Year: 2016

Consumer Reports won’t recommend new MacBook Pros over inconsistent battery life

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 22, 2016

Consumer Reports will not be recommending Apple's latest MacBook Pro models due to inconsistent battery performance, the magazine said Thursday. After conducting a battery of tests, Consumer Reports discovered that battery life across all new Pros varied “dramatically” from one test to another.

On the other hand (as I note in this article), the battery woes might be caused by a software issue in Safari for Mac because Chrome (a notorious battery hog) fared far better in the tests.

Be that as it may, Apple's latest notebooks received low rating and failed to earn Consumer Report’s recommendation “after battery life issues surfaced during testing”. As a result, the new MacBook Pro is the first Apple notebook that did not receive a Consumer Reports recommendation, said the magazine.

New Apple videos highlight enhanced iBooks for George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 22, 2016

Back in September, publisher HarperCollins debuted on iBooks Store exclusive Game of Thrones digital books featuring interactive content. Today, Apple began promoting these enhanced edition iBooks in last-minute holiday push with a trio of new videos published on its YouTube channel.

Comprised of five individual titles, these interactive iBook exclusives are available individually or as a $39.99 bundle from iBooks Store.

Apple’s search for top OLED screens hinges on a small subsidiary of imaging giant Canon

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 22, 2016

Yesterday's report on Bloomberg detailed Apple's search for the best organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) panels on the market. The company's quest to deploy advanced OLED screens on iPhone 8 reportedly hinges on a single supplier in the Japanese countryside, called Canon Tokki, which has been making OLED machines since 1993.

A small branch of Japanese imaging corporation Canon, Tokki has “a near monopoly” on the machines that suppliers use to churn out OLEDs in volume. Although it employs just 343 engineers, Tokki has 20 years of experience developing and perfecting OLED manufacturing equipment.

Apple Watch Series 2 holiday campaign continues with 9-second Go Swim ad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 24, 2017

Apple on Thursday shared a new and very, very short television commercial for the latest Apple Watch Series 2 wearable device via its YouTube channel.

Titled “Go Swim” and running just nine seconds long, the latest commercial highlights Apple Watch Series 2's water resistance and features the song "Evil Twin" by Krrum. Give it a quick watch and let us know how you liked it in the comment section.

Pokémon GO launches on Apple Watch with Activity and Workout integration

Anthony Bouchard ∙ December 22, 2016

To all of those who have been waiting to play Pokémon GO on the Apple Watch since the game developers teased it at Apple’s September keynote event, you can finally stop holding your breath because it’s now available.

Pokémon GO for the Apple Watch comes in an update (version 1.21.2) to the existing iPhone app from the App Store, so after installing it, you’ll be able to add it to your Apple Watch just like you would with any watch app you’re already using.

Nintendo wants to know how much Super Mario Run should cost

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 22, 2016

Japanese video games giant Nintendo is surveying Super Mario Run players via email about various aspects of the game, MacRumors reported Thursday. The company wants to know how much players would be willing to pay for a premium experience like Super Mario Run and if they would be interested in playing a sequel. The ten-minute survey was sent via email to a subset of Super Mario Run players who have linked the game with their My Nintendo account.

Turkish police wants Apple to unlock Russian ambassador killer’s iPhone 4s

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 22, 2016

Andrei Karlov, the ambassador to Turkey, was killed while giving a speech at an art gallery in Ankara three days ago by 22-year-old off-duty police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas. According to MacReports, Turkish police approached Apple about unlocking an iPhone 4s that was recovered from the shooter.

The device is locked with a 4-digit passcode, but it's unclear if it runs iOS 8.0+ or one of the earlier iOS editions that don't enforce full disk encryption.

Infuse 5 gains collections, 3D Touch actions, video deinterlacing, searching on Apple TV & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 22, 2016

Infuse 5 for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV [review] launched in the App Store a month ago with features like iCloud settings sync, Up Next, streaming from cloud-storage services, Split View and Picture in Picture multitasking support on iPad Pro, iPad Air 2 and other compatible iPad models and much more.

aTV Flash Black developer Firecore, the brains behind this versatile media player app, has now released 5.1 update for Infuse with support for a new Collections feature, search and video deinterlacing on Apple TV, 3D Touch shortcuts on iOS Home screen and more.

Email client Spark for Mac adds a bunch of new productivity features in latest update

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 22, 2016

Less than a month ago, Ukrainian developer Readdle launched Spark for Mac with Touch Bar support and many advanced features to help you achieve Inbox Zero Nirvana. Last evening, the app received a bunch of new features in the new 1.1 update. You can now assign a different color to each email account so it's easier to distinguish in the account list. Multiple messages can now be marked as spam at once, IMAP folders can be created directly from the sidebar, contacts now sync with your address book and more.

Here are 5 top-grossing holiday movies of all time on U.S. iTunes Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 22, 2016

Apple on Thursday released a list of the top five best-selling holiday movies of all time on iTunes Store in the United States. Elf, originally released in 2003 and starring Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf, is the all-time best-selling holiday movie on iTunes Store.

In addition to the list of the top five holiday movies on iTunes Store, the Cupertino company yesterday launched limited-time movie bundles at discounted prices, a bunch of 99-cent rentals and films under $10.

RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic hits iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 22, 2016

Games maker Atari today released RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch on the App Store. Not to be confused with Atari's earlier release RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile, the $5.99 iOS title includes the best features found in the 1999 RollerCoaster Tycoon PC game and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 for Xbox, which released in 2002. The new RollerCoaster Tycoon mobile experience includes 95 classic park scenarios from PC/Xbox titles.

There's also a built-in park designer, Retina-optimized graphics based on the visual style in Chris Sawyer’s original RollerCoaster Tycoon PC games, three downloadable content packs and much more.

Revamped iCloud Photos web app rolling out to everyone

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 22, 2016

Apple today launched a redesigned Photos web app at iCloud.com/#photos following a period of testing when the software was available to beta testers via beta.icloud.com. The app runs in a web browser and sports several improvements to make it behave more like its desktop counterpart, such as a brand new sidebar on the left and a handy thumbnail scrubber when viewing an image.