iOS 9.2.1 was just pushed out to users using a OTA update. The update was just pushed out with the comment:
This update contains security updates and bug fixes including a fix for an issue that could prevent the completion of app installation when using an MDM server.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/HT201222
The official list of exploits patched was just released to public domain here:
Disk Images
Available for: iPhone 4s and later, iPod touch (5th generation) and later, iPad 2 and later
Impact: A local user may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges
Description: A memory corruption issue existed in the parsing of disk images. This issue was addressed through improved memory handling.
CVE-ID
CVE-2016-1717 : Frank Graziano of Yahoo! Pentest Team
IOHIDFamily
Available for: iPhone 4s and later, iPod touch (5th generation) and later, iPad 2 and later
Impact: A local user may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges
Description: A memory corruption issue existed in an IOHIDFamily API. This issue was addressed through improved memory handling.
CVE-ID
CVE-2016-1719 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero
IOKit
Available for: iPhone 4s and later, iPod touch (5th generation) and later, iPad 2 and later
Impact: A local user may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges
Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed through improved memory handling.
CVE-ID
CVE-2016-1720 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero
Kernel
Available for: iPhone 4s and later, iPod touch (5th generation) and later, iPad 2 and later
Impact: A local user may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges
Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed through improved memory handling.
CVE-ID
CVE-2016-1721 : Ian Beer of Google Project Zero and Ju Zhu of Trend Micro
libxslt
Available for: iPhone 4s and later, iPod touch (5th generation) and later, iPad 2 and later
Impact: Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: A type confusion issue existed in libxslt. This issue was addressed through improved memory handling.
CVE-ID
CVE-2015-7995 : puzzor
syslog
Available for: iPhone 4s and later, iPod touch (5th generation) and later, iPad 2 and later
Impact: A local user may be able to execute arbitrary code with root privileges
Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed through improved memory handling.
CVE-ID
CVE-2016-1722 : Joshua J. Drake and Nikias Bassen of Zimperium zLabs
WebKit
Available for: iPhone 4s and later, iPod touch (5th generation) and later, iPad 2 and later
Impact: Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: Multiple memory corruption issues existed in WebKit. These issues were addressed through improved memory handling.
CVE-ID
CVE-2016-1723 : Apple
CVE-2016-1724 : Apple
CVE-2016-1725 : Apple
CVE-2016-1726 : Apple
CVE-2016-1727 : Apple
WebKit CSS
Available for: iPhone 4s and later, iPod touch (5th generation) and later, iPad 2 and later
Impact: Websites may know if the user has visited a given link
Description: A privacy issue existed in the handling of the “a:visited button” CSS selector when evaluating the containing element’s height. This was addressed through improved validation.
CVE-ID
CVE-2016-1728 : an anonymous researcher coordinated via Joe Vennix
WebSheet
Available for: iPhone 4s and later, iPod touch (5th generation) and later, iPad 2 and later
Impact: A malicious captive portal may be able to access the user’s cookies
Description: An issue existed that allowed some captive portals to read or write cookies. The issue was addressed through an isolated cookie store for all captive portals.
CVE-ID
CVE-2016-1730 : Adi Sharabani and Yair Amit of Skycure
As we expected just behind T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon, Sprint will not longer allow customers to buy phones on a 2 yr. contact. The only options that will be available are Full Price, Lease and EasyPay and ANY of the Sprint planes. However this does not apply to existing customers that are on the Everything Data/Share or Unlimited My Way plans (Information still pending on whether existing customers on any other plans will still be able to sign a contact.) Any existing customers can still add line(s) to their account using a 2 year contact.
DON’T WORRY: You still have until the 8th of this month (Jan. 2016) to get new lines with a 2 year contact. However after that NO MORE accounts can be opened with a 2 year contact.
You can still however use any of the other options like Lease, Easy Pay etc. These options might end-up being cheaper in the long run anyway if Sprint decides to lower some of the prices.
The options to drop the 2 year contact started with T-Mobile back in 2013. Many other carriers followed with Verizon and then AT&T also announcing it will drop contracts on the 8th. It only made sense for Sprint to also drop it’s contracts since it’s the only carrier in the top 4 list that would still have contracts.
This information about the contract drops might create confusions at your local Sprint store(s).. So if there are any problems just show them a news articles (like this one) with the facts or a post on newsroom.sprint.com.
Netflix is giving past-trail users a second change to try out the service. Selected users, not sure how they’re selected but Netflix has sent out these users emails offering them a second change..
This sure does seem like a marketing tactic to get more users to sign-up during the Holiday and Tax season. The second trails are just like the first ones with a 30 day access to the whole Netflix category.
If you get an offer be sure to jump on it as fast as possible as it expires on January 31st 2016. You can of-course cancel the subscription as soon as you sign-up for the service so it doesn’t renew and you can enjoy the service for FREE without getting charges.. If you like the service you can go heard and sign-up for it for as low as $7.99!
Towards the end of every year YouTube makes a REWIND video to showcase the year’s biggest hits. Many popular YouTubers and Musicians get together to make a very “hype” video!
This year’s YouTube REWIND video has just dropped a few minutes ago and it’s amazing!
Here are some of the things featured in the REWIND 2015 video:
Justin Bieber – What Do You Mean?
OMI – Cheerleader
Silentó – Watch Me
Major Lazer & DJ Snake – Lean On (feat. MØ)
Just Do It! – Shia Labeouf
The Weeknd – Can’t Feel My Face
“Dance battles”
.. and of-course “Hotline Bling – Drake”
The video is featuring many popular YouTubers like:
Apple has started selling it’s own battery case but, from what you would expect from a product made by Apple is something every stylish and high quality however, this battery case looks very unattractive use a very odd looking bump on the back which holds the battery.
The case is made out of soft-touch silicone exterior with a soft microfiber lining on the inside. Apple claims the iPhone 6S and the battery case will have an increased talk time up to 25 hours along with LTE usage up to 18 hours! Since the battery is made by Apple itself, It includes the ability for the battery status to be displayed on both the iPhone’s lock screen and the notification center. Unlike third-party battery cases this case will actually use a lightning cable to charge both the case and phone but, most of the other cases just a micro-usb cable.
The odd look of the case gives it the ability to be used with existing Lightning accessories like the lightning dock. It has been reported that the odd look of the case is to avoid patent violation from other battery case companies like Mophie.
Mophie patent #9,172,070
Apple is getting a lot of hate for the ugly design of the battery case but, if you would like to get a first-party battery case then this is your only option as of now.. It’s available in two colors, Black and White and is available for $99.
Apple just pushed out the OTA (Over the Air) update for iOS 9.2 to users. The update promises much better stability and bug fixes in the iOS 9 operating system.
Here is a full list of updates in the iOS 9.2 update:
This update contains improvements and bug fixes including:
Apple Music improvements
You can now create a new playlist when adding a song to a playlist
Your most recently changed playlist is now listed at the top when adding songs to playlists
Download albums or playlists from your iCloud Music Library by tapping the iCloud download button
See which songs have been downloaded with the new download indicator next to each song in My Music and Playlists
See works, composers, and performers while browsing Classical music in the Apple Music catalog
A new Top Stories section in News so you can stay up to date with the most important news of the day (available in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia)
Mail Drop in Mail for sending large attachments
iBooks now supports 3D Touch to peek and pop pages from the table of contents, your notes and bookmarks, or from search results inside a book
iBooks now supports listening to an audiobook while you browse your library, read other books, or explore the iBooks Store
iPhone support for the USB Camera Adapter to import photos and videos
Improved stability of Safari
Improved stability of Podcasts
Fixing an issue that caused mail attachments to be inaccessible for some users with POP email accounts
Resolving an issue for some users that caused attachments to overlap text in mail
Fixing an issue where Live Photos could have turned off after restoring from a previous iCloud backup
Addressing an issue that could cause search in Contacts to display no results
Resolving an issue that could have prevented Calendar from displaying all seven days in week view
Fixing an issue where Camera screen on iPad could be black when attempting to capture video
Addressing an issue that could cause instability in the Activity app when viewing the day of Daylight Savings Time transition
Fixing an issue that could prevent data from appearing in Health
Fixing an issue that could prevent Wallet updates and Lock screen alerts from displaying
Addressing an issue where updating iOS could prevent an alarm from going off
Fixing an issue where some users were unable to login to Find my iPhone
Fixing an issue that prevented some manual iCloud Backups from completing
Addressing an issue where using the iPad keyboard could unintentionally trigger text selection mode
Improved keyboard responsiveness when using Quick Reply
Improved punctuation input on the 10-key Chinese (Pinyin & Stroke) keyboards with new expanded view of punctuation symbols and better predictions
Fixing an issue on Cyrillic keyboards where caps lock would be enabled when typing in URL or email fields
Accessibility improvements
Fixing issues with VoiceOver when using Camera face detection
Adding support for VoiceOver to wake up the screen
Adding support for VoiceOver to invoke app switcher with 3D Touch gesture
Fixing an issue with Guided Access when trying to end phone calls
Improved functionality for Switch Control users when using 3D Touch
Fixing an issue with speech rate of Speak Screen
Siri support for Arabic (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates)
As confirmed by our team.. Sprint’s 4G LTE is now available in the better part of Roanoke, Vinton, Salem, and Blacksburg Va. Other parts ofhte state have not yet been tested by, I would think it’s also turned on in those areas.
The 4G LTE is not yet Sprint Sprak which is a tri-brand LTE technology for faster speeds but, just 4G LTE is still not bad. We were able to pull 16.09 Mbps download and 4.97
Mbps upload in the Vinton with full 5 bars (dots) of connection!
We have been reporting on Sprint opening 4G LTE it’s 4G LTE to the SW Va. area since August and it seems like it’s finally here!
November 21st 2015 – UPDATE Confirmed Sprint LTE in the areas has just been launched! Click Here.
August 10th 2015
Sprint has just announced several agreements acquiring Shentel and it are going to be acquiring nTelos holding corp. Sprint is going to be paying Shentel $252 Million over 5-6 years. The agreement gives Sprint access to nTelos’s newly announced 4G LTE network. The two companies are also going to continue to expand the 4G LTE network.
nTelos’s spectrum assets with give Sprint access to 5.4 Million nTelos and Sprint costumers in parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky and North Carolina. Shentel is not going to be a cell carrier (as of now) but, it’s just going to be expanding the 4G LTE coverage with over 150 more already planned sites.
About 581,000 of Sprint and nTelos retail stores are going to be converted to Sprint-branded affiliate stores and an additional 8,000 nTelos stores are going to be converted to Sprint-branded retail stores.
Any other nTelos customers who are in coverage areas not included in the agreement will be transferred to Shentel. The agreement between Sprint and Shentel has been extended to 2029.
The agreement is dated to be closed by Early 2016 and nTelos will no longer provide cell service to any customers.. All customers will be transfered to Sprint. The customers will be able to keep their current devices and all the plans will be converted to Sprint plans with same or better plans.
FAQs
Why is Shentel acquiring nTelos?
Shentel purchased nTelos to continue to grow shareholder value by expanding a part of our business that we know and we do well – our Sprint affiliation. In keeping with our Vision and Mission we are expanding into rural markets where we have existing assets that we can leverage.
Why does Shentel sell Sprint services?
Shentel is a Sprint PCS Affiliate. As an affiliate company, Shentel has exclusive rights to sell Sprint service in certain markets. Shentel currently has approximately 435,000 customers with 2.1 million covered POPs in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
What nTelos departments will be retained by Shentel?
We anticipate that we will retain the nTelos retail distribution, In-direct distribution, Field Operations and Engineering. For those nTelos employees who are displaced, there will be opportunities for some of them to fill open positions in other departments within Shentel.
What will happen with the nTelos Eastern Markets?
Shentel will continue with the existing nTelos management plan to close the Eastern Markets.
Will nTelos locations change their name to Shentel?
No. The nTelos retail locations will become part of Shentel’s Sprint affiliate markets and will be rebranded as Sprint retail locations effective with the closing date. Shentel provides cable and broadband services in Southern Virginia, West Virginia and Oakland, Maryland.
Will wireless and cable services be cross marketed together?
No. Shentel’s contract with Sprint does not allow cross marketing.
Will the nTelos brand continue?
No. None of the nTelos brands will continue after the closing.
What will happen to the offices in Waynesboro?
Shentel plans to continue to have Sprint-branded retail stores and will continue to have a limited presence in the Waynesboro area to support retail distribution, In-direct distribution, field operations, IT and engineering. Shentel is evaluating the long term needs of the Waynesboro facilities.
When will Shentel close on the acquisition of nTelos?
The Boards of Directors of both companies have approved the transaction. The nTelos shareholders must approve the transaction prior to closing. In addition, there are numerous levels of government approval that are necessary. We estimate that all approvals can be obtained within six (6) months or sooner.
Will there be layoffs?
There will be nTelos employees who will be displaced as there will be overlap in our operational structures and systems. Shentel will be providing these employees with severance packages and outplacement assistance to help those employees find new employment.
If there are layoffs how many layoffs will there be and when?
Today’s announcement of the transaction is the first of many steps and activities that must take place before this transaction can close, which we anticipate will be in approximately six (6) months or sooner. There will be nTelos employees who will be displaced as there will be overlap in our operational structures and systems. At this point in time we do not know how many nTelos employees will be displaced from their jobs or when the layoffs will occur. Shentel will be providing these employees with severance packages and outplacement assistance to help those employees find new employment.
Where do you see the biggest redundancies in the two company’s workforce? What positions are most likely to be eliminated?
We anticipate that we will retain the nTelos retail distribution, In-direct distribution, field operations and much of the engineering department. There is significant overlap in all other departments. For those nTelos employees who are displaced, there will be opportunities for some of them to fill open positions in other departments within Shentel.
What type of severance packages are you offering?
Upon closure of the transaction, Shentel will adopt the existing nTelos Severance Policies and apply them to any employee not offered a permanent positon with Shentel.
What type of job placement assistance are you offering?
Shentel will be providing the displaced employees with severance packages and outplacement assistance to help those employees find new employment. For those nTelos employees who are displaced, there will be opportunities for some of them to fill open positions in other departments within Shentel.
What will this mean for the City of Waynesboro?
Shentel will have a much smaller presence in Waynesboro, so the impact will be significant. Shentel is evaluating the long term needs of the Waynesboro facilities.
Can you explain exactly how Sprint and Shentel work together?
Shentel’s wireless segment is the largest Sprint PCS Affiliate in the country and currently provides wireless service to approximately 435,000 customers. As an affiliate company, Shentel has exclusive rights to provide Sprint wireless service to certain markets. Shentel currently has 2.3 million POPs in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
What does affiliate mean exactly?
As an affiliate company, Shentel has exclusive rights to provide Sprint wireless services in certain markets. Shentel currently has 2.3 million POPs in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Will retail locations remain open?
Yes. As part of the transaction, Shentel will convert approximately thirty-eight (38) nTelos retail stores to the Sprint brand upon closure of the transaction. In addition, Shentel will assume control of seven (7) existing Sprint retail locations in the market.
How will the customers’ service change?
At close, there will be no change other than using the Sprint brand rather than the nTelos brand. Over the next few years, we will complete the 4G LTE upgrade and add 150 additional coverage sites.
What is the timing of the system upgrades?
We anticipate that the system upgrades and expansion will take place over the next years.
What do nTelos customers have to do to switch to the new carrier?
Nothing. nTelos customers’ phones will continue to work. The bills and all correspondence will be branded Sprint after the transaction closes. Soon after closing, customers will be migrated to the Sprint billing system. Customers will continue to pay the same amount for similar service.
When will this transition take effect?
The transition won’t start until after closing which should occur within six (6) months or sooner. Planning will start immediately with multiple committees staffed by Shentel and nTelos employees.
Will customers be offered the same plans?
They will either stay in their current plan or move to a Sprint plan that is equal to or better than their existing plan.
How will coverage change?
At the close of the transaction, there will be no changes. Over the next few years, we will build 150 new sites to extend coverage to be more competitive with U.S. Cellular, Verizon and AT&T.
Will customer bills change?
The format of their bill will change and it will be branded Sprint after the transaction closes. Upon transition, the amount paid for the rate plans by the customer will be the same.
Will the price of service change?
nTelos customers will be transitioned to comparable Sprint plans with comparable pricing but will be put on a Sprint plan at the end of their contract or when they upgrade their phone.
How will you improve service to this area?
We will finish the 4G LTE upgrade and over the next few years build 150 new coverage sites.
What happens to customers who do not want to become part of Sprint?
Customers with an existing nTelos contract will automatically be transitioned to Sprint. Any former nTelos customers who does not want to become part of Sprint can change wireless carriers when their existing contract expires.
What actions do customers need to take at this time? In the future?
nTelos customers do not need to take any immediate actions at this time. Shentel expects the closing of the transaction to be completed within six (6) months or sooner. Once completed, Shentel will begin to transition nTelos customers to Sprint and the Sprint billing system. Additional information will be communicated directly to the nTelos customers.
Will you still offer the FRAWG plan (no contract/pay as you go)? Or will you only offer contract phone plans?
We will offer the full line of Sprint Prepaid products – Sprint prepaid, Boost and Virgin Mobile. At conversion we will move the existing FRAWG customers over to a Sprint prepaid plan that is as good as or better than the one they have today at a comparable price.
What is the timeline for this transaction?
We estimate that the transaction will close within six (6) months or sooner. Once the transaction is completed, Shentel will begin the comprehensive integration activities. As part of that process, nTelos customers will be transitioned over to Sprint and Sprint’s billing system. As more detailed timelines are made available, we will communicate them to you and nTelos’ customers.
Apple’s long waited Apple TV refresh which was announced 3 months ago is available for per-order starting today. The new Apple TV is much different from the it’s really old predecessor.
The new Apple TV runs of a 64-bit A8 chip, that all we know now.. But, something else that we do know is the I/O on the new model of the device. There is power plug, HDMI 1.4 port, USB-C port and a 10/100 Ehternet port. Even though it has an HDMI 1.4 port the maximum output resolution is still 1080p (Not 2160p or 4K). Also the USB-C port is only used for servicing the Apple not for storage or anything else.
With the more power on the Apple TV, it’s 1.4 inches tall compared to 0.9″ on it’s predecessor. With the new design and power there is also a new software.. TVOS which has been wildly redesigned for both the modern stream services and the new remote..
.. Talking about the new remote, it’s now much much better, first off there is a glass touch surface which you use to navigate the interface and use the new gestures for quick controls. Other then that it’s has a Menu, Home, Volume, Playback and a Siri button. There are also dual microphones on the remote for using Siri.
Apple
Apple
Apple
Apple
The new remote also uses Bluetooth 4.0 for controls instead of IR. It also has a Accelerator and a Gyroscope for third-party games and apps. The battery on the new remote is also rechargeable with a standard lightning cable.
As far as the price goes it’s $149 for the 32GB and $199 for the 64GB version.
The latest iOS system – iOS 9 has a feature called “Wi-Fi Assist” which automatically switches to the cellular data network when you’re connected to a poor wifi connection. This feature is turned on by default on iOS 9 with poor explanation of what it does or the risks the come with using it.
Apple is currently being used for over $5 Million Dollars for the data overage charges caused by the feature automatically using the data connection and for a poor explanation of what the feature does. The lawsuit accuses Apple for “Violating California’s Unfair Competition Law and of negligent misrepresentation”. It (lawsuit) was filled by William Scott Phillips and Suzanne Schmidt Phillips on Friday.
… you might use more cellular data. For most users, this should only be a small percentage higher than previous usage …
There is no warning or indication except for a small “cellular data” icon that phone is using your cellular data even if you’re on Wi-Fi. Apple reported on their site it’s should on increase their data usage by a tiny bit and not using almost 75% of their data plan as this user reported:
Thanks #Wifiassist now I have used 75 percent of my data and it reset today, next time let me know, @VZWSupport make it off by default
On Apple’s website they have stated that Wi-Fi Assist is only used for foreground system apps like Safari when the Wi-Fi is too slow load a web page and not for any other apps in the background or the ones that download any type of content like, Video and/or Audio Streaming; unless it’s a system app like Apple Music, Safari, Mail or more.. [button color=”” size=”small” type=”” target=”_blank” link=”https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205296″]- Apple[/button]
The only way to stop iOS from using your data without your knowledge is to turn of turn off “Wi-Fi Assist” by Going into Settings > Cellular > (At the very bottom) Turn off “Wi-Fi Assist”.
Apple has kindly declined the request for a comment.