Several health and fitness focused apps were updated in the App Store this morning with plenty useful new features that take advantage of the new HealthKit framework for developers, introduced alongside iOS 8.
An hour later, Apple pulled these newly-updated HealthKit apps from the store due to various software issues with its framework and has now told one journalist that a fix is underway and promised to put them back on the store by the month's end.
"With an Apple Watch wrapped around his hand brass-knuckle style, Ive reveals that the project was conceived in his lab three years ago, shortly after Jobs’s death and before “wearables” became a buzzword in Silicon Valley." This is just one of the many interesting anecdotes in Bloomberg's new piece on Apple.
Bloomberg Businessweek's Brad Stone and Adam Satariano interviewed several Apple executives, including Tim Cook, Jony Ive and Jeff Williams, after their big event last week. The conversations cover a wide range of topics, including the new Apple Watch, iPhone 6, and how the culture is changing in Cupertino.
Think twice before updating your rusty old iPhone 4s to the just-released iOS 8 because Apple's feature-packed upgrade makes its handset run most tasks about two times (or more) slower.
iOS 8 will slow down common tasks on the handset, including approximately two times slower launching of stock apps, almost three seconds longer booting and more, ArsTechnica reported Wednesday.
In addition to the performance hit, the three-year-old handset is incompatible with certain hardware-dependent iOS 8 features such as Handoff, AirDrop, the OpenGL ES 3.0 and Metal graphics run-time and more.
The social networking behemoth Facebook has just updated its popular Paper app for the iPhone with iOS 8 compatibility following the release of Apple's mobile operating system this morning.
Facebook Paper version 1.2.2, a maintenance update, also enables high-definition video uploading. Previously, you could only upload photos in high-definition so this is going to be a nice upgrade for users who tend to post lots of video clips to the social network on the go.
Apple isn't done refreshing its products this year. According to the same source who shared reliable information on product introduction and timing in the past, AppleInsider has learned that the Cupertino firm is about to unleash another wave of new products during the second half of next month.
Apple's reportedly set internal deadlines for “major new products” of mid-October, with the planned unveiling to reportedly take place during mid-to-late October.
Wednesday morning, Electronic Arts’ Real Racing 3 for the iPhone and iPad has received another Lamborghini-themed update bringing out several new features, cars, tracks and other content, including classic Lamborghinis such as the limited-edition Miura and the legendary Countach.
Fans of multiplayer gaming should appreciate that the free-to-play game has introduced a new eight-player, cross-platform multiplayer mode with real-time racing and drafting.
Jump past the fold to learn about other enhancements in this update.
Despite huge investment it's made in production lines, workers, sophisticated machinery and tooling equipment, Foxconn, the world's largest contract fabricator, is having issues keeping up with massive iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus demand, The Wall Street Journal's Digits blog reported Wednesday.
“For iPhone 6 Plus, we are still ramping up the production line,” sources tell WSJ. ”Another reason for the limited supply is the shortage of 5.5-inch displays”.
Another person at a display component supplier told the paper that Foxconn is scrapping almost half of the 5.5-inch panels due to quality control issues. The output rate of the 4.7-inch display is reportedly better at 85 percent.
Manufacturing woes stem from the in-cell display technology which allows for a thinner and lighter screen assembly by integrating touch sensors into the liquid crystal display.
Apple has rejected tiny panels made by rival Samsung's display-making arm for its wrist-worn smartwatch and has instead opted in favor of curved AMOLED screens made by LG Display, claims a supply chain report filed Wednesday by DigiTimes, a somewhat accurate Taiwanese trade publication.
Citing unnamed sources at LG Display, the publication reports LG Display will supply AMOLED panels for the Apple Watch. “Apple will reportedly not purchase AMOLED panels from Samsung Display and instead will have LG as the sole panel provider for the Apple Watch”, the sources indicated.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit tossed out a verdict today handed down by a Texas jury in late 2012 that would've forced Apple to pay $368 million to patent holding firm VirnetX. The jury determined that Apple's FaceTime feature infringed on on the firm's intellectual property.
The Wall Street Journal reports this afternoon that the appeals court has ruled that the verdict was "tainted" by erroneous jury instructions in the case and therefore is invalid. It also held that some trial testimony from a VirnetX IP "expert" should have been completely excluded from the case.
Apple launched a web page on Tuesday guiding new iPhone users on how to move their content from an Android device, just in time for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus' launch on Friday.
The webpage is a first for Apple, as it's usually Android OEMs who have posted similar guides in the past taking jabs at the competition - aka Apple. However with the larger screens on the new iPhones gunning to take market share from Google, Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and others, it's now Apple's turn.
Apple could have to wait until next year to launch the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in China, according to 21st Century Business Herald. The Chinese news site is reporting today that the handsets have failed to receive the necessary approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
If true, this would be a huge blow to Apple, who some believe was hoping to ship as many as 80 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units by the end of the year. China of course has two of the largest carriers in the world, China Mobile and China Unicom, and is an important market for the company.
Several users have noticed that iCloud.com is once again employing two-factor authentication for users who have activated the security measure. The two-step process first popped up on the iCloud web portal back in June, but the feature was quickly pulled for unknown reasons.
For those unfamiliar with Apple's implementation of two-factor authentication, it requires users to verify their identity via text message or Find My iPhone push notification. It provides an extra layer of security in the event a user's device or Apple ID info becomes compromised.