Apple

Apple could slash prices of 13″ MacBook Pros without Touch Bar, replacing MacBook Air

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 17, 2017

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has called for updated MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks this year with Intel's latest Kaby Lake processors and a 32-gigabyte RAM option on 15-inch Pros. According to a Chinese-language Economic Daily News report cited by DigiTimes, Apple is likely to slash prices of 13-inch Pros without Touch Bar to increase its overall shipments in 2017.

Industry sources also claim that these more affordable 13-inch MacBook Pros without Touch Bar will eventually replace the 13-inch MacBook Air in Apple's notebook lineup.

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Rivals worried that iPhone 8 will gobble up the entire supply of OLED screens

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 17, 2017

Apple's 2017 iPhone refresh should include an all-new iPhone 8 model widely expected to ditch the traditional power-hungry LCD technology in favor of the power-sipping OLED screens. Given Apple's scale and pent up demand for a refreshed iPhone industrial design, Apple's rivals are now worried that the company will eat up all the available supply of small and mid-sized OLED panels. According to DigiTimes, Apple's competitors are now rushing to secure production capacity for OLED panels, which could cause shortages.

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NPD pegs AirPods unit share in December to 2 percent of headphone market

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 17, 2017

Market research firm Slice Intelligence recently estimated that the $159 AirPods earphones, which launched on December 13, have managed to capture one out of each four dollars spent online on wireless headphones during December 2016, beating Apple's own premium audio brand Beats which took a Slice-estimated 15.4 percent share of the wireless headphone market.

But according to NPD Group's December 2016 Weekly Retail Tracking Service data cited by CNET, Slice's data paints an incomplete picture of the wireless headphone market. According to NPD's own findings, AirPods have captured a modest two percent of the market in units and three percent in dollars.

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Apple may extend iPhone 6s battery replacement program to iPhone 6 (updated)

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 17, 2017

According to a rumor by Japanese blog Mac Otakara, Apple may extend its iPhone 6s battery replacement program to iPhone 6 following reports from iPhone 6 owners who claim to have been plagued with the same issues as their iPhone 6s counterparts.

UPDATE: an unnamed source inside Apple corporate told AppleInsider that there are no immediate plans to offer a battery exchange program for iPhone 6 devices. “We constantly evaluate service statistics,” said the source. “There are no plans or grounds for a wide iPhone 6 battery exchange program at this time.”

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Twelve South’s ActionSleeve puts Apple Watch in a better spot for some sporting activities

Anthony Bouchard ∙ January 17, 2017

Twelve South recently released their new Apple Watch-oriented armband called the ActionSleeve, which relocates the Apple Watch to the upper arm for certain activities, such as rigorous sports, where the wrist isn’t the ideal place to have it.

In this review, we’ll talk about the ActionSleeve’s build quality, comfort, and usability, as well as where you can get your own.

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Video: Adobe shows off voice-based image editing on iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 16, 2017

How about editing photographs by voice commands alone? In a recent concept video, Adobe showed off performing basic image-editing functions on an iPad by conversing with a Siri-like digital assistant. The proof-of-concept clip gives us an interesting glimpse into a not-so-distant future when we'll use our voice for complex tasks beyond simple things like scheduling reminders or creating alarms.

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Apple honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a tribute on its website

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 16, 2017

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States and Apple has joined the celebration with an appropriate tribute in the form of a full-page image on its website and a tweet from CEO Tim Cook. “We honor Martin Luther King by working to help achieve justice and equality,” reads Cook's message.

Cook's tweet is accompanied by the famous King quote: “We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.”

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Jimmy Iovine: original TV series and movies part of Apple Music pop cultural experience

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 16, 2017

The Wall Street Journal thinks Apple wants to buy rights to original television shows and movies as another way of enticing users into choosing Apple Music over competitors like Spotify and Pandora. Monday, The Hollywood Reported published an interview with Apple executive Jimmy Iovine, who said that adding original video content to the music-streaming service is part of the plan to turn Apple Music into a pop cultural phenomenon.

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Samsung reportedly discovers that faulty battery caused Note 7 fires

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 16, 2017

Official investigation conducted by Samsung Electronics has determined that a faulty battery was the main reason for Note 7 fires, a fiasco which led to a worldwide recall of the handset before the device was fully discontinued, Reuters reported Monday. A person familiar with the matter told the news gathering organization that Samsung should officially announce the results of the investigation next Monday, January 23, a day before the company is scheduled to reveal its fourth-quarter earnings.

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Want podcasts on your Apple Watch? There’s finally an app for that

Steffen Reich ∙ Updated May 7, 2018

The ability to store and play podcasts on Apple Watch is one of many features advocated for regarding future watchOS updates, but so far it has fallen on deaf ears at Apple. With the cries for podcasts on Watch slowly reaching fever pitch, developers have taken matters into their own hands and released a fully functional podcast app that enables the transfer of your favorite subscriptions from iPhone to Apple Watch.

The app goes by the name WatchPlayer and (while moody at times) gives a solid account of itself, effectively beating Apple to the punch in the podcast race. Find out below how the data transfer is realized, where it trumps Apple's stock apps and what areas of WatchPlayer could do with some attention.

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