Apple’s iPhone 7 Latest Snazzy Salvo in Encryption War

New iPhone 7 – Highest Level of Encryption

The new iPhone 7 which was announced on September 7 in San Francisco by Apple CEO Tim Cook is said to have the highest level of encryption. Being sleek, shiny and water resistant, it has a telephoto lens for sort of zooming normally reserved for real cameras. Very soon, millions of individuals would be going for an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus where each will be equipped with the latest Apple product of super-duper encrypted operating system, iOS 10.

Moreover, millions would be upgrading their older iPhone and iPads to iOS 10 also. This would be great profits for the Silicon Valley tech giant. For the FBI, it would mean big worries. The data on these services would be out of reach for law enforcement agencies almost overnight, across the country.

This is with regards to the latest instance in the dispute concerning the rights of individuals in having secure data and the reach of law enforcement to search out criminals. So far, though it has been a war conducted by lawyers and software engineers, a good resolution could only come from Congress with laws which would strike a consensus.

Apple Committed to Highest Level of Encryption

It has already taken a long time with months passing since the attempt of FBI to force Apple in building backdoor in its software for unlocking the encrypted iPhone of San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook. With Apple’s refusal, the agency had paid hackers to do the same which had placed Apple in the hot seat.

Minus a guarantee of privacy, the company were aware that selling iPhone would be all but impossible and people would not trust its new services like the iCloud Keychain that enables users to store their passwords as well as credit card details in their smartphone. The company has subsequently intensified its encryption efforts, though Tim Cook did not devote time mentioning about it during the annual event of the company, recently. But there were new iPhones and Apple Watches to be disclosed.

 In August, Ivan Krstic, Apple security expert had offered a introduction on the iOS features at the BlackHat USA hacker conference in Las Vegas and Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President of software engineering, had reassured developers in June that Apple will be committed to the highest level of encryption.

User Privacy – Vital to Company

At the conference of the developers in June, Apple had stressed on its end-to-end encryption and had conversed on its work on degree of difference privacy. This enables the company to maintain personal privacy at the time of examining as well as knowing from crowdsourced details.

We are aware of what Apple had done in the earlier iPhone in order to protect user information. The present iPhone model, the 6S, tends to keep your personal information locked away with encryption and the company has informed that it puts in a lot of effort not to collect huge amount of data on customers like its peers, Google and Facebook.

As the best-selling product of Apple, the iPhone has been vital to the company’s stance with regards to user privacy. Federighi had mentioned that all this great work in iOS 10 would be meaningless if it came at the expense of one’s privacy.

How to watch Apple’s iPhone event live today

The Biggest Event of Apple

The biggest event of the year of Apple is finally here. The new iPhones of Apple named the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will be launched today and Apple will be hosting a special event at the Bill Graham auditorium in San Francisco. The event will be live-streamed on its website. For Indian fans, the time will be 10.30 pm. Users have an option of adding it to your iCalendar directly from the Apple event website. In San Francisco on September 7, Apple would be revealing the new iPhone just in time for the holiday season. Rumours before the event indicate that the new phones would not have an essential design and the iPhone 7 may be totally water-resistant. The next generation iPhone 7 is said to be designed without a headphone jack and would be provided with headphone which will be wireless or plugged directly into the Lightning port. You could watch the event live –

• The event is said to be scheduled at 10 am Pacific time, 1 pm Eastern time, 5 pm London time and 1 am Hong Kong time 
• Apple would be streaming the event with a link. 
• The details of Apple’s live stream can be viewed through a dedicated channel on the Apple TV set top box or on its Safari browser on iOS devices which run on iOS 7 or later and Mac running OS X 10.8.5 or later. The event would also be streamed to second as well as third generation Apple TV devices. In order to watch on a PC, users need to utilise the Microsoft Edge browser from a mechanism running Windows 10. 
• The stream is not always reliable 
• Quartz would be covering the entire event as it takes place. Matt Quinn, tech editor would be reporting on the ground. Users could check for live blog which can be done by tuning into The  live blog for the detailed updates, commentary together with images directly from the venue.

Improve Image Quality/Low-Light Performance

The iPhone of Apple, could be a meek update with improved battery, an enhanced Touch ID button together with a simple antenna and a faster processor to be packed in the iPhone design while the iPhone 7 Plus could also get a dual-lens camera. The later upgrade may improve the image quality and low-light performance while the two lenses would also enable the smartphone to utilise the visual depth information for various innovative photographic actions.

The iPhone 7 is predicted to have one less than interesting tweak and the same may be the first smartphone of Apple to ditch the traditional headphone jack. However, the more concern for the possible iPhone 7 users is the early word on the iPhone 8. The next generation smartphone is doubtful of being mentioned at the event though rumours regarding its flashy upgrades appear over its unreleased forerunner.

 According to some reports, the Apple Watch is also expected to get some upgrades and would be having built-in GPS and hence it will be capable of tracking runs together with other activities accurately when it is not connected to an iPhone. This would enable more sophistication location based apps. Moreover, Apple also intends to improve the inadequate computing power of the watch which means that the entire user experience would be getting sharper.

Apple’s New iPhones Arrive, as Glow Fades

Apple’s Latest Versions iPhone – Thinner/Enhanced Water Resistance

As the iPhone tends to mature reaching its 10th year, Apple Inc recently introduced its new versions of its flagship smartphone, though most probably would not be including the important types of new features which the Apple consumers have been expecting each year. The new models are said to be coming at a serious stage, where the iPhone sales seems to be dropping for the first time, consumers have been prolonging in upgrading their phones and Apple tends to face fresh opposition from competitors such as Samsung Electronics Company and Huawei Technologies Company.

According to the report of Wall Street Journal, earlier in the year, it is said that Apple intends to eradicate the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack and would be making the phone thinner, enhancing its water resistance. However critics have criticized the idea.

Moreover, the Journal has also mentioned that Apple intends to bring about more radical changes for the next year’s model, the iPhone’s 10th anniversary. Apple had refrained from commenting on rumours ahead of the announcement of Wednesday. The iPhone has pushed the extraordinary growth of Apple in recent years, making it the most valuable company in the world.

Exploring New Product – Project Titan

In the year ending September 26, 2015, Apple had sold almost six times as many iPhones, as five years earlier and the phone has accounted for almost two-thirds of the revenue of the company. Neil Cybart, an independent Apple analyst has commented saying that the easy growth has begun to disappear.

International Data Corp, the research firm has estimated that iPhone sales would grow only by 1.5% each year between 2015 and 2020. Apple, in reply had intensified the research and development spending that had reached to $8.1 billion in the year ended September 2015, from $2.4 billion in 2011.

The company has been exploring the new product named Project Titan, which is an Apple branded vehicle. In the meanwhile the Apple Watch that could envisage an upgrade at the event seems to be a unsure achievement and Tim Cook, Chief Executive is still on the look-out for another getaway hit to rival the iPhone.

Not Expecting a Radical iPhone Design

The iPhone had been mainly popular in China wherein the sales of Apple had amounted to $58.7 billion ending September 2015. At a July conference call with the financial analysts, Mr Cook had stated that he was encouraged by the prospects of Apple, in China and India.

Considering the surge of Apple in China after the introduction on China Mobile, said to be one of the biggest wireless carriers of the nation, analysts seem to be less confident. Apple watchers and the analysts are not expecting a radical iPhone redesign this week, which would be breaking the tradition of Apple of offering a significant hardware overhaul after couple of years.

On the contrary they are expecting the device, which is likely to be named iPhone 7, to resemble the iPhone 6, which had been introduced in 2014. The screen size would probably be 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches. People familiar with the matter have stated that Apple could eradicate the home button of the home and add a fingerprint reader into the screen and also change the display of the phone to an edge-to-edge organic light emitting diode screen.

Hacker 'Guccifer' Jailed for Four Years

A hacker that is believed to hails from Romania who has targeted US politicians that maintain a high profile has been sentenced to a prison period of 52 months. His name is Marcel Lazar however online he is commonly known as "Guccifer". It was in May that he pleaded guilty for theft of aggravated identify as well as access of computers that were unauthorized.

Marcel Lazar is known to have targeted many individuals such as the ex-secretary of state –Mr. Colin Powell as well as many members of the Bush family. In the year 2014 Marcel Lazar was arrested in Romania for a period of 4 years on charges for his hacking. While in March 2016 Marcel Lazar was handed over to face charges in the US.

44 year old Marcel Lazar is known to have uncovered Hillary Clinton, the presidential nominees email account back in the year 2013 by breaking into Hillary's former political advisor - Sidney Blumenthal's account.

After a mere two years it has been understood that Mrs Clinton made use of her personal account exclusively and that account was connected to a server which was private at her residence in New York while she was serving as secretary of state.

A while later, it became a matter of FBI investigation that Hillarys private email was being made use of while she was at the State Department. This investigation has followed her on the campaign trail as well which is pretty recent.

Clinton's 'email gate' diced and sliced

It was some time previously in this year that Marcel Lazar stated that Mrs Hillarys private server had been hacked by him, however this claim has been denied by the Clinton campaign as there has been no breach noticed by them. At the same time, the FBI also stated that nothing has been found to state and ensure that Marcel Lazar has hacked Hillary. Marcel Lazar, prior to this, in Romania was a taxi driver by profession and in the duration of 2012-2014 is known to have hacked into approximately 100 email accounts of the US which is beyond belief.

Democratic hack: Who is Guccifer 2.0? 

It was not so long ago in June this year itself that a hacker who goes by the name "Gucffier 2.0" online claimed that he had acquired data on the Democratic National Committee as well as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The officials of the US intelligence seem believe that there is a definite link between Guccifer 2.0 and the Russian intelligence services, they also suggest that the hacking was sponsored by the state which could lead to high levels of unrest if found to be true.

However until date there has been no connection found between Marcel Lazar and Guccifer 2.0. Nonetheless investigations regarding the same are still being carried out so as to crosscheck if there is any connection as well as work towards bringing an end to the hacking.

Apple May Launch 'All Glass' iPhone in 2017

Apple’s All-Glass iPhone – 2017

One can expect an all-glass iPhone probably by 2017. Foxconn, the supplier for Apple has been developing a glass casing for the iPhone which is likely to show up in 2017 as per a report on the Japanese website, Nikkei. The latest iPhone design of Apple is believed to have a glass chassis to enhance the slowing demand of Apple’s main products.

Reports by Apple on its first decline in the sales of iPhone in the quarter which ended in March has been considering on means of countering tough competition from its opponents like South Korea’s Samsung Electronics.

Foxconn which has been assembling iPhone presently provides the metal casings for Apple and has been developing the new glass casing that would be out in 2017 according to the website report. India, the world’s third largest smartphone market after China and US, had faced a 35% fall in the market share of Apple, where 800,000 smartphones had been shipped to India, by Apple in Q2 2016. This is in comparison to the 1.2 million smartphones it had shipped during the same quarter the previous year, as per a report from Strategy Analytics.

Featuring Curved OLED Display

The latest iPhone besides an all-glass design would also feature a curved OLED display. And an addition feature which could make an appearance is something which has been considered is possibly of getting rid of the Home button.

There have been reports regarding Apple implementing the Home key within the display though till now it has not been possible. The information tends to come from an insider having access to the Chinese production company and stated that Foxconn has been working on glass bodywork for the 2017 iPhone right from 2015 and has gone through various design models.

Moreover, the report also added that it expects the 2017 iPhone model to have a glass frame, front as well as back for the complete glass build, complete with an AMOLED display panel together with a Touch ID Home key accompanied with fingerprint scanner which is inserted below the display.

However with the arrival of 3D Touch together with the latest AMOLED display technology, getting the Home Key in the display is actually a go ahead sign for the 2017 release of iPhone.

More Multifaceted Tactile Vibrations on Display

According to BGR, the 2017 iPhone of Apple would be capable of creating more multifaceted tactile vibrations on the display due to a tiny though high-performance motor which has been equipped within. The trackpad on the revamped MacBook of Apple is entirely stationary with no `click button. On the contrary, the MacBook has a system of well-designed sensors together with vibration, providing the users with the tangible feedback they are familiar to.

Those familiar with the new MacBook could confirm that the implementation is impeccable if not strange. This is the technology which will basically enable Apple to do away with the requirements of a physical Home button. This means that for the overall design and appearance of the iPhone it is likely that the phone would look and operate extraordinarily to the earlier ones. Consumer response to the latest iPhone is yet to be seen.