Windows Users Warned to Dump QuickTime Pronto

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday issued a warning to remove Apple's QuickTime for Windows. The alert came in response to Trend Micro's report of two security flaws in the software, which will never be patched because Apple has ended support for QuickTime for Windows.

Computers running QuickTime are open to increased risk of malicious attack or data loss, US-CERT warned, and remote attackers could take control of a victim's computer system. US-CERT is part of DHS' National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center.

"We alerted DHS because we felt the situation was broad enough that people having unpatched vulnerabilities on their system needed to be made aware," said Christopher Budd, global threat communication manager at Trend Micro.

Apple has not discontinued security updates for QuickTime on Apple computer systems. It is not clear why Apple made the decision to end Windows support.

Apple has posted a link that instructs users how to remove QuickTime for Windows. The instructions advise those using a QuickTime 7 Pro registration key to save the key before uninstalling.

Zero Day Warning

Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative learned about the vulnerabilities from researcher Steven Seeley of Source Incite, who is named in the warning, Budd told TechNewsWorld. ZDI then issued advisories detailing the critical vulnerabilities:

The Apple QuickTime moov Atom Heap Corruption Remote Code Execution vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of QuickTime. The problem first came to ZDI's attention late last year. The number of users at risk is unknown at this time.
The QuickTime Atom Processing Heap Corruption Remote Code Execution Vulnerability allows an attacker to write data outside of an allocated heap buffer by providing an invalid index.
Software makers regularly retire applications, so it was not unusual that QuickTime would be vulnerable, Budd said.

However, it was odd that Apple did not issue a public statement about ending its support for QuickTime for Windows and that the software was still available for download, he added.

Increasing Software Vulnerability

QuickTime joins a growing list of software that is not supported any longer, Budd noted in a Trend Micro's Thursday call to action. That list includes Microsoft Windows XP and Oracle Java 6, which means users of those operating systems increasingly will be vulnerable to attack.

DHS didn't have any comment to add to its alert, said spokesperson Scott McConnell, who referred questions to Apple. Apple did not respond to our request to comment for this story.

The warnings come amid a spate of recent reports about computer system vulnerabilities, including one issued just days ago about a vulnerability in Adobe's Flash Player that could leave computers open to ransomware, which can lock up entire systems until an attacker is paid to release control.

Resource: http://www.technewsworld.com/

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Facebook Envisions Virtual Social Future

Close.

Facebook on Wednesday demonstrated at its F8 developer conference how socializing could take place in a virtual world.

Two employees some 30 miles apart -- Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer in San Francisco and Product Manager Michael Booth in Menlo Park, California -- showed how they could share the same virtual space.

In that space, through the use of 360-degree photos, they visited London and the hangar where Facebook's unmanned aerial vehicle is housed, drew together with virtual pens, and took selfies and posted them to their Facebook news feeds in the real world.

"This is just the beginning of our exploration into how people can connect and share using today's VR technology," Booth said.

"There's a lot more work to do and many more challenges to solve," he continued, "such as how to better model ourselves within VR, so we can elevate presence from a disembodied head and hands to a more expressive model of a person."

Impressive Demo

"The demo was impressive," noted Greg Sterling, vice president of strategy and insight for the Local Search Association.

"The avatars -- the graphical images of the two guys doing the demo -- were crude, but they were able to change the environments they were in, interact with virtual objects and respond to each other's avatar," he told TechNewsWorld.

"People began talking about the death of distance with unlimited mobile phone calls," Sterling added. "This is the death of physical boundaries that separate people."

However, before real socializing can occur in virtual space, computers are going to have to get better at reading humans.

"Humans are really good detecting the subtle cues that other humans put out. Computers are not," Gartner Research Director Brian Blau said.

"We have to teach computers to have those kinds of perceptual capabilities," he told TechNewsWorld.

Past Curated Experience

The Facebook experience is managed largely by Facebook's algorithms. That could end once VR enters the equation.

"You'll be able to go past a curated experience," said Cliff Raskind, an analyst with Strategy Analytics.

"You can draw your own conclusions rather than have something served to you," he told TechNewsWorld.

"It's going to be fantastic that you can share experiences and visit people without traversing huge swathes of geography in a way that was never possible before," Raskind added.

The social VR demo at F8 reveals some valuable insights into the motives behind Facebook's purchase of VR headset maker Oculus for US$2 billion in 2014.

"They bought Oculus because they recognized the potential of the technology," Sterling said. "There are multiple applications for it, one of which is some sort of virtual reality version of Facebook, or a broadly defined social network based on virtual reality technology."

Dark Side of VR

As with any immersive technology, there's opportunity for abuse, and social VR is no exception.

"Many technologies can be used for good purposes or can be abused," Sterling noted.

"If the virtual reality scenarios become very believable, one can imagine people becoming really addicted to these virtual experiences," he continued. "They may have trouble disengaging from virtual reality the same way that people become addicted to their smartphones or the Internet."

In addition, there will be opportunities for abuse of users.

"Every kind of abuse you see on Facebook today can be amplified in the virtual world," Raskind said.

Virtual Government

What's more, even virtual worlds may need to be managed, which could lead to more problems.

"These managers will be getting into the realm of what governments do," Raskind noted. "There will probably be debates about how much control should be exercised over your virtual freedoms."

When can we expect to see virtual interaction supplanting face-to-face interaction?

"If it ever happens," Blau said, "it's a long way down the road."


Resource: http://www.technewsworld.com/

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Ford After Dark: Self-Driving Car 'Sees' All

Ford on Monday revealed that it has been testing its Fusion Hybrid autonomous research vehicle with no headlights on remote desert roads at night.

While such a task would be quite perilous for a human driver, it was an important step in developing a fully autonomous vehicle, the company said.

The test vehicle relied not on cameras, which require light, but instead on LiDAR technology for navigation. LiDAR worked in conjunction with the car's virtual driver software to navigate the pitch-black and winding roads at the Ford Arizona Proving Ground.

Ford engineers were present during the testing, both inside and outside the vehicles, with night-vision goggles to monitor the Fusion, the automaker said.

Extreme Conditions

Autonomous vehicles largely rely on three modes of sensors -- cameras, radar and LiDAR -- but Ford's recent tests suggested that LiDAR could function independently on roads without street or stoplights.

Being able to navigate in pitch-dark conditions is crucial in the development of autonomous vehicles, especially as National Highway Traffic Safety Administration research has found that fatality rates in passenger vehicles were three times higher during nighttime hours, Ford said.

"This test was one part of our extensive autonomous vehicle development program that is taking place on roads and test tracks in Michigan, Arizona and California," said Alan Hall, Ford's spokesperson for technology, research and innovation.

"Since LiDAR plays such a key role in delivering level-four autonomous capability, meaning that the driver is not required to be engaged in the driving process, this test was meant to take its capability to the extreme," he told TechNewsWorld.

"We will be conducting a lot of testing to cover a wide range of scenarios, Hall said.

Not Exactly Night Vision

The LiDAR system technically doesn't "see" the road ahead. It works in conjunction with high-resolution 3D maps, which include information about the road, road markings, geography, topography and other landmarks such as signs, building and trees. The LiDAR system then sends out some 2.8 million laser pulses a second to pinpoint itself on the map in real time.

"The LiDAR sensors can generate and contribute to 3D maps or other very accurate 3D representations of the objects around the vehicle," said Jeremy Carlson, senior analyst for autonomous driving at IHS Automotive.

"One advantage to this for nighttime driving is that it is not sensitive to light like a camera, which doesn't typically perform as well in low-light situations," he told TechNewsWorld.

Being able to navigate -- if not see the road -- at night is crucial for a self-driving vehicle.

"The fully autonomous self-driving car has numerous technical hurdles to overcome, one of which is maneuvering in low-visibility driving scenarios," noted Arunprasad Nandakumar, mobility team leader at Frost & Sullivan.

"Today's sensor-fusion-driven vision systems primarily dominated by cameras and radar face a key challenge of object detection and environment sensing at adverse driving conditions," he told TechNewsWorld.

Redundant Systems

Ford's latest tests were a way to showcase the possibilities that LiDAR brings to the mix of sensors. Yet one sensor alone wouldn't be enough for any autonomous vehicle, as it is the redundancy of sensors that allows the car to do the driving.

Visibility just one key challenge, Nandakumar pointed out.

"There are numerous other technical challenges that autonomous vehicles possess today, [including] the need to position the vehicle relative to the driving environment with high precision, which is vital for developing a strong validation layer that complements the decision-making process of self-driving cars," he said.

"The large set of unknown use cases that the car would encounter in real-life driving that cannot be tested is another key challenge," Nandakumar suggested. "That is where aspects like HD mapping and artificial intelligence play a pivotal role."

More Testing Ahead

Tests of that nature will continue to be essential for creating a solid framework and a fail-proof self-driving system for the future, he noted.

"Test beds like the recently announced Willow Run driverless car test site and many others help to create a foundation for testing and validating the autonomous driving products though multiple simulated scenarios before it can be expanded to the next stage of real-world testing," Nandakumar added.

"We are continuing to get more experience in the research in autonomous vehicles, and that includes weather and now nighttime driving," said IHS Automotive's Carlson. "This is just putting more miles in different situations so that we can get more experience in different conditions."


Resource: http://www.technewsworld.com

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The Hololens Academy: How I Became a Novice Wizard

At last week's Microsoft Build conference, I attended the Hololens Academy -- a whirlwind effort to turn me into a master programmer able to create things out of thin air. It failed. Apparently it takes longer than an hour to teach someone who hasn't coded in decades to be a master programmer -- go figure.

However, by the end of the class I was gleefully throwing fireballs at the heads of my co-wizards and their digital familiars. That took me down a Hogwarts-like path to the idea that with Hololens, doing things pretty similar to what Harry Potter did in the movies won't be that difficult.

I'll explain, and then close with the new car I just ordered, which is almost as magical -- an SUV that is also a damned good sports car, the Mercedes Benz AMG GLA45.

Microsoft's Hololens

Microsoft last week started shipping Hololens to developers, and I've now spent a number of hours playing with the product over various phases. It is very different from virtual reality, in that it blends what is real around you with what is being rendered.

With VR, you currently get a choice of two types of solutions: the untethered solution, which uses a smartphone in a head-mounted carrier and allows you to move around but lacks high performance; and the OculusRift solution, which is tethered to a high-end PC and far more real, but incredibly dangerous because you are more likely to trip over the cord or damage that high-end PC.

Both of these have issues with stuff around you, though, as neither integrates what is around you, resulting in a lot of stories of folks taking headers over furniture (which often doesn't survive the encounter). I'm starting to wonder whether a VR requirement is a padded room.

Hololens is both untethered and takes into account what is around you. If two people are wearing the headsets, they could seem to be sitting across from each other at a table, even though they physically were thousands of miles apart.

This has led to the concept of holoportation, which also was showcased last week, and the idea that in an instant, you could move to virtually any place in the world and actually feel like you were there. This also showcased that you effectively could capture full 3D instances of persons or pets, and create the impression that they were still with you -- particularly if you layered on some form of advanced artificial intelligence -- long after they had passed.

Wizarding World

Now that the tools surrounding Hololens are improving, it has become possible for more and more people to create interactions with the offering. That was the purpose of the Hololens Academy. Once I could create, animate and share virtual items that others could see and interact with, the result actually started to feel like magic.

Magical gestures or commands could create, delete, move or animate the objects we created, and it began to feel as though with just a few adjustments, that we actually could breathe virtual life into them at some future point.

With a connection to some form of general-purpose robotic construct, you even could create things with variable appearances that could interact with the real world. Suddenly, with a core set of programing skills and an imagination, you could emulate most everything Harry Potter did in the movies -- including fighting dragons and throwing fireballs. Granted, flying on a broom or breathing underwater likely would require tools we don't yet have.

Playing With Magic

The final task we were given at Hog..., I mean the Hololens Academy, was to create fireballs, throw them at our constructs, and blow holes in the floor. We previously had been introduced to our avatar familiars -- little floating robots that hovered just over our shoulders -- and they provided targets for our fireballs.

We weren't wearing anything like a VR vest that would translate fireballs hitting us into physical sensations, but we could stun and even blow up some of the strictly virtual familiars.

You could see that turning the robots into owls wouldn't be that hard, and replacing finger gestures with light sticks (or wands) for casting actually might improve accuracy -- and certainly the connection to magic. By the time it was over, I was in full-blown Harry Potter imagination mode.

I do think it would be wickedly cool to go all in and actually use these to create a full-on Harry Potter experience. I expect, given that we already are talking about using VR headsets on roller coasters, that it's very likely Harry Potter World someday will have a ride that uses a future version of Hololens, and it will be amazing.

Wrapping Up

I don't think we have scratched the surface of what we could do with future versions of Hololens and the idea of creating magical entertainment experiences. Imagine games that blend the virtual with the real -- for example, a tennis game in which the rackets could change the image and capabilities of the ball once it was hit, granting more or fewer points based on degree of difficulty.

Pokémon for real and the ability to have wizard battles in the actual world are just the tip of the iceberg.

The next few years truly could be amazing as we blend Hololens with AI and robotics to create worlds and experiences we can't even imagine now. I can hardly wait.

Well, it was time for my wife and I to replace our Supercharged Infinity FX35, which at more than 8 years old, was not happy with the cold mornings in Bend, Oregon. The issue we faced was that we wanted something that was as fun to drive as our Jaguar F-Type, but still an all-wheel-drive car with lots of room for the dogs.

We don't drive the Jaguar enough, because it really isn't very practical, but we love the huge grin it puts on our faces. So off we went on an impossible search for a combination sports car/SUV. The Porsche Macan was competent but pricey, and it just didn't leave us grinning. Then we saw the new for this year Mercedes AMG GLA45. With active exhaust and more horsepower out of a little 4-cylinder engine than you can get in any other car, it looked really good on paper -- and it was around US$20K less than the Porsche.

Well, off we went for a test drive, and upon getting out of the car, we both had huge grins on our faces. It was the closest thing to driving the F-Type that we'd ever had in anything that wasn't an F-Type Jaguar.

Mercedes-Benz AMG GLA45

Of course, then we found it came in purple, my wife's favorite color, and we were sold. We'd actually found a car that was both incredibly practical in terms of interior space, and small external size (for parking), and incredibly fun to drive because it is wicked fast and makes sounds a lot like our Jaguar does. When we found this YouTube video, we knew we weren't crazy.

So because it does the impossible -- successfully blends a small SUV with a sports car -- and because it puts huge grins on our faces when we drive it, and because we ended up ordering the thing in purple, the Mercedes Benz AMG GLA45 is my product of the week.

Resource: http://www.technewsworld.com

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Samsung C-series in the works, 5.2-inch C5000 leads the way

Samsung has been expanding its lineup all over the Latin alphabet, and the newest addition is apparently going to be a C-series. Evidence of that comes from an import listing on Indian customs database Zauba.
The smartphone in question carries a model number SM-C5000 and features a 5.2-inch display, and this is all that's been revealed now. Sources say that a C7000 model is also in development, but display size hasn't been specified. It's tough to pinpoint exactly where the new series will be positioned - after all Samsung's alphabet goes S-A-J-E-Z in descending order of price, with an On and a Note thrown either side of those. Judging by the declared unit price of INR 13,625 ($205) it sits just above last year's Galaxy J5 (the J5 (2016) isn't out yet), but that number will certainly be higher once the smartphone actually hits the stores. Still, the Galaxy A's should remain closest to the flagship S in terms of price.

The C-series is said to be meant primarily for the Chinese market, but may also be available elsewhere. The first bit makes it unlikely that the Galaxy C5 is the mysterious motorcycle-related launch scheduled for March 31 in India. So, it's another round of the waiting game until some official info comes out.

Resource: http://www.gsmarena.com/
sung C-series in the works, 5.2-inch C5000 leads the way

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Dish Networks' Hopper 3 Takes a Leap and a Bound

Dish Network keeps on increasing its amusement with its entire home TV set-top box and going with gadgets. Since presenting its Sling-based TV-anyplace arrangement and entire home DVR three years prior, Dish has stayed one bounce in front of the opposition.

Since its dispatch, the Hopper has included Sling innovation that took into consideration the spilling of substance from the lounge room to anyplace on the planet that had an Internet association.

As of late, Dish presented its Joey extenders, which took into account spilling of recorded and live TV to other wired rooms in the home. At that point it supersized the Joey by adding two more tuners to the blend. Dish later included the Wireless Joey framework, which permitted viewers to share video content basically anyplace in the house through a WiFi system, hence taking a signal from AT&T's U-verse and cutting the rope.

Presently, another significant move up to the administration could be a distinct advantage for TV viewers.

Revealed at the 2016 International CES in January, the Hopper 3 highlights 16 tuners, support for 4K content, all inclusive quest for Netflix, another remote and a streamlined interface.

Tune Up

The past significant move up to the Dish Network's Hopper and entire home DVR highlighted the Super Joey, which included two tuners, so the new set-top box legitimately could have been known as the "Uber Hopper."

Rather, the organization went for the all the more calm moniker of the Hopper 3, minimizing the case's most huge element: the way that it's is furnished with enough tuners to give clients a chance to record up to 16 appears without a moment's delay. That incorporates Prime Time Anytime, which naturally records the substance from the four noteworthy systems - ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

The CW, a kin channel of CBS, lamentably is excluded in Prime Time Anytime, so programs on that channel must be recorded physically.

Nonetheless, that shouldn't be a lot of an issue since clients can now record such a large number of projects without a moment's delay. It's a noteworthy redesign from the Hopper with Sling, which offered six tuners that were expandable to eight altogether with the Super Joey. Dish basically has multiplied the measure of substance clients can record at one time.

The majority of that takes into consideration what Dish has called a contention free TV experience. About the main clash might be discovering time to view such a large number of appears. Luckily, the Hopper 3, which is a thinned down update of the Hopper with Sling, is minimal in size - measuring only 2.1 creeps high, 16 crawls wide and 11.4 crawls profound - yet offers 2 TB of interior stockpiling. No more to hold 500 hours of HD recordings - so clients could take a two-week excursion, record all their most loved appears, and after that need an additional two weeks to watch it all.

That could exhibit another clash, with the family battling for time before the set to make up for lost time, yet Dish has that secured. The Hopper 3 can work with up to six Joeys, implying that the entire family can record and afterward stream substance to different rooms, so there ought to be no battling about the remote.

The new set-top box can stream away without glitches. On the tech end, the Hopper 3 is fueled by a Broadcom 7445 chipset, with a quad-center ARM processor, running at 1.5 GHz, 21K DMIPS, Dish noted.

That makes the Hopper 3 seven times more effective than DirecTV's freshest Genie and twice as capable as the TiVo Bolt, as per Dish. I couldn't put those units to a straight on test, yet in hands-on testing of the Hopper 3, it was exceptionally responsive, and programming stacked immediately, notwithstanding when spilling to numerous Joeys.

Upgraded Remote

The remote has been upgraded too. It holds a great part of the design and usefulness of the old remote, however offers a noteworthy redesign in that it uses a radio association with the Hopper rather than an infrared association. It can control the Hopper without direct viewable pathway, so the unit can be concealed.

The outline and feel of the remote are additionally more satisfying. It is compliment and marginally littler than the old model, and offers a square route that makes collaborating with the new interface (see beneath) simple. For long-term clients of the old remote, there might be a slight expectation to absorb information, yet this one makes taking control a mess simpler with less catches.

Interface Time

Discussing the interface: Dish Network never had the simplest route ... up to this point. The fundamental interface has been given a makeover, and nuts and bolts have been sufficiently streamlined so clients can get right to the project aide and DVR with only a catch press, while another pop applications menu offers considerably less demanding access to the additional usefulness.

From the home screen, clients can get to programming that is slanting, and also arrangement debuts, season debuts and season finales. The capacity to see that substance is pleasant given that unless you routinely watch the promos on TV (which the Hopper makes very simple to evade), the introduction of a few projects can get lost in an outright flood.

Sports content gets comparable treatment, making it everything except inconceivable not to locate the defining moment or a particular occasion. From the games screen, "today's recreations" and in addition up and coming amusements are highlighted, and fans even can scan by means of their most loved groups. The greater part of that can prove to be useful, particularly amid occasions, for example, March Madness and different playoffs, when monitoring recreations could be troublesome.

Able Apps

Television survey could be constrained to watching appears, however the new applications offer the capacity to dispatch online networking administrations, Vevo gushing video, music from SiriusXM and Pandora, and even a couple of straightforward HDTV-based amusements, for example, Solitaire and Blackjack. Who might play those recreations when there are such a large number of different alternatives stays sketchy, however it proposes that Dish is considering excitement choices past TV and films.

The online networking segment of the Hopper 3 permits clients to ring a social overlay that gives them a chance to talk with other individuals while viewing a TV program - consequently taking today's second screen experience and putting it on the fundamental screen more than ever.

One new application is all that much gone for force TV watchers and offers multichannel survey of up to six live sustains immediately. On the off chance that there is a protest here it is that each of the channels is exhibited as a miniscreen inside of the bigger interface, so even on bigger estimated TV boards, some space is lost. Exploring the individual channels is additionally somewhat cumbersome, however general it's an incredible component for individuals watching various donning occasions or other live occasions in the meantime.

In any case, in time for March Madness, Dish Network presented the Sports Bar Mode, an other multichannel view that partitions the screen into quadrants, each ready to show an alternate amusement in HD from CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. On 4K TVs, the four quadrants show in 1080p; on HDTVs, the four quadrants show in 540p. It need not be constrained to games, and viewers can watch four live nourishes equally partitioned over the screen.

The Hopper 3 additionally has included a Netflix application, which coordinates Netflix titles into its all inclusive list items for motion pictures and TV arrangement. Netflix stacked up rapidly from the Hopper 3 too, and in this test the photo and general quality were practically identical to those of a brilliant TV. Similarly as with SiriusXM and Pandora, a Netflix record is required to use the element. For clients of those administrations, the combination with Dish may be really welcome.

4K Content and Upcoming Features

I couldn't test the 4K programming, yet it is significant that the Hopper 3 can disentangle and yield 4K video - including titles from Sony Pictures - to a 4K/UHD TV set. The substance is fairly constrained, however 4K motion pictures and TV shows are among a portion of the up and coming elements that Dish has guaranteed. It likely isn't a matter of if the substance will come, yet when.

Other up and coming elements incorporate a voice remote, which can be modified for characteristic dialect to hunt down films and TV by title, performing artist or class, and a YouTube application. The elements are booked to arrive not long from now and positively could include more value for the money.

Last Thoughts

Everything else about what made the Hopper with Sling so convincing -, for example, the capacity to stream content by means of the Dish Anywhere application for Android, iOS and Windows - is available with the most recent adaptation. The playback quality still depends significantly on the Internet association at both finishes, however in testing I observed this to be a groundbreaking background, implying that clients won't need to miss their appears while voyaging - at any rate the length of they have admittance to the Internet.

One element I'd like to see is the capacity to download recorded substance remotely to a cell phone or portable PC to abstain from worrying around a dependable stream, however most likely an army of attorneys from the TV systems and motion picture studios would prevent that from constantly happening. For the time being, clients can download content at home before they take off.

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25 Answers To 'What Does The SE Mean In The New iPhone SE?'

Last week’s reveal of the iPhone SE has started many conversations, but one of them is a simple question of the visible unknown. What does ‘SE’ stand for? Let’s take a closer look at the iPhone SE, what it can do, where it is positioned, and what it means to Apple, all through the lens of the letters ‘S’ and ‘E’

Here are twenty-five explanations of what the SE in the iPhone SE name could stand for. I’ll even promise you a definitive answer if you read to the end.

1. Similar Expectations.

Look at the iPhone SE and you see an iPhone 5S. Everything about the design screams ‘we’ve not updated the design’ and that means the iPhone SE is one of the most approachable smartphones that Apple has released in many years.

2. Same Engineering.

What the iPhone SE does offer users is a similar level of performance to the iPhone 6S. With the A9 and M9 chips, the smartphone allows the lowest device on Apple’s iPhone portfolio to match the same hardware specs of the flagship devices – which will help make updates to iOS far smoother in the past.

3. Sports Edition.

The inclusion of the M9 motion co-processor is an important one. As Apple pushes towards more health and fitness tracking, the efficiency of the M9 chip to record data while the iPhone SE is in a pocket will allow it to offer more personalised data and become an effective tool, as personal wellness becomes a more visible selling point.

4. Smaller Electroluminescence.

The screen on the iPhone SE is smaller, both physically (at four inches) and by pixel count (with a smaller resolution). That reduces the size of the memory required to run the screen, and the backlight in the LCD construction. If you’re wondering why Apple can count on significantly more battery life on the SE, this is why.

5. Sensible Edges.

In a way I am glad that Apple stayed with the iPhone 5S design language. The sharp edges of the SE are easier to hold than the curved edges of the iPhone 6 family – the latter still slips easily out of my hand, while the former creates enough friction and purchase to be far more stable, especially in one-handed use.

6. Superfast Execution.

Putting the iPhone SE next to a similarly styled iPhone 5S and ask them to do the same job. The extra speed on the SE will become apparent. The SE has pretty much Osbourned the iPhone 5S, and I hope Apple has reduced the inventory of 5S handsets in the supply channel!

7. Selfie Exploitation.

Although the camera on the back of the iPhone SE has been improved, the forward-facing selfie camera retains the same specification as the iPhone 5S. Assuming that the SE is going to be targeted lower down the market and skew towards a younger audience – which makes far more use of the selfie cam – this seems a curious corner to cut to keep the cost down.

8. Slower Execution.

Along with the older camera, the iPhone SE retains the first generation TouchID sensor. This still offers fingerprint recognition, but it’s noticeably slower than the sensor used in the latest 6S and 6S Plus handsets.

9. Stronger Encryption.

One consequence of jumping up to the A9 chip is that the iPhone SE picks up some extra security in the device, notably through the secure area of the motherboard. This offers the lower-tiered device the same security as the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, and significantly more than the iPhone 5C currently held by the FBI in the San Bernardino case. And yes, this SE could also be secure enclave.

10. Safer E-Commerce.

Although 5S users could us Apple Pay after a fashion, they had to rely on the Apple Watch for the actual ‘tap and pay’ part of the solution. With Apple driving its payment system forward, the iPhone SE will be able to use tap and pay standalone – something that the iPhone 5S could never manage.

11. Supported Expansion.

The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus handsets are likely going to receive iOS updates for at least three years, and are probably good to iOS 12. It’s unlikely that the hardware in the iPhone 5S would remain capable for that length of time, so its removal from the portfolio, to be replaced by a handset that can support the next three versions of IOS offers a longevity that is rarely achieved this far down the portfolio.

12. Still Entrenched.

It should be obvious, but by offering a handset that is both a sensible upgrade to those looking for a small phone and providing one of the cheapest new iPhones for many years (especially when you consider the specifications used), the iPhone SE will be seen as a must-have upgrade for many users who could have been looking at a switch to Android through a suitably priced small phone. That will keep these users inside Apple’s ecosystem, monetizing them through the iCloud services, Apple Music, and the App Store.

13. Smooth Elevation.

Apple users currently using four-inch iPhones now have a natural upgrade path. While there was a rush to buy the larger 4.7 and 5.5 inch iPhones, there has been a significant number of users who have stayed with the smaller handsets. Apple now has a chance to reach them and upgrade them for 2016, not only locking them into iOS (as above) but increasing Apple’s turnover by having them buy a new handset.

14. Starting Early.

The iPhone SE is going to be a popular handset to get other family members into a smartphone world. I would expect the SE to be the go-to handset for teenagers, relatives looking to stay in touch with more connected family members, and perhaps even as a tween’s first smartphone. Match up the handset with the iCloud Family account for parental management and you have an easy on-ramp… That leads them into Apple’s ecosystem.

15. Still Expensive.

What the iPhone SE has not done is significantly cut the price of the iPhone, or damaged the idea that it is a luxury brand. It may be cheaper, but it is smaller, and seen as a bit of a throwback. Consumers can see the sacrifice that they will have to make to get this cheaper iPhone. The balance between preserving the brand and pushing down the price has been achieved.

16. September’s Exception.

Apple may be one of the most profitable technology companies, but it is also one of the most predictable. New iPhones arrive in September. This is going to continue this year with the presumptively titled iPhone 7. The iPhone SE, coming out of season, is an exception. It should help strengthen the sales figures for the iPhone in Q2 and potentially into Q3, which have been slower periods for Apple in previous years.

17. Social Engineering.

If there’s one thing that retailers like to sell, it’s a new phone. The iPhone SE may sport an almost four-year old design, it may be outfitted with the internals from last year’s flagship, but to all intents and purposes it is a ‘new’ machine. It can be marketed as such, and that should offer far more benefit to retailers than a cheaper but older iPhone 5S.

18. Seldom Empty.

Something else retailers like is the up sell. Although the 16 GB iPhone SE comes in at an attractive $399, once you take out some space for iOS, HD video recording, music, apps, and some data you’re pretty much out of storage. Most people are going to worry about that, and instinctively jump for the 64 GB version. 48 GB of storage for an extra $100 is a decent mark-up by any measure.

19. Sensible Explanation.

Just under a week later, and the iPhone SE has jumped over the biggest hurdle that was already in place. Apple’s PR team had to ensure that the SE was seen as a new phone and forward progress for Apple, as opposed to an attempt at a cheap plastic phone. That was the flaw with the iPhone 5C, but from the initial reports, it feels like mission accomplished.

20. Samsung’s Enemy.

Although the recent launch of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge will help Samsung’s sales and revenue over the next year, the South Korean company is increasingly reliant on selling more mid-range devices with lower margins (such as the Galaxy A9) to keep revenue high. That’s the same market that the iPhone SE is about to disrupt while the 6S and 6S Plus squeeze the top end of Samsung’s Galaxy portfolio.

21. Solid Execution.

For all of the talk around a new iPhone, the goal was clear, the handset was easy to pitch, and everyone understood what the SE was all about when it was launched. Apple did exactly what was required to update the lowest reaches of the iPhone stack.

22. Slightly Entertaining.

The iPhone SE is a phone designed to fill in a gap in Apple’s portfolio. It offers something at the lower run of the portfolio, it keeps it as current as possible in terms of recent specification, and it doesn’t go overboard to present anything new. Which is nice, but not stunning. Apple has a reputation of delivering more than that, and the iPhone SE’s launch failed to blow away anyone’s socks.

23. Something Exciting.

Even though it can be seen as fitting in an SE sized gap, there’s always a certain level of excitement around a new Apple product, and the SE is no exception. The presentation on Monday made the best of a pretty average hand of smartphone cards and they were all played well (let’s ignore the slip in the iPad script) and caught the imagination of many. The SE was given as good a launch pad as possible.

24. Special Edition.

Let’s be honest, this is the actual option for what the SE stands for. It fits well, there is precedent in many industries, and it’s as obvious as the ‘i’ standing for internet in Apple’s connected products.

25. Schiller Explains.

Actually it’s not this one. It is definitely ‘Special Edition,’ as Phil Schiller explained.

(Now read 25 reasons why the iPhone is a risk for Apple).

Resource: http://www.forbes.com/

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