Apple on Monday launched a new section in iTunes called 'Spoken Editions.' The section can be found under Podcasts in iTunes, or in the official Podcasts app, with the tagline "Too busy to read your favorite websites? Just listen! These audio versions give you tons of great narrated stories."
It's the weekend again, and you know what that means: it's time for another edition of our Apps of the Week roundup. This week we have some awesome selections, including a video editing app that makes stop-animation a breeze, a fun new group video chat platform, a new app for listening to music with friends, and two great new games.
Apple on Thursday updated its App of the Week promotion with the app Flowing. This means that for the next 7 days, you can get the popular meditation and mindfulness app for free on both iPhone and iPad—a solid savings of $3.
For those who aren't familiar with Flowing, it's a health and fitness app that promises to help you upgrade your sleep, focus, and productivity. Its features include guided meditation, 3D parallax scenes, and customizable white noise.
Apple on Wednesday began emailing developers regarding the launch of App Store Search Ads. The ads will go live in the App Store on October 5, and for a limited time qualified developers can get a $100 credit toward their first campaign.
The Search Ads have been in beta testing since the feature was announced in June. Apple describes it as an "efficient and easy way to promote apps at the top of relevant search results," and promises this won't negatively affect app searches.
Spotify is in advanced talks to acquire SoundCloud, reports the Financial Times. The streaming music service believes the buyout could help it better compete with competitors like Apple Music thanks to its large library of exclusive and user-created content.
Apple is moving rapidly toward the launch of new MacBook Pro models, reports MacRumors. The site says it has learned that macOS 10.12.1 is largely focused on preparing the operating system to support the new laptop's features, and it hopes to finalize the update by the end of next week so it can be loaded on the new hardware currently being produced by Apple's supply chain.
A new report is out on Wednesday, claiming that Apple logs your iMessage contacts and may share them with police. The Intercept published the piece, along with an internal law enforcement document that shows Apple tracks information like IP addresses, phone numbers and time, and stores it for up to 30 days.
At first glance, the report can be a bit unsettling, conjuring thoughts like: "isn't Apple always preaching about user privacy" and "I thought iMessage was one of the most secure messaging services, thanks to its end-to-end encryption." But it doesn't take much digging to realize this is likely much ado about nothing.
Apple Music ranks highest among customers in the just-released 2016 J.D. Power Streaming Music Satisfaction Study. The high profile marketing research firm says the 1-year old streaming service beat out veterans like Pandora and Spotify in 3 of the 6 measures in its study, and first overall.
Apple on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership with Deloitte. The company is recognized as the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and headcount, so the relationship should help Apple in its efforts to push further into the enterprise space. The duo plan to "transform the way companies work using iOS devices."
Major healthcare provider Aetna announced plans on Tuesday to "transform members' consumer health experience using iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch." As part of the initiative, the company will be subsidizing the cost of Apple Watch for select employers and individual customers, and will be supplying nearly 50,000 of its own employees with the wearable.
Apple Music executives Jimmy Iovine, Bozoma Saint John and DJ Zane Lowe recently sat down with BuzzFeed's Reggie Ugwu for a rather interesting interview regarding the streaming music service. The conversation covers everything from the controversy surrounding Apple's push for artist exclusives to their plans for the future, and we've listed our favorite experts below.
The wallet case is a popular choice for iPhone owners, as it combines two things that you'd normally have to carry separately—your phone and wallet—into one easy-to-cary item. Thus, we thought it would be helpful if we put together a list of some great wallet cases for the new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
As usual, we based our selections on factors like personal experience, price, and customer feedback. We also paid attention to design—we wanted a mix of slot and folio cases—and availability. Because the iPhone 7 was just released, a lot of case-makers don't have wallet options available yet.