The New York Times ditches Apple News
Apple News is an interesting concept -- a news aggregation service that supplies a selection of human-curated articles to owners of Apple devices (such as iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Pro), for free. For a monthly fee, those same users can opt into Apple News+, which provides unlimited access to hundreds of publications, including newspapers and magazines.
While Apple News is obviously great for, well... Apple, it is also a big win for news readers, as they can discover interesting articles through the beautifully designed app. Unfortunately, Apple News isn't necessarily good for news publishers, as they lose the direct connection with readers. Nowadays, traditional newsrooms are struggling to compete with the internet, so providing their content to Apple for an online app doesn't really make sense.
Apple unveils macOS Big Sur with a new look, Control Center, privacy improvements, and more
In addition to revealing iOS 14, iPadOS 14 and watchOS 7, at WWDC 2020 Apple also gave us a look at the future of macOS -- Big Sur.
This is a significant upgrade to the operating system, significant enough for Apple to move away from calling it macOS X, and jumping up to macOS 11. There has been a significant redesign to the interface, icons and apps, bringing macOS much more in line with iPadOS and owners of an upcoming ARM-based Mac will be able to run iOS apps natively). But Big Sur is about more than just aesthetics.
Macs will use ARM-based Apple processors instead of Intel -- is Hackintosh dead?
Today at WWDC 2020, Apple confirmed the rumors -- the company is ditching Intel processors for future Mac computers. While there are technically still some future Intel-powered Macs in the pipeline, Apple intends to eventually switch to its own in-house chips exclusively. The company expects it will take two years for the transition to complete. The last time Mac made such a switch, it was PowerPC to Intel.
Obviously, these ARM-based chips will not be able to run current versions of macOS, so Apple has also announced the next version of the OS that will be compatible. Called "Big Sur," this upcoming version of macOS will also be able to run legacy third-party x86_64 programs through its Rosetta compatibility layer. All Apple programs will be designed for the ARM chips directly.
Apple reveals iOS 14 -- here's what's new
Apple's WWDC 2020 event was held virtually, open to everyone around the world to view for free. Among the many announcements to come from the event was iOS 14 -- and there's a lot to look forward to for iPhone owners.
What can you expect? Major improvements and changes are being introduced to the home screen and the way app pages work, and widgets are getting a serious overhaul. Siri sees a number of improvements, as does messaging. There's also an entire new type of apps called App Clips. Let's take a closer look.
How to watch Apple's virtual WWDC 2020 for free -- iOS 14 and new hardware expected
Later today, Apple will host its first virtual Worldwide Developers Conference. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, WWDC 2020 is an online-only event, and you can tune in to see all of the new announcements.
Things kick off at 10:00 AM PDT with a special event keynote speech from company CEO Tim Cook. As ever, we don't know for sure what will be revealed at the event, but we can expect to learn about iOS 14, WatchOS 7 and macOS 10.16, as well a new hardware including Arm-based Macs.
Apple has a new open source project to help improve password security
Apple has launched a new open source project designed to promote collaboration between the developers of password management software to help improve security for users.
The Password Manager Resources project has been created to make it easier for the developers of password managers to work together to ensure interoperability with websites, and to create a better experience for users. The aim is to integrate the strong password generating capabilities of the iCloud Keychain platform into password management apps.
Anker releases $100 24K gold USB-C to Lightning cable for fancy lads
Imagine being a fancy lad — a sophisticated man about town that draws attention and respect from everyone around you. Women want to be with you. Men want to be you. You have style, class, and a bank account that holds much money. Your car is foreign and your clothes are expensive. You of course use an iPhone, because that’s what high-class people own. Android is for peasants!
When you need to charge your iPhone, you don’t use the cable it came with, do you? Oh, of course not — that would be so pedestrian. If you are truly a fancy man, you will instead use Anker’s new 24K gold USB-C to Lightning cable. After all, it's probably what Queen Elizabeth II uses to top off her Apple devices. Best of all, it only costs a mere $100 — peanuts.
The secret life of discontinued apps
When a book goes out of print the publishers don't pop round and remove old copies from your shelves. Similarly, when an app is discontinued it can be taken off the app stores but continues to linger on users' devices.
Mobile security company Wandera has been taking a look at what happens to these with an analysis of six-months' worth of apps that were removed from the app stores, along with apps that were installed on customer devices prior to the six-month period and, subsequently, removed.
Apple releases macOS Catalina 10.15.5 with new battery extending feature
Apple has released macOS Catalina 10.15.5 which includes a new battery health management feature to help improve the battery life of MacBooks.
Much like the feature that has been available in iOS for a little while now, battery health management helps to improve longevity by reducing the peak capacity of a battery. In addition to this, the latest update to Catalina also improves the appearance of Pro Display XDR monitors, and fixes various problems including issues in FaceTime and Reminders.
Jailbreak your iPhone or iPad with Unc0ver 5.0
Jailbreaking your Apple device opens up a whole new world of life outside the walled garden. The iPhone-maker has long played a game of catchup with developers producing jailbreak tools, and now the renowned Unc0ver team have come up with a tool that can unlock just about every iPhone and iPad.
Unc0ver 5.0 goes far further than other jailbreaking tools. The team behind it says that it offers "full-fledged support for all devices on iOS 11.0-13.5 with Cydia and tweak injection".
Logitech Circle View HomeKit security camera is only for the Apple faithful
Apple’s HomeKit was supposed to simplify the smart home, putting the controls for all internet-connected devices in one place. The iPhone-maker’s solution largely delivered what it promised, but not all developers got onboard. And so, many homeowners found themselves unable to use HomeKit exclusively, as not all of their devices were compatible. Thankfully, Apple hasn’t yet given up on it.
Today, Logitech launches a new smart home security camera called “Circle View” that isn’t just compatible with Apple HomeKit — it is exclusive to it. In other words, if you aren’t an Apple hardware user, you shouldn’t even bother, as it requires the HomeKit Secure Video platform.
SteelSeries releases Nimbus+ wireless gaming controller for Apple devices
When the Apple TV 4 was first released, I was convinced it would revolutionize gaming. I even bought the SteelSeries Nimbus controller to play all these upcoming games on the device. My assumption was developers would bring all the top tier iPhone and iPad games to the Apple TV, plus more, making it a legitimate home console. Boy, was I wrong on that! Sadly, the state of gaming on Apple TV has largely stalled. With all of that said, the Nimbus controller I bought was (and still is) wonderful -- I particularly love the lightning port charging.
Today, SteelSeries launches the successor to that aforementioned controller. Called, "Nimbus+," it is compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and Apple TV. In addition to significant improvements over its predecessor (including better battery life), the plus variant also comes with a mount for connecting your iPhone directly to it -- for a handheld gaming experience. It is worth noting the Nimbus+ looks very much like a tweaked version of the existing Stratus Duo Android controller.
Apple's new 13-inch MacBook Pro comes with the much-improved Magic Keyboard
Apple today announces an updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with double the storage across all standard configurations, better performance, and the company’s Magic Keyboard.
The keyboard, which has been designed to deliver a superior typing experience, is currently available on the 16-inch Pro and MacBook Air, so it was only a matter of time before it arrived on the smaller model too.
macOS Image Capture bug can fill up hard drives with empty data
Coronavirus pandemic means Apple will probably delay the next iPhone release
It's only a matter of weeks since Apple revealed the 2020 iPhone SE, but many people are holding out for this year's flagship from the company -- the iPhone 12 range, some of which will be 5G devices.
But it seems like anyone waiting to get their hands on the handset will have to wait a little longer. The chaos caused by the spread of COVID-19 around the world is said to have forced Apple to delay the launch of the phone by a month.
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