Luke Dormehl - page 203

Apple is pushing Apple Watch adoption among its corporate and retail employees with a “Close The Rings” challenge that lets people working for the company win prizes for filling the rings on their Apple Watch.

Employees who complete the various stand, movement, and exercise challenges every day for a month can win an Activity rings pin, which are available in gold, silver, and bronze, depending on performance. There are also (future collectible) T-shirts available, reading “Close The Rings Challenge 1.0.”

According to Trendforce data, Samsung beat Apple in smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2017.

But before high-end Galaxy owners start celebrating, the numbers aren’t quite as simple as that: Samsung was only able to beat Apple due to its low end budget devices such as the J-series handsets making up the numbers. Apple, on the other hand, stuck to its premium pricing model — while iPhone 7 excitement was tapered by the long-awaited iPhone 8.

Update: Dialog Semiconductor says that its relationship with its key customer Apple hasn’t changed, despite what reports claim.

Apple currently employs around 80 engineers developing a proprietary power-management chip, claims a new report. If the effort succeeds, the company could ditch Anglo-German chipmaker Dialog Semiconductor, which it currently relies on for the iPhone, by 2019.

The news follows speculation that Apple is building its own GPU for iOS devices, after parting ways with British company Imagination Technologies, which previously provided Apple with graphics processing units.

An Apple hiring spree in the United Kingdom shows just how serious the company is about building its own graphics technology. Apple recently parted ways with British company Imagination Technologies, which previously provided the graphics processing units for iOS devices.

Advertisements posted by Apple include positions in graphics unit design at the company’s U.K. Design Centre. Jobs listed include engineering program manager, design verification lead, emulation engineer and other roles described as requiring GPU knowledge.

The only thing better than a great iOS game is a great free iOS game, and thanks to a new special offer, space flight simulator Hyperburner now fits the bill.

Launched in June last year, Hyperburner is a futuristic sci-fi jet simulator that’s bound to please any fans of Wing Commander or the classic WipeOut series, with its fast-paced, responsive, obstacle avoidance gameplay. And if dodging obstacles is your thing, now you can dodge paying for it, too!

An ultra-rare Apple-1 prototype used by Steve Jobs as a demo unit is going on display at a Seattle computer museum. It’s the crown jewel of an impressive collection of vintage Apple gear that will be housed in a new wing opening Friday at Living Computers: Museum + Labs.

Lāth Carlson, the museum’s executive director, calls the Apple prototype “the most important computer in history” — and also “the most boring to look at.”

Apple is planning a second flagship retail store in Mexico City, claims a new report.

The retail store will reportedly feature a design reminiscent of Apple’s World Trade Center location in New York City, and be around twice the size of Apple’s current Mexico City store, which is located in the Centro Santa Fe mall.

If you’re looking to unwind this fine Sunday by sampling the latest App Store delectables for your iPhone or iPad, look no further: Cult of Mac has your hookup!

Whether you’re seeking a fun party game, a great minimalist puzzler, or Apple’s new video and photo-sharing Clips app, we’ve got what you’re searching for.

Check out our picks below. You won’t be disappointed.

Walt Mossberg, the award-winning tech writer who was one of Steve Jobs’ favorite journalists, is retiring.

Currently serving as executive editor at The Verge and editor-at-large of Recode, Mossberg has been one of the best-known names in tech writing since 1991, when he started writing his “Personal Technology” column for the Wall Street Journal.

Ellen DeGeneres is in the illustrious company of Kim Kardashian as one of a small number of celebrities-turned-“developers” who have successfully launched their own apps.

Having previously launched the smash hit Heads Up!, Ellen’s now back with a new iOS game based on a segment from her TV show. Called Hot Hands, it’s a game which flashes up images of celebrities, and then asks players to say their name as quickly as possible.

And thanks to some nifty voice recognition tech, it actually looks pretty good fun!

There are plenty of gorgeous puzzle games available on iOS, but GalacticThumb’s new entry Cuzzle is well worth adding to your collection.

It’s an isometric puzzler game, heavily inspired by Sokoban, the 1981 transport puzzle game in which the player has to push crates around a warehouse to get them into different locations. However, onto this formula GalacticThumb has added collapsing floors, switches, and some beautifully minimalist graphics.

Check out the trailer below.

Apple has clashed regularly with President Donald Trump over a variety of issues, but one thing both sides should be able to agree on is a policy that makes Apple more cash.

That’s exactly what Citi analysts think Trump’s proposed tax reforms would do. A reduction of the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, and a tax of just 10 percent on a one-off repatriation of overseas cash piles, would be great for Cupertino.

India is one of the next big markets for tech companies, and Google just threw down the gauntlet against Apple by undercutting Apple Music with its own Google Play music subscription service.

While Apple Music charges 120 rupees per month (around $2), Google is charging just 99 rupees ($1.50) for tis own service — with a discounted rate of 89 rupees for the first 45 days. In the U.S., both Google Play Music and Apple Music charge $9.99 per month.

A perfectly-pitched mash-up of randomly-generated zombie survival RPG, actioner, and text-based interactive fiction game, Death Road to Canada is one of the year’s greatest iOS games — and according to its creators, it’s about to get even better.

Apple reportedly signed a two-year contract with Samsung Display to supply small-size curved OLED panels for future iPhones.

The deal, valued at $9 billion, would see Samsung Display ship between 70 million and 92 million curved displays to Apple this year alone.

Apple’s Australia headaches are continuing, as the country’s Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) consumer watchdog has filed a lawsuit against the company.

The suit is based on an investigation into Apple’s business practices, sparked by the disastrous Error 53 fault which disabled iPhones which had a home button or cables related to Touch ID replaced by an unauthorized third-party.

Western Union has announced that users of its mobile app can now use Apple Pay to make mobile money transfers.

In a move that makes sending money from your account to another person’s as quick and easy as the touch of a finger on your Touch ID sensor, Western Union has expanded its Apple Pay integration beyond simply supporting it in stores.

A woman in East China’s Jiangsu Province claims that a new Matte Black iPhone 7 exploded while she was charging it next to her bed.

The woman, who is identified only as Yin, says that she was fortunately out of the room when the incident happened. “My phone ran out of battery, so I left it to charge on my bedside table,” she said. “I went out for a walk and heard the explosion when I came home. Then I realized it was my phone.”

Siri may soon respond to your voice and your voice alone, according to a recently-published patent application from Apple.

The security feature would essentially expand the biometric security system of Touch ID to voice, so that Siri’s voice recognition could also be used to unlock devices or potentially even confirm payments on Apple Pay.

Restricted stock options for six senior Apple execs vested this month, becoming common stock units with a value of around $13.6 million per person.

The executives in question include Apple COO Jeff Williams, SVP and General Counsel Bruce Sewell, SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller, SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue, SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi, and SVP of Hardware Engineering Dan Riccio.

According to official figures released by both companies, Windows 10 has 4x the number of active users of macOS — with 400 million users for Windows 10 versus 100 million for Mac.

While Microsoft’s figures have been available for a while, Apple’s 100 million figure is newly published, as part of Apple’s efforts to prove it still cares about Mac.

Apple is reportedly set to launch new iMacs geared toward the pro market later this year.

The revelation came during a very rare Apple press briefing concerning its future plans. While the big news coming out of this meeting with a small group of reporters is that a radical rethink of the Mac Pro is on the way, there was also talk of an imminent iMac refresh.

As if Silicon Valley needed another reason to not approve of President Donald Trump, the White House has started to deliver on its promise of cracking down on work visas given to overseas workers — many of whom toil in the tech industry.

This week, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency issued a memo detailing moves it intends to make to fight “fraud and abuse” of the program, while also warning employers that they shouldn’t discriminate against U.S. workers in their hiring.

A 32-year-old man is recovering in hospital after he was electrocuted in a fluke accident, unrelated to Apple, while charging his iPhone in bed.

Huntsville, Alabama native Wiley Day was shocked with 110 volts of electricity after plugging his iPhone 7 into an extension cord so that it could charge in the bed next to him while he slept. Unfortunately, Day’s dog-tag necklace managed to slip between the exposed prongs of his charger and the extension cord, transforming his necklace into an electrical conductor.

Cupertino might not consider Apple TV a “hobby” any longer, but according to new data from comScore, the streaming device certainly is not viewed as a serious contender in the marketplace.

ComScore’s new figures show that — at the end of 2016 — Roku led the way for streaming TV boxes/sticks in the United States, with 18 percent penetration among Wi-Fi households. Amazon’s Fire TV followed on its heels with 12 percent, while Google’s Chromecast came third with 8 percent. Apple TV trailed in fourth place with just 5 percent.