MacRumors

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.

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.

Apple 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.

With the launch of the iPad Pro coming up shortly, technology and education expert Fraser Speirs got some hands-on time with the device at an invitation-only event in London yesterday. Speirs has been sharing his thoughts from his one-hour session with the iPad Pro and its accessories and answering questions on Twitter, offering an interesting perspective on the user experience.

Overall, Speirs was impressed by the iPad Pro, finding it most ideal for productivity tasks in noting the device "is expansive where the Air 2 is intimate. It definitely has a 'work' feel to it, although photos/media are fantastic." Multitasking in particular is "a whole different thing" on the iPad Pro with a true feeling of "two iPads stuck together," an experience that makes it "a great device for serious work and creativity."

Speirs is a bit less enthusiastic about other use cases, noting that "if you just use it to browse and Netflix" there may not be enough benefit from the iPad Pro to make it worth the increased size and weight compared to iPad Air 2. For reading, he feels "it's not a device to snuggle up with" but would be solid for reference work.

Turning to the Apple Pencil, Speirs calls it "extremely impressive" and "certainly the best iPad stylus I have used by a country mile." Palm rejection is described as "near-perfect" and the "best I have ever seen on iOS," making for a smooth experience with writing and drawing apps.

Speirs was less impressed with the Smart Keyboard, calling it "a bit fiddly" due to its size and complexity but a "decent enough" keyboard. As far as the keyboard feel, Speirs compares it most closely to Logitech's Keys-to-Go among accessories iPad users might already be familiar with.

For more of Speirs' thoughts on the iPad Pro and its accessories, check out his Twitter timeline, which is full of tidbits and other impressions.

Apple Pay badges have been added to Apple Maps listings for select Coles and Woolworths supermarket locations in Australia, as spotted by multiple users on discussion forum AppleTalk Australia. The badges are normally reserved for locations that accept Apple Pay, which is noteworthy given the mobile payments service has yet to officially launch in Australia.

The badges appear in Apple Maps for select Coles and Woolworths store listings in or near large Australian cities such as Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Many other Coles and Woolworths listings do not have the badge, nor do large Australian chains such as McDonald's, so it remains unclear if they were added by mistake, or are indicative of forthcoming Apple Pay support in Australia.

Apple Pay launched in the U.S. in October 2014 before arriving in the U.K. last July, but Apple has remained quiet about its plans to expand iPhone-based contactless payments to additional countries. In August, Fairfax Media reported that Australian banks oppose Apple sharing a portion of the $2 billion interchange fees they collect from merchants each year in return for use of payment infrastructure.

Australia is a well-prepared candidate for Apple Pay, as contactless payments technology has been widely adopted throughout the country over the past few years. Several retailers that support Apple Pay in the U.S. and U.K. also operate in Australia, including Aéropostale, Apple, Babies "R" Us, Champs Sports, Foot Locker, GameStop, McDonald's, Nike, OfficeMax and Subway.

Beyond Australia, The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Apple is planning a November launch of Apple Pay in Canada, which was likely prematurely leaked by TD Canada Trust last week. Apple has reportedly been in talks with Canada's six largest banks, including the Bank of Montreal, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank and TD Canada Trust.

Update: Apple Pay badges have also been spotted on some Apple Maps listings in Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Poland and Singapore.

Steve Jobs has been out in limited release for two weeks now, meaning fans in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and select other locations in the U.S. and Canada have been able to see the Danny Boyle-directed film about the former Apple CEO ahead of today's official wide release. Since its debut on October 9, the movie has grossed $2,601,320 as of Wednesday, October 21.

With the wide release, Universal Pictures has uploaded a handful of new videos to its YouTube channel. Throughout its limited release, the company posted unique content surrounding the launch of the movie, including a video where Steve Wozniak discusses his relationship with the real Steve Jobs and new clips from the movie. Yesterday, a roundtable discussion video was posted showcasing the film's cast and crew talking about the legacy of Jobs.

The new movie, made on a budget of $30 million, is projected to gross between $15 and $19 million on opening weekend, with its direct competitor for the top spot at the box office being the supernatural horror sequel Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (via Variety). In total, Steve Jobs will expand from its 60 previous limited release theater locations to 2,411 across the country today.

Facebook's newest iOS update, out today, fixes a major battery draining bug that some Facebook users have been experiencing in recent weeks. Affected users were seeing large amounts of battery drain on their iPhones due to Facebook running in the background, something that happened even when background app refresh was toggled off in the Settings app.

While the latest Facebook app release notes don't include a reference to the issue, Facebook engineering manager Ari Grant wrote a post (via TechCrunch) explaining the issues behind the battery drain and what Facebook has done to fix it. According to Grant, there were several factors that contributed to the problem, including a "CPU spin" in the network code and silent background audio sessions that kept the app awake even when it wasn't open.

The first issue we found was a "CPU spin" in our network code. A CPU spin is like a child in a car asking, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"with the question not resulting in any progress to reaching the destination. This repeated processing causes our app to use more battery than intended. The version released today has some improvements that should start making this better.

The second issue is with how we manage audio sessions. If you leave the Facebook app after watching a video, the audio session sometimes stays open as if the app was playing audio silently. This is similar to when you close a music app and want to keep listening to the music while you do other things, except in this case it was unintentional and nothing kept playing. The app isn't actually doing anything while awake in the background, but it does use more battery simply by being awake. Our fixes will solve this audio issue and remove background audio completely.

When the Facebook battery draining issue first began circulating, MacStories' Federico Vittici hypothesized it was caused by silent audio running in the background, which turned out to be correct. Vittici believed Facebook used silent audio intentionally as a way to keep the app active in the background for tasks like pre-loading content, which he said showed "a deep lack of respect for iOS users."

Regarding today's comment from Facebook engineer Ari Grant, TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino also suspects there's a possibility Facebook's use of background audio might have been done on purpose, despite Facebook's claim that it was an unintentional bug.

So if you believe Grant, this is a simple bug. It could happen to anyone etc etc. If you don't believe him, it was a thing Facebook was doing to make their app work a way they wanted it to but Apple didn't and they got caught. I'm not gonna pass any judgments here -- bugs happen all of the time and it's not fun to get pilloried over a simple mistake. Either way, attention was brought to it and it's fixed now.

Grant says fixes have been implemented for both of the issues causing battery drain and Facebook users "should see improvements in the version released today." Facebook will also continue to improve the battery usage of its iOS app.

In betas of iOS 9.1 and OS X 10.11.1, Apple added a mysterious emoji symbol consisting of an eye inside of a speech bubble. At the time, it was not clear what purpose the mystery emoji served, but as Wired points out, it's Apple's way of supporting an anti-bullying campaign launched today by the Ad Council.

The "I Am A Witness" digital anti-bullying campaign aims to empower teenagers to speak up whenever they see bullying, with the emoji Apple implemented serving as a way to show support for someone who is being bullied.

Two designers at ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Angie Elko and Patrick Knowlton, came up with the eye-in-a-speech bubble symbol, and then the ad agency approached Apple to add it as an emoji to the Apple Keyboard. According to Goodby art director Hanna Wittmark, Apple was a fan of the symbol.

"When we first asked about bringing this emoji to the official Apple keyboard, they told us it would take at least a year or two to get it through and approved under Unicode," says Wittmark. The company found a way to fast-track it, she says, by combining two existing emoji.

To create the new anti-bullying emoji, Apple combined the eye emoji with the left speech bubble emoji using what's called a Zero Width Joiner, described on Emojipedia as a unicode character that's able to join two or more characters together. It's also used in emoji like the family, combining Man, Woman, Girl, and Boy emoji to create a single character emoji.

The emoji is a key symbol in the campaign and is available on iPhones running iOS 9.1 and Macs running OS X 10.11.1. The dedicated "I Am A Witness" website asks teens to use the emoji or a specially created "I Am A Witness third-party keyboard to call out bullying.

In addition to Apple, several other tech companies are also supporting the new campaign, including Adobe, Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Twitter, with each of these providing customized content on their respective platforms.

Siri and other voice-activated systems can cause potentially unsafe mental distractions lasting several seconds while driving, according to a new research study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Siri's score of 3.4 on the five-point scale is considered more distracting than Google Now's 3.0 score, but less distracting than Microsoft Cortana, which received a 3.8 rating.

AAA's mental distraction rankings also included vehicles, ranging from the least distracting Chevy Equinox at 2.4 to the Mazda 6 at 4.6, which is nearly the highest level of cognitive distraction. The study found that mental distractions can persist for as long as 27 seconds after using hands-free or voice-activated systems, as drivers readjust to the task of driving.

“The lasting effects of mental distraction pose a hidden and pervasive danger that would likely come as a surprise to most drivers,” said Peter Kissinger, President and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. “The results indicate that motorists could miss stop signs, pedestrians and other vehicles while the mind is readjusting to the task of driving.”

Researchers found that potentially unsafe levels of mental distraction can last for as long as 27 seconds after completing a distracting task in the worst-performing systems studied. At the 25 MPH speed limit in the study, drivers traveled the length of nearly three football fields during this time. When using the least distracting systems, drivers remained impaired for more than 15 seconds after completing a task.

AAA's mental distraction rankings while driving are broken down into five categories:

- Category 1: About the same as listening to the radio or an audio book
- Category 2: About the same as talking on the phone
- Category 3: Equivalent to sending voice-activated texts on an error-free system
- Category 4: About the same as uploading social media
- Category 5: Highly challenging, scientific test designed to overload a driver's attention

The study did not include the latest in-dash systems such as CarPlay or Android Auto.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety published Phase I and Phase II of this study over the past few years. In the second phase, the foundation found Siri's high complexity and low intuitiveness resulted in some of the highest levels of mental distraction compared to other in-car tasks such as adjusting the radio or navigating complex menus.

HTC has denied claims that its new flagship One A9 smartphone copies the iPhone. At a press briefing in Taiwan, company executive Jack Tong said that "it's Apple that copies us" in terms of antenna design—the Taiwanese handset maker was first to release a metal unibody smartphone nearly three years ago.

The response was reported by Want China Times (via BGR):

"We're not copying. We made a uni-body metal-clad phone in 2013. It's Apple that copies us in terms of the antenna design on the back," Jack Tong, president of HTC North Asia, said at a press briefing at the Taiwan launch of the One A9.

"The A9 is made thinner and more lightweight than our previous metal-clad phones. This is a change and evolution, and we're not copying," he said.

The original HTC One M7 launched in March 2013 with an aluminum unibody frame and plastic antenna lines along the top and bottom of the smartphone, both design cues that Apple adopted for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, released 18 months later, and has since carried over to the iPhone 6s lineup.

The One A9 is considered an iPhone lookalike because it has a similar rounded chassis, plastic antenna lines and a protruding rear-facing camera, and because it is available in almost identical colors as the current iPhone lineup. The smartphone also has one speaker located next to the charging port on the bottom.

HTC's rebuttal comes after The Verge described the One A9 as "the most blatant and highest-profile iPhone ripoff since Samsung's original Galaxy S," a bold argument that has been contested by some HTC supporters. The copycat allegations have received significant media coverage this week.

Ultimately, while there is no denying that HTC's One A9 is an iPhone-driven evolution of the HTC One series, it is clear that both smartphone makers have borrowed similar design qualities from each other over the years. Apple has not commented on the matter, but has taken legal action against Samsung for copying in the past.

The One A9 is HTC's latest flagship Android smartphone, featuring a 5-inch screen with a curved-edge display, 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, 1.5 GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor, 3GB of RAM, 16GB or 32GB storage, Quick Charge 2.0 and Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The smartphone is available in a range of colors, including Carbon Gray, Opal Silver, Deep Garnet and Topaz Gold, for $399 unlocked.

In a new nationwide study conducted by retailer Best Buy, the top gadgets and products planned to be gifted and asked for this holiday season were detailed in a "Top 15 Tech Gifts for 2015" list. Apple's iPad (with no specific preference given to the Air or Mini line) came out on top, with the Bose QuietComfort Noise Cancelling Headphones, MacBook, and smart HD TVs rounding out the top five spots.

1. iPad
2. Bose QuietComfort 25 Noise Cancelling Headphones
3. MacBook
4. Samsung 48” Smart 4K Ultra HD TV
5. Sharp 43” Smart HDTV with Roku
6. Microsoft Surface
7. Bose SoundLink Mini Bluetooth Speaker II
8. Fitbit Charge HR Heart Rate and Activity Tracker
9. Samsung Galaxy Tab S2
10. Dyson V6 Absolute Bagless Cordless Vacuum
11. Vizio 43” Smart 4K Ultra HD TV
12. Apple Watch
13. SONOS PLAY:1 Wireless Speaker
14. iRobot Roomba Vacuum Cleaning Robot
15. GoPro HERO4 Action Camera

Apple's products account for three of the top 15 gifts this year, with the newest device -- the Apple Watch -- also ranking the lowest of the company's devices in the twelfth spot, four places below the Fitbit Charge activity tracker. Unsurprisingly, Best Buy's study also found that those aged 18-34 placed consumer electronics highest on their wish lists, prioritizing technology over other categories like clothing, books, and jewelry.

The report also found that men are both more likely than women to want tech-related gifts for the holidays are be the ones who gift consumer electronics to friends and family more frequently. Self-gifting was also factored into the survey thanks to the highly discounted nature of holiday shopping, with 19 percent of those interested in Apple's iPad planning on buying it for themselves during the gift-giving season. Similarly, 15 percent of those who chose the MacBook said it would be a present for themselves.