior ‘aligns closely with previous reports of Exmatter, a .NET exfiltration tool’. The sample was found during a recent incident response following a BlackCat ransomware attack.
Cyderes Special Operations and Stairwell Threat Research teams discovered a sample of malware whose exfiltration behavior aligns closely with previous reports of Exmatter, a .NET exfiltration tool. This sample was observed in conjunction with the deployment of BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware, which is allegedly run by affiliates of numerous ransomware groups, including BlackMatter.
Exmatter is designed to take specific file types from selected directories and upload them to attacker-controlled servers before the ransomware itself is executed on the compromised systems. In this particular sample, the attacker attempts to corrupt files within the victim’s environment rather than encrypting them and stages the files for destruction.
First, the malware iterates over the drives of the victim machine, generating a queue of files that match a hardcoded list of designated extensions. Files matching those file extensions are added to the queue for exfiltration, which are then written to a folder with the same name as the victim machine’s hostname on the actor-controlled server.
As files upload to the actor-controlled server, the files that have been successfully copied to the remote server are queued to be processed by a class named Eraser. A randomly sized segment starting at the beginning of the second file is read into a buffer and then written into the beginning of the first file, overwriting it and corrupting the file.
The development of capabilities to corrupt exfiltrated files within the victim environment marks a shift in data ransom and extortion tactics. Using legitimate file data from the victim machine to corrupt other files may be a technique to avoid heuristic-based detection for ransomware and wipers. Additionally, copying file data from one file to another is a much more benign functionality than sequentially overwriting files with random data or encrypting them.
This is an interesting plot twist in terms of how cybercrime gangs like these operate. Dr. Darren Williams, CEO and Founder of BlackFog has this to say:
“These days, few ransomware variants bother with encryption and almost exclusively rely on data exfiltration as a means to extort users and corporations. Data is the most valuable asset an organization has, as trade secrets, confidential customer and employee data that is subject to significant regulatory reporting. The disclosure alone can trigger some significant costs from a legal perspective in addition to the direct costs of recovery and remediation.”
This research is very much worth reading as I suspect other cybercrime gangs will copy and paste this.
Posted in Commentary with tags Infosys on September 26, 2022 by itnerd
Infosys today has inaugurated the Infosys Digital Centre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Infosys also announced it would bring 1,000 jobs to Calgary over the next two years, doubling its original commitment from when the company first expanded into the region in 2021. This will support the company’s growth across Canada as it also plans to double its total workforce commitment in the country to 8,000 employees by 2024.
The Calgary Centre, located in Gulf Canada Square in the city’s downtown commercial district, will help Infosys work more closely with clients in the region to develop cross-industry solutions to pressing business challenges in such areas as intelligent automation, green technology, user experience and advanced digital technologies, including big data and cloud. The Centre will train, upskill and reskill Infosys and client employees in the technologies required to help Canadian businesses accelerate their digital transformation.
Infosys’ collaborative relationships with academic institutions in the province, including the University of Alberta, will provide recent graduates and experienced professionals with exposure to the latest training, research and career mentorship. Infosys’ academic collaboration augment the company’s dedicated learning facilities within the Centre, which will deliver continuous learning across the employee lifecycle.
Infosys has recently been certified as a Great Place to Work® in Canada for 2022. The certification emphasizes Infosys’ strategic commitment to its localization strategy in Canada. The certification also highlights Infosys’ efforts to power digitalization in Canada by doubling its Canadian workforce and shrinking the IT skills gap in the country through sustained investments in training.
This is not only bad, it’s also a textbook example of why you need to stay on top of patching your IoT gear.
Last Fall, a command injection flaw in Hikvision cameras was revealed to the world as CVE-2021-36260. The exploit was given a “critical” 9.8 out of 10 rating by NIST. The higher the number, the worse it is and in this case, this is as close to worst case scenario as you can get without hitting 10.
Now here’s the problem. New research indicates that a year later, 80,000 or so cameras are out there in the world unpatched. And what’s worse, access to these cameras are for sale by hackers:
Specifically in the Russian forums, we have observed leaked credentials of Hikvision camera products available for sale. These can be leveraged by hackers to gain access to the devices and exploit further the path of attack to target an organization’s environment.
That’s bad. Really Bad. The vendor did put out alerts for this along with firmware updates. But because people have a tendency to what I call “install and forget” about IoT gear, here we are talking about it. Thus my advice to anyone who owns one of these cameras is to drop what you’re doing and update them now. And my advice to anyone who has IoT gear of any sort is to make sure you stay on top of your firmware updates so that way nobody tries to use your IoT gear to pwn you.
Posted in Products with tags Apple on September 24, 2022 by itnerd
It’s iPhone season and this is my review of Apple’s latest and greatest iPhone ever. Yes that’s sarcasm, or perhaps cynicism as Apple has only managed to marginally move the needle on this this year’s crop of iPhones. In fact, by the time that this review is over, you may not want to upgrade.
The iPhone 14 lineup this year is different than most years. What is the same is that Apple has four phones for you to choose from in two sizes. You can get the iPhone 14 in a 6.1″ size, the iPhone 14 Plus in a 6.7″ size, the iPhone 14 Pro in a 6.1″ size and the iPhone 14 Pro Max in a 6.7″ size. Gone is the iPhone Mini as it apparently didn’t sell all that well. In any case, you should completely ignore the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus as those are essentially a repackaged iPhone 13 with some software updates. That’s because they’ve taken the A15 Bionic processor that was in the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, added some software tweaks and called it job done. Not a whole lot else has changed. Instead, if you want a new iPhone, my recommendation is to focus on the 14 Pro and Pro Max as that’s where Apple has spent a lot of its time and effort.
Let’s start with what you get in the box:
This is the iPhone 14 Pro in space black. More on the colour in a bit. Underneath the phone you see this:
You get the usual pack that has some documentation, a SIM eject tool as I am in Canada and unlike the US, I still get a physical SIM slot, and a white Apple sticker. I also get a USB-C to Lightning cable. And this is where I will start to criticize Apple. They’ve stuck with Lightning instead of moving USB-C. This despite the fact that this phone is capable of creating 90 MB ProRAW photos and gigabytes of ProRES video. This is an issue as Lightning runs at USB 2.0 speeds which is 480Mbps or 60MB/s. In other words it is slow which makes you say WTF as it could take an insanely long time to pull a ProRES video off an iPhone via Lighting. As in an hour or two. Seriously Apple, you need to put USB-C at the very least in the next iPhone and if you want extra brownie points, have it do Thunderbolt 3 or 4 speeds as well because it is 2022 and not 2012 and you need to get with the times. Now Apple likely doesn’t want to do this because Lightning gives them control and a some extra cash via their MFi Program. Which is great for them. But what’s great for us is that the EU will force Apple to USB-C next year. Thus I will call it now. The iPhone 15 will have USB-C, though I suspect that they will do something to implement it the “Apple Way”.
And for those who are wondering, I am so over the fact that the phone doesn’t come with a charging brick.
As for the space black colour, here’s a comparison with my iPhone 12 Pro:
The iPhone 12 Pro is on the right in the graphite colour. Space black is darker but it’s not absolutely black like the desk mat that these phones are on. But it is a welcome change. The sides are made of surgical grade stainless steel, and they are a major fingerprint magnet as has been the case since Apple went to this design. The back is matte glass, and is not a fingerprint magnet. If fingerprints bother you, I’d advise that you get a case. Here are three options for you on to choose from. And a screen protector would be a good idea as well. I use this one for the record.
As for other design elements, it looks like the iPhone 13. And the iPhone 12. As in there’s zero discernible changes on the design front. In fact, I have been walking around for a week with my 14 Pro and nobody has noticed that it’s the newest iPhone around. I guess if you want to fly under the radar with your new iPhone, this phone will accomplish that. But if Apple wanted to get some attention with their latest iPhone, it’s not going to happen here.
The two design elements that have changed start with Apple’s implementation of an always on display. In typical Apple fashion, they couldn’t just have the screen dim down and show a minimal amount of information like pretty much every Android phone out there. Instead, they went above and beyond and added a few party tricks. By that I mean that pictures on your lock screen will maintain the same skin tones and still be largely visible when the screen dims. And in bright lighting conditions, the phone’s screen will be plenty bright which makes me wonder how much power that this feature is sucking back when in use as OLED screens even at minimal refresh rates are not power efficient. It also makes me wonder why Apple didn’t have some sort of option to allow the user to control that. Alternately it will dynamically adjust the brightness down in dim lighting conditions. But Apple didn’t stop there. If you have an Apple Watch and you walk away from the phone, the screen will turn off once the watch gets out of Bluetooth range. Or if you put the phone in your pocket, the screen will turn off. All of this sounds interesting. But the thing is that it took some time for me to adjust to that as since 2012 which is when I got my first iPhone, I have been conditioned that when I see something on my iPhone screen, the phone on and I need to hit the sleep/wake button to turn it off. And that’s true for my wife as well as she’s tried to turn off my iPhone as she thought it was on a couple of times. And I’ve heard this from other people with this phone or the Pro Max variant. So clearly there’s going to be time needed to get used to this feature. One thing that is missing from this feature is the ability to put it into some sort of “nightstand mode” like the Apple Watch where it will very dimly display the time alone when the phone is on a charger. In my mind, that’s a bit of a swing and a miss by Apple. But conversely if you’re in a sleep focus mode, the display turns off entirely. I am guessing that Apple’s use case is that it is one thing to have an Apple Watch display lit at night as that is not likely to bother you, but it’s a bridge too far for the iPhone. Though I suspect that this might change if enough people complain. Another thing that Apple might have to change is the fact that notifications will cause the screen to go to full brightness which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.
The second design change is the “dynamic island”. I’m going to go off on a tangent and ask why anyone at Apple thought that this was the best name for this feature? You know that a bunch of people got into a room and they wrote up a bunch of names on a whiteboard in order to pick the best one. Why did this one win? It honestly sounds like the name of a reality TV show where either someone will find love or people will be voted off the island. Surely a multi-trillion dollar company could have done better than this?
Back to the phone review. What Apple has done is eliminated the notch that has been in every iPhone since the iPhone X and turned it into a pill shaped cutout where all the Face ID hardware and the front facing camera live. But they then took the extra step of creating an entire software feature around it that allows you to task switch between apps and see information as well as interact with items that are in the “dynamic island”. Plus some notifications like Face ID being in use by an application or the orange and green dots for audio and video usage live there too. Effectively, Apple took a feature that people would criticize and made it something that people would be blown away by.
Mission accomplished.
Let me illustrate how the “dynamic island” works with this video.
One thing that I would like to point out is that the “dynamic island” visible in screen recordings. They didn’t bother to do that with the notch in the MacBook Pros that came out last year. Thus I guess that this will be their design language going forward and we can expect to see iPads, and MacBooks with the “dynamic island” soon. But there is one downside to the “dynamic island”. It cuts into full screen video. The notch didn’t do that and some will see this as a regression as a result. Another thing to point out is that you have to press and hold to surface the widget and simply tap the “dynamic island” to bring up the full app. That seems backwards to me.
And i’m calling it now. Every single Android phone will copy this feature.
The screen is different as well. This year besides ProMotion which is Apple’s adaptive refresh rate technology that ramps the screen from 1 Hz to 120 Hz to save battery power, it’s brighter as well topping out at 2000 nits. This is a total win as in bright sunlight the iPhone is extremely readable. And just in general, the screen is bright, clear, and easy to read. And that’s above and beyond my previous iPhone.
One last thing in the design area. Apple removed the SIM tray if you are in the US which slightly alters the design of the iPhone 14 Pro, and forces iPhone customers over to eSIM technology. Everyone else on the planet gets a SIM tray and eSIMs are optional. You can find out the pros and cons of that here. But I suspect that this will spread elsewhere as early as next year.
Now that the design is out of the way, let’s talk specs. Every iPhone this year gets 6 GB of RAM, but only the 14 Pro and Pro Max variants get Apple’s 16 Bionic processor. This processor is built on TSMC‘s 4 nanometer manufacturing process and it features a 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine. It has many improvements over the A15 Bionic from the iPhone 13 Pro (or iPhone 14), such as a new display engine which helps with the new always on display feature, new image signal processor, and more power efficiency. But if you’re expecting it to destroy the A15, it won’t based on these Geekbench 5 results:
A16 Bionic
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
A15 Bionic
Geekbench 5 (single-core / multicore)
1891 / 5469
1214 / 3361
1733 / 4718
To be clear, Apple continues to humiliate Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 with ease. But the A16 is only a marginal gain over the A15, and you are unlikely to see the speed difference during daily usage. My guess is that the key differences are going to be found in the energy usage and heat it generates as it is manufactured on a 4 nanometer process.
Now over the camera which Apple spent a lot of time talking about during their presentation. Specifically:
48MP quad-pixel main sensor that bins down to 12MP
12MP ultrawide sensor that’s twice as large as the one on theiPhone 13 Pro.
The telephoto lens is still 3x which is unchanged
You now get 0.5x, 1x and 2x, and the telephoto’s 3x zoom
As part of this camera upgrade, Apple have now come out with the “Photonic Engine” which is not only another questionable name for a feature, but it sounds like something straight out of Star Trek.
<Scene fades in from black showing the bridge of the Starship Enterprise with tense music playing. The red alert siren is audible>
Sulu: “Captain! Two Romulan warbirds just decloaked off our port bow!”
Kirk: “Chekov! Arm all weapons! Scotty! Prepare to engage the Photonic Engine and get us out of here!”
Scotty: “Aye Captain!”
Chekov: “Aye Captain!”
Seriously, could they not have come up a better name? After all, this is not a company that’s short of cash so surely their marcom group could have come up with something better than “Photonic Engine”? In any case. The “Photonic Engine” is a new computational photography model that improves mid and low light photos by incorporating Apple’s Deep Fusion technology earlier in the pipeline before the frames get compressed. The “Photonic Engine” promises to enhance dynamic range to bring out detail even in low-light pictures. Let’s test that by taking the iPhone 14 Pro and pitting it against the iPhone 13. Here’s a pair of photos that were taking with dark mode enabled. Starting with the iPhone 13:
Then the iPhone 14 Pro:
Is the iPhone 14 Pro better? Well, you see more detail and it does look brighter. For example if you look at the tree on the left you see the bark of the tree better in the iPhone 14 Pro. But it’s not a quantum leap above the iPhone 13. So the answer is yes the iPhone 14 Pro is better. But the differences are not huge. But they are there.
Let’s look at a low light photo without dark mode, starting with the iPhone 13:
And now the iPhone 14 Pro:
Again, you see more detail and it does look brighter in the iPhone 14 Pro photo. But again, it’s not a huge leap forward.
Now there’s an improved macro mode on the iPhone 14 Pro in play and here’s what it looks like:
The detail level is great in this photo and there’s the right amount of bokeh in the photo. And from the party tricks department comes the ability to look up some objects that you take photos of:
You’ll see the words “Look Up – Plant in the screenshot above. If you click on that you will get this:
That way you know what you’re taking pictures of and you can act like you’re a botanist. It apparently works with animals too, though I didn’t test that. But in any case, this is the power of having a neural engine on a smartphone.
Another improvement is the enhanced cinematic mode. Last year it was 1080P. This year it is in 4K and here’s an example of what you get via a video with yours truly looking as “Gangsta” as possible:
Cinematic Mode mostly works as it enables when it detects me and turns off when I exit the video. I am sure you’ll be able to do some interesting things with it.
Next up is Action Mode which is the only new feature name that Apple came up with that makes sense. It stabilizes video at 2.8K which is a bit of #fail as this is a 4K world. But in the next year or two, I am sure that this will be a feature that works with 4K. But since I review what is on the table in front of me so to speak, here’s a video that illustrates what you get without and with Action Mode:
The only thing that you have to keep in mind with Action Mode is that it requires a lot of light to work well and it will warn you when you don’t have enough light. And if you are in a location that has a borderline level of light, the results may not be that great. Though it does have options that are kind of buried in the Settings app to allow for low light usage at the cost of the level of stabilization that you get.
Earlier I touched on the fact that you get more zoom levels with the iPhone 14 Pro. Specifically that you get 0.5x, 1x and 2x, and 3x zoom which are all optical zoom levels. I tested these zoom levels and compared them to the iPhone 13 which doesn’t have all of these zoom levels which means that you get digital zoom and a less optical photo. First the iPhone 14 Pro:
Followed by the iPhone 13:
Clearly the iPhone 14 Pro photos are better. But Apple really needs to give users a broader zoom range seeing as some Android phones will do 10x optical zoom.
Finally on the camera front, you have the option of shooting pictures in ProRAW format to get all 48 MP rather than photos that are binned down to 12 MP. And returning from previous iPhones, you get the option of shooting video in ProRES format as well.
The next thing that I will cover is battery life. The short answer is that I can make it through a day on a single charge. Which is typically from about 7AM to around 10PM. The long answer can be found in this screen shots.
This is a day where I worked from home mostly and only went out once to deal with a pair of clients who were close to my home. Thus it was plugged into my car a couple of times for 20 minutes or so total. As you can see it had no problem making it through the day having used about 50% of my battery. Which implies that I could have expected plus or minus 10 hours if I emptied the battery which isn’t bad.
This day I was working exclusively from home, but I didn’t charge it once. I used 75% of my battery and I suspect that I could get to 10 hours if I emptied the battery. Now I might get better battery life if I turn off the always on display though. And apparently the haptic feedback from the keyboard plays a part in this too as Apple suggests that this feature eats some battery life. But I’m leaving them on as I like the always on display and the haptic feedback.
Now let me deal with three final items. The first is the obligatory speed test for 5G. Here it is on the TELUS network:
The Qualcomm’s X65 Modem that Apple is using really delivers the goods here. And that’s not the only improvement as this modem promises better power efficiency. Which is welcome as 5G isn’t exactly power friendly. In terms of other wireless, you get WiFi 6, which is odd because WiFi 6E is a thing, as well as Bluetooth 5.3. The latter allows the phone to consume less power, or produce better audio, or have slightly faster data transmission with a compatible device. Which is handy as the new Apple Watches and AirPods Pro both support Bluetooth 5.3. In terms of GPS, the iPhone 14 Pro can receive signals from GPS satellites operating on both the legacy L1 frequency and modernized L5 frequency. L5 satellites broadcast a higher power signal that can better travel through obstacles like buildings and trees when compared to L1 signals. With a combination of the two signals iPhone 14 Pro models should have improved location accuracy in apps like Maps.
Next are two new safety features. The iPhone 14 Pro comes with crash detection which will detect if you’ve been in a car crash, and if you don’t respond it will call emergency services. I didn’t test that and I hope I never do. But this YouTuber did test it and apparently it works as designed. Second is the Emergency SOS via Satellite. Emergency SOS via Satellite can help you connect with emergency services when no other means of reaching emergency services are available. If you call or text emergency services and can’t connect because you’re outside the range of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage, your iPhone tries to connect you via satellite to the help that you need. And Apple has built an entire user interface to help you make contact via satellite along with a quiz that you need to take to allow the feature to transmit your exact needs to emergency services. This feature launches in November and will be free for two years. After that….. Who knows? Apple didn’t say. But seeing as Apple has partnered with Globalstar to deliver these services, and they charge a minimum of $20 USD a month for these services, I am going to guess that it will cost between $20 or $40 USD a month and may likely become part of an iCloud+ plan. Though I suspect that Apple really wants you to buy a new iPhone in two years time.
Pricing in Canada goes something like this:
128 GB: $1399
256 GB: $1549
512 GB: $1819
1TB: $2089
Top Tip: If you plan on using ProRES or ProRAW, skip the 128GB model. ProRES only works on a “Pro” iPhone that is 256 GB or above. And ProRAW photos take up as much as 90 MB of space per photo. Meaning that you need a lot of storage to make that work if taking 48MP photos is your thing.
So, would I recommend the iPhone 14 Pro. That depends on what you’re coming from:
If you have no iPhone and you have some cash burning a hole in your pocket, get the iPhone 14 Pro. Apple spent more time and more effort on this phone versus the iPhone 14 making this the one to get. And if you want a bigger screen, there’s always the Pro Max model.
If you have an iPhone 13 Pro or 12 Pro and you want to upgrade, I am not sure that there’s enough here to justify the upgrade. Yes the new and improved features are interesting, but they aren’t groundbreaking for the most part and they may not be enough to make buyers say “I must get this phone.”
If you have an iPhone 11 Pro or earlier, this is worth upgrading to as there is enough of a feature set delta from your existing phone to make it worth your while to upgrade.
Here’s my bottom line. While there are improvements, and they are all solid improvements, they’re not quantum leaps forward. That makes it difficult for me to say that you should drop what you’re doing to run to the Apple Store to buy one. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a solid phone that you will like if you buy one. What I am saying is that this is a more incremental upgrade which will make you think about whether you should upgrade to it or not.
Fast Company Pwned By Hackers…. Forcing Apple To Disable Their Apple News Account
Posted in Commentary with tags Hacked on September 28, 2022 by itnerdOnline magazine Fast Company was the victim of a hack last night where their website was defaced. The website was taken down but you can see what that defacement looked like here. It appears the threat actors somehow gained login credentials that allowed them to access Fast Company’s Apple News account, which in turn allowed them to send out some vile and racist push notifications via Apple News. More on the latter in a moment. The threat actors also claimed to have accessed thousands of employee records, which they intended to share on a forum for trading information stolen in security breaches. If that’s true, that’s not good.
The company confirmed the hack took place via Twitter.
Apple reacted as well by turning off Fast Company’s Apple News account and saying this:
This story is sure to develop so if I learn more, I will share it here.
UPDATE: Mike Fleck, VP of Marketing for Cyren had this comment:
“As someone who has experienced a breach into a WordPress site, I can sympathize with Fast Company. After experiencing this, I have been a proponent of installing patches ASAP. It’s easy to rollback a patch if something breaks, it’s impossible to rollback a breach.”
“There is a tendency in the cybersecurity industry to focus on the latest technology like artificial intelligence. All organizations need to first master the basics. Know what systems you have, make sure they have the latest security patches, don’t use shared accounts, and enforce strong passwords and multi-factor authentication.”
Leave a comment »