This Apple Olympics ad will melt your cold, cold heart

BY LANCE ULANOFF

It's been a tough four years for the human family since the last summer Olympics. We've seen our share of violence, heartache and divisiveness, much of it focusing on our perceived differences.

Entitled The Human Family — Shot on the iPhone, Apple's latest commercial for its iPhone 6s and 6s Plus focuses not so much on one of the Cupertino tech giant's products, as on a poetic antidote to these divisions. It will make its debut on NBC Friday night during the opening ceremonies for the Rio Summer Olympics.

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The company also posted this latest in its series of print and video ads devoted to "Shot on iPhone" on YouTube and Apple.com on Thursday morning.

The commercial deftly blends an undated recording of the late poet laureate Maya Angelou reciting her poem The Human Family with photos and videos (taken with the iPhone, naturally) of people from all races, ages and religions. Each image has the first name and last name initial of the person who took the image. Apple found the photos and videos — all taken by amateurs — and got their permissions to use them. Even so, Apple does note at the very end of the commercial that some additional software and hardware was used to create the beautiful images.

Angelou's poem celebrates people's differences while reminding the reader:

I note the obvious differences

between each sort and type,

but we are more alike, my friends,

than we are unalike. 

The combination of the images, which are expertly synced to the words and ideas, Angelou's resonant voice and the affecting score will doubtlessly give many viewers the warm fuzzies. And, of course, Apple gets to show off the power of its latest iPhone 12 MP iSight camera. 

Does feeling good make people by more iPhones? Who knows. Can poetry heal the human family?  The jury's still out. But, in this case, it might just be worth enjoying the surface sentiment.

You can read the full text of Angelou's The Human Family here. 

FINALLY: We can be holograms, people!

BY CARMEN TRIOLA

If the Tupac hologram was the stuff of your dreams, or this scene from Star Warskind of changed your life, you're in for some good news. 

A startup called HoloVit has launched an Indiegogo campaign to bring holograms to a consumer audience. Even better, you'll be able to make them right from your phone, tablet or TV screen.

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They will come in three different sizes, ranging from 9.8 x 15.3 inches to 25.5 x 35.4 inches. No additional technology is required use HoloVit's special hologram screen. Early birds can get the smallest one at $79, with retail prices starting at $165.

You'll be able to turn yourself into a hologram —  as well as play a special holographic video game for iOS or Android. It should also be noted that these holograms are not 360 degrees. You can only see them from behind HoloVit's screens. 

HoloVit's founder, Jeff Deleon, began studying holography systems in 2002 and started HoloVit in 2015. 

"We want to bring the fun and excitement of futuristic technology into every home" Deleon and his partner, Sibel Stanz, wrote on their Indiegogo page. "We would like to see HoloVit as a game changer of the home entertainment world."

Here's the thing, as cool as all of this sounds, we're still a bit skeptical that this concept will work. The campaign is incredibly light on technical details, and that's worrisome. This is Indiegogo — not your local retailer — so it's not guaranteed that the HoloVit will ever reach the finish line or that backers will get the product that is described today.

Those very real caveats aside, this looks really cool.

Apple finally introduces a security bounty program

BY CHRISTINA WARREN

Apple is launching its first security bounty. The news comes on the heels of a presentation from Apple’s Ivan Krstic at the annual Black Hat USA security conference in Las Vegas. 

Krstic runs security engineering and architecture at Apple and presented an in-depth look at iOS security. This was Apple’s first appearance at Black Hat in four years. 

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Since its battle with the FBI this spring, Apple has been more outwardly focused on discussing its commitment to security. To that end, Apple is opening up its first security bounty program. The program, which will roll out in September, will accept security submissions in a number of areas. Depending on the type of exploit found, researchers and their organizations will get more money. 

The categories and issues up for consideration, along with their bounties, are as follows:  

• Secure boot firmware components – up to $200,000.
• Extraction of confidential material protected by the Secure Enclave Processor – up to $100,000.
• Execution of arbitrary code with kernel privileges – up to $50,000.
• Unauthorized access to iCloud account data on Apple servers – up to $50,000.
• Access to sandboxed processes to user data outside of the sandbox – up to $25,000.

Organizations can accept the money Apple offers or they can donate it to a charity of their choice. Apple says that if researchers choose to donate to a charity, they will consider matching that donation. 

Apple tells me it may also award researchers who share significant critical vulnerabilities not outlined above. 

Unlike many security bounty programs, this program is not open to the public. For now, Apple is partnering with a dozen or so security researchers and organizations to focus on finding flaws. 

But Apple tells me that this isn’t an attempt to be exclusive. The plan is to open it up to more individuals and organizations over time. Apple also says that if someone not associated with an invited organization responsibly discloses a vulnerability, that feedback will be welcome and they may be invited to join the formal process. 

Apple says that it spoke to a number of other companies who have already run successful security bounties and that advice – which was to start small (as to reduce the signal/noise ratio) and then ramp up – contributed to the decision to only involve a few organizations and researchers at the start. 

A long time coming 

Although it’s great that Apple is introducing a security bounty, it's worth noting that the company has taken its time getting here. Nearly every other major tech company – including Microsoft, Google and Facebook – have offered security bounties for years. 

So what took so long?  

Apple tells me that although it has been working with outside researchers for years, it has consistently received feedback – from experts inside and outside of the company – that it is more difficult to identify significant security vulnerabilities without a bounty program.  

As a result, it makes sense that the company would look (finally!) to outside organizations and researchers to offer their own feedback. 

It probably doesn’t hurt that the focus on Apple’s security is now more pointed than ever before. With more eyes on Apple security – and more people trying to bypass it (whether it’s law enforcement or hackers), it makes sense to get more eyes focused on finding flaws. 

I understand the need to limit — at least initially — involvement in the bounty program, but I do hope Apple commits to expanding the individuals and groups involved quickly. iOS as a platform deserves as many eyes on it as possible.

For now, the focus of the bounty is on iOS, but Apple says that it is open to expanding the bounty program to other platforms (including macOS) and other areas, once the program ramps up.