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New York Post's mobile news alerts fall victim to a hack
If you're a hacker looking to grab attention by attacking a news outlet, what do you do? Deface their website? Take control of their social media accounts? Those are old hat -- apparently, you compromise the company's mobile app. An unknown party hijacked the New York Post app's push notification system on the night of April 1st, sending a flurry of alerts that were clearly meant as a protest against President Trump. The perpetrator left precious few clues as to their identity, but they're cultured -- they signed off with the ancient word "selah" (used in the Bible to encourage pause and reflection), and even borrowed lyrics from Nirvana's song "Come As You Are."
High school student claims to have hacked CIA chief's personal email
The New York Post reports that an unnamed source claiming to be an American high school student has contacted the paper with evidence that he had compromised the personal email account of CIA Director John Brennan. Among the documents reportedly stored in Brennan's unsecured personal email: his 47-page application for top-secret security clearance, personal information (including SSNs) on more than a dozen top US intelligence officials and some damning emails discussing "harsh interrogation techniques" used on suspects.
Record labels laugh at Apple's proposed royalty rate for streaming service
The New York Post has an exclusive today about Apple's attempts to get rights from record labels for a proposed music streaming service, which are apparently falling on deaf ears because its offer is "seen as way too cheap." A high-level executive at one label told the Post that "Apple wants a rate that is lower than Pandora's," and the numbers don't lie. Pandora currently pays a royalty of US$0.12 per 100 songs streamed; Apple's initial offer was about 6 cents per 100 songs streamed. Spotify currently pays the highest royalty rates at about 35 cents per 100 songs streamed, and the Post notes that music label insiders think that Apple should pay at least 21 cents per 100 songs. That's the rate set by the Copyright Royalty Board for companies that don't own broadcast operations. The Apple streaming service, which is rumored to be named iRadio, is expected to be ad-supported and was widely expected to be available at the launch of the iPhone 5 last fall. A source for the Post said, "Everyone's had their initial meetings and everyone is preparing counters." Hopefully Apple will be able to iron out the details before the next iPhone is ready to roll. [via MacRumors]
Apple, NYPD working together to locate stolen iPhones, iPads
The New York Post is reporting that the New York Police Department has assigned a team of cops to work with Apple on facilitating the return of stolen iOS devices. The move is in response to widespread theft of popular iPhones and wireless-enabled iPads in the city. The policemen work with the victims or wireless carriers to determine what the IMEI (International Mobile Station Equipment Identity) number of the device is, and then pass that information on to Apple. The company then responds to the NYPD with the current location of the device. Since the IMEI is part of a device's firmware, even stolen devices that have been activated on another wireless carrier's network can be tracked. Since WiFi-only devices do not have an IMEI, they cannot be located through this method. According to the Post article, a number of arrests have been made and devices have been recovered from as far away as the Dominican Republic. Many devices are bought second-hand by people unaware that they were stolen. Police have the right to confiscate those devices and return them to the original owners. The wireless industry will have its own database of stolen smartphones and tablets in late 2013 and is expected to provide automatic blacklisting of those devices. Until that database is implemented, New York residents can rely on the NYPD and Apple partnership. TUAW readers can easily keep track of their device IMEI by tapping on Settings > General > About, taking a screenshot of the display by holding down the Home button and then pressing the sleep/wake button, and then either printing that screenshot or uploading it to a cloud service like Evernote.
New York Post discusses Apple TV, subscriptions
A report from the New York Post, relayed by The Loop, suggests Apple is negotiating with content providers for a new streaming TV service that'll launch by the end of the year. SVP Eddy Cue has been the point man in the negotiations, which are not proceeding as quickly as Apple would like. Apple is supposedly pushing for a service that will offer channels as apps on its Apple TV and other devices. The report claims Apple is also talking with telecommunications companies like Verizon and AT&T, hoping to strike a single deal that will encourage others to follow. Though it's probably too early for Apple to unveil this TV service, the company may show us a new Apple TV at the upcoming March 7 event. Earlier rumors from 9to5 Mac suggest Apple might be ready to unveil a new Apple TV and, along with other signs, pointed to the lack of inventory at retailers like Best Buy and Amazon as proof. The Verge today also noticed that many Apple Stores are out of stock of the Apple TV and will be restocked on March 7. [Via The Loop]
New York Post blocks iPad access through Safari browser, hopes you'll pay for a subscription instead
Well, that's one way to make people pay for puns. The New York Post, that bastion of fair, balanced, and not-at-all sensationalistic reporting, has blocked iPad owners from reading its stories through the tablet's Safari browser. If folks want the full spill on Hugh Hefner getting ditched at the altar, they'll be prompted to download the iOS app, which requires signing up for a subscription starting at $6.99 on a month-to-month basis. Setting aside News Corp.'s hubris for a moment, what's odd about this is the number of workarounds Rupert Murdoch & Co. left us cheapskates. You can still read the site on a desktop browser or a phone, including an Android one. Basically, then, News Corp. is strangling web access, but only for a select group of readers. That's a stark contrast from other content providers (even the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal), which have been more platform-agnostic. Then again, there's the dim possibility that News Corp. targeted the iPad in an effort to re-brand the Post as a glossier sort of tabloid, à la The Daily. To which we say, that's some wishful thinking there, Rupe.
The Daily: Murdoch's iPad newspaper is like 'The New York Post Goes to College'
We don't usually find our latest tech news in Women's Wear Daily yet the publication seems to have scooped Rupert Murdoch's plans for a tablet-only newspaper called The Daily -- news now seemingly confirmed by the New York Times. Scheduled for release early next year, The Daily is expected to cost 99 cents per week (about $4.25 per month) for an electronic paper published seven days a week by a 100-member strong newsroom staffed with "twentysomething" talent led by a former managing editor from the New York Post. According to the sources speaking to WWD, It'll be written with the "sensibilities" of a tabloid and the intelligence of a broadsheet focusing on national news. In other words, it's said to be like "The New York Post Goes to College." A beta is expected by Christmas before hitting the iPad "and other tablet devices" sometime in early 2011.
Thieves targeting iPads in NY Apple Store
Apple's products have been increasingly targeted by thieves since those now-ubiquitous white earbuds first announced, "I'm carrying an expensive Apple doohickey! Mug me!" iPhones and iPods are often too hard for ne' er-do-wells to resist, and now iPads have joined their ranks. The New York Post reports that the West Side Apple Store was robbed of iPads twice in the last week. In both instances, opportunistic thieves nabbed boxed iPads that were being unloaded from a delivery truck in broad daylight. Picking up five at a time while the driver was looking away, the crooks simply sprinted from the scene. Of course, the iPad is a hot product and has sold well. Store employees noted that they've increased security, but monitoring shipments is tricky business, as they don't know when new iPads or other Apple products will arrive. Keep your eyes peeled when walking down the street with your iDevice. And to the thieves: Surely there's a easier and less disruptive way to make a few hundred bucks? [Via Cult of Mac]
NBC and Time Warner in no hurry to say farewell to Flash
If you're not familiar with New York City's gritty, 209-year-old tabloid the Post, it has a reputation for sensationalist coverage, a top-down conservative slant (courtesy of owner Rupert Murdoch), and a credibility problem; in 2004, a Pace University survey found that city residents considered it the least trustworthy of the NYC dailies. When it comes to coverage of the Big Apple's media industry, however, it usually finds the mark. That's why this week's Post story about NBC Universal and Time Warner pushing back on adapting streaming video libraries for iPad is worth a second look. The piece suggests that neither of the media giants is interested in putting in the effort to step away from Flash and create HTML5-savvy streaming websites, saying that Flash remains dominant, and the effort to convert their libraries isn't worth it. Contrast this with CBS and ABC's eager leap onto the iPad, and the continuing signs that NBC-owned Hulu is planning an iPad app. I don't doubt that both TW and NBC would like to see Apple become a little less dominant in the media landscape, but what's weird about this story is that it implies that the "extensive video libraries" that both companies hold aren't already entirely iPad-friendly. Sure, the player interface may be Flash on their websites, but the content itself is very much iPad and iPhone compatible as H.264 video files. Of course, both companies are happy to sell their programs through the iTunes store, although that hasn't always been the case for NBC. With this not-quite-sensical disrespect for the iPad's video prospects, where does that leave us? Is the Hulu app now programa non grata? Will we be shut out of TNT for the new Apple TV? Don't know, can't say... yet. [via MacRumors & Engadget]
Sony e-readers get exclusive Dow Jones, New York Post content
Hoping to read the New York Post on an e-reader anytime soon? Then your choices just got quite a bit more limited, as the newspaper has signed a deal that will see Sony offer the only version of the paper for digital reading devices. Joining it are various exclusive offerings from Dow Jones & Company, including The Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch, which won't be completely exclusive to Sony readers, but will be available in special editions only available on Sony readers -- that includes The Wall Street Journal PLUS, a digital edition of the morning paper that also features an update of the day's events after the close of the markets. Owners of the Sony Reader Daily Edition will also naturally be able to get the day's papers wirelessly delivered to their readers, with subscriptions running between $9.99 and $19.99 a month.
NYC keeps ahead of the curve, invests $1 million into typewriters
When we look upon the typewriter, we tend to think of it as a somewhat romantic, antiquated technology for the English major in us to write that great mystery novel we've been toying with -- not something we'd imagine anyone would still be using in a professional setting. Unfortunately for New York's boys in blue, that's exactly the situation they find themselves in. According to NY Post, the city has plunked down $982,269 in a contract with New Jersey-based Swintec to provide thousands of new manual electric typewriters bound for NYPD offices over the next three years, with another $99,570 going to a company for maintaining the current lineup. While arrest reports have thankfully gone the way of computers, property and evidence vouchers continue to be written up out the old fashioned way, with officers complaining about having to seek out ribbons when they (often) run dry. In some way, it's kind of funny... but mostly, it's just sad.[Via Yahoo! Tech]
NY Post sues Uwe Boll for infringement
German filmmaker Uwe Boll, well known in gamer circles for his film adaptations of video games, is being sued by the New York Post for "stealing the newspaper's trademark Web site and logos," according to The New York Sun.The situation effectively began when the Post ran a story criticizing "pariah" Boll on his use of the September 11 tragedy in the film, seen in a trailer. Boll then set up a website similar to the New York Post for use in promoting the film. The NY Post is asking that Boll discontinue use of the websites, that ownership of the domain names be transferred to the newspaper and the ever-popular "unspecified damages."
Least credible New York paper picks Wii over PS3
America's fifth largest newspaper votes Wii. Rupert Murdoch's oft-criticized sensationalist rag, New York Post, has weighed in on this weekend's launch match-up, going with Wii over PlayStation 3: "[Our] testing of both machines found that the Wii was more entertaining -- at less than half the price."Don't schedule the victory parade just yet, according to a 2004 survey, the Post is considered the least credible major news source in New York. Regardless, with a circulation exceeding 660,000, the endorsement certainly has its benefits.
Wal-Mart bullying Hollywood over iTS movie downloads?
Today's edition of 'yes they did/no they didn't' is brought to you by Wal-Mart, the New York Post and Reuters. As we knew, Wal-Mart is the largest DVD retailer (at least in America), with 40% of the market. Obviously, a player with that large of a stake in the game might not be too happy when a music download service with as much momentum as the iTunes Store announces movie downloads, and the New York Post printed a piece confirming just as much. According to the Post, Wal-Mart returned "cases and cases" of DVDs to Disney after suffering a panic attack over word of the iTS. Never one to stop at throwing product back in just one client's face, Wal-Mart then went on to throw a temper tantrum at the Hollywood studios, "overtly threatened to retaliate" by ordering fewer movies if they shook hands with the iTS. One has to wonder what happens when Wal-Mart doesn't get ice cream for desert.On the other side of this coin, however, Reuters printed comments from a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, saying "we are not dissuading studios from conducting business with other providers." Setting aside the discussion of who competition truly benefits, a Disney spokeswoman also stated she was not familiar with the NYP claims, though Reuters failed to mention whether this spokeswoman has anything to do with the shipping department.It's a twisted web these players are weaving, and we'll (do our best to) stay on top of who's saying what.[via Engadget]
