New leak suggests iPhone Xs, Xs Max and Xr names

We’re just hours away from Apple’s big iPhone event and it looks like the company may have leaked its own news. AllThings.how spotted the names of future Apple products on Apple’s own website.

According to AllThings.how, Apple updated the product sidemap file minutes before taking the Apple Store down to add the new product pages. And this sitemap pointed to pages of unreleased products.

In particular, you could see links to products pages for the iPhone Xs, the iPhone Xs Max and the iPhone Xr. It lines up with previous rumors.

According to previous rumors, Apple is going to update the iPhone X with better components. In addition to this rumored iPhone Xs, there will be a bigger version of this device — a gigantic 6.5-inch iPhone Xs Max. Finally, Apple is going to replace the iPhone 8 with the iPhone Xr, a 6.1-inch device with an LCD display and a design inspired by the iPhone X.

In addition to iPhone names, the updated XML file contains interesting information about the new Apple Watch. A previous leaked image obtained by 9to5Mac showed a new edge-to-edge display.

And it looks like the Apple Watch display will be slightly larger indeed. According to today’s leak, the small Apple Watch will feature a 40mm display (instead of 38mm). The bigger version will sports a 44mm display (instead of 42mm). It doesn’t sound like a huge increase, but you should also see an improved screen resolution.

Finally, the sitemap doesn’t indicate any change in the iPad and Mac lineups. Maybe Apple won’t mention those products at all. The company might also talk about updates that will be available later this year. Or Apple could unveil updated devices in the coming months.

Again, this is just a sidemap and it doesn’t necessarily reflect the final names of those products. But given the timing of this leak, it sounds more than plausible.

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How to watch the live stream for today’s Apple iPhone keynote

Apple is holding a keynote today on its new and shiny campus in Cupertino, and the company is expected to unveil new iPhones, an updated Apple Watch and maybe some other things. At 10 AM PT (1 PM in New York, 6 PM in London, 7 PM in Paris), you’ll be able to watch the event as the company is streaming it live.

Apple’s September is the company’s most anticipated event. And that’s because Apple releases new iPhone models every September. Rumor has it that the company should unveil three new devices, including an updated iPhone X, a bigger version of this phone and a new model to replace the iPhone 8 with a notch design.

If you have an Apple TV, you can download the Apple Events app in the App Store. It lets you stream today’s event and rewatch old events. The app icon has been updated a few days ago for the event.

And if you don’t have an Apple TV, the company also lets you live-stream the event from the Apple Events section on its website. This video feed has always worked in Safari and Microsoft Edge. And just like this year’s WWDC keynote, the video should also work in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

So to recap, here’s how you can watch today’s Apple event:

• Safari on the Mac or iOS.
• Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.
• Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox on the Mac or Windows 10.
• An Apple TV with the Apple Events app in the App Store.

Of course, you also can read TechCrunch’s live blog if you’re stuck at work and really need our entertaining commentary track to help you get through your day. We have a big team in the room this year.

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How to watch the live stream for today’s Apple iPhone keynote

Apple is holding a keynote today on its new and shiny campus in Cupertino, and the company is expected to unveil new iPhones, an updated Apple Watch and maybe some other things. At 10 AM PT (1 PM in New York, 6 PM in London, 7 PM in Paris), you’ll be able to watch the event as the company is streaming it live.

Apple’s September is the company’s most anticipated event. And that’s because Apple releases new iPhone models every September. Rumor has it that the company should unveil three new devices, including an updated iPhone X, a bigger version of this phone and a new model to replace the iPhone 8 with a notch design.

If you have an Apple TV, you can download the Apple Events app in the App Store. It lets you stream today’s event and rewatch old events. The app icon has been updated a few days ago for the event.

And if you don’t have an Apple TV, the company also lets you live-stream the event from the Apple Events section on its website. This video feed has always worked in Safari and Microsoft Edge. And just like this year’s WWDC keynote, the video should also work in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

So to recap, here’s how you can watch today’s Apple event:

• Safari on the Mac or iOS.
• Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.
• Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox on the Mac or Windows 10.
• An Apple TV with the Apple Events app in the App Store.

Of course, you also can read TechCrunch’s live blog if you’re stuck at work and really need our entertaining commentary track to help you get through your day. We have a big team in the room this year.

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What not to expect from Apple’s hardware event

Tomorrow’s the big day. You’ve no doubt heard all the rumors by now, but for those who need a little help getting up to speed, check out the rumor roundup we ran last week. As ever, though, it’s important to lower expectations as much as possible, so as to not wallow in one’s own inevitable crushing disappointment. It’s a philosophy that’s gotten me this far in life.

In the spirit of lowered expectations, here’s a definitely-not-complete list of things that most likely won’t be unveiled at Apple’s special event:

• AR headset: Is Apple working on an AR headset? Probably, yes. Will it arrive tomorrow. Probably, no. The company’s recent acquisition of Vrvana makes the product seem all but inevitable, but it’s going to take some time to get there.
• Beats products: Apple’s Beats acquisition is generally understood to have been largely about launching Apple Music. Since then, the headphone maker’s products have clearly been a lower priority for the company, and while new AirPods seem like a distinct possibility, don’t get your hopes up for the Beats brand.
• MacOS devices: There’s some potential here. A long-awaited refresh to the once mighty MacBook Air line could be in the works, though I wouldn’t hold my breath here. And while Apple’s been discussing a refreshed Mac Pro, with the iMac Pro now shipping, that upgrade is still probably a ways off.
• Round Apple Watches: Longtime expectations that Apple might move to a round form factor on its wearable were further fueled when the company sent out an invite with a big circle on it. Seconds later, however, it dawned on everyone that the image likely had more to do with the location of the event at Apple’s giant spaceship — and all the leaks thus far have the form factor remaining largely in tact from previous generations.
• iPhone 9: The iPhone’s 10th anniversary really mucked up Apple’s fairly straightforward naming convention. While plenty call it the “iPhone Echs,” it’s actually the iPhone 10, and Apple’s rarely been one to look back. While a cheaper version of the iPhone X does appear to be in the works, expect the company to skip the iPhone 9 name altogether.
• Inner peace: Regardless of what’s happening tomorrow, we’ll have to pick it up and do it again. No rest for the weary tech bloggers — and we all die alone. Anyway, happy Apple Day!

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Comma.ai’s George Hotz ousts George Hotz as CEO

Comma.ai’s board, of which founder George Hotz is the only member, is making changes at the autonomous driving startup: Hotz is no longer CEO of the company.

A new CEO, who Hotz declined to name, is expected to be announced Friday via the company’s Medium blog. He confirmed that the CEO is indeed a human and a “very talented one,” Hotz told TechCrunch.

Hotz, who gained worldwide fame under the hacker alias “geohot” when he cracked the iPhone and PlayStation 3 as a teenager, isn’t leaving the company he founded. Instead, Hotz and two others are part of a new division called Comma.ai research that will focus on building out behavioral models that can drive cars.

Comma.ai found the “right product market fit” during his three-year tenure as CEO, Hotz said.

“We have very good growth numbers, now it’s time to get the slope on growth even higher,” said Hotz, who is the company’s majority shareholder. “It’s much more of an execution problem now than a vision problem. And perhaps I’m not the best executor.”

Hotz said the company needed someone to scale the team from the 15 people who are there now to the “50 required to put out a real consumer product,” as well as work on reducing cost of the product and deal with regulators.

Hotz may be out as CEO, but he insists the fundamental ethos of the company won’t change.

“We’ve always been the North Korea of self-driving companies; we are driven by nobody else’s agenda,” he said. “That’s not going to change.”

And he’s still interested in self-driving cars.

“Eventually, what I want to do with my life is I want to solve AI,” Hotz said. “And I think that self-driving cars are still the coolest applied AI problem today.”

Comma.ai initially aimed to sell a $999 aftermarket self-driving car kit that would give certain vehicle models highway-driving assistance abilities similar to Tesla’s Autopilot feature. Hotz canceled those plans in October 2016 after receiving a letter from the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration.

Five weeks later, Comma.ai released its self-driving software to the world. All of the code, as well as plans for the hardware, was posted on GitHub.

Today, Comma.ai has an ecosystem of products — the Eon, Panda and Giraffe — all aimed at bringing semi-autonomous driving capabilities to cars. Drivers who buy and install them in their cars can bypass the driver-assistance systems in specific vehicles — right now late-model Hondas and Toyotas — and run Comma.ai’s open-source driving software instead.

The Eon is a dashcam dev kit based on Android that can run Waze, Spotify and Comma.ai’s open-source dashcam app chffrplus, which lets car owners record and review their drives. The Panda is a $99 universal car interface that plugs into a vehicle’s OBD-II port and gives users access to the internal communications networks (known as a vehicle bus) that interconnects components in a vehicle.

The Giraffe is an adapter board that gives users access to other CAN buses not exposed on the main OBD-II connector. This allows commands to be issued to the car via software.

Pull all of these together and a vehicle has Comma.ai’s version of lane-keeping and adaptive cruise control. TechCrunch rode in one of these Comma.ai-equipped vehicles in July.

More than 500 cars are now using either open pilot or chffr, Hotz said, adding that this fleet is sending data back to Comma.ai. The company has collected more than 5 million miles of driving data.

“We’re using all of that data to create behavioral models of human driving,” Hotz said. “We’re now very good at localizing that driving data, figuring out exactly where the car actually went. So from that and the data, how do we actually train models to drive like humans.”

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Apple’s autonomous vehicle fleet swells 27% in four months

Apple keeps adding autonomous vehicles to its test fleet in California, boosting its ranks 27% since May, according to records from the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

The company now has 70 autonomous vehicles permitted to test on public roads, Mac Reports first reported. The permits, which are issued by CA DMV, require a safety driver to be behind the wheel.

Over the past 18 months, Apple has gone from just three autonomous vehicles to 27 by January, 55 by May, and now 70. GM Cruise has the most permitted autonomous test vehicles at 175, followed by Waymo with 88. Apple has the third-largest fleet.

The number of permitted test vehicles is one of the only ways to track what Apple is up to. The company doesn’t talk about its self-driving vehicle program.

The tech company’s permit with the CA DMV, the agency responsible for monitoring AVs in the state, is the only official acknowledgment that it even has a program. Apple’s self-driving program has been considered an open secret in Silicon Valley. CEO Tim Cook  has more recently made references to the company’s interest in autonomous systems.

Last month, the company disclosed its first accident, according to a report filed with the CA DMV. The low speed accident occurred August 24. The number of accidents involving autonomous vehicles have become more common as companies put more of these self-driving cars on public roads. The vast majority are minor, low-speed incidents.

There was just one accident involving a self-driving vehicle (that one was owned by Delphi) reported to the DMV in 2014. So far this year, there have been more than 40 accidents involving self-driving cars reported to CA DMV.

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The best security and privacy features in iOS 12 and macOS Mojave

September is Apple hardware season, where we expect new iPhones, a new Apple Watch and more. But what makes the good stuff run is the software within.

First revealed earlier this year at the company’s annual WWDC developer event in June, iOS 12 and macOS Mojave focus on a running theme: security and privacy for the masses.

Ahead of Wednesday big reveal, here’s all the good stuff to look out for.

macOS Mojave

macOS Mojave will be the sixth iteration of the Mac operating system, named after a location in California where Apple is based. It comes with dark mode, file stacks, and group FaceTime calls.

Safari now prevents browser fingerprinting and cross-site tracking

What does it do? Safari will use a new “intelligent tracking prevention” feature to prevent advertisers from following you from site to site. Even social networks like Facebook know which sites you visit because so many embed Facebook’s tools — like the comments section or the “Like” button.

Why does it matter? Tracking prevention will prevent ad firms from building a unique “fingerprint” of your browser, making it difficult to serve you targeted ads — even when you’re in incognito mode or private browsing. That’s an automatic boost for personal privacy as these companies will find it more difficult to build up profiles on you.

Camera, microphone, backups now require permission

What does it do? Just like when an app asks you for access to your contacts and calendar, now Mojave will ask for permission before an app can access your FaceTime camera and microphone, as well as location data, backups and more.

Why does it matter? By expanding this feature, it’s much more difficult for apps to switch on your camera without warning or record from your microphone without you noticing. That’s going to prevent surreptitious ultrasonic ad tracking and surveillance by malware that hijack your camera. But also asking permission for access to your backups — often unencrypted — will prevent malware or hackers from quietly stealing your data.

iOS 12

iOS 12 lands on more recent iPhones and iPads, but will bring significant performance boosts to older supported devices, new Maps, smarter notifications and updated AIKit .

Password manager will warn of password reuse

What does it do? iOS 12’s in-built password manager, which stores all your passwords for easy access, will now tell if you’re using the same password across different sites and apps.

Why does it matter? Password reuse is a real problem. If you use the same password on every site, it only takes one site breach to grab your password for every other site you use. iOS 12 will let you know if you’re using a weak password or the same password on different sites. Your passwords are easily accessible with your fingerprint or your passcode.

Two-factor codes will be auto-filled

What does it do? When you are sent a two-factor code — such as a text message or a push notification — iOS 12 will take that code and automatically enter it into the login box.

Why does it matter? Two-factor authentication is good for security — it adds an extra layer of protection on top of your username and password. But adoption is low because two-factor is cumbersome and frustrating. This feature keeps the feature security intact while making it more seamless and less annoying.

USB Restricted Mode makes hacking more difficult

What does it do? This new security feature will lock any accessories out of your device — including USB cables and headphones — when your iPhone or iPad has been locked for more than an hour.

Why does it matter? This is an optional feature — first added to iOS 11.4.1 but likely to be widely adopted with iOS 12 — will make it more difficult for law enforcement (and hackers) to plug in your device and steal your sensitive data. Because your device is encrypted, not even Apple can get your data, but some devices — like GrayKeys — can brute-force your password. This feature will render these devices largely ineffective.

Apple’s event starts Wednesday at 10am PT (1pm ET).

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