Apple 'Very Aware Of' Pricing Concerns, Energizer's Brick-Sized Phone, Google Home Bug Teases Apple Music Support - MacRumors

Brought to you by: Apple COO Jeff Williams 'Very Aware Of' Concerns Over Apple Product Cost Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams spoke at Elon University in North Carolina last Friday, and in a Q&A session, he was asked about the high prices of Apple's products. Williams noted that Apple wants to be an "egalitarian" company and is "very aware of" pricing concerns. He did not, however, offer any specific thoughts on how Apple can address the pricing issues other than a vague mention of efforts in developing countries. The comments by Williams come as research firm Gartner estimates that Apple experienced its worst year-over-year decline in iPhone sales in three years during the holiday quarter, largely due to weakness in China. Samsung leads the overall smartphone market while Huawei has rapidly grown to challenge Apple for the second spot in the rankings.   Read Full Article Support Our Sponsor Make Apple Device Management Easier With Jamf Now Jamf Now is an on-demand mobile device management (MDM) solution for iPad, iPhone, and Mac devices in your workplace. Perform MDM tasks like deploying apps, distributing email and Wi-Fi settings, and securing company data easily, no IT expertise required. Manage your first three devices for free. Add more starting at $2/device/month. Create your account now!   Visit Sponsor Popular Stories Feb 28, 2019 This is What a Smartphone With an 18,000mAh Battery Looks Like Following Samsung's announcements including its $2000 Galaxy Fold smartphone last week, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was the scene of a number of other tech-related announcements that attracted significant attention. Perhaps the most talked-about device introduction was Energizer's upcoming Power Max P18K Pop smartphone that packs an 18,000 mAh battery inside. It's a ridiculously thick phone, but if you're looking for long battery life, this might be your thing. In other MWC news, if you thought Samsung's Galaxy Fold was expensive, you might be surprised to hear about Huawei's new folding smartphone, the Mate X, which starts at $2600. These obviously aren't going to be for the masses just yet, but it'll be interesting to see where this folding device technology goes. And finally, Oppo has introduced a triple-camera phone that offers up to 10x optical zoom. Apple has been rumored to be including a triple-lens camera in at least this year's iPhone XS Max successor, but we're not yet sure about it's capabilities.   Read Full Article Apple Plans to Close Stores in Eastern District of Texas in Fight Against Patent Trolls Apple appears to be pursuing an interesting new strategy to thwart "patent trolls" that frequently sue the company in hopes of winning multi-million-dollar verdicts despite not having any products of their own. Lawsuits brought by patent trolls have typically been filed in the Eastern District of Texas, which has been perceived as a favorable jurisdiction for plaintiffs in such cases. But Apple is now moving to close its two retail stores in the Eastern District, located in the Dallas suburbs of Plano and Frisco, and replace them with a single new store just over the border in north Dallas. By closing its Plano and Frisco stores, Apple will no longer have an established place of business within the Eastern District, and thanks to a 2017 Supreme Court ruling limiting where patent infringement lawsuits can be filed, patent troll plaintiffs will no longer be able to sue Apple in the Eastern District. One such company is, however, attempting to sneak in under the wire, filing suit against Apple this week over LTE-related patents. The plaintiffs previously won over $10 million in a judgment against Huawei over the same patents.   Read Full Article Google Says Bug Caused Apple Music to Appear in Google Home App Following integration of Apple Music with Amazon's Echo devices several months ago, there was considerable interest this week when Apple Music started showing up as an option within the Google Home app, suggesting streamlined support for Apple's music service might be coming to Google's lineup of smart speakers. That doesn't appear to be the case, however, as Google says Apple Music's appearance was a bug related to the fact that Google Assistant (which does support Apple Music in a limited fashion) and Google Home share some Google account settings.   Read Full Article Fun iOS Safari Bug Lets You Trick Your Friends With Fake Website Headlines Our recent series of tips videos has proven popular with readers and YouTube subscribers, and here's a particularly fun tip that takes advantage of an apparent bug in how Safari and Messages interact on iOS. Watch the video to see how it works, but the trick lets you send a website link in Messages with a text snippet that makes it look like a headline from the page. You can make that text snippet be whatever you want, so it's a good way to trick your friends for a brief moment until they tap through to see the page.   Read Full Article USB-IF Confusingly Merges USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 Under New USB 3.2 Branding If you were already confused by the terminology used to describe the various USB speed standards, then buckle up. The governing body for USB has announced new branding that means all of the recent generations of USB will be variations of "USB 3.2". So what does this all mean? The 5 Gbps standard that was originally known as USB 3.0 and later renamed to USB 3.1 Gen 1 will now be called USB 3.2 Gen 1. The more recent 10 Gbps standard previously known as USB 3.1 Gen 2 will now be called USB 3.2 Gen 2. Those changes set the stage for the upcoming 20 Gbps standard that will naturally be called USB 3.2 Gen 3. Just kidding...it's actually going to be called USB 3.2 Gen 2x2. We're not making this up.   Read Full Article Apple's MacBook Air vs. Microsoft's Surface Laptop 2 Finally this week, we took a look at Apple's latest MacBook Air and compared it to Microsoft's Surface Laptop 2. Obviously your preference is going to largely come down to whether you're a Mac or Windows fan, but there are some interesting hardware comparisons to be made between the two machines. Neither machine is going to be a workhorse for demanding applications, but they both deliver strong battery life in portable sizes and weights that will be great for most users.   Read Full Article

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16" MacBook Pro, 6K Apple Display, Black AirPods, New Mac Pro at WWDC? - MacRumors

Brought to you by: 16-Inch MacBook Pro, 6K Apple Display, AirPower, AirPods 2 and More Predicted for 2019 Notable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo released a blockbuster research report this week, outlining his expectations for the company's 2019 product plans. Kuo's roadmap includes a larger MacBook Pro with a display of 16 to 16.5 inches, a new 31.6-inch 6K Apple display, a full refresh of the iPad lineup with a boost of the low-cost iPad from 9.7 to 10.2 inches, AirPower and updated AirPods coming in the first half of the year, a new ceramic casing option for the Apple Watch, and iPhone updates such as the ability to wirelessly charge other devices (AirPods, anyone?), frosted glass backs, and larger batteries. Make sure to check out our summary video and click through to read all of our coverage of Kuo's research note.    Read Full Article Supoprt Our Sponsor monday.com Is More Than Just a Project Management Tool! It’s a Tool Teams Love to Use. monday.com is intuitive to use, displays color-coded team management information on its dashboard, and is suitable for any industry sector, for teams of any size, and for both single and multiple projects. This team management tool will also serve as an excellent solution to any collaboration problems you may have experienced in the past since it promotes project transparency, empowers team members, and encourages team communication. monday.com is a good fit for tech and non-tech teams alike. Approximately 70% of its 20,000 users fall outside the tech sector. With this collaboration and team management tool in place, teams quickly discover they can do without the unending series of whiteboard presentations, drawn out meetings, and lengthy spreadsheet searches for key data. Team leaders and project managers like monday.com because it easily adjusts to projects workflows instead of having to force-fit workflows to satisfy the demands of the tool.   Visit Sponsor Popular Stories Feb 21, 2019 Apple to Release AirPods With New Coating and Black Color in the Spring Kuo's brief mention of AirPower and updated AirPods coming in the first half of the year wasn't the only news on that front this week, with a report out of Taiwan claiming the updated AirPods will include a new coating and wireless charging for the case, and be available in black. We've heard about a new matte finish for increased grip in other recent rumors, so that may be the coating this report is referring to. Apple this week also won a patent related to an earbuds charging case that can be inductively charged. As depicted in figures included with the patent application, Apple is clearly describing a wireless charging case for the AirPods, with AirPower also shown.   Read Full Article Apple Mulling Preview of New Modular Mac Pro at WWDC in June Nearly two years ago, Apple took the unusual step of revealing that it was working on an all-new Mac Pro with a modular design, and in an update last year the company said it would be "a 2019 product." Well, 2019 is here, and a new report from Bloomberg says that Apple is considering showing off the new Mac Pro at WWDC in June. That makes sense, as WWDC is a prime event for the pro-level customers Apple would be targeting with the new Mac Pro. The same report from Bloomberg also offers an update on Apple's plans for integrating iOS and Mac apps. Sources say Apple is planning to use WWDC to launch new tools that will allow developers to easily port their iPad apps to Mac. Those tools are planned to expand in 2020 to allow iPhone apps to be ported to Mac, and by 2021 Apple will reportedly allow developers to build a single app binary that will support all three types of devices through a unified App Store.   Read Full Article Samsung Unveils New $1,980 Galaxy Fold Smartphone We've been hearing about Samsung's foldable phone for a while now, and yesterday the company finally took the wraps off of it, debuting the Galaxy Fold that opens up into a 7.3-inch tablet-like display. The Galaxy Fold certainly won't come cheap when it launches in April, as it starts at a whopping $1,980. Alongside the Galaxy Fold, Samsung also introduced its Galaxy S10 lineup, which includes a total of four phones: the usual S10 and S10+ models differentiated primarily by size, and then a cheaper S10e and a higher-end S10 5G that will launch later this year with faster 5G cellular technology. Finally, Samsung showed off its latest AirPods competitors, the Galaxy Buds. Priced at $130, the Galaxy Buds are similar to AirPods in that they're wire-free with a charging case, have Bixby voice assistant integration, and offer a smooth pairing experience.   Read Full Article Classical Music on Apple Music: What's Wrong and How Apple Can Fix It Classical music is notoriously tricky for music services to manage, considering the genre's wide range, difficulties in properly crediting and indexing composers, conductors, orchestras, and soloists, and dealing with lengthy recordings that often aren't meant to be broken up into individual tracks. We talked with some classical music experts about a number of these issues and how they cause problems for Apple Music users, as well as some ideas about what Apple could do to try to improve the service for fans of classical music.   Read Full Article Seven Handy Mac Tricks You Might Not Know We've done a few tips and tricks videos about iOS that have proven extremely popular, so this week we turned our attention to the Mac. We've shared seven relatively obscure but handy Mac tricks and we bet there's at least one in there that you don't know. So take a look, learn something new, and let us know if you have any great tips we might be able to use in a future video! And of course, subscribe to our YouTube channel to make sure you don't miss out on all of our great video content.   Read Full Article

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Apple Media Event March 25, AirPods and AirPower Rumors, WWDC 2019 Dates - MacRumors

Brought to you by: Apple to Hold Subscription-Focused Media Event March 25, No AirPods or iPad Mini Announcement Expected Based on Apple's recent history and rumors of pending announcements, we've been expecting Apple might announce a media event to take place in March, and it looks like that's exactly what's going to happen. Multiple media reports are indicating Apple will be holding an event in the Steve Jobs Theater at the company's Apple Park headquarters on Monday, March 25. The initial report came from BuzzFeed's John Paczkowski, who has been the first to report on Apple media event dates a number of times in the past. He said the event will focus on Apple's rumored news subscription service, but that new hardware like updated AirPods or a new iPad mini is unlikely to appear at the event. Several additional sources are reporting that Apple is also expected to announce its streaming television service, with a number of Hollywood sources said to be associated with Apple's original content projects having been invited to the event. The actual launch of the service may, however, not come until months later.   Read Full Article Supoprt Our Sponsor MacX DVD Ripper Pro - Fast Rip All DVDs to Mac/Smartphone/Tablet in MP4 [Exclusive BOGO Deals] Too many DVDs lying around? Just make digital copies of them to save storage space and avoid disk damage with MacX DVD Ripper Pro. This time, MacRumors readers can not only enjoy an exclusive 80% discount on it, but they can get MacX MediaTrans for free to transfer DVD videos to iPhone for playback. MacX DVD Ripper Pro is rated as the best Mac DVD Ripper on TopTenReviews, and is the most downloaded of its kind on Softonic. It convinces editors and users with three unparalleled highlights. 1. Widest DVD Support - digitalize all types of DVD movies (new & old), homemade DVDs, and 99-title DVDs seamlessly.  2. Richest Outputs - rip DVD to any video format like MP4, MOV, MKV, FLV and all models of computer, TV, iPad, iPhone, and Android. 3. Fastest Speed - rip an entire DVD in five minutes by utilizing the unique Level-3 Hardware Acceleration Tech. Moreover, the built-in video editor allows you to cut, crop, and merge video, and extract audio/snapshot, giving you the chance to recreate videos however you like. The time-limited deal is valid only until February 20. Come get both applications for just $19.95 instead of $107.90.   Visit Sponsor Popular Stories Feb 14, 2019 Wireless AirPods Charging Case Expected Soon, but AirPods 2 May Not Launch Until Fall While reliable sources have indicated next-generation AirPods won't be unveiled at Apple's March media event, that doesn't mean an update isn't in the works, as Apple could go with a lower-key launch via press release and/or coordinated media reviews. Frequent leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer claims that Apple's previously announced wireless charging case for the AirPods should launch soon, but that the more significant AirPods upgrade with "Hey Siri" support may not arrive until fall. Another rumor says the upcoming AirPods revision this spring will include a new matte coating to enhance grip, as well as improved internals, and will launch alongside the AirPower charging mat. Yet another rumor from before we knew the media event date claimed the new AirPods, AirPower, and updated iPads would launch on March 29. That would actually line up with the reported event date, allowing a few extra days for availability, but sources have said there won't be any hardware announcements at the event. So what it boils down to is lots of rumors, but still lots of uncertainty.   Read Full Article WWDC 2019 Dates Confirmed: June 3-7 in San Jose Most Apple watchers have expected WWDC 2019 to take place the week of June 3, based on Apple's recent pattern of holding the event in early June. In order to confirm that assumption, we did a bit of digging and discovered a listing in the San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs' public event directory for an Apple-hosted event in Discovery Meadow the evening of Thursday, June 6, which would correspond to the annual WWDC Bash. While Apple hasn't publicly announced anything, the listing leaves very little doubt that WWDC will be held June 3–7 in San Jose, but you might want to hold off until an official announcement before making any nonrefundable travel arrangements.   Read Full Article New iPads Expected in First Half of 2019, Including iPad Mini 5 With Similar Design as iPad Mini 4 While most of the spring hardware rumors have been focused on AirPods and AirPower, Apple's lineup of lower-end iPads is also rumored to be seeing updates. According to DigiTimes, Apple's iPads including the iPad mini will be receiving updates in the first half of the year, although they won't see major design changes from the current models. The iPad mini in particular should see relatively significant internal upgrades considering the current model is three and a half years old. While we're not expecting iPad Pro updates yet, the entry-level iPad is also due for an annual refresh. The report doesn't offer any details on what to expect with this update, but previous rumors have suggested the 9.7-inch display could grow to 10 inches thanks to slimmer bezels.    Read Full Article Apple Forces Developers to Remove Screen Recording Code From iOS Apps Last week, we covered the news that a number of prominent app developers were using analytics packages in their iOS apps that are capable of capturing data like taps, swipes, and even full screen recordings of users' interactions with the apps. High-profile apps like Abercrombie & Fitch, Hotels.com, Air Canada, Hollister, Expedia, and Singapore Airlines were all using the analytics packages from Glassbox. Following the revelations, Apple has demanded that the companies remove the capabilities or properly disclose them (including a prominent red icon on-screen while recording is occurring), or else they will be removed from the App Store.   Read Full Article 2019 iPhones Said to Keep Lightning Connector With Same Old 5W Charger and EarPods in Box Apple has reportedly been considering switching to a USB-C port on its iPhones as it has for the iPad Pro, but a new report claims the 2019 iPhones will stick with a Lightning port. We polled our readers on the issue, and over 70 percent of them would prefer USB-C, so we'll have to see if and when Apple decides to make that change. Aside from the Lightning port, this week's report also claims that the 2019 iPhones will continue to include a traditional 5-watt charger and Lightning EarPods in the box. Many users have been clamoring for a higher-power adapter to be included in the box for faster charging, but it looks like Apple still isn't ready to provide one.   Read Full Article

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Apple Fixes Major FaceTime Bug, New Animoji in iOS 12.2, Angela Ahrendts Leaving Apple - MacRumors

Brought to you by: iOS 12.1.4 Now Available With Group FaceTime Bug Fix Following last week's disclosure of a major bug with Group FaceTime that could let a user eavesdrop on you without your knowledge, Apple has finally rolled out iOS 12.1.4 to address the issue. Apple initially said that a software update would be coming last week, but last Friday the company issued a statement apologizing for the situation and pushing the update back to this week. Users will need to update to iOS 12.1.4 in order to use Group FaceTime going forward, as the feature will remain permanently disabled for those on iOS 12.1.3 and earlier. An updated version of macOS 10.14.3 has also been released to address the issue on Mac.   Read Full Article Sponsor Solve iPhone Video Playback/Sharing Issues with VideoProc [License Giveaway & Win an iPhone XS Max]  A video converter like VideoProc is the must-have tool to set you free from all the annoying video playback/sharing/downloading issues for your iPhone/Mac/iTunes. Come participate in a VideoProc time-limited giveaway to grab a free copy ($78.90 value) and a rare chance to win over $2000 in gadgets including an iPhone XS Max! Troubled by video issues? Check out how VideoProc solves them seamlessly: Convert MKV, AVI, WMV videos to Apple’s format for iPhone offline playback. Transcode iPhone HEVC video to H.264, which is recognized by all video devices, editors, and sites. Adjust DSLR/DJI/GoPro videos parameters for smooth playback on iPhone. Download YouTube 4K HD videos and convert them to iPhone’s format. Fix iPhone video upside-down/sideways errors, adjust iPhone video speed.  Solve video issues in a few clicks, up to 47x real-time faster, lossless quality. Bonus features: edit iPhone videos, reduce video size, record iPhone screen. Get a free VideoProc license key and stay away from any iPhone video problems. Remember to try your luck to win an iPhone XS Max and more in the contest before February 20.   Visit Sponsor Popular Stories Feb 07, 2019 Apple Introduces New Giraffe, Shark, Owl and Boar Animoji in iOS 12.2 Beta Apple this week seeded the second beta version of iOS 12.2, introducing several changes including four new Animoji characters. The new characters can be used with the TrueDepth front cameras on the iPhone X and later and the 2018 iPad Pro to give yourself a live, animated avatar in FaceTime and Messages. The latest beta also rolls out a new "5GE" status bar symbol for AT&T users when they're connected to the carrier's 5G Evolution network. AT&T's branding is misleading, however, as 5G Evolution is not true 5G cellular technology and in practice is really no different from LTE. In other beta news, the iOS 12.2 update will by default limit the ability for websites to access your device's accelerometer and gyroscope data, which could break certain marketing websites including some of Apple's. The next Safari version in iOS and macOS will also end support for the outdated and useless "Do Not Track" standard.   Read Full Article Gruber: Apple TV is Sold at Cost, HomePod at Slight Loss Apple's HomePod and Apple TV have received some criticism for their high pricing compared to competing devices from other manufacturers, but a "reliable little birdie" has told Apple pundit John Gruber that Apple isn't making much money selling these products. In fact, Apple is reportedly selling the Apple TV roughly at cost while the HomePod may actually be selling at a slight loss. Other sources have pushed back on Gruber's claim, but it's clear Apple has prioritized quality and packing significant amounts of technology into these devices rather than trying to compete on cost. Apple has, however, been rumored to be working on a lower-cost HomePod and a dongle-style Apple TV stick that would decrease the price differential against competitors.   Read Full Article Angela Ahrendts Departing Apple in April, Deirdre O'Brien to Oversee Retail and People Retail chief Angela Ahrendts will be leaving Apple in April after five years at the helm of Apple's physical and online stores. Rather than searching for an external candidate to replace Ahrendts, Apple will be promoting internally with Deirdre O'Brien stepping up to oversee both Retail and People. O'Brien is a 30-year Apple veteran who has been a vice president in charge of areas traditionally falling under the human resources umbrella but also including Apple University, business partnerships, and diversity. With the addition of her retail responsibilities, O'Brien has moved up to the senior vice president level.    Read Full Article Some Popular iPhone Apps Secretly Record Your Screen for Analytics Purposes A few major brands are finding themselves in a bit of hot water this week after it was revealed that their iOS apps are capable of secretly recording the user's screen interactions while using the apps. Apps including Abercrombie & Fitch, Hotels.com, Air Canada, Hollister, Expedia, and Singapore Airlines are using the technology from Glassbox, a customer experience analytics firm. While some of the apps mask personal data like passport and credit card numbers while they are onscreen, others do not, and employees of these companies may have access to those details.   Read Full Article Five of the Best Email Apps on iOS Over on our YouTube channel, we recently took a look at some of our favorite email apps for iOS that offer somewhat different experiences compared to the stock Mail app or apps centered around a specific service like Gmail or Outlook. Shortly after we published our video, we were surprised to see Newton Mail make a return. It had been one of our favorites but was discontinued last September until being revived this week by new owners. In another video this week, we took a look at the latest Razer Blade Stealth PC laptop and compared it to Apple's notebook offerings. Razer has long been known for stylish gaming machines with some extra flair, and it was interesting to see how the latest model stacks up.   Read Full Article

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