Man sentenced to 65 months in prison over phone 'cloning' scheme

The US is tying loose ends on an elaborate cellphone crime spree. A Florida judge has sentenced Braulio De la Cruz Vasquez to 65 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges he worked with four co-conspirators (who've already pleaded guilty) as part of a ring that would 'clone' phones and use them for international calls. De la Cruz would receive identifying information linked to wireless subscribers' accounts and use that to "reprogram" cellphones he controlled. After that, his partners would send international calls to his home internet connection and route them through the hijacked phones, making the unwitting victims pay for others' calls.

Source: Department of Justice

Man sentenced to 65 months in prison over phone 'cloning' scheme posted first on https://www.engadget.com

Facebook has been secretly paying teens $20 per month for access to their data

Facebook has been involved in a couple pretty high-priority scandals over the past year or so, and now it looks like another is happening.

A new report has revealed that since 2016, Facebook has been secretly paying people to sideload a Facebook Research app so that Facebook could gather data about them. Facebook was paying users ages 13-35 up to $20 per month to be a part of the program.

What makes this such a big deal is that Facebook was using its Enterprise Developer Certificate to get the Facebook Research app onto users phones. This certificate is supposed to only be used for distributing corporate apps internally to employees, but Facebook used it to avoid having its Facebook Research app reviewed by Apple as part of the App Store submission process.

This is notable because in 2018, Apple made Facebook remove a VPN app called Onavo from the App Store because it violated Apple's data collection policies. Facebook has been using beta testing services like Applause, BetaBound, and uTest to get people to sign up for its Facebook Research app so that it could continue to learn about users. The effort was also referred to as "Project Atlas" in order to hide Facebook's involvement.

Once a user joined the Facebook Research app, it's possible that the social networking giant could get access to a user's private messages in social media apps, chats from messaging apps, photos and videos sent to other users, emails, web searches and browing activity, and ongoing location information. It's unclear exactly what information Facebook is actively storing, though.

Facebook confirmed this Facebook Research program to TechCrunch, claiming that it's actually in line with Apple's Enterprise Certificate program. Here's the company's statement on the matter:

"Like many companies, we invite people to participate in research that helps us identify things we can be doing better. Since this research is aimed at helping Facebook understand how people use their mobile devices, we’ve provided extensive information about the type of data we collect and how they can participate. We don’t share this information with others and people can stop participating at any time."

Apple has been made aware of what Facebook is doing, but the company hasn't provided a statement on the matter. It's unclear what, if anything, Apple plans to do in response.

This situation is notable because Facebook appears to be blatantly breaking Apple's App Store rules by using an Enterprise Certificate meant for businesses and its employees so that it can continue to gather data on users. This is even after Apple made Facebook remove its Onavo VPN from the App Store due to its data collection. The fact that Facebook may have been gathering data on users as young as 13 with this Facebook Research app is a problem, too.

Now that Apple is aware of this matter, it'll be interesting to see how the company responds. In the mean time, you can check out the full report on Facebook Research at the link below.

Facebook has been secretly paying teens $20 per month for access to their data originally posted at http://phonedog.com

Redmi Go is Xiaomi's first Android Go phone, expected to cost $90

Xiaomi is the latest manufacturer to adopt Android Go.

Xiaomi today introduced the Redmi Go, which features a 5-inch 1280x720 display and quad-core Snapdragon 425 processor. It's got an 8MP camera with LED flash on its backside and a 5MP camera above the screen for your selfies. Included is 1GB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage, and a microSD card slot. A 3000mAh battery is powering the whole package.

On the software side, the Redmi Go comes preloaded with Android 8.1 Oreo (Go edition). The software on Android Go smartphones is slimmed down to help save storage and improve performance on entry-level smartphones.

There hasn't been an official announcement regarding the Redmi Go's price and availability yet, but according to WinFuture, the device will launch in Europe in February at a price just under €80 EUR ($91 USD).

Some entry-level Android smartphones that are priced aggressively can have less-than-optimal performance, but folks shouldn't have to suffer with poor performance just because they want a low-cost device. Android Go is meant to give budget-conscious shoppers an affordable Android phone that works well, and the Redmi Go is a good-looking option for those people.

Xiaomi

Redmi Go is Xiaomi's first Android Go phone, expected to cost $90 originally posted at http://phonedog.com

Apple will lower iPhone prices in some countries to grow sales

After confirming that iPhone sales revenue dropped year over year, Apple today revealed that it plans to lower the price of the iPhone in some countries.

Apple CEO Tim Cook explains that outside the U.S., his company typically set the price of iPhones in U.S. dollars, which resulted in the phones being more expensive when those prices were translated to local currency. Now Apple will go back to those countries and just the pricing of its iPhones to be more in line with what its local prices were a year ago in the hopes of boosting iPhone sales.

"“When you look at foreign currencies and then particularly those markets that weakened over the last year those (iPhone price) increases were obviously more,” Cook said to Reuters. “And so as we’ve gotten into January and assessed the macroeconomic condition in some of those markets we’ve decided to go back to more commensurate with what our local prices were a year ago in hopes of helping the sales in those areas.”

Earlier this month, Apple said that it was lowering its revenue guidance for the fiscal Q1 2019 quarter. The company blamed the change on there being fewer iPhone upgrades than it expected as well as economic weakness in some emerging markets. Apple's low-cost iPhone battery replacement program was also blamed for the lower revenue.

Now Apple will attempt to boost its sales in some parts of the globe by lowering iPhone prices to be in line with how local prices used to be in those markets. Apple still made $52 billion in revenue from the iPhone in Q1 2019, but the company likely isn't pleased with the 15 percent YoY drop, and so now it's taking steps to get some of that revenue back.

Apple

Apple will lower iPhone prices in some countries to grow sales originally posted at http://phonedog.com

Apple's iPhone installed base hits 900 million

Apple has been happy to tell you how many iOS devices it has shipped, but how many iPhones are there in the wild, really? You now know. As part of a call discussing the company's mixed earnings, CFO Luca Maestri revealed that Apple has an installed base of 900 million iPhones -- the first time the company has revealed that statistic. We've asked Apple if it can clarify the definition of that term, but it added that there were 1.4 billion active iOS devices as of the end of 2018. There's no shortage of hardware in the market, even if Apple might not enjoy Android's sheer ubiquity.

Source: Apple

Apple's iPhone installed base hits 900 million posted first on https://www.engadget.com

Apple says iPhone revenues fell 15 percent in Q1 2019, but total revenue from all other products grew

After lowering its revenue guidance for the fiscal Q1 2019 quarter earlier this month, Apple today revealed its full results for the quarter.

Apple says that it brought in a $52 billion in revenue from the iPhone in Q1 2019, which is down 15 percent from the year-ago quarter. Total revenue from all other products and services grew by 19 percent, though, including $6.7 billion in revenue from iPad (up from $5.8 billion YoY) and $7.3 billion from Wearables, Home, and Accessories (up from $5.5 billion YoY). Apple also says that the Mac brought in $7.4 billion in revenue for the quarter (up from $6.8 billion).

Also of note is that Apple's Services category brought in $10.875 billion for Q1 2019, up from $9.1 billion year-over-year. The Services category includes Apple Care, Apple Pay, Digital Content and Services, and more.

Apple posted a quarterly revenue of $84.3 billion for the quarter, down 5 percent year-over-year. Its net income for the quarter was $20 billion, which is about even from the year-ago quarter.

Here's what Apple CEO Tim Cook had to say about these results:

“While it was disappointing to miss our revenue guidance, we manage Apple for the long term, and this quarter’s results demonstrate that the underlying strength of our business runs deep and wide. Our active installed base of devices reached an all-time high of 1.4 billion in the first quarter, growing in each of our geographic segments. That’s a great testament to the satisfaction and loyalty of our customers, and it’s driving our Services business to new records thanks to our large and fast-growing ecosystem.”

As a reminder, Apple is no longer reporting unit sales for the iPhone, iPad, or Mac. The company has said that it doesn't feel that the number of devices it sells in a 90-day period is a good indicator of the strength of its business.

Apple will host a conference call shortly to discuss its results further and take questions. I'll be sure to report back with any interesting details that Tim Cook and Co. have to share.

Apple

Apple says iPhone revenues fell 15 percent in Q1 2019, but total revenue from all other products grew originally posted at http://phonedog.com

Apple's services help anchor a company rocked by slow iPhone sales

This time of year is usually when Apple posts its crazy holiday sales figures, but things are a little different now. Last November, Apple CFO Luca Silvestri confirmed that the company would no longer breakout sales for individual devices because they weren't "necessarily representative" of the strength of Apple's business. And then, at the beginning of this year, CEO Tim Cook made a rare statement revising the company's revenue guidance down thanks to lower-than-expected iPhone sales. Apple seemed intent on preparing Wall Street for the worst, but its recently released Q1 2019 financials painted a picture that, while not rosy, wasn't as bad as some had expected.

Apple's services help anchor a company rocked by slow iPhone sales posted first on https://www.engadget.com