MacRumors

Touch ID could be headed to the next-generation MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad, according to a sketchy rumor from Taiwanese website Apple.club.tw [Google Translate]. The report, citing sources, claims that the fingerprint scanner will be positioned above the trackpad on MacBooks and integrated directly into the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad for desktop Mac users.

The addition of a built-in fingerprint scanner on the latest MacBooks, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad would enable Apple to make an aggressive push into the mobile payments industry with Apple Pay. The NFC-based mobile payments platform is currently limited to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and will be compatible with the iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5 when paired with an Apple Watch.

There are a few reasonable obstacles, however, that suggest this rumor may not be true. First, there is limited space above the trackpad on MacBooks for Apple to implement Touch ID, especially on the upcoming 12-inch MacBook Air. Meanwhile, integrating Touch ID on the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad would be complex due to the need for secure wireless transmitting authentication.

Apple.club.tw has shared reliable information in the past about Apple's upcoming product plans, leaking photos of components for next-generation products such as the iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2. Nevertheless, this rumor should be treated with a proverbial grain of salt until further information is known.

Non-Retina MacBook Airs could be updated as soon as late February, while the 12-inch Retina MacBook Air is expected to launch closer to mid-year. Keep an eye on MacRumors' Buyer's Guides for the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro for the latest advice and information about product refreshes.

The upcoming February 25 episode of ABC's multiple Emmy-winning sitcom "Modern Family" will take place solely on a MacBook screen (via The Verge). The episode, being shot by director and series co-creator Steve Levitan, used an iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2 to shoot every scene.

The episode's story focuses on Claire Dunphy's (Julie Bowen) attempt to reach her daughter Haley (Sarah Hyland) by contacting various other members of the Dunphy/Pritchett clan via multiple forms of MacBook apps, all while stuck in an airport.

The show will not only use various chat apps like Apple's own FaceTime and Messages, but include references to everything from Reminders to the now-obsolete iPhoto. Levitan mentioned that the idea for the episode came from his own experience communicating with his kids in college through the vast array of chat software available today.

"I have two daughters at college, and we do a lot of FaceTiming," he said at a recent press event in Los Angeles. He was working one day with a number of emails and websites open on his machine, when a video chat from his daughter popped up. On the screen he saw his work, his daughter, himself, and his wife doing something behind him all at the same time. "And I realized on that screen you could tell so much about my life. So the original idea was from there."

The show has been a proponent of Apple-related gadgets in the past, with an early-series episode mostly dedicated to Claire's attempt to get Phil the original iPad. Apple was even reported to lend the show a slew of iPhones, iPads, and MacBook Pros for shooting the video chats and for allowing the show's editors to conduct post-production work once the shoot was done.

The episode has been so long in production - with motion graphics artist John Brown at the head - the team had been working on it since OS X Yosemite itself was in beta. "It was frustrating to be like, 'Act one, totally locked,' and then come in Monday and hear the FaceTime notification has changed," Brown said.

Besides a few slight liberties to the Apple OS X platform, including giving FaceTime the ability to handle multiple calls at once and a few aesthetic alterations to Yosemite's transparency options, The Verge reports the environment created by the episode "felt all too familiar."

The episode, entitled "Connection Lost" airs Wednesday, February 25 on ABC.

Microsoft today released an update for its suite of Office apps on Apple's iPhone and iPad App Store for users running iOS 8. The 1.6 updates bring, along with the usual bug fixes and performance enhancements, full support for saving and syncing documents via Apple's iCloud Drive service (via The Verge).

Microsoft says users of its most popular software like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint can now open, edit, and save their work to iCloud as a storage option in the "Places" section of each iOS app.

The additional storage method doesn't require users to have an Office 365 subscription and comes as an alternative to Microsoft's own cloud storage option, OneDrive. As pointed out by The Verge, light restrictions on a few file types may hinder iCloud's usage on Microsoft's iOS apps, however.

There’s also restrictions on filetypes, so while you can see a thumbnail preview of text in a document created with TextEdit on a Mac (stored on iCloud), you can’t access the document or edit it. Overall, it’s a fairly basic feature addition, but one that will please (and possibly frustrate) those who use iCloud on a regular basis.

Microsoft most recently added a similar feature to flesh out its iOS offerings with a partnership with Dropbox that let users open, edit, and save their documents using the popular document-saving cloud app. The Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps launched on the iPhone in early November, bringing free document creation and basic editing to the service.

Microsoft Word [Direct Link], Microsoft Excel [Direct Link], and Microsoft PowerPoint [Direct Link] can all be downloaded from the App Store for free.

Before Apple unveiled the Apple Watch last September, reports indicated the device would come with 10 sensors to track health and fitness data, leading some healthcare professionals to find the unveiled Apple Watch's health features disappointing. In a new report, The Wall Street Journal offers a look at the original Apple Watch health features that were dropped due to consistency problems.

Apple began developing the watch about four years ago, with a focus on health and fitness. It’s not unusual for Apple to experiment with many technologies or shift focus during product development, but the watch was especially challenging, people familiar with the matter said. Internally, the project became known as a “black hole” sucking in resources, one of these people said.

The Apple Watch originally featured sensors that measured the conductivity of skin, allowing the device to detect stress levels and heart-rate monitoring similar to an electrocardiogram, also known as an EKG. Apple also experimented with ways to detect blood pressure or how much oxygen is in a user's blood. However, a mix of consistency problems and potential oversight caused Apple to switch the focus of the device from health-related to a more general do-everything product.

The skin conductivity features didn't perform well with people who had hairy arms or dry skin, while results varied depending on how tight an Apple Watch was worn on users' wrists. Additionally, if Apple decided to use the health data to provide "health or behavioral advice", the Cupertino company would have to seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulators.

While these features were dropped for the first version of the Apple Watch, sources tell the WSJ that they could appear in future versions of the device, echoing a Reuters report from September.

Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company's objective with Apple Watch is to "change the way people live their lives" and that people would be surprised by the breadth of what the device can do, which includes activity monitoring, reminding users to stand up after a certain time period, and non-verbal communication with friends. Apple is currently asking developers to have their Apple Watch apps ready by mid-February, with some developers traveling to Apple's Cupertino headquarters for help.

Cook has confirmed the Apple Watch will launch in April. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple will make five to six million units for the first quarter, with half of those units being the entry Apple Watch Sport and one-third being the mid-tier stainless-steel Apple Watch.

Apple has invited third-party developers to its headquarters in Cupertino, California to allow them to test and finalize apps for the Apple Watch, according to 9to5Mac. The report claims that developers have been arriving at One Infinite Loop this month to work with Apple engineers on finishing WatchKit-based apps in categories such as sports, productivity and finance.

"The developers invited by Apple to Cupertino range from those behind titles for sports applications and productivity software. Apple has also been meeting with banks to work on WatchKit applications that assist with the Apple Watch’s Apple Pay functionality. Besides U.S.-based banks, Apple has been working on WatchKit apps with developers from Germany-based banks, which indicates Apple is likely in talks with more foreign banks to expand Apple Pay to more countries across the world."

MacRumors reported a few weeks ago that some developers have been asked to have Apple Watch apps readied by this month, although this report claims that Apple seems to be operating on a more urgent timeline, possibly in order to ensure that some apps are finalized for an upcoming marketing initiative or media event. In the meantime, Apple has reportedly been holding workshops to train retail employees about the Apple Watch in Los Angeles, Cupertino, Austin and Atlanta.

Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed the Apple Watch will launch in April.

Google's security team Project Zero recently announced some changes to its bug disclosure policy after controversially exposing Apple and Microsoft security flaws when the companies failed to meet the 90-day deadline. The new disclosure deadline has a 14-day grace period and excludes weekends and public holidays, providing tech companies with more time to properly address security vulnerabilities in their software.

"We now have a 14-day grace period. If a 90-day deadline will expire but a vendor lets us know before the deadline that a patch is scheduled for release on a specific day within 14 days following the deadline, the public disclosure will be delayed until the availability of the patch."

Project Zero is a security team consisting of experienced programmers that look through the code of Google and several of its competitors to discover security flaws, like those uncovered in OS X Yosemite back in January. The team immediately discloses any vulnerabilities found to vendors, providing them with a 90-day deadline to release a software patch before sharing the vulnerabilities with the public.

The role of Google playing security watchdog for other companies has been the subject of much debate, with some believing that the company has a disingenuous agenda and others claiming that it is taking appropriate action. Google claims that it holds itself to the same 90-day policy it enforces on other tech companies, with bugs in the pipeline for Chrome and Android that are subject to the same deadline policy.

LG Electronics today announced a new device in the line of Android Wear smartwatch products, called the LG Watch Urbane. Planned for a full unveiling at Mobile World Congress next month, the watch is said to combine the traditional aspects of a luxury timepiece with the "high-tech flare" of a modern smartwatch.

The LG Watch Urbane follows in the footsteps of LG's previous foray into the world of smartwatches with the LG G Watch R, launched last October. LG says while the G Watch R was designed with a more active lifestyle in mind, the Watch Urbane has taken a more formal, classic route that will suit both men and women. Despite the formal look, the Watch Urbane is powered by a smartwatch-style touch-based interface that is compatible with any smartphone running Android 4.3 or above.

“The LG Watch Urbane’s classic design and smart features make it the perfect smartwatch to complement our G Watch and G Watch R, which were designed as more casual and active devices,” said Juno Cho, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “LG Watch Urbane is an important part of our strategy to develop wearable devices that are worn and viewed as everyday accessories, not electronic gadgets.”

The LG Watch Urbane includes the same 1.3-inch full circle P-OLED display as the LG G Watch R - which was the first smarwatch to include such a display - but features a narrower bezel this time around, offering it that more formal, sleeker look touted by LG. The watch comes in gold and silver options with a natural leather strap that can be replaced by any 22mm wide band, according to the company.

Not many specific details were given on the device's smartwatch capabilities, but LG confirmed the LG Watch Urbane will be able to measure a user's heart rate for fitness purposes thanks to a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor built into the device. Other key factors, like pricing and whether the new Android-based smartwatch will hit around the Spring launch of the Apple Watch, was not yet disclosed by LG.

Key Specifications:

- Chipset: 1.2GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 400
- Operating System: Android Wear™
- Display: 1.3-inch P-OLED Display (320 x 320, 245ppi)
- Size: 45.5 x 52.2 x 10.9mm
- Memory: 4GB eMMC/ 512MB LPDDR2
- Battery: 410mAh
- Sensors: 9-Axis (Gyro / Accelerometer / Compass) / Barometer / PPG (Heart Rate Sensor)
- Colors: Gold / Silver
- Other: Dust and Water Resistant (IP67)

LG's newest foray into the increasingly crowded world of smartwatches is the latest in a long line of companies announcing new iterations of older products, or new products altogether, preparing to do battle with Apple's April launch of the Apple Watch.

Apple design chief Jonathan Ive has been interviewed in an exhaustive profile with The New Yorker, in which he discusses a number of topics ranging from Steve Jobs to the Apple Watch.

The interview provides a rare glimpse inside Apple's design studio at Two Infinite Loop at its Cupertino headquarters, as Ive shares some of his experiences working at Apple over the past few decades.

The iconic designer recounts how Jobs visited Apple's design studio upon returning to Apple in 1997 and quickly bonded with Ive, solidifying a longtime friendship between the two.

"During the visit, Ive said, Jobs 'became more and more confident, and got really excited about our ability to work together.' That day, according to Ive, they started collaborating on what became the iMac. Soon afterward, Apple launched its 'Think Different' campaign, and Ive took it as a reminder of the importance of “not being apologetic, not defining a way of being in response to what Dell just did.” He went on, 'My intuition’s good, but my ability to articulate what I feel was not very good—and remains not very good, frustratingly. And that’s what’s hard, with Steve not being here now.'"

Ive also claimed that the Apple Watch was conceived soon before the passing of Jobs, who died in October 2011 following a lengthy battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Apple CEO Tim Cook added that Apple was looking at multiple categories of products at the time and thinking about which ones to do.

"The Apple Watch—the first Apple device with a design history older than its founder, or its designer—was conceived 'close to Steve’s death,' Ive said. It’s hard to build a time line of this or any other Apple creation: the company treats the past, as well as the future, as its intellectual property. But, in 2011, there may have been a greater appetite than usual for investigations of new products. One could imagine that executives were eager to act, in anticipation of grief, market upheaval, and skeptical press."

Ive went on to discuss how he believes that, while millions of people may be willing to use an iPhone that looks the same as others, the same mindset does not carry over to a wrist-worn device like the Apple Watch. Ive recognized a need for the Apple Watch to be highly customizable, with different sizes, watch bands and different alloys of aluminum, stainless steel and gold.

Ive’s position was that people were “O.K., or O.K. to a degree,” with carrying a phone that is identical to hundreds of millions of others, but they would not accept this in something that’s worn. The question, then, was “How do we create a huge range of products and still have a clear and singular opinion?” […] If variety was a perceived necessity, it was also an opportunity. “We could make aluminum, and stainless steel, and gold, and different alloys of gold,” Ive said.

The full-length interview goes into further detail about Ive's design philosophies that went into creating the Apple Watch, alongside some interesting anecdotes and excerpts from other Apple executives such as Tim Cook, Bob Mansfield and Jeff Williams.

A largely unmarked van with rooftop cameras, similar to the one originally spotted roaming Bay Area streets earlier this month, has been captured on video in Palo Alto, California. MacRumors obtained the footage from reader Jonathan Shiu, who recently recorded the van driving past Juana Briones Park on Clemo Avenue, a residential side street located approximately 10 miles from Apple's headquarters in Cupertino.

It has been increasingly speculated that these fifth-generation Dodge Caravans, which are reportedly leased to Apple, are part of the company's work on an electric car, but it is also possible that the vans are being used for a project similar to Google's Street View. It is conceivable that the rooftop cameras are being used to either collect mapping data for Apple Maps or as sensors to assist with self-driving initiatives.

Earlier this week, the Financial Times reported that Apple is hiring automotive experts to work in a top-secret research lab located near the company's headquarters. The Wall Street Journal soon followed up with a report claiming that Apple has hundreds of employees working on developing an electric vehicle, and Reuters added that the project will involve self-driving cars.

Apple is likely in the early stages of research and development for any electric car project, and it is fully possible that the iPhone maker scraps the initiative before it ever reaches the public. With both Google and Tesla already invested in electric and self-driving vehicles, it will be interesting to see if Apple enters the industry or remains on the sidelines in the months and years ahead.

French website Nowhereelse.fr has shared new photos for another possible third-party case for the so-called "iPad Pro" tablet. The black protective cover has cutouts for a Lightning connector, rear-facing camera and microphone, volume rocker, mute switch and power button, consistent with previous iPad Air and iPad mini designs. The case does not have a cutout on the left side like the purported iPad Pro case that surfaced last month, nor does it have speaker cutouts due to having a different design that leaves the top and bottom edges exposed.

This second third-party case appears to originate from a Chinese accessory maker that also makes cases for the iPad Air 2, providing yet another side-by-side comparison of how much larger the iPad Pro could be alongside current iPad models. The veracity of the source is questionable, but this case is largely consistent with past leaks. The photos lack an object for size reference, but the case does appear to be large enough to house the iPad Pro, which has been rumored to feature a 12.2-inch to 12.9-inch screen.

A lack of physical hardware and component leaks for the oft-rumored iPad Pro has resulted in these third-party cases providing the clearest hints about the sizing, features, and design of the 12-inch tablet. The iPad Pro is rumored to feature a triple-core A8X or A9 processor, 2GB of RAM and Touch ID, and may ship with an optional stylus. Multiple reports claim that Apple will begin to mass produce the iPad Pro, also referred to as the "iPad Air Plus," in the first half of 2015. Another report claims that the tablet could launch between April and June.

Noted DJ Zane Lowe, who has headed up BBC Radio 1's popular evening new music show for over a decade, is leaving the broadcaster next month to join Apple, reports BBC News. Lowe has won a number of awards for his radio show and other work over the years, and was nominated for a Grammy Award this year for his role in writing and producing Sam Smith's album "In The Lonely Hour."

Zane said: "I want to thank everyone at Radio 1 for their support and friendship. "The station has allowed me to share incredible music with the country's best music fans."

During his time on the station, the New Zealand-born DJ has become well known for championing emerging talent and many acts have made their breakthrough after having one of their tracks named as "hottest record in the world" on Zane's show.

While Lowe has apparently not publicly stated what role he will take on at Apple, The Guardian says it will involve the company's iTunes Radio streaming music service.

Lowe's role will likely include more than iTunes Radio at some point, however, with Apple currently working toward a revamp of the Beats Music subscription streaming service it acquired last year. Part of the plan reportedly involves folding Beats into the iTunes brand and integrating it with OS X and iOS.

As a result, there may be some changes in store for iTunes Radio, which has reportedly seen a lukewarm reception and has only expanded to Australia since its U.S. launch in late 2013, despite rumors of a number of other countries receiving access by early 2014.

Following up on yesterday's series of reports about a "top-secret research team" at Apple working on an electric car, Reuters now weighs in with its own source claiming the project involves a self-driving electric car.

Technology giant Apple is learning how to make a self-driving electric car and is talking to experts at carmakers and automotive suppliers, an automotive source familiar with the talks said on Saturday.

The Cupertino, California-based maker of phones, computers and watches is exploring how to make an entire vehicle, not just designing automotive software or individual components, the source said.

"They don't appear to want a lot of help from carmakers," the source, who declined to be named, said.

The source's of claim of self-driving capabilities for the vehicle directly contradicts yesterday's Wall Street Journal report, which specifically stated a self-driving car was not part of the effort. Reuters' source is from the automotive industry rather than at Apple directly, so it is unclear how complete the source's information is.

Apple would not be the only major technology company working on self-driving cars, as Google has been working on such a project for a number of years and has made significant progress in the area. Major car manufacturers are also working hard on technology that would make their cars at least somewhat autonomous.

Yesterday's report from The Wall Street Journal provided a fair bit of detail on Apple's efforts, noting that Tim Cook approved the project last year. Former Ford engineer and longtime Apple design vice president Steve Zadesky given permission to build a team of up to 1,000 employees largely from within the company to work on the project at a Silicon Valley location separate from Apple's main campus.

Following up on today's report suggesting that Apple is recruiting automotive technology and vehicle design experts to work in a secret research lab, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is developing an electric vehicle.

According to the publication's sources, Apple has hundreds of employees working to design an Apple-branded minivan-like electric vehicle under the code name Project Titan. The large size of the team indicates that the company is serious about the project, but it's possible that Apple may not go through with plans to create a car despite its current research efforts.

Apple may decide not to proceed with a car. In addition, many technologies used in an electric car, such as advanced batteries and in-car electronics, would be useful to other Apple products, including the iPhone and iPad. Apple often investigates technologies and potential products, going as far as building multiple prototypes for some things that it won't ever sell. Any product would take several years to complete and obtain safety certifications.

Apple executives have reportedly flown to Austria to meet with contract manufacturers of high-end cars, like Magna Steyr, who would presumably work with Apple on creating the cars if the project proceeds.

The car project, which is not focused on self-driving vehicles, is said to have been approved by Apple CEO Tim Cook in 2014. Steve Zadesky, Apple VP of Product Design and former Ford engineer, is said to be leading Apple's car development efforts.

Rumors that Apple is working on a vehicle first started circulating last week after mysterious vans equipped with cameras and leased to Apple were spotted on Bay Area streets. Speculation led some to believe the cars were for a possible mapping project, while others postulated that they were self driving vehicles.

It's not known if the vans are related to Apple's rumored electric car project, but they roused enough interest to lead to its discovery. Earlier this week, an Apple employee who saw the car rumors told Business Insider that Tesla employees had been leaving the car company to work on an Apple project that was "too exciting to pass up" and that would "give Tesla a run for its money."

That rumor led Financial Times to discover Apple's efforts to recruit vehicle experts, such as former Mercedes-Benz R&D President and CEO Johann Jungwirth, who joined Apple back in September, which in turn led to the uncovering of the full scope of "Project Titan" at Apple.