Apple

Apple granted a patent which could help get rid of iPhone’s embarrassing camera bulge

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 26, 2016

Apple has just been granted a very cool patent that promises to solve the protruding camera lens on the back of the iPhone 6/6s series. The invention basically calls for packing a spherical photosensor and lens array in a tiny package.

The patent No. 9,244,253 for a “Small form factor high-resolution camera,” which was published Tuesday by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), reduces the distance between the CMOS sensor and the lens by making the sensor curved, a technique used in astronomical telescopes and instrumentation.

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VirnetX seeking to extract $532 million from Apple in patent infringement retrial

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 26, 2016

Patent holding firm VirnetX yesterday told a federal jury that Apple should be slapped with a $532 million fine over an alleged patent infringement pertaining to FaceTime, iMessage and VPN technologies used in its products, which is nearly 45 percent higher than an initial damages award vacated last year.

According to Bloomberg, the notorious patent troll “keeps moving the boundary, asking for more and more and more,” said Apple’s lawyer.

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Barclays confirms Apple Pay rollout in late March

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 26, 2016

Barclays, a large British multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in London, has confirmed that it will be rolling out support for Apple Pay sometime in late March.

In an email dated January 12 and sent to customer Oli Foster-Burnell, a copy of which was shared on Twitter and obtained by Engadget, Barclays CEO of Personal and Corporate Banking Ashok Vaswani said they will launch Apple Pay “within the next 60 to 75 days”.

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Apple Watch 2 said to enter mass production in second quarter

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 26, 2016

Following a TechCrunch report which alleged that we might not see a second-generation Apple Watch released in March, as previously rumored, Taiwan-based DigiTimes reported Tuesday that the device is scheduled to enter mass production in the second quarter of 2016.

In addition, sources told the publication that Apple Watch 2 volumes will not be high as Apple's reduced the original device's shipment forecast for 2016 down further from its estimate in the fourth quarter of 2015 amid weaker than expected shipments.

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Apple seeds OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan beta 2

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 25, 2016

Following the public release of tvOS 9.1.1 for the new Apple TV with the Podcasts app earlier this morning, Apple today seeded a second beta of OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan to members of its Apple Developer Program alongside iOS 9.3 beta 2, watchOS 2.2 beta 2 and tvOS 9.2 beta 2.

A standalone 10.11.4 beta 2 download should be available shortly via the Apple Developer Center and can be grabbed now through the Purchased tab in the Mac App Store on Macs with a prior beta.

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Apple releases tvOS 9.1.1 software update for Apple TV 4 with new Podcasts app

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 25, 2016

Today, Apple released tvOS 9.1.1, a brand new software update for the fourth-generation Apple TV which brings the Podcasts app to the set-top box along with a fix for unexpected password prompts when downloading apps when restrictions are set and unspecified security improvements.

If it's not showing up on your Apple TV 4 yet, wait a few minutes and try again because software updates take some time to propagate.

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How to find a specific word inside webpages in Safari for iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Since the release of iOS 7, Safari for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad has ditched its dedicated search field in favor of a unified URL/search bar at the top, not unlike Google's Chrome. But did you know that this field also lets you easily find all occurrences of a specific word or a phrase within any webpage?

I use this feature on a daily basis to jump to specific pieces of information within long articles without having to read them in their entirety.

In this post, I'll show you how searching inside webpages works in Safari for iOS.

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Leaked iPad Air 3 design drawing points to four speakers and LED flash

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 25, 2016

A purported drawing published Monday by French blog NowhereElse.fr indicates that Apple's third-generation iPad Air might borrow the iPad Pro's four-speaker setup for better audio reproduction.

In addition, the tablet could sport a LED flash. The site has obtained the design drawing from a fairly reliable source though it couldn't vouch for the veracity of the leaked image.

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Project Titan faces another road block: unhappy with progress, Apple reportedly freezes hiring

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 25, 2016

AppleInsider reported Monday that Apple's automotive ambitions are at crossroads as the company has reportedly instituted a hiring freeze on the 1,000+ person team responsible for so-called Project Titan after a recent progress review.

Jony Ive, Apple's Chief Design Officer, is said to have “expressed his displeasure” with the group's headway following a post-holiday review of the secretive project.

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This prank webpage will crash your iPhone, iPad and Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 25, 2016

Jokers on Twitter are tweeting out links to a new prank webpage that, when clicked, will crash your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Mac, or cause the device to become unresponsive.

As Gizmodo explains, the aptly named website CrashSafari.com uses just four lines of code to crash Safari for iOS and OS X by running a script which adds thousands of characters per second into the address bar, causing Safari to overload its memory.

In the case of the Mac, you'll see the beach ball spinning and your computer will become unresponsive. On the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, Safari will hang and start heating up your phone until it reboots itself.

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Daimler CEO: Apple’s made more progress on automotive project than previously assumed

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 25, 2016

During a recent trip to Silicon Valley, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche told German weekly Welt am Sonntag that Apple and Google have made more progress on automotive projects than he had assumed, Reuters reported Monday.

“Our impression was that these companies can do more and know more than we had previously assumed. At the same time they have more respect for our achievements than we thought,” the executive told the paper.

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