MacRumors

Microsoft released an update to its OneDrive app on Tuesday that adds support for the Files app in iOS 11 and brings a host of other new features many of which are responses to user feedback.

To begin with, the interface has been overhauled to make better use of screen space and make filenames easier to read, while an ellipsis button next to each item brings up a new contextual options menu, so users no longer need to long-press a file to take actions.

More generally, thumbnail images have been made larger, shared files are now easier to spot, and the multi-column list view on iPad has been redesigned to be less cluttered and give items and filenames more room to breathe. Another welcome enhancement in version 10.1 is expanded preview support for over 130 file types, including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, RAW, 3D objects, high-precision DICOM, TIFF files, iWork Files, Java/C/Swift, and many more.

In addition, OneDrive now supports drag and drop, enabling users to drag files to emails and move them between open tabs on iPhone and iPad. Several iPhone X UI fixes are also in evidence, with the interface now displaying properly in landscape orientation, while a number of annoying bugs have been fixed, including one that made search results vanish whenever a file was opened.

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

Apple recently updated its Maps app to add transit directions and data for Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Omaha, Nebraska, two places where transit information was not previously available outside of Amtrak routes.

Apple Maps users in Milwaukee and Omaha can now select public transportation routes when getting directions between two locations, with bus lines available in both areas.

Apple has not yet added Milwaukee or Omaha to the website where it lists areas transit directions are available, but it's likely these two locations will be listed soon.

Transit directions were first added to Apple Maps in 2015 with the launch of iOS 9. Maps initially only offered transit information in a handful of cities, but over the course of the last three years, Apple has worked to expand the feature to additional areas.

Transit information is now live in dozens of cities and countries around the world, with a full list available on Apple's iOS 11 Feature Availability website.

(Thanks, Geoffrey!)

The Starbucks app for iOS devices was today updated to version 4.5, introducing a refined user interface for locating nearby stores and placing orders.

Finding a Starbucks store that's close by is easier following the 4.5 update, with an improved map that makes it easier to see which stores are closest to you.

One-tap filters that are better organized offer a faster way to find a suitable location, and when you tap on a store from the available store list, you're now presented with a map and directions to it.

Ordering has also been improved, with a main menu that offers images of each available product and a more intuitive, easy-to-use layout for drilling down into each food and drink section.

While the iOS App Store update info focuses only on the new store location features, a product designer at Starbucks says the update also includes Touch ID and Face ID support for locking the Starbucks app and a long list of bug fixes.

The Starbucks app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Apple last week shared a new video that showcases selfies taken with Portrait Lighting effects on the iPhone X, kickstarting the company's new "Selfies on iPhone X" ad campaign across different forms of media.

Next up in the campaign is a video promoting the annual Carnival of Brazil, a weeklong celebration of music, dance, food, and drink, with particularly large festivals in cities like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The ad, accompanied by a webpage, highlights selfies taken with Portrait Lighting effects on the iPhone X.

Apple shared a similar Brazilian Carnival video last year amid a reported push into more regional marketing campaigns.

The campaign extends to billboards, which will likely appear in major cities across the world over the coming weeks. NHL all-star Steven Stamkos recently announced his participation in the campaign on Twitter, and shared a photo of him standing in front of his own Portrait Lighting selfie at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

The captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning is likely just one of several notable figures who will be featured in the campaign, which is similar to Apple's larger "Shot on iPhone" series. We'll be sure to keep an eye out for more ads, and if you spot one yourself, feel free to share it in the comments section.

Facebook this week has detailed how it plans to give its users "more control" of their privacy on the mobile and desktop versions of the social network. One of the major new additions is described as a "privacy center" that will provide simple tools to manage privacy and combine all core privacy settings into one easy-to-find interface.

In order to explain how to use these features to its users, the company today is rolling out educational videos in its News Feed centering upon topics like "how to control what information Facebook uses to show you, how to review and delete old posts, and even what it means to delete your account." This marks the first time that Facebook shared its privacy principles with its users, stating that the updates "reflect core principles" it has maintained on privacy over the years.

As pointed out by TechCrunch, Facebook's planned rollout of beefed up privacy features comes ahead of a May 25 deadline for compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU. The GDPR's goal is to give citizens back control over their personal data while "simplifying" the regulatory environment for business, essentially affecting "any entities processing the personal data of EU citizens."

[Facebook] will need to make users feel they trust its brand to protect their privacy and therefore make them feel happy to consent to the company processing their data (rather than asking it to delete it). So PR and carefully packaged info-messaging to users is going to be increasingly important for Facebook’s business, going forward.

While all Facebook users will gain access to the updates, beginning today users in Europe will get reminders pushed out to them to take part in the network's existing privacy check-up feature. In terms of the new privacy center, Facebook didn't offer any specifics as to when it will launch and if the controls offered to users will be the same in the United States as they are in Europe. Another part of Facebook's plan is to run data protection workshops for small and medium businesses -- again focused on a launch in Europe -- that will center upon the GDPR.

Earlier in January, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a major change coming to the News Feed, which aims to cut down on the content displayed from publishers and instead highlight more content from family and friends. The update was described as a way to have more "meaningful social interactions" on Facebook by reducing the amount of posts from businesses, brands, and media.

A new card on the iOS App Store today confirms that Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition will launch on compatible iOS devices on February 9, a few months after being announced last September. Players interested in the game can use the App Store's new pre-order ability and tap "Get," and when the game releases it will download onto their device and notify them that the game is available.

Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition is an episodic game, with Chapter 1 up for pre-order today for free. Chapters 2-3 will be available for in-app purchases of $0.99 each, and Chapters 4-10 will cost $3.99 each. There will also be a combined bundle of all chapters to download for $19.99 (via TouchArcade).

In terms of gameplay, the game is a mobile-friendly version of the mainline Final Fantasy XV game, which launched on PS4 and Xbox One in the fall of 2016. To fit on iPhone and iPad, Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition includes tap controls to move, talk, and fight, as well as a more stylized, "cartoonlike" art style.

During PAX West in Seattle, TouchArcade spent about 20 minutes playing the mobile game, and described it as "surprisingly one to one with the 'full' console version of the game."

The game is everything we'd hoped it would be, and the first playable episode seems surprisingly one to one with the "full" console version of the game. All of the dialog is there, the quests seem the same, the level-up system feels identical, and overall it looks as if they're delivering on the promise of having a full-featured version of Final Fantasy XV for mobile. Details are still few and far between regarding when it'll specifically be released, but, it's going to be a premium episodic game with the first taste that we played given away for free.

Just like the console version, the iOS game follows the story of Prince Noctis and his friends Gladiolus, Ignis, and Prompto as they face enemies and danger en route to Noctis's wedding to Lady Lunafreya. Although the graphics and combat system in the iPhone game are pared down in comparison to the console title, Square Enix said that Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition "contains all of the main characters and main story of the console and PC versions, with the freedom to play whenever and wherever you want."

Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition will run on iOS devices with iOS 11.1 or later, including iPhone 6s or later, iPad Pro, 5th generation iPad or later, iPad Air 2 or later, and iPad mini 4 or later. The game will also take around 5GB of space or more on each device.

The Copyright Royalty Board this past weekend ruled on a long-running music streaming royalty case in the U.S., favoring songwriters and music publishers in a decision that increases the royalties paid out by streaming music services by more than 40 percent (via The Wall Street Journal).

Now Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music Unlimited, Pandora, and other streaming music services will be required to pay 15.1 percent of their revenue to songwriters and publishers, increasing from 10.5 percent. Companies with "less diversified" services like Spotify and Pandora -- which are focused on streaming music -- are predicted to be hit the hardest, while Apple, Google, and Amazon are "unlikely" to be fazed by the ruling.

A federal copyright board has raised the music streaming royalties for songwriters and music publishers by more than 40% to narrow the financial divide separating them from recording labels.

“Songwriters desperately need and deserve the rate increases,” said Bart Herbison, executive director for the Nashville Songwriters Association International, another trade group.

The new royalties will "narrow the financial divide" separating songwriters and publishers from recording labels, although the National Music Publishers' Association estimated labels will still receive $3.82 for every $1 paid to the former group. Before this past weekend's ruling, the trial over music streaming royalties had been ongoing for the past year, igniting after paid streaming music services gained popularity over owning or downloading individual songs and albums.

In terms of record labels, last summer Apple began seeking to reduce the share of revenue record labels get from streaming music as it worked to establish new deals for Apple Music and iTunes. The company did just that in a deal struck with Warner Music Group, achieving a lower rate for the label that includes artists like Ed Sheeran, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruno Mars, and more.

The United States federal government is said to be looking to build a centralized 5G wireless network across the country within three years, according to a sensitive PowerPoint presentation and a memo obtained by Axios.

The documents said that the Trump administration is considering a federal "takeover" of a portion of the country's mobile network to "guard against China" and hopes to finalize the details before September.

Today telecommunications companies like AT&T build their own systems using their own equipment and lease airwaves from the government, but now the U.S. is reportedly looking into paying for and building a 5G network and would "rent access to carriers." The plans were said to have been recently presented to senior officials in the administration, and if agreed upon by September will see a rollout over the next three years.

Trump national security officials are considering an unprecedented federal takeover of a portion of the nation’s mobile network to guard against China, according to sensitive documents obtained by Axios.

The PowerPoint presentation says that the U.S. has to build superfast 5G wireless technology quickly because “China has achieved a dominant position in the manufacture and operation of network infrastructure,” and “China is the dominant malicious actor in the Information Domain.” To illustrate the current state of U.S. wireless networks, the PowerPoint uses a picture of a medieval walled city, compared to a future represented by a photo of lower Manhattan.

The government is trying to accelerate development of a 5G network as a way to defend against China, and hopes to create a "new paradigm" for the wireless industry before the end of President Trump's current term. Although the documents are said to be focused on "Chinese threats to America's economic and cyber security," they also mention that a nationwide 5G network would help foster emerging technologies like self-driving cars and virtual reality. According to one administration official speaking to Bloomberg, the "takeover" terminology is "not part of the administration's thinking."

Outside of this news, most of the major U.S. mobile carriers like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile have already begun their move towards true 5G networks. AT&T most recently said it plans to launch a mobile 5G network in a dozen cities by the end of 2018, while Sprint mentioned its own wide-scale 5G network will launch by 2019, and T-Mobile is aiming for nationwide 5G coverage by 2020. The first iPhone that could support 5G is believed to be coming through a partnership between Apple and Intel.

Update: FCC chairman Ajit Pai released a statement opposing the creation of a government-run 5G network, shared by The Verge.

“I oppose any proposal for the federal government to build and operate a nationwide 5G network. The main lesson to draw from the wireless sector’s development over the past three decades—including American leadership in 4G—is that the market, not government, is best positioned to drive innovation and investment. What government can and should do is to push spectrum into the commercial marketplace and set rules that encourage the private sector to develop and deploy next-generation infrastructure. Any federal effort to construct a nationalized 5G network would be a costly and counterproductive distraction from the policies we need to help the United States win the 5G future.”

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.

Immersion, a company that develops and licenses haptic feedback technologies, today announced it has reached a settlement and licensing agreement with Apple. The terms of the deal are confidential.

Immersion describes itself as the leading innovator of haptic feedback systems, with more than 2,600 issued or pending patents. The company, headquartered in San Jose, California, says its technology has been adopted in more than three billion consumer electronic devices across several industries.

Immersion had filed a pair of lawsuits against Apple in early 2016, accusing the company of infringing on its patents with its haptic feedback technologies such as 3D Touch and the Taptic Engine on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, and Force Touch on the first-generation Apple Watch and various MacBook trackpads.

The latest update to WhatsApp Messenger has added support for Apple's CarPlay in-vehicle connectivity system, according to Dutch tech blog iCulture. Previously in-car WhatsApp access was only possible using the app's Siri integration, but the advantage of the new official CarPlay support is that users can also receive WhatsApp push messages while driving.

With version 2.18.2 of the app installed on an iPhone connected to CarPlay, WhatsApp automatically appears as one of the icons on the CarPlay dash interface.

The new CarPlay integration means that Siri will notify in-vehicle users when they have received new WhatsApp messages and offer to read them out loud one by one. Users can also send WhatsApp messages by specifying to Siri who it is they wish to contact, then dictating the message. Siri will recount the dictated message to confirm, after which the user has the option to edit the message or send it on its way.

Apple's own Messages app has been a feature of CarPlay since the vehicle dash system was launched. CarPlay users are able to play back audio-based iMessages, have text messages spoken out loud to them, and also compose them using Siri. The difference with WhatsApp in CarPlay, according to iCulture, is that it doesn't enable the user to browse through a list of chat conversations.

WhatsApp is a free download for iPhone from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Apple was the largest buyer of semiconductor chips after Samsung in the whole of last year, according to new data collected by Gartner. The two companies together consumed $81.8 billion of the chips in 2017, up from more than $20 billion in 2016, and combined they represented 19.5 percent of the total worldwide market (via DigiTimes).

"Samsung Electronics and Apple not only retained their respective No. 1 and No. 2 positions, they also radically increased their share of semiconductor spending through 2017," said Masatsune Yamaji, principal research analyst at Gartner. "These two companies have held on to the top positions since 2011 and they continue to exert significant influence on technology and price trends for the whole semiconductor industry."

Eight of the top 10 companies in 2016 remained in the top 10 in 2017, while the top five chip buyers stayed in the same positions. LG Electronics returned to the top 10, with the only newcomer being Western Digital, which grew its semiconductor spending by US$1.7 billion in 2017, according to Gartner.

In September, Toshiba agreed to sell its lucrative NAND memory chip unit to a global consortium that includes Apple, in a deal reportedly worth $17.7 billion. Apple is interested in the memory chip unit because NAND flash is an essential component of its iPhones and iPads. Only a handful of companies make the chips and the dominant player is Samsung, Apple's biggest rival in the smartphone industry.

Semiconductor spending by the top 10 OEMs reached 40 percent of the total semiconductor market last year, up from 31 percent 10 years ago. The trend is expected to continue, according to Gartner, which predicts that the top 10 OEMs will account for more than 45 percent of total global semiconductor spending by the year 2021.