News - page 717

Update: Apple and Amazon both issued lengthy statements Thursday concerning the Chinese spy chip allegations. We updated this post to include those statements.

Apple denies that Chinese spy chips infiltrated its iCloud server hardware after claims that motherboards used by Apple, Amazon and dozens of other tech companies contained microchips used for surveillance purposes.

Cupertino insists the story is “wrong and misinformed.” Apple also says Chinese spying had nothing to do with the company’s decision to cut ties with a supplier.

Android users can pat themselves on the back for paying less for a smartphone. Apple fans can rest easy knowing the steeper price they paid for their iPhones came with better data privacy.

This was a point Roger McNamee, an Apple investor and co-founder of the private equity firm Elevation Partners, delivered Wednesday during a discussion on CNBC about where the big tech companies stand on privacy.

Giving Donald Trump the power to send a text to every person in the U.S. is a horrible idea, but as Jimmy Kimmel has shown, it could make for a great movie.

Everyone was talking about the first-ever nationwide Presidential alert. Thankfully, it wasn’t nearly as bad as Trump’s tweets. However, during Jimmy Kimmel’s show last night, the late night comedian showed what type of mayhem could ensue if Trump could text whatever he wanted. From cops shooting their iPhones to a man chopping his arm off to get away from Apple Watch alerts, the entire movie concept is truly phenomenal.

Watch the craziness unfold:

Epic Games is giving Fortnite players a new tool that will allow them to merge multiple accounts.

The merge will combine all item purchases, V-Bucks, game stats, and Save the World campaign access. It’s perfect for those who were forced to set up a second Epic account to play Fortnite on the Nintendo Switch, or because they were locked out of their original.

Following in the footsteps of fellow ex-BBC presenter Zane Lowe and others, UK-based hip-hop DJ Charlie Sloth will be leaving his job presenting on the BBC to join Apple Music.

Sloth is a presenter on both BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra. He has been a BBC broadcaster for the past decade, and is best known for hosting the popular rap freestyle segment, “Fire in the Booth.”

Apple has topped Interbrand’s annual list of the Best Global Brands for the sixth consecutive year.

The iPhone-maker, which has seen its brand value increase 16 percent this year, ranked highly in consistency, engagement, and differentiation. It is followed by Google, while Amazon has quickly climbed into third place after its brand value increased an impressive 56 percent.

Facebook is taking another crack at providing a way to help us meet up with friends offline. Having seen its “Facebook Nearby Friends” feature fail to gain much traction, the social media giant is now supposedly planning on a Snapchat-inspired redo to try and change its fortunes.

According to TechCrunch, Facebook is testing a redesign of its “Nearby Friends” that looks a whole lot like Snap Map. This feature will replace the list view of “Nearby Friends” with a map that shows friends grouped according to their city.

Apple introduced its super useful AirDrop file transfer feature way back in 2011. However, a patent licensing company called Uniloc — sometimes referred to as a “patent troll” by critics — claims that Apple is infringing on its intellectual property.

Uniloc says that Apple’s AirDrop tech infringes on a patent first filed in 2000, a decade before Apple debuted AirDrop. And it wants some sweet Apple cash for its troubles!

Police might have cracked the crime ring behind the spate of snatch-and-grab robberies in Apple Stores across California, but Apple’s taking no chances. According to a new report, it has contracted local police departments to bring officers in as extra security in some of its stores.

Specifically, the report notes that Apple is doing this in Sacramento. However, we wouldn’t be surprised if Apple followed a similar strategy in other locations which have been the target of criminals.

There are some technological feats that just hammer home how far we’ve come in a few short years. One of those is the fact that, through what we can only presume is the software engineering version of witchcraft, Sid Meier’s epic Civilization VI game has been squeezed onto iPhone.

And it’s available in the App Store right now — with a 60 percent price discount if you hurry!

Apple made a big deal of people being able to make and receive phone calls with your Apple Watch, but you know what it turns out people prefer doing to answering calls with their Cupertino smartwatch? Declining them, you unsociable bunch!

At least, that’s according to a new Creative Strategies survey of Apple Watch users, shared by researcher Ben Bajarin. Based on the Silicon Valley research firm’s analysis, here’s what else they found Apple Watch owners do on a regular basis:

The days are over when Google Translate could only provide spoken translations with an American accent. The latest iOS version adds regional accents from the former British Empire.

And it goes beyond English. French translations can be said in a Canadian accent, for example.

Apple has quickly become the world’s biggest watch company and based on its latest competition from Android smartwatch maker LG, the company’s not in danger of losing its title anytime soon.

LG’s new Watch W7 was unveiled today with a hybrid design that makes it half smartwatch, half mechanical watch. The watch face has mechanical hands so that you can always see what time it is. To keep them from blocking the display, LG put a little feature in it that makes the two hands fold horizontally but the execution of the idea is quite atrocious.

Look at how dumb this thing is:

The good news is that Apple just significantly cut the official price of BeatsX wireless headphones. The bad news is that half the color options also just went away.

These in-ear headphones compete with Apple’s own AirPods but, unlike their rivals, are permanently connected to each other.

The iPhone XS and XS Max debuted last month, and some versions sold out almost immediately. But that doesn’t automatically mean they’re a huge hit. Still there’s new evideance that sales are strong.

Drawing on data compiled from over 1 million mobile apps, an analyst says that, during the first week they were available, Apple’s XS series outsold last year’s iPhone 8 and 8 Plus by 45 percent.

802.11ax will soon get a public release, but you won’t be left trying to remember if it’s better than 802.11ac or 802.11n. That’s because every version of Wi-Fi is getting renamed with a simple system that anyone can understand.

The next generation is going to be called Wi-Fi 6, which is obviously better than its predecessor, Wi-Fi 5.

The iPhone XS Max camera is one of the best mobile cameras ever tested by the digital camera testing lab DxOMark. It’s just not as good as Huawei’s triple-camera P20 Pro, the tests show.

The XS Max scored a 105, four points less than the flagship of its Chinese competitor, a result only wonky photophiles are likely to debate ad nauseam.

Think twice before you take your next selfie because it could be your last.

Selfie-related deaths are on the rise, according to a new study that found there were over 250 reported deaths from October 2011 to November 2017 that happened while the person was trying to snap a selfie.

Apple isn’t wasting time getting out the next versions of all its operating systems. Yesterday, it introduced fresh betas of iOS 12.1, macOS 10.14.1, and tvOS 12.1 just for developers, and today these are all available to the general public.

This is the second round of betas of all this pre-release software. It comes two weeks after the initial round.

Each new iPhone and its ever-improving camera tends to stir up talk about the demise of the DSLR.

Yet, there are just some key features of a conventional camera’s form factor that relegates the iPhone to the casual camera category.

But the photography accessories company miggö has developed – and now improved – a nifty attachment dubbed Pictar tp bring DSLR-like speed and ergonomics to the iPhone.

Buying an LG display from Apple is becoming more and more difficult. Availability of the UltraFine 5K model is shrinking at Apple Stores around the world. It could indicate that Apple’s new desktop display is finally on the way.

Respected consumer testing publication Consumer Reports has released its full review of the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.

While neither Apple handset quite dethrones Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 as the group’s top-rated smartphone, the testing results do highlight multiple improvements from previous iPhones.

The official Twitter app for iPhone and iPad can now help you cut down on your data usage.

Its new data saver feature takes steps to reduce the amount of data required to load tweets in your timeline. It’s also a blessing for those who like to avoid auto-playing videos.

Apple has joined Alphabet, Amazon, and Facebook in opposing a proposed Australian law requiring tech companies to let law enforcement access private encrypted data in suspected criminal investigations.

The law would seek to punish companies which don’t comply with $7.2 million fines, along with prison terms for individuals. It would make Australia one of the first nations to pass major legislation in this area, although other countries may be keen to follow in its footsteps.

Apple Music is teaming up for an exclusive playlist deal with the popular Ministry of Sound music label. The first playlist is set to debut on Thursday, October 4.

The move isn’t just about helping Apple, however. It also hurts Spotify, the only other streaming music company to offer much of a challenge to Apple Music. At present, the Ministry of Sound has several popular playlists on Spotify, which will be removed from all non-Apple streaming services in the days to come.