I have a co-worker who bought a pair of Apple’s shiny white AirPods, turned a black Sharpie marker on them and has been cleaning ink out of his ears ever since.
A company called BlackPods, which says it has a proprietary coating system for Apple’s wireless earbuds, just announced its service this week in an email blast to tech journalists — though too late for my colleague, who now reports model paint worked no better than the Sharpie.
Apple gave developers their first look at the next big update for iOS 10 yesterday, and it packs a surprising number of new features.
The public will have to wait a few weeks (or months) to get their hands on the new goodies packed inside iOS 10.3, which brings improvements for AirPods, iPads and more.
Here are all the new additions coming soon to iOS devices near you.
Finding your tiny AirPods charging case is about to get a lot easier, thanks to a new iOS 10 beta that adds a Find My AirPods feature to iPhones and iPads.
Apple seeded iOS 10.3 beta 1 to registered developers this morning, bringing new hope for lost AirPods, plus a host of other new features and bug fixes. Unfortunately, there’s still no sign of the long-rumored Dark Mode.
Terrified you’re going to lose your awesome new AirPods? Give yourself peace of mind with PodStraps, a $15 shoelace that hangs your AirPods around your neck and prevents them from bouncing around on the floor when they fall out of your ears.
AirPods are the hottest item in tech right now, but you can already bag a discount on Apple’s wireless headphones. Plus, we’ve got iPhones both current- and past-gen to suit every taste and budget, all in this week’s best Apple deals.
Tim Cook has called the AirPods a “runaway success,” but what this means in terms of wireless headphone market share remains to be seen.
A previous report from Slice Analytics claimed that Apple’s new headphones captured a whopping 26 percent for wireless headphone sales in December. However, analysts at NDP Group think the real number is significantly lower — like, in the 2 percent to 3 percent range.
Why the difference?
Apple debuted new ads for its freshly-released AirPods over the weekend, demonstrating features like instant pairing and Siri, while getting across the joy that comes with Apple’s wireless dream through a musical dance number.
Starring Los Angeles-based dancer and model Lil Buck, and set to the song “Down” by Marian Hill, the four black-and-white spots debuted on Apple’s YouTube channel.
Check them out below:
Apple’s revenues generated from the iOS ecosystem will surpass $1 trillion sometime this year, according to one analyst.
By mid-2017, the company is forecast to have sold a whopping 1.2 billion iPhones, while collective sales of all iOS devices will surpass 1.75 billion units.
Apple has pulled a third-party app that helped users locate lost AirPods.
“Finder for AirPods” first landed on the App Store last week and used a Bluetooth signal to track down missing earpieces. But just days later, it’s gone, with Apple telling its creator that it is “not appropriate for the App Store.”
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple packed some amazing tech into its weird-looking AirPods. But to Nuheara co-founder David Cannington, Apple’s white-hot wireless earphones are just “dumb wireless.”
Sure, AirPods let you listen to music, take phone calls and tap into Siri, but they represent a missed opportunity because they don’t solve a crucial problem faced by many people in the modern world: hearing what’s going on around them.
As you might have guessed, Cannington’s company tackled this problem with a new product that launched at CES this week. Nuheara’s IQbuds are smart, truly wireless earbuds that do more than just make calls and deliver high-fidelity audio to your ears. They make it possible to carry on conversations in noisy environments like restaurants, bars and even massive Las Vegas trade shows.
iPhone 7 users no longer must choose between charging their device or listening to headphones, thanks to a new case that restores the headphone jack to its rightful place.
Getting a headphone jack back on the iPhone 7 comes at the cost of some serious bulk, but with Incipio’s new OX case, at least you won’t have to carry around a dongle anymore.
AirPods offer some of the best battery life you can get from wireless earphones, but many users have been unable to enjoy it. An apparent glitch is causing some units to drain power when they’re not in use, but a simple reset could fix it.
Here’s what you need to do.
This year’s iPhone upgrade might have been a little dull, but we saw plenty of exciting accessories for Apple’s iconic smartphone in 2016.
From awesome new AirPods to ultraportable virtual reality headsets, they all helped make iPhone 7 more exciting. Here are our favorite iPhone accessories of the year.
This week on The CultCast: It’s our epic final episode of 2016! We’ll wrap up the year with our hands-on review of the hotness themselves, Apple’s AirPods. Then … is Apple’s “Golden Era” drawing to a close? We discuss. And finally, ya’ll know we review a lot of products during the year — we’ll reveal our absolute favorite gadgets of 2016!
Apple manufacturing partner Inventec is planning to expand its AirPods production capacity to meet strong demand from consumers.
Impressive sales of the hot new wireless earphones over the holiday period are expected to give the Taiwanese firm a boost in revenue, but its plants are already working overtime to deliver Apple’s orders.
Apple pissed off a lot of people in 2016. In hindsight, some of Cupertino’s moves look clumsy, and others seem truly clueless, but Tim Cook and Co. also made some brilliant moves during this turbulent year.
Let’s go to our happy place and relive the smartest moves made by Apple in 2016.
Samsung is planning to take on Apple’s fancy new AirPods with its own wireless earbuds that will launch alongside the Galaxy S8, according to a new report.
It’s thought Samsung is unlikely to follow Apple’s decision to drop the 3.5mm headphone jack, but it will still push wireless alternatives as they become increasingly popular.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was all smiles during a brief appearance at the New York Stock Exchange this morning. While taking a quick tour of the floor with his nephew, Cook revealed that AirPods are so popular Apple can’t make them fast enough.
2016 hasn’t been Apple’s best year by a long shot. While the company is still making money hand over fist and has seen its Services division go from strength to strength, Apple also consistently stumbled for the first time in years.
While we remain loyal to the Apple brand, here are our picks for the year’s biggest disappointments.
Our take on Apple’s new wireless AirPods may be that they “just work,” but one thing that isn’t quite so seamless is picking up a pair in person at your local Apple store.
That’s according to airpods.isinstock.com, a website dedicated to providing at-a-glance stock levels for Apple’s AirPods at every Apple retail store in the world. The current grand total of stores stocking the AirPods? A big fat zero.
Apple’s EarPods have always been a go-to favorite for me. They’re included with every iPhone, always sound good enough for what I need, and I’ve always found them comfortable. Even going back to the good old iPod days, I’ve always kept a pair close to hand.
But now Apple’s moving on into the “wireless future” with its new AirPods. These completely wireless earphones let you listen to music and podcasts, make phone calls and talk to Siri. But just how do they measure up?
Losing an AirPod can be a pricey mistake, but if you’re not afraid of a little body modification, there’s a way to ensure Apple’s new buds stay in your ear forever.
Apple’s swanky new AirPods are finally shipping, which means the teardown experts at iFixit have pulled them apart to give us a glimpse at their internals.
The AirPods themselves are filled with tiny components and copious amounts of glue, while an X-ray scan of their charging case could reveal the reason behind the lengthy shipping delay.
Apple’s AirPods were due for release in late October, but the wireless headphones didn’t become available until last week from stores and via online orders (expect a six-week wait for the latter!)
Fortunately, we were able to get hold of a pair first thing today. Check out the video below to see what’s inside the box and get our first impressions.
This week on The CultCast: An honest look at Super Mario Run; we review better-sounding AirPods alternatives; the cool new stuff in the iOS and tvOS updates; and we reveal the hands-down best TV shows of 2016!
This episode supported by: Jamf Now, the affordable, cloud-based solution you can rely on to manage the iPads, iPhones and Macs in your workplace. Manage three devices for free at jamf.com/CultCast.
