The IT Nerd

On Friday, Apple put out a rare statement saying that the new Siri features including a more conversational Siri were being delayed. But perhaps it’s not a rare statement as they did something similar a few months ago with next generation CarPlay. Regardless it highlighted that Apple is in full catch up mode when it comes to their AI related ambitions with their competition is clearly far out in front of them.

This honestly feels like AirPower all over again where Apple announced it. Apple missed their 2018 ship date. Apple stopped talking about it. Then Apple killed it. Except that with their AI ambitions, they cannot quietly make this go away like they did with AirPower. They have to deliver something more than what they’ve delivered. Which to be frank has been underwhelming to date. And if that doesn’t change, Apple is done. That does sound over the top, but it’s not. Apple was late to the party when it comes with AI. But that was fine as Apple is often late to the party. And typically when they show up, whatever they ship is great. So they have maybe 6 – 12 months at most to show up to the party with something meaningful in the AI space that will start to claw back the ground that they have lost to companies like Google, Amazon and Samsung. And given their recent track record with next generation CarPlay and now AI, I question if Apple is capable of delivering something that will make this delay worth it for users. Though as always I am free to be proven wrong by Apple.

What are your thoughts? Is Apple done like dinner? Or are they going to deliver something spectacular in 6 – 12 months time? Leave a comment and let us know.

By Vincentas Baubonis

Apple swore it would never build a backdoor. But by killing end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for UK users, it just left the door open. Under pressure from the British government, Apple quietly pulled Advanced Data Protection (ADP) – stripping UK users of their strongest defense against mass surveillance. Now, authorities can demand access to iCloud backups, something even Apple couldn’t touch before.

But here’s where it gets even messier: Apple didn’t just roll over – it fought back. Instead of complying with the UK’s sweeping demand for a built-in “back door,” Apple appealed. US officials are now investigating whether the UK violated the CLOUD Act.

Bad news for UK users? Absolutely. But here’s the real kicker: this isn’t just a UK problem. If people think their iCloud data is safe just because they don’t live in the UK, they might want to rethink that.

1. The UK just became the weakest link in Apple’s security model.

Encryption’s strength depends on its weakest point. By stripping UK users of ADP, Apple has created a jurisdiction where iCloud data is less protected by default. End-to-end encryption requires all participants to have ADP enabled to maintain the highest level of security. This means that any iCloud file, photo, or backup shared with a UK user is now more exposed than it would be elsewhere. 

By stripping UK users of ADP, Apple has created a high-value target for attackers. If UK iCloud data is no longer encrypted end-to-end, it’s more vulnerable to hacking, government surveillance, and legal demands. If that data is shared with a non-UK user, their data is also at risk – even if they still have ADP enabled.

Cybercriminals and state-backed hackers actively exploit low-security regions to gain footholds into global systems. Look no further than Russia’s 2020 SolarWinds attack, where attackers targeted less-secure systems to pivot into US federal networks. Creating an intentionally weaker iCloud environment in the UK gives adversaries an entry point that could be exploited to compromise data beyond British borders.

2. This creates a precedent for more governments to demand the same.

Governments worldwide are watching Apple’s move closely. If the UK can pressure Apple into rolling back encryption, other countries may demand similar concessions.

The FBI has long pushed for encryption backdoors, arguing that law enforcement needs access to private communications. In 2020, then-Attorney General William Barr pressured Apple to weaken encryption in the name of national security. The UK’s success gives US agencies leverage to try again.

The EU is currently debating legislation that could mandate message scanning in encrypted apps, including Apple’s iMessage. The UK’s demand will encourage lawmakers pushing for surveillance-based security policies.

Authoritarian regimes like China and Russia have previously sought access to Apple user data. If a democratic country like the UK can force Apple to roll back encryption, regimes with less regard for privacy will use this as justification for even harsher demands. Simply put: if Apple caves once, expect more governments to have similar requests.

3. Weak encryption could fuel the growing wave of cyberattacks. 

Encryption is a core cybersecurity defense. When end-to-end encryption is removed, data can become a bigger target for cybercriminals and state actors.

Last year’s numbers show how active cyber criminals are:

• Mobile malware continued to rise – 6.7 million attacks involving malware, adware or potentially unwanted mobile apps were blocked in Q3 2024 by the Kaspersky Lab alone.
• The average cost of a data breach reached 4.88 million USD.
• Ransomware attacks surged, and nearly all the key numbers – ransomware gangs, targets and payouts – went up; for instance, the medium ransom payment skyrocketed from less than 199,000 USD in early 2023 to 1.5 million USD in June 2024.

4. Apple’s credibility on privacy is crumbling. 

Apple has long marketed itself as a privacy-first company. It famously fought the FBI’s demand to unlock an iPhone in the 2016 San Bernardino case, refusing to build a backdoor. But its decision to proactively disable ADP under UK pressure suggests that its commitment to encryption is negotiable when governments apply enough force.

Apple’s statement claimed it was “deeply disappointed” by the UK’s move, but disappointment doesn’t undo the damage. It appears that Apple doesn’t control its own encryption policies anymore – governments do.

What can users do?

If you’re a non-UK user, your data might still be protected – for now. You should approach Apple services with caution:

• Avoid iCloud for sensitive backups – consider using encrypted alternatives like Proton Drive, Tresorit, or self-hosted storage.
• Encrypt locally before uploading – use tools like Cryptomator to encrypt files before storing them in the cloud.
• Follow legislative debates on encryption – policies like the UK’s could soon come to other countries.
• Pressure Apple to resist further rollbacks – public outcry influences corporate decision-making. If users accept this, more encryption rollbacks will follow. In other words, the power to strengthen data security is also in users’ hands.

ABOUT THE EXPERT

Vincentas Baubonis is an expert in Full-Stack Software Development and Web App Security, with a specialized focus on identifying and mitigating critical vulnerabilities in IoT, hardware hacking, and organizational penetration testing. As Head of Security Research at Cybernews, he leads a team that has uncovered significant privacy and security issues affecting high-profile organizations and platforms such as NASA, Google Play, and PayPal. Under his leadership, the Cybernews team conducts over 7,000 pieces of research annually, publishing more than 600 studies each year that provide consumers and businesses with actionable insights on data security risks. 

Apple has a really cool feature for those who are paranoid about their security called advanced data protection. Here’s what Apple says it does:

Advanced Data Protection for iCloud is an optional setting that offers Apple’s highest level of cloud data security. When a user turns on Advanced Data Protection, their trusted devices retain sole access to the encryption keys for the majority of their iCloud data, thereby protecting it with end-to-end encryption. For users who turn on Advanced Data Protection, the total number of data categories protected using end-to-end encryption rises from 14 to 23 and includes iCloud Backup, Photos, Notes, and more.

The problem with that, if you want to call it a problem, is that nobody including Apple can look at your data. That was a problem for the UK government apparently who demanded a “backdoor” so that they could look at anything that they wanted. Apple’s response to that was to pull the feature from the UK. That’s a non-trivial move. And Vincentas Baubonis, Head of Security Research at Cybernews agrees:

“Apple’s decision to drop Advanced Data Protection in the UK is a massive step backward for user privacy. End-to-end encryption is what keeps personal data truly safe – without it, iCloud backups become a goldmine for hackers, governments, and anyone looking to exploit sensitive information.

The biggest concern here is that Apple made this decision under government pressure. If the UK can force one of the world’s most powerful tech companies to weaken security, other governments will take note and may push for similar concessions. This could lead to a domino effect where encryption is gradually abandoned, and that would put users everywhere at greater risk.

In cases like this, it’s not just law enforcement that benefits – cybercriminals do too. A single security vulnerability can open the floodgates to mass data breaches, identity theft, and financial fraud. Now, millions of UK users have fewer options to secure their personal data compared to users in other countries – at a time when cyber threats are escalating for both individuals and businesses.

Instead of increasing safety, stripping encryption protections makes people more vulnerable. If governments truly want to protect their citizens, they should be pushing for stronger encryption, not weaker.”

Now nobody knows what Apple’s reasoning for pulling this feature might be. And we may never know. But it would have been nice to have Apple stand up to the UK government on this because every citizen deserves privacy. Including from their governments.

Yesterday it came to light that there’s a bug on iOS devices where if you use the dictation function, and say the word “Trump” as in Donald Trump, it prints the word “Racist”. Now I did test this and I could reproduce this. But I could get other words to appear. But it really doesn’t matter at this point as the planet is hung up on the “Trump” and “Racist” connection. And all the usual nonsense that you would expect to happen is happening.

Scott Stephenson, Founder and CEO of Deepgram had this comment:

“AI is only as smart as the data it’s trained on. Voice recognition should be about understanding, not assuming. This is a reminder that companies need to constantly refine their models to avoid bizarre and potentially harmful mix-ups. The goal isn’t just accuracy, it’s trust.”

“Voice AI is exploding because, let’s face it, talking is faster than typing. But speed means nothing without precision. If AI can’t truly understand what we’re saying – accents, slang, emotions – then it’s just noise. The next wave of innovation is about making AI listen smarter, not just faster.”

On one hand, I am surprised that this wasn’t caught in QA. But on the other hand, I am not surprised because how far do you go to test a speech to text engine like this one? You can’t test every single word or name out there. Thus you can expect something like this to happen again. And chances are there’s nothing nefarious going on.

Early this morning a press release crossed the wires saying that Apple is going to spend $500 billion in the US. Here’s the TL:DR:

Apple today announced its largest-ever spend commitment, with plans to spend and invest more than $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years. This new pledge builds on Apple’s long history of investing in American innovation and advanced high-skilled manufacturing, and will support a wide range of initiatives that focus on artificial intelligence, silicon engineering, and skills development for students and workers across the country.

And:

As part of this package of U.S. investments, Apple and partners will open a new advanced manufacturing facility in Houston to produce servers that support Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that helps users write, express themselves, and get things done. Apple will also double its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund, create an academy in Michigan to train the next generation of U.S. manufacturers, and grow its research and development investments in the U.S. to support cutting-edge fields like silicon engineering.

A couple of random thoughts on this.

First, I don’t see anything related to making Apple products in the US. That’s interesting because Donald Trump has threatened to slap a 10% import tariff on Chinese made goods. Which you would think is a problem if you’re Apple seeing as a lot of your tech is made in China. Thus on this front it appears to be business as usual for Apple. By that I mean that Apple is slowly transition its supply chain out of China to places like India for example where iPhones are now being made. Besides, even if Apple wanted to make products in the US, it’s likely way more expensive to do so due to the cost of labor, assuming they can find the requisite labor, and the the need to build the infrastructure to support that.

Second, I wonder how much of this is to take the attention of Trump away from Apple? Trump has a ridiculously short attention span. So Tim Cook must be gambling on the fact that if he puts a big dollar amount out there with a huge… Or the way Trump says it, “YUGE” number of jobs, Trump will say job done and look at the next shiny object and leave Apple alone. At least for the next four years. And it’s clear that this is only meant to be in place for as long as Trump is around. And it also assumes that he’s not going to something like end democracy in the US to stay in power. But I’m not going down that rabbit hole today.

Here’s the bottom line. Tim Cook might have pulled off a move that will allow Apple to continue to be Apple with little to no interference from Trump. That assumes that Trump doesn’t realize, or more likely someone tells him that that he’s being played like a violin. I say that because Cook did something similar the last time Trump was in power. And that worked. Thus I suspect that this move by Apple will work as well.

Yesterday, Apple did something that I have rarely seen. They put out a statement to sites like MacRumors that they are still working with “several” carmakers to bring out the next generation of Apple CarPlay.

Keep in mind that this next generation of Apple CarPlay was supposed to be rolling out right now.

To be honest, this has the feel of AirPower. Remember that? Apple announced it. Apple missed their 2018 ship date. Apple stopped talking about it. Then Apple killed it. Next generation Apple CarPlay is going in that direction. And I think Apple will eventually kill it. I say that because you would think that any carmaker who really wants next generation CarPlay would have jumped on board and announced that one or more of their cars are going to have next generation Apple CarPlay by now. But you have heard absolutely nothing from any carmaker on the planet. What’s more, Apple hasn’t named a single carmaker who’s jumped on board.

That’s not good.

The fact that no carmaker has admitted to be part of next generation Apple CarPlay, nor has Apple said who is part of this, says to me that few if any carmakers have signed on. And if that continues, I cannot see how Apple can roll this out. Thus it seems highly likely to me that next generation CarPlay is going to get killed by Apple if there isn’t significant movement soon. That would be a shame for everyone. Customers, Apple, carmakers, everyone.

Apple CarPlay is great and I would love to see a major overhaul. But as things stand, I don’t see that happening. Though I am always free to be proven wrong. Let’s hope that Apple does prove me wrong.

The release candidate of iOS 18.3 hit the streets today. Now a release candidate is basically a beta version of a piece of software that is considered to be stable enough that it may be released to the public. But the person who makes the software wants to make sure that there are no issues of note before it gets released. Thus they put out a release candidate. If it is stable, that’s the version that the public will get. In any case, people who have seen the release candidate of iOS 18.3 have noted that in the release notes for this version, there’s this text:

For users new or upgrading to iOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence will be enabled automatically during iPhone onboarding. Users will have access to Apple Intelligence features after setting up their devices. To disable Apple Intelligence, users will need to navigate to the Apple Intelligence & Siri Settings pane and turn off the Apple Intelligence toggle. This will disable Apple Intelligence features on their device. 

This is the single dumbest thing that Apple has done in a very long time. I say that because you should be able to opt into things rather than be forced to opt out. And with something like Apple Intelligence which is AI by another name, users shouldn’t be forced into running it if they are not comfortable with the implications of running AI on their devices. I say devices because I have seen reports of Apple Intelligence being turned on by default when software updates for Macs appear. What isn’t clear is what happens to users who had turned Apple Intelligence on and then turned it off. Does it get turned back on? That’s pretty bad if that’s the case. What’s clear is that Apple has decided to force Apple Intelligence on its user base whether they want it or not. Which seems so un-Apple like.

Shame on you Apple.

As I type this, we are up to macOS Sequoia 15.2 which was just released to the public. And I have to say that when it comes to backing up your Mac, things are worse than when Sequoia was first released.

Let’s start with the inability to back up using Time Machine. When I wrote this, Time Machine Backups to be frank were inconsistent. And as I type this, I can say that what 15.2 has marginally improved backups via Time Machine. By that I mean that I only see the message that it has failed to back up less often. But I still see it. Now there is the possibility that a fix that I recommended in my original article to disable Time Machine throttling is also responsible for that improvement. But I am not 100% sure about that as I have another Mac that does not have Time Machine throttling disabled, and it has seen the same marginal improvement. That kind of implies that Apple might have done something to make things better. If they did, they in typical Apple fashion aren’t saying anything. I continue to monitor the situation and I will post any updates that may be of value to you here.

By the way, while I have your attention, some of you emailed me about that the fact that the ability to disable throttling of Time Machine only lasts until the next reboot is a bit of a problem. That’s fair and I perhaps should have pointed that out in my original post. But I do have a fix for that. This guy has a method of having this setting remain persistent after a reboot. I’ve done this and it does work without an issue. So you can give that a shot.

So, now you’re wondering why I am saying that if things have had a marginal improvement, why am I also saying that things are getting worse? Well, if you use a third party backup tool, macOS Sequoia seems to have broken two of the most popular ones. SuperDuper is one of those apps, and 15.2 broke the ability to create bootable backups, according to the app’s chief developer Dave Nanian. There are also reports of CarbonCopyCloner having worse issue. With them it’s not just bootable backups, but non-bootable backups as well was also affected were also failing according to this post. Also in the post was the assertion that 15.2 will wipe out Time Machine backups. Now I haven’t seen that, but that doesn’t mean that the problem doesn’t exist. But if that is accurate, this absolutely qualifies as things getting worse.

You have to wonder at what point Apple will get serious about addressing these issues so that things are better and not worse. Right now Apple hasn’t commented of this at all. And the silence suggests that they don’t want to admit to a problem until they come up with a fix, which is typical Apple behaviour. But given that they have effectively impaired at best, broken at worst their customers ability to properly protect their data, they need to do way better than what they are doing right now. Because the status quo is not acceptable.

The EU has pretty much forced Apple to switch to USB-C. But Apple were still selling a couple of iPhone models with Lightning ports on them. That’s now officially over. A French blog (Translation here) reported last week that Apple was going to stop selling the iPhone SE and the iPhone 14/14 Plus in the EU to comply with a deadline set by the EU to switch to USB-C all the things by the end of this year. And as of today, these phones don’t seem to be on Apple’s various EU online stores.

Now this presents a bit of a problem for Apple as Apple keeps older phones around along with the iPhone SE to compete with cheap Android phones. By not being able to sell these phone in 27 countries, that leaves Apple in a bit of a difficult spot. At least until a new iPhone SE with USB-C comes out. But that’s not likely to happen for a few months. Since this deadline didn’t sneak up on Apple, you have to figure that Apple has some sort of plan as they’re not the sort of company to leave money on the table. How long before we see what that plan is? Your guess is as good as mine.

Earlier today I posted a story about my Mac mini thinking that the Screen is being mirrored when it actually wasn’t. I did a lot of research and I think I found my answer here. This is the key bit:

In the current version of macOS, Apple allows for mirroring a Mac’s display to an ‌Apple TV‌, but there is no option for sharing just a portion of a display.

The menu allowing for an entire screen or just a window or app to be displayed also appears when connecting a Mac to a TV over HDMI.

That last sentence is the one that fits what I am seeing and confirms that this is a “feature” and not a bug as this is a TV that my Mac mini is connected to and it is connected over HDMI. But having that purple icon always on my screen seems to me to be completely needless. Thus to stop my OCD from acting up, I’ve hidden the icon by doing this:

• Go to System Settings
• Go to Control Center
• Set Screen Mirroring to Don’t Show In Menu Bar

It should look like this when you’re done:

I honestly wish Apple found some more elegant method of doing this. I say that because I am sure that the AppleCare helpline is being hit with calls regarding this, which is something that could have been avoided by a better UI design. But what do I know? After all Apple knows best right?