Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Thinks Cloud Computing Will Be 'Horrendous'

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak prefers to feel like he "owns" his digital data and feels uncomfortable uploading it to or downloading it from another company's cloud servers.
That's why in a recent Q&A session held after Mike Daisey's play, "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," Wozniak warned the audience of the dangers in cloud computing.
"I really worry about everything going to the cloud," he said, per Agence France-Presse. "I think it's going to be horrendous. I think there are going to be a lot of horrible problems in the next five years."
According to ZDNet, making a purchase via cloud often means consumers are not actually buying a product, but instead buying a license to use it. This is true even in the Apple App Store's Terms and Conditions, which reads "Apple is the provider of the App and Book Services that permit you to license software products and digital content."
Apple has used cloud technology since the early 2000s, including services such as MobileMe, which then morphed into iCloud last fall. The feature promises to do more than "just store your content," but to also "seamlessly integrate" all iOS devices, per the Apple website.
So is Wozniak knocking the company he helped create?
Maybe -- and that wouldn't be the first time. Earlier this summer, Wozniak criticized Siri, the iPhone's voice-controlled assistant, telling the Times Union that he was a bigger fan of the program when it was simply a downloadable app not owned by Apple.

But his cloud concerns are not completely far-fetched. Just this last weekend, tech blog Gizmodo's Twitter account was hijacked by a hacker who had breeched former contributor Mat Honan's iCloud account, allowing the hacker access to Honan's Macbook Air, iPhone, iPad and Twitter account. Ultimately this linked the hacker to passwords used for Gizmodo's resources.
"A lot of people feel, 'Oh, everything is really on my computer,' Wozniak stated at the Q&A. "[B]ut I say the more we transfer everything onto the web, onto the cloud, the less we're going to have control over it."

Journalist blames Apple tech for allowing iCloud hack

Former Gizmodo reporter says device wipes and Twitter breaches occurred after an AppleCare technician fell victim to a bit of social engineering.

Former Gizmodo reporter Mat Honan is blaming an AppleCare technician for allowing his personal e-mail and Twitter accounts to be hacked, as well as the tech blog's official feed.
The Gizmodo breach, apparently perpetrated by a person or group of people calling themselves Clan W3, was brief but resulted in racist and offensive tweets being sent to the tech blog's 415,000 followers on Friday. Gizmodo initially blamed its former reporter for the tweets and quickly regained control of its account.
But Honan, who currently works for Wired, was not so fortunate. He described in a blog post how he had learned his iCloud account had been breached by a hacker who wiped his devices and gained access to his Gmail and Twitter accounts. Now he says an Apple technician fell victim to social engineering, a technique of manipulating people instead of computers to perform a task or divulge information:

I know how it was done now. Confirmed with both the hacker and Apple. It wasn't password related. They got in via Apple tech support and some clever social engineering that let them bypass security questions. Apple has my Macbook and is trying to recover the data. I'm back in all my accounts that I know I was locked out of. Still trying to figure out where else they were.

Honan says the hacks occurred Friday evening when someone gained access to his iCloud account and reset his password. That led to the remote wipe of his iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Air and hijack of the Twitter accounts. The blog also describes the challenges he faced in regaining control of his devices and accounts.
He said he initially suspected the hacker used brute force to learn his seven-digit alphanumeric password, but Honan said in a blog update that someone claiming to be the hacker contacted him, saying he "didnt guess ur password or use bruteforce. i have my own guide on how to secure emails." 

 

Apple's Failed Cloud Service MobileMe Is Officially Dead

MobileMe, the cloud product that was a predecessor to iCloud, is officially dead.
Apple's mobileme.com now redirects you to iCloud.com.

MobileMe launched in 2008 as a way to sync your iPhone's contacts, calendar, and email with your computer and the web. It also gave you Dropbox-like online storage.

But the $99 per year service didn't always work as advertised, causing reviewers to slam it.
Apple decided to kill MobileMe last year with its introduction of iCloud. MobileMe users had until today to migrate all their stuff to iCloud.

Apple to shut down iWork.com beta today, iCloud patiently awaits you

In the months leading up to this very moment, we've seen Apple introduce a full set of new MacBook Airs and an extremely high-res Pro of its own -- but today the company's taking a slightly different route, shutting down its doc-sharing iWork.com for good. Not all is lost, however, as this a natural move from the Cupertino outfit to make an expected transition to a more iCloud-heavy ecosystem -- a place where you'll essentially be able to accomplish similar things. The good news is you still have the rest of the day to clean out your invisible locker and save your must-have documents, and in case you need help with that, Apple's support page (linked below) will fill you in on all those step-by-steps.