MacRumors

Nanoleaf, the company behind a line of designer energy-efficient light bulbs, today announced its latest product, the Nanoleaf Smarter Kit. The Nanoleaf Smarter Kit, which is debuting today on Indiegogo, is the first Nanoleaf product to include HomeKit support.

Through HomeKit, iPhone users with the Nanoleaf Smarter Kit will be able to control their lightbulbs with voice commands, turning them on and off and incorporating them into scenes with other HomeKit-enabled products through the accompanying Nanoleaf Smarter iOS app. The kit is also compatible with other connected smart bulbs such as the Philips Hue line.


The Nanoleaf Smarter Kit ships with one Nanoleaf hub and two energy efficient Nanoleaf Ivy light bulbs. The Nanoleaf Hub connects to a router to provide a way for an iPhone to connect wirelessly to the Nanoleaf bulbs. Each of the 3000K warm white bulbs measures in at 800 lumens, drawing 7 watts of power and putting out an amount of light equivalent to a 60 watt bulb.

These bulbs also have a unique design that lets them be used sans lampshade and with a range of decorative open-faced lamps. They're made from printed circuit boards embedded with LED chips and and folded into a dodecahedron shape.

The Nanoleaf Smarter Kit can be purchased via Indiegogo or the Nanoleaf website for $99. The kit will ship out to customers beginning on November 26.

Astropad Mini, the app that turns the iPhone into a graphics tablet for the Mac, is getting a major update today to add new features to the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus. The new version of the app includes support for 3D Touch, enabling pressure sensitive drawing.

When using a finger or a stylus, the iPhone 6s or 6s Plus is able to detect 256 levels of pressure being on the screen, letting users draw thinner or thicker lines based on the amount of pressure that's applied.

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For those unfamiliar with the Astropad line of apps, they're able to transform an iPhone or an iPad into a professional graphics tablet that can be used with the Mac by mirroring the Mac's display to the iPhone. The iPhone's touch controls are then used for creative tasks like editing photos and creating art with little to no lag. Because the app simply mirrors what's on the Mac's screen, it's compatible with any Mac-based editing app like Photoshop CC and Pixelmator.

The Astropad Mini app for the iPhone is now a free download, as is the Mac app, so the Astropad system can be used by anyone at no cost. The Mac app is available from the Astropad website and the iPhone app is available from the iOS App Store. [Direct Link]

Huawei-Mate-SWhile the smartphone market largely remains a two-horse race between rivals Apple and Samsung, Chinese handset maker Huawei is placing increasing pressure on the industry giants after experiencing strong growth in China and Europe in 2015.

Third-quarter deliveries climbed 81 percent and 98 percent in China and Europe respectively from a year ago. About a third of the quarterly shipments were mid- to high-end models, Huawei said, up from 25 percent a year earlier.

Huawei cemented its position as the third-largest smartphone vendor, a rank that previously belonged to Chinese rival Xiaomi, after its third-quarter smartphone shipments rose 63% year-over-year to 27.4 million handsets, according to Reuters.

"It's hard to find a solid contender to Huawei for the top three position (after Samsung and Apple) in the short term," said Nicole Peng, Asia Pacific director at research firm Canalys. "That's impressive growth."

Huawei is projected to ship more than 100 million smartphones in 2015, around 33% more than 2014, outpacing growth forecast for major rivals including Apple, Xiaomi and Lenovo. The Shenzhen-based handset maker also doubled its smartphone revenue in the first half of 2015 in China, a key smartphone market alongside the United States.

Nevertheless, Huawei remains a distant third behind Apple and Samsung, largely because its market penetration remains low in the U.S., where its devices were once labeled a security risk in a U.S. Congressional report. Huawei's smartphone market share was worth $7 billion in the second quarter, according to Canalys.

The iPad Pro is less than a month from launch -- with an unspecified date for the device sometime in November -- but a few rumors out of Apple's supply chain yesterday are already pointing to the company's expected sales figures for the 12.9-inch display tablet. According to the supply chain sources (via DigiTimes), Apple has placed "limited orders" for the iPad Pro for the 2015 holiday season, leading into the first quarter of 2016, pointing towards a "conservative attitude" regarding the sales of the larger-screened iPad.

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Specifically, the sources say the company has placed orders for less than 2.5 million iPad Pro units for the end of 2015. After that, Apple is believed to take a wait-and-see approach to the volume amount for Q1 2016, which could be even lower than 2.5 million if holiday sales this year aren't impressive enough for the Cupertino-based company. The supply chain sources note that since most businesses are always looking to cut costs, the top-tier pricing of the enterprise-focused iPad Pro, and its accessories, may in fact not hit its target demographic as Apple expects.

The tablet market as a whole has stagnated over the past few years, as more and more users remain unconvinced of a reason to upgrade yearly for such a tertiary device. In July, iPad sales were found to have been in decline for six consecutive quarters, with much hope aimed at the 2015 holiday season's launch of the new iPad line. With today's conservative iPad Pro estimates, no iPad Air 3 launching this year, and Apple's own soft launch of the iPad mini 4, it seems like iPad sales -- and the tablet market as a whole -- may not rebound as much as expected this holiday.

Related Roundup: iPad Pro
Buyer's Guide: iPad Pro (Caution)

Just a day after debuting three new iPhone 6s ads focused on the iPhone's camera and wireless "Hey Siri" functionality, Apple has shared a new short 15-second ad in the same series, this time focusing on Live Photos.

In the "Half Court" ad, the iPhone 6s is used to capture a half-court shot made by Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, which is then played back again.

The iPhone 6s is here, and the only thing that's changed with the camera is everything. Because now you can shoot amazing Live Photos. Bringing every moment, big or small, to life with just a touch.

Yesterday's longer camera-focused iPhone 6s ad also featured a shot by Stephen Curry and both ads come just ahead of the start of the 2015-2016 NBA Regular season. The two ads may be featured during the Cavaliers/Bulls and Pelicans/Warriors games, set to be broadcast on TNT.

Over the course of the last several weeks, Apple has launched more than five videos to market the iPhone 6s, which have focused on 3D Touch, Siri, and the new camera features in the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Apple has also released a number of Apple Watch ads highlighting Apple Music, Apple Pay, Siri, and more.

touch_id_chase_handJPMorgan Chase & Co today announced plans to launch its own payments service to compete with Apple Pay, reports Re/code. The news comes courtesy of Chase CEO of Consumer and Community Banking, Gordon Smith, who announced "Chase Pay" at the Money20/20 payments conference in Las Vegas.

Chase Pay will work via QR code instead of over NFC, allowing customers to make purchases with their smartphones by showing a QR code to a cashier. If that sounds a lot like the MCX Consortium's upcoming CurrentC platform, it's because Chase is partnering up with MCX for its payments service.

The MCX Consortium, which promotes the QR-based CurrentC app and payments service, consists of collection of merchants like Walmart, Target, Sunoco, Kohl's, Best Buy, Rite Aid, CVS, Lowe's, Sears, Shell, Michaels, 7-Eleven, and more. Once available, CurrentC will be available as a payment option in all of these retail locations, as will Chase Pay.

In some of these stores, customers will be able to pay by showing a QR code within the Chase Pay app. In others, Chase customers will have to use Chase Pay inside MCX's own CurrentC app. It's not clear which of the MCX member retailers will support which method.

CurrentC has been in development for multiple years, giving Apple Pay an edge with its earlier release timeline. While most MCX members were originally subjected to an exclusivity agreement, that has since expired, leading several MCX Consortium members to offer support for Apple Pay. Chase itself also supports Apple Pay, allowing Chase credit cards and debit cards to be used with Apple's payments service.

CurrentC and Chase Pay are both slated to launch in 2016.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Apple today updated its Maps app for Mac and iOS with new Flyover locations in number of cities and "Nearby" location listings in Australia, Canada, France, and Germany. Introduced in iOS 9, the Nearby feature displays restaurants and stores that are located close by. When searching in the Maps app, Nearby shows up as a list of categories like Food, Drinks, Shopping, and Fun.

Nearby was previously available in the United States and China, but today expands to Australia, Canada, France, and Germany for a total of six locations of availability.

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Apple has also added several new Flyover locations, highlighting landmarks and features in several countries in Europe, North America, and Asia. The new Flyover locations are listed below:

- Basel, Switzerland
- Bielefeld, Germany
- Gorge Du Verdon, France
- Hawaii (Big Island), US
- Hiroshima, Japan
- Kyoto, Japan
- Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA
- Leon, Spain
- Nagoya, Japan
- Okayama, Japan
- Osaka, Japan
- Porto, Portugal
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Sendai, Japan
- Tulum, Mexico

For those unfamiliar with the Flyover feature in Apple Maps, it lets users take photorealistic 3D tours of select areas, which can be navigated through to display close ups of notable landmarks and points of interest.

Flyover was first introduced alongside iOS 6 in 2012, and over the course of the last few years, Apple has been steadily adding new Flyover locations to the Maps app, with a full list available on its iOS 9 Feature website. As of February, some Flyover locations have also been updated with real-time animated landmarks, making the Flyover experience even more immersive, and many Flyover locations also have an additional City Tour feature that walks users through a series of landmarks in each city.

With the recent release of OS X El Capitan, Mac users can now take advantage of full-screen apps in a split screen view. That is, a compatible app will zoom to take up an entire half of the screen and you can do the same with a second one, giving you two apps side-by-side in full-screen mode.

While the basics of Split View are simple, there are a few aspects you might want to get familiar with to make the most productive use of the feature.

How to Split Screen Main
To activate Split View, click and hold on the green expand button in the upper left corner of a compatible app's window.

How to Split Screen 001
While you are holding down the button, one side of the screen will be shaded in blue. Release the button and the app will automatically format to fit half of the screen.

At the same time, any compatible apps that are open will automatically shift to the opposite side of the screen. Any apps that are not compatible will shrink down into the lower right corner of the screen. If you try to access them, you will receive a notification that the app isn't available in Split View mode.

➜ Click here to read more...

Related Forum: OS X El Capitan

Ahead of the release of the new fourth-generation Apple TV, Polygon has taken an in-depth look at the device, giving an explanation on how storage is used. Apple offers the Apple TV in 32 and 64GB storage configurations, but initial app downloads are restricted to 200MB, which has led to some confusion about how the storage works and what it's used for on the device.

Though apps on the device are limited to 200MB of storage space when downloaded, on-demand resources, part of iOS 9's App Thinning feature designed to reduce app size, allow tvOS apps to download and delete content whenever needed, such as levels that are already played or levels that have yet to be played. Developers can store 20GB of on-demand resources for apps in iCloud.

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With app sizes limited to 200MB on the surface, it might seem like more than 32GB of storage is unnecessary, but apps can actually download up to 2GB of resources immediately after installation. Apple TV users who plan to play a lot of games or use a lot of resource-heavy apps could potentially find themselves using a large amount of storage, so the 64GB upgrade could be worthwhile.

Using this architecture, all of the bits and bytes that, together, make up the whole of every Apple TV app live in some combination two places: Apple's servers and on your Apple TV. Here's how it breaks down:

- The app bundle, accessible through the App Store, limited to 200 MB
- Initial install tags, which are on-demand resources limited to a total of 2 GB (in addition to the 200 MB initial app bundle)
- Prefetched data, which is prioritized for automatic download after the initial app bundle's installation
- Data hosted by the App Store, available on demand, limited to a total pre-sliced size of 20 GB (in addition to the app bundle's size limit)

Apple's own guidelines on storage don't offer much information. Apple suggests that customers who plan to stream movies, TV shows, and music, or play "a few apps and games" will be able to make do with 32GB storage. Those who plan to "download and use lots of apps and games" should choose the 64GB configuration.

Polygon spoke with a number of developers about App Thinning on the Apple TV. While some with smaller apps within the 200MB limit were not bothered, others, like Tyrone Rodriguez who works on The Binding of Isaac, suspected it could be troublesome to deal with App Thinning features.

"App size will be, and no pun intended, a huge issue for some developers," Rodriguez tells Polygon. "This means The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth won't meet Apple's requirements without serious reworking. This device is intended for in-home wi-fi/wired Internet, but it's clear that Apple [wants] to reduce the file size so that more apps can fit on the device. It's a bit disingenuous and not ideal for the game developer."

For a deeper look at how the Apple TV's storage works, how it takes advantage of App Thinning, the benefits of App Thinning, and what developers think of the Apple TV's storage limitations, make sure to check out Polygon's full article on the new Apple TV.

Apple began selling its new Apple TV in its online store this morning, with the first Apple TVs arriving to customers later this week. The device is priced at $149 for a 32GB version and $199 for a 64GB version.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Belkin today debuted a new product that joins its lineup of Qode keyboard cases for the iPad Air 2, introducing the Qode Ultimate Lite Keyboard Case. The Qode Ultimate Lite is similar in design to the Qode Ultimate Keyboard Case and the Qode Ultimate Pro Keyboard Case, but it features a sleeker build that's much lighter.

The Qode Ultimate Lite Keyboard case weighs in at 370 grams, which is approximately 150 grams lighter than the company's top-of-the-line Qode Ultimate Pro Keyboard Case. The Ultimate Lite features an aluminum finish on the keyboard base, nicely spaced keys that replicate the feel of a MacBook keyboard, and a folio design that protects the iPad when the keyboard is not in use.

belkinqodeultimatelite
It also features built-in magnets that offer multiple viewing angles, and with an auto on/off feature that preserves battery life, the Ultimate Lite will last for six months on a single charge.

The Qode Ultimate Lite Keyboard Case for the iPad Air 2 can be purchased from the Belkin website for $99.99.

Tag: Belkin

A few new products from Beats by Dre have been made available to customers today, beginning with the launch of the new Beats Pill+ Speaker for $229.95. The Bluetooth speaker was announced earlier in the month with an expected launch date in November, but has made its way to online availability a few days early. The Pill+ Speaker introduces a new design into the line-up of Beats portable speakers and includes an extended 12-hour battery life along with a new iOS companion app.

beats speaker and headphones
Also introduced today by Beats are new "Luxe Edition" colors for the Solo2 On-Ear Headphones, including Blue, Silver, Black, and Red. The $199.95 headphones offer the same features as the other editions of the Solo2, but with "a refined glossy finish and polished accents." The Solo2 Headphones in the new "Luxe Edition" colors and the Beats Pill+ Speaker -- available in white and black -- can both be purchased right now from Apple's online store.

The Pure Group today announced that its Pure Fitness gym located at Knightsbridge, a four-storey luxury shopping center in Singapore, will be closing on December 15, 2015 to make space for the first Apple Store in the country opening late 2016, per Tech in Asia and multiple Singaporean news outlets.

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Pure Fitness is located at 270 Orchard Road in Singapore (Google Maps)

Pure Fitness will reportedly be one of several tenants relocating to allow for the upcoming Apple Store at 270 Orchard Road, an upscale area in the city center. The gym sent customers a similar notice that confirms it "will be handing back space to the landlord to make way for the opening of Singapore's first Apple store later in 2016."

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Apple does not have an official retail presence in Singapore, a large city-state and country south of Malaysia in Southeast Asia, but the Apple Online Store and dozens of Apple Authorized Resellers operate in the region. The closest physical Apple Stores are located several hours away in Australia and Hong Kong.

In line with the target date announced by Tim Cook last week, Apple is now allowing customers to place online orders for the new Apple TV set-top box. The new Apple TV is available with either 32 GB of storage for $149 or 64 GB for $199, and orders will begin shipping to customers later this week, with the earliest deliveries being set for October 30 for those who opt for one-day shipping.

Alongside the box itself, Apple is also selling extra Siri Remotes for $79 and Remote Loop wrist straps for $12.99. Two-year AppleCare coverage is also available for $29.

Outside of the United States, the new Apple TV is available in a number of countries, with pricing for select locations as follows:

- Canada: $199/$269
- UK: £129/£169
- Euro countries: €179/€229
- Australia: A$269/A$349
- Japan: ¥18,400/¥24,800

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The new Apple TV brings a number of improvements in both hardware and the user experience, led by a full App Store with support for third-party apps and a new touch-based remote that supports Siri-based controls in select countries. Universal search allows users to find available content across different services, and Apple intends to open this feature up to developers to allow their content to be included.

On the hardware side, the new Apple TV includes an A8 chip with 2 GB of RAM, supporting up to 1080p video at 60 frames per second. The new remote for the Apple TV includes a glass touchpad as well as an accelerometer and a gyroscope that allow it to serve a game controller. Third-party Bluetooth controllers are also supported.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

As the first full weekend in theaters for Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs film comes to a close, early box office results have been disappointing, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Estimates put the film's take at $7.3 million from nearly 2,500 theaters, well below expectations and only good enough for seventh place on the weekend.

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Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs and Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak in 'Steve Jobs'

Those backing Steve Jobs had wanted to land somewhere in the teens, but are counting on a long run throughout awards season (an A- CinemaScore should help word of mouth). Jobs is over-indexing in upscale theaters in major cities, including the Bay Area — home of Apple — but falling flat in Middle America. Two weekends ago, the $30 million movie scored the top location average of the year to date when opening in New York and Los Angeles. Through Sunday, its domestic total is $10 million.

"We're going to redouble our efforts to support these markets," said Universal domestic distribution chief Nic Carpou. "It's working great in these theaters now, and we want to make sure it continues to do so."

The film has generally received a positive reception from critics, particularly for Michael Fassbender's portrayal of Jobs. Those more familiar with Jobs' history and those closest to him have, however, been less satisfied with the film, in many cases taking issue with the way Jobs is portrayed and some of the artistic license that deviates significantly from actual events.

Several users are reporting seeing transit directions going live for Sydney, Australia in Apple Maps today, adding another major city for the the feature launched as part of iOS 9. Not all users are seeing transit routes for Sydney yet, but support is clearly rolling out at the moment for light rail, commuter rail, buses, and ferry service.

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Apple added both Boston and Sydney to its list of supported cities for transit directions early this month, but quickly updated the listing to note coverage would be going live later in the month. Transit information for Boston went live last week alongside support for a number of Amtrak routes in the northeastern United States and nearby areas.

(Thanks, DrHampton!)

Apple has shared three new iPhone 6s television ads called The Camera, Crush and Flip a coin, the latter two starring musician and actor Jamie Foxx. The new ads continue Apple's "the only thing that's changed is everything" campaign, focusing on the improved cameras and hands-free "Hey Siri" functionality on iPhone 6s.

The Camera is a one-minute spot, starring Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, that shows off new iPhone 6s camera features, including 3D Touch, Live Photos, Retina Flash and 4K video recording. It also features 1080p HD slow-mo video recording and groups of people taking selfies using the improved 5-megapixel FaceTime camera.


Crush is a shorter fifteen-second spot where Foxx is getting dressed in front of a mirror and asks, "Hey Siri how do I look," to which Siri responds, "Judging from your voice, I'd say you must be fairly attractive." The focus of the ad is on how Hey Siri allows for hands-free usage of Apple's personal voice assistant on iPhone 6s.


Flip a coin is a similar fifteen-second spot that demonstrates hands-free Siri on iPhone 6s. Foxx is holding two movie scripts in his hand, contemplating which one to choose, before ultimately saying "Hey Siri flip a coin." Siri responds with "Tails" and Foxx says "sci-fi western it is."


Apple has released nearly three dozen ads for the iPhone 6s and Apple Watch over the past few weeks. Foxx starred in a similar iPhone 6s ad for 3D Touch earlier this month, while a series of Apple Watch ads have been released on two occasions focused on Apple Music, Apple Pay, Siri and messaging, fitness, maps and more.

Related Forum: iPhone

Apple has hired Nvidia's Jonathan Cohen, director of deep learning software for the company, according to Cohen's LinkedIn page, which was first spotted by Re/code. Deep learning essentially trains computers to recognize patterns in data and then organizes them in a similar way to humans. Nvidia uses deep learning in its Nvidia Drive PX platform, which is used to power self-driving cars.


Cohen's LinkedIn page doesn't list an official title with Apple, instead only listing "Software" as his position. He's held multiple positions within Nvidia since joining the company in 2008, starting out as a Senior Research Scientist and building his way to Director of Deep Learning Software this year. Cohen also has experience working with Nvidia's CUDA platform, which is used to power GPUs in broad-ranging use cases like air traffic control and blood flow prediction software.

As noted by Re/code, Apple currently uses deep learning for Siri and Apple Maps. It's unknown what Cohen's expertise could be applied to at Apple, but at this year's CES Cohen was explaining how Nvidia's deep learning technology was being used in its self-driving car platform Drive PX.

Apple has met with California DMV officials regarding self-driving car laws within the state and multiple reports from The Wall Street Journal indicate that the Cupertino company is exploring the functionality with the possibility of including it in a later iteration of the much-rumored Apple Car.

In recent years, Apple has poached employees from Tesla, Ford, GM, A123 Systems and Samsung for its secretive automotive project. More recently, it's hired away talent from electric motorcycle startup Mission Motors, who had to close its doors after the talent drain. In September, it was reported that Apple was labeling the car project a "committed project", speeding up development and aiming for a 2019 launch date.

hero_airport_wifiApple was slapped with a $5 million class action lawsuit over iOS 9's Wi-Fi Assist feature today, according to AppleInsider. The new feature is turned on by default in iOS 9 and automatically switches a user to cellular data when the local Wi-Fi connection is weak.

The feature is an attempt to create a more smooth user experience, but some users have complained that the feature increases data use, which would take some users near or over their monthly data caps. In October, Apple admitted that users should only see a "small percentage" hike in data usage and attempted to ease concerns over the feature.

In a support document, Apple explained that the feature does not work when a user is roaming, only works when apps are in the foreground and doesn't work with third-party apps that use large amounts of data, like music and video streaming apps.

The lawsuit says that plaintiffs William Scott Phillips and Suzanne Schmidt Phillips were subjected to overage charges on their iPhones after updating to iOS 9, although the suit doesn't list how much those charges were. However, the plaintiffs claim that the "overall amount in controversy exceeds" $5 million. The suit also notes that Apple did not clearly explain the feature until the media covered user complaints, but that at that point it was too late for the plaintiffs.

"Defendant's above corrective action, however, still downplays the possible data overcharges a user could incur. Reasonable and average consumers use their iPhones for streaming of music, videos, and running various applications — all of which can use significant data. Defendant's corrective statement does not disclose any basis for its conclusion that an average consumer would not see much increase in cellular usage."

Wi-Fi assist is available on devices running iOS 9 or later, although the feature is not supported on the iPhone 4s, iPad 2, the 3rd-generation iPad and the 1st-generation iPad mini. To turn off Wi-Fi Assist, users can go to Settings > Cellular and scroll down to the bottom to toggle off the feature.