Apple

The Room Three hits the App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 4, 2015

Following the success developer Fireproof Games has seen with The Room and The Room Two, it's now posted the third installment in the series to the App Store. Following the established naming convention, the game is aptly titled The Room Three and priced at $4.99 a pop.

For those who haven't played Fireproof's BAFTA award winning Room games yet, the physics-based puzzle series challenges you to navigate the trials devices located on a deserted island by rotating, zooming and examining dozens of artifacts in order to discover their hidden secrets.

How to program a universal infrared remote to control your Apple TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 13, 2023

Your universal infrared remote which used to control your old Apple TV should work just fine with the fourth-generation Apple TV right out of the box. In some cases, however, your legacy remote might need configuring in order to learn the signals that the Siri Remote generates.

In this post, we're going to show you how you can program a universal infrared remote that came with your TV, cable box or DVD/Blu-ray player in order to navigate the entirety of tvOS, or use it with a prior Apple TV model.

Apple releases iOS 9.2 beta 2 with AT&T Wi-Fi Calling for public beta testers

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 4, 2016

If you're signed on for the Apple Beta Software Program, you can now take iOS 9.2 beta 2, which was released yesterday, for a spin on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

The second beta of the forthcoming iOS 9.2 software update delivers additional fixes and enhancements for the Apple Watch, Audio, Networking and Safari, while enabling AT&T Wi-Fi Calling on the Mac.

Here’s why Siri on Apple TV only supports eight countries so far

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 4, 2015

The new Apple TV ships with the same remote everywhere but Siri on the set-top box is only supported in these eight languages and countries: English (Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, German (Germany), French (France), Spanish (Spain) and Japanese (Japan).

Why is that? After all, Siri on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad support the most basic features in a total of 29 countries, as per Apple's iOS Feature Availability webpage.

Based on an interview that the German-language blog MacPrime conducted with several Apple TV project managers, it's all about the differences in the pronunciation of actor names, films and directors in various countries. But rest assured, Apple is already hard at work on training the Apple TV's Siri for additional countries.

iOS 9.2 beta 2 brings AT&T Wi-Fi Calling to the Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 4, 2016

The latest beta version of what would become the second major update to iOS 9, which was seeded to developers yesterday, enables Wi-Fi Calling through AT&T on your Mac, 9to5Mac discovered.

While Wi-Fi Calling allows you to place a phone call in an area with little or no cellular coverage, bringing AT&T Wi-Fi Calling to the Mac and other devices you own lets you make and receive phone calls on your Mac (or iPad or iPod touch, for that matter) without needing to be on the same network, or even in the same area, as your iPhone.

Microsoft invites a limited number of iOS users to beta-test Cortana assistant

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Microsoft today announced that a limited number of iPhone owners in the United States and China can now sign up to test-drive the first public beta of its personal digital assistant, called Cortana. “Over the coming months, we’ll continue to deliver frequent updates to the app to expand the features and functionality,” notes the Windows maker.

While Cortana offers the most complete experience on Windows devices due to its tight integration with Microsoft's operating system and Apple-imposed restrictions related to iOS development, Cortana for iOS does take the intelligence of its Windows counterpart and brings that experience to the user's iPhone.

Steve Jobs considered Apple car eight years ago

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 4, 2015

According to the famous iPod creator, former Apple engineer and Nest founder Tony Fadell, Steve Jobs did consider an idea of Apple building a car as far back as 2008, but ultimately decided not to move forward because he had other projects on his mind.

In a video interview with Bloomberg, Fadell said that Jobs and himself discussed how a hypothetical Apple car would we build, what features it would have, what a dashboard would be like and so forth.

iOS 9 is now powering two-thirds of Apple’s mobile devices in the wild

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 4, 2015

Apple's iOS 9 mobile operating system is now installed on two out of each three iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices in the wild just a little over a month and a half following its September 16, 2015 release.

According to the official stats available through the company's App Store dashboard for developers, iOS 9 is now powering 66 percent of Apple's mobile devices in active use versus the adoption rate of 61 percent recorded just two weeks ago.

How to control your TV or receiver volume using the Apple TV remote

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 13, 2023

In addition to using your Siri Remote to navigate the tvOS user interface and play games on the fourth-generation Apple TV, you can program it to control power and adjust volume levels of your television set or home theater receiver.

That's because your Apple TV and the Siri Remote that came with it are compatible with HDMI-CEC and outfitted with a built-in infrared receiver and blaster.

This means owners of the new Apple TV can adjust the volume of their TVs and home theater receivers via the HDMI cable or line of sight, using just their Siri Remote.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to program your Siri Remote and configure it to work with your home entertainment equipment.

Apple seeds OS X 10.11.2 beta 2 to developers

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 3, 2015

In addition to iOS 9.2 beta 2 and tvOS 9.1 beta 1, members of the Apple Developer Program can also download OS X 10.11.2 beta 2 (build number 15C31f).

Arriving a week after the first beta of OS X El Capitan 10.11.2 hit, the new software is now available to download on Macs with a previous beta through the Mac App Store's Software Update mechanism, or as a standalone download via Apple's portal for developers.

Apple researching completely switch-less Mac keyboard with Force Touch feedback

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 3, 2015

Apple's new Magic Keyboard is awesome—if you don't believe me, check out my colleague Jeff Benjamin's excellent video review—but it lacks Force Touch feedback currently found on the Apple Watch and iPhone 6s display and MacBook trackpads.

But Apple seems to be interested in bringing this technology to a future Mac keyboard, according to a patent granted to the company on Tuesday by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO).

For better or worse, Twitter’s Stars and Favorites are now Hearts and Likes

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 3, 2015

So you've been starring and favoriting tweets for later use in your favorite Twitter client, just like many other die-hard Twitter fans do? Well, starting today all those Stars and Favorites shall be presented henceforth as Hearts and Likes, the micro-blogging startup unexpectedly announced today.

The rebranding effort is meant to permit Twitter fans to show how they feel on Twitter “without missing a beat,” but already the change seems to have drawn ire and ridicule from hardcore fans of the service.