MacRumors

Apple and Hermès have partnered up to launch a new Hermès-branded band for the Apple Watch, called Médor. Available in a "Noir Swift" black leather, the Médor band comes in Double Tour (38mm) and Single Tour (42mm) variations and joins the existing Hermès Apple Watch band lineup.

The design of the new Médor band is based on dog collars, according to Hypebeast, with pyramid-shaped studs that protrude from each end of the band. Dog collars were one of the first objects that Hermès produced.

Apple plans to release a new Apple Watch Series 3 Hermès model that features the Médor band and a new exclusive Hermès watch face inspired by the Carrick font.

The 38mm Double Tour Médor band will be priced at $589, while the 42mm Single Tour Médor band will be priced at $439, both of which are $100 more than standard Double and Single Tour bands. The Médor bands will be available from both Apple and Hermès stores starting on November 14.

Apple today updated its Clips video app with a promised "Selfie Scenes" feature that's designed to use the front-facing TrueDepth camera on the iPhone X to immerse users in 360-degree animated landscapes.

Available Selfie Scenes transport users to "bustling cities, serene landscapes, abstract paintings" and, through a Disney partnership, the Millennium Falcon and Mega-Destroyer from the upcoming film "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." There are a total of 10 Apple-designed scenes along with two Star Wars scenes, all of which offer an immersive 360-degree experience.

"Clips users love how quick and easy it is to create amazing videos on iPhone or iPad," said Susan Prescott, Apple's vice president of Apps Product Marketing. "And we're making it even more fun with Selfie Scenes. By harnessing the incredible new TrueDepth camera system on iPhone X, users can now record selfies against a variety of fun and whimsical backdrops with just a tap."

Clips now features a redesigned interface that Apple says puts frequently used controls "easily within reach." There's a new Effects browser for choosing filters, labels, stickers, and emoji, and labeled buttons make it easier to add Live Titles, change filters, and edit clips. All Clips are also now stored in iCloud and can be accessed across multiple devices.

Along with new Selfie Scenes and a redesigned interface, the updated version of the app adds new effects for turning a photo or a video into an oil painting, a watercolor, or a pencil sketch, all effects that can be applied in real time while recording.

There's also more Disney content in the form of full-screen posters featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse and an array of animated Star Wars stickers. There are additional Apple-designed stickers and 21 new soundtracks from indie artists that can be applied to videos created with the app.

For those unfamiliar with Clips, it's a video editing app that was released earlier this year. It's designed to let users combine several video clips, images, and photos with voice-based titles, music, filters, and graphics to create enhanced videos that can be shared on social media sites.

Clips can be downloaded from the App Store for free. Selfie Scenes are limited to the iPhone X, and style transfer effects are available on the iPhone 7 and later and the 2017 iPad Pro models. [Direct Link]

Just over one year after Facebook replaced the Messenger tab in its iOS app with "Marketplace," the company today announced that the tab will now support an expanded section for listings related to house and apartment rentals. United States users looking to rent will be able to browse "hundreds of thousands" of listings in Marketplace thanks to Facebook's partnership with real estate sites Apartment List and Zumper (via Engadget).

To begin with, the rollout will feature filters for location, price, amount of bedrooms and bathrooms, type of rental, pet friendliness, and square footage. Landlords renting the locations will be able to add 360-degree photos to each listing so interested renters can get a better view of the inside of each unit.

"Marketplace is a popular place for people to look for a home to rent," said Facebook's Bowen Pan. "Now that we're adding listings from Apartment List and Zumper, people can search even more options in the U.S. to find a place to call home. First with vehicles and now with housing rentals, we're partnering with businesses to bring more ease and convenience for consumers."

Before today's update, house and apartment listings on Marketplace were exclusive to those posted manually by Facebook users, so the partnership with Apartment List and Zumper will allow Marketplace to automatically populate with nearby listings from local real estate agents.

Facebook has been releasing frequent updates to its iOS app that aim to keep users on the social network, most recently adding in mobile food ordering and a "Work Histories" feature to profiles. A few weeks ago the company introduced another Marketplace expansion in the form of vehicle listings through partnerships with automotive dealerships.

Following an announcement earlier this year during E3, South Park: Phone Destroyer is launching today on iOS and Android devices. The game was developed by Ubisoft studio RedLynx in collaboration with South Park Digital Studios, and combines real-time strategy and collectible card mechanics with the world of South Park.

Similar to the console games South Park: The Stick of Truth and South Park: The Fractured But Whole, players will take on the role of the New Kid in the midst of turmoil rising in the town of South Park. However, in the mobile game users have to collect, upgrade, and master card decks of iconic characters, which are then used in the game's combat.

There are more than 80 unique cards to discover across Phone Destroyer's single-player campaign, which includes 60 levels. There's also a real-time, player versus player multiplayer mode with leaderboards and special character unlocks. Although the game is free-to-play, the developers clarified on the website that it "avoids the pitfalls" of traditional F2P apps:

The game is free to play. Everything can be earned in the game without paying, but you can choose to spend real world money if you wish. The game is designed so that nothing is ever locked behind a paywall. Everything in the game is available to all players as they progress, whether they choose to spend real-world money or not. Remember, you can always disable in-app purchases in your iOS device settings.

There will be ongoing updates coming to South Park: Phone Destroyer, including new characters, cards, and more. The game's audio is also true to the original show, with character voices provided by creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The game also comes with an iMessage app that includes 14 animated stickers of Cartman.

South Park: Phone Destroyer is rolling out worldwide beginning today, and you can download it for free on the iOS App Store. [Direct Link]

Feral Interactive today announced ROME: Total War Collection for iPad, a bundle set containing acclaimed historical strategy game ROME: Total War and its expansions Barbarian Invasion and Alexander. The release marks the first anniversary of the original ROME: Total War on iPad.

The collection brings the tactics and battles of the acclaimed strategy title to Apple's tablet devices with the added advantage of three historical campaigns in one purchase:

• ROME: Total War invites you to build and rule the ancient world’s greatest empire by fighting spectacular real-time battles in huge turn-based campaigns.
• Barbarian Invasion brings the action into the final years of Rome. Take up arms to defend the Empire, or lead the forces trying to bring it down.
• Alexander is the ultimate challenge for seasoned commanders. Lead the Macedonian faction as Alexander the Great and embark upon a daring conquest of the all-powerful Persian Empire.

All three games include all of the popular franchise's classic features tailored to mobile gaming, including touch controls and mid-battle autosaves, as well as high-resolution visuals optimized for the iPad's Retina Display.

The ROME: Total War Collection is available now from the App Store for $16.99. Players who already own part of the bundle may complete it by paying the difference between the bundle price and what they have already paid.

Supported iPads include the iPad Mini 2, iPad Mini 3, iPad Mini 4, iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad (5th Generation), iPad Pro (1st Generation: 9.7", 10.5", 12.9"), and iPad Pro (2nd Generation: 12.9").

Mozilla released version 10 of its Firefox browser for iOS on Wednesday. With a new look the developers have dubbed "Photon", the update represents the Quantum release for mobile, boasting the same performance advantages as its forthcoming equivalent for desktops.

The more modern design aims to put users' needs first, with rearranged menus for easier access to the most-used features and an updated minimalist look.

A new application menu now sits at the bottom of the interface, providing quick links to top sites, bookmarks, reading list, history, Settings, and one-click options to enable Night Mode and hide images.

Elsewhere, a Page actions menu can be found in the address bar, containing frequently used actions like share, sync, or save content for later, as well as page search, pin site, and bookmark options.

In addition, the new tab screen has been overhauled, with icons that link to top sites from around the web and popular articles on Pocket, as well as pages you've recently visited or bookmarked.

Firefox will now show popular search suggestions by default as you type, while the QR code reader button has been moved up next to the address bar to make it easier to find. Also included in this release is Firefox's "Tracking Protection" privacy technology, which the company developed to mitigate invasive tracking of online activity.

Firefox 10 on iOS is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link] The desktop version of Firefox Quantum is set for release on November 14.

Three Apple suppliers shared revenue reports today, providing a glimpse at how their contributions to Apple's latest product line-up affected their income in the month of October. Unsurprisingly, suppliers for Apple's flagship iPhone X, Pegatron and Wistron, both had good news to share with investors.

Pegatron reported consolidated revenues of $5.52 billion for October 2017, representing a 8.34 percent increase on month and 10.14 percent increase on year. Wistron had consolidated revenues of US$2.98 billion, a 12.37 percent increase on month and a 36.81 percent increase on year.

Elsewhere, Taiwan-based AirPods manufacturer Inventec saw revenues rise to $1.43 billion for October, representing a modest 0.45 percent increase on month but a more substantial 16.54 percent increase on year.

Apple switched to an all-glass casing for this year's entire iPhone lineup in order to support wireless charging, with Pegatron benefitting as the exclusive supplier of the wireless charger. Meanwhile, in its push to manufacture products locally in India, Apple chose Wistron to be the first original equipment manufacturer for 2017 iPhones in the country.

Inventec's more staggered rise in sales mirrors Apple's gradual achievement of supply/demand balance for AirPods. The popular earphones were introduced in September 2016, but prior to August, had been in extremely short supply, with a typical wait time of six weeks from order to delivery. By the end of September however, shipping estimates improved to 3 to 5 business days.

Looking ahead, Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron have their work cut out to help Apple achieve supply/demand balance for the iPhone X, with online orders currently averaging a 3 to 4 week wait globally. Wistron's India operations also look set to expand beyond its current iPhone manufacturing plant in Bangalore, with recent reports that the OEM plans to build additional facilities in the region, while Inventec has reportedly landed large orders to manufacture Apple's Siri-based HomePod speaker, which is set to debut next month.

In the aftermath of a deadly shooting at a Texas Church on November 5th, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies failed to immediately ask Apple for help unlocking shooter Devin Patrick Kelley's iPhone, reports Reuters.

According to a source that spoke to Reuters, the FBI did not contact Apple for about 48 hours after the shooting, missing a critical window where the iPhone in question might have been easier to unlock.

If the iPhone had Touch ID enabled, the shooter's finger might have been able to be used to unlock the device. But that unlocking method would have needed to be used within a 48 hour window, as Touch ID is disabled after 48 hours have passed since it was last activated or when the iPhone is powered off.

Christopher Combs, head of the FBI's San Antonio field office, said on Tuesday that the shooter's smartphone is being transferred to the FBI's crime lab in Quantico, Virginia as authorities have not been able to unlock it.

Little is known about the shooter's smartphone at this time. Sources told the Washington Post that it's an iPhone, but it's not known which iPhone it is nor which version of iOS it's running. It's also not known if Touch ID was indeed enabled on the phone at this point.

As we learned with the San Bernardino case, Apple will not provide authorities with the tools to unlock the iPhone, but the company can and will provide iCloud data if compelled by court order. It is not known if Apple has already received a court order asking for iCloud information.

Update: Apple has provided a statement on the situation with the smartphone owned by the Texas shooter.

We were shocked and saddened by the violence in Texas last Sunday, and we join the world in grieving for the families and the community that lost so many loved ones.

Our team immediately reached out to the FBI after learning from their press conference on Tuesday that investigators were trying to access a mobile phone. We offered assistance and said we would expedite our response to any legal process they send us.

We work with law enforcement every day. We offer training to thousands of agents so they understand our devices and how they can quickly request information from Apple.

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.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I'm taking a close look at iPhone X cases from a wide range of manufacturers. Case reviews aren't often featured on MacRumors, but with the launch of the iPhone X and its entirely revamped design, we felt that it was worth exploring some of the case options out on the market.

This is the third review in the series, with the other two available here and here.

For all of my reviews, I'm looking at the general usability of iPhone X cases. Extreme drop tests and in-depth testing aren't covered because those factors are less important than how a case works on an average day, and it's often fairly easy to tell from design how protective a case is going to be.

Factors like bulk, button accessibility, general protection, grip, thickness, and appearance are what I focused on below.

Nodus

Nodus is known for its line of high-quality leather cases, and its Access Case 3 has been made available for the iPhone X. Priced at £49.99 (~$65), the Access is a folio-style case that's surprisingly slim.

The Access has a simple design that actually holds the iPhone X in place with adhesive that Nodus calls micro suction, with "millions of microscopic suction cups" holding onto the iPhone. The adhesive (or micro suction) doesn't feel particularly sticky when touched and so it doesn't pick up lint and other detritus, but it grips tightly to the glass of the iPhone X.

➜ Click here to read more...

Following an exclusive deal back in September, MacRumors and Magix have again partnered to offer our readers an exclusive discount on the multimedia software maker's Sound Forge Pro Mac 3 bundle. With the discount, you can buy Sound Forge Pro Mac 3 for $229, a $328 discount on the traditional price of $557. Our earlier discount brought the price down to $249, so the new sale is a chance to get the bundle for $20 cheaper.

If you're interested, the exclusive discount will be available beginning today, November 8, and run through Thursday, November 30.

Sound Forge Pro Mac 3 is an advanced audio waveform editor that has been optimized and designed for macOS, offering users multi-channel recording and editing, mastering for music and dialogue clips, and support for high-resolution audio recording at 24 bits with sampling rates as high as 192kHz. The suite's full features are extensive -- also including customizable window layouts, file conversion automation, and the iZotope's RX Elements and Ozone Elements tools -- so make sure to head over to Magix's website for more details.

With just over two weeks until Thanksgiving in the United States, as well as Black Friday one day later, pre-Black Friday deals have begun appearing for many retailers. Best Buy has a plethora of discounts on Apple and Apple-related products that you can get your hands on right now, including sales on the iPad mini 4, 10.5-inch iPad Pro, select MacBooks, Philips Hue products, Apple Smart Keyboard, Apple Pencil, and much more.

Best Buy's pre-Black Friday sale will last from November 8 to November 11. We've highlighted some of the best deals below, but if you want more information on all of the discounts be sure to head over to our full Black Friday Roundup, which also covers pre-Black Friday sales from all retailers in the lead-up to November 24.

• $125 off iPad mini 4
• Up to $150 off 10.5-inch iPad Pro
• $150 to $250 off select MacBook models
• $150 off iPhone 6s purchased on installment from Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint
• $50 off Apple Watch Series 1 models
• $220 off Beats Studio Wireless headphones
• 50% off select MacBook cases
• Up to $10 off Apple Smart Keyboard or Apple Pencil
• $40 off Philips Hue White Ambiance Starter Kit
• $40 off Philips Hue Lightstrip

Adorama also has discounted multiple Apple products, with sales launching for iMac, MacBook, iPad, Apple TV 4K, and even accessories like the Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Keyboard. These deals are hitting below the listed price at other Apple resellers like B&H Photo and MacMall, leading to quite a few notable sales as we head into the holidays. That's particularly true of the accessories and new Apple TV 4K, which are discounted at Adorama from between $10 and $20 when compared to other retailers.

• 27-inch 5K iMac (Mid 2017): 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB Fusion Drive, Radeon Pro 570 4GB- $1,649.00, down from $1,799.00

• 12-inch MacBook (Mid 2017): 1.2GHz Dual-Core Intel Core m3, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD - $1,169.00, down from $1,299.00

• 13-inch MacBook Pro (Mid 2017): 2.3GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD - $1,599.00, down from $1,699.00

• 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (Late 2016): 3.3GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM, Intel Iris Graphics 550 - $2,299.00, down from $2,899.00

• 10.5-inch iPad Pro Wi-Fi, 256GB - $729.00, down from $799.00

• Magic Mouse 2 - $59.00, down from $79.00

• Magic Keyboard - $79.00, down from $99.00

• Apple TV 4K, 32GB - $169.00, down from $179.00

For those interested, Adorama offers interest free financing through its credit card, with a few stipulations. You can find more information on the card here.

There are plenty more deals going on in Adorama's sale, and other discounts circling this week, so head over to our full Deals Roundup for more information. If you're looking for pre-Black Friday and Black Friday-specific deals, don't forget to visit our Black Friday Roundup.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors.

While the iPhone X has been available to purchase for over five days now, availability of the device at Apple's retail stores has been extremely limited over that time, especially outside of the United States.

Fortunately, a new Twitter-based tool called Robinhood Monitor makes it much easier to know exactly when and where iPhone X stock becomes available, at least in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and the UK for now.

Robinhood Monitor:

• Australia
• Canada
• Hong Kong
• United Kingdom

Robinhood Monitor parses the backend of Apple's Reserve and Pickup system and automatically tweets when an iPhone X becomes available at any Apple retail store, including color, capacity, and the location of the store.

Since inventory runs out extremely quickly each time an iPhone X model becomes available, the key is to follow the Robinhood Monitor account on Twitter and enable mobile notifications to ensure real-time updates.

As soon as an iPhone X becomes available, head to Apple's Reserve and Pickup page for your country and try to place a reservation as quickly as possible.

Reserve and Pickup:

• Australia
• Canada
• Hong Kong
• United Kingdom

Placing a reservation allows you to pick up an iPhone X within a designated 30-minute window from the store that showed availability. Remember to bring a form of payment and a piece of government-issued photo ID with you.

iPhone X orders placed online today are currently estimated to ship in 3-4 weeks, so securing a pickup reservation is a quicker alternative. A hat tip goes out to Gary Ng at iPhone in Canada for bringing this to our attention.

Behind-the-scenes videos for Taylor Swift's upcoming "reputation" album are available exclusively on Apple Music, the singer announced on Twitter today.

There are several short films available to watch, covering personal footage and set design from the ...Ready For It? video, and a montage of behind-the-scenes footage for Look What You Made Me Do. Apple Music also has music videos available for the two songs.

While Swift is sharing exclusive content on Apple Music, rumors suggest her new album will not be immediately available on the streaming service when it launches this Friday.

Swift is said to be planning to hold "reputation" from streaming services for at least a week after the album's launch to promote album sales via iTunes and retail stores.

At the current time, several singles from the new album are streamable on Apple Music, including "Look What You Made Me Do," "Gorgeous," "...Ready For It?" and "Call It What You Want." The full 15-track album can be pre-ordered on iTunes for $13.99.