Year: 2016

Hello again: Apple sends out invitations for October 27 Mac event

It's official! Apple is holding an event on Thursday, October 27 on its Cupertino campus. On Wednesday afternoon the company sent out the above invitation to select members of the media, asking them to "join us for a special event."

We've been expecting an October Apple event for several weeks now, and yesterday a Recode report accurately predicted it would happen on the 27. And as the invite indicates, the focus of the event is believed to be new Mac hardware.

Apple October 27 event wallpapers: “hello again”

Today, Apple announced the upcoming media event on October 27. With the announcement, in traditional fashion, comes a simple graphic representation of the event. As always, armchair pundits and tea leaf readers try to discern the hidden messages believed to be concealed in the graphic.

More productive folks get creative and make wallpapers from the inspired imagery. It is tradition for the Wallpapers of the Week section to feature these creations, leading up to the event. Step inside for fresh wallpapers, inspired by Apple's "hello again" event!

Google inks deal with CBS for upcoming YouTube TV service

Google has reached an agreement with CBS to carry the broadcast network on its upcoming TV service, reports The Wall Street Journal. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the deal marks the first major TV network to sign on to the service, which is expected to launch in 2017 on Google's YouTube platform.

Apple listed as exhibitor at next year’s Mobile World Congress

Apple is slated to make an appearance at the 2017 Mobile World Congress, reports MacRumors. The site points to a page (which has since been pulled) on the MWC website, which shows the company has booked exhibitor space for the event.

This is significant for a few reasons. For one, Mobile World Congress is the world's largest exhibition and conference for the mobile industry. And two, Apple's been absent from most major trade shows and conferences since the early 2000's.

macOS Sierra 10.12.1 beta 5 released to developers and public beta testers

Aside from releasing a fifth beta of iOS 10.1 with Portrait mode and other changes, Apple also seeded a fifth beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.1 to its registered developers and public beta testers. The new beta arrived eight days following the previous macOS Sierra 10.12.1 beta 4 release.

macOS Sierra 10.12.1 beta 5 (build “16B2553a”) does not introduce any new outward-facing user features. The Mac software update could release for public consumption after Apple's anticipated October 27 Mac event.

Apple seeds iOS 10.1 beta 5 for iPhone 7/Plus to developers and public beta testers

Apple on Wednesday morning released a fifth beta of iOS 10.1 for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus only. The latest beta came out two days after the release of iOS 10.1 beta 4 on Monday.

iOS 10.1 beta 5 is available as an over-the-air download on an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus with a prior beta. Today's iPhone 7-focused release likely contains a cellular connectivity bug that Apple patched with an emergency update on October 17. macOS Sierra 10.12.1 beta 5 also released today.

Scanbot 6 is out: PDF editing, on-demand OCR, enhanced annotations & more

Scanbot, the popular PDF, document and QR code scanner for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, received a major update this morning billed by its developers as “our biggest release yet”. And it certainly is. In Scanbot 6.0 for iOS, you can now add, rotate, delete and move pages in a PDF at any time, use a new pen tool to annotate scans, print documents with one tap, run OCR on existing documents and much more.

Apple teams up with homebuilders on integrating HomeKit devices

Apple is reportedly teaming up with homebuilders to inch its way into the market for Internet-connected home furnishings in an effort to “bring home automation to the mainstream,” according to Greg Joswiak, who is Apple's Vice President of Product Marketing. Bloomberg quoted Joswiak as saying that “the best place to start is at the beginning, when a house is just being created.”

Facebook gains food/ticket ordering, collated friends’ recommendations for restaurants

Facebook today announced a new update for its iPhone and iPad mobile app focused on discovering new things in the world around you, deciding what to do or where to go and connecting with local businesses in easier and faster ways.

For starters, the app will now automatically collate recommendations for restaurants that your friends post on the service, identify posts asking for recommendations using artificial intelligence and even help you make reservations or appointments from within the app.

Google’s iOS keyboard gains 3D Touch trackpad, new themes, iOS 10 emojis & more

Google's Gboard keyboard for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch was bumped to version 1.2 on the App Store this morning, gaining a few new features such as more than a dozen new themes, support for trackpad-like functionality on 3D Touch devices akin to the stock QuickType keyboard, the ability to search and share your contacts without leaving the conversation and support for the new iOS 10 emojis.

WSJ: e-ink keyboards will be a standard feature on 2018 MacBooks

Following The Guardian's report, based on a verified post on Reddit alleging that Apple recently met with representatives from Australian startup Sonder Design to discuss using its dynamic keyboard technology in a future Magic Keyboard, The Wall Street Journal has corroborated that such talks took place on October 11 in China.

However, Sonder CEO Francisco Serra-Martin denied in a press release that the meeting took place. Be that as it may, WSJ claims that the new dynamic keyboards will be a standard feature on next-generation MacBook laptops, which Apple is aiming to launch in 2018.