Alex Heath - page 19

Vimeo launched a redesigned version of its Apple TV channel today that gives the popular video service a streamlined new interface.

Heavy Vimeo users should find it easier to get to their own collections and likes, while more causal users will benefit from a monthly “Staff Favorites” collection and additional content curation.

“We took our old menu, cut it down to the essentials, and put it at the top of the screen for easy access,” said Vimeo’s Brad Dougherty. “Discover awesome videos, keep up with your feed, tackle your Watch Later queue, and quickly get to your own videos, likes, and collections.”

Apple’s Tim Cook and Eddy Cue were invited yet again this year to the illustrious business conference put on by Allen & Company in Sun Valley, Idaho. Today they were spotted walking around and talking to reporters.

The tech and media world’s elites gather in the resort town of Sun Valley annually to discuss potential partnerships and deals behind closed doors. Think of it like a social mixer on steroids for the world’s most powerful business moguls. Everyone from Rupert Murdoch to the CEOs of Comcast and AT&T attend.

While casually strolling through the mountain resort today, both Cook and Cue fielded questions from eager journalists looking to get a juicy quote or scoop.

It’s hard to imagine the inventor of gangsta rap having an office in the spotless halls of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters. Dr. Dre managed to rise above the streets of Compton to become the self-proclaimed “first hip-hop billionaire” thanks to Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats.

While Dre is actually valued between $700-$800 million following the Beats sale, he is still an amazing success story. Not only did his hometown of Compton celebrate “Dre Day” for the first time this summer, but his incredible career is inspiring inner-city kids to dream big.

Two years after Apple replaced Google with its own Maps app in iOS 6, the last remnant of Google Maps in Apple’s ecosystem is getting the boot. Apple has begun switching to its own mapping service for the Find My iPhone web app on iCloud.com.

The change isn’t visible for everyone yet, but it can be seen from the beta version of iCloud.com where Apple tests upcoming features.

Apple has never had an official retail presence of any kind in the Middle East, until now. Thanks to a deal struck with Jarir Bookstore, Apple is directly providing its products in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Arabian government cleared Apple to operate in the country a couple of months ago. The agreement with Jarir will have Apple working with Saudi Arabia’s largest books and electronics retailer.

Steve Jobs was notorious for channeling all of Apple’s efforts into one product at time. In 2007, Apple had to issue a press release explaining that it was delaying the release of OS X Leopard to finish making the iPhone.

Google is on the opposite end of the spectrum. It’s always releasing new products, and many never see commercial success. In a recent interview, Google CEO Larry Page shared how Jobs used to tell him that Google was “doing too much” stuff at once, and why he didn’t listen.

Alongside the third beta of iOS 8, today Apple released a new developer preview of OS X Yosemite. The upcoming OS is still very much in the beta process, as Apple is continuing to make interface tweaks and add features.

The spotlight on Tim Cook isn’t going away anytime soon, especially when Apple has yet to unveil any of the new “product categories” he promised would come this year.

In a new profile by The Wall Street Journal, Cook’s efforts to shape and mature Apple are detailed, including the fact that he is “actively seeking” new members for the company’s board of directors.

Cook has been consistently bringing in fresh blood to help him lead Apple, like former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts. It makes sense for him to also expand Apple’s board, were the current leadership is very engrained in the history of Apple under Jobs’ leadership.

While Google and Samsung’s smart watches seem designed with function over form in mind, it looks like Apple’s iWatch will be more of a luxury fashion item. A key executive from TAG Heuer, a Swiss watch maker, has been hired by Apple to help market its upcoming wearable.

Along with this latest hire, Apple has been slowly building a team of fashion industry experts who will be instrumental in making the iWatch a commercial success.

Sunrise, one of the most popular third-party calendar apps for iOS and Android, released a Mac version today.

It looks a lot like the existing mobile app and has many of the same features, including the functionality that sets Sunrise apart: direct integration with services like Evernote and Facebook.

An alleged display panel for the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 has been shown off on video. Not only do you get a good idea of how the device will fit in the hand compared to the 5s, but the display reaffirms previous rumors about the device’s new design.

The Chinese media is affirming that Apple will unveil new iPhone hardware in September, although there’s confusion about exact dates.

It’s the iPhone’s battery life that gets attacked in Samsung’s newest TV ad for the Galaxy S5. With the tagline “don’t be a wall hugger,” the ad depicts iPhone owners in desperate need of a charge at the airport. We’ve all been there, sadly.

Galaxy S5 users walk about without a care in the world showing off the device’s powering saving mode (which basically makes it a dumb phone) and swappable battery. The ad itself is another attempt to make Samsung’s product look better than Apple’s by slinging mud, and it comes across just as petty as it did the last dozen times.

Three years after it was released for the iPhone, Facebook has finally brought its Messenger app to the iPad. Like most messaging apps for the iPad, Facebook Messenger features a sidebar of conversation threads with a chat window to the right.

While sitting in on a session at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference last year, Nick Frey, Chris Galzerano, and Veeral Patel got an itch to make something. As part of iOS 7, Apple had introduced “Multipeer Connectivity,” a framework for communicating with nearby devices.

Frey and his friends were at WWDC on student scholarships given by Apple, a tradition that provides the opportunity for hundreds of grade school and college students to attend the expensive conference for free each year.

Nearly a year later, the result of their shared itch is Audibly, a nifty iPhone app that can chain together iPhones to create a wireless sound system.

Following Google’s announcement of Android Auto, Apple has added nine more car makers that will support CarPlay in future models of their vehicles.

1Password is one third-party app that will directly benefit from Extensibility and Apple’s Touch ID API, two features coming in iOS 8 that will let apps work together like never before.

Made by Canadian app company AgileBits, 1Password acts like a digital vault for storing all your Web logins and sensitive data. 1Password for iOS 8 is already in beta, and AgileBits has taken advantage of Touch ID and the ability to directly integrate with Safari. The result is a frictionless experience that demonstrates how iOS 8 is ushering in a new era of powerful, desktop-class mobile apps.

Apple has notified investors that it will announce its earnings for the third fiscal quarter of the year on Tuesday, July 22. Following the release of its sales numbers, Apple executives will hold their quarterly earnings call to discuss the company’s performance and projections for the future.

Apple has rolled out two-factor authentication support for logging into iCloud.com, its web portal for apps like Mail, Calendar, and Pages.

If a user has two-factor authentication enabled on their Apple ID, attempting to access a web app through iCloud.com will now require additional identity verification. A popup asks to verify the user by sending a temporary code to a device tied to the associated Apple ID.

Like Flappy Bird, no one is really sure why Yo became so popular suddenly. The simple app only lets you send the word “Yo” to friends, and yet it received $1 million in funding and peaked at No. 3 on the App Store charts.

Fans of the hit TV show Game of Thrones on HBO should check out a better alternative to Yo called “Yo, Hodor.” Why? Because Hodor.

When it comes to all the elite conferences Silicon Valley is so well known for, Apple executives rarely make appearances. Apple’s shortlist includes the annual Code Conference and Allen & Co.’s business conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. The second kicks off next week.

Like last year, Tim Cook and Eddy Cue have been invited to hobnob with the tech and media world’s most powerful players. Both execs attended last year, and if they choose to do so again this year, there will undoubtedly be many interesting conversions had behind closed doors with competitors and potential partners.

Right on the heels of iOS 7.1.2, Apple has released an update to OS X Mavericks in the Mac App Store. Version 10.9.4 of Mavericks features a fix for a bug many have been experiencing related to Wi-Fi connectivity.

There has been a known problem in OS X that keeps some Macs from automatically connecting to Wi-Fi after being woken up from sleep. Apple has addressed the issue in 10.9.4 along with general reliability improvements for waking from sleep. Safari 7.0.5 is also included.

Today Apple released iOS 7.1.2, a small update that includes several bug fixes, including enhanced “iBeacon connectivity and stability.” The update is available through Software Update on iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches running iOS 7.

Here are the changes in the update, as noted by Apple:

The iPhone is the perfect tool to make you a better, hipper parent, or at least that’s what Apple wants you to believe in its newest TV ad. Entitled “Parenthood,” the minute-long spot is the latest in a string of ads for the iPhone 5s.

The song is “Life of Dreams” by Julie Doiron, and apps shown include Withings Withbaby, Nike+ Running, and Parrot Flower Power.

There’s definitely a connected-home vibe throughout the ad, especially when a dad uses his iPhone to turn the lights off. Apple just announced its HomeKit platform for developers to integrate with smart home gadgets, and the company is even rumored to be working on its own hardware for the home.

If you’ve been looking to jailbreak iOS 7.1.1 and you have a Mac, then check out the new version of Pangu released today.

The Chinese team of hackers behind the tool dropped their jailbreak for iOS 7.1.x out of the blue last week, but until today it could only be used on Windows. Not only is there now an OS X version, but the interface has been rewritten in English.

Apple’s approach to design is just as healthy as it was under Steve Jobs, according to Jony Ive. Looking ahead, Apple is building upcoming products with “materials we haven’t worked in before.” Let your imagination run wild.

The New York Times has published a follow-up Q&A with Jony Ive following its big weekend profile of Tim Cook.

Ive was quoted in the Cook story, but in this second installment we get more insight into how he sees the current state of Apple. Points of discussion include how Ive approaches product design, working with Cook, the values Steve Jobs instilled in the company, and how Ive doesn’t think “anything’s changed” since Cook became CEO.