Jason Snell is out with this year’s Six Colors Apple report card, and it indicates that industry commentators saw a dramatic improvement in Apple software quality in the course of 2020. Unsurprisingly, the single biggest win for Apple was seen as the M1 Macs, but software quality saw the second biggest positive shift… Snell invites a selection of Apple commentators to score Apple on a five-point scale for each of the following:...
For people mourning the loss of a desktop iTunes client to store their app library or check the best-selling app charts, there is some hope. It has been noticed on Reddit that Apple offers a special version of iTunes, iTunes 12.6.3, which retains the features that were abruptly removed in iTunes 12.7. Apple positions this build as necessary for some businesses performing internal app deployments but it is available to download by anyone....
Following last month’s release of iOS 12.2, Apple today has officially stopped signing iOS 12.1.4. This means it is no longer possible to downgrade from iOS 12.2 to the previous version of iOS. Apple generally stops signing older releases of iOS within a few weeks of releasing an update to the public. iOS 12.2 was officially released on March 25th in conjunction with Apple’s “It’s show time” event at Steve Jobs Theater....
Apple is beginning to prepare for the upcoming holiday shopping season by putting the final touches on several retail locations and reinventing the way their visitors buy Apple gear. Most notable is opening up a flagship store in New York’s iconic Grand Central Station. Why is Grand Central such a big deal, especially when there are already Apple Stores in New York in affluent neighborhoods? Here are some quick facts on Grand Central:...
After receiving a Golden Globe award last week and two Critics Choice awards yesterday, the Apple TV+ comedy show Ted Lasso has been nominated for the 73rd annual DGA Awards, which choose the best TV shows, commercials, and documentaries. As reported by Deadline, Ted Lasso is competing with The Flight Attendant and Curb Your Enthusiasm in the “Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series” category at the DGA Awards this year. The winners will be announced on April 10 at a virtual event....
After adding the Watch ABC app to Apple TV late last year, today ABC News arrives as its own channel on the device offering users access to a lot of the network’s content free of charge. While the WatchABC app provides full TV shows from the network and requires a cable subscription, the new ABC News app offers mostly news, clips of new shows as well as the same live stream that is also accessible from ABCNews....
The new Apple TV is slated to go on sale in retail stores this coming Friday after going up online earlier this week, and now early reviews of the device have hit the web. The new Apple TV includes a variety of enhancements, feature additions, and more, including a smarter Siri, a new remote, a redesigned interface, and an App Store. But how do all of these new features add to the overall experience of the device?...
Whether you’re new to Apple Watch, or just enjoy having the official user guide from Apple as a reference, having it on hand can be useful for yourself in addition to helping others. Aside from being the official guide from Apple, it is updated over time as the company releases new software and changes come to Apple Watch. Another big benefit is that the Apple Books guide is quickly searchable....
Apple’s second beta of watchOS 4 is rolling out to developers. The new operating system brings a number of changes across the platform including an app list navigation, and new text UIs throughout. We’ve gone in-depth with over 50 of the changes watchOS 4 brings. watchOS 4 is Apple’s latest upcoming operating system for its wearable. While the changes may not be as drastic as iOS 11’s, the new enhancements are welcome updates....
November will see the arrival of another contender, as Apple is finally launching the Apple TV+ streaming service, one of the worst-kept secrets in the entertainment industry. Rumored for years, it will launch at last just days ahead of Disney+. Unlike the other streaming platforms, Apple TV+ - which will be available inside the Apple TV app on a wide range of devices - will depend entirely upon original programming. Content will include educational shows such as Helpsters, sci-fi dramas like Jason Momoa’s See), a Ghostwriter reboot, and the adaptation of Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story....
Apple has today shared a neat behind the scenes look at how it made the latest iPad Pro ads, which were completely made on iPad Pro. That includes filming, editing, animation, and even music composition. Apple released the new behind the scenes video on its YouTube channel. It takes a look at how the company created the “made with iPad Pro” series. The latest series helps users think about using the iPad Pro in new or different ways with ads like “A new way to go paperless with iPad Pro,” “A new way to create a presentation with iPad Pro,” “A new way to design your space with iPad Pro,” and more....
The Apple Store is down for what is most likely Apple’s last product event of the year. At 10 AM PT, Tim Cook and team will take to the virtual pre-recorded stage to announce the first Apple Silicon Macs. As previewed at WWDC in June, Apple is embarking on a transition to move from Intel-based Macs to ARM architecture using chips of its own design, just like how it designs the A-series processors in iPhones and iPads....
The online Apple Store in the UK, Germany, US and likely other countries suffered some partial outages when the Content Delivery Network (CDN) system failed, resulting in missing images and page design elements. A CDN is a network of local servers distributed around the world which are used to serve static elements of a website. Instead of a single server in California delivering a photo to a website visitor in Germany, for example, the main website sends an instruction to a German server to display the photo....
Ahead of the iPhone 5s launch tomorrow morning in Apple Stores around the world at 8AM local time, Apple appears to be preparing for online orders with its websites for China, Hong Kong, Australia, and Singapore currently experiencing downtime. Orders from Apple’s online store are about to kick off in the coming hours in Australia, while China and Hong Kong opened up reservations for the device earlier this week and also plan 8am retail launches....
A report last month described problems caused by power outages in China, and a new one today describes Apple suppliers struggling to keep production on track. We previously described three reasons for the increasingly common electricity restrictions in the country … Nikkei Asia reports that the situation is worsening. The Chinese government is responding to dramatically increasing costs for coal and natural gas, both of which are used extensively in the country for electricity generation....
Apple has been ordered to pay $308.5 million to Personalized Media Communications after infringing on a patent related to digital rights management (DRM), reported Bloomberg. A federal jury in Marshall, Texas, decided on Friday that the company infringed PMC’s patent after a five-day trial. It all started back in 2015. PMC had sued Apple for allegedly infringing seven of its patents. Apple company successfully challenged the Personalized Media Communications case at the U....
After outbidding Netflix for the show in 2021, Apple TV+ is finally ordering Sugar to a new series. The genre-bending series stars Colin Farrell, who will also serve as executive producer. Alongside Farrell, X-Men’s Simon Kinberg, Invasion’s Audrey Chon, and The Guilty’s Scott Greenberg will executive produce as well. Oscar-nominee Fernando Meirelles of City of God will serve as director for the new Apple TV+ series. While the plot is unknown, Deadline reports Sugar will be a contemporary take on a Los Angeles-based private detective story....
Apple has just announced updated HomePod minis in three new color options: yellow, blue, and orange. They are priced at the same $99 and will be available next month. Apple will continue to offer the existing white and space gray color options as well. The new HomePod minis are functionally the same as last year’s but they have new color LEDs on the top. Apple currently has different colors on the white and space gray HomePods....
When people ask me what’s different about the new Apple Watch Series 4, my immediate answer is simply the design. There’s way more to Apple Watch Series 4 than its appearance, but the way it looks is arguably the one difference that anyone can appreciate. The design isn’t so different that Series 4 feels like something different than the Apple Watch on your wrist though. It’s absolutely the biggest external change to Apple Watch since the original, but I’ve encountered a number of existing Apple Watch users who can’t immediately pinpoint what’s different....
Apple is now promoting its upcoming special event on June 5 at 10 am PT with a landing page and a calendar entry on apple.com. Apple’s WWDC 2017 opening keynote, which Apple will live stream, will be the first major event the company has held since last fall after foregoing a spring event this year. Apple first announced WWDC 2017, which is being held in San Jose rather than San Francisco this year, earlier than usual back in February....
