MacRumors

Apple has discounted its BeatsX, Solo3 Wireless, and Powerbeats3 Wireless headphones by $40 to $60 for a limited time in the United States.

• BeatsX — $149.95, now $99.95
  

• Beats Solo3 Wireless — $299.95, now $239.95
  

• Beats Powerbeats3 Wireless — $199.95, now $159.95

Apple's discount on Beats Solo3 Wireless headphones also applies to the newer "Neighborhood Collection" colors.

Apple's BeatsX deal matches some other retailers, but Amazon and Best Buy each have better deals on the Powerbeats3 Wireless and Solo3 Wireless, with the products on sale for as low as $134.99 and $199.99 respectively.

Like AirPods, the BeatsX, Solo3 Wireless, and Powerbeats3 Wireless are equipped with Apple's W1 chip for instant pairing with an iPhone. They can then simultaneously connect to an Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac via iCloud.

All three headphones feature Fast Fuel. Five minutes of charging provides up to three hours of playback for the Solo3 Wireless, two hours of playback for the BeatsX, and an hour of playback for the Powerbeats3 Wireless.

Apple's special Beats prices are available in the United States only for a limited time.

Disclaimer: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and Best Buy and may get paid if you click one of the above links and make a purchase.

With DirecTV Now's latest offer, if you sign up for four months of the streaming TV service at an upfront cost of around $140, you'll get the 32GB Apple TV 4K at no cost. DirecTV Now starts at $35/month for the "Live a Little" package, which adds up to $140 for four months of service (without any additions like HBO or Showtime). Higher tiers increase to $50/month, $60/month, and $70/month with more channels added to each.

If you opt for the lowest tier, you can get Apple's latest Apple TV 4K device for just $140, which is $40 cheaper than its traditional price point of $180 at Apple and other retailers. If you take advantage of the savings and eventually decide you don't want to continue paying for DirecTV Now, you can cancel the service at any time on the company's website.

The sale is for new customers signing up to DirecTV Now, but existing subscribers can likely use another email and credit card combination to get the Apple TV 4K at no cost. The offer will last through the end of 2017, requires a credit card or PayPal payment, and will see the Apple TV 4K delivered in around three weeks from the order date.

Here's more of the fine print, which also mentions that DirecTV Now does not currently support 4K HDR content streaming:

4K Apple TV (32 GB): Must prepay first four months of service at full price. Non-refundable. Online orders will be shipped via FedEx ground to address provided at point of sale. Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. Offer limited to 1 per DIRECTV NOW account; 2 per household. Not combinable with select offers. 4k HD not avail. w/DIRECTV NOW.

To get started, visit DirecTV Now's website, click "Redeem and Stream," and within the sign-up process you'll encounter the "Special Offer" section with mention of the Apple TV 4K deal. When you're done, be sure to head over to our Deals Roundup and Black Friday Roundup to catch up on all of the latest sales as we head into Black Friday.

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

Update: DirecTV Now has sweetened the deal, so head over to our more recent post for the latest information.

Spotify updated its iOS app today with support for iPhone X, exactly two weeks since Apple's latest smartphone launched. The update removes the letterboxing of Spotify's interface on the iPhone X's 5.8-inch OLED display, which should come as welcome news to heavy users of the app, allowing them to see more of track lists and search results on the screen, and more artwork when browsing albums and playlists.

Apple was naturally quick to publish human interface guidelines for developers coding iPhone X apps. The documentation explains the changes that need to be made to ensure apps make the most of the additional space. At the same time, the guidance warns developers away from encroaching on certain areas of the screen, including the rounded corners, sensor housing, and indicator for accessing the Home screen.

Spotify is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Apple today reminded developers to update their Apple Watch apps to take advantage of features introduced in watchOS 4 and Apple Watch Series 3, like increased performance, new background modes for navigation and audio recording, direct connections to Core Bluetooth, and more.

Apple also announced that starting on April 1, 2018, updates to watchOS 1 apps will no longer be accepted. All updates must be native apps built with the watchOS 2 SDK or later. Newly submitted watchOS apps should be built with the watchOS 4 SDK or later.

Apple first began requiring new apps to use the watchOS 2 SDK in June of 2016, and now that will also apply to app updates that are submitted. watchOS 1 apps that are not rebuilt using watchOS 2 SDKs or later will no longer be able to be updated after the April 2018 deadline.

Apps built with the native support features that were first introduced in watchOS 2 are able to run more quickly and operate more smoothly on the Apple Watch.

Apple Maps vehicles will begin surveying Croatia and Portugal for the first time in a few weeks from now, according to Apple's updated list of locations.

In Croatia, the Apple Maps vehicles will be in Split-Dalmatia County and Šibenik-Knin County beginning November 20. The vehicles will begin surveying the Alentejo region of Portugal starting December 4.

Since 2015, Apple has been driving vehicles around the world to collect data for Apple Maps. The vehicles have surveyed over 35 states in the United States, in addition to parts of France, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

Apple said it will blur faces and license plates on collected images prior to publication, suggesting that it could be working on adding a Street View feature to Apple Maps, similar to what Google Maps has offered for several years.

When Apple's fleet of vans first hit the streets, speculation arose about the vehicles serving as the basis of an Apple Car. But those rumors quieted down after the vans were later labeled with Apple Maps decals.

Some industry observers still believe the vans are at least partially related to Apple's autonomous driving project, but the evidence is inconclusive.

Facebook today announced the launch of a new "Facebook Creator" app and accompanying website, both of which are designed for people who want to create videos.

Facebook Creator sounds similar to the tools available on YouTube. It is described as a "one stop shop for creators of all kinds," allowing users to create original video, stream live video, and connect with their community on Facebook.

Creator is actually a rebranding of the existing Mentions app, which was something that was previously only available to verified public figures. With the revamp, the app is available to all users.

The app includes a Live Creative Kit, with tools that Facebook says are meant to make it easy to create live broadcasts with a personalized feel. There's an option to create and add intros and outros to live broadcasts, custom live stickers, graphic frames, and more.

With the Community Tab, video makers can connect with their fans and collaborators with a unified inbox that includes comments from Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.

A Camera & Stories section lets content creators add "fun camera effects and frames" to videos, and it also allows videos to be crossposted to other social networking platforms. Finally, an Insights option provides content creators with metrics to allow them to custom tailor their videos to meet fan demand.

The accompanying Facebook for Creators website includes tutorials to "make content shine," answers to creator-specific questions, and a community of creators to interact with.

Facebook Creator is launching globally today on iOS devices, and while the app is still showing up as Facebook Mentions, it should be updated soon. [Direct Link]

Dick's Sporting Goods has discounted the aluminum Apple Watch Nike+ Series 2 by about 33 percent today, marking a notably low price point for the second-generation device ahead of Black Friday. The deal is part of the retailer's holiday flash sale, with 38mm aluminum cases priced at $243.98 while 42mm aluminum cases are at $273.98. There were non-Nike+ models on sale, but most have now gone out of stock.

Visit Dick's Sporting Goods' website here to check out all of the models on sale, which as of writing include a few colorways of the Apple Watch Nike+ in 38mm and one version of the 42mm. The flash sale ends tonight at 10 p.m. ET, or while supplies last, so be sure to take advantage of the deal quickly if you're interested.

This is the latest price drop for Series 2 devices this fall, with the last major sale hitting Best Buy with 38mm cases at $270 and 42mm cases at $300 -- a deal that's still going on today. While Series 2 models lack the LTE capabilities and faster processing speeds of the latest Series 3 device, last year's edition is still a reliable investment and could be a cost-cutting gift alternative for those looking to save some money over the holidays.

In regards to upcoming Black Friday deals on the Series 2 models, we haven't yet heard anything specific, but there will likely be some discounts at the major resellers and retail locations. A notable discount for the Apple Watch Series 1 has been confirmed, however, with these devices starting as low as $179.99 at Target and Macy's on Black Friday. Visit our Black Friday Roundup for information on Apple Watch sales and more coming next week.

For other sales happening now ahead of the shopping holiday next week, head over to our full Deals Roundup.

Apple today sent out an Apple Pay email to customers, highlighting a Postmates deal. If you use Apple Pay to sign up for the Postmates Unlimited service, you can get free delivery through the end of the year on all orders over $20 without paying the $9.99 per month fee.

Postmates Unlimited is a subscription service that allows customers to get free delivery from any merchant in their city on orders over $20, essentially doing away with delivery fees. The Postmates Unlimited service costs $9.99 per month, though, and it does not do away with other service fees or the need to tip.

If you're a frequent Postmates customer, it's potentially worth the $9.99 per month because delivery fees can add up, especially from merchants that are not located nearby.

Customers will need to sign up for the deal by November 23 to get free shipments for the rest of 2017. Postmates previously offered a similar Unlimited trial, but the company says it has been extended for all customers using Apple Pay.

Special announcement: Just in time for the holidays, we've extended the Unlimited trial for customers using Apple Pay. Sign up before Nov 23rd and your subscription will be free for all of 2017. That means all orders over $20 have no delivery fee.

This appears to be one of the first Apple Pay emails Apple has sent out to customers. Apple also highlights several locations that accept Apple Pay, including Trader Joe's, Pizza Hut, and Crate & Barrel, along with the Jet, Etsy, and Macy's apps.

Apple today published a new entry in its online Machine Learning Journal, this time covering an on-device deep neural network for face detection, aka the technology that's used to power the facial recognition feature used in Photos and other apps.

Facial detection features were first introduced as part of iOS 10 in the Core Image framework, and it was used on-device to detect faces in photos so people could view their images by person in the Photos app.

Implementing this technology was no small feat, says Apple, as it required "orders of magnitude more memory, much more disk storage, and more computational resources."

Apple's iCloud Photo Library is a cloud-based solution for photo and video storage. However, due to Apple's strong commitment to user privacy, we couldn't use iCloud servers for computer vision computations. Every photo and video sent to iCloud Photo Library is encrypted on the device before it is sent to cloud storage, and can only be decrypted by devices that are registered with the iCloud account. Therefore, to bring deep learning based computer vision solutions to our customers, we had to address directly the challenges of getting deep learning algorithms running on iPhone.

Apple's Machine Learning Journal entry describes how Apple overcame these challenges by leveraging GPU and CPU in iOS devices, developing memory optimizations for network interference, image loading, and caching, and implementing the network in a way that did not interfere with other tasks expected on iPhone.

The new entry is well worth reading if you're interested in the specific details behind how Apple overcame these challenges to successfully implemented the feature. The technical details are dense, but understandable, and it provides some interesting insight into how facial recognition works.

With its Machine Learning Journal, Apple aims to share the complex concepts behind its technology so the users of its products can get a look behind the curtain. It also serves as a way for Apple's engineers to participate in the AI community.

Apple has previously shared several articles on Siri, including how "Hey Siri," works, and a piece on using machine learning and neural networks for refining synthetic images.