Apple last week released beta versions of upcoming iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 updates to developers and public beta testers, and among a number of new features, Apple has added the ability to set a default music streaming service when using Siri to play songs.
First spotted by Reddit users, the first time you ask Siri to play a song in iOS 14.5, you are given the option to choose from a list of installed third-party music streaming apps in addition to Apple Music.
After an app is selected, Siri defaults to the service thereafter whenever it is asked to play a song. So for example, if Spotify is selected and you say "Hey Siri, play Moonlight Drive by The Doors," you no longer have to specify "...on Spotify" to prevent it from trying to play the track in Apple Music.
As noted by The 8-Bit, Siri will also set a music streaming service as the default if you ask it to play from that particular app for the first time.
According to users who have played with the feature, it only works with specific phrases at the moment, and sometimes revert back to Apple Music, so it sounds like there's still some work to do on Apple's end before it's fully consistent.
Apple is offering up to a five-month free trial of Apple Music to new users of the streaming service, in a unique partnership with country music singer Dolly Parton.
Like previous Apple Music promotions, the offer is linked to Apple-owned Shazam, but this time with a difference. Viewers of yesterday's Super Bowl were invited to use Shazam to identify a Parton song played in a commercial to unlock the offer.
The song "5 to 9," a new spin on her hit classic "9 to 5," was played as part of a Super Bowl commercial for Squarespace. Parton posted details of the promotion on her Twitter account.
Users who missed the opportunity to Shazam the commercial can still take advantage of the free trial by following the link included in Parton's tweet.
The offer is valid in Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Poland, South Korea, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Canada, and the United States.
Apple usually offers up to a three-month free trial of Apple Music to users who haven't subscribed to the service before, so this latest promotion represents one of its better deals. According to Apple, the promotional codes for this offer expire on March 31, 2021.
If after activating the deal you're not convinced, you can cancel your Apple Music subscription without losing your access to the service for the duration of the trial.
Following weeks of rampant Apple Car rumors, Hyundai and its subsidiary Kia today said they are not (or at least no longer) in discussions with Apple to co-operate on development of a self-driving electric vehicle, according to Bloomberg.
Hyundai last month confirmed that Apple was in discussions with a variety of global automakers, including Hyundai. However, the automaker walked back the statement just hours later, and merely said that it had "received requests for potential cooperation from various companies regarding development of autonomous EVs."
Bloomberg on Friday reported that talks between Apple and Hyundai had "paused recently," adding that Hyundai's original statement and the subsequent reports "upset Apple," a company known for its culture of secrecy.
Last week, Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo reported that Apple was planning to invest the equivalent of $3.6 billion in Kia as part of a planned manufacturing partnership between the two companies that would have seen Kia build the Apple Car at its assembly plant in Georgia. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that the Apple Car would be based on Hyundai's E-GMP electric vehicle platform, which would have allowed for a range of over 300 miles, acceleration from 0-60 miles per hour in as little as 3.5 seconds, a top speed of 160 miles per hour, up to an 80% charge within 18 minutes, and more.
Nikkei Asia reported that Apple is in discussions with at least six Japanese automakers over potential supply and manufacturing partnerships, so it sounds like Apple is still in the early stage of negotiations with automakers around the world.
In any case, it's believed that the Apple Car is still years away from being released, with predictions ranging from 2024 all the way to 2028.
Apple's warning to keep the iPhone 12 away from cardiac devices due to electromagnetic interference was further underlined by U.S. cardiologists this week in a new report (via NBC25 News).
Apple's iPhone 12 series includes an array of magnets that help align the phone on Apple's MagSafe charging accessory to maximize charging, and Apple already advises users with implanted pacemakers and defibrillators to keep iPhone and MagSafe accessories a safe distance away from such devices.
To test the extent of the risk, Henry Ford Heart and Vascular Institute cardiologist Gurjit Singh and his colleagues recently carried out further testing to see just how much of an influence the Apple products have.
According to Dr. Singh, more than 300,000 people in the U.S. undergo surgery to implant one of these devices each year, and around one in four smartphones sold last year was an iPhone 12. The cardiac devices have switches that respond to an external magnet to change how the device functions, which allows them to be controlled without the requirement of surgery.
Curious about potential interference with electrical devices, Dr. Singh and his colleagues took an iPhone 12 Pro and passed it over the chest of a patient with an implantable defibrillator.
"When we brought the iPhone close to the patient's chest the defibrillator was deactivated," said Dr. Singh. "We saw on the external defibrillator programmer that the functions of the device were suspended and remained suspended. When we took the phone away from the patient's chest, the defibrillator immediately returned to its normal function."
"We were all stunned," he said. "We had assumed that the magnet would be too weak in a phone to trip the defibrillator’s magnetic switch."
The findings are significant, since Dr. Singh is an expert in the use of devices such as implantable defibrillators that detect an irregular heartbeat and shock the heart back into a normal rhythm, and pacemakers that use electricity to keep the heart beating. Following the discovery, Dr. Singh and his colleagues immediately submitted a report of their findings to the HeartRhythm medical journal that was published on January 4, 2021.
"We believe our findings have profound implications on a large scale for the people who live daily with these devices, who without thinking, will place their phone in their shirt pocket or upper pocket or their coat – not knowing that it can cause their defibrillator or pacemaker to function in a way that could potentially be lethal."
The comments underline medical evidence published in January which cautioned that iPhone 12 models and related MagSafe devices can "potentially inhibit lifesaving therapy in a patient" due to magnetic interference with implanted medical devices. Apple provides more information about this issue in the "Important safety information for iPhone" section of the iPhone User Guide.
Nearly three months after the launch of Apple's rave-reviewed M1 Macs, Intel has fired back, but there are some asterisks involved.
In a slideshow shared by PCWorld this week, Intel highlighted what PCWorld described as "carefully crafted" benchmarks in an attempt to prove that laptops with the latest 11th Generation Core processors are superior to those with Apple's custom-designed M1 chip.
For example, Intel said that exporting a PowerPoint presentation as a PDF file is up to 2.3x faster on a Windows laptop equipped with an 11th Generation Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM compared to completing the same task on a 13-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 chip and 16GB of RAM, with Intel noting that PowerPoint ran natively on both systems.
Intel also indicated that Topaz Labs' AI-based photo enlargement software Gigapixel AI performed up to 6x faster on the Core i7 system compared to the M1 MacBook Pro. In this case, PCWorld said "the results are pretty real," noting that Topaz Labs' apps are designed to take advantage of the hardware acceleration inside of Intel's processors.
As for gaming performance, the results were mixed, with Intel emphasizing the well-established opinion that Macs are not ideal for gaming and lack support for "countless" games like Gear Tactics, Hitman 2, and others.
Intel also conducted a "real world battery life test" and found that both the M1 MacBook Air and the Acer Swift 5 with an 11th Generation Core i7 processor achieved virtually identical 10-hour battery life when streaming Netflix with additional tabs open. Intel said both notebooks were set to 250 nits display brightness, with the MacBook Air running Safari and the Acer Swift 5 running Chrome for the test.
It's worth noting that Intel switched from the MacBook Pro for the performance benchmarks to the MacBook Air for the battery life test, and Intel used a different Core i7 processor SKU for each of these tests as well.
Apple's website advertises the M1 MacBook Air as having up to 18 hours of battery life when continuously playing back 1080p content in the Apple TV app with display brightness set to 50%, and up to 15 hours of battery life when browsing 25 popular websites in Safari over Wi-Fi with display brightness set to 50%.
Intel added that its processors are about not only performance, but also choice, as they power all sorts of devices from traditional notebooks to tablets with features like touchscreens and support for multiple external displays. Officially, the M1-based MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro only support one external display, but some users discovered that this limitation can be bypassed with DisplayLink adapters as an unofficial solution.
"M1-Unfriendly Benchmarks"
Apple columnist Jason Snell referred to Intel's benchmarks as "M1-unfriendly" in commentary shared on his website Six Colors.
"Inconsistent test platforms, shifting arguments, omitted data, and the not-so-faint whiff of desperation," wrote Snell. "Today's M1 processor is a low-end chip for low-end systems, so Intel only has a small window to compare itself favorably to these systems before higher-end Apple silicon Macs ship and make its job that much harder."
Tom's Hardware's Andrew Freedman also cautioned that all vendor-provided benchmarks should be taken with a grain of salt.
Apple says the M1 chip provides industry-leading performance per watt, with the latest MacBook Air outperforming a maxed-out Intel-based 16-inch MacBook Pro in Geekbench benchmarks. Rumors suggest Apple will launch new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, a redesigned iMac, and more with next-generation Apple silicon later this year.
It was a big week for software this week, with Apple kicking off a new round of betas for its operating systems with plenty of tweaks and changes in iOS 14.5 and related updates. We also saw the public release of macOS 11.2, which trailed last week's release of iOS 14.4.
In other news, we got some significant new rumors about Apple's VR headset project and the Apple Car, while over on our YouTube channel we put the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra head-to-head in a blind camera test. Read on for details on these stories and more below!
iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 Betas Released With Many New Features
Starting with iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5, Apple is also enforcing its App Tracking Transparency privacy measure, requiring app developers to get consent from users to track their activity across other apps and websites for targeted advertising purposes.
Apple later pushed out a revised version of the first iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 betas with minor fixes.
macOS Big Sur 11.2 Released With Bug Fixes for Bluetooth, External Displays, iCloud Drive, and More
This week saw the public release of macOS 11.2, which improves Bluetooth reliability and addresses several bugs, including an issue where external displays might show a black screen when connected to an M1-based Mac mini using an HDMI to DVI converter.
The release of macOS 11.2 was quickly followed by the first beta of macOS 11.3, which introduces more customization options in Safari, adds improved sorting options in the Reminders app, enhances the Support tab for warranty coverage in the About This Mac menu, allows stereo-paired HomePods to be set as the default sound output for a Mac, and more.
The idea is to look at the images and decide which aesthetic you prefer — "A" or "B" — before we unveil which camera is which at the end of the video. Share your choices in the comments section.
Apple's Mixed Reality Headset Said to Feature 8K Displays, $3,000 Price Tag, and More
Apple is widely rumored to be working on a virtual reality headset, and a report this week from The Information's Alex Heath and Wayne Ma outlined several potential features and other details.
The report claimed that the headset will be equipped with more than a dozen cameras for tracking hand movements, along with two ultra-high-resolution 8K displays and advanced eye-tracking technology. The cameras would be able to pass video of the real world through the visor and display it to the user, providing a "mixed-reality effect" that is a step beyond virtual reality.
The report also claimed that the headset will have interchangeable headbands, with one featuring spatial audio technology like the AirPods Pro for a surround sound-like experience, and another providing additional battery life on the go. Similar to AirPods Max replacement ear cushions, it is possible that the headbands will be offered in a variety of colors as well.
Apple has internally discussed pricing the headset around $3,000, according to the report. This price would certainly make Apple's headset a high-end, niche product, with the company apparently setting an internal goal of shipping only 250,000 units of the headset in the first year of its release. Multiple reports have said the headset will be released in 2022 at the earliest.
Apple Reportedly Plans to Invest $3.6 Billion in Kia for Apple Car Production
There continues to be a lot of rumors surrounding the so-called Apple Car, with a partnership between Apple and Korean automaker Hyundai looking increasingly likely based on a pair of reports this week.
The first report came from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who said that Apple's electric vehicle chassis will be based on Hyundai's E-GMP battery electric vehicle (BEV) platform, which could allow for a range of over 300 miles, acceleration from 0-60 miles per hour in as little as 3.5 seconds, a top speed of 160 miles per hour, up to an 80% charge within 18 minutes, and more.
It's believed that the Apple Car is still years away from being released, with projections ranging from 2024 all the way to 2028.
MacRumors Newsletter
Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.
Prior to the release of the M1 Macs, Apple offered developers a $500 Developer Transition Kit (DTK) that included a Mac mini equipped with an A12Z Bionic chip first used in the iPad Pro, 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, and an HDMI 2.0 port.
The DTKs were available on a temporary basis, and earlier this week, Apple said that it would soon begin asking developers to return the Mac minis in exchange for a $200 credit.
Since developers shelled out $500, many were unhappy with the credit amount, which also required the funds to be used by the end of May. Many developers complained about Apple's credit amount and the time limit on spending, as the end of May would not allow the credit to be used toward a product released later in 2021.
Apple has now reversed course and upped the credit, and will now be providing developers with $500 to put toward an M1 Mac or any other Apple product. The time limit to spend the credit has also been increased, with Apple giving developers until the end of the year to use it.
We heard your feedback regarding the 200 USD appreciation credit mentioned in our last email. Our intention was to recognize the tremendous effort that you have put into creating amazing universal apps. By partnering with us early, you showed your commitment to our platform and a willingness to be trailblazers.
So instead of the 200 USD credit that expires in May, we are giving you a 500 USD Apple credit and extending the time you can use it to get a new M1 Mac through the end of the year. If you already purchased a new M1 Mac, the Apple credit gives you the flexibility to purchase any Apple product to help with your app development work.
We'll share details soon about how to ship the Developer Transition Kit (DTK) back to Apple. Note that the DTK will no longer receive publicly available software updates after macOS Big Sur 11.2. We encourage you to return it as soon as possible so that your development work is not interrupted. And once you return the DTK, you'll receive your Apple credit.
Apple first sent out Developer Transition Kits at the end of June, so developers were able to use them for seven months. Developers were meant to have a year with the DTK for app development purposes, but other benefits that include a private discussion forum and technical support will continue to be available for the full 12 month period.
As noted in Apple's emails to developers, the $500 credit can be used toward any Apple product, including M1 Macs or other devices.
Multiple rumors over the course of the last week have suggested that Apple has been discussing Apple car manufacturing with Hyundai and Hyundai affiliate Kia, but those talks have paused recently, reports Bloomberg.
Apple has also been discussing its Apple Car plans with other automobile manufacturers, so despite rumors suggesting Apple is considering a deal with Hyundai/Kia, Apple could establish an agreement with another company. Nikkeiearlier today said that Apple was speaking with at least six Japanese automakers over supply partnerships and manufacturing contributions.
Earlier this week, CNBC said that Apple was close to finalizing a deal with Kia. Apple's talks with Hyundai have been known since early January when Hyundai confirmed that it had held discussions with Apple.
"We understand that Apple is in discussion with a variety of global automakers, including Hyundai Motor. As the discussion is at its early stage, nothing has been decided," the company said. Just hours later, Hyundai walked back the statement and eliminated the reference to Apple.
Hyundai's announcement and other detailed rumors about Apple's negotiations with the automaker have upset Apple. According to Bloomberg, it is not clear if and when discussions between Apple and Hyundai might resume, but there are a limited number of automakers that would be capable of manufacturing vehicles for Apple.
If talks do resume, it is likely that Apple will end up partnering with Kia to manufacture the Apple Car at Kia's U.S. factory located in Georgia.
Apple has some time to sort out its manufacturing and production plans as Bloomberg in an earlier report said that it will be five to seven years before the Apple Car is ready to launch.
South Korean a cappella group MayTree today shared a video where they vocally recreate many of the most popular ringtones and sounds available on the iPhone.
The video highlights default ringtones like Opening (which is the default sound when a someone calls an iPhone), Silk, and Uplift, plus it covers sounds like the battery charging, a message being received, and the screen locking.
Classic ringtones like the jarring "Alarm" tone, Xylophone, Timba, Strum, and Marimba are also included. As The Verge points out, the group also previously covered well-known Windows sounds.
All of the sounds in both the Windows and iPhone videos are spot on, and are well worth checking out. The Windows video is 30 seconds, while the iPhone version is just over a minute long.
Our ultimate Apple Watch accessory giveaway is celebrating the launch of Ampere's new Legend Band for the Apple Watch. Priced at $70, the Legend Band is a slim, attractive black leather strap that has a bright blue interior accent and highlight stitching in black or colorful teal and pink variants.
Made from German leather, the Legend Band has been specially treated to make it water and sweat resistant so it can be comfortably worn all day long and for any activity. The leather will age over time and take on a unique patina that will be different for each wearer.
The Legend Band has a traditional buckle closure and the design matches any of the available Apple Watch colors. It is available in 42 or 44mm size options, so it will fit Apple's larger Apple Watches. It is compatible with all Apple Watch models, from the Series 1 to the Series 6 and SE.
Along with the Legend Band, the accessory bundle also includes the Unravel Apple Watch+ charger, which is a wireless charging station designed for Apple devices. It features two 10W wireless charging coils for Apple's iPhones and AirPods, along with a built-in Apple Watch charging puck for the Apple Watch.
The Unravel AW+ has a neat hinge design that lets it fold over itself so it's portable and ideal for travel. It's compatible with your MacBook charger, which is able to provide enough power for charging four Apple devices at once.
Ampere is also including the MFI Apple Watch Charging Dongle and Charging Stand, plus an 18W USB-C Car Charging Adapter.
The Charging Dongle and Stand is a handy little portable charger that can plug into a MacBook or any other USB-C power adapter, and when paired with the aforementioned Car Charging Adapter, it can be used in the car for a quick power boost.
We have five ultimate Apple Watch accessory bundles to give away to MacRumors readers. To enter to win our giveaway, use the Gleam.io widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, following us on Instagram, or visiting the MacRumorsFacebook page.
Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.
The contest will run from today (February 5) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on February 12. The winners will be chosen randomly on February 12 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.
For those interested in Ampere's products, we have a promo code that can be used to get a 40 percent discount on the Legend Band. Just use promo code AmpereLovesMacRumors to get the deal, which will last through February 14 at midnight.
Ampere is also running a buy-one-get-one sale on the Unravel and HyperCube from now until Valentine's Day with the promo code ShareYourLove.
Popular macOS package management system Homebrew today received a major update, with the 3.0.0 version introducing official support for Apple silicon chips.
Apple Silicon is now officially supported for installations in /opt/homebrew. formulae.brew.sh formula pages indicate for which platforms bottles (binary packages) are provided and therefore whether they are supported by Homebrew. Homebrew doesn't (yet) provide bottles for all packages on Apple Silicon that we do on Intel x86_64 but we welcome your help in doing so. Rosetta 2 on Apple Silicon still provides support for Intel x86_64 in /usr/local.
Homebrew, for those unfamiliar with the software, is a package manager like the Mac App Store. It's designed to let users quickly and easily install, uninstall, and update apps using Terminal.
Prior to now, Homebrew was able to run on M1 Macs through Rosetta 2, but now it works on the new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini natively. Homebrew doesn't yet support bottles for all packages on Apple silicon that are available on x86_64, but improvements will be made in the future.
According to Homebrew developer Mike McQuaid, the 3.0.0 development was helped along by MacStadium and Apple, with Apple providing hardware and migration help.
Designers Hank Beyer and Alex Sizemore have created a series of Macs encased in locally-sourced materials, including honeycomb, coal, and ice, to "question the implications of globalization" and "consider how unconventional materials can change product relationships" (via Fast Company).
The design project is titled "For the Rest of Us," which is a play on Apple's marketing tagline for the original Macintosh: "Introducing Macintosh, the computer for the rest of us."
Photographed with similar backdrops and framing as the original Macintosh ads, Beyer and Sizemore's Macs, which are effectively non-functional sculptures, seek to challenge Apple's industrial design aesthetics by reimagining them with thought-provoking materials.
Beyer and Sizemore chose a wide range of locally-sourced materials from the American midwest, including coal, ice, peat, lard, honeycomb, sandstone, and clay, for the series of designs. The machine made of limestone is almost practical, and intends to render the color of Apple's "Snow White" original Macintosh design in a natural material.
Others, such as the dirt, ice, or honeycomb-encased Macs, are much more extraordinary and surrealist.
The entire project began several years ago, and aims to present "an alternate reality." Yet the series of designs are also "future-forward," as companies seek out more sustainable manufacturing processes and materials.
We don't want people to view our project and feel resentment toward globalization, to feel that we want to replace industry or to consider new materials only for commercial merit. We want people to question the implications of globalization, and consider how unconventional materials can change product relationships.
After displaying the project in International Festival of Design at the Villa Noailles in Hyères, France, Beyer and Sizemore have now released a "For the Rest of Us" hand-bound linen hardcover book, investigating the "processes, people, history, politics, and values of each regional material source," and how different materials could be used to create a desktop computer.
We're just over one week away from Valentine's Day, which falls on Sunday, February 14 this year. Similar to years past, many third-party Apple resellers and accessory companies have opened up notable discounts on Apple products and accessories to coincide with the holiday.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Additionally, there are a few solid discounts on Apple products like the new MacBook Pro, AirPods, and iPad Air. In this article you'll find deals on Apple devices collected first, followed by special Valentine's Day sales from companies like Twelve South, Pad & Quill, ZAGG, and more.
AirPods
One of the best AirPods deals of 2021 continues this week, with Apple's AirPods with Wired Charging Case at $119.99 on Amazon, down from $159.00. We've seen these slightly lower in the past, but given that the best deals were over the holidays, this is a next-best price that's still a solid entry point for the lower-end AirPods.
You can also get the AirPods Pro for $199.99 on Amazon, down from $249.00. Woot typically has these down to $189.99 in its sales, but those aren't as consistent as Amazon's $199.99 price tag, so this is another solid offer on the noise-canceling AirPods Pro.
We track sales for every model of the AirPods in our Best AirPods Deals guide, so be sure to bookmark that page while you shop around for the wireless headphones.
iPad Air
The 64GB Wi-Fi iPad Air is at its lowest price ever this week on Amazon, priced at $549.00 in Sky Blue, down from $599.00. Most of the other colors are priced at $559.00, which is typically the sale price we see on this version of the iPad Air.
In another new lowest price, the 64GB Cellular iPad Air is on sale for $679.00 in Space Gray, down from $729.00. For more storage, you can get the 256GB Wi-Fi iPad Air for $699.00, down from $749.00 in Space Gray, Rose Gold, Green, and Sky Blue.
M1 MacBook Pro
Lastly in terms of Apple products, the M1 MacBook is on sale in a few configurations. The 256GB model is priced at $1,199.00 on B&H Photo, down from $1,299.00, and this is the best price that we've tracked among the major Apple resellers online. Amazon is matching as well.
The 512GB model is on sale for $1,399.00 on Amazon, down from $1,499.00, and it's similarly being matched at B&H Photo. You can find even more discounts on other MacBooks by visiting our Best Deals guide for MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.
Adorama
Adorama is discounting a wide array of tech gifts in February. You can get $20 off a Fitbit Charge 4, $50 off the Sony True Wireless Noise-Canceling Earphones, $30 off the Kodak 10-inch Digital Photo Frame, and more.
Belkin is hosting a buy one, get one 30 percent off for Valentine's Day this year. You'll just have to head to the landing page for the sale, select two products, and use the code LOVE to see 30 percent taken off.
The sale includes items like SCREENFORCE Tempered Glass Screen Protectors ($24.99 - $44.99), a SCREENFORCE True Privacy Screen Protector for MacBook ($59.99), and a collection of portable chargers ($24.99 - $69.99).
Brydge
At Brydge, you can save on quite a few of the company's iPad keyboards. Brydge's iPad keyboards support a variety of different viewing angles, adjustable backlit keys, and a premium aluminum body construction.
Pad & Quill is offering up to 25 percent off sitewide for Valentine's Day in 2021. The retailer has a wide selection of leather accessories for Apple products like the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook.
You can also shop for laptop bags, wallets, desk pads, journals, and Pad & Quill also sells a leather HomePod Coaster.
Twelve South
Twelve South has a large Valentine's Day sale this year, with discounts on MacBook cases, iPad cases, wireless chargers, and more.
Tile is taking up to 20 percent off all Tile 2-packs this week. You can get a Pro 2-pack for $49.99 (previously $69.99) or a Tile Mate 2-pack for $37.99 (previously $47.99)
A few limited edition Tile products are also on sale. These Tiles include a multitude of designs, and most include 2-pack options with different Tile products. There's a Nightbloom Performance Pack with one Tile Pro and one Tile Slim for $49.99 (previously $69.99), as well as an Onyx and Pearl Jazz Tile Pro 2-pack for $58.99 (previously $73.99).
Lastly, the company is offering a few bundles that pair Tile trackers with one year of Tile Premium. Prices start at $53 (previously $90) for the Performance Pack of one Tile Pro and one Tile Slim with Tile Premium, and rise to $125 (previously $170) for four Tile Pros and Tile Premium. These offers are only available for new Tile Premium customers.
Miscellaneous
Nomad - Get 20 percent off the 1.5M USB-C to Lightning cable (originally $39.95) with code 20MACRUMORS
On the Apple homepage, individual sections for the iPhone 12, iPad Air, HomePod mini, and Apple TV 4K now feature small Snoopy characters and animations to promote the show's launch.
Starring the world's most famous Beagle, and his best bud, Woodstock. He's a dog like no other — whether he's flying high in the sky, or searching for treasure at the bottom of the sea, he's always up to something fun. So gather your gang, and get ready to follow along with The Snoopy Show, only on Apple TV+.
The Snoopy Show marks Apple's second series made in partnership with WildBrain (formerly DHX Media) and its subsidiary, Peanuts Worldwide. In 2019, Apple debuted faux documentary "Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10," and "Snoopy in Space," following Snoopy and the Peanuts gang as Snoopy pursues his dream of being an astronaut.
Apple won an Emmy for Outstanding Children's or Family Viewing Program for Peanuts in Space, and it has committed to producing a range of new "Peanuts" content in the future.
Moreover, puzzle game Lumen comes to Apple Arcade today. Lumen comes from developer Lykke Studios, which also brought the color-mixing puzzle game "Tint" to Apple Arcade last year. Lumen encourages players to use light sources, lenses, and mirrors to solve puzzles.
lumen. is a puzzle game with unique mechanics, where you have to solve levels by using lights, mirrors, and lenses.
You will find yourself in the old attic of Olivia McLumen and discover her mysterious vintage lumen box. Olivia McLumen lived in Scotland over 100 years ago and was a great inventor of her time. Solve puzzles to recreate the stories of her inventions!
With carefully considered visual feedback, animations, and music, Lumen creates a distinctive atmosphere and challenges players to solve hundreds of unique puzzles.
Starting with the next versions of iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14 due to be released in the early spring, Apple's App Tracking Transparency privacy measure will require all apps to request the user's permission to track their activity across other apps and websites.
Granting permission would allow developers to access the random advertising identifier, known as the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), on the user's device for targeted advertising purposes or to measure how effective their campaigns were.
According to Snap, makers of Snapchat, any changes to iOS are "usually disruptive" and present an uncertain outcome, and the planned IDFA changes could present a "risk" to advertiser demand. However, the company added that it was unclear how that could affect business in the long-run.
A handful of ad networks and companies have criticized Apple's decision, including Facebook, which ran full-page newspaper ads and launched a website claiming that Apple's tracking change will hurt small businesses financially.
But during an earnings call with analysts, Snap Chief Business Officer Jeremi Gorman reportedly struck a different tone, saying that Snap shares Apple's philosophy on protecting users' privacy.
"We admire Apple and believe they are trying to do the right thing for customers," Gorman said, adding Snap is well prepared to guide advertisers through the iOS changes.
During the earnings call, Snap revealed that user growth and revenue beat analysts' fourth-quarter estimates. SnapChat made the biggest gains outside the U.S. and Europe, with 55% growth in daily active users. Revenue generated mainly from ad sales grew 62% to $911 million, easily surpassing Wall Street's consensus estimate of $857.4 million, reports Reuters.
Xiaomi has announced a new concept phone featuring a display that curves around all four sides of the device, with no room for ports or buttons.
The "quad-curved waterfall display" refers to the phone having 88-degree "waterfall" curves not only on the left and right sides of the device, but also on the top and bottom of the handset. As the press release describes it:
The 88° hyper quad-curved screen design allows visual interfaces to flow over the phone's surface like water. Almost the entire frame of the smartphone is covered by screen, while its body carries no ports or buttons, bringing forward the futuristic unibody no-port design.
The sum total effect looks to include display-based touch controls on the sides and scrolling content that when viewed at eye level appears to sort of dribble down beyond the bottom of the screen. Based on the promotional material, the corners of the device don't exhibit the "waterfall" effect, and instead have rounded cutouts that lack any display features.
Xiaomi says the concept aims to "extend the limits of the display to infinity" and realize "a true, port-free unibody design." This feat is said to be a result of "countless breakthroughs in glass bending and laminating technology" and "an innovative screen stacking design adopted through our breakthrough 3D bonding process."
Thanks to 46 self-developed patented technologies, physical ports and buttons can have their functions replicated by more elegant alternatives. Groundbreaking technologies and engineering solutions – including ultra-thin piezoelectric ceramics, an industry-first flexible film display acoustic technology, third-generation under-display cameras, wireless charging, eSIM chips, pressure-sensitive touch sensors, and more – are seamlessly integrated together, forming a visionary yet intuitive device.
It's worth mentioning that while this is being called a concept phone, Xiaomi has told The Verge that the device does actually exist and indeed, reassuringly, they've "used it themselves."
Xiaomi's recent decision to ship upcoming smartphones without a charger and its newly announced "Mi Air Charge" remote wireless technology would seem to make more sense given the lack of ports on this device.
That said, who knows whether it will ever make it to market. Xiaomi's 2019 Mi Mix Alpha phone had a display that wrapped around almost the whole of the device, and that hasn't become commercially available either.
Google has announced that it intends to unify its Google Drive solutions for keeping files in sync on users' desktops.
Currently there are two desktop sync solutions for using Google Drive – Drive File Stream, which is for business users, and Backup and Sync, which is designed for personal use.
Later this year, these two clients will become one: Google Drive for desktop. Google explains that for Drive File Stream users, this is just a name change, and all functionality will remain the same.
For Backup and Sync users, they will essentially be using Drive File Stream in all but name, except with the features they're used to incorporated into the one client.
The reason for the change is that some Google Workspace customers have deployed both sync solutions, which can be confusing for end users and challenging for IT departments to manage.
As of version 45, Drive File Stream is known as Google Drive for desktop, and the company will give three months' notice for Google Workspace admins and end users before the deadline to transition to Drive for desktop.
Google Workspace customers with end users who are currently using Backup and Sync can apply for a beta of the new unified Drive for desktop experience, which includes Backup and Sync features.
Google says it will announce when Drive for desktop is officially ready for all Backup and Sync users, and will also share more details later this year on how Backup and Sync users can get started with the new client.
Google has released Chrome version 88.0.4324.150 with an important fix for a zero-day vulnerability in the web browser that the company says is likely to have been exploited in the wild.
Google hasn't provided specific details about the heap buffer overflow memory corruption bug known as CVE-2021-21148, and says it won't do so "until a majority of users are updated with a fix."
However, ZDNet notes that the date on which Google says the bug was reported, January 24, is just two days after Google's Threat Analysis Group reported a hacking campaign carried out by North Korean hackers against the cyber-security community.
Some of the attacks involved luring security researchers to a blog where the attackers exploited browser zero-days to run malware on the researchers' systems. On January 28, Microsoft also reported that attackers most likely used a Chrome zero-day for their attacks.
The proximity of the two events has led security researchers to suspect that it was indeed the CVE-2021-21148 zero-day that was used in the attacks. As a result, all users are being advised to use the Chrome menu bar's About Google Chrome option to upgrade their browser to the latest version as soon as possible.
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With Apple's 
Google has released Chrome version 88.0.4324.150 with an important fix for a zero-day vulnerability in the web browser that the company 
