Guide to Mac, iPod, iPad and iPhone news and reviews
In an attempt to garner new users from parent company Apple, Beats Music has launched a contest to coincide with the upcoming London iTunes Festival. Beats Music’s #GoWithMe contest is offering 25 Beats Music users in the United States a chance to win …
Having an external monitor hooked up to a Mac can boost productivity significantly, and most users who get a secondary screen just hook it up and start using it – it works, so why mess around, right? But to get the best picture and color representation out of your external display, you’ll want to take … Read More
Verizon Wireless announced today that it is preparing to roll out Voice over LTE (VoLTE) support to its millions of subscribers over the next few weeks, just ahead of Apple’s planned release of iOS 8 which is rumored to bring…
Instagram today launched a new standalone video app called Hyperlapse, which is designed to allow users to capture high-quality time lapse videos enhanced with built-in stabilization features. According to the app’s description, the image stabilization…
Verizon today announced that it is preparing to launch its voice over LTE (VoLTE) service sometime in September, reports CNET. The new service will be available nationwide on supported phones that are connected to the carrier’s LTE network.
VoLTE will provide high-definition quality voice and video calls that will significantly improve the overall calling experience. Not only will customers notice an enhancement in voice call quality, they also will be able to initiate a FaceTime-like video call right from the dialer app.
Once you experience the HD quality voice, you don’t want to go back,” Greg Dial, executive director of mobile services for Verizon, said in a pre-briefing and demonstration of the new service with reporters. “The tight integration of the video calling feature is also significant. You can launch it right from the dialer. There’s no opening a separate app.”
These new HD VoLTE calls will be considered voice calls and will count against a customer’s available minutes. Video calls will be counted as data and will subtract from the customer’s data allotment. There will be no extra charges for using this service, and it will be optional for customers.
Verizon has not specified which phones will be updated to support its new calling service, but the iPhone may be included on this list. The current generation iPhone chipset supports this feature, and it can be enabled with a software update. Rumors have suggested that Apple has plans to support VoLTE with the launch of iOS 8 and the iPhone 6. Along with Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have announced plans to add VoLTE to their networks in the near future.
iOS 8 will also bring a WiFi calling feature, allowing customers to place higher-quality voice calls over WiFi instead of using a cellular network. T-Mobile is the first carrier to confirm that it will support Apple’s WiFi calling feature when it launches this fall along with iOS 8.
Los Angeles school district superintendent John Deasy halted the district’s iPad contract with Apple in mid-rollout, reports the LA Times. The $1-billion multi-year contract would supply LAUSD students with iPads that were pre-loaded with curriculum from Pearson.
The contract was administered in phases with an initial $30-million investment to equip a pilot group of students with iPads. Additional payments totaling almost $1 billion would expand the project to additional students and build out the wireless infrastructure to support tablet usage at the district’s schools. Each phase was subject to approval with the option of canceling the project if it no longer met the district’s needs.
Deasy’s suspension follows criticism of the project rollout and its bidding process, which some claim was modified to favor Apple and Pearson. While issues with securing the iPads surfaced shortly after rollout, the contractual complaints were detailed in a district technology committee draft report that was obtained recently by the LA Times.
Among the findings was that the initial rules for winning the contract appeared to be tailored to the products of the eventual winners — Apple and Pearson — rather than to demonstrated district needs. The report found that key changes to the bidding rules were made after most of the competition had been eliminated under the original specifications.
In addition, the report said that past comments or associations with vendors, including Deasy, created an appearance of conflict even if no ethics rules were violated.
While Deasy responds to these criticisms, the technology program at LAUSD is moving forward with other devices and alternative curriculum being adopted by schools in the district. The district is expected to purchase up to 18,000 laptops with Apple and Pearson invited to bid on this new contract.
Earthquakes aside, Californians will have one less thing to worry about next year now that a new smartphone anti-theft bill has been signed into law. We’ve got all the details on that as well as an update to the iTunes Festival London lineup in today’s Morning Report.
With the month of September now less than a week away, Apple continues to fill in the remaining holes in the iTunes Festival London lineup, which kicks off September 1 and continues for 30 nights. According to The Loop, the free music event will now get underway with a performance by deadmau5, who will be followed by returning legend Tony Bennet on September 6 and Mary J. Blige on September 25.
Although the lineup has been mostly filled out with the likes of Ed Sheeran, Jessie J, Placebo, Ben Howard, Nicola Benedetti, Nick Gardner, Nick Mulvey, Rae Morris, Lisa Hannigan, Little Dragon, James Bay, Hozier, Wolf Alice, Miloš, Alison Balsom, and Foy Vance, Apple is leaving us in the dark as to who will wrap up the festival on September 30… so there should be “one more thing” yet to come soon.
In the meantime, the iTunes Festival Apple TV channel has started popping up on the radar as we all wait for the month of August to wind to a close.
MacRumors reported Monday that California governor Jerry Brown has taken a big step forward to stomp out smartphone theft, by signing into law a bill requiring all devices sold in the state after July 2015 to include built-in “kill switches,” such as Apple’s Activation Lock already included in recent iPhone models.
“This epidemic has impacted millions across the nation and millions more around the globe, but today we turn the page,” said District Attorney George Gascón. “Seldom can a public safety crisis be addressed by a technological solution, but today wireless consumers everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief. Soon, stealing a smartphone won’t be worth the trouble, and these violent street crimes will be a thing of the past. The devices we use every day will no longer make us targets for violent criminals.”
First launched in February, the SB-962 Smartphones bill requires that manufacturers include a method to make a device inoperable should it fall into the wrong hands, with the additional caveat that such technology must extend to a complete wipe or reset, as well as any attempts to downgrade to an older operating system. The whole process must also be reversible, should the handset wind up being returned to its rightful owner.
Introduced with iOS 7, Apple’s Activation Lock likely already satisfies the fine print of California’s new law, which will likely put pressure on rivals including Samsung and Microsoft to follow suit with their own solutions. Although a similar law is already on the books in Minnesota, a federal mandate known as The Smartphone Theft Prevention Act could take the initiative nationwide in the near future.
PCWorld reported Monday that retail and online Microsoft Stores have launched a new promotion that slashes a cool hundred bucks off the price of a Surface 2, Redmond’s Windows RT 8.1-powered rival for the iPad. (You know, the one that won’t run full Windows apps.)
Between now and September 27, frugal shoppers can pick up a 32GB model for a mere $349, with 64GB offered for $449, or a 64GB model with AT&T 4G LTE for only $579. Probably not a good enough deal to sway potential iPad buyers, but it might just be cheap enough for those wanting to see what life is like on the other side of the fence.
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
Have no interest in an iOS-compatible smartwatch? What would you say to an iOS-compatible smart shirt? In what appears to be a first for the fashion industry, luxury designer Ralph Lauren is hoping you’ll say “yes.” This week at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, the brand is outfitting ball boys and one top tennis player in shirts that relay performance information to iOS devices.
“Everyone is exploring wearable tech watches and headbands and looking at cool sneakers,” said David Lauren, Ralph Lauren’s executive vice president of advertising, in an interview with the New York Times. “We skipped to what we thought was new, which is apparel. We live in our clothes. We want to control the technology and make it applicable to our life in a way that is refined and comfortable. Nothing clunky that you have to strap on. You’re just putting on a shirt.”
The black nylon shirts, created via a partnership with OMsignal, are reportedly able to keep track of the wearer’s heart rate and stress levels with the help of silver-coated thread and sensors woven into the fabric. The information, stored in a “black box” that wearers clip onto their shirts, is then sent to an app on the user’s smartphone where it delivers the information in the form of a a variety of reports. (Swimming with one, in case you were wondering, is reportedly out of the question.)
Marcos Giron, currently the top singles player in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, is the only participant apart from the ball boys who’ll be wearing the shirt, and then only during practice sessions. Ralph Lauren plans to release an entire line of such wearable technology sometime next year, but there’s currently no word on how much they’ll set you back. Considering the prices of the brand’s normal clothing, however, it’s likely you’ll end up saving money if you buy a MacBook instead.
Follow this article’s writer, Leif Johnson, on Twitter.
One of the bigger bits of Apple-related news today (seen in our Morning Report) was the alleged leak of a schematic for a new “Phosphorus” component for the iPhone 6, which was initially thought to be a new processor by a user named GeekBar in a post on Weibo. But that’s not the case, argues a MacRumors forum poster named leecbaker; instead, we may actually be looking at the device’s rumored barometric pressure sensor.
“The chip pictured has the part number BMP282,” leecbaker said in his post. “I’m 99.99{813a954d5e225a1509f22204ece89c855080ce25555f20805f61bed63cbfde3b} sure this is a Bosch barometric pressure sensor, similar to this part BMP280. Variants of one part often have slightly different part numbers — if Apple got Bosch to customize the chip for them with different packaging, or a slightly different measurement range, that would explain the difference in part number.”
Such a sensor could yield far more features than mere pressure readings, the poster says — it could also assist with GPS navigation and weather forecasting, and add some utility to Apple’s upcoming Health app in the form of lung-function measurements. Another reader, kdarling, lent weight to leecbaker’s claims by pointing out that the pins on Bosch’s pressure sensor match those in the leaked schematics.
Bosch’s pressure sensor. Via MacRumors
It’s worth noting that GeekBar has been wrong about the identification of “leaked” parts in the past — the poster recently incorrectly claimed that a component was associated with flash storage when it was instead associated with RAM — but the parts themselves may be genuine. At the very least, they suggest that some of those early far-fetched rumors about the iPhone 6 (and the “iWatch,” by extension) may have some truth to them, after all.
Follow this article’s writer, Leif Johnson, on Twitter.
Aside from using apps like Photoshop, one of the best ways to make a contact sheet on the Mac is to use Automator to generate the thumbnail sheet as needed. But because Automator requires the usage of an OS X scripting utility, it’s beyond the comfort level of many users, and it also takes time … Read More
Modern versions of iOS changed how Safari looks when a web page is loaded, particularly on the iPhone and iPod touch. To save screen space on these devices, all of the Safari navigation buttons disappear automatically once you start scrolling through a…
[This is an advertorial. Maclife gets a portion of each unit sold.]Back in June during the annual Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced something that sounded like music to the mobile developers’ ears: A brand new, simplified programming lan…
I was sent a Belkin BOOST UP Charger and BOOST UP Car charger, both of which feature 12-watt charging for the iPad. Belkin’s website copy claims that these BOOST UP chargers are 40{813a954d5e225a1509f22204ece89c855080ce25555f20805f61bed63cbfde3b} faster than a 5-watt charger at fully recharging an iPad Air, which is true, but not really a fair comparison because neither […]
It was a relatively quiet weekend on the Apple front, although we’ve managed to round up all the news that’s fit to print in today’s Morning Report, including a look at what could be the latest design for Apple’s USB power adapter, a peek at a schematic for the M8 processor, and details on how Apple plans to sell Beats Music to iTunes customers. Click on to read the details!
MacRumors reported Saturday that Apple’s current USB power adapter appears to be getting a fresh new look, judging from an image leaked to Weibo (above). In addition to a less-square design with rounded corners, the adapter features dimples on each side that make it easier to hold and inset the adapter into an AC power outlet.
But exactly how “fresh” is the new design? According to a MacRumors forum poster, the exact same design is currently used on Apple’s power adapters in Australia, although with entirely different prongs — the United States and other countries use Type A prongs, which are clearly pictured here. The natural assumption is the new design will be arriving here with the iPhone 6, presumably the next Apple product to use such an adapter.
AppleInsider today reported that a schematic published on Weibo appears to offer a first look at what Apple may have in store for this year’s M8 system-on-a-chip, including an updated motion coprocessor codenamed “Phosphorus,” which allegedly will work hand-in-hand with Cupertino’s new iOS 8-based Health app.
According to GeekBar, Phosphorus could be used to “collect and interpret new health-related data for the next-generation iPhone,” including “heart rate, calories burned, cholesterol levels, blood sugar, and more.” Like the current generation M7 found in the iPhone 5s, the M8 motion coprocessor will also stealthily track a user’s activity similar to pedometers such as Fitbit, capable of communicating data to compatible apps, including Apple’s own Health solution expected to arrive next month with iOS 8.
In case you haven’t heard, Apple picked up a little company called Beats Electronics this summer, and has already integrated its subscription-based streaming music service Beats Music into the “Apps by Apple” section on the App Store. According to 9to5Mac, the next step appears to be indoctrinating iTunes customers into the fold, courtesy of an email that introduces them to the wonders of Beats.
“Get Beats Music, now part of the Apple family,” the email reads below the headline, “The right music, right now.” The promotional email shows how Beats Music offers “Tune Your Taste” and “Just For You” features, encouraging iTunes customers to download the free app from the App Store and give it a spin.
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
(Image courtesy of MacRumors and Weibo)
The newest iPhone models support the recording of slow motion video with the native Camera app. This nifty feature was first introduced as a major part of the iPhone 5s camera and is able to shoot 720p movies at 120 frames per second. But that doesn’t mean that slow-motion is limited only to the latest … Read More
Featured this weekend in iPad Insight Deals is a giveaway contest that should grab the attention of any photography buffs here, or even just any of you who fancy a camera that’s a big step up from your iPhone or Android smartphone. It’s the Rebel Photographer Giveaway, it’s free to enter the contest, and here’s […]
