MacRumors

Reddit today released an official iOS app for browsing, searching, commenting, and upvoting within subreddits on iPhone or iPod touch.

Reddit for iOS replaces Alien Blue, which has now been removed from the App Store, as the website's official mobile app for Apple users.

Alien Blue previously served as Reddit's official iOS app after the company acquired it from developer Jase Morrissey in 2014. Alien Blue Pro users recently received four years of Reddit gold for free to help bridge the transition.

The new app is split into four tabbed sections:

- Timeline: Browse and comment on the latest stories from the front page and subreddits that you are subscribed to. Photos appear in line, while videos and external links open in a new window when tapped. There are also upvote and downvote buttons and options to share or hide posts. Tap on the three dots in the top-right corner to choose between compact or card view, or sort posts based on Hot, New, Top, or Controversial. Tap on the pencil icon in the top-left corner to submit a text, image, or link post. Swipe down to refresh.

- Subscriptions: A list of subreddits that you are subscribed to, along with a Discover option to find new subreddits based on a number of topics: animals, art and design, ask, books and writing, business, comics and hobbies, DIY and crafts, driving and vehicles, entertainment, fashion and style, food and drink, funny, gaming, health and fitness, interesting, life and advice, local, meta, military and survival, music, news and politics, philosophy, pics and GIFs, relationships, science, shopping, sports, stories, technology, trades, travel and outdoors, videos, and more.

- Inbox: View your private messages, comment replies, post replies, and mentions. Tap on the pencil icon on the top-left corner to compose a private message to another user. Swipe down to refresh.

- Profile: View your user profile, including an overview of your account karma and creation date, browsing history, saved posts, personal posts and comments, upvoted posts, friends, hidden topics, and image uploads. Tap on the settings icon in the top-right corner for account management, customizable themes, a safe for work browsing toggle, option to clear local history, and quick links to Reddit's content policy, privacy policy, user agreement, help FAQ, and bug reporting.

Reddit is automatically gifting users that download and sign into the new app with a free three-month Reddit gold subscription during its launch week.

Reddit gold provides perks such as turning off ads, custom themes, custom avatars, new comment highlighting, subreddit filtering, saved posts and comments categorization, and more. A subscription normally costs $3.99/month or $29.99/year, or you can mail Reddit a postcard to receive a one-month subscription for free.

Reddit for iOS [Direct Link] is free on the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch. The app does not have universal iPad support, and availability appears to be limited to the U.S., U.K., Canada, and select other countries upon launch.

Amid rumors that Apple is working on ultra-thin 13 and 15-inch "MacBooks", HP yesterday announced the "world's thinnest laptop" in the form of the Core-i powered 13.3-inch Spectre, with a design that the company said offered proof that it is driving innovation faster than Apple.

Created with a focus on "luxury and artisanal craftsmanship", the HP Spectre is 10.4mm thick and weighs in at 2.45lbs, sporting a twin-tone aluminum and carbon fiber chassis with an edge-to-edge Corning Gorilla Glass IPS 1080p display. Apple's 12-inch Retina MacBook is 13.1mm thick and weighs 2.03lbs by comparison.

The copper and dark gray body has contrast bronze edging and a full-size, recessed backlit keyboard with 1.3 mm travel, and includes a pair of arcing piston hinges that fold flush for a "nearly hingeless look" when the laptop is closed. HP says the design is inspired by high-end furniture details.

The laptop is powered by an Intel Core i5 or i7 Skylake processor, rather than the significantly slower ultra low-voltage Core M CPU specifically designed for ultra-thin notebooks and found in the 12-inch MacBook.

HP claims this is made possible by the Spectre's integration of Intel's "breakthrough hyperbaric cooling system", which features two ultra-thin fans, a heat-pipe and a copper radiator, allowing the system to not only extract heat but also draw in cool air and direct it over the processor.

HP used two differently sized polymer batteries in the Spectre, making up four cells in total for a claimed battery life of up to 9.5 hours. HP also used a new variant of its logo on the rear of the display to set apart the laptop from its other ranges.

Other specifications include a glass trackpad, three USB-C ports (two of which support Thunderbolt 3), up to 512GB PCIe SSD storage, a maximum of 8GB RAM, dual speakers part-designed by Bang & Olufsen, and Intel HD Graphics 520. Early indications are that the SSD and memory are soldered onto the mainboard, suggesting HP sacrificed repairability for thinness.

HP says the Spectre will be be available for pre-order on April 25 and begin shipping sometime in May. Prices will start at $1,170. In addition, a Bluetooth mouse, carry bag and leather sleeve that match the design of the Spectre notebook will be sold as accessories.

Speaking ahead of the Spectre's unveiling at the New York Times' International Luxury Conference in Paris, the company's PC chief Ron Coughlin said that the laptop is an example of HP's determination to lead the way in the PC industry. "For years, Apple has been seen as the innovator and the driver of innovation [but now] HP is really taking over that mantle," Coughlin said.

HP has had to defend its laptops in the past over perceived design similarities with Apple's notebooks, but the company is clearly attempting to push its latest "luxury" model as a trendsetter in the premium PC laptop market. At the CES in January, HP unveiled its more business-focused Elitebook Folio, measuring less than half an inch in thickness.

A recent DigiTimes report claimed that Apple's upcoming "ultra-thin" MacBooks will "share a design similar to the existing 12-inch MacBook" and be "thinner than [the] existing MacBook Air," but failed to specify which MacBook lineup the new design is destined for.

New Macs could feasibly be introduced by WWDC 2016, which will likely take place between June 13-17 based on scheduling information available from the Moscone Center.

Apple's refreshed Mac lineup is expected to feature Intel's faster Skylake processors and Thunderbolt 3 with USB-C, while the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are also deserving candidates for an overall redesign.

Apple Campus 2 has been designed from the ground up to meet Apple's exacting specifications, and the same careful attention is also being applied to the interior of the building, including the furniture. In a recent visit to the Apple Campus, design-focused site Design Milk was given a small tidbit of information regarding one element of the interior design of Apple Campus 2 -- the tables.

Apple is having 500 custom white oak tables created for Apple Campus 2, each one measuring in at 18-feet long, 4-feet wide, and 660 pounds. The tables are being designed by Dutch company Arco from a single sheet of wood with skateboard-style rounded edges and a seamless surface.

The closest approximation that popped into my head was an enormous naked wood skate deck designed for a colossus Jony Ive. And if the length of all 500 tables inside Apple Campus 2 were combined, it would roughly equal the distance of the National Mall in Washington, DC.

These extra large Pod Island Tables by Arco are constructed from continuous sheets of solid Spesshart white oak sourced from the fairytale forests of Germany. There are no visible seams because of the company's innovative manufacturing technique, which essentially peels away continuous single thin sheets of wood, which is then layered into a table top.

Apple plans to use the tables inside of open area "pods" located on each floor of the main ring-shaped building. The layout is designed to encourage "accidental mingling" between employees by providing an open workspace that "brings people together organically," a concept Design Milk says originated from the time Steve Jobs spent at Pixar.

In an interview with Arco director Jorre Van Ast, Design Milk gleaned some details about what it was like designing a piece for Apple. Apple's team of designers and Foster + Partners were looking for something built to their exact specifications, and van Ast describes the collaboration as "very intense and constructive."

During a meeting to inspect the first prototype together with Apple and Foster+Partners, the question was raised: 'but what if it was made out of a single piece? Can you achieve it?' They challenged us to push the boundaries of our craft, we got excited ourselves as well and started to investigate how to overcome the limitations inherent to the way we produce tables--not just here at Arco but for the entire furniture industry including our partners. Design, machinery, logistics, finding the right material... it all had to be reconsidered.

When completed, the tables, along with 300 additional tables and 200 benches, will be shipped to Apple in Cupertino and installed at Apple Campus 2 using cranes and dollies. Apple's second campus is still under construction, but much of the main ring-shaped building has been completed, as has work on several auxiliary buildings like an auditorium and a fitness center. Apple plans to finish construction at Apple Campus 2 by the end of 2016, with employees moving into the space starting in 2017.

For much more detail on the tables that will be used at Apple Campus 2, make sure to check out the full article on Design Milk.

Amid rumors that Apple plans to release a dual camera feature in the iPhone 7 Plus, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei today unveiled the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus, a set of smartphones that are equipped with impressive dual camera setups with some interesting capabilities.

The 5.2 and 5.5-inch P9 and P9 Plus both come with dual 12-megapixel rear cameras equipped with Leica-certified lenses. Hardware wise, the lenses include 1.25-micron pixel sizes for superior low light performance and an f/2.2 aperture, which will also improve performance in poor lighting conditions. There's also a dual-tone LED flash and a laser focusing module that works in tandem with the two cameras for faster focusing at short ranges.

Each camera in the P9 has a different sensor, one that's monochrome to capture 300 percent more light (according to Huawei) and produce better contrast for crisper images, and one that supports full RGB color. Combined, the two cameras are able to produce a final photograph that has more detail than would be possible with a single camera, especially in conditions where poor lighting would otherwise ruin an image.

Along with the laser focusing module, the two cameras in the P9 are able to detect the depth of objects in an image, allowing for post-capture refocusing. With this feature, P9 users can change the area of an image that's in focus through built-in editing tools. Huawei says its focusing tools allow for "Leica-quality" bokeh, or blurring of certain areas of the photo, and combined with a wide f/2.2 aperture, the two cameras should be able to create shallow depth-of-field images that are normally not possible with a smartphone camera.

The wide-aperture photography feature on the P9 allows users to experiment with innovative visual effects to create unique images and content. The P9 makes it easy to adjust the camera aperture to create bokeh and other depth-of-field effects, while keeping the main object in sharp focus.

We don't yet know what features Apple will include in the dual camera setup of the iPhone 7 Plus, but the capabilities included in the P9 give us a look at the some of the possibilities. Apple is said to be using technology it acquired from LinX Imaging last year, which would perhaps result in functions like improved optical zoom for more detail in images, better low light functionality, less noise, improved color, and more advanced features like depth mapping for 3D scanning or image refocusing, as in the P9.

Based on past release information, Apple is expected to debut its new iPhone 7 (with a single camera) and iPhone 7 Plus in September of 2016.

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming OS X 10.11.5 El Capitan update to developers for testing purposes, just over two weeks after releasing OS X 10.11.4, the fourth major update to the OS X 10.11 operating system.

The new OS X 10.11.5 update can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center.

We don't yet know what improvements the fifth update to OS X El Capitan will bring, but like prior updates, it's likely to focus on security enhancements, performance improvements, and bug fixes to address issues that have been discovered since the release of OS X 10.11.4. We'll update this post with any changes that are discovered in the beta.

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming iOS 9.3.2 update to developers for testing purposes, just over two weeks after the public release of iOS 9.3. iOS 9.3, the third major update to iOS 9, introduced Night Shift mode and other feature improvements. iOS 9.3.2 also comes a week after the release of iOS 9.3.1, a bug fix update that addressed an issue causing Safari and other apps to crash after a web link was tapped.

The iOS 9.3.2 beta, build 13F51a, is available for download immediately from the Apple Developer Center and may be made available to public beta testers later this week.

We don't know what changes iOS 9.3.2 will bring to iOS 9, but according to its release notes, it focuses on under-the-hood performance improvements and fixes for bugs that have been discovered since the release of iOS 9.3. We will update this post with any changes that are found in the new beta.

What's new in iOS 9.3.2 beta 1:

Quick Actions - Quick Actions now open up smoothly in landscape mode with none of the jittering or lag that's been present in past versions of iOS 9.3.

Apple CEO Tim Cook today joined the board of directors for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights after being a longtime supporter of the organization. Cook counts Robert F. Kennedy as one of his personal heroes and has said there are two photos of Kennedy in his office that he looks at each day.

"Growing up, I was inspired by Robert Kennedy's infinite hope for humanity and his belief that people at their core are good, sharing universal goals for themselves and the world in which we live," said Cook. "Robert Kennedy spoke to our highest aspirations, calling Americans from all walks of life to fight for something better. He was and is a hero and role model to me, and I am honored to serve alongside Kerry and the rest of the board to advance his message of justice and equality."

The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights aims to reach Robert F. Kennedy's goal for a just and peaceful world by advancing corporate responsibility, teaching social justice, and partnering with human rights leaders. On Cook's appointment to the board of directors, CEO Kerry Kennedy said Tim Cook is dedicated to the cause.

Announcing the appointment, Kerry Kennedy, President and CEO of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, said, "Tim knows the importance of advocating for and representing people who have not been heard. He has integrity and does not shy away from challenging issues when he knows they are right and just. Tim is deeply committed to the social justice work that he is helping Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights accomplish."

On multiple occasions in the past, Tim Cook has auctioned off charity lunches with proceeds that benefit the RFK Center and Robert F. Kennedy has been mentioned in several of his speeches. Last year, the RFK Center gave Tim Cook the Ripple of Hope Award, designed to celebrate business leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to social change.

Nearly one week following the launch of the iPhone SE, availability of the new 4-inch smartphone continues to tighten. Apple now lists a standard delivery estimate of around April 22-27 in the U.S. for the majority of iPhone SE models, while in-store stock is depleted in many major cities.

All SIM-Free iPhone SE models also currently have an April 22-27 delivery estimate.

Apple's online Personal Pickup tool reveals that the iPhone SE is out of stock at many retail stores nationwide, including most or all locations in New York City, Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Houston, Phoenix, Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami, Denver, Portland, Raleigh, Seattle, and Washington D.C.

While extended delivery estimates are anecdotal evidence that iPhone SE sales may be off to a good start, they are not a measurable indicator of exact supply and demand. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and Localytics both believe first weekend sales were "lackluster," but Apple has not disclosed any official figures.

Apple may be laying the groundwork to allow users to remove or hide stock iOS apps, such as Compass and Tips, from their iPhones in an upcoming version of its mobile software, based on recently added metadata keys showing up on App Store apps.

As discovered by AppAdvice, Apple several weeks ago added a new pair of keys called "isFirstParty" and "isFirstPartyHideableApp" to the metadata of every App Store listing in iTunes. The new keys allow for a Boolean value of "true" or "false" to denote whether the app would be allowed to be hidden or removed from the user's iPhone. It's unclear whether the metadata is referring to an Apple-approved way to simply hide the first-party apps, or remove them altogether.

Last September, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke about the long-standing desire by users to remove apps like Stocks and Voice Memos from their iPhones to reduce clutter of unused apps. He admitted the company was at a bit of an impasse over the situation, because while some of its first-party experiences could be removed without much of a headache, certain apps "are linked to something else on the iPhone." Their removal could begin a domino effect of bugs and issues elsewhere in iOS, so implementing a feature allowing their removal would be understandably risky.

The hints found in the metadata of iTunes could be the potential solution, with Apple specifically targeting first-party apps that are safe to hide or remove, and letting users decide on their end if they choose to do so. With no official word from Apple on the topic since last year, it's hard to say when -- or if -- we will see such a feature implemented into iOS, although iOS 10 coming later this year is an obvious opportunity.

Users looking to minimize clutter from less popular stock apps such as Tips and Compass, and even newer editions like Health and News in some cases, frequently sequester their least favorite apps into a forgotten folder somewhere on their home screens, but some have even gotten crafty in figuring out ways to go one step further in removing unsightly crammed folders from their home screens, without needing to resort to jailbreaking their devices.

Following multiple reports claiming Apple will release its first OLED-based iPhone as early as 2017, DigiTimes Research says that Apple manufacturer Foxconn will develop AMOLED displays through its recent investment in troubled Japanese electronics maker Sharp.

Sharp will set up one 4.5G and two 6G AMOLED production lines with monthly capacity of 13,000, 11,500 and 34,500 glass substrates respectively, with total monthly capacity of 9.85 million 5.5-inch equivalent panels.

Given its longstanding relationship with Apple, the move could position Foxconn as a frontrunner among AMOLED display suppliers for iPhones. Recent reports said Apple was closing in on deals with Samsung and LG, while AU Optronics and Japan Display are also rumored candidates for orders in 2017 or 2018.

AU Optronics, Japan Display, LG, and Sharp have all supplied Apple with LCD displays for current or previous iPhones.

Last month, oft-reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple is planning an all-new iPhone featuring a curved 5.8-inch AMOLED display for debut in 2017. Kuo noted that, if supplies are sufficient, Apple would launch a 4.7-inch LCD-based iPhone paired with the new 5.8-inch AMOLED iPhone as a Plus-sized model.

While some have expressed skepticism about Apple releasing a larger 5.8-inch iPhone, one possibility is that the screen wraps around the sides of the device akin to Samsung's Galaxy S7 Edge. Apple holds patents for wraparound screens, and the design lines up nicely when applied to the height of a 5.5-inch iPhone.

Rumors suggest that the iPhone 7 series will have iterative designs compared to the current iPhone 6s lineup, meaning that Apple is likely saving its major design change for 2017. Nevertheless, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will likely have many notable differences, headlined by the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack.