CES 2018, iPhone Battery Replacements, Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerability Fixes - MacRumors

Brought to you by: The Best of CES: The Connected Home Comes to the Forefront CES is always a crazy mix of practical and off-the-wall products, some of which are ready to ship immediately and others that end up being more fanciful prototypes that may or may not make it to market. One of the major themes of this year's CES has been connected homes, with Alexa, Google Home, and HomeKit all making strong appearances. There's much more than that, however, so take a look at our highlight videos from media preview events Unveiled, Pepcom, and ShowStoppers, as well as all of the rest of our coverage hosted on our CES news hub, where you'll find coverage of announcements on all kinds of products, even the kitchen sink.   Read Full Article Sponsored Stories Get an App Collection for Any Task at Hand Setapp is a new way of getting things done on your Mac. A collection of over 100 curated apps to cross out your to-do list every single day. We mixed your favorite apps with exciting up-and-comers to help you write, focus, screencast, photo-edit, stay organized — you name it. All apps are pro versions, ad-free, and always up to date. A collection worth thousands for just $9.99 a month. Start your free, full-featured trial and see how convenient it is to never google things like “best app for youtube downloads” ever again. Visit Sponsor Popular Stories Jan 11, 2018 Apple Delays iPhone 6 Plus Battery Replacements Until March-April Due to Limited Supply Back when Apple announced its discounted battery replacement plan for older iPhones last month, the company initially intended to hold back the launch until late January in effort to boost supplies of the replacement batteries, but later accelerated the program to let it launch with whatever supplies were on hand at the time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the rush on replacement batteries is resulting in delays for customers, with Apple advising its service partners that iPhone 6 Plus batteries in particular are in short supply with many replacements needing to wait until March or April. Other models are seeing better battery availability, with iPhone 6 and 6s Plus seeing around two-week waits while other phones should see near immediate battery availability. In addition, for those looking to take advantage of the discounted $29 battery replacements, Apple has clarified that it's one-per-phone, so don't expect to get a new battery now and then replace it again late in the year near the end of the program. In other news related to the battery issue, Apple is coming under scrutiny from government officials in the United States and France, while consumers have filed more than two dozen lawsuits over the issue.   Read Full Article Apple Releases iOS and macOS Updates With Additional Security Fixes to Address Spectre Vulnerability The technology world was shaken last week with the disclosure of significant vulnerabilities in chips from a number of companies including Intel, AMD, and ARM, with some of the vulnerabilities inherent in the way modern chips are designed. Vendors have been working hard to mitigate the risks of these vulnerabilities, known as "Meltdown" and "Spectre,"with Apple noting it had already addressed some of the issues in iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2. Apple this week released a few more updates in the form of iOS 11.2.2 and a macOS 10.13.2 Supplemental Update to address some of the Spectre-related issues by making tweaks to Safari.   Read Full Article macOS High Sierra's App Store System Preferences Can Be Unlocked With Any Password It's not as serious as the bug that allowed unauthorized access to the root superuser on Macs that was discovered a few weeks ago, but there's another permissions-based issue with System Preferences in macOS High Sierra that lets users unlock access to Mac App Store preferences without a password. The bug has been fixed in beta builds of macOS 10.13.3, so a fix will be rolling out to all users as soon as Apple releases the next High Sierra maintenance update, which could come relatively soon.   Read Full Article Apple Begins Selling Refurbished 10.5-Inch iPad Pro Models It's been over six months since Apple released the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, and the company is finally offering configurations of the device in its online store for refurbished products. Refurbished devices carry about a 15 percent discount and come with a full Apple warranty and new battery and outer shell. If you still prefer to pick up a brand-new unit, check out our deals roundup to make sure you're getting the best price.   Read Full Article Apple Now Selling Linksys Velop Mesh Wi-Fi System But Will Continue Offering AirPort Line Apple's lineup of AirPort Wi-Fi networking products hasn't been updated in years and we heard over a year ago that Apple had halted development on Wi-Fi routers, so it's interesting that Apple has begun selling the Velop Mesh Wi-Fi System from Linksys online and in its stores. Apple says it will continue selling its own AirPort products, but has given no indication on whether it plans to discontinue them, and if so, when.   Read Full Article

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