Overcast has been updated with support for sharing video and audio clips of podcasts, streamlining the process for both podcast creators and listeners.
In a blog post on his website, Overcast developer Marco Arment explains why he created the clip-sharing feature:
Podcast sharing has been limited to audio and links, but today's social networks are more reliant on images and video, especially Instagram. Podcasts need video clips to be shared more easily today.
I've seen some video clips from tools specific to certain podcast networks or hosts, but they were never available to everyone, or for every show. So people mostly just haven't shared podcast clips, understandably, because it has been too hard.
Not anymore.
The new clip-sharing feature can be found in the Share menu, accessed by tapping the share icon in the top-right corner of the player interface.
Tapping Share Clip... brings up options to generate an audio clip, or portrait, landscape, or square video, up to a minute long using the current Overcast theme setting. Adding a "Shared with Overcast" badge is optional.
Following an email from Phil Schiller to a MacRumors reader yesterday addressing a report from The New York Times on Apple's removal of a number of App Store apps focused on screen time monitoring and parental controls, Apple has issued a public statement sharing additional perspective on the situation.
The statement, entitled "The facts about parental control apps," is very similar in its details to the email from Schiller, highlighting how Apple "became aware" over the last year that these apps were using Mobile Device Management (MDM) technology to monitor all of the activity occurring on the user's device or devices used by their family members.
MDM technology is intended for enterprise users to manage their company-owned devices, and Apple says the use of MDM by consumer-focused apps carries privacy and security concerns that resulted in Apple addressing the situation in its App Store review guidelines in mid-2017.
Apple says that it notified developers of apps affected by its crackdown on this disallowed usage of MDM, giving them 30 days to modify their apps before pulling them from the App Store.
Parents shouldn’t have to trade their fears of their children’s device usage for risks to privacy and security, and the App Store should not be a platform to force this choice. No one, except you, should have unrestricted access to manage your child’s device.
When we found out about these guideline violations, we communicated these violations to the app developers, giving them 30 days to submit an updated app to avoid availability interruption in the App Store. Several developers released updates to bring their apps in line with these policies. Those that didn’t were removed from the App Store.
Apple also directly addressed observations in this weekend's report that the move gives the appearance of anticompetitive behavior:
Apple has always supported third-party apps on the App Store that help parents manage their kids’ devices. Contrary to what The New York Times reported over the weekend, this isn’t a matter of competition. It’s a matter of security.
While Apple is firm in stating that competition did not play a role in its crackdown on these apps, the timing is certainly curious. Apple began the crackdown shortly after rolling out its Screen Time feature in iOS 12 last September, despite several of these apps having used MDM for a number of years.
Developers quoted in The New York Times and who have spoken to MacRumors have also expressed frustration with Apple's original communication on the issue. The developers detailed multiple attempts to obtain more information on exactly what changes needed to be made to their apps, but Apple's support staff reportedly either failed to respond or provided unhelpful and non-specific responses before pulling the affected apps.
Earlier today, a report from The New York Times highlighted Apple's removal of a number of App Store apps that had allowed users to monitor usage of their devices or those used by their children. The report suggests that Apple's move to pull the apps is related to having rolled out its own Screen Time feature in iOS 12 that competes in some ways with these apps, raising concerns over anticompetitive behavior.
Over the past year, Apple has removed or restricted at least 11 of the 17 most downloaded screen-time and parental-control apps, according to an analysis by The New York Times and Sensor Tower, an app-data firm. Apple has also clamped down on a number of lesser-known apps.
In some cases, Apple forced companies to remove features that allowed parents to control their children’s devices or that blocked children’s access to certain apps and adult content. In other cases, it simply pulled the apps from its App Store.
The report quotes several developers who had their apps removed, including one who says the removal came "out of the blue with no warning." Apple is facing several complaints related to the moves, with a pair of developers filing with the European Union's competition office and Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab filing an antitrust complaint in that country.
The New York Times shared a brief statement from an Apple spokeswoman saying that Apple treats "all apps the same," including ones that compete with Apple's own features like Screen Time. The spokeswoman stated that the affected apps "could gain too much information from users' devices."
After reading the article, MacRumors reader Zachary Robinson emailed Tim Cook to express concern over the situation, and earlier today he received a thorough response from Phil Schiller outlining that Apple's removal of these apps is due to their use of Mobile Device Management (MDM) technology to monitor everything that happens on the user's phone.
Schiller notes that MDM technology is intended for enterprise users to install on company-owned devices, giving them easy access to and control over those devices for management purposes. The alternative usage of MDM technology by third-party developers for screen time monitoring or parental controls raises significant privacy and security concerns, however, and Apple has moved to address those issues.
The full email from Schiller, which appears to be authentic based on our examination of the included headers:
Thank you for being a fan of Apple and for your email.
I would like to assure you that the App Store team has acted extremely responsibly in this matter, helping to protect our children from technologies that could be used to violate their privacy and security. After you learn of some of the facts I hope that you agree.
Unfortunately the New York Times article you reference did not share our complete statement, nor explain the risks to children had Apple not acted on their behalf. Apple has long supported providing apps on the App Store, that work like our ScreenTime feature, to help parents manage their children’s access to technology and we will continue to encourage development of these apps. There are many great apps for parents on the App Store, like “Moment - Balance Screen Time” by Moment Health and “Verizon Smart Family” by Verizon Wireless.
However, over the last year we became aware that some parental management apps were using a technology called Mobile Device Management or “MDM” and installing an MDM Profile as a method to limit and control use of these devices. MDM is a technology that gives one party access to and control over many devices, it was meant to be used by a company on it’s own mobile devices as a management tool, where that company has a right to all of the data and use of the devices. The MDM technology is not intended to enable a developer to have access to and control over consumers’ data and devices, but the apps we removed from the store did just that. No one, except you, should have unrestricted access to manage your child’s device, know their location, track their app use, control their mail accounts, web surfing, camera use, network access, and even remotely erase their devices. Further, security research has shown that there is risk that MDM profiles could be used as a technology for hacker attacks by assisting them in installing apps for malicious purposes on users’ devices.
When the App Store team investigated the use of MDM technology by some developers of apps for managing kids devices and learned the risk they create to user privacy and security, we asked these developers to stop using MDM technology in their apps. Protecting user privacy and security is paramount in the Apple ecosystem and we have important App Store guidelines to not allow apps that could pose a threat to consumers privacy and security. We will continue to provide features, like ScreenTime, designed to help parents manage their children’s access to technology and we will work with developers to offer many great apps on the App Store for these uses, using technologies that are safe and private for us and our children.
Thank you,
Phil
Apple's dedication to privacy and security is well-known, so it's unsurprising the company took steps to address concerns related to how these apps were monitoring device usage. But for some users who had come to prefer the capabilities of these apps such as cross-platform compatibility with Android devices in their households and more robust app controls, Apple's Screen Time feature feels like a step backward.
Apple had discussions with Intel about potentially acquiring parts of Intel's smartphone modem chip business, reports The Wall Street Journal. Apple was interested in Intel's technology to speed up its own efforts to build modem chips for smartphones.
Intel and Apple entered into discussions last summer and the talks continued for months, but ended right around the time Apple settled its legal dispute and reached a supply agreement with Qualcomm.
Sources at Intel that spoke to The Wall Street Journal said that Intel is exploring "strategic alternatives" for its smartphone modem chip business, and is still interested in a sale to Apple or another company.
In an interview yesterday, Intel CEO Bob Swan confirmed that Intel is considering alternatives "based on what's best" for Intel's IP and employees.
Selling the modem business would allow Intel to unload a costly operation that was losing about $1 billion annually, according to another person familiar with its performance. Any sale would likely include staff, a portfolio of patents and modem designs related to multiple generations of wireless technology, said Patrick Moorhead, principal at Moor Insights & Strategy, a technology firm.
Apple had been planning to use Intel's 5G chips in its 2020 iPhones, but rumors suggested Intel was having trouble meeting design deadlines and that the relationship between Apple and Intel was souring. Just yesterday, Swan also confirmed that Apple's deal with Qualcomm was the reason why Intel decided to stop making 5G chips.
Apple is now planning to use Qualcomm's 5G modem chips in its 2020 5G iPhones. Intel has said that it is going to continue to supply 4G LTE chips to meet already established orders, which means that Apple's 2019 iPhone lineup will likely continue to use Intel chips rather than Qualcomm chips. It is too late in the design cycle for Apple to swap chips for this year's upcoming devices.
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Sphero to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win Specdrums, a finger-worn ring that's designed to turn colors into sounds and music.
Specdrums, priced at $65, fit on your index finger and have an optical sensor built into the front that can recognize colors and translate them into sound using the accompanying Specdrums app.
A simple tap makes a sound, and the sound sets can be customized in the Specdrums app with dozens of options available. For maximum creativity, you can also record your own sounds, and then put them together using finger taps on different colors. Red is one sound, orange is another, yellow is a third sound, and so on.
The app has hundreds of built-in sounds, from drums and other simple musical instruments to rainforest sounds, pop music, hip hop, house music, retro mixes, video game sounds, and dozens of other options.
Specdrums come with a color mat that you can use to make music, but as long as you have the app on an iPhone or an iPad, you can tap the Specdrums against anything colored - rugs, clothing, walls, drawings, and more - to play sounds.
Songs can be recorded in the Specdrums app, so the music you're making can be shared and imported into other apps and software. Specdrums are also designed to work with Bluetooth MIDI apps on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Specdrums have a two hour battery life before needing to be recharged using a standard micro-USB cable, and if you want to make music with friends, more than one ring can be used together. As we said in our review, Specdrums are the perfect music making device for creative kids, but adults will enjoy the Specdrums too.
If you want to buy Specdrums, you can get them from Sphero or from the Apple Store, and we also have seven Specdrums to give away to MacRumors readers. To enter to win our giveaway, use the Gleam.io widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, following us on Instagram, or visiting the MacRumorsFacebook page.
Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.
The contest will run from today (April 26) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on May 3. The winners will be chosen randomly on May 3 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.
Indian blog CashKaro has collaborated with OnLeaks to share new renders of the so-called "iPhone XI" and "iPhone XI Max," providing a side-by-side comparison of the expected successors to the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.
Both new iPhones are expected to stick with the same 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch OLED displays as the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, but the thickness of each device is said to increase to 8.1mm and 7.8mm respectively as previously reported. Both the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are 7.7mm thick.
Apple's depth measurement does not include the camera bump, so with the slight reduction in size expected there, the change in overall thickness between 2018 iPhones and 2019 iPhones may be negligible.
As widely rumored by now, the new iPhones are expected to feature a triple-lens rear camera system in a triangular arrangement. While the camera bump has a larger square-shaped design, it appears to be less protruding, as the rear panel of each device is said to be formed out of a "single piece of glass."
The renders also suggest that 2019 versions of the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max will feature a redesigned circular-shaped mute switch within a pill-shaped cutout, similar to the one on older-generation iPads.
Beyond that, the renders suggest that 2019 iPhones will be similar to 2018 iPhones in many ways, complete with the same notch, bezels, stainless steel frame, Lightning connector, speaker grilles, and volume buttons. This would be more or less the same design as Apple has used since the iPhone X in 2017.
In addition to the static images, CashKaro and OnLeaks teamed up to create a 360-degree video of the renders:
Apple should unveil its next-generation iPhone lineup in September as usual alongside Apple Watch Series 5 models and other announcements. While not shown here, a new iPhone XR is also widely expected with a dual-lens rear camera system, up from a single lens on the current model.
"In light of the announcement of Apple and Qualcomm, we assessed the prospects for us to make money while delivering this technology for smartphones and concluded at the time that we just didn't see a path," Swan said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, as noted by The Verge.
Swan's comment suggests that Intel was surprised by the Apple-Qualcomm settlement and acted reactively when it announced its exit from the 5G smartphone modem business just hours later, but multiple reports indicate that Intel was unable to meet Apple's demands for 5G modems in 2020 iPhones.
It's hard to imagine that Apple and Qualcomm would have suddenly settled their bitter legal battle if Intel was able to supply 5G modems for 2020 iPhones, but Intel was reportedly struggling with its 5G modem development, possibly leaving Apple with little to no choice but to settle with Qualcomm.
iPhones have a long development cycle, so it was likely crunch time for Apple to choose a 5G modem supplier for its 2020 iPhones. Given this long lead time, Intel is still expected to supply LTE modems for 2019 iPhones.
Amazon is reportedly readying a high-fidelity music streaming service that's set to launch by the end of the year. According to Music Business Worldwide, Amazon is in discussions with various large music rights-holders regarding the upcoming launch of the new streaming platform, which is likely to cost $15 per month.
"It's a better bit rate, better than CD quality," one source told MBW. "Amazon is working on it as we speak: they're currently scoping out how much catalog they can get from everyone and how they'll ingest it."
Probably the best known hi-def music streaming service currently is Tidal's HiFi plan, which costs $19.99 per month and offers CD-quality lossless streams at 44.1 kHz / 16 bit. Subscribers to the plan also benefit from Tidal's partnership with MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) to deliver guaranteed master-quality recordings directly from the master source, which is billed as "an audio experience that the artist intended."
The rationale behind this is that while HiFi audio is a superior sound, it's still limited to 44.1 kHz / 16 bit resolution, whereas MQA audio is the highest possible resolution (typically 96 kHz / 24 bit). MBW understands that Amazon has not partnered with MQA for its own HD tier, suggesting it will use a different audio technology. It's not clear though whether the hi-fi service will be a standalone platform or a new tier option to be offered as part of Amazon's Music Unlimited service.
Apple Music streams 256kbps AAC files across the board and doesn't offer users a higher sound quality price plan, while Spotify uses the Ogg Vorbis format and lets Premium subscribers choose the bitrate depending on how they're listening. On mobile you can elect to stream in Low (24 kbit/s), Normal (96 kbit/s), High (160 kbit/s) or Very High (320 kbit/s) quality, which is handy if you're worried about using up your cellular data, but none of these options could be called "hi-fidelity" streaming.
News of Amazon's plans for a hi-fi audio streaming service comes a week after Amazon launched a free, ad-supported music streaming service for owners of devices that support Alexa, but who are otherwise not Prime or Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers.
iFixit has decided to pull its revealing Samsung Galaxy Fold teardown. The decision is said to have been made after Samsung indirectly requested its removal from the website, which published the teardown on Wednesday. iFixit provided the following statement on its blog:
We were provided our Galaxy Fold unit by a trusted partner. Samsung has requested, through that partner, that iFixit remove its teardown. We are under no obligation to remove our analysis, legal or otherwise. But out of respect for this partner, whom we consider an ally in making devices more repairable, we are choosing to withdraw our story until we can purchase a Galaxy Fold at retail.
It's unclear why Samsung wanted the teardown removed, but a few possibilities come to mind. Perhaps the company intends to make significant changes to the design of the Galaxy Fold before it's officially launched, and it doesn't want a teardown on the web of a device that's substantially different to the one that eventually goes to market. Or maybe it was simply taking action against a partner that hadn't been given the authority to provide the device to iFixit in the first place.
Another interpretation, offered by The Verge's Dieter Bohn, is that Samsung didn't appreciate the bad press that came with the teardown, after it exposed the design flaw allowing debris to ingress behind the display, which presumably caused so many review units to break, and led Samsung to recall them and then delay the device's launch. Whatever the reason, it doesn't look terribly good for the company.
Samsung has yet to offer a new release date for the Galaxy Fold. In an email sent on Wednesday to pre-order customers about the delayed launch, Samsung said that it will update customers with more specific shipping information in two weeks. In the meantime, anyone still interested in checking out iFixit's teardown can find it on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
Apple's famous and close-knit industrial design team that works under Apple design chief Jony Ive is undergoing major changes, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
Three longtime industrial design team employees are leaving the team. Rico Zorkendorfer and Daniele De Iuliis both left Apple recently, and another team member, Julian Hönig, is leaving in the next few months. Together, Zorkendorfer and De Iuliis have worked at Apple for a combined 35 years, while Hönig has been on the team for a decade.
Zorkendorfer told The Wall Street Journal that he decided to leave Apple to spend time with his family, while the other two declined to comment.
Apple's industrial design team is made up of approximately two dozen employees and is overseen by Jony Ive directly. These employees are responsible for the look and feel of Apple products, including the iPhone.
According to Above Avalon analyst Neil Cybart, who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, it "makes sense" for the team's composition to shift as Apple adopts new products in areas like augmented reality and autonomous vehicles. The industrial design team is described as "all-powerful" at Apple.
This group is all-powerful in Apple," said Neil Cybart, who runs Above Avalon, a site dedicated to Apple analysis. "Industrial designers have the final say over the user experience found with Apple devices, and they really do work like a family in a way. No one would argue, though, that new blood is a bad thing."
The three industrial design team members are departing the company at a time when iPhone sales have slowed and services are becoming more important than ever to Apple. Apple has announced a multitude of new services, including Apple News+, Apple Arcade, Apple Card, and Apple TV+.
Only a few members of the industrial design team have left during the last decade, but it has seen more frequent departures in recent years. Danny Coster left in 2016 to join GoPro, and Christopher Stringer left in 2017 and launched an audio startup currently in stealth mode.
According to one of the designers who left the team, Zorkendorfer, there are "incredible new designers" at Apple. "What we've been able to do the last few decades will continue," he told The Wall Street Journal.
Last year, we shared a list of some of the best HomeKit products you can buy, which was quite popular with MacRumors readers, so we thought we'd follow it up.
In our 2019 HomeKit video, we're featuring some more great HomeKit products, and we've added in some AirPlay 2 accessories as well.
Vizio TVs - HomeKit and AirPlay 2 support is coming to a bunch of TVs from Sony, LG, Vizio, and Samsung later this year, but Vizio has already rolled out support on some of its TVs in a beta capacity. If you have a recent M-Series or P-Series Vizio TV, you can try it out. AirPlay 2 lets you AirPlay content from your Apple devices right to the TV, and your TV will also show up in HomeKit. You can use the Home app and Siri commands to do things like change the volume, switch inputs, or turn the TV on or off.
Sonos Beam ($400) - The Sonos Beam is an AirPlay 2-enabled soundbar that's meant to be used with your TV, offering up impressive sound and allowing the same music to be played through other AirPlay 2-enabled speakers in your home, like the Sonos One or the HomePod.
BlueSound Pulse Flex 2i Speakers ($300) - BlueSound's Pulse Flex 2i Speakers are AirPlay 2 enabled, so you can use them alongside other AirPlay 2 devices. AirPlay 2 lets you play music on multiple speakers throughout the home, for a whole home audio experience. These are more expensive than some other competing products like the Sonos One, but BlueSound promises superior sound.
Chamberlain myQ Garage Door Opener and Home Bridge ($142) - Chamberlain's MyQ Garage Door Opener is compatible with HomeKit, though depending on your setup, you may need an extra accessory. With HomeKit compatibility, you can ask Siri to open or close your garage door, and you can check to make sure it's closed for peace of mind. You can also use the MyQ app.
Hue Outdoor Light Strip ($70) - Hue recently introduced a whole range of outdoor lighting, including the Hue Outdoor Light Strip. It's similar to the indoor version, but with a great diffuse light and waterproofing so it can stay outside. It's flexible enough to go anywhere, but you can't cut this version. Hue lights can be turned millions of colors either with the Hue app, the Home app, or via Siri.
Hue Signe ($160 to $240) - Hue also makes other unique lighting products, like the Hue Signe table and lamps. They're HomeKit enabled like other Hue lights, and while they're really expensive for lamps, they're cool and can fit just about anywhere because they're basically upright LED bars with aluminum stands. We have the table lamp, and it's a nifty accent light.
Have you used any of these HomeKit products, or have favorite HomeKit device we didn't mention? Let us know in the comments.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Apple last year signed a deal with DHX Media and its subsidiary Peanuts Worldwide to develop and produce new Peanuts content, including original series, specials, and shorts, which will be released on Apple's TV platform.
At the time the deal was inked, a short featuring astronaut Snoopy was teased, and now that short is nearing a launch. According to Deadline, "Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10" is set to be available through the Apple TV app in May.
Described as a "documentary of sorts," the short aims to solve the mystery of of whether Snoopy was a world famous top-secret astronaut. Director Ron Howard and actor Jeff Goldblum star in the documentary.
Imagine's Ron Howard stars as himself along with Jeff Goldblum as a self-published NASA historian to take on the quest, which lightly spoofs the May 1969 NASA Apollo 10 mission that required the lunar module to skim the moon's surface within 50,000 feet and "snoop around" scouting a site for the upcoming Apollo 11 moon-landing.
On the Apollo 10 mission, NASA and the Apollo 10 crew named the lunar module "Snoopy" and the command module "Charlie Brown." Ahead of the mission, Peanuts creator Charles Schultz had been approached by NASA to incorporate his characters into NASA missions, which is one of the facts that formed the basis for the short film.
Peanuts and NASA in 2018 announced a partnership designed to "share the excitement of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) with the next generation of explorers and thinkers," which is what led to the Snoopy in space content.
"Peanuts in Space" will be the first original Peanuts content coming out on the Apple platform, and since it's launching in May, it appears it will be available independently of Apple's upcoming Apple TV+ streaming service, which isn't set to roll out until the fall.
It sounds like "Peanuts in Space" will be made available for free to everyone in the Apple TV app, much like "Carpool Karaoke: The Series."
At least one of the iPhones coming in 2019 will feature a triple-lens camera arrangement, and while Apple experimented with multiple layouts, recent information suggests the company will adopt a square-shaped camera bump with three lenses arranged in a triangle shape.
While this design has been shown off previously in renders, OnLeaks' Steve Hemmerstoffer has teamed up with Indian site Cashkaro to share new renders and new information about the iPhones coming this September.
As seen in earlier leaks, these new renders have a wide square-shaped camera bump at the rear with two lenses on the left and a single lens and flash to the right, positioning the three lenses into a triangle.
The renders feature the "iPhone XI," aka the successor to the 5.8-inch iPhone XS. Some sites have been referring to this 2019 device as the iPhone XI or iPhone 11, but we don't have any insight into Apple's naming plans at this time.
According to the site sharing Hemmerstoffer's info, the next-generation iPhone XS continues to feature a 5.8-inch display, but with an "almost indistinguishable" reduction in the thickness of the notch and bezels. The device allegedly measures in at 143.9mm by 71.4mm by 7.8mm, which is quite similar to the size of the current iPhone XS: 143.6mm by 70.9mm by 7.7mm.
The upcoming smartphone is said to feature a "new and unique" rear panel that is made from a single piece of glass that includes the camera bump, a design that could minimize the obtrusiveness of the large rear camera.
The rear microphone is said to be in a different place than it was in earlier leaks (at the bottom of the camera bump) and the iPhone is allegedly going to have a "differently shaped mute button" similar to the mute button on older iPads.
Recent rumors have indicated that both the 5.8 and 6.5-inch OLED iPhones coming in 2019 will use triple-lens camera arrangements, despite earlier rumors suggesting this feature would be limited to the 6.5-inch model.
The 6.1-inch iPhone XR followup that will be sold alongside the two OLED devices is believed to have a dual-lens camera rather than a triple-lens setup, which is still an upgrade over the single-lens camera in the current iPhone XR.
The triple-lens camera setup included in the 2019 iPhones is said to consist of a 12-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 12-megapixel telephoto lens, and a 12-megapixel ultra wide-angle lens, which is the new addition as current iPhones already feature wide-angle and telephoto lenses.
2019 iPhones are also rumored to include Lightning ports, a new bilateral wireless charging feature that will let them wirelessly charge other devices like AirPods, 12-megapixel front-facing cameras, and faster A13 chips. With the exception of the camera design, no other design or display changes are expected.
Apple states that, in very rare cases, affected Apple three-prong wall plug adapters may break and create a risk of electrical shock if touched. These wall plug adapters shipped with Mac and certain iOS devices between 2003 and 2010 and were also included in the Apple World Travel Adapter Kit.
Apple says it is aware of six incidents worldwide and asks customers to stop using affected plug adapters, citing customer safety as a "top priority." Apple will exchange affected wall plug adapters with a new adapter, free of charge.
Affected three-prong wall plug adapters are white, with no letters in the inside slot where it attaches to an Apple power adapter. New adapters are white with gray on the inside portion that attaches to the power adapter.
The recall does not affect any USB power adapters, like those included in the box with iPhones and iPads, according to Apple.
In January 2016, Apple initiated a similar voluntary recall program for two-prong AC wall plug adapters designed for use in Continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Argentina, and Brazil due to the same risk of electrical shock if touched. These wall plug adapters shipped from 2003 to 2015.
Amazon is discounting the 2019 AirPods with Charging Case to $139.99, down from $159.00. Apple just refreshed the AirPods last month with an updated H1 chip and "Hey Siri" support, and also launched the AirPods with Wireless Charging Case at $199.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Amazon is also offering just the Wireless Charging Case by itself at a discount. You can get the accessory for $69.99, down from $79.00 ($9 off). The Wireless Charging Case is aimed at users who have a pair of the original AirPods and don't want to upgrade to AirPods 2. By just purchasing the case, they can gain wireless charging features for the older model.
These are some of the first major discounts for the 2019 AirPods since they launched in March. Shoppers should note that the AirPods with Charging Case won't ship until May 7, 2019, and that the Wireless Charging Case will take 2-4 weeks to ship. It's unclear how long the sale will last, so visit Amazon soon to place an order if you're interested.
As part of its ongoing effort to rebuild Apple Maps, Apple has added detailed terrain features to the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico as well as the southern portion of Nevada, including the city of Las Vegas.
The overall look and feel of Apple Maps is mostly the same, but zooming and panning reveals more details like grass, trees, sports fields, and parking lots. Apple says search results also become more relevant.
Apple Maps vehicles have been collecting mapping data in the United States since 2015, with over 45 states at least partially surveyed to date. Apple will begin surveying Alaska, South Carolina, and Tennessee between March and July, according to an update to its recently revamped Apple Maps image collection website.
Back in June 2018, Apple said the revamped mapping data would roll out section by section across the rest of the United States over the following year. Since then, a pattern has emerged that appears to show Apple prefers rolling out the updated maps in adjacent continental U.S. states, rather than prioritizing more population-rich regions of the nation like the Northeast.
Our source notes that Apple is also working on an updated appearance for northeastern cities like New York, given that special detailed terrain features can be seen – perhaps unintentionally – when entering turn-by-turn navigation.
A number of iPhone and iPad users this morning are taking to Twitter and Reddit to report an issue with the App Store that prevents them from downloading or updating apps.
The problem starts when a user taps the Get button on an app listing, whereupon a pop-up informs them that "Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions have changed" and that they must read and accept them to continue.
However, tapping OK and then agreeing to the terms and conditions simply sends the user back to the app's App Store listing where they're asked to read and accept the T&Cs again, thus begetting an endless loop.
The T&C issue is being reported by users in different countries, and also appears to be affecting Apple's communication servers, with some users receiving multiple duplicate emails notifying them of a change in Apple Media Services terms. Yet Apple's System Status page is currently reporting no problems.
One user reported that simply tapping Cancel when the T&C notification first pops up made it go away, allowing them to download or update the app in question, but this hasn't worked for others. Have you been affected by the T&C issue currently besetting the App Store? Let us know your experience the comments below.
Tik Tok, which was pulled from the App Store in India last week to comply with a government demand to block downloads over child safety concerns, is allowed to return to the App Store, reports Reuters.
The southern state of Tamil Nadu had asked the Indian government to ban the TikTok app on the grounds that it encouraged pornography and could expose children to sexual predators, leading the government to send a letter to Apple and Google asking the companies to remove the app from their respective App Stores.
Today, after hearing a plea from the app's creator, Bytedance, the state court reversed its decision pushing for the app's ban. An Indian government official told Reuters that once the court's order had been received, it would ask Apple and Google to reinstate the app.
Created by China-based Bytedance Technology, TikTok is designed to let users create and share short-form videos enhanced with digital effects, which has been particularly successful in India. Before being pulled from the App Store, TikTok had been downloaded more than 240 million times in the country.
Bytedance told Indian officials that it was losing up to $500,000 dollars a day during the ban, and that more than 250 jobs were at risk.
Overcast has been updated with support for sharing video and audio clips of podcasts, streamlining the process for both podcast creators and listeners.
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