MacRumors

Apple today seeded the first beta of iOS 8.3 to registered developers for testing purposes, just a week after seeding the fifth beta of iOS 8.2, which is also currently in testing.

The beta, build number 12F5027d, also includes Xcode 6.3 beta with Swift 1.2. It is not clear at this time what the iOS 8.3 beta introduces, but it likely includes several bug fixes. As a .1 update, it may also introduce new features.

Xcode 6.3, included with the beta, introduces a new version of the Swift language. According to Apple's release notes, Swift 1.2 includes "a number of noteworthy changes" to the language. Xcode 6.3 also includes enhancements to ease interoperability between Swift and Objective-C code.

New Features in iOS 8.3:

Based on our testing, iOS 8.3 appears to remove the "beta" label from iCloud Photo Library and it offers new CarPlay features, in the form of wireless connectivity. The CarPlay setting in the image below is located in the General section of the Settings app, below Siri, Spotlight Search, and Handoff & Suggested Apps. Currently, iPhones are only able to connect to CarPlay via the Lightning port.

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With iOS 7, Apple introduced a major design overhaul and with iOS 8, we gained features like Continuity, Apple Pay, and new app abilities like extensions and widgets. Following these two ambitious OS updates, it seems iOS 9 may be somewhat less flashy, focusing heavily on stability and optimization.

Sources who spoke to 9to5Mac have suggested that Apple will market iOS 9 similarly to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, which was also a maintenance upgrade that resulted in improved performance and better efficiency.

For 2015, iOS 9 is going to include a collection of under-the-hood improvements. Sources tell us that iOS 9 engineers are putting a "huge" focus on fixing bugs, maintaining stability, and boosting performance for the new operating system, rather than solely focusing on delivering major new feature additions. Apple will also continue to make efforts to keep the size of the OS and updates manageable, especially for the many millions of iOS device owners with 16GB devices.

An operating system update that aims to optimize performance and fix lingering bugs will likely be welcome news to many iOS 8 users who have been unhappy with the state of the operating system. iOS 8 has suffered from an above average number of bugs since its September introduction, causing issues like slow Wi-Fi, battery drain, screen rotation problems, Bluetooth connectivity failures, and more. The last few minor iOS 8 updates, including 8.1.1, 8.1.2, and 8.1.3 have all been focused on fixing some of these problems.

Apple's goal of reducing the amount of space needed for an operating system update is also welcome news to users who have 16GB devices without much storage space left. iOS 8 has seen slower adoption rates than iOS 7, which many have attributed to its 2GB+ installation size.

Work on iOS 9 is well underway at Apple, and site visits to MacRumors from Apple IP addresses on devices running the new OS have increased over the course of the past month, following the holidays. We first started seeing an uptick in visits from iOS 9 users in December, which declined around Christmas and has picked up once again.

An iOS 9 update that aims for bug fixes and performance improvements won't go entirely without new features -- there are still some rumored enhancements in the works that could be released in the next operating system update, including transit directions and indoor mapping abilities for Maps and split-screen multitasking for iPads. We'll get our first glimpse of iOS 9 at June's Worldwide Developers Conference, but a specific date is still forthcoming.

Medical device manufacturer DexCom over the weekend announced the company is developing an app for the upcoming Apple Watch that will display all of a user's glucose and blood sugar-related health data on their wrist (via The Wall Street Journal).

The company, whose expertise lies in "continuous glucose monitoring systems for diabetes management," says the app is expected to be ready when the Apple Watch launches in April. The app would sync to existing monitors manufactured by DexCom that use a "hair's width sensor" located under the user's skin to measure and report blood glucose levels every five minutes, a more seamless process than traditional skin-prick glucose monitors, according to the company.

Though most health-related apps have been closely scrutinized by the FDA in the past, The Wall Street Journal reports DexCom and a group of developers behind another diabetes-related application called NightScout have convinced the FDA to change course on health apps.

The group’s effort challenged the slow pace of innovation and regulatory approval in the field. It also highlighted the growing role that Silicon Valley companies and software developers hope to have in monitoring and maintaining people’s health.

Previously, the FDA considered glucose monitors and any associated software to be Class III medical devices, meaning they received the highest level of regulatory scrutiny. But the spread of NightScout, the system developed by the group of software engineers, and DexCom’s submission of a separate iPhone app for review prompted the FDA to change course last month.

Subsequently, DexCom's monitors that require injection under a patient's skin will understandably remain Class III devices but the software that displays the data - such as the Apple Watch app - now only needs to be registered with the FDA without prior marketing approval. Alberto Gutierrez, director of the FDA’s Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health, evoked the positive benefits of the app far outweigh any negatives, “We felt that the risks that the app imposed weren’t as high."

Apple itself has been steadily moving towards a more health-concerned future, with the introduction of the Health app into iOS 8 as a preparation for the upcoming built-in fitness integration features of the Apple Watch. Major U.S. hospitals are rolling out their own trial programs with HealthKit, Apple's tools that leverage the iPhone's various motion-tracking sensors and peripheral accessories to track and log the history of a user's health data.

The much-anticipated 12-inch Retina MacBook Air is believed to launch sometime in the middle of 2015, but a new rumor out of foreign news website Letem svetem Applem [Google Translate] points to a smaller refresh of the existing MacBook Air line hitting as early as February 24.

The website, citing sources from the Czech reseller network, states the update will come with no fanfare or keynote presentation, unsurprising considering a lack of major changes for the lineup. The company also won't discuss the long-rumored ultra-slim MacBook Air around the launch of the new refresh, hoping the "quiet" update tides users over until later in the year.

If true, the focus on the fact that the update would be "minor" points to only slight bumps in areas like storage and processing power, with Apple choosing from 2.2GHz Core i5-5250U, 1.8GHz Core i5 chip, and 2GHz Core i7 processors, while keeping the well-known 11- and 13-inch form factors of current MacBook Airs. Intel launched the new Broadwell processors appropriate for the current MacBook Air lineup last month.

Reports of the 12-inch MacBook Air have been swirling for over a year now, but the product missed the originally rumored timeframe of a 2014 launch. Rumored to be in mass production since last month and with claimed part leaks beginning to surface, the Retina MacBook Air is reported to launch sometime in the second quarter of 2015.

iPhone camera module supplier Largan Precision is expected to face limited earnings growth this year amid rumors that Apple's next-generation smartphone will retain an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera sensor, according to Taipei Times (via GforGames).

The report cites Taipei-based analyst Jeff Pu, who claims the iPhone 6s will have the same camera hardware specifications as previous models. Apple first introduced an 8-megapixel rear camera on the iPhone 4s in 2011 and used similar modules for the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s.

Pu said that the camera specifications of the next-generation iPhone, dubbed iPhone 6S, will stay the same as the current iPhone 6 at 8-megapixels, limiting potential catalysts to push Largan’s stock price higher in the second half of the year. [...] Pu said that although the migration to 8-megapixel and 13-megapixel lenses would remain strong among Chinese vendors of mid-tier and low-end phones, upgrades to 16-megapixel and 20-megapixel lenses for flagship phones would be slow given the limited supply of CMOS sensors — used to convert light into electrons.

While details surrounding the so-called "iPhone 6s" remain limited, this report is consistent with Largan Precision's stock price dipping early last year amid rumors the iPhone 6 camera would retain an 8-megapixel sensor. Meanwhile, it was reported in November that the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus could have the "biggest camera jump ever" with a dual-lens, DSLR-quality system.

Ahead of tonight's telecast of the 57th annual Grammy Awards, Apple has debuted a new music-themed iPad commercial titled "Change" featuring Swedish singer Elliphant, Los Angeles-based producer Gaslamp Killer, and English DJ Riton.

The ad shows the three musicians composing a remix to Elliphant's "All Or Nothing" entirely on an iPad, from initial songwriting, production, recording, and more. Apps shown throughout the add include Apple's GarageBand for songwriting, iMPC Pro for production, Serato Remote for live performances and Manual Camera for filming video.

Billboard also reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook and SVP of Internet Software and Services were the focus of much attention at a pre-Grammy party held by record producer Clive Davis. Apple is estimated to have paid upwards of $2 million for its Grammy ad.

The new iPad ad follows rumors of a revamped Beats Music subscription service, with a report last week noting that Apple would be charging $7.99 per month for access on OS X , iOS, Apple TV, and Android. Apple is expected to relaunch Beats Music later this year, possibly at June during the company's annual Worldwide Developer's Conference.

Corning today unveiled a new material that it's been working on, which combines the strength of its existing Gorilla Glass with ultra scratch-resistance like that of sapphire, reports CNET. The material, which goes by the name "Project Phire," was shown off during an investor meeting by Corning Glass president James Clappin.

"We told you last year that sapphire was great for scratch performance but didn't fare well when dropped," Clappin, president of Corning Glass Technologies, told the crowd at the event. "So, we created a product that offers the same superior damage resistance and drop performance of Gorilla Glass 4 with scratch resistance that approaches sapphire."

Corning's existing Gorilla Glass product is used in a range of smartphone and tablet displays, from Samsung's Galaxy line to Apple's own iOS lineup. Apple planned to move away from Corning's Gorilla Glass with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, switching instead to sapphire produced by GT Advanced, but was unable to use the material due to production issues that later saw the dissolution of the partnership between the two companies.

According to Corning, Gorilla Glass is superior to sapphire due to sapphire's brittleness and tendency to shatter when dropped. Corning has on several occasions pitted Gorilla Glass against sapphire to highlight the former's benefits -- lighter weight, greater strength, and lower pricing.

Gorilla Glass 4, Corning's most recent product, is even more resistant to shattering when it falls onto hard, rough surfaces than previous versions of Gorilla Glass, but it is unable to match the scratch resistant properties of sapphire crystal. Sapphire is second only to diamond when it comes to hardness, and Apple already uses the material to protect the iPhone's rear camera and Touch ID fingerprint sensor from scratches.

Apple's desire to produce iPhone displays with greater scratch resistance may make Corning's "Project Phire" material highly appealing to the company for use in next-generation devices, as it could potentially serve as a more affordable, easier to acquire replacement for sapphire.

In addition to a new Photos app and emoji improvements, yesterday's developer release of the first OS X 10.10.3 beta also includes new direct support for Google's 2-Step Verification when setting up Google services in the Internet Accounts section of System Preferences.

2-Step Verification is an optional security setting that requires users to enter not only their account password but also a unique code sent by Google via phone app, text message, or voice call to a previously registered device or phone number, greatly enhancing account security.

Not all devices and apps support Google's 2-Step Verification, however, and as a backup Google also allows users to generate app-specific passwords to register a unique password for that device or app. The app-specific password can be revoked at any time by logging into the user's Google account for another time, making it easy to disable access on a device that has been lost or stolen.

On OS X 10.10.2 and earlier, users setting up their machines to access Google accounts with 2-Step Verification enabled have had to use this app-specific password option. Users trying to log in with their standard Google account passwords are met with error messages informing them they need to use this option.

But as noticed by developer Jonathan Wight, the new OS X 10.10.3 beta now fully supports 2-Step Verification, allowing users to log in with their standard passwords and unique verification codes.

The change makes logging in with 2-Step protected accounts much simpler and increases security by making sure the user attempting to log in has a secondary trusted device to provide the verification code.

(Thanks, Sean!)

While the featured addition in yesterday's OS X 10.10.3 developer seed was the new Photos app, Apple is addressing other issues with the forthcoming update, and one of these focus areas is emoji, which is seeing several changes and improvements.

One immediately evident change is the menu option used to bring up the character palette where emoji and other symbols can be browsed and selected. The Character palette a is systemwide option generally accessed through the "Edit" menu in most Mac apps. On OS X 10.10.2 and earlier, the menu item is called "Special Characters," while on OS X 10.10.3, it is labeled "Emoji & Symbols". The change offers a clearer description of what can be accessed through the menu item while specifically giving a strong visibility boost to emoji.

Another significant change for emoji in OS X 10.10.3 is the apparent laying of groundwork to support skin tone modifiers proposed for the Unicode 8.0 standard. Apple noted almost a year ago that it was working with the Unicode Consortium to bring more diversity to emoji, and the proposed skin tone modifiers are a significant step in that direction. OS X 10.10.3 also appears to include a number of placeholders for new emoji in the character palette, but no images or descriptions have yet been added for these entries.

The skin tone modifier proposal would apply to certain skin-colored emoji, allowing users to select from a range of skin tones to best represent the message they wish to send via emoji. As can be seen in OS X 10.10.3, many of these skin-colored emoji now display an arrow that when clicked brings up a menu of options.

While the menu is currently non-functional, it does show the selected emoji followed by five instances of the emoji paired with a number one inside a black box. These are presumably incomplete implementations of skin tone modifiers, waiting for the Unicode Consortium to finalize its standards for Unicode 8.0. Just yesterday, the Unicode Technical Committee officially moved the technical report covering skin tone modifiers and other emoji changes for Unicode 8.0 to draft status, and Unicode 8.0 itself has been approved for beta release.

In one other change for emoji in OS X 10.10.3, the pop-up emoji picker available in many apps has been transitioned from a paginated layout to a single larger vertical-scrolling page. Under OS X 10.10.2 and earlier, the various emoji categories are contained on separate pages within the picker, with users needing to click on a toolbar along the bottom to change pages.

In OS X 10.10.3, all emoji are displayed on a single page, and while they are still organized by category and users can still click toolbar buttons to quickly jump between categories, users can now also simply scroll the entire list if they wish.

All of these changes come as emoji have exploded in popularity, spreading beyond their origin in Japan to be embraced worldwide as a quick, fun, and easy way to share a variety of emotions and thoughts, most commonly within messaging apps. As a result, Apple has been working to increase support for emoji across iOS and OS X, and this first OS X 10.10.3 developer build is a clear sign of that continued interest.

(Thanks, Sachin!)

Apple and Tesla have been battling to recruit top talent from each other, according to a new report from Bloomberg Business. Tesla has hired at least 150 former Apple employees, more than they have from any other company.

The company has hired at least 150 former Apple employees, more than from any other company, even carmakers. The former Apple staffers work in many areas of the 6,000-employee automaker, including engineering and law. “From a design philosophy, [Apple] is relatively closely aligned,” says Musk, Tesla’s co-founder and chief executive officer. Apple declined to comment for this story.

Former Apple employees say their decision to join Tesla was based on the company's electric cars and CEO Elon Musk, who is a similar figure to Jobs. Like Jobs, Musk pays a great deal of attention to the details of his products and is a strong, visionary leader. Musk reportedly has a soft spot for Apple and enjoys comparisons to Steve Jobs as well, one former Tesla employee tells Bloomberg.

Apple's influence can be felt in the 17-inch touchscreen installed in Tesla's cars as well as its retail stores, both of which had former Apple employees in key roles. High profile former Apple employees at Tesla include Doug Field, Apple's former VP of Mac Hardware Engineering, who leads new vehicle development at the car company. Using top Silicon Valley talent, like former employees at Apple, allows Tesla to get a leg-up on competitors in the automobile industry.

While Tesla has had success recruiting talent from Apple, Musk says that Apple has hired "very few people" from the car company despite offering $250,000 signing bonuses and 60 percent salary increases to its employees.

Apple and Tesla have interacted in the past, with a report emerging in February 2014 that Apple had considered purchasing Tesla. Musk also revealed the two companies have had "conversations", though it isn't known whether those were about a potential acquisition, iOS integration in Tesla cars or battery technology.

The report also provides an interesting look into other ways Apple has influenced one of the most talked about companies in Silicon Valley and is worth reading at Bloomberg Business.