Apple

Take a closer look at iSpaceship’s underground auditorium, R&D building and more

Drone footage of iSpaceship site captured by YouTuber Matthew Roberts has impressed us thus far and his latest video is no exception. In addition to showing continuous progress in terms of landscaping and solar panels on the massive flying saucer-shaped building, new videos provide a closer look at an R&D building and an underground auditorium where future events will be held.

Amazon working on premium Echo model with 7″ touchscreen to “fend off competition”

Amazon Echo

Bloomberg's well-informed Mark Gurman reported Monday that online retail giant Amazon is developing a brand new premium model of its Echo wireless speaker that will feature a built-in seven-inch touchscreen in an effort to “fend off competition” from Google's Home device and Apple's rumored entry into the connected home market with its own Siri-powered hardware.

Amazon may release a higher-end Echo device, known internally as “Knight,” early next year. It will target kitchens and cost more than the current Echo models.

KGI predicts massive iPhone 8 upgrade cycle, 4.7″ model to feature wireless charging

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo issued a note to clients this morning, a copy of which was obtained by MacRumors, predicting record 150 million iPhone sales in the second half of 2017. A 4.7-inch iPhone 8 with an LCD screen and glass casing should feature wireless charging, he wrote.

“Unprecedented replacement demand” will, of course, be led by a rumored high-end iPhone 8 model with brand new industrial design, power-saving OLED display technology and other “notably superior specifications” from the “less exciting” 4.7 and 5.5-inch LCD iPhones.

YouTube for iOS now lets you see how far you made it through videos

Google today refreshed YouTube for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to let you see far you made it through the videos. YouTube 11.45 for iOS, a free download from the App Store, puts a handy progress bar on the previously watched thumbnails within the app's watched history section. In addition, partially watched videos will now resume from where you left off. No other changes or improvements were spotted in today's update to YouTube for iOS.

How’s your battery life after updating your iPhone to iOS 10.1.1?

iPhone 7 battery

Many people are complaining about poor battery life after deploying the latest iOS 10.1.1 software update on their iPhone, which released for public consumption on October 31 and squashed bugs where Health data couldn't be viewed for some users.

Aside from this, it seems that iOS 10.1.1 is also causing some iPhones to shut down abruptly when the battery charge falls below a certain percentage, according to a thread on Apple’s support forums that at post time had thirteen pages.

100+ new creatures coming soon to Pokémon GO

After analyzing new code in a Pokémon GO update coming next month, The Silph Road has discovered that developer Niantic Labs will be adding more than a hundred new creatures to the popular augmented-reality game, including normal and legendary ones.

In addition to the new species, the code confirms other new features like Pokémon trading, player vs. player battles, new ways to raise/train your monsters and more.

The most recent Pokémon GO update added a Nearby Pokémon feature, the purple shape-shifting Pokémon, called Ditto, and other perks.

Apple is said to have more than ten different iPhone 8 prototypes under development

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Apple has as many as ten different iPhone 8 prototypes under development, including a higher-priced model with an advanced display based on power-saving organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology that multiple industry sources, analysts and supply chain makers have been talking about for months now.

Asian suppliers have been asked to increase output of thinner OLED displays and submit prototype screens “with better resolution than ones from Samsung” to Apple.

10.9″ iPad Pro to have the same footprint as 9.7″ model thanks to skinnier bezels

A new report Monday from the fairly reliable Japanese outlet Mac Otakara claims that Apple's rumored 10.9-inch iPad Pro model (10.1/10.5-inch, depending on a source) will have the same footprint as the current 9.7-inch models thanks to a lot skinnier bezel on the left and right side.

Citing unnamed Taiwanese sources, the publication reports that the device will also be a tad thicker than the existing 9.7-inch iPads at 7.5 mm, making it thicker than the iPad Air 2 (6.1 mm) and the same thickness as the original iPad Air.

Apple R&D center launching in Indonesia in 2017

According to Indonesian publication Tempo, Apple has agreed to set up a research and development center in Indonesia, home to 250 million people. The country's Communication and Information Minister Rudiantara told the outlet that Apple will be setting up its R&D facility in early 2017 in the city of Jakarta.

While Rudiantara couldn't reveal the investment value, he expressed hope that Apple would build additional R&D centers in other Indonesian regions.

Here’s a special tool Apple uses to recover data from MacBook Pro’s non-removable SSD

iFixit's teardown analysis of both the 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar has found a non-removable SSD inside soldered to the logic board. In contrast, non-Touch Bar Pros use a removable PCIe-based SSD, simplifying upgrades.

iFixit discovered that Touch Bar Pros include a hidden connector on the logic board that leads nowhere which, as reported by 9to5Mac, works in conjunction with a special tool to let service technicians rescue data in case of a hardware failure.

Apple has stopped disclosing how much it spends on advertising

Apple has stopped disclosing how much it spends on advertising, as revealed in its annual report (10-K) filed with the United States Securities and Exchange (SEC) commission in October.

Apple's motives behind this move are unclear and the SEC filing makes no mention of its advertising expenses for the whole 2016. In 2015, Apple's ad spend rose fifty percent to a record $1.8 billion.

The decision to stop reporting how much it spends on advertising may have something to do with the fact that the iPhone maker ended 2016 with its lowest operating margin since 2009, partially due to spending more ad dollars to drive total revenue.