Apple and Qualcomm's Settlement

For a while, Apple and Qualcomm have been quarreling in legal issues, which has been resolved today in a settlement. This settlement has more implications than you may have initially thought. Apple was thought to be using Intel's 5G chips for their 2020 iPhones, but shortly after this settlement, Intel announced that they are exiting the 5G chip market, likely due to this settlement. Apple will likely go with Qualcomm's 5G chips in this light, which, in my opinion, is a win for consumers. Intel is likely a big reason that this year's iPhone won't have 5G capabilities. At this point, it's probably too late for Apple to use Qualcomm's 5G chips for this year's iPhone.

FCC Votes to Make Better Emergency Notifications

The Federal Communications Commission has voted to enhance emergency notifications sent to smartphones in several ways. These emergency notifications often include adverse weather, missing children, and local emergencies. The FCC has decided to make the character limit 360, up from 90 characters (only on 4G and LTE networks). Links can also be embedded into the notifications to give people more resources about the situation at hand. Hopefully, this will help people stay safe during an emergency situation.

Ransomware on Mac

Security has been a very important thing to Apple... obviously. However, a Transmission update over the weekend had the potential of downloading ransomware onto a Mac. Transmission is a BitTorrent client. Depending on several factors, legality of BitTorrent varies. In general, it's best to stay away from it. And this just proves that. Transmission pushed an update that seems to have a chance to infect your computer with ransomware. Ransomware essentially takes your data, locks it up, and holds it hostage until you pay up. If you don't, sometimes it may delete your data. If you do, it might not actually restore your data. This is definitely something you want to get involved in. If you have Transmission installed, they recommend that you do the following:

"Everyone running 2.90 on OS X should immediately upgrade to 2.91 or delete their copy of 2.90, as they may have downloaded a malware-infected file. 

Using 'Activity Monitor' preinstalled in OS X, check whether any process named 'kernel_service' is running. If so, double check the process, choose the 'Open Files and Ports' and check whether there is a file name like '/Users//Library/kernel_service'. If so, the process is KeRanger’s main process. We suggest terminating it with 'Quit -> Force Quit'".

Apple Allows Apple IDs For Children Under 13

Apple will be revising the terms and conditions for Apple ID when iOS 7 comes out. The terms state that Apple IDs will be obtainable for children under 13 for education purposes. Of course, it's not like people read (let alone complied to) the terms.

Here are the new terms:

"These App and Book Services are only available for individuals aged 13 years or older, unless you are under 13 years old and your Apple ID was provided to you as a result of a request by an approved educational institution. If you are 13 or older but under the age of 18, you should review this Agreement with your parent or guardian to make sure that you and your parent or guardian understand it."

More to come on this with the release of iOS 7.