The hack that targeted previously unknown vulnerabilities in the iPhone — quickly patched by Apple with an iOS update — apparently originated with the NSO Group, an Israel-based company that sells spyware to governments. "The era of the highly-resourced attacker going after phones instead of network or desktop infrastructure has arrived," said Mike Murray of the cyber security firm Lookout.
[Andrea Peterson | Washington Post]
In a future iPhone — either this year or next — Apple plans to include a mobile payment feature for Japan based on the FeliCa chip, a tap-to-pay standard in that country. The technology would let users pay for mass-transit travel with their phones instead of a payment card. Also in the works: A video sharing and editing app for the iPhone and iPad, part of Apple's plan to integrate social networking applications into its mobile operating systems.
[Mark Gurman and Gareth Allan | Bloomberg]
Four years ago, Jan Koum, CEO of messaging service WhatsApp, railed against ads and told users his company wasn't interested in their data. Now, two years after being acquired by Facebook, WhatsApp will start sharing user data with Facebook so that it can better target users with ads. WhatsApp users have 30 days to opt out; here's how.
[Peter Kafka | Recode]
A rare, pre-production version of the Apple 1 computer sold for $815,000 in an auction held on the Charitybuzz site — shy of the estimated $1 million value but still one of the highest prices ever paid for the vintage model. Ten percent of the proceeds will go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
[Juli Clover | MacRumors]
On the latest episode of Too Embarrassed to Ask, Recode’s Kara Swisher and The Verge’s Lauren Goode talk to Jacqui Cheng, editor in chief of The Wirecutter, about the best tech for students heading off to college. The three most important items? A good, lightweight laptop; battery packs; and exercise headphones.
[Eric Johnson | Recode]
