Apple smashes expectations: record setting $78.4B in revenue on sales of 78.3M iPhones: "Mac sales were up slightly, reaching 5.4 million in the holiday period. That bested the 5.3 million units Apple shipped a year ago."

Labels: mac os x

Windows code-signing tweaks sure to irritate software developers • The Register: "Changes that mean signing certificates for Windows can only be sold in hardware form – or from an as-yet undefined cloud-based "service” – from the start of February are likely to have a big effect on software development."

Labels: linux

'Right to Repair' bills in five states could force Apple to provide iPhone parts, support to independent repair shops: "Five states have introduced bills that would give citizens the "Right to Repair" electronics, compelling Apple and other manufacturers to provide service manuals and easier access to spare parts to consumers and third-party repair shops. "

Labels: 1984

Annoyingly precocious teen who ruined Trek is now an asteroid • The Register: "Actor Asteroid 391257, who rose to prominence for playing annoyingly precocious teen Starfleet member Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, now has an asteroid named after him."

Labels: trekkie

Disposable, anonymous servers, via Bitcoin and Python • The Register: "Teran McKinney, a Texas-based systems engineer with a professed fondness for Ayn Rand, is taking disposable infrastructure a step further with a service called SporeStack that allows developers to deploy servers anonymously, paid for in Bitcoin."

Labels: security policy

'Fruitfly' malware patched by Apple relies on 'ancient' Mac system calls: "The company noted that Apple has already released a silent update for macOS, dubbing the malware "Fruitfly." Malwarebytes' own app identifies the code as "OSX.Backdoor.Quimitchin," making a reference to ancient Aztec spies."

Labels: 1984, 2001, security fix

Windows 10 Anniversary Update crushed exploits without need of patches • The Register: "The August updates brought in a series of operating system security improvements including boosts to Windows Defender and use of AppContainer, designed to raise the difficulty of having zero day exploits execute on patched systems."

Labels: security research

US appeals court says public has right to sue Apple over App Store exclusivity: "A U.S. federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that people do indeed have the right to sue Apple over limiting iOS devices to apps from the App Store, potentially paving the way for an open app marketplace in the future."

Labels: Apple ][ Forever, Apple vs. Apple

How Apple exploded Europe's crony capitalism • The Register: "I remember a senior Nokia engineer explaining in astonishment how the iPhone's frame rate was 60fps – more than twice the frame rate needed to be "smooth". For a competitive product analysis, Nokia had brought in expensive movie cameras to film the iPhone's UI animations to confirm this fact. Apple was investing heavily in GPU hardware that nobody needed. "Why would they bother?" they all wondered."

Labels: apple v. nokia

FBI takes gag out of Cloudflare's mouth after three-year legal battle • The Register: "Cloudflare says it is also involved in a case being pursued by the EFF and Credo Mobile that challenges the FBI's authority to file the NSLs, and asks that the gag orders be ruled unconstitutional."

Labels: security policy

Digital video recorder installers master password list 'leaked' – claims • The Register: "The vendor's 2017 list of superuser passwords for certain DVRs – designed only for CCTV installers to access customer installations – appears to have leaked online."

Labels: security fail

Hacker publishes GitHub secret key hunter • The Register: "Reddit users praising the tool have claimed Amazon already searches GitHub for AWS keys and shutters the respective service when any are found."

Labels: security is hard, security policy

CIA director AOL email hacker coughs to crime • The Register: "Justin Liverman, arrested by the FBI for breaking into the AOL email account of CIA director John Brennan, has today signed a guilty plea deal in the face of what his lawyers described as "draconian penalties.""

Labels: security policy