YouTube videos keep buffering? Here’s the fix

I'm a big time YouTube user, and even though I have zippy fiber optic internet, it seems like there are still times when YouTube videos get stuck buffering instead of playing when I want to enjoy HD video streaming.

If you can relate, then you should take a few minutes to read this piece, because we'll be talking about some common remedies for the annoying buffering problem.

AT&T and Time Warner discussing possible merger

Senior executives at AT&T and Time Warner met in recent weeks to discuss various business strategies, reports Bloomberg. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the outlet says that the talks are informal at this point, and neither side has hired a financial adviser, but the discussions have included the possibility of a merger.

Some great stick-on wallets for iPhone

Stick-on (or adhesive) wallets are the perfect solution for folks who want to leave their wallet at home, but hate the bulkiness of dedicated cases. These are essentially thin pouches that adhere to the back of your device and hold your credit/ID cards and some cash. We know this is not your typical accessory category, so we've put together a list of some good options that work with most recent iPhone models.

Apple’s free app of the week: Night Sky 4

Apple on Thursday updated its App of the Week promotion with the app Night Sky 4. This means that for the next 7 days, you can get the popular astronomy app for both iPhone and iPad for free—saving you a solid buck.

Night Sky 4 is pitched as the most advanced and beautiful stargazing app ever created. With it you can identify stars, planets, constellations and satellites above simply by holding your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch to the sky.

How to use Conversation View in iOS Mail app

In iOS 9, you could organize emails in Apple's stock Mail application by thread but that was pretty much it. iOS 10 introduced a pair of new settings for simplifying inbox management.

The first tells Mail to arrange emails in a thread in the order they were received, with the most recent ones at the top. The other prompts the app to unify threads by including relevant emails from other mailboxes.

In this tutorial, we're going to teach you how to enable and use Conversation View in Mail and leverage the aforesaid toggles to bring some order to your inbox.

Data Saver mode is reportedly coming to Facebook Messenger in a few weeks

I use Facebook Messenger literally every single day to message my friends and family and have always hated how the mobile app discriminately downloads media content regardless of whether I open the message or not.

Sometimes my friends would attach really long videos or high-resolution shots to their messages, prompting me to completely disable cellular access for Messenger on my iPhone, but then I don't receive their texts on the go.

Wouldn't it be better if Messenger handled data-hungry attachments more intelligently when the user is connected to a cellular network? As per a report by The Next Web a few days ago, a new data saver option is indeed coming to Messenger in a few weeks.

Apple will live-stream October 27 Mac keynote

Invites for a new media event went out yesterday and Apple just confirmed that the keynote will be live-streamed through its website. As you've come to expect from iDownloadBlog, we will be providing remote coverage of the keynote along with details of the announcements. This could be the last event at Infinite Loop’s Town Hall campus.

That's because the massive Campus 2 building AKA “iSpaceship” should open come January 2017, barring any unforeseen delays. The site includes a massive underground auditorium where future corporate and press events will be taking place.

Apple seeds tvOS 10.0.1 beta 4 for Apple TV to developers

Following fifth betas of iOS 10.1 and macOS Sierra 10.12.1 that were seeded yesterday to the registered developers and public beta testers, Apple today released a fourth beta of the upcoming tvOS 10.0.1 software update. tvOS 10.0.1 beta 4 (build “14U71”), a developer-only release, is available as an over-the-air update via the Software Update mechanism on fourth-generation Apple TVs with an appropriate configuration profile.

WhatsApp update enables drawing on photos and videos, new camera features & more

WhatsApp's latest update, which surfaced this morning on the App Store, brings the ability to draw on photos and videos and adorn your media with text or emoji. You can also express yourself by sticking huge emojis on top of photos and videos. Users automatically see the new editing tools when capturing a new photo or video or sharing one that's already on their phone. Coming soon: support for Retina flash for the selfie camera, zooming during video capture and a shortcut for quickly switching between cameras.

Will iOS 10.1 release for public consumption next Tuesday, October 25?

Apple is holding a media event on October 27 to refresh Macs and we're pretty sure that the upcoming machines will run macOS Sierra 10.12.1 out of the box. Currently being beta-tested, macOS Sierra 10.12.1 includes, among other things, support for Portrait albums in Photos.

Apple is also beta-testing iOS 10.1 which, too, packs in support for a new Portrait mode on dual-camera iPhone 7 Plus models. If the Sierra update drops ahead of new Macs, so should iOS 10.1.

We believe iOS 10.1 will release for public consumption next Tuesday, October 25, two days before the Mac event, and here's why.

Apple Maps transit directions live for iOS 10.1 beta users in Japan ahead of launch

Apple is currently beta-testing the first major update to iOS 10 since its public release last month. Aside from a Portrait shooting mode for iPhone 7 Plus owners and a new toggle in Settings to allow Messages animations when Reduce Motion is enabled, the software update should bring official support for transit directions in Japan within the stock Maps application, Japanese blog Ata Distance said today.