Apple

All Star Wars movies now available on iTunes

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 11, 2016

Monday, The Walt Disney Studios, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox announced bringing all six Star Wars movies in their high-definition digital form to Apple's iTunes Store, Google's Play Store and other services, including Amazon's Instant Video and Microsoft's Xbox Video.

Having been available for pre-order on iTunes at $19.99 each, all six movies became available for download across platforms today, April 10.

The six-movie saga is comprised of the “Star Wars,” “Return of the Jedi,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” “The Phantom Menace,” “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith” films and includes new bonus extras and can be bought or all at once as part of the “Star Wars Digital Movie Collection”.

You can now pre-order your Apple Watch

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Heads up everyone, the Apple Watch is now available for pre-order. You can grab yours from either Apple's online store or the Apple Store app on your iPhone or iPad. Some of us are able to get through, while others aren't, so be patient. As usual, it seems the Apple Store app is your best bet.

As a quick reminder, the Apple Watch comes in three models: Sport, Apple Watch and Edition; two sizes: 38mm and 42mm; and with various bands. The Sport is aluminum and starts at $349, the Apple Watch is stainless steel and starts at $549, and the 18K gold Edition starts at $10,000.

Apple has spent $38 million on Apple Watch ads since March

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple has spent $38 million on its "Watch Reimagined" television campaign, according to US ad-tracking firm iSpot.tv. Reuters points to the report, and notes that the company spent just under $42 million on TV ads for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus over the past 5 months.

iSpot.tv says that there has been more than 300 airings of the Apple Watch commercial within the last month, almost half of which have been in primetime spots. The ad played during the NCAA Championship game, AMC's "The Walking Dead," and other hit TV shows.

Poll: will you be pre-ordering Apple Watch?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

With less than six hours until Apple Watch pre-orders open, we're curious if you'll be reserving one for yourself. Our January poll asked if you planned on getting the device and nearly half of the respondents said 'yes'. But that was more than three months ago, at a time when details about the gizmo were still scarce.

Since then, Apple's held a second media conference and released more details in the form of videos and various other tidbits. And now that you've read the reviews and watched hands-on videos of the wearable device in action, some of you may have changed your mind while others may still be on the fence about putting a Watch for your wrist. With that in mind, is your wrist ready for the Watch and will you be pre-ordering it come Friday 12:01am PT?

Early MacBook reviews praise its ambition, but criticize its compromises

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

In addition to Apple Watches, Apple gave select members of the press test units of its new ultra-thin MacBook to try out and review. Like the Watch, the new MacBook goes on sale this Friday, so naturally those reviews began hitting the web today.

For the most part it sounds like reviewers agreed with the general consensus back in March, which is that it looks great, but it comes with significant trade-offs. Nevertheless, we've rounded up some of our favorite takes on Apple's new notebook.

You really need to check out the reimagined Product Hunt for iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 9, 2015

Product Hunt, an increasingly popular place for sharing and discovering new products, on Thursday released a major refresh to its somewhat underwhelming iPhone application. Lo and behold, the new Product Hunt 2.0 for iPhone is here.

First and foremost, the app brings out a beautifully revamped interface that's both super clean and useful, with snazzy animations that elevate the experience.

More importantly, new features have been introduced that let like-minded individuals like yourself create curated product collections to share with others, bookmark products for later and more.

Apple releases iTunes 12.1.2 with better support for new Photos app

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple on Thursday morning released a new version of iTunes, bringing the media manager to version 12.1.2. The update is a minor one, but important for those who have updated their Macs to the new OS X 10.10.3 software that was seeded yesterday.

More specifically, iTunes 12.1.2 brings about enhanced support for the new Photos app in 10.10.3. The app, which essentially replaces both iPhoto and Aperture, features a new, lighter design and deep integration with Apple's new iCloud Photo Library.

Apple Watch can tap into known Wi-Fi hotspots when your iPhone’s at home

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 9, 2015

From the onset, Apple's been telling us its Watch uses Wi-Fi (along with GPS) in your iPhone, but omitted that the gizmo can also take advantage of known Wi-Fi hotspots for limited functions when the paired iPhone isn't nearby or connected to the cellular network.

This nifty little feature lets the device be used standalone for the basic stuff like sending and receiving messages, drawings and taps. Just to be sure here, it still requires an iPhone to send and receive phone calls, run third-party apps and for much of its functionality, really.

The revelation was published as a side-note in Apple Watch reviews by both The Wall Street Journal and Yahoo Tech yesterday.

Twitter folding Discover and Activity tabs on mobile into enhanced Search

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 28, 2018

Twitter giveth, Twitter taketh away. Twitter first said this morning that iPhone users can now upload and share their gorgeous 120FPS and 240FPS slow-motion videos through its mobile app and now we're receiving word that the startup will soon axe the Discover and Activity tabs from Twitter for iPhone and iPad.

The change, apparently a result of lack of interest, will be rolling out to mobile users over the next few days.

Business owners can now claim POIs as their own via Apple Maps on iOS 8.3 and OS X 10.10.3

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 3, 2016

One of the welcome changes in the iOS 8.3 and OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 software updates, which hit yesterday, includes the ability for business owners to claim any point of interest as their own using an updated Report a Problem tool in Apple Maps for the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac, as reported Thursday by AppleMapsMarketing.

The company began allowing local businesses to manage their listing in the service last October, but required them to use its Maps Connect web service.

At the same time, the iPhone maker appears to be removing some TripAdvisor hotel reviews which started showing up in its Maps service last week.

Apple warns of constrained Watch supply at launch

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 9, 2015

With less than 24 hours until Apple Watch pre-orders begin, the Cupertino firm has issued a media release advising customers to reserve their unit online because “we expect that strong customer demand will exceed our supply at launch”.

Moreover, the company will be now taking orders for the device exclusively online “during the initial launch period.”

Touch ID for App Store purchases stops working for many after updating to iOS 8.3

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 9, 2015

A growing number of users are complaining about the inability to use Touch ID fingerprint scanning to authorize purchases in the App Store after updating to iOS 8.3.

As reported on Twitter, Reddit and detailed in a thread on Apple's Support Communities forums, iOS 8.3 appears to be asking for an Apple ID password for each and every purchase made in the App Store.

This is regardless of whether or not the option to use Touch ID in the App Store is enabled in Settings. What gives?