Adorama is discounting Apple's Wireless Charging Case for AirPods this week, now priced at $64.99, down from an original price of $79.00. This is the lowest we've ever seen the standalone Wireless Charging Case for the AirPods.
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The accessory is compatible with every generation of the AirPods (it does not include a pair), replacing your current Charging Case and adding the ability to charge the device on a Qi-enabled wireless mat. Head to Adorama soon to check out the sale before it ends, which is set to be early next week.
Of course, we follow ongoing discounts on all things AirPods in our dedicated post, and you can head to our full Deals Roundup for a bigger collection of the latest and greatest Apple-related discounts.
The latest beta version of Apple Music for Android includes Chromecast support, allowing users to stream songs and playlists from the service over Wi-Fi to Chromecast-enabled devices like the Google Home.
Image: Android Police
As noted by Android Police via AppleInsider, the cast icon will automatically appear on the now playing screen and elsewhere in the app if there is a compatible Chromecast-enabled speaker or TV connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the Android smartphone. Playback can still be controlled on the phone.
The latest beta of Apple Music for Android also provides access to over 100,000 broadcast radio stations from sources like TuneIn and iHeartRadio. And last month, in an earlier beta, the app gained a dark mode.
Apple today released a surprise iOS 13.1 beta, which is unprecedented as the company has never before released a point update for an unreleased software update.
iOS 13.1 was not a mistake, though, and it appears to be an update that Apple will debut shortly after the release of iOS 13, necessitating developer testing now. iOS 13.1 includes new features and brings back some features that were removed from the iOS 13 update over the beta testing period.
- Shortcuts Automations - Automations, a Shortcuts feature removed in iOS 13, has returned in iOS 13.1. With Automations, you can create personal and home automations from the Shortcuts app to have certain actions performed when specific conditions occur.
- Share ETA - Share ETA has returned to the Maps app, allowing users to share their estimated time of arrival with a friend or family member once directions to a specific place have been entered.
- Dynamic Wallpapers - Apple has made some tweaks to the available dynamic wallpapers, shifting the overall look and color of some of them. The Dynamic wallpapers previously limited to the iPhone X and later are also now available on older devices.
- AirPods Volume Indicator - When adjusting the volume of your iPhone with AirPods connected, you'll see an AirPods icon on the volume bar. This also works for Powerbeats Pro, HomePod, and other Beats headphones, plus there's a special person icon when you have two sets of headphones connected to an iPhone or iPad (an iOS 13 feature).
- New HomeKit Icons - HomeKit devices in the Home app have updated, more detailed icons in iOS 13 beta 1. These same icons were added to the most recent macOS Catalina beta.
- Mouse Support Improvements - According to developer Steve Troughton-Smith, it's now possible to map the right click function of a mouse to the 3D Touch/long press action on an iOS device. Mouse support in iOS 13 and iPadOS is available as an accessibility option.
- TestFlight Indicator - Apps that you have installed via Apple's TestFlight app (aka apps in beta) are now denoted with a bright yellow dot next to them that's easier to see than before.
- HEVC Improvements - According to Jeremy Horwitz, iOS 13.1 adds HEVC video encoding with alpha channels for easier green screen-style compositing.
- Fonts - iOS 13 has a feature for downloading and installing fonts from the App Store. In iOS 13 beta 1, when opening up General > Fonts, there's new text that directs users to the App Store. There are no fonts apps yet, but presumably in the future this option will link to specific apps for fonts.
- Reading Goals - In the Settings app under Books, there's a new toggle to make the iOS 13 reading goals feature include time spent reading PDFs.
- Nike - In the Apple Watch app on the iPhone, Nike+ Run Club is now just "Nike Run Club," suggesting Nike and Apple are dropping the "+" branding.
Apple Watch App - In the Apple Watch app on iPhone, Display & Text Size has been renamed to Display & Brightness.
Apple Maps Collections - When deleting a collection from Apple Maps, Apple will now confirm that you want to delete it before removing it.
Know of a feature that's new in iOS 13 beta 1 that we left out? Make sure to let us know in the comments and we'll update this article.
Apple's upcoming TV show "Dickinson," starring Hailee Steinfeld, will headline the upcoming Tribeca TV Festival, reports Variety. The show will premiere at the festival on Saturday, September 14.
"Dickinson," set to be one of the first shows available when Apple TV+ launches sometime this fall, is a half hour comedy that focuses on the life of poet Emily Dickinson.
The show is said to explore the constraints of society, gender, and family from the perspective of a budding writer who doesn't fit into her own time.
Along with Hailee Steinfeld who will take on the titular role, "Dickinson" will star Jane Krakowski, known for her role in "30 Rock," as Emily Dickinson's mother. Other actors include Toby Huss, Anna Baryshnikov, Ella Hunt, and Adrian Blake Enscoe.
Following the show's premiere at the Tribeca TV Festival, series creator and showrunner Alena Smith will participate in a "Dickinson" discussion panel that will also feature Steinfeld and Krakowski.
Though the show is set to premiere at the Tribeca TV Festival, it's still not clear when the Apple TV+ service will be launching. Recent rumors have suggested Apple is aiming for a November debut date, which would put Apple TV+ in direct competition with the upcoming Disney+ streaming service.
Pricing for Apple TV+ also has yet to be unveiled, but it could be available for somewhere around $9.99 per month with a free one-month trial.
"Dickinson" is just one of dozens of shows and films Apple is working on for Apple TV+. For a full list of everything that's known to be in development, check out our Apple TV+ content guide.
Apple today seeded eighth beta of an upcoming tvOS 13 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the seventh beta and more than two months after unveiling the tvOS 13 software at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV, the new tvOS 13 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode.
tvOS 13 introduces an updated Home screen aimed at making it easier to discover new content. Apps are now able to play full-screen video previews on the Home screen, similar to Netflix.
Multi-user support is available for the first time, letting more than one profile exist on the Apple TV so each family member can have their own customized Apple TV interface with separate recommendations, music playlists, and Watch Now lists.
Switching between profiles can be done with the new Control Center, which offers up profiles, the time and date, search, a Now Playing widget, AirPlay controls, and a sleep option.
tvOS 13 gets the Apple TV ready for Apple Arcade, Apple's new gaming service that's coming to the Apple TV, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS later this year. Apple Arcade will offer unlimited access to more than 100 new and exclusive games, for one subscription fee.
As part of the Apple Arcade preparations, Apple has implemented support for the Xbox Wireless Bluetooth Controller and the PlayStation DualShock 4 Controller, both of which can be connected to an Apple TV over Bluetooth.
There are new under the sea themed screensavers created in partnership with the BBC Natural History Unit, which also created "Blue Planet." There's also a new Picture-in-Picture feature. Picture-in-Picture lets you continue to watch TV shows or movies while using a different app, adjusting settings, or otherwise navigating through the tvOS 13 operating system.
tvOS 13 is available to registered developers and public beta testers at this time and will see an official public launch this fall alongside iOS 13, iPadOS, macOS Catalina, and watchOS 6.
Apple today seeded the ninth beta of watchOS 6, the software that runs on the Apple Watch. The new beta comes a week after the eighth beta and over two months after Apple first unveiled the new watchOS update at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
To install the watchOS 6 beta, you'll need the proper configuration profile, which can be obtained through the Apple Developer Center. Once the profile is in place, the beta can be downloaded using the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update.
Installing the software requires the Apple Watch to have 50 percent battery. It also needs to be put on a charger and it has to be in range of the iPhone.
watchOS 6 is a major update that offers up a long list of new features. First and foremost, there's an App Store right on the Apple Watch, so you can find and download new Apple Watch apps on your wrist.
Apple Watch apps no longer need to have an iPhone component, which means developers can create standalone Apple Watch apps for the first time. Apps are able to take advantage of new APIs so you'll be able to do things like follow along with a workout or listen to streaming music from third-party services.
Since Apple Watch apps are now independent of apps on the iPhone, you can now remove some built-in apps from the Apple Watch, a feature that was enabled in beta 3.
There are several new watch faces in watchOS 6, including Numerals Mono and Duo with huge numbers, Modular Compact, a Gradient watch face that shifts over the course of a day, a Solar Dial watch face that visualizes the sun in a 24 hour path around the dial, and the California watch face with a mix of standard numbers and roman numerals.
A new Taptic Chimes feature provides a silent touch on the wrist at every hour, and if sound is turned on, you'll hear an audible chime. You can also hold two fingers on the Apple Watch's display to hear the time spoken out loud.
There are new Audiobooks, Voice Memos, and Calculator apps, along with a new Noise app that warns you if you're exposed to sound that's too loud and a new Cycle Tracking app for period tracking. Activity Trends, visible on the iPhone, are also available to chart your fitness progress and make sure your fitness trends are improving.
New complications are available for wind speed, chance of rain, and the new Noise app, plus there's a Voice Memos complication for recording a memo quickly, a cellular strength complication, and a complication for the Calculator that opens up the app.
Siri can now provide full web search results right on the watch when asked a question, and for Mac users, the Apple Watch can now approve Mac security prompts.
When it launches in the fall, watchOS 6 will be available on all Apple Watch models with the exception of the original Apple Watch, released in 2015. For more on what's new in watchOS 6, make sure to check out our watchOS 6 roundup.
Apple hasn't yet released iOS 13, which is still being beta tested, but the company today seeded the first beta of iOS 13.1 and iPadOS 13.1 to developers for testing purposes.
Developers who have downloaded the profile for iOS 13 from the developer website will receive the iOS 13.1 beta over the air.
Apple has never before released a point update to an iOS beta ahead of when a new update has launched, so it's not clear if this release of iOS 13.1 is a mistake, or what might specifically be included in the update. While it was originally believed the iOS 13.1 beta was an error, it appears that Apple is indeed testing an iOS 13.1 update that will be released shortly after iOS 13.
The iOS 13.1 release notes suggest that the update reintroduces the Automations feature in Shortcuts, and adds other functions that were removed over the course of the iOS 13 beta testing period.
Apple has seeded eight betas of iOS 13 so far, with the last one having been released on August 21. iOS 13 is expected to be released in September alongside new iPhones.
Nearly 50,000 students in Glasgow, Scotland will receive free iPads to assist with their education, as part of a seven-year £300 million agreement between Glasgow City Council and Canadian IT firm CGI, according to the BBC.
As part of the deal, every student in academic year P6 to S6 will receive their own iPad to keep for school use, while younger students in academic years P1 through P5 will have shared access to an iPad. A total of 47,000 iPads will be handed out to students by 2021, and 4,900 teachers will also receive one.
The initiative will also include the installation of Wi-Fi in every classroom and faster internet connections overall.
The report notes that all of the iPads will be tracked and managed by the Glasgow City Council, which can lock or erase the devices remotely, while social media platforms and inappropriate websites will be blocked. The initiative has already been tested at a number of schools across Glasgow.
"This is the biggest Apple education initiative in Europe and I'm delighted that Glasgow is once again leading the way in innovative practices," said Glasgow councillor Chris Cunningham, according to STV News.
Yelp today announced it is rolling out a new personalization feature that enables users to indicate their dietary, lifestyle, and accessibility preferences to receive more tailored restaurant and business results.
After indicating your preferences, which takes less than two minutes, the app will update in real-time, surfacing businesses and things to do you're most likely to care about. Your preferences won’t be locked in either. If you decide not to keep halal anymore, or if you want to eat more salads next week, all you need to do is update your preferences and you’ll see these changes reflected in your app.
Yelp also shared a video demonstration:
The personalized functionality is rolling out now, with all iPhone users expected to have access in the fall. Yelp says the preferences users set will only be visible to them and never shared with a third party.
The BBC has announced its intention to launch its own voice assistant next year to help users find their favorite programs and interact with online services hosted by the public broadcaster.
The voice assistant's working title and wake-word is currently "Beeb," and it will be built into the BBC's website, its iPlayer app and other mobile apps, and made available to manufacturers who want to incorporate the British broadcaster's software.
The BBC said it had no plans to launch a Beeb hardware device, but the voice assistant is being designed to work on existing smart speakers and smart TVs that include the iPlayer app.
BBC staff around the UK will be recording their voices to help train the assistant to recognize different British accents, something that U.S. voice assistants have been known to struggle with.
The BBC said having its own assistant would enable it to "experiment with new programs, features and experiences without someone else's permission to build it in a certain way."
"Much like we did with BBC iPlayer, we want to make sure everyone can benefit from this new technology, and bring people exciting new content, programs and services - in a trusted, easy-to-use way," said a BBC spokesman.
According to The Guardian, from the end of the month BBC radio stations will no longer be available on the popular TuneIn radio app, which is also used by Amazon's Alexa, because the U.S. company refused to share information on listeners of BBC stations.
Instead, the BBC wants people to access its content through BBC apps or via Alexa, in the hope that people log in and it can better understand what people are consuming.
Facebook is said to be working on another messaging app called "Threads" that would act as a companion to the main Instagram app, reports The Verge.
Despite the demise of its standalone "Direct" messaging app, the social media company still appears intent on challenging Snapchat with the development of a rival platform. To that end, Threads would promote "constant, intimate sharing between users and close friends."
As per the Direct app, the core of Threads is messaging, and it looks very similar to Instagram's existing messaging interface. Messages from people on the user's "close friends" list in Instagram appear in a central feed, with a green dot indicating who is currently active.
Users can opt in to automatic sharing and Threads will regularly update their status, providing friends with real-time details on their location, speed, and more. The Verge notes that the app doesn't currently show friends a user's real-time location, but instead might say something like "on the move."
If a friend has posted an Instagram story recently, it can be viewed from inside Threads as well. There's also a camera interface for capturing photos and videos to share with close friends.
Whether Threads ever goes public remains to be seen, but it's worth noting that the Instagram Direct app was killed off because beta testers were reportedly frustrated about having to switch between Instagram and a second app for messages.
Still, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in March that he sees private messaging as the future of the company, so Threads could turn out to be a big part of that future.
Nintendo's newest game, Mario Kart Tour, is set to launch on iOS devices on September 25, the company announced on Twitter this afternoon.
Starting in May, Nintendo has offered a beta version of the game to a few limited users in the United States and Japan, but the title is nearly ready for a wider launch.
As with the console version of the game, Mario Kart Tour is a kart racer title set in the Mushroom Kingdom. Players are tasked with racing to beat their rivals to the finish line using drifts and items to gain an edge.
Based on reports from the beta, the game uses the same single-handed control scheme as Nintendo's first major iOS game, Super Mario Run. Players are able to swipe their thumb across the screen to control their kart while the kart accelerates on its own.
The default controls cause karts to drift around corners, but those who want more of a challenge or more control can activate manual mode. There are four levels of difficulty to choose from, and the game features the same soundtrack used in previous Mario Kart titles.
Tracks within the game were taken from prior versions of Mario Kart, including Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Double Dash, and Mario Kart 7. Nintendo has also included Grand Prix cups that offer a collection of tracks to race through.
Playable characters include Luigi, Toad, Shy Guy, Waluigi, Peach, Toadette, and others, and some characters will be unlockable through in-app purchases. This is a freemium title that's free to download, which means Nintendo is monetizing it through in-game purchases.
Nintendo suggests players who are interested in the game follow the official Mario Kart Tour Twitter account as there's more info on gameplay to come ahead of launch. Pre-orders on the App Store are available starting today, with users able to get a notification when the game launches. [Direct Link]
A rare Pixar Animation Studios poster featuring "Toy Story" characters Buzz Lightyear and Woody that was signed by former Apple CEO Steve Jobs is set to be auctioned off later this week.
Jobs is said to have signed the poster sometime after 1995 when "Toy Story" debuted. The movie was Pixar's first feature length film and it was overwhelmingly successful, securing Pixar as a major animated film studio.
Poster with extra magnification of the signature at the bottom
Steve Jobs was a majority shareholder in Pixar and he was credited as an executive producer in "Toy Story." Following Pixar's acquisition by Disney, Jobs also served as a member of Disney's board of directors as the company's largest individual shareholder.
The poster measures in at 24 inches by 36 inches and is signed by Jobs at the bottom near the Pixar logo.
The bidding on the poster will start at $25,000, and it comes with a letter of authenticity. The auction will kick off on August 29.
There are often fires in the area in July and August, but the 2019 fires have been significantly more severe. The number of fires is also far higher, up 85 percent compared to last year. As of Sunday night, there were more than 80,000 fires burning in Brazil.
Brazil declared a state of emergency earlier this month over the growing number of fires, which are impacting the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Para, Mato Grosso and Rondônia.
It’s devastating to see the fires and destruction ravaging the Amazon rainforest, one of the world’s most important ecosystems. Apple will be donating to help preserve its biodiversity and restore the Amazon’s indispensable forest across Latin America.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) August 26, 2019
Cook did not say how much money Apple plans to donate, but in similar situations in the past, Apple has offered $1 million or more to organizations like the Red Cross for fire relief purposes.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Apple CEO Tim Cook last week donated close to $5 million in Apple stock to an unnamed charity, according to an SEC filing shared today.
Cook donated a total of 23,700 shares worth over $4.89 million at Apple's current closing price of $206.49. There's no word on which charity Cook donated to, as the SEC does not disclose that information.
In the past, Cook has said that he plans to give away the vast majority of his wealth. In a 2015 interview with Fortune, Cook said he had already started donating money quietly and had plans to create a "systematic approach to philanthropy."
Cook at this same time last year also donated $5 million in stock to charity. Following the 2019 donation, Cook continues to own 854,849 shares of Apple stock worth over $176 million.
Apple has shelved a "walkie-talkie" feature that would have allowed iPhone users to communicate with each other in areas without cellular coverage, such as while skiing or hiking, according to The Information.
The report claims Apple was working with Intel on the project, which supposedly would have enabled iPhone users to send messages directly to other iPhone users over long-distance radio waves that bypass cellular networks, adding that the technology was designed to run over the 900 MHz radio spectrum.
The project is said to have been suspended in part because the Apple executive heading it, Rubén Caballero, left the company earlier this year. The technology also relied on Intel modems, according to the report, and Apple is expected to start using Qualcomm modems in iPhones again starting in 2020.
The technology could still show up in future iPhones, but development of the feature appears to be on hold for now.
Apple today shared the first official trailer for "Dickinson," another one of its upcoming television shows that stars Hailee Steinfeld, Jane Krakowski, and others.
The trailer provides the first look at what we can expect from the show, which is a comedy focused on the life of poet Emily Dickinson.
"Dickinson" was one of the first Apple TV projects that Apple signed up for, with Apple inking a deal for the series back in May 2018.
Hailee Steinfeld, known for her roles in "True Grit," "Pitch Perfect 2," "Pitch Perfect 3," "Ender's Game," and coming of age film "Edge of Seventeen," takes on the titular role of Emily Dickinson in the series, while Jane Krakowski plays her mother.
Emily Dickinson was a prolific American poet known for short lines, slant rhymes, and irregular use of punctuation. Much of her work focused on death and immortality, and she was known for living a reclusive life. The show is said to explore the constraints of society, gender, and family from the perspective of a budding writer who doesn't fit into her own time.
According to the trailer, "Dickinson" is set to launch this fall, which means it will be one of the initial shows available when the service becomes available.
Apple hasn't provided a specific release date for when we can expect to see the TV+ series launch, but it is said to be coming this fall, perhaps in November. Rumors have suggested Apple is aiming to price the service at $9.99 per month.
"Dickinson" is just one of dozens of shows and films Apple is working on for Apple TV+. For a full list of everything that's known to be in development, check out our Apple TV+ content guide.
Apple today released tvOS 12.4.1, watchOS 5.3.1, and macOS Mojave 10.14.6 for its Apple TV, Apple Watch, and Mac devices, to go along with an iOS 12.4.1 update that addresses a serious vulnerability.
The new software updates are available immediately on the Apple TV, Apple Watch, and Mac.
The three new updates are minor in scale and focus on bug fixes and other under-the-hood performance improvements rather than outward-facing features. On the Mac, the update fixes several issues:
This update: - Resolves an issue that may cause certain Mac notebooks to shut down during sleep - Fixes an issue that may degrade performance when working with very large files - Addresses an issue that may prevent Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iMovie, and GarageBand from updating
tvOS 12.4.1, watchOS 5.3.1, and the new version of macOS 10.14.6 may be some of the last updates that we see before Apple releases new tvOS 13, watchOS 6, and macOS Catalina software this fall.
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