Following the release of iOS 10.3.1 on April 3, Apple has stopped signing iOS 10.2.1 and iOS 10.3, earlier versions of iOS that were previously available to consumers before the latest update was released.
Customers who have upgraded to iOS 10.3.1 will no longer be able to downgrade their devices to iOS 10.2.1 or iOS 10.3.
Apple routinely stops signing older versions of software updates after new releases come out in order to encourage customers to stay up to date.
iOS 10.3.1 is now the only version of iOS 10 that can be installed on iOS devices by the general public, but developers and public beta testers can also download iOS 10.3.2, a future update that is currently being beta tested.
Full smartphone use on commercial flights will continue to be disallowed, according to a proposal issued today by United States Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai. Pai wants to terminate 2013 proceedings that aimed to relax the rules prohibiting passengers from using their cellular phones for phone calls and data while in the air.
In a statement [PDF], Pai called the FCC's plan "ill-conceived" and said that tabling it permanently would be a "victory for Americans across the country."
"I stand with airline pilots, flight attendants, and America's flying public against the FCC's ill-conceived 2013 plan to allow people to make cellphone calls on planes. I do not believe that moving forward with this plan is in the public interest. Taking it off the table permanently will be a victory for Americans across the country who, like me, value a moment of quiet at 30,000 feet."
Back in late 2013, The FCC announced plans to introduce a proposal that would allow passengers to use their cellular phones on airplanes during flight for making phone calls and browsing the web. The proposal went forward, despite protests from flight attendants, airlines, consumer groups, and pilots, leading the Department of Transportation to announce plans to consider banning calls if the FCC approved the measure.
Since then, the FCC has been investigating the safety of allowing cellphone service on planes, and the proposal has not moved forward. With Pai aiming to nix it completely, it sounds like cellphone usage while in flight, including data usage for web browsing and making voice calls, will continue to be banned.
Under the FCC's existing rules, which were updated in 2013, passengers can use personal devices like iPhones and iPads throughout their flights, but cellular service must be disabled through Airplane Mode.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.5 update to developers, nearly two weeks after seeding the first beta and two weeks after releasing macOS Sierra 10.12.4, which introduced Night Shift for the Mac.
macOS Sierra 10.12.5 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.
According to the release notes accompanying the beta, the update "improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac."
Because Apple's release notes don't often provide much insight into what's included in new beta software, we don't yet know what features or bug fixes might be included in 10.12.5.
Nothing notable was discovered in the first beta, but should new features be discovered in the second macOS Sierra 10.12.5 beta, we'll update this post.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 3.2.2 update to developers for testing purposes, nearly two weeks after seeding the first watchOS 3.2.2 beta and two weeks after the release of watchOS 3.2, which introduced Theater Mode.
The second beta of watchOS 3.2.2 can be downloaded through the Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software Update. To install the update, the Apple Watch must have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the iPhone.
watchOS betas require an iPhone running iOS 10 to install, and they're only available to developers because there's no way to downgrade the software on an Apple Watch.
It's not yet clear if watchOS 3.2.2 introduces any new features or bug fixes because Apple doesn't typically provide release notes for betas.
Given that this is a minor 3.x.x update, it's likely to focus primarily on bug fixes. No notable features were found in the first watchOS 3.2.2 update, but we'll update this post should anything new be discovered.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 10.2.1 update to developers for testing purposes, nearly two weeks after seeding the first 10.2.1 beta and two weeks after releasing tvOS 10.2, an update that included improve scrolling and iPad support for the Apple TV Remote app.
The tvOS 10.2.1 beta is designed for the fourth-generation Apple TV. It can be downloaded by connecting the Apple TV to a computer with a USB-C cable and installing the beta software from a registered developer account using iTunes.
Because of the tricky installation requirements, tvOS betas are limited to developers. tvOS 10.2.1 will not be available to the public until the final version of the software launches.
Apple does not typically provide detailed beta release notes, so we don't yet know what's included in tvOS 10.2.1. It's likely to focus primarily on bug fixes, security enhancements, and performance improvements, so we may not know what's new until the software sees an official release.
No notable changes were found in the first tvOS 10.2.1 beta, but should anything new popup in the second beta, we'll update this post.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming iOS 10.3.2 update to developers, nearly two weeks after seeding the first iOS 10.3.2 beta and two weeks after introducing iOS 10.3, which included features like a new Find My AirPods feature and Apple File System. Apple has also released a minor iOS 10.3.1 update, which focused on security improvements.
Registered developers can download the second iOS 10.3.2 beta from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air with the proper configuration profile installed.
We don't yet know what features or improvements are coming in iOS 10.3.2 as Apple doesn't offer detailed release notes and nothing notable was discovered in the first iOS 10.3.2 update.
As a minor 10.x.x update, we can expect iOS 10.3.2 to offer bug fixes and performance improvements rather than outward-facing features. Apple has said that the update fixes SiriKit car commands, which should be working as expected.
If we find anything new in the second iOS 10.3.2 beta, we'll update this post.
Apple has secured a lease at the Antara Fashion Hall shopping center in Mexico City, where it will open a new flagship retail store, according to a person familiar with the matter. The store's design will be similar to Apple's multi-level World Trade Center location in New York City, the person said.
Antara Fashion Hall will mark Apple's second retail location in Mexico after opening its Via Santa Fe store last year, also in Mexico City.
Elsewhere in Latin America, Apple will soon decide whether to open two additional stores in Brazil, potentially including a flagship store in São Paulo, according to our source. Apple is also said to be exploring leases for its first store in Argentina, which is expected to open by the end of 2018.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Apple continues to revamp a number of its older retail locations. Apple said its Burlington, Massachusetts store will be temporarily closed for renovations starting April 23, while GeekWire recently uncovered plans for a new University Village store in Seattle.
MacRumors has also received unconfirmed tips about Apple's plans to relocate its stores at Valley Fair in Santa Clara, CA and Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL. Apple now has over 35 next-generation Apple Stores in the United States, including its newly reopened Woodland Mall store in Grand Rapids, MI.
Developer Mojang today announced that Minecraft players on iOS, Android, and Windows 10 will soon be able to browse an all-new "Marketplace," where they'll find skins, mini-games, textures, and worlds designed by other players, creators, and community members. The company said this marks the first time players will be able to download and play community creations directly from within Minecraft itself.
Not everyone will be able to post creations and sell them on Marketplace, however, as Mojang first requires creators "with a registered business" to submit an application to be included on the store. At launch, well-known Minecraft creators on Marketplace will include Noxcrew, BlockWorks, Qwertyuiop The Pie, Blockception, Sphax, Eneija Silverleaf, Imagiverse, Polymaps and Razzleberry Fox. Mojang said that the update will give creators another source of income from the game.
The idea is to give Minecraft creators another way to make a living from the game, allowing them to support themselves in the creation of ever-greater projects, while giving Pocket and Windows 10 players access to a growing catalogue of fun stuff - curated and supplied by us, safely and simply. And, of course, you can still manually download free community creations you’ve found out there on the internet, too.
Marketplace will include a new currency called "Minecraft Coins," which users will obtain through in-app purchases on iOS. This will allow creators to choose flexible prices "and take their share of what they sell," according to Mojang. The company took into account Apple's 30 percent cut from IAPs, saying that creators will "get the majority" of the profit after Apple -- and the other app store platform owners -- take their cut.
Items and content purchased in Marketplace will sync across every version of Minecraft that users have logged into their Xbox Live account on. Mojang mentioned that it's in talks with platform partners, like Apple, to figure out how to ensure all of a user's content syncs across multiple company ecosystems.
Marketplace will be part of The Discovery Update, which Mojang intends to launch later this spring. Before it debuts, Marketplace will see a beta test run on Android devices in mid-April as a way to test the functionality of Minecraft Coins, and the developer is asking users to leave feedback on all the news on its website.
Living Computers: Museum + Labs in Seattle, which is dedicated to showcasing the history of computing devices from around the world, is this Friday opening up a wing focused on all things Apple. Called the "Apple Computer Exhibit," visitors will be able to walk through the first two decades of Apple's products and advances in technology, ranging specifically from 1976 to 1999 (via GeekWire).
The prototype Apple 1 computer on display
The exhibit will house what Living Computers executive director Lāth Carlson described as "the most important computer in history," a prototype Apple I that sat in Steve Jobs' office and was used as a demo model in the early years of the company. Visitors will be able to interact with an Apple 1, although it'll be a different version than the Jobs machine, while also viewing Apple computers like the Apple II, IIe, IIc, Apple III, Lisa, and various Macintosh computers.
Although Carlson admitted that Jobs' Apple 1 is “also the most boring to look at," its importance has earned it a spot as the centerpiece of the new exhibit.
“About 200 of these were made, around 70 are known to have survived, and around seven are operable,” Carlson told GeekWire while showing off the museum’s working 1976 Apple I. “We’re going to be running Steve Wozniak’s version of BASIC that he wrote on it.”
The exhibit includes details about Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto, the original $666.66 price point for the Apple I, and "much more." A point of focus in the new exhibit is Apple's early connection with Microsoft, and the museum itself was founded by Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates.
“We’ve always actually had a fairly significant Apple collection, and we’ve always had Apples on display,” Carlson said. “I think people a lot of times come here and are a little surprised to see that. They associate us with Paul Allen, with Microsoft. And a lot of times people don’t realize Microsoft provided a lot of the early software and hardware for Apple, and continued to over the years. When Steve Jobs went back to Apple, there was a significant investment by Microsoft — $150 million — to keep the company basically going. And they agreed to keep providing Office for Macs.”
The Apple 1 in question is said to have been used by Jobs and Apple’s first investor, Mike Markkula, as a modified version of the basic computer that the company used to take on the road and showcase its capabilities to potential investors. The machine was left behind by Jobs when he left Apple in 1985, and when Apple allowed employees to clean out his office, an engineer named Don Hutmacher ended up going home with the Apple 1.
When Hutmacher passed away this past year, his family discovered the Apple 1 sitting in his garage, leading to its new residence at Living Computers. Overall, the Apple exhibit in the Seattle-based museum is said to organically fit into the overall story of Living Computers, including the rise of IBM and its support of Microsoft that lead to industry domination. Diverging paths will allow visitors to witness the emergence of Windows 95 in one direction, or the new "evolving story" of Apple in the other direction.
A new patent filed by Apple last year, and published recently by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, details a future iteration of the AirPods charging case that could simultaneously recharge the wireless headphones as well as an iPhone or Apple Watch. In the patent, Apple has visualized an AirPods case that, when placed flat on a surface, could turn into an Apple Watch charging pad thanks to a "wireless power transmitting component" (via Patently Apple).
This would allow the AirPods case to double as a portable charging battery, providing power to both the AirPods internally and a separate device externally. The patent depicts multiple ways for the case to detect if an external device is ready to receive transmitted power, including an optical sensor, a mass sensor, or a mechanical interlock or button. When any of these methods are activated, the case would begin charging the external device, which also could include MacBooks.
Image via Patently Apple
"Such devices can include, for example, portable music players (e.g., MP3 devices and Apple's iPod devices), portable video players (e.g., portable DVD players), cellular telephones (e.g., smart telephones such as Apple's iPhone devices), video cameras, digital still cameras, projection systems (e.g., holographic projection systems), gaming systems, PDAs, as well as tablet (e.g., Apple's iPad devices), laptop (e.g. MacBooks) or other mobile computers. Some of these devices can be configured to provide audio, video or other data or sensory output."
Additionally, a future version of the AirPods case could have an entirely waterproof design, providing even further protection to the AirPods when they're placed within the charging case for long periods of time. Apple's patent depicts ways that the AirPods charging case could have simple water resistance, or could include a full waterproof seal that would be able to survive submersion up to 100 feet for 30 minutes.
Apple notes that In various embodiments the liquid-tight seal shall be rated between 3 (spraying water) and 6 (powerful water jets) while in some embodiments the liquid-tight seal shall be rated between 4 (splashing water) and 7 (immersion up to 1 meter). In various embodiments the liquid-tight seal shall be rated between 5 (water jets) and 8 (immersion beyond 1 meter) while in some embodiments liquid-tight shall mean the seal will protect the electronic device against liquid ingress up to 100 feet for 30 minutes.
Wireless charging has been rumored for this year's upcoming iPhone 8, which is said to most likely use Apple's in-house wireless charging methods -- like the Apple Watch's inductive charging -- and not an extended-range solution. If the company integrated an inductive charging pad right onto the AirPods case, it would be an interesting mobile solution for users to juice up their Apple Watch or iPhone, but the amount of power that the AirPods charging case could hold remains unclear.
Apple's flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan will include a "very unique area" for broadcasting its Beats 1 radio station, as part of ongoing renovations, according to a person familiar with the matter. This particular source has provided MacRumors with reliable information in the past.
Apple's iconic Fifth Avenue store in New York City
The person did not share any further details, but it's possible that Ebro Darden, one of three Beats 1 radio anchors, could broadcast at least some of his shows at the Fifth Avenue store once it reopens. Currently, he appears to broadcast from a studio in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.
Apple Fifth Avenue, known for its iconic glass cube entrance, has been closed for renovations since January 20. The redesigned store will reportedly have over twice as much square footage, so there will likely be more than enough space for a dedicated Beats 1 broadcasting booth alongside the sales floor.
Beats 1 radio anchor Ebro Darden, based in New York City
Beats 1 is Apple's internet-based radio station, broadcasted around the clock in over 100 countries around the world. It launched in tandem with Apple Music in June 2015. In addition to Darden, the station is anchored by former BBC Radio 1 host Zane Lowe, based out of Los Angeles, and London's Julie Adenuga.
Apple Music executive Larry Jackson recently described Beats 1 as "the biggest radio station in the world," and he claimed there is no other station in existence that has as many concurrent listeners at any given time.
Beats 1 can be listened to through iTunes on Mac or PC, or in the Apple Music app on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. Listening is free, with no Apple Music subscription required.
Apple has not indicated when its Fifth Avenue store will reopen, but renovations are likely to continue for several months. In addition to more space and a Beats 1 broadcasting area, the store will likely feature Apple's next-generation retail layout, in line with stores in Brooklyn, Brussels, Paris, San Francisco, and elsewhere.
Shawn Carter, known professionally as rapper Jay Z, appears to have removed his entire solo album collection from Apple Music overnight. Now, when searching for "Jay Z" on Apple Music, only songs in which he collaborated with other artists are available to stream on the service in the United States and elsewhere.
Jay Z has removed select albums from Apple Music in the past, including Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint series, but this is the first time he has pulled his entire catalog of albums from the service. Only some of his collaborations with Kanye West, Linkin Park, R. Kelly, and Rihanna remain streamable.
Jay Z co-owns Tidal, a rival streaming music service, so his decision to remove his discography from Apple Music could be for competitive reasons. Kanye West, another stakeholder in Tidal, also implied that there might be some animosity between Apple and Jay Z in a series of tweets last year.
Jay Z's albums appear to have been removed from Spotify recently as well, so his decision might be unrelated to any potential feud with Apple. Spotify on Twitter today said it can "confirm that some of Jay Z's catalogue has been removed at the request of the artist," but it did not provide a specific reason.
Jay Z's albums are still available for purchase on iTunes, and to stream on smaller services such as Google Play Music, at least for the time being. By contrast, Jay Z's wife Beyoncé still offers a large number of her songs and albums on Apple Music, including her recently added single "Die With You."
Tidal's other stakeholders, including Kanye West, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Daft Punk, Jack White, Madonna, Arcade Fire, Alicia Keys, Usher, and Calvin Harris, also continue to offer many of their songs and albums on Apple Music.
Tidal costs $9.99 per month, the same price as Apple Music, while a premium tier with high-fidelity sound is available for $19.99 per month. Tidal said it had over 3 million subscribers in March 2016, but recent reports have claimed it may have been falsely inflating the number of paying customers it had.
Apple Music had over 20 million subscribers as of last December, while Spotify recently announced it surpassed 50 million paying customers.
Sprint acquired a 33 percent stake in Tidal in January, and at the time it said it would give its customers "unlimited access to exclusive artist content not available anywhere else." Under the deal, artists partnering with Tidal will create music that will only be available to the carrier's customers.
It's unclear at this point if Sprint's stake in Tidal has anything to do with Jay Z's music being removed from Apple Music or Spotify.
Apple and Jay Z's label Roc Nation did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Universal Music Group deferred comment to Roc Nation.
Update: Jay Z's albums have reappeared on Apple Music over the weekend, although the previously absent albums Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint series remain unavailable. However, many of his tracks are still missing from Spotify.
For this week's giveaway, Pad & Quill is generously offering a package of accessories with a total retail value of over $600 for one lucky winner.
This prize package includes the company's Large Briefcase that can accommodate up to a 15-inch laptop and features full-grain American cowhide leather, parachute-grade nylon stitching, and a 25-year warranty. The Large Briefcase retails for $365 and is available in several color combinations.
Also included is Pad & Quill's book-style Cartella Slim Case for the 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro. Made with traditional book-binding techniques, it uses a re-attachable and residue-free 3M adhesive while leaving all ports and vents accessible. It's available in 3 colors and retails for $99.95.
Pad & Quill is also including a Lowry Leather Band band for the Apple Watch (both series 1 and 2). Available in three colors, it's made of full-grain vegetable-tanned leather with hand-finished stitching. It comes in two sizes to fit the 38mm and 42mm Apple Watch models and it retails for $109.95.
Last but not least, Pad & Quill is making sure you have something in which to carry your cash in style by including a Slim Front Pocket Wallet. Made of full-grain leather, it can hold up to six card plus cash. It has a pull-tab to make it easy to get cards out of the interior pocket, and a leather money clip strap to secure cash. Available in three leather colors, it retails for $59.95.
One winner will be chosen. The winner can select the desired leather and hardware (where available) color options for each item.
To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter your email address. Your email address will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner and ship the prize package. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumorsFacebook page.
Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section--this is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.
This contest will run from today (April 7) at 12:00 pm Pacific time through 12:00 pm Pacific time on April 14. The winner will be chosen randomly on April 14 and will be contacted by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address. The prize package will be shipped to the winner for free.
MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Pad & Quill.
Apple has inked a deal with NBC that will see Saturday Night Live creating humorous commercial content that will air during commercial breaks on the show, reports Variety.
The Saturday Night Live spot will promote Apple products, but it's not yet clear what kind of content the show will create for Apple. Saturday Night Live is also working with Verizon and plans to create a spot for the carrier, which will be written by "Weekend Update" anchor Colin Jost and will star Kenan Thompson. Apple's ad "will look different" than the Verizon ad, according to Variety.
Apple has struck a deal with NBC to have "Saturday Night Live" create commercial content slated to appear in a few weeks' time. The show's work for the large consumer-electronics company will look different than its Verizon efforts, according to two people familiar with the situation. Apple did not respond to queries seeking comment.
Saturday Night Live is teaming up with brands like Verizon and Apple to create custom content in the hopes of making the show both more appealing to advertisers and more compelling to watch live. The show has been seeing a surge of popularity in the months following the U.S. presidential election, thanks in large part to Alec Baldwin's role as Donald Trump.
Teaming up with Saturday Night Live will be new territory for Apple. Most of the company's ads are made in house or through longtime ad agency partners.
The Verizon Saturday Night Live spot will air on April 8th and April 15th, while Apple's ad spot will come somewhat later in the month or in early May.
Apple's widely rumored trio of new iPhones, including traditional 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models and an all-new 5.8-inch model with an OLED display, will likely be available to pre-order in September, but deliveries of the 5.8-inch model will not begin until "several weeks later," says longtime Apple analyst Brian White.
An excerpt from White's research note with investment banking firm Drexel Hamilton, obtained by MacRumors:
Our contact strongly believes the 5.8-inch iPhone 8 will be delayed by several weeks due to challenges around the 3D sensing technology, but still in time for the December holidays. This is not the first time that we've heard about a potential delay with a new iPhone; however, our contact was so emphatic about the delay that we are taking this data point more seriously. Since it is only April, this situation could improve. Essentially, our contact believes customers will be able to pre-order the new 5.8-inch iPhone 8 along with the new 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhones in September; however, the 5.8-inch iPhone 8 will not be available for delivery until several weeks later.
White, who is currently in Taiwan to garner information from Apple's supply chain, cited a "smartphone contact" who is "diligently following the supply chain data points" around the tentatively named "iPhone 8" as the source of his information, so it's not a completely baseless prediction.
In fact, White's prediction lines up exactly with recent supply chain information gathered by the research arm of Barclays. The bank similarly expects Apple's first iPhone with an OLED display to launch in September, but it believes the majority of stock may not be available until later in the fourth quarter.
Together, the predictions suggest that shipping estimates for Apple's tenth-anniversary iPhone, which has been variously dubbed the iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone Pro, or iPhone Edition, could slip to several weeks out just minutes after pre-orders begin, much like the iPhone 7 Plus in Jet Black last year.
As usual, it might be hard to get your hands on the highest-end iPhone prior to the holidays, but it likely won't be impossible.
Chinese-language Economic Daily News recently said the "iPhone 8" might not launch whatsoever until October or November, as suppliers are supposedly encountering "technical issues" related to the display lamination process, while challenges exist in integrating the 3D sensing front camera system.
However, of the two scenarios, it seems more likely that at least some quantities of the "iPhone 8" will be available to pre-order in September alongside the tentatively named iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus.
Google and Facebook have announced new measures to fight "fake news," a term recently popularized by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Google today said it will be making its "Fact Check" label in Google News available everywhere, rather than in the United States only, and expanding the feature to its traditional search results globally in all languages.
The "Fact Check" label identifies articles that include information fact checked by news publishers and fact-checking organizations.
For the first time, when you conduct a search on Google that returns an authoritative result containing fact checks for one or more public claims, you will see that information clearly on the search results page. The snippet will display information on the claim, who made the claim, and the fact check of that particular claim.
Google said the "Fact Check" label is presented so people "can make more informed judgements" about a particular news story or claim, although the information won't be available for every search result, and there may be instances where different publishers checked the same claim and reached different conclusions.
Even though differing conclusions may be presented, we think it’s still helpful for people to understand the degree of consensus around a particular claim and have clear information on which sources agree. As we make fact checks more visible in Search results, we believe people will have an easier time reviewing and assessing these fact checks, and making their own informed opinions.
Google said "only publishers that are algorithmically determined to be an authoritative source of information will qualify for inclusion," but it did not elaborate on how it makes this determination. Beyond that, publishers must be using the ClaimReview markup or the Share the Facts widget to be included.
Earlier this week, Facebook said it's rolling out an educational tool to help people spot false news, developed in consultation with non-profit organization First Draft. Facebook said it's featuring this tool at the top of the News Feed "for a few days" to users in 14 countries, including the United States.
When people click on this educational tool at the top of their News Feed, they will see more information and resources in the Facebook Help Center, including tips on how to spot false news, such as checking the URL of the site, investigating the source and looking for other reports on the topic.
Facebook said it "cannot become arbiters of truth" itself given the size of its platform, but it's committed to fighting the spread of misinformation.
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.
Facebook announced its first virtual assistant on Thursday in the form of "M", which privately interjects in chat threads on Messenger to offer users suggestions related to the conversation.
The feature goes beyond the platform's chat bot technology, offering recommendations for relevant stickers, GIFs, payments, rides and meeting times now appear to each user above the message composer in chat threads. The service launched as a beta test in December but was rolled out to all iOS and Android users in the U.S. as part of an app update.
According to Facebook, M relies on AI machine learning techniques and is capable of learning the more it is used. Users can ignore or dismiss suggestions if they're not helpful, and the assistant can easily be muted it in settings. The full list of possible suggestions are as follows.
Sending stickers: M shares fun sticker suggestions for your daily life interactions like “Thank you” or “Bye-bye.”
Paying or requesting money: M recognizes when people are discussing payments and gives them the option of easily sending or requesting money.
Sharing your location: M can suggest an option to share your location during a conversation.
Making plans: If people are talking about getting together, M helps coordinating a plan.
Starting a poll (in group conversations only): Have a hard time making decisions in a group? M lets you set a poll topic and vote in group conversations.
Getting a Ride: Talking about going somewhere? M suggests “Get A Ride” and shares an option of Lyft or Uber.
Apple is known to have looked at a similar implementation of Siri in its iMessage platform. A patent published last November for a "virtual assistant in a communication session" depicts a scenario in which users can invoke Siri from within chat threads to get answers to relevant queries, complete scheduling tasks, and more.
A rumor last month claimed that Apple plans to introduce Siri iMessage integration in iOS 11, which is expected to be announced at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference held in June. The feature is said to be part of a major upgrade to Siri's capabilities that would fit out the virtual assistant with powerful contextual learning abilities and iCloud integration.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has withdrawn its offer for Toshiba's highly sought-after NAND flash memory business, leaving major Apple supplier Hon Hai in the driving seat to acquire the unit.
Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, has offered up the highest bid so far, with almost 3 trillion Japanese yen ($30 billion) said to be on the table, according to Japanese paper Asahi Shimbun on Friday. Shares in Toshiba jumped 7 percent on the news.
Toshiba is said to have narrowed down the number of bidders for its semiconductor business, which it is seeking to sell in order to raise at least $9 billion to cover U.S. nuclear unit charges that threaten the conglomerate's future.
Out of the initial 10 interested parties one of which was reportedly Apple, the smaller group of bidders includes Western Digital, Korea's SK Hynix, U.S. investment fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, and a combined partnership bid from Silver Lake Management and U.S. chipmaker Broadcomm. Media reports made no mention of whether Apple made the cut, making the prospect seem unlikely.
Japan's government could oppose a sale to Taiwan-based Foxconn because of the strategic value of Toshiba's technology to the national interest, according to sources who spoke to Bloomberg. Toshiba reportedly wants to encourage Japanese companies to participate in the bidding process, since none are in the current group.
The second round of the bidding war is expected to be held before the end of May, with the winner is expected to be announced in June before Toshiba's next shareholder meeting.
Following the release of iOS 10.3.1 on April 3, Apple has stopped signing iOS 10.2.1 and iOS 10.3, earlier versions of iOS that were previously available to consumers before the latest update was released.
Full smartphone use on commercial flights will continue to be disallowed, according to a proposal issued today by United States Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai. Pai wants to terminate 2013 proceedings that aimed to 
