News - page 332

The coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on Apple’s supply chain (as well as everywhere else), with two Apple suppliers ordered to temporarily shutter factories in Vietnam as a result of a surge of COVID cases in the region.

The companies in question, Foxconn and Luxshare Precision, operate plants in Vietnam’s northern region. The area has seen a big rise in cases, including two over the weekend at Luxshare’s plant in Van Trung Industrial Park.

Apple on Tuesday confirmed that the new 2021 iMac, iPad Pro, and Apple TV 4K will be available from retail stores on Friday, May 21.

That’s the same day preorder customers will begin receiving their deliveries. If you haven’t already claimed your new device, you’ll have the chance to do so when Apple Store locations open on Friday morning.

The European Union has warned Apple that regulators’ investigation into Apple Pay is going ahead. In an interview with Bloomberg News, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the Apple Pay case is “quite advanced” and “something that we’re pushing forward.”

Apple fellow Phil Schiller took the stand Monday in the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit and during testimony revealed the cost of the annual Worldwide Developers Conference: $50 million. He’s in charge of both WWDC and App Store so he brings unique insight to the ongoing court battle.

This is one of many details the long-standing Apple executive talked about on the stand.

Strapa is gearing up to refresh its entire Apple Watch band collection, which means the existing lineup of stellar leather straps will soon be discontinued. Bag yours before they disappear and enjoy 20% off the usual price through the Cult of Mac Store.

Made from only the finest Italian leather and available in a variety of styles and color options, Strapa bands are beautifully put together and will easily outlast the Apple Watch you wear them with.

In a brewing Apple vs. Apple battle, the iPhone-maker is reportedly working on Beats Studio Buds — a pair of in-ear wireless headphones with a lot in common with AirPods.

The odd circumstance comes because the company releases headphones under its own brand and also under the Beats brand.

Apple Music fans who are super-excited about the just-announced lossless audio option should be aware that it won’t work with AirPods or HomePod. Not even the $549 AirPods Max.

But Apple’s headphones and smart speaker do support Spatial Audio for songs mixed in Dolby Atmos, another new feature of Apple Music.

It’s only Monday, but Dutch videographer, designer and web production artist Dion Tavenier probably wins this week’s award for setup design. Cool, spare, architectural — get the Museum of Modern Setups on the phone!

If only there was such a museum. Or such an award.

Apple seeded to developers the first release candidates for iOS 14.6 and iPadOS 14.6 on Monday. These are only small updates for these operating systems, and their timing may be controlled by the 2021 iPad Pro, which will reach customers on Friday.

Not to be left out, devs also got access to the initial release candidates for watchOS 7.5 and tvOS 14.6 on Monday.

Update: Shortly thereafter, Apple also seeded macOS Big Sur 11.4 RC to developers.

Apple may push back its first notebooks with beautiful mini-LED displays. Unconfirmed reports previously predicted 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook models with the new type of screen would arrive before the end of 2021, but a leak Monday indicates they won’t come until the following year.

At this point, it’s not clear if this means Apple won’t introduce new Mac notebooks until 2022, or if just the switch to mini-LED screens is on hold. Many are very much anticipating redesigned MacBooks powered with an Apple M2 chip.

Apple has debuted two new colorful, Pride-themed Apple Watch bands and new watch faces to coincide with International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia.

Apple has been releasing Pride Edition Apple Watch bands on an annual basis dating back to 2016. The 2021 upgrades include the ultra-colorful Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop ($99) and a new Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop ($49).

YouTuber Michaelangelo’s Tech has posted the first unboxing video for Apple’s new white Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro. The new keyboard accessory was unveiled alongside the 2021 iPad Pro, and has now started being delivered to customers.

Unsurprisingly, the Michaelangelo’s Tech channel notes that the white Magic Keyboard feels a whole lot like the previous-ten black Magic Keyboard to use. It certainly looks pretty darn nice, though.

Check out the unboxing video below.

Apple Music is going lossless — at no extra cost to subscribers. Apple revealed the free upgrade Monday, a day ahead of its rumored launch. The company said Apple Music will bring lossless audio to more than 75 million tracks starting in June so listeners can hear songs “the way the artists created them in the studio.”

In addition, Apple Music will add Spatial Audio support for songs mixed in Dolby Atmos. That means customers who own AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max and Beats headphones featuring an H1 or W1 chip — or using the built-in speakers in the newest iPhone, iPad and Mac — will be able to hear certain songs in the immersive format.

Many parts of the world are starting to emerge from coronavirus lockdown, with stores opening up and social distancing measures relaxing. But don’t expect to take off your mask to go into an Apple Store — whatever local advice suggests. This seemingly goes for both customers and retail employees.

According to Bloomberg, Apple will keep masks and other safety provisions in place for its stores as the company continues to “evaluate health and safety” measures. This comes shortly after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said vaccinated individuals don’t need to wear a face mask in the majority of public settings.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Cincinnati seized “tens of thousands of earbuds” that appear to be AirPods knockoffs. Three large shipments of “fake AirPods” from China were discovered, bound for an address in Dayton, Kentucky.

Each case had a declared value of $5,280, and contained 12,000 earbuds. Had they been legit AirPods, the total 36,000 units would have been valued at $7.16 million at retail price.

Apple is teasing a special announcement regarding Apple Music is “coming soon,” possibly referring to a new Apple Music HiFi lossless audio tier. And Apple believes it’s going to send shockwaves through the industry.

The “coming soon” tease can be seen in the Browse section of Apple Music. There is a short animation showing the Apple Music logo spinning around, getting closer and closer to the camera as it does, with multiple copies appearing as it does.

A message accompanying the video notes that users should, “Get ready – music is about to change forever.”

Space: the final frontier. And kinda sorta the theme of this week’s roundup of new and updated apps.

We’ve got an app that brings Star Trek, NASA and Tetris faces to Apple Watch. A free iOS game that will get arcade fans flashing back to Asteroids. And an audio app for women that blends erotica, meditation and ASMR for a trip deep into inner space.

I’m not sure how Godzilla and Kong fit into the space theme, but they crash onto the scene as well. (If only we had SpaceGodzilla.) Three … two … one …

Remember Asteroids? Well, PewPew Live is like that arcade classic on steroids. (So… as-steroids?) Zoom through space and blow up everything in fast-paced action.

There hasn’t been a new game added to Apple Arcade in over a month, so if you’re looking for something fresh, take PewPew Live for a spin. And it’s free!

Some people think porting the Mac’s operating system to the iPad makes sense. We don’t. Find out why that would be a horrible nightmare in Cult of Mac Magazine‘s cover story this week.

Also, don’t miss our Q&A with Ian Zelbo, the 17-year-old New Yorker who’s been blasting out eye-catching concept art based on the latest Apple leaks. The high schooler behind RendersbyIan tells what gear he uses and reveals some of his rendering secrets in our Setups post.

Then, of course, you’ll want to check out Zelbo’s colorful MacBook Air renders and the rest of the week’s juiciest Apple news, rumors, how-tos and reviews.

Former president Trump’s plan to create a National Garden of American Heroes has been cancelled by the Biden Administration. It would have created an open-air space with statues of a wide variety of Americans, including Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Trump created the garden by executive order, and President Biden completely cancelled it Friday with another executive order. No reason was given.

Original article from January 18, 2021

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is one of hundreds of people who’ll have a statue in the National Garden of American Heroes that President Trump ordered be created.

The list includes a wide variety of men and women from history, including politicians, generals, explorers, inventors, writers, actors and more.

This week, Cult of Mac is giving away two fantastic metal Apple Watch bands from Juuk, a high-end watch strap company. We’re giving away two aluminum Qruno straps in cosmic grey.

If you are looking for a high-quality metal band to match the Apple Watch’s high-grade design, enter this giveaway.

The reports of Beats’ death are (reportedly) greatly exaggerated. Rather than phasing out the brand, as had been rumored, Apple put Scott Croyle, the former head of product design at phone-maker HTC, in charge of crafting new Beats headphones, according to an unconfirmed report.

After Apple warned users of implanted medical devices to avoid iPhone 12 and MagSafe accessories, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration weighed in to say that the danger to pacemakers and defibrillators from magnets built into electronic devices is low.

Redditor jondajaba recently finished putting together a computer setup and asked in a post for recommendations on what’s missing that he might add. Naturally, setup mavens far and wide who live and breathe this stuff replied with plenty of advice.

Apple could shrink this year’s iPhone “notch” thanks to a 40% to 50% smaller VCSEL chip in the Face ID sensor, Digitimes reported Friday. According to the report, the smaller die size could show up as soon as the “new iPhone and iPad devices to be rolled out later in 2021.”