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Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

techcrunch.com

341–350 of 715 posts

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What they didn't mention is that it's stored in the L2 cache ;-)

In this case, the L2 cache is part of the A7, so that would be fair. I would guess this means it's also only stored in NVRAM local to the SOC and not persisted to the general flash filesystem.

I would guess they just tacked a bog-standard TPM chip into their SoC design. Biometric (fingerprint) sensors and TPM chips go together; see any enterprise-targeted laptop from the last five years.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#342
post #83

I'm still weirded out by the idea that Apple has finally split the iPhone line into "premium" and "value" streams. It just seems so... un-Apple. The whole "last-year's-model" discount was a bit of a kludge, but still Apple stood out from the rest of the industry with such a simple product line - device, biannual release, size, that's it.

I suggest you all stop calling 5c "cheap" or "value" one. Price drop against 5s is less than 20% (full price for unlocked one).

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the difference is that apple doesn't merely do what you're describing. in the past, they have actively lambasted others for marketing bigger numbers.

Because no other company ever criticizes their competitors' marketing? This discussion is frankly insane. This stuff is called "marketing". Virtually every company does it. Companies that don't do it are called "failures".

More than most brands, Apple uses 'meta' advertising, calls out competitors for being corporate and mainstream and focused on machines over humans ("1984", etc.) It helps them mint money selling nice-looking consumer electronics, and at the same time it makes them justly more susceptible to this kind of criticism. It's all part of the same package. I think they can weather a little criticism for the hypocrisy in their marketing, let them take their lumps as they take their money.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#344
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's even worse. I want to be able to set, at my option: 1) PIN-only 2) FPR + PIN (where you must use iCloud to get in if your FPR doesn't read) 3) for morons, FPR only. I currently use a much stronger than 4 digit numeric PIN, but it is honestly a pain. If I could set both the FPR and PIN as required to get in, I could use a shorter PIN. If I'm allowed to bypass the FPR entirely, the PIN has to remain as strong as…

I'm curious why you say FPR only is for morons. I feel like I'm missing something.

Imagine someone knocks you out and takes your phone. Use finger (possibly still attached) to authenticate. Profit.

So not really a good idea.

I rather have the option of unlocking the phone via PIN, then have the option of sending a FPR hash to a site of my choice. Speaking of which, I wonder if they salt or provide some other way of sending unique hashes to different web sites or is this now the equivalent of using a fingerprint as the same password for all sites.

Which is worse, since you can't really get a new finger (well, you get 19 more resets including toes) since your print is somehow compromised (website leak, etc.)

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#345
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably when the NSA stops illegally spying on the citizens it is supposed to serve.

More snark. This isn't helpful. For those who want to believe it, I doubt there is any amount of information that could ever be released to convince them that the NSA isn't spying on people anymore.

Please stop using snark. Use snide, sarcastic, or cynical instead. Snark is a word that's better off being forgotten in some dictionary of colloquial terms.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#346
post #95
post #73

Now that we have to consider the iPhones to be backdoored by the NSA, I wonder whether I really want to give them my fingerprint together with the rest of my data. I'm also not so sure whether a fingerprint can't still be easily faked (like it was possible on that Mythbusters episode for example). Personally, I think I'd rather stay with my passcode. Did you btw know that you can turn off "simple passcode" and then u…

Serious question -- what is the big deal if someone gets your fingerprints? I can't think of the last time my fingerprint was used as some infallible method of identification, if ever. If the spooks want it, they already have it. I'd rather someone get their hands on my fingerprint than my passport, driver's license, and credit cards, and it seems much more difficult to steal than those things. I think the fingerprin…

In my state, you're required to have the State Police add a digital scan of your fingerprints to the FBI database when you apply for a handgun license.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#347
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably when the NSA stops illegally spying on the citizens it is supposed to serve.

We take for gospel that the NSA is spying on everyone in the world via every hardware device that has been created in the USA because of a few powerpoint slides. Interesting.

Did you see this recent news? http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/privacy-scandal-ns... It isn't just one slide pack. Glen greenwald et all were given 50000 documents

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#348
post #95
post #73

Now that we have to consider the iPhones to be backdoored by the NSA, I wonder whether I really want to give them my fingerprint together with the rest of my data. I'm also not so sure whether a fingerprint can't still be easily faked (like it was possible on that Mythbusters episode for example). Personally, I think I'd rather stay with my passcode. Did you btw know that you can turn off "simple passcode" and then u…

Serious question -- what is the big deal if someone gets your fingerprints? I can't think of the last time my fingerprint was used as some infallible method of identification, if ever. If the spooks want it, they already have it. I'd rather someone get their hands on my fingerprint than my passport, driver's license, and credit cards, and it seems much more difficult to steal than those things. I think the fingerprin…

My question: Is digitized fingerprint information gathered from a given device useful? As in, could you run the prints gathered from an iPhone against, say, a DMV database? My intuition tells me that you couldn't. And that would gravely limit their utility value to the government.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took quite some time for me to fill up the 16GB. I'm more of a power user now, so I'll be upgrading to the 32GB but, for most 16GB is plenty.

I had to trim down the number of playlists I store on my Nexus 4, which only has 16 gigs. I also have to be more cognizant of how many podcasts I download at the same time. I like my phone. But I don't think I'll ever buy anything without at least 32 gigs of storage, or a place to plug more memory in.

I have the same problem, the same phone and the same conclusion.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#350
post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you are accomplishing absolutely nothing here. Being annoying and ineffective doesn't help your cause. Do you know that Jesus loves you and he wants to save your soul? You might as we'll be discussing religion or politics here. This is not the place. I heard your warning the first ten times.

We're talking about it, aren't we? We haven't forgotten this issue, distracted like children by the latest shiny toy. Even in the face of the things that traditionally kill news stories, we're talking about it. Change starts by making enough people aware of and angry about the issue that the politicians can't afford to support these programs any more. If we're just distracted the next time $TECH_TOY or $NATURAL_DISAS…

No, we aren't talking about anything. The original comment speculates that the NSA has a backdoor into every iPhone, and uses that as the foundation for a comment about whether it's a good idea to store a copy of your fingerprint locally on the device.

There is no new information about the NSA there. Just more speculation.

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