News

Some new MacBook Pros are shutting down repeatedly and unexpectedly

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 6, 2016

Some proud owners of the new MacBook Pro with TouchBar are reportedly seeing their notebooks shut down repeatedly and unexpectedly. According to a report from Jeff Porten of TidBits, the problem might be related to external hard drives connected to the notebook through its Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports.

Apple declined comment. This is yet another in a series of teething issues that have been plaguing early adopters of the new MacBook Pro. Just a few days ago, for example, some MacBook Pro owners reported an annoying graphics glitching issue.

AMC and The Hallmark Channel added to Apple TV universal search

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 6, 2016

As first reported by MacRumors, Apple on Tuesday added AMC and The Hallmark Channel to its growing list of video apps supporting tvOS's universal search function, which lets owners of the fourth-generation Apple TV in the U.S. use Siri voice search to find TV shows and movies across participating channels.

Other video apps have gained support for tvOS's universal search feature this fall, including Australian streaming service Stan, popular Spanish network Telemundo Now, The CW, Viacom-owned Comedy Central, and music networks MTV and VH1.

Netflix becomes top-grossing iOS app following offline playback introduction

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 6, 2016

After gaining the long overdue offline playback feature last week, Netflix's mobile app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch has emerged as the top iOS app on the App Store's Top Grossing charts for the first time ever, overtaking apps like Spotify and Candy Crush Saga, according to stats from app tracking firm SensorTower. By comparison, just last month Netflix was the #7 top-grossing iPhone and iPad software overall in the United States.

At the time of this writing, Netflix's iPhone and iPad app was the top-grossing item on App Stores in the United States, India, Mexico and Colombia.

Apple: more iPhone 6s units suffering from random shutdowns, software update may fix it

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 6, 2016

Apple has clarified in a new support document on its Chinese website that random shutdowns that have been plaguing some customers may affect more iPhone 6s models than previously thought, saying a software update may fix the issue on units outside of iPhone 6s devices which were manufactured between September and October 2015 and for which it's offering a free battery replacement program.

As first noted by Gizmodo, Apple wrote it needed additional diagnostic data to determine the exact cause of the problem.

MacPaw unveils Setapp, the Netflix of high-quality Mac apps

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 22, 2017

The way you get apps is about to change: Setapp from MacPaw is one of the best things to happen to third-party Mac development in years. Think of Setapp as the Netflix of quality software or an “unstore” alternative to Apple’s store. But unlike the Mac App Store which continues to disappoint with sandboxing requirements, lack of paid upgrades and other missing features, Setapp unlocks dozens of high-quality, cherry-picked Mac apps in exchange for a flat-fee monthly subscription of $9.99.

You won't find subpar software in Setapp and all of the apps are fully functional and available without trials or In-App Purchases, including ones like Screens, Ulysses, RapidWeaver 7, Reveal and Eltima Player.

After testing Setapp for approximately two weeks, I've come to the conclusion that it is the best source of premium Mac apps that you can get for a fraction of their combined price, all at once.

Limitless: the curious case of the Cydia fork project

Joaquim Barbosa ∙ December 6, 2016

John Coates, the creator of the popular patching platform Flex and a well-respected developer in the jailbreak community, announced this week the first public releases of a new endeavour called Limitless. Currently at Beta 6, this ambitious open project aims to bring newer features to Cydia's traditional functionality by freeing it from some of the constraints which the stalwart package installer faces, for example, version compatibility reaching through every iOS back to iOS 2.0.

iCloud account & sign in services and web apps are down [U: resolved]

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 5, 2016

According to multiple reports on Twitter that have since been officially acknowledged on Apple's own System Status dashboard webpage, some iCloud services are currently down for an unknown number of customers, including Account & Sign In services and web apps available through iCloud.com.

Login issues seem to have been affecting users since at 8am Pacific time, according to Apple. Is your device putting up a prompt repeatedly saying it cannot sign in to iCloud? Well, now you know why.

UPDATE 2:45pm Pacific: All iCloud services are now operational.

Amazon’s new grocery store uses artificial intelligence and sensors to eliminate checkout

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 5, 2016

Online retail giant Amazon is testing a new type of brick-and-mortar convenience store where you simply walk in, pick up your items and walk out, no clerk or a cash register required whatsoever because everything you've put in the shopping basket is automatically charged to your Prime account as soon as you leave the store. Located at 2131 7th Ave in Seattle, the futuristic grocery store, dubbed Amazon Go, has been four years in the making.

The system uses computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning to detect when goods are removed and returned to the shelves. Amazon's retail store of the future that eliminates checkout is launching in early-2017.

App Store refund policy under fire from Korean game publishers

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 5, 2016

Apple's app refund policy on the App Store has come under fire from South Korean game developers who are complaining about a loophole that permits ill-minded users to purchase charged content multiple times, request refunds and continue to consume the content without actually paying for it.

The Korea Times is reporting that the issue stems from Apple's policy of withholding information about those who have been issued a refund.

Map your runs accurately without iPhone in Runkeeper’s latest Apple Watch update

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 5, 2016

If you own an Apple Watch Series 2, you can leave your iPhone at home the next time you go on a run with Runkeeper as the app's just been updated with full support for the built-in GPS on the Apple Watch Series 2. Runkeeper's refreshed experience also includes new active metrics with charts for target pace and heart rate.

Runkeeper is a free download from the App Store.

Hacker Luca Todesco advises jailbreakers to avoid updating to iOS 10.2

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated December 9, 2016

While there’s still no public jailbreak for iOS 10 to date, there have been some very convincing demos of personal jailbreaks for it, most of which have come out of the woodwork from none other than well-known iOS hacker Luca Todesco.

Amid the current jailbreak situation, Todesco is now seen warning netizens that if they have any intention of jailbreaking iOS 10 in the future, they should stay on iOS 10.1.1 and refrain from updating to iOS 10.2 when it comes out.

App Store highlights video apps with support for the upcoming Single Sign-On feature

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 5, 2016

Apple is likely to roll out an upcoming new Single Sign-On feature, which was announced back at WWDC 2016, alongside public releases of iOS 10.2 for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad and the tvOS 10.1 software update for the fourth-generation Apple TV.

Ahead of the feature's debut later this month, the App Store is now highlighting apps with Single-Sing On support via a special section. Single Sign-On remembers a user's cable credentials for use in compatible video apps.