In macOS, the Dock provides convenient one-click access to your most frequently used Mac applications. The simplest way to organize docked apps is to click and drag them into your preferred place, but here we're going to show you a lesser-known trick for arranging docked items more clearly.
To relate certain types of apps and add an extra visual clue to their location in the Dock, try inserting some spaces. Using this method, you could separate out other apps from, say, conversion tools that you frequently drag and drop files onto. Keep reading to learn how it's done.
If you're someone who wears your Apple Watch while sleeping, you may be familiar with the Sleep++ app for the Apple Watch, which offers sleep tracking and analyzing functionality.
Sleep++ was today updated to version 3 and it's gained a new feature that makes it easier than ever to keep track of sleep quality, length, and other metrics while sleeping -- automatic tracking.
The Sleep++ automatic sleep tracking feature kicks in when Apple Watch wearers go to bed at night and stops tracking in the morning, so Sleep++ users no longer need to start and stop sleep tracking every night. For more precise tracking, though, manual options continue to be available.
Today's Sleep++ update also includes other features like bedtime reminders, notifications with a summary of the previous night's sleep quality, and the ability to set a nightly sleep goal to reach.
Apple Watch does not have any built-in sleep tracking capabilities because Apple has designed it to be charged at night and worn during the day, but third-party apps are able to provide this missing functionality for users who prefer to wear their watches to bed.
Apple does offer a sleep tracking solution in the form of the Beddit, an accessory that it acquired last year. The Beddit sleep tracker, which also offers automatic sleep tracking, slips under your sheet and monitors sleep quality, heart rate, and other metrics. It does cost $150, though, so it's far less affordable than a third-party Apple Watch app.
Sleep++ can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Popular iPad sketching app Linea from The Iconfactory has been renamed to Linea Sketch and updated with multiple new features in 2.0 update that was released this morning.
There are new Templates and Grids in the app, including Notepad options with wide and narrow rules for note taking and new storyboarding templates. Existing app design templates have been updated for Apple's newest devices, and there is a new small dot grid available.
The previous version of Linea was limited to landscape mode, but the new update adds support for portrait orientation so you can draw in either landscape or portrait modes. New sketches are created using the iPad's current orientation, and all templates support the new portrait orientation.
Images can now be imported from the camera, photo library, clipboard, or a file browser app, and imported images can be added to a layer for editing or tracing.
There's also a new ZipLine tool for creating straight lines and polygons, a new scissors tool for creating selections in the Layers panel, and support for new gestures. You can resize selections by dragging with the orange handles or rotate using two fingers.
Linea Sketch supports several iOS 11 features following the update, including Drag and Drop and Split View multitasking, which allows it to be used alongside another app.
Linea Sketch can be downloaded from the App Store for $4.99 for a limited time, a 50 percent discount off of the regular price. [Direct Link]
Google Maps for iOS was today updated to version 4.47, introducing new and improved features.
When searching for a restaurant using Google Maps, you can now see wait times at more than a million restaurants around the world that will let you know just how long you can expect to wait before being seated.
Google says the update also introduces the ability to sort and search through reviews of a restaurant, store, or other business, so you can find specific information that you're looking for, and it includes more robust transit directions.
The new transit directions feature in Google Maps is designed to let you know which transit entrance you need to go to, and it is available in New York, Hong Kong, Taipei, Paris, Los Angeles, Delhi, Moscow, Singapore, Madrid, Barcelona, Kiev, and Budapest.
Thanks for using Google Maps! This release brings bug fixes and awesome new features to help you discover new places and navigate to them: - See average wait times at over a million restaurants worldwide. - Search and sort through reviews of a place. - Get transit directions that tell you exactly which entrance you need to go into. This feature is available now in New York, Hong Kong, Taipei, Paris, Los Angeles, Delhi, Moscow, Singapore, Madrid, Barcelona, Kiev, and Budapest, with more on the way!
Google Maps can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Apple this week is offering a limited time discount on its lineup of Beats headphones in the United States, dropping the price of the BeatsX Earphones, the Powerbeats3 Wireless Earphones, and Beats Solo3 Wireless On-Ear Headphones.
Apple has offered these discounts several times in the past, and the lower prices are often available for a short period of time.
The BeatsX Earphones are available for $119.95, down from the regular price of $149.95. All colors are available at the reduced price.
Apple's Powerbeats3 Wireless Earphones, designed for use with workouts, are available for $159.95, down from the regular price of $199.95. Apple offers both standard and Neighborhood Powerbeats3 collections, with both available at a discount.
BeatsX, Powerbeats 3, and Beats Solo3 Wireless all include an Apple-designed W1 chip much like the AirPods, which means you can easily switch connectivity between different Mac and iOS devices.
All three accessories are also wireless and connect to your devices over Bluetooth, so they work with iPhones that do not have a headphone jack.
While Apple's prices are an okay deal, these headphones and earphones are also often discounted by third-party retailers. B&H Photo, for example, has some Beats Solo3 Wireless models available for $219.99, a $60 discount that beats Apple's discount. Not all colors are included, however.
In addition to our standalone articles covering the latest Apple news and rumors at MacRumors, this Quick Takes column provides a bite-sized recap of other headlines about Apple and its competitors on weekdays.
2. Stack Overflow releases the results of its 2018 developer survey: The results, based on over 100,000 respondents from around the world, outline this year's most loved, dreaded, and wanted technologies and platforms, how developers around the world code, learn, live, and work, and more.
Apple-related highlights:
26.7 percent of developers said macOS is their primary operating system for work, versus 49.9 percent for Windows
iOS was the most loved mobile operating system for development, with 64.6 percent of respondents expressing interest in continuing to develop for the platform, versus 63.8 percent for Android
Developers using Apple's open source Swift programming language earned a median salary of $57,000 in the United States, versus a leading $74,000 for programming language F#
3. Introducing IBM Watson Services for Core ML: The service enables corporate developers to build iPhone and iPad apps that leverage IBM Watson models via Apple's Core ML framework. Apple says these apps can quickly analyze images, accurately classify visual content, and easily train models.
Amazon surpasses Alphabet in market value: As of writing, Amazon has a market cap of around $765 billion, while Google parent company Alphabet stands at around $760 billion. Amazon is now the world's second most valuable company behind Apple and its $890 billion.
Walton Street Capital purchased the 20,000-square-foot Apple Store, a 35-story office building, and a retail building next door for $370 million in 2017, and is now planning to sell the store and 10,000 square feet of retail space for $175 million while holding on to the office building.
Demand for retail space is declining due to the decreasing value of malls and shopping centers as consumers turn to online shopping, but according to The Wall Street Journal, Apple Stores are the "gold standard in the retail world" because of the high foot traffic they attract to nearby locations.
A report by Green Street Advisors in 2016 found that average sales for 220 malls with Apple Stores came to $710 per square foot, compared with $630 per square foot for malls without Apple Stores. The study was based on a database that covered about 1,400 properties.
When the Apple Store sells to a new buyer, Apple doesn't have to worry about rent. Apple is well aware that its stores attract a high number of customers and it uses that as leverage to get lower rent rates. Apple is paying rent that's "well below" the average $400 to $500 charged per square foot for nearby Michigan Avenue retail space.
Apple's Michigan Avenue store is located right alongside the Chicago River, and its construction was an ambitious project for the company. It includes 32-foot glass facades and an enormous 111-by-98 foot carbon fiber roof. Like most of Apple's modern stores, it includes indoor trees, a dedicated seating area for Today at Apple sessions, a Genius Grove for getting help with products, and an area where customers can view and try Apple devices and related accesories.
Designed by longtime partner Foster + Partners, the store is meant to pay homage to Chicago's iconic Prairie Style homes designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Apple today seeded the sixth beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.3 update to developers for testing purposes, a little over one week after seeding the fifth beta and one month after releasing the tvOS 11.2.6 update.
Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the tvOS 11.3 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode and Apple Configurator.
Early tvOS 11.3 updates introduced support for AirPlay 2, allowing the Apple TV to be added to the Home app as part of a HomeKit setup and enabling multiple Apple TVs in separate rooms to play the same song, but that functionality was removed in tvOS 11.3 beta 3.
It is not yet clear if Apple plans to re-add AirPlay 2 features ahead of the release of tvOS 11.3, but it's a possibility because there are still several betas to go.
Other new features in tvOS 11.3 include enhancements to Match Content support, automatic frame rate switching on the fourth-generation Apple TV (a feature that was added to Apple TV 4K in a past tvOS update), and automatic mode switching for AirPlay video sessions.
Update: Apple has also seeded a new tvOS 11.3 beta to its public beta testers.
A few weeks ago eBay launched a popular pre-daylights saving coupon, which allowed customers the ability to save 20 percent off everything on eBay, with a few select exclusions. Today the site has debuted a similar -- albeit slightly less valuable -- coupon code that lets customers take 15 percent off everything across eBay.
The 15 percent off coupon is running for one day only and ends tonight, March 20, at 7:00 p.m. PT. To use it, you'll need to make a purchase on eBay worth $25 or more, pay for the item or items by the coupon's expiration time tonight, and enter the coupon code PSPRINGTIME in the redemption code field.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with eBay. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
The discount will apply to the purchase price, which excludes shipping, handling, and taxes, and caps at a maximum discount value of $50. You won't be able to buy items from the following categories on eBay with the code: Coins & Paper Money, Gift Cards & Coupons, and Real Estate. The code is available only to eBay users registered with an address in the United States, Canada, Latin America, or the Caribbean.
As a point of emphasis, if you're going to use the code remember that it's one-time-only, so if you want to gain its maximum potential you'll need to fill your cart up with either one expensive item or a collection of smaller items that add up to about $330 and above. After that point, the code's $50 max discount will be capped off.
Just like the last coupon, the new Springtime discount code is available across all of eBay, so even if you can't find Apple products you're interested in, there should be plenty of other items on the site that could be made a bit cheaper with the 15 percent off sale.
For more information on the code visit eBay's landing page, and head over to eBay's Daily Deals tech section to get started on shopping for ideas before the sale ends tonight. Our full Deals Roundup has more details on this week's latest sales as well.
High-end department store chain John Lewis today opened up a new 230,000 square foot location in White City Westfield, London, and one of the store's new "experiences" includes deep integration with Apple's HomeKit platform. Called the "Apple Smart Home" section, Apple and John Lewis partnered in an effort to show London residents how HomeKit products can enhance their homes, showing off features like Siri voice control, connected lighting and heating, music playback, and more.
Speaking with HouseBeautiful, John Lewis senior PR manager Siân Grieve explained the reason for the company's partnership with Apple, instead of integrating with similar products from Amazon or Google.
But why have John Lewis decided to partner with Apple, and not Amazon, for example? 'A lot of John Lewis customers love and use Apple iOS, they have an iPad or an iPhone. Our stats revealed 77 per cent of searches onto JohnLewis.com are from iOS devices,' explains Siân Grieve from John Lewis. 'We know Amazon are going after this space, we know Google are going after it in a big way – this is our chance to bring that to life in an iOS setting.'
In a video shared by Campaign yesterday, you can catch a glimpse into the Apple Smart Home section at John Lewis around the 1:30 mark. The space appears to include a variety of popular HomeKit devices -- like a few Philips Hue lamps -- and numerous iPads are dotted around the showroom floor for customers to interact with. A few demo stations include explanations on how to use HomeKit actions like "Hey Siri" for turning on and off Hue scenes.
Outside of the HomeKit experience, John Lewis's new store aims to be an in-depth and unique shopping destination, with a dedicated Experience Desk where customers can find information on taking part in craft classes, marbling workshops, calligraphy lessons, beauty bar appointments, yoga classes, and meet with in-store fashion stylists.
John Lewis is also planning to launch an iPhone app so that customers can keep track of all these appointments, starting with a focus on staying in touch with personal stylists, "who will be able to provide notifications when, for example, a new collection of a favorite brand comes into stock." Eventually, the company wants to expand the app to cover other services offered by the Experience Desk, including home design consultations.
Apple has been known to partner with companies in an attempt to boost HomeKit adoption, back in 2016 working with various building companies to integrate HomeKit directly into homes from the get-go, ensuring that new buyers are more likely to stick within its ecosystem. One such home in San Jose, California included devices sold by Kwikset, Ecobee, and Lutron, with HomeKit integration estimated to cost $2,500 per house.
Apple's fleet of self-driving vehicles has almost doubled over the past two months, according to the Financial Times, as the iPhone maker continues to accelerate its research and development of autonomous technologies.
The report claims Apple now has permits for 45 autonomous vehicles, up from 27 in January, based on figures provided by the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Apple has been expanding its fleet rapidly since receiving permits to test just three autonomous vehicles in California last April.
Apple's testing fleet is now the second largest in California, behind only General Motors subsidiary Cruise Automation and its 110 cars, according to the report. Google-owned Waymo is testing 24 cars in the state, down from more than 100 last June, while Tesla has 39 permits, the report adds.
As noted by Financial Times reporter Tim Bradshaw, Waymo and other companies appear to be shifting their testing to Arizona and other states, so Apple's larger-sized fleet in California doesn't necessarily make it the de facto leader.
Uber has permits to test 29 driverless vehicles in California, but the company has suspended all of its self-driving tests after a pedestrian was struck and killed by one of its autonomous vehicles, with a human safety driver behind the wheel, on Sunday. It was the first pedestrian fatality caused by an autonomous vehicle.
While the incident could result in more regulations for all companies testing autonomous vehicles, including Apple, Tempe police chief Sylvia Moir told the San Francisco Chronicle that "it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway."
California has required companies testing autonomous vehicles to have a human in the driver's seat to take over in the event of an emergency, but the state will be lifting that rule starting April 2, 2018.
Apple is one of more than 50 companies testing self-driving vehicle technologies in the San Francisco Bay Area. For nearly a year now, the company has been deploying its autonomous software in a series of 2015 Lexus RX450h SUVs, which can often be seen on streets surrounding its Cupertino headquarters.
"We're focusing on autonomous systems," said Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a June 2017 interview with Bloomberg Television. "It's a core technology that we view as very important. We sort of see it as the mother of all AI projects. It's probably one of the most difficult AI projects actually to work on."
Elevation Lab, a company known for its range of popular docks and stands for Apple devices, today announced the launch of its latest iPhone dock, the CordDock.
The CordDock aims to combine the benefits of charging via a cord with the benefits of a dock, allowing the iPhone plugged into the cord dock to be picked up and used while charging if desired.
Elevation Lab designed the CordDock with the same grippy NanoPad micro air-suction used in the ElevationDock 4, so your iPhone can be picked up and detached from the dock one-handed while it's still plugged in. When picking up the iPhone to use it, there's no need to unplug the cord -- the CordDock makes it so you can continue to charge even if you need to send a message, read an email, or play a game.
To use the CordDock, which has a slim footprint with a braided Lightning cable and two adjustable wheels at the back, you simply need to rotate the iPhone forward to keep the cord plugged in. Two spring-loaded ball detents keep the cord in position during standard dock charging, and release the cord when force is applied to undock the iPhone. To undock entirely, pull up on the phone as you would with any dock.
The CordDock can fit iPhone cases up to 4mm thick, which Elevation Lab says should work with everything besides the thick OtterBox cases. This is not a wireless charging device, which is an option with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, but is instead designed for customers who prefer to use wired charging but need more versatility than a dock can traditionally provide.
T-Mobile today announced the return of its Major League Baseball-themed offer, gifting customers a free year's subscription to MLB.TV and the MLB At Bat app's premium features, worth $115.99 in total.
Available for T-Mobile customers only, the MLB.TV deal will be available in the T-Mobile Tuesdays app [Direct Link] beginning March 27, 2018 and run through April 2, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. ET. If customers sign up for MLB.TV during this period on T-Mobile's network, they'll get their free 2018 MLB Regular Season subscription on the service and an At Bat Premium season subscription at no additional cost.
“Going to bat for customers is what we do, and our customers LOVE baseball…so we’re bringing them home a win next T-Mobile Tuesday,” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile. “Last year, Un-carrier customers streamed more than 1.3 million hours of baseball with MLB.TV thanks to the nation’s most loved wireless company, so we’re doing what do, giving them more of what they want…that’s how it should be, and we won’t stop!”
The deal's fine print points out that this is for new 2018 subscribers of MLB.TV only, and current subscribers must cancel by 8:00 p.m. ET on March 23 to be eligible ahead of the March 27 launch on T-Mobile Tuesdays.
MLB.TV is a streaming service available as an app on most platforms, including Apple TV, PS4, Roku, Fire TV, and more. The service lets baseball fans watch every out-of-market regular season game live or on demand in HD, while the At Bat Premium features include 60fps video, radio broadcasts, and more.
Baseball fans can watch games on their favorite supported devices and enjoy live game DVR controls so they can pause and rewind live action. And, the MLB.TV subscription includes all the premium features of the MLB At Bat app (a $19.99 value), including enhanced pitch tracking, home and away radio broadcasts, and more.
T-Mobile's deal will debut two days before Opening Day of the 2018 Major League Baseball season on Thursday, March 29. This year will be the fifth consecutive year that T-Mobile has offered a free year of MLB.TV to its customers.
PayPal's Digital Gifts eBay storefront today has $50 App Store and iTunes gift cards for $42.50, a savings of 15 percent. As usual with PayPal's card sales on eBay, you'll need a PayPal account to complete the transaction, and the iTunes credit will only be valid on purchases made in the United States. Although the $100 card isn't directly on sale, you can add two $50 cards to your cart today to get $100 worth of iTunes credit for $85 -- which has been the typical sale amount over the past few weeks.
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.
Once you place the order, PayPal will send a code to your email inbox within a few hours, although it can take up to 24 hours. Visit PayPal on eBay for more information and to pick up one of the iTunes cards before the limited-time offer expires.
Since it's Tuesday, Apple has added a few new films onto the iTunes Movies store, as well as marked down some to notable low discounts. Below we've listed sales hitting iTunes Movies for 4K HDR films and Disney films.
4K HDR movies on sale
Logan Lucky - $9.99, down from $14.99 (Movie of the Week, $0.99 rental)
In other deals this week, RAVPower is offering MacRumors readers a discount of 20 percent off a pair of its Qi-compatible wireless chargers at Amazon. In addition, our readers can get 15 percent off one of RAVPower's portable power banks, which includes a built-in wireless charging pad. Check out all the products on sale below, along with the promo codes you'll need to take advantage of the discounts.
We reviewed all three of RAVPower's new accessories last week, so be sure to check out that review for more information.
HyperAir stand for $39.99, down from $49.99 with promo code MACRPC69
HyperAir pad for $31.99, down from $39.99 with promo code MACRPC66
Apple this week informed members of its Developer Program that it will be enforcing stricter rules for "What's New in This Version," the section on the App Store in which developers can list changes they made to their apps.
Starting in April, developers will only be able to edit the "What's New" text when submitting a new version of their app. In other words, any changes to the text will now be subject to Apple's standard App Store review process.
The requirement will extend to editing an app's support URL or marketing URL, according to Apple's announcement posted in iTunes Connect.
While this is a minor change, Apple evidently felt the need to have a little more control over information passing through the App Store without its approval. It's possible that a few developers were taking advantage of the flexibility for bad reasons, such as pointing support or marketing URLs to malicious websites.
Apple has expanded mobile phone billing to additional European countries and carriers, according to an updated support document on its website.
As of this week, the feature is now supported by EE in the United Kingdom, Orange in France and Spain, and Telekom or T-Mobile, which are owned by the same company, in Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, and Slovakia.
The payment method enables customers to pay for iTunes Store content, App Store apps, iBooks, and Apple Music subscriptions without needing a debit or credit card, or even a bank account. Instead, purchases are added to a customer's mobile phone bill and paid off at the end of the month.
The payment method was already offered by select carriers in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Japan, Hong Kong, Italy, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Apple has gained a two-year lead over its rivals in the smartphone industry in the area of 3D sensing technology, according to a new report on Tuesday.
Following talks with three major parts suppliers, Reuters estimates that Android phone makers will have to wait until 2019 to duplicate the 3D sensing feature behind Apple's Face ID security, which debuted last year in the iPhone X.
According to parts manufacturers Viavi Solutions Inc, Finisar Corp and Ams AG, bottlenecks on key parts will mean mass adoption of 3D sensing will not happen until next year, disappointing earlier expectations.
That means that China's Huawei, Xiaomi and others could be a total of almost two years behind Apple, which launched Face ID with its iPhone X anniversary phone last September.
Android producers are reportedly struggling to source vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, or VCSELs, a key component of Apple's TrueDepth camera that the company moved to secure supplies of last year. In December, Apple said it planned to invest $390 million in Finisar Corp, which supplies the components for VCSELs.
Apple said the investment would enable Finisar to exponentially increase its R&D spending and high-volume production of VCSELs, which power some of the iPhone's X flagship features, such as Face ID, Animoji and Portrait mode selfies, as well as the proximity-sensing capabilities of AirPods.
According to Reuters' sources, Apple was initially sourcing VCSELs chiefly from California-based Lumentum, and it was bottlenecks in production there last year that also spurred the $390 million deal with Finisar.
Meanwhile, Lumentum, which declined to comment on the report, is ramping up additional manufacturing capacity for VCSELs and edge-emitting lasers for the first half of fiscal 2019, according to the company’s earnings call.
Another producer, Austria-based Ams, also expects to have VCSEL chips widely available next year and says it has won a large deal with one phone maker.
Viavi, the only major supplier of optical filters needed for the 3D sensing modules, believes only one Android handset maker will deliver 3D sensing by the end of the calendar year, but volumes are likely to be very low. The company expects at least two more Android-based phones to follow that trend in 2019.
According to a report in October by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, inquiries by Android smartphone vendors into 3D-sensing technologies tripled after Apple unveiled its TrueDepth camera and Face ID technology, which will likely replace traditional Touch ID fingerprint recognition in future iOS devices.
Apple is reportedly working on a new high-end 2018 iPad that will adopt many of the design elements from the revamped iPhone X, including built-in support for Face ID. The new tablet device, which is likely to be a "Pro" model, will reportedly do away with the Home button.
In Apple's Safari web browser, there are several ways to make viewing web pages easier on the eyes. All of them involve adjusting the font size or the zoom level that Safari applies when it loads web page content, which can be helpful if you're using a small screen or a large display set at a high resolution.
To increase or decrease the zoom level of both text and images when viewing web pages in Safari, press Command and the + (plus) or - (minus) keys. You can also click on View in Safari's menu bar and select Zoom In or Zoom Out.
Alternatively, you can add zoom buttons to Safari's interface: Right-click (or Ctrl-click) on a space in the Safari toolbar and click Customize Toolbar.... Then drag the Zoom buttons in the dropdown to the space you just clicked on the toolbar. Click Done to finish.
If you want to keep images at the same size and only adjust web page font size on the fly, press Option-Command and the + or - keys. You can also hold down the Option key and click on View in the Safari menu bar, which changes the Zoom options to Make Text Bigger and Make Text Smaller.
Safari will remember your zoom and font size settings until you clear your History. To do so, click Safari in the menu bar, select Clear History..., then click the Clear History button.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with eBay. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
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.
In Apple's Safari web browser, there are several ways to make viewing web pages easier on the eyes. All of them involve adjusting the font size or the zoom level that Safari applies when it loads web page content, which can be helpful if you're using a small screen or a large display set at a high resolution.
