scanning – Latest Apple News

Apple iPhone Camera Enhancements: New hardware, software, and photography capabilities

tigaman webdesign — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 00:08:48 +0000

The iPhone camera has long been considered one of the best smartphone cameras on the market, consistently pushing the boundaries of mobile photography. With each new iteration, Apple continues to innovate, delivering improvements in both hardware and software that empower users to capture stunning images and videos. Let’s delve into the exciting new camera enhancements on the latest iPhone models:

Hardware advancements:

Larger sensors: The main wide-angle camera now boasts a larger sensor, capturing more light and enabling superior low-light performance with less noise.
Higher megapixel count: Select models bump up the megapixel count, offering the potential for increased image detail and flexibility during cropping.
Enhanced lenses: Improved lens elements, coatings, and stabilization systems reduce glare, aberrations, and camera shake, leading to sharper and clearer images.
LiDAR scanner: This advanced technology enhances depth mapping for superior portrait mode effects, object scanning, and augmented reality experiences.

Software innovations:

Computational photography: Apple’s powerful image processing algorithms refine every pixel, optimizing exposure, white balance, and detail for exceptional image quality.
Cinematic mode: This innovative feature creates a shallow depth-of-field effect, mimicking professional rack focus transitions for cinematic video storytelling.
ProRes video: Capture stunning high-resolution videos with exceptional detail and dynamic range, ideal for professional editing and workflows.
Live Photos enhancements: Capture even more motion and context with longer Live Photos and the ability to edit stills directly from the Live Photo itself.
New camera modes: Explore creative possibilities with new photography modes like macro capture for minute details and long exposure for artistic light trails.

Beyond the basics:

Improved user interface: The camera app interface is streamlined and intuitive, making it easier than ever to access advanced features and capture stunning photos and videos.
Seamless integration with other Apple devices: Edit photos seamlessly across iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iCloud Photos and leverage powerful editing tools like Photos for Mac.
Machine learning magic: On-device machine learning powers features like scene detection and automatic adjustments, ensuring optimal results in various lighting and environments.

The Impact:

These advancements empower both casual and professional photographers to capture exceptional images and videos with their iPhones. From low-light masterpieces to captivating cinematic videos, the possibilities are endless. The iPhone camera continues to evolve, setting the bar for mobile photography and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in a pocket-sized device.

Looking ahead:

With Apple’s relentless pursuit of innovation, we can expect even more exciting camera advancements in the future. Rumors suggest larger zoom ranges, periscope lenses, and under-display camera technologies on the horizon. The future of mobile photography looks bright, and the iPhone remains at the forefront of this ever-evolving landscape.

Buying Apple’s Vision Pro headset could require an appointment and a face scan

tigaman webdesign — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 13:21:37 +0000

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple is planning to sell its $3,499 Vision Pro headset on an appointment-only basis at launch, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. According to Gurman, Apple will create designated sections where customers can try on the headset in its stores, with the first ones appearing at stores in major areas like New York and Los Angeles.

Apple will reportedly ask in-store buyers to schedule an appointment to purchase the Vision Pro, similar to the rollout of the first Apple Watch in 2015. During the appointment, Gurman says Apple will ensure that the Vision Pro fits the wearer and also outfit the device with prescription lens inserts if needed. Gurman says Apple Stores will need to keep “hundreds or thousands of lenses” in stock as a result.

The other element he mentions is that Apple’s working on both an iPhone app and a physical machine that scans a person’s head to figure out if it has the right light seal — a component that prevents light from interfering with a wearer’s field of view. When the company opens online orders in the US in early 2024, it will reportedly have customers upload their lens prescription and their head scan data.

The demos at the last WWDC didn’t include that step, with only a vision test and ear scanning for spatial audio.

The headset, which is set to launch in the US early next year, won’t be available in other countries until late 2024, Gurman says. After it releases the Vision Pro in the US, Apple will reportedly bring the headset to the UK and Canada afterward, with other countries in Asia and Europe to follow. The company doesn’t plan on bringing the device to third-party retailers until at least 2025, Gurman notes.

Apple may also be working on some additional accessories for the Vision Pro. According to Gurman, it’s exploring a second strap that goes across the wearer’s head to help people with “smaller body sizes and heads” wear the headset for long periods of time. It is also looking into creating a shoulder pouch for the Vision Pro headset’s external battery pack, as some people who wear certain kinds of cultural apparel may not have pockets.

Watch out for unexpected NFC Tag alerts on your iPhone

tigaman webdesign — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Macworld

Near-field communications (NFC) allow very short-range transmission of data from a device that can be battery-free. The field generator by the NFC reader produces the tiny amount of power required to trigger a signal. Starting with AirTag support in the iPhone 6s in 2015, all iPhone models have had some kind of ability to activate and read NFC tags. (Starting with ever earlier iPhones, all Watch models, and many iPads, NFC transmission or encoding is used for Apple Pay.)

You might have received certain kinds of NFC tag notifications. The most common are:

AirTag: Tapping an AirTag after receiving an alert that one is near you. AirTags that aren’t registered to you will be identified by your iPhone. When brought near or tapped, they send a web link that is connected to their unique identity code to help you determine if the AirTag is being used for unwanted tracking.
App Clip: NFC transmitters can offer an App Clip, a slice of a full app that’s used for limited functionality, typically related to a place you’re at, like checking out at a retail establishment.
Card with NFC embedded: You could be near or have your iPhone in a wallet next to a credit card or other card with an NFC chip that has additional information that can be triggered.
NFC web tag: Locations may have NFC tags with labels that you can tap, much like scanning a QR code, to get a web link. This appears in notifications as Website NFC Tag.

One reader found that they received repeated notifications for a payment service even when their phone was ostensibly nowhere near any NFC device. It’s troubling, and they haven’t determined the source. But what’s worse is these website tag notifications can’t be disabled.

This unknown tag kept pestering a reader.

In fact, only App Clips can be disabled, and only then by enabling a feature in Screen Time. Here’s how:

Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions.
Tap App Clicks
Change the setting from Allow to Don’t Allow.

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Erin.

Ask Mac 911

We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently, along with answers and links to columns: read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to mac911@macworld.com, including screen captures as appropriate and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered, we don’t reply to email, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.

iOS, iPhone, Mobile Phone Accessories

Apple opposes UK bill that could mandate backdoor scanning in iMessage

tigaman webdesign — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 17:24:46 +0000

Apple is the Online Safety Bill as it could be used to force encrypted messaging tools like iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal and other to scan messages for, ostensibly, child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Apple’s opposition comes as 80 organizations and tech experts have written to UK Technology Minister Chloe Smith urging a rethink.

Chris Vallance for The Beeb:

Apple told the BBC the bill should be amended to protect encryption.

Police, the government and some high-profile child protection charities maintain the tech – used in apps such as WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage – prevents law enforcement and the firms themselves from identifying the sharing of child sexual abuse material.

But in a statement Apple said: “End-to-end encryption is a critical capability that protects the privacy of journalists, human rights activists, and diplomats.
“It also helps everyday citizens defend themselves from surveillance, identity theft, fraud, and data breaches. The Online Safety Bill poses a serious threat to this protection, and could put UK citizens at greater risk.

“Apple urges the government to amend the bill to protect strong end-to-end encryption for the benefit of all.”

Several messaging platforms, including Signal and WhatsApp, have previously told the BBC they will refuse to weaken the privacy of their encrypted messaging systems if directed to do so.

Signal said in February that it would “walk” from the UK if forced to weaken the privacy of its encrypted messaging app.

Apple’s statement now means that some of the most widely used encrypted apps oppose this part of the bill.

In 2021 Apple announced plans to scan photographs on people’s iPhones for abusive content before they were uploaded to iCloud but these were abandoned after a backlash. It has now clearly signalled its opposition to any measure that weakens the privacy of end-to-end encryption.

MacDailyNews Take: As Apple should. (Here’s why.)

The open letter signed by over 80 civil society organizations calls on the UK government to protect digital security and private communications by removing provisions from the Online Safety Bill that would require communications service providers to add “backdoors” to encrypted messaging services, undermining safety for all. Here it is, verbatim:

To: Chloe Smith, Secretary of State,

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

cc: Tom Tugendhat, Minister of State for Security, Home Office Paul Scully, Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay

Dear Ms Smith,

Online Safety Bill: Civil society organisations urge UK to protect global digital security and safeguard private communication.

We are over 80 national and international civil society organisations, academics and cyber- experts. We represent a wide range of perspectives including digital human rights and technology. We are writing to you to raise our concerns about the serious threat to the security of private and encrypted messaging posed by the UK’s proposed Online Safety Bill (OSB).

The Online Safety Bill is a deeply troubling legislative proposal. If passed in its present form, the UK could become the first liberal democracy to require the routine scanning of people’s private chat messages, including chats that are secured by end-to-end encryption. As over 40 million UK citizens and 2 billion people worldwide rely on these services, this poses a significant risk to the security of digital communication services not only in the UK, but also internationally.

End-to-end encryption ensures the security of communications for everyone on a network.

It is designed so that no-one, including the platform provider, can read or alter the messages. The confidentiality between sender and recipient is completely preserved. That’s why the United Nations, several human rights groups, and anti-human trafficking organisations alike have emphasised that encryption is a vital human rights tool. [i]

In order to comply with the Online Safety Bill, platform providers would have to break that protection either by removing it or by developing work-arounds. Any form of work-around risks compromising the security of the messaging platform, creating back-doors, and other dangerous ways and means for malicious actors and hostile states to corrupt the system. [ii] This would put all users in danger.

The UK government has indicated its intention for providers to use a technology that would scan chats on people’s phone and devices – known as client-side scanning. The UK government’s assertion that client-side scanning will not compromise the privacy of messages contradicts the significant evidence of cyber-security experts around the world. This software intercepts chat messages before they are encrypted, and as the user is uploading their images or text, and therefore confidentiality of messages cannot be guaranteed. It would most likely breach human rights law in the UK and internationally. [iii]

Serious concerns have also been raised about similar provisions in the EU’s proposed ‘Child Sexual Abuse Regulation’, which an independent expert study warns is in contradiction to human rights rules. [iv] French, Irish and Austrian parliamentarians have all also warned of severe threats to human rights and of undermining encryption. [v]

Moreover, the scanning software would have to be pre-installed on people’s phones, without their permission or full awareness of the severe privacy and security implications. The underlying databases can be corrupted by hostile actors, meaning that individual phones would become vulnerable to attack. The breadth of the measures proposed in the Online Safety Bill – which would infringe the rights to privacy to the same extent for the internet’s majority of legitimate law-abiding users as it would for potential criminals – means that the measures cannot be considered either necessary or proportionate. [vi]

The inconvenient truth is that it is not possible to scan messages for bad things without infringing on the privacy of lawful messages. It is not possible to create a backdoor that only works for “good people” and that cannot be exploited by “bad people”.

Privacy and free expression rights are vital for all citizens everywhere, in every country, to do their jobs, raise their voices, and hold power to account without arbitrary intrusion, persecution or repression. End-to-end encryption provides vital security that allows them to do that without arbitrary interference. People in conflict zones who rely on secure encrypted communications to be able to speak safely to friends and family as well as for national security. Journalists around the world who rely on the confidential channels of encrypted chat, can communicate to sources and upload their stories in safety.

Children, too, need these rights, as emphasised by UNICEF based on the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.vii Child safety and privacy are not mutually exclusive; they are mutually reinforcing. Indeed, children are less safe without encrypted communications, as they equally rely on secure digital experiences free from their data being harvested or conversations intercepted. Online content scanning alone cannot hope to find out the serious cases of exploitation, which require a whole-of-society approach. The UK government must invest in education, judicial reform, social services, law enforcement and other critical resources to prevent abuse before it can reach the point of online dissemination, thereby prioritising harm prevention over retrospective scanning. [viii]

As an international community, we are deeply concerned that the UK will become the weak link in the global system. The security risk will not be confined within UK borders. It is difficult to envisage how such a destructive step for the security of billions of users could be justified. [ix]

The UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has said that the UK will maintain freedom, peace and security around the world. With that in mind, we urge you to ensure that end-to-end encrypted services will be removed from the scope of the Bill and that the privacy of people’s confidential communications will be upheld.

Signatories

Access Now
ARTICLE 19: Global Campaign for Free Expression
Asociația pentru Tehnologie și Internet (ApTI)
Associação Portuguesa para
a Promoção da Segurança da Informação (AP2SI)
Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
Big Brother Watch
Centre for Democracy and Technology
Chaos Computer Club (CCC)
Citizen D / Državljan D
Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)
Community NeHUBs Africa
cyberstorm.mu
Defend Digital Me
CASM at Demos
Digitalcourage
Digitale Gesellschaft
DNS Africa Media and Communications
Electronic Frontier Finland
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Electronic Frontier Norway
Epicenter.works
European Center for Not-for-Profit Law
European Digital Rights (EDRi)
European Sex Workers Rights Association (ESWA)
Fair Vote
Fight for the Future
Foundation for Information Policy Research
Fundación Cibervoluntarios
Global Partners Digital
Granitt
Hermes Center for Transparency and Digital Human Rights
Homo Digitalis
Ikigai Innovation Initiative
Internet Society
Interpeer gUG
ISOC Brazil – Brazilian Chapter of the Internet Society
ISOC Ghana
ISOC India Hyderabad Chapter
ISOC Venezuela
IT-Pol
JCA-Net (Japan)
Kijiji Yeetu
La Quadrature du Net
Liberty
McEvedys Solicitors and Attorneys Ltd
Open Rights Group
OpenMedia
OPTF
Privacy and Access Council of Canada
Privacy International
Ranking Digital Rights
Statewatch
SUPERRR Lab
Tech for Good Asia
UBUNTEAM
Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia UK
Professor Paul Bernal
Nicholas Bohm
Dr Duncan Campbell
Alan Cox
Ray Corrigan
Professor Angela Daly
Dr Erin Ferguson
Wendy M. Grossman
Dr Edina Harbinja
Dr Julian Huppert
Steve Karmeinsky
Dr Konstantinos Komaitis
Professor Douwe Korff
Petr Kučera
Mark A. Lane
Christian de Larrinaga
Mark Lizar
Dr Brenda McPhail
Alec Muffett
Riana Pferfferkorn
Simon Phipps
Dr Birgit Schippers
Peter Wells
Professor Alan Woodward

Notes

[i] Human rights, encryption and anonymity in a digital age: report of the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression: www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2015/06/human-rights-encryption-and-anonymity-digital-age
Encryption: a matter of human rights, Amnesty International: www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol40/3682/2016/en/ Quotes from Polaris anti-trafficking project in news article: www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/wickr-amazon-aws-child-messaging-app-sex-abuse-problem-rcna20674
[ii] Bugs in Our Pockets: The Risks of Client-Side Scanning: arxiv.org/abs/2110.07450
[iii] Internet Society, Client-side scanning: What it is and why it threatens trustworthy, private communication, May 2023, staging.internetsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Client-side-Scanning-Fact-Sheet-EN.pdf
Open Letter from Public Interest Technologists in relation to the European Commission’s proposed Regulation on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA): www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/10/Experts-letter-encryption-CSA.pdf
Safety Tech Challenge Fund Evaluation Report, see comments on human rights compliance p2: bpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/ blogs.bristol.ac.uk/dist/1/670/files/2023/02/Safety-Tech-Challenge-Fund-evaluation-framework-report.pdf
[iv] Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament and European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), Complementary Impact Assessment to the proposed EU Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse: www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2023/740248/EPRS_STU(2023)740248_EN.pdf
[v] Irish and French parliamentarians sound the alarm about EU’s CSA Regulation: edri.org/our-work/irish-and-french- parliamentarians-sound-the-alarm-about-eus-csa-regulation/
Binding Resolution of the Austrian Parliament against the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation: epicenter.works/document/4393 vi Index on Censorship, Opinion from Matthew Ryder KC. Surveilled and Exposed: How the Online Safety Bill Creates Insecurity:
www.indexoncensorship.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Surveilled-Exposed-Index-on-Censorship-report-Nov-2022.pdf
[vii] Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF: www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/convention-text-childrens-version
[viii] CRIN: Privacy and Protection: A children’s rights approach to encryption: home.crin.org/readlistenwatch/stories/privacy-and-protection; and Ross Anderson: Chat Control of Child Protection: www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2022/10/13/chatcontrol-or-child-protection/
[ix] Rishi Sunak, Statement 14 March 2023: www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-statement-at-aukus-trilateral-press-conference

Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!

Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.

The post Apple opposes UK bill that could mandate backdoor scanning in iMessage appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple speaks out against bill that could mandate CSAM scanning in iMessage

tigaman webdesign — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 15:48:15 +0000

Apple is publicly opposing the current form of the Online Safety Bill currently being considered by Parliament in the UK. According to Apple, the proposed law risks putting “UK citizens at greater risk” from data breaches and digital surveillance.

more…

The post Apple speaks out against bill that could mandate CSAM scanning in iMessage appeared first on 9to5Mac.

Apple says proposed UK law ‘poses a serious threat’ to end-to-end encryption

tigaman webdesign — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 15:23:24 +0000

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Apple has become the latest operator of an encrypted messaging service to raise concerns about the UK’s Online Safety Bill, BBC News reports. “End-to-end encryption is a critical capability that protects the privacy of journalists, human rights activists, and diplomats. It also helps everyday citizens defend themselves from surveillance, identity theft, fraud, and data breaches,” a statement reads. “The Online Safety Bill poses a serious threat to this protection, and could put UK citizens at greater risk.”

With its statement, Apple joins the likes of WhatsApp and Signal in opposing a provision that would allow communications regulator Ofcom to call on tech companies to use “accredited technology” to identify child sexual abuse content “whether communicated publicly or privately” and swiftly take it down. Apple is calling for the bill to be amended to offer explicit protections for end-to-end encryption in this section.

End-to-end encrypted messaging prevents any outside party — including the operators of an encrypted service — from reading the contents of messages. Security experts argue that forcing companies to scan messages for illegal content, even if using an approach such as client-side scanning, would fundamentally undermine this encryption and hence the privacy and security of users. Apple previously abandoned plans to scan iCloud images on users’ devices for CSAM after a backlash from privacy advocates.

“If implemented as written, [this bill] could empower Ofcom to try to force the proactive scanning of private messages on end-to-end encrypted communication services — nullifying the purpose of end-to-end encryption as a result and compromising the privacy of all users,” says an open letter signed by the heads of seven secure messaging apps including WhatsApp and Signal. (Apple is not a signatory.) “In short, the bill poses an unprecedented threat to the privacy, safety and security of every UK citizen and the people with whom they communicate.”

The government has insisted that the bill’s rules are necessary for catching criminals. “We support strong encryption but it cannot come at the expense of protecting the public. End-to-end encryption cannot be allowed to hamper efforts to catch perpetrators of the most serious crimes,” a government spokesperson previously told The Guardian.

As of this writing, the Online Safety Bill is working its way through the UK’s upper chamber, the House of Lords, with the expectation that it’ll be passed at some point this summer. Amendments to the bill are continuing to make headlines, such as new rules that will criminalize the sharing of deepfake intimate images and make it easier to prosecute people for sharing revenge porn.

LG is the first to deliver Apple Airplay to hotel room TVs

tigaman webdesign — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 16:10:56 +0000

LG Electronics, the leading provider of in-room hotel TVs, is introducing the world’s first commercial television sets to feature Apple AirPlay technology support for hotels, offering guests a seamless and secure way to share content from their iPhone or iPad to their guest room TV.

Speaking in advance of next week’s HITEC hospitality technology trade show, Michael Kosla, hospitality vice president at LG Business Solutions USA, said AirPlay will be available to guests on LG Pro:Centric® Smart Hotel TVs starting later this year at select properties.

“This is a major advancement for in-room entertainment in the travel and hospitality industry, and underscores how closely we are listening to the needs of consumers who increasingly demand simple access to their personal media options on the biggest screen, wherever they are,” Kosla said in a statement. “Hotels that offer this feature will have an immediate leg up with travelers who use Apple devices, boosting guest satisfaction while providing real differentiation from local competition.”

LG Electronics and Apple worked together to ensure that AirPlay will be as easy to use as when at home. Guests will connect their iPhone or iPad securely to the LG smart hotel TV by simply scanning a unique QR code. With no logins or passwords to remember and no separate app to download, this will be the simplest way for a hotel to enable guests to access their personal entertainment apps and accounts on the big screen in their room.

Built on a foundation of privacy and security, AirPlay allows guests to stream, control and share videos, photos, music and more from their iPhone or iPad to the smart, in-room LG TV so they can watch popular streaming services* such as Apple TV+, rehearse presentations, enjoy vacation photos, and more, in the comfort of their hotel room.

LG is the first display manufacturer to confirm AirPlay integration following Apple’s announcement at the company’s WWDC23 event earlier this month revealing that AirPlay will be available in hotels. The collaboration demonstrates LG’s dedication to innovations that empower hotels to enhance guest satisfaction.

Hotel operators will be able to start offering AirPlay capability on LG smart hotel TVs later this year. AirPlay capability will be available on 2023 LG smart hotel TVs and on recent year’s models. More info on LG’s Hotel TVs here.

MacDailyNews Take: It’s been a long time coming, but we look forward to finally being able to seamlessly use AirPlay in hotel TVs without having to do anything additional (like bringing our Apple TV units along on trips_!

Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!

Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.

The post LG is the first to deliver Apple Airplay to hotel room TVs appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple in talks to launch Apple Pay and Apple Card in India

tigaman webdesign — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 12:57:14 +0000

Apple is reportedly in talks with banks and regulators in India to launch Apple Pay and its credit card, Apple Card. The company’s CEO, Tim Cook, met with HDFC Bank CEO and MD Sashidhar Jagdishan during his trip to India in April.

Apple Pay

Two sources familiar with the matter said that Apple is looking for a partner bank in India to issue Apple Card. The company is also seeking regulatory approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Apple Card is a co-branded credit card issued by Goldman Sachs and Apple. It was launched in the United States in 2019. The card offers a number of features that are designed to appeal to consumers, including no annual fee, no late fees, and daily cash rewards.

Apple Card

If Apple is able to launch Apple Card in India, it would be a major coup for the company. India is a huge market with a growing middle class. Apple Card could appeal to a lot of Indian consumers who are looking for a credit card with a good rewards program and no annual fee.

However, there are still a number of challenges that Apple will need to overcome before it can launch Apple Card in India. The company will need to find a partner bank that is willing to work with it, and it will need to get regulatory approval from the RBI.

Anand J for Moneycontrol:

The technology giant is also holding discussions with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to possibly launch Apple Pay in the country, a third source told Moneycontrol. It is not clear whether these discussions are regarding its credit card being powered by NPCI’s Rupay platform or whether this is for Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The advantage of launching a Rupay Credit Card is that it can be linked to UPI as well. In India, only banks are allowed to launch credit cards. UPI allows customers to make seamless and fast payments by scanning QR codes through mobile phones.

The Cupertino-based tech giant had also held discussions with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the modalities of the card, Moneycontrol has learned. According to one of the sources mentioned above, the regulator has asked Apple to follow the regular procedure for co-branded credit cards, without offering any special consideration for the company.

According to the sources, Apple is looking to launch its Apple Card, a co-branded credit card with HDFC Bank in the country. The discussions are in the early stages and a decision has not been arrived at, the sources added. The nature of the discussion, as well as when Apple intends to launch this in India, could not be determined.

Apple was looking at significant deviations from the standard co-branded credit card model in India, one of the sources said. It is not clear whether the company is willing to make those compromises in order to launch the card in India, the source added…

Unlike in the US, Apple cannot bring a plain card with just Apple’s logo and the customer’s name on the front. The regulations will require that Apple takes the back seat and the bank will take the driver’s seat. The Goldman Sachs name and Mastercard also appear on the backside of the Apple Card in the US. The card also does not have any card number printed on it. These are not liberties that Apple can take in India as per the current co-branded credit card regulations in India.

MacDailyNews Take: While it might not be as pretty (or secure*, due to outmoded government regulations), Apple Card will eventually launch in India, as will Apple Pay.

*The physical Apple Card is a laser-etched titanium card with no visible number anywhere. With no card number, CVV security code, expiration date, or signature on the card, Apple Card is more secure than any other physical credit card. All this information is easily accessible in Wallet for use in apps and on websites.

Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!

Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.

The post Apple in talks to launch Apple Pay and Apple Card in India appeared first on MacDailyNews.

iPhone SE 4: Everything you need to know about Apple’s next budget phone

tigaman webdesign — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 11:15:00 +0000

Macworld

Apple updated its entry-level iPhone in March 2022, adding a few nips and tucks here and there along with a quiet price increase. It kept the Home button and small form factor that appeals to some, but the aging design and minimal upgrades meant the new iPhone SE was coolly received by the masses, with many looking forward to the next generation and reviewers hoping Apple was planning a more radical overhaul of the device.

Right on cue, rumors are now starting to appear about what that might look like. In this article we’ve gathered together everything we know so far, and what we can reasonably speculate, about the iPhone SE 4.

Update 06/21/23: Echoing previous reports, Barclays analysts Blayne Curtis and Tom O’Malley report that the iPhone SE 4 is “unlikely to launch: in 2024.

iPhone SE 4 release date: When will the iPhone SE 4 be released?

Apple’s iPhone SE doesn’t follow the same predictable annual release schedule as the standard line, and the intervals between updates can be harder to predict. The timing of the next launch points to a biennial routine, but that followed a far longer gap between the first and second phones. Here’s when the three models released so far made their debut:

iPhone SE (3rd gen): March 2022
iPhone SE (2nd gen): April 2020
iPhone SE (1st gen): March 2016

As you can see, after Apple introduced the SE line back in 2016 we had to wait four years until the device was updated—so long that the original SE was discontinued in September 2018. The 2nd generation moved it from the iPhone 5/5S design to the iPhone 6/6S style it retains to this day. Since then we’ve had two versions, two years apart. With that in mind, it seems likely that the iPhone SE (4th gen) will arrive in March or April of 2024.

However that might not be the case. Analyst Jeff Pu thinks that the iPhone SE will arrive in 2025, and Barclays analysts Blayne Curtis and Tom O’Malley claim the iPhone SE 4 is “unlikely to launch” in 2024.

Furthermore, Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted that Apple was using a prototype iPhone SE to test its 5G modem, which will arrive in the iPhone SE before the flagship iPhone models. Kuo states that “there are no plans for mass production and sales” of this prototype iPhone SE and has reported that the next iPhone SE isn’t expected until 2025.

Apple’s current budget phone, the iPhone SE (2022)

Dominik Tomaszewski

How much will the iPhone SE 4 cost?

Pricing has steadily increased across the three existing generations, no doubt influenced by the global cost of components and distribution. While the iPhone SE (3rd generation) was released around the same price as the model it replaced, Apple added a chunk onto the cost, making the current model somewhat less desirable than previous iterations, especially when you factor in the measly amount of storage that comes with the baseline model. Here’s how they line up:

iPhone SE (3rd gen, 2022):

64GB: $429/£449
128GB: $479/£499
256GB: $579/£609

iPhone SE (2nd gen, 2020):

64GB: $399/£419
128GB: $449/£469
256GB: $549/£569

iPhone SE (1st gen, 2016):

32GB: $399/£379
128GB: $499/£449

However, the iPhone SE needs to be inexpensive, and we’d be surprised to see much of an increase with the next generation, even with several rumored upgrades.

What will the new iPhone SE look like?

As the iPhone SE has always traditionally been one of the smallest devices Apple offers, it seems logical that the discounted iPhone 13 mini format might make its way down to replace the iPhone 6 chassis on the SE. But this is only one of several futures Apple could choose for the SE line.

On an August 2022 episode of the Geared Up podcast, tech tipster Jon Prosser said the “iPhone SE 4… is just the iPhone XR,” meaning it has an “all-screen” design and a 6.1-inch display.

However, a report by Ross Young in late October 2022 claimed that Apple is also mulling a 5.7-inch display as well, which would be a new size for an iPhone. The iPhone 13 mini is 5.4 inches and the iPhone X and XS were 5.8 inches. Young also says that Apple is deciding whether to use LCD or OLED for the display.

In February 2023, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is moving forward with a 6.1-inch OLED display for the iPhone SE 4 with an overall design and features similar to the iPhone 14

What features will the iPhone SE 4 have?

Even though the iPhone SE 4 is rumored to have a notch, it might not have Face ID. Apple has established Face ID as a feature of its higher-end products (iPhone and iPad Pro), and leakers are unsure whether it will have the face-scanning tech. Having a notch without Face ID would be weird but not unprecedented—remember the MacBook Pro has a notch that only houses the front camera. We’ve seen older reports from industry analyst Ming Chi-Kuo (via MacRumors) and Chinese tech site MyDrivers claiming that Apple will move the Touch ID sensor to the power button as in the 10th-gen iPad.

Renders by Ian Zelco on Front Page Tech show the iPhone SE 4 with a single camera, so you can probably expect a similar 12MP wide-angle lens. However, we’re hoping it includes some of the features we didn’t get with the iPhone SE 3, namely Night Mode and Cinematic Mode.

Depending on when it comes out, it could get the enhanced A15 chip that’s in the iPhone 14 or the newer A16. Neither would be much of an improvement over the A15 in the current model.

The iPhone SE 4 might be the first iPhone to feature one of Apple’s own 5G modems. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects it to be, and claims the baseband chip will be manufactured with a 4nm process and support only sub-6GHz bands. In April 2023, MacRumors reported that analyst Jeff Pu believes that Apple will release a fourth-generation iPhone SE with an Apple-designed 5G modem in 2025. TSMC will manufacture the modem chip. However, Pu doesn’t have a track record for accuracy like other analysts. In April, Kuo tweeted that the iPhone SE 4 is dead (again) and that Apple is using an engineering prototype iPhone SE to test its 5G modem. Kuo does not think this prototype iPhone will be developed, produced, and put doon the market.

With the iPhone 13 range moving to a baseline of 128GB (and the 14-series handsets following suit), it’s hoped that the new iPhone SE might do likewise, as 64GB really isn’t enough for most people anymore, especially since system files take up more than 10GB. But we’re not terribly hopeful—the iPhone SE (3rd gen) launched after the iPhone 13 range and still started with the same 64GB of storage, and the redesigned 10th-generation iPad also starts at 64GB. We explain more about this in why you shouldn’t buy the 64GB iPhone SE.

Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long to find out. We’ll update this article as more information becomes available, so check back regularly to see what we can dig up. In the meantime, if you can’t wait until next year, here’s a roundup of the best iPhone deals available at the moment.

iPhone, Smartphones

Apple IDs now support passkeys — if you’re on the iOS 17 or macOS Sonoma betas

tigaman webdesign — Tue, 20 Jun 2023 23:15:18 +0000

Apple IDs now support passkeys, but only in betas for iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma. | Illustration: The Verge

It appears that passkeys are now supported for Apple IDs, but only if you have the first beta for iOS 17 (or iPadOS 17 or macOS Sonoma). Beta users of Apple’s operating systems then have the ability to sign in anywhere that supports signing in with your Apple ID — covering not only Apple.com and icloud.com, but also anywhere else your Apple account is linked to — sans passwords, using just the biometrics on their iPhone or MacBook and a dream.

It works anywhere that supports signing in with your Apple ID. For example, if I want to sign in to Reddit and look at my favorite John Oliver-themed subreddits, I can tap the “Continue with Apple” button on the sign-in screen, and I’ll be given the option to sign in by scanning a QR code with my iPhone.

The feature appears to work on any Apple device — I was able to use a passkey successfully in Chrome, Safari, and Arc. When trying on a Windows PC in Chrome, the same “Sign in with iPhone” button showed up, but the request timed out when I scanned the QR code. On an Android phone, I didn’t see the button at all.

Once you’ve created the passkey on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, it syncs across all of your Apple devices, letting any of them use the biometric logins set up on that system to sign in with your Apple ID. Since passkeys aren’t exclusively the domain of Apple, once it’s fully launched, you should be able to generate them on non-Apple devices for passwordless sign-in with your Apple ID, too, using Android or Windows using either the Chrome or Edge browser, which each support passkeys.