Apple Trimming 200 Employees From Beats Team to Streamline Overlapping Functions

As part of its pending acquisition of Beats Electronics and Beats Music, Apple has begun making offers to Beats employees that will see roughly 200 of Beats' 700 positions phased out over the next few months. News of the job cuts was first reported by 9to5Mac yesterday, with additional detail provided by the New York Post.



According to the reports, most of the job cuts will be in human resources, finance, and other areas where there is overlap between Apple and Beats staff. Some Beats employees will reportedly transfer to Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, while others will remain at Beats' current facility in the Los Angeles area.



Apple has issued a statement to Re/code confirming that some Beats employees have received only temporary offers from Apple as part of the transition.

Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr’s explanation: “We’re excited to have the Beats team join Apple, and we have extended job offers to every Beats employee. Because of some overlap in our operations, some offers are for a limited period and we’ll work hard during this time to find as many of these Beats employees as we can another permanent job within Apple.”

Apple's $3 billion deal to acquire Beats and its headphone and streaming music businesses has been approved by European regulators, but will not be finalized until U.S. regulators sign off on the deal. Apple indicated at the time the acquisition was announced that it expects the deal to close this quarter.

Researcher Details USB-Based Attack That Circumvents All Known Protective Security Measures

Security research Karsten Nohl of Berlin's SR Labs has revealed a flaw in USB devices that potentially allows hackers to evade all know security measures used by a computer. In a report by Wired , Nohl says his BadUSB exploit is "almost like a magic trick" because "you cannot tell where the virus came from."



The exploit takes advantage of a flaw that allows a hacker to tamper with the firmware that controls the functions of USB devices such as mice, thumb drives and keyboards.

Because BadUSB resides not in the flash memory storage of USB devices, but in the firmware that controls their basic functions, the attack code can remain hidden long after the contents of the device’s memory would appear to the average user to be deleted. And the two researchers say there’s no easy fix: The kind of compromise they’re demonstrating is nearly impossible to counter without banning the sharing of USB devices or filling your port with superglue.



“These problems can’t be patched,” says Nohl, who will join Lell in presenting the research at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. “We’re exploiting the very way that USB is designed.”

Nohl, along with fellow SR Labs researcher Jakob Lell, will present additional details on this attack during a presentation at the annual Black Hat hacking conference, which will be held next week in Las Vegas. The title of his presentation is "Bad USB - On Accessories that Turn Evil."

Vox Music Player Updated With SoundCloud Integration, New Organizational Features [Mac Blog]

Coppertino today updated its popular Vox music player to version 2.1, adding SoundCloud integration and new options for organizing music. Vox now has the ability to stream HQ/FLAC/Lossless music from SoundCloud, giving users a way to listen to high quality music uploaded to SoundCloud.



According to Coppertino founder Ivan Ablamskiy, Vox is the only third-party music player that allows users to access and play original lossless files from SoundCloud.





Along with SoundCloud integration, Vox has also gained some new interface updates that make it easier to access and create playlists within the app, including "Collections," a new way to intuitively organize music. A full list of updated features can be found below:

- Updated and improved modern and clean interface;

- Ability to stream SoundCloud files in high quality music formats (when the original file is a lossless or HQ audio file);

- Simplified access to all playlists, including iTunes;

- Convenient creation and management of playlists within VOX;

- Custom playlists from various sources;

- Easily queue a song to play it next;

- Full access to the largest database of radio stations and music from all over the world;

- Redesigned and more intelligent 'Search' capability;

- Numerous bug fixes and more.

Originally launched in August of 2013, Vox is a simple music player designed to serve as a replacement for the music player built into iTunes. It supports a wide variety of audio formats, including MP3, FLAC, AAC, Musepack, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, and more. Vox has the ability to import an existing iTunes library with metadata included and it also offers a built-in equalizer, radio connectivity, and gapless playback.



While Vox is currently limited to the Mac, Coppertino is working on an iOS app that's expected to debut in the fall. According to a source that spoke to MacRumors, Coppertino is also working on an upcoming cloud music service, designed to allow Vox users to access their music on both the iPhone and Mac. The service will reportedly include unlimited music storage for a small yearly fee, with the ability to store any type of audio file, including HD.



The newly updated Vox app for the Mac is available from the Mac App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Timeful for iOS aims to help you make time to get everything done

iPhone 6 Said to Launch on Tuesday, October 14, Part of 'Incredibly Busy' Month for Apple

Apple may be planning to launch the iPhone 6 on Tuesday, October 14 as the month itself will be an incredibly busy one for the company, according to a source that spoke to MacRumors citing an internal Apple Retail Store meeting.



The source notes that a senior Store Leader mentioned October 14th as being an "immense" day for Apple, adding that the whole month of October would be very busy for stores and the company itself. Apple is also said to planning a media event for Tuesday, September 16, coming a month ahead of the device's launch.




4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 mockups compared to iPhone 5s


To this point, most reports have pointed to a September announcement and launch for the iPhone 6. However, a report last week claimed that Apple is planning a mid-September event for the iPhone 6 and iOS 8, which would be followed by an October event showcasing the iWatch, OS X Yosemite, new iPads, and new Macs. An announcement event for September 16 would also fall on a Tuesday, which is when Apple typically announces new products.



Apple launching the iPhone 6 on a Tuesday would be a change from past years, as the company has launched previous iPhones and most new hardware on a Friday. However, the source claims that high customer demand and an ample supply due to a large production effort will motivate Apple to start iPhone 6 sales earlier in the week.



It is unknown if an October release for the iPhone 6 would include both the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch version, as recent rumors have pointed toward several production issues plaguing the larger model. It is possible that the 5.5-inch may launch later in the year or in 2015 after Apple can produce enough devices. In addition to a larger screen, both versions of the iPhone 6 are expected to feature a thinner profile, a faster A8 processor, and an improved camera.

Shazam Brings Always-On Music and TV Recognition to Mac With Free Menu Bar App

Music recognition service Shazam, which was one of the early App Store hits and has continued to see good success on mobile platforms, is now bringing its services to the desktop in the form of the first music, TV show, and ad recognition app for Mac.



Running as a menu bar item, Shazam for Mac quietly monitors audio around the user's Mac and provides not only pop-up notifications of the content being played but also easy access to supplemental content such as lyrics, additional tracks from the album, purchasing options such as the iTunes Store, music videos, social sharing options, and more.





Once content has been identified by Shazam, a standard Notification Center pop-up appears onscreen, and an entry for the item is added to the running list of Shazam IDs in the menu bar app. Clicking in either location takes the user to a dedicated page on the web for the identified content.



MacRumors spoke with Shazam's Chief Product Officer Daniel Danker about the launch, and Danker highlighted the utility of Shazam for Mac in the context of the popularity of lyrics searches on the Internet. With Shazam's dedicated track pages on the web, Shazam for Mac seamlessly directs users to high-quality lyrics presented in a responsive layout appropriate for various screen sizes and without ads or other distractions.




Content feature page on shazam.com


In our testing of Shazam for Mac, the app generally did a solid job of picking up audio and quickly identifying the tracks being played. It is of course limited by the number of tracks available in Shazam's database, and on an eclectic mix of tracks Shazam was unable to identify some of the tracks. Identification was generally solid, however, and came fairly quickly after the track began playing.



Beyond music, Shazam also works with television channels in the U.S., and Shazam for Mac was able to identify a number of shows and movies airing on a nearby television. Clicking on the item's listing in Shazam offers quick access to content such as cast information, IMDB and Wikipedia listings, and more. With over 160 U.S. TV channels included in Shazam's database, content can even be identified from the commercials being played between segments. Even ads such as Apple's latest "Stickers" commercial for the MacBook Air can be identified by Shazam.



Shazam for Mac marks the next step in the service's evolution as the company seeks to integrate its platform into users' daily technology experience. Its always-on status builds upon the Auto Shazam functionality added to the iOS app late last year. Shazam has also entered into a partnership with Apple that will see Shazam's music identification services integrated with Siri, allowing users to quickly and easily ask Siri to identify the music playing around them.



As for the future of Shazam for Mac and the service in general, Danker noted the company is working to build seamless connections with streaming music services to aid listeners, and also enhancing the lyrics experiencing with syncing and other features.



Shazam for Mac is a free app launching today in the Mac App Store.