Nearly two weeks after being unveiled at an event in New York City, and with a week and a half still to go before it launches to customers on September 15, Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 smartphone has received its first batch of reviews posted online today. Many publications marked the Note 8's large 6.3-inch "Infinity Display" as a step forward for Samsung, compared the smartphone's "Live Focus" bokeh effect mode to Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7 Plus, and agreed that the lack of an explosive battery made the Note 8 a solid contender in the smartphone market.
Most reviews touched on comparing the Note 8's new dual rear camera system to that of the iPhone 7 Plus, and Engadget found that each smartphone's bokeh effect largely provides the same finished products, although Samsung's device has the edge in features. Unlike the iPhone 7 Plus, the Note 8 lets you change the blurring effect both before and after the picture has been taken, so that if the effect is too enhanced, it's easy to dial back a UI toggle and find a happy-medium spot where the Live Effect looks better.
On the other hand, in the camera's UI and in the rest of the Note 8's operating system, Engadget noted that anyone who purchases a Note 8 will have to struggle with "a little software strangeness" in the Android smartphone.
Honestly, my biggest gripes have more to do with the camera interface than the cameras themselves. Let's say you're trying to zoom in on a subject. By default, you can tap a button to switch between 1x and 2x zoom modes, but it disappears for a while after you tap on the screen to lock focus and exposure. You can still pinch to zoom in and out, but it would've been nice if the shortcut button showed up again sooner. Shooting in Live Focus mode also offers close-up and wide-angle views of your photo, and you can switch between them in your gallery.
Strangely, there doesn't seem to be a way to save the view you didn't select as a separate photo, even though earlier demo units did it just fine. There's definitely a little software strangeness going on here, and while it's never outright frustrating, Samsung could have stood to polish these apps further.
PC World called the Note 8 "the best phone Samsung has ever made, bar none," praising the smartphone's display, fast wireless charging, and 6GB of RAM. The site said that the new Samsung smartphone is "at least as fast as any Android phone" that it has used, as well as the iPhone 7 Plus.
I've covered a lot of Thunderbolt 3 docks in recent months, but there's one more upcoming model that's worth taking a look at. The TBT3-UDV is Plugable's upcoming flagship Thunderbolt 3 dock, featuring five USB 3.0 Type-A ports, Gigabit Ethernet, DisplayPort, stereo in/out, and a pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports. The dock isn't available for purchase yet, as Plugable is still awaiting Thunderbolt certification, but the company tells me it's aiming for an early October launch assuming the certification comes through in a timely fashion.
In the box, you'll find the typical components including the dock itself, an external power brick, and a 0.5-meter Thunderbolt 3 cable. One nice touch I haven't seen with other docks is an included DisplayPort to HDMI 2.0 active adapter, normally sold separately for $19, which makes it easier to hook up a broader array of displays, televisions, and projectors to the dock.
Notably, the TBT3-UDV can be oriented either horizontally like most other Thunderbolt 3 docks or vertically using an included stand. It's a nice feature that the dock has in common with CalDigit's TS3, but differences in their designs mean the Plugable dock is taller and more slender in its vertical orientation compared to the TS3's block-like design.
Design
While it might have an awful name, the design of the TBT3-UDV stands out on a desk, particularly in its vertical orientation. The enclosure is constructed of a matte aluminum that's fairly close to Apple's Space Gray color and which has a few deep grooves on each side to add some style. The curved front edge of the dock is made of a glossy black plastic, as is the rear port panel.
There are somewhat prominent white Plugable logos on each side, as well as some model and regulatory information near the bottom of one of the sides. A bit cleaner look would have been nicer, especially considering the eye-catching hardware design, but it's not terrible. A pair of status lights, green for power and blue for data connection to a computer, are hidden beneath the black plastic on the front edge of the dock.
USB Ports
One of the key features of the TBT3-UDV is its five USB Type-A ports, four on the rear and one on the front. This array of USB ports is only matched by OWC's Thunderbolt 3 Dock, with nearly every other dock on the market offering only three ports.
SSD speeds connected to USB-A port
All five ports are 5 Gbps USB 3.0/3.1 Gen 1, so you'll get solid transfer speeds like the 325 MB/s write and 350 MB/s read I saw with a fast external SSD, typical for these types of docks. If you want even more speed, you'll have to use the available Thunderbolt 3/USB-C port on the rear for 10 Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 support, which clocked in at 470 MB/s write and 495 MB/s read with the external SSD.
SSD speeds connected to Thunderbolt 3/USB-C port
Unfortunately, the four USB ports on the rear of the dock are clustered very closely together. It helps keep the overall dock footprint compact, but it means if you have oversized USB peripherals like card readers or certain flash drives plugged into the back, they will likely block access to some of the other USB ports.
Ill-fitting oversized flash drive in front USB port
I also have one fairly wide flash drive that won’t even plug into the front USB port because of the recessed design. It doesn't really even fit in the two rear USB ports closest to the edge of the dock, although I can insert it just far enough to make a connection. This might not be a deal breaker if you're mostly connecting USB cables and skinny sticks, but it's something to be aware of.
Displays
As with other Thunderbolt 3 docks, the TBT3-UDV can support up to either a single 5K display over Thunderbolt 3 or two 4K displays using a Thunderbolt 3/USB-C port and the DisplayPort port (potentially with adapters to convert to other standards). Hooking up an LG UltraFine 5K display to the downstream Thunderbolt 3 port worked fine, with the display running at 60 Hz and experiencing no lag or other hiccups.
In addition to the DisplayPort to HDMI 2.0 cable included in the box with the dock, Plugable also sent me two of the company's USB-C cables: the USB-C to DisplayPort and USB-C to HDMI 2.0 cables that have proven popular with customers on Amazon for their quality and pricing (currently $21.95 each).
Plugable's USB-C to DisplayPort (top) and USB-C to HDMI 2.0 (bottom) cables
The cables, which it's important to emphasize are sold separately and not included with the TBT3-UDV dock, expand the number of display options for use with the dock, and can also be used on a standalone basis with USB-C Macs to connect to external displays that don't directly support USB-C.
I tested hooking up to an LG 27UD88 Ultra HD display in a variety of configurations, including direct DisplayPort to DisplayPort connection from the dock, DisplayPort to HDMI via the dock using the included adapter, and USB-C to DisplayPort and HDMI from both the dock and directly from the MacBook Pro using the additional cables supplied by Plugable.
All of the connections to the DisplayPort port on the 27UD88 worked perfectly, running at 60 Hz with no issues. The HDMI connections, however, only ran at 30 Hz by default, despite the fact that everything in the chain should support HDMI 2.0 at 60 Hz.
Plugable was extremely helpful and responsive with troubleshooting, but ultimately the only way to get 60 Hz over HDMI was to force the refresh rate using SwitchResX, and even then it only worked with one of the two HDMI ports on the LG display. Testing with an Anker USB-C to HDMI adapter also required using SwitchResX to reach 60 Hz, so it seems likely my refresh rate problems are related more to the LG display than any issue with Plugable's products, and Plugable is in touch with LG in an attempt to diagnose the issue.
Charging
One important area of difference among the various Thunderbolt 3 docks is the amount of charging power they are able to output over Thunderbolt 3/USB-C to power a connected computer. Some are as low as 15 watts, which won't be nearly enough to power a MacBook Pro. Others are capable of pushing out either 60 or 85 watts, and Plugable's TBT3-UDV comes in at the lower 60-watt figure. That's enough to fully power a 13-inch MacBook Pro, but it won't be able to maximize charging of the larger 15-inch model.
If you're a 15-inch MacBook Pro owner, whether Plugable's dock will be able to provide enough power depends on your usage. In my testing, the 60-watt charging power was able to keep my MacBook Pro battery at 100 percent during an entire work day, but I wasn't doing highly demanding work like processing video.
Those users putting heavy workloads on their 15-inch MacBook Pro models will likely find the battery running down even while plugged in, albeit at a much slower rate than if you were on battery alone. If the work you do is less demanding, 60 watts might be enough to keep your battery topped off. Regardless, if your battery isn't already at full capacity, charging will be slower from the dock than from the MacBook Pro's own 87-watt adapter.
Wrap-up
As I noted up top, the TBT3-UDV isn't yet available for purchase, but Plugable says the pre-release unit I received for review should be identical to the shipping version unless any issues crop up during the final Thunderbolt certification process. Plugable is targeting early October for launch, with pricing set at $249.95 including the DisplayPort to HDMI 2.0 active adapter. It's a competitive price point for such a full-featured dock that's really only lacking the full 85-watt charging power compared to other top-tier docks, with most of those priced in the $300–$350 range.
In addition to the relatively good pricing, the five USB ports offer great flexibility for connecting multiple peripherals like iPhone or Apple Watch charging docks, card readers, external drives, and more, although a bit more spacing between the ports would have been a good idea and a built-in SD card slot like on the OWC dock would have been nice bonus.
The option for vertical or horizontal orientation of the dock is also a nice feature to fit in with a variety of desk setups, and I like the slender vertical design with the separate stand to keep it stable. As a result, the TBT3-UDV looks like it'll be a great option for those considering a Thunderbolt 3 dock, as long as the 60 watts of charging is sufficient for your needs.
Note: Plugable provided the TBT3-UDV and the USB-C cables to MacRumors free of charge for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.
Apple today seeded the tenth beta of an upcoming tvOS 11 update designed for the fourth-generation TV, just under a week after seeding the ninth beta and three months after releasing the first beta during the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference.
Registered developers can download the tvOS 11 update by connecting the Apple TV to a computer with a USB-C cable and installing the beta software using iTunes.
tvOS 11 didn't receive a lot of attention at the Worldwide Developers Conference because it's a modest update, but according to Apple's release notes, it does introduce a few new features to the operating system.
tvOS 11 brings automatic switching between light/dark mode based on local time, Home screen syncing options that keep multiple Apple TVs in a household in sync, new background modes and notification support, Focus API improvements, custom sound support, network-based pairing and development support, improvements to Mobile Device Management, and more.
The tenth beta of tvOS 11 most likely focuses primarily on bug fixes and other small refinements, as the first nine betas did. Apple's new tvOS 11 update is available for both registered developers and public beta testers and will see a public release this fall.
Update: There's a new public beta available (tvOS 11 public beta 9) for public beta testers.
Apple CEO Tim Cook this morning sent out an email to employees following the announcement that United States President Donald Trump will phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program over the course of the next six months. Trump has called on Congress to replace DACA with new legislation by March 5, 2018.
In the email, Cook says Apple will work with members of Congress to advocate for a legislative solution that will continue to protect the children of immigrants, and he says Apple is working with impacted Apple employees to provide support, including access to immigration experts.
Team,
America promises all its people the opportunity to achieve their dreams through hard work and perseverance. At Apple, we've dedicated ourselves to creating products that empower those dreams. And at our best, we aspire to be part of the promise that defines America.
Earlier today, the Justice Department announced that President Trump will cancel the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in six months if Congress does not act to make the program permanent.
I am deeply dismayed that 800,000 Americans -- including more than 250 of our Apple coworkers -- may soon find themselves cast out of the only country they've ever called home.
DACA recognizes that people who arrived in the United States as children should not be punished for being here illegally. It lets these Americans, who have successfully completed rigorous background investigations, go to school, earn a living, support their families, pay taxes and work toward achieving their dreams like the rest of us. They are called Dreamers, and regardless of where they were born, they deserve our respect as equals.
I've received several notes over the weekend from Dreamers within Apple. Some told me they came to the U.S. as young as two years old, while others recounted they don't even remember a time they were not in this country.
Dreamers who work at Apple may have been born in Canada or Mexico, Kenya or Mongolia, but America is the only home they've ever known. They grew up in our cities and towns, and hold degrees from colleges across the country. They now work for Apple in 28 states.
They help customers in our retail stores. They engineer the products people love and they're building Apple's future as part of our R&D teams. They contribute to our company, our economy and our communities just as much as you and I do. Their dreams are our dreams.
I want to assure you that Apple will work with members of Congress from both parties to advocate for a legislative solution that provides permanent protections for all the Dreamers in our country.
We are also working closely with each of our co-workers to provide them and their families the support they need, including the advice of immigration experts.
On behalf of the hundreds of employees at Apple whose futures are at stake; on behalf of their colleagues and on behalf of the millions more across America who believe, as we do, in the power of dreams, we issue an urgent plea for our leaders in Washington to protect the Dreamers so their futures can never be put at risk in this way again.
Despite this setback for our nation, I'm confident that American values will prevail and we will continue our tradition of welcoming immigrants from all nations. I'll do whatever I can to assure this outcome.
Tim
Over the weekend, Cook tweeted that Apple employs 250 "dreamers," aka people who came to the United States at a young age when their undocumented parents immigrated to the country. "I stand with them," said Cook in the tweet. "They deserve our respect as equals and a solution rooted in American values."
Cook and 300 other business leaders also signed an open letter last week urging President Trump to preserve the program or to pass the bipartisan DREAM act or other legislation for a more permanent solution, but it went unheeded.
With DACA suspended, the government will not accept new applications from undocumented immigrants to defer deportation and offer work permits.
While the current 800,000 DACA enrollees are not expected to be immediately impacted and can renew their two-year permits until October 5, if a new solution isn't offered by Congress, people who grew up in the United States and have lived in the country since childhood could face deportation to countries that are essentially foreign to them.
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.
YouTube for iOS is gaining a new feature that will allow iPhone users to stream video directly from their device screen, reports TechCrunch.
This will allow YouTubers to stream iOS games and apps on their iPhones directly to YouTube without having to use the standalone YouTube gaming app.
The screen-streaming feature has been available on Android for some time, but to implement it on iOS, YouTube needed to add support for the Apple ReplayKit API, which it has now done.
In addition to a feature for live streaming what's on the iPhone's screen, YouTube is also gaining lower latency streaming for better creator/watcher chat interactions and improved chat moderation tools.
YouTubers can quickly pause chat with a new keyboard shortcut and they can opt in to an automated chat moderation system that will cause YouTube to flag and hold potentially inappropriate messages until they can be reviewed.
YouTube says its new features are rolling out to users around the world today. The YouTube app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
After announcing the "Smart Writing Set" earlier in February, Moleskine today unveiled the newest product in this line, called simply the "Smart Planner." The new planner will allow users to jot down appointments and reminders within a weekly calendar area of the notebook, which will then be automatically digitized and synced to Apple iCalendar or Google Calendar formats (via TechCrunch).
Moleskine's Smart Writing products work with the help of an invisible grid, made with Ncode technology, that enables the connected Moleskine Pen+ device to recognize where it is on the page and within the notebook. Previous devices in the Smart Writing Set would sync hand-written notes from a paper tablet into the Moleskine Notes app, but the company's new Smart Planner is one of the first to introduce direct calendar syncing compatibility.
Like other Livescribe systems, the Smart Planner as it’s called uses paper embedded with sensors that can read and sync anything written by the Moleskine Pen+. Meetings and appointments written on the planner part of the paper are synced automatically to the user’s Google or Apple account and placed appropriately on their calendar.
TechCrunch explained that when users write down meetings and appointments within the planner part of the paper, the notebook and Pen+ intelligently recognize the text as a calendar appointment, and convert it into an entry on the correct date in the user's chosen calendar app. This requires both the planner and Pen+, and Moleskine said it will begin selling a set of the new Smart Planner on September 12 for $199. If users already have a pen, they can buy just the Smart Planner for $29.
Apple has announced that its newest retail store will be opening on Saturday, September 16 within the shopping district known as Tianyi Square, located in Ningbo, in the Zhejiang province of China. As with all Apple retail grand openings, Apple Tianyi Square will open at 10:00 am local time.
Under the leadership of Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts, the company began aggressively expanding its retail footprint in China over the last few years. In January 2015, Ahrendts said that Apple's goal was to open 40 stores in the Greater China region within two years, which it eventually accomplished ahead of schedule in June 2016.
Earlier this year, Apple Stores worldwide debuted a new "Today at Apple" program that introduced various classes and activities for visitors to take part in, each one focusing on a particular Apple software or hardware product. The company's new stores also feature a next-generation design, putting an emphasis on community and the new Today at Apple programs with areas for these sessions separated from the retail portion of the stores.
The team behind the popular Pixelmator photo editing app for iOS and Mac today announced plans to unveil an all new pro-level app, Pixelmator Pro.
According to the Pixelmator Pro teaser site, the new software features a reimagined editing workflow, simplified editing tools, and intelligent image editing features powered by machine learning.
Pixelmator Pro is a powerful, beautiful, and easy to use image editor. Featuring an elegant and streamlined single-window interface, it puts all the focus on the images you edit, rather than what's around them. And with a design that is totally and completely Mac, it feels instantly familiar from the moment you first open the app. So image editing becomes simpler and more enjoyable than ever.
Pixelmator Pro takes advantage of the new Core ML framework built into macOS High Sierra to provide features like automatic layer naming based on layer content, automatic horizon detection, an improved repair tool for removing objects from photos effortlessly, and a quick selection tool that's better than ever.
The interface includes tools designed to make it easy to resize and rearrange layers, with a nondestructive Arrange Tool, smart spacing guides, and advanced alignment tools for aligning several objects with a click, plus there's a new painting engine powered by Metal 2 and dynamic paint blending technology.
Nondestructive color adjustment tools let you edit the colors in photos, there are a selection of effects that can be added to each layer and combined in Recipes, and there are shape tools, drawing tools, layer styles, and more. All in all, Pixelmator Pro includes more than 40 tools to work with.
Pixelmator Pro will be available sometime this fall. Prospective customers can sign up to get an email when the software launches on the Pixelmator Pro website.
New photos of an alleged iPhone part leak appeared online this morning offering another possible indication that Apple's upcoming 2017 range of iPhones will be available in just three colors. The images were shared by Benjamin Geskin and depict two iPhone SIM card trays in gold and silver, purportedly destined for Apple's so-called "iPhone 8".
Geskin's tweet refers to previous rumors suggesting Apple will offer the "iPhone 8" – as well its companion devices, the iPhone 7s and the iPhone 7s Plus – in silver, gold, and black (not shown).
The three colors were first mentioned in early August by notable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and appeared to line up with dummy model images that were circulating at the time, albeit with a question mark remaining over the copper-tinged appearance of the gold model, described by the dummy leaker as "champagne gold".
A couple of weeks later, Geskin claimed the internal name for the unusual-looking color was "Blush Gold" and offered his own OLED iPhone render to give an idea of its appearance.
Following today's emergence of sim tray photos, Geskin later shared another comped image offering a comparison of the copper-like tint compared to previous gold iPhone options.
The new color has divided observers, with some calling it the "Zune option", referring to Microsoft's much-maligned brown music player. Still, it's hard to know for sure how the so-called "Blush Gold" color will appear in natural light, if indeed Apple plans to offer it instead of its traditional Rose Gold or Gold colors.
Apple reportedly has booked production capacity for "above 12-megapixel" camera lens modules at a new factory being built by smartphone lens maker Largan Precision in Taichung, Taiwan, according to DigiTimes.
The report, citing "market rumors," claims Largan is the only supplier that can meet Apple's minimum yield rate. The new factory is reportedly designed to accommodate monthly production of 600 million lens modules.
Largan will allegedly start production in October 2017, suggesting the camera lens modules could be destined for future iPhone models released in 2018 or later, rather than the so-called iPhone 8 this fall.
It is widely rumored that the iPhone 8 will have a vertically-aligned dual-lens rear camera, with optical image stabilization for both the wide-angle and telephoto lenses, but no credible rumors have surfaced about its quality.
Apple improves its iPhone cameras each year, so an increased megapixel count of some kind is certainly still possible this year.
Apple's latest iPhone and iPad models, including the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, 10.5-inch iPad Pro, and 12.9-inch iPad Pro, are all equipped with 12-megapixel rear-facing cameras and 7-megapixel front-facing cameras.
Keep in mind that megapixels don't always matter, as even a TV or monitor with 4K Ultra HD resolution of 3,840×2,160 pixels only has roughly 8.3 megapixels, which isn't enough to display a 12-megapixel photo at full resolution.
Nevertheless, if this rumor is accurate, then perhaps we'll see an iPhone with a 16- or 18-megapixel rear camera or higher in the future.
Apple Music Festival, known as iTunes Festival prior to 2015, was a free annual concert series that saw big name artists and bands like Elton John, Coldplay, Justin Timberlake, Ozzy Osbourne, Florence + The Machine, Pharrell Williams, and Usher performing at the Roundhouse in London, England.
Other notable performers over the festival's ten-year history included Amy Winehouse, John Legend, Snow Patrol, David Guetta, Paul Simon, Calvin Harris, Ellie Goulding, Jack Johnson, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Linkin Park, Arctic Monkeys, Paramore, Alicia Keys, Adele, Bruno Mars, Kings of Leon, and Ed Sheeran.
Roundhouse appears to have been sending out emails already that confirm Apple Music Festival will not be hosted in 2017.
Apple Music Festival performances were broadcast live and on-demand through Apple Music since 2015. U.K. residents could apply to win tickets to the Apple Music Festival on Apple Music and through various media partners.
Apple didn't provide a reason for ending the annual music festival, and it didn't comment on the possibility of it returning in 2018 and beyond.
Beats Studio3 Wireless deliver up to 22 hours of battery life with Pure ANC on, and up to 40 hours with Pure ANC off. Fast Fuel quick charging technology via Micro-USB provides three hours of music playback with a 10-minute charge.
Here's how Beats describes Pure ANC:
This groundbreaking new technology uses advanced algorithms to continuously monitor your listening environment, so that it can best block out ambient noise—not only on an airplane, but also in a noisy café or a busy office. Pure ANC also evaluates fit and adjusts for leakage caused by hair, glasses, different ear shapes and movement of your head as you go about the day. Additionally, Pure ANC simultaneously checks what you’re hearing while noise canceling is applied against the original music content to adjust and ensure optimal audio fidelity. What’s remarkable is that Pure ANC’s real-time audio calibration operates up to 50,000 times a second.
Like AirPods, Apple's W1 chip enables the Studio3 Wireless to instantly pair with an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or other Apple device, with seamless switching between iCloud-connected devices.
Apple's W1 chip has Class 1 Bluetooth, so the Studio3 Wireless can be used with non-Apple devices as well.
Studio3 Wireless wearers can answer phone calls, control music, and activate Siri with multifunction on-ear controls, while a 3.5mm RemoteTalk cable with in-line controls is also included in the carrying case.
Beats Studio3 Wireless can be ordered on Apple's website starting today for $349.95 in the United States, $399.95 in Canada, and £299.95 in the UK. Prices vary elsewhere. Shipments are estimated to begin in mid October.
The headphones look virtually the same as the original Beats Studio Wireless, including soft over-ear cushions. There are six colors to choose from: Red, Matte Black, White, Porcelain Rose, Blue, and Shadow Gray.
Apple's AirPods have dominated the "truly wireless" earphones market in the U.S. since launching in December, according to new market research conducted by NPD Group. The industry analyst's Retail Tracking Service found that AirPods accounted for 85 percent of over 900,000 wireless earbuds sold since the start of the year.
Apple's success in the emerging market was put down to brand resonance, disruptive pricing, and excitement over the AirPods' W1 chip, which significantly improves the Bluetooth connection and facilitates transfers between different devices. "With a use case centering on frictionless access to Siri and other tasks initiated by voice, AirPods really act as an extension of the iPhone," said NPD executive director Ben Arnold, calling Apple's wireless earbuds "a computing device for the ear".
Apple's early domination of the category will continue to challenge competing brands entering the totally wireless market. New entrants will have to provide some differentiation in features, sound quality, or associated services and applications in order to stand out. Consumer reception of wireless earbuds is still forming, even as their use case continues to evolve. As Alexa skills and other voice-first content diversifies, headphones, including totally wireless earbuds, are the leading candidate to be the next piece of hardware to drive digital assistant adoption.
Standout competing brands cited by NPD Group included Samsung’s "headphones-slash-fitness tracker", IconX, which features an optical heart rate tracker and 4GB of memory for music storage, and The Dash from Bragi, featuring an ARM Cortex M4 CPU, as well as 27 sensors designed to detect movement and voice input.
"For these products, audio quality remains important, but takes a backseat to new capabilities added on top of the sound experience," said Arnold. "With this in mind, it's not hard to imagine a collection of mobile apps optimized for a voice interface similar to the growing ecosystem of Alexa skills."
Apple's Siri is set to gain enhancements with the launch of iOS 11, which could make the company's AirPods an even more attractive proposition going into the holiday season. For the first time, the virtual assistant will sync what it learns about a user across their devices, and will also be able to perform translations from English to five languages, including Chinese and French.
Apple recently improved its shipping estimates from six weeks down to two to three weeks in many countries, after months of struggling to cater to demand. During Apple's third quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said AirPods capacity had been bumped up and that the company was "working very hard" to get AirPods to customers as quickly as possible.
Hugely popular third-party YouTube app "ProTube" was quietly removed from the App Store by Apple last week. Apple's decision to pull the app followed several takedown requests from Google that were received by the app's developer.
ProTube was hailed by users during its three-year reign for several features either not available in the official YouTube app or not offered by other third-party apps, such as the ability to play videos in 4K at 60 frames per second, background playback, and an audio-only mode. Over its lifetime, the $5 app reached number 1 in the paid app charts in 11 different countries and the top 10 in 57 countries.
In a statement on his website, developer Jonas Gessner said he was "very sad to announce that ProTube was removed from the App Store by Apple on September 1, 2017". The action reportedly came "after multiple requests and threats by YouTube which ultimately led Apple to suddenly pulling the app from the App Store", said Gessner.
YouTube first requested Apple to remove my app well over a year ago, initially just stating that my app violates their Terms of Service. This was a generic takedown request they sent to many YouTube apps at once. They later started going into more detail, even stating that I could not sell the app as that alone violates their ToS. They basically wanted me to remove every feature that made ProTube what it is – that includes the player itself that allows you to play 60fps videos, background playback, audio only mode and more.
Without those features ProTube would not be any better than YouTube's own app, and that is exactly what they want to achieve. YouTube wants to sell its $10/month [YouTube Red] subscription service which offers many features that ProTube also offered for a lower one time price, so they started hunting down 3rd party YouTube apps on the App Store.
Gessner said he initially considered several options to end the dispute with YouTube, including removing all the contested features and making the app free, but ultimately he decided against this because "everyone who paid for ProTube's standout features would suddenly get an app update that removes all those features, resulting in a useless app".
The developer also tried to negotiate with YouTube to come to some sort of agreement, but found the process "very difficult" and claimed he was unable to get a direct response to his questions. After threats of legal action, "I knew that getting sued could cost me more than I ever made with ProTube," he said.
"While it is absolutely awful seeing ProTube getting pulled from the App Store, it was the best solution when it comes to the users that already purchased the app," admitted Gessner. "I was getting screwed either way but I at least didn't want to screw my users."
Many other third-party YouTube apps on the App Store have been targeted by YouTube with takedown requests, according to the developer, who signed off by thanking ProTube's "big and passionate fanbase" and warning people not to be taken in by the fake ProTube apps that have appeared on the App Store since it was first released.
Encrypted chat platform Telegram pushed out a new iOS app update on Sunday, with a new reply/mentions alert system among several other tweaks and improvements.
Since 2015 when Telegram first introduced the reply feature, the maximum group chat size has increased from a maximum 200 members to 10,000. As a result, new user mentions and replies in group chats can happen several times a day.
To help users stay on top of these messages, Telegram 4.3 has introduced a new in-app notification badge. Now, whenever someone replies to a user or mentions them in a group, an "@" symbol appears in the chats list. A tap on the new "@" button takes the user to the new replies/mentions and disappears once all the relevant messages have been read.
Elsewhere, the "Invite Friends" section in Contacts has been completely redesigned. Going forward, contacts that are not on Telegram yet but have many friends using it are now listed at the top, making it easier to invite them to the chat platform.
Twitch videos are now supported in the Telegram in-app player, so it's now possible to watch Twitch streams in Picture-in-Picture mode while chatting with friends. And when on a Telegram voice call, users can check the signal strength using the new indicator. It's also now possible to edit any photo pasted directly to a chat from clipboard before sending.
For those who use stickers in Telegram, anyone with five or more sticker sets installed can now mark individual stickers as "favorites" and have them always accessible at the top of the sticker panel in the "star" section. And large groups with 100 members and more can now choose an official sticker set for all the members of the group to see and use while they're chatting in the group, without having to add it to their panels.
Lastly, users can now switch between "This Chat" and "All Chats" when conducting a hashtag search, and when viewing Instant View pages in the app, it's now possible to open the original articles in Safari.
Telegram is a free download for iPhone and iPad from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Surtees Studios recently announced it has released a public beta of Bartender 3 for testing on macOS High Sierra and macOS Sierra. It's a free update available within Bartender 2, which costs $15 after a free four-week trial.
The popular tool for rearranging or hiding Mac menu bar items has been completely rewritten in Swift, according to the release notes.
Bartender 3 also no longer requires the Bartender Helper to be installed in menu bar apps in order to control them. As a result, Bartender is no longer able to display the Bartender Bar beneath the menu bar—only within it.
The change was necessary since, in macOS High Sierra, Apple has apparently tightened its System Integrity Protection security feature, preventing system items like Spotlight search from being controlled by Bartender 2.
iStat Menus 5 was also recently updated with improved support for macOS High Sierra and MacBook Pro, MacBook, and iMac models released in 2017.
The popular Mac system monitor also gained improved per-process network monitoring, improved per-process memory monitoring in OS X El Capitan and macOS Sierra, improved Bluetooth battery monitoring, and improved disk monitoring performance, plus a fix for an issue with the sun position in light map.
iStat Menus is built into the macOS menu bar, providing power users with convenient access to system information, such as CPU and GPU usage, memory stats, fan speeds, temperatures, disk usage, and battery life.
iStat Menus 5 is $18 on developer Bjango's website, with a free 14-day trial available. The latest update is version 5.32.
Apple CEO Tim Cook on Sunday tweeted that Apple employs 250 so-called "dreamers," or individuals who were brought to the United States at a young age when their parents or guardians illegally immigrated to the country.
"I stand with them," said Cook. "They deserve our respect as equals and a solution rooted in American values."
250 of my Apple coworkers are #Dreamers. I stand with them. They deserve our respect as equals and a solution rooted in American values.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) September 3, 2017
Cook's tweet comes shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce whether he will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration program as he promised.
Last week, Cook and around 300 other business leaders signed an open letter urging Trump to preserve the program, and to pass the bipartisan DREAM Act or similar legislation as a permanent solution.
DACA allows many illegal immigrants who entered the United States at age 16 or under to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation, and eligibility for a work permit in the country. The program was created by way of an executive order signed by former President Barack Obama in 2012.
Trump vowed to end DACA during his presidential campaign, but he later admitted it would be a tough decision. Trump said young individuals enrolled in the program will be treated with "great heart."
If the program is ended, nearly 800,000 undocumented young individuals that fall under its protections would have the right to work legally until their two-year work permits expire, according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
"Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), also known as work permits, are generally valid until they expire or the government demands they be returned," it said in an advisory posted to its website last week.
It's unclear if U.S. immigration authorities would then target those individuals for deportation, but it's certainly the feared outcome among those protected. Trump's decision is expected to be announced by Tuesday.
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.
The sixth-generation iPod nano is officially obsolete, meaning Apple will no longer repair or service the portable media player.
Apple added the sixth-generation iPod nano to its internal vintage and obsolete products list on August 30, according to a memo distributed to Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers seen by MacRumors.
Apple repairs and services products for up to five years after they are no longer manufactured. The sixth-generation iPod nano was released in September 2010 and discontinued in September 2012.
As required by statute, sixth-generation iPod nano owners in California may still obtain service from Apple Stores or by contacting AppleCare at 1-800-APL-CARE. The extended coverage period will likely end in September 2019.
The sixth-generation iPod nano was notable for its square-shaped design. A number of third-party straps and accessories were released that essentially turned the device into a very early version of the Apple Watch.
Unlike the fifth-generation iPod nano, the sixth-generation model lacked a click wheel, video camera, and speaker. Instead, it had a touchscreen and adopted the iPod shuffle's clip to make it wearable on the go.
Apple CEO Tim Cook this morning sent out an email to employees following the announcement that United States President Donald Trump 
