Year: 2016

tvOS’s Universal Search feature gains support for Comedy Central, MTV and VH1

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 15, 2016

Universal Search feature on the fourth-generation Apple TV has been refreshed yesterday with expanded support for searching content provided by tvOS video apps from Viacom-owned Comedy Central and music networks MTV and VH1. Provided these apps are installed on your set-top box, you can either use the Search app on the device or press the Siri button on the remote and use your voice to find shows like South Park and others.

Read More

Short but sweet video out of China shows iPhone 7 design similar to previous leaks

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 15, 2016

Following a bunch of photographs, most of which have been leaking out of Asia, that purport to depict various iPhone 7 components, dummy cases and molds, a fully assembled iPhone 7 case has now been caught on video.

Posted to the Chinese social network Weibo by an unknown source, and first spotted by Dutch site TechTastic.nl, the short six-second clip gives us a look at the backside of what appears to be a 4.7-inch iPhone 7.

Read More

VIDEO: is Apple adding 3D Touch to iPad with Apple Pencil?

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 15, 2016

Many people are disappointed that the latest iPads lack 3D Touch-capable screens although it's anyone's guess whether or not 3D Touch would make sense on tablet-sized screens. Well, iOS 10 beta 2 apparently has 3D Touch-like functionality on the iPad thanks to the Apple Pencil, which has been discovered to support deep presses.

Using an Apple Pencil, it's possible to do things like clear all notifications with a deep press on the latest beta of iOS 10. Check out our video showing the feature in action and, as usually, let us know what you guys think of this.

Read More

Video walkthrough: Emergency SOS, Activity Sharing & more in watchOS 3 beta 2

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 25, 2023
A woman checking the Activity app on her Apple Watch while working out

A second beta of watchOS 3 released last week alongside iOS 10 beta 2, macOS Sierra beta 2 and tvOS 10 beta 2. Having posted our video walkthroughs and detailed overviews of what's new in iOS 10 beta 2 and macOS Sierra beta 2, my colleague Andrew and I now get to take a closer look at everything new in watchOS 3 beta 2.

watchOS 3 beta 2 is not as feature-packed a release as the second beta of iOS 10, but still includes some major new features not found in prior betas, like Auto Unlock, Emergency SOS and Activity Sharing. We also detail a few smaller, useful enhancements in the stock Activity and Workout apps and some related new options added to the companion Watch app on the iPhone.

Read More

Changing the name of a user account on your Mac

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated February 10, 2023

Every Mac has at least one user account on it, whether it's your own or you've made another account for someone else to use.

At some point, you may feel the urge to change the name of one of your user accounts. It doesn't matter if the account is an administrator or a regular user; we'll show you the steps in this tutorial to change an account's user name on your Mac.

Read More

Apple’s free app of the week: Super Sharp

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 11, 2018

Apple on Thursday updated its App of the Week promotion with the game Super Sharp. This means that for the next 7 days you’ll be able to pick up the popular puzzler from hit developer 1Button SARL, for both iPhone and iPad, for free—a solid savings of $2.

Super Sharp is the epitome of the pick-up-and-play puzzle genre. There are no characters or qwerty storylines. Players simply use their fingers to cut through platforms, ropes and obstacles and they attempt to make their way through 120 physics-based stages.

Read More

Early CPU scores suggest modest gains for iPhone 7’s A10 chip vs. iPad Pro’s A9X

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 14, 2016

Early Geekbench 3 benchmark of the Apple-designed A10 system-on-a-chip—which will be the next iPhone and iPad's engine—was posted Thursday by Dutch blog TechTastic.nl. Purported scores suggest the device may not be much speedier than the iPhone 6s and iPad Pro. The upcoming chip scored a tad more than last year’s A9 powering the iPhone 6s series and a little bit faster than the A9X in the iPad Pro.

On the other hand, the benchmarked A10 is almost certainly a prototype unit so final scores should be higher than is currently the case.

Read More

Eddy Cue: Apple is a delivery platform, not a Netflix rival (plus, skinny bundle “is a misconception”)

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 14, 2016

Eddy Cue, 52, Apple's Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, sat down for an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, answering a series of questions related to Apple's alleged attempts to introduce a skinny bundle of television programming on iTunes, its relationship with content owners and swirling rumors that it may be invested in creating original programming to become the next Netflix or Comcast.

Read More

Apple is opening an imaging R&D lab in the center of France’s Grenoble

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 14, 2016

In addition to celebrating Bastille Day with 'Shot on iPhone' imagery in blue/white/red tones representing the country's national flag appearing on the company's French website and billboards across the country, the Cupertino firm has also signed a lease with the city of Grenoble to open a research and development center at the heart of the town.

The 800-square-meter facility will reportedly focus on imaging components and employ about thirty engineers, according to the local newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré cited by French blog iPhone.fr.

Read More

Apple celebrates Bastille Day with ‘Shot on iPhone’ photos in national flag colors

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 14, 2016

France is celebrating Bastille Day today and Apple has joined the festivities with a clever use of imagery from its award-winning 'Shot on iPhone' ad campaign on the Apple France homepage. The company carefully selected a batch of images from the campaign with predominant blue, white and red tones, and used them smartly on its website to form a basis for the French national flag colors.

Read More