Looking for new apps or games to play around with this weekend? As usual, iDB has you covered. In this week's App of the Week roundup, we have some great titles that are perfect for killing a lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon. There's a unique, visual music-making app, two great-looking productivity apps, and two new games.
Apple's iBooks Store and iTunes Movies have been shut down in China by a state agency, reports The New York Times. The outlet says the Chinese State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television was behind last week's mysterious outage.
The shutdown occurred just six months after the two services were made available in the country. An Apple spokesperson said in a statement that the company "hopes to make books and movies available again to our customers in China as soon as possible."
FBI Director James Comey said on Thursday that the agency paid more to break into the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone than he'll make in the remaining 7+ years of his tenure. Reuters crunched the numbers, and that suggests that the FBI paid more than $1.3 million for the hack.
That seems like a lot of money for a tool that doesn't work on the iPhone 5s or newer, but speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in London today, the Director said that he believes it was worth it. And of course the FBI will be able to use the tool in other case involving older iPhones.
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS and OS X updates to public testers. Folks in the Beta Software Program can now install iOS 9.3.2 via OTA on their iOS devices, and OS X 10.11.5 via the App Store Software Update mechanism.
These are the same betas that Apple pushed out to developers yesterday, along with updates for watchOS and tvOS. They arrive about a month after the public releases of iOS 9.3 and OS X 10.11.4, which brought about several user-facing changes.
Apple on Thursday pushed out an update for its Apple Store iOS client, bringing the app to version 3.7. The update brings about new 3D Touch features on compatible devices, and makes the app available in new countries.
As for 3D Touch support, iPhone 6s users have long been able to utilize Quick Actions on the app icon, but now the Apple Store app supports Peek and Pop. So force-pressing on a link within the app now opens up previews.
Apple on Thursday released the second beta for tvOS 9.2.1 to developers. To update, you’ll have to connect your Apple TV 4 to a computer via a USB-C cable, and install the software through iTunes or Apple Configurator.
Todays release comes a month after Apple pushed out tvOS 9.2 to the public. That was a significant update, bringing about new user-facing features such as support for Home screen app folders and Bluetooth keyboards.
Apple has begun rolling out iTunes web previews for fourth generation Apple TV apps. The move, which was first spotted by Jeff Scott (via MacStories), will allow both users and developers to easily share links to Apple TV apps on the web.
It doesn't appear that web previews are available for all apps yet, and it's unclear which apps it's working for—Apple isn't advertising them anywhere. If you want to see what they look like, here's a link to Scott's app for Beergeek.com TV.
Apple declined to provide Chinese officials with access to iOS source code, General counsel Bruce Sewell said on Tuesday at a subcommittee hearing on encryption. "We have been asked by the Chinese government. We refused."
Sewell said the request had come in the last two years, and noted several times that Apple has not cooperated with China on that level. Some lawmakers have questioned whether or not Apple has given the country special treatment.
Apple on Monday confirmed Siri's claim that WWDC will take place June 13-17 this year, and opened registration for its WWDC ticket lottery. The company's annual conference has become so popular that it has to randomly issue tickets to registered developers.
Registration will be available from April 18, to Friday April 22nd. You must be a member of Apple's developer program (having joined prior to today's announcement) to qualify for the lottery, and if you are lucky enough to be selected, tickets are priced at $1,599.
Apple has been secretly meeting with top entertainment talent, reports Fast Company. In a lengthy article detailing the streaming ambitions of various tech giants, the outlet says the iPhone-maker has its sights set on building a lineup of original programming.
According to sources, the company quietly set up shop at the Imperial Hotel in Utah during this year's Sundance Film Festival. There, it hosted a series of private events, known as the "iTunes Lounge," where it discussed content deals with actors and filmmakers.
It's the weekend, and you know what that means: it's time for another round of iDB's Apps of the Week post. Every week we put together a list of apps and games we think are worth checking out, and this time around we've got some great selections. This week's picks include a navigation app for walking, an annotation app, and more!
Canadian police have been in possession of a BlackBerry's global decryption key since 2010, reports Vice. The site says recently released court documents reveal that the key was used in a criminal investigation to intercept over 1 million BBM messages.
The documents were made public after members of a Montreal crime syndicate pleaded guilty to their role in a 2011 murder, and they shine some light on the extent that BlackBerry, as well as telco giant Rogers, is willing to cooperate with investigators.