News - page 896

Apple has run into another hurdle in China, with internet regulators in the country reportedly calling on Apple to “tighten its checks” on live streaming apps which appear in the App Store.

While no specific live streaming apps are mentioned, popular apps include Periscope, Facebook Live, and others. Apparently the concern on this occasion concerns possible “management loopholes” with the apps in question. However, this is far from the first time the Chinese government has kicked up a fuss about Apple.

The first reviews of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ have dropped a day ahead of their official launch in many markets, and there’s one thing to take away from them: Samsung just knocked it out of the park with its best smartphones to date.

Despite the problems the company encountered with the Galaxy Note 7 last fall, it has managed to produce two new devices that don’t disappoint. From gorgeous design and impressive cameras to the best display on the market, the Galaxy S8 series has it all.

It might not perfect, but the changes and improvements Samsung has made show Apple what a smartphone should be in 2017, and make it even more difficult for the iPhone to catch up.

Here’s our review roundup.

Steve Jobs once said that it’s better to be a pirate than to join the navy. More than 30 years on, you can put that mantra to the test, courtesy of a new iOS game that’s just landed in the App Store.

Called Tempest: Pirate Action RPG, it’s a premium adventure role-playing game which lets you assemble a vicious crew of salty sea dogs, arm yourself to the gunwales, and go out in search of buried treasure. Check out the trailer below.

A new photo of what is believed to be iPhone 8 schematics reveals a surprising new design direction.

Apple appears to have done away with the smooth curves we’ve come to expect from its smartphones in recent years, opting instead for sharper edges and flat sides. This image suggests the next iPhone will be much like the iPhone 5, only bigger.

Much bigger.

Chip orders reveal demand for the next-gen iPhones is set to exceed 50 million units during the second half of 2017, and hit a total of 220 million to 230 million units, according to a new report.

The new handsets are likely to be Apple’s biggest iPhone refresh since 2014’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus-era devices, and promise to boast major new features. And it seems Apple’s willing to bank on that leading to massive demand!

Samsung isn’t giving up on its Galaxy Note lineup following last year’s exploding battery fiasco. According to one reliable analyst, a Galaxy Note 8 is coming with a dual-lens camera that will be “much better than that of the iPhone 7 Plus.”

Not only is graphics chip designer Imagination Technologies getting kicked to the curb so Apple can bring its chipmaking technology in-house, but the company is also set to have its remaining royalty rate cut.

According to a new report, Apple is planning to pay Imagination just one-third of its current royalty rate as it winds down its supply deal with the British company over the next two years.

At an event in Washington D.C. last night, Tim Cook accepted the Free Expression Award at the First Amendment advocacy Newseum.

The award was designed to celebrate the fact that Cook has taken a public stand on issues such as racial equality, climate change, privacy, LGBT rights, and more.

Facebook is aiming to make its Messenger app the go-to spot to talk about music with a new update that makes it easier to share songs with friends.

During the company’s F8 developers conference this morning, Facebook unveiled a new way for third-party apps to integrate with communications platform. And Apple Music is one of its first partners.

The best apps made by Apple for iPhone and iPad are finally available for free to all users.

As part of an update to its iWork and iLife apps this morning, Apple changed the price for both the Mac and iOS versions, giving customers access to a suite of apps that can be used for music and video or getting work done.

Apple’s retail employees will be seeing green this weekend as part of the iPhone-maker’s Earth Day celebration.

To raise awareness on the battle to fight climate change, Apple store employees have been given green shirts to wear in replacement of the tradition blue shirts starting on Thursday April 20.

Apple’s mission to kill the use of headphone jacks on the iPhone may be completed by 2018, according to a new report from Barclays.

In a note to investors today, the research bank says the three new iPhone models Apple introduces this year will all come with a Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter, but this could be the last time buyers get a free dongle.

The first iMac’s frightful code name was an in-joke that reflected Steve Jobs’ respect for Sony. The working name — “MacMan” — was so horrible it would “curdle your blood,” according to Ken Segall, the Apple exec who eventually came up with the name “iMac.” Nearly 20 years after Apple shipped the iMac G3, we now have an explanation for the craptacular internal name — courtesy of Phil Schiller, the guy who came up with it.

Many people thought Samsung might opt for a dramatically different design for its Galaxy S8-series smartphones, after the blowback from its notorious Note 7 smartphone, which had to be recalled due to a major battery fault.

However, it seems the South Korean tech giant is very confident that it was a manufacturing quality assurance issue because, as a handset teardown from our friends at iFixit shows that Samsung has changed virtually nothing for its new premium handset.

Scoring Apple orders is a great thing if you’re a manufacturer, but don’t expect an easy ride!

The latest example of this is Quanta Computer, which up until now has been the chief supplier of the Apple Watch. However, according to a new report, Apple has decided to hand over 20-30 percent of Apple Watch orders as a way to”decrease Quanta’s price bargaining power.”

Pandora’s fight back against Apple Music officially begins today, with Pandora Premium, the on-demand streaming service, now available to all.

Priced at $9.99 a month, the subscription grants access to millions of tracks and albums that you can listen to ad-free, as often as you like. It also boasts a couple of neat features you won’t find elsewhere.

Apple’s next iPhone refresh will be the device’s biggest in years, but some of the more dramatic upgrades could be curtailed by technical challenges.

In its report on the new iPhone 8, Bloomberg corroborates many previous rumors about the next-gen iPhone, but suggests that more “ambitious” features may be scaled back or ditched due to manufacturing problems.

Twitch is planning to introduce new subscription tiers that will give fans the opportunity to donate more cash to their favorite streamers.

Starting later this month, you’ll be able to pay up to $24.99 a month, which could get you new benefits like exclusive emotes and subscriber roles.

Logitech’s neat little Pop buttons, which bring simple controls to your smart home devices, now work with Apple HomeKit.

The latest Pop kit, available exclusively from the Apple store and Apple.com, comes with the bridge device you’ll need to integrate Pop buttons into your network.

Apple’s next-generation iMac with powerful new internals will start shipping in the second half of 2017, according to sources in the company’s supply chain.

Apple is also said to be preparing a “server-grade” iMac packing Intel Xeon processors, up to 2TB of NVMe solid-state storage, and a discrete graphics card that will be available by the end of the year.

The iPhone 8 may take some design cues from the Apple Watch, if the latest rumor out of Asia turns out to be true.

Apple will supposedly use an improved version of the Apple Watch’s stainless steel as the frame for the new iPhone 8. Glass in the front and the back will sandwich the stainless steel plate on the iPhone 8 but, according to the report, it won’t have a curved screen.

Keeping tabs on all your favorite Instagram posts just got a lot easier today, thanks to a new update that adds a new ‘Saved’ section.

Instagram’s new update lets users create Pinterest-like collections based off of posts from other users. However, unlike Pinterest only you can see the collections. For now.

Music lovers at Coachella fell victim to a serial phone snatcher on the loose at the festival last weekend. But like many iPhone thieves, the Coachella bandit got foiled by Apple’s Find My iPhone feature.

Apple finally received permission from the California DMW to test self-driving cars on public roads this week, but spotting an Apple Car in the wild won’t be easy for fans.

Instead of making its own automobile for the streets, Apple will simply be testing its autonomous vehicle software using other company’s cars. Apple has permission to drive only three cars, so seeing them on the road might be tough.

Here’s what to look for.

Al Gore will speak about climate change this week during an appearance at Apple’s flagship store in San Francisco.

The ex-veep — now a filmmaker, writer and environmental activist — will be joined by Apple VP of Environment Lisa Jackson, who served as head of the Environmental Protection Agency during the first four years of the Obama administration. Anyone can attend the event, during which the pair will talk about Apple’s ongoing commitment to the environment.