How to use iPhone’s new Lockdown Mode

July 27, 2022

Apple's new Lockdown Mode to fight state-sponsored spyware takes security to the extreme.

When enabled, many of your iPhone's normal functions are restricted to prevent zero-click infections associated with spyware like Pegasus.

Right now, only politicians, journalists, dissidents and activists in foreign countries need to be seriously concerned about being targeted by state-sponsored spyware.

But it doesn't take much to imagine possible future U.S. administrations that might be interested in using such tools against political opponents, activists and protesters.

Read up on it now, while you still can (just slightly joking here!).

-- Leander Kahney, EIC.

Lockdown Mode is a new option coming in iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura that limits system features for maximum security. Apple designed it to protect its products from sophisticated spyware, like NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, which has been used to target journalists, politicians, dissidents and activists around the world. Spyware like Pegasus may seem like an unlikely threat. But for some, Lockdown Mode could be life or death. U.S. citizens need not worry at the moment, but it doesn’t take a wild imagination to picture how such spyware might be embraced by slightly more fascist administrations.

When Apple said in July at WWDC22 it would launch Apple Pay Later with iOS 16, it effectively said it would enter the short-term loan business, known for “buy now, pay later” plans. So it’s no big surprise that the Cupertino tech giant — accustomed to regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. and abroad — is now facing it from financial industry regulators. But what’s somewhat surprising is that regulators are making noise about a host of concerns even before Apple Pay Later comes out.

Apple reportedly put down $445 million for a 67.5-acre corporate center in San Diego. This will be a new corporate campus for the iPhone-maker. The purchase comes after Apple vowed in 2021 to increase its local workforce to more than 5,000.

A new top-of-the-line solar power station from Bluetti brings even more capabilities and capacity to meet your needs.

The browser update is good news for anyone with a 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro model from 2021, which have ProMotion displays.

The Garvey sisters vowed to always take care of each other, which leads them toward murdering their abusive brother-in-law. Their scheme plays out in Bad Sisters, a creation of Irish actress, writer and producer Sharon Horgan, who is known for her darkly funny shows. The comedy/thriller series debuts on Apple TV+ in August. Check out the fun trailer.

On July 27, 1955, Joanna Hoffman, a marketing executive who will become Steve Jobs' first right-hand woman, is born in Poland.

Today’s featured setup looks, at a glance, like it sports dual mounted laptops. But one’s an iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard and one’s a MacBook Pro, and they float on either side of a 32-inch external Samsung display. Universal Control lets the user work across the screens. His only problem seems to be that silver Magic Trackpad sticking out like a sore thumb in darker surroundings.

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One more thing ...

"My mother taught me to read before I went to school, so I was pretty bored in school, and I turned into a little terror. You should have seen us in third grade. We basically destroyed our teacher. We would let snakes loose in the classroom and explode bombs. Things changed in the fourth grade, though. One of the saints in my life is this woman named Imogene Hill, who was a fourth-grade teacher who taught this advanced class. She got hip to my whole situation in about a month and kindled a passion in me for learning things. I learned more that year than I think I learned in any year in school." -- Steve Jobs.

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