Ed Hardy - page 121

Apple upgraded AirPods Pro and AirPods Max on Tuesday to enable Find My tracking. It allows users to locate missing AirPods even when they’re not connected to another Apple device.

Getting the new functionality just requires a firmware upgrade for the wireless earbuds and iOS 15.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011. Ten years later, Apple’s current CEO Tim Cook sent a memo to all employees about his former boss and friend. In it, he says that Jobs’ passion to change the world for the better lives on in the company.

Cupertino profits from every Apple Pay transaction. And the money comes from big banks that issue the credit cards that get entered into the iPhone’s virtual wallet. Now, the banks are reportedly pushing to have the fees lowered.

And the fact that Apple created its own credit card to complete with the banks only made things worse.

While Steve Jobs died 10 years ago today, he lives on as a way to criticize Apple’s current management.

In some people’s misguided memories, Jobs did no wrong. Ever. And members of this reality-challenged group — let’s call it the Church of Steve Jobs — frequently post comments on social media like, “Apple would be so much better if Steve Jobs were still in charge.”

But in reality, Jobs made plenty of mistakes. Here are some of his worst foul-ups.

Apple released new coding education resources for elementary school students and educators on Tuesday. With them, the company now offers coding curriculum tools for kids all the way from kindergarten up to college.

In addition, teachers can try a new one-hour Inclusive App Design activity to introduce young children to the world of coding and app development.

Power banks in the new MyCharge Mag-Lock series use the magnets from Apple’s MagSafe system to attach to an iPhone. They come in 3000mAh, 6000mAh and 9000mAh capacities, with the largest able to triple the length of time a handset can go between charges. No power cable is needed and you can use your iPhone while it’s charging.

I put all three sizes of the power bank to the test. Read on to find out how they stood up.

About 60% of the price of an iPhone 13 Pro goes into producing it, according to a analysts’ estimate. That figure comes from examining the cost of each component in Apple’s new high-end smartphone. It’s much more than Apple used have to pay.

And note that the rest of the selling price isn’t pure profit.

An 11-inch iPad Pro with a mini-LED display will debut in 2022, according to a trusted analyst. It will join the 12.9-inch model that already has this type of screen that looks better than a standard LCD.

However, the analyst rescinded an earlier prediction that an iPad Air with an OLED display will launch in 2022.

If you’ve ever wished you could merge your iPhone and Nintendo Switch, I have great news. The GameSir X2 Lightning wraps around your handset and adds physical buttons and joysticks in a design reminiscent of the Switch Lite. And it includes a Lightning connector so it plugs directly into your iPhone.

I spent many hours playing games with this accessory — probably more than were necessary for testing. Here’s why I love it.

The final episode of the first season of Mr. Corman premiered on Apple TV+ this week, and it turns out that’s all there’ll ever be. Cupertino reportedly canceled the show, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

That’s a rare move by Apple’s streaming service. This is only the second show it’s nixed.

Apple Card users could be running into problems paying their bill on Friday because the online portion of the service is having a problem. This might also affect other aspects of using the card, but that does not include using the card to pay for purchases.

Update: Apple reported the problem fixed on Friday evening about 7.5 hours after it first cropped up.

Apple on Friday released an update for iOS 15 that takes care of a bug that disabled Unlock with Apple Watch on the iPhone 13 series. This patch — dubbed iOS 15.0.1 — has other bug fixes too, including one that incorrectly told users their storage was nearly full.

The new version is accompanied by iPadOS 15.0.1 with its own bug fixes.

The first Apple Watch released back in 2015 has been classified by Apple as vintage. That might sound like a compliment, but it really means that getting the wearable repaired is a bit more difficult than it used to be.

Note that this is not Apple Watch Series 1. That’s a different model.

Apple released a rare Device Support Update on Thursday for macOS Big Sur. While details are thin, the patch fixes a problem with Macs communicating with iPhones and iPads.

It’s a free download available now.

A highlight of the just-released budget iPad and iPad mini is the addition of Center Stage, a feature that lets the front-facing camera follow someone on a video call. It’s brilliant. It makes FaceTime and Zoom calls so much simpler.

This is perhaps the best new feature Apple has come up with in years. If you have a recent iPad and aren’t using this videoconferencing feature, you’re missing out. And here’s hoping it gets built into the 2022 iPhone.

Jon Stewart wants to be sure everyone knows how to find Apple TV+. So much so, in fact, that he created a public service announcement to help all the “innocent people who may never know the pleasures of Schmigadoon.” Stewart has an ulterior motive, of course: His new talk shows debuts Thursday on the streaming service.

Watch the wackiness now. That way you can be sure to see the first episode of The Problem With Jon Stewart on Apple TV+ for free.

The OWC USB-C Travel Dock E adds the most commonly used ports to your Mac or iPad. It lets you use an HDMI monitor, two USB-A accessories, Ethernet and more. And the stylish hub ready to be used in your office or on a business trip.

I put the accessory through a battery of tests. Read on to see how well it stood up.

Production of the new iPhone 13 series isn’t catching up to demand. A shortage of a critical component is keeping wait times long for many versions of the handset.

But heavy demand is also reportedly adding to the delays.

Apple and Skydance Animation teamed up to create Blush, the story of a stranded astronaut falling in love. The sci-fi short debuts October 1 on Apple TV+.

The trailer dropped Tuesday with a first look at the adorableness. Watch it now:

Verizon customers with a new iPhone 13 model might notice something missing: 5G. The faster cellular networking is a signature feature of the handset, and one nobody wants to live without. Fortunately, the answer is fairly simple. But it’s not something you’ll be able to fix all on your own.

Here’s what to do.

The just-released iPad mini is the latest Apple tablet to make the switch from Lightning to USB-C. That allows it to do quite a few things out of reach of its predecessors.

As a proud new owner of the device, you’ll surely want to make sure you’re living up to its potential. Here’s everything iPad mini owners need to know about USB-C.

When supposed features of the iPhone 14 leaked out in early September, some complained that the iPhone 13 wasn’t even out at the time. But an Apple VP revealed that the company starts deciding on new iPhone features a full three years before launch.

Which means Apple is probably already at work on iPhone 18. And most features of the 2022 model are almost certainly fixed.

A MacBook Air with 13.3-inch mini-LED display is reportedly a bit farther away that previously thought. An analyst predicts it will go into production in time for a fall 2022 release, not a summer one.

But they’ll be new macOS laptops long before then. Apple is widely expected to launch a pair of redesigned MacBook Pro models with mini-LED and an updated M-series processor possibly as soon as October 2021.

Among the many new camera features in the iPhone 13 Pro is Macro mode. This allows the user to take very close-up images, putting the focus on tiny objects.

Many users of Apple’s latest top-tier handsets have been quick to try out this new capability. And some of the results are spectacular. Check them out now, and be prepared to be wowed.

Some users of older iPhones refuse to install iOS upgrades because they mistakenly think these will reduce the performance of their handset. But tests comparing iOS 15 with various previous versions found no sign of Apple’s latest turning any model into a slug. Some of the devices actually ran faster with newer software.

And the same goes for battery life, in general. Most older iPhones have a longer battery life with iOS 15, though some do see a reduction.