For the last few years, Apple has been investigating making autonomous cars, even though this is well outside its core competency of computers and their accessories.
The move leaves many observers scratching their heads, but a pair of analysts put together reasons why self-driving automobiles should be Apple’s next product category.
Most people would agree that Siri is way behind its competitors. But Apple recently made moves that indicate it’s working to improve this voice assistant.
A British survey discovered what smartspeaker owners actually use them for. This could help Apple decide what new features to add to Siri, as well as the ones that need shoring up.
The first window air conditioning unit with HomeKit launched this spring, and now GE has followed up with several more that can cool larger areas.
When people think of home automation, they generally think of whole-house systems. But that’s overkill in cooler climes. These single-room window AC units can be controlled by an iPhone app from anywhere.
Living in America, it’s sometimes easy to forget the FIFA World Cup is going on now in Russia. Soccer isn’t one of the Big Four U.S. sports. Heck, most Americans don’t even call it by the right name.
But the fact that new downloads of the Fox Sports Go app grew 950 percent during the first week of the World Cup shows there are vast numbers of people living in this country watching the matches on their phones or tablets.
The Trump administration is headed for a trade war with China, and there’s danger that Apple will get caught in the middle.
That said, the tariffs on Chinese imports going into effect in July won’t affect the iPhone or iPad. However, these devices could easily be part of a later round, which President Trump promises will be 10x bigger.
Edge-to-edge phone screens are all the rage, so it’s not surprising that people want them in tablets too. A artist shows what the iPad Pro would look like if the screen bezels were considerably reduced.
His concept device also includes other improvements, including better cameras, Face ID, and a faster processor.
The advertising regulatory body in the UK ruled that Apple can say that the iPhone X takes “studio-quality portraits.”
An ad for this smartphone promised “Radically new cameras with Portrait Lighting. Studio-quality portraits. Without the studio.” However, this brought two complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ZAGG Nomad Book is a keyboard case designed to fit around range of tablets 10.5 inches or smaller. That means it can be used with every iPad released for the past several years except the very largest.
ZAGG also just introduced the Messenger Folio. This has many of the benefits of the Nomad Book but was created specifically for the iPad Pro 10.5.
Part of the reason public Wi-Fi is so risky to use is that the security built into this short-range wireless networking standard hasn’t had a significant upgrade since 2004. But that’s about to change.
The Wi-Fi Alliance introduced Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WPA3, the next generation of Wi-Fi security. This adds new features to simplify Wi-Fi security and enable more robust authentication. The enterprise version offers increased cryptographic strength.
Apple stock price has dropped steadily throughout June. That likely bothers short-term investors, but not Tim Cook. Apple’s CEO thinks long-term, and says planning no farther than the next quarterly earnings report is a recipe for disaster.
“If you’re making a decision based on the short term investors, you’re going to be guaranteed to be making terrible decisions,” Cook said yesterday.
Those in the general public eager to try out Apple’s next Mac operating system can now do so. The first macOS Mojave public beta was just released.
This appears to be the same version introduced last week as the second developer beta.
Whenever Apple CEO Tim Cook weighs in on a social issue, like his recent disparaging comments about U.S. immigration policy, there are always voices urging him to be quiet and concentrate on making great products.
Speaking at a forum in San Francisco this evening, Cook said that changing the world is in his job description.
Parental controls are a hot item. Apple is building them into iOS 12, kid-friendly apps have them, and T-Mobile just unveiled its solution: Family Mode.
This includes iOS and Android apps than can limit what children do online. And the Family Mode Home Base connects to the home Wi-Fi router and lets parents put restrictions on every device in the house.
CBS has been struggling to find stand-out content for its All Access streaming service beside Star Trek: Discovery. That problem has been solved.
The entire 2018 NFL ON CBS schedule, including Super Bowl LIII, will be streamed live on All Access. That includes smartphones and tablets, a significant development.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell if something is real or was dreamed up by a Batman villain. That’s the case with the WiSpear iPhone hacking van.
This tool supposedly can be used to install malware on an iOS or Android device from a third of a mile away.
The Information Technology Industry Council will meet on Wednesday. This trade group, made up of Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and others, will discuss consumer privacy.
The proceedings are likely to be contentious, as these companies have very different views on the subject.
Companies like Grayshift help police bypass the passcodes on locked iPhones. One might think that this requires some byzantine hacking skills. Apparently not.
A hacker reports that iOS has a soft spot when it comes to external keyboards, allowing someone to send as many passcode attempts as desired. The passcodes have to be submitted correctly, though.
Tinder Picks is a feature this dating app is testing that might make it a better way to find people you’re compatible with emotionally, not just sexually.
Picks takes the user’s profile and shows them pictures of people who have similar jobs, educations, and interests.
Amazon FreeTime Unlimited just made the jump to to the Apple App Store. This service for children ages three to twelve offers thousands of books, movies, and games for a flat monthly fee.
The service launched years ago on Amazon’s own tablets, but only became available for iPad and iPhone today.
The U.S. Supreme Court just handed down a victory for privacy advocates: police can no longer access mobile phone tracking data without a warrant.
Wireless providers know which of its cell towers each of their customers is connected to, giving it a basic idea of where all of them are. Law enforcement agencies used to be able to obtain this data without permission from a judge.
“Coopetition” best describes the relationship between Apple and Qualcomm. Wireless modems made by Qualcomm are used in iPhones even as the two companies are locked in a years-long patent dispute over billions of dollars.
The fight reached a new phase today as Apple challenged four Qualcomm patents, arguing they shouldn’t have been awarded in the first place.
Apple is actively working on a handwriting recognition system. This raises the distinct possibility that you might someday enter text by writing words on your iPhone or iPad screen, rather than tapping out letters on a virtual keyboard.
Some will remember that Apple’s tried something similar before and it didn’t go well.
A Grand Prix in the Cannes Entertainment awards went to “Welcome Home,” a long-form ad for the HomePod created by Spike Jonze. The goal of the “Lions” is to reward education or advertising excellent enough to qualify as art..
Watch the brilliant 5-minute ad below:
AT&T wants to stand out in the wireless market by combining streaming TV with unlimited data. Two newly-announced WatchTV options add dozens of TV channels and thousands of on-demand TV shows to the carrier’s unlimited data plans.
This move comes in the wake of the $85B AT&T/Time Warner merger, giving the carrier far greater access to video content that can be streamed to your iPhone or iPad almost anywhere.
Everyone’s attention is on iOS 12, but Apple still has a team working on a “bug fix” update to iOS 11.4. Among the reasons for this is the complaints from numerous iPhone users that this version causes their camera to malfunction in various ways.
This is on top of the battery problems with iOS 11.4 that have been widely reported.