Daily Cuppa: iPad Mini and ACMA stings scammers
There's a bit to catch up on from overnight, and it seems to be international news with a local flavour this morning.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) gave us a heads up yesterday afternoon that a big announcement was due for 1 a.m. AEST, and it didn't disappoint. ACMA, along with regulators in four other countries, have cracked down on 14 companies and 17 people that were calling up people across the US, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK and pretending to be Microsoft tech support.
The scammers would trick the target into giving remote access to their computer, which they would then use to lock out the victim, and then charge them up to AU$450 to remove the "malware" on their computer.
The ACMA had been investigating the scam since 2009, and had received 10,000 calls to its Do Not Call complaint hotline on the issue.
The advertising industry is none-too-pleased that Microsoft is enabling a "Do Not Track" header as the default option in its Internet Explorer 10 when users do an express installation of Windows 8. This means that, by default, users will tell the websites they visit that they do not want their online behaviour to be tracked. Advertisers have claimed that the move undermines consumer interests and could result in people having to pay more to view content online.
In Apple-related news, the Cupertino, California-based giant has signed a deal with Sydney start-up Microlatch to develop fingerprint technology for use in NFC applications. Although the iPhone 5 doesn't have NFC capability, it does give hope that the next generation of Apple devices will finally have NFC capabilities.
Although there are a lot of issues with iOS 6, like the battery life problem and the Wi-Fi problem (that has you still eating up your mobile data allowance while on Wi-Fi), reportedly 60 percent of iPhones in the US and Canada are already on iOS 6. Have you upgraded to iOS 6 and noticed the same issue?
Production has reportedly commenced of an iPad Mini. The screen-size will be around 7.85-inches, with a lower resolution than the 9.7-inch Retina model of the new iPad. The device is expected to be announced on October 10.