News - page 340

A computer repair shop in Poole, England, has been charged damages amounting to $140,000 for selling unsafe, fraudulent chargers for Apple devices.

Investigators were initially tipped off when a shipment of 220 questionable items was held at East Midlands Airport in 2018. Following this, trading standards officers visited the offices of CK IT Solutions Limited, and recovered more than 1,400 products.

The captured devices — which were found to pose a risk of electric shock — were described as having “little or no distinguishable difference” from official Apple chargers. On the outside, at least.

If the judge in the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit decides to rule against the iPhone-maker, she may have already signaled the significant App Store change she would order to satisfy the game developer’s complaints.

The judge asked a question that shows she’s considering allowing developers to point customers to their own websites to make in-app purchases. Currently, these purchases must go through Apple’s payment system.

Apple is expanding its Apple Developer Academy, a free training program in app development and entrepreneurship, to two new markets: Korea and Detroit, Michigan.

The Detroit expansion marks the first time the Developer Academy, launched in 2013, has been available to people in the United States. That’s in stark contrast to Apple’s normal rollout trajectory — whereby things launch in the U.S., then gradually become available elsewhere.

Apple offers a compelling sneak peek at its upcoming 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything documentary series in a new trailer. Set to debut on Apple TV+ on Friday, May 21, the documentary argues 1971 — a.k.a. 50 years ago — was a crucial juncture for music and society.

As one of the interviewees quoted in the trailer notes, “I don’t think the music was a reflection of the times, as much as the music also caused the times.”

Forget only animated avatar faces: a team at Carnegie Mellon University wants to bring the world full-body Animojis. As the director of the Future Interfaces Group at Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Chris Harrison‘s job is to help create the computer features of tomorrow.

In a newly published demo, shown off this week, Harrison’s team has come up with a way to let regular iPhones do full body tracking using only the front-facing camera — by estimating what the rest of your body is doing.

It works surprisingly well.

Master storyteller Stephen King (everything from It and The Shining to Misery and The Stand) is coming to Apple TV+ on June 4.

More specifically, Lisey’s Story — one of the author’s most personal stories, and a rare adaptation he’s written the script for himself — is coming. And, from the look of the trailer, hopes should be pretty darn high.

Check out the trailer below.

Apple is a leading member of a new organization creating a standard for home automation devices. A primary goal is interoperability, allowing accessories to connect to HomeKit, Alexa, Google Home, etc.

Previously, it was up to the makers of smart home products to make devices that worked with more than one voice control system. Many chose to support just one.

The first iPad Pro with an M-series processor is apparently going to be as fast as many had hoped. Benchmark tests for the upcoming tablet show that it’s almost as speedy as the Macs released in late 2020. And faster than any Intel-based MacBook ever.

The 2021 model is more than 50% faster than the iPad Pro Apple introduced in 2020.

Mujjo’s luxurious leather cases offer great protection without making your pricey iPhone feel cheap and tacky. Bag select models from the Cult of Mac Store today to enjoy 25% off the usual price.

This is a limited-time discount, so enjoy it while you can.

The App Store protected customers from more than $1.5 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions in 2020, Apple said Tuesday. And the company’s App Review team rejected thousands of fraudulent applications.

The timing for this statement from the iPhone-maker isn’t accidental. In the ongoing Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit, the game developer argues that the App Store is a hinderance to innovation. Cupertino wants customers to hear its side of the story, too.

The new Brydge Air Max+ wraps the iPad Air 4 or 11-inch iPad Pro in a protective case, and adds a removable keyboard and trackpad.

It’s a larger version of a keyboard case Brydge recently introduced for the basic iPad. And there’s a similar model for the largest iPad Pro.

Art Gensler, the pioneering American architect who founded the world’s largest architectural firm and played a key role in the iconic look of Apple Stores, died Monday at the age of 85.

To try and distill Gensler’s career into “he helped create the Apple Store” is doing him a big disservice. His firm, founded in 1965, operates in 50 countries and produces an annual revenue of $1.5 billion. Nonetheless, for Apple fans, his work on Apple Stores is one of his many indelible contributions.

And he once got fired by Steve Jobs for it.

At the core of Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple is the assertion that the iPhone-maker has a monopoly. With testimony from an expert witness, the game developer has begun laying out its arguments to convince the judge why she should agree.

Essentially, it claims that switching from iPhone to another device is so difficult that Apple can treat its users as if they had no other options.

Legal action taken against Apple in the United Kingdom could see the company have to repay close to 20 million customers for allegedly overcharging them.

A landmark class-action lawsuit argues that Apple’s 30% commission on App Store purchases bilked customers out of more than $2 billion over a number of years. The plaintiffs want Apple to repay the money it supposedly owes.

Production on iPhones made in India has hit a major hurdle as coronavirus cases have surged in the country. More than 50% of one Foxconn factory’s production capacity has reportedly been cut.

India has seen its number of coronavirus cases ramping up significantly in April. To date, there have been 22.9 million confirmed cases of COVID in India, while 249,992 people have reportedly died. However, the actual numbers are thought to be even higher.

Jamie Bell — best known for his titular role in Billy Elliot and appearances in Rocketman, King Kong, and other movies — is the latest actor to sign on for an Apple TV+ series.

Bell will act opposite Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men and The Handmaid’s Tale) and Narcos‘ Wagner Moura (“Narcos”) in an adaption of the time-traveling serial killer novel Shining Girls.

It should be a happy scene — a man courting a woman. But the reality is much darker. The man and woman will marry, then he’ll kill many of her relatives to get control of the oil riches they inherited. All of this will play out in Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon.

The film will star Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro — and will appear on Apple TV+. An image of DiCaprio and Gladstone in character, released Monday, offers our first glimpse of the upcoming movie.

A pair of concept artists want Apple to bring dramatic improvements in iPadOS 15. They separately created videos with specific suggestions on how iPad could become a more useful computer with the operating system update expected this autumn.

Both agree that the iPad should gain better support for external screens — though they came up with different ways to implement the feature.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max whipped all other top-tier handsets in a rigorous battery test. Doxomark simulated using the handsets over several days, and also factored in how long they took to recharge. In the final score, Apple’s offering came out way ahead.

Apple plans to release a surprisingly thin MacBook Air in the same colors as the current iMacs, according to leaker Jon Prosser.

The redesign, as shown in renders produced by Ian Zelbo in collaboration with Prosser, abandons the MacBook Air’s classic tapered design. Prosser said the renders are based on images shared with him by a reliable source.

When you look at lots of computer setups people pimp out on social media, you see the same questions cropping up among the comments. One common query: What good are monitor light bars? And what are they for, exactly?

It came up again the other day when Redditor Strigga posted about their MacBook Pro-based setup. Almost at the same time, we saw it again in Maize-Calm’s post about finishing up a setup with, guess what, a light bar.

Seven Apple suppliers in China are accused of using forced Uyghur labor, a report for The Information reveals.

The companies in question include Advanced-Connectek, AcBel Polytech, Avary Holding, CN Innovations, Luxshare Precision Industry, Shenzhen Deren Electronic Co., and Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing Co.

All participated in what are referred to by the Chinese government as “poverty alleviation programs.” However, these may not be exactly how they sound.

Apple finally revealed the release date for its upcoming documentary series co-created by Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. The Me You Can’t See, as it is now known, will debut May 21, the company said in a press release Monday.

First announced in 2019, before Harry and wife Meghan’s highly publicized split from the U.K.’s royal family, the series supposedly will focus on the “human spirit fighting back from the darkest places.”

A Florida man allegedly used an iPhone as a makeshift tracking device, attaching it with magnets to the car of a man he intended to rob, then using it to follow him to a party at a nearby apartment. Suspect Derrick Maurice Herlong and an unnamed accomplice then robbed the man and fatally shot another person, Orlando police said.

Apple is handing another $45 million to the company which makes Gorilla Glass for the iPhone. Announced Monday, Apple’s eight-figure award will help Corning “expand manufacturing” and “drive research and development” in the United States.

It’s part of Apple’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund, dedicated to supporting American businesses that are creating the jobs of the future. But, like the recent $410 million cash injection to the company that makes laser components for the iPhone, it also helps out Apple’s future plans.