Apple has published a new announcement for developers on its dev center website notifying them that all new App Store submissions must be built with the latest version of Xcode 5 and optimized for iOS 7.
Starting February 1, new apps and app updates submitted to the App Store must be built with the latest version of Xcode 5 and must be optimized for iOS 7. Learn more about preparing your apps by reviewing the iOS Human Interface Guidelines.
The new rule goes into effect on February 1, 2014 and means that any apps built on older versions of Xcode or non-iOS 7 optimized apps will be rejected from the App Store.
In addition, this also applies to app updates, providing some inspiration for developers to update their developer tools and optimize their apps for iOS 7 as the updates will be rejected otherwise. Optimizing an app for iOS 7 does not necessarily mean it needs to look different, but that the underlying construction of the app must be optimized for the new OS.
Earlier this month, Apple's App Store usage numbers indicated that iOS 7 had been installed on 74 percent of devices connected to the App Store. The new rule indicates Apple is eager to get developers to take advantage of iOS 7's high adoption rate and make their apps compatible with it to ensure higher user satisfaction.
Popular iOS racing game Real Racing 3 has been updated with a real-time online multiplayer mode through Game Center, a significant update for the game. EA has also added a pair of new super cars, the McLaren P1 and the Lamborghini Veneno.
We haven't dove into the new multiplayer mode just yet, but our own forum moderator Killer Cow offers his own first impressions, saying "It's actually pretty cool. You can only use certain types of car, there are tournaments where you can earn up to 500 gold ($60) and you can see the total number of players online." Hey, sounds good. The multiplayer is only for up to 4 players, which is kind of disappointing compared to what was on offer in previous Real Racing titles, but at least it's a start.
Apple has added the ability to gift ebooks to friends and family through the iBookstore, reports Macworld. Users have long been able to purchase songs, movies or TV shows through iTunes, as well as standard gift cards, but the ability to gift a particular book is new.
Books can be gifted immediately, or the gift email notification can be held for a particular date, making holiday shopping particularly easy. Apple added the ability to gift App Store apps back in 2010.
Gifting in the iBookstore works identically to Apple’s iTunes and App Store counterparts: Just choose the book you’d like to gift, then tap either the dropdown arrow next to the price (on a Mac) or the Share button (on an iOS device). On a Mac, select “Gift This Book”; on iOS, choose “Gift”—then add the recipient’s email, the sender’s name, a brief message, and the date you want it sent (now, or later). One note: On iOS, it looks like you have to tap the “Today” field under “Send Gift” in order to change to a different date.
Users can only purchase gifts for recipients using their same country store; there is no ability to gift books internationally.
Continuing our series of roundups summarizing the latest news and rumors about each of Apple's products, today we are publishing five new roundups covering the company's iPod and AirPort lineups. The new roundups include iPod touch, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, iPod classic, and AirPort.
Apple's iPod lineup has not seen much in the way of updates recently, with a September refresh seeing only a slight change to color offerings for the iPod touch, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle with the previous slate color option being replaced with a new space gray option carried over from iPhone 5s. The new color later made its way to the iPad Air and iPad mini as well. Given that Apple typically updates its iPods in the fall each year, new iPods are not expected until late next year.
The AirPort line of Wi-Fi base stations is currently divided, with the larger AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule models having been updated in June with new designs and support for the latest 802.11ac networking standard. The AirPort Express has not been updated to support 802.11ac and was last updated in June 2012 when it received an Apple TV-like redesign.
As with our previous roundups, the goal of our iPod and AirPort roundups is to simply answer the question of "What are you expecting" for Apple's future products at any given time. That opinion evolves over time as new rumors surface, and our roundups will be updated regularly to reflect the latest rumors.
All of our roundups remain accessible through a dedicated index page showing a time-ordered list based on the last date each roundup was updated, as well as directly through the "Roundups" tab in the navigation bar on all MacRumors pages.
Mailbox was today updated to version 1.7, adding support for additional email services like Yahoo, iCloud, me.com, and mac.com. Previously, the Mailbox app only supported Gmail.
Today we're thrilled to announce we've added Mailbox support for Yahoo, iCloud, me.com, and mac.com email accounts. This is a big step for us — we get more requests for Yahoo and iCloud support than for any other feature.
Mailbox remains 100% free, and adding a Yahoo or iCloud email account is just as easy as adding a Gmail account.
Email management app Mailbox was originally introduced in February of 2013 by Orchestra, the developers behind the Orchestra to-do app. Mailbox debuted with novel features like simple touch gestures for email organization and "Snooze" functionality, allowing users to put emails out of sight until a later date.
Along with support for iCloud and Yahoo email accounts, today's update also adds background syncing and new app options.
What's New in Version 1.7.0 - Support for iCloud and Yahoo email accounts - Background syncing - Option to disable "help me get to zero" banner - Option to disable swipe to open drawer - Bug fixes and UX improvements
Mailbox is a universal app that can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Samsung has hired Tim Gudgel, a senior Apple Retail Store designer and five-year veteran of the company, reports The Information. Gudgel, who has worked for Apple since March of 2008 according to his LinkedIn page, previously worked for Novartis, and as an architect at Gehry Partners. Earlier this year, Samsung hired another former Apple Retail executive who had previously been hired away by Microsoft for its retail efforts.
Earlier this year, Samsung and Best Buy announced that the electronics maker would open 1,400 store-within-a-store concepts at Best Buy locations across the country. Apple has a number of similar dedicated "Apple Shops" inside Best Buy locations.
The Information suggests that the hire is part of a continued retail push by Samsung. The New York Times looked at the efforts of technology companies like Samsung, Microsoft and Google as they attempt to build up their own retail efforts.
Forget the floating Google showrooms. When it comes to retail, Samsung Electronics is contemplating a bigger plunge.
The South Korean company's U.S. telecom unit recently hired a senior Apple store designer, Tim Gudgel, as it ponders a deeper investment in U.S. retail, according to two people close to the company. Mr. Gudgel specializes in store design and planning.
Gudgel is mentioned in a patent application as one of the inventors of the glass design of the Upper West Side Apple Store in New York City.
For comparison, Apple has more than 400 retail stores worldwide, with more than 250 located inside the United States. Microsoft currently operates 81 stores, including 31 temporary locations, though the company has not found significant success with its retail efforts.
Samsung's hardware products are significantly more popular than the Windows-based devices that Microsoft sells at its stores, and the company could see more foot traffic and sales as a result. Currently, the vast majority of Samsung's U.S. smartphone sales occur at the thousands of cellular carrier stores across the U.S.
Google today released a new MyGlass companion app for the iPhone, which is designed to increase compatibility between Google Glass and iOS devices. MyGlass is used to configure and manage Glass devices.
Use it to set up Glass, get directions on the go, screencast what you see on Glass to your phone, and add Glassware and contacts.
If you don’t have Glass, then downloading this will be a waste of time. Sorry about that. Learn more at google.com/glass.
Prior to the release of the MyGlass app, Google Glass had much more limited functionality with the iPhone, but Android users have long had access to an Android version of the MyGlass app which lets users Screencast from Glass to an Android smartphone and provides an interface for turning Glass apps off and on.
The same functionality will now be available for iPhone users, making Google Glass far more useful on Apple's platform.
Google Glass can be purchased via invitation from Google for $1500. MyGlass for iOS can be downloaded for free from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Update: MyGlass appears to have been pulled from the App Store, though it is unclear why.
Update 2: In a Google+ post, Google notes that MyGlass for iOS will launch later this week.
Great news iPhone fans, the iOS app is ready, but we need you to have this month’s Glass update first before it will work. We know we spilled the beans a bit too soon, but we’ll let you know when it’s available for download later this week.
Update 3: MyGlass is once again available in the App Store as of Thursday, December 19.
Google has released its annual Google Zeitgeist feature highlighting popular and trending searches for 2013 in various categories. As usual, several Apple-related terms rank highly among most popular searches for the year, led by "iPhone 5s" at #3 and "iOS 7" at #11.
Rounding out the list of Apple products included in the main list was "iPad Air", which took the 68th spot among most popular searches. Other popular tech products included Samsung's Galaxy S4 in eighth place, PlayStation 4 in ninth, and Xbox One in 19th.
Google also includes a number of rankings broken down by category and geography. In the United States, for example, the trending tech gadgets category was led by the PlayStation 4 and Samsung Galaxy S4, but Apple took the next four spots with iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPad Air, and iPad mini. Even the iPhone 6 made an appearance in tenth place among trending tech gadget searches for 2013.
Apple has been awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (via AppleInsider) detailing a wireless "desk-free" computer system that consists of only a computer housing with a built-in unique smart projector including advanced capabilities.
The patent, which was filed in 2008, details a computer system housing a unique projector with advanced technology that would hold the same power as a desktop or laptop. The smart projector would also allow the "computer" to be set up anywhere, allowing any suitable surface to be used for a display screen.
The computer systems and methods described herein may achieve a synergy that is not possible with conventional computers and projectors, which may be realized in terms of the operating system, system interaction, and/or performance. This may stem, for example, from the computer system's knowledge of the computer system's projection output and the surface on which it is projecting. The operating system may be designed to include larger icons and/or text and/or a different style based on the knowledge that the user is likely further away from the displayed image than conventional computer experiences.
In detail, the projector would also be configurable to run solely for certain purposes, such as turning off all components except the DVD drive and the projector to run as a mobile cinema, or turning off certain components to run like a normal computer. The projector itself would also be able to automatically calibrate and perform keystoning on itself to provide the best picture possible based on sensor data, even going as far to color correct and discard lesser pixels to display a high-resolution image.
Meanwhile, Apple describes the computer system as also allowing for peripherals such as a wireless mouse or keyboard to be connected, with the device as a whole being powered in a number of potential ways, such as having a single power cord to connect to a power supply or through the inclusion of an inductive wireless charge system or integrated batteries.
It is unknown whether Apple plans to create such a product or not, but the company has researched unique projector technology before. A patent in 2011 revealed the company's interest in developing a pico projector that would be able to take advantage of built-in cameras to automatically recognize and adjust gestures and shadows, which would result in interactive uses for situations such as presentations. Apple also currently includes a section for presentation accessories in its online store, where it sells various projectors from manufacturer Epson.
Apple TV users in the United Kingdom gained a new channel today with the addition of Now TV's "Sky Sports", notes Pocket-lint. The channel allows users to purchase £9.99 day passes providing access to six different Sky Sports channels.
If there is a particular sporting event you want to watch, you can purchase a Sky Sports Now TV Day Pass through the app which will unlock all six Sky Sports channels for 24 hours. A Day Pass costs £9.99 and although that might seem hefty in comparison to a monthly Sky Sports subscription through Sky, Virgin Media or other TV services, it's great for those who don't want a regular contract and really only want to watch a Formula One race or cricket test match, for example.
Apple has been making regular updates to its Apple TV content offerings over the last six months, and just last week added support for ABC, Bloomberg, Crackle, and KORTV in the United States, with several of the channels available in other countries as well.
Video game developer Square-Enix has released Tomb Raider I on iOS, bringing the popular 1996 action-adventure game to mobile devices for the first time. The latest adaptation of the title features touch-optimized controls with all of the levels from the original, along with gameplay that mixes gunfights and puzzle-solving adventure elements. Tomb Raider I on iOS also supports game controllers such as the MOGA Ace Power and the Logitech PowerShell.
Adventurer Lara Croft has been hired to recover the pieces of an ancient artefact known as the Scion. With her fearless acrobatic style she runs, jumps, swims and climbs her way towards the truth of its origin and powers - leaving only a trail of empty tombs and gun-cartridges in her wake. On this trail are breath-taking 3D worlds where exploration, puzzle and platform elements blend in a seamless real-time environment. A perfect chance for newcomers and diehards alike to jump back into the series' seminal single-player action.
Apple has released the 2013 version of its annual iTunes Store awards, which showcases the best music, movies, TV shows, apps, books and podcasts of the year.
Books: -Best Fiction: Tenth of December by George Saunders -Best Nonfiction: One Summer by Bill Bryson -Best Teen Novel: The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson and Ben McSweeney -Best Multi-Touch Book: Breaking Bad: Alchemy by Sony Pictures Television
This marks the first year that a language app has won App of the Year, and also marks the first time that an app from Disney has appeared on the annual list. As customary for its end of the year listings, Apple highlights various games and apps from a wide variety of categories, so it's well worth skimming the full list for hidden gems.
Beyond the top-level awards for music, movies, TV shows, apps, books, and podcasts, Apple is featuring a number of other awards and Editors' Choice selections across various genres and categories for the content types.
A list of previous winners are also available here: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009
Apple today released a new television ad for the holidays, featuring the company's flagship iPhone 5s capturing and sharing holiday memories in the form of a video shared over Apple's AirPlay.
The song "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" plays in the background as the iPhone 5s is used to capture video of a family engaging in holiday activities like decorating Christmas cookies, participating in a snowball fight, and decorating a Christmas tree. Later in the commercial, the video footage is played back to the family over AirPlay. "Happy Holidays" is displayed at the end of the video.
Apple historically releases a new video during each holiday season and in 2012, the company focused on the iPad and FaceTime. In 2011, the holiday commercial featured Santa using Siri on an iPhone 4s. While those previous videos were more product focused, the newest holiday ad focuses on iPhone users and the way their devices enhance their lives.
Update: A Tweet from Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller highlighting the new ad:
Update 2: In addition to the commercial, Apple has posted the full holiday video in the ad on its YouTube page. According to the video's description, the "Harris family home movie" was shot entirely on the iPhone 5s.
Earlier this year, after Apple released the first 64-bit chip for smartphones, a Qualcomm spokesperson claimed the A7 processor was a "marketing gimmick" and that there is "zero benefit" to the consumer from the chip. Those comments were later walked back before the executive who made them was reassigned.
Now, Dan Lyons -- the former Fake Steve Jobs and tech columnist -- writes at HubSpot that the A7 chip "hit [Qualcomm] in the gut", according to an unnamed Qualcomm employee.
"The 64-bit Apple chip hit us in the gut," says the Qualcomm employee. "Not just us, but everyone, really. We were slack-jawed, and stunned, and unprepared. It’s not that big a performance difference right now, since most current software won’t benefit. But in Spinal Tap terms it’s like, 32 more, and now everyone wants it."
[...]
"The roadmap for 64-bit was nowhere close to Apple’s, since no one thought it was that essential," the Qualcomm insider says. "The evolution was going to be steady. Sure, it’s neat, it’s the future, but it’s not really essential for conditions now."
But once Apple introduced a 64-bit processor, all the other phone-makers wanted one too. "Apple kicked everybody in the balls with this. It’s being downplayed, but it set off panic in the industry."
Since the launch of the iPhone 5s, Apple has gone on to put its flagship A7 64-bit processor in the latest iPad and iPad mini models, in addition to the iPhone 5s.
Both Samsung and Qualcomm have announced that their future smartphone processors will be 64-bit. For Apple, though many apps will not take advantage of the increased speed of the A7 processor, some apps -- Djay and Vjay for example -- do see significant speed improvements with the new processor.
Tim Cook and other tech executives will meet with President Obama tomorrow to discuss the Healthcare.gov website, as well as "national security and the economic impacts of unauthorized intelligence disclosures". In addition, the group will discuss ways the Obama administration can partner with the tech sector to grow the economy and create new jobs.
“Tomorrow, President Obama will meet with executives from leading tech companies to discuss progress made in addressing performance and capacity issues with HealthCare.Gov and how government can better deliver IT to maximize innovation, efficiency and customer service,” a White House official said. “The meeting will also address national security and the economic impacts of unauthorized intelligence disclosures. Finally, the President will discuss ways his Administration can partner with the tech sector to further grow the economy, create jobs and address issues around income inequality and social mobility.”
According to the report, the following executives will attend:
- Tim Cook, CEO, Apple - Dick Costolo, CEO, Twitter - Chad Dickerson, CEO, Etsy - Reed Hastings, Co-Founder & CEO, Netflix - Drew Houston, Founder & CEO, Dropbox - Marissa Mayer, President and CEO, Yahoo! - Burke Norton, Chief Legal Officer, Salesforce - Mark Pincus, Founder, Chief Product Officer & Chairman, Zynga - Shervin Pishevar, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Sherpa Global - Brian Roberts, Chairman & CEO, Comcast - Erika Rottenberg, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, LinkedIn - Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook - Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google - Brad Smith, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Microsoft - Randall Stephenson, Chairman & CEO, AT&T
Earlier this month, Apple, Google and a number of other tech companies urged the President and Congress to reform government surveillance tactics.
Concerns about government use of user data collecting ramped up in June, when a U.S. government program named PRISM was revealed to be giving the U.S. National Security Agency direct access to user data on corporate servers across a wide spectrum of Internet companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple.
In response, Apple published a statement of "Commitment to Customer Privacy" denying its participation in the NSA's program and teamed up with a number of tech companies to request greater NSA surveillance transparency, allowing it to provide customers with regular reports on security related requests. Last month, Apple published a report outlining statistics on government and law enforcement requests it received from January to the end of June.
Apple and other companies also met with President Obama in August to discuss privacy issues and government surveillance. Recently, Apple and 30 other technology corporations signed a letter urging the U.S. Congress to pass the Surveillance Order Reporting Act of 2013 and the Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013, which would result in increased surveillance disclosures and would give technology companies the right to publish detailed statistics on demands for user data.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the comment thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All MacRumors forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Late last week, we noted that Apple's business sales staff have been offering customers price quotes for build-to-order configurations of the new Mac Pro, providing the first glimpse at what these machines will cost beyond the $2999/$3999 base configurations shown on Apple's site.
Since our initial report, we've heard from a few other business customers who received price quotes, and that information has helped us to piece together what we expect retail pricing to be for the various upgrades. Due to varying discounts for business customers included in the quotes and in some cases currency conversions that we have attempted to take into account, we consider our listed prices to be estimates, but they should be very close to Apple's retail pricing for U.S. customers.
For upgrades beyond the $3999 high-end stock configuration, here is our estimated pricing (all prices relative to the stock model):
As an example, for a customer looking to buy an 8-core Mac Pro with 32GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, the machine would cost $3999 base + $1500 processor upgrade + $400 RAM upgrade + $300 storage upgrade, yielding a total price of $6199.
At the lower end, Apple's $2999 base Mac Pro model carries a quad-core Intel Xeon processor, 12 GB of RAM, and dual AMD FireCore D300 graphics, compared to the $3999 high-end stock configuration with 6-core processor, 16 GB of RAM, and D500 graphics.
We have not seen any exact breakdowns of how much each of those changes contributes to the overall $1000 price difference between stock configurations, but expect roughly half of the price difference to be represented by the processor upgrade, a somewhat smaller amount for the graphics upgrade, and a relatively nominal amount in the range of $100 for the bump in RAM.
The new Mac Pro remains scheduled to launch sometime this month, but Apple has yet to announce an exact date for either initial orders or availability.
With Apple's new Mac Pro scheduled to launch this month but no exact availability date having been disclosed by Apple, many customers have been anxiously awaiting word on when the machines will be available for ordering. It now appears, however, that units are starting to make their way to Apple's retail stores, suggesting that a launch may be imminent.
One Twitter user has posted a photo of the new Mac Pro on display today at the Bromley store in the United Kingdom. The Tweet has apparently since been deleted, but has remained viewable to some users due to caching.
A follow-up Tweet indicates the store has received just three units so far, with more due later this week.
Apple frequently releases new products on Tuesdays, and thus the delivery of new Mac Pro units to Apple's retail stores could point to a release tomorrow, although there have been no specific claims of a Tuesday launch.
Update: It appears that this image may be from Apple's October 22 event that gave press a chance to look at the Mac Pro.
Apple today released the final version of OS X 10.9.1, after seeding several betas to developers beginning in November. The last version of the beta, build 13B40, was distributed to developers on December 3 and to AppleCare employees on December 4.
The 10.9.1 update includes improved support for Gmail in OS X Mail, improved reliability for Smart Mailboxes, an update to the Shared Links option in the Safari Sidebar, and a fix for a bug preventing VoiceOver from speaking sentences containing emoji. Apple previously introduced additional Mail fixes in a separate Mail update released in early November.
This update includes the following fixes: - Improved support for Gmail in OS X Mail, and fixes for users with custom Gmail settings - Improves the reliability of Smart Mailboxes and search in Mail - Fixes an issue that prevented contact groups from working properly in Mail - Resolves an issue that prevented VoiceOver from speaking sentences that contain emoji - Updates Shared Links periodically when open in the Safari Sidebar
OS X 10.9.1 can be accessed via the Mac App Store. Apple has also released a specific version of OS X 10.9.1 designed for the late 2013 13 and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros with "system specific enhancements" designed to improve stability and compatibility.
Apple has published a new announcement for developers on its dev center website notifying them that all new App Store submissions must be built with the latest version of Xcode 5 and optimized for iOS 7.
Mailbox was 
Earlier this year, after Apple released the first 64-bit chip for smartphones, a Qualcomm spokesperson claimed the A7 processor was a 
Late last week, we 
