Apple launched a much-needed update to watchOS Wednesday, eliminating bugs and enhancing performance for the FaceTime feature on Apple Watch.
Apple Watch users running watchOS 6.2 were unable to participate in FaceTime audio calls with iPhones running iOS 9.3.6 or Macs running El Capitan 10.11.6 and earlier.
Huawei unveiled its own credit card April 8, just a year after the debut of the Apple Card. That might be a coincidence if the Chinese company didn’t have a long history of copying Apple.
Watchsmith takes the complications on Apple Watch faces and makes them even smarter. With this new application, these informative little icons can swap themselves out for others depending on what time of day it is.
The COVID-19 pandemic has done nothing to damage iPhone’s popularity among teens. A survey of 5,200 ‘Gen Z’ teens shows 85% own an iPhone and 88% expect an iPhone to be their next phone, both new all-time survey highs.
The Piper Sandler survey found those numbers up 3% from a year ago. Apple Watch also nabbed the top spot for wearables in the firm’s study that was conducted from February 17 to March 27 as many of the teenagers questioned were living in quarantine.
Soulver is my favorite Mac calculator app, because it doesn’t act like a normal calculator. Imagine that you have a piece of paper on which you jot calculations. Then, the paper works out the results for you. Soulver is like that — you type in the sums, and it solves them. You can rework the problems, just like you could on paper, and you can save the whole sheet. And now, in v3.3, the app’s maker added a brand-new Spotlight-like QuickSoulver popup panel that lets you perform instant calculations.
True-ish crime show Home Before Dark, about an intrepid cub reporter who’s always late to class, is the latest Apple TV+ streaming option available to quarantined Americans. Is it any good?
Here’s a quick guide to the pleasures of the show.
Developers received a new build of Apple’s Safari Technology Preview this morning. The experimental browser gives devs a sneak peek at upcoming web technologies for macOS and iOS.
Safari Technology Preview release 104 contains a huge number of bug fixes and other under-the-hood improvements, and it’s available on both macOS Mojave and macOS Catalina.
Apple and other big tech companies are scrambling to update their summer intern roles in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.
Google, Microsoft, Twitter and IBM all revealed to Axios that they will be moving all of their internships to online-only positions for the summer. One of the only major companies that plan to have on-site roles is Apple, but many of them will be online too.
Face ID is great, as long as your iPhone can see your face. A mask — like the ones we all should be wearing to slow the coronavirus pandemic — blocks the iPhone’s Face ID sensor from seeing your face. That means you either need to remove the mask (bad) to unlock your iPhone, type in your passcode every time (annoying), or disable the passcode entirely (a terrible idea).
But, according to in-depth research from China’s Tencent Xuanwu Lab, you can train Face ID to work while you’re wearing a mask. It needs some careful setup, but once it’s done, it works reliablly and quickly. You can even wear glasses.
Google said Wednesday that it’s offering two free months of the cloud-based gaming service Stadia Pro to gamers in 14 countries. This includes access to nine games, including GRID, Destiny 2: The Collection, and Thumper.
The company is doing this to help combat feelings of isolation many might be feeling during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Apple is shipping out replacement AirPods buds with unreleased firmware that makes them unusable for now.
Some users have been holding onto new AirPods that they cannot use for more than a week. They will remain useless until Apple makes its version 2D3 AirPods firmware available to the public.
Residents of Wuhan, the Chinese city where the COVID-19 pandemic began, were free to move about Wednesday after a government-ordered lockdown was lifted, but only if they have the “green light” on their iPhone.
Freedom comes with a QR code residents are required to carry on mobile devices like their iPhones – and can be restricted at any moment should the scanned code flash the wrong color.
HBO on Wednesday confirmed its HBO Go and HBO Now services will drop support for second- and third-generation Apple TV units this month. Users will no longer be able to stream starting April 30.
The change is being made “in order to provide the best streaming experience,” the company said. There are other ways to enjoy these services on older Apple TV boxes, however.
The Magnetic Wireless Charging Case from Xvida protects your iPhone from drops and blows, but that’s just the start. Magnets set into its back allow it to easily attach to a range of other accessories made by this company. That includes a wireless charger that adds hours of use to the handset.
I’ve tested both the Xvida Magnetic Wireless Charger Portable Battery Pack and the protective case that it pairs with to see how they stand up to real-world use.
Germany and Taiwan are cracking down on governmental use of videoconferencing app Zoom amid concerns that it might be too risky to use.
In an internal memo, the German foreign ministry restricted use of the service. The country said security and data-protection weaknesses make Zoom too dangerous to use, according to newspaper Handelsblatt. Taiwan also banned official use of Zoom for the same reasons.
Foxconn, Apple’s largest manufacturing partner, has reported a whopping 59.9% increase in revenue for March 2020 as production ramps up following COVID-19 disruptions.
It’s not all good news for Apple fans, however. One report warns that while some facilities are running at full throttle, plans for some new products have been scuppered by travel restrictions.
Concentrating on what you’re doing can be tough at the best of times. Right now, with coronavirus-induced fears about everything from health to economic instability, isn’t the best of times.
A new iPhone-compatible wearable called Foci aims to help boost focus and productivity, however. It’s a small wearable device that clips to your waist and promises to track your breathing and cognitive states using machine learning technology. It then prompts you with gentle vibrations and reminders about whether you’re paying attention.
We’re all thinking about germs a lot these days. But even so, you might not realize that your phone is a prime vector for viruses and other bugs.
Remember: Anything your hands touch, your screen touches, too. This ultraviolet sanitizer offers an easy way to instantly keep your phone and other gear germ-free.
Microsoft and Turn 10 Studios’ Forza Street racing game is coming to iOS on May 5. The free-to-play street racing game originally debuted for Windows 10 as Miami Street back in May 2018. It was then officially brought under the acclaimed Forza franchise banner last year, when it was promised for a future mobile release.
Forza Street features a diverse range of real-world cars and a cool night setting. Its approach to racing certainly sounds a little… different, though.
Check out the trailer below.
A growing number of third-generation Apple TV owners are experiencing errors when attempting to watch YouTube content.
It seems the problems occur when watching certain videos, while others play just fine. One user who contacted Apple was told that the problem is on Google’s end — not with Apple TV.
Apple has updated its Clips video creation app, adding mouse, trackpad and Bluetooth keyboard support for iPad users running iPadOS 13.4 or later.
While iPadOS 13 introduced basic mouse support, iPadOS 13.4 added much improved cursor control. And Apple’s Clips app, which lets users combine video clips, photos and music into sharable videos, has reaped the benefits!
Apple contract manufacturer Foxconn is going to join the fight against the coronavirus by developing and manufacturing ventilators in the United States, a Wednesday report by Bloomberg and Reuters claims.
Foxconn has confirmed the news, although it has not said where it will make the medical equipment. According to Medtronic, Foxconn’s partner in the endeavor, they will be built in Foxconn’s controversial Wisconsin plant.
Original streaming video platform Quibi racked up 300,000 downloads on day one, claims a report from leading app analytics platform Sensor Tower.
In a market overloaded with subscription streaming services, Quibi’s twist on the formula is to offer snack-sized shows running 10 minutes or less. These are designed to be watched primarily on mobile.
Investors won’t get their first glimpse at just how badly the COVID-19 pandemic hurt Apple’s business until the very end of April.
April revealed this afternoon that it will host a conference call with investors on Thursday, April 30, at 2 p.m. Pacific. The company said in February that it expects revenues to come in lower than its guidance due to the coronavirus outbreak that shut down Apple’s stores and production pipeline during the quarter.
A ventilator simulator app for iPad and Mac is helping medical workers quickly learn how to use the life-saving machines during the coronavirus pandemic. The software, originally developed for classroom use, is now being used to train doctors on the fly as demand for ventilators — and professionals who can operate them — soars due to COVID-19.
The free simulator software looks and operates just like the Hamilton-C6, a state-of-the-art ventilator sold by Switzerland-based Hamilton Medical AG, one of the world’s largest medical ventilator manufacturers. Much like a flight simulator for pilots, the iPad app allows medical professionals unfamiliar with mechanical ventilators, or simply rusty after years of not using them, to practice adjusting settings without endangering lives.
“You don’t want to practice on a real patient, so that’s why we developed this simulator that basically provides that interaction,” Alexander Starcevic, director of marketing at Hamilton Medical AG, told Cult of Mac. “It provides you with a real interface that you have on the real ventilator. In addition, you have behind this a patient model that actually responds to what you’re setting.”