Apple

Former Apple Watch engineer talks working with Jony Ive’s design team, secrecy, and more

Cody Lee ∙ August 15, 2016

Former Apple engineer Bob Messerschmidt recently sat down with Fast Company for a wide-ranging interview. Messerschmidt joined the iPhone maker in 2010, when it purchased his startup, and led the team that designed the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor.

As you can imagine, the interview is pretty interesting. Messerschmidt talks about everything from working with Jony Ive's vaunted design team, to how secrecy is embedded in Apple's culture. We've highlighted some of our favorite excerpts from the article below.

Microsoft’s mobile Office apps pick up support for drawing with a finger/stylus on iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 15, 2016

Microsoft today issued updates to its mobile Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps on the App Store, adding support for drawing with your finger on the iPhone. Back in January 2016, the Windows maker brought its inking tools to the iPad Pro with Apple Pencil support. With the latest update, iPhone owners can take advantage of the Draw tab to draw, highlight and annotate documents with their finger or a stylus.

Honda confirms CarPlay coming to 2017 Civic Hatchback this fall

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 15, 2016

After rolling out CarPlay in the 2016 Accord and Civic and in the 2017 Ridgeline, Japanese car manufacturer Honda today confirmed that Apple's iPhone-connected infotainment system will be returning in the new five-door 2017 Civic Hatchback, arriving in North America this fall.

Tim Cook just admitted that Apple’s doing “a lot of things” on augmented reality

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 20, 2016

“I think augmented reality is extremely interesting and sort of a core technology,” Tim Cook told The Washington Post in an interview published Sunday. “So, yes, it's something we're doing a lot of things on behind that curtain we talked about.”

This, boys and girls, right there is Apple's first public admission that not only has it been dipping its toes in augmented-reality technology, but possibly creating its next major computing platform.

KGI: 10.5″ model joining iPad Pro lineup in 2017, radically overhauled AMOLED iPad in 2018

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 15, 2016

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo—who has a decent, but not stellar track record in predicting future Apple products—just issued a peculiar note to clients regarding the future of Apple's iPad lineup.

In the note, a copy of which was obtained by MacRumors, the well-connected analyst does not expect any major refreshes to iPads in this year.

But for 2017, the analyst is calling for three new models: a brand new 10.5-inch iPad Pro size joining a second-generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro and a low-cost 9.7-inch iPad. These devices are predicted to be followed by a “revolutionary” iPad model in 2018 that should bring “radical changes” in form factor design and user behavior while adopting flexible AMOLED panels, which so-called Tenth Anniversary iPhone is expected to gain in 2017.

Here are the best iPhone 7 Space Black images yet

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 15, 2016

Dummies produced by third parties previously hinted at what an Apple Watch Space Black-like colorway reportedly in tow for the next iPhone might look like. Such photos are as fine as plasticky dummies go, but there's nothing quite like seeing the real aluminum unibody construction with Apple fit and finish.

Leaked out of China and discovered by Dutch blog TechTastic.nl, the latest batch of photographs presumably taken inside a Foxconn factory give us our best look yet at the rumored Space Black finish for the iPhone 7.

Google Photos amps up advertising with funny new ad focused on automatic backup feature

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 15, 2016

Like many photo-syncing apps, Google's Photos online service and the mobile app provide an optional feature that automatically backs up to the cloud every image and video in a user's photo library. Apple, too, offers such a feature with iCloud Photo Library but its free five-gigabyte iCloud storage tier is no match for Google Photos unlimited cloud storage for your (recompressed) images (up to 16MP) and videos (up to 1080p). To drive that point home, they've put together an amusing new ad solely focused on that feature.

Photos of alleged iPhone 7 Plus casing leak out of Foxconn factory

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 15, 2016

Allegedly genuine images that surfaced on Chinese forums this weekend, discovered by Dutch blog TechTastic.nl, seem to offer a closer look at an iPhone 7 Plus casing inside a Foxconn factory. Someone who appears to work on the factory floor has been photographed holding what resembles a casing for an iPhone 7 Plus in their hand, showing it from various angles. The images corroborate previous leaks and mark the first time photos of an iPhone 7 unibody chassis have leaked out of Foxconn.

Twitter said to be building Apple TV app to stream NFL games

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 1, 2018

Twitter is in talks with Apple to bring its Twitter app to Apple TV, reports The New York Times. In a wide-ranging article on Twitter's live-streaming ambitions, the outlet said the social network could use the app to stream several NFL games this season.

For those that missed it, earlier this year Twitter beat out Facebook and other tech giants to win the rights to Thursday Night Football broadcasts. The deal is for 10 games, and the company plans to stream them all live for free (supported by ads of course).

This music video was shot on iPhone 6s in 13 countries over the course of one month

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 12, 2016

A troubled teen growing up in the United Kingdom, Shirazee moved to South Africa as a refugee, living there for four years and dabbling in music before signing to Island Records, represented by Universal Music in South Africa.

His debut single, “Different”, is out now on Apple Music and iTunes, with the accompanying music video shot entirely on an iPhone 6s over the course of 31 days in a total of thirteen countries, including the five he has lived in.

Apple’s presence in Seattle could increase with a big piece of office space

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 19, 2018

Following its reported $200 million acquisition of Turi, a Seattle-based machine learning and artificial intelligence startup, Apple appears to be interested in purchasing hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space in the region to accommodate up to 2,300 engineers, reports GeekWire.

New iPhone 7 dummies show what Space Black model might look like

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 12, 2016

With a little more than three weeks left until Apple's supposed unveiling on September 7, various iPhone 7 dummies have been cropping up everywhere. Judging by the comments, many of you are excited about a rumored Space Black (or Deep Blue?) colorway replacing the Space Gray finish in the iPhone 7 lineup.

A fresh batch of images posted yesterday to Chinese microblogging service Weibo, republished by AppleInsider, showcase an alleged 4.7-inch iPhone 7 model in Space Black, as well as two 5.5-inch models with and without a magnetic Smart Connector on their backside.