Apple faces intense WWDC pressure; Elon Musk deletes post about Trump; Chinese hackers aim for U.S. smartphones
Apple faces intense WWDC pressure
Apple is set to host its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) tonight at Silicon Valley. While the event is largely aimed at developers, the iPhone-maker generally puts out a slew of announcements and launch updates about its operating systems, device upgrades, AI enhancements, and more. However, this year will see Apple presenting its annual event under significantly more pressure, as it faces customer anger and sharp questions over the delayed deployment of all the Apple Intelligence features it promised. The elephant in the room will be Apple's inability to release the AI-enhanced Siri assistant as previously promised, and the disappointment of Apple iPhone 16 buyers who purchased the phone in order to access this.
Analysts have predicted this year's WWDC could see Apple attempting to rebuild its damaged credibility or possibly focusing on more standard updates regarding its OS. Others are expecting possible announcements about Apple integrating Google's Gemini, Perplexity, or chatbots from other companies.
Elon Musk deletes post about Trump
Elon Musk has deleted a post on his platform X (formerly Twitter) where he had accused U.S. President Donald Trump of being named in the Epstein Files. This referred to U.S. government files related to allies of Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges. Musk had posted the claim on X during a highly-public feud with Trump over the latter's controversial spending bill. The post garnered millions of views and ignited a range of reactions across the political spectrum, as Musk claimed that Trump's alleged inclusion in the list was the reason it had not been made public.
However, Musk deleted the posts over the weekend. He and Trump continued to criticise each other from their respective social media platforms; Trump is an avid user and endorser of the right-wing Truth Social. The digital fight between the two billionaires also served to bring curious and amused viewers to X, with views and activity levels reportedly spiking as high-profile insults were hurled.
Chinese hackers aim for U.S. smartphones
While cybersecurity experts warn about digital attacks against the topmost layers of the U.S. government and military, one major vulnerability that is often left out of discussions is a user's everyday smartphone. In order to gain access to a victim's calls and communications, hackers no longer need to dupe users into clicking a link. Instead, Chinese hackers are reportedly targeting the smartphones of high-profile U.S. users in order to carry out espionage operations, according to multiple cybersecurity experts.
Chinese hackers have also tried to compromise phones used by U.S. President Donald Trump and JD Vance during their 2024 campaign. Just months ago, U.S. authorities warned that a large-scale Chinese hacking campaign was trying to gain access to the texts/phone conversations of an unknown number of U.S.-based users.
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