Globally Archives

Apple Maps Recovers From Multi-Hour Outage Affecting Users Globally

HIGHLIGHTS

Apple Maps faced a multi-hour outage on Friday
The outage wasn’t limited to a specific region
Apple investigated and fixed the issue

Apple Maps on Friday faced a multi-hour outage that affected navigation and location search services for several hours. The outage wasn’t limited to a specific region. As per the system status available on Apple’s website, all users were affected by the issue that was resolved after over four hours of its emergence. The prime cause of the issue hasn’t been revealed formally. However, Apple said that it investigated and fixed the issues. Users weren’t notably able to access navigation or search for places through the mapping service in the duration of the outage. Some users even spotted its impact on third-party apps, including weather apps, using Apple’s location services.

The system status page on Apple’s site shows that the Maps Routing & Navigation and Maps Search services were down between 6:18pm and 10:35pm IST. While the company didn’t specify the issue, it mentioned on the status logs that all users were affected by the problem.

As folks at Apple Insider report, users on Apple Maps weren’t able to find a route as the app shows a warning message that reads, “Directions Not Available, Route information is not available at the movement.” The Apple Maps app was also showing errors while searching any locations. The Verge notes that the app was showing the error “No Results Found” after attempting to load search results for about 30 seconds before timing out. Furthermore, weather apps on iOS weren’t able to show real-time weather information due to the limited access to Apple’s location services.

Apart from iOS devices, the outage was impacting location-based experiences on Apple Watch and in-dash systems powered by Apple’s CarPlay. The issue apparently affected the Maps Routing & Navigation and Maps Search services, while Maps Display and Maps Traffic services didn’t face any issue.

Launched in September 2012, Apple Maps is competing against services such as Google Maps and Here. Apple recently revealed that it has started using drones to improve its mapping service.

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

Ransomware Threat on Rise Globally: Symantec

The average ransom demanded by hackers jumped to $679 (roughly Rs. 45,600) – up from $294 – at the end of 2015, global cyber-security leader Symantec said on Thursday.

With 31 percent of global infections, the US continues to be the most affected country by ransomware and India, with 3 percent infections, ranks ninth in the top 10 list between January 2015 and April 2016, the report noted.

Realising the potential for higher profits, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting the business space and employees in organisations made up 43 percent of ransomware victims.

Given the popularity of smartphones, a number of Android threats have emerged in recent years, the majority of which are locker-type threats. As yet, there have been no documented cases of iOS ransomware.

Further, the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) also has multiplied the range of devices that could potentially be infected with ransomware.

With a growing awareness of ransomware affecting traditional computers, attackers may turn to IoT to find new, softer targets, the report added.

According to Symantec, 2015 was a record year with 100 new ransomware families discovered.

All but one of the new variants discovered so far in 2016 are crypto-ransomware, which uses unbreakable encryption on the user’s files.

If the victim has no back-ups, paying ransom is the only alternative.

Tags: Android, Crypto Ransomware, Cybercriminals, India, Internet, Ransomware, Symantec

[“Source-Gadgets”]

Apple Supplier Broadcom to Slash 1,900 Jobs Globally

Chipmaker Broadcom Ltd, the company created following the merger of Avago and Broadcom, said it would cut about 1,900 jobs globally across its businesses.

Shares of Broadcom, which also supplies to Apple Inc, were up 8 percent at $148.20 in extended trading on Thursday.

The company said it expects to take charges of about $650 million related to the job cuts through 2018.

Avago completed its $37 billion deal for Broadcom last month.

Revenue for the legacy Avago business fell 4 percent to $1.77 billion in the three months ended Jan. 31.

On an adjusted basis, the company reported revenue of $1.78 billion, above the $1.75 billion analysts’ on average had expected, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company’s net income fell to $377 million, or $1.30 per share, in the first quarter, from $429 million, or $1.49 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned $2.41 per share, well above the average analyst estimate of $2.30.

Broadcom forecast adjusted revenue of $3.55 billion, plus or minus $75 million, for its second quarter ending April. Analysts on average were expecting $3.57 billion.

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Tags: Apple, Broadcom, Mobiles, Tablets, Telecom

[“Source-Gadgets”]