Troi has released Troi Activator Plug-in 4.5.1 for FileMaker Pro 16. It’s an update of the tool for triggering scripts remotely. It’s a maintenance update with some bug fixes and performance tweaks.
Licences for Troi Activator Plug-in 4.5.1 are $89 per user. A demo is available at https://www.troi.com/products/activatorplugin/ .
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Zevrix Solutions has announced Package Central 1.10.3, a maintenance update to company's file packaging automation solution for Adobe InDesign.
The software automatically collects InDesign documents along with their fonts and links from watched hot folders. Package Central can serve unlimited users on a network and offers email notifications, variable folder names, PDF export, and more. Version 1.10.3 improves handling of InDesign files with missing elements and fixes some queue management issues.
Package Central can be purchased for $149.95 from the Zevrix website (www.zevrix.com). A demo is available for download. The 1.10.3 update is free for registered users. Package Central requires macOS 10.7-10.13 and Adobe InDesign CS5-CC 2018.
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MW3D-Solutions has unleashed Cheetah3D 7.1 (www.cheetah3d.com), an update to its 3D modeling solution for macOS.
The utility sports features such as polygon reduction, a loft modeling object and a text spline object. Version 7.1 allows even more complex and realistic scenes.
Cheetah3D 7.1 requires macOS 10.6.8 or higher. It costs $99 for a single-user license. Customers may upgrade from older version for $59. Those who purchased Cheetah3D 6.x after April 1, 2015, can upgrade for free.
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Apple has unveiled its 2017 charts and trends, celebrating the most popular apps, music, movies, TV shows, books and podcasts across the App Store, Apple Music, iTunes, iBooks and Apple Podcasts.
Editors and curators from Apple Music, App Store and iTunes highlight great content from indie artists and developers from around the globe. You can find the complete list here at https://tinyurl.com/ydhab6dy .
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Apple has released iTunes 12.7.2 for macOS. It’s available via the Updates tab at the Mac App Store.
The update includes minor app and performance improvements. It goes along with the macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 upgrade that was released on Wednesday.
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Zevrix Solutions has announced Output Factory 2.2.3, a maintenance update to company's output automation solution for Adobe InDesign.
The utility automates printing, exporting and preflighting from InDesign and offers batch processing, export as single pages, layer versioning, custom scripts integration and more. Version 2.2.3 addresses an issue in which some incompatible PDF and print output settings could be enabled at the same time, which could result in crashes and incorrect file processing.
Output Factory 2.2.3 can be purchased from the Zevrix website (www.zevrix.com) for $169.95 (there’s a “lite” version for $119.95). A demo is available for download. The update is free for the users of Output Factory 2.x, and $84.97 to upgrade from Output Factory 1.x and BatchOutput. Output Factory requires macOS 10.7-10.13 and Adobe InDesign CS3-CC 2018.
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Apple has released macOS High Sierra 10.13.2. Available at the Mac App Store via the Updates tab, it:
° Improves compatibility with third party USB audio devices;
° Improves VoiceOver navigation when viewing PDF documents in Preview;
° Improves compatibility of Braille displays with Mail.
MacXDVD Software has rolled out MacX Video Converter Pro (https://tinyurl.com/y84d3sc3), a feature update to their flagship video conversion utility for macOS.
MacX Video Converter Pro is a HEVC video converter that can compress and convert 4K/multi-track HD videos to HEVC/H.265 to save storage space and bandwidth consumption. This update extends its profiles for HEVC for playback on newer Macs, and lower-capacity iPhones and iPads, while saving storage space.
The usual price of MacX Video Converter Pro (for a lifetime version) is $59.95. However, you can get the fully licensed HEVC video converter at 50% off for a limited time.
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BinaryFruit has updated DriveDx (https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx), its Mac solution for SSD and HDD health diagnostics and monitoring, to version 1.7.0.
DriveDx performs overall drive health diagnostics using drive health indicators (like SSD wear out / endurance, reallocated bad sectors, offline bad sectors, pending sectors, I/O errors, and more) that most closely correlate with drive failures. It shows this information in an easy-to-understand format. Version 1.7.0 adds support for LaCie hard drives, among other improvements.
DriveDx 1.7.0 requires macOS 10.6.8 or higher. It has four types of licenses, the basic being a personal license for $19.99.
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AKVIS (www.akvis.com) has released a new Thailand & South Korea pack that includes 80 picture frames created by professional artists. Along with the Japan & China frame pack, the new set showcases a wide variety of Asian cultures and traditions.
To use AKVIS frame packs, you need to have installed one of following programs: AKVIS Frames (available for free) or AKVIS ArtSuite ($39). The AKVIS products run on macOS 9.0.7 and higher. TheThailand & South Korea frame pack sells for $15.
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CS Odessa (www.conceptdraw.com) has released an update to its Marketing Diagrams Solution, which is available for download and use by ConceptDraw Pro users.
The marketing libraries have been expanded to include a new funnel diagram object. The updated solution to Solution Park is a free item for current users of ConceptDraw Pro 11.
ConceptDraw Pro is compatible with macOS and Microsoft Windows and retails for $199 per end user license. It’s included in ConceptDraw Office 4, which retails for $499.
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Apple has released watchOS 4.2 for the Apple Watch. It adds support for Apple Pay Cash service, as well as other improvements and bug fixes.
You can install watchOS 4.2 via the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software Update. Your smartwatch needs to have at least 50% battery, be placed on a charger, and it needs to be in range of the iPhone.
With Apple Pay Cash, Apple Pay users will be able to make and receive payments with friends and family quickly and securely. They can send money and get paid right in Messages, or tell Siri to pay someone, using the credit and debit cards they already have in Wallet.
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GeekSuit has announced an update to MacDeveloper (www.macdeveloper.net), their beta testing networking and management resource for Apple developers and enthusiasts.
It connects beta testers and developers, with the aim of aiding developers in testing and improving their products. The update to the service improves the platform's usefulness by enhancing the testing process for developers and testers.
MacDeveloper now supports a "Pay-to-Test" model. When a developer opens a Project Channel, they’re walked through entering the basic information about the application, uploading a binary for testing (or supply a download URL), enter the types of tickets that testers will be allowed to submit for the build, and any special instructions for testers.
Developers can then enter the amount of funds to be placed into escrow from the developer's PayPal fund. Amounts range from $20 to $200.
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TunesKit Studio has introduced TunesKit Audio Capture (http://www.tuneskit.com/mac-audio-capture.html) for macOS and Windows. The tool allows you to capture any music files from your computer or the Internet automatically and losslessly.
With TunesKit Audio Capture, you can record multiple audio tracks at the same time, edit and customize audio parameters such as the size, quality, and more. By default, it connects to many common apps like iTunes, QuickTime, Windows media player, and more. If an app you want to grab music from isn’t on the list, you can add them with a click.
TunesKit Audio Capture is on sale for a limited time for $19.95, or 60% off the regular price. A demo is available for download.
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Xojo (www.xojo.com) has announced Xojo 2017 Release 3, a new version of the application development tool for making apps for macOS, iOS, Windows, Linux, web, and Raspberry Pi.
It offers built-in support for graphics, database servers, Internet protocol. The latest release adds over 170 changes and improvements. 64-bit improvements continue with the new 64-bit IDE, optimized Code Editor and more. Pricing starts at $299 per year.
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Apple has released tvOS 11.2 for the fourth generation Apple TV and Apple TV with 4K. It adds a Sports section to the interface, joining the “Watch Now,” Library,” “Store” and “Search” options.
The Sports tab provides links to live games and the ability to rewatch games that already occurred. You can also select your favorite teams for a range of sports and leagues.
tvOS 11.2 also adds includes new video settings for changing high dynamic range and frame rate dynamically based on content if you hav an Apple TV 4K. If you own one, you can find the new Match Content options in the Settings app under Video and Audio after updating to video 11.2. According to Apple, “We’ll use your selected display format to play content without alteration. We can also switch formats automatically to match the content’s dynamic range and frame rate.”
Match Content offers two options. Match Dynamic Range lets you “play content in its original dynamic range.” In other words, HDR...
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VeprIT has launched SlideFlow, a Mac app for generating animated photo slideshows with background music and playing it on a TV screen.
According to VeprIT owner, Demid Borodin, the utility “offers the most natural viewing experience, presenting the full photograph, and then applying Ken Burns effect to zoom on human faces.” The user can export the slideshow as a video file, or play it immediately on a connected TV.
SlideFlow works over a local Wi-Fi network with many modern smart TVs, such as Samsung, LG, and Sony TVs. It is also expected to work with other DLNA devices. Support for Google Cast (Chromecast) is coming in future versions, as well as an iOS version.
SlideFlow requires macOS 10.12 or higher and available at the Mac App Store (https://tinyurl.com/ya93t4oo). It’s free, but does apply watermarks to generated slideshows until users pay the $2.99 in-app purchase.
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NVIDIA has announced that “hundreds of thousands” of AI researchers using desktop GPUs can now tap into the power of NVIDIA GPU Cloud (NGC) as the company has extended NGC support to NVIDIA TITAN.
NVIDIA also announced expanded NGC capabilities — adding new software and other key updates to the NGC container registry — to provide researchers a broader, more powerful set of tools to advance their AI and high performance computing research and development efforts.
Customers using NVIDIA Pascal architecture-powered TITAN GPUs can sign up immediately for a no-charge NGC account and gain full access to a comprehensive catalog of GPU-optimized deep learning and HPC software and tools. Other supported computing platforms include NVIDIA DGX-1, DGX Station and NVIDIA Volta-enabled instances on Amazon EC2.
Software available through NGC’s expanding container registry includes NVIDIA optimized deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow and PyTorch, third-party managed...
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Apple has released iOS 11.2 with support for Apple Pay Cash,7.5-watt charging on compatible devices, and various bug fixes and improvements.
With Apple Pay Cash, Apple Pay users will be able to make and receive payments with friends and family quickly and securely. They can send money and get paid right in Messages, or tell Siri to pay someone, using the credit and debit cards they already have in Wallet.
You can download iOS 11.2 by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Eligible devices include the iPhone 5s and later, the iPad mini 2 and later, the iPad Air and later, and the 6th gen iPod touch.
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Apple has released the sixth developer beta versions of iOS 11.2 and macOS 10.13.2 beta 6 is also available for testing. Registered developers can download them from Apple's Developer Center — or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.
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U.S. consumers are locked in a vicious circle with brands over customer experience, according to new research from Accenture (www.accenture.com).
While 44% are frustrated when companies fail to deliver relevant, personalized shopping experiences, nearly half (49%) are concerned about personal data privacy as they subscribe to intelligent services designed to understand and anticipate their needs. Poor personalization and lack of trust cost U.S. organizations $756 billion last year, as 41% of consumers switched companies. Without deeper customer insight, companies can’t deliver the experiences they crave, according to Accenture.
The thirteenth annual Accenture Strategy Global Consumer Pulse Research gauged the attitudes and expectations of more than 25,000 consumers around the world, including 2,000 U.S. consumers, about their appetite for more intuitive, technology-driven brand experiences. As...
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Worldwide spending on Telecom Services and Pay TV Services is forecast to reach nearly $1.7 billion in 2017, an increase of 1.7% over 2016, according to IDC. The research group expects worldwide spending on Telecom and Pay TV services to grow 2% year over year and surpass $1.7 billion in 2018.
The largest segment of the market is Mobile which represents 52% of the total market in 2017. The mobile market is expected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2% over the 2017-2021 forecast period, driven by the growth in mobile data usage and M2M applications, which is offsetting declines in spending on mobile voice and messaging services. Fixed data service spending represents 21% of the total market in 2017 and that is set to grow by a CAGR of 4% driven by the need for higher bandwidth services.
The Pay TV services market, which consists of Cable, Satellite, Internet protocol (IP), and Digital Terrestrial TV services, will remain flat over the five-year forecast...
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Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) forecasts that the number of mobile users adopting NFC ticketing will exceed 375 million by 2022, up from an estimated 122 million in 2017.
While there is rapid growth in NFC ticketing in European markets, there search group has scaled back NFC ticketing adoption in many other markets, such as the U.S., India, and Africa, due to the lack of available services and infrastructure. However, driven by open standards and the adoption of OEM wallets such as Apple Pay and Android Pay, mobile NFC ticketing will witness higher growth rate in comparison to mTicketing over the next five years, representing an average annual growth of 25%, Juniper forecasts.
The new research found that the continued failure to persuade transport operators of the NFC value proposition is proving a severe constraint on the sector, except in Japan and Korea where adoption has been...
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Valassis (www.valassis.com), which specializes in “intelligent media delivery,” has announced results from its 2017 Valassis Holiday Shopper Survey. The findings provide insights into consumer expectations and behavior for the remaining 2017 holiday shopping season, particularly for moms, millennials and millennial parents.
According to the study, the shopping season is far from over: 83% of holiday shoppers plan to purchase gifts after Cyber Monday and more than half (56%) of these shoppers are headed in-store for their purchases. According to RetailMeNot, 87 % of consumers plan to visit a physical retail store in the month of December – representing an opportunity for brick and mortar retailers in the last few weeks before the holidays.
Consumers are looking for deals, with 82% of respondents – and 88% of millennials – saying that offers sway their gift lists. Overall, 53% of respondents (and 61% of...
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Canalys (www.canalys.com) forecasts that 93.7 million cars will be sold worldwide in 2017, up just 1.7% on 2016.
Low single-digit percentage sales volume growth will continue for the next five years, peaking at 99 million cars sold in 2022, according to the research group. Annual global sales will then decline as the urban mobility revolution, already affecting the market, gathers pace.
“The convenience of owning a car comes at a cost. Cars are under-used – they sit idle for more than 90% of the time. The wider availability of urban mobility services, such as ride-hailing, car-sharing and robotaxis, will further reduce car ownership. With the expectation of everything on demand, these services will revolutionize how people travel,” said Chris Jones, chief analyst, Automotive at Canalys.
“There are already too many cars on our heavily-congested roads, and most pollute the air and only carry one person...
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Global sales of smartphones to end users totaled 383 million units in the third quarter of 2017, a 3% increase over the same period in 2016, according to Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com)All of the top five smartphone vendors achieved double-digit growth apart from Apple, which achieved a 5.7% increase, adds the research group.
"Despite market weakness in China, sales of smartphones rose in the third quarter of 2017," said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. "Emerging Asia/Pacific (15% increase) and North America (11.2% increase) drove the smartphone growth in the quarter."
"In emerging Asia Pacific, both Samsung and Huawei saw healthy demand as along with Xiaomi and Vivo, which were able to grow their footprint outside their home markets," added Gupta. "In North America, Samsung was the driving force in the quarter due to its new flagship products.”
Samsung’s smartphone sales recorded a...
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According to a new forecast from IDC (www.idc.com) overall smartphone shipments will steadily grow from 1.5 billion units in 2017 to 1.7 billion units in 2021.
And “phablets" (smartphones with a screen size of 5.5 inches to under-7 inches) will far outpace total market growth by climbing from 611 million units in 2017 to one billion units in 2021, representing a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.1%, according to the research group. In comparison, the total smartphone market is expected to grow at a 3.0% CAGR during the same period, while normal smartphones (under 5.5 inches) will decline 7.4%. Overall, IDC lowered its previous forecast for 2018-2021 by 1.1%-1.5%,depending on the year.
Android-based phablets have been the primary driver of large-screen smartphones and IDC expects this trend to continue in the years to come. Samsung's early dominance of the phablet category has been short lived as...
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A new study from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) finds that there will be more than 285 million ear-based wearables or “hearables” used in 2022, a nearly sevenfold increase over the 43 million expected to be in use by the end of 2017.
The research found that the growing trend for wireless audio, accelerated by smartphone original equipment manufacturers removing the 3.5mm headphone jack, is pushing the average price of headphones up, reducing the price gap between headphones and hearables. Multimedia hearables (hearables focused on providing audio) will be the leading category, comprising over 50% of hearables used throughout the forecast period. These will be a key platform for digital assistants, with over 80% having a voice assistant like Siri or Alexa.
Juniper expects large tech firms like Apple and Google to dominate this category, but new entrants like NuHeara and Nuraphone...
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The global smart fitness devices market is expected to reach USD 29.4 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research.
The smart fitness devices market has witnessed a rising demand among the growing urban population in a bid to enhance their fitness goals, according to the research group. Advantages such as accessing fitness activities data in remote and real-time operations have resulted in an increased penetration of the market.
Additionally, there are tremendous opportunities for advancements in the smart fitness devices owing to the increasing usage of smartphones and enhanced internet accessibility, which, in turn, would fuel the growth of smart fitness market, according to Grand View Research. The growing adoption of the smart fitness devices to keep track of sleep, steps, calories, heart rate, and other bodily stats is anticipated to revolutionize the market by 2025.
The smart fitness devices market has been segmented based on product...
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By Rick Sutcliffe
Under his hat as a sometimes web hosting and domain name provider (Webnamehost.com and WebNameSource.com) the Spy must monitor the spam arriving at his server. Numerous filters and subscriptions to spam services cut the volume of mail by forty percent in a slack month and as much as ninety-five precent during time when the BlackHats think they're on to something new.
Usually, this is a good thing. But recently, spam sent out from another server at the data centre where his box is located caught the attention of Spamhaus and the service decided to blacklist the entire range of IP addresses at NewTek (formerly Atjeu), even though a single offender was operating from very small subset of those addresses. Nothing the DC has done so far has been able to convince the Spamhaus people to lift or modify the blacklist. Spamhaus doesn't deign to reply to complaints from a renter of addresses like the Spy.
Since thousands of addresses are...
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Both Apple's iPhone X and Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 offer camera-based biometrics for unlocking your handset, but which one is better? We put both to the test in this video.
Apple has announced today that all developers can now offer their applications for pre-order via the App Store. Apple made the announcement on its iTunes Connect blog, alongside a few other tidbits of news…
| Read more »IMAGE VIA HOWSTUFFWORKS.COM
A light news day today after the big stories about Shazam, macOS 11.3.3 beta, and so on.
The text version of the podcast can be read below. To listen to the podcast here, click the play button on the player below. Apple News readers need to visit Apple World Today in order to listen to the podcast.
...
| Read more »A tweet by KTLA’s Rich DeMuro notes that Apple is donating $1 million to help with fire aid in southern California. The tech giant had this to say:
Our thoughts are with all those affected by the fires in Southern California, including our colleagues, friends, and their families. Apple is donating $1 million to aid in the rebuilding and recovery efforts of the communities that have been impacted.
A hillside glows with embers as the Thomas fire burns through Los Padres National Forest near Ojai, Calif. (AP)
The fires have destroyed about 800 homes and other buildings, killed dozens of horses and forced more than 200,000 people to flee since Dec. 4. Late last week, the fire swept through the San Luis Rey Training Facility, where it killed more than 40...
| Read more »Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, writing for Motherboard: Google has released a powerful tool that can help security researchers hack and find bugs in iOS 11.1.2, a very recent version of the iPhone operating system. The exploit is the work of Ian Beer, one of the most prolific iOS bug hunters, and a member of Google Project Zero, which works to find bugs in all types of software, including that not made by Google. Beer released the tool Monday, which he says should work for "all devices." The proof of concept works only for those devices he tested -- iPhone 7, 6s and iPod touch 6G -- "but adding more support should be easy," he wrote. Last week, Beer caused a stir among the community of hackers who hack on the iPhone -- also traditionally known as jailbreakers -- by announcing that he was about to publish an exploit for iOS 11.1.2. Researchers reacted with excitement as they realized the tool would make jailbreaking and security research much easier.
...
| Read more »After rumors started swirling around a few days ago, Apple has confirmed to BuzzFeed News that it is indeed buying the music-recognition app Shazam. The acquisition price was not revealed, but is reportedly around $400 million. That’s a far cry from the Shazam valuation of $1 billion the company was claiming in its last round of fundraising (in 2015), but the world of streaming music services has evolved since then.
Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr made the following statement to BuzzFeed News:
To read this article in full, please click here
| Read more »Apple has confirmed to BuzzFeed News that last week’s rumor was true: it’s acquiring Shazam, the popular music recognition app that’s used by more than 100 million people each month to identify music, get song lyrics, and more.
Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr has this to say in a statement to BuzzFeed News: “We are thrilled that Shazam and its talented team will be joining Apple. Since the launch of the App Store, Shazam has consistently ranked as one of the most popular apps for iOS. Today, it’s used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, across multiple platforms. Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users. We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today’s...
| Read more » Apple is close to acquiring Shazam, the app that lets users identify songs, movies, TV shows and commercials by using a small portion of the audio or images, TechCrunch reports. Sources said the deal could be announced as early as today, with one claiming Apple could pay more than $400 million for the company. The app has been downloaded more than a billion times, but hasn’t been turning much of a profit. The app already integrates with Siri…
Apple is reportedly looking to block at least four shareholder proposals ahead of its annual meeting in early 2018, including ones involving human rights and greenhouse gas pollution.
While Apple's HomePod couldn't reach store shelves before the end of 2017, Google's competing Home Max speaker has arrived right on time, with orders now being accepted at Best Buy and shipping in time for Christmas.
Apple founder Steve Wozniak was in Australia to speak at the Pivot Summit in Geelong, Victoria. Woz was asked his feelings about the iPhone X. What spun out of that short talk was a series of headlines, like:
“Woz Slams The iPhone X, Confirms Google Is Taking Advantage Of Consumers”, from ChannelNews, and “Apple iPhone X not what Steve Wozniak wants” from the The Australian.
At the same time, 9to5Mac ran this take on the exact same event:
Speaking at the Pivot Summit in Geelong, Victoria today, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak shared a few new tidbits about his experience with the iPhone X so far and his thoughts on Face ID vs. Touch ID. Woz also offered up a few anecdotes about his years working with Steve Jobs. Wozniak is one of several speakers at the one day conference focused on providing insight about emerging technology.
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Apple and India are once again at loggerheads about expanding iPhone manufacture in the company, and the country's taxation authority is not likely to concede to demands for more slack in local part sourcing requirements, a lighter tax burden on imported components, or the call for governmental assistance with capital investment.
In June 2017, Apple updated its App Store rules to prohibit templated or generated apps, a move that seemed to be aimed at reducing spam apps. Now Apple is warning app template makers who serve small businesses — restaurants, fitness studios, and more — that it will start rejecting their apps on 1 January 2018. App templates and generators are used by small businesses who lack the resources to develop their own apps from scratch. Unfortunately, some of these app makers are already having to shut their doors due to Apple’s change in rule enforcement. Apple’s move has drawn the attention of Representative Ted Lieu (D, CA), who has asked the company to reconsider.
Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an...
| Read more »A fake app pretending to be from MyEtherWallet somehow made it through Apple’s app review process and became the third most popular finance app over the weekend.
At this point, it’s not clear whether the app is just trying to make money by selling a $4.99 version of open-source software, or is a scam attempting to steal ETH and other crypto coins …
| Read more »Months ago Google released a Chrome extension that enables always-on voice search from a desktop. When Google.com is open, just say "Ok Google" and then your search term. This always-on voice search is in the right direction for what we should expect from our computing devices.
This is something an Apple home/small officer server — which I call the "iServe" — would be useful for implementing throughout a home or office. Imagine a range of iServe appliances, all based on the Mac mini form factor, that provide services throughout homes such as always-on With microphones distributed throughout a home, it would be easy and useful to have this capability.
Apparently, Apple has at least investigating the idea of an iHome-like device. The company has filed for a parent (number 20130097286) with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for pairing a media server and a media client. The patent (see the graphic) involves a system for use in presenting media content that includes...
| Read more »Apple’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place early next year, and as usual some proposals have been put forward by activist shareholders. They want the meeting to debate and vote on climate change and human rights issues.
But Apple has asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the authority to omit at least four such proposals, citing recent guidance as justification …
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Instead of working on new product design, Sir Jony focused on Apple’s tribute to the late Steve Jobs, Apple Park, but now he’s back in the product design saddle.
Apple and the Indian government are reportedly clashing over plans to expand iPhone production in the country.
Wistron assembles iPhone SE models in India for Apple, but the components are all imported. Under a current agreement, most of these components can be brought into the country tax-free, but the government wants to impose import tariffs on more of them as a way to encourage more local manufacturing …
| Read more »iOS 11 has a useful Do Not Disturb feature that you should really use when you’re behind the wheel. The operating system can “sense” when you might be driving and help keep you from being distracted by calls, texts, and notifications.
Go to Settings › Do Not Disturb, then tap Activate under the Do Not Disturb While Driving heading. Or add it to Control Center for quicker access.
| Read more »On a regular basis, Apple World Today posts a list of notable new apps or app updates that have been released. They may not necessarily be new, but they're popular and deserve mention. Here are today's picks.
iOS Apps/Updates
NTT Resonant has released RagnaQuest. It’s a free role-playing game allows you to immerse yourself in a charming Norse tale full of adventure, comedy, and Valkyries. Fight alongside hundreds of gods and mythical heroes in real-time battles, and stand up against fate to save the gods, and the world.
tvOS
SiriusXM has announced that SiriusXM's 200-plus channels of world class audio entertainment are now available on the Apple TV 4K and Apple TV (4th generation) via the SiriusXM app. It gives subscribers away to access its extensive lineup of...
| Read more »The master is returning to head up Apple’s design team.
Per Bloomberg, Apple’s chief design officer, Jony Ive, has reportedly resumed management of the company’s design team, in a move that should influence the direction of future products.
The news came from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman after Apple removed both Alan Dye and Richard Howarth from its Leadship profiles page. The pair had taken over daily affairs when Ive assumed the Chief Design Officer position in 2015.
While it’s presumed that both Dye and Howard are still with Apple, it’s unknown what their new roles will be once Ive resumes his previous duties.
Ive is credited with major design influences on products such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad. In recent years though he has turned his attention to revamping Apple stores and finishing Apple Park.
Since those projects are largely complete, Ive is likely once again free to exercise a direct hand in hardware and software design.
“...
| Read more »With Spotify gradually moving towards a public offering, it seems that Apple is looking to acquire yet another music property. Sources close to the story have stated that Apple is close to acquiring Shazam, the popular app that lets people identify any song, TV show, film or advertisement in seconds, by listening to an audio clip or a visual fragment, and then takes you to content relevant to that search.
It’s been said that the deal is being signed this week, and will be announced on Monday, although that could always change.
One source has stated that the deal could take place for around £300 million ($401 million). Other figures that have been cited are lower than the $1.02 billion (according to PitchBook) post-money valuation Shazam had in its last funding round, in 2015.
Shazam has raised $143.5 million in capital from investors that include Kleiner Perkins, London’s DN Capital, IVP and strategic investors Sony Music, Universal Music and Access...
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The first photos surface showing that Apple will be opening stores in Seoul Korea and in the new Massive Suzhou Center in China in 2018
| Read more »According to a new research report providing insights into the mobile handset market sales in the month of October 2017, Apple is starting to gain momentum with iPhone 8. Both the iPhone 8 Series models captured ...
| Read more »In late November patently Apple posted a report titled "Samsung won't be able to Copy Apple's 3D Face ID in Time for Galaxy S9 Smartphone in 2018." Today we're learning that in order to blur the line and sidestep not having 3D facial recognition like Apple's iPhone X, Samsung will announce they're advancing their Iris recognition feature for their next smartphone debuting in early 2018. Their justification for improving Iris scanning biometrics over using 3D facial recognition is that ...
| Read more »An unofficial iOS app for MyEtherWallet.com rose to the top of the App Store over the weekend, nabbing the third spot in the Finance category after being on the storefront for a little over a week (via TechCrunch). MyEtherWallet.com is a popular service made for storing cryptocurrencies but it doesn't have an official iOS app, so the company tweeted out a warning for users to not be fooled by the "MyEtherWallet" iOS app, as well as asking for Apple to remove it from the App Store.
At the time of writing, MyEtherWallet still remains at #3 on the App Store's Finance chart. The app lists its developer as Nam Le, who has two other iOS apps -- "Panda Warrior: Kung Fu Awesomeness" and "Mr. Beard: Icehole Fishermans" -- and one Apple Watch app called "Wrist Count."...
| Read more »It's being reported this morning in a new supply chain report that Apple supplier Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) has announced consolidated revenues of US$18.85 billion for November, its highest in history.
| Read more »A new supply chain report published this morning states that shipments of Apple Watch 3 are expected to surge by ...
| Read more »A Reddit post over the weekend has drawn a flurry of interest after an iPhone 6s owner reported that a battery replacement significantly increased the device's performance running iOS 11. The ensuing discussion thread, also picked up by readers in the MacRumors forum, has led to speculation that Apple intentionally slows down older phones to retain a full day's charge if the battery has degraded over time.
According to TeckFire, the author of the original Reddit post, their iPhone had been very slow after updating to iOS 11, especially compared to their brother's iPhone 6 Plus, so they decided to do some research with GeekBench and battery life apps, and ended up replacing the battery.
MacRumors' Geekbench scores for iPhone 6s...
| Read more »In early October Patently Apple posted a report titled "Indian Government Considering Exemptions sought by Apple for setting up another iPhone Assembly Unit." Yet once again, the Indian government had shown to have no interest in working with Apple. A new report published today claims that Apple's latest proposal to the Indian Government has been rejected outright.
| Read more »iPhone X shipping estimates continue to improve on Apple's online store amid the busy holiday shopping season.
Apple's flagship smartphone is now available for delivery within two to four business days on average in the United States, meaning that online orders placed today will arrive at your doorstep by Wednesday to Friday.
The improved timeframe applies to most AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and SIM-free iPhone X models, while T-Mobile variants are estimated for delivery by December 19, or roughly six business days from today.
The same two to four day delivery estimate is quoted in several other countries where the iPhone X is sold, including Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Elsewhere, December 19 is a common estimate.
iPhone X inventory continues to improve at Apple retail stores around the world as well, with pickup available today in many locations.
Shortly after iPhone X...
| Read more »A new business site report listed the top tech disappointments for 2017 that included those from Google, Amazon, Apple and others. Our report only highlights a few of the biggest disappointments of the year.
| Read more »Apple opened a public Machine Learning Journal in July and reveal some of the projects that they're involved in. On Friday Apple made a formal presentation at the Machine Learning event of the year at NIPS. Hundreds of machine learning engineers attended as Apple made a major announcement and revealed several deep projects.
| Read more »Apple's invention relates to integrated Silicon-OLED display and touch sensor panel stackup configurations that can be used in portable electronic devices such as media players, mobile telephones, and tablet computing devices. The OLED display is able to accept fingerprints for the purpose of identification to unlock a device.
| Read more »For the last few years Jonathan Ive was up to his eyeballs involved with the new Apple Park Headquarters and worked tirelessly to ensure that the vision of the late Steve Jobs had for the new headquarters would be adhered to meticulously. Ive was definitely distracted from his core role at Apple: design. In a formal statement from Apple yesterday, they announced that Jonathan Ive ...
| Read more »Yesterday we posted a report that noted it had been a busy 24 hours in the streaming music business with news of a new YouTube music service and Spotify and Tencent acquiring minor stakes in each other. Well, before the 24 hour clock ran out, the news began to surface that Apple is reportedly in the process of acquiring Shazam.
| Read more »The iPhone X has been available for a little over a month now, which has given consumers time to adjust to the new biometric authentication method, Face ID. Face ID replaces Touch ID, unlocking the iPhone X via a face scan rather than a fingerprint.
In the video below, we decided to take a second look at Face ID after having spent some time with it to see how it measures up to Touch ID and how it compares to similar facial recognition options in devices like the OnePlus 5T.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
For the most part, Face ID works well and is at least as quick as Touch ID, but there are some undeniable pain points. When the iPhone X is held in landscape mode, like when you're in bed, Face ID often doesn't work. It can also have trouble when it's flat on a surface and can't get a good read on your face, and when you have sunglasses, a hat, or...
Apple may be planning to acquire music recognition service Shazam, reports TechCrunch, which would be one of the most high-profile acquisitions Apple has made since it purchased Beats in 2014.
Shazam is a well-known music service that uses machine learning techniques to identify short audio clips from songs, television shows, and more. Shazam operates a standalone app for iOS, macOS, and watchOS, but also has a close relationship with Apple.
Since iOS 8, Shazam has been integrated into Siri, and it's what powers the feature that lets Siri identify songs that are playing aloud. If, for example, there's a specific song on television and you ask Siri "What song is this?" Siri uses Shazam to identify it.
Shazam is integrated with Apple Music, and Apple Music subscribers who Shazam a...
| Read more »Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive is once again taking over management of the design team at Apple according to changes made to Apple's official "Apple Leadership" website.
The site was updated this morning to remove the profiles of Richard Howarth and Alan Dye, who were managing the day-to-day operations at Apple while Ive oversaw all of Apple's design projects, and Bloomberg has confirmed that Ive is once again in direct control of the team as shared by Mark Gurman.
Ive first stepped back from day-to-day management of Apple's design teams in 2015, when he took on the role of "Chief Design Officer." Alan Dye and Richard Howarth were elevated to vice president positions at that time, with Howarth responsible for industrial design and Dye...
| Read more »Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller recently sat down with Dutch website Bright.nl, where he covered topics like Face ID and augmented reality, which he's discussed several times in interviews over the past few months.
According to Schiller, one of Apple's goals with Face ID is to make security easy enough "that we all want to do it." Apple believes its implementation of Face ID is superior to the facial recognition techniques available in Android phones, which Schiller says "all stink."
"They don't work in all the ways we need Face ID to work. We're very aware that through the years the simple thing, this Home button, that started as the way you click to get to the Home screen, grew into doing so many things for us. We added Touch ID, it took you to the multitasking...
| Read more »Apple's Beats 1 Radio division is teaming up with auction site Charitybuzz to raise money for MusiCares through an auction that offers a behind-the-scenes tour of the Beats 1 studio in Los Angeles with Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe.
Described as a one-day internship, the auction provides one winner with a full day at Beats 1, as well as access to a few members of the Beats 1 team. In addition to spending time in studio with Zane Lowe, the auction winner will also get to attend a mentoring lunch with Beats 1 Global Operations Manager and LA Chapter Grammy Governer Julie Pilat.
Several other benefits are included as well, like a free pair of Studio3 headphones and the chance to play a song on the Beats 1 radio. A full list of benefits:- One (1) day at Apple Music's live station, Beats 1, which broadcasts to over 100 countries
- Time in studio with Zane...
| Read more »It's been a busy 24 hours in the streaming music business. Earlier today Patently Apple posted a report titled "YouTube is finally getting on Board with a Streaming Music Service the Major Labels Approve of." Now we're learning that Spotify and China's Tencent have struck a deal ...
| Read more »You can now make your new apps available for pre-order on the App Store on all Apple Platforms. Customers can see your product page and order your app before it’s released for download. Once your app is released, customers will be notified and it will automatically download to their device. Let your customers know your app is coming by using the pre-order badges in your marketing materials.
Learn more about offering your apps for pre-order.
| Read more »You can now offer new customers a discounted introductory price for your auto-renewable subscriptions on the App Store. Visit your in-app purchase page in iTunes Connect to configure introductory pricing and use new API additions in iOS 11.2 to localize and display introductory pricing details to your users.
Learn more about offering introductory pricing.
| Read more »Today’s post was written by Jared Spataro, general manager for Office.
Excel is a much-loved productivity tool that has attracted a strong and passionate fanbase over the years. This user community drives many grassroots activities ranging from local conferences to global competitions like ModelOff, the Financial Modeling World Championship. And this engagement is well deserved—people use Excel across industries, roles, and scenarios to do amazing things. In fact, Excel ranks as one of the most requested skills among employers, based on 25 million job postings, according to Burning Glass Technologies.
All of us on the Excel product team really enjoy getting out and spending time with the community. Each and every interaction proves to be a treasure trove of...
| Read more »My latest Huffington Post article, called 20 Constants In Software Development is up. It starts out like this:
There are so many things I wish people had told me when I was in school, or earlier in my career. Things that aren’t variable between organizations you work with, or even teams you work in. So I thought I’d jot a few down of these for software development teams (if only to prove that no, despite what product managers say, you aren’t crazy). So here goes:
...
| Read more »The post My Second Year On The MacVoices Holiday Gift Guide appeared first on krypted.com.
| Read more »I stepped a little outside of the business and tech sphere and published an article on… sexual misconduct and partisanship. If it’s you’re kinda’ thing, it starts out like:
I’m a tech writer. I write about #nerdstuff. As a rule, I don’t write about politics. But this isn’t political. This is about sexual harassment and assault, something we should have zero tolerance for in our politics.
The post Sexual Misconduct is a Bipartisan Issue appeared first on ...
| Read more »macOS 10.13 brings changes to sysadminctl. You know those dscl scripts we used to use to create users? No longer supposed to be necessary (luckily they do still work). Now you can create a user with a one-liner, and do other forms of user management, such as enabling FileVault for a given user, or managing the guest accounts. However, you can’t do these tasks as root or via sudo. You have to do so with other admin accounts per Apple kbase HT208171 (in fact, this article has been in my queue waiting for that issue to be fixed – but keep in mind I’m not prefacing these with sudo in the below commands). In the below command, we’ll pass the -addUser option and then use -fullName to fill in the displayed name of the user, -password to send a password to the account and -hint so we can get a password hint into that attribute:
sysadminctl -addUser krypted2 -fullName "Charles Edge" -password testinguser -hint hi
The...
| Read more »Congratulations to the developers featured in the App Store Best of 2017. This showcase honors our favorite apps and games on the App Store, and celebrates the amazing experiences that developers have created for macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
See all the featured apps and games.
| Read more »Congratulations to the developers featured in the App Store Best of 2017. This showcase honors our favorite apps and games on the App Store, and celebrates the amazing experiences that developers have created for macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
See all the featured apps and games.
| Read more »This document describes the security content of tvOS 11.2.
| Read more »This document describes the security content of watchOS 4.2.
| Read more »This document describes the security content of macOS High Sierra 10.13.2, Security Update 2017-002 Sierra, and Security Update 2017-005 El Capitan.
| Read more »Today, Forrester published their Wave report for Cloud Enterprise File Sync and Share, placing Microsoft OneDrive in the “Leaders” position. In addition to being positioned as a Leader, Microsoft was ranked highest in current offering and tied for second in strategy.
The Forrester report stated that “Microsoft offers comprehensive collaboration” and OneDrive “delivers workplace productivity, file sharing, and content management capabilities that are increasingly powered by cognitive content services.” Forrester also made note of our adoption and deployment service, citing that “Microsoft helps clients migrate from on-premises systems with its FastTrack program; eligible customers can move files at no cost.”
This recognition demonstrates our commitment to our customers by ensuring that OneDrive provides the best file sharing and collaboration capabilities, including:
This document describes the security content of iOS 11.2.
| Read more »Search Ads Basic is a new cost-per-install offering, ideal if you have limited time or expertise to promote your app. Put your app at the top of relevant search results on the App Store in the United States, with global expansion coming in fall 2018. Your first installs are free with a 100 USD credit.
Learn more about Search Ads Basic.
| Read more »Search Ads Basic is a new cost-per-install offering, ideal if you have limited time or expertise to promote your app. Put your app at the top of relevant search results on the App Store in the United States, with global expansion coming in fall 2018. Your first installs are free with a 100 USD credit.
Learn more about Search Ads Basic.
| Read more »Today, we are gradually rolling out the Microsoft Whiteboard Preview app—a freeform digital canvas where people, ideas, and content can come together for creative collaboration—available for download on Windows 10 devices.* Microsoft Whiteboard Preview is built for anyone who engages in creative, freeform thinking before getting to their final output. It’s designed for teams that need to ideate, iterate, and work together both in person and remotely, and across multiple devices.
In the course of our private beta, we saw startups use it to put together images, mockups, and notes as an inspiration board for their next big idea. We witnessed marketing agencies use it in online meetings as they work with clients on product designs in real time. And our team uses it...
| Read more »The post Episode 61 of the MacAdmins Podcast: Combinatoric with Mike Arpaia appeared first on krypted.com.
| Read more »As a reminder, new apps submitted to the Mac App Store must support 64-bit starting January 2018, and Mac app updates and existing apps must support 64-bit starting June 2018. If you distribute your apps outside the Mac App Store, we highly recommend distributing 64-bit binaries to make sure your users can continue to run your apps on future versions of macOS. The last macOS release to support 32-bit apps without compromise is macOS High Sierra.
Learn more about distributing Mac apps.
| Read more »As a reminder, new apps submitted to the Mac App Store must support 64-bit starting January 2018, and Mac app updates and existing apps must support 64-bit starting June 2018. If you distribute your apps outside the Mac App Store, we highly recommend distributing 64-bit binaries to make sure your users can continue to run your apps on future versions of macOS. The last macOS release to support 32-bit apps without compromise is macOS High Sierra.
Learn more about distributing Mac apps.
| Read more »My latest piece on Inc.com was 6 Ways to Win Friends and Influence People as a New Manager
It starts a bit like:
Call it the New Sheriff in Town Syndrome.
You’re a new manager at an established company or your own startup. You think of yourself as a fixer, so you quickly set out to implement changes or new processes, often bringing in ideas from your old company....
| Read more »My latest article is now available on Huffington Post. It goes a bit like this:
Source code is a collection of computer commands and comments written in a programming language, like Java, C or Swift. When compiled, the raw source code is then no longer human readable but runs very efficiently. Because compiled code isn’t easily disassembled, people cannot create their own versions of the software.
That Was Then…
Once upon a time, organizations needed a copy of source code, in case a software vendor went out of business. Software vendors didn’t want to give up source code, but no one can ever guarantee they won’t go out of business. So much like putting funds into an account in a real estate deal, this allowed organizations to trust that they could get access to source for mission critical apps in the event that the software vendor went under. I remember working with one such organization back in the 90s.
...
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