Apple

Apple Music has convinced 6.5 million users to pay for the service past the free trial

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 20, 2015

Following the expiration of the inaugural three-month free trial at the end of September, Apple Music has convinced approximately 6.5 million users to stay with the service as paying subscribers and currently has 8.5 million more customers on three-month trials, said Apple CEO Tim Cook at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ.D Live conference last night in Laguna Beach, California.

“The runway here is really good,” Cook said. By comparison, the leading subscription music service Spotify currently has more than 20 million paying customers.

On the other hand, Spotify's service has been on the market for a few years now, since 2008, so it is my personal opinion that Apple should be commended for getting a quarter of Spotify's subscriber base in just a few short months.

How to quickly locate a specific setting on your Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 10, 2024

Just like the familiar Settings application on an iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, the macOS System Preferences is probably the most frequently used application on your Mac.

If you're new to the Mac, System Preferences—much like the Control Panel on Windows—is a one-stop shop for adjusting various settings on your computer. Various settings are categorized into logical sections and laid out as a grid of preference pane icons.

In this post, we're going to outline five different time-saving ways to jump quickly into any specific setting nested within System Preferences.

Boston transit data and Amtrak routes for Northeastern U.S. launch on Apple Maps

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 19, 2015

In addition to bringing Yellow Pages-powered business listings to Apple Maps customers in Canada, the Cupertino firm has apparently refreshed a Maps backend in the United States, adding transit directions for Boston and multiple Amtrak routes in the Northeastern United States.

The longest Amtrak route available runs from Chicago to New York. As first noted by MacRumors, other supported routes with transit directions include the Northeast Regional, Acela Express, Keystone, Lake Shore Limited, Pennsylvanian and Maple Leaf.

Apple partners with Yellow Pages on local Maps business listings in Canada

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

Apple and Yellow Pages have partnered to bring Apple Maps customers in Canada rich business data like address, phone numbers, URLs, category, hours of operations, photos, ratings, reviews and more.

“We are pleased to bring our YP.ca local business listings data to Apple Maps,” said Matthieu Houle, Vice-President, Digital Media of Yellow Pages, in a media release Monday. Apple's Maps acknowledgements page now lists Yellow Pages as a data provider in Canada.

Intel has 1,000 engineers working on integrated LTE modem for iPhone 7

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

According to a report this weekend from VentureBeat, chip giant Intel has assembled a team of 1,000 engineers who are working hard on adapting its LTE modem for an 'iPhone 7.'

The move potentially indicates a major loss for Qualcomm, which supplied LTE modems for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus and previous iPhones. Intel's lauded 7360 LTE modem chip is being reworked for an iPhone, the story asserts.

Moreover, VentureBeat claims that Apple could, for the first time ever, embed the modem chip into its in-house designed A-series system-on-a-chip, resulting in an even tighter component integration.

Things you actually agree to by accepting El Capitan’s software license agreement

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

Like so many folks, I myself don't even bother reading through legal mumbo-jumbo in software license agreements and just click the 'Agree' button

A trained professional—lawyer and developer Robb Schecter—took it upon himself to read through Apple's end user license agreement for El Capitan to spell out any limitations in plain English so you don't have to.

You don't own El Capitan per se when you download a copy of the operating system from the Mac App Store: instead, you're actually borrowing it and Apple still owns it.

This shouldn't come as a surprise: that's how software has been distributed for decades. But, I doubt many people are aware of El Capitan's limitations pertaining to virtualization, business use and more.

Waze 4.0 is out with fresh look, revamped map, reduced battery consumption and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 19, 2015

Waze, the popular social-mapping location data startup, today pushed a major update to its GPS, maps and social traffic application in the App Store.

Featuring a refreshed design and cleaner maps with emphasis on safer driving, the new Waze 4.0 for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad also brings reduced battery consumption allowing the app to run longer in the background, and much more.

Some App Store apps found to gather personal information, Apple acts swiftly

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 10, 2017

As many as 256 iPhone, iPod touch and iPad applications in the App Store, a majority of them from Chinese developers, have been found to violate Apple's privacy policy by gathering personal information such as email addresses, installed apps and even serial numbers, an analysis by security analytics startup SourceDNA has found out.

In addition, the offending apps, which obviously went under the radar of Apple's App Store editorial team, have been found to collect other personally identifying information that can be used to track users.

Apple’s aggressive automotive hiring causes electric motorcycle startup to close its doors

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 19, 2015

Apple's aggressive pace of recruiting top talent in the automotive industry for its rumored electric car project, dubbed Project Titan, has caused a San Francisco motorcycle startup to shutter its operation after losing top talent to the iPhone maker, Reuters reported Monday.

Although the Cupertino firm has never attempted to acquire Mission Motors, which designed sleek electric bikes, the company was forced to cease operations in May “after losing some of its top engineering talent to Apple,” said Reuters, citing sources close to Mission.

How to use your iPhone EarPods like a pro

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 18, 2023

Those funky headphones that came with your iPhone—EarPods with Remote and Mic they're called—only have 3 buttons but boy do they perform a surprising number of functions beyond volume control. And with built-in mic, your EarPods can make and receive phone calls and control media playback.

Moreover, you can use them for recording voice memos, interacting with Siri hands-free, VoIP calling in apps like Skype and more, all with a pinch of the cord. Wait, I need this article to tell me how to plug my EarPods and listen to music?

We're not saying you're not familiar with your EarPods. But as with other things in life, there are always new tricks to be learned. This post will hopefully help you master your EarPods like a pro.

In this article, we'll tell you all the cool things your EarPods can do, from rich playback control and controlling Siri to switching calls on the fly, using VoiceOver and so forth. We'll also discuss EarPods compatibility, talk about keeping your headset in pristine condition and lay out sound advice for using your headset responsibly.

Teardown analysis of Magic accessories finds chips from other Apple products and more tidbits

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 23, 2015

Repair experts over at iFixit have performed an interesting triple teardown of Apple's latest Magic accessories—the Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2 and Magic Keyboard—and found that all three devices are outfitted with many of the same chips also found in other Apple products.

On the downside, Apple's unified approach to engineering the new Magic devices has resulted in just 3 out of 10 in iFixit's Repairability ratings due to high level of integration and excessive amount of adhesive.

Analyst predicts 100% of Apple’s A10 chip orders will be handled by TSMC

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 6, 2017

Bad news for Samsung as rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has been predicted to account for a cool 100 percent of orders for Apple's next-generation A10 processor expect to serve as the powerful engine for 2016 iPhones and iPads.

Taiwanese media quoted a JP Morgan analyst as saying that Samsung will be left out entirely from the lucrative contract to build these chipsets. The current A9 and A9X processors are being built by both TSMC and Samsung.