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78% of Teens Surveyed Own an iPhone, 82% Plan to Purchase

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The iPhone's popularity among teens continues to grow, according to new data gathered by investment firm Piper Jaffray for the fall edition of its semiannual U.S. teen survey.

78 percent of teens surveyed own an iPhone, up two percent from the spring 2017 survey conducted earlier this year. 82 percent of teens said their next smartphone will be an iPhone, the highest amount of interest ever noted in one of these surveys.

teeniphoneownership
This jump in interest can perhaps be attributed to the 2017 iPhone lineup, which includes the iPhone X with an edge-to-edge display and a TrueDepth camera for facial recognition purposes.

Teen interest in the Apple Watch is also up, and 17 percent of teens surveyed said they plan to buy an Apple Watch in the next six months, up from 13 percent in spring 2017.

teensurveyapplewatch
Piper Jaffray says the survey is a "positive point" on iPhone 8 demand and iPhone X demand, and increasing interested in the Apple Watch.

teensurveymusic
Apple Music also made an appearance in the survey, gaining share alongside Spotify and YouTube as teens move away from streaming services like Pandora.

On-demand music services like Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music (30%, 20%, and 17%) continue to gain market share among teens, as more traditional platforms and Pandora continue to lose share.

Piper Jaffray's fall 2017 teen survey covered 6,100 teens across 44 states in the United States with an average age of 15.9 years.

Tags: Piper Jaffray, Teen Survey
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Review: Ring's Floodlight Cam Offers Convenient Home Security, but HomeKit Support Still Missing

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Back in January, Ring introduced its motion-activated Floodlight Cam, pairing a security camera with two bright floodlights to help protect users' homes. The Floodlight Cam began shipping in April, and I've been using one for about six weeks to monitor the rear of my house. It's a handy product that lets you keep tabs on movement around your home, with push notifications, live and recorded camera views, and the ability to use two-way talk and a siren to communicate with people approaching your home.

ring floodlight cam chime pro parts
The hardwired Floodlight Cam includes a pair of floodlights with a 270-degree motion sensor, combined with a camera capable of 1080p HD video, enhanced night vision, 140-degree field of view, and a cloud recording subscription plan. It's priced at $249 (or $449 for a two-pack) and is available in black or white.

➜ Click here to read more...

Tags: Review, Ring
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One Day Sales Hit Leviton HomeKit Switches, Beats Pill+ Speakers, and Sideclick Siri Remote Accessory

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A few one-day-only sales today have discounted some useful Apple accessories and HomeKit products, including discounts on Leviton dimmers and light switches over at The Home Depot. The retailer's "Special Buy of the Day" has eight of Leviton's products on sale (one of which is now sold out), with 26 percent taken off of each device.

While there are basic, non-IoT outlet and dimmers on sale, Leviton has a few Wi-Fi smart switches that work with Amazon, Google, and Apple ecosystems. Below we'll list the remaining five Leviton Wi-Fi enabled smart products on sale at The Home Depot today, along with each smart home system that they work with. Also note that each of the products listed below come in a pack of two:

leviton switches

Best Buy has its own one-day-only deal going on today as well, with the Sideclick Universal Remote Attachment for Apple TV at $19.99, $10 off its normal price of $29.99. The Sideclick attaches to your Apple TV Siri Remote (or other previous-generation Apple TV remotes), and lets you connect to a Blu-ray player, sound bar, DVD player, and more.

sideclick apple tv remote
If you're looking for the newest Beats Pill+ Bluetooth speaker, Fry's Electronics is selling the device for just $148, down from its original retail price of $229.95. You can get the Pill+ in Black, White, and Red, and if you're interested make sure to take advantage of the deal soon since it'll be ending tomorrow, October 12. You should see the discount price once the speaker is in your cart.

deals 1011 beats mario nanoleaf
In other deals-related reminders, if you've been on the fence about Super Mario Run, be sure to download the full version of the game before the sale price of $4.99 ends tomorrow. Similarly, The Home Depot's $20 off discount for the Nanoleaf Aurora lighting kit will end tomorrow. For a full refresher on the latest sales going on this week, head over to our Deals Roundup.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors

Related Roundup: Apple Deals
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Apple CEO Tim Cook Talks to Students at Oxford University

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Apple CEO Tim Cook today headed over to Oxford University for the opening of The Oxford Foundry, a new "innovation space" that's open to all University of Oxford students.

Cook was on hand to cut the ribbon at the new location, and afterwards, he sat down for a Q&A session with Oxford students alongside Oxford professors and administrators.


Because he was speaking to a group of students, Cook talked about his early life experiences, how he began to hunt for a job after leaving college, and his decision to join Apple. Early on, he said, his goal was to find a job that he loved. "I wanted to love the work I did," he said. "I no longer have that goal."

I realized the purpose of life wasn't to love your job, it was to serve humanity in a broad way. And the outcome of doing that would mean you love your job. I realized I wasn't in a place to do that, so sometime thereafter, I switched companies. [...]

It was only after joining Apple where my values and my work aligned, and that has made all the difference for me.

Cook says it wasn't an easy decision to join Apple. Everyone he talked to, his list of pluses and minuses, and his spreadsheets told him to stay where he was, but his intuition said something different, and he ended up going with intuitition. "That was one of the most important decisions of my life," he said. "Maybe the most important."

On designing products, Cook told students to "make products that you want to use" and the rest will follow.

You can bet if you love it, there are many other people out there that are going to love it too. That fundamental saying drives Apple.

Cook went on to explain that it's important to "stick close" to customers, listening to them and making yourself accessible to them. Cook said that's one of the reasons why Apple has retail stores, and it's also the reason why he gets up at "ungodly hours." "I like to spend my first hour going through customer emails," he said. "Because I want to know what they're saying. I want to know what they're feeling."

Cook said he takes inspiration from the artists, doctors, musicians, and others who use Apple products to change the world in some way. On failures, he says students just need to have faith that it will pass.

There will be times that you fail on a spectacular basis. I certainly have. You have to have the faith that it will pass. Look in the mirror and watch the person breathe. It didn't kill you. You're not dead. It's not the biggest thing in the world. It will pass. And I do that many times a day sometimes. Do that for a while and you won't have to remind yourself anymore. You'll be able to take these failures... and in fact, you'll view them not as failures but as things learned, and it won't be so detrimental.

Cook's interview, which can be watched above, also covered some of his thoughts on Steve Jobs, what he learned from working with Jobs, his view of augmented reality and the future, and his thoughts on who his heroes are.

Tag: Tim Cook
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Microsoft Fully Drops Support for Office for Mac 2011

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Microsoft has officially ended support for Office for Mac 2011 as scheduled, nearly seven years after the software suite was first released.

office 2011 mac
2011 versions of Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint will no longer receive feature or security updates as of October 10, 2017. Any form of paid or free technical support from Microsoft has also ended indefinitely.

Microsoft Lync for Mac 2011 still has an extended support period through October 9, 2018 for any possible security updates.

Since the mainstream support period for the rest of the Office for Mac 2011 was already extended beyond the usual five years, there is no extended support period for those apps. In other words, support has completely ended.

Earlier this year, Microsoft said it had not even tested Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Lync on macOS High Sierra, but some users on the web have reported that the suite is mostly functional on the new operating system.


Microsoft recommends users upgrade to Office 2016 for Mac, which is fully supported on macOS High Sierra. OS X 10.10 or later is required.

(Thanks, Jacob Harvey!)

Tags: Microsoft, Microsoft Office
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Twitter Updates Apple TV App With Handoff-Like Tweet Interactions Between tvOS and iOS

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Twitter today announced an update for its tvOS app, which allows you to pair your Twitter account on an iPhone or iPad with an Apple TV, and easily access Tweets on your iOS device that you see scroll by on the TV app's live feeds.

The Twitter app for Apple TV focuses on live-streaming video, which you can display simultaneously with a scrolling list of user Tweets in a split-screen mode. Since it's difficult to engage with Tweets on the TV app, the new update lets you jump directly from a Tweet on the Apple TV to your iPhone or iPad without having to search for a specific Tweet.

apple tv twitter update
All you need to do is make sure your iOS device is on the same Wi-Fi network as your Apple TV, then open Twitter for Apple TV and long press for three seconds on the Siri Remote. This will bring up a menu where you can link your iOS device to the Apple TV Twitter app.

From Twitter TV product manager Ryan Troy: “People love to Tweet while watching their favorite TV shows because it allows everyone to experience what’s happening together. This update combined with Twitter’s daily programming that’s shaped by Tweets from the audience helps enable true interactive TV.”

Afterwards, you'll be able to send any Tweet that you see on the live timeline on Apple TV to your iPhone, where you can quickly reply, like, Retweet, and send an image or a GIF. Twitter said the feature will work with any of the Apple TV app's live broadcasts, which cover sports, entertainment broadcasts, and other live events.

Twitter for Apple TV is available to download from the tvOS App Store for free.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Tag: Twitter
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)
Related Forum: Apple TV and Home Theater
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Apple Working With LG Display on Future Foldable iPhone

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Apple is developing an iPhone with a foldable display alongside LG Display, reports Korean site The Investor. Apple is said to have chosen to work with LG and not Samsung out of fears that Samsung could get ahold of sensitive tech.

This is not the first time we've heard rumors of a future iPhone with a foldable display. Back in December of 2016, rumors suggested LG's display division would begin mass-producing foldable displays for smartphones as early as 2018, with Apple said to be one possible partner.

lgfoldabledisplay
LG has shown off several foldable display prototypes over the last two years, including one that folds over like a book and a second that rolls up much like a newspaper. LG's foldable displays use flexible OLED panels and LG has been working to increase durability and yield rate.

LG is said to have recently created a dedicated task force to start developing a foldable OLED display for a future iPhone, while its siser company LG Innotek has a team developing a rigid flexible printed circuit board or (RFPCB) to go along with it.

Folding display technology is a ways off from launch, and unnamed industry sources believe panel production for an iPhone with a folding display won't kick off until 2020, which is more than two years from now.

Samsung supplies the OLED displays for the iPhone X and is also expected to supply OLED panels for Apple's 2018 iPhones, but LG recently started OLED production for phones at a factory in China and has plans to begin supplying Apple with panels as early as 2019.

Next year's devices will not include foldable display tech, but we have heard rumors suggesting an all-OLED lineup with two OLED devices in 5.85 and 6.46-inch sizes.

Tags: Foldable iPhone Guide, The Investor
Related Forum: iPhone
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Apple Releases iOS 11.0.3 Update With Haptic Feedback and Unresponsive Display Fixes

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Apple today released iOS 11.0.3, the third official update to the new iOS 11 operating system. iOS 11.0.3 comes a little over one week after Apple released iOS 11.0.2, an update that fixed an issue causing crackling sounds to come from the iPhone 8 earpiece, and almost one month after the official release of iOS 11.

The iOS 11.0.3 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the update, go to Settings --> General --> Software Update.

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Today's update addresses bugs and issues that have been discovered since the release of iOS 11.0.2. According to Apple's release notes, the update fixes issues related to haptic feedback and the touchscreen.

- Fixes an issue where audio and haptic feedback would not work on some iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus devices

- Addresses an issue where touch input was unresponsive on some iPhone 6s displays because they were not serviced with genuine Apple parts

The iOS 11 update introduces a redesigned Lock screen experience, a customizable Control Center, a more natural Siri voice, a redesigned App Store, new HEVC and HEIF codecs for better photo and video efficiency, and an entirely overhauled interface for the iPad. For more info on all the new features in iOS 11, check out our iOS 11 roundup.

Related Forum: iOS 11
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Tim Cook Thinks Retailers Will Find Augmented Reality as Key as Having a Website

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Apple CEO Tim Cook believes there isn't any sector or industry that will be untouched by augmented reality going forward.

tim cook vogue

Tim Cook via Alastair Nicol for Vogue

In a recent interview with Vogue, Cook said he believes the technology will transform everything from fashion runway shows to shopping.

"If you think about a runway show in the fashion world, that's a great application of AR because some of these, you want to see the dress all the way around, you do not want to just see the front." That kind of experience is all the more important now that runway shows are catering to a wider consumer audience watching online, and not just those seated in the front rows, he added.

Apple's chief envisions a world where customers will essentially be able to "point and buy" products. If your friend is wearing a pair of shoes you like, for example, you could point your iPhone at them, and a shopping app could instantly bring up information about the pair with the option to purchase them online.

"We don't have a plan to collect all of these objects, but I know companies who are working on that for their products," Cook said. "If you think about companies that offer a fair number of shoes, and [if a customer] sees a shoe and goes I want that one, you just want to point and [buy]. That will be a part of the shopping experience of the future, it absolutely will."

Cook is so confident in augmented reality's future that he believes the technology will become "as key as having a website" for brands.

ikea place
Some retailers have already implemented augmented reality features using Apple's new ARKit platform on iOS 11. IKEA, for example, has released an app called IKEA Place that lets you virtually place furniture in your home, with true-to-scale models of everything from sofas and armchairs to footstools and coffee tables.

Cook thinks the current selection of augmented reality apps is only the very beginning of what's to come in the years ahead.

In one early ARKit demo, for instance, a woman is able to virtually try on various shades of lipstick and quickly choose her preferred color.

arkit lipstick
Later in the video, the woman browses a virtual aisle of images of herself with various cosmetics digitally applied, making her selection a much simpler process than the traditional hassle of physical makeup application.


Cook also said that the technology needed for augmented reality glasses "doesn't exist to do that in a quality way," suggesting that widely rumored Apple Glasses won't be released "any time soon."

"There are rumours and gossip about companies working on that, and we obviously don't talk about what we work on. But today I can tell you that the technology itself doesn't exist to do that in a quality way," Cook said. "We don't give a rats about being first, we want to be best in creating people's experiences. Something that you would see out in the market any time soon would not be something that any of us would be satisfied with."

Cook's sit-down discussion appears to be the same one that The Independent covered earlier this week.

Full Interview: Apple's Tim Cook On The Future Of Fashion & Shopping

Tags: ARKit, Augmented Reality, Tim Cook
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Sketchy Rumor Points Towards October 26 Launch for Amazon Prime Video on Apple TV

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During WWDC in June, Apple finally confirmed that Amazon Prime Video will launch as an app for Apple TV users sometime "later this year." Since that announcement, a few rumors and theories have predicted launch dates for the app, all of which have subsequently been passed by with no official debut of Amazon Prime Video on the tvOS App Store.

Another sketchy rumor has been shared on the Apple TV Subreddit this week by a user who claims to work for Amazon, pointing towards a late October launch for the app. The user -- AmazonVideoEngineer -- originally created the Reddit account to share a post a few weeks ago, which stated that October 26 would be the "earliest" date that Amazon would launch its app on Apple TV.

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Now, the same user has shared a "quick update" on the app, mentioning that the app is "still on track" for an October 26 debut. AmazonVideoEngineer is "very confident" that this date is "finally the day" Amazon will launch its Apple TV app. Check out both posts below:

Original post:

Wanted to make this throwaway account after yesterday’s debacle. I saw many people get upset so I wanted to issue this warning: do not expect Amazon to launch before October 26th. The app is done, and has been done for months already. However there are a lot of politics going on beyond my pay grade that are pushing the launch back. And just to clarify, October 26 is the earliest I would expect it. Launch could be pushed well into November.

New post:

Some of you will remember my post a little while back, in which I warned that Amazon would not launch until at least October 26. We're now just about two weeks from the 26th, and the app is still on track to launch that day. In my time at this job, I have never once seen a release slip this close to a scheduled launch. I am very confident in saying that the 26th is finally the day.

Because the rumor comes from an unconfirmed Reddit source, this October 26 date should be approached with a heavy dose of skepticism. Previous rumors surrounding Amazon's Apple TV app centered around logical events that the app could have debuted alongside of -- Thursday Night Football, the Amazon hardware event in September -- but October 26 appears to be a somewhat random date.

Since we're now four months out from WWDC and Apple's confirmation of the Amazon Prime Video app for Apple TV, we should hopefully hear an announcement of the app's launch date sometime soon.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Tags: Amazon, Amazon Prime Video
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)
Related Forum: Apple TV and Home Theater
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Apple Trails Google, Amazon, and Microsoft Among Ideal Employers in Recent Survey

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Apple has ranked fourth, behind Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, in a recent survey of the most ideal employers for tech professionals in the United States. Apple ranked ahead of Facebook, IBM, The Walt Disney Company, and Tesla.

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The online survey was conducted by tech careers site Dice between June 2017 and August 2017. There were a total of 5,477 respondents, who were asked to name their top three choices for the most desirable company for which to work.

When asked what matters most to them in an employer, tech professionals mentioned competitive salaries, challenging work, benefits, positive organizational culture, and transparent communication as the most important factors.

While the survey results are subjective, having a career at Apple undoubtedly has some benefits, including generous compensation and the chance to work on some of the world's most iconic products like the Mac and iPhone.

Dice also highlighted the equity that Apple awards its employees, in the form of restricted stock units, in addition to its progressive stance on diversity and social issues and innovation within the tech industry.

The survey results likely refer to Apple's corporate positions, but there are also opportunities at the retail level. Apple recently shared a video in which several employees say their jobs help them connect with and inspire customers.


Apple was ranked the 36th best place to work this year in the United States on Glassdoor. The company has an average rating of four out of five stars on the website. Apple CEO Tim Cook has a 93 percent approval rating.

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iPhone X Billboards Appear in Toronto, London, Tokyo, and More Cities Around the World [Updated]

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We're just over two weeks away from the pre-order date of the iPhone X on October 27, meaning it's just over three weeks until the first group of customers will finally have Apple's next-generation iPhone in their hands on November 3. As these dates near, Apple has begun to put up billboards for the new device all over the world in cities like Toronto, London, Tokyo, San Francisco, and more.

This week, Redditor turnaround_ shared an image of workers painting a new iPhone X ad in Toronto.

toronto iphone x ad 4

Image via Redditor turnaround_

Earlier in October, a second iPhone X billboard was spotted going up nearby in the city by Financial Post reporter Josh McConnell. Both billboards are located in Downtown Toronto.

toronto iphone x ad 5

Image via Josh McConnell

In London, a billboard was spotted at Boxpark Shoreditch, a pop-up mall in East London that was constructed in 2011 using refitted shipping containers. The area is known for its shopping, galleries, cafes, restaurants, and nearby there's an Apple reseller called "Shoreditch Macs" that offers repairs, part exchanges, and refurbished Macs.

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Image via @FarrugiaJose

Below the city, Apple has also put up iPhone X billboards in the London Underground.

iphone x london 2

Image via @ianfogg42

iPhone X ads are lined up in the Harajuku district of Shibuya, Tokyo. Similar to Apple's advertising targets in London and Toronto, Harajuku is locally known for attracting visitors to its wide variety of retail locations -- ranging from locally-owned boutique shops to international chain stores -- as well as multiple cafes and restaurants.

tokyo iphone x ad

Image via @BienPerez

Closer to Apple's home in California, billboards have also appeared outside of San Francisco. As the launch of the iPhone X grows nearer, more billboards, commercials, and other pieces of advertising for the new smartphone are expected to continue sprouting up around the world and online.

Likewise, the iPhone X itself has begun appearing in the wild as Apple employees test out the device in the weeks leading up to the public launch. Last week, an iPhone X with an new dynamic wallpaper appeared on Reddit. Prior to that there have been a handful of iPhone X in-the-wild shots shared online, with screen grabs of the device caught on Snapchat, shared to an Instagram Story, and seen by a Redditor in an airport.

Update: We've received numerous responses about iPhone X billboards spotted in other cities, so we'll link a few below:

- Moscow (via @jc_ru)
- Barcelona (via @Josh_J_Ward)
- Union Square in San Francisco (via @DanRoger5)
- Hyderabad (via @ipavanc)
- Los Angeles (via @Mojeda101)
- Hong Kong (via MacRumors forum member Mic'sBook)

Related Forum: iPhone
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Apple Opening Two Mac Labs in India That Will Teach Students How to Create Music Using Logic Pro X

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Apple today announced it will be opening two so-called "Mac Labs" at the KM Music Conservatory's campuses in the Indian cities of Chennai and Mumbai. The labs will teach students how to create music using Logic Pro X.

eddy cue india kmmc
Apple also said it will fund 10 full time musical scholarships at the learning institution for students from underprivileged backgrounds.


Apple's services chief Eddy Cue traveled to Mumbai this week, where he announced the news in person alongside A.R. Rahman, an Oscar-winning composer, producer, musician, and founder of the KM Music Conservatory.

"It's an honour to be in Mumbai and I am humbled to be in the presence of the talented A.R. Rahman to make this announcement together," said Cue. "Apple Music and the KM Music Conservatory share a deep love in discovering, sharing and nurturing musical talent and we're proud to be supporting such an institution that is investing in the future arts and music community."

The A.R. Rahman Foundation founded the KM Music Conservatory in 2008. The higher education institution offers a range of part-time and full-time courses in Western and Indian classical music and audio technology.

Tags: Eddy Cue, India
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YouTube Testing Autoplaying Videos in Mobile App Home Screen

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YouTube 2Google is reportedly testing a new feature for the YouTube app in which featured videos on the home screen start to play without the user's permission.

According to AndroidCentral, some users are seeing the first video featured in the Home section automatically play as soon as they open the YouTube app, with subtitles replacing the muted audio.

The video starts from the beginning and plays all the way through if the user allows it, while scrolling further down the Home section causes subsequent videos to also autoplay as they appear on the screen.

While the default behavior is obviously intended to give users a preview of the contents of featured videos, the experimental feature is likely to be seen by some as a distraction, bad news for mobile data limits, or a drain on battery life.

Fortunately, it looks like the autoplay feature can be turned off in Account -> Settings -> General, where a new "Play as you browse" toggle has been added. Toggling the feature also brings up an additional option to only allow autoplay when connected to WiFi, which should go some way to assuage concerns about the feature eating up data allowances.

It's not clear if or when the autoplay feature will be rolled out to all mobile users, but we'll keep an eye out for it in future updates to the official YouTube iOS app.

Tag: YouTube
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Jony Ive: Debut of iPhone X Technology on 10th Anniversary of iPhone is a 'Wonderful Coincidence'

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Finishing the iPhone X in time for the tenth anniversary of the iPhone in 2017 was a "wonderful coincidence", according to Jony Ive.

The Apple design chief made the comments at last month's iPhone X event during a brief chat with Japanese design magazine Casa Brutus, which published the interview on Tuesday.

iphone x front back
Ive told the magazine that the iPhone X project had an incubation period of more than two years, and with features like Face ID and the TrueDepth camera, is one of the most difficult projects Apple has undertaken.

But the company isn't resting on its laurels – Ive revealed that Apple is already working on next-generation designs that improve upon the iPhone X's integrated assembly, with its contiguous chassis and display.

Ive went on to say the replacement of Touch ID fingerprint recognition, which has featured in all iPhone models since iPhone 5s, equates to a heightened user experience, with Face ID being the culmination of years of work towards a non-contact user interface.

Ive concluded by saying he doesn't think of the iPhone X as the ultimate expression of "iPhone", rather it represents a new chapter in the platform's history.

Pre-orders for iPhone X begin on Friday, October 27, with the official launch the following Friday, November 3.

(Via AppleInsider. Source: Mac Otakara.)

Tag: Jony Ive
Related Forum: iPhone
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Discover Now Lets Apple Pay Users Redeem Cashback Bonuses for Purchases

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Discover today announced the launch of a new Apple Pay feature that will let Discover cardholders use their Cashback Bonus rewards to pay for Apple Pay purchases.

To use the feature, customers make a qualifying purchase with Apple Pay using a Discover card, select "Tap for Details" in the Wallet app and then tap "Redeem" to add the Cashback Bonus as a statement credit in the amount of the purchase.

discovercashbackbonus

"Cashback Bonus redemption through Apple Pay can happen in just two touches for Discover cardmembers," said Szabolcs Paldy, vice president of e-business for Discover. "We are committed to providing simple and valuable solutions to our customers wherever and whenever they need them. Customer experience hinges on embracing mobile-first technologies like Apple Pay, and this new ability will make Cashback Bonus redemption even easier and more convenient for our cardmembers."

Using the new Cashback Bonus feature requires a Discover card added to Apple Pay, the Discover Mobile app, and a rewards balance higher than the purchase amount. Discover, like many credit card companies, offers points with qualifying purchases that can be redeemed for rewards or cash back bonuses.

Discover card users can already redeem their Cashback Bonus points for statement credits or as deposits into a bank account, so technically it was already possible to pay for Apple Pay purchases with Discover points.

It's not entirely clear what the benefit of the new feature is, but with the two-tap redemption method, it may be easier for users to redeem rewards using this method.

Qualifying purchases include those over $1 made with Apple Pay. Discover says that T-Mobile customers will not be able to use the feature unless connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Related Forum: Apple Music, Apple Pay/Card, iCloud, Fitness+
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Apple Adds 2017 15-Inch MacBook Pro Models to Refurbished Store

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Apple today updated its online store for refurbished products to add a selection of 15-inch MacBook Pro models equipped with a Touch Bar, which is the first time the new machines have been available through the refurbished store since their June 2017 release.

As of the writing of this article, Apple's refurbished store has six different 2017 15-inch MacBook Pro models available for purchase at a discount of approximately 15 percent.

refurbished2017macbookpro15inch
The base model 15-inch MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM, 256GB of storage, and a Radeon Pro 555 graphics card is available for $2,039, for example, a discount of $360 off the price when purchased new. Both Silver and Space Gray models are available in a handful of different configurations.

All of these machines are listing shipping estimates of 30 days, which may be in error as they have just recently been added to the refurbished store.

The addition of 15-inch MacBook Pro models to the refurbished store comes two months after Apple began offering refurbished versions of the 13-inch 2017 MacBook Pro models.

Apple's refurbished products go through a rigorous refurbishment process before being offered for sale, which includes inspection, repairs, cleaning, and repackaging. Refurbished Macs come with a one-year warranty that can be extended with an AppleCare+ purchase.

For tips on purchasing a refurbished product, make sure to check out our guide.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tag: Apple Refurbished Products
Buyer's Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
Related Forum: MacBook Pro
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Tim Cook to Open Oxford University's 'The Foundry' Innovation Space Tomorrow

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Apple CEO Tim Cook will cut the ribbon at a new Oxford University startup hub and co-working space called "The Oxford Foundry" tomorrow, reports The Financial Times.

The Oxford Foundry is described as an "innovation space" and "entrepreneurial hub" open to all University of Oxford students. The Foundry website says it will aim to create a diverse and creative environment, deliver workshops on skills-building, self-awareness, and team-building, and offer startup incubation and support in the Amersi Foundation Accelerator space.

oxfordthefoundry
A select number of startups will be accepted throughout the year, with The Foundry providing co-working space and a "suite of support" to accelerate growth. Several tech leaders including Brent Hoberman, Phil Libin, and Biz Stone helped design the space.

The launch of The Oxford Foundry is set for tomorrow, with Apple CEO Tim Cook to attend alongside several other tech entrepreneurs. Cook will participate in a Q&A session.

We're opening our doors! Join us for drinks and canapés, and take part in a panel Q&A with special guest Apple CEO Tim Cook, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Prof Louise Richardson, Dean Peter Tufano of Saïd Business School and Ana Bakshi, Director of the Oxford Foundry. We invite you to take a look around our brand new space in the company of other entrepreneurially-minded people from across the University and beyond.

The new building is located on Hythe Bridge Street in a building that was formally the Oxford Ice Factory and it's open from 8am to 10pm every day of the week.

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