September 20, 2013

Although Apple has tried to allay security concerns around the iPhone 5S Touch ID fingerprint scanner (shown above), U.S. Sen. Al Franken is not satisfied.
The humorist-turned-politician sent an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook with a dozen questions on the privacy implications of Touch ID. The junior senator from Minnesota wrote that he hopes to “establish a public record” of how Apple has addressed these issues.
Tutorial+-+How+to+Set+Up+and+Use+the+Touch+ID+on+Your+iPhone+5s.jpg (250×390)“[W]hile Apple’s new fingerprint reader, Touch ID, may improve certain aspects of mobile security, it also raises substantial privacy questions for Apple and for anyone who may use your products,” Franken wrote, noting that he personally owns an iPhone.
Among the questions Franken raises:
  • Does Apple have plans to let third-party apps access the Touch ID system or its data?
  • Does the iPhone 5S transmit any type of information, such as diagnostics, back to Apple or other parties?
  • Is it possible to extract fingerprint data from an iPhone 5S, either remotely or in person?
  • And does Apple consider fingerprint data to be “subscriber information” or a “tangible thing,” thereby susceptible to being collected by the FBI as part of a national security investigation?

Some answers

Apple has, in a sense, answered some of Franken’s questions already. At its press conference last week, Apple noted that fingerprint data is stored locally, not in the cloud, and that this data is encrypted within the phone’s processor. Apple has said that third-party apps can’t access fingerprint data, but hasn’t said whether these apps will be able to use Touch ID in the future.
An Apple spokesman also told the Wall Street Journal that Touch ID doesn’t store actual fingerprint images, just “fingerprint data.” That means hackers would have a tough time reverse-engineering fingerprints even if they had access to the iPhone’s encrypted processor. (That’s not stopping them; quite a number of parties have pooled together to provide a bounty for whoever manages to hack Touch ID.)
Still, it’s understandable that Franken would want to get Apple on the record with clear answers to privacy questions. Although fingerprint scanning isn’t new, the popularity of the iPhone means it’s about to become a lot more accessible. The questions are worth asking even if most users will never be affected by security issues. Whether Apple feels compelled to respond to Franken is another question.
In the meantime, there’s an easy solution for users who are unnerved by Touch ID: Simply don’t set it up, and use a PIN instead.
source : techhive
You can read Franken's letter to Apple below and download a copy here.
September 19, 2013
Mr. Tim Cook, CEO
Apple, Inc.
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA

Dear Mr. Cook:

I am writing regarding Apple's recent inclusion of a fingerprint reader on the new iPhone 5S. Apple has long been a leading innovator of mobile technology; I myself own an iPhone. At the same time, while Apple's new fingerprint reader, Touch ID, may improve certain aspects of mobile security, it also raises substantial privacy questions for Apple and for anyone who may use your products. In writing you on this subject, I am seeking to establish a public record of how Apple has addressed these issues internally and in its rollout of this technology to millions of my constituents and other Americans.

Too many people don't protect their smartphones with a password or PIN. I anticipate that Apple's fingerprint reader will in fact make iPhone 5S owners more likely to secure their smartphones. But there are reasons to think that an individual's fingerprint is not "one of the best passwords in the world," as an Apple promotional video suggests.

Passwords are secret and dynamic; fingerprints are public and permanent. If you don't tell anyone your password, no one will know what it is. If someone hacks your password, you can change it—as many times as you want. You can't change your fingerprints. You have only ten of them. And you leave them on everything you touch; they are definitely not a secret. What's more, a password doesn't uniquely identify its owner—a fingerprint does. Let me put it this way: if hackers get a hold of your thumbprint, they could use it to identify and impersonate you for the rest of your life.

It's clear to me that Apple has worked hard to secure this technology and implement it responsibly. The iPhone 5S reportedly stores fingerprint data locally "on the chip" and in an encrypted format. It also blocks third-party apps from accessing Touch ID. Yet important questions remain about how this technology works, Apple's future plans for this technology, and the legal protections that Apple will afford it. I should add that regardless of how carefully Apple implements fingerprint technology, this decision will surely pave the way for its peers and smaller competitors to adopt biometric technology, with varying protections for privacy.

I respectfully request that Apple provide answers to the following questions:

(1) Is it possible to convert locally-stored fingerprint data into a digital or visual format that can be used by third parties?

(2) Is it possible to extract and obtain fingerprint data from an iPhone? If so, can this be done remotely, or with physical access to the device?

(3) In 2011, security researchers discovered that iPhones were saving an unencrypted file containing detailed historical location information on the computers used to back up the device. Will fingerprint data be backed up to a user's computer?

(4) Does the iPhone 5S transmit any diagnostic information about the Touch ID system to Apple or any other party? If so, what information is transmitted?

(5) How exactly do iTunes, iBooks and the App Store interact with Touch ID? What information is collected by those apps from the Touch ID system, and what information is collected by Apple associated with those interactions, including identifiers or hashes related to the fingerprint data?

(6) Does Apple have any plans to allow any third party applications access to the Touch ID system or its fingerprint data?

(7) Can Apple assure its users that it will never share their fingerprint data, along with tools or other information necessary to extract or manipulate the iPhone fingerprint data, with any commercial third party?

(8) Can Apple assure its users that it will never share their fingerprint files, along with tools or other information necessary to extract or manipulate the iPhone fingerprint data, with any government, absent appropriate legal authority and process?

(9) Under American privacy law, law enforcement agencies cannot compel companies to disclose the "contents" of communications without a warrant, and companies cannot share that information with third parties without customer consent. However, the "record[s] or other information pertaining to a subscriber... or customer" can be freely disclosed to any third party without customer consent, and can be disclosed to law enforcement upon issuance of a non-probable cause court order. Moreover, a "subscriber number or identity" can be disclosed to the government with a simple subpoena. See generally 18 U.S.C. § 2702-2703

Does Apple consider fingerprint data to be the "contents" of communications, customer or subscriber records, or a "subscriber number or identity" as defined in the Stored Communications Act?
(10) Under American intelligence law, the Federal Bureau of Investigation can seek an order requiring the production of "any tangible thing[] (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items)" if they are deemed relevant to certain foreign intelligence investigations. See 50 U.S.C. § 1861. 
Does Apple consider fingerprint data to be "tangible things" as defined in the USA PATRIOT Act?
(11) Under American intelligence law, the Federal Bureau of Investigation can unilaterally issue a National Security Letter that compels telecommunications providers to disclose "subscriber information" or "electronic communication transactional records in its custody or possession." National Security Letters typically contain a gag order, meaning that recipients cannot disclose that they received the letter. See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. § 2709.
Does Apple consider fingerprint data to be "subscriber information" or "electronic communication transactional records" as defined in the Stored Communications Act?
(12) Does Apple believe that users have a reasonable expectation of privacy in fingerprint data they provide to Touch ID?

Thank you for your time and attention to these questions. I ask that Apple answer these questions within a month of receiving this letter.


Sincerely,

Al Franken
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
on Privacy, Technology and the Law

Posted on Friday, September 20, 2013 by Admin

No comments

With the release of iOS 7, app designers and developers will need to adjust their visual language to match the new "flat" design of iOS. In addition to the grid system, the dimensions of icons and commonly used elements, typography and iconography has been updated by Apple in many ways. That‘s why the old iOS Design Cheat Sheet that I published last year with the release of the iPad mini needs an update now. I decided to shift away from pure value-based tables about sizes of design elements towards a simple guide that should help to get you started with iOS 7 app design. As always I will update this guide over time, and if you think there is something important missing here, just let me know.
Since iOS 7 is not supported on older models of the iPhone and iPod (only 4+), this guide will only cover the supported devices. 

Resolutions & Display Specifications

Resolutions

DevicesPortraitLandscape
iPhone 5640x1136 px1136x640 px
iPhone 4/4S640x960 px960x640 px
iPhone & iPod Touch1st, 2nd and 3rd Generation320x480 px480x320 px
Retina iPadiPad 3, iPad 41536x2048 px2048x1536 px
iPad Mini768x1024 px1024x768 px
iPad1st and 2nd Generation768x1024 px1024x768 px

Displays

DevicesPPIColor ModeColor Temperature
iPhone 53268bit RGBWarm
iPhone 4/4S3268bit RGBCool
iPhone & iPod Touch1st, 2nd and 3rd Generation1638bit RGBWarm
Retina iPadiPad 3, iPad 42648bit RGBWarm
iPad Mini1638bit RGBUnknown
iPad1st and 2nd Generation1328bit RGBWarm

App Icons

One of the biggest changes in iOS 7 is the new dimensions and the visual language used for app icons. Apple introduced a grid system, increased the general size of icons on your home screen and also masked icons with a different shape.

Dimensions

DeviceApp IconAppStore IconSpotlight IconSettings Icon
iPhone 5120x120 px1024x1024 px80x80 px58x58 px
iPhone 4/4S120x120 px1024x1024 px80x80 px58x58 px
Retina iPadiPad 3, iPad 4152x152 px1024x1024 px80x80 px58x58 px
iPad Mini76x76 px512x512 px40x40 px29x29 px
iPad1st and 2nd Generation76x76 px512x512 px40x40 px29x29 px

Rounded corners

iOS 7 App Icon Radius
The old simple radii values for rounded corners are gone. Apple introduced a new shape, which got named "superellipse" byMichael Flarup (I think that‘s a great way to describe this shape). Since Apple did not release an official template of the shape, you will have to use one of the unofficial templates out there, which are replicating the shape in more or less accurate ways. The best I‘ve came across so far is the App Icon Template, which is definitely a very good starting point when you‘re designing an app icon for iOS 7. As always, the rounded corners should not be included in your final exported assets - but you might need them while your design process if you want to add effects, such as a stroke or shadows, which are aligned to the corner of the icon.

Grid system

iOS 7 App Icon Grid System
Apple developed a golden ratio grid system, which can be used to size and align elements on your icon correctly. Anyways, the grid template got criticized a lot by the design community, and it seems like designers (even Apple designers) are not following the grid system very strictly. Feel free to break rules if your icon looks better without taking care of the new grid system.

User Interface

The biggest change in iOS 7 is definitely the all new flat user interface design language used across the whole operating system. While pretty much all gradients and shadows got removed from UI elements, the sizes of commonly used design elements got changed in some cases as well.

Commonly used design elements

DeviceHeight of Status BarHeight of Navigation BarHeight of Tab BarWidth of Tables
iPhone 540 px88 / 64 px98 px640 / 1136 px
iPhone 4/4S40 px88 / 64 px98 px640 / 960 px
Retina iPadiPad 3, iPad 440 px88 px112 pxdynamic
iPad Mini20 px44 px56 pxdynamic
iPad1st and 2nd Generation20 px44 px56 pxdynamic

Status Bar

iOS 7 Status BariOS 7 Status Bar in black
While the size of the status bar is the same as in iOS6, the appearance of its content was slightly changed. You can control the background color to match the look of your app design or use the default color themes (white and black). In a lot of the default iOS 7 apps, the status bar is visually connected with the Navigation Bar without any separations.

Navigation Bar

iOS 7 Navigation Bar GridiOS 7 Navigation Bar Landscape Grid
The Navigation Bar usually includes a title as well as basic navigation and action buttons (such as back to previous view, create, edit, etc.). In landscape orientation, the height of the Nav bar is usually shrunk a bit (to 32pt) to allow more content to be displayed below it.

Table Views

iOS 7 Table Specifications
Tables (or lists) are using the full width of the display now and are not any longer surrounded by a container that separates tables from each other. The only visual separation between different table views are headlines which appear on top of the table (as known from previous iOS versions) on top of the main app background texture/color. Items within a table are separated by a simple 1px line, which has a margin of 15pt to the left side of the screens but connects directly with the right side of the screen. Each item has an inner padding of 15pt to both sides.

Iconography

iOS 7 Tab BariOS 7 Share Icons
Apple makes massive usage of icons without a fill color but only outlines with a thickness of 1pt, but "classic" icons with a color fill are still present and widely used in iOS 7. An often used style for active icons in the tab bar are inverted colors – while the inactive icon has often only outlines, the active one get‘s filled with a solid color while some strokes disappear or are inverted.

Typography

Helvetica Neue is still the default font in iOS, but normal text is usually displayed in the Light face instead of Regular or Bold now. Text that should appear more prominent is often displayed in Medium face (eg. the title in Navigation Bar). Of course, there are still a lot of alternative font faces available to make use of instead of Helvetica Neue. You can find the whole list here. In general (and likely because of the increased usage of Light font faces) the font size was increased for most design elements. Buttons often appear as simple colored text links. Now, they are no longer surrounded by a shape, which supports its metaphor.

Default Font Sizes

Label TypeDefault Font SizeDefault Font Weight
Navigation Bar Title34 pxMedium
Regular Buttons34 pxLight
Table Header34 pxLight
Table Label28 pxRegular
Tab Bar Icon Labels20 pxRegular
Source ivomynttinen

Posted on Friday, September 20, 2013 by Admin

No comments

One of the most exciting new features on the iPhone 5s is the fingerprint sensor embedded in the device’s home button. Apple calls it Touch ID, and as it gains more uses in the OS, it could have a huge impact on your mobile experience.

For now, Touch ID is limited to making purchases in iTunes or the App Store, letting you buy things like movies, music, and apps with a press of your finger instead of an Apple ID. And of course, you can also use your fingerprint to unlock your iPhone too.

Here’s what you need to know.

Setting It Up

Getting Touch ID up and running is pretty straightforward. First, go to Settings > Passcode & Fingerprint > Fingerprint and then choose “Add a Fingerprint.” Then just follow the onscreen prompts to get every angle and intricacy of your fingerprint documented by the scanner. If more than one person will be sharing the device, or you want to be able to use different fingers with Touch ID, you can set up and name multiple fingerprint accounts.

Using Touch ID

Touch ID can only be used to unlock your iPhone 5s and make App Store or iTunes purchases — at least for now. Just place your finger on the home button for a second or two, and like magic, you’ve been verified. Touch ID has 360-degree fingerprint readability. Theoretically, that means no matter how you place your finger on the home button’s sensor, it should be able to read your print. Touch ID evenworks on toes and (to an extent) with a cat’s paw, should you want to impress non-techy friends with a silly party trick.
At this time, Touch ID isn’t available for third-party apps to tap into. If it requires a password, you’ll still have to enter it manually.

How Secure Is It?

One of the big questions when Apple first introduced Touch ID was how our fingerprint information would be stored. Would it be accessible to any app that wants to use it? Is your fingerprint scan going straight to PRISM and the NSA’s servers?
Apple stores your fingerprint information directly on the A7 processor, in what’
s called the Secure Enclave. The information isn’t accessible to any software, servers, or to iCloud. How this likely works on the A7 processor is discussed in detail on Quora, but basically, the hardware and software portions of the device are partitioned into “regular” and “secure” areas. Regular components are unable to access data or activities that occur in the secure areas. To get at data stored in the secure area, it would require “a rather large magnitude of hardware hacking,” Brian Roemmele writes.
Don’t assume people aren’t going to try their darndest to hack Touch ID though. Some have already offered rewards to anyone who’s able to break into Apple’s new fingerprint sensing technology (the bounties range from “a bottle of Patron Silver” to a whopping $10,000 from IO Capital).

Posted on Friday, September 20, 2013 by Admin

No comments

iPhone 5 has been launched for several weeks. Its associate products have been developed such as iPhone smart cover. iPhone 5 Smart Cover PSD contains front view plus keyboard, back view and side view, in which, you can demonstrate how your iphone apps to be showed under the smart cover. You can also use it for designing other iphone products and promote your products relating to iPhone cover.

This iPhone 5 Smart Cover is in PSD and PNG formats and is free for download in blow link

Posted on Friday, September 20, 2013 by Admin

No comments

Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Phone 8 is critical to the company’s future success in a world that’s going mobile.
Through a combination of aggressive marketing, competitive features, a push for apps and some helpful bumbling by BlackBerry (BBRY), the platform has seen significant growth this year. Windows Phone 8 is now in third place globally for market share at 3.7% and is the fastest growing mobile OS — although that’s relatively easy to pull off when you start low, the trick is to maintain the growth rate.
However, Microsoft was almost entirely reliant on Nokia (NOK), whose Lumia smartphones accounted for a whopping 80% of that Windows sales volume. And Nokia was considering jumping ship to Android.
At the time the blockbuster purchase was announced, Microsoft’s $7.2 billion deal to buy Nokia’s Devices and Services unit was presented as the most effective way for Microsoft to bring Windows Phone hardware development in-house. It fit Steve Ballmer’s vision to turn Microsoft into a devices and services company.
The acquisition also had the potential to fit neatly into the Ballmer succession plan by bringing back former Microsoft executive and current Nokia CEO Stephen Elop — the guy who made the call to skip Google’s (GOOG) Android as Nokia’s platform in favor of Windows.
Things are rarely so neat and tidy, and it only took a matter of days before news began to circulate that Nokia had Android running on its Lumia smartphones. With Nokia’s Windows Phones deal set to expire in 2014, this could have been written off as a pressure tactic designed to extract more favorable terms from Microsoft the next time around.
Things get uglier, though. It turns out that Nokia’s Android experiment had gone much further than engineers playing experimenting to get the competing operating system running on Lumia smartphones. Nokia had apparently reached the stage of having manufacturer Foxconn churn out 10,000 of the Android-based devices, code-named “Mountain View.”
Suddenly, Nokia’s Android experimentation seems less like a gambit to get rid of those Windows Phone licensing fees (somewhere in the range of $10 per unit), and more like a concerted effort to regain its smartphone market share.
Let’s not forget just how far Nokia has fallen
In 2007, Nokia smartphones topped 50% of global shipments, but have now sunk below 4%. In early 2011 — when Nokia ditched its own Symbian mobile OS and signed on with Windows — its market share was still nearly 25%. While Windows Phone 8 has been on an upswing, it’s possible that had Nokia chosen to go with Android in 2011 it could be sitting at double digits today instead of being ignominiously lumped in with the “Others” category in sales charts.
That’s a position that’s tough to swallow for a company that was the largest seller of mobile devices for 14 years running and watched its stock drop by 90% as competitors like Samsung (SSNLF) rose to a dominant position by hitching themselves to the Android train.
In hindsight, it seems likely that Microsoft’s move to buy Nokia wasn’t destiny. It wasn’t about bringing a Windows Phone champion back into the fold, it wasn’t about getting synergy between the software and hardware teams, and it wasn’t to avoid the expense of developing its own Surface smartphones.
It was to prevent its primary smartphone hardware vendor from jumping ship and either abandoning Windows Phone altogether, or at least offering Android alternatives.
Either outcome would have had a serious effect on Windows Phone 8 smartphone sales and raised doubts about the platform’s future. It’s bad PR if the partner responsible for 80% of your market goes to another operating system. Other hardware partners have been few and far between, and the bad vibes from Nokia ditching wouldn’t have left any of them eager to take up the slack.
It’s unlikely we’ll ever know if Nokia could have recovered any of its past glory if it switched to Android (unless that Microsoft deal comes apart at the last minute).
Personally, I have my doubts. In 2011, Nokia had a shot of carving out a slot. Today, Samsung is solidly entrenched on top of the heap, Chinese manufacturers like ZTE (ZTCOF), Lenovo (LNVGY) and Huawei are covering all the price ranges while expanding their North American presence, and smaller players like Sony (SNE) have filled in many of the premium niches. Nokia has its fans, but breaking into the Android market in a meaningful way from scratch in 2013 — let alone in another year — would be a tough slog.
For Microsoft, though, there was no happy ending to that scenario. Buying Nokia to prevent it from turning to Android was the only course of action to protect the already tenuous Windows Phone 8 market from a collapse.
As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Source : investorplace

Posted on Friday, September 20, 2013 by Admin

No comments