Watch out Mac owners...Someone is offering Mac ransomware on the Dark Web!

In the wake of the WannaCry, a flawed piece of malware that spread virally that could've done much more damage than it did, it seems like everyone wants to jump on the ransomware bandwagon.

And if you're a malware developer, what better place to try your luck if not with Mac computers, where most user still believe they are safe by default and seem to have their guard down? That seems to be the thinking of an unknown cyber criminal who developed two new type of malicious software for Apple computers: MacSpy and MacRansom.

Despite some people's misguided beliefs (fueled in part by Apple's marketing) there's been plenty of Mac malware, even ransomware. But MacRansom and MacSpy show once again that bad guys are starting to target Macs more and more, even offering them as a service to others.

At the end of May, an unknown cyber criminal, or group of criminals, launched two sites offering MacSpy and MacRansom as services, meaning they marketed them as malware that they would sell and then offer support for.

BleepingComputer writer Catalin Cimpanu first spotted the sites. Some researchers, as well as security firms Fortinet and AlienVault have since then analyzed the samples of the ransomware and the spyware or backdoor.

While both pieces of malware aren't that sophisticated, they prove that more and more malicious hackers want to target Macs.

The bottom line: users should not assume that just because they're using a Mac they're inherently safe.

Source: BleepingComputer

Is your iPhone shutting down with 30% battery remaining? You're not alone.

Various Apple users have complained in recent weeks that the latest iOS update has caused their iPhones to turn off faster than normal.

You can see a sample of the complaints in this 13-page thread in the Apple forums (here), but the gist of what's being said is that, after updating to iOS 10.1 (or iOS 10.1.1), certain iPhone models are shutting down as if they are devoid of battery, even while their battery indicators say they have about 30% battery left.

When these iPhones are plugged back in, they quickly jump back to that 30% mark.

The conditions of the issue seem to vary. The complaints suggest the point of shutdown could be slightly higher or lower than 30% and that the iPhone 6s, the iPhone 6s Plus, the iPhone 6, and the iPhone 5s have been affected.

Earlier in November, Apple announced a free battery-replacement program for users experiencing “unexpected shutdown issues" — suggesting the problem is hardware-related — but it said the problem affected only "a very small number of iPhone 6s devices" manufactured from September to October 2015.

As a result, only a select number of devices are eligible to receive a new battery. (Be sure to check your eligibility here). With more than just iPhone 6s devices seeming to suffer from unexpected shutdowns, though, there's a chance that some iPhone owners are stuck with a faulty battery, with no apparent fix for the time being.

It's worth remembering that grumbles over iPhone battery issues are nothing new. An endless array of factors could cause a phone's battery to behave strangely, from buggy apps to hardware stress to basic user neglect. Some users have reported similar unexpected shutdown issues with iOS 8 and iOS 9 updates in the past, too, so again, we can't say if iOS itself is specifically at fault.

Still, while most iPhone owners don't appear to be affected, iOS 10 has not been immune to bugs since its public release in September, and there at least seems to be something worth noting here.

A folding iPhone could be in your future...Apple has been granted a patent on a design for a bendable phone.

Some have dissed the iPhone 7 for being too similar to the 6S. But a new patent shows that Apple may have an interesting direction for a future iPhone.

The US Patent and Trademark Office granted a patent to Apple on Tuesday for a bendable or foldable iPhone, according to Patently Apple, which was first to report the news. It looks as though such a design has been on Apple's mind for a while. The company applied in 2014 for the patent titled "Electronic devices with carbon nanotube printed circuits," according to the USPTO.

Although a folding iPhone sounds like it could be fun, there's not telling when or if this idea will come to fruition. Samsung, for instance, in April of this year was granted a patent for contact lens augmented-reality displays, but that technology seems awhile away.

This illustration, according to Apple's patent filing, shows a "device that bends along a flexible portion such as a flexible seam associated with a hinge."

Apple's iOS 10 update is causing major headaches for some users.

Apple users who were quick to download its latest iOS 10 software yesterday were subject to a major bug that left devices temporarily useless.

Not long after the company rolled out its new mobile operating system, some users complained it "bricked" their iPhones and iPads. Bricking refers to an issue that blocks access to your phone with a black screen.

Users who experienced a failed update were required to plug devices into computers and connect to iTunes to restore the system.

While the iOS issues are unexpected, we always suggest holding off updating new mobile software until Apple works out first iteration kinks. Early adopters tend to find out about software bugs the hard way.

The restoration process should reinstate the device's most recent backup. If you haven't updated to iOS 10 and want to do so, be sure to back it up first to prevent data loss. To backup a device via iTunes, connect it via a USB cable to iTunes, tap on the device name and click "Back Up Now."

The company's Twitter account is also fielding hundreds of complaints addressing the bricking issue.

Although you may want to wait to install iOS 10 for now, the new software has a lot to offer: There's a greater emphasis on photos and messaging, an improved Maps interface, and it finally allows you to remove default apps like Stocks or Find My Friends.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We always like to inform people that upgrading your iPhone / iPad an entire iOS level puts you more at risk for your device dying sooner. The components in a device are made for the operating system that is installed in them. (Example: iPhone 6 came with a 9.x operating system. It is ok to update that phone to any 9.x OS, but when you upgrade to iOS 10.x, you may start to notice problems such as slow speeds, random crashes, etc).

Do not set the date on your iPhone to January 1, 1970, unless you want a phone you can't use anymore.

There's an ad-like meme going around, designed to look like it's from Apple, telling people that if they set the date on their iPhone to 1/1/1970 and then power off/power back on the iPhone, then it will present with an Easter Egg...a theme that mimics the classic Macintosh look.

People who are claiming to be in the know say that this is a prank, like charging your phone by putting it in the microwave or waterproofing it. This prank will "brick" your iPhone. (Make it unusable).

As cool as this might look, it’s a hoax, and a particularly nasty one at that. Resetting your phone’s date that far back will so thoroughly confuse your phone or tablet’s operating system that you’ll either need to take it to the Apple store for a replacement, or just buy a whole new phone or tablet.

The date bug affects iPhones, iPads and iPod touches with 64-bit processors running iOS 8 or iOS 9. Apple says it’s looking into the bug. Users can protect themselves with a series of tweaks, such as manually setting their time and date, not enabling automatic time changes, and not turning off their iPhone or iPads.

Here's a screenshot of the meme:

 

Got an extra $17k to burn? Buy this 18 karat gold Apple watch!

Apple expects some iPhone owners to shell out more than $10,000 for a smartwatch. And it hopes they don't care if it becomes outdated in a year.

The Cupertino, Calif., electronics giant on Monday revealed pricing for the three models of Apple Watch, which will be available April 24 in nine countries. The device starts at $349 for the basic Apple Watch Sport version and goes up to $17,000 for the premium Apple Watch Edition.

That huge price gap comes from the use of the materials in the watches - 18 karat gold for the high end edition versus aluminum for the sport edition - but not for any of the actual features. iPhone owners won't be able to do any more with the expensive gold number than with the entry level model (aside from show off their ability to afford a wearable device that costs more than some cars).

By pricing its smartwatch that high, Apple, one of the world's largest makers of smartphones and tablets, is setting itself up as a luxury watch seller. But the transition could be tricky. The computing world is moving faster than ever before, as technology executives like to tell us, and what's new one day may easily be outdated a few months later. Spending $10,000 - $17,000 on a golden gadget that could become obsolete in a year is a risky proposition, especially since we don't yet know if Apple will have a trade in program, how it will support older devices in the future and whether any of the components in the device are replaceable.

History has shown that buying the first generation of a new Apple product often isn't the smartest move. Apple tends to update its products in short order - usually within a year and sometimes even earlier. And it incorporates new features in each update that make the prior model less attractive.

Source: CNET

Switch from an iPhone and not receiving text messages? You may still be registered as an iMessage user. Apple has finally released a tool to fix the problem.

Customers who switched away from the iPhones have always had one nagging problem: iMessage. Apple has finally come out with a quick fix for that.

Apple quietly introduced a new tool over the last couple of days that solves one of the biggest headaches for former iPhone owners - lost messages.

The problem begins when iPhone users sign up for iMessage in the first place. The service, which Apple introduced in 2011, helps iPhone users communicate with one another over data networks and Wi-Fi, instead of using text messages on cellular networks. To do this, Apple keeps track of a user's phone number so that when another iPhone user tries to send a message, it can shift to iMessage instead.

What happens if users no longer own an iPhone? Until now, they had to turn off iMessage on their old phone before turning on a new Android / Windows Phone / Blackberry device. Some users, however, have said turning off iMessage doesn't always solve the problem.

Unhappy and former iPhone owners have sued Apple over the issue, stating that they fell into a void where iMessage texts do not travel. Worse, the sender usually thinks the message was delivered even though it never was.

Apple's new tool includes step-by-step instructions for unregistering iPhones still in the possession of their former users. And for those who longer have their iPhone, the page includes an option for typing in their phone number and receiving a confirmation code that can be entered to confirm their choice.

Find more information and unregister your number at this link: https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage

Upgrading to iOS 8? Avoid the iCloud Drive bugs.

The new iPhone 6 is here! As usual, with a new iPhone comes a new operating system release. For those of you downloading iOS 8, you may want to avoid using iCloud Drive. After you download iOS 8 and you begin the setup process, at some point you're going to be given the option of signing into iCloud Drive. We recommend you do not do it, as it's not meant to work properly until Apple releases the new Mac operating system.

If you use iCloud to sync documents and other things between your phone and your computer (as most people do) you will lose that sync ability if you activate iCloud Drive today. You can wait on it until October 21st - the date Mac's new operating system, Yosemite, is released. It is important to know that iCloud Drive, once activated, can't be reversed - you can't turn it off and go back.

Over all, iOS 8 is without question the most comprehensive, detailed upgrade that Apple has ever offered to its iPhone / iPad software. You are probably going to need to find somebody that can give you a tutorial on this. There are things throughout this operating system that, if you just wait to discover them, could take you six months to go through them all or find them all.

Did you know, in many states, it is illegal to talk on your cell phone while driving?

Did you know, in many states, it is illegal to talk on your cell phone while driving? It is, however, legal (in most states) to use a Bluetooth headset.

Check out our newly stocked line of Apple and Samsung Bluetooth headsets below. For as little as $29.99, you can drive safely...and legally!

View details for Samsung Bluetooth device.

View details for Apple Bluetooth device.

*These devices will work with any Bluetooth enabled phone - Apple, Samsung, Nokia, Blackberry, Motorola, HTC, Sony, etc.

**We are not lawyers here at IES; we're technology experts! Of course, laws vary from state to state. Please check into your local laws before using any wireless device while driving.

Big changes are coming to the iPhone messaging platform.

Apple's next mobile operating system means significant changes for how iPhone users send and receive messages.

If you're an Apple user, this is a big deal. Messages is the most frequently used app in iOS, and is how most users share texts, photos and videos with each other.

With iOS 8, coming this fall, Apple is borrowing features from popular messaging platforms like Snapchat and WhatsApp while unveiling some new tricks of its own.

Here's a quick look at the new messaging features announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference...

Audio and video messages

The text window in the next version of iMessage will contain a little microphone button. Users hold a finger down on the button, record a short audio or video message, and send it with the swipe of a finger, all without leaving the app.

In this way, Apple is taking a page from WhatsApp, which also allows audio and video messages. Facebook bought that startup, which has a huge user base overseas, in February for $19 billion.

Audio files will appear in your Messages stream as jagged lines. Simply tap on them to listen to the message. Apple did not say Monday whether there will be a limit on the length of the messages.

Self-destructing messages

Photo and video messages that disappear after a few seconds have been popularized by Snapchat, the mobile messaging app that reportedly spurned multibillion takeover offers from Facebook and Google last year.

This ephemeral format has been especially popular with teens and young adults who like to exchange silly or racy messages without fear they'll be haunted by them later.

Now Apple is getting into the game. Audio and video messages within iOS 8 will automatically vanish within a few minutes unless you adjust your settings.

"You don't want to have to clean these up. Audio and video messages can take up space," said Greg Joswiak, head of iOS product marketing. "So they're set to self-destruct unless you choose to keep them."

Do not disturb

Sure, group messaging threads among friends can be fun. But sometimes all the back-and-forth chatter gets out of hand.

This feature lets you mute a thread for a while while reserving the option to rejoin the conversation later.

If you've ever been on one of those noisy threads that just keeps buzzing in your pocket, now you will be able to choose when to leave.

Lock-screen functions

If you're in a hurry, responding to a message on an iPhone can be a little cumbersome: You have to punch in your passcode and then hit the Messages icon just to get started.

With iOS 8, users can listen and respond to audio messages without leaving the lock screen -- just by holding the phone to their ear. The phone detects when it's next to your face, plays the message and lets you record a brief response. Lower the phone, and the message is sent automatically.

 

Other stuff

If your contacts choose to share them, their locations will pop up in group-messaging threads.

For the first time, users will be able to add or delete someone in the middle of a group-messaging thread.

And message attachments - images and videos mostly - will be collected in one place so you don't have to scroll back through longstanding threads to find them.

Source: CNN Tech

Out of storage on your iPhone or iPad? Here's how to add more space cheaply.

Apple's devices infamously rely on fixed storage. If you need more space, well, too bad.

Granted, you can try a utility like PhoneClean, which can reclaim some space , but that gets you only so far. For any kind of significant storage boost, you have little choice but to upgrade to a more capacious iPhone, iPod, or iPad.

Unknowingly to many, you do have one other option. A growing number of devices give you extra space for music, movies, photos, documents, and other data, and some of them are surprisingly affordable. How? With wireless card readers (also known as media hubs), which connect via Wi-Fi to your devices. So instead of popping a microSD card inside your iPhone or iPad (which, of course, is impossible), you pop one into an external drive you can keep stowed in a bag, pocket, etc.

Suppose, for example, you're taking a long trip. You want to bring along your entire music library, not just the handful of playlists that fit on your 16GB iPhone 5, and enough movies to last you through two or more long flights.

With one of these readers, you can stock, say, a 32GB SD card with more than enough songs and videos, while still leaving space on your Mini for apps and other stuff. And several models support USB flash drives as well.

Here's how most of these devices work:
Step 1: Connect the reader to your PC, then fill it with any and all media/data you want to bring along.
Step 2: Install the companion app that goes with the reader.
Step 3: Run the app, then connect to the reader. Now you can stream your media, view your photos, access your documents, transfer files, and so on.

One key feature to look for when shopping for a wireless reader is a pass through option, which allows your device to stay connected to a Wi-Fi network while simultaneously connected to the reader. Otherwise it's a huge hassle to disconnect and reconnect all the time.

IES currently offers two products that will help you with your storage needs:

The Iogear MediaShair Hub sells for only $99.95. It is no larger than a deck of cards, looks like a miniature router, and can double as a mobile access point. The MediaShair accommodates both SD cards (or microSD with an adapter) and USB drives. It works quite well with iOS devices, even if its app is a little clunky to use and not great as a music player. You can even top off your iPhone's battery by plugging directly into the MediaShair's USB port.

Our other option is the RAVPower FileHub 5-in-1, which sells for $74.95 and includes a larger battery than the MediaShair. It offers both Wi-Fi hot-spot and NAS features, and works with both SD or microSD cards, and USB drives.

In an ideal world, Apple devices would have expansion slots. Why pay monthly for cloud storage when all you need is a $75-$100 card reader and some inexpensive memory cards / flash drives?

Interested? Find out more about these two products using the links below:

• Iogear MediaShair Hub ~  http://iesadvisors.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=187
• RAVPower FileHub 5-in-1 ~ http://iesadvisors.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=186

Lipo for kids? There's an app for that!

Want your 9-year-old to learn how to look "slim and beautiful" through plastic surgery? Well, there's an app for that.


The app, called "Plastic Surgery & Plastic Doctor & Plastic Hospital Office for Barbie version," doesn't appear to be linked to Mattel, which creates Barbie.


It shows kids ages 9 and up how to "suck out fat from an unfortunate girl who has so much weight no diet can help her."


That is until Everyday Sexism, which according to its website exists to catalog sexism experienced by women on a daily basis, got involved.


It asked iTunes and Google Play on Twitter to not only take down the app, but apps like it, and the tweets sparked hundreds of retweets and outrage. Thankfully, since then, the apps have been removed.

Can't remember 4 digits to unlock your iPhone? No problem - use your face!

Awarded to Apple on Tuesday by the US Patent and Trademark, a patent called "Personal computing device control using face detection and recognition" envisions a method to access your iPhone and other devices based on facial detection and recognition. As such, your face would act as a password, allowing only you to answer a phone call and perform other tasks.

The technology would start by scanning your face in order to record all of its unique features, such as texture, color, size, and shape. You could run the same process for any other person whom you want to use your iPhone.

In response to an incoming call, your phone would scan your face to make sure it matches that of an authorized user. If so, the call goes through, and your iPhone displays the usual incoming call screen. If not, the device remains in lock mode with only the ringtone chiming away.

The same security could apply for incoming e-mails. Looking at the iPhone would alert you to and display an e-mail. An authorized face would prevent the e-mail alert and hide or block the actual message.

The technology seems most at home on a mobile phone. But Apple's patent points to its use on other devices, including TVs, PDAs, and personal computers. As one example, your PC's screensaver could react to your face rather than to a preset period of inactivity.

An approved patent doesn't necessarily mean this technology will become a reality. But Apple did take a first step in password evolution with the introduction of its Touch ID fingerprint sensor on the iPhone 5S. Facial recognition is already used by other products, such as Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's PlayStation. So using your face to drive your iPhone seems like a logical step at some point down the road.

Source: CNET

7 signs that your child is an iPad addict...

Withdrawal symptoms and cravings may seem like the province of hard-drug addiction, but increasingly, psychologists are noticing these same signs of addiction in people who use devices ranging from smartphones to tablets.

And as more and more households get iPads, more children may start to get hooked.  In April, reporters pounced on a story about a 4-year-old who was seeing a therapist to kick her iPad obsession.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V (DSM-V), sometimes called the psychiatrist's "bible," has not officially added Internet gaming to its roster of disorders, but it's under consideration. And it's likely that iPad, smartphone or other device addiction will be viewed similarly as more data show their harmful effects, Amitay said.

From physical withdrawal symptoms to losing touch with the outside world, here are seven signs your child may be hooked on the iPad:

1. Withdrawal

Withdrawal from heroin or alcohol causes headaches and the shakes, but device addiction has physical withdrawal symptoms as well. In a 2011 study, researchers asked 1,000 college students around the world to go 24 hours without using their smartphones, other mobile devices or the Internet. Many reported symptoms such as anxiety and depression, and one anonymous student even said he or she was "itching like a crackhead" from the longing to use a phone.

If your child is irritable, anxious or sad after having the iPad is taken away, he or she may have an unhealthy attachment to the device.

2. Tolerance

Just as heroin addicts need bigger and bigger hits to get the same effect, iPad users can also develop a tolerance.

3. Loss of interest

If children who once loved playing soccer, picking on their kid brother, or climbing trees have lost interest in all those activities in favor of hours of "Air Hockey Gold," it may signal a problem. (An occasional preference for the iPad over other activities isn't a problem; the screen craving has to be crowding out everything else to a significant degree).

4. Lack of control

Addicts typically have an inability to control their usage. And though 4-year-olds are not known for their self-control, children may have a problem if parents have a really hard time taking the tablet away from their child without a huge meltdown. On the other hand, parents of young children should be able to set limits.

5. Deception

Have you caught Henry hiding underneath the kitchen table hunched over a lit-up screen, playing his favorite game? Yes, another red flag of addiction is children lying about iPad use, sneaking the iPad into their bedroom or other hideout, or otherwise deceiving family members to get more screen time.

6. Trouble dealing

Addicts often use a substance or an activity as a way of escaping from a negative mood or feeling.

Kids who are using the iPad to avoid dealing with sad, stressful, or negative emotions could have a problem. For instance, if your kid always grabs the iPad after a fight with a sibling or a parent, he may be coping with his negative emotions using the iPad.

7. Losing opportunities

Losing significant relationships, failing in school, or performing poorly at work are all signs of addiction. Though young children have probably not lost their shot at the corner office as a result of too much Candy Crush Saga, they may be losing friends or their grades may be slipping.

Normal or not?

For all these symptoms, it's important to note that mentally healthy children, especially young children, become slightly obsessive about any new activity.

In young children especially, most symptoms of iPad addiction can be short-circuited early on if parents set limits, create consequences for excessive use and provide daily structure for their children. The fact that parents have trouble taking an iPad away from a 3-year-old doesn't necessarily mean they have a toddler addict; it means the parent have trouble saying no.

*We at IES, Inc. are not psychiatrists or doctors. Under no circumstance should this article be considered as medical advice.

Source: Yahoo News

Apple releases OS X Mavericks for free. Yes, free. That's something you'll never hear again.

Mac users can have Apple's latest Mac operating system, OS X Mavericks, for free, the company announced Tuesday at an event in San Francisco.

"Today we're going to revolutionize pricing," Craig Federighi, Apple's chief of iOS and OS X, said. The software is available today.

Apple introduced the system in June at its developers' conference. The company touted its extended battery life, tabs, and tags, while demonstrating new features in Safari, Maps, and iBooks.

Federighi reiterated the new features at Tuesday's event. A 13-inch MacBook Air with Mavericks gets up to an hour more of Web browsing and up to 1.5 hours more iTunes movie playback, he said.
He also explained how the system adjusts its memory based on the task. This allows for optimal quality when you're running a graphics-heavy program -- and speed when you're not. He also highlighted the iBook app, in which photos and videos can pop out of a textbook, and an iCloud keychain, which syncs payment information for online purchases.

Overall, the new operating system is faster and easier to use, and apps have a cleaner look.

Apple's iMessage security is a myth.

Apple's iMessage instant messenger service, which has made headlines for being uncrackable by law enforcement, is not so secure after all, according to Quarkslab.

An internal document from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration published by CNET in April stated that it was impossible to intercept iMessages between two Apple devices.

"As Apple claims, there is end-to-end encryption," Quarkslab researcher Cyril Cattiaux said. "The weakness is in the key infrastructure as it is controlled by Apple they can change a key any time they want, thus read the content of our iMessages."

Further, metadata about messages is sensitive, Cattiaux pointed out -- and Apple has that metadata.

Apple insists that iMessage is not architected to let it read messages and insisted that Quarkslab discussed theoretical vulnerabilities that would require Cupertino to re-engineer the iMessage system to exploit it, something the company does not plan to do.

"At the 10,000-foot level, Quarkslab's technical argument is that it is possible to reverse-engineer Apple's encryption technology," Randy Abrams, a director of research at NSS Labs, told TechNewsWorld.

However, the effort required "is such that you already have to be a person of extreme interest to some group somewhere in the world with a high level of technical expertise, and be worth the investment of time and effort," he continued. "No average user, or even crook, is likely to be worth the effort."

Source: Tech News World

The real Siri voice has been revealed!

Meet Susan Bennett - you may know her voice if you have ever flown Delta Airlines or used an ATM. But I bet you didn't know her voice was also your favorite digital companion, Siri.

"The first time I actually heard my voice as Siri was when my friend emailed me and said, 'Isn't this you?'" Bennett told CNN, who broke the story. "I went to the Apple site and that's where I heard the voice. I went, 'Oh! Hmm. That is me.'"

Bennett says she recorded what would eventually become the voice of iPhone in July of 2005, for four hours a day, every day of the month. "I had absolutely no idea where they would end up," she admits. "Originally, it was just a bunch of sentences and phrases that were created so that every single combination of vowels and consonants and syllables could be spoken."

All of which might explain why Siri is so sassy: "There are some people that just can read hour upon hour upon hour, and it's not a problem. For me, I get extremely bored. That's one of the reasons why Siri might sometimes sound like she has a bit of an attitude...Those sounds might have been recorded the last 15 minutes of those four hours."

Source: CNN

Bill Gates apologizes for Control-Alt-Delete login, slams IBM.

The Microsoft founder says the triple-key login should have been made easier, à la Apple's Macs, but that a designer insisted on the more complicated step.

 

"We could have had a single button. But the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn't want to give us our single button," Gates said Saturday during a question-and-answer session to launch a Harvard University fund-raising campaign. His comments have gained attention since a video of his Harvard Q&A was posted on YouTube on Tuesday.

 

"And so we had ... we programmed at a low level that you had to ... it was a mistake," he said, throwing up his hands to laughter and applause from the crowd.

 

Gates defended innovation on the earliest Microsoft software though.

 

"We did some clever stuff," he said. "We were able to experiment with a lot of stuff, but more on the software side than the hardware."

 

Long the first interface step for PC users, Control-Alt-Delete still exists in Windows 8 as a way of either locking the computer or accessing the control panel. While the system defaults to a log-in screen, users may tweak their settings to return to the old way of logging on to Windows.

 

Sometimes informally called the "three-fingered salute," the login required users to use both hands and was intended to avoid accidental keystrokes from rebooting a computer.

 

Engineer David Bradley, a designer on early IBM computers, said he invented the combination as a shortcut during development.

 

"It was like a five-minute job in doing it. I didn't realize that I was going to create a cultural icon when I did it," he said "... I may have invented it, but I think Bill made it famous."

 

Source: CNN

New Android software lets users unofficially tap into Apple's iMessage service, with security concerns.

A functional version of Apple's iMessage has arrived on Google's Android platform, though not with Apple's blessing, or without potential security risks.

The software is called iMessage Chat and was created by developer Daniel Zweigart. Users enter their Apple ID and password credentials and can text with registered iMessage phone numbers and e-mail addresses freely.

Per iOS developer Adam Bell, the service appears to be tricking Apple's iMessage server into thinking it's a Mac Mini -- Apple's entry level Mac desktop -- in order to send and receive the messages. Jay Freeman, the creator of the third-party App Store alternative Cydia believes the app is piping the data through Chinese servers as well.

We are urging all Android users to avoid installing this software or offering their Apple ID account credentials.

What is iMessage?
Apple introduced iMessage alongside iOS 5 in 2011. The messaging service lets users on iOS devices and Macs chat with one another like they would send a text message. The service is not tied to any carriers and has been designed to work on non-cellular devices like Wi-Fi-only iPods and iPads.

The iMessage protocol has remained exclusive to Apple devices since its debut, mainly serving as a way to keep users locked into Apple's ecosystem of devices. BlackBerry used a similar tactic with its BBM service, which was set to arrive on iOS and Android devices this past weekend, but now faces a delay.

Source: CNET

We never expected someone to hack the iPhone 5S fingerprint scanner....just kidding.

A group of hackers in Germany says it has found a way to bypass the fingerprint-sensor security system on the new iPhone 5S.

The hackers claim they fooled the Touch ID biometric security of the iPhone 5S by photographing a fingerprint left on a glass surface and using the resulting image to create a fake "finger" which unlocked the phone. They demonstrated their exploits in a video posted Sunday to YouTube.

 

"We hope that this finally puts to rest the illusions people have about fingerprint biometrics. It is plain stupid to use something that you can´t change and that you leave everywhere every day as a security token," said Frank Rieger, a spokesman for the group, the Chaos Computer Club, in a post online.

 

In the post, the hackers said they snapped a high-resolution photo of a fingerprint, inverted it and laser-printed it with extra toner onto a transparent sheet. Then they smeared pink latex milk or white woodglue into the fingerprint pattern, lifted a thin latex sheet from it and placed it onto the sensor to unlock the phone.

 

"As we have said now for ... years, fingerprints should not be used to secure anything. You leave them everywhere, and it is far too easy to make fake fingers out of lifted prints," said a hacker, who goes by the nickname Starbug, on the Chaos Computer Club's site.

 

The group may be rewarded for its efforts. A website has offered a bounty of cash and other prizes for the first person or group to successfully hack the Touch ID system on the phone.

 

The site, IsTouchIDHackedYet, was created by Nick DePetrillo, an independent computer security researcher known for demonstrating hacks of smartphones, and Robert David Graham, owner of Errata Security, a cybersecurity firm. It invites donors to contribute to the bounty, which so far includes an assortment of cash, bitcoins (a form of digital currency), several bottles of booze and "a dirty sex book."

 

The total cash bounty topped $16,000 at one point, although one donor has since reneged on a promised $10,000 donation, according to the site.

Source: CNN