MacRumors

AirPods were a hot ticket item this holiday season, selling out from Apple and other retailers.

We're guessing quite a few MacRumors readers got new AirPods during the holidays, so we thought we'd share some super handy tips and tricks that'll help you get the most out of your new earphones.

AirPods Requirements

To use all of the below features, you're going to need to install iOS 10.2 or later, and for some features, iOS 11 or later is required. On the Apple Watch, watchOS 3 or later is required, and on Mac, macOS 10.12 Sierra or later is required.

Devices that support iOS 10.2 or later include the iPhone 5 and later, the iPad mini 2 and later, the iPad Air and later, the 6th-generation iPod touch, and all iPad Pro models. All Apple Watch models work with AirPods, as do Macs that support Handoff functionality.

To take full advantage of AirPods, an iCloud account is required, but if you have an Apple device, you likely use iCloud regularly.

Customize Tap Functionality

Your AirPods are equipped with accelerometers and other hardware that allow them to respond to a double tap, and though it isn't obvious, these gestures can be customized to your liking. Here's how:

1. Make sure your AirPods are connected to your iPhone or iPad, either when you're wearing them or with the case open and nearby your device.
2. Open up the Settings app.
3. Choose "Bluetooth."
4. Next to the AirPods in the Bluetooth menu, tap the little "i" button.
5. Select "Left" and "Right" to customize what your AirPods do when you double tap them. Each one can be set to a separate action.

Choices include "Siri," which activates Siri, "Play/Pause," which starts or stops a song, "Next Track," which moves to the next track of whatever's being played, and "Previous Track," which goes back to the track that was previously being played. "Off" turns off whatever's playing.

Once you have your settings in place, whenever you double tap on an AirPod, it will activate whatever action you chose. With Siri, for example, you can double tap to bring up Siri.

You can also use this AirPods setting menu to change the name of your AirPods, deactivate Automatic Ear Detection and set either the left or right AirPod to serve as a fixed microphone.

Note: "Next Track" and "Previous Track" are both options that were introduced with iOS 11, so you will need to have iOS 11 installed to see these two AirPods options. Without iOS 11, you can only choose "Siri," "Play/Pause," and "Off."

Tap Your Ear

You don't necessarily have to tap right on your AirPod to use the double tap gestures. Many people prefer to tap softly on the back of an ear instead. It's a little less audibly jarring and it works just as well.

Switching Devices

There's an Apple-designed chip called a "W1" inside of your AirPods, and this chip connects your AirPods to your iCloud account. What this means is that every device you have where you're signed into iCloud knows your AirPods exist and can connect to them without having to go through a pairing process every time.

Switching between devices is as simple as opening up the Bluetooth settings on a given device and then choosing your AirPods to connect seamlessly. On the device you used to set up your AirPods, they'll connect automatically whenever you open up the case.

Quickly Pair to Apple TV

There's a little trick to make it easier to pair your AirPods to your Apple TV. With the AirPods in your ears or in the case with the lid open, turn on your Apple TV.

At the main Apple TV screen, hold down on the Play/Pause button on the Siri Remote to bring up an interface that lets you select an audio source. Swipe down to your AirPods, click the main button on the remote, and a connection is established.

If you're using the Apple Remote app or the Control Center Apple TV Remote, you can long press on the Play/Pause button to bring up the audio menu.

Quickly Pair to an iOS device

To pair your AirPods on an iOS device running iOS 11, you don't need to open up the Settings app. Instead, you can use the Now Playing widget in Control Center. Here's how:

1. On your iOS device, swipe up from the bottom of the display to bring up Control Center.
2. On the main music widget, tap the two lines located in the upper right corner.
3. From the list, choose your AirPods.

Once selected from the Control Center list, your AirPods will connect to your iOS device automatically. It takes a few swipes and taps, but it's ultimately quicker than opening up the Settings app.

Pair AirPods to Your Apple Watch

You can pair the AirPods directly to Your Apple Watch to listen to music. Here's how:

1. With the AirPods in your ears, swipe up from the bottom of the Apple Watch display to bring up Control Center.
2. Tap on the AirPlay icon at the bottom of control Center.
3. Choose AirPods.

Take Advantage of Siri

If one of your AirPod double-tap gestures is set to "Siri," you can tap on an AirPod to activate Siri. Siri can play songs and albums from your Apple Music Library, or if you're in the mood for something like 80's music, just ask Siri. Siri will play music from different genres, Apple Music playlists, and radio stations if you have an Apple Music subscription.

Using Siri is a simple, hands-free way to listen to whatever you want on your AirPods, and Siri's also, unfortunately, the only way to adjust the volume on the AirPods without having to use your connected device.

In addition to asking Siri to play music, all of the standard Siri commands are supported, since it's just routing through your phone. Siri can make phone calls, send texts, set reminders, control HomeKit devices, open apps, answer simple questions, and more.

Siri requires an internet connection to function, so the device connected to your AirPods will need to be connected to WiFi or Cellular for Siri on AirPods to work.

Using Just One AirPod

You don't need to use both AirPods at once. If you want to make a call or better hear your ambient surroundings, you can choose to use just one AirPod.

If you have Automatic Ear Detection turned on and take an AirPod out, you may need to press play again, but once you do, it works just like having two AirPods in your ears. Music won't play out of the AirPod not in use, and if you do put it back in, your music resumes in both AirPods.

Pairing AirPods with a non-Apple Device

Your AirPods are designed to work with Apple products, but they use Bluetooth and can pair with your Android device, your PC, or any other device that works with Bluetooth headphones. Here's how to pair with a non-Apple device:

1. Put the AirPods in the AirPods case.
2. Open up the lid.
3. Press and hold the button on the back of the case until a white light flashes.
4. Open up Bluetooth settings on the device you're connecting to and choose the AirPods.

Get Your Calls Announced

If you get an incoming call while your AirPods are in your ears and want to know who it is without having to look at your iPhone, there's an "Announce Calls" feature for that. Here's how to use it:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down to "Phone."
3. Select "Announce Calls."

Toggle on "Headphones & Car" to have calls announced when either headphones are connected or you're in the car. "Headphones Only" will announce calls only when your headphones are in, and not when you're in the car, and "Always" means your iPhone will audibly tell you who's calling even when headphones aren't in.

Locate a Lost AirPod

As of iOS 10.3, there's a dedicated "Find My AirPods" feature for keeping track of your AirPods. Find My AirPods is limited to the AirPods themselves -- it can't locate a lost case, nor does it work when the AirPods are disconnected from an iOS device and stored in a case.

Find My AirPods basically lets you know the last known location of your AirPods. You can access it from the Find My iPhone app or from iCloud, but for detailed instructions on the feature, check out our dedicated how to.

Check Your AirPods Battery

To check the battery of your AirPods while you're using them, swipe on the right of the iPhone or iPad display to bring up your widgets. Find the "Batteries" widget to get a readout on the battery life of your iOS device, your AirPods, and any other connected Bluetooth devices that support the feature.

If your AirPods aren't in your ears, just open up the case when it's near your iPhone to get a popup that shows you the battery life. This is also the only way to see the battery of the AirPods case.

If you have an Apple Watch, you can open up the Control Center while you're using the AirPods and tap the battery icon to see the battery life of both the Apple Watch and the AirPods. On Mac, use the Bluetooth menu to check battery on paired AirPods.

You can also ask Siri to tell you what your remaining battery life is.

Interpreting the Light on the AirPods Case

If you open up the case for your AirPods, you'll see a little light located inside.

Here's what each color means:

Green: Fully charged
Orange: Not a full charge
Amber: Less than one full charge remains
Flashing white: Ready to pair

Charging

AirPods charge with a Lightning cable, so it's super simple to charge them up when the battery is low. Given the design of the AirPods, they're compatible with many iPhone docks on the market, so if you have a dock for your iPhone, you can also use it to charge the AirPods.

Get Your AirPods Serial Number and Check Firmware

If you need the serial number for your AirPods or want to make sure you're running the most up-to-date version of the AirPods firmware, here's how:

1. Open up the Settings app on your iOS device while your AirPods are in your ears.
2. Choose "General."
3. Choose "About."
4. Scroll down to "AirPods" and tap it.

This menu lists model number, serial number, hardware version, and firmware version.

Wrap Up

The AirPods are one of Apple's most popular accessories in recent history, and they've been largely well-received by Apple customers thanks to the ease of use, simple pairing, long range Bluetooth connectivity, universal fit, easy device switching, and decent battery life.

If you're new to AirPods, you'll likely fall in love with them after just a few uses, and even more so when you've read through our tips and figured out everything they're capable of.

Are there must-know AirPods tips and tricks we've left out? Let us know in the comments!

Apple will reduce its shipment forecast for the iPhone X in the first quarter of 2018 from 50 million units down to 30 million units, according to a report this week by Economic Daily News (via Reuters). A handful of similar downgraded shipment predictions were shared by Apple analysts recently, most believing that the price of the iPhone X will lead to a decline in user demand early next year. The reports have caused shares in both Apple and some of its suppliers to fall.

JL Warren Capital predicted shipments of 25 million iPhone X units for Q1 2018, citing a "high price point and a lack of interesting innovations," while Sinolink Securities said the device's $1,000 price would "dampen consumer enthusiasm." Now that early adopters have gotten their hands on the iPhone X and the first wave of demand has been fulfilled, the high price of the device is again causing market watchers to predict "weakened demand" in early 2018 (via Bloomberg).

Analysts have lowered iPhone X shipment projections for the first quarter of next year, citing signs of lackluster demand at the end of the holiday shopping season.

"After the first wave of demand has been fulfilled, the market now worries that the high price of the iPhone X may weaken demand in the first quarter," Zhang wrote.

Lowered shipment and demand expectations are typical around this time of year. In 2016, a Nikkei report said that Apple would reduce iPhone 7 production by 10 percent in Q1 2017 because of "sluggish" demand and accumulated inventory building up throughout the holiday season.

In terms of availability, iPhone X has been pretty easy to obtain for those looking to purchase the smartphone. Shipping times improved consistently in the lead-up to Christmas and availability at U.S. Apple Stores increased to an average of 75 percent, up from 44 percent the week before Christmas, according to Gene Munster.

Although downgraded shipping estimates have begun to proliferate, other analysts are looking at higher shipment forecasts for the iPhone X. Loop Capital increased iPhone X shipment numbers to between 40 and 45 million units in Q1 2018, while analysts at Jefferies forecast about 40 million iPhone X sales for the quarter.

Rumors originally suggested the iPhone X would be tough to get through the holidays, but Apple significantly ramped up supply, so it's been relatively easy to get a new iPhone X ahead of Christmas.

That means lots of new iPhone X devices are getting unboxed today, and if you're coming from an iPhone 8 or later, it's a big adjustment. Those of us who have been using an iPhone X since November can confirm that it takes a bit of time to get used to all of the changes in the device, but within a week or two, you won't even miss that Home button.

The iPhone X Interface

Not having a Home button is on the iPhone X is the most immediately jarring change, because there are new and unfamiliar gestures to learn.

Instead of pressing on the Home button to get to the Home screen of the iPhone X, you swipe up from the bottom of the display. This minimizes any app that's open.

On earlier iPhones, a double tap on the Home button brought up the App Switcher, but on iPhone X, you swipe up from the bottom and then pause for a moment to get to the App Switcher. Closing apps is no longer done with a single swipe -- you'll need to hold again on an app in the App Switcher until the red "-" appears, and then tap it or swipe up on the app.

To activate the display of the iPhone X to see your notifications, you can use a new "Tap to Wake" gesture, which, as the name suggests, means you just tap a finger on the inactive display. Pressing the side button also works.

Getting to the Control Center is going to be one of the most difficult gestures to learn. Instead of swiping up from the bottom like you're used to, you swipe down from the top of the status bar that displays battery life and cellular signal.

A swipe down from the top of the iPhone X anywhere else on the display brings down the Cover Sheet of the Lock screen so you can see all of your notifications. Accessing Siri is now done by pressing twice on the side button instead of holding down on the Home button.

Additional Reading:

• 6 Interface Tricks for iPhone X
• Top 10 iPhone X Tricks
• iPhone X First Look

The Notch

The iPhone X has an edge-to-edge display that does away with all bezels, except for a "notch" at the top of the device. Many criticized this design decision ahead of the release of the iPhone X, but in practical use, it's something you acclimatize to after a week or two of using the iPhone X, and it fades into the background instead of being a focal point whenever you're using the phone.

Apple, in developer materials, encourages developers to embrace the notch rather than to hide it away, and that's the path most apps and games have taken. In portrait mode, the notch is easy to ignore, but it will be a bit harder to get used to in landscape mode.

Additional Reading:

• Embracing the Notch
• iPhone X Notch: Everything You Need to Know
• Apple Approves Notch Remover App for iPhone X
• Prime Real Estate: The Fight for Space in the iPhone X

The Display

The iPhone X is the first iPhone from Apple to feature OLED technology for true-to-life colors, deep blacks, and an improved contrast ratio. At a resolution of 2436 x 1125 with 458 pixels per inch, it has the highest resolution and pixel density ever introduced in an iPhone.

It is the best display we've seen in an iPhone, and it's one of the features you're likely to fall in love with immediately after unboxing the iPhone. It supports HDR, wide color, 3D Touch, and True Tone for adjusting the white balance of the display to match the ambient lighting.

Additional Reading:

• Apple Says Minor Screen Burn-In and Shifts in Color When Looking at iPhone X Off-Angle Are Normal

Face ID

Face ID, like the removal of the Home button, is a major change in the iPhone X. A fingerprint is no longer required to unlock your iPhone because it's using a 3D facial scan instead. Face ID works through a TrueDepth Camera system that projects thousands of tiny dots onto your face, which are read through an infrared camera.

For most people, Face ID is as secure as Touch ID, but it can sometimes be fooled by masks, twins, and children.

Face ID is identical to Touch ID in terms of what it's used for (Apple Pay, device unlocking, password replacement in apps), it just uses your face instead of your finger. Developers have no access to Face ID data, nor does Apple, so it's just as secure as Touch ID.

Built-in machine learning features allow Face ID to adjust to facial changes. It can recognize you with sunglasses on, when you grow a beard, when you cut your hair, when you wear a scarf, and in other similar situations.

Additional Reading:

• Apple Shares In-Depth Face ID Security Info
• Face ID Unlocked With Mask
• Face ID Twin Tests
• 10-Year Old Unlocks Face ID on Mother's iPhone
• Face ID is Faster than Touch ID in Day-to-Day Usage
• Face ID Works With Sunglasses
• Face ID Works in the Dark, With Hats, and With Beards

Animoji and Third-Party Apps

The TrueDepth Camera isn't just used for Face ID -- it powers a new feature called Animoji, which are animated characters that mimic your facial expressions. Animoji live in the Messages app, so you can send friends and family messages featuring animated characters with your voice and facial expression.

Animoji were popular just after the release thanks to "Animoji Karaoke," designed to make it look like the Animoji characters were singing hit songs, but that has died out over the last few weeks.

Additional Reading:

• Privacy Advocates and Devs Raise Concerns About Third-Party App Access to TrueDepth Camera
• Animoji Karaoke Takes Over Social Media Following iPhone X Launch

Apple Pay

Apple Pay on iPhone X is as simple to use as Apple Pay with devices that have Touch ID, but the checkout process is different.

Instead of confirming a payment with a finger on the Touch ID Home button, you'll need to unlock your iPhone X with Face ID, hold it down towards the payment terminal, and then press twice on the side button. The video below walks through the steps required:

Wireless Charging

You can still charge the iPhone X via Lightning port like any other iPhone, but it also supports wireless charging functionality. It will work with any Qi-certified wireless charger, with or without a case (with the exception of cases with a very thick back, aluminum cases, or cases with built-in magnets).

Wireless charging is about as fast as charging with the standard 5W wired charger from Apple, but it's slower than other wired charging methods and charging speeds can vary based on factors like ambient temperature and the amount of power being delivered by the charger.

Aditional Reading:

• iPhone X Charging Speeds Compared
• iOS 11.2 Supports Faster 7.5W Wireless Charging on iPhone X
• Comparison: Belkin and Mophie's Wireless Chargers
• Discounted and Upcoming Qi Charging Pads

Cameras

Compared to older iPhones, the iPhone X cameras operate in much the same way, but there are some improvements and tweaks to be aware of. The iPhone X's rear-facing cameras are vertical rather than horizontal, but in practice, they work the same way.

The rear facing camera is much improved, with an improved 12-megapixel sensor, new color filter, and a new image signal processor for better automatic adjustments and faster autofocus. Also new is optical image stabilization for the telephoto camera, meaning better portraits and an overall improvement to both lenses in the device.

For both the front and rear cameras in the iPhone X, there's a new Portrait Lighting effect that works alongside Portrait Mode to let you adjust the lighting in your image to introduce studio-quality effects.

For video, iPhone X supports 4K video at up to 60 frames per second and slo-mo video at up to 240 frames per second, and all of the aforementioned new hardware brings better stabilization for reduced blur and shakiness.

Additional Reading:

• iPhone X Camera Overview: Portrait Lighting, Video Improvements, Front-Facing Portraits and More
• iPhone X Low Light Photography Test Demonstrates Improved Telephoto Lens

Other Features

There are a ton of other new features in the iPhone X, including a new battery design for more battery life and an A11 Bionic processor that's incredibly fast and powers all of the iPhone X's camera functionality, but these are under-the-hood inclusions that won't be an immediate change from former iPhones.

For more information on all of the new features included iPhone X, make sure to check out our dedicated iPhone X roundup.

AirPods, introduced last December, are Apple's completely wire-free earphones that have a W1 chip inside for simple pairing between devices.

AirPods work like magic, and while they're easy to set up, the process may not be intuitive to all users who received AirPods this Christmas, so we thought we'd share some quick, easy to digest instructions.

1. Remove the AirPods from the packaging.
2. Leave the AirPods in AirPods case.
3. Power on your iPhone or iPad, unlock it, and go to the Home screen (aka the main app screen).
4. Open up the lid to your AirPods case.
5. Hold the AirPods case with open lid next to your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌.
6. Your iOS device will recognize the AirPods and you'll see a popup to connect your AirPods.
7. Tap "Connect."
8. You'll be instructed to press and hold on the back button of the AirPods case.
9. Press it for a few seconds, and the popup on your ‌iPhone‌ will change to "Connecting."
10. When the connection is complete, the popup will display the battery life for both the AirPods and the case.
    

That's all there is to it. Once this setup process has been completed, your AirPods will re-pair to your iOS device whenever you open up the case lid. This re-pairing process takes just a few seconds, so your AirPods are essentially ready to go whenever you pull them out.

Your AirPods are linked to your iCloud account, so once you pair them with one device, your other devices know they exist. You can switch connections between your devices through the standard Bluetooth settings options, where AirPods will be listed on any device that you're signed into with your ‌iCloud‌ account.

On iOS devices, go to Settings --> Bluetooth and tap "AirPods." On a Mac, click on the Bluetooth icon in the status bar, choose AirPods, and then select "Connect." On Apple TV, open up the Settings app, choose "Video and Audio," scroll down to "Audio," select "Audio Output" and choose AirPods.

On iOS devices, you can also use the Now Playing widget in Control Center to select AirPods, and on ‌Apple TV‌, you can hold down the Home button on the main ‌Apple TV‌ screen to bring up a shortcut to audio options.

Update: As some MacRumors forum members have pointed out, when pairing with an iOS device signed into your ‌iCloud‌ account, the step involving a button press may not be necessary. In this situation, the AirPods should be ready to pair after opening the case near an ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌.

If you got a new iPhone or iPad for Christmas and you already have at least one iOS device that's running iOS 11, setting up the new device is simple and quick with Automatic Setup.

Introduced in iOS 11, Automatic Setup streamlines the setup process for new iPhones and iPads, transferring over Apple ID info, your WiFi network credentials, your preferred settings, and your iCloud Keychain.

1. Power on your new device, which will open up to a menu asking you to pick a language.
2. After choosing a language, you'll see a "Set Up Your iPhone (or iPad)" prompt.
3. When this appears, place your existing iOS device near the new device to initiate Automatic Setup.
4. Your existing device will show a pop up letting you know you can use Automatic Setup. Tap "Continue" to start.
5. An Apple Watch-style pairing image will appear on the new device, and you'll be instructed to scan it with the camera on your existing device.
6. In an area with decent lighting, hold the existing device's camera over the image on the new device to pair the two together.
7. Enter the passcode from your existing device on the new device.
8. From there, all of your data will start transferring from the old device to the new device.

When the first few Automatic Setup steps are complete, your iPhone or iPad will walk you through setting up Touch ID/Face ID, Siri, and Apple Pay, which are separate steps.

An additional "Express Settings" feature following Automatic Setup is designed to speed up new device activation even further. Express Setup automatically enables Find My iPhone, location services, and analytics, so if you don't want these features on, make sure to tap "Customize Settings" to change them.

Once you've transferred all of your settings with Automatic Setup, you can restore from an iCloud backup to get all of your apps transferred over. If you want to set up a device as new without downloading all of your old content, though, you're finished once Automatic Setup is completed.

If you don't have an iOS device running iOS 11, you'll need to go through a more traditional setup process. The steps are a lot like Automatic Setup, but instead of choosing an existing device after setting a language, you'll need to manually enter data like your Apple ID and your WiFi password.

As it has done in previous holiday seasons, Google today began tracking Santa's journey on the web, mobile web for iOS, as well as on Android mobile and Android TV. With the tool, you can easily track Santa's trip as he delivers presents around the world in real time, including an estimated arrival time for your specific area. This marks Google's thirteenth year of tracking Santa's journey.

To start tracking, open a web browsing app on your iPhone or iPad (Safari and Chrome support the mobile optimized tracker), and then visit the official website for Google Santa Tracker. On both mobile and desktop, the site will show you a live map of Santa's location, his next stop, a live video feed of his trip, and an estimated arrival time for your area.

If you scroll down you can see pictures of the places he's already visited, more details about these locations, a live count of the gifts he's delivered, and more. Google last year added these features into its main Google Maps app for iOS, but as of writing the Santa tracker does not appear to be in the iOS app this year.

Of course, there are plenty of other Santa tracking services and apps on the App Store, including NORAD Tracks Santa Claus [Direct Link]. NORAD's Santa tracking app is mainly a countdown timer that links you out to the mobile web when you want to start tracking the journey.

Similar to Google, NORAD details where Santa was last seen, where he's heading to next, and how many gifts he's delivered. You can also interact with a 360-degree video feed of Santa's sleigh as he makes his journey around the Earth. If you're on Mac or other desktop computers, you can visit NORAD's full Santa tracking website right here.

At the time of writing, Santa was last seen over the Andaman Sea and heading to Thailand.

Although sales on App Store and iTunes gift cards usually end soon after they launch, Amazon and PayPal still have 15 percent discounts on $100 iTunes cards happening in the last few days before Christmas. The ongoing sales make for easy last-minute gift ideas since you can get a code emailed in under 24 hours.

At Amazon, if you purchase $100 or more in iTunes credit you'll get $15 off once you enter the promo code ITUNES15 during checkout. This will lower the $100 iTunes card to $85, and Amazon's storefront limits the promotion to one card per customer.

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

PayPal's sale is happening through its Digital Gifts eBay store and is the same as Amazon's: you can buy the $100 iTunes card for $85, but no promo code is required. You'll need a PayPal account to complete the purchase, and the card will be valid only on purchases made on the United States App Store. With both sales, you can enter your own email address, or enter the email address of a friend or family member and directly send the code to them.

App Store and iTunes gift cards can be used for a variety of items and services found on Apple devices. You can rent and buy movies on iTunes, subscribe to Apple Music, pay for your monthly iCloud storage, purchase a new app, expand your iBooks collection, and much more. If you're looking for more specific ideas, MacRumors will be sharing a roundup of apps, games, movies, books, subscriptions, and more that you can buy with any iTunes cards you might get this Christmas, so be sure to check back on Monday for the full list.

Google has reportedly poached one of Apple's top chip designers, as it continues to pursue plans to design its own chipsets for consumer devices like its Pixel range of smartphones.

According to The Information, the search giant has hired well-regarded Apple chip expert John Bruno, who has worked on silicon architecture for iPhones since 2012. Before moving offices to Cupertino to help with Apple's ARM-based mobile chip push, Bruno worked at Advanced Micro Devices and led chip design at ATI Technologies.

Bruno founded and managed Apple's silicon competitive analysis group, which sought to keep the company ahead of competitors in the area of chip performance. He follows several other experienced chip engineers who have defected to Google from Apple over the past year, including Manu Gulati, Wonjae (Gregory) Choi and Tayo Fadelu.

The hires highlight Google's attempt to keep pace with Apple, which has been designing its own mobile chips since 2010. Recently, Google said it would sell chips known as Cloud Tensor Processing Units (TPU) to other companies so that they could benefit from its deep learning tool set, TensorFlow. However, the recruitment drive is more likely to be aimed at making own-branded chips for Google's Pixel smartphones.

Indeed, Google's first mobile chip could be right around the corner, according to Jim McGregor, an analyst at Tirias Research who spoke to The Information. With the help of off-the-shelf intellectual property, the Mountain View-based tech giant could have a multifunctional system-on-a-chip up and running in as soon as six months, McGregor said.

Popular pro-grade photo editing software Darkroom reached version 3.3 on Saturday, bringing improved image format handling to the app and smoothing out a handful of new features that were introduced in November's iPhone X focused redesign.

Last month, Darkroom v3.2 embraced Apple's latest dual-lens camera smartphone with a brand new 5.8-inch user interface and support for Wide Gamut Color, which makes the most of the OLED screen's full-color depth and contrast. It also received a 20 percent boost in performance thanks to its implementation of Metal 2 rendering.

The big news in today's v3.3 update is added support for RAW+JPEG images. Now, when Darkroom detects that a photo is a RAW+JPG composite image, it will default to treating it as a RAW image.

The feature is designed to appeal to DSLR users who prefer shooting in RAW, as well as bring Darkroom into a greater level of harmony with the Halide camera app, which is often included in user workflows. The only caveat is that Darkroom users won't have access to the JPEG variant of the composite image, although the developers aim to add support for the file type in the future.

Moving on, Darkroom now has an in improved Modify Original export option which aims to make workflows that rely on multiple apps more seamless. Users can now continue editing on top of previous edits made either by Apple's native Photos app or other third-party apps.

Previously, Darkroom had an issue where image edits would be double applied when the image was edited in another app, after being exported from Darkroom using Modify Original. That's now been fixed. This update also fixes an issue where depth information captured using Portrait Mode would be lost upon export.

Elsewhere, an option has been added to the recently introduced Auto Align setting that allows users to turn it off or back on at will. A bug has also been fixed that caused the app icon to show incorrectly on iPad.

Darkroom is a free download from the App Store and includes in-app purchases for some tools. [Direct Link]. The developers are currently promoting a weeklong holiday giveaway: users are encouraged to share their Darkroom-edited holiday photos with the #darkroomapp hashtag on Instagram, to be in for a chance to win one of 50 promo codes to unlock absolutely everything in the app.

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with PureGear to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a HomeKit-enabled PureSwitch Wireless Smart Plug.

PureSwitch fits in any standard U.S. outlet, and it's designed to let you manage your energy use by allowing you to wirelessly control whatever's plugged into the Smart Plug. It can turn any appliance or lamp into a smart device that can be controlled alongside the rest of your HomeKit products.

The PureSwitch Smart Plug connects to your HomeKit setup over WiFi, and it can be controlled with the PureSwitch app, Apple's Home app, or Siri voice commands. It can also interact with other HomeKit products and it can be used in scenes for automation purposes.

At $39.99, PureSwitch is priced competitively with other HomeKit-compatible smart plugs on the market, and at one side, there's a built-in 2.1A USB-charging port you can use to charge your iPhone, iPad, or any other USB device.

Like any other HomeKit product, the PureSwitch can be controlled on all of your devices, including iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, and with Home hub functionality enabled through an Apple TV or an iPad, it can be controlled remotely.

We have seven of the PureSwitch Wireless Smart Plugs to give to MacRumors readers. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

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Tidal today announced that starting on Christmas Day anyone will be able to try out its music-streaming service for free for a period of 12 days. This free trial will include the company's $19.99/month High Fidelity tier that includes lossless sound quality, and it does not require a credit card for you to start so all you will need is an email address (via The Verge).