Apple

Real Racing 3 finally arrives on the new Apple TV in new ‘Daytona 500’ update

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 16, 2016

Electronic Arts' and Firemonkeys' Real Racing 3 has amassed over a hundred million downloads across iOS and Android platforms thus far. Yet, up until today this premium game was not available as a native app for the new Apple TV—despite the fact that rival Gameloft's Asphalt 8 is one of the most downloaded Apple TV games. A new update to the free-to-play racing game, now available in the App Store, changes all that with native support for the Apple TV.

What's more, the Apple TV game gives players the ability to race each other in a split-screen 'Party Play' mode. In addition, this version of Real Racing 3 sports newly added Daytone 500 content across platforms so you can drive the NASCAR Sprint Cup cars and race your opponents on the all-new Daytona International Speedway track.

Rumor: iPhone 7 chips to be encapsulated in EMI shielding

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 16, 2016

Korean publication ETNews is claiming that Apple's upcoming iPhone 7 smartphone refresh will reduce electromagnetic interference by encapsulating major chips, including its application processor, into an electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding.

According to ETNews, key iPhone 7 chips such as the main 'A10' processor, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules, cellular modems and RF chips will be protected by EMI shielding, which involves covering a chip's surface with ultra-thin metal. Prior iPhones have used EMI shielding on the printed circuit board and the connectors to reduce electromagnetic interference.

Report: Dr. Dre’s Apple-backed TV show ‘Vital Signs’ will be a vehicle for Apple Music promotion

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 16, 2016

The rumored Apple-backed television show “Vital Signs” will feature some notable Apple Music product placement, as per sources who spoke to Re/code's Peter Kafka.

Rather than being Apple's surprise foray into full-scale production of TV shows, Apple will simply co-finance the production of “Vital Signs.”

“That’s much less exciting than 'Apple Is Getting Into TV,' but it’s more accurate,” Kafka said. The show will apparently star Beats co-founder and Apple executive Dr. Dre.

Kanye West says his new album will never be available on Apple Music

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 16, 2017

It appears that Kanye West's highly anticipated new album "The Life of Pablo," isn't going to be available on Apple Music anytime soon. Amidst a tweet storm Monday afternoon, the controversial artist stated that the album will "never never never be on Apple."

West added that he has no plans to offer TLOP for sale either, and that the only way fans will be able to listen to the record is through Tidal—the streaming music service backed by Jay-Z, Beyonce, Rihanna, and other high profile musicians across various genres.

Apple Music and Sonos promote partnership in new TV spot

Cody Lee ∙ February 15, 2016

Apple Music and Sonos teamed up to release a new television spot on Monday night, promoting their recently-announced partnership. The ad, which debuted during the Grammy Music Awards, features products from both brands, as well as a handful of music stars.

We've embedded the ad below, but for a little context, the stars you see are Killer Mike, a hip-hop artist and part of the popular duo Run the Jewels; Matt Berninger, frontman for indie rock band The National; and Annie Clark, better known by her stage name St. Vincent.

Apple’s all-new Remote app for Apple TV 4 will do Siri, gestures and work in games

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 15, 2016

Apple is working on a brand new Remote app for the fourth-generation Apple TV that will be a full replacement for the functions provided by the included Siri Remote, said Eddy Cue, Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, who was joined on The Talk Show podcast with Daring Fireball's John Gruber by Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering.

The upcoming software will be a new app, not an update to the existing Remote application for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad which in December 2015 gained keyboard and basic navigation support for the new Apple TV.

AT&T will give you up to $650 in credit if you switch over to their service

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 15, 2016

The United States wireless carrier AT&T on Monday launched a new promotion that entices people with up to $650 in credit per line to leave their carrier and switch over to the AT&T service.

You will have to trade in your existing smartphone and port your number over from Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile in order to be eligible for this promotion.

After sending in the final wireless bill from your old carrier, you will then purchase a new phone from AT&T Next and receive a Visa prepaid card with up to $650.

Apple promises a fix for iPhone bricking stemming from date and time bug

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 15, 2016

A newly published support document from Apple, which was first discovered by German blog Apfelpage.de, has acknowledged an issue where any 64-bit iPhone could be bricked by setting the date back to a specific time, causing it to fail to boot properly and requiring a physical repair to put the device back into working order.

According to the document, a permanent fix for the problem will be released as part of a future software update. Meanwhile, the affected iPhone owners are advised to contact Apple Support.

How to share iCloud calendars

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2020

Apple's Calendar application for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac and iCloud.com makes it simple to share events and to-dos with select people, or let anyone with a link subscribe to a read-only calendar.

For example, you could share a “To Do” calendar with your significant other, create a calendar for your entire family so every member can put errands on it, invite your wife to a shared “Kids” calendar to keep parents in the loop about school activities and more.

Not only do shared calendars increase your productivity in the workplace, they help those who use them become more organized in everyday life. You can assign edit privileges to invitees, adjust how participants access the calendar and more.

Invitees have a myriad of options at their disposal to view shared calendars, including the iCloud Calendar web app, the stock Calendar app on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac or Microsoft Outlook on a Windows computer.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to share a calendar privately or publicly on iPhone, iPad, Mac and iCloud.com. You will also learn how to manage calendar sharing by adding or removing participants, changing privileges, adjusting calendar notifications, and more.

3D Touch shortcuts for the Camera app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 30, 2019

Whenever an awesome photo opportunity presents itself, I instinctively grab my iPhone, launch the Camera app and press the shutter button.

But boy, way too many times did I find myself in the wrong camera mode. One time, I would realize I was shooting video instead of taking a great picture. Other times I would snap a selfie, whereas I wanted to take a quick photo of my neighbor's dog jumping in the air catching her frisbee.

3D Touch can help avoid such distractions when you're in the middle of your photography moment. With a little help of 3D Touch shortcuts and gestures, iPhone owners will hopefully never miss that important shot again.

3D Touch lets you take a selfie or start shooting video from the Home screen, review the photos you’ve taken without leaving the Camera app, play Live Photos with a press and more. In this tutorial, we'll take you through every 3D Touch-enhanced feature that's available to iPhone photography fans in Apple's built-in Camera app.

Apple launches worldwide USB-C cable replacement program

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 12, 2016

Apple on Friday announced a worldwide replacement program for a limited number of USB-C charging cables that were shipped with 12-inch MacBook with retina display units or sold separately through June of 2015. A design flaw in these cables may cause unexpected premature failure.

As a part of the program, anyone with an affected cable is eligible to gain a free replacement through Apple.

Google is shutting down Picasa desktop app and Picasa Web Albums to focus on Photos

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 12, 2016

Google on Friday announced that the Picasa desktop app and its corresponding online photo-sharing service, called Picasa Web Albums, are soon going to be officially dead. This didn't come as a shock: since the launch of Google Photos, Picasa's fate was pretty much sealed.

As of March 15, 2016, Google will no longer be supporting the desktop Picasa application for Mac and Windows. After the cut-off date, existing Picasa installations will still work.

However, Google has said it will cease development of the app so there will be no future updates nor will the Picasa app continue to be available for download after March 15.