Leap Motion controller now shipping, coming to Best Buy on July 28

The Leap Motion 3D gesture controller is now shipping following an unexpected delay. It was initially scheduled to ship on May 13, but CEO Michael Buckwald said back in April they simply needed more time to test the device before deploying it in the wild.
In a post on the company blog, Leap said they started shipping pre-orders last week and some have already received the device. They are dispatching hundreds of thousands of units to more than 150 countries but due to high demand they are still processing pre-orders at this time. The company promised not to rest until all placed orders are delivered.
If you are not familiar with the Leap Motion controller, it’s a flash drive-sized module that is able to track the movement of all 10 fingers on both hands in an area of eight cubic feet. It’s much more sensitive than the Kinect as it can detect movements of just 0.01 millimeters although it's designed for close quarters operation rather than room-filling fun like Microsoft's solution.
The device works with specialized apps found in the Leap Airspace Store. At present, there are 75 or so apps to choose from including games, productivity apps and creative tools. Most are either free or cost a couple of bucks to purchase.
If you’re the type that likes to check out a product in person before making a purchase, you can head to your local Best Buy starting July 28 to pick one up. Otherwise, you can order through the company’s online store for around $80 plus shipping.

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Download VLC for iOS, now with AirPlay and Dropbox support

Undoubtedly, one of the most popular open source media players available today is VLC, and it's been that way for quite some time now. As a project backed by many well versed contributors it's available in a wide range of platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and now once again iOS.
Being an open source project, as long as you oblige the GNU license agreement, it's perfectly fine to distribute and port to practically any environment. Based on that premise Applidium posted a port of VLC on the App Sore a couple of years back, but due to an incompatibility of licensing terms it was ultimately removed by Apple. Fortunately, for the millions of us who use software and are interested in taking its functionality on the go, VLC is back on the App Store, this time officially backed by the VideoLAN team.
The new version 2.0.1 can handle all major video formats including MKVs, as well as audio tracks and subtitle tracks. It also includes support for network streams like HLS and MMS, Bluetooth headsets, AirPlay and Dropbox integration. For more details on features and requirements, as well as the download link for the App Store and Jailbroken devices running iOS 5.1 or later, just click here.

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TV station taps copyright law to erase embarrassing broadcast

After racist gaffe following San Francisco plane crash, KTVU uses the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to have clips of the event removed from the Internet.

 

A San Francisco Bay Area television station that became world famous for a racist gaffe during a news broadcast about a deadly plane crash is apparently trying to erase the event through copyright law.
Six days after Asiana flight 214 crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6, KTVU morning anchor Tori Campbell said the station had just confirmed the names of the pilots and proceeded to read them out loud as they were simultaneously displayed on viewers' screens. The names read by Campbell -- "Captain Sum Ting Wong," "Wi Tu Lo," "Ho Lee Fuk," and "Bang Ding Ow" -- were confirmed by an intern at the Federal Aviation Administration but apparently not read out loud at the station until the broadcast.
While Campbell and the station quickly issued an apology, that did not stop clips of the broadcast from flooding video-sharing sites and social networks. But the Fox TV affiliate has arrived at a novel solution to its embarrassing moment: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which requires Web sites to remove copyrighted material at the copyright holder's request.
Some of the videos uploaded by viewers have vanished from the Internet, replaced by messages that say, "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by KTVU."
While the station certainly has the legal right to protect its copyrighted materials, that is not the primary goal behind the clip-removal campaign, according to Tom Ramponi, the station's general manager and vice president.
"The accidental mistake we made was insensitive and offensive," Raponi told MediaBistro today. "By now, most people have seen it. At this point, continuing to show the video is also insensitive and offensive, especially to the many in our Asian community who were offended. Consistent with our apology, we are carrying through on our responsibility to minimize the thoughtless repetition of the video by others."
Three people died and more than 180 were injured when Asiana's Boeing 777 crashed into the runway while attempting to land at San Francisco International Airport.
A clip of the broadcast is embedded below. Please note that racially insensitive content is included.

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How to spot and avoid Facebook 'Like' scams

When you click or press the Like button, you may be disclosing more about yourself than you imagine. You may also be contributing to the bank accounts of Internet scammers.

Facebook "likes" mean money. Individuals and businesses of all types -- legitimate and otherwise -- use various techniques to persuade you to click that ubiquitous thumbs-up button.
Begging for Facebook "likes" has become epidemic. "If I get a million likes I'll be cured of my terminal disease and I'll be able to implement my sure-fire plan for world peace!"
"If you don't like this picture you hate your mother, America, and apple pie."
Yeah, right.
Scammers prey on Facebook users' propensity to respond emotionally by clicking "Like" when an image or plea tugs at their heart strings or piques their ire.
Scam sites offer to sell you likes clicked by real-live humans. The buyers intend to convert the clicks into traffic for their Facebook page, which translates to increased ad revenue. Several such sites I visited appear to be owned by the same anonymous party and are registered in Panama.
The Facebook Help Center states unequivocally that you cannot buy likes:

Certain websites promise to provide large numbers of likes for your Page if you sign up and give them money. These websites typically use deceptive practices or are scams. People who like your Page this way will be less valuable to your Page because they won't necessarily have a genuine interest in what your Page is about. If Facebook's spam systems detect that your Page is connected to this type of activity, we'll place limits on your Page to prevent further violations of our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

(Earlier this month, CNET's Jennifer Van Grove reported on the U.S. State Department's questionable attempt to generate "likes" for its Facebook pages.)
At the same time, Facebook allows developers to reward the people who like their pages. The company's Platform Policies site describes its referral-based rewards program for tying in-app rewards to its Social Channels.
For example, users can't be rewarded for sending invitations to their friends, but they can be rewarded based on the number of their friends who accept such invitations. Also, people who like a page can be given coupons, rebates, exclusive content, a chance at a promotion, or the ability to donate to a charity. The only caveat is that the bonus be available to all users, not just new ones.
Pepsi recently offered attendees at a Beyonce concert in Antwerp a free drink in exchange for liking the company on Facebook, as Mashable's Todd Wasserman describes.
Facebook "fan" pages are bought and sold. Buyers are promised access to hundreds of thousands of "friends." Last May, Becky Worley reported on the Yahoo News site that a Facebook page followed by 500,000 hamburger fans was offered for sale at an asking price of $5,000, while another for cuddling aficionados was listed at $7,000.
One popular Facebook scam is a variation on the old "download the player" ploy. You're checking out your Facebook news feed when a post appears that says simply "You gotta see this!"
Oh, no you don't. You click the link only to be informed via a pop-up window that you need to install a media player to view the video. Of course, the download is actually malware that infects your system, steals your data, and uses your account to send out even more virus-bearing spam.
What happens when you click the 'Like' button
According to the Facebook Help Center, when you click "Like" or "Recommend," a story appears on your timeline, ticker, and/or news feed.
Another Facebook help page explains that when you click "Like" on a Facebook Page, in an advertisement, or on a page outside Facebook, "[y]ou may be displayed on the Page you connected to, in advertisements about that Page or in social plugins next to the content you like."
You may also receive updates and messages from Pages you like, and the connection might be shared with apps on the Facebook Platform.
To unlike a page, hover the cursor over the page's Like button and select Unlike on the menu that appears, or simply select the blue Liked icon.
Clicking the Like button can be revealing
Facebook loves it when you share. It is a social network after all. As with much of the information you volunteer to Web sites, what you like on Facebook may disclose more about yourself than you realize.
As reported last March by the Guardian's Josh Halliday, researchers at Cambridge University who studied the "public" likes clicked by 58,000 Facebook users were able to discern their IQ, emotional stability, sexuality, and other personality traits with a high level of accuracy, without knowing anything else about the people.
The complete study is published on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences site.
The act of liking an article, post, or other item influences the future. Two years ago, the Wall Street Journal's Neil Strauss decried the tyranny of the Like button and its cohorts the +1, tweet, and StumbleUpon, pointing out that we judge content based on the number of likes it has received.
Strauss compares the failure to generate likes for an item to a comedian's joke that is met with silence. Just as the comedian is unlikely to repeat that joke, the person posting an item that generates no likes may be disinclined to post similar items in the future.
According to the Wisemetrics blog, the Like count that appears above items doesn't represent the number people who have clicked the button for that item. The number includes the times the URL has been shared whether or not the sharer clicked "Like," as well as the number of Facebook comments about the item.
On the lookout for Facebook hoaxes
Facebook scams proliferate so quickly it can be difficult to keep up with them. The Hoax-Slayer site provides an overview of like-farming scams as well as a compendium of Facebook-related scams reported as recently as today and dating back more than three years.
In a post from last October on his DaylanDoes blog, Daylan Pearce described the mechanics of several Facebook Like scams. The Facecrooks site maintains a list of Facebook-related scams, including a revival of the old chestnut that promises to reveal who viewed your profile. As the Facebook Help Center explains, the service doesn't let you track who views your timeline or posts, nor does it allow third-party apps to do so.
Several sophisticated Facebook hoaxes were revealed by Digital Trends' Francis Bea in a post from last May. One of the trickiest is a notice purporting to be from Facebook instructing you to log into your account to re-activate it.
Last March, CNET's Steven Musil described a scam that promised free iPad Minis and other expensive personal electronics in exchange for Facebook likes. If you spot a Facebook-related scam, you can report it by clicking the Report link that appears near it. The Facebook Help Center provides information for reporting all types of abusive content.
At this point, you may be wondering whether you should "Like" this post. After having written close to 600 separate items for this blog since 2007, I know certain topics generate more likes than others. It's no surprise that posts relating to Facebook, Twitter, or another social network are shared more frequently than items about Windows or Microsoft Office, for example. If I chose my topics based solely on sharing frequency, this would be the Facebook and iPad Blog.
No, thank you.

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T-Mobile slams AT&T, Verizon's 'deceptive' early upgrade plans

T-Mobile says its Jump program is materially different than early upgrade programs its larger rivals offer and it wants to educate the customer.

In the latest wireless war of words, T-Mobile appears to be having the most fun.
In an advertisement debuting on Tuesday, T-Mobile takes a juicy quote from technology news site The Verge and runs with it. The quote, "AT&T's reaction to T-Mobile's transparency is to be more deceptive than ever," touches off a cheeky follow-up line from the company.
"We wouldn't call it deceptive, exactly. Calculating, sneaky, underhanded, maybe, but not deceptive," reads the ad (see below).
The advertisement is the most direct response yet to the early upgrade programs unveiled by AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Those plans came a week after T-Mobile offered up its own early upgrade program, called Jump. With all of the options providing customers the ability to change to a new phone, T-Mobile wanted to make it clear that there was a financial difference between its plan and what its larger competitors offer.
"What we're doing is materially different than these so-called upgrade programs," T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert told CNET on Monday.
Verizon Wireless and AT&T declined to comment.
The ad is also part of a broader advertising war that's been brewing. T-Mobile has become increasingly sharp and pointed with its attacks, but AT&T got into the mix last week when it claimed the nation's "most reliable network," a title long held by Verizon. Verizon offered up its response on Monday, a more subtle note touting its track record and investment in its networks.
T-Mobile, meanwhile, has been anything but subtle, particularly on the early upgrade issue.
"We feel strongly that these programs they've introduced borderline on the deceptive," Sievert said.
Sievert mocked AT&T and Verizon calling their early upgrade programs "a breakthrough," when it really only takes more money away from customers. T-Mobile argues that AT&T and Verizon's respective upgrade plans, Next and Edge, essentially charge customers twice for a phone. The customer first pays for the entire cost of the device, and then pays for a pricier service plan normally associated with a subsidized phone.
Before T-Mobile introduced Jump and switched to a no-contract offering, it cut the price of its service plan.
"We taking a big financial risk to give customers a breakthrough benefit," Sievert said.
T-Mobile has been far more aggressive in pursuing customers as the last-place national carrier. The company still battles the perception that its network and service is inferior, something it has tried to change with its more colorful promotional efforts.
Updated at 6:53 p.m. PT: to include a response from Verizon and AT&T.
Here's the ad:

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When notebooks squeeze Intel out

commentary Devices based on ARM chip designs tend to be thinner, cooler (thermally, at least), and cheaper than those based on Intel designs while offering longer battery life.

Thanks to many ad campaigns over the years, most people know that their notebook PCs are powered by processors from Intel (or its chief rival, AMD). Those companies use a chip architecture known as x86, named for the the last two digits of the Intel chip model number in the first IBM PC.
But while Intel may be the best-known PC chip company, designs from ARM (Advanced RISC Machines) serve as the basic architecture behind chips from Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm, and Nvidia that power almost every smartphone on the market. All current Apple iDevices use Apple chips based on ARM designs; the same is true for Samsung Galaxy devices using Samsung Exynos chips. Most other Android devices in this class use ARM-based Tegra chips from Nvidia or Snapdragon chips from Qualcomm.
Despite the great progress that Intel has made with its new Haswell design, products based on ARM chip designs tend to be thinner, cooler (thermally, at least), and cheaper than those based on Intel designs while offering longer battery life. In fact, these days you can get a notebook -- or something that functions as one -- using your choice of four different operating systems. Many of these products offer touch screens and can detach from their keyboards to function as tablets as well.
Windows RT
Best bets: Dell XPS 10 with keyboard dock, Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga RT, Asus VivoTab RT with keyboard dock
Even though Windows RT-based systems haven't sold well, they have spawned a fairly broad array of true ARM-based notebooks that ship with a version of Office that keeps most of the key features from the x86-based version. And particularly now, prices have become pretty aggressive on the Dell XPS 10 which, when paired with a keyboard dock, offers an amazing 19 hours of battery life. Of course, when compared to iOS or Android, you'll find a dearth of touch-friendly apps and no backward compatibility with old Windows apps, but there's a touch version of Internet Explorer included and the user interface is about to get a bit of relief with Windows 8.1.
iOS
Best bet: iPad plus Brydge, iPad plus CruxSkunk
Unlike Microsoft, which has been aggressive about bringing Windows into the tablet form factor, Apple has kept Mac OS out of its tablets and iOS out of its laptops. In fact, iOS doesn't support mouse or trackpad input and, unlike with Windows or Android, there are no true docking options so you have to rely on Bluetooth. Folio cases have been a popular option for pairing keyboards with the iPad. However, there have been a few add-on hinged keyboard accessories funded through Kickstarter that let you roll your own closest thing to an "iNotebook" this side of the Macbook Air, the oddly named CruxSkunk and Brydge. The latter is available in both polycarbonate and aluminum and optionally includes speakers for better quality sound than you'd get from the iPad's speakers. Too bad there's no version for the iPad Mini for now.
Android
Best bet: Asus Transformer Prime series
Android is the most popular operating system for phones and you can get it on a range of tablets, but Google hasn't really done much to push it for notebooks, where it's been focused on Chrome. Still, a couple of companies have turned Android tablets into clamshells. Asus was the first to popularize the concept via its Transformer series. Its top of the line is the Transformer Pad Infinity,which offers a high-resolution display and beefs up the sound. Hewlett-Packard will also step into the detachable Android clamshell market with the 10-inch SlateBook x2 with keyboard dock next month for its back-to-school season.
Chrome
Best bet: Samsung Chromebook
Similar to Apple, Google has one OS for smartphones and tablets (Android) and another for notebooks (Chrome). Unlike Apple's OS X, though, Chrome doesn't rely on native apps, just about everything happens within the browser. Still, most of the Chromebooks out there -- including Google's own touch-screen Chromebook Pixel -- run on Intel processors. That said, the exception, the latest Samsung Chromebook (technically, the Series 3 XE303C12-A01US), is a great alternative. At $249, the slim 11.6-inch device runs about 6.5 hours on a charge. That's a bit underwhelming for an ARM device, but pretty favorable compared to other Chromebooks. Also, the screen supports neither touch nor being detached, but at less than $250, it can be a great extra PC option. particularly if you plan to use it in an area blanketed by Wi-Fi.

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Great tech-spectations: What's next in tech for 2013

A boring summer for tech is about to get a lot more exciting. Here's what to expect.

The dog days of summer are here, and with them, a certain ennui seems to have washed over the tech world. But as July becomes August, things will begin to kick into high gear.
The big dogs of the tech industry -- Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and a host of others -- know that the all-important fourth quarter is when shoppers get serious. Last fall's go-to products -- Kindle Fire and Nexus tablets, iPads, iPhones -- are getting long in tooth, and ready for a refresh. Not coincidentally, a lot of the back-to-school sales are 2012 models, sold at blowout prices to clear shelf space for the all-important Christmas season.
The parade of new products starts this week, with launch events from Google and Verizon. Here's what we have to look forward to -- starting now, and continuing into September.

Verizon

2012's Droid Razr Maxx HD boasted unparalleled battery life

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

We don't think of Verizon as a tech powerhouse on the scale of Google or Apple, but Big Red is the No. 1 wireless provider in the U.S., so any new Verizon-friendly devices are a big deal.
What to expect: Last September, Motorola announced a trio of Verizon-exclusive Droid Razr phones -- the Droid Razr HD, the Droid Razr Maxx HD, and the Droid Razr M. Don't be surprised if we see their successors unveiled this week. (Verizon may finally officially announce the launch date of the HTC One on its network, having already confirmed that it's on its way.)
Mark your calendar: July 23, 9 a.m. PT (confirmed)

Google

Sindar Pichai is not a gadget -- but he may unveil one or more on Wednesday

(Credit: Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

May's Google I/O developer event came and went without any big hardware reveals. But we expect Google's just-announced July 24 event -- billed as a breakfast with Android and Chrome head honcho Sundar Pichai -- to be considerably more eventful.
What to expect: The next Nexus 7 tablet is all but confirmed, along with Android 4.3. A Chrome OS upgrade (or new Chromebook) is possible, too. We may even see a successor to the ill-fated Nexus Q, or possibly a watch or video game console.
Mark your calendar: July 24, 8:30 a.m. PT (confirmed)

Motorola Mobility

This appears to be the first official glamor shot of the Moto X intended for the press.

(Credit: theunlockr.com)

The Moto X may be the worst-kept secret in tech right now, but the few remaining questions about the first Motorola smartphone produced under Google's stewardship of the company it purchased in 2011 will be wiped away on August 1. That's when the phone gets its grand unveiling in New York City.
What to expect: We already know quite a bit about the X, but we'll finally get the full list of details -- including price, availability, and supported carriers -- once the phone becomes official.
Mark your calendar: August 1 (confirmed)

Amazon

Jeff Bezos introducing the Kindle Fire HD in 2012

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled the current line of Amazon Kindle Fire tablets (and Kindle e-ink readers) on September 6, 2012. While a 2013 event has yet to be announced, it's a safe bet that the e-commerce giant isn't going into the fall buying season without a full refresh of the line.
What to expect: Amazon's hardware strategy is less about groundbreaking tech and more about delivering amazing value. So while the new Fire tablets and Kindle readers will no doubt offer worthwhile tech upgrades over last year's models, we expect the real news here to be the price: don't be shocked to see a 32GB Fire HD clock in at $199, for instance. Among the wildcards we could see: an Amazon video streaming box (a la Roku or Apple TV) and maybe -- maybe -- the long rumored smartphone.
Mark your calendar: late August or early September (likely)

Microsoft

The original Surface -- poised for improvement.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Microsoft has had a rough time of it lately, with a company wide reorganization, a $900 million writedown on the Surface RT and a very public 180 on the DRM policies of its upcoming Xbox One console. But if you step back, there may be some reasons for optimism.
What to expect: Microsoft already has two keystone products on deck for a fall refresh: the Xbox One is coming in November for $499, and Windows 8.1 is likely to hit in September or October.
Could Microsoft prime the Windows 8.1 pump with a Surface 2? The company has certainly learned some painful lessons with the original model, but a few well-placed tweaks -- and a Haswell upgrade -- could make the product a serious tablet/PC competitor, if not an outright success.
Meanwhile, while Windows Phone remains a fringe player, marketshare has been ticking upward. With solid devices (Lumia 925, Lumia 1020) from Nokia and others, Microsoft's mobile OS seems to be in a better place than, say, BlackBerry. But whether Microsoft is going to release its own phone or perhaps a watch (another watch, that is) remains strictly rumor mill fodder for now.
Mark your calendar: Xbox One releases November (confirmed); Windows 8.1 hits in late Q3 or early Q4; if we get a Surface 2, expect a September or October announcement

Apple

A mockup showing what an Apple iWatch might look like.

(Credit: Sarah Tew and Christopher MacManus/CNET)

Apple's last big product announcement was the iPad Mini back in October of 2012. So far in 2013, it's been very quiet, with only a cameraless iPod Touch, a T-Mobile iPhone, and MacBook Air upgrades hitting stores.
What to expect: Apple has already shown iOS 7 and Mac OS X Mavericks, and the company already previewed a long overdue update to the Mac Pro -- all of them will hit in the third quarter, along with Apple's free iTunes Radio streaming audio service.
The big questions revolve around the iPhone and iPad. The safe bets are a "budget" iPhone (don't be surprised if it's only sold in developing markets like China), an iPhone 5S, and a thinner, lighter iPad 5. In addition to the annual iPod refresh, expect additional Mac upgrades -- the Macbook Pro with Retina Display, iMac, and Mac Mini are still due the upgrades to Intel's Haswell CPU that have already been incorporated into the Air.
Beyond that, the Magic 8 Ball says "Reply Hazy -- Try again." While a refreshed iPad Mini is likely, it's unclear if Apple can squeeze a high-res Retina screen into the Mini's 7.9-inch display in time for the holidays. There are also rumors of a larger-screen iPhone. And the Apple TV box should see some additional apps -- Time Warner Cable and the CW Network -- but whether they'll hit before year's end is anyone's guess.
What about actual new products, rather than upgrades of existing models? Collective wisdom puts the rumored iWatch and Apple HDTV into 2014 (at the earliest, if at all). That said, CEO Tim Cook quipped in April: "I don't want to be more specific, but I'm just saying that we've got some really great stuff coming in the fall and across 2014." Investors and consumers alike are no doubt hoping he and Team Apple will deliver as they transition into the post-Steve Jobs era.
Mark your calendar: mid-September to mid-October (likely); could be one or two events

Best of the rest

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Beyond the confirmed and likely events listed above, look for the Sony PlayStation 4 this holiday season. And Intel's secretive streaming TV box, allegedly dubbed OnCue, may see the light of day later this year -- if and when Intel can get a quorum of TV networks to sign on the dotted line. In the meantime, upstarts like Fan TV will be nipping at their heels.
Of course, that's only the stuff we know about, and can reasonably infer. A corporate merger or two could always shake things up. And the tech world is only a Kickstarter away from something truly disruptive.
Stay tuned.

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Apple developer site targeted in security attack, still down

Apple says its developer site was targeted in an attack, and that any information that was taken was encrypted. The site remains down.

Apple's site for developers was attacked by an intruder last week, the company said Sunday.
In a note to developers, the company said that an "intruder" tried to gain access to developer information, prompting the company to take the service down. Sensitive information on that site was encrypted, Apple said, however it's keeping the site down while security is being hardened. No estimate was provided for when it will be back up.
Apple sent the following to developers on Sunday, detailing some of what happened:

Last Thursday, an intruder attempted to secure personal information of our registered developers from our developer website. Sensitive personal information was encrypted and cannot be accessed, however, we have not been able to rule out the possibility that some developers' names, mailing addresses, and/or email addresses may have been accessed. In the spirit of transparency, we want to inform you of the issue. We took the site down immediately on Thursday and have been working around the clock since then.
In order to prevent a security threat like this from happening again, we're completely overhauling our developer systems, updating our server software, and rebuilding our entire database. We apologize for the significant inconvenience that our downtime has caused you and we expect to have the developer website up again soon.

An Apple spokesman told IEN that the company's developer Web site is "not associated with any customer information" and that "customer information is securely encrypted."
Apple's developer site is home to software downloads, documentation and forums for third-party software developers. The site became inaccessible to registered developers last Thursday, causing angst for users who could not access those features. On Friday the company noted that it would be extending membership periods to cover the outage, and that any published software would not be removed.

The attack comes as Apple's gearing up for two new major releases of iOS and OS X. Developers have been readying their software for the new versions of those operating systems in time for their official release, which Apple has said will come in the fall.
The outage sparked some concerns about there being a larger, behind the scenes security issue. Those concerns, which turned out to be well-founded, were amplified by scattered reports from users saying they had received password reset e-mails, suggesting others were attempting to gain access to their Apple ID accounts.
IEN will keep you updated with additional details as they come.

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SIM card flaw said to allow hijacking of millions of phones

Vulnerability in the security key that protects the card could allow eavesdropping on phone conversations, fraudulent purchases, or impersonation of the handset's owner, a security researcher warns.

A vulnerability on SIM cards used in some mobile phones could allow malware infection and surveillance, a security researcher warns.
Karsten Nohl, founder of Security Research Labs in Berlin, told The New York Times that he has identified a flaw in SIM encryption technology that could allow an attacker to obtain a SIM card's digital key, the 56-digit sequence that allows modification of the card. The flaw, which may affect as many as 750 million mobile phones, could allow eavesdropping on phone conversations, fraudulent purchases, or impersonation of the handset's owner, Nohl warned.

Crypto expert Karsten Nohl.

(Credit: Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

"We can remotely install software on a handset that operates completely independently from your phone," warned Nohl, who said he managed the entire operation in less than two minutes using a standard PC. "We can spy on you. We know your encryption keys for calls. We can read your SMSs. More than just spying, we can steal data from the SIM card, your mobile identity, and charge to your account."
The vulnerability was found in the Digital Encryption Standard, a cryptographic method developed by IBM in the 1970s that is used on about 3 billion cell phones every day. While the encryption method has been beefed up in the past decade, many handsets still use the older standard.
Tests showed that 1,000 cards in Europe and North America exhibited signs of the flaw. Nohl, who plans to detail the flaw at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas next month, said he has already shared the results of his two-year study with GSM Association, a trade group representing the cell phone industry.
GSM Association spokeswoman Claire Cranton told the Times that her organization had already passed the results on members of its group that still rely on the older standard.
"We have been able to consider the implications and provide guidance to those network operators and SIM vendors that may be impacted," Cranton said in a statement.
Nohl, who has a doctorate in computer engineering from the University of Virginia, made headlines in 2008 by publicizing weaknesses in wireless smart card chips used in transit systems around the globe. A year later, he cracked the algorithm used on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) cell phones, which is designed to prevent attackers from eavesdropping on calls.

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Apple earnings on deck Tuesday

Apple reports its third-quarter results tomorrow, and Wall Street's looking at the iPhone for a bright spot.

Apple announces its third quarter earnings on Tuesday, and -- as usual -- all eyes are on how well the iPhone's selling.
The hit product has become a key part of Apple's business and the fuel to dramatic growth over the past several years, though that growth has slowed.
Reports from some phone carriers have provided a peek at Tuesday's results, specifically Verizon, which reported iPhone sales last week that were more than the carrier originally expected.
Wall Street is expecting Apple to post earnings of $7.31 per share on sales of $35 billion. Those estimates are on the higher end of how much Apple said it expected to bring in when it reported its last quarter back in April -- a range of $33.5 to $35.5 billion in sales.
In either case, that's down from earnings of $9.32 per share, and flat with the $35 billion in sales Apple reported the same quarter a year ago.
One of the key reasons for a dip in the amount of profit Apple's making are gross margins, or how much Apple's making on the products it sells. By Apple's forecast, those are expected to be between 36 and 37 percent, down from the nearly 43 percent from the same quarter a year ago.
During an earnings call earlier this year, Apple noted that some of the change in its margins was due to the company making less on the iPad Mini than some of its other popular products. It also attributed some to a weaker U.S. dollar, adding that things could improve as the company brings down costs.
Wall Street's expecting Apple's sales to work out to around 26.5 million iPhones, which would be half a million more than the company sold during the same time last year. Similarly, Apple's expected to sell 18 million iPads, around 1 million more than last year, though down from the 19.5 it sold last quarter. Other estimates include sales of 3.9 million Macs (versus last year's 4 million), and 4.8 million iPods (down from last year's 6.8 million).
For the next quarter, Wall St. analysts polled by Thomson First Call are expecting Apple to report earnings of $8.16 per share on $37.8 billion in sales, with a margin of 36.8 percent. That would be down from $8.67 profit per share on $36 billion in sales and 40 percent gross margin the company made during the same quarter last year.
Apple will report just after the market closes on Tuesday, followed by a conference call with executives at 2 p.m. PT. CNET will have all the relevant news from both, so stay tuned.

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