Apple

Apple Pay allegedly coming to France by year end

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 26, 2016

According to French outlet Les Echos, Apple will be bringing its mobile payment solution to France, a 66 million people country, by the end of this year. Citing several sources familiar with the matter, the publication reports that a handful of major French banks and financial institutions are in the process of finalizing talks with Apple on supporting Apple Pay by the end of the year, assuming the two parties will come to terms regarding Apple's commission on each transaction.

Rumor: Photos app in iOS 10 and OS X 10.12 should be on par in terms of features with iPhoto

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 7, 2018

A report yesterday by the fairly accurate Japanese blog Mac Otakara claims insider knowledge of an improved Photos app in Apple's upcoming iOS 10 and OS X 10.12 operating system refreshes that, as per sources, should gain new features putting it on par with the discontinued iPhoto app.

Apple was somewhat criticized for its decision to discontinue Aperture and iPhoto in favor of the new Photos app, which took almost a year to gain support for third-party image editing filter and effects on the Mac.

Apple TV App Store gets new categories

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 1, 2018

Apple began adding several new app categories to its Apple TV App Store on Thursday. As noted by Afterpad, the new categories are being rolled out to Apple TV 4 owners at a staggered pace, so they may not be available to everyone just yet.

The new categories include Catalogs and Utilities, and should help ease what has been a pain point for early ATV 4 adopters. Since the device launched last fall, App Store browsing and discovery has been a prominent complaint among users.

iPad Air 3 will be a smaller iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard, Pencil support

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 1, 2018

The rumored iPad Air 3 will actually bear iPad Pro branding when it lands next month, reports 9to5Mac. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the site claims that Apple plans to carry its MacBook Pro strategy over to its Pro tablet line.

"Much like the MacBook Pro comes in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes, the iPad Pro will soon come in 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch variations." The move makes sense, considering that the new iPad is expected to feature most of the Pro's internals.

Apple officially responds to court, asks it to vacate order to help FBI

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 1, 2018

Apple on Thursday filed a motion to vacate the court order demanding it help the FBI break into an iPhone linked to the San Bernardino attacks. The motion (via The Verge) is the company's first legal response to the order, which was handed down by a federal judge last week.

Rhetoric in the filing echoes what we've been hearing from CEO Tim Cook over the past week: Apple refuses to help the FBI break its own security because it sets a dangerous precedent that has major implications. It also offers some insight into the legal stance Apple plans to take.

Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Michonne hits the App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 25, 2016

Telltale Games, a maker of episodic games, today launched The Walking Dead: Michonne on the App Store, Android, Mac and Windows PCs and the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 consoles. A new mini-series, The Walking Dead: Michonne is aimed at both fans who are already familiar with the iconic character Michonne and those who have no prior knowledge of Robert Kirkman's comics, the TV show or Telltale's titles for that matter.

“This story is a separate, standalone experience, which makes it a great place to jump into the franchise with an awesome character,” notes Telltale.

Third-generation Apple TV receives a minor software update

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 25, 2016

Apple is focused on pushing its fourth-generation Apple TV with the Siri Remote and built-in App Store, but that doesn't mean the company has forgotten about owners of the older third-generation Apple TVs.

Thursday, a minor over-the-air Apple TV 7.2.1 software update was released for the $69 third-generation Apple TV.

The firmware update can be applied through the Software Update mechanism in the device's Settings menu.

How to start up your Mac in Internet Recovery Mode

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 17, 2024

In addition to the startup volume, which holds a bootable copy of the operating system along with your applications and data, your Mac's disk contains a hidden recovery partition that you can boot from in order to reinstall macOS, perform a quick check of connected disks, and more.

But what if the built-in recovery partition gets damaged, for instance? Enter Internet Recovery Mode (or macOS Recovery over the Internet), an Internet-based version of Recovery Mode found on Macs, which loads recovery tools from Apple's servers.

With Internet Recovery Mode, you can reinstall macOS and troubleshoot issues in the unfortunate scenario of your Mac's startup disk having become corrupted or completely unreadable.

In this tutorial, you'll learn everything about Internet Recovery Mode on Intel-based Macs and Macs with Apple silicon. You'll also see how to use it to your advantage if your disk encounters an issue or the startup drive has been replaced or erased.

Here’s a recap of what Tim Cook said about the FBI and iPhone hacking on ABC News

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 25, 2016

Apple CEO Tim Cook was on ABC News last night, spending some time with reporter David Muir in his minimalist Cupertino, California office discussing the FBI case and how the government's demands risk undermining every iPhone owner's security.

For those who didn't have the time to sit through the 60-minute interview, Cook reiterated Apple's stance that the government's demand that it create a one-off version of iOS with decreased security to help get data off the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone 5c sets a dangerous precedent, likening it to “the software equivalent of cancer.”

Assassin’s Creed — Identity makes its worldwide debut on App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 25, 2016

After spending nearly a year and a half in soft-launch state, Ubisoft today made good on its promise to make its first action role-playing mobile game set in the Assassin’s Creed universe available to everyone.

Assassin’s Creed — Identity, a premium $4.99 download from the App Store, is an RPG game featuring open sandbox levels in which you can create, evolve and customize your own assassins and play them in the iconic Renaissance Italy setting.

“Embody an Assassin and experience the freedom of movement that made the franchise unique while unraveling the mystery of The Crows and solving dozens of quests,” teases Ubisoft.

Popular Spark email client is now available on iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 25, 2016

Spark, a powerful email client from Ukrainian developer Readdle, has received a much-needed refresh in the App Store today, finally bringing out a native user interface on the iPad, so now you can experience Spark's email magic on all your devices, including the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

Spark 1.6 also includes other refinements and improvements, such as an even better wrist app with fully native watchOS 2 support, landscape mode across all iOS devices, nine new languages, the ability to keep your email accounts and settings synced across all devices via iCloud and more.

The update is being rolled this morning so don't panic if you don't see it yet in your local App Store as these things take time to propagate.

Latest iOS 9.3 beta fixes 1970 bug that bricks devices

Cody Lee ∙ February 24, 2016

The iOS 9.3 beta released earlier this week includes a fix for the 'January 1, 1970' bug that has been bricking devices, reports MacRumors. The site points to its forums, where multiple users found that their devices stuck in boot loops were able to be restored to working order via an update to beta 4.

The fix is two-fold. Folks with the beta installed say that you can no longer move the time on December 31, 2000 past 7 p.m.—disabling the bug entirely, since this prevents you from scrolling back to 1970. And as mentioned above, the new firmware can also unbrick devices affected by the glitch.