Yesterday, 9to5Mac was alerted to a flaw in a third-party utility app for Instagram, called Exposure. The app helps brands connect with Instagram posters, automating the collection of agreements to use imagery for commercial purposes.

It just so happens that Apple was using this tool for its Shot on iPhone campaign. 9to5Mac contacted Apple to report the security issue. Following an investigation, a few hours later, Apple cut ties with the Exposure service.

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J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon called bitcoin a fraud in September 2017 and said, "You can't have a business where people can invent a currency out of thin air and think that people who are buying it are really smart." By January 2018 he had walked the remarks back but said he still was "not interested that much in the subject at all." In February 2018, J.P. Morgan called cryptocurrencies "risk factors" to its business, something it never previously said. And now J.P. Morgan has become the first U.S. bank to offer its own cryptocurrency. From a report: But don't expect it to become an investment vehicle -- at least for now. The cryptocurrency, called "JPM Coin," is intended for the bank's wholesale payments business that moves $6 trillion around the world daily. As long-time former banker and now cryptocurrency industry figure Alan Silbert said of Dimon in a January 2018 tweet, "Backpedaling is the first step in the program towards walking the path."

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This week Benjamin and Zac connect the steady stream of new reports on Apple’s upcoming subscription news and video services, including solid rumors of Apple’s next spring event, plus a look at the flood of hardware rumors this week including AirPower, AirPods 2, and much more.

9to5Mac Happy Hour is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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9to5Toys now has a new app! Download it to stay up to date on the best gear and deals on the web. Plus don’t forget to check us out on Apple News and sign up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

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Twinkl, a 3D and augmented reality focused software developer is offering over 100 models built on Apple’s ARKit Quick Look tech. The web-based models work with any Apple device running iOS 12 and are a fun and useful resource for young students.

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The legendary advertising executive has announced his retirement in a love note to the industry and to the the agency he spent his life working for.

As expected, Amazon said on Thursday that it was canceling plans to build a corporate campus in New York City. From a report: The company had planned to build a sprawling complex in Long Island City, Queens, in exchange for nearly $3 billion in state and city incentives. But the deal had run into fierce opposition from local lawmakers who criticized providing subsidies to one of the world's richest companies. Amazon said the deal would have created more than 25,000 jobs.

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The global internet is splitting in two. From a report: One side, championed in China, is a digital landscape where mobile payments have replaced cash. Smartphones are the devices that matter, and users can shop, chat, bank and surf the web with one app. The downsides: The government reigns absolute, and it is watching -- you may have to communicate with friends in code. And don't expect to access Google or Facebook. On the other side, in much of the world, the internet is open to all. Users can say what they want, mostly, and web developers can roll out pretty much anything. People accustomed to China's version complain this other internet can seem clunky. You must toggle among apps to chat, shop, bank and surf the web. Some websites still don't seem to be designed with smartphones in mind. The two zones are beginning to clash with the advent of the superfast new generation of mobile technology called 5G. China aims to be the biggest provider of gear underlying the networks, and along with that it is pushing client countries to adopt its approach to the web -- essentially urging some to use versions of the "Great Firewall" that Beijing uses to control its internet and contain the West's influence. Battles are popping up around the world as Chinese tech giants try to use their market power at home to expand abroad, something they've largely failed to do so far. Some Silicon Valley executives worry the divergence risks giving Chinese companies an advantage in new technologies such as artificial intelligence, partly because they face fewer restrictions over privacy and data protection. Further reading: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Predicts the Internet Will Split in Two By 2028 -- and One Part Will Be Led By China.

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Apple has had a number of iconic ad campaigns over the years. Now, the mastermind behind many of them, Lee Clow, has announced his retirement. During his highly successful career over five decades, he spent 30-years in a partnership with Apple.

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Would you like to add some bling to your ordinary AirPods? The magic of luxury AirPods cannot be overemphasized, but it comes at a steep price.

Pirates used Apple's enterprise developer certificates to put out hacked versions of some major apps, a report said Thursday. From the report: Illicit software distributors such as TutuApp, Panda Helper, AppValley and TweakBox have found ways to use digital certificates to get access to a program Apple introduced to let corporations distribute business apps to their employees without going through Apple's tightly controlled App Store. Using so-called enterprise developer certificates, these pirate operations are providing modified versions of popular apps to consumers, enabling them to stream music without ads and to circumvent fees and rules in games, depriving Apple and legitimate app makers of revenue. By doing so, the pirate app distributors are violating the rules of Apple's developer programs, which only allow apps to be distributed to the general public through the App Store. Downloading modified versions violates the terms of service of almost all major apps.

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It’s not often you can describe a story about an iPhone theft as kind of cute, but this one qualifies …

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An anonymous reader shares a report: It's a scientific coup to warm the heart of any superhero fan: the first documented sightings of a black panther in Africa in about 100 years [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source], not far from where Marvel places the fictional setting of its Oscar-nominated "Black Panther." A team from the Institute for Conservation Research of the San Diego Zoo Global and the Loisaba Conservancy in Kenya confirmed the existence of black leopards -- as the animals are also known -- in Laikipia County, an area north of Nairobi, Kenya's capital. "It is certain black panthers have been there all along, but good footage that could confirm it has always been absent until now," Nicholas Pilfold, a biologist at the San Diego institute, said in an Instagram post. "Black panthers are uncommon, only about 11 percent of leopards globally are black," he added. "But black panthers in Africa are extremely rare."

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Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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With iPhone revenue flat despite higher average selling prices, Apple is increasingly looking to Services to provide future revenue growth. It’s therefore not surprising that the company would be doing everything it can to maximize those revenues.

But if a WSJ report is correct, that Apple is seeking a 50% revenue cut for an upcoming subscription news service, the company could be shooting itself in the foot …

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Popular iPad and iPhone accessory maker UAG is out today with a new translucent case for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, 5th and 6th generation 9.7-inch iPads, and the iPad Air and Air 2. The new Plyo Series offers solid military-grade protection, an adjustable stand, a textured grip, Apple Pencil storage, and more.

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A group of programmers and device hackers are working to bring proper support for Ubuntu to Arm-powered Windows laptops, starting with first-generation Snapdragon 835 systems, like the HP Envy x2 and Asus NovaGo. From a report: The aarch64-laptops project provides prebuilt images for the aforementioned notebook PCs, as well as the Lenovo Miix 630. Although Ubuntu and other Linux distributions support aarch64 (ARMv8) by default, various obstacles including the design and configuration of Qualcomm Snapdragon processors make these default images not practically usable. The aarch64-laptops project developers are aiming to address these difficulties, though work is still ongoing. Presently, the TouchPad does not work properly on the Asus, with all three lacking proper support for on-board storage and Wi-Fi, which rely on UFS support. According to their documentation, this is being worked on upstream.

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Take advantage of this tremendously useful app to generate detailed reports about your heart's health and activity that can be easily shared with your doctor in a cinch.

A Dallas man was sentenced to eight years in prison on Wednesday after the authorities caught him with a partially 3-D-printed rifle and what federal prosecutors described as a hit list of lawmakers in his backpack. From a report: The man, Eric Gerard McGinnis, had been under a court order that prohibited him from possessing a firearm when he was discovered to have had the partially printed AR-15-style rifle in July 2017, according to a statement from the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas. Mr. McGinnis, 43, was charged with possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of ammunition by a prohibited person, prosecutors said. A jury later convicted him on both counts. Prosecutors said in their statement that police officers had arrested Mr. McGinnis after hearing three shots he had apparently fired in a wooded area just outside of Dallas. They also discovered a list in his backpack labeled "9/11/2001 list of American Terrorists." The list included the office and home addresses of "several federal lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican," the statement said. Prosecutors did not reveal the names on Mr. McGinnis's list, but at the sentencing hearing on Wednesday they disclosed that a forensic analysis of his electronic devices suggested that Mr. McGinnis "had a strong interest" in James T. Hodgkinson, the man who the authorities say shot and wounded Representative Steve Scalise and several others at a congressional baseball practice in June 2017.

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