Apple

$4.99 Apple Music subscriptions now available to eligible students in seven countries

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 6, 2016

As first reported by TechCrunch, Apple's begun offering half-price Apple Music subscriptions to students who are enrolled in an eligible college or university.

Costing just $4.99 per month in the United States with the same features as the regular $9.99 per month plan for consumers, the fifty percent discount is now available to students in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

The company is working with UNiDAY, a student verification technology provider, to ensure that students who sign up are actually enrolled in classes.

Camera Plus goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Apple on Thursday updated its App of the Week promotion with the app Camera Plus (not to be confused with the popular Camera+). This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to pick up the photo editing app for free—a solid savings of a buck.

Camera Plus describes itself as the app for "the best macro photos and remote photography." It features the usual photo app options like filters and effects, but it also has special tools for taking close-up photos, and a feature called AirSnap for taking photos remotely.

Apple announces new enterprise partnership with SAP

Cody Lee ∙ May 5, 2016

Apple and SAP announced a new partnership on Thursday, which they hope will "revolutionize the mobile work experience for enterprise customers of all sizes." The joint effort will combine powerful native iOS apps with the cutting edge capabilities of SAP's HANA platform.

The two companies also plan to deliver a new SAP HANA Cloud Platform SDK exclusively for iOS that will provide businesses and developers the tools to build their own enterprise apps. And, as part of the deal, SAP will develop native iOS apps for critical business operations.

YouTube planning to launch a live TV subscription service in 2017

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 5, 2016

Google has accelerated efforts to beat Apple to market with a live TV service on YouTube, dubbed “Unplugged”, Bloomberg reported yesterday. Work on boosting YouTube's infrastructure is already underway as launching the service has taken on a high priority.

For a yet-to-be-determined monthly fee, YouTube users will be able to subscribe to so-called skinny bundles of television programming, streamed over the Internet.

These bundles should include some of the most popular offerings from major U.S. broadcast networks and cable services.

Netflix picks up 3D Touch Home screen shortcuts, cellular video quality presets and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 5, 2016

Netflix today updated its iPhone, iPod touch and iPad application on the App Store with support for Quick Actions on the Home screen with 3D Touch.

This lets iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus owners press the Netflix icon on their Home screen to quickly search, continue watching and access the Trending Now or My List sections from the shortcuts menu.

Other enhancements in this edition of Netflix for iOS include VoiceOver navigation improvements and new controls to manage streaming data usage on cellular networks.

Google Photos gains revamped search with emoji support, customizable movies and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 5, 2016

After introducing smarter albums with text, maps and locations back in March, the search giant Google today issued a refresh to its mobile Photos application on the App Store. Now available as a free download for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, Google Photos version 1.10 packs in a redesigned search experience with support for emoji search (it really works) and Spotlight integration, better movies with the ability to add your own music to them and other perks.

On the web, Google Photos has gained a handy overlay with keyboard shortcuts and new features when uploading images to the service.

Brand new ‘Accessibility’ section launches on Apple Online Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 5, 2016

Confirming earlier rumors, the Apple Online Store has begun selling accessibility-related accessories and peripherals via a dedicated Accessibility section, as first discovered by Amusement. At the time of this writing, the store listed about fifteen accessories separated into sub-categories such as Vision, Physical & Motor Skills and Learning & Literacy products, with more to be added at a later stage.

The iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Mac accessories listed on the Accessibility section were designed to help people with various disabilities operate their devices, learn, play, create music and more.

Users around the world are reporting search problems with App Store and Mac App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 5, 2016

We are tracking multiple reports on Reddit, Twitter and other social media this morning that describe problems with the search feature on the App Store and Mac App Store, with some of the well-known apps not being surfaced in users' search results.

The issue appears to be widespread, but you wouldn't be able to tell that from looking at Apple's System Status webpage, which at the time of this writing had not acknowledged any such issues with App Stores.

What to do if music, videos, and other content disappear after an iTunes update

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated October 25, 2022

It's not that uncommon for the music, videos, and other content in your iTunes folder to disappear after updating iTunes. It doesn't seem to happen to everyone, but as many internet stories will tell you, it does occur to a number of users on some occasions.

In this tutorial, we'll show you how to get your iTunes music, videos, and more back when you notice it has gone missing after installing an iTunes app update.

Siri creators to introduce new AI assistant ‘Viv’ next week

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

The creators of Siri are preparing to introduce a new AI assistant on Monday, reports The Washington Post. It's called 'Viv,' and it's far more advanced than Siri, capable of handling complex tasks like purchasing movie tickets or ordering pizza, without the need to switch between apps or other human interaction.

Unlike most virtual assistants today, which can understand precise queries and issue scripted responses, Viv can imitate "the spontaneity and knowledge base of a human assistant." So with this technology, and third-party app integration from the likes of Uber and Grubhub, Viv is expected to impress next week.

Twitter finally brings Moments, Polls, and integrated GIF search to Mac app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2018

Twitter introduced both polls in tweets and a Moments feature for discovering trending stories back in October 2015. Additionally, Twitter for iOS has had the GIF search feature since February 2016.

Even though Moments, Polls, and integrated GIF search have been available on the web at twitter.com and via Twitter's mobile application for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, it wasn't until today that these features finally rolled out to Twitter's Mac app.

Overhauled Apple Music to integrate lyrics, offer a new Browse section and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 4, 2016

9to5Mac's Mark Gurman has added some color to Bloomberg's report this morning which described an upcoming overhaul of Apple Music in broad strokes. According to Gurman's sources, the new-look Apple Music section within the stock Music app will be part of the overall iOS 10 refresh and include, among other things, lyrics integration.

The end-to-end overhaul includes ditching the colorful look in favor of a simpler, black and white design which emphasizes text. For example, the appearance of the albums view will no longer change based on the color of a particular album’s art.