Apple Pay Cash, Yahoo data breaches, and the man in the bunny suit are all part of today’s AWT News Update podcast:
- Apple employees are reportedly testing Apple Pay Cash internally in preparation for the public rollout
- Verizon discloses that the 2013 Yahoo data breach actually affected all accounts
- Former Intel CEO Paul Otellini, who worked with Steve Jobs to shift Macs to Intel CPUs, has died
The text version of the podcast can be read below. To listen to the podcast here, click the play button on the player below. Apple News readers need to visit Apple World Today in order to listen to the podcast.
The text version of the podcast can be read below. To listen to the podcast here, click the play button on the player below. Apple News readers need to visit Apple World Today in order to listen to the podcast.
Text Version
This is Steve Sande for Apple World Today, and you’re listening to the AWT News Update podcast for October 3rd, 2017. Our sponsor this month is It’s About Time Products, and this week we’re focusing on their two new products for iMessage: Color Text Bubbles and WordSwipe. Check out the sponsorship post on Apple World Today for more information, and we’ll give you details on both apps later in the week.
Apple employees are reportedly testing Apple Pay Cash — the person to person cash payment system — with the beta of iOS 11.1. It’s good to know that the system is being tested internally, since that’s a sign that the launch of Apple Pay Cash for the general public is near. A note at the bottom of the Apple Watch Series 1 webpage recently said that the service would be launched in late October, although that note was removed from the page quickly. The service allows Apple Watch, iPad and iPhone owners to send money requests and receive payments from others through iMessage or by telling Siri to send money to others. The funds received are loaded into a virtual Apple Pay Cash card that appears in the Wallet app, and the money can be used anywhere that Apple Pay is accepted. In addition, users can withdraw the funds into a bank account.
Now the truth is out — Verizon purchased Yahoo this year, and the company has come clean that all 3 billion Yahoo accounts were compromised in a 2013 hack attack. Yahoo had previously reported in 2016 that the hack affected 1 billion accounts, but Verizon says that new intelligence shows that the attack compromised all Yahoo accounts that were around in 2013. Information stolen in the attack included names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, hashed passwords, and both encrypted and unencrypted security questions and answers. Fortunately, cleartext passwords, bank account information and credit card data was not believed to be accessed during the attack. Yahoo also was the victim of another data breach in 2014 affecting 500 million accounts, and a third attack between 2015 and 2016. Those security breaches were responsible for Verizon asking Yahoo to drop its asking price during the acquisition by $350 million. Yahoo is under SEC investigation for delays in disclosure of the data breach, and affected victims have the right to sue the company.
The former Intel CEO who worked closely with Steve Jobs to get Apple to move the Mac platform to Intel CPUs, Paul Otellini, has died. Otellini was 66 years old and was familiar to long-time Mac fans as the man in the clean room “bunny suit” who delivered an Intel chip wafer to Jobs on stage during a keynote where the business agreement was announced. Otellini listened to Jobs, who didn’t want to have Macs plastered with the “Intel Inside” stickers familiar to Windows PCs. Otellini is survived by his wife of 30 years, a son and a daughter. He retired in 2013, dedicating time to mentoring youth and being involved with the San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco General Hospital Foundation.
That’s all for today; I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon with another edition of the AWT News Update.
