Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts
Thursday, November 8, 2018
How to Upgrade RAM on 2018 Mac mini in 11 Easy Steps
Thursday, November 1, 2018
iPhones and Apple Watches Are Allergic to Helium
A system administrator at Morris Hospital in Illinois has discovered that helium (yes, helium the gas) can make iPhones and Apple Watch act funny and kill them completely as well. However, for a very strange reason, Android devices are immune to any side effects from helium.
On October 8, when a new MRI machine was being installed at the Morris Hospital, Eric Woolridge, the system administrator, was flooded with phone calls about iPhones owned by the medical staff facility not working properly for no clear reason whatsoever.
Initially, Woolridge thought it was due to an EMP pulse generated by the new MRI machine being installed. However, since other computers and devices were not affected, this theory was ruled out.
Around 40 Apple products including iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watch were affected and acted strangely They would not connect to the mobile network properly and had issues while charging as well. And there were plenty of other units that simply refused to start.
As it turns out, the issue was caused by a helium leak. During the MRI installation, the giant magnet inside the machine needs to be cooled using liquid helium. Once it turns gaseous, the helium was to make its way out the facility using an exhaust vent. On that day, however, the vent ended up leaking about 120 liters of helium from the MRI room to other parts of the hospital.
After some interesting discussion on Reddit, Woolridge confirmed the theory by placing an iPhone 8 Plus in a sealed bag with helium. And rightfully so, the iPhone stopped working after about 8 minutes.
So why helium is wreaking havoc with iPhones and other Apple products? As Redditor ‘captaincool’ explains, it is due to the less than perfect hermetic seals.
It’s definitely the helium.
The processor in a modern, high volume device typically has its main clock driven by what’s known as a MEMS oscillator. These are barely visible mechanical systems that resonate at some designed frequency, and include packaging to convert this resonance into a useful electrical clock signal. These devices are extraordinarily cheap ways to produce a steady clock, but they have a number of drawbacks. Most relevant, in order for these types of devices to function properly, the mechanical resonator must be inside a tiny hermetically sealed chamber with either a controlled gas inside or a vacuum, as the gas composition in the chamber can affect the output frequency.
For both cost and physics reasons, these hermetic seals are not perfect, and are somewhat commonly permeable to small atomic gasses such as helium.
And why only Apple devices are affected and not Android devices? There’s another technical reasoning behind that.
For this specific case, Apple devices probably share a common family of MEMS resonator to reduce manufacturing costs. This clock likely leaks in helium rich atmospheres, pushing the output frequency outside of the bounds that the main processors are designed to handle, rendering them non-functional. If left idle long enough, the devices may begin to function again, but depending on the concentration of helium which leaked in, this could take anywhere from weeks to years to occur in natural atmosphere and temperatures.
In fact, Apple even mentions this in its user guide for the iPhone and Apple Watch.
Exposing iPhone to environments having high concentrations of industrial chemicals, including near evaporating liquified gasses such as helium, may damage or impair iPhone functionality.
While unlikely, now you know that you should keep your iPhone or Apple Watch away from helium at all costs.
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Apple Will Stop Reporting iPhone, Mac, and iPad Unit Sales From Next Quarter
Apple has been reporting unit sales for its three biggest categories for years, but that will be coming to an end.
During the earnings call today, following the public earnings report for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2018, Apple confirmed that it will stop reporting unit sales starting in the first fiscal quarter of 2019. That will mark the start of Apple’s new financial year, so it looks like that will be the new precedent moving forward.
Part of the reasoning, according to Apple’s Chief Financial Officer, Luca Maestri, is due to the fact that “number of units sold in quarter is not representative of underlying state of business”. That determination has led Apple to decide to stop reporting unit sales for the three biggest revenue drives.
That is a huge shift on Apple’s part, especially in relation to the Wall Street investors who use these metrics to make assessments moving forward. It also marks, more than likely, a bigger focus on its Services category. Which would not be surprising, considering that particular category just marked itself its all time high of $10 billion in quarterly revenue all on its own.
Like this post? Share it!Apple Announces Q4 2018 Revenue of $62.9 Billion With 46.89m iPhones, 9.69m iPads, and 5.3m Macs
Following along with its yearly routine, Apple today announced it latest quarterly earnings.
Apple has officially announced its third quarter results of 2018. These follow the strong results from the third quarter, and see millions more iPhones, iPads, and Macs sold to the masses. Here’s how it all breaks down:
Apple sold 46.89 million iPhones in the fourth fiscal quarter of this year, along with 9.69 million iPads. Meanwhile, Apple also sold 5.3 million Macs in the same stretch of time.
In total, the company earned $62.9 billion in total revenue in the quarter, and $14.12 billion in total profit.
“Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2018 fourth quarter ended September 29, 2018. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $62.9 billion, an increase of 20 percent from the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.91, up 41 percent. International sales accounted for 61 percent of the quarter’s revenue.”
As is par for the course, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, praised the strong quarter:
“We’re thrilled to report another record-breaking quarter that caps a tremendous fiscal 2018, the year in which we shipped our 2 billionth iOS device, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the App Store and achieved the strongest revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Over the past two months, we’ve delivered huge advancements for our customers through new versions of iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Mac as well as our four operating systems, and we enter the holiday season with our strongest lineup of products and services ever.”
Apple’s Chief Financial Officer, Luca Maestri, also chimed in:
“We concluded a record year with our best September quarter ever, growing double digits in every geographic segment. We set September quarter revenue records for iPhone and Wearables and all-time quarterly records for Services and Mac,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We generated $19.5 billion in operating cash flow and returned over $23 billion to shareholders in dividends and share repurchases in the September quarter, bringing total capital returned in fiscal 2018 to almost $90 billion.”
To compare year-over-year, Apple earned $52.6 billion in revenue, on the back of 46.7 million iPhones, 10.3 million iPads, and 5.4 million Macs sold in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Finally, Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2018 fourth quarter:
- revenue between $89 billion and $93 billion
- gross margin between 38 percent and 38.5 percent
- operating expenses between $8.7 billion and $8.8 billion
- other income/(expense) of $300 million
- tax rate of approximately 16.5 percent before discrete items
[via Apple]
Like this post? Share it!Wednesday, October 31, 2018
iPad Pro’s A12X Bionic Beats Intel Core i7 Chip From Last Year in Geekbench
Apple unveiled the iPad Pro earlier this week with its new A12X Bionic chipset. Based on the A12 Bionic chip found inside the iPhone XS and iPhone XR, the A12X Bionic chip features an 8-core CPU and a 7-core GPU to handle extreme multitasking load.
Apple claims the new iPad Pro is faster than 92 percent PCs out there. And if the Geekbench score of the A12X Bionic chip is anything to go by, it looks like Apple was not bluffing.
In single-core benchmarks, the A12X Bionic scores 5020 which is slightly higher than what the A12 Bionic chip inside the iPhone XS and iPhone XR manages. However, its the multi-core score where the A12X Bionic really flexes its muscles, with a score of 18,000+. This makes it significantly faster than the A12 Bionic which scores around 11,000 points.
That’s slightly slower than the Coffee Lake Core i7-8850H chip (19752 points) which powers the 2018 MacBook Pro but faster than most Core i7 desktop chips released in the last few years. For comparison, a Core i7-4770K scores around 15,000 points in Geekbench’s multi-core benchmark. A 15-inch MacBook Pro from 2017 featuring Intel’s Core i7 chip manages a multi-core score of 15731.
The benchmark scores show what a beast the iPad Pro is in terms of performance. No wonder then that Apple and Adobe were able to show a full-fledged version of Photoshop running on the iPad Pro at the launch event without any hiccups.
Given the performance improvements that Apple is able to eek out from its A-series chips every year, it does seem plausible that we will see Apple release a Mac with an A-series chip within the next couple of years.
Like this post? Share it!Apple in Talks to Acquire Stake in iHeartMedia
Apple has reportedly held talks to acquire a stake in iHeartMedia. The talks are still in the preliminary stage, with no word on when and if the deal will be finalized.
iHeartMedia is hoping that Apple will take an equity stake in its business worth millions of dollars. The original report from Financial Times says that the deal could lead to a multi-million dollar partnership between the two companies rather than Apple making a direct investment.
iHeartMedia filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in March this year. Apple could use a partnership with iHeartMedia to further boost the presence of Apple Music and improve its content discovery.
Since the talks between both companies are still in preliminary stages, there’s always a possibility that it could fall through or take a completely different path with Apple acquiring iHeartMedia.
Apple started its music streaming service after acquiring Beats for $3.2 billion in 2014. More recently, Apple completed its acquisition of music discovery app Shazam.
[Via Reuters]
Like this post? Share it!Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Download New iPad Pro Wallpapers
The new iPad Pro lineup from Apple comes with gorgeous 11-inch and 12.9-inch Liquid Retina displays. To go along with the beautiful displays, Apple has bundled some colorful new wallpapers on its new devices as well.
While the new iPad Pro is yet to hit the retail stores, the new wallpapers from the devices have been made available to download online.
In total, there are 8 high-resolution and colorful wallpapers which will look gorgeous not just on your existing iPad but also on your Mac and iPhone — particularly the iPhone X or iPhone XS. These wallpapers are a part of the iOS 12.1 update and have been extracted from there in their high-resolution glory.
If you like the wallpapers that you see above, download an archive containing all of them in their high-resolution glory from below.
➤ Download
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Today At Apple Continues to Expand, Adding 60 New Sessions and More
Apple’s event in Brooklyn saw the unveiling of the new MacBook Air with its Retina display, the new 11- and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models, and the new Apple Pencil that charges wirelessly. But the company also had a bit to go over in regards to its retail initiative called Today At Apple.
It has been over a year since Apple launched its in-store Today At Apple sessions, which also include more in-depth programs like going on walks near the retail location, or Labs that go into even more detail for Apple customers that want to learn the intricacies of apps, features of their Apple products, or even things like taking photos with the iPhone or drawing on the iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil.
Since its launch 18 months ago, Today At Apple has hosted over 18,000 sessions across the globe. Just recently, in light of a coding initiative in Europe, Apple hosted over 2,000 sessions in that region. Today At Apple also includes local talent sessions, where it brings artists from a local area to come in and talk about their art, their process, and how Apple customers can follow along with their own artistic endeavors.
Apple today announced that on top of what it is already doing, Today At Apple will be adding 60 new sessions to the mix. That will see the already popular video, music, and design sessions expanding in major ways. Video Lab will show off the Clips app, the Photo Lab will show off the power of Portrait Mode. Design Lab will teach architectural principles.
Video Lab in Color and Mood in Final Cut Pro will teach how to use colors to enhance a scene in a movie. Advanced Beat Making will sample audio, design sounds and program different styles and beats.
Tim Cook also added that there are over 70,000 team members working at Apple Retail stores across the globe.
Like this post? Share it!Monday, October 29, 2018
Apple Pencil 2 Could Feature Gesture Support, Solid State Button
It looks like Apple might also unveil the Apple Pencil 2 alongside its 2018 iPad Pro lineup at its October 30 event. As per some code and properties referenced in iOS 12, the Apple Pencil 2 will carry the model number B332 and have support for gestures.
The gesture support will allow designers to change the stroke properties by simply sliding their finger across the sides of the pencil. The information was first posted on Twitter by developer Guilherme Rambo and it was further corroborated by developer Steve Troughton-Smith.
Apple Pencil 2, model B332, will support gestures. The user will be able to change stroke properties by sliding along the sides of the pencil.
— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) October 28, 2018
The way I figure, the new Pencil will have a button of some sort on the side that when you hold down you can perform gestures with the Pencil — tap, double tap, or swipe. A solid state button sounds very Apple-y. Devs could perhaps use for radial contextual menus
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) October 28, 2018
However, the latter says the Apple Pencil 2 will have a small button — possibly a solid state one like the Home button on the iPhone 7/8 — on its side which would act as a trigger to enable the gestures. The button can also be used inside apps to show contextual menus and provide designers with quick access to the tools they need.
While not mentioned, the Apple Pencil 2 should be compatible with existing iPad Pro lineup as well. There have not been many leaks surrounding the Apple Pencil 2, though one rumor back in 2017 did claim that it would come with magnets so that it can attach itself magnetically to an iPad.
The original Apple Pencil was released back in 2015 so it is certainly due for an upgrade. Are you looking forward to Apple Pencil 2? Or do you think the changes are too small to warrant an upgrade?
Like this post? Share it!Saturday, October 27, 2018
Apple Owns Qualcomm $7 Billion in Royalty Payments
Qualcomm and Apple are engulfed in a major legal battle since last year which has seen the latter stop all royalty payments to the San Diego chipmaker. Now, Qualcomm says that Apple owes it $7 billion in royalties since it first stopped making payments to it.
Qualcomm’s lawyer says that by withholding their payments, Apple is trying to destroy the chip maker’s business. It has asked the court to drop 56 patent-related claims from the lawsuit.
“They’re trying to destroy our business,” Qualcomm lawyer Evan Chesler said at a hearing Friday in federal court in San Diego. “They’re now $7 billion dollars behind in royalties. The house is on fire and there is $7 billion of property damage right now.”
Apple has used its power to stop royalty payments to not just Qualcomm but has also asked its suppliers to stop paying money to the chipmaker. This has put Qualcomm in a troubled spot as Apple and its suppliers are one of its largest customers. The battle between the two companies has seen Apple completely switch to Intel modems for its 2018 iPhone lineup.
Apple has accused Qualcomm of unfair business practices while Qualcomm is accusing the former of patent infringement. It has even gone so far ahead to claim that Apple shared its confidential modem source code with that of Intel to help improve its modem development.
[Via Bloomberg]
Like this post? Share it!Friday, October 26, 2018
How Haptic Touch Works on the iPhone XR
The iPhone XR went on sale in over 40+ markets from today. At $749, the iPhone XR is a few hundred dollars cheaper than the iPhone XS while still offering almost all the features the latter offers. However, to reach its lower price point, Apple has had to make a few compromises which include the switch to an LCD display and ditching 3D Touch for Haptic Touch.
Apple had first debuted 3D Touch with the iPhone 6s back in 2014. Back then, Apple claimed the technology would be as revolutionary as multi-touch, though that obviously did not happen. Nonetheless, 3D Touch is definitely useful as it allows for the display to detect the amount of pressure being applied and show contextual menus depending on it.
On the iPhone XR though, since 3D Touch is absent, things work a bit differently. Read below to know more about how Haptic Touch on the iPhone XR works.
How Haptic Touch Works
In a nutshell, Haptic Touch is a long press which is complemented by a feedback from the Taptic Engine. Apple’s Taptic engine is among the best in the business and the company is using feedback from it to essentially market a long press as Haptic Touch.
Since Haptic Touch is a long press, it is highly limited in nature when compared to 3D Touch. And while Apple says it is similar to 3D Touch, it simply does not work in most areas where the latter does. Haptic Touch is also slightly slower to trigger than 3D Touch. If you have used 3D Touch previously, this will be immediately obvious to you.
If you are coming from an iPhone which features 3D Touch, the feedback you get when you trigger Haptic Touch will be the same as that of 3D Touch. It is also relatively easy to get used to Haptic Touch, though it is its limited usefulness right now which might disappoint many.
Where It Works
Right out of the box, Haptic Touch works with the flashlight and camera shortcuts on the lock screen. You can ‘Haptic Touch’ the shortcuts to trigger them. It also works in the Control Center to access more options for certain toggles. Additionally, you can still long press on a notification to preview its content but there’s no Peek and Pop.
Where It Does Not Work
Since Haptic Touch is a long press, it simply does not work where a long press is already assigned to an action. So, on the Home Screen, you cannot Haptic Touch an app shortcut to bring up Quick Actions since that gesture is already assigned to rearranging the icons.
There’s no Peek and Pop as well so you cannot preview links in Safari by 3D Touch/deep pressing them. This also means you won’t be able to ‘peek’ into your messages and emails so tricks like these won’t work.
Similarly, the trackpad mode on the iOS 12 keyboard will not work due to the lack of 3D Touch. However, Apple has added an alternative with iOS 12: you can simply long press and swipe your finger on the spacebar to move the cursor around. And to highlight a word, you will have to tap on the screen using a second finger which is definitely not as convenient.
On the bright side, Apple is working on adding Haptic Touch support to more areas of iOS 12.
Conclusion
Overall, Haptic Touch is a decent replacement to 3D Touch but it is not a perfect one. It is definitely not as useful as 3D Touch, though Apple can always change that by adding Haptic Touch support to more areas of iOS 12.
What are your thoughts about Haptic Touch on the iPhone XR? Do you think its a decent replacement to 3D Touch? Or do you miss the feature?
Like this post? Share it!Thursday, October 25, 2018
New DRM Rules Allow You to Unlock iPhones
The US Copyright Office has made some major changes to the legal exemption to the DMCA which makes it legal to unlock new phones, gives one the right to jailbreak and modify their voice-assistant devices, and allow third-parties to jailbreak or modify your voice assistant devices.
Most companies have prevented tinkerers and hackers from modifying their voice-assistant devices or unlocking their smartphone by citing section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). However, once every three years, citizens can petition for certain exemptions under this section.
As iFixit’s Kyle Weins highlights in his post, the new DMCA ruling which comes into effect from October 28th makes lives easier for hackers and tinkers. Below are all the notable changes:
- All voice-assistant devices powered by Alexa, Google Assistant, or any other assistant can now be jailbroken.
- It is now legal to unlock your new phone. Previously, the law only allowed for used phones to be unlocked.
- It is now legal to get your devices repaired from third-party services.
- Home appliances and devices abandoned or bricked by OEMs can now be fixed by users.
- It is now perfectly legal to repair cars, tractors, and other motorized vehicles via software modifications.
It was not a perfect victory though.
- It is still illegal to get your game console like PS4 or Xbox One repaired from third-party services.
- Software modifications on products other than smartphones, motorized land vehicles still cannot be modified.
- HDCP protection cannot be bypassed.
It is definitely a big win for the gadget repair community as they would now be able to get their new smartphones unlocked and modify their voice-assistant devices to their liking.
[Via iFixit]
Like this post? Share it!iPhone XR Now on Sale in Select Markets
The iPhone XR went up for preorder on Friday, October 19 across the globe. And now that October 26 has rolled around in select markets, Apple’s newest colorful iPhone is now on sale.
The iPhone XR is not yet on sale in the United States — that will happen at 8:00 AM Eastern Time. However, the handset has gone on sale in markets like New Zealand, Australia, Taipei, Japan, and others. We published a quick post showcasing folks who were able to get their preordered devices already, seeing the red, yellow, blue, and black versions of the iPhone XR out in the wild on launch day in those markets:
They’re so colourful 😎 #iPhoneXR pic.twitter.com/DEC3hlrOwP
— Michael Topschij 🤓 (@MichaelTopschij) October 25, 2018
Here’s where the iPhone XR will go on sale today (October 26), which includes over 50 countries:
Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the UAE, UK, US and US Virgin Islands.
The iPhone XR shares plenty of features with the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. That includes the iPhone X-style design, the notch, the TrueDepth Camera system, support for Face ID, the A12 Bionic processor under the hood, and the single 12-megapixel camera on the back. The XR’s display is a 6.1-inch Liquid Retina LCD display, though.
If you preordered your iPhone XR, which model are you receiving today? Or were you waiting to pick one up on launch day? Let us know in the comments why you went with the iPhone XR over the iPhone XS or XS Max!
Like this post? Share it!First iPhone XR Preorders Start Arriving for Customers
The iPhone XR went up for preorder last Friday, and here we are almost a week later (or a week later in some parts of the world) and initial preorders are starting to arrive for some customers.
As is par for the course, customers who preordered the newest iPhone are now starting to receive the handset in New Zealand and Australia. Folks are starting to share the new devices in photos and videos, shared to Twitter and Instagram. We get to see the colorful options out there in the wild, including yellow, blue, red, and black:
They’re so colourful 😎 #iPhoneXR pic.twitter.com/DEC3hlrOwP
— Michael Topschij 🤓 (@MichaelTopschij) October 25, 2018
Apple Stores opened at 8:00 AM local time, and the same can be said for other retailers that are carrying Apple’s less expensive, more colorful smartphone. The same can be said for stores in the United States, which will start on Friday, at 8:00 AM local time, beginning on the East coast.
If you already have your iPhone XR in hand, let us know in the comments what you think of it!
Like this post? Share it!Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Apple Fined €10M By Italian Anti-Trust Watchdog For Throttling iPhones and Unclear Battery Replacement Process
Apple has been fined 5 million euros by Italy’s anti-trust watchdog for slowing down iPhones via software updates. Plus, it was slapped an additional fine of 5 million euros for not providing its customers with clear information on how to go about replacing their old iPhone’s battery under its discounted replacement program.
Alongside Apple, Samsung was also fined €5M for slowing down its devices or crippling their features with software updates.
The anti-trust body had received complaints from many consumer groups in Italy about their devices being slowed down with software updates thereby pushing them to buy a new smartphone.
The anti-trust body said in a statement that some Apple and Samsung firmware updates “had caused serious dysfunctions and reduced performance significantly, thereby accelerating the process of replacing them”.
It added the two firms had not provided clients adequate information about the impact of the new software “or any means of restoring the original functionality of the products”.
Apple came under fire late last year when it revealed that it intentionally throttled older iPhones due to their degrading battery performance. This led to the company being the subject of numerous lawsuits and irked a huge section of its customers. To pacify them, Apple launched a discounted battery replacement program where it allowed customers to replace batteries of their old iPhone for only $29.
Samsung and other OEMs had clarified back then that they did not slow down their devices using software updates due to their degrading battery. However, the Italian anti-trust body has fined Samsung for the same. This is the first time the Korean company has been slapped a fine for allegedly throttling its devices.
[Via Reuters]
Like this post? Share it!Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Apple Highlights Positive Reviews for the iPhone XR
The reviews came in for the iPhone XR earlier today, and the general consensus appears to be that this is the iPhone model that will be more than good enough for most people out there in the wild.
That said, the reviews are generally positive, and, just as the company did for the reviews for the Apple Watch Series 4 and the iPhone XS (and iPhone XS Max), Apple is now promoting some of the reviews it has seen for the colorful iPhone XR. Apple promotes the “a no-brainer upgrade” right out of the gate from The Verge‘s review, but also uses a variety of quotes from the likes of TechCrunch, The Independent, Engadget, and others.
“Reviewers around the world have put iPhone XR through its paces and are sharing their impressions of the newest member of the iPhone family. That includes everything from its 6.1-inch Liquid Retina display, advanced camera system that creates dramatic portraits using a single camera lens, all-day battery life and six beautiful finishes; white, black, blue, yellow, coral and (PRODUCT)RED.”
Apple links directly to 13 different reviews for the brand new smartphone. We’re not going to include all of those (we’ve already published a review roundup, after all), but we will link to a few that we didn’t include in our initial roundup.
So, here we go, with Apple’s highlights included:
“The colors are stunning, battery life is great, Face ID is still industry-leading technology, iOS gestures are intuitive, the camera is superb, and performance is fantastic. This is the iPhone to buy.”
“Dollar for dollar, the [iPhone] XR is almost certainly the best iPhone Apple has ever made.”
“The iPhone XR is the Goldilocks of iPhones with a big screen, fantastic cameras, and future-proof power.”
“Even though the [iPhone] XR is Apple’s mid-range iPhone, the feel is very much that of a piece of nicely crafted jewelry. It’s weighty, with a gorgeous 7-layer color process laminating the back of the rear glass, giving it a depth and sparkle that’s just unmatched in consumer electronics.”
Apple’s highlighting the positive remarks on its newest iPhone, but that looks pretty easy considering the handset is getting praised left and right. Of course, some folks might not approve of the single camera on the back, or the use of the “Liquid Retina” LCD display, but if you prefer dual rear cameras and an OLED display, that’s where the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max have you covered.
If you ordered an iPhone XR, which model did you go with?
[via Apple]
Like this post? Share it!Apple Currently Facing iCloud Issues Across Several Services
It has been a bit of time since some kind of outage hit iCloud services, but here we are just before October wraps up and the company is seeing several yellow lights across its services page.
The issue actually started earlier this morning, with Apple pinpointing the intermittent service starting at 8:51 AM. According to Apple’s service pages, the issue is ongoing for several different iCloud-backed services, including iCloud Account Sign-In, iCloud Contacts, iCloud Mail, iCloud Notes, iCloud Drive, iCloud Keychain, Mail Drop, iWork for iCloud, Back to my Mac, and many others. Apple says some users may be affected by the intermittent issues, but, as usual, doesn’t say just how widespread the issue might be.
Apple’s status page has this to say about the issues:
“Users may be experiencing slower than normal performance with this service.”
At the time of publication, 19 of Apple’s iCloud-based services are seeing intermittent issues. However, services like iMessage, News, Maps Traffic (and Search, and Routing & Navigation), iTunes U, Apple ID, Apple Music, the App Store, and Apple Pay, among many others, are still working just fine according to Apple’s status page.
Apple does not say when the issues might stop or get fixed. Considering they have already been going for several hours now, though, one hopes that Apple has a fix coming sooner rather than later.
Are you running into any issues with these iCloud services?
[via Apple]
Like this post? Share it!Friday, October 12, 2018
Apple Pens Seven-Page Letter to Fight Against ‘Dangerously Ambiguous’ Anti-Encryption Bill in Australia
Right now in Australia, a potential bill would require tech companies to provide “critical assistance” to various agencies that are investigating crimes.
The bill in its current state leaves a lot to be desired in the eyes of companies like Apple, who considers it “dangerously ambiguous” and rallies against the very idea of encryption. Apple, of course, relies on encryption and personal device security as a major tentpole feature for its products, especially iOS devices. The Australian government, however, says encryption methods “are increasingly being used by terrorist groups and organized criminals to avoid detection and disruption”, and, as a result, wants to temper the implementation moving forward.
TechCrunch reports that Apple has made it very clear it opposes the current bill, penning a seven page letter to the Australian parliament to present its opposition:
“We appreciate the government’s outreach to Apple and other companies during the drafting of this bill,” the letter read. “While we are pleased that some of the suggestions incorporated improve the legislation, the unfortunate fact is that the draft legislation remains dangerously ambiguous with respect to encryption and security.”
“This is no time to weaken encryption,” it read. “Rather than serving the interests of Australian law enforcement, it will just weaken the security and privacy of regular customers while pushing criminals further off the grid.””
Apple has six specific points it touches on in the letter, which is source linked at the bottom of this article. Apple’s arguments include the bill’s potential violation of international agreements, that the bill may harm “user trust”, and that it could potentially weaken cybersecurity in general. Apple also echoes that security experts have made it clear that a “backdoor” in software, even built specifically for law enforcement, would not be immune to hackers looking to exploit the opening.
“For instance, the bill could allow the government to order the makers of smart home speakers to install persistent eavesdropping capabilities into a person’s home, require a provider to monitor the health data of its customers for indications of drug use, or require the development of a tool that can unlock a particular user’s device regardless of whether such tool could be used to unlock every other user’s device as well,” the letter said.”
Apple is a staunch supporter of encryption, and has even gone up against the Federal Bureau of Investigation over it. In that case, Apple also argued that any changes it could make to facilitate the FBI’s needs for software access would also make it possible for hackers to reach the same end result.
This is a battle that Apple is not going to give up on, even internationally. Whether or not it will have any affect on the Australian government’s future decision remains to be seen, though.
[via TechCrunch; Apple; AGDHA]
Like this post? Share it!Thursday, October 11, 2018
iOS 12 is Now Installed on 50% of Devices
Apple launched iOS 12 to the public back in September, and now, a little less than a month later, the software is installed on more than half of Apple’s devices out in the wild.
Apple officially updated its own developer support page to show that its latest version for the mobile operating system passed a major milestone recently, as of October 1, in fact. According to the company, iOS 12 is now installed on 50 percent of “all devices” out there in the wild. In this pie chart we can see that iOS 11 is still on 39% of devices, while earlier versions of the mobile OS sit at 11%.
In a separate chart, Apple shows that the percentage of “devices introduced in the last four years” that have updated to iOS 12 is sitting at 53%. That means 40% of devices in this category are running iOS 11, while only 7 percent are using even earlier versions of the OS. In each case, the numbers were put together through data compiled on October 10, so it’s pretty current.
The last time we took note of iOS 12’s adoption rate was 48 hours after its launch, last month. At the time, the mobile OS was only installed on 10% of devices out in the wild, indicating a relatively slow adoption rate. However, less than a month later and devices out in the wild are now predominantly using Apple’s latest version of iOS, which is still a feather in Apple’s cap.
To this point, Apple has publicly released one minor update to the platform, with iOS 12.0.1 launching last week. Apple is currently testing the next big update to the mobile OS, with iOS 12.1 in its beta stages right now.
Have you update all of your iOS devices, the ones that support iOS 12 at least, to the newest version of the mobile OS?
[via Apple]
Like this post? Share it!Friday, October 5, 2018
Apple Celebrates EU Code Week With Free Coding Sessions in European Apple Stores
Learning how to code is a worldwide phenomenon, and Apple has worked to be at the forefront of getting people started with the effort for years now.
That is definitely still the case in 2018, and now the company is celebrating the European Union’s “Code Week”, which starts on Saturday, October 6, and runs until Sunday, October 21 (which is decidedly longer than just a week). During that stretch of time, Apple will be hosting over 2,000 coding sessions at its retail stores throughout Europe.
“Apple today announced it will offer over 2,000 free coding sessions during EU Code Week, running October 6-21, with at least one free session every day in every Apple store throughout Europe. Coding sessions are open to all, and are designed to inspire and help people of all ages and skill levels learn to code with hands-on interactive experiences. Sessions include How To: Get Started with Coding, Teacher Tuesdays: App Design & Coding Basics and Kids Hour: Sphero Maze Challenge.”
Apple typically hosts coding sessions and workshops year-round, so these classes are just an additional benefit in light of Code Week. As is par for the course, these lessons are designed for just about everyone, from young to old, all in an effort to get more people to code and build the things they want to see in the world. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, weighed in on the announcement:
“Coding is a critical skill that gives people of all ages the chance to create and share their ideas with the world,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Apple has long believed coding is the language of the future, and we’ve created a range of tools to make it fun and accessible for everyone. We’re thrilled to offer thousands of sessions in Apple stores for EU Code Week, and can’t wait to share our love for coding with young people and educators across Europe.”
Apple has also created new lesson plans and more for EU’s Code Week within its “Everyone Can Code” curriculum, which is a tool for individuals to learn Apple’s own Swift coding language.
“…Incredible Code Machine, a new Swift Playgrounds challenge, is designed for entry-level coders, while more experienced developers can test their skills on an App Development with Swift challenge or a Swift challenge in Xcode.”
If you are in Europe during Code Week and want to check out one of these sessions, just check out the Code Week website, or from Apple’s main page.
[via Apple]
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