Apple says it will fix software problems blamed for making iPhone 15 models too hot to handle

The iPhone 15 phones are shown during an announcement of new products on the Apple campus in Cupertino, California, on Sept. 12, 2023. (AP)
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Updated 01 October 2023
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Apple says it will fix software problems blamed for making iPhone 15 models too hot to handle

  • Says it is working on an update to the iOS17 system that powers the iPhone 15 lineup to prevent the devices from becoming uncomfortably hot
  • Dismisses speculation that the overheating problem might be tied to a shift from its Lightning charging cable to the more widely used USB-C port

Apple is blaming a software bug and other issues tied to popular apps such as Instagram and Uber for causing its recently released iPhone 15 models to heat up and spark complaints about becoming too hot to handle.

The Cupertino, California, company said Saturday that it is working on an update to the iOS17 system that powers the iPhone 15 lineup to prevent the devices from becoming uncomfortably hot and is working with apps that are running in ways “causing them to overload the system.”
Instagram, owned by Meta Platforms, modified its social media app earlier this week to prevent it from heating up the device on the latest iPhone operating system.
Uber and other apps such as the video game Asphalt 9 are still in the process of rolling out their updates, Apple said. It didn’t specify a timeline for when its own software fix would be issued but said no safety issues should prevent iPhone 15 owners from using their devices while awaiting the update.
“We have identified a few conditions which can cause iPhone to run warmer than expected,” Apple in a short statement provided to The Associated Press after media reports detailed overheating complaints that are peppering online message boards.
The Wall Street Journal amplified the worries in a story citing the overheating problem in its own testing of the new iPhones, which went on sale a week ago.
It’s not unusual for new iPhones to get uncomfortably warm during the first few days of use or when they are being restored with backup information stored in the cloud — issues that Apple already flags for users. The devices also can get hot when using apps such as video games and augmented reality technology that require a lot of processing power, but the heating issues with the iPhone 15 models have gone beyond those typical situations.
In its acknowledgement, Apple stressed that the trouble isn’t related to the sleek titanium casing that houses the high-end iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max instead of the stainless steel used on older smartphones.
Apple also dismissed speculation that the overheating problem in the new models might be tied to a shift from its proprietary Lightning charging cable to the more widely used USB-C port that allowed it to comply with a mandate issued by European regulators.
Although Apple expressed confidence that the overheating issue can be quickly fixed with the upcoming software updates, the problem still could dampen sales of its marquee product at time when the company has faced three consecutive quarters of year-over-year declines in overall sales.
The downturn has affected iPhone sales, which fell by a combined 4 percent in the nine months covered by Apple’s past three fiscal quarters compared with a year earlier.
Apple is trying to pump up its sales in part by raising the starting price for its top-of-the-line iPhone 15 Pro Max to $1,200, an increase of $100, or 9 percent, from last year’s comparable model.
Investor worries about Apple’s uncharacteristic sales funk already have wiped out more than $300 billion in shareholder wealth since the company’s market value closed at $3 trillion for the first time in late June.


Internet Archive reels from ‘catastrophic’ cyberattack, data breach

Updated 38 sec ago
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Internet Archive reels from ‘catastrophic’ cyberattack, data breach

  • The assault on the San Francisco-based nonprofit was claimed by a shadowy group that experts described as a pro-Palestinian “hacktivist”

WASHINGTON: The Internet Archive, an online repository of web pages, was offline Thursday after its founder confirmed a major cyberattack that exposed the data of millions of users and left the site defaced.
The assault on the San Francisco-based nonprofit, claimed by a shadowy group that experts described as a pro-Palestinian “hacktivist,” lays bare the perils of cybersecurity breaches ahead of the November 5 US presidential election.
Brewster Kahle, the Internet Archive’s founder and digital librarian, acknowledged a series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks — aimed at disrupting a website or server — since Tuesday and said the organization was working to upgrade security.
The assault led to the “defacement of our website” and a breach of usernames, emails and passwords, Kahle wrote on X, formerly Twitter, late Wednesday.
In a new post early Thursday, Kahle said the attackers had returned, knocking down both the Internet Archive’s main site and its “Open Library,” an open source catalogue of digitized books.
The Internet Archive’s data “has not been corrupted,” he wrote in a subsequent post.
“We are working to restore services as quickly and safely as possible,” he added.

On Wednesday, users reported a pop-up message claiming the site had been hacked and the data of 31 million accounts breached.
“Have you ever felt like the Internet Archive runs on sticks and is constantly on the verge of suffering a catastrophic security breach?” said the pop-up, apparently posted by the hackers.
“It just happened. See 31 million of you on HIBP!“
HIBP refers to site called “Have I been Pwned,” a site that allows users to check whether their emails and passwords have been leaked in data breaches.
In another post on X, HIBP confirmed that 31 million records from the Internet Archive had been stolen, including email addresses, screen names and passwords.

Kahle did not respond to a request for comment about the scale of the data breach.
A hacker group called “SN_BLACKMETA” claimed responsibility for the attack on X.
“The Internet Archive has and is suffering from a devastating attack,” the group wrote on the platform Wednesday.
“They are under attack because the archive belongs to the USA, and as we all know, this horrendous and hypocritical government supports the genocide that is being carried out by the terrorist state of ‘Israel.’“
In a threat advisory in July, Radware, a cybersecurity solutions provider, described the group as a “pro-Palestinian hacktivist with potential ties to Sudan” and possibly operating from Russia.
Radware called the group a “rising cyber threat” with a “strong ideological stance and a strategic approach to cyber warfare.”
The Internet Archive, a nonprofit that is not known to have any ties to the US government or Israel, was founded in 1996 and advocates for a free and open Internet.
It operates a web archive called the Wayback Machine, which has captured snapshots of millions of Internet pages.
Like other archival sites, the Wayback Machine is a crucial resource for fact-checkers, who use it to trace deleted web pages and ensure that the evidence cited in articles is permanently available to readers.
It can also be used to document changes made to online content over time and helps researchers and scholars find historical collections that exist in digital formats.
 


Podcast firm Sowt rebrands, launches children’s channel Shamandar

Updated 10 October 2024
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Podcast firm Sowt rebrands, launches children’s channel Shamandar

  • Rebrand to reflect shift in content, business strategy, says CEO, co-founder Ramsey Tesdell

DUBAI: Podcast firm Sowt has announced a rebrand, which includes a new logo, color palette, and visual identity, to reflect the company’s growth and evolution.

The rebrand also marks a shift in strategy for Sowt, which is on the cusp of a transformation, said Ramsey Tesdell, its co-founder and CEO.

Sowt is known for its original podcasts centered around storytelling, but it also has an affinity toward journalism and wants to provide listeners with multiple perspectives from different sources, combined with historical and cultural context which would help them “navigate an increasingly complicated world,” Tesdell told Arab News.

Content consumption habits have changed, and so content production methods must reflect those changes in order for the content to not only reach audiences but also engage them, he added.

Therefore, as part of Sowt’s content strategy, the company will incorporate more videos, interviews, and a more diverse set of hosts and guests. It will also place more emphasis on localizing content and “rebase ourselves in (the) community,” Tesdell said.

In terms of its business strategy, Sowt will be offering more geographic insights to advertisers to help tailor their ad campaigns.

Until now, the company created audience segments for advertisers based on personas or behaviors, regardless of geography. However, “advertisers don’t seem to really understand” that behaviorally profiled audience segments “can be a powerful target group,” he said.

And although Sowt still believes in continuing its approach, it is “adapting to understand that we have a large reach and a big audience in specific geographic communities,” he added.

Sowt is also looking at specific “verticals” or communities that are niche, which does not mean they are small, but rather very specific. The company’s research found that “there are these niche communities that we can address and create products that are specifically targeted for that community,” he said.

One such vertical is children’s content, specifically Arabic audio content for youngsters, which is currently missing in the market, he added.

Enter Shamandar, a new Arabic-language podcast channel featuring children’s stories.

Tesdell said the name was symbolic. It means beetroot in Arabic, which as a root vegetable symbolizes a grounded identity, while its sweet taste and nutritional value reflect the content, which is both entertaining and educational, so overall, it is a “pretty nice metaphor for what we're trying to create with the channel,” he explained.

The company’s research revealed that parents are incredibly busy and seeking safe, family-friendly content that can be consumed in different ways, and that the majority of children’s content is ad-supported whether on TV or YouTube, while the rest exists primarily in video formats on streaming platforms.

He said: “The other thing that we kept hearing was ‘There’s no good Arabic audio content for kids’ or ‘Where’s the content for kids from our region?’

“We stopped asking this question and said we’re going to do something about that and produce some of that content.”

Tesdell is not against video content, and added: “Obviously, it’s a very powerful medium and we all are watching and consuming a lot of video (content).

“(But a) screenless component is a very important part of the development process and we want to provide that alternative.”

Shamandar is accessible on Apple Podcasts and other platforms for a monthly fee of $3.99.

The paid model helps Sowt create high-quality content both in terms of the stories as well as the sound design and production, and keep the environment ad-free and avoid “brand creep” in which children memorize ads more than names of fruits or vegetables, Tesdell said.

In addition to original content, Sowt will collaborate with content creators such as Adam Wa Mishmish, a children’s platform that blends music and education, and Dar Al Salwa, an independent publishing house dedicated to publishing books for Arabic children and young adults.

The rebrand and the launch of Shamandar are both initiatives aligned with Sowt’s mission of creating “high-quality content that will reach a lot of people,” Tesdell said.

The quality of the content is determined by high editorial and production standards and the relevance of the content to audiences in their preferred format and on their platform of choice, he said.

For the content to be relevant, he added, it first needs to reach “a lot of people.”

He said: “We are highly focused on developing and expanding our audiences and that means producing different types of content.”

Sowt aims to generate revenue through these initiatives so that it “can grow and continue to provide a high-quality service for our audience and for those who love and consume our content,” Tesdell said.


Associated Press and German news agency launch Arabic news service

Updated 10 October 2024
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Associated Press and German news agency launch Arabic news service

  • The Global Arabic News Service, set to go live on Oct. 15, will file more than 200 stories a day covering the Middle East, Europe, the US and other parts of the world
  • It is ‘an important step toward serving this increasingly influential and growing region with independent, accurate and nonpartisan reporting,’ says AP chief

LONDON: The Associated Press and German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur will launch a wire service next week to distribute stories from both agencies in Arabic.

The Global Arabic News Service, which is due to go live on Oct. 15, will file more than 200 stories a day from the agencies, covering the Middle East, Europe, the US and other parts of the world.

“AP and dpa have a longstanding and important relationship grounded in a shared commitment to fact-based journalism,” said Daisy Veerasingham, AP’s president and CEO.

“This innovative service is an important step toward serving this increasingly influential and growing region with independent, accurate and nonpartisan reporting at an even greater scale.”

Peter Kropsch, the CEO of dpa, said: “The fact that we are expanding and deepening our long-standing, good cooperation with AP with this new service is an important signal for the Arab market. Two leading independent agencies are joining forces to provide a new service that underlines the strengths of both partners.”

The German agency’s editor-in-chief, Sven Gosmann, said the partnership builds on dpa’s “strong roots and extensive network of correspondents” in the region, and that “together with AP we want to further strengthen this position and expand it journalistically.”

All stories distributed through the new service will be clearly labeled to indicate the originating agency and ensure transparency.

The service is the latest expansion into the Middle East by news agencies, reflecting the growing significance of the region in global news coverage.

US platform Semafor launched a Gulf service in September to cover the increasing role the region plays in shaping global financial, business and geopolitical trends. Its regional coverage also includes cultural developments, investment opportunities, infrastructure news, climate issues and technological advances in Gulf states.


Former US adviser suspended from X after urging Israel to ‘drop Napalm’ on Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon

Updated 10 October 2024
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Former US adviser suspended from X after urging Israel to ‘drop Napalm’ on Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon

  • Matthew Brodsky sparked outrage for his inflammatory remarks, raising concerns about promotion of extremist views in US political circles
  • Irish PM Simon Harris says that Brodsky’s attack is ‘disgusting’

LONDON: Former White House adviser Matthew Brodsky has been suspended from X (formerly Twitter) after posting a tweet suggesting that Israel should “drop napalm” on Irish peacekeeping forces stationed in Lebanon.

Brodsky, a senior fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy and former director of policy at the Jewish Policy Center, sparked outrage with his inflammatory remark: “Israel should carpet bomb the Irish area and then drop napalm over it.”

The tweet, which has since been removed, included a map showing the location of Irish peacekeeping troops in southern Lebanon, who recently refused to comply with Israeli Defense Forces evacuation orders.

The former adviser to the Trump administration’s Middle East peace team and the White House’s Israeli-Palestinian peace team has been widely criticized for the comments, raising concerns about the influence of hard-line Zionist ideologues on US foreign policy.

Brodsky, who has lived and studied in Israel, has previously suggested the use of napalm, a firebomb mixture notoriously used by US forces during the Vietnam War, against both Lebanese forces and the Houthis.

His repeated advocacy for the use of such weapons has been condemned as promoting extreme views and fostering further polarization within US political circles.

Critics argue that his statements are an attempt to promote Jewish supremacism, with fears they could inflame tensions and undermine American diplomatic efforts in the Middle East.

Brodsky is currently working with two Republican candidates running for US Congress in Minnesota — Dalia Al-Aqidi and John Nagel. While Al-Aqidi has distanced herself from Brodsky’s comments, Nagel has yet to issue a statement.

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris, who was in Washington DC, meeting US President Joe Biden, condemned Brodsky’s remarks as “the most disgusting thing” and “entirely inappropriate.”

He described the comments as “despicable,” particularly in light of the recent escalation in violence near the peacekeepers’ base.

“Our peacekeepers are doing an extraordinary job, and have been for many decades. I think everybody in Ireland is very proud of them,” Harris said.

On Thursday, the UN issued a statement confirming that two UNIFIL peacekeepers were injured after an IDF tank fired at an observation tower at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqura, southern Lebanon.

The statement also noted that other areas were targeted and that IDF soldiers deliberately disabled the position’s perimeter-monitoring cameras.


Oversight Board urges Meta to strengthen rules on child marriage-related content

Updated 10 October 2024
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Oversight Board urges Meta to strengthen rules on child marriage-related content

  • Board agrees with Meta to take down Instagram post of 14-year-old girl getting ready for her wedding

DUBAI: The Meta Oversight Board announced on Thursday that it agreed with Meta’s decision to take down an Instagram post showing a beautician in Iran preparing a 14-year-old girl for her wedding.

However, the board disagreed with Meta’s reason for removal, which was “a spirit of the policy allowance under the human exploitation policy,” according to a statement.

In January, a video was posted on Instagram showing a beautician offering make-up advice to a 14-year-old girl in preparation for her wedding. The young girl confirmed her age in the video and the text said that she was the youngest bride of the year, while the caption provided information about the salon and its beauty services.

The post was viewed about 10.9 million times and reported by 203 users over a month.

The board said that Meta’s human exploitation policy does not specifically prohibit support for child marriage; instead, its goal is to remove all forms of “exploitation of humans,” which Meta believed should include “support” for child marriage.

However, the board disagrees with Meta’s reasoning because it believes “the beautician’s actions were a form of facilitation” and therefore, the content clearly violates the human exploitation community standard rule “for facilitation of child marriage by materially aiding this harmful practice.”

In Iran, child marriage is allowed, with legal ages set at 13 for girls and 15 for boys, although in some cases marriage is permitted even before children reach the set ages.

The UN defines child marriage as “any marriage where at least one of the parties is under 18 years of age” and it is considered a form of forced marriage, both of which are human rights violations.

The Oversight Board, therefore, recommended that Meta modify the human exploitation policy to explicitly state that forced marriages include child marriage, and to define child marriage in line with international human rights standards.

It also advised Meta to expand the “definition of ‘facilitation’ in internal guidelines to include the provision of any type of material aid (which includes ‘services’) to enable exploitation.”