MacRumors

The next-generation iPhone X will feature a smaller notch for the TrueDepth camera system, while future models released in 2019 or later will have no notch whatsoever, according to Korea's ET News.

iphone x quad
The report reiterates Apple's widely rumored plans to release three new iPhone models this year, including a second-generation 5.8-inch iPhone X, a larger 6.5-inch version dubbed iPhone X Plus, and a mid-range 6.1-inch model with design tradeoffs like an LCD screen to achieve a lower price point.

The interesting bit is that all three iPhone models are said to feature slimmer bezels and smaller notches, emphasis ours:

Apple is planning to release two models with OLED display and a model with LCD display during this fall. It is heard that OLED models will be available in 5.85-inch display and 6.46-inch display while a LCD model will be available only in 6.04-inch model. All three of these models will have Face ID function and it is heard that there will be less bezel and smaller notch design.

An unnamed industry source added that Apple has decided to remove the notch "from 2019 models," suggesting the third-generation iPhone X could be the first model with a truly full-screen design.

"Apple decided to get rid of notch design starting from 2019 models and is having discussions with relevant companies," said a representative for an industry. "It seems that Apple is planning to implement full-screen that is more complete to its new iPhones."

The report claims each iPhone will have Face ID, but it's unclear how Apple would manage to fit the required TrueDepth sensors on the front of the devices without a notch. The report speculates that Apple could drill holes into the display itself, or use patented multi-layer Black Matrix technology.

Barclays analysts have also predicted the trio of new iPhone models released in 2018 could have smaller notches. ET News previously said Apple was exploring ways to combine a face recognition module with a camera module.

Apple removing the notch on the iPhone X is almost certainly its end goal, but as with any supply chain report, the timing of the move is uncertain.

Tag: ETNews
Related Forum: iPhone

Microsoft is giving users of its Cortana virtual assistant another way to activate it with their voice. As reported by The Verge, owners of the first Cortana-integrated Invoke speaker can now summon the assistant using just "Cortana" rather than the typical "Hey, Cortana" phrase, although that continues to work as well. The alteration is expected to trickle down to Cortana for iOS in the near future.

invoke 3
Microsoft hasn't offered a reason for the new option, but probably doesn't need to, given that many users will find "Cortana" easier to say, just as Amazon's "Alexa" is on supporting devices. Alexa users can also choose an alternative "Echo" invocation, but owners of Apple devices must use the phrase "Hey, Siri" (and its equivalent in other languages) to get the attention of Apple's digital assistant.

Apple has never indicated it will offer a way to customize the "Hey, Siri" invocation – perhaps because it's not technologically viable, given the way Siri listens for the activation phrase via an energy-preserving coprocessor. But the ability to do so could theoretically help users specify which device their request is directed at when multiple Apple devices are present ("Hey, HomePod," for example). Aside from offering a little more personalization, the option could also help device owners prevent accidental or prank requests from other sources, like TV ads, podcasts, and so on.

Mac OS X 10Apple's native Mail application in macOS lacks a specific option for enabling out-of-office replies, but there is another way you can set them up on a Mac, and that's with Rules. It's worth bearing in mind at the outset that your Mac needs to be powered on for this out-of-office method to work. That's because Apple Mail rules are only applied locally to incoming emails, and aren't active on the server side.

If you're looking for a longer term out-of-office solution, you'll want to check out Vacation mode in iCloud Mail, which we cover in the second part of this tutorial.

➜ Click here to read more...

Tag: iCloud

Apple today released a new update for its Apple Music app designed to be used on Android devices, which Apple says significantly improves stability to make music playback more reliable.

Apple says today's Apple Music Android update also introduces "new experiences" for music videos. Users can now watch music videos in fullscreen or inside Now Playing and music videos will continue to play while browsing other areas of the app.

applemusicandroid
Music videos can also be added to playlists to watch them back to back, and you can listen to music videos in the background while using other apps.

Apple has offered an Apple Music for Android app since November of 2015, and the company regularly updates the app with new features to keep it on par with the iOS versions of Apple Music. The app's last major update came in April of 2017, when Apple introduced major design changes.

Apple Music for Android can be downloaded from Google Play for free.

Apple's newest iPhones can capture high-quality 60 FPS 4K video, but there are a lot of other factors that need to be taken into account to make excellent videos that can compete with what you can do with a traditional camera.

Lighting, stabilization, settings, and composition are all elements that can make or break a video, and in our latest guide on YouTube, we're sharing a series of tips you can use to make your videos better than ever.


Without shelling out any cash, there are certain settings you can change to make sure you're getting the best quality video out of your iPhone.

Open up the Settings app, choose the "Camera" section, and you can set your video recording quality. On iPhone X and iPhone 8, you can capture 4K video at 60 frames per second. On older iPhones like the iPhone 6s and iPhone 7, your options will be more limited, with 4K video topping out at 30 frames per second.

You can also improve your videos with simple Auto Exposure and Auto Focus locking features, which will prevent abrupt changes while you're filming. After setting exposure with drag gestures on the iPhone's screen when using the Camera app, hold a finger on the focal point until the AE/AF lock banner pops up.

You'll get even more control over settings using a third-party app like FiLMic Pro ($14.99), which lets you set parameters like exposure, white balance, color, aspect ratio, and focus while also giving you live tools for monitoring video and making adjustments.

Lighting is a huge factor when it comes to video quality, so shooting outdoors in daylight or in a well-lit room will improve your videos immensely if you can't shell out for a lighting setup, and you can spice up your videos with iPhone camera capabilities like time lapse and slow motion. Stabilization is as important as lighting - brace your elbows or invest in a tripod or a handheld gimbal.

If you're going to be taking a lot of video with your iPhone, you might want to check out something like the $130 DJI Osmo Mobile 2, which uses a gimbal to smooth out and counteract camera shake. It's not for everyone given its high price point, but it's worth the investment if you're aiming for quality video that's shake free. For a cheaper option, check out the Manfrotto Pixi Mini Tripod, which is just $24.95 (with an additional $9.95 for the mount).

For a full rundown on all of our video tips, make sure to watch the video above, which, fittingly, was filmed entirely on an iPhone X. Did we leave anything out? Let us know your own tips and tricks for capturing better video in the comments.

Related Forum: iPhone

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.

Tuesday, March 6

Apple confirms it will stop accepting new iTunes LP album submissions at the end of March: Apple says existing LP albums will not be removed and will remain available to download via iTunes on Mac or PC.

itunes lp
Commentary: iTunes LPs, introduced in 2009, are interactive albums with multimedia such as lyrics, liner notes, artist and band photos, performance videos, and more. A lot of this content can now be found in Apple Music, so it's no surprise that Apple is beginning to phase out this long-forgotten feature.

Get up to six months of free Apple Music with the purchase of a new Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, or Ram: The offer is available between May 1, 2018 and April 30, 2019. CarPlay is a standard feature in all of those vehicle brands, while some models include built-in BeatsAudio speakers.

fca apple music
Commentary: The six-month offer only applies to first-time Apple Music subscribers. If you've already taken advantage of Apple Music's standard three-month trial period, you'll only receive an additional three months of complimentary service. Volkswagen is also offering a similar deal in Europe.

Microsoft begins accepting pre-orders of new Surface Pro with LTE Advanced: The new Surface Pro gains cellular connectivity, with support for 20 LTE bands, but it's otherwise the same as the previous generation. The tablet-notebook hybrid starts at $1,149, but only a higher-end $1,449 model is available currently.

surface pro
Commentary: While the Surface Pro isn't part of Apple's ecosystem, the tablet has received favorable reviews from The Verge and CNET, and some customers may prefer its versatility over the cellular-enabled iPad Pro.

House near Apple Park smashes Sunnyvale real estate record: A two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in Sunnyvale, near Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, recently sold for $2 million in cash. At $2,358 per square foot, it's reportedly the highest price per square foot for a home in Sunnyvale ever.

apple park
Commentary: Sunnyvale is situated in the heart of Silicon Valley, where companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook are headquartered. With these tech giants often offering six-figure salaries, it's no surprise that real estate prices continue to rise in the area. The previous record was $2,175 per square foot, according to the MLS.

For more Apple news and rumors coverage, visit our Front Page, Mac Blog, and iOS Blog. Also visit our forums to join in the discussion.

Top-rated eBay shop ElectronicsValley today has the 27-inch 5K iMac from October 2015 for $1,299.99, down from $2,299.99. This model has a 3.3 GHz Intel Core i5 6th Generation processor, 8GB of RAM, 2TB of hard drive storage, and was the first of Apple's iMacs to come with the updated Magic Mouse 2 back in 2015. ElectronicsValley describes the iMac as "New," and its customers have left a largely positive feedback percentage of 99.1 percent on its store.

iMac 4K 5K 2015Note: 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.

ElectronicsValley often has multiple New-condition Apple products on sale, currently including sales on last year's MacBook Air refresh:

Also today, The Home Depot is offering select Leviton dimmers and switches for up to 30 percent off, including a few HomeKit-compatible switches. The company has a 2-pack of the Leviton 15 Amp Decora Smart Switch for $62.96, down from $89.94. The switch can connect to Apple's Home iOS app and allow users to control lights on their iPhones and iPads or with Siri. There are a few other switches available, all with limited stock and with sale prices that will expire by the end of the day.

deals post 36
A few other deals worth mentioning today include savings on Speck's Presidio Power case for the iPhone 7, priced at $30.00 for a limited time, down from $99.95. Amazon and Best Buy also continue to offer notable savings on BeatsX, with both retailers pricing the headphones at $89.99, down from $149.99, in select colors.

For those who are interested but haven't yet taken advantage of ongoing deals from DirecTV Now and Sonos, be sure to head to our full Deals Roundup for more information on each sale. The limited time offers for a free 32GB Apple TV 4K with DirecTV Now and bundle of two Sonos One speakers have been around since November 2017 and January 2018, respectively, and are expected to expire sometime in the spring.

Related Roundup: Apple Deals

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming watchOS 4.3 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the third beta and a little over two weeks after releasing watchOS 4.2.3, a minor update focusing on bug fixes.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software update.

watchos43beta
To install the update, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it has to be placed on the charger, and it needs to be in range of the iPhone it's paired to.

watchOS 4.3 introduces support for Nightstand mode in portrait orientation, a feature that was previously only available when the watch was placed in landscape orientation. There's also a new charging animation when the Apple Watch is placed on the charger, a new app loading animation, your Activity data is now displayed on the Siri watch face, and the battery complication more accurately reports battery life.


The watchOS 4.3 update also brings the return of a much-desired feature that allows music playing on the iPhone to be controlled using the Music app on the Apple Watch.

In prior versions of watchOS, starting with watchOS 4, the Music app could only be used to control music playing on the watch itself. With the tvOS 11.3 beta installed, there's also an option to control music playing on the Apple TV with the watch.

Apple plans to release watchOS 4.3 to the public in the spring, and until then, it will be limited to developers. Apple offers public betas of tvOS, iOS, and macOS, but watchOS betas are not available for public beta testers because there's no way to revert to an earlier version of watchOS once an update is installed.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 10
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)

Twelve South today announced that its BookArc möd stand is now compatible with MacBook Pro models released in 2016 and later.

bookarc mod
The stand now ships with two interchangeable silicone inserts that can hold 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models with Thunderbolt 3 ports, older 2012-2015 era MacBook Pro models, any 12-inch MacBook, and any MacBook Air.

BookArc is a popular stand for docking a MacBook vertically in closed-display mode. The aluminum version is already compatible with the 2016 and later MacBook Pro, and now the hardwood version is too after a much longer wait.

BookArc möd is on sale for $49.99, down from $59.99, via Twelve South's online store. The aluminum BookArc is $49.99.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Related Forum: MacBook Pro

The Magical Bridge Foundation, which helps build playgrounds for children and adults with disabilities and special needs, this week announced that Apple will help fund the foundation's latest playground, located in Sunnyvale, California's Fair Oaks Park. Magical Bridge Foundation's playgrounds are located in select communities in the Bay Area, including Mountain View, Morgan Hill, Palo Alto, and Redwood City.

Apple's contribution to the playground will come in the form of a $250,000 donation and mark the company as a sponsor of an "Innovation Zone" section of the park. Magical Bridge Foundation describes this area as "a dynamic space within the Sunnyvale playground for people of all ages and abilities to meet, learn, explore, create and build new and diverse relationships."

magical bridge apple sponsor playground

Clockwise from top left: The Innovation Zone, Kindness Corner, Playhouse + Playstage, and Tot Zone

Apple's sponsored Innovation Zone is said to lie "at the heart" of the new playground's leading edge concepts.

Capturing the innovative spirit of Silicon Valley, the Innovation Zone provides unique and interactive play experiences utilizing technology, art and design that stimulates the full array of human senses in an entirely new way.

“The dream to build magical spaces where people of all abilities can feel freedom of play has become a reality because companies like Apple and our other partners are so committed to this community, its residents and visitors,” Magical Bridge co-founder Olenka Villarreal said. “The joy is contagious. Magical Bridge Playgrounds are changing neighborhoods, cities, and soon, the country through truly inclusive play.”

Magical Bridge Foundation is still collecting contributions for the playground, and if it raises its goal of $3.3 million it will begin construction on the Sunnyvale location in fall 2018, with a public opening aimed for 2020. Other tech companies have also announced sponsored areas in the playground, including LinkedIn's $150,000 sponsorship of the "Kindness Corner." Other play zones, like a Tot Zone, Spin Zone, and Playhouse + Playstage, are still available for sponsorship.


Apple has long been a proponent of accessibility within its software and through the selling of hardware accessories in its online and retail stores. The company has annually celebrated events like Autism Acceptance Month and Accessibility Awareness Day, and in 2015 was honored as a recipient of a Helen Keller Achievement Award from the American Foundation for the Blind for the company's accessibility efforts, particularly VoiceOver's ability to give vision-impaired users access to iOS devices.

Apple has debuted a new Activity Challenge for Apple Watch wearers today, this one focused on celebrating International Women's Day. To complete the challenge and earn the achievement, you'll have to double your Move ring on March 8, the day that commemorates the movement for women's rights around the world.

The award for completing the challenge will be a set of still and animated stickers you can send to friends and family members within Messages. You'll find the new Activity Challenge by opening the Activity iOS app, tapping the Achievements tab, and tapping the icon for the International Women's Day Challenge achievement, which should be located at the very top of the page.

activty challenge womens day
The new challenge follows one from February that encouraged users to close their Apple Watch's exercise ring for seven days in a row as a promotion for Heart Month. Apple has regularly added Activity Challenges to the Activity app on iOS over the past few years, marking major holidays like Thanksgiving and New Year's with challenges that encouraged users to avoid staying sedentary during each holiday.

Apple Watch isn't the only area where Apple has been celebrating International Women's Day, with the company debuting a series of female-focused spotlight categories in the iTunes Movies store earlier this week on iOS, macOS, and tvOS. The "Leading Ladies" section offers films like Wonder Woman, Mean Girls, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Room for under $10 for a limited time.

In Apple Music, a "Celebrating Bold Women" card has been featured in the Browse tab for the past few days, linking subscribers to playlists, essential albums, up-and-coming artists, women who made history, and a breakdown of Leading Ladies in musical genres like pop, jazz, rock, and more.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 10
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)

Washington this week became the first state to pass a new law -- House Bill 2282 -- that restores and protects certain net neutrality rules, after the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 in favor of repealing net neutrality nationwide late last year. Washington state's new rules were signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee yesterday, and prevent internet service providers from blocking and slowing down content online (via The New York Times).

Many multi-state lawsuits began cropping up following the net neutrality vote in December, but this marks the first time that a state has directly gone against the FCC and enacted its own regulations on how ISPs are regulated within the state. Now, the Washington state law will go into effect starting June 6, 2018, barring ISPs from blocking websites, throttling speeds, or charging its customers more for faster speeds on select sites "in a way that benefits the broadband company and partner websites."

washington state net neutrality

These actions are now technically legal under the repeal of net neutrality by the FCC, made official by its entry into the Federal Register in February and becoming nationwide law itself April 23, 2018. The law signed by Inslee is said to "immediately" put back into place consumer protections provided by net neutrality rules, and was "passed with broad bipartisan support in the state legislature."

“Today we make history: Washington will be the first state in the nation to preserve the open internet,” Inslee said during today’s bill signing ceremony. “We’ve seen the power of an open internet. It allows a student in Washington to connect with researchers all around the world — or a small business to compete in the global marketplace. It’s allowed the free flow of information and ideas in one of the greatest demonstrations of free speech in our history.”

Besides Washington state, lawsuits and movements against the FCC have appeared in nearly two dozen states, with bills in each appearing similar to the one signed by Governor Inslee this week. Washington state's law -- and any others that appear in the future -- are expected to end up in court, because part of the FCC's rules passed under the repeal of net neutrality explicitly mentioned that states could not create their own rules.

Various tech companies also joined together in a lawsuit against the FCC filed on Monday, with Etsy, Foursquare, and Kickstarter among the companies banning together to fight the net neutrality repeal. Before the 3-2 vote in December, Apple was vocal against the potential repeal of net neutrality, emphasizing its stance in a letter last August that urged the FCC not to roll back the rules. Apple said this repeal could risk "fundamentally altering the internet as we know it today—to the detriment of consumers, competition, and innovation."

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.

Popular camera app Halide, which provides iPhone users with more control when taking pictures with their iPhones, today received a major update that introduces several new features.

Photos with Portrait effects are now available in the Halide app, with Halide incorporating a mix of smart facial detection and point of interest detection to create Portrait mode photos with background blur effects.

halide1
Portrait Mode is combined with a new "Depth Peaking" feature that's designed to show an outline of the camera's 3D space when capturing a photo that uses depth effects. A new Portrait Preview mode will also show a preview of what Portrait effects will look like when turned on.

halide2
All depth-enabled photos captured with Halide can be viewed using a new 3D photo viewer, allowing users to "walk around and through" captured scenes to see depth in a new way.

On the iPhone X, Halide now offers support for the front-facing TrueDepth camera, offering a new set of depth tools for taking selfies with Portrait effects within the Halide app. The front-facing camera also supports Depth Peaking and can allow users to export depth maps to be loaded in other image editors.

halide3
In addition to these new features, Halide 1.7 offers faster photo capture times, better responsiveness, and a quicker startup time, along with new design features and support for opening photos in the Darkroom photo editing app with a single touch.

To celebrate the launch of the new version of Halide, the app is discounted to $2.99 for the next 48 hours. [Direct Link]

Tag: Halide

Google Maps' Street View technology has been updated today to include virtual tours of 11 Disney parks for parents and children to explore in advance of a coming trip, or to rekindle memories of previous visits.

google maps disney

We're all about new fantastic points of view. Today Street View is going the distance, from California to Florida, to make Disney part of your world. Be our guest at 11 Disney Parks, and with Street View, anything your heart desires will come to you—castles, rides, attractions to infinity and beyond.

The Street View coverage takes in castles, rides and attractions around the various Parks, such as Florida's Magic Kingdom Park and the Avatar-themed world of Pandora in Animal Kingdom. The feature currently only includes parks in the United States, but that may change in future, given Google's recent efforts to expand its coverage of touristic landmarks across Europe and Asia through the service.

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

camera icon macos screenshotThere are several ways you can take screenshots on a Mac. Preview offers the option from its File menu. There's also a little screen capture app in the macOS Utilities folder called Grab. But the simplest and most common method is to use your Mac's built-in shortcut key combinations. Taking a screenshot is as easy as hitting Shift-Command-3 to capture the whole screen, or Shift-Command-4 to capture a portion of the screen using the mouse cursor as a crosshair selection tool (a tap of the spacebar also turns it into a camera for capturing windows).

If you tack the Control key onto either of these shortcuts, macOS copies the captured image to the clipboard, which is useful if you want to paste it into an application that can edit or view images. Otherwise, screenshots taken using key shortcuts are saved straight to your desktop. If you'd like to change that default save location to somewhere different, simply follow the steps below. You can also change the default file format that the screenshots are saved in by following these steps. The last section of this article offers some tips for taking more control of your screenshot selections, so be sure to check those out too.

➜ Click here to read more...

Apple this evening uploaded a new "Welcome Home" HomePod video to its YouTube channel, which was directed by well-known filmmaker Spike Jonze.

The four minute spot stars singer and dancer FKA Twigs and is set to a new song from Anderson .Paak called "Til It's Over." In the video, FKA Twigs arrives home after a long day and asks HomePod to play something she'd like, which she starts to dance to in a magical realism-style scene.


This is Apple's first longer-form HomePod ad. The company previously shared a series of short 15-second HomePod videos featuring the word "HomePod" animated in various ways, each set to a different song. Apple plans to feature the four minute "Welcome Home" video online, while a shorter cut will be played on television.

Apple's HomePod has been available for purchase since early February, and it's received largely positive reviews when it comes to sound quality, but reactions to Siri have not been quite as favorable. The HomePod can be purchased from Apple's website for $349.

Related Roundup: HomePod
Buyer's Guide: HomePod (Neutral)

iPhone users who haven't upgraded to the iPhone X were recently queried on why they've held out on purchasing a new phone, with the majority citing reasons like high price and a lack of compelling features.

A survey conducted by Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson and shared by Philip Elmer-DeWitt this morning asked 1,500 people who own an iPhone but didn't upgrade to the iPhone X to explain their reasoning.

iphonexnoupgradereason
44 percent of respondents said they hadn't upgraded because their iPhone works fine, suggesting there were no standout features compelling them to purchase a new device, while 31 percent said the iPhone X was too expensive at a starting price of $999.

Eight percent of respondents said the iPhone X's screen isn't large enough, while 17 percent had another reason entirely.

Piper Jaffray believes the iPhones coming in 2018 will address most of these issues, with Apple rumored to be planning to introduce three devices. One will be a followup to the iPhone X with a 5.8-inch OLED display, a second will have a larger 6.5-inch OLED display, and a third will feature a 6.1-inch LCD display with a lower price tag.

All upcoming 2018 iPhones are rumored to feature an edge-to-edge display with no bezels and a TrueDepth camera system for Face ID, along with other improvements like a faster A12 processor.

Piper Jaffray believes Apple will sell 233.8M iPhones in fiscal 2019, with the 2018 iPhones set to drive ongoing upgrades well into next year.

Related Forum: iPhone

Netflix today announced a platform-wide update to introduce expanded parental controls that will give parents more granular access to the television shows and movies their children are watching.

A new PIN parental control for individual movies and TV shows is being added, so parents will be able to block access to specific content if so desired.

netflixparentalcontrols1

. We understand that every family is different and that parents have differing perspectives on what they feel is appropriate to watch at different ages. While we already provide PIN protection for all content at a particular maturity level for Netflix accounts, PIN protection for a specific series or film provides families with an additional tool to make decisions they are comfortable with.

Netflix also plans to begin offering more prominent maturity level ratings for a series or a movie once a Netflix user hits play on a title. Ratings are available before starting a movie or a TV show, but Netflix is expanding their availability to make sure members are "fully aware of the maturity level as they begin watching."

netflixparentalcontrols2
According to Netflix, these parental control changes will be rolling out to Netflix members on all Netflix-compatible devices "in the coming months."

Tag: Netflix