Year: 2016

ABC revamps its iPhone, iPad and Apple TV apps, adds throwback shows

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 13, 2016

The American Broadcasting Company (ABC), a broadcast television network owned by the Disney–ABC Television Group, announced today that its Watch ABC app for the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV shall be known going forward as just ABC. In addition to rebranding, the new ABC app now packs in an overhauled user interface and more content, including exclusive digital series for users who download the app as well as 38 full seasons of “throwback” TV shows.

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Fully assembled Lightning-based EarPods shown on leaked images

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 13, 2016

Last month, a batch of photographs out of China claiming to depict a Lightning-based version of Apple’s standard EarPods headphones left us scratching our head due to the product's sketchy appearance. But now, French blog NowhereElse.fr points us to another set of leaked images, originally posted on the Chinese social network Weibo, that ostensibly show off a fully assembled EarPods headphones with a Lightning connector.

UPDATE: confirmed as fake.

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Disable Mac App Store password prompts for 15 minutes after a purchase

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated April 15, 2021

Have you ever went on an app downloading spree in the Mac App Store only to find that it was going to ask for your password every time you wanted to download a paid app on your Mac?

If you're the only user on your Mac, then you probably don't want to or need to be bothered with having to enter your password each and every time.

Instead, macOS includes a feature that lets you disable password prompts for additional purchases for up to 15 minutes following your first Mac App Store purchase in a succession. We'll show you how to configure this feature in this tutorial.

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Samsung to unveil Galaxy Note 7 on August 2nd

Cody Lee ∙ July 13, 2016

Samsung has announced that it will be unveiling the next version of its Galaxy Note handset on August 2nd. The company sent out a press release on Tuesday, saying that it will be hosting an Unpacked event in New York, scheduled to begin at 11 am (EDT).

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Developer casting call posted for Apple’s ‘Planet of the Apps’ TV show

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 11, 2018

Television production company Propagate on Tuesday posted an open casting call for its upcoming 'Planet of the Apps' TV show, which it is co-producing with Apple. Developers working on an iOS, macOS, tvOS or watchOS app can apply via the show's website through August 26.

As explained by SVP Eddy Cue back in March, Planet of the Apps will be a nonscripted series about app design and development exclusive to Apple's platforms. Also working on the show are musical artist Will.i.am, and noted TV executives Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens.

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Video walkthrough: everything new in macOS Sierra beta 2

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 17, 2024

A second beta of macOS Sierra was released to Apple's registered developers and public beta testers last week. In addition to turning on an anticipated new feature called Auto Unlock, the second beta of Sierra (build number “16A239j”) packs in iTunes 12.5, Dark Mode assets for some stock apps, a change of the Siri keyboard shortcut—which was clunky to begin with—and more.

Here's our video overview of everything that has changed in macOS Sierra beta 2 since its inaugural developer-only release at WWDC 2106.

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Dutch court rules against replacing a user’s defective iPhone 6s with a refurbished unit

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 1, 2017

Speaking of lawsuits, a Dutch court has reportedly ruled in favor of a woman who took it upon herself to drag Apple to court over offering to replace her damaged iPhone 6 Plus with a refurbished rather than a brand new handset. This is Apple's standard policy in many markets, including where I live.

Recently, I took my iPhone 6s to a store over a faulty Home button and instead of servicing it they decided to give me a refurbished handset.

A judge in Amsterdam, however, was unimpressed and has ordered that Apple refund the plaintiff the full price she paid for her device.

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First Pokémon GO update squashes bugs, no longer requires full Google Account access

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 12, 2016

Nearly a week following its official launch in the United States, New Zealand and Australia, Nintendo's incredibly successful Pokémon GO on Tuesday received its first update on the App Store. The freemium app was bumped to version 1.0.1, bringing out much-needed bug fixes whilst resolving an issue which caused the app to crash after attempting to catch any discovered pokémon. More importantly, full Google Account access is no longer needed for those who use this sign-in option.

Pokémon GO is a free download from the App Store.

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iOS 10 tidbit: Spotlight Suggestions in Messages

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 12, 2016

On iOS 10, Spotlight Suggestions appear in more places than before. We recently told you about Spotlight Suggestions in the Look Up interface (formerly known as the Define feature). We also discussed iOS 10's expressive Messages app in depth and mentioned its super useful inline previews of URLs.

As it turns out, not only does Messages support inline previews of media URLs, but underlines specific terms in your chats—such as movie and app names—that Spotlight Suggestions can give you more info about.

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iOS 10 tidbit: sending broken hearts via iMessage

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 12, 2016

iOS 10's much-enhanced Messages app includes the Digital Touch interface that first appeared on the Apple Watch. With Digital Touch, users can create iMessages that contain doodles, digital taps, video with effects and more.

We recently explained how Digital Touch can be taken advantage of to send nicely animated hearts to your recipients. Here's another iOS 10 tidbit: Messages on iOS 10 also lets you shoot animated broken hearts to someone for those times you wish to convey more specific feelings.

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