Apple Just Leaked a Key iPhone 8 Feature by Accident

How a developer stumbled randomly over the new iPhone

A month before the official keynote of Apple, a developer stumbled over official details of the coming iPhone. The embarrassing thing: The Leak came this time from Apple itself.

When Guilherme Rambo saw the firmware of HomePod released by Apple, he initially thought of a mistake. The smart loudspeaker assistant finally comes to the market in December. Rambo's curiosity was aroused and he began to look at the code more closely. What he found, he probably expected at least: Apple's next iPhone.

While some details on Apple's high-end smartphone were already leaked, Rambo found more in the HomePod than rumors, he found Apple's own records of the greatest release in years. The code confirmed that the iPhone 8 or iPhone Pro - so exactly knows the name outside of Cupertino no one - would have a new design, a narrower frame, no home button, and a powerful facial recognition. The biggest Apple Leak comes for years - from Apple itself.

The firmware of the HomePod appeared a few days ago as an official Apple update. Rambo had just downloaded the code in the hope of finding interesting information about the Siri speaker when Apple noticed the error and took the code from the page. Like the iPhone, the HomePod runs on iOS. In itself is not noticeable, developers have access to the beta version of iOS 11 months ago. But Rambo, a Brazilian developer of an ecommerce company, made the decisive discovery: The released firmware was for iOS 11.0.2, two Update levels beyond the current state.

The code included some performance enhancements. Much more interesting, however, was that the update was not intended for the public. So Apple had not yet removed the mentions for unpublished devices - as well as the next iPhone, which will be released in September. It is a process that Apple goes through every year to ensure that developers can access iOS without experiencing anything about the new iPhone.

When he recognized the potential of his discovery, Rambo went to work. "I searched for lines in the firmware that confirm the alleged 'Face ID' feature," says Rambo. "I've searched for the word 'face' and noticed that it matches several icons in the BiometricKit, the Framework for Touch ID." These references do not actually exist in the iOS 11 beta.

Rambo was a bit big, he was safe, so he continued to search. As he walked through BiometricKit, he noticed that the terminology for adding a fingerprint ("EnrollTouchID") also had a counterpart for face recognition: EnrollPearlID. "Pearl ID" always appeared again, each time in connection with the topic of face recognition. Apple may like the face recognition to be quite different at the end, to call it "PearlID", but is not exactly a disguise tactics: "The code name makes it only easier to find all the appropriate code snippets in the operating system and see what function it has "Says Troughton-Smith. In other words, what Rambo had found was an unpublished, unannounced Apple feature.

Finding out what "Pearl ID" means, led to a much bigger find. "While I was looking for mentions of this 'Pearl ID' thing, I found a reference to Pearl-D22," says Rambo. "So I searched for D22 and discovered that this is the internal code name for the 'iPhone Pro' or 'iPhone 10'."

Although there are not very many mentions of D22, Apple leaves no doubt what the abbreviation means. How did Rambo get it? He found a file in the PassKit framework used by Wallet, named "Payment_glyph_phone-D22.caar". This is a file format in which Apple stores vector graphics for animated user interface elements. When Rambo read the picture, he saw an iPhone that he had never seen before. For the simple reason, because it does not yet exist.

Another mention of D22 resulted in a video file that was not present in the firmware, but the name "Enrollment_Tutorial_Loop-D22" indicates that it is a guide on how to register its face with Pearl ID. "There are also a few indications that the D22 model uses a new method to charge the battery," says Rambo. IOS 11.0.2 does not give any indication of what changes might be.

The extent of this leech is the biggest of its kind except for the premature debut of the iPhone 4 on Gizmodo. The minimal frame and the lack of the home button mark the biggest design change for years. And the FaceID feature seems to be a major consideration for the later presentation of the iPhone.

"Apple is now in a difficult situation," says Troughton-Smith. "It will surely cheer up many people internally that they themselves are the source of the only concrete leaks on design and functions." Apart from the disgrace, the impact on sales of the new iPhone will probably be rather small. "I believe that the people who hope for a new iPhone because of Leaks already know all the reports," says Jan Dawson, founder of the data analysis company Jackdaw Research. Dawnson notes that the revelation confirms existing rumors, but the real value is how well the new features work. A firmware has somewhere its limits.

Therefore, the biggest realization is that Apple's internal security has failed, as macOS Sierra days before the release already revealed the OLED TouchBar of the MacBook Pro. The current faux pas is even more striking. Apple expects more from the iPhone 8 than from the entire laptop line together. To see the details leak a month before the official revelation may end up causing financial damage. "We are watching an interruption in iPhone purchases, which is attributable to the increasingly frequent and early reports of future iPhones," said CEO Tim Cook in the past earnings call. This time, however, the blame hits nobody other than Apple itself.

Drag and Drop on iPad in iOS 11 Beta

Drag & Drop in iOS 11

Apple has introduced various new features with iOS 11which will make the operating system of iPad look and feel like an old-fashioned desktop setting. The significant feature of iOS 11 on the iPad is the drag and drop facility which changes the whole iOS paradigm, integrating a decades-old desktop feature that tends to make it feel like a drag and drop had been waiting for touchscreens to come along.

It appears like all the apps of Apple have got a dose of drag and drop in iOS 11 inclusive of the Maps. The iOS 11 tends to add system-wide drag and drop providing the user with a quick and simple way of moving text, images together with files form one app to another. You could just tap and hold to pick up the content and then drag it to another app.

Multi-Touch, is a new method of selecting multiple items which enables you to pick up various items quickly by tapping. With the spring-loading, you could also copy to another app on dragging the content over the icon of the app in the Dock or on the Home screen. Drag and drop has the benefit of the power of Multi-Touch with the ability of moving content between apps which feels natural on iPad.

Incorporated through all iOS

Tap and hold on an image, a file or selected text and then drag it to where you need it to go. Moreover you could also drag contact, maps, reminders and much more. In the case of spring-loading, one can utilise drag and drop in order to open an app wherein you can move the content from one app to another by going over the icon. Then pick up the content needed to move and hold it over the icon of the app in the Dock or on the Home screen and the app tends to spring open.

Thereafter you can drop the content wherever you desire it to be placed. The iOS 11 has introduced a quick and easy means of selecting various items wherein one can drag one item and thereafter tap others to add to them.

Drag and drop has been incorporated all through iOS and can be utilised in the Home screen, Calendar, Dock Messages, Files, Safari, Contacts, Spotlight, iBooks, News, Notes, Photos, Maps, Keynote, Page and Numbers. By utilising a simple and powerful API one can implement drag and drop in their app.

Official Launch of iOS 11 – This Fall

The new system-wide drag and drop option tends to change the manner one utilises their iDevice. Rather than having to think ahead on what one intends to do, you could get on and do it. For example if one wants to send a location to someone while sending an email in iOS 10 and earlier, you could usually ditch the present email and go to the Maps apps, locate the area and then share it from there.

 In Maps a steady drag tends to move the map around like before and to drag a location one should pause a bit after tapping the screen before you tend to drag. While planning a trip you can now run the Maps and Notes app alongside probably with a Safari panel floating above and drag locations into the Notes app as you tend to locate them.

Utilising this feature is simple and you can use drag and drop in Maps. Though the beta tends to be yet a bit buggy, the best option to view Maps drag and drop so far is to open Notes in Split View and then tap and drag a location over to Notes and it is done.

On the iPad under iOS 11, one can start on email and work out other things later. By working in Split Screen one can drag location from Maps, URLs from Safari, images from Photos as well as documents from Files By official launch of iOS 11, this fall, and several more apps would be supporting drag and drop.

Apple – Has the Right Feel

Apple seems to have the right feel and it is quite natural that one scarcely notices the difference and one will find your iPad doing about almost everything that is needed to be done. Owing to this improved medium-long tap, one can bring up information on a location.

You could execute this medium-long tap on any feature one may desire in order to learn more and a little card tends to pop up with the additional information. Should the location be a regular area in a street, then one will have to mark it with a pushpin.

The drag and drop implementations in iOS11 is not just a new feature which has been placed over the prevailing iOS design but has been baked into each area of the operating system. For instance, if one tends to let their finger linger on a link in Safari, it transforms into a little draggable card with the URL and title printed on it ready to be dragged.

Replace Your Dubious iPhone 7 Headphone Dongle with Lightning Adapter

FijiO Nifty i l Headphone Amplifer

The 3.5mm headphone jack on the iPhone 7 has been stopped by Apple and the chances are bleak of the same returning on the iPhone 8 and what users having nice wired headphones ought to do? Probably they could utilise the Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter that tends to come shoved with the 7, though it is far from an ideal solution.

It is said to be one of the lowest rated products on the Apple’s site with 209, one and two star reviews. The customers of Apple tend to disapprove of the adapter. The iPhone 7, with FijO.s nifty i1 headphone amplifier together with the digital converter, iPhone 7 users tend to have a better choice. It comes at a price of $39.99 on Amazon in the U.S. and in the UK at £49.99. The Australian price is not fixed though one could expect the same for around AU$80.

 Comparing the two adapters, of FijO and Apple, beginning with a Sennheiser Momentum 2.0, the i l’s bass definition packed down equalled with the adapter of Apple. The drums and vibes with `Pink Up’ from Spoon’s `Hot Thoughts’ album tend to have plenty of reverb and the i l seems to sound much clearer than the Apple adapter though lot much but with a difference.

Big Sonic Upgrade Over Apple Adapter

When plugged in the Beverdynamic T51p on-ear headphones. The changes observed were quite obvious. Moreover the Apple adapter seemed to sound muted as well as dull and the i l was said to have more life and energy. The i l had also been tried with some in-ear headphones with the Ultimate Ears UE900 where the difference of the quality of the sound seems only a bit insignificant.

 It was not all convincing that i l is a big adequate sonic upgrade over the Apple Adapter with each headphone. But the good news is that considerably improved sound is made available from the AudioQuest DragonFly Black - $99, £89, AU$160, and DragonFly Red - $199, £169, AU$320, portable headphone amplifiers/digital converts which tend to function with iPhones. The no-win situation is they are the size of a USB flash drive and hence they tend to be bigger and much bulkier to carry around than the i l.

Mic & Online Controls

The i l cable is said to have a mic together with the inline controls though the quality of the sound seems to be a bit stifled. There have been occasions where initially the i l had not played music but on unplugging and replugging once of a couple of times, the Lightning connector seems to bring back the sound. The Lightning does not seem to be the most reliable connector for audio devices. The 32-inch cable of the FijO i seems to be too long and could be half the length.

However as it stands, it could be a viable alternative for iPhone users who tend to have decent pair of wired headphone and would prefer something a bit better than the less-than-stellar Lightning adapter of Apple. Hoping that improved adapter does ultimately show up though presently the iPhone 6S may run through which has a 3.5mm headphone jack together with the Lightning connector.

Seeing Al: Microsoft Launches iPhone App That Narrates the World for Blind People

iPhone is known for its dynamic features and extraordinary-stylish appearance. iPhone is the smartphone which is the choice of every smart user. The whole range of applications and options it provides makes it the best amongst the bests. This time iPhone has come up with the best thing in terms of its feature out of the box. ‘Seeing Al’ is the newly launched feature in iPhone.

Microsoft has delved a kind attitude towards those who are visibly challenged. Yes, you heard it right! Microsoft has come up with an application known as Seeing Al with this app now the one who have lost their sight can experience the world around them as this application will narrate everything to its visibly impaired holder. So, now even the one who have not been blessed with the power of eyesight can see the world through their iPhone.

This app is absolutely free and is available on the iPhone’s App Store. This app is capable of defining all sorts of expressions of one’s face, currency notes and it can also portray verbally all the physical scenes till the range of the all, and the range is enough to narrate to someone what is going on in his/her surrounding. This unbelievable app can also read books or any sort inscriptions. It also has the power to scan all sorts of bar codes and provide relevant information.

This was started as a research project by Microsoft, but Microsoft has created a revolution with this invention. There are lot more things to explore from this app. This app successfully acts as the eye for those who are sightless.

Other than narrating only the physical features it can also portray verbally the images present in other art forms. But, the only limitation of the app is that at present it is only available in countries like US, Canada, New Zealand, India, Hong Kong and Singapore, in other countries its application is still at stake.

This innovative project was first initiated by a Software Engineer Saqib Shaikh at Microsoft. He propagated this idea in March 2016.

Such an idea is the result of Shaikh being crippled at his eyesight since seven years of age. This thought seemed as a fiction to him, but eventually, he was able to develop this with the support of his entire team. This project was definitely not easy to bring into reality, but he managed it with utmost dedication in his heart to help those who are unable to cherish the beauty of this world by witnessing it, the difficulties which he faced because of his inability to see provoked him to develop such an application like Seeing Al.

Now, seeing will not be an obstacle for those who are crippled in this field. Microsoft has proved that technology can do wonders and now none will be left behind. Everyone will feel themselves to be equally privileged. Seeing Al will actually eliminate the problems faced by those who have lost their eye sight.

Apple iOS 10.3.3 Is Now Available: What Is Included In This Update?

IOS 10.3.3: Apple released fifth beta

Can we soon expect the general rollout of iOS 10.3.3? Apple has released the fifth beta for the next update of its operating system. The increased frequency of the test versions points to the upcoming release for all users - the fourth beta was released less than a week ago. Apple has released a new version of iOS 10 with iOS 10.3.3 after a short beta, which does not bring any new functions, but closes security gaps.

Apple has released iOS 10.3.3 for owners of iPhones and iPads. The update closes security gaps of the mobile operating system. This is a maintenance update without any new functions. A total of 46 vulnerabilities are closed with the update.

A small innovation includes iOS 10.3.3 but for the iPad Pro with 12.9- and 10.5-inch display: For both tablets the update is to include new background images. Parallel to the iOS beta, Apple has also released the fifth test version of macOS 10.12.6. Also the rollout of the new version of the Mac operating system should take place in the near future for all users.

These concern the contact app that attackers can use to execute malicious code. In the core audio section, it is possible to inject and execute code with a manipulation. This also applies to the EventKitUI and IOUSBFamily, and even kernel privileges can be achieved when attacking the latter. Fixes are also available in the Messages area, in the Web browser Safari with Webkit, as well as in the print functions of the browser. Even the phone app got a security update.

Apple released all the information in detailed release notes. The update to iOS 10.3.3 can be over-the-air. It is recommended to back up the iOS device. This is also suggested by the fact that Apple's fifth beta version of iOS 10.3.3 only available for developers and then as a public beta. Thus, soon all users of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch could benefit from the improvements. As the previous versions have shown, the focus is on updating to bug fixes and increasing performance; New features will not bring the update to the compatible devices.

Those who wants, can now download the final version of iOS 10.3.3 and install it on the iPhone and iPad. The betaphase was unusually long and six iterations large.

Apple has released the next beta generation of iOS 10, which is now complete, after the final versions of macOS Sierra 10.12.5, iOS 10.3.2, tvOS 10.2.1 and watchOS 3.2.2 have appeared. In the fall iOS 11 comes on the market, which is also already tested.

Maintenance updates and security enhancements instead of new features

The update, as in the previous generation, will only fix errors and increase security. New features are not included. Probably it is the last version of iOS 10.

The vulnerabilities found are partly critical, allowing attackers to run CodeResponsive websites with Dreamweaver and bootstrap on the affected device. The update should not be deferred but installed at the next opportunity via the iOS settings.