Apple updated its iCloud website yesterday with additional information on its new iCloud storage plans. As of today, those storage plans are now live, allowing users to purchase additional iCloud storage of up to 1TB using the new pricing.
Of course, customers will continue to get 5GB of cloud storage for free, but Apple has dropped the pricing on the rest of its iCloud offerings ahead of the launch of iOS 8, OS X Yosemite and iCloud Drive. Keep reading for a quick rundown.
Apple is looking to utilize a new reservation system for customers lined up outside of its retail stores for the iPhone 6, reports 9to5Mac. According to the site, the company has been handing out training materials to employees for the new system, which is called "Reservation Pass."
Reservation Pass is described as a virtual queue of sorts, allowing Apple employees to manage crowds and stockpiles more efficiently on hectic launch days. The system tracks customer line position, and syncs with a store's inventory to make sure there are enough devices in stock.
As suspected, the Internet giant Google on Wednesday has finally gotten around refreshing its free of charge Hangouts mobile application for the iPhone and iPad with the ability to make phone calls to anyone on your Hangouts contact list, using the new voice-calling feature.
As part of its staggered shuttering of the Voice app, “starting today you can make voice calls from Hangouts on Android, iOS and the web,” wrote the search giant in a post over at the Official Google Blog.
Calling landline and mobile phone numbers in the United States and Canada is free, with the international calling rates starting at a ridiculously low one cent per minute.
The newly-introduced Apple Watch, the Cupertino firm's long-expected foray into smartwatches, is actually water-resistant, not waterproof, technology columnist David Pogue has found out.
According to his hands-on article for Yahoo Tech, even though you can wear the device on the rain, when washing hands or cooking, you'll need to take it off before hitting the shower.
“Sweating, wearing it in the rain, washing your hands, or cooking with it are fine,” reads his write-up. “Take it off before you swim or get in the shower, though”.
Always eager to respond to Apple's latest moves swiftly and boldly, Samsung of South Korea took to Twitter following yesterday's iPhone 6/Apple Watch/Apple Pay press conference to share an interesting banner which uses Steve Jobs's own words as a weapon against Apple to dismiss its decision to make bigger iPhones as long overdue.
“No one is going to buy a big phone,” reads the quote on Samsung's snarky anti-iPhone Galaxy Note 4 banner. “Guess who surprised themselves and changed their mind,” another line reads.
The attached image is accompanied by the following message on Twitter: “Big improvements and innovation come with change - even they thought so”.
The Apple Watch, when it starts shipping next year, will require daily charging, suggesting the device's built-in battery lasts about 24 hours, Re/code journalist John Paczkowski said Wednesday. Apple is reportedly ”not happy“ with the battery life and is working to improve it before the product's early-2015 debut.
Regardless, Apple still expects users will charge their Apple Watches once daily. At no point during the yesterday's unveiling did Apple specify or mention how long the device's battery will last.
Even Apple's promotional images don't appear to show the battery indicator on the device's Home screen.
Spotify, the popular Swedish music-streaming startup, on Wednesday refreshed its free iPhone and iPad application with improved music discovery and support for the Ford SYNC AppLink platform.
When browsing albums in Spotify for the iPhone and iPod touch, you can now easily check out more releases from the artist in one tap.
More importantly, owners of Ford vehicles outfitted with the car maker's proprietary SYNC AppLink platform can now use Spotify in their car.
Left-handed users needn't worry because Apple's newly-introduced smartwatch can be inverted and worn on the right arm for left-handed use, an Apple spokesman has confirmed to Business Insider on Wednesday. Apple's promotional videos and all the images used on the Apple Watch webpage depict the device being worn on the left arm and used by right-handed people.
That the Apple Watch is friendly to the lefties should come as a relief to the approximately ten percent of the world's population who are more skillful with their left hands when performing tasks.
Apple Design Award winner Tapity announced that its popular time-tracking application, Hours for iPhone, will be available for the new Apple Watch “on day one”. While telling time is the core function of any watch, time tracking could easily become the killer feature of Apple's device.
Designed to take the pain out of time tracking by visualizing how you spend your precious time, Hours for iPhone debuted in mid-July and we immediately fell in love with it.
"The Apple Watch will be a game-changed for tracking time with Hours," developer Jeremy Olson tells me.
Apple wrapped up yesterday's presentation by inviting U2 to perform onstage and announce that it will be giving away the band's latest album, titled “Songs of Innocence”, to iTunes users completely free of charge, no strings attached.
During the exclusivity window which closes October 13, iTunes user 13 or older can grab their free copy of the aging rock band's album.
Company CEO Tim Cook called the deal “the largest album release of all time” and here's how you can grab your free copy right now.
Discover will be joining Apple's proximity mobile payment system called Apple Pay “in the future,” allowing iPhone 6 and Apple Watch owners to pay for goods and services using Discover's credit cards stored in the Passbook application, the company confirmed in a tweet last evening following Apple's press conference.
”No need to worry,” reads the tweet. “We are in discussions with Apple to add Discover cards to Apple Pay in the future”.
At some point during the craziness after yesterday's event, Apple quietly rolled out new iCloud storage plan pricing. In an update to the iCloud section on its website, the company posted pricing for storage plans ranging from 5GB to 1TB.
As before, customers will continue to get 5GB of storage for free, with 20GB of additional storage available for $0.99 per month. 200GB of storage will cost you $3.99 per month, 500GB $9.99, and the 1TB plan costs $19.99 per month.