In this week’s top stories: The fascinating story of Apple helping the U.S. government create what was probably a stealth iPod Geiger counter, a look at new iPhone 12 dummy images, Apple may have revealed a hint about the date of the event of the iPhone 12, iOS 14 beta 5 is released, Apple sets the date for terminating the developer account of Epic Games, and more.
Top Secret iPod Geiger Counter
One of the most interesting stories of the week was a former Apple engineer who shared about his time working on a top-secret project that likely helped the U.S. government hide a Geiger counter in the iPod . Father of the iPod, Tony Fadell confirmed the events as well.
They had added special hardware to the iPod, which generated data they secretly wanted to record. They were careful to make sure I never saw the hardware, and I never did.
We discussed the best way to hide the data they recorded. As a disk engineer, I suggested that they create another partition on disk to store their data. That way, even if one were to pack the custom iPod into a Mac or PC, iTunes would treat it like a normal iPod, and it would look like a normal iPod in the Mac Finder or Windows Explorer. They wanted that, and it was a hidden party.
The whole story is really fascinating and is worth reading – check it out here.
New iPhone 12 dummy images
As we approach the launch of the iPhone 12, we got a glimpse of some new dummy images from the upcoming lineup, which is a good look at what to expect.
The dummy iPhone 12 units show no exact representation of what we’ll be launching this fall for every little detail, such as the notch- or camera-arrays, they show us every size we expect with the all-new square-off design .
This year we should see the iPhone 12 in 5.4- and 6.1-inch models, with the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro max coming with 6.1- and 6.7-inch displays. Check out all the new dummy images in our full post.
In addition to the new dumb models, we got a nice look at how the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 could look like in all the vibrant colors that the iPhone 11 is offered in a new concept gallery.
iPhone 12 event date?
A little slip up this week may have given an indication as to when the iPhone 12 event may be. A pair of eagle eyes 9to5Mac readers notice that Apple accidentally posted a ‘TEST’ livestream feed on their YouTube channel for a few moments. The livestream date was set for September 10th.
However, there are some factors to consider that may influence Apple’s plans for the date of the iPhone 12 event. Namely, in a rare move, Apple acknowledged during its call for Q3 earnings that the availability of the iPhones this year would be a “few weeks later”.
iOS 14 beta 5 released
The fifth developer beta for iOS 14 was released this week. The latest build includes several new use-facing features, such as bringing back the wheelbarrow for alarms (albeit in a hybrid form), a switch for the Hidden Album in the Photos app, and a new “Tall” News widget .
There are also new warning messages for exposure notifications. Along with that, there are now five U.S. states offering an app based on Apple / Google software / exposure notifications.
Developers now have access to test options for App Clips, widgets are now blocked when a parent app is blocked with Screen Time, and there are new location access requests for widgets.
In other beta news, Apple also made the iOS 14 public beta 5, macOS Big Sur public beta 2 and developer beta 5, and watchOS 7 public beta 2 and developer beta 5 builds available.
AirPower prototyping
This week we saw a bizarre AirPower prototype teardown revealing why Apple probably decided to cancel the project. The video shows a complex design with 14 wireless coils and a dense amount of electronics packed into the surface of the wireless pad.
Apple officially canceled AirPower in March 2019, stating that the product would not meet its standards. But reports mentioned that specifically Apple was having problems with overheating and the project was too expensive. Watch the full lossdown here.
The battle between Apple and Epic continues
Following the removal of Apple’s App Store rules earlier this month by including its own direct payment option in Fortnite, Epic Game’s hit title was pulled by Apple. Then hours later, Epic filed a lawsuit and launched a protest campaign.
This past week, Epic shared that Apple had issued a warning that it would end its developer accounts on August 28th. For its part, Epic said the move was compensation for prosecuting Apple and filed another lawsuit that the Northern California District Court asked to prevent Apple from being able to terminate its developer contracts.
At the end of the week, we saw Apple file its first official lawsuit in the lawsuit that said Epic had asked for a special deal to use not only a direct payment option, but also its own app store on Apple devices running.
Apple has said that Epic can solve all the problems by submitting an updated version of Fortnite without the direct payment method that put it off. But so far, Epic seems to be holding its ground. We will find out what happens in the saga this coming week when the deadline for termination is set for Friday 28 August.
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