A week ahead of Mother's Day, Apple has launched a new commercial centering around a collection of images and video of mothers interacting with their children. The spot continues Apple's "Shot on iPhone" advertising campaign, with each piece captioned by the amateur iPhone user who captured the moment.
Apple began its "Shot on iPhone" campaign early in 2015, showcasing images collected from both professional and amateur photographers around the world. More recently, Apple's iPhone campaign has focused on portraying the features of the device, like Touch ID and Siri.
MacRumors is pleased to announce the Seventh Annual MacRumors Blood Drive, throughout the month of May 2016. Our goal every year is to save lives by increasing the number of life-saving blood and platelet donations. While most blood drives are specific to a geographic location, our blood drive is online and worldwide. To date we have recorded donations of over 300 units of blood and platelets.
Led by CEO Tim Cook, Apple supports health, relief, and charity efforts, including the recent Apps for Earth promotion. The MacRumors Blood Drive is run by the staff and volunteers of MacRumors.
I was diagnosed and treated for leukemia at age 4. When I got my first blood transfusion, the nurse told me that a stranger had donated it. Decades later, I am healthy thanks in part to some truly altruistic people out there. If you're considering donating, do it for me since I'm not eligible myself. Thanks!!!
User TheBean75:
Thank you for everyone who donates. I cannot (due to the mad cow thing) but my daughter was a micro-preemie born at 24 weeks and had 5 transfusions before her first month in the NICU. I know without the selfless act of donating by others she never would have made it.
User I14:
Thank you to everybody who is donating or has signed up for the bone marrow registry. After donating 42 units over the past years, last year I became a recipient with many units of blood and platelets and finally a bone marrow transplant as I battled leukemia. One of you may have saved my life. You will probably never meet the recipient of your donation, but they will be very thankful for your time, effort and your donation.
How to participate
1. If you are eligible, schedule a blood or platelet donation (see FAQ), in May if possible. Register for the bone marrow registry and/or register as an organ donor (see FAQ).
2. If you aren't eligible to donate blood for reasons of health, age, height/weight, recent donation, or the temporary deferral for gay men that applies in many countries, please encourage someone else to make a donation, and let us know. The U.S. FDA has revised the rules since last year; see our Blood donor eligibility forum thread.
3. Help our drive by thanking donors and convincing friends and relatives to donate as well.
Apple has agreed to examine a recovered iPhone at the center of a dispute between the families of two Florida teens who went missing during a fishing trip last summer (via ABC News).
In July 2015, 14-year-old Austin Stephanos and his friend and neighbor Perry Cohen, also 14, launched a single-engine vessel on a fishing expedition off the coast of Palm Beach County, Florida. The boys never returned, and despite a Coast Guard-led eight-day search of the Atlantic covering 50,000 nautical miles, their bodies were never found.
The recovered iPhone that belonged to Austin Stephanos (Image: Blu Stephanos)
Last month, their abandoned boat was discovered by a Norwegian crew 100 miles off the coast of Bermuda, along with a locked box inside of which was Stephanos' heavily water-damaged and inoperable iPhone 6.
Cohen had borrowed Stephanos' phone to communicate with his family the day they disappeared, and the Cohens wanted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to treat the phone as evidence in an open missing persons case, but the agency insisted on returning the phone to Stephanos' family, according to a local television report.
Cohen's mother, Pamela Cohen, sued Stephanos' family to have the iPhone returned to the state, to allow her access to its contents, and if necessary, have the phone turned over to law enforcement as evidence in a possible criminal investigation.
In the emergency hearing yesterday, Cohen's attorney pointed to an accident investigation report that suggested foul play in the boys' disappearance. According to the court file, Cohen's stepfather, Nick Korniloff, contacted the FBI in the belief that the boys had been abducted, but no official criminal investigation was undertaken.
Both families have now consented to turn over the phone to Apple, which "has already agreed to take in the phone" and analyze it for answers, according to a lawyer representing the Stephanos family. It will be sent to Cupertino via FedEx for forensic examination in-house. Apple has not commented on the lawyer's claim, although the company has previously acknowledged that it was asked to look at the device.
It's unclear whether the iPhone was passcode-protected when it was in working order, nor is it known what methods Apple will employ in its attempts to recover data from such a damaged device, therefore comparisons between this case and Apple's dispute with the FBI over its refusal to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's phone are premature. In the event that anything is found that sheds light on the circumstances of the boys' disappearance, the data will be given to a judge, who will consider if it is evidence and whether it may be shared with the families.
The phone "potentially holds the key to answer a question that a mother desperately needs answered," the Cohens' lawyer told the judge presiding over the hearing. "And let's be clear, your honor, the boys are not declared dead."
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.
After developer Nick Lee realized that the Apple Watch's 520 MHz processor, 512 MB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage made it more powerful than many desktops running Windows 95 in the 1990s, he felt confident he could get it to run Microsoft's successful operating system.
Photo via Nick Lee
To get Windows 95 to run on the Apple Watch, Lee knew he couldn't rely on Apple's WatchKit SDK because it doesn't allow developers to directly access user touch locations. Instead, the SDK forces developers to use Apple's stock controls. So Lee had to patch certain files within a WatchKit app to load his own app code rather than Apple's. Lee tells MacRumors the process, which puts an x86 emulator into a self-contained Watch app, essentially turned Windows 95 into an an app.
Once Windows 95 was loaded onto the Apple Watch, the booting process took an hour because it's being emulated rather than virtualized. Lee also had to attach a straw to a small motor that nudged the Digital Crown periodically to keep the Watch awake. Once the Watch is all booted up and ready, users can control the mouse with their finger. However, because the emulation is so slow, Lee told MacRumors that "it only registers a few pixels per movement on the screen." To combat the lack of speed users can queue up commands by rapidly swiping on the display.
The Watch can be seen booting up and running Windows 95 in the video above, and Lee goes into further detail about the process in his Medium post.
Apple today updated its support site with a brand new look and new ways for users to interact with it. The new site is broken into several different blocks, with most of the attention going to three different ways users can get help.
The first block is dedicated to a search bar that provides Quick Links, which allow users to get the answers they're looking for while they're searching rather than having to wait for a results page. The second block allows users to find support by choosing the device they need help with and the third block features "Popular Topics," like how to manage an Apple ID or photos.
The next set of blocks let users know they can seek help from other Apple users at the Apple Support Communities, check warranty and repair status and how to contact Apple Support. The final two blocks are dedicated to promoting Apple Workshops in retail stores and list out recall and replacement programs. The site's new design is also compatible with mobile browsers.
In recent months, Apple has worked to make it easier for its customers to seek help from the company about its products. Last month, Apple launched the Apple Support Twitter account, which quickly gained momentum after its genesis and was responding to nearly 100 tweets per hour.
Former Grey Group chief creative officer and New York president Tor Myhren has officially joined Apple and has been added to the company's Executive Profiles webpage. Apple first announced Myhren's plans to join the company back in December of 2015, when it announced new roles for Jeff Williams and Phil Schiller.
According to his profile, Myhren will lead a creative team focused on Apple's advertising, internet presence, package design, and other consumer-facing marketing. Myhren is replacing Hiroki Asai, who is retiring after spending 18 years handling marketing communications and graphic design at Apple.
Myhren has overseen popular Grey ad campaigns like the ETrade talking baby and a series of commercials for DirecTV starring Rob Lowe.
A two-time TED speaker, Tor has been named to Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business, Fortune's 40 Under 40, AdAge's Creativity 50 honoring the world's 50 most influential creative minds, and was inducted into the Advertising Federation of America's Hall of Achievement.
Like all Apple executives listed on Apple's Executive site, Myhren will report directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Well-known designer brand Coach is reportedly working on a line of high-quality Apple Watch bands, which could debut as soon as June. According to Haute Écriture's David Boglin de Bautista, a sales associate at a Coach boutique informed him of the upcoming release after seeing his Apple Watch and showed him pictures of the bands.
Coach is said to be debuting around eight watch bands, in colors that include white, red, black, and brown. Some bands are decorated with charms, while others have patterns like flowers stitched into them, with each band set to retail for approximately $150.
The bands are designed to match Coach handbags from its Spring/Summer 2016 Collection, and according to de Bautista, one band was stitched with flowers to match Coach's Tea Rose Appliqué bag.
It is not clear if Coach is teaming up with Apple or releasing the bands independently. Apple has partnered with Hermès to launch a line of Apple Watch models with Hermès bands and a unique watch face, but Coach may be working independently.
A few other designers, including Rebecca Minkoff and Colette have released Apple Watch bands without Apple's assistance, Minkoff in partnership with Case-Mate and Colette in partnership with Casetify.
Although Apple recently refreshed its 12-inch MacBook lineup with a faster SSD, new sixth-generation Skylake processors, and longer battery life, the Retina Macbook's USB Type-C input remains the notebook's single port, apart from a 3.5mm headphone jack. Similar to the launch of the first generation device in 2015, many fans lament not only the inability to use traditional USB 3.0 inputs without carrying around an adapter, but the safety issues present in a charging cable lacking Apple's trusty MagSafe technology.
To that end, at CES this year Griffin Technology introduced a third-party solution to the lack of a magnetic charging cable on the 12-inch MacBook, called the BreakSafe Magnetic USB-C Power Cable. The $39.99 kit comes with a six-foot cable and small metal dongle, which is about 3/4 of an inch long. Setup is simple: the cable is capped by a USB-C output, which users plug into Apple's packaged-in wall outlet brick. The dongle is plugged into the USB-C slot on the MacBook, so users can then charge the notebook using BreakSafe's quick-release magnetic connection.
Similar to MagSafe, BreakSafe's purpose is largely to prevent the MacBook from tumbling down off of furniture -- or kicked along the floor -- when something snags the charging cable connected to a wall outlet and the computer itself. The messaging is focused on computers (and charging power only, as data and video are not supported), but the company does note that the idea transfers to USB-C supported smartphones and tablets as well.
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Leef to give MacRumors readers a chance to win the 32GB Leef iBridge, an iPhone-compatible storage device, the Leef iAccess, a microSD card reader, and a 64GB microSD card to go along with it.
Leef's iBridge is designed to expand the available storage on an iPhone or iPad by connecting to the Lightning port on Apple's devices. The iBridge can store photos, videos, music, and other files, freeing up valuable space on an iOS device, and it can also be used for backups. With the included USB 3 connector, it can quickly transfer files between a Mac and an iOS device.
With the Leef app, content stored on the iBridge can be accessed on an iPhone or iPad, so music, videos, and photos can be viewed or played directly from the device. A wide range of audio, video, and document files are supported, from .MP4, .MKV, and .AVI to .WAV, .AAC, and .AIFF. There's also a built in tool for taking and storing photos right on the iBridge.
Available in a convenient, keychain-sized package, the iBridge, purchasable on the Leef website, comes in 16, 32, 64, 128, and 256GB capacities, with pricing that starts at $59.99. It is compatible with the iPhone 5 and later, the iPad mini 2 and later, and the third-generation iPad and later.
Leef also offers a microSD card reader called iAccess, which can be used as additional file storage for iOS devices much like the iBridge or to transfer photos from a camera to an iPhone or iPad. the iAccess is compatible with the same devices as the iBridge and it can be purchased for $49.99.
Five MacRumors readers will be able to win the Leef bundle with the iBridge, iAccess, and a 64GB microSD card. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner and send the prize.
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.
The contest will run from today (April 29) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on May 6. The winners will be chosen randomly on May 6 and will be contacted by email. The winners have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.
Apple executive Phil Schiller gave Apple users a grammar lesson on Twitter yesterday afternoon, explaining that it isn't necessary to pluralize Apple product names.
Schiller's instructions came after a discussion on pluralizing "iPad Pro" between Andreessen Horowitz partner Benedict Evans and iMore analyst Michael Gartenberg. Evans referred to more than one iPad Pro as "iPads Pro," while Gartenberg said "iPad Pros."
Schiller clarified that neither approach was correct. The proper way to refer to more than one iPad Pro is to call them "iPad Pro devices."
He went on to further state that it would be correct to say "I have 3 Macintosh," or "I have 4 Macintosh computers" when referring to more than one Mac. "Words can be both singular and plural, such as deer and clothes," he explained. By that logic, more than one iPhone would need to be referred to as iPhone devices or iPhone models rather than "iPhones."
As Business Insider points out, Apple sometimes breaks its own naming rules. In press releases, the company has made mention of "iPhones" in the plural form.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has released a free software update that enables owners of properly equipped 2013-2015 Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram vehicles to add Siri Eyes Free capability to the Uconnect 8.4 system.
The new software update is available in nearly 2 million vehicles equipped with a Uconnect 8.4 touchscreen system:
- 2013-2015 Ram 1500, 2500, 3500 - 2013-2015 Dodge Viper - 2014-2015 Dodge Durango - 2015 Dodge Challenger and Charger - 2014-2015 Jeep Cherokee and Grand Cherokee - 2015 Jeep Renegade - 2015 Chrysler 200 and 300
Siri Eyes Free is also supported on 2016 Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and Fiat vehicles with properly equipped Uconnect 8.4 or 6.5 systems. FCA previously announced that Uconnect will support CarPlay in compatible 2016 vehicles later this year.
After entering a 17-digit Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) on the Uconnect website, owners of the eligible vehicles can download the update to a USB drive and then install it on their Uconnect system, a process that takes about 30-45 minutes.
Siri Eyes Free, compatible with iPhone 4s or later, is designed to help minimize driver distraction by using Siri voice recognition and spoken responses to allow drivers to interact with an iPhone without needing to look at the in-dash screen.
Drivers can activate Siri Eyes Free by pushing and holding the voice recognition button on the steering wheel to, for example, place phone calls, send text messages, play music, set reminders, set calendar entries, access turn-by-turn directions, and more, while keeping their eyes on the road ahead.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently published a new patent application originally filed by Apple last July, detailing a system in which the receiver of an iMessage could be notified when pieces of the message are scrambled incoherently by the company's autocorrect system (via AppleInsider). The patent isn't a proactive solution to enhance the sometimes spotty nature of autocorrect, but simply a way to let the person on the other end of the text know what's happening, and give each user tools to better explain what they meant.
Apple describes a new user interface that would highlight any words or phrases in a message that have been siphoned through autocorrect. The system wouldn't be advanced enough to reveal the specifically intentioned words the sender meant, but at least give the receiver a heads up about which parts of the text were corrected.
A design of the sender-side UI
Parts of the patent reveal iterations of the idea that can streamline the clarification process, as well. For example, a description of the sender-side user interface includes a prompt that pops up -- after a user taps on the autocorrected word -- with an option to "Send clarification" to the receiver. The canned message fills out the phrase, "I sent [wrong word], but I meant [correct word]." If they want a complete do-over, the user could also just opt to re-send the entire message.
A design of the receiver-side UI
On the receiver-side user interface, if the sender isn't opting to fix the issue themselves, the other person can "Request clarification" by tapping on the highlighted autocorrect word or phrase. The automated message is similar to the previous sender-side phrase, asking "You sent [wrong word]. What did you mean?"
If implemented in a future version of iOS, the autocorrect highlight patent could be similar to the way iOS currently underscores vague references to dates and times when users send and receive text messages. Apple's new patent could be slightly more helpful for most users than that feature, however, especially given the speed with which iPhone users have grown accustomed to texting on the device, and how frustrating it can be to realize autocorrect interfered with your message.
Like most patents, it's still advised to be wary of how long it'll take Apple to implement the autocorrect notification system into iOS, if it ever will. Still, it's easy to see how useful and streamlined such a feature could be, without completely taking out much of the humorous -- and sometimes awkward -- mishaps for which autocorrect has become famous.
Drake's latest album made its global streaming debut on Apple Music last night and is now available to buy on iTunes. Priced at $13.99, Views (previously titled Views From The Six) features 20 new tracks, including the slow jam hit "Hotline Bling".
The Canadian rapper's album will be exclusive to Apple Music for one week, after which it will become available on other music streaming services like Spotify.
Views is just the latest tactically timed release in an ongoing battle among music streaming services for exclusivity, with Drake forming rank alongside Taylor Swift and Adele in Apple's corner, as the company faces off against competing streaming service Tidal's frontline co-owners Jay Z, Kanye West, Beyonce, and Rihanna.
Last week, Beyoncé's newest album Lemonade launched on Tidal approximately 24 hours before it became available for users to purchase on the likes of iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play, and remains the only service able to stream the album.
Drake and Apple have been in a partnership since the launch of Apple Music last summer, with the artist contributing his own Beats 1 radio show to the streaming service. Drake recently confirmed his partnership with Apple will continue into live music as Apple Music will sponsor his "Summer Sixteen" tour.
Drake's fourth studio album comes one year after If You're Reading This It's Too Late, which also had its debut on iTunes. In August, Quartz reported that Drake was the second most played artist on Apple Music.
Twitter yesterday changed how its iOS mobile app is categorized on the App Store in order to enhance its visibility, following the company's poor Q1 earnings report earlier this week (via TechCrunch).
Twitter now appears in the "News" category, where it's the #1 ranked app ahead of CNN and Reddit. Previously it could be found in "Social Networking", where it occupied #5 in the category rankings, behind the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
Achieving a #1 ranking in the App Store should also give Twitter's "Overall" ranking a boost, which equates to better visibility in the top "Free" apps chart, where Twitter currently sits at #28.
The company has not commented on the thematic switch, which has yet to be reflected in the Google Play store (where it still sits in the "Social" category), but the change indicates that Twitter is looking to court a new audience interested in sources of breaking news and curated information on current affairs, as it seeks a strategy that will heighten its online profile and significantly boost growth.
Twitter's Q1 earnings earlier this week showed poor performance, with $595 million company revenues falling short of the $607.8 million analysts expected. The platform had zero growth in new users in Q4 of 2015, but a new tallying system enabled the company to report a 2 percent increase in active users in Q1 (310 million, up from 305 million users in Q4). The company remains unprofitable, with a Q1 net loss of -$79.7 million, and gave bleak guidance for the quarter ahead.
Twitter has attempted to improve its core product over the past year with a number of changes to the way the platform works. The app now sorts tweets in the timeline by quality rather than recency, for example, while the starred "favorite" icon got replaced with a "like" heart icon. However, Twitter's stock fell more than 12 percent after its Q1 report, indicating the company's efforts to increase its mainstream appeal have so far failed to pay dividends.
In March, Apple launched its Apple Support account on the social network, which is dedicated to answering customer support questions. Earlier this month, Apple launched a new Twitter account for Apple News, giving its Apple News team a way to promote stories and content on the social network. The Apple News Twitter account is used to share "top stories" and "great reads" curated by Apple News editors in the United States.
Last week, FBI director James Comey hinted at how much the agency paid to unlock San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook's iPhone, saying it cost more than he will make in the next seven years and four months. The number worked out to around $1.3 million, as Comey's annual salary is $183,000. However, sources now tellReuters that the amount was actually under $1 million.
Although the FBI says it will keep the technique it used to unlock Farook's iPhone 5c a secret, sources tell Reuters that the agency can use the method on other iPhone 5c's running iOS 9. The FBI has physical possession of the mechanism used to unlock the phone and does not need to pay the contractor any more money for further uses.
The contractor responsible for the method is a closely-held secret within the FBI, with Comey being in the dark himself, according to Reuters' sources. In mid-April, it was reported that the FBI hired "professional hackers," at least one of which is a gray hat researcher that sells flaws to governments, black market groups or surveillance companies.
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.
Apple's Flyover feature for Apple Maps has expanded to encompass Akron, Ohio and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, allowing Maps users to see photorealistic 3D views of the areas, with tools for zooming, panning, and rotating to get a closer look at notable landmarks and points of interest.
In Thailand, Apple Maps users now have access to traffic information, bringing the total number of countries with traffic data available to 34.
Finally, Spotlight Suggestions have expanded to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, making the feature available in 19 countries. Spotlight Suggestions show suggestions from the Internet, iTunes, the App Store, Maps, and more when conducting a spotlight search on an iPhone or Mac.
Apple today updated its Apple Music app designed for Android devices, adding support for family memberships and watching music videos, features already available in the iOS version of Apple Music.
Starting today, Android users have access to music videos in the Apple Music app, such as Taylor Swift's live 1989 World Tour video. Since the launch of Apple Music, Apple has focused some of its attention on music video content, and in recent months, its video push has been expanding. In the future, Apple is expected to introduce a full television show to promote Apple Music, starring Apple executive Dr. Dre.
Today's Android update also allows Android users to subscribe to or upgrade to a family subscription plan, which allows up to six family members to access Apple Music content for $14.99 per month.
Apple Music for Android launched in November of 2015, marking Apple's the release of Apple's first major app for Android users. The Android app is available in all the countries where Apple Music for iOS is available and allows Android users to subscribe to Apple Music and listen on Android-based devices.
The Android Apple Music app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store for free. It comes with a free three-month Apple Music trial.
Apple today updated its iMovie app designed for the Mac, adding several new features and design tweaks aimed at speeding up the video editing process.
Fast project creation allows editing to begin with a single click, while an easier to find "New Project" button has been added to the Projects browser. Larger product thumbnails, designed to bring the look of iMovie for Mac in line with the iOS version, have been added.
Clicking a video clip will now select the entire clip instead of a range, and there's a keyboard shortcut that enables selecting a range within a clip. There's also support for App Preview resolutions for the iPad Pro and the Apple TV, along with performance improvements. A full list of the changes is below:
- Easy to find New Project button in the Projects browser - Larger project thumbnails that match the look of iMovie for iOS - Fast project creation lets you begin editing with a single click - Clicking a video clip selects the entire clip, instead of a range - Keyboard shortcut to select range within a clip in the browser and timeline (hold down R key while dragging) - Support for App Preview resolutions for iPad Pro (1600 x 1200) and Apple TV (1920 x 1080) - Improves stability
iMovie can be downloaded from the App Store for $14.99. [Direct Link]
Former Grey Group chief creative officer and New York president Tor Myhren has officially joined Apple and has been added to the company's 
Apple today updated its Apple Music app designed for Android devices, adding support for family memberships and watching music videos, features already available in the iOS version of Apple Music.
Apple today updated its iMovie app designed for the Mac, adding several new features and design tweaks aimed at speeding up the video editing process.
