General Apple Megathread

[Galakanokis]

Originally Posted by photon

The fun's already over, Apple's blocked it. While I wish there was normal interoperability with iMessage from Android trying to get around Apple's protections isn't the way to do it.

Agreed. I have no issue with iMessage itself but defaulting to SMS is pathetic and petty. They've finally agreed to implement RCS but a couple of years too late. Also, the blue bubble thing is pretty much North American thing anyways.

Just thought it was cool that a 16 year old hacked it when nobody else could.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Galakanokis

Just thought it was cool that a 16 year old hacked it when nobody else could.

Teenagers have been the bane of Apple's protections for a while. Remember George Hotz (geohot)? At 17 years old, he removed the SIM lock from an iPhone, and later released the blackra1n jailbreak. He was also the guy who exploited the PS3, then uncovered Sony's massive mistake in how they used public/private keys on the PS3, effectively guaranteeing that you could run whatever the hell you wanted on the console and Sony would be powerless to block it.


Bored and brilliant teenagers do some pretty impressive stuff.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

If I had a vehicle that didn't have a pre-existing screen to integrate with, I would do something like what DoubleF is using for CarPlay.

Nah, I have spring-loaded Spigen CD-tray mounts in both vehicles that work a treat. I don't like magnetic mounts and some phone cases aren't very good for MagSafe. Plus I don't need to always be charging the device.

Typically so would I, but for my purposes, I'm doing an infotainment upgrade, so this 2-in-1 cable will essentially 'live' in the car and not be removed ever (routed from the rear navigation computer through interior panels, and exiting into the center console).

I have an archaic Nav system screen in my vehicle as well. It probably looks dumb with two screens going, but oh well.

Originally Posted by Flames0910

If you’re worried about it getting stolen probably best to get an in-dash unit installed. I got a Sony XAV put into my 2005 Prius a few years back and it has been great — helped with the new car itch too, now I can just wait for EV tech and supply chains to mature.

Also looks sleeker, but then you'd have to wire it in. Some cars are easy, others are PITA when it realizes it's not an OEM unit.

Originally Posted by Galakanokis

Yeah, those CarPlay, Android Auto displays are cool. Might be worth picking one up for the old car as i doubt I replace it in the next year. I do wish they were from more of a recognized name but good to know they work well. I currently just mount the phone but a permanent setup with wireless access would be great.

Is there any fear of these being stolen or are people removing them when not int he car?

I don't know about Vancouver vs Calgary, but here, I have no concerns here in Calgary. Someone broke into my car (or more likely one of my kids didn't close the door completely which blocked my ability to lock the car with the remote) and the screen wasn't stolen. They probably didn't know it was easy as hell to pop off the mount and didn't know what it was.

In your case you could easily pop it off the mount and put it into the glove if you had concern.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I have an archaic Nav system screen in my vehicle as well. It probably looks dumb with two screens going, but oh well.

If anything it looks more in line with what current cars look like, rocking more screens than tactile buttons.

[sureLoss]

Might be difficult to get Apple Watches in the short term. ITC ruling says Apple's blood oxygen feature on their watches violates another company's patents. Apple is pulling the Series 9 and Ultra 2 in the USA over the next few days. No word on Canada yet.

https://9to5mac.com/2023/12/18/apple...ultra-2-sales/

[photon]

Thanks for that, I was just going to come here to ask if they go on sale for Boxing day or not since my wife wanted the series 9 and wondered if I should wait.. But went ahead and ordered off Amazon as they said there was only a few left.

[TorqueDog]

So far, enjoying the 15 Pro. Is it a considerably huge upgrade over my 11 Pro?

... nah. But the battery life is nice, the screen refresh is pleasant to use, and having one cable type -- USB-C -- for all my things now is quite nice. Finding a new phone case identical to my old leather one was easy, and my only complaint is my screen protector didn't go on quite as nicely as it used to on my 11 Pro, but that might be a defect with the protector I bought.

[btimbit]

Do Apple products ever go on sale? Need an iPad mini for stupid Foreflight since they refuse to make an android version. Not seeing any early Black Friday deals yet in any of the sales that have already started. Is Apple one of those companies that just don't do discounts?

[Diemenz]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Do Apple products ever go on sale? Need an iPad mini for stupid Foreflight since they refuse to make an android version. Not seeing any early Black Friday deals yet in any of the sales that have already started. Is Apple one of those companies that just don't do discounts?

You missed the Black Friday sales by a few weeks.
They were on sale and do go on sale but we are talking $20-$70 normally.

[btimbit]

Black Friday, boxing day, same thing

[DownInFlames]

Have you looked at getting a used one? I doubt you need the latest model.

[btimbit]

Best Buy has some open box ones, might pull the trigger on one of them

[photon]

Apple also has refubs, I've bought Apple refurbs a few time and they always look brand new to me.

$80 to $160 off depending on which model:

https://www.apple.com/ca/shop/refurb...-5-ipad-mini-6

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by photon

Apple also has refubs, I've bought Apple refurbs a few time and they always look brand new to me.

$80 to $160 off depending on which model:

https://www.apple.com/ca/shop/refurb...-5-ipad-mini-6

Oh awesome, this might be the way to go. $919 for the 5G 256GB is about the most I would have expected from a sale anyway. Thanks!

[photon]

Received an Apple watch for Christmas, and while I never usually use a case or screen protector with my phones, the top curve of the watch already has a bit of abrasion in the glass (though no idea from where), so maybe I'll get a screen protector for this.

Any recommendations? I can't really see a clear choice in tempered glass, maybe a normal flexible one is better in this case? I don't really want to get a whole case for it.

[MoneyGuy]

I got an Apple Watch too. It never occurred to me there would be a screen protector. I’ll have to look into that.

[ken0042]

I bought these after getting a scratch on my new watch.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B09K3T4467/

The downside is they are more fragile than the original screen. So I think I'm looking to get 3-6 months out of each one.

[photon]

I ended up getting something similar, though not clear: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0B5ZY2QBN

So far I like it well enough. I hate the idea of spending lots of $$ on something like a phone or a watch then hiding it with cheap plastic. To the point that if I end up liking having a watch I might get an Ultra at some point just because I can get tempered glass screen protectors as the glass is flat.

My wife got one from LK which she likes, and LK seems to be a well known brand for these kinds of things: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09JSMWBKH

[photon]

A newly discovered vulnerability baked into Apple’s M-series of chips allows attackers to extract secret keys from Macs when they perform widely used cryptographic operations, academic researchers have revealed in a paper published Thursday.

The flaw—a side channel allowing end-to-end key extractions when Apple chips run implementations of widely used cryptographic protocols—can’t be patched directly because it stems from the microarchitectural design of the silicon itself. Instead, it can only be mitigated by building defenses into third-party cryptographic software that could drastically degrade M-series performance when executing cryptographic operations, particularly on the earlier M1 and M2 generations. The vulnerability can be exploited when the targeted cryptographic operation and the malicious application with normal user system privileges run on the same CPU cluster.

https://arstechnica.com/security/202...les-mac-chips/

[Sr. Mints]

Is it possible to use a 2014 27" iMac solely as a display? A quick search suggests that this functionality may no longer be supported