MacRumors

In celebration of Star Wars Day, Apple today shared a "Behind the Mac" film featuring Skywalker Sound, the sound effects division of Lucasfilm known for films like Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

Skywalker Sound uses 130 Mac Pro racks, 50 iMac, 50 MacBook Pro, and 50 Mac mini computers running Pro Tools, all of which remotely connect to a central machine room. The studio also uses a fleet of iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV devices to aid its production process. Staff at the ranch even emphasized the role of older equipment such as the Apple PowerBook.

Ben Burtt, the sound designer of the original Star Wars trilogy, the prequel trilogy, and the Indiana Jones franchise, said that his journey started with a Macintosh SE, and urged young people who want to work with sounds in movies to begin building a sound effects collection using "inexpensive applications that you can have access to now on your ‌iPad‌ or your MacBook, that you can actually do all kinds of cutting and sound-mixing at home."

Sound editor and sound designer Al Nelson said that ‌iPhone‌ recordings are "perfectly useable" in a professional context. Seven-time Oscar-winning sound designer Gary Rydstrom explained:

You can tell a lot of the story with sound in a way that is less expensive than visuals, usually, and sometimes more emotionally powerful. If you're interested in sound or filmmaking, you can record 4K+ video on your iPhone. There's no excuse. The stuff that's part of our day-to-day lives is the same stuff you need to record sound and make movies. That's the real revolution. Ultimately, it will democratize the whole process.

See Apple's full press release for more information about how Skywalker Sound creates its iconic, cinematic soundscapes.

On Monday, May 9, 2022, Apple will host a unique online Today at Apple session with Skywalker Sound's Leff Lefferts and Apple Music's Eddie Francis, featuring footage from Skywalker Ranch and the opportunity to learn from an Apple Creative Pro how to make vocal effects for a character using their voice, everyday objects, and GarageBand. Participants can sign up at apple.co/skywalker-sound.

AT&T is planning to raise the price of older Unlimited plans in order to encourage customers to upgrade to newer plans, reports Bloomberg. Single line users can expect to pay up to $6 per month more, while family plans are increasing by as much as $12.

The pricing increases apply only to customers who are grandfathered in to older AT&T plans, and will not affect customers who have an up to date plan. AT&T offers three unlimited plans, including the Unlimited Starter Plan, Unlimited Extra Plan, and Unlimited Elite Plan.

Current plans are priced starting at $65 for a single line or $35 for four lines as part of a family plan. AT&T employees have been instructed to offer new plans to customers who call in about the increased charges for older plans, which will start in June.

AT&T says that it is encouraging customers to switch over to a newer plan because the newer plans offer "many additional features, more flexibility for each line on their account and, in many cases, a lower monthly cost."

Customers who will see price increases are going to be receiving an email from AT&T about the change, but AT&T has not provided specific details on which older plans will see the price hikes.

Warped Kart Racers, a kart racing game that supports up to eight players, is set to launch on Apple Arcade later this month. Warped Kart Racers features popular characters from 20th Television animated shows, including Peter Griffin from "Family Guy," Hank Hill from "King of the Hill," Stan Smith from "American Dad" and Terry from "Solar Opposites."

There are 20 TV characters to play in total in solo battles or races with friends. Races will take place in iconic locations, with 16 maps drawn from fan-favorite episodes. The game is set to launch on May 20.

Apple is also introducing Badland Party, which is a follow up to popular games Badland and Badland 2. Badland Party features physics-based 3D gameplay, and levels are designed to be played in online and local multiplayer modes. There are dozens of new characters to play and multiple new worlds to conquer, with the game launching on May 6.

Along with these two new games, ‌Apple Arcade‌ is gaining updated classic games that include Goat Simulator+ and Pro Darts 2022+ under the App Store Greats umbrella. Goat Simulator+ is coming on May 13, and Pro Darts 2022+ will launch on May 27.

‌Apple Arcade‌ is priced at $4.99 per month, and it includes more than 200 new and original gaming titles. All of the games are free to play with no additional in-app purchases or payments required. Up to six family members can share a single ‌Apple Arcade‌ subscription through Apple's Family Sharing features.

Apple Pay competitor PayPal played a role in the EU's decision to target Apple with antitrust complaints about its mobile wallet, reports Bloomberg. PayPal was one of "multiple companies" that filed informal complaints about the way Apple restricts third-party apps from accessing the NFC capabilities of the iPhone, which in turn led to the European Commission issuing a Statement of Objections against Apple.

The European Commission believes that Apple is unfairly limiting access to the NFC chip, preventing PayPal, Venmo, banks, and other payment services from offering features that are equivalent to ‌Apple Pay‌, which in turn limits the mobile payment options that ‌iPhone‌ users have access to in stores.

No third-party apps are able to access NFC on the ‌iPhone‌, so ‌Apple Pay‌ is the only tap to pay payment method available. Apple claims that the restriction is designed to safeguard user privacy and security, but it will now face an EU investigation.

The European Commission has informed Apple of its preliminary view that it abused its dominant position in markets for mobile wallets on iOS devices. By limiting access to a standard technology used for contactless payments with mobile devices in stores ('Near-Field Communication (NFC)' or 'tap and go'), Apple restricts competition in the mobile wallets market on iOS.

PayPal has an Apple Pay-like tap to pay option that's available to Android users, and the company wants to be able to offer a similar feature on the ‌iPhone‌. Such a feature would require PayPal to use the NFC chip in the ‌iPhone‌, but it is not able to do so with Apple's current restrictions.

Apple does have plans to allow third-party apps to use the NFC chip for the upcoming "Tap to Pay on ‌iPhone‌" feature that will allow compatible iPhones to accept payments through ‌Apple Pay‌, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets with no hardware required, but it is not equivalent to the tap to pay ‌Apple Pay‌ equivalent that PayPal is after.

According to Apple, ‌Apple Pay‌ rivals like PayPal are popular on ‌iPhone‌ without a direct tap to pay option, but the company plans to "continue to engage with the commission to ensure European consumers have access to the payment option of their choice in a safe and secure environment."

This is not the first time that Apple has faced criticism for restricting access to NFC on the ‌iPhone‌. Australian banks back in 2017 wanted access to NFC in order to launch an alternative to ‌Apple Pay‌, but they were not successful.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All 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.

Apple recently teamed up with YouTuber Jared Polin to offer a "dream studio" to a young, aspiring photographer and videographer named Cam Blumberg. Polin, who runs the photography website Fro Knows Photo, captured the touching moment on video.

Polin invited Blumberg to his studio for a supposed tour, but he ended up surprising him with a variety of equipment provided by Apple, including a Mac Studio, a Studio Display, a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Max chip, an iPhone 13 Pro Max, a HomePod mini, a Magic Keyboard, a Magic Mouse, and a Magic Trackpad. Blumberg also received an Amaran P60C LED light panel and a 24TB G-RAID external storage system.

Blumberg's work can be found on Instagram, where has has pages for both his photography and videography. His latest work has focused on basketball players, such as top recruit Dereck Lively, and he has also started to branch into music videos.

The video serves as feel-good marketing for Apple's all-new Mac Studio desktop computer and Studio Display, which were released in March.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk today took to Twitter to once again criticize Apple's App Store fees, calling the cut that Apple takes from developers "definitely not ok" and likening it to a "30% tax on the internet."

He went on to say that the fee is "literally 10 times higher than it should be."

Apple takes a 30 percent cut from app developers who make over $1 million through the ‌App Store‌ on an annual basis, but for small developers who make less, Apple has cut its fees to 15 percent through the Small Business Developer Program.

Musk has criticized the Apple's ‌App Store‌ several times in the past. Back in July, for example, Musk called out Apple for creating a walled garden and said Tesla would never do such a thing. "I think we do want to emphasize that our goal is to support the advent of sustainable energy," Musk said at the time, responding to a question about letting competitors use the Tesla charger network. "It is not to create a walled garden and use that to bludgeon our competitors which is used by some companies."

Tesla and Apple have a long history and have clashed over employee theft as Apple pushes into the electric vehicle market. Back in 2015, Musk famously called Apple the "Tesla Graveyard." "If you don't make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple," he said.

Musk at the current time is in the process of purchasing Twitter for $44 billion. Musk has claimed that he wants to make Twitter "better than ever" with new product features that will defeat spam bots and authenticate all humans. Twitter is set to become a privately held company when the acquisition is complete.

Twitter today announced that it is testing a new Twitter Circle feature, which is designed to allow people to share their tweets with a smaller crowd.

With Twitter Circle, Twitter users can share their tweets with up to 150 people, rather than sharing their content publicly. Each user will be able to create a Twitter Circle that consists of people who will be able to see the user's Twitter Circle tweets.

It is similar to the "Close Friends" story sharing feature on Instagram, which allows users to select a group of people to share stories with in lieu of publicly sharing stories with all followers.

Twitter says that some Twitter users will be able to create a Twitter Circle starting today. Those who have the feature available will be able to choose up to 150 followers to add to the Circle after being prompted with the new Circle interface, and only people selected for the user's Twitter Circle will be able to see and reply to Circle tweets.

Twitter Circle participants can be edited at any time. There is no word yet on when this feature will see a wider rollout.

Apple today released a second beta version of new 15.5 firmware that's coming to the Studio Display, with the software coming one week after the launch of the first beta. The Studio Display firmware is designed to improve the function of the webcam on the device.

All Studio Display models are able to receive over-the-air firmware updates, but this firmware update is limited to Macs that are running the ‌macOS Monterey‌ 12.4 beta at the current time. After installing the macOS 12.4 beta, Studio Display owners can go to System Preferences > Software Update to install the firmware.

Apple in March promised a firmware update for the Studio Display to address an issue with the webcam.

The Studio Display is equipped with a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide camera that supports Center Stage, but Studio Display reviewers and owners have discovered that the camera consistently produces grainy, washed-out images, which Apple has said is the result of the system to not behaving as expected. The firmware brings updated "camera tuning, improved noise reduction, contrast, and framing."

Apple today seeded the fourth betas of upcoming iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming one week following the release of the third betas.

Developers can download iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5 through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or iPad.

iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5 are minor updates compared to prior iOS 15 point releases, and there are a limited number of changes. Apple may be releasing an Apple Classical app at some point in the near future and there are references to it in the beta, but it is not yet available. Apple is using the iOS 15.5 update to lay the groundwork for functionality that will let developers of "reader" apps add a link to an external website for the purpose of signing up for and managing accounts outside of the App Store.

There are also minor changes to Apple Pay Cash, with Apple adding Request and Send options, and Apple is making some changes to the iTunes Pass that used to be available in the Wallet app. We have a complete list of changes in our iOS 15.5 guide.

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming macOS Monterey 12.4 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new update coming a week after the release of the third macOS Monterey 12.4 beta.

Registered developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center and after the appropriate profile is installed, betas will be available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences.

According to Apple's release notes, Universal Control in the new iPadOS 15.5 and macOS Monterey 12.4 updates is not compatible with machines running macOS 12.3 or iPadOS 15.4, so Apple suggests that as a workaround, users should update their ‌Universal Control‌ devices to the new betas.

When paired with a Studio Display, macOS Monterey 12.4 supports new 15.5 Studio Display firmware, which improves the quality of the webcam on the machine.

There are also new betas for macOS Big Sur 11.6.6 and the macOS Catalina 2022-005 security update.

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming watchOS 8.6 beta to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming a week after the release of the third beta.

To install ‌‌‌watchOS 8‌‌‌.6, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, ‌‌‌watchOS 8.6 can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software update.

To update to new software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it needs to be in range of the ‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌.

We don't yet know what's included in the watchOS 8.6 update, and no new features have been discovered in the beta so far.

Apple today updated its WWDC 2022 website for developers, providing more information on the Apple Park Special Event that the company is hosting on June 6, 2022. A small number of developers will be invited to the campus to watch the WWDC 2022 keynote, and developers will be able to apply to attend Monday, May 9.

We're hosting a special all-day experience at Apple Park on June 6 to kick off WWDC22. Gather with others in the developer community to watch the keynote and State of the Union videos alongside Apple engineers and experts, explore the all-new Developer Center, and so much more. We can't wait to connect in person.

Apple says that it will be an all-day experience at ‌Apple Park‌, including the keynote and State of the Union. Developers will also be invited to explore the Developer Center, among other activities. Apple last year said that it was building a dedicated Developer Center on the ‌Apple Park‌ campus, though few details have been provided about it.

The ‌Apple Park‌ event is free, and all members of the Apple Developer Program and Apple Developer Enterprise Program can apply to attend. Invitations will be allocated through a random selection process and cannot be transferred.

Submissions will be accepted from Monday, May 9 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time through Wednesday, May 11 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Developers will be notified of their status by Thursday, May 12 at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

Longtime Ford engineer Desi Ujkashevic has left the company and opted to join Apple to work on the Apple car project, reports Bloomberg. Ujkashevic has been with Ford for over 30 years, and she has expertise in safety systems, engineering design deliverables, body interior engineering, and more.

Before to departing Ford for Apple, Ujkashevic served as the Global Director of Ford's Automotive Safety Engineering Office, but prior to that, she was an Engineering Director. From Ford's website:

In her previous role, she was the Engineering Director for North American Vehicle Programs where she was responsible for Engineering for Car and Utility Programs managing engineering design deliverables including achievement of cost, profit, quality, and timing objectives. Prior to this, Desi was the Global Director, Interiors Engineering where she led the Strategy, Program execution, Quality and launch for Interiors on all Global Programs. Previous to this, Desi completed a 3-year international assignment in Germany, serving as Ford's Director of Engineering for Body Systems and Design Operations.

Ujkashevic first joined Ford in 1991, and worked her way up the ranks over the years. She had a hand in the development of the Ford Escape, Explorer, Fiesta and Focus, plus she worked on electric vehicles. Ujkashevic has a wealth of expertise that will benefit the Apple Car project, and she could be involved in helping Apple develop safeguards for its electric vehicle.

Bloomberg has previously said that Apple wants the Apple Car to be safer than cars from Tesla and Waymo, with backup systems to avoid driving system failures.

Apple has been regularly hiring from Ford and other automotive companies for the past several years as it works to develop a fully autonomous vehicle. The Apple Car project has faced ongoing leadership issues and Apple's goals have shifted several times, but the latest rumors suggest that Apple is on track to deliver a car sometime in the next decade.

Apple is said to be aiming for a 2025 launch, but issues with the car development could push the project back to as late as 2028.

Justine Ezarik, known as iJustine on YouTube, today shared an inside look at the Apple Fitness+ studio in Santa Monica, California. As part of the tour, Ezarik interviewed Apple's head of fitness Jay Blahnik and a few Fitness+ trainers.

British GQ also visited the Fitness+ studio and interviewed Blahnik and Apple's operations chief Jeff Williams, who oversees the Apple Watch team. According to the publication, the 23,000-square-foot building is outfitted with numerous aerial camera rails and lighting rigs, along with robots that aid in filming the workout videos.

Launched in December 2020, Apple Fitness+ features a library of workout videos, with new content added weekly. The subscription-based service is available through the Fitness app on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV in over 20 countries, with pricing set at $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year in the United States. While completing a workout, Apple Watch metrics like heart rate and calories burned are shown on screen.

"We had always been thinking about what a service like this would look like if it was built around Apple Watch at the center," Blahnik told British GQ. "And so we kept leaning into many of the things we've learned with Apple Watch, which is that people want it to be unintimidating. It needs to be friendly. It needs to be motivating."

Up to 30 new workouts and meditations are added to Fitness+ each week, according to Apple. Workouts range from five minutes to 45 minutes in length, with categories including high-intensity interval training (HIIT), yoga, strength, pilates, treadmill walking, treadmill running, rowing, dancing, cycling, core exercises, and mindful cooldowns.

Amid the process of Apple employees returning to in-person work using a hybrid schedule, a group of employees represented by "Apple Together" are protesting the company's current hybrid working policy.

Last month, corporate Apple employees in the United States began returning to their offices, ending a two-year work from home policy that Apple implemented during the pandemic. Employees at locations like Apple Park and Infinite Loop were given a deadline of April 11 to return to in-person work.

Apple is not forcing employees to return to the office five days a week, and has instead adopted a gradual return strategy and a hybrid home/office work policy. Apple employees were required to work from the office at least one day per week by April 11, at least two days per week by May 2, and will be required to work in-person at least three days per week by May 23.

When the three-day in-office work policy is enacted on May 23, employees will be required to be in the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with most able to work remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Now, a group of Apple employees represented by "Apple Together" have penned a letter addressed to the company's executive team. It argues that Apple's hybrid working pilot "does not recognize flexible work and is only driven by fear."

The letter claims that Apple has hampered communication while strengthening the company's siloed structure, diminishing the "serendipity" that it said would be restored by returning to in-person work. Secondly, it argues that in-person collaboration simply is not needed every week or every month, and that Apple's hybrid working pilot is "one of the most inefficient ways to enable everyone to be in one room, should the need arise every now and then."

Now we ask you, the executive team, to show some flexibility as well and let go of the rigid policies of the Hybrid Working Pilot. Stop trying to control how often you can see us in the office. Trust us, we know how each of our small contributions helps Apple succeed and what's required to do so. Our direct managers trust us and in many cases would happily let us work in a more flexible setup. And why wouldn’t they, we've successfully done so for the last two years. Why don't you?

Or as Steve said: "It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do." Here we are, the smart people that you hired, and we are telling you what to do: Please get out of our way, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, let us decide how we work best, and let us do the best work of our lives.

It goes on to say that Apple's policy of three days in the office and two days working from home is a "smokescreen" that offers "almost no flexibility at all." The letter also attacked the "huge waste of time as well as both mental and physical resources" caused by commuting and claimed that Apple's current working policies have "a negative impact on diversity."

Apple has been eager to get employees back in the office and was forced to delay return dates several times. "For all that we've been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other," Apple CEO Tim Cook told employees back in June 2021. "Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate."

See Apple Together's full "Thoughts on Office-bound Work" open letter for more information.

AgileBits today announced the release of 1Password 8 for Mac with a redesigned interface and several new features.

The popular password manager has been redesigned to better match the look of macOS Monterey, from the sidebar and unified toolbar to the typography and iconography. The new design language extends to 1Password for Safari on the Mac.

1Password 8 improves productivity with a new Quick Access feature. Inspired by the built-in Spotlight search tool on macOS, Quick Access is a floating panel that is always available, providing convenient access to all of your login information. Quick Access works with keyboard shortcuts and suggests the most relevant logins for the active app.

Autofill is now supported within Mac apps and system prompts, including when macOS requests your admin password. The feature can be triggered with the keyboard shortcut ⌘\ in apps like Zoom and Spotify and also works with two-factor authentication codes.

A new Watchtower dashboard provides an all-in-one overview of your overall password strength, detects vulnerable passwords, and more.

1Password 8 for Mac is available to download on the AgileBits website. A subscription is required, with individual pricing set at $2.99 per month for unlimited access across several platforms, including iOS, macOS, Windows, Android, and others.

Apple has asked Foxconn to start recruiting workers to assemble iPhone 14 models earlier than usual amid fears that China's lockdowns could lead to short supply or delays later in the year, United Daily News reports.

Foxconn, Apple's main assembly partner, has reportedly launched a large recruitment drive for its factory in Zhengzhou this week, despite the season normally being off-peak for ‌iPhone‌ production. The company is said to have increased bonuses by 30 percent to attract more workers amid a pressing need to meet Apple's requirements.

Apple's instruction to increase recruitment at this time of year is ostensibly derived from continued strong demand for the ‌iPhone‌ 13 lineup and mounting concern about the impact of lockdowns in China on its ability to meet demand for the ‌iPhone‌ 14 in the second half of the year. Zhengzhou has been largely unaffected by lockdown measures so far, encouraging Foxconn to increase production capacity at the facility.

Apple briefly mentioned supply problems caused by lockdowns in China in its earnings call last week. DigiTimes recently speculated that parts of Apple's supply chain may be severely impacted depending on how long lockdowns persist, potentially even forcing Apple to delay the launch of new ‌iPhone‌ models later this year.

Earlier today, it was reported that Apple supplier Quanta is now gradually resuming production of MacBook Pro models at its Chinese plant following the easing of lockdown restrictions in Shanghai. The measures caused significantly extended delivery times for new MacBook Pro orders.