Year: 2016

Apple has registered Apple.car and other similar domain names

Cody Lee ∙ January 8, 2016

Apple has registered a handful of rather interesting domain names within the last few weeks. As noted by MacRumors, the company purchased three top-level domain names in December including apple.car, apple.cars and apple.auto, through sponsored registrar MarkMonitor.

The acquisitions only posted on Whois this morning, and they aren't active yet, but given the ongoing chatter regarding Apple's secret car project, they do arouse curiosity. There's certainly a precedent of the firm purchasing domain names for rumored projects: iCloud and iPhone 4.

Apple is reportedly building wireless earphones that will fit inside your ear and come with charging case

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 8, 2016

Apple is reportedly building brand new, completely wireless earphones that will fit inside of a user’s ear, along with a charging case, as per 9to5Mac.

The in-house designed hardware is similar in concept to the Motorola Hint headset and Bragi’s new Dash and said to include a noise-cancelling microphone system. The accessory will be “a premium alternative” to a Lightning-enabled version of the EarPods headset that's also in the works (EarPods are the wired in-ear headphones that came with your iPhone).

Three days ago, Japanese blog Macotakara first reported on Apple's plans to bundle the iPhone 7 with a wireless headset. The following day, Fast Company said Apple is working with a supplier on a new noise-canceling technology to be used both in the iPhone 7 and the new earphones to help remove background noise in music playback and in phone calls.

IGN names minimalist text-based title A Dark Room its new Free Game of the Month

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 8, 2016

IGN has named independent developer Amirali Rajan's chart-topping atmospheric adventure title A Dark Room its new Game of the Month, meaning you can download it at no charge for a limited time. The game currently retails in the App Store for 99 cents.

A minimalist text-based game, A Dark Room has some role-playing game elements and invites players to “come light the fire and escape into a world you'll never forget”.

How to quickly email the full text of an article in Safari

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 10, 2018

Safari on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad allows you to post article links to social media and share them through third-party apps that have implemented support for iOS's multi-purpose Share sheet.

But sharing a link won't cut it were you to send the full text of the article in an email message. Selecting everything on a webpage and pasting into Mail isn't the best of solutions because all of the images and other non-related webpage elements get carried over, resulting in a messy email.

Thankfully, there's a better way to accomplish such a seemingly simple task. In this tutorial, we're going to discuss emailing the full, richly formatted text of an article in Safari, without all the clutter.

The uber–challenging Super Hexagon is Apple’s Free App of the Week

Jeff Benjamin ∙ January 8, 2016

Super Hexagon is one of my favorite iOS games of all time. Its controls are perfect for touch screens, its learning curve is simple, and its challenge is legendary. Terry Cavanagh's creation is so good that I was actually inspired to make a video just to talk about Super Hexagon–something I wouldn't normally do.

Needless to say, Apple must feel like I do about the game, and it wants more people to get to know it and appreciate it. This is actually the second time that Super Hexagon, a game that normally sells for $2.99, has been made available for free as a part of an Apple promotion. Previously, the game had gone free inside of the Apple Store app, but as of yesterday, Super Hexagon is now featured as Apple's Free App of the Week.

How to stop seeing Frequently Visited websites in Safari on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 28, 2022

Safari Start Page, which is the first screen you see when you open Apple's web browser, has a section called Frequently Visited. Under this, you'll see websites you often open on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. However, for privacy and other reasons, you may want to avoid seeing a list of frequently visited websites every time you open Safari or tap the address field.

In this quick tutorial, we'll show you how to stop frequently visited sites from showing up in Safari.

Atomas: a fun game I can’t put down, and here’s why

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

A lot of times when downloading and trying out games from the App Store, I find myself dissatisfied with the game just minutes or hours after playing it. It's not always easy to find those hidden gems that Apple fails to give the spotlight to, but when stumbling across one, I'll easily get addicted to the game and not want to put the game down.

One such game is Atomas, which is a beautifully-crafted puzzle game by Max Gittel that is centered around the elements of the periodic table and allows you to combine groups of like elements with lower atomic numbers to form elements with larger atomic numbers.

iPhone 7 again said to be waterproof and feature wireless charging

Cody Lee ∙ January 7, 2016

Apple's next iPhone will likely feature a thinner, waterproof body and other significant changes, reports Fast Company. Citing a source with knowledge of the company's plans, the outlet says the iPhone 7 will also feature wireless charging and special noise-canceling technology.

Additionally, Fast Company says the handset will ship without a 3.5mm headphone jack—something that has popped up in multiple iPhone 7 rumors. The move will allow Apple to make the device thinner, but will force users to switch to wireless or Lightning-enabled headphones.

9 ways 3D Touch can make you more productive in Safari

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 23, 2019

Safari, one of the most popular stock applications on your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, has gotten some sweet 3D Touch love in iOS.

If you own an iPhone 7 or later, you can Peek and Pop web links, bookmarks, Shared Links and Reading List items, enter Safari's private-browsing mode or open new tabs right from the Home screen, and then some more.

In this post, we'll take you through the nine ways you can use 3D Touch in Safari to browse the web faster and access popular features with fewer taps than without it.

Controller review: a mini player for Mac that doesn’t get in the way

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

When you are blasting beats on your Mac, sometimes it is helpful to have easy access to playback features right on your desktop without having to open the root music player. It is also nice to be able to see the name of the song and artist that is currently playing at a glance.

Controller is a mini player for Mac that works with iTunes and Spotify to display the current track and provide playback controls. We've got a hands-on app review of Controller for you below.

How to stop Messages from recording audio when you lift iPhone to your ear

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 10, 2018

Apple's Messages app and iMessage service form one of the most versatile messaging platforms available on mobile devices. With Messages, you can send texts, iMessages, photos and audio/video messages on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

By using a combination of a twisting motion and the proximity sensor, Messages lets you respond to an audio message by lifting the device to your ear, as if you were talking on the phone.

This even works on the Lock screen. Upon playing a soft chime, Messages starts recording your audio response. It's very convenient but sometimes doesn't work as intended. As a result, Messages may randomly start recording audio in certain situations.

Thankfully, you can prevent this from happening by flipping a switch. In this post, you will learn how to disable this feature, which Apple refers to as Raise to Listen.

Apple reportedly buys artificial intelligence startup Emotient

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Apple has reportedly purchased Emotient, Inc., a privately held San Diego-based artificial intelligence startup, according to Dow Jones. No price was given for the deal. Emotient, according to its website, is the leader in emotion detection and sentiment analysis.

The company's products are used for gauging emotional response by way of measuring facial expressions, allowing it to basically read people’s emotions from live video.