News

iPhone manufacturer Foxconn buys Apple supplier Sharp in a $3.5 billion deal

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 30, 2016

It's finally official: the world's leading contract fabricator, Foxconn, which assembles iPhones and other products for Apple and other consumer electronics companies, has purchased the struggling Japanese giant Sharp, one of Apple's display panel suppliers, in a deal valued at a reported $3.5 billion.

As reported today by The Wall Street Journal, Foxconn believes this transaction will improve its position on the technology value chain and has plans to expand Sharp's production capacity and invest in the production of OLED screens that future iPhones are expected to adopt.

Fantastical for Mac gains native Exchange support, printing, iCloud shared calendar alerts & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 30, 2016

After shipping Fantastical 2 for Mac a year ago with tons of new features and a revamped user interface for OS X Yosemite and later, developer Flexibits today pushed version 2.2 of its calendar, reminder and to-do productivity app on the Mac App Store.

Fantastical 2.2 for Mac brings powerful new features to the experience, starting with full support for Microsoft Exchange accounts with native account syncing, invitation responses, availability lookup, categories and people lookup.

Other enhancements include availability information in calendars, support for printing with multiple layouts and a host of other under-the-hood refinements.

Apple Maps brings Nearby, Flyover and Traffic features to more countries and locations

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 30, 2016

A steady stream of regular Apple Maps backend updates continues unabated with the latest expansion of the Nearby and Flyover features in new cities and countries around the world. In addition to five new major cities in Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom that now support Maps' three-dimensional Flyover views, the Nearby feature is now available in Austria, Denmark, Japan and Switzerland to help Apple's customers there find local businesses and points of interest relative to their current location.

Is Apple going to rebrand OS X as ‘macOS’?

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 30, 2016

OS X, the desktop operating system which powers the Mac—“it's what makes a Mac a Mac,” says Apple—does not fit into the company's current OS naming scheme that has already given us watchOS, tvOS and iOS, but that might be about to change.

According to Portuguese-language site MacMagazine.com.br, developer Guilherme Rambo has discovered an interesting mention of 'macOS' in the “FUFlightViewController_macOS.nib” interface file within the FlightUtilities framework inside OS X code.

Apple confirms a fix for iOS 9.3’s misbehaving web links is in the works and coming soon

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 29, 2016

Apple is aware that some folks are seeing unexpected behavior when tapping web links on iOS 9.3 and is working on a fix which will be deployed to users in the form of a minor software update, a company spokesperson has confirmed to TechCrunch.

An unknown portion of people who have upgraded their iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices to iOS 9.3 have reported being plagued with this issue where tapping web links would crash apps like Safari, Messages, Mail, Chrome, Tweetbot and more.

Snapchat unveils stickers, video notes, Auto-Advance Stories & other chat improvements

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 29, 2016

Snapchat is rolling out a bunch of new capabilities destined for its second-generation chat feature, in addition to other improvements like stickers, all-new Auto-Advance Stories capability and updated privacy terms.

The Venice Beach-headquartered maker of the popular ephemeral messaging software has confirmed that more than 200 stickers are now available within the app, based on its $100 million purchase of Bitstrips.

SoundCloud launches ad-free $9.99 subscription service with offline playback

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 29, 2016

SoundCloud, a Berlin, Germany-based global online audio distribution platform, today pushed a major update to its free audio streaming application for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad which includes support for the company's freshly announced paid subscription music service, dubbed Go.

Priced at $12.99 per month through Apple's In-App Purchase mechanism or $9.99 on the web, Go offers SoundCloud listeners an expanded catalog of tracks, as well as new features and new functionality in the app.

Go is now available in the U.S. via the updated SoundCloud app and on the web.

Miitomo, Nintendo’s first iOS game, launches in US and other countries this Thursday

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 29, 2016

Following its soft-launch in Japan, Nintendo's first mobile game for iOS and Android, Miitomo, will be hitting the United States and other countries this coming Thursday, March 31, the Japanese gaming giant announced in a media release issued this morning. A free-to-start social experience, Miitomo lets users spark one-of-a-kind conversations with friends in a whole new way using Mii characters, which first appeared on Nintendo’s original Wii console.

The game was downloaded more than one million times in its first three days of availability in Japan, becoming the top free app on the Japanese App Store.

Apple to hold Q2 2016 earnings call on April 25

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 29, 2016

Apple has scheduled an earnings call to discuss its second fiscal quarter results for Monday, April 25, 2016 at 2:00pm Pacific Time, 5pm Eastern Time, according to a note on the Apple Investor website. The conference call will discuss Apple's financial performance during a three-month period ending this month following its lucrative holiday quarter.

The quarterly earnings statement will be released thirty minutes in advance of the conference call. The company provided revenue guidance of $50 to $53 billion for the quarter and gross margin between 39 and 39.5 percent, prompting concern among investors as these numbers represent Apple's first revenue decrease in thirteen years.

Apple reposts iOS 9.3 for older devices bricked by Activation Lock

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 20, 2023

Shortly after releasing the new iOS 9.3 firmware, Apple was forced to stop signing the update following numerous complaints from owners of older iPhones and iPads, such as the original iPad Air and the iPhone 5s and older, that it was bricking their devices.

Monday, Apple re-released iOS 9.3 to fix an issue that prevented users from activating their device via Activation Lock if they couldn't recall their Apple ID password used to originally set up their device with.

The re-released versions of iOS 9.2 carries a build number of 13E237 and is now available as an over-the-air download although those with a bricked device might want to apply the update through iTunes in DFU mode.

MacID price drops 75% in the App Store for a limited time

Anthony Bouchard ∙ March 28, 2016

MacID, the popular app for iPhone and iPad that lets you use Touch ID or your Apple Watch (and yes, even your Pebble) to unlock your Mac over a Bluetooth connection, is on sale in the App Store this week for 75% off the usual price.

The app received an important update over the weekend with support for new features found in iOS 9.3 and watchOS 2.2, giving users the ability to configure multiple Apple Watches with MacID and use them to unlock their Mac.

Marked at just $0.99 for a limited time, you can grab MacID and start using your iOS device's Touch ID sensor or Apple Watch to unlock your Mac instead of typing in a password each time it locks itself.

Preliminary numbers show strong iPhone SE interest in China with 3.4 million pre-orders

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Apple's new four-inch iPhone SE could prove very popular in China, Apple's second largest market in terms of revenue, as launch weekend pre-orders from retailers have topped an estimated 3.4 million units, said CNBC on Monday. Data from local retailers reveals that Gold and Rose Gold are the most popular colorways among buyers in China. Those are preliminary figures: Apple has not publicly boasted about iPhone SE pre-orders as of yet.