MacRumors

Apple may have purchased image recognition startup Fashwell, a company that designed an engine able to recognize products in images to make photos shoppable.

Fashwell CEO Matthias Dantone, CSO Lukas Bossard, and CTO Michael Emmersberger all list Apple as an employer as of January 2019, suggesting an acquisition in late 2018.

Dantone's LinkedIn profile says that he works on Apple's machine learning team, while Bossard and Emmersberger are listed as machine learning managers at Apple.

Five of six other former Fashwell employees also now list Apple as an employer on their LinkedIn profiles, with many of those also on Apple's machine learning team. Fashwell's website is still up and running, but hasn't been updated since late 2018, and the same goes for the company's Twitter account.

Based on information shared on the Fashwell website, Fashwell developed a Visual Search tool to allow shoppers to search for products using an image.

FASHWELL's Visual Search is a search by image solution that we distribute through a flexible API. Add a camera icon to every search bar & allow your customers to shop with any image on your mobile applications and website.

Visual Search improves search success and prevents shop drop-offs, and it's 2x faster than text-based searches - leading to 35% m-o-m growth in usage, higher than any other user channel.

Fashwell's API also supported image tagging to make any image shoppable using its Virtual Search technology, making it easy for companies to auto-tag images with "speed, precision, and at scale." A product tagging API could be used to tag images with different attributes, such as category and design.

Fashwell also offered a visual recommendation tool, allowing image recognition to power product recommendations for product detail pages. Companies could use the feature to embed visually similar products on websites to recommend additional products to customers.

Apple could perhaps adopt Fashwell's technology for its Apple Store website and its ‌Apple Store‌ app in the future, improving the ‌Apple Store‌ shopping experience. We've emailed Apple for comment and will update this article if we hear back.

Apple has acquired several similar AI and machine learning companies over the course of the last few years, including Silk Labs, Laserlike, Perceptio, and more.

Update: Apple gained possession of the Fashwell.com domain name on May 1, 2020.

Apple today seeded the sixth betas of iOS 13 and iPadOS to developers for testing purposes, a little over a week after releasing the fifth betas and two months after unveiling the new operating system at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

Registered developers will need to download the profile for the iOS 13 and iPadOS betas from Apple's Developer Center. This beta, like earlier betas, can be downloaded over-the-air once the proper profile has been installed.

Apple split iOS 13 and iPadOS into separate updates in 2019, one designed for iPhone and one designed for iPad. iPadOS is identical to iOS 13 in almost every way, though there are some iPad-specific features such as new multitasking capabilities. For the most part, the two operating systems share the same features.

iOS 13 is a huge update with a long list of new features. Perhaps the most noticeable outward-facing change is a systemwide Dark Mode that changes the entire look of the operating system from light to dark, darkening everything from system elements to apps.

Apple overhauled the Photos app, introducing a new ‌Photos‌ tab that curates your entire ‌Photos‌ library and shows you a selection of highlights organized by day, month, or year, and there are revamped Photo editing tools.

For the first time, you can edit video right in the ‌Photos‌ app, cropping, rotating, applying filters, and adjusting lighting and color. There's a new High-Key Mono lighting effect, and for Portrait Lighting in general, intensity can be adjusted.

There's a less obtrusive volume HUD, a new Find My app that combines ‌Find My‌ ‌iPhone‌ and ‌Find My‌ Friends and lets you track your devices even with they don't have an LTE or WiFi connection.

A Sign In with Apple feature (not yet active) gives you a convenient and data safe way to sign into apps and websites, providing an alternative to Facebook and Google sign in options. Apple's even able to generate single-use randomized email addresses so you don't have to give your real info to apps and websites.

Maps features a new street-level "Look Around" mode and a Collections feature for making lists of places, Reminders has been entirely overhauled to make it more functional, there's a profile option in Messages along with new Memoji and Animoji stickers, and Siri has a new voice.

CarPlay in iOS 13 has been overhauled with a new look, multiple sets of AirPods (or Powerbeats Pro) can be connected to the same phone so you can share music with a friend, ‌Siri‌ on HomePod can detect multiple voices for multi-user support, and ‌HomePod‌ also supports Handoff.

There are a ton of additional new features and changes coming in iOS 13, and for a full rundown of what you can expect, you should check out our iOS 13 roundup. Each new beta brings new features and changes to iOS 13, and the fifth beta added a new option for adjusting the number of apps on the ‌iPad‌ Home screen, made adjustments to the volume, updated the look of the Share Sheet, and more.

The beta testing period will allow Apple to work out bugs ahead of the release of iOS 13 and iPadOS, and it will let developers build iOS 13 and iPadOS features into their apps ahead of a public release coming in the fall.

Apple today continued on with its "Shot on iPhone" series, uploading several new videos, but this time with a twist -- the videos are focused on ASMR, a popular YouTube trend that uses sound to evoke an "autonomous sensory meridian response."

Apple shared four videos in the series, all of which are between six and 10 minutes in length. The first, "Whispers from Ghost Forest," features a woman whispering about the legend of Ghost Forest.

The second video focuses on wood shop sounds, featuring a man turning a piece of wood into a work of art, while the third video features a man walking on a trail and crunching leaves and brush underfoot.

The fourth video, "A calm rain at camp," features the sound of rain pounding on various items at a campsite in the woods.

Apple has these videos labeled as ASMR Season 1 on its YouTube channel, which means more ASMR videos could potentially be coming. Apple also uses the tagline "Apple SMR" when introducing each video, and recommends people use headphones when watching.

These are the oddest of the "Shot on ‌iPhone‌" videos that Apple has shared, but each one was created using an ‌iPhone‌ (with additional hardware and equipment for the sound) and features impressive visuals to go along with the sound.

Apple will likely launch a foldable device within the next two years, analysts at investment bank UBS predict. In a research note obtained by CNBC, the analysts said the device is more likely to be an iPad than an iPhone, and they also believe it is more likely to launch in 2021 than 2020.

Emphasis should be placed on "predict," as this is likely just speculation, and proven sources like Ming-Chi Kuo or Mark Gurman have yet to report that Apple is actively developing a foldable ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌.

That's not the only reason to be skeptical. As noted by VentureBeat's Jeremy Horwitz, folding display technology is still in its infancy, as evidenced by the troubled launch of Samsung's Galaxy Fold, which experienced serious display issues that led the device to be postponed for several months.

Apple also has a reputation for releasing thin, sleek devices, and early folding smartphones are anything but that. That doesn't mean Apple can't do it better, but 2020 or 2021 could be quite an ambitious timeframe for a foldable ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌ that upholds the company's strict industrial design standards.

Rumors of a foldable iPhone have popped up on numerous occasions over the past few years. In both 2016 and 2017, for example, it was reported that Apple was working with LG on a foldable iPhone. And in 2018, Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan predicted that a foldable iPhone will launch in 2020.

Apple has filed several patents for a folding iPhone, so it has at least explored the idea, but whether it happens any time soon remains up for debate.

Apple Music today announced a new initiative called the "Apple Digital Masters" program, which aims to combine all of its "Mastered for iTunes" songs into one streaming catalog (via Billboard).

According to Apple, it's slowly been introducing Mastered for iTunes songs into ‌Apple Music‌ for some time. The company said that 75 percent of the Top 100 songs in the U.S. are Apple Digital Masters, and 71 percent of the Top 100 global songs are also part of the new program.

Apple began the Mastered for iTunes program in 2012, allowing engineers to optimize music for the digital download format by encoding from high-resolution masters. This placed the iTunes songs as close to possible as the original master recordings, and were designated specially as "Mastered for iTunes" in the store.

In ‌Apple Music‌, Apple doesn't designate whether a song is under its Digital Masters program or not. Still, for people who care about lossless audio, it's a good sign that the company has formally acknowledged a plan to move forward with adding more high-quality audio tracks to ‌Apple Music‌.

Numerous other streaming music services have lossless audio plans that are priced separately from the standard streaming tiers. Namely, Tidal offers a HiFi subscription for $19.99/month (compared to the base $9.99/month plan) that lets users stream lossless audio on demand.

Microsoft contractors are listening to conversations between users on Skype who use its translation feature, according to Motherboard. This is done only if users are performing a translation function in Skype and not during any other typical Skype voice or video call.

The information gathered includes Skype audio regarding intimate conversations between couples and more. The data also suggests that Microsoft contractors listen to voice commands spoken to Cortana, the company's smart voice assistant. The information seen by Microsoft contractors is anonymized and doesn't contain any user identifiable information.

These contractors (who mostly work from home) do manual translations of Skype audio conversations, sent by Microsoft along with a series of approximate translations generated by Skype's AI program. The contractor has to select the most accurate translation or provide their own, and they send the information back to Microsoft.

Microsoft warns users that it analyzes audio of translated calls in Skype to improve its services, but it does not mention that some of the analysis will be done by humans. The translation feature lets users perform real-time audio translations during phone and video calls, powered by artificial intelligence.

"The fact that I can even share some of this with you shows how lax things are in terms of protecting user data," a Microsoft contractor who provided the cache of files to Motherboard, said.

The contractor said, "I generally feel like that while we do not have access to user identifiable information, that if Microsoft users were aware that random people sitting at home in their pajamas who could be joking online with friends about the stuff they just heard that they wouldn't like that."

According to Microsoft, the company's terminology on its Skype translator feature and on Cortana are clear and straightforward in how it uses voice data to improve each service. "We strive to be transparent about our collection and use of voice data to ensure customers can make informed choices about when and how their voice data is used," the company said.

Microsoft also said that the audio data sent to contractors is through a secure online portal, and that it ensures any identifying information (like the user's name or device identification numbers) are removed. Despite all of this, Microsoft's terminology still doesn't mention that human workers might listen to your Skype translation conversations, or Cortana commands.

The Skype story from Motherboard emerges today following previous articles centered on human workers listening to Siri recordings at Apple and Google Assistant recordings at Google. Following these reports, Apple suspended its own program wherein contractors listened to anonymized ‌Siri‌ recordings for quality control purposes.

Right to Repair advocates continue to lobby the U.S. government, arguing that large tech companies like Apple are monopolizing repairs of consumer electronics in order to preserve profits, reports Axios.

In testimony before the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law last month, Nathan Proctor of the non-profit U.S. Public Interest Research Group claimed that "repair hurts sales," giving Apple "an incentive to restrict repair of their devices."

Similarly, in a letter submitted to the subcommittee last month, The Repair Association's executive director Gay Gordon-Byrne wrote that "manufacturers have no reasons for blocking repair other than money," referring to the "monopolization of repair" as a "huge profit opportunity."

In March, California became the 20th state to introduce Right to Repair legislation in the U.S., according to iFixit. Apple representatives have continually opposed these bills, which if passed would require companies to make repair parts, tools, and documentation available to the public.

In a statement, an Apple spokesperson told Axios that Apple's goal is to ensure its products are "repaired safely and correctly," while touting the company's growing network of Apple Authorized Service Providers:

We want to make sure our customers always have confidence their products will be repaired safely and correctly, and in a way that supports recycling. We are continually growing our network of certified technicians and most recently announced that any Best Buy store in the U.S. is now an authorized service provider.

Apple Authorized Service Providers have access to certified parts and service guidelines from Apple. There are over 1,800 of these authorized locations in the United States, which Apple said is "three times as many locations as three years ago." As of June, that includes every Best Buy store in the country.

Right to Repair legislation aims to make these parts and documentation available to independent shops and customers directly.

Apple today highlighted various app prototypes that educators came up with during five weeklong Teacher Coding Academies it held this summer. The workshops were part of Apple's Community Education Initiative, which introduces coding opportunities to underrepresented communities across the United States.

Educators from nearly 70 institutions attended the first of these academies in Houston, Austin, Boise, Nashville, and Columbus, according to Apple, presenting prototypes of their apps to various community organizations. Together, the educators and community organizations plan to continue working on the apps.

Examples:

In Boise, the teachers designed an app to help the police department better serve and communicate with the city's homeless population, connecting the community to open shelter beds and food banks.

In Austin, teachers focused on Ronald McDonald House, a charity that provides housing for families whose children are receiving critical medical care. In this case, they created an app prototype to help families communicate with the charity during their stay.

And in Columbus, the educators devised an app that helps firefighters log and monitor the amount of time they were exposed to dangerous carcinogens while on the job.

Learn more about the educators and their app prototypes on the Apple Newsroom.

The Apple Watch accounted for close to half of all smart watches shipped in the second quarter of 2019, according to a new report shared this afternoon by Strategy Analytics.

Apple shipped an estimated 5.7 million smart watches worldwide during the quarter, earning it 46 percent marketshare and its continued position as the number one smart watch company.

Apple shipped 5.7 million smartwatches worldwide in Q2 2019, rising an above-average 50 percent from 3.8 million in Q2 2018. Apple Watch remains a long way ahead of the chasing pack and its global smartwatch marketshare has grown to 46 percent this quarter, up from 44 percent a year ago. Apple Watch has fended off strong competition from hungry rivals like Fitbit. Apple remains the clear smartwatch market leader.

There were 12.3 million smart watches shipped in total in the second quarter of 2019. Apple's closest competitor Samsung shipped 2 million smart watches, while Fitbit, the number three smart watch vendor, shipped 1.2 million smart watches.

Apple Watch shipments were significantly up year over year in the second quarter of 2019, with Apple having shipped 3.8 million smart watches in the second quarter of 2018. Apple's growth mirrors the overall growth in the smart watch market, which was up from 8.6 million units in Q2 2018.

Apple does not break down Apple Watch sales, instead including Apple Watch revenue in a Wearables, Home, and Accessories category, so Strategy Analytics' numbers are estimates.

During Apple's recently earnings call for the third fiscal quarter of 2019 (second calendar quarter), Apple CEO Tim Cook said that wearables had an "absolute blowout" quarter with growth well over 50 percent. The Apple Watch set a new June quarter revenue record and reached millions of new users during the quarter.

An upcoming change in iOS 13 that limits data collection practices using VoIP APIs will impact apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, forcing them to be redesigned, reports The Information.

Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp allow users to make calls over the internet, and to listen for those calls, the apps run in the background of an iPhone or iPad so calls can connect quickly. While running in the background, the apps are also able to collect data, something that Apple is putting a stop to in iOS 13.

Background access for apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp will be restricted solely to internet calls going forward, with no background data collection available.

Sources that spoke to The Information said that this change will force Facebook to redesign its messaging apps, and that it could have a "particularly heavy impact" on WhatsApp. WhatsApp apparently uses the internet calling feature for multiple other functions, including its end-to-end encryption.

Other messaging app developers that have used the internet calling feature to keep apps running in the background on iOS devices will also need to rebuild their apps. This will include apps like Snapchat, WeChat, and more.

Facebook told The Information that Facebook was not collecting data through its calling feature.

"The changes to the upcoming iOS releases are not insignificant, but we are in conversations with Apple on how best to address," the spokesperson said. "To be clear--we are using the PushKit VoIP API to deliver a world-class, private messaging experience, not for the purpose of collecting data."

Facebook says that it is having conversations with Apple on how to address the coming changes in iOS 13. Apple is making the change in iOS 13, but developers will have until April 2020 to comply with the new rules.

Apple says that the change will better protect user privacy and will result in performance improvements for iOS devices as background app usage for this purpose can drain system resources and shorten battery life.

With the Apple Card now available in a preview capacity to some customers, Apple has released everything from tutorial videos to support documents, giving us more insight into how the card works.

We've had countless questions from people who use software and apps like Mint and Quicken about whether or not the ‌Apple Card‌ will support financial services, and the answer is no, not at this time.

In a support document on how the ‌Apple Card‌ works, Apple says exporting data from ‌Apple Card‌ is not a feature offered at this time. From the document: "Exporting data from ‌Apple Card‌ to a financial app like Mint is not currently supported."

As financial apps like Mint and software like Quicken are popular with many people, it's possible that Apple will add support for exporting data in the future. Right now, ‌Apple Card‌ data and transactions can be viewed and managed only on the iPhone and the iPad, with no web support available.

The support document also includes details about viewing spending activity, viewing your monthly balance, seeing total spending each week or month, reviewing transactions, and reporting issues. Apple also has a support doc covering applying for Apple Card.

For more on ‌Apple Card‌, make sure to check out our Apple Card guide, which we're in the process of updating with the new information that we've learned today.

‌Apple Card‌ is available in a beta capacity for some users and will see a wider rollout later this month.