MacRumors

Uber this week announced a partnership with startup "Cargo," which aims to increase the wages of rideshare drivers by providing them with small containers filled with goods that riders can buy during their trips (via TechCrunch). Despite the new partnership with Uber, Cargo will still support drivers of other ridesharing apps.

Cargo works by providing drivers with a free Cargo box filled with free products and free shipping on all product replenishments, as long as the driver has at least a 4.7 rating. When the rider gets in the car, they can browse which items are in their driver's Cargo box by opening the Cargo mobile site, add the products to their cart, and checkout on their smartphone.

Payment methods supported include all major credit cards, Apple Pay, Android Pay, Venmo, and Paypal.

“It’s always a pleasant surprise when you’re in an Uber and the driver offers you a bottle of water or a piece of gum, but up to this point these perks have usually been on the driver’s dime,” said Keith Hensley, Business Development Lead, Uber. “Cargo took note of this and created an innovative model that aims to bring new value to riders and drivers. We’re looking forward to working with Cargo to develop and scale in a way that makes the most sense for our customers.”

When complete, drivers earn $1 per order and average $100 earnings per month, according to the company. Since its launch last summer, about 7,000 rideshare drivers have made more than $1 million with Cargo. On an annual basis, drivers earn an average of $1,200/year, and the top 10 percent of drivers make $3,600/year in income.

Items in Cargo boxes include energy bars, gum, mints, various snacks, beauty items, beverages, electronics like earbuds and small phone chargers, and free samples of many of these products. Riders will still have to leave the Uber app to pay for Cargo items by visiting the mobile site (which they can do by scanning the QR code on their driver's Cargo box), but Uber says it "envisions" integrating Cargo into its own app down the road.

The partnership with Uber is beginning first in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where Uber drivers can pick up a Cargo box at one of Uber's driver support locations. Following the initial rollout, Uber says it hopes to continue expanding support for Cargo in more cities.

The latest proposed U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods name Apple Watch and other activity trackers assembled in China, according to government rulings. Reuters reports the latest rulings list names the original Apple Watch, Fitbit Charge, Charge HR and Surge models, and Sonos Play:3, Play:5 and SUB speakers.

If the list goes into effect this fall following its public comment period, affected companies could face a 10 percent tariff and could consider passing the cost onto the consumer. However, Apple discontinued the original first-generation Apple Watch in September 2016 when it released the Apple Watch Series 1 and Apple Watch Series 2, so the proposed tariff makes little practicable difference to Apple.

It is possible that the products from Apple, Fitbit and Sonos no longer fall under tariff codes in the $200 billion list, trade experts said. The codes applied to specific products are only public knowledge because their makers asked regulators to rule on their proper classification. And some of the products have been replaced by newer models that could be classified differently.

Nevertheless, while smartphones and computers have so far avoided the threat of import duties, the rulings show that technology companies aren't completely immune to the tariffs, which could end up hitting a range of smaller product lines.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials have decided the devices listed above fall under the subheading "data transmission machines", one of more than 6,000 codes in the most recent round of proposed tariffs released in early July.

All three companies declined to comment on the proposed tariff list, but in its recent IPO filing, Sonos claimed that the imposition of tariffs and retaliatory trade measures could require it to raise prices.

As for Apple, The New York Times recently reported that during a meeting in May, President Trump told CEO Tim Cook the U.S. government would not levy tariffs on iPhones assembled in China. No mention was made of other product categories, however.

If companies have products whose tariff codes are on the list, they have three options, experts said: Advocate to get the code dropped from the list during the public comment period, apply for an exclusion once tariffs go into effect, or try to have their products classified under a different code not on the list.

Apple includes the Apple Watch in its "Other Products" category in an effort to keep its competitors from getting a detailed look at its shipments, so research firms look for clues in Apple's earnings reports to estimate shipments.

Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi estimates that the Apple Watch will bring Apple $9.9 billion in sales this year, although that estimate includes sales outside the U.S. that wouldn't be affected by tariffs.

Apple Watch saw its best quarter ever in Q1 2018, with the new Series 3 models selling at twice the volume of the Series 2 models last year. In his last earnings call, Tim Cook said Apple's wearables business – which includes AirPods, Beats, and Apple Watch – is the size of a "Fortune 300" company, with revenue up almost 50 percent.

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.

WhatsApp says it is limiting the ability to forward messages to multiple chats at once in an attempt to reduce the spread of spam and misinformation.

The news follows WhatsApp's recent decision to add labels that indicate to users that a message has been forwarded.

The change was announced by the company in a blog post that specifically mentions India, where the spreading of fake messages over the chat platform has reportedly incited lynchings.

Today, we're launching a test to limit forwarding that will apply to everyone using WhatsApp. In India - where people forward more messages, photos, and videos than any other country in the world - we'll also test a lower limit of 5 chats at once and we'll remove the quick forward button next to media messages.

We believe that these changes — which we'll continue to evaluate — will help keep WhatsApp the way it was designed to be: a private messaging app.

WhatsApp's wording suggests the limit is a test, however a spokesperson told Recode that the company was "horrified" by the violence in India, and that it had announced several changes to help address the issues.

On Thursday, the BBC reported on one incident in India that left one man dead and two others severely injured after false rumors went viral on WhatsApp that they had tried to abduct children. It's the latest in a series of viral message-related crimes in the country that has resulted in 12 dead over the last month.

(Via TechCrunch.)

Popular third-party password manager 1Password received an update today that takes the iOS app to version 7.1 and introduces Markdown support in secure notes, stickers for Messages, and a couple of notable fixes.

Following on from the Mac version updated in May, 1Password for iOS now lets you create rich secure notes that can include headers, bold and italic text, lists, tappable links, and more.

Also in this version is a collection of 1Password stickers for users to enliven their chat threads in the Messages app.

Several lingering bugs have been squashed in version 7.1, but two stand out: Searches no longer return broken or incorrect results, and creating a new item no longer causes 1Password to become unresponsive.

Elsewhere, an issue where search borked when vault items where syncing has been resolved, and occasional crashes when users add new items should no longer occur.

Lastly, the developers have updated all text in the app to make it more consistent, and improved the rendering of template icons in list and detail views.

1Password for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for free, but there is an in-app fee to access the service. A standard 1Password account is priced at $3.99 per month and a multi-user family account is priced at $6.99 per month. [Direct Link]

Each year, the iPhone Photography Awards (IPPA) highlights the best photographs captured with an iPhone over the course of the year. This year's winners were announced yesterday, with the winning photographs selected from thousands of entries submitted by iPhone photographers from more than 140 countries.

The Grand Prize Photographer of the Year Award went to Jashim Salam, who submitted a photograph called "Displaced," captured in Bangladesh.

The first place award went to Alexandre Weber for his shot of a woman wearing a colorful skirt in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, while second place went to Huapeng Zhao for a photograph of a boy with a fish.

Along with the overall winners, IPPA also chooses winning photographs from a range of categories that include abstract, animals, architecture, children, floral, landscape, lifestyle, nature, news-events, other, panorama, people, portrait, series, still life, sunset, travel, and trees.

All of the winning photographs from 2018 are displayed on the IPPA website.

Instagram today announced the launch of a new feature that's designed to let you know when your friends are active on the social network. When a friend is online, their profile picture will be accented with a green dot in various places within the app.

You'll see the green dot in the Direct inbox and in your friends list when you share a post from the feed. Dots will be displayed for friends who follow you or people you have previously spoken to in Direct.

If desired, you can hide your own status and turn off the ability to see when your friends are active in the settings section of the Instagram app.

Instagram says this new update is meant to make it easier to connect with friends over direct messages for more realtime conversations. The dots are rolling out to Instagram users today.

Instagram can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Apple today launched a new Apple Pay promotion called Summertime Savings, offering a range of discounts on Apple Pay purchases made within select apps or on select websites from July 19 to August 1.

Participating companies include Fandango, Groupon, Grubhub, Hotels.com, Houzz, and more, with a full list of discounts below:

• Fandango: $5 off 2 or more movie tickets
• Groupon: 20% off local deals in the Groupon app (up to $40)
• Grubhub: $10 off first order of $15 or more
• Hotels.com: 10% off bookings in the Hotels.com app
• Houzz: Free shipping on top lighting, rugs, and furniture
• RueLaLa: $10 credit towards your next purchase
• Seamless: $10 off your first order of $15 or more
• StubHub: $10 off purchases of $100 or more in the StubHub app

To get these discounts, customers will need to use Apple Pay as the payment method when making a purchase within a participating app or on a participating website using an iPhone, iPad, or Mac that works with Apple Pay.

There may be additional restrictions with these offers, which are outlined by Apple's partners when redeeming a deal. The discounts will be available through August 1.

Belkin's Wemo Mini smart plug has gained HomeKit support through a software update, as reported today by CNET. This means that owners of Wemo Mini plugs can simply open the Wemo iOS app, update the device's software, and immediately gain the ability to add the plug into the Home app, add it into existing scenes, and use Siri to control it without the need for a Wemo Bridge.

Apple first announced that it would update its HomeKit specification during WWDC 2017, so that compatible smart products no longer have to include a hardware authentication chip. For products like the Wemo Mini, this means that authentication goes through software instead and greatly streamlines how developers integrate with HomeKit.

Although announced at last year's WWDC, the change eventually launched in iOS 11.3 in March 2018, and the Wemo Mini is now the first HomeKit product to connect to Apple's platform using the software protocol, a Wemo spokesperson said.

The team at Wemo also tells us that the Mini is the first HomeKit device to connect with the platform using Apple's software protocol instead of the MFi chipset that was initially required at HomeKit's launch. "No other non-chipped product has the ability to do the HomeKit authentication via a software update as of yet," a company spokesperson tells CNET.

In that sense, the ability to connect with HomeKit via software instead of hardware represents a fairly significant step forward for the platform, and one that could make it easier for other existing devices to jump on board. That'd be a win for Apple, which has thus far struggled to keep up with Amazon and Google in terms of the quantity of devices that work with its smart home platform. Apple did not immediately return a request for comment.

The $34.99 Wemo Mini is a smart plug that lets users add smart home control to normal products, like a bedside fan, lamp, coffee pot, and more. Smart plugs are a popular HomeKit accessory given their compatibility with a wide range of devices and cheap price tag. Other companies that make HomeKit smart plugs include iHome, iDevices, Koogeek, and Elgato.

Belkin initially introduced HomeKit support for its Wemo products with the Wemo Bridge, and although the Wemo Mini will no longer require a Wemo Bridge for HomeKit compatibility, other Wemo products will still need the Bridge to connect to Apple's platform. The team is working on updating other products similar to Wemo Mini, and says the Wemo Dimmer accessory is next on the roadmap for a HomeKit software update later this year.

For the Wemo Mini, users will see the HomeKit software update beginning today, and a rollout to all customers is expected to be finished as soon as next week.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Belkin. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Currently, when users in a certain area face potentially bad weather, threats of danger, or a nearby AMBER alert, their iPhone or other smartphone sounds off and displays a message explaining the emergency.

In new legislation shared today, United States senators Brian Schatz and John Thune hope to "explore" ways this system could improve to enhance reliability, including implementing these alerts into audio and video online streaming services (via TechCrunch)

According to the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act, more people would be successfully alerted to and aware of potential emergencies if these alerts played on services like Netflix and Spotify. In these situations, the legislation argues, users might have left their smartphone behind in another part of the house while streaming on a TV or computer, missing an alert in the process.

Senator Schatz explained that the mishap with the false missile alert in Hawaii earlier this year "exposed real flaws in the way people receive emergency alerts," inspiring change and the new legislation.

“When a missile alert went out across Hawai‘i in January, some people never got the message on their phones, while others missed it on their TVs and radios. Even though it was a false alarm, the missile alert exposed real flaws in the way people receive emergency alerts,” said Senator Schatz, lead Democrat on the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet. “Our bill fixes a number of important problems with the system responsible for delivering emergency alerts. In a real emergency, these alerts can save lives so we have to do everything we can to get it right.”

“Emergency alerts save lives but management mistakes can erode their credibility and effectiveness. The READI Act implements lessons learned from past incidents and recognizes that emergency protocols must change along with communication technology,” said Senator Thune, Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Other aspects of the READI Act also propose eliminating the option for users to opt out of receiving "certain" federal alerts, like missile alerts, on smartphones. For iPhone, users can toggle off AMBER Alerts and Emergency Alerts completely under the "Government Alerts" section in Notifications settings.

Otherwise, the legislation would encourage State Emergency Communications Committees to "periodically review and update" their own alert system plans to keep them more up-to-date, as well as compel FEMA "to create best practices" for state, tribal, and local governments for issuing alerts, avoiding false alerts, and retracting false alerts if they happen. This false alert system would also see a reporting system implemented under the READI Act so the FCC can track when they occur and "examine their causes."

Elevation Lab, known for its range of popular iPhone docks, today announced the launch of its latest product, the NightPad wireless charging pad designed for the iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and future iPhones with wireless charging capabilities.

The NightPad features a minimal design and it looks like a simple black puck, with a matte finish over the body of the accessory. A raised ring is included at the edge of the charger to keep the iPhone securely in place while it's charging, and it uses a 6-foot braided cord for power.

A subtle black logo is included at the top of the NightPad, and while many wireless chargers use an LED to indicate that an iPhone is charging, Elevation Lab has designed its version with no LEDs. This is to keep it from being noticeable in a dark room.

An LED isn't technically needed since a charging logo is displayed on the iPhone when a successful connection has been established.

Elevation Lab is an Apple MFi member and the NightPad supports the faster 7.5W charging capabilities. It can charge an iPhone 50 percent faster than standard Qi wireless chargers, according to Elevation Lab, and the 7.5W engineering lessens radio interference.

While created for iPhone, NightPad also works with all Qi-based devices and supports Samsung's 10W charging.

The NightPad has been engineered to work with cases up to 3mm thick, but in tests, Elevation Lab has seen successful charging with cases up to 6mm thick. Automatic metallic rejection is included to prevent charging when metal is detected, and vents on the underside are included alongside "intelligent electronics" for thermal management purposes.

Elevation Lab is selling the NightPad for $39.95 standalone and for $49.95 with a 15W QC 3.0 power supply included. Higher power adapters are required for Apple's faster 7.5W charging, so people without a QC 3.0 power adapter will want to purchase the version that includes it.

MacRumors readers can get a special 25 percent discount off of the NightPad when entering the promo code MACNP25. Make sure to order soon, as this deal will only be live for a week.

After a summer of back-and-forth bids between Comcast and Disney for select entertainment assets owned by 21st Century Fox, Comcast today confirmed that it is bowing out of the bidding war for Fox. The company says the move is to instead focus on acquiring European satellite TV provider Sky, another much-sought-after entertainment company that is seeing interest from the likes of Comcast, Fox, and Disney (via Variety).

For the purchase of 21st Century Fox, this means that Disney is now expected to finally win the bid and close out the acquisition deal in the near future. The most recent steps in that process saw Disney and Fox agree to a $71.3 billion cash and stock deal, which has now also been approved by the Department of Justice on the condition that Disney sells off 22 regional Fox sports networks.

In the announcement confirming that it will not place another bid on Fox, Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts congratulated Disney and its CEO Bob Iger:

“Comcast does not intend to pursue further the acquisition of the Twenty-First Century Fox assets and, instead, will focus on our recommended offer for Sky,” the company said in a statement Thursday.

Brian L. Roberts, Comcast chairman-CEO, added: “I’d like to congratulate Bob Iger and the team at Disney and commend the Murdoch family and Fox for creating such a desirable and respected company.”

Disney originally announced interest in acquiring 21st Century Fox last December, starting its bidding at $52.4 billion in stock before Comcast forced it to increase the amount and introduce a cash component. Once the acquisition is final, Disney will own Twentieth Century Fox Film and Television Studios and Fox-related cable and international TV businesses.

At the time, Disney leadership said that the new Fox assets will build on the company's "commitment to deliver the highest quality branded entertainment," as well as fuel its ability to "create more appealing content." The company also referenced its intent to deliver a "more compelling" entertainment experience to Disney consumers "whenever and however" they choose.

Disney said that the Fox assets would accelerate its use of certain technologies, including the recently acquired BAMTech platform, which it aims to use for its solo-streaming service. With the acquisition, Disney will immediately gain a large stable of old and new television shows and movies to populate its upcoming streaming service, expected to launch in 2019 and compete with Apple's own streaming TV service.