eXtensions - Tuesday 25 February 2025
By Graham K. Rogers
With the UK security services demanding that it be given the keys to the encrypted kingdom, Apple declined, and instead withdrew its Advanced Data Protection. Take that. The long-rumored iPhone 16 SE has arrived, but it also came with a new communications chip: the C1. This may open many non-Qualcomm opportunities although not everyone sees the bright side. Online TV here is currently rich with programs; and nore are on the way. This weekend MotoGP kicks off the season with racing in Thailand at the Buri Ram circuit.
In a press release, Apple announced "its largest-ever spend commitment, with plans to spend and invest more than $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years." This includes "a new advanced manufacturing facility in Houston to produce servers that support Apple Intelligence. . . . Apple will also double its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund, create an academy in Michigan to train the next generation of U.S. manufacturers. . . ." I was sure that the US President would be pleased and that was confirmed in Axios by Mike Allen & Ben Berkowitz.
A couple of birthdays to start the ball rolling. It is widely reported that the late Steve Jobs would have been 70 today: much missed of course. Another anniversary concerns MacRumors, which is one of my go-to resources, often because they are first in my news time-line. Eric Slivka reports that today (25 February) is the site's 25th birthday. Originally a side job for the founder, Arnold Kim, it eventually took priority.
I had already mentioned that it has become known that the British government is demanding Apple create a backdoor to its end-to-end encryption. One effect of this Snoopers Charter is that Apple is not allowed to inform users (or anyone else) that this demand has been made. As a result a spectrum of commentators, from tech journalists, through academics and security experts condemned this move. There is no news about this as far as Google (or Android) is concerned, but it is speculated that the company has (or will) face similar restrictions. There was some debate about what Apple would or could do. Last week, it was revealed that, for British users, Apple withdrew its Advanced Data Protection iCloud feature. I first saw this is an item by Tim Hardwick in MacRumors. Others followed.
Here we have another example of services being denied precisely because of the over-enthusiasm of legislators, all acting in the best interests of the consumer, or (in the case of the UK request) to keep society safe, they claim. Who could deny that law enforcement should have unrestricted access to the secure transmissions of organized crime, pornographers, drug cartels, doctors, government workers, families, bankers, teachers, midwives and nurses? Twin problems being that security services have a narrow way of looking at problems, and while it would be nice to find out everything possible about the first three in my list, allowing access to their encrypted messages, will also allow law enforcement to spy on the other seven. Apple can appeal but while waiting for the court appearance, must still provide the access the notice demands.
This weakening of the system will also inevitably allow bad actors to access encrypted communications too, destroying necessary security for all of us. William Gallagher (Apple Insider) writes that now the "UK has the unencrypted access it wanted for its own citizens - who have not been consulted on this." Patently Apple reports the words of Prof Alan Woodward, a cyber-security expert at Surrey University, who said it was a "very disappointing development" which amounted to "an act of self harm" by the government." Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai (TechCrunch), tells us that "James Baker, who works for the U.K. digital rights organization, Open Rights Group, said that "The Home Office's actions have deprived millions of Britons from accessing a security feature. As a result, British citizens will be at higher risk of their personal data and family photos falling into the hands of criminals and predators."
Rachel Hall, writing in the Guardian, also cited Professor Woodward of Surrey University: "It was incredibly naive of the British government to think they could tell Apple what to do," adding "You have to work with them, [practise] diplomacy - that's what has been tried before and was working. Waving a UK law at them was not going to work." He also said, that "Apple was sending a message that "you cannot weaken encryption for your enemies without weakening it for your friends", and that all the government could achieve would be to make its applications less secure for UK users, while obtaining no benefit for intelligence operations" [my italics].
Commenting on this in his Overspill Blog, Charles Arthur adds some useful insights: "OK, there are a lot of very bad takes on this. First: this is exactly the compromise that a lot of people who understand how governments and companies negotiate expected." There is more salient comment, but you should link to the blog to read it.
John Gruber, of Daring Fireball, wrote a justifiably angry comment, that included, "The UK expects Apple to give them secret access to all iCloud data without Apple telling anyone - including, I believe, even the US government - that they've granted the UK government this breathtaking access." As I mentioned last time, politicians in the USA are already preparing for a fight.
Gruber adds, "The bottom line is that the UK government is proceeding like a tyrannical authoritarian state. That's not hyperbole. And the breathtaking scope of their order - being able to secretly snoop, without notice that they even have the capability, not only on their own citizens but every Apple user in the entire world - suggests a delusional belief that the British Empire still stands" [My italics]. As a Brit, I do not disagree, noting how the country has changed in so many ways in the last 50 years, although many there still think that the UK is at the center of the universe.
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Last week, the long expected replacement for the iPhoneSE4, the iPhone 16e, was announced. Chance Miller (9to5Mac) describes it as an "all-new design paired with the A18 chip inside, a 48MP camera, and full Apple Intelligence support." He added that, "It also features the first-ever Apple-designed 5G cellular modem, the C1 chip" which excited many observers, although there were also naysayers (see below). The basic 128GB model is priced at $599. The price here, which includes taxes, is 22,900 baht. The A18 chip differs slightly from the other iPhone 16 models as these aparently have one of the cores disabled and are described by some commentators as "binned" chips. Malcolm Owen (AppleInsider) explains what this entails and why it is sometimes used.
The C1 chip (Communications?) has been a long time coming. Apple bought the modem business from Intel in 2019 for $1 billion and has spent the intervening years trying to produce a worthy product. That it has taken 5 years shows how hard the task is and why Apple has stuck to Qualcomm chips, despite the bad blood between the two companies. That it is now able to put this new chip into a commercial product indicates that they have succeeded although some extended 5G features are not available. Anton Shilov (Tom's Hardware) examines the chip and looks at some of its shortcomings.
The new development does not satisfy Martin Peers at The Information who was critical of Apple in late November, suggesting then that Apple would put defective chips into phones as there were rumors of development problems: "next year we're going to hear a bunch of complaints about newly released Apple iPhones dropping calls more often than previous models did".
Well, now they are here, and while most commentators have the glass half full, Peers' glass is still half empty. I took this from the newsletter I subscribe to, but the text is also available (paywall) at The Information. Quoting a wireless expert in the Wall Street Journal, he writes, "Who wants to be a guinea pig for Apple?" He adds that this is "a company stuck in the past, forced to rely on incremental upgrades in a nearly 20-year-old product to keep its profit engine going", perhaps missing the arrival of Apple Silicon and the way revenue from services increases year by year. He ends, "no one should mistake it for a company of innovation these days." And no one should mistake Peers for an unbiased commentator, particularly with regard to Apple. Back in 2019, as reported by Philip Elmer-DeWitt, for example, Peers called Apple mediocre, uninspiring and anemic. So much for all those record quarters.
Thinking forward rather than looking backwards, Charles Martin (AppleInsider) suggests that the C1 (or future versions) could be rolled into the A- or M-series chips. This is reminiscent of the realization in the early days of the A-series chips that if Apple were to use these or some derivation in a future iPhone or even a Mac that features specific to those devices could be included and it would take other manufacturers months (e.g. when 64-bit apps came to the iPhone) to catch up. The same has happened to the Macs. While the C-series is at a relatively early stage, it is probable that Apple is working on the next versions at this time and there are rumors that the C2 is in the works, while others suggest these modems may eventually be rolled into the A- and M-series chips
As a side note, this release of the iPhone 16 SE and the removal of the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus means that for the first time, no new products use the Lightning connector. Sarah Fielding writes that this is truly a USB-C world now and confirms also that the Home button is no more. I will miss neither. The new interfaces work well for me and I have been itching for all my devices to be USB-C since that port first arrived. Unfortunately, while all my computing devices have these ports, my Bluetooth touch pad and wireless keyboard are recharged with Firewire cables; and because it just works, at home I use a USB-A connection for the Apple Watch charger.
Netflix kept me entertained this weekend with two series in particular. I started watching American Primeval late last week after Gordon Webster on FStoppers mentioned this series because of its visual beauty. I noted the photographic quality of the scenes as I was watching episode 1 and was delighted. This does for color photography what Ripley did for black and white a few months ago. This was interrupted by the news that a new series, starring Robert de Niro, was out. He plays a former President, George Mullen, brought back by the current president (played by Angela Bassett) to serve as head of a Commission investigating serious cyber-attacks. Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad) with the worst mustache ever, plays Mullen's assistant, although his shadiness is (literally) the end of him. With a conspiracy involving business and some disaffected politicians, there are some reflections of the current political situation. I watched all 6 episodes of Zero Day over the weekend and enjoyed it immensely. Lucy Mangan (Guardian) calls this "an astonishing amount of fun"
I went back to American Primeval on Sunday which seems to have learned some gritty lessons from the much-missed Deadwood. Although this is entertaining, I am frustrated by one of the main female characters who does not seem to understand the word, "Don't". I am also annoyed by the inevitability of the fate of the native Americans who are to be expediently swept out of history. The next season of Drive to Survive, which has had a major effect on Formula One, will be arriving on Netflix next week (7 March).
On AppleTV, Ryan Christoffel reports that an upcoming crime series looks rather interesting. Like Ryan, one look at the trailer was enough for me and I can hardly wait for the 14 March release of Dope Thief with Brian Tyree Henry, Wagner Moura and Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible). As the series is executive produced by Ridley Scott who also directs Episode 1, I have high hopes for this. I watched The Gorge last week and that was a lot of fun although you have to leave the idea of reality on the back burner, particularly when the main characters enter the gorge itself and are under attack not only from the weird creatures - results of an experiment gone wrong - and the corporate entities who had recruited them to keep the gorge under control. This part all ends with a satisfying big bang, but then sags with a meeting, months later, and something of a diluted ending: happy ever after. . .
This week AppleTV+ starts a new German series, Berlin ER. We have had hospital series before. One of the first I remember was Emergency Ward 10 on a British commercial channel and we should not forget Grey's Anatomy, and others. I am rather fond of north European TV output, having recently enjoyed Murder Mindfully and several Scandinavian series. I also like British TV series too, of course, particularly the law enforcement flavored ones, and look forward to the return of Slow Horses later this year.
My weekend TV will be dominated by the opening race of the 2025 MotoGP season, that this year starts in Thailand at the Buri Ram circuit. The teams have already been here for series opening events and put on a good show: the riders are far more likely to engage with the public than Formula One stars. Local interest is enhanced by the first Thai MotoGP rider, Somkiat Chantra, who has done reasonably well in Moto2. This is a learning season for him. He has already commented on the different performance levels of these top-level bikes compared to Moto2 with the fierce braking and the power of the engines, particularly on acceleration. Softly, softly, learn the job slowly.
Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. After 3 years writing a column in the Life supplement, he is now no longer associated with the Bangkok Post. He can be followed on X (@extensions_th). The RSS feed for the articles is http://www.extensions.in.th/ext_link.xml - copy and paste into your feed reader.
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