Apple today released a fourth beta of iOS 11 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to its registered developers and members of the Apple Developer Program.
Fourth developer beta of iOS 11 launches
iPod Touch
LG rumored to be exclusive supplier of L-shaped batteries for 2018 iPhones
A new rumor Friday from the Korea Economic Daily, citing an unnamed source in the chemical industry, alleges that Apple has chosen LG subsidiary LG Chem as an exclusive supplier of L-shaped two-cell batteries for next year's iPhone model, tentatively named “iPhone 9”.
Does your iPhone or iPad support augmented reality apps made with ARKit?
iOS 11 introduced ARKit, a new framework for developers designed to shorten development times in terms of building augmented reality experiences for iPhone and iPad.
Because ARKit does most of the heavy lifting in terms of plane detection, super accurate tracking, lighting estimation and more, apps powered by it are unsupported on older devices.
TSMC steps up its own 7nm efforts as Samsung secures orders for Apple A12 chips
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has been exclusively fabricating Apple's in-house designed mobile chips for iOS devices since 2015 and the company has now reportedly accelerated its efforts to build seven-nanometer chips in 2018.
iOS 10.3.3 fixed “Broadpwn” exploit letting attackers take control of your device via Wi-Fi
The iOS 10.3.3 software update for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch which Apple released on Wednesday has patched a serious exploit that targeted open Wi-Fi signals.
Apple launches iOS 10.3.3 update for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
Apple today released the mostly bug-fix iOS 10.3.3 update for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The software update is available through iTunes and over the air via the Software Update mechanism in Settings → General → Software Update on your iOS device.
Lightroom for iOS gains selective brush editing, all-new iPad interface & more
Adobe today updated Lightroom for iPhone and Lightroom for iPad on App Store with some key new features aimed at making editing on the go easier than ever. You can now use a new brush feature to selectively paint in enhancements to any part of your images.
The selective brush option extends to the eraser tool, allowing you to selectively erase both the linear and radial gradients. And if your device has 3D Touch, like iPhone 6s or iPhone 7, you can even vary the effect by just pressing softer or harder as you paint.
iPad Pro users working with an Apple Pencil get the same pressure-sensing to apply more or less of the effect. You'll also notice a new Details tab within the app where you can add the finishing touches to images by controlling noise and enhancing image details.
The in-app camera now supports a new Show Highlight Clipping feature that shows you the over-exposed areas prior to capture, which lets you adjust the exposure or composition in camera. Lightroom for iOS also packs in an improved virtual level via the in-app camera with haptic feedback and support for latest cameras and lenses.
Last but not least, Lightroom for iPad now features a revamped interface, shown top of post, designed for the tablet's larger canvas. According to Adobe, the app makes editing via iPad a serious option as a laptop replacement for any photographer.
Download Lightroom for iPhone and iPad free in App Store.
Samsung could re-enter iPhone chip supply chain in 2018
Samsung Electronics has not been building Apple-designed mobile chips for iPhone and iPad for almost four years now, but the South Korean conglomerate is rumored to be sharing Apple orders with rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) from next year.
According to a report Tuesday in The Korea Herald, Samsung has invested in a new manufacturing facility for churning out chips fabricated on the more energy efficient seven-nanometer process technology solely for iPhone.
“Samsung plans to complete its own tests for the new chip-making machines soon and seek final approval from Apple for the chip production,” reads the report.
The company reportedly purchased extreme ultra violet lithography machines, the most advanced chip manufacturing equipment in the world, to use in iPhone chip production from 2018. Kwon Oh-hyun, one of Samsung’s three co-CEOs, apparently played a key role in securing the deal during his visit to Apple’s headquarters last month.
“The CEO could persuade Apple’s top brass taking advantage of their close ties on OLED,” said an industry source. Samsung, as you know, is also the sole supplier of OLED panels for the upcoming OLED-based iPhone model.
Rival TSMC also won a supply deal for next year’s iPhone and the reports said Samsung would share some parts of iPhone chip orders next year with TSMC.
Here are some of new emoji coming to iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch later this year
Celebrating World Emoji Day on July 17, Apple on Monday previewed some of the new emoji coming to iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and Apple Watch later this year.
They include a woman with a headscarf, a bearded person and breastfeeding, as well as various new food items such as sandwich and coconut.
“More animals and mythical creatures like T-Rex, zebra, zombie and Elf are a fun way to describe situations and new star-struck and exploding head smiley faces make any message more fun,” said Apple.
The aforementioned emoji are coming to iOS, macOS and watchOS later this year as part of the 56 new emoji recently unveiled by the Unicode Consortium.
Emojipedia provides the complete list of new Unicode 10 emoji.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hIJLOgdSZo
Emoji on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV are part of the Apple Color Emoji font.
Also in celebration of World Emoji Day, App Store will be highlighting apps to create or do fun things with emoji. iTunes Movies is already featuring emoji in place of select movie titles. The new emoji should be delivered via point updates to iOS 11, macOS High Sierra and watchOS 4.
WhatsApp gains chat pinning, comprehensive file sharing & more in latest update
As part of a broader set of capabilities recently teased for the Facebook-owned WhatsApp messaging platform, the app has now gained a trio of new features in the latest update. WhatsApp version 2.17.40 for iOS brings a chat pinning feature, multi-format file sharing and other improvements.
With the pinning feature, you can make it so your favorite chats remain at the top of the list, so you can quickly find them. To use this feature, just swipe right on a chat in the conversation list, then tap a Pin or Unpin option.
The app has also expanded the file sharing feature, which now allows you to share any type of file with one or more recipients. To send files of any type, open a chat, tap the plus icon at the bottom then choose the Document option.
In the popup menu, select your favorite storage provider like iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive and so forth (any app that includes an iOS Document Provider extension should be available from the menu).
And lastly, when you receive multiple photos the app now lets you tap and hold on the group of photos to quickly forward or delete all of them in one fell swoop.
Download WhatsApp for iPhone, iPad and iPod for free from App Store.
Facebook is testing in-app GIF creator
As first spotted by The Next Web, Facebook is testing an in-app GIF creator with a subset of users of its mainland mobile app for iOS. The feature is available through the app's built-in camera and allows users to quickly create animated GIFs for sharing with friends and family.
You can also post the GIF to a Story or save it to your device.
GIFs can be spiced up using Facebook's range of built-in camera effects. According to the publication, any GIFs created through this feature are short, lasting only a few seconds.
As I mentioned before, the feature is only available to certain users.
We'll let you know when the in-app GIF creator launches for everyone. Until then, let us know in the comments section if you're part of Facebook's limited test of this feature.
Just a month ago, the social network rolled out the ability for users to express themselves better by posting animated GIFs in comments.
Download Facebook at no charge from App Store.
ARKit demo: accurate room measurement in augmented reality
If the augmented reality (AR) tape measure app we recently featured has gotten you excited for the possibilities that Apple's ARKit framework brings to developers, you're wholeheartedly recommended to watch this video demonstration of an upcoming ARKit-driven app that will let you take precise room measurement by pointing your iPhone's camera at the corners.
The app will help generate 3D models and automatically calculate the footage for the user. It's a really cool-looking demo and I can't wait to try this app out when it releases.
Watch the demonstration video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw9MPZoPqCQ
The app was created by a company called Smart Pictures, which provides the Measurement Cloud system that enables dimensioning intelligence for the interior world.
Here's a recent ARKit-powered tape measure demo that set the Internet on fire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7DYC_zbZCM
This level of precision is made possible by ARKit's accurate plane detection and reliable object tracking. On existing devices, the ARKit framework leverages data from on-board sensors and uses computer vision algorithms constantly analyzing live camera feed.
ARKit-driven apps should be even better on iPhone 8 because Apple's OLED iPhone is said to feature a dedicated 3D laser sensor on both its front and back for even better augmented reality features and faster, more precise autofocus.