The big iPhones are here at last, and so – as surely as indigestion follows a burrito – are the oversize iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus cases. Also new on the scene this week: a game controller for all your iDevices, plus some sweet retro-style cameras.
Apple put mobile wallet payment platforms like Google Wallet, Square and PayPal on notice this week with the reveal of Pay, but before Cupertino decided to launch its answer to the wallet, sources tell TechCrunch the company was eyeing an acquisition of Square.
Square’s simplistic payments platform seems like it would have been the perfect fit for Apple and would have added “Next Steve Jobs Nominee” Jack Dorsey to its loaded executive ranks, but after Apple executives failed to put enough cash on the table, Square walked away from negotiations.
When Apple Pay was unveiled Tuesday, Eddy Cue was quick to mention that 83% of US card issuers are already on board. 220,000 stores will also support the mobile payment initiative at launch, including big chains like McDonalds, Walgreens, Staples, and of course, Disney.
But that doesn’t mean Apple Pay’s adoption will be smooth sailing going forward. There are still plenty of merchants that haven’t signed on, and some of the biggest names, including Walmart and Best Buy, don’t plan on supporting Apple Pay any time soon.
Apple fans will never revel in the glory of another Stevenote. But an essay that imagines how Steve Jobs would have introduced the Apple Watch just might be the next best thing.
Lesson No. 1: He wouldn’t have called it the “Apple Watch.”
Apple goes to some pretty crazy lengths to ensure secrecy for its various projects, and it expects a similar commitment from its partners.
According to a New York Times article, prior to releasing Apple Pay, the key players (which included Apple and banks such as JP Morgan Chase) referred to each other by code-names after rumors of Apple’s interest in mobile payments surfaced in early 2013.
Tim Cook sat down with Charlie Rose for what looks like a pretty unscripted interview. A couple of clips have been made available ahead of the first part airing on television tonight, including Cook’s admission that Steve Jobs’ office at Apple remains untouched to this day.
When pressed about Apple’s plans for TV, Cook revealed that the Apple TV now has 20 million users. “It’s far exceeded the ‘hobby’ label we’ve placed on it,” said Cook. He also said he thinks watching TV is like “entering a time capsule” and that the whole experience is stuck in the 70s.
Another topic of conversation was Apple’s purchase of Beats. Cook shared a story about how he was skeptical about Beats Music until he used it one night. Based on the few minutes we’ve already seen from the interview, it looks like the full conversation will prove to be pretty interesting.
In an excerpt from an interview with Charlie Rose, Tim Cook revealed that Steve Jobs’s office “is still left as it was” on the fourth floor of Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino. “His name is still on the door,” said Cook.
That says a lot more than any homage Apple can pay to Jobs onstage or in interviews with its executives.
GIFs are one of the finest gifts God has given the internet. I can’t get enough of them. And once iOS 8 drops it’s going to be easier than ever to have non-stop reaction GIF conversations with friends.
PopKey is a third party keyboard that will replace those useless letters on your keyboard with your favorite GIFs.
You can search for GIFs by keyword and paste them into messages without ever having to leave your conversation. The app will come with access to thousands of GIFs, but you can also upload your own if you want. And now that iOS 8 automatically deletes old messages, you don’t have to worry about them hogging your storage.
Here’s a closer look at the keyboard in action:
One of the best underrated features of iOS 8 is the addition of Wi-Fi calling, and while carriers like T-Mobile and EE have been quick to jump on Apple’s new technology that makes transition calls from LTE to WiFi seamless, AT&T is dragging its heels and says it doesn’t plan to enable the feature until 2015.
AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega doesn’t see an urgent need to add WiFi calling, reports LightReading, after attending Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference where Ralph said AT&T will only add Wi-Fi calling 2015 as a compliment to VoLTE and 3G voice.
Whether you wanted it or not, U2’s new album is in the purchased section of your iTunes account.
Apple inked a $100 million deal with its favorite band to put Songs of Innocence in the hands of over 500 million iTunes users, and now the album has seen over two million downloads as a result—or about 0.4% of the iTunes Store’s user base.
3D printing is our current generation’s new home computing, says a new documentary airing on Netflix later this month. The film focuses on the first 3D printer company, Makerbot, and the several new entries into the field since.
What happens when you can suddenly print your own robotic hand? What about your own handgun? The world is suddenly both more dangerous and a better place to be.
Check out the trailer below for a sneak peak at the documentary, Print the Legend, scheduled to go live on Netflix September 26.
U2’s partnership with Apple created the biggest album release ever this week with over 500 million iTunes customers receiving Song of Innocence for free, with just one bromantic touching of fingers, but according to U2’s manager, Guy Oseary, the band has even more plans in development with Apple.
Giving away U2’s album for free also proved how worthless the album format is nowadays thanks to iTunes indomitable ability to sell single MP3 files faster than McDonald’s can spit out beef patties, but in an interview with Billboard, Oseary hinted that Apple and U2 are working on a new formats to consume music too.
iPhone 6 and 6 Plus preorders have already started selling out around the world and the shipping dates are slipping.
Spokes people for Apple say that they’re seeing an unprecedented demand for the new phones already, and carriers like AT&T are getting crushed by the unfathomable number of customers looking for an upgrade.
Excessive demand might mean that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus won’t make it into your hands until October in some cases — but users waiting for iPhone 6 accessories could be delayed even longer.
According to sources who spoke with Cult of Mac, many smaller, non-Apple companies are currently unable to get the necessary Lightning connectors and authentication chips needed to manufacture products because Apple has snapped up all the available inventory.
Many MFi part distributors won’t give any estimates on availability, which means both manufacturers and end users could be in for a wait before regular shipments of related iPhone and iPad accessories resume.
If you’re desperately waiting for Cupertino to unleash an ultra high-resolution monitor you might not have to wait much longer, according to a report stating that Apple plans to release 27-inch 5K3K high-resolution iMac models by the end of 2014.
Monitors built to the 5K3K specification have a reported 5120 x 2880 resolution. The report suggests that the new iMac models, along with competing products from other manufacturers, are expected to kick off a new wave of demand for Ultra HD monitors in the marketplace.
We love Unread, an RSS reader by developer Jared Sinclair. We’re also big fans of Castro, an exquisitely beautiful podcasting app by Supertop. So we’re delighted to hear that both apps are under the same roof, saving one developer from poverty and frustration while making another developer’s catalog ever stronger.
While Uber and Lyft are the most prominent example of smartphones disrupting the taxi industry, a new app feature from Hailo is hoping to shake up both companies by letting Hailo users pay for journeys using their iPhone — even when they’re in a non-Hailo booked taxi.
The feature is called “Pay with Hailo” and uses Apple’s iBeacon technology to automatically recognize taxis, with users given the option to connect and pay for a journey automatically as soon as they set foot inside a vehicle. Even if the driver doesn’t have an iBeacon set up in their cab, it’s still possible to pay the fare by choosing their name from a list inside the app.
The United Kingdom is lucky enough to be one of just 10 markets that will be getting the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus next Friday, September 19 — the same day it goes on sale in the U.S. But not everyone in the U.K. who pre-ordered their new phone this morning will have it delivered on launch day; those in certain parts will be forced to wait.
Ever since the release of the PowerBook G4, and with the exception of the plastic models, Apple has exclusively released its MacBook laptops in aluminum gray. But according to a new rumor, that may not last much longer: When Apple debuts the rumored 12-inch MacBook Air with Retina Display next year, it could come in two new colors: space gray and gold.
Of all the people to appear onstage at Tuesday’s Apple keynote, U.S. game developers Super Evil Megacorp were among the most memorable — thanks partly to co-founder Tommy Krul’s decision to wear a fetching infinity scarf.
What followed were Internet memes, parody Twitter accounts — and a whole lot of buzz for Vainglory, the team’s hyper-competitive multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game that was called into action to help show off the graphical prowess of the iPhone 6.
As an example of the ever-thinning gap between console and iOS games, Vainglory knocked the demo out of the park, leaving fans salivating at the prospect of next-gen gaming on Apple’s new handset.
It also left people wondering about the origins of the fantastically named Super Evil Megacorp.
Apple’s new iPhones went up for pre-order this morning, and for those who stayed up late to get their order in, it turned out to be a very long night. The vast majority had to wait until past 12:30 a.m. before the had any joy loading the Apple Online Store, and when it finally went live, many iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus options were “currently unavailable.”
The Apple Watch isn’t coming out for months, but that isn’t stopping rumors from surfacing about future hardware iterations. Apple has plans for tracking much more about your health than what its Watch can do currently.
Apple clearly wants its new watch to be more than just a cool gadget. It’s no coincidence that Tuesday’s event falls in line with New York Fashion Week, a time of the year when the world’s top designers look for new tech to accessorize their outfits.
Journalists and prominent figures in the fashion industry were invited alongside the usual tech press to the Apple Watch’s unveiling. The fashion world’s initial reactions are mostly positive, but some question the device’s appeal to women.
Apple Watch. Apple Pay. Apple TV. Apple has gone crazy for, uh apple.
Not a single new “i” product was revealed on Tuesday, which is a good thing according to the guy that invented Apple’s i-conic naming structure, but kind of annoying when repeatedly referring to Apple Watch in texts.
Apple’s own marketing materials shorten the name by using “Watch”, which is super easy to type on OS X by pressing Option + Shift + K to pull up the character, but typing it on an iPhone or iPad is literally impossible. Luckily, our friend Adam Christianson at MacObserver has a quick tip that puts the on your iPhone keyboard with simple shortcut.
