FBI Requests Apple bypass the security of iOS to unlock iPhone used by San Bernardino shooters.

Apple is currently in a standoff with the FBI regarding an iPhone that was used by one of the perpetrators of the San Bernardino shootings last year.

The FBI is requesting Apple create a version of iOS, the operating system that runs on iPhones and iPads, that would allow them to unlock the iPhone recovered during the course of the investigation to gain access to the data, photos and files within it.

Tim Cook has been adamant that doing this would undermine the security that Apple has been striving for in their operating system for the last 9 years. The FBI is requesting that Apple endanger the privacy of every iPhone user in the world.

iOS by its very nature and design is a highly secure operating system that makes it virtually impossible to access the information on an iPhone or iPad without the passcode. iOS encrypts the data on the iPhone so that it cannot be recovered by normal means without introducing the passcode.

More so, introducing wrong passcodes will disable the iPhone after several attempts for a period of time. After which you can then attempt to enter a passcode again. Subsequent failed attempts increase the amount of time one needs to wait between attempts.

The FBI is requesting Apple create a version of iOS where this would not happen and they can brute force (try passcodes continuously, without stopping) the passcode entry until they find the correct one.

This event will undoubtedly set a precedent for IT legislature in the future.

Tim Cooks letter to Apple Customers: http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/

iOS May 1970 Date Issue.

Public Service Announcement

It seems recently, a practical joke or attempt at humor has been circulating in social media where by an unsuspecting user is asked to set the date on their iPhone or iPad or iPod Touch back to May 1970 and in so doing the iPhone will obtain a general look and feel of the iOS 6 and below. A retro look if you will. This unfortunately is not the case, and many users have been left with non functional iPhones.

The iPhone will not respond to touch or any of the customary steps including resetting or restoring the i Device to factory condition.

Why this happens is still a bit of a mystery. January 1st 1970, is the moment in time where the Unix Epoch begins. The Unix Epoch is a mechanism that all computers and devices in the world use to handle time and dates. There is no clear reason yet why setting the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to this particular date causes them to stop working.

Apple has now made a statement acknowledging this issue, and has stated that it will release an update in the future that will stop the issue from occurring. However it will not fix iPhones already having the problem since while they are in this unresponsive state, there is nothing that can be done to them, so no way to actually apply any update that Apple may release.

Solutions

For now the only solution seems to put the device in DFU mode and restoring the device to factory condition. This however has been hit and miss. Several people report success while several others report failure. Additional info has come to light with this, and it seems if the Restore appears to be stalled at the apple logo and progress bar screen, that it should be left for one to several hours and it will complete. This allows the internal clock to move to a date past January 1st 1970 that the iPhone can work with and completes the restore.

Apple Support - Put Your Device in Recovery Mode.

You can restore it yourself using Apple's instructions in the link provided below, or take it to an Apple Store and have them do it. They will likely do so for free, but make sure to make an appointment before heading out, as Apple Stores are bound to be a little crowded.

Genius Bar Appointment

Restoring the iPhone of course means it will be completely wiped, so if you do not have a backup to restore from, be prepared to loose your info.

Here is Apple's support document acknowledging the issue, and stating an update is in the works: If you changed the date to May 1970 or earlier and can’t restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

This blog post will be updated when such an update is made available, so stay tuned.

Top 5 additions in the recently released iOS 9.2 Update for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

At the time of writing this, Apple has released the iOS 9.2 Update for all iOS devices that support it. And it comes with a slew of fixes, improvements, and new additions to iOS 9. Here's the Top Five most interesting ones.

1. New Top Stories section in News

   Available to English speaking countries, the News App features the most relevant stories for your neck of the woods. Now in iOS 9.2 you get a section entirely devoted to the Top News items, whatever those may be. 10 to 1, Donald Trump is there in some form or another.

2. 3D Touch for iBooks.

   For iBooks users on iPhones 6s and 6s Plus, you can now peek and pop the book's table of contents for a quick preview of the relevant section. As well as your Notes, Bookmarks, and search results. This sounds useful in principle, but lets see how useful it really is in practice to get quick glances at these things.

3. Apple Music Improvements

   Apple Music has received a ton of criticism over its lacking set of features. Specially when it came to playlists. With iOS 9.2 You can now more easily manage your playlists. Apple has added the ability to create a Playlist directly on your iOS device from a single song via the Add Song to Playlist option. Previously you were limited to existing Playlists, and would have to go out to the Playlist section of the music App to create one before adding songs to it. Apple also added the ability to download an entire playlist for offline listening with single tap, instead having to download each song individually.

   Apple has also added a new indicator for downloaded songs in My Music and Playlists so you know which ones are on your device and which ones are not.

   Apple added a few other less relevant features to the Music App, but by far Apple Music got the most attention this time around.

4. Mail Drop in Mail

   Previously limited to Mac and PC, Mail Drop has now been made available on iOS devices. Basically it lets you upload larger attachments, that would otherwise go over normal E-Mail server attachment limits, to iCloud, and share them with your email recipients instead. This is specially handy when trying to send things like videos taken directly on the iPhone.

5. Camera USB Adapter support for iPhones

   Probably the most requested feature ever, since it was only available for iPad. With iOS 9.2 Apple has now made it possible to connect your camera to your iPhone using the USB camera adapter, and transfer photos onto the iPhone directly.

   This is probably the most useful new feature since many people now rely solely on their iPhones and being able to transfer photos to the iPhone from a digital camera has always been a necessity for many.

Useful Links

Lightning to USB Camera Adapter

About Mail Drop

About 3D Touch on iPhone 6s and 6s Plus

What to do, when buying a second hand iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch that supports iOS 7 or above.

With iOS 7, released on September of 2013 Apple added a new security feature to all its touch enabled devices in an attempt to cut down on device theft.

This feature was called Activation Lock.

Before iOS 7 when somebody stole a touch enabled Apple device, all they had to do to make it functional was reset to factory settings either via the Erase all Settings and Data option on the device, or through iTunes on a computer.

This would set the device to an "As New" state allowing the thief to use the device without any issues.

iOS 7 changed all that with Activation lock.

Basically, when a device is registered with iCloud, and Find My iPhone is turned on in iCloud Settings on the device, it becomes locked the Apple ID and Password that was used to register it. It cannot be reset to factory condition without the password, and will be locked if it is attempted to be reset through iTunes on a computer.

With Find my iPhone (iPad or iPod) active, the owner can track the device's location through the iCloud.com website or from another device that has the Find my iPhone App installed.

The owner can then choose to delete all content from the device and lock it. When this happens, a screen requesting the Apple ID and password will appear on the device preventing any access to it until the credentials are provided

Many thieves will attempt to sell off these locked devices to unsuspecting customers through online services such as E-Bay or Craigslist where its impossible to view the device before purchase.

But what can one do to avoid falling victim to these sellers? Here's a list of of things you can do to make sure the device is not locked, and properly cleared, or to at least avoid losing money on an ill fated transaction?

Verifying the device is correctly wiped:

When a iDevice is first turned on when it was first bought, it will start up at the Welcome (Hello) screen. When a device is reset, it will return to this screen. However, if the owner did not properly remove the device form their Apple ID, the device will show the activation lock screen after selecting a language and connecting to Wifi.

When buying in person, start the setup process, select a language, and connect to a wifi network. If the device is properly wiped and removed from the Apple ID of the previous owner, the next screen should be the Restore screen, where you can choose to use an iCloud backup to set up the device from, or continue and set up as new.

If buying sight unseen, its best to have the seller provide contact information, and withhold payment until you are certain the device is not locked.

You can also request the seller provide a picture of the device at the iCloud settings screen in Settings->iCloud, and verify that there is no iCloud account signed in, and that Find My iPhone / iPad is turned off there.

Even if it has not been wiped clean, having no iCloud account signed in there, means the device is not locked to an Apple ID, and should not become activation locked to it once restored.

Apple used to have a service at http://icloud.com/activationlock where you could verify the activation lock status of a device, but has since taken it down, and is no longer available.

If it ever returns, it is a great tool to use when buying second hand as it could easily tell you if its locked or not.

Should the device not be correctly wiped, you can direct the seller to this Apple Article What to do before selling or giving away your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, and request they follow its instructions to wipe the device and remove it from their account

This is a basic step, as nobody would want to sell a device that may contain private and sensitive information. So a wipe must be performed.

If the seller is unable or unwilling to do this, then this should raise big red flags, and the device should not be purchased from this seller

If the device appears to be at the Activation Lock screen, then it was most likely locked from iCloud by the original owner.

Again, requesting the seller to remove it form their account through iCloud.com should be the first step before any money is exchanged.

If the seller is unable or unwilling to do this, again, red flags should be raised, and purchase of this device should not be considered

If the device is at the standard Passcode unlock scree you should again request it be properly cleared before purchase.

If the device is running iOS 6 or an earlier version:

Request that the previous owner sign out of all services under Settings, and clear the device by going to Settings->General->Reset->Erase all Content and Settings

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When properly wiped, and released from the previous owner's Apple ID, the device will have nothing on it except the Default built in Apple Apps. As tempted as you may be to want to keep some of the sellers Apps or other content, this is never a good idea. All Apps, media, books, etc... bought or downloaded from Apple's stores are forever tied to the Apple ID that was used to buy/download them. As such Apps will always require the Apple ID and password that was used to download them, to update them in the future and media and books will remain tied to the Apple ID used to buy them, and may not be accessible later.

Overview of iPad Mini and iPad 4 reveals

I'm by no means an Apple Fanboy... I like their products, but I can still bash them when required.
Today I want to write a bit about their keynote this Tuesday and specifically their reveal of the new iPads

Their Tuesday reveal of their new iPads left many to question many decisions on their new products not because they are  bad, but because they are at all.

iPad 4

Having released the iPad 3 only 6 months ago, it puzzles me why they would release a new one so soon. Usually they have a yearly release of products, iPhones for the most part follow the yearly release for major updates, and a 6 month release for and versions such as the 3Gs and the 4s.

iPads have been pretty good at keeping a yearly release until now. but that's not really the puzzling thing. What is more intriguing is the decision to discontinue the iPad 3 in favor if the iPad 4 but leave the iPad 2.
Looking at the specs, it seems the iPad 4 is really only a very minor improvement over iPad 3. So it makes sense that they would not need two extremely similar products competing with each other. However that leaves the question of why release an iPad 3 at all 6 months ago. They could have simply kept the iPad 2 for those 6 months, and release the iPad 4 as the iPad 3 along side the iPhone 5. Then it would have been a major upgrade.

For those fearing the iPad 3 will no longer receive upgrades, I find that extremely hard to believe. Just because they aren't making the device anymore doesn't mean they'll stop supporting it with upgrades. At least one more major update so it gets 2 major updates total like the iPad 2 had.

iPad Mini

This release is the one I have to question more. The iPad mini is not only not a real good competitor in terms of specs in the 7 inch market niche, but its also the more expensive alternative.
Personally I don't think the 7 inch tablet market is the way to go. Nor do I think a 5 inch iPhone is the way to go either. The intermediate sizes make it too cumbersome for a phone and not large enough for a good tablet experience. If I want to watch movies, look at pictures, read books, I want to do it in a larger screen rather than a smaller screen. The 10 inch screen is a good size for a handheld device without sacrificing detail or size. For this reason the 7 inch tablet market is one I'm not particularly interested in. Nor do I think many people are. Walking around places like Starbucks, Libraries, museums etc... People carry 10 inch tablets with them. Very very few opt for the smaller 7 inch ones. Even then more people are going for the 4.x inch screen phones. Samsung even has a niche all its own with the 5 inch Galaxy Note. How many galaxy notes have you seen around? Again the size makes it cumbersome for a phone, and limits the features a tablet can provide.
With 7 inch tablets as low as 150 bucks, what are you getting in the mini for the extra 200 dollars that warrant it. Yes tons of apps and games are available in the store, but the display is a standard display well below other tablets resolutions, the processing power is also not to par with other tablets in the range.
At the time of writing, the Google Nexus 7 beyond its manufacturing issues, still offers the best bang for the buck. Its even more surprising when Steve Jobs himself outlined 5 reasons why 7 inch tablets where not viable options.

Only time will tell if the Mini really is as successful as they hope it is. Personally 7 inches is not enough for me on a tablet and I don't think the mini will get a version 2.

iTunes Survival Tips Part 2

Usage of an AppleID

As I said in part 1:

# 3. Keep a single Apple ID.

Yes as annoying as it sounds, the best practice is to keep a single Apple ID. Why because you can never merge the extra accounts, and you'll have content in one you won't in the other...

However this should only apply to your Apple ID and devices. If your girlfriend or boyfriend also have an iDevice (particularly an iPhone) you really need to have separate ID's.

Don't use the same Apple ID in 2 or more iPhones

When setting up an iPhone use the apple ID of the person the phone belongs to. Why? Because otherwise both phones are setup as belonging to one Apple ID. What that means is that Apple's servers then think they are supposed to send all notifications, all messages and all events to both devices.  Like if you had a iPhone and an iPad and wanted both to get the iMessage notifications. While it may be interesting to read other people's messages it can get a annoying, cumbersome, and obtrusive. Each individual iPhone should have its own individual Apple ID.

Don't use the same AppleID for iCloud backups of different phones.

You should never share an Apple Id for iCloud backup as that can cause issues with the backed up data. This is specially problematic as the backed up contacts of one iPhone can merge with another, or in worst cases overwrite them. So you get either a mess of contacts, or none of your own. I'm sure I don't have ti explain the problems you get from having merged contact lists, or having yours overwritten by your girlfriend's.

Don't share an Apple ID for iTunes purchases

As much as you'd want to, or think its a good idea, it isn't. While having purchased content across the your own devices is good, having purchased content across devices owned by different people is not. Even if its your girlfriend or wife and you want to share the content avoid it. Why because it invariably comes down to having content you don't want downloading to your device. I for instance don't need to have the complete set of Sex & the city episodes downloading to my iPhone because my wife decided she wants to watch them. Also I don't need it using up space in my iPhone or iPad.

With that said, I can appreciate the need for a shared AppleID when purchasing content and being able to use it across everybody's devices, however the iTunes platform is not set up for it, and while you can use say a House Apple ID where you purchase movies and Tv shows to watch at home through an Apple Tv or even an iPad connected through HDMI to the TV it come back to the original issue. The account is independent, and its purchases cannot be merged with Apple ID's iTunes library.

All in all, iTunes, and Apple's platforms were designed for personal Apple ID's sharing was never intended because they first and foremost wanted to prevent piracy, and content copying. So while you may feel inclined to share an Apple ID, don't. In the long run it will only cause more issues than it will solve.

iTunes survival Tips

Apple has come a long way since the days of the Macintosh Apple II, but it seems in their effort to keep all store purchases secure and "un-pirateable" they've also made their users lives a living nightmare.

iTunes is probably the most hated piece of software out there that isn't a virus, or malware (Well... technically speaking). It makes seemingly simple tasks incredibly complex. And things like recovering your library after a PC crash become almost impossible.

Its less offensive now, but a few years ago, it would seem iTunes updates would show up every couple of days, but were close to 100MB in size. That's not an update, that's the whole damn software to be downloaded every couple of days. Now it seems to have cut back on the frequent updates a little. And also reduced the size a tiny bit too.  But still at an average 70 or 80MB a pop it still kind of annoying.

Still since there is no alternative to manage your iDevices, were stuck with it, so here are some tips to keep iTunes under control or at least make it a little less aggravating.

# 1. Consolidate

Consolidation is one of the few things that can aid in maintaining  control of your library. If you have music strewn about all over your hard drive or in different hard drives, it makes it very hard to manage, and recover should something go wrong. Consolidating makes iTunes copy all music, videos and playlists to a single location for it to manage.

Go to  File->Library->Organize Library and tick the Consolidate check box to make iTunes put everything inside the iTunes library folder.

# 2. Weed Out

We all like to have all our content at our finger tips, but there comes a time when you need to do some spring cleaning, and remove things you no longer need. Clearly 3 moth old Podcasts you downloaded from a website devoted to onion chopping that you've been to only once may not be relevant any more. Remove them not only to free up space the limited storage on your device, but also to make maintenance of your library a little easier.

I've had to backup iTunes libraries for clients that are in the 100's of  GB but most of the space is taken up by old podcasts or video files they haven't watched or heard in years. While keeping your video and music library for posterity is always good, there are somethings that are just not worth the space they take up. Things like podcasts and other time relevant content like news casts etc..., can be erased. With iCloud you can still re-download the content should you need to in the future.

# 3. Keep a single Apple ID.

Yes as annoying as it sounds, the best practice is to keep a single Apple ID. Why because you can never merge the extra accounts, and you'll have content in one you won't in the other. It also makes it hard to keep a functional consolidated library if content is strewn about in several accounts. I'm a victim of this myself, I have 2 accounts. The problem used to be you could not download content from a country specific store while in another country. This seems to have changed, as I can now download content from the American store while abroad. So I keep only my american account. But when I used to travel, I had to use a local account to be able to download things. Sadly there's no way to merge account purchases. So my purchases in the other account have had to remain there. As of this writing there is still no way to merge Apple ID's from different countries which is very very annoying for many, many people. It becomes more irritating when you realize content in certain country stores is really bad, and you still have to resort to an american store to download. I would suggest to keep an american account for pretty much everything. It does not affect your carrier fees, or local country data whatsoever, but does it make it easier to manage content, and get the most up to date content.

# 4. Backup.

This is the most important point. Backup your iDevice regularly to your iTunes library, and backup the iTunes library as well. Backing up your iDevice also downloads your Camera Roll. Which otherwise does not get synchronized in iTunes. So its important if you wish to have your photos saved. Backing up your library is also a must, as it will let you restore to any iDevice should the need arise. Backing up the entirety of the library folder whether on a Mac or PC, will preserve everything stored in your library and synced, as well as your iDevice backups. Which contain other things not synchronized to the Library like the camera roll. Should your computer hard drive die, having a backup of your library handy, and up to date and a current backup of your iDevice should reduce headaches to a minimum. And remember, there's no way to restore your library from your device. Though there are some applications out there that claim to do it, but almost all of them cost, and I don't know if they are any good.

iOS 6 Issue List

I'm starting a list of issues I'm having with Apple's latest iOS update.

This is an iPad 2.

iOS 6 Official download.

I want to point out there's several things I like about the update, and this list will not include the lack of certain features in the release for iPad 2 that exist for the iPhone5 and iPad 3 such as Siri.
This is going to be a list of issues I'm having, with the release as is, and the included features.

I'll update the post with more issues as I encounter, and also solutions to the problems also as i find them.

1. Apple Maps. O.k. I'll cheat on this one but not really because it really isn;t in any release. Lack of Street View:.

As an avid user of Google Maps before, the lack of street view in the new Apple Maps app is quite jarring and sorely missed. This feature really needs to exist very soon. Or hopefully Google will release a new version of Google Maps to the App Store for download. As cool as Fly-through is for the cities that have it, its a gimmick, and not very useful when looking for an address.

2. iTunes: It may be just me, but the iTunes store is pathetically slow now, and keeps saying it can't connect. Loading image tiles in any section takes ages, and search is almost unusable.

Apparently there is a strange fix for this that gets rid of the "Cannot connect to iTunes store" popup. But not the slowness.
Go to Settings > General -> Date & Time, and set the date to one year ahead. You'll get a couple of notices about backups, and the same dreaded popup message. When that happens cancel it, and set the clock back the the correct date. The annoying popup should go away once you log on to the store successfully the next time.
Search is still very slow though, and the image loading inside iTunes still has issues. Before you comment about my internet connection,I actually downloaded a Movie rental from iTunes and it finished in about 25 minutes. Though it did take a while to get started, and even failed the first time. Though once it started it downloaded really fast, and with no other issues.

3. Internet connectivity issues. Seems the iPad is having some issues accessing the internet. Now my PC has no issues, and connects fine to my router, and the iPad had no issues before the upgrade. So something in iOS 6 is not liking my router or takes a while to negotiate the connection. It happens in quite a few apps. Most notably... Facebook.

Well that's it for now. I'll update as i keep using it, and having issues with it of course.