Today’s topics include the rumor that one of Apple’s iPhone 7 models will be its largest smartphone yet, the correction of a manufacturing defect in the Samsung Galaxy S7 Active smartphone, the discovery of a security flaw with the Uber app that proves the worth of bug bounty programs and the completion of the first successful flight of Facebook’s Aquila drone.
The iPhone 7 isn’t expected to debut until September, but rumors about what features Apple intends to bring to the product line to reinvigorate its user base and spur sales of its flagship smartphones are continuing to swirl.
The latest rumor says Apple is considering an even larger version of the iPhone, which would be designated the iPhone 7 Pro and include dual rear cameras and a Smart Connector like the one used in iPad Pro devices, according to a July 20 story by Forbes.
The iPhone 7 Pro would accompany new iPhone 7 Plus and standard iPhone 7 handsets, the article continued. Apple will continue to sell its smaller, less-expensive iPhone SE as well.
Samsung says it has found and corrected a manufacturing problem that caused a very small number of its new Galaxy S7 Active ruggedized and water-resistant smartphones to take on water and fail.
Reports of leaks in the $795 Galaxy S7 Active smartphone were first announced by consumer product testing organization Consumer Reports after it tested two Galaxy S7 Active handsets and both failed water-submersion tests.
After further investigation of the alleged leakage, Samsung discovered the assembly problems that allowed the leaks to occur and is confident that the issue has been resolved.
Uber has transformed the way many people travel in urban areas. At its core, Uber is not a taxi company; it’s a technology service, and one of its primary assets is user information.
Uber recently closed a high-impact flaw in its platform that could potentially have put that user information at risk. What’s interesting is the means and method by which the vulnerability was discovered in the first place.
Although it’s a technology company, Uber didn’t discover the flaw on its own, but rather by way of a third-party researcher, participating in a bug bounty program.
The bug bounty program is run on the HackerOne platform, and Michiel Prins, co-founder of HackerOne, noted that when a more severe vulnerability is reported by a hacker and resolved by any security team, it is proof of the success and value of bug bounty programs.
On June 28, Facebook’s Aquila, a solar-powered, unmanned aircraft that will beam the Internet to remote parts of the world, took its first flight, cutting through the vast, scraggly desert of Yuma, Ariz.
“After two years of development, it was emotional to see Aquila actually get off the ground,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated. He continued by announcing a goal “to have a fleet of Aquilas flying together at 60,000 feet, communicating with each other with lasers and staying aloft for months at a time.”
The Aquila has the wingspan of an airliner and can fly on the power of roughly three hair dryers. It is designed to stay aloft for 90 days and deliver the Internet to a 60-mile radius.