It’s hard to believe that it’s already almost WWDC time—probably because it’s 50 degrees and rainy here. And other than the full Apple Watch SDK, I’m not too sure of what we’re going to see next week. There’s still a fair bit of Apple news, though, despite the pre-event lull.
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Chlorine Leak At Apple Data Center
If Apple wasn’t the richest company in the world, I’d think they were running an insurance scam. Yet another Apple site had a disaster, this time at the North Carolina data center. The local paper was light on details, but they reported that five workers were injured in a chlorine gas leak.
Older Macs Vulnerable to EFI Hack
A security researcher, blogging over at Reverse Engineering Mac OS X, detailed a sophisticated hack that allows an attacker to overwrite your Mac’s EFI. The attack involves putting the Mac to sleep and sending an overwrite command.
This seems to affect Macs made prior to 2014: I am not sure if that means that the bug can’t be patched in earlier models, or Apple didn’t consider it a priority—or if Apple missed it entirely and the “fix” in newer models was coincidental. The researcher says that you shouldn’t be all that concerned with the bug, but is a potential attack vector.
Apple Takes On Crap Games
Apple has been pushing games on the App Store away from crapware by emphasizing curated lists. While TechCrunch reports this as a massive retooling of the App Store, it simply removes the volume-driven chart listings on the Games front page.
I think that this will reduce some of the incentive for download scams, but it isn’t as if the main sales-driven charts have been removed. Apple has been making a lot more lists to drive people to good games, but if they really wanted to fix the problem, they’d ditch this across the board.
Google Wants All Of Your Data
Google is debuting the latest version of Android to developers. Android M has lots of new of features, but as with all new Google features, they’re going to swallow up more of your data. Charlie Warzel at BuzzFeed dissects that quest for your data.
I think that the clear that Google is very keen on using every aspect of Android to build profiles of their users. Apple users often bristle at this disregard for privacy, but Google users always tell you they’re willing to trade it away. They’re just happy for the utility of Google’s products. However, I wonder if they understand just how much of their life Google has access to.
Today’s Deals Roundup
Here are a few of the latest offers from Macgasm Deals:
- The Summer Mac Essentials Bundle: Nine Mac apps for only $20.
- Star Wars 16GB Flash Drive: Have Lando Calrissian grace your desktop for $23.
- MMove Stereo Bluetooth Headphones Save 78 percent on these Bluetooth earbuds.
- 4-Year Subscription To VPN Land: A $200 value is yours for $55.
Offers are good for a limited time only. Note: Macgasm gets a cut of the proceeds from purchases made through our Deals site. It’s a great way to support us—and save a few bucks in the process!
