Apple

HSBC and First Direct customers in the UK can now use Apple Pay

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 28, 2015

Two weeks after Apple Pay launched in the United Kingdom, HSBC and First Direct customers can now use the service. Both banks were originally supposed to support Apple Pay at launch, and were even mentioned in Apple's support document listing participating banks, but were delayed due to “some issues” until late July.

Apple Pay in the UK imposes a £20 transaction limit as a security measure due to outdated POS terminals. Apple said the £20 limit will increase to £30 in September. The cap will go away once retailers roll out more modern contactless payment terminals.

Apple seeds OS X El Capitan beta 5 to developers

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Apple on Monday released the fifth OS X El Capitan beta to developers. The new build is available to registered developers via the Updates section of the Mac App Store or through Apple’s Developer Center.

Today’s update comes less than a week after Apple pushed out the fourth beta of OS X El Capitan, and nearly two months after its initial release in early June during Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference.

Periscope for iPhone refreshed with muting, Handoff support and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

In addition to refreshing its main application for the iPhone and iPad with drafts support and interactive notifications on iOS 8, the micro-blogging startup Twitter today issued a noteworthy refresh to its live-broadcasting app, Periscope.

Available at no cost in the App Store, the new Periscope 1.1.3 implements support for Handoff, a new technology in iOS 8 which lets you seamlessly move tasks across devices.

In addition, the app has gained other perks like a new notification setting for people you follow, viewer statistics when browsing past broadcasts and more. Plus, it now tailors your global list of recommended broadcasts to your geographical location.

Chrome for iOS gains a cool tab-switching gesture

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 27, 2015

Just days after updating Chrome for iOS with the ability to swipe right or left to navigate backward or forward, the search giant issued another app refresh this morning.

Bumped to version 44.0.2403.67, Chrome's added a handy shortcut to switch between open tabs without having to reach for an icon in the upper right corner with your thumb.

Google's mobile browser for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad is available at no cost in the App Store.

Interacting with ads on Pandora could earn you one hour of uninterrupted listening

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

If you interact with a rich ad on Pandora for at least fifteen seconds, the Internet radio service will reward you with an hour of uninterrupted listening free of advertising, the company announced in a blog post Monday.

They're calling it Sponsored Listening and it's available now to all advertisers, meaning this feature will be available on a per-ad basis.

eBay folding Valet, Fashion and Motors apps into its main client for iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 6, 2018

eBay's bidding application for the iPhone and iPad is about to get a whole lot better as the e-commerce service announced plans to streamline its App Store offering.

As part of the restructuring effort, eBay will shutter its Valet, Fashion and Motors apps and fold some of their functionality into the main iPhone and iPad client, available free of charge in the App Store.

Apple’s retail push in India bringing 500 ‘Authorized Mobility Resellers’ locations to 12 cities

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 27, 2015

India lacks official Apple Store presence as Apple doesn't operate its own brick-and-mortar stores in the 1.25 billion people market. Instead, it's relied on carriers and hand-picked resellers to market and push its products in the country.

The Times of India said last December Apple was planning a huge retail push in the country and now comes word that the firm is working with local partners to launch as many as five-hundred 'Authorized Mobility Reseller' locations in twelve different cities in India.

Here’s a list of all HomeKit compatible appliances for the connected home

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 5, 2017

Apple's HomeKit platform was announced more than a year ago but HomeKit-certified products continue to be in scant supply. In fact, there are currently just five HomeKit-compatible accessories available on the market: the Ecobee3, Elgato Eve, iHome iSP5 SmartPlug, Insteon Hub and Lutron Caseta Wireless Lighting Starter Kit.

More were announced but HomeKit won't take off until fall at the earliest for it hit unforseen issues.

First HomeKit code base “blew up” and now prototype devices seem to be performing poorly as the current crop of Bluetooth chips struggle to handle strong encryption imposed by Apple.

With that in mind, here's a list of HomeKit-compatible appliances thus far.

Rumor: Apple’s next iPad mini will be shrunken version of iPad Air 2

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 27, 2015

Japanese blog Macotakara is reporting that Apple's next-generation iPad mini will be actually a shrunken iPad Air 2. According to the report which is rather short on details, the yet-to-be-announced fourth-generation iPad mini should adopt some of the hallmarks of the second-generation iPad Air hardware such as its slim design, 8MP iSight camera and more.

Here are 5 new features coming soon to Google’s YouTube app for iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Google is doubling down on its mobile YouTube client. The most recent update, for instance, has at last brought push notifications to YouTube for iOS and support for fullscreen playback of vertical videos.

Prior updates have brought out such enhancements as the Cards feature and more perks and we also know that Google's been testing a major YouTube redesign with a subset of its users since May.

Moreover, at the beginning of this year Google finally ditched Adobe's Flash Player and switched to an HTML5-based player for YouTube's desktop interface.

But the fine folks at Google aren't standing still: yet another redesign effort is about to adorn YouTube's iOS app and with it come a few major feature additions to make it easier than ever to find videos and create them, too.

New Apple web campaign lays out a few reasons ‘Why there’s nothing quite like iPhone’

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 24, 2015

Apple on Friday kicked off a new interesting web campaign on its website which strives to lay out the reasons for the iPhone's uniqueness.

Delivered under the tagline “Why there’s nothing quite like iPhone” and accompanying its “If it's not an iPhone, it's not an iPhone” series of television commercials, the new webpage goes through a few key aspects of the iPhone.

Some of the highlights include the iPhone's tightly integrated design, strong security, powerful imaging capabilities, robust messaging, privacy and much more.