Month: March 2016

(credit: John Karakatsanis)

RIVERSIDE, Calif.—Less than 24 hours before a highly anticipated Tuesday court session where prosecutors and Apple lawyers would have squared off here in federal court, government attorneys suddenly got a judge to vacate that hearing and stay an unprecedented court order that would have forced Apple to aid investigators' efforts to unlock and decrypt an iPhone linked to a 2015 terrorist attack. In a court filing Monday, federal authorities cited a newly discovered "unlocking method" that it hopes won't require Apple's help.

The sudden and unexpected postponement essentially means an immediate victory for Apple—the company doesn’t have to comply with the government’s demands to create a customized version of iOS. But the new government filing also raises more questions than it answers, such as the reach of the government's decryption capabilities.

Melanie Newman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, said in a statement sent to Ars that the government only learned of this new unlock technique this weekend.

The distribution of lithium ions within the new electrolyte material provides obvious routes for the ions to move between electrodes. (credit: Kato et. al., Nature Energy)

For most of us, the only way we judge a battery is by how long it can deliver electrons to our favorite devices. But many applications require more than that. They need batteries that operate across a large temperature range, are compact or flexible, and can manage a fast charge/discharge rate. Plus, we'd all like them not to explode or fail suddenly.

Most energy storage tech involves balancing a trade-off among these various properties. But a new report from a collaboration between academic researchers and Toyota seems to promise it all: a battery more compact than lithium-ion, a better energy density, the charge speed of a supercapacitor, and improved safety. How is this all possible? They got rid of the liquid electrolyte typical of most lithium-ion batteries.

In principle, batteries are structurally very simple: two electrodes where ions exchange electrons, separated by an electrolyte that allows the ions to shuffle between the two. These electrolytes are almost always liquids, since they can easily dissolve the ions, allowing their free movement between the electrodes. Unfortunately, leaking electrolytes are often a cause of failure in these batteries. Fixing this is a challenge—you can't just shove ions through a solid, right?

Enlarge / The iPhone SE will hopefully "inspire" some small, high-end competitors from other ecosystems. (credit: Apple)

People want big phones. That’s an unquestionable fact. Look at Apple’s iPhone sales for the entire year of 2015, and you’ll have all the proof you need (and if you need more, remember that it was unexpectedly strong sales for Samsung’s original Galaxy Note that helped stoke interest in big phones in the first place).

I myself switched to an iPhone 6 the minute it came out in 2014, and I upgraded to a 6S last year. I haven’t looked back. But I’ve only ever wanted the 4.7-inch versions of both phones—the 5.5-inch Plus series phones are just too big and awkward for me.

And that’s the rationale behind the iPhone SE. It’s a high-end option for people who want a new phone but don’t want to deal with a bigger phone. It’s remarkable primarily because most smartphone manufacturers have completely abandoned smaller high-end phones as they’ve chased bigger screens (Sony’s Xperia Compact series being the most notable exception).

(credit: Kārlis Dambrāns)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Monday that it might be able to break into the seized iPhone at the center of an encryption battle with Apple. That is why it wants a federal judge overseeing the litigation to vacate Tuesday's hearing on whether Apple should assist the authorities in bypassing the four-digit passcode on the iPhone used by San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook, according to court documents filed Monday.

"On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking Farook’s iPhone. Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook’s iPhone," the government said.

US Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym has not yet ruled on the government's motion.