News

Apple seeds iOS 10.2 beta 7 to developers

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 7, 2016

Just two days after releasing iOS 10.2 beta 6 to members of the Apple Developer Program and Apple Beta Software Program and five days since iOS 10.2 beta 5 dropped, the Cupertino firm on Wednesday morning seeded a seventh beta of what would become the second major software update to iOS 10 since its September 2016 launch.

iOS 10.2 beta 7 (build number 14C92) is available as an-over-the-air download via the Software Update mechanism on devices with a prior beta and an appropriate configuration profile installed. A standalone installer is available via Apple's dedicated portal for developers.

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Alto’s Adventure creators announce new game Alto’s Odyssey is coming in 2017

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 7, 2016

Snowman, the brains behind the award-winning endless snowboard game titled Alto's Adventure, today said that the time has come for something new in the form of Alto's Odyssey, their brand new game scheduled for release some time in 2017 (we're thinking early-2017).

Snowman's Ryan Cash told me via email that long before Alto’s Adventure had even been released, they started working on an idea for what might come next.

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In November, App Store captured highest monthly sales ever in its history

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 6, 2017

According to Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, the App Store last month enjoyed the highest monthly sales ever since its inception in the summer of 2008. “November 2016 was a record breaker for the App Store—the highest monthly sales ever in its history,” reads the tweet.

Although Schiller didn't provide any hard numbers, in just two weeks during last year's holiday season the App Store raked in a massive $1.1 billion revenue from sales of iOS apps and In-App Purchases.

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Fitbit buys Pebble’s software assets, but cancels new hardware

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 19, 2018

Fitbit, the maker of popular activity and fitness trackers, has officially acquired Pebble. The deal was finalized this morning, both companies have said.

The acquisition includes all of Pebble's software assets, but excludes any hardware. Yup, that's right—looks like the Pebble smartwatch is officially dead.

“Due to various factors, Pebble is no longer able to operate as an independent entity,” the company said. “We have made the tough decision to shut down the company and no longer manufacture Pebble devices.”

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iPhone manufacturer Foxconn rumored to spend $7 billion on U.S. expansion

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 7, 2016

Taiwan-based iPhone manufacturer Foxconn is said to be considering pouring as much as $7 billion into a massive expansion of its operations in the United States, looking to create 50,000 jobs within the country in the next four years, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Foxconn is reportedly looking to build a collection of U.S.-based assembly plants.

The company has confirmed being in preliminary discussions regarding expansion of its U.S. operations. CNBC earlier posted a slide which pegs the investment at $7 billion.

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iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus rumored to come in a brand new Red color option

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 7, 2016

Apple is prototyping as many as ten next-generation iPhone models, and most analysts agree that the company will probably launch a trio of new handsets next year: an 'iPhone 8' with a wraparound OLED screen and all-new industrial design and LCD-based 'iPhone 7s' and 'iPhone 7s Plus' models. According to a new report Wednesday from the fairly reliable Japanese outlet Mac Otakara, LCD iPhones may come in a brand new Red color option.

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Latest macOS 10.12.2 beta fixes MacBook Pro graphics glitches, says Apple’s Federighi

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 7, 2016

An annoying graphics glitching issue that some owners of the new MacBook Pro are seeing should become a thing of the past when macOS 10.12.2 Sierra software update releases for public consumption, according to a purported email message from Apple's software boss Craig Federighi.

Portland-based MacRumors forum member Dennis reportedly received a reply from Federighi after asking Tim Cook via email about the reported glitches, which range from screen tearing and broken textures to brightly colored flickering and checkerboard patterns to issues with translucency, transparent graphics and other visual artifacts.

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Apple Music now has more than 20 million subscribers

Cody Lee ∙ December 6, 2016

Apple Music has surpassed 20 million paid subscribers, the company's SVP of Internet software and services tells Billboard. That marks a 15% jump in the last 3 months, when Apple announced it had passed 17 million users during its iPhone event in September.

That's impressive considering the streaming music service is less than two years old and up against veterans like Spotify with much larger user bases. Cue attributes some of Apple Music's growth to its string of exclusive deals with artists like Drake and Travis Scott.

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Apple’s machine learning researchers are now free to publish their findings

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 22, 2017

Apple demands that its machine learning (ML) experts and artificial intelligence (AI) researchers do no publish their findings in research papers or share results of their work with fellow ML/AI experts, which scientists think is preventing the company from recruiting the brightest minds in the field. Realizing its mistake, Apple is changing its stance.

As announced by Russ Salakhutd, Apple's director of AI research, the company’s machine-learning researchers are now free to publish some of their breakthroughs in and confer with colleagues.

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Upcoming Instagram update will let you turn off comments on a per-post basis & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 8, 2017

In its never-ending fight to curb abuse on its service, Instagram today said an upcoming new tool will let you completely turn off comments on individual posts.

As reported by The New York Times this morning and confirmed by Instagram itself, in addition to being able to turn off comments on individual posts users will be also permitted to remove followers on private accounts and like other people's comments as well.

Back in September, Instagram launched keyword-based comment moderation as another measure to fight spammers and abusers who have been harassing honest users with unwanted comments and marketing messages.

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Galaxy S8 rumored to drop 3.5mm audio jack, adopt USB-C & use in-screen Home button

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 6, 2016

SamMobile is reporting today that Samsung's next-generation Galaxy S8 smartphone will replace the physical Home button with a non-moving variant embedded right behind its AMOLED screen. The firm is also said to adopt USB-C for charging and data transfer and ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack to make the phone thinner and lighter.

The Galaxy S8 should be unveiled in February 2017 and could beat Apple's rumored iPhone 8 to the virtual Home button.

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