Apple has released the sixth beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.2 update to developers and public beta testers. Developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center or the Software Update mechanism in the App Store.
If you're not already signed up for the public beta program, you can do sign up at .https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/ . The public beta program is free, but remember: beta software is unfinished software so use with care.
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Reggie Ashworth has announced AppDelete 4.3.1 an update to his application deletion utility for macOS.
Via drag and drop, it will uninstall anything along with all of the associated items. The latest version has been optimized for macOS Sierra. It also adds a new icon and graphics, a new App Reset Tool, and a new Clear Logs too.
AppDelete 4.3.1 requires macOS 10.7 or higher. It costs $7.99 for a single-user license. Upgrades from version 2.x and 3.x are $3.99. A demo is available at the product website (http://www.reggieashworth.com/appdelete).
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AppYogi Software has introduced Wifi Signal Strength Status 1.0 (http://tinyurl.com/hhrt4y8), its new utility developed exclusively for macOS. The app prominently displays the wireless signal strength with network name, "neat icon" or "percentage" on the menu bar.
Wifi Signal Strength Status lets users know and monitor wireless signal strength at all times with RSSI, Noise, Transmit Rate, Channel details and more. The app also allows the user to see their public IP with Mac address on the Menu Bar.
Wifi Signal Strength Status requires macOS 10.10 or later. It costs US$4.99 and is available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Utilities category.
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FileMaker author John Mark Osborne has released his student requested Tips & Tricks training videos for FileMaker Pro 15.
The videos are created in FileMaker Pro 15 Advanced but can be used with FileMaker Pro or Advanced 12, 13 and 14 with the exception of a few exercises. The videos cover intermediate, advanced and expert topics in the areas of scripting, calculations, reporting and relational design.
As a reward for current students and as an introductory holiday sale for FileMaker enthusiasts who haven’t purchased his Philosophy of FileMaker videos, Osborne is offering this four-hour long course for US$20 or at a 20% discount for the rest of 2016. On Jan. 1st, 2017, the price will increase to $25.00.
To find out more information or purchase these videos, visit the Database Pros web site (http://philosophy-of-filemaker.thinkific.com/).
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Apple has released the seventh beta of an upcoming iOS 10.2 update to developers and public beta testers. For developers, the beta update can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.
Non-developers can sign up for the public beta program https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/ . The public beta program is free, but remember: beta software is unfinished software so use with care.
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Matrox Video has announced a firmware update for the H.264 based Matrox Monarch LCS lecture capture appliance (http://tinyurl.com/hgflzpn). Through the new scheduler function, the Monarch LCS can now be set to start automatically before an event (e.g. lectures, corporate presentations, religious services) without any human intervention required.
The Monarch LCS scheduler supports the iCalendar (.ics) standard, which can be generated by a variety of scheduling applications including Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook. Allowing identification of multiple devices on a single master calendar, when the schedule is imported to a Monarch LCS appliance, it will automatically start and stop streaming and recording events at times corresponding to that individual device.
The Monarch LCS’s updated ability allows it to record files locally to an SD card or attached USB drive, and then transfer the...
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Smile (http://smle.us/store) has upgraded PDFpen, its all-purpose PDF editing tool for the Mac, to version 8.3. This version includes Touch Bar support for both editing tools and PDFpenPro’s Table of Contents editing tools.
PDFpen and PDFpenPro 8.1 add “snap to guides” that allows images, shapes, and other objects to snap into alignment with the center and edges of existing objects. Guides are visible when dragging. Special consideration is given to text boxes, which can now snap to the same baseline as existing text.
PDFpenPro and PDFpen 8 work with PDFpen for iPad and iPhone version 2, allowing editing across devices when used with Dropbox storage or iCloud Drive. iCloud storage is available when PDFpen is purchased via the Mac App Store.
PDFpen retails for $74.95, PDFpenPro for $124.95. Family pack licenses, which cover up to five computers in one household, are $94.95 for PDFpen and $149.95 for...
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Norbert M. Doerner has announced NeoFinder 7.0. It’s an update of the macOS app that helps you keep track of your digital files, photos, songs, movies, fonts on hard drives, USB sticks, servers, Blu-ray disks, DVD-ROMs, CDROMs, and any other digital media.
NeoFinder (http://www.cdfinder.de) generates thumbnails and metadata of your files for search possibilities, smart folders, albums, and more. Version 7 offers a new user interface, integrated Adobe XMP (IPTC) editing (including keywords from a controlled vocabulary), audio thumbnails for songs, improved cataloging and database engines for better performance, web galleries, and much more.
NeoFinder 7 requires macOS 10.7or higher. It’s a paid update to licensed users of CDFinder, update price starting at approximately $21. Cross-grades for users of competing applications (DiskLibrary, FileFinder, CatFinder, Canto Cumulus, Disk Tracker,...
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Inspiring-Life Technologies has introduced Day Planner 1.0 (http://inspiringlife.co/1179749655.html), a “to-do” application for macOS. Its interface is sub divided into dedicated sections for entering specific information for a given day.
These are to-dos, appointments, people to call, things to buy, etc. Users can jump to any date by using the built-in calendar and fill out different sections on days to come.
Day Planner requires macOS 10.10 or later and costs US$2.99. It’s available exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Lifestyle category.
Maintain has served up Cocktail 9.4.1 (El Capitan Edition), a new edition of Cocktail for users running OS X El Capitan 10.11.
Cocktail (http://cocktail.maintain.se) is a general purpose utility for OS X that lets users clean, repair and optimize their Macs. Version 9.4.1:
° Adds the ability to customize the layout;
° Addresses an issue in which Cocktail may fail to display a Time Machine log;
° Addresses an issue in which Cocktail may fail to delete items from encrypted disk images;
° Resolves a number of other issues discovered in the previous release.
Cocktail costs $19 for a single user license and is available for purchase from the Maintain website. When unregistered, Cocktail runs in demo mode and will expire after the tenth launch.
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Ergonis Software (www.ergonis.com) has rolled out KeyCue 8.3, an update of their keyboard shortcut cheat sheet. The upgrade improves PopChar X and Typinator integration, includes some stability improvements, fixes user-reported issues, and improves compatibility with FileMaker Pro 14 and 15.
KeyCue 8.3 requires macOS 10.6 or later. The upgrade is free for anyone who owns KeyQue 8 or how purchased a license for KeyCue 7 on or after March 1, 2015. Upgrade paths are available for owners of older licenses. For new users the cost is $19.99 for a single user license and $29.95 for a family pack.
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Apple has seeded the fifth tvOS 10.1 developer beta for the fourth generation Apple TV.
The software update so far has included Apple’s new single sign-on feature which lets you authenticate with your cable provider to unlock all compatible paid video apps. Developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center.
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Kanex has announced the GoPower Plus (www.kanex.com/gopowerplus), a portable power solution featuring built-in micro USB with a Lightning adapter for use with both Apple and Android devices.
Packed with 8,000 mAh of power, it can purportedly deliver two full charges to your smartphones, while an extra USB port allows an additional device to charge simultaneously. The GoPower Plus features an aluminum finish and fits into a pocket or bag.
GoPower Plus is Apple MFi Certified, which means it’s specifically made to fit with your Apple devices. The Kanex GoPower Plus premium portable batteries will be available mid-December for US$49.95.
Nuance Communications has released PDF Converter for Mac 6, an update of the solution that empowers Apple users to convert, edit and securely collaborate with industry-standard PDF files.
Version 6 allows users to assemble PDF documents from a variety of sources, convert PDFs into editable formats for repurposing, create searchable files from scanned documents, and create and fill out PDF forms. What’s more, the streamlined user interface running on OS X Yosemite or El Capitan enables users to work more efficiently and effectively, according to Chris Strammiello, vice president, Global Alliances & Strategic Marketing at Nuance.
Nuance PDF Converter for Mac is available for $99.99. The software is offered through Nuance’s retail e-commerce and corporate reseller channels. Go to http://tinyurl.com/hzykd5t for more info.
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Reinvented Software has announced Together 3.7 for Mac (http://reinventedsoftware.com/together/). The app is for collecting, organizing and searching all kinds of files.
Just about anything can be added to Together for safe-keeping, tagged, previewed, collected together in different ways and found again instantly. With iCloud, Together libraries can be seamlessly shared with other Macs and iOS devices. Version 3.7 adds support for the MacBook Pro Touch Bar and improves Evernote import.
Together 3.7 for Mac costs US$49.99, is a free upgrade for Together 3 users and requires macOS Sierra. A 15-day trial is available for download from the Reinvented Software website. Together's Evernote Importer is a free download that works with both the version of Together for Mac from the Reinvented Software site and the Mac App Store version. Together for iPad and iPhone is also...
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Zevrix Solutions has announced PDF Checkpoint 1.7.17, a compatibility update to company's PDF preflight and conversion solution.
The utility automatically preflights, exports as images, splits and optimizes Adobe PDF files. PDF Checkpoint can also convert the color of PDF documents to a specific ICC profile to help users prepare their files for print, web and mobile devices. Version 1.7.17 is compatible with macOS 10.12 Sierra.
PDF Checkpoint can be purchased at the Mac App Store and Zevrix website (www.zevrix.com) for $39.95. The update is free to licensed users. A demo is available for download. PDF Checkpoint requires macOS 10.7 or higher.
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Apple has introduced a sixth beta version of iOS 10.2, and fifth beta of macOS 10.12.2 Sierra to developers and public beta tester. A fourth watchOS 3.1.1 developer beta has also been released.
All of the updates include unspecified bug fixes and performance improvements. Developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center or the Software Update mechanism in the App Store. If you're not already signed up for the public beta program, you can do sign up at http://tinyurl.com/pffuwnz. The public beta program is free, but remember: beta software is unfinished software so use with care.
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OWC has introduced the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual with Thunderbolt 2 Technology. Designed in Austin, Texas, by the OWC new product development team, it offers speeds up to 474 MB/s, capacities up to 20TB, and RAID modes 0 and 1.
A newly engineered aluminum enclosure features a larger, quieter fan and an advanced airflow design for drive health and longevity, says OWC CEO Larry O‘Connor. For professionals who need the additional performance of RAID 0 (two disks working together to create one very fast volume), or the peace of mind provided by RAID 1 (two disks mirrored to create instant redundancy), the “Mercury Elite Pro Dual with Thunderbolt 2 Technology packs serious connectivity in a versatile package,” he adds.
Configurable in RAID 0, 1, span, or independent modes are accessed via a selector switch. The Mercury Elite Pro Dual packs two Thunderbolt 2 ports and a USB 3.1 Gen 1 port.
The OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual Thunderbolt 2 is now available at MacSales....
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Red Dwarf Games has debuted Tales of Cosmos, a point-and-click adventure game for Mac and Windows computers. The player assumes the roles of Perseus and Gagayev, animal astronauts who become stranded on an unknown planet, and helps them get to the bottom of a cosmic mystery.
Tales of Cosmos combines point-and-click gameplay with space flight mechanics. It also offers humorous characters, hand-drawn environments, ambient music, and more.
Tales of Cosmos requires macOS 10.6 or higher. It’s available on the Steam network (http://store.steampowered.com/app/350480).
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AKVIS (www.akvis.com) has released AKVIS Watercolor for macOS and Windows. It’s an app designed to make a photo look like a watercolor painting.
You only need to adjust the settings to your taste and run the processing. Any ordinary image will turn into an aquarelle piece of art. Watercolor lets you experiment with a range of painting genres: from marine paintings and atmospheric landscapes up to human or animal portraits and still lifes. The app offers a number of ready-to-use presets that can be used to imitate different watercolor techniques.
A demo is available for download. A Home license for activating Watercolor on two computers costs $49. On the Mac platform, macOS 10.7 or higher is recommended.
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The video software market is expected to exceed US$9 billion in revenue by 2021, according to new data IHS Markit (www.ihs.com). The atomization of media distribution and the switch from hardware-based technology solutions to cloud implementations are key drivers for the $3 billion in revenue growth over the next five years, according to the research group.
“Taken together, these two forces have created a market where value is shifting towards the front end,” said Cecilia Zhu, analyst at IHS Technology. “A superior user-experience has become fundamental to securing increased consumer spend.”
Content security was the largest segment in 2015
Globally, content security accounts for 32% of the digital video software market.
“While demand for robust security solutions is unlikely to deteriorate, particularly in the presence of high-value UHD and HDR content, the segment is effectively saturated,” Zhu said....
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A new study examining how the IT service management (ITSM) industry will look in 2030 shows a high level of optimism for the future as service management frameworks become applied across organizations in support of a wider adoption of technology.
The report by AXELOS (www.AXELOS.com) reveals that ITSM professionals see future growth in the industry with 77% agreeing that non-technical business units will be more involved in service governance, service strategy and service design, and the same number believe end user interactions with IT will become simpler, lighter-touch and less complex.
They welcome developments such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning; 77% said they believed these trends would have a profound impact on the IT workforce, liberating ITSM professionals from routine tasks and free up time for responding to demands for more creativity and “human” input.
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FatWallet.com, a savings resource for online deal hunters, has announced results of its 2016 Holiday Gift Buying Survey.
The study reports that 70% of parents plan to spend the same or more buying gifts for their children this year (men will outspend women), and 70% said getting the best deals is the most important factor when buying holiday gifts online (59% said. free shipping).
Parents said their kids want gift cards or money more than anything else, followed by toys, video games and laptops. More than four in 10 (43%) of women and men equally want quality time with family as a holiday gift this year, 32% want gift cards, 22% want apparel and 18% would settle for a vacation.
2016 Holiday Gift Buying Survey results include:
Online Gift Buying Factors: Overall, 70% said "getting the best price" was most important, 59% said free shipping (63% of women and 55% of men), 30% return policy, 24% customer service, 23% price matching, 14% rewards, 6% layaway...
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A new study from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) has found that eCoupon redemptions will double over the next five years, reaching US$81 billion in 2021, increasing from an estimated $40 billion in 2016. Juniper’s latest research, found that growth in digital coupon redemptions is to be driven by emerging channels and new partnerships.
The research group says that coupon redemption levels will grow as a result of the opportunities that new technologies offer, such as connected cars. Juniper believes that current partnerships including those between OnStar, Groupon, Exxon Mobil and RetailMeNot which provide in-vehicle offers tailored to location, will see rapid expansion.
Juniper found significant opportunity exists via location-based promotions, which target consumers on the go, similar to the concept seen with in-store beacons, and expects more retailers to join this movement in...
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Mobile device adoption in the workplace isn’t yet mature, according to a survey from Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com). Although 80% of workers surveyed received one or more corporate-issued devices, desktops are still the most popular corporate device among businesses, with more than half of workers receiving corporate-issued desktop PCs.
The survey findings are based on the 2016 Gartner Personal Technologies Study, which was conducted from June to August 2016 among 9,592 respondents in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. Thirty-six percent of workers received laptops, including convertible laptops. Adoption of convertible laptops as a corporate-issued device is still very low, but has been gradually increasing.
Gartner analysts expect that more employees will receive convertible laptops in the next three years, driven by the Windows 10 refresh that can enhance the user experience with touch-based input....
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Mobile Experts (http://mobile-experts.net) has released a style that “unapologetically draws a line between fact and myth in the developing automotive IoT [Internet of Things] market.”
The report investigates connectivity for telematics, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) applications using DSRC and LTE, as well as TPMS and other wireless applications related to cars. New business models for insurance and 5G technology prospects are explored in detail.
"A political battle is raging in the United States, with the auto industry pushing for the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Transportation to adopt DSRC using 802.11p," commented Mobile Experts Principal Analyst Joe Madden. "However, the wireless industry—led by Qualcomm--is pushing for extension of Wi-Fi into the 5.8 GHz band and LTE for V2V communications. The outcome of this politicized decision...
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By Rick Sutcliffe
Sierra's problems continue, as the Spy receives other reports of programs not functioning besides the ones cited here last month. To be fair, the Olive Tree folk managed to get their Bible Study program working on Sierra, reducing the number of fails by one.
On the other hand, he now has multiple reports of Sierra installs killing off or corrupting the keychain, and some of SSH, ITunes, and other apps failing, or running very slow. There are also compatibility issues with Apple's own Mail program, certain sound file types, and fast battery drain.
Safari is quirky too, but that was a problem in El Capitan as well--so much so the Spy has given up on the product for now and will use the ultra-reliable Firefox as his default browser.
Sometimes the upgrade process itself fails or hangs. Advice: don’t sidegrade, continue to use El Capitan, which is much more stable. But if you really want to take the leap...
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Worldwide smartphone shipments are expected to reach 1.45 billion units with a year-over-year growth rate of 0.6% in 2016 according to the latest forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC). Although growth remains positive, it is down significantly from the 10.4% growth in 2015.
However, 4G smartphones are still expected to show double-digit uptake at 21.3% year-over-year growth globally for 2016, reaching 1.17 billion units, up from 967 million in 2015. Much of this growth is coming from emerging markets (Asia/Pacific excluding Japan, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and Middle East and Africa), where only 61% of 2015 smartphone shipments were 4G-enabled compared to IDC's 2016 projection of 77%, according to IDC. Mature markets (USA, Canada, Japan, and Western Europe) are further along the 4G adoption curve with 85% in 2015 and a projected 94% in 2016, respectively.
"It's been a long slog for 4G uptake in many emerging markets as 4G data tariffs...
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A new report from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) has found that biometric authentication is now ready to move beyond fingerprints alone and use a range of identifiers, from facial recognition to voiceprints.
These methods will become part of many more consumers’ lives, installed on an estimated 190 million mobile devices, including smartphones and wearables, in 2016, before exceeding 600 million devices by 2021, according to the research group. Juniper has found that demand from businesses for methods that rely less on hardware will raise the profile of newer biometrics over the next five years, in particular voiceprints and facial recognition.
These technologies are easier to deploy than fingerprinting, as they do not require dedicated hardware, bringing biometric security to a whole new audience in markets with lower-tier smartphones, with fingerprinting remaining common in...
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IHS Markit (www.ihs.com) — which specializes in critical information, analytics and solutions -- in collaboration with IAB Europe -- announced updated findings from its annual European online advertising report, “AdEx Benchmark H1 Study.” The online advertising market grew 13.4% year-on-year from €16.4 billion to €18.6 billion in the first six months of 2016.
“Strong economic growth in all the European Big Five for the first time since 2010 underpinned the surge in online advertising in the first six months of 2016,” said Eleni Marouli, principal analyst at IHS Technology and report author. “We saw an uplift across all formats from 2015.”
Mobile advertising amounted to €3.8 billion in the first six months of 2016, split evenly between search and display. Mobile’s share of search was 32% and mobile’s share of display was 32.8%, the report said.
“Mobile accounted for one in three euros spent in Europe,”...
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday announced plans to mete out some $88 million to more than 2.7 million current and former AT&T customers who were affected by "mobile cramming," a scheme that added unwanted third-party service charges to their monthly phone bills.
The Federal Trade Commission has today announced in a blog post that AT&T will soon start refunding more than $88 million to customers affected by unauthorized charges on their monthly bills.
Filed under: Apple ...
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YouTuber colinfurze did what any Star Wars fan would do: he built a 5.5 meter (18 feet) high AT-ACT in his back yard. I love all the projects this nut job builds—he’s awesome—and this one is truly spectacular. It’s a scale model of a scale model on the outside, and on the inside it’s a Star Wars fan club house. In the video below he gives us a great tour, and he also has a behind-the-scenes video of how he built it.
Qualcomm today announced that it is working with Microsoft to bring support for Windows 10 its Snapdragon line of processors. The Snapdragon chips have primarily been used in mobile devices and the support for Windows 10 is a first for ARM-based processors.
This brings the question, why isn’t Apple working to bring macOS support to its Ax line of processors? Or is it working on it as we speak?
Filed under: Apple ...
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Ambitious Chinese tech firm LeEco halted stock trading after plummeting share prices reportedly triggered margin calls for its cash-strapped billionaire founder Jia Yueting. LeEco had been hailed as an Apple threat, with tech journalists giddy in reporting Jia's contempt for Apple--a company Jia derided as "extremely slow" and compared to the Nazis.
Microsoft on Wednesday announced the compatibility of Windows 10 and native Windows apps with ARM-based processors, including Qualcomm's Snapdragon, which currently powers a large percentage of Android devices. One of the highlights at this year's Windows Hardware Engineering Community event in Shenzhen, China, the new partnership will make it possible for Windows applications, peripherals and enterprise solutions to run on new mobile, power efficient and always-connected cellular PCs.
Spigen’s Car Mount Holder is a well designed product that anyone in the market for an iPhone car mount should lend a serious look. It features a typical suction apparatus to make the mount stick your your car’s dash, but has several other notable features that make iPhone car mounting easy. more…
Filed under: Apple ...
| Read more »The AWT News Update is on hiatus while my compadre, Steve, takes a road trip. In its place, I’ll offer a text-only (no podcast) summary of breaking stories with a tip o’ my hat to my former website, Apple Daily Report.
As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple has been slowly adding more electric charging station listings to Apple Maps since the release of iOS 10, and today the world’s largest EV charging network, ChargePoint, officially confirmed integration.
As noted by AppleInsider, Nintendo’s highly-anticipated "Super Mario Run" will be available to all users on Dec. 15, but until then, people anxious to play the game can head to an Apple Store for a few minutes of hands-on time with the title.
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| Read more »On a regular basis, Apple World Today posts a list of notable new apps or app updates that have been released. They may not necessarily be new, but they're popular and deserve mention. Here are today's picks.
iOS Apps/Updates
Origin8 Technologies has introduced Solar Siege 1.0.8, their latest mobile strategy title. In the game, you take command of a deep space mining station harvesting the riches of the asteroids, manage a power network crucial to sustain operations, and defend against an alien foe who wants a piece of the galactic pie. Players can spend earnings on a selection of persistent upgrades to support and complement their units, research new abilities, weapons and defenses. Solar Siege is free, but does tout in-app purchases.
Abson Developments has debuted...
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There’s a project on Kickstarter called HyperDrive that raised more than $341,000 in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. It’s a USB-C hub from Sanho for MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. It’s similar to the 5-in-1 HyperDrive from the same company we had a deal on a few days ago, but this new one in development has even more ports. All told, it has HDMI, USB 3.1 x 2, microSD/SD, Thunderbolt 3, and USB-C. It’s designed to plug into both your MacBook Pro USB-C ports and take the place of any dongles you might need. As of this writing, there are still a few pledge slots for $69 that will net you one, but those are going fast. Sanho has blown by its funding goal of $100,000 by 3X, and there’s still 39 days to go on the campaign. Clearly, there’s a demand for this product in the Mac community. Check out the promo video.
Last week, we covered Yahoo’s new Answers app for iOS and Android, but noted that at the time it was still invite-only. Today, however, the company officially announced that Yahoo Answers is available to all users on iOS and Android.
Filed under: Apple ...
| Read more »Peel has introduced a Jet Black color option today for their super thin iPhone 7 and 7 Plus case. Peel launched their iPhone 7 cases soon after the phone’s official announcement, but the shiny Jet Black option had not yet been available. Those wanting to add an additional layer of protection to their phone, without having to lose the beauty of the phone’s sheen might want to take a look here.
Filed under: Apple ...
| Read more » Elgato is one of the more prolific HomeKit accessory makers we've covered, with a diverse lineup of accessories ranging from weather sensors to outlets, so it's no surprise that the company has continued to expand its HomeKit lineup in unique new directions with the recent debut of Eve Light Switch, a Bluetooth-based HomeKit in-wall switch for controlling lighting or any other fixtures and appliances that are controlled via a standard wall switch. Although Lutron's Caséta Wireless System was the first to offer HomeKit-compatible in-wall dimmers, it's worth noting that Elgato's new Light Switch represents the first completely standalone HomeKit light switch solution — it connects directly to HomeKit via Bluetooth and no additional hub or bridge is required.{/exp:char_limit}
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Apple on Thursday released another developer-only macOS Sierra 10.12.2 beta, the second one in three days, and the sixth overall.
Microsoft on Thursday brought another productivity app to iOS, its diagramming tool Visio, while promising an enhanced iPhone version of its voice assistant, Cortana.
iHome's iPLWBT5 ($130) is an alarm clock radio with a built-in Lightning dock, and a built-in Apple Watch charger, allowing users to charge a Lightning-based iPhone and Apple Watch simultaneously with no cables. iPLWBT5 has typical alarm clock functions, while also letting users wake up to audio from a docked device or Bluetooth — yes, the speaker is also Bluetooth compatible. An extra USB charging port can be found on the back of the clock radio, so users can even charge a third device, if they so desire. The alarm clock's display has an auto dimming feature to adjust to nearby light. Other features include dual alarms, speakerphone functionality, and auto sync for the time — iHome's clock radio will immediately sync with a docked iOS device to display the time accurately.{/exp:char_limit}
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Apple is rolling out macOS 10.12.2 beta 6 for Mac — the second release in three days. The new update follows the initial macOS 10.12.2 beta at the end of October and multiple additional builds since. Today’s build is available on the developer center and will likely hit the Mac App Store soon [update: OTA available now].
Filed under: Apple ...
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Right after Apple revealed more of its plans to the U.S. Government regarding its autonomous car project, we learn that Apple is going to break with tradition and start publishing its AI research. This is an interesting sequence of events. John speculates on what may have been the cause of Apple’s more open approach.
Apple today updated its website listing supported CarPlay vehicles to note that the feature is now available in over 200 models, up from the 150 vehicles the site previously listed. While noting the 200 vehicle milestone, Apple has added 50 new models to its list of supported vehicles, including a number of upcoming 2017 models…
Filed under: Apple ...
| Read more »Microsoft’s suite of apps on iOS are constantly expanding, and today the company has announced that yet another of its famous desktop apps is making its way to Apple’s mobile platform ─ Visio.
Filed under: Apple ...
| Read more »An anonymous reader shares an ArsTechnica report: Apple has received at least $6 per American taxpayer over the last five years in the form of interest payments on billions' worth of United States Treasury bonds, according to a report by Bloomberg. Citing Apple's regulatory filings and unnamed sources, the business publication found "the Treasury Department paid Apple at least $600 million and possibly much more over the past five years in the form of interest." By taking advantage of a provision in the American tax code, Bloomberg says that Apple has "stashed much of its foreign earnings -- tax-free -- right here in the US, in part by purchasing government bonds." As The Wall Street Journal reported in September, American companies are believed to be holding approximately $2 trillion in cash overseas that is shielded from US taxes. Under American law, companies must pay a 35-percent corporate tax rate on global profits when that money is brought home -- so there is an incentive to...
| Read more »Team AWT members -- just wanted to let you know that we'll be back to our usual programming in the next week. What I found early in my trip is that the internet service on the ship was slow -- not just slow, but so slow that doing things like uploading a podcast was impossible.
Fortunately, the time off has given me a lot of inspiration for special things to add to the Team AWT program to help build our membership. Expect to see some changes to the program in early 2016!
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Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals systems, methods, and computer readable media to improve the operation of graphics systems. Because the patent points to the system working with "a mobile telephone, personal media device, a notebook computer system, or a tablet computer system," it would strongly suggest the system is for a graphics system relating to gaming platform or an API for Apple's Metal – and not for the easy headline that it's for autonomous vehicle playing off of Apple's Project Titan.
| Read more »The United States Federal Trade Commission today announced that it is giving more than $88 million in refunds to 2.7 million AT&T customers who had unauthorized third-party charges added to their service bills, something better known as "mobile cramming."
The refunds come from a $105 million settlement AT&T paid the FTC back in October of 2014, after the carrier was accused of allowing third-party companies to bill customers for things like ringtone subscriptions without their consent. Money was also collected from Tatto and Acquinity, two companies involved in the cramming scheme.
Nearly 2.5 million AT&T customers can expect to receive a credit on their bill within the next 75 days, and over 300,...
| Read more »In early October Patently Apple posted a report titled "Copycat Samsung to Introduce Galaxy S8 in Q1 2017 with Dual Cameras and No Home Button." The report had an extra segment sub-titled "A 2017 Surprise: A First to Market Smartphone." A report had surfaced claiming that Samsung was hinting that they were planning to introduce a new smartphone never seen before at the 2017 Mobile World Congress event. Some believed it would a foldable smartphone. Today the rumor is back and the race is officially on with Lenovo and Oppo working on this new category of smartphone.
| Read more »Apple today seeded the sixth beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.2 update to developers and public beta testers, a few days after releasing the fifth 10.12.2 beta and over a month after the public release of macOS 10.12.1.
macOS Sierra 10.12.2 beta 6 is available for download through the Apple Developer Center or through the software update mechanism in the Mac App Store.
macOS Sierra 10.12.2 includes new emoji, introducing Unicode 9 characters like clown face, selfie, face palm, fox face, owl, shark, butterfly, avocado, bacon, and more, plus many profession emoji are available in both male and female genders.
Apple has also updated the artwork on many existing emoji characters, adding detail to make them look less...
| Read more »Both Samsung and Apple have been building treasure chests full of patents relating to mobile device designs that will have bent edges, rounded wraparound glass embodiments and those that will fold over like a book. Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple titled "Electronic Devices with Display and Touch Sensor Structures." The patent filing details how new touch sensors will be lined within the device's entire outer cavity so that all sides of a device (top, bottom and left and right walls) could contain touch sensors. Some sensors could be designed for gaming ...
| Read more »Apple CEO Tim Cook will deliver the 2017 Commencement address at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the university announced today."Mr. Cook's brilliance as a business leader, his genuineness as a human being, and his passion for issues that matter to our community make his voice one that I know will resonate deeply with our graduates," MIT President L. Rafael Reif says. "I am delighted that he will join us for Commencement and eagerly await his charge to the Class of 2017."In a statement, Cook said he was looking forward to speaking to MIT's graduating class in 2017. The Commencement will take place on Friday, June 9."Apple stands at the intersection of liberal arts and technology, and we're proud to have many outstanding MIT graduates on our team," Cook says. "We believe deeply that technology can be a powerful force for good,...
| Read more »Apple shared some updated photos and information on its spaceship-shaped second campus with employees, which French site MacGeneration managed to get a hold of. The photos give a detailed view of the exterior building, and give us one of our first glimpses at its interior.
Apple Campus 2 has been in development for more than two years, and is nearing its completion date. We've seen a series of monthly drone videos cataloguing progress at the site, and as of December, much of the main ring-shaped building is finished, with Apple now working on landscaping.
Just recently, Apple installed the glass panels for the atrium of the main building, which will be used as a cafeteria for employees. Along with the...
| Read more »European Commission members met on Wednesday to discuss draft rules intended to eliminate roaming charges in the European Union as of June 15, 2017.
(Image: TapSmart)
The Commission said it is determined to put an end to roaming charges commonly billed by carriers when a customer calls, sends messages, or uses data on their mobile device while abroad in the European Union, outside of their primary country of residence, subject to proportionate checks for abusive usage.
European regulators have proposed a "Roam like at Home" solution that would allow travelers to call, text, and browse the web on their mobile devices when abroad in the European Union for no extra charge than the...
| Read more »Samsung as rumored last month has announced the Galaxy S7 edge will be available in a new "Black Pearl" color in select markets starting tomorrow. The glossy finish, exclusive to 128GB versions of the smartphone, will inevitably draw comparisons to the Jet Black iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
Samsung already offered the Galaxy S7 edge and ill-fated Galaxy Note7 in a somewhat glossy Black Onyx finish, so we will have to wait for actual photos of the new Black Pearl color to see the difference between the two colorways. Samsung said the all-black finish "radiates quality and luxury."Black Pearl was designed to be modern and striking. The sleek black...
| Read more »Apple's interest in the field of indoor mapping began to surface when we learned of their acquisition of WiFiSLAM back in early 2013. Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple relating to indoor mapping titled "Floor Level Determination."
| Read more »Two months ago Patently Apple posted a report titled "Copycat Samsung to Introduce Galaxy S8 in Q1 2017 with Dual Cameras and No Home Button." Today Bloomberg is reporting the same thing months later and adds that ...
| Read more »In June Patently Apple posted a report titled "Beijing Court Rules that Apple's iPhone 6 Models Violate Chinese Design Patent and may be Banned." Yesterday Apple was in a Beijing Court yesterday to argue that its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus mobile designs do not copy a Chinese product and should be allowed to be sold on the Chinese mainland.
| Read more »Samsung will beat Apple to the punch in next year's smartphone wars by including features in its Galaxy S8 handset that have long been mooted for the 2017 "iPhone 8", such as a bezel-free wraparound OLED screen with a virtual home button embedded in the display.
Bloomberg on Thursday referred in its favored manner to "people with direct knowledge of the matter" who said that Samsung is targeting a March release for the redesigned S8, but that launch could be delayed by about a month as the company adopts tougher testing procedures in the wake of the Note 7 debacle. Apple's smartphone launch cycle usually runs on a yearly September release.
Samsung is understandably wary of the dangers of rushing its smartphone development after quality control reportedly suffered in...
| Read more »The Bluetooth Special Interest Group today announced that the Bluetooth 5 standard has been officially adopted, which means manufacturers are now able to build it into their devices.
The next-generation Bluetooth standard offers longer range, faster speed, a larger broadcast message capacity, and better interoperability with other wireless technologies.
Compared to existing Bluetooth 4.2 protocol, Bluetooth 5 offers four times the range, two times the speed, and eight times the broadcast message capacity, bringing whole home coverage and more reliable connections between connected devices.
"This means whole-home and building coverage, as well as new use cases for outdoor, industrial, and commercial applications will be a reality. With the launch of Bluetooth 5, we...
Apple is likely to move to TSMC's 10nm processors for their 2017 anniversary iPhone from the 16nm processors that are currently behind the iPhone 7. While TSMC's next chips will be 7nm processors, they're already working with the government of Taiwan to find a parcel of land in the Southern part Koahsiung so as to begin work on a new plant for their next generation of chips in the 5nm and 3nm range.
| Read more »Apple in the latest macOS Sierra beta appears to have fixed a common issue where transferring files to an external hard drive or SSD connected to a Thunderbolt 3 port caused the new MacBook Pro to crash for some users.
MacRumors forum member Dave Miles claims he received an email response from Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi, who apologized for the inconvenience and confirmed the issue has been fixed in the fifth macOS 10.12.2 beta seeded to developers and public testers on Monday.
While we have not...
| Read more »Apple wants to bring new movies to iTunes more quickly, and is in talks with several film studios over rights that would allow it earlier access to content, reports Bloomberg.
Warner Bros, Universal Pictures, and 21st Century Fox are all seeking deals to offer higher-priced rentals of new movies as soon as two weeks after they debut in theaters, and the studios are said to be considering an offer from Apple.
Like Apple Music exclusives, access to earlier releases could draw more people to Apple's platform, but encryption is said to be a concern. Studios aren't sure whether iTunes will be a secure platform for showing movies that are still in theaters, because content can be recorded and leaked online.The most recent talks are part of longer-running efforts by Cupertino,...
| Read more »At an exclusive invitation-only lunch at an AI conference in Barcelona, Spain that took place on December 6, Apple head of machine learning Russ Salakhutdinov and other Apple employees talked about their work on artificial intelligence.
Quartz has obtained some of the slides that Salakhutdinov used during the presentation, giving us a glimpse at the advancements Apple is making in AI and machine learning.
Based on one of the slides, topics at the lunch were wide-ranging, including health and vital signs, volumetric detection of LiDAR, prediction with structured outputs, image processing and colorization, intelligent assistant and language modeling, and activity recognition.
One of the slides, related to Apple's LiDAR work, featured a picture of two cars, but Apple engineers did not mention cars or any automotive research, such as self-...
| Read more »T-Mobile is famous for uncoupling device costs from mobile service plans through its "Uncarrier" initiatives, a move that changed the entire smartphone industry, and now the company is aiming to do the same thing with phone numbers.
T-Mobile's newly announced "Digits" service lets customers use their phone number across multiple devices, including smartphones, tablets, wearables, and PCs, while also allowing multiple phone numbers to be used on a single device.
Many people have separate phone numbers for work and personal use, and the Digits service, which is a souped-up blend of AT&T's NumberSync and Google Voice, puts both numbers on one smartphone. And then those numbers can be used on any device a customer owns, even if it's not on the T-Mobile network.
"Simply put, DIGITS is breakthrough technology that won't be replicated any time soon," said Mike Sievert, Chief Operating Officer of T-Mobile. "...
| Read more »Apple today seeded the seventh beta of an upcoming iOS 10.2 update to developers and public beta testers, two days after seeding the sixth beta of iOS 10.2 and more than a month after releasing iOS 10.1, the first major update to iOS 10.
Registered developers can download the seventh beta of iOS 10.2 from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air with the proper configuration profile installed.
iOS 10.2 introduces new emoji, such as clown face, drooling face, selfie, face palm, fox face, owl, shark, butterfly, avocado, pancakes, croissant, and more.
There are dozens of new Unicode 9 emoji, plus several profession emoji available in both male and female genders...
| Read more »macOS Sierra 10.12.2 beta 6 (16C63a) Now Available
| Read more »macOS Sierra 10.12.2 beta 6 (16C63a) Now Available
| Read more »In episode 110 of the Office 365 Developer Podcast, Richard diZerega and Andrew Coates talk with Yina Arenas about updates to the Microsoft Graph.
http://officeblogspodcastswest.blob.core.windows.net/podcasts/EP110_YinaArenas.mp3
Weekly updates
The road warrior travels from city to city, meets with potential clients and attends conferences and industry events. And their travel requirements don’t seem to be slowing down. According to the Global Business Travel Association, spending on business travel reached record-breaking levels of $1.2 trillion in 2015, and is expected to rise to $1.6 trillion by 2020.
Your road warriors bring your products and services into new markets, diversify clientele and strengthen existing relationships. They’re helping your business grow—now more than ever.
Doing their jobs from the road, however, can prove very difficult without the right productivity tools. So, how do you know if they have what they need?
Start by understanding the common challenges they face....
| Read more »Visio has been a trusted tool in diagramming for more than a decade. And we know its visual communication in the form of diagrams will become more powerful when anyone in the company can consume—regardless of their location or device. So, today we’re excited to announce Visio Viewer for iPad and Visio Online Preview, enabling users to share or access diagrams from nearly anywhere, gain operational insights and explore real-world diagrams easily.
Back to the basics—ubiquitous sharing and access with Visio Online and iPad app
As one of the most widely adopted process mapping tools, Visio helps thousands of organizations blueprint the business processes that drive their desired transformation. Using Visio Online Preview and Visio Viewer for iPad, you can securely store your diagrams in OneDrive for...
| Read more »On today’s Microsoft Mechanics, we take a tour of the latest updates to Microsoft MyAnalytics. Catherine Pidgeon shares how to use MyAnalytics to improve work impact and success. From understanding where her time goes, to identifying areas of opportunity and gaining insight into collaboration with her most important groups, Catherine provides a comprehensive tour of current and roadmap features.
Also, today we are announcing the availability of external contacts within your MyAnalytics experience. Now you will be able to stay up to date on how you interact with important contacts outside of your organization. Whether they are customers, partners or external staff—sometimes those you work with across organizations are the most important to your success. Now you can quickly add important external contacts to your MyAnalytics dashboard to stay updated with collaboration insights like total collaboration time, time in meetings, read percent and response time.
Get email...
| Read more »Congratulations to the developers featured in the App Store Best of 2016. This showcase honors the year’s most innovative apps and games on the App Store, and celebrates the amazing app experiences that developers have created for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. See all the featured apps.
| Read more »Congratulations to the developers featured in the App Store Best of 2016. This showcase honors the year’s most innovative apps and games on the App Store, and celebrates the amazing app experiences that developers have created for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. See all the featured apps.
| Read more »iOS 10.2 beta 7 (14C92) Now Available
| Read more »iOS 10.2 beta 7 (14C92) Now Available
| Read more »Today’s post was written by Stuart Geller, vice president of information services at MJHS Health System (MJHS).
Since “The Four Brooklyn Ladies” founded the MJHS Health System (MJHS) in 1907, we have grown into one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in greater New York. One of my challenges is to ensure that the values of a nearly 110-year-old healthcare provider are reflected in the 21st-century technology we use. With Microsoft Office 365 cloud-based business tools, our employees work productively in today’s digital world, while preserving the innovative, culturally sensitive healthcare services that are part of our history.
Before we settled on Exchange in the cloud, we used another product as our on-premises messaging and collaboration platform. This system had significant email reliability issues and storage limitations. We needed cloud-based business productivity tools that aligned themselves with the highly-regulated healthcare...
| Read more »With more than a billion views, TED Talks are clearly doing something right. So, what is it that makes them such a success? Here are four tried and true techniques that some of the most viewed TED Talks have in common.
Chuck Joiner was kind enough to have me on MacVoices again, this time an episode focused on Holiday Gift Guides. I’d tried to stay sub-$50 but then Chuck totally stole some of my selections. We laughed. We cried. Hope you enjoy!
The post MacJury Holiday Gift Guide appeared first on krypted.com.
| Read more »tvOS 10.1 beta 5 (14U593) Now Available
| Read more »tvOS 10.1 beta 5 (14U593) Now Available
| Read more »Today’s post was written by Darren Clay, assistant principal and MIE at Bear Creek Middle School in Fairburn, Georgia.
A Microsoft Showcase School connection call with Mark Sparvell last November forever changed the landscape of Bear Creek Middle School (grades 6-8). It was during that call that the Bear Creek leadership team became inspired to use Microsoft tools to change the path and pace by which students learn. In conjunction with the district’s personalized learning initiative, Bear Creek recently began a paperless school model through the use of the OneNote Class Notebooks. Bear Creek—located just south of Atlanta, Georgia, in the Fulton County School District—implemented a 1:1 device initiative, which provides over 1,100 students with a Windows 10 Dell laptop. As an Office 365 school, the...
| Read more »With the Home app, you can securely control the products you use in your home—all from your iOS device.
| Read more »Pickit makes it easy for Microsoft Office users to tell impactful stories by leveraging specially curated photos. Today, they announced their new image collection, “Talk Like a Rosling,” which features inspired content from statistician and presenter Hans Rosling and the latest project from his team at Gapminder—Dollar Street.
Learn more about the partnership and how you can use Pickit and their new collection at betterwith.office.com.
The post Get your message across with Pickit add-in for Microsoft Office appeared first on Office Blogs.
| Read more »watchOS 3.1.1 beta 5 (14S883) Now Available
| Read more »iOS 10.2 beta 6 (14C90 | 14C91) Now Available
| Read more »macOS Sierra 10.12.2 beta 5 (16C60b) Now Available
| Read more »watchOS 3.1.1 beta 5 (14S883) Now Available
| Read more »
