Apple

Apple sends invites for June 13 WWDC keynote

Apple on Wednesday sent out press invitations for a keynote at its Worldwide Developers Conference, as first reported by Tech Insider. The keynote presentation is scheduled for the first day of WWDC 2016, Monday, June 13, at 10am.

The annual event is where Apple previews its platform advances so we fully expect them to show the world what they have in store for iOS 10 and OS X 10.12, in addition to tvOS and watchOS 3 updates.

Tumblr for iPhone becomes a meme generator with a new GIF captioning feature

Tumblr for iPhone was updated this morning on the App Store with a much appreciated GIF-captioning feature which helps turn the popular micro-blogging software into an instant meme generator.

In addition to the ability to post regular GIF images and animated GIFs, now both static and animated GIFs can include funny captions with support for up to three built-in fonts and custom colors.

Apple edges out Samsung in American Customer Satisfaction Index

Apple has managed to edge out Samsung in this year's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), the nation's cross-industry measure of customer satisfaction. The Cupertino firm has beaten the Galaxy maker by just one percentage point when it comes to smartphone customer satisfaction.

The report, which released Wednesday, reveals that in 2016 Apple scored 81 out of 100 while Samsung stayed where it was the year before at 80.

A year before, both firms scored 80 out of 100 for customer satisfaction.

Analyst: iPhone 8 will rock Galaxy Edge-like wraparound AMOLED screen

IHS Technologies analyst Kevin Wang writes on Chinese social network Weibo that the iPhone 8, which we believe will release in the fall of 2017, will come outfitted with a dual-curved display similar to that found on Samsung's flagship Galaxy S7 edge, for a virtually bezel-less appearance. He also said just yesterday the next iPhone would replace the entry-level 16GB tier with a more capacious 32GB SKU.

Facebook Messenger said to be rolling out opt-in encryption in the coming months

After WhatsApp and Viber both introduced end-to-end encryption last month, Facebook Messenger will become the next major messaging app to roll out this essential security feature, reports The Guardian.

Although end-to-end encryption on Messenger will be framed as an optional feature that users will need to manually enable, it will ensure that the contents of communications are hidden from eavesdroppers and that the identities of the participants are concealed.

Both iPhone 7 models to include 256GB version, replacing 64GB with 128GB SKU?

Leaked components and sketchy rumors have led us to take for granted the theory that only the flagship, pricier iPhone 7 Plus model will exclusively include a new capacious 256-gigabyte model.

That assumption is now being challenged by researchers at TrendForce.

The research firm reported on Wednesday that the rumored 256GB SKU will actually extend to both iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models, possibly even replacing the most popular 64GB storage model.

Google’s Home gadget is based on Chromecast hardware, doesn’t run Android

Home, the search giant's always-listening Amazon Echo rival that was announced at Google I/O 2016, is basically a “dressed up” version of the company's $35 Chromecast HDMI dongle, claims a paywall'd article published by The Information.

It's a bit odd that Google's upcoming device doesn't run Android—it's powered by the same Linux-based OS used on the Chromecast—though Google has reportedly discussed using Android for the next version of Home.

Photos of alleged MacBook Pro seemingly confirm OLED touchpad rumors

New images surfaced on Tuesday of what is said to be a chassis for Apple's upcoming MacBook Pro. Cult of Mac says they were sent the photos by "an anonymous source who claims to work for one of Apple’s manufacturing partners in China," but that of course cannot be confirmed.

The so-called spy shots are interesting because there's a noticeable gap in the laptop chassis, just above the keyboard. The oddity lines up with a recent investor note from prominent Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, which called for this year's MacBook Pro to feature an OLED touchpad.

As stock is dwindling, will Thunderbolt Display get its Retina treatment at WWDC?

Apple's Thunderbolt Display launched nearly five years ago and it may finally receive its long-overdue upgrade soon. Web checks reveal that Thunderbolt Display stock is dwindling across Apple Stores around the world, including in North America, Europe, Australia and elsewhere. Furthermore, tipsters say that stock is not being replenished, suggesting new models might be introduced at WWDC.

Intel shares details of next-gen Kaby Lake chips, Core i7 Extreme Edition and more

Intel today announced at the Computex 2016 show in Taiwan that its seventh-generation Core processors, code-named Kaby Lake, are slated to arrive later this year. It also shared details about an all-new ”Extreme” edition of the Core i7 chip for gamers and content creators, the Apollo Lake chips for tablets and hybrid devices such as all-in-ones, and more.

The company highlighted some of the advancements in performance, battery and media capabilities that the Kybe Lake platform provides. In a way, the announcement has paved the way for future Macs built around the Kybe Lake platform.

tvOS App Store charts now automatically hide any installed apps on your Apple TV

Apple seems to be making some changes to the tvOS App Store on the new Apple TV, with reports coming in that the store's various charts now automatically hide any apps a user has installed on their device. This behavior is now consistent in the Top Paid, Top Free and Top Grossing charts.

As a result, no longer will everyone see the same entires as the “Top” apps have now effectively become the “Top apps that you haven’t installed yet,” as first discovered by Apple developer Equinux.