News - page 507

It may have nothing to do with Jony Ive leaving the company, but Apple has been adding buttons back to its devices. It’s a slow start, but hopefully it’s the beginning of a trend. The new 16-inch MacBook Pro added an Escape key, and a separate power button (you can press the Touch ID button). Plus, the recently introduced iPhone 11 battery case added a dedicated camera button.

After what seems like decades of removing useful hardware features, is Apple finally seeing the error of its ways? And, if so, what buttons would we like to see next? Let’s take a look at the current lay of the land.

Apple is so confident in one of its upcoming TV shows that it’s already been greenlit for a second season before the first season has even debuted on Apple TV+.

Season one of Little America, an anthology series about the lives of American immigrants, is set to air on Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. Created by The Big Sick writers Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, along with Lee Eisenberg, the season is comprised of eight 30-minute long episodes and Apple just shared snippets on what each one is about.

The nation’s 13th-largest health club chain, Orangetheory Fitness, will begin supporting Apple Watch in its 1,300 franchise studios by March, the company said Thursday. That will make it the first fitness brand to officially partner with Apple on a fitness studio solution.

The fitness franchise created a small accessory, called the OTbeat Link, that attaches to an Apple Watch band to track the heart rate of customers during exercise classes.

You will soon have something to show for that $5,999+ you just handed over to Apple. The first Mac Pro orders have today started shipping out to customers. Deliveries are scheduled to begin this Friday, December 13.

The technicians of the independent digital camera testing lab DxOMark are used to focusing their eyes on the quality of smartphone camera images.

Lately, they’ve been tuning their ears as well.

Rumors that Apple is hard at work on augmented reality glasses got some solid proof today. The company received a patent on a near-eye display design intended for just such an accessory.

And there’s an interesting mention of a “holographic optical element.”

Epic Games appears to be planning a big change to the Fortnite Battle Pass system in 2020. A new leak reveals an annual purchase option that comes with exclusive cosmetics you can’t obtain elsewhere.

iPhone shipments in China reportedly had a rough time in November. According to Credit Suisse analyst Matt Cabral, iPhone shipments declined “meaningfully” last month — to the tune of approximately 35.4% year-on-year.

If true, that’s lagging far behind the rest of the Chinese smartphone market, which increased 0.2% year-on-year.

There’s a brand-new version of the Opera web browser aimed at gamers — and it’s out today on Mac in early access. Opera GX offers a unique set of tools designed to enhance your desktop gaming experience.

The browser lets you free up important resources that you need while gaming. It can also put your favorite Twitch streams right on top of your games, so you can watch while you play.

Struggling Apple display maker Japan Display claims it has nailed down an extra $830 million in bailout financial support from Japanese asset manager Ichigo Asset Management.

Ichigo joins Apple and Apple contract manufacturer Wistron in the effort to save the beleaguered business. And it wouldn’t have done it without Cupertino’s support.

The Last Remnant Remastered, an updated version of Square Enix’s 2008 RPG for Xbox 360, has received a surprise release on iOS.

The game depicts a world divided into multiple city-states, inhabited by four different species. The player controls Rush Sykes, a human who is searching for his sister during a war between the different groups, who are battling over magical artifacts. It was developed by many of the team members who worked on the SaGa and Final Fantasy games.

Check out a teaser trailer below.

Apple recently filed a DMCA takedown request relating to information posted by an independent iPhone security researcher. The researcher, Siguza, posted a tweet featuring a possible encryption key for the iPhone’s Secure Enclave Processor.

Apple later backtracked and allowed the tweet to be reposted. Even so, security researchers are accusing Apple of abusing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Commuters can now use Apple Pay, along with other contactless payments systems, to pay for their travel at New York’s Penn Station.

That’s because the subway station has adopted the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s OMNY contactless fare payment system. The 34th Street-Penn Station is one of the busiest transport hubs in North America. This should help make travel from there a little bit more bearable.

Apple just lost the title of world’s most valuable publicly traded company. But not because it had a terrible day on the stock market. The change happened when Aramco, a huge Saudi Arabian oil company, went from private to public.

The days when Twitter treated Live Photos as still ones are over. This social-networking site now easily converts these moving images taken with an iPhone to GIFs.

iPhone hasn’t become a boring, mature product. Not according to Apple’s CEO, anyway. Tim Cook promises plenty of future iPhone innovation, though he admits progress is faster in some years than others.

There has been much handwaving over the $5,999 price tag on the 2019 Mac Pro. It’s often been criticized for being Apple’s expensive computer ever.

But it’s not. And it’s not even close, if you factor in inflation. Many of the early Macs cost much more than $6,000 in today’s dollars.

Hot on the heels of scoring multiple Golden Globes nominations, The Morning Show earned three nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Jennifer Aniston added to her nomination pile with a nomination for best female actor in a drama series. And Steve Carell and Billy Crudup both earned nominations for outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series.

If you want to add four wheels to your already-expensive Mac Pro, then they’ll cost you almost $100 apiece. Not that you can even buy them separately. You have to specify the $400 option when you buy. The wheels are a part of the Mac Pro’s steel frame, so there’s no way to add them after purchase.

Or is there? We found five good options to let you wheel your Mac Pro around the office, or to perhaps grab the power cable and take the new computer out for a walk like a dog. Or even to sit on the thing and take it for a spin, go-kart-style, down the nearest hill.

We want to put free copies of The Cult of Mac 2nd Edition on 10 coffee tables across the United States.

Now through Dec. 20, the Cult of Mac website will accept entries to give away this Mac book that is every bit as beautiful as a MacBook. All you have to do is enter your email in the submission widget below.

Apple could release a half-dozen iPhone models next year. An industry analyst laid out new predictions for the 2020 iPhone lineup, saying some models will bring the latest 5G cellular technology. Other models will stick with slower 4G networking.

Apparently, people not interested in 5G won’t need to pay extra for it. And some top-tier models supposedly will include rear-facing 3D scanners for augmented reality.

Apple’s highly anticipated addition of 5G modems to the 2020 iPhone lineup may not end up costing customers extra after all.

TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that his supply chain sources indicate that the four 5G-capable 2020 iPhone models will be priced similar to the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro, even though 5G components are more expensive.

Apple’s all-new Mac Pro is finally ready to order … and it ain’t cheap. But Cult of Mac can help make yours more affordable by offering you a sweet stack of upgrade cash.

Sell your old Mac to us before you upgrade and we’ll give you a great price. We will also make the whole process quick and simple — and we’ll cough up real cash you can spend anywhere you like.

Today’s machine learning AI technologies frequently rely on the free flow of user data. That puts Apple in a tough spot.

While it wants to stay on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence, it doesn’t want to do anything to get in the way of its privacy-first approach to technology. Fortunately, there’s a way around that issue.

Apple’s newest iOS 13.3 update is out, spilling yet more secrets about upcoming products. New code reveals upgraded Powerbeats4 headphones could be on the way with “Hey Siri” support.