Senior Correspondent Arnold Woodworth's Weekend Roundup

iPhones have a major security hole that Apple installed on purpose

If you use an iPhone or iPad, your photos, web history, and GPS logs are vulnerable to theft and surveillance via back-door protocols running on all iOS devices, according forensic scientist Jonathan Zdziarski, better known by the hacker moniker "NerveGas."

His conclusion: while iOS 7 security is pretty good overall, it has hidden back doors that could be exploited.

Zdziarski disputed that users can control whether their data is shared. "I don't buy for a minute that these services are intended solely for diagnostics," he said on his blog.

http://qz.com/238275/iphones-have-a-major-security-hole-that-apple-installed-on-purpose/




Five Retail Rules Flagrantly Violated by the Apple Store

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-22/five-retail-rules-flagrantly-violated-by-the-apple-store




This author thinks that the Apple – IBM deal is a sign of weakness

http://moneymorning.com/2014/07/24/these-industry-powers-have-never-been-more-scared/




Here’s Why Tim Cook Is Upbeat On iPads Despite Its Shrinking Sales

Cook is not alone in thinking iPads and tablet sales will grow in businesses this year.

http://www.businessinsider.com/tim-cook-ipads-2014-7




Apple's New Mac Software Will Include Little Changes That Make A Big Difference

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-mac-os-x-yosemite-walkthrough-2014-7




Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Apple’s OS X Yosemite Beta Preview

http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/23/apple-os-x-yosemite-beta/




Apple’s New Product Hit: the Mac

From a company that coined the phrase “post-PC era,” Apple’s strong Mac sales are showing that its personal computer isn’t ready to be declared dead.

The PC market has slumped in recent years, while smartphone and tablet sales have increased dramatically. Apple has managed to keep its Mac revenue steady, despite the declining overall market, by grabbing share from rivals. Apple said the Mac has outpaced the broader PC industry in 30 of the last 32 quarters.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/07/22/apples-new-product-hit-the-mac/




Hackers bypass online security at 34 banks

Hackers can get past two-factor authentication, which requires customers to type in a code sent to their cellphone or inbox to ensure the user is who he or she claims to be, by convincing customers to download a malicious smartphone app.

In typical form, the attack begins with realistic-looking phishing emails that install malware to give hackers control. Then the malware deletes itself, leaving no traces, and users are redirected to malicious servers when using banking websites.

Two-factor authentication, hailed as an essential second gatepost for online accounts, can sometimes prove to be an empty promise.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hackers-bypass-online-security-at-34-banks-2014-07-22




Amazon is a company that has divided investors for years. Its relentlessly fast-growing revenues typically translate into relatively diminutive profits because the company reinvests most of its enormous cash-flow into expanding its infrastructure and maintaining low prices

it would be extremely difficult for any competitor to build a viable competing service to Prime-the required investment would be massive, and Prime is just too big to compete with now, and offering too many products. In other words, it's becoming a moat for Amazon.

http://qz.com/237933/amazon-is-building-the-retail-worlds-most-unbreachable-moat-and-its-called-prime/




Nadella tries to fix Microsoft's GM problem: The tech giant's 18,000 job cuts were overdue and unavoidable

Microsoft's purchase of Nokia wasn't overly expensive or a bad idea. It just didn't acknowledge the fact that this race already was over, and Nokia, which was falling behind was bloated itself.

Satya Nadella has made the hard choice to basically end the folly.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nadella-tries-to-fix-microsofts-gm-problem-2014-07-17




What the Internet Can See From Your Cat Pictures

If you include more metadata than you have to with your photos — there are tools to scrub that data — don’t be surprised if it’s used online in ways you didn’t expect and can’t fully control.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/23/upshot/what-the-internet-can-see-from-your-cat-pictures.html?emc=edit_ct_20140724&nl=technology&nlid=11893479




Your Facebook ‘cult’ won’t let you quit

If you deactivate your Facebook account, or even just stop posting updates for a couple of weeks, a virtual army – your Facebook friends – will text, email and Tweet, asking what’s wrong and imploring you to come back, says Abby Rodman, a psychotherapist in Boston.

So why do people take umbrage at Facebook deserters? Friending someone creates an unwritten social contract that two people agree to “like” each other’s updates and shower each other with attention, says Cal Newport.

Job-hunters are also under pressure to maintain a social media presence. “Having no Facebook profile would be a little bit weird when applying for a job in marketing, sales, recruitment, or any consumer-facing or business-to-business role,” says Nicole Greenberg

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebooks-cult-is-a-win-for-shareholders-2014-07-23




‘Right to be forgotten’ ruling is backfiring, says Data watchdog

Google’s policy of notifying news publishers about links it had removed led to the news publishers flag the articles and give them to a burst of publicity.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/technology/right-to-be-forgotten-ruling-is-backfiring-says-data-watchdog-1.1877421




10 things bitcoin won’t tell you

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-things-bitcoin-wont-tell-you-2014-07-25




Tinder Is Full of Robot (i.e., FAKE) Prostitutes

What is really going on:   Far from being the wild west of the sex trade, Tinder is suffering from a plague of spambots. It is quite possible that at some point recently there really were flesh and blood escorts using Tinder, but the new and ubiquitous ones flooding my stream seem nothing more than artificial profiles.

These were definitely NOT real people.  But why the spambots?  The answer is incentives of getting people to sign up as members of iHookUp.com.

Through a traffic and lead generation agreement with LoadedCash.com, one can earn ......

What originally seemed like a new frontier for the sex trade turned out to be a fairly simple money making scheme by some enterprising programmers.

http://valleywag.gawker.com/tinder-is-full-of-robot-prostitutes-1610277221/+jparham

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/16/tinder-spam-adult-webcams-fake-prostitutes




The Danger of the Internet of Things

http://www.market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=229235




17 Apps Every Modern Gentleman Should Have On His Phone

http://www.businessinsider.com/17-apps-for-the-modern-gentleman-2014-7