Apple

New details surface on Apple Watch sales process

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 30, 2015

The Apple Watch sales process and purchasing experience will be more elaborate and exquisite than originally thought, according to internal training documents seen by Arnold Kim, who runs MacRumors.

Apple is revamping its retail stores ahead of April 10 Watch pre-orders and try-on appointments and has detailed in an internal brochure for retail staff the various process for both customers and employees, including playing with different bands, trying on demo units and more.

We also got our first good look at special display cases for the Watch that will be installed in Apple Stores and learn about other interesting details surrounding the shopping experience as Apple has envisioned it.

Apple Watch won’t be highly regulated by FDA

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 30, 2015

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking a light, “almost hands-off” approach, to wearable devices like the Apple Watch that encompass non-essential health-related functions, Bloomberg reported Monday.

Apple's Watch and other new products from other vendors can be developed without aggressive regulation as the agency doesn't want to stand in the way of any technology that can motivate a person to stay healthy.

Alleged four-inch iPhone 6c rear shell leaks

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 30, 2015

Monday, we got our first glimpse of what a rumored iPhone 6c might look like in a pair of purported images of the handset's rear shell, leaked by Chinese parts vendor Future Supplier and reposted by French blog NowhereElse.fr.

The part resembles the backplate of the current-generation iPhone 5c, sans a thicker casing, a pill-shaped LED flash hole next to the iSight camera, two rows of speaker grilles on the bottom versus a single row of four holes on the iPhone 5c and six microphone holes stacked in two rows versus just one mic hole on the iPhone 5c.

Apple expands iPhone trade-in program to select Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone handsets

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 30, 2015

As promised, Apple on Monday started rolling out a new trade-in initiative aimed at Android phone owners who would like to upgrade to an iPhone. Part of Apple's existing Reuse and Recycling Program, the non-iPhone trade-in is now rolling out in the United States and several European countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy.

Eligible non-iPhone devices include smartphones running Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone operating systems.

Sony’s PlayStation Music goes live in 41 countries with Spotify integration

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 30, 2015

After years of trying to make a dent in the music space with its ill-fated services like Music Unlimited, Sony back in January threw in the towel by announcing a partnership with Spotify, the leading music-streaming service.

Monday, the Japanese company has delivered on that promise with the launch of the new PlayStation Music service with Spotify integration. Available on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 console as well as on Sony's Xperia smartphones and tablets, the service brings 30 million songs to users in 41 markets around the world.

You can now create logins directly in 1Password’s iOS extension and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 27, 2016

Developer AgileBits on Monday refreshed its freemium password-manager utility, 1Password for iOS, with a much smarter extension that allows you to create logins and other items without switching to the main app.

1Password 5.3 is also packed with a dozen other goodies, including enhanced Dynamic Type support, a fixe for the broken Zoom Mode on the iPhone 6 Plus, a new Large Type option, tags in bubbles, the ability to switch time zones and much more.

Native Twitter sharing disappears from latest iOS beta if Twitter’s mobile app is installed

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 30, 2015

iOS 8.3 beta 4 that was seeded to Apple's registered iOS developers last week has removed the long-standing option to share content to Twitter, according to our own findings a couple days ago that have since been confirmed by other users.

We've noticed something was afoot as the option to share to Twitter has gone missing from the Share sheet in iOS 8's stock Photos and Safari app.

Technically, the feature has not been removed entirely because it only disappears after installing Twitter's official iOS app in iOS 8.3 beta 4, as evidenced on the screenshots provided by our own Oliver Haslam.

Uninstall Twitter and it comes back.

Vine upgrades video quality to 720p

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Vine, a service for sharing short 15-second looping clips, announced on Friday that it is finally upgrading video quality from a rather paltry 480p resolution to a more acceptable 720p.

“We’ve been working on technical upgrades that support Vines in higher quality,” the Twitter-owned company said. The 720p format offers a resolution of 1,280-by-720 pixels whereas the 480p standard tops out at 640-by-480 pixels.

Meerkat 1.1 gains better search, in-app streaming alerts and other enhancements

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

Meerkat, an app which kicked off the live broadcasting craze by letting you stream live video from your iPhone to all of your Twitter followers at once, has released its first major update since its App Store debut a little more than two weeks ago.

The app is now more stable and user friendly and comes with nearly a dozen improvements related to searching, following other people, getting notified about their activity, discovering new streams and more.

Apple officially announces Watch shop openings in London, Paris and Tokyo

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 27, 2015

Apple on Friday announced (via iGen.fr) grand opening for Apple Watch stores-within-a-store located in high-end department stores in London, Paris and Tokyo. The company's UK Retail website confirms that the Selfridges Apple Watch shop will open doors to business on Friday, April 10, at 9am local time.

Located on London's 400 Oxford Street, the Selfridges shop is just across the popular Wonder Room shopping hall where a bunch of watch brands and jewelers operate their luxury shops. Apple previously said pre-orders for the wearable device will kick off on April 10.

Court rules UK users can sue Google over Safari privacy breach

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 27, 2015

Things could get ugly for Google as the Internet giant lost a UK appeal in the Safari cookie tracking case, potentially opening the door to litigation from the millions of British users, BBC News reported Friday.

The case revolves around Google's practice to continue tracking users of Apple's Safari browser via cookies even after they had changed their browser settings to block cookies, in order to target them with advertising.

Rumor: TSMC building iPhone 6s chips, $400-$500 iPhone 6c to become new entry-level model

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 26, 2015

TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, is expected to remain the major supplier of Apple's in-house designed processors for the upcoming iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

In addition, the world's largest independent semiconductor foundry is said to supply 20-nanomenter chips for an upcoming iPhone 6c model, expected to arrive as Apple's new entry-level iPhone with a price tag between $400 and $500.

An Apple-designed system-on-a-chip for the next-generation iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models should be called the 'A9' and will be built on TSMC's 16-nanometer FinFET process technology, industry sources told DigiTimes.