MacRumors

Austrian non-profit organization NOYB, the "European Center for Digital Rights," has reportedly filed a complaint against Apple and seven other tech companies for allegedly failing to comply with GDPR in the European Union.

NOYB said it tested each company's compliance with GDPR by requesting private data held about 10 users and found that "no service fully complied."

"Many services set up automated systems to respond to access requests, but they often don't even remotely provide the data that every user has a right to," said NOYB founder Max Schrems. "This leads to structural violations of users' rights, as these systems are built to withhold the relevant information."

Other companies named in the complaint include Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, YouTube, and three more, according to Reuters.

GDPR was implemented in May 2018 and gives European Union residents the right to access any personal data a company has stored on them. The regulation led Apple to launch a Data and Privacy portal that allows its customers to download a copy of any data associated with their Apple ID account that Apple maintains.

Google and watchmaker Fossil Group today jointly announced a $40 million deal that will see the search giant take ownership of a portion of Fossil's smartwatch technology.

The deal, which is being described as "transactional" and will see some of Fossil's R&D division join Google, will lead to the launch of a "new product innovation that's not yet hit the market," said Fossil VP and chief strategy officer Greg McKelvey.

Speaking to Wearable, McKelvey said the new product is based on technology that Fossil has been developing out of its $260 million Misfit acquisition in 2015. "It's new to the market technology and we think it's a product that has features and benefits that aren't in the category today," he added.

Google confirmed that the new product line will join the Wear OS family, although neither company revealed when the products that eventually emerge out of the partnership would be launched.

The deal is naturally fueling speculation that Google is planning an own-branded direct competitor to Apple Watch. Tentatively billed the "Pixel Watch" by market watchers, the new line is said to be made up of three models, codenamed Ling, Triton, and Sardine, although the details end there.

Google is known to be working on new fitness and health tracking features for its Wear OS, which could theoretically make their debut in the rumored watch, while Fossil recently diverged from its step-counting wristwatch range by announcing a Wear OS-based dedicated Sport smartwatch with built-in GPS and heart-rate sensor, suggesting today's deal could result in a new fitness-focused device.

Earlier this month, Weibo user C Technology (via Wccftech) shared some alleged details about the upcoming successor to the iPhone XS Max, which may or may not be accurate.

The next ‌iPhone‌ XS Max has been pegged as the 2019 ‌iPhone‌ that will feature a triple-lens camera in 2019 by reliable sources, and the Weibo post offers additional details about the lenses. Apple will allegedly use a wide-angle lens, a super wide-angle lens, and a 3x telephoto lens. This would be similar to something like the Huawei P20 Pro, which also offers two wide-angle lenses and a telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom.

The second-generation ‌iPhone‌ XS Max is said to have a 4,000mAh battery, something that seems unlikely because the form factor of the device is not changing. Rumors have suggested Apple's 2019 iPhones will look quite similar to the 2018 lineup, with the exception of changes to the rear camera and perhaps some tweaks to front-facing TrueDepth camera system to make the notch smaller.

We've heard multiple rumors about a smaller notch, a detail also included in the Weibo post.

Other alleged features coming to the ‌iPhone‌ XS Max include 15W wireless fast charging, which would be an increase from the current 7.5W wireless charging speed, and a display with a 90 to 120Hz refresh rate.

Apple uses a 120Hz ProMotion display for the iPad Pro, allowing for a smoother, crisper, more responsive experience, so it's not out of the question.

C Technology has been known for sharing early ‌iPhone‌ information in the past, but the Weibo user aggregates leaks, rumors, and images from multiple sources, some accurate and some inaccurate. For that reason, and because some of this information sounds a bit unlikely, we're not confident about the veracity of these rumors.

We'll need to wait for secondary sources to back up this information before we can confirm its accuracy.

(Thanks, Tim!)

Update: The alleged 2019 ‌iPhone‌ details posted on Weibo appear to be fake and just a rehash of a mobile leaker's iPhone wishlist shared via Twitter on January 10.

Apple earlier this week announced that the HomePod would be available in China and Hong Kong on Friday, January 18, and as promised, the smart speaker is now available for purchase in both locations.

‌HomePod‌ is priced at 2,799 yuan in China and HK$2,799 in Hong Kong.

In addition to being available from the Apple online store and Apple retail stores, Apple Authorized resellers in China and Hong Kong are also offering the ‌HomePod‌ for sale.

Apple's Phil Schiller said that the company is excited to bring ‌HomePod‌ to China and Hong Kong in a statement made when the launch was announced.

We're excited to bring HomePod to our customers in mainland China and Hong Kong markets. We can't wait for them to experience how great it sounds in their home, we think they are going to love it.

Ahead of the launch of the ‌HomePod‌ in China and Hong Kong, Apple added Siri support for Cantonese and Mandarin in China and a Cantonese dialect in Hong Kong in a software update released in December.

‌HomePod‌ was first introduced in the United States, UK, and Australia almost a year ago, and has since expanded to Canada, France, Germany, Spain, and Mexico, in addition to China and Hong Kong.

The National Hockey League today announced the upcoming launch of a new app designed for the iPad that will provide coaches with more than 60 different real-time individual and team statistics on iPads that will be available on the bench during games.

The NHL is deploying a new set of iPad Pro models with the app, and the new ‌iPad‌ will complement the three iPads already on the bench that offer up real-time video. New iPads and the app will come out League-wide sometime after the All-Star break.

Designed in consultation with video coaches from various teams, the app was built to provide coaches with player usage (time on ice) and face-offs at the forefront because that information is "most valuable" to coaches during the game.

"There's a lot of information out there, but coaches are still writing it down on pieces of paper," NHL senior vice president, business development and innovation David Lehanski said. "They're not using it the way that they could use it because there really hasn't been a platform that will allow them to do it easily and efficiently and to quickly customize it to see what they want to see. We're also doing it because we're setting a foundation so that when puck and player tracking is fully live, now we've got the video, the stats and analytics app, and we can start pouring in the data to mesh with it so we have a true real time system."

Face-offs are broken down by success rate per zone and side of the ice, against specific players, with a color-coded visual graphic available for how well a player has done in his last five face-offs. There's also a customizable threshold available to let coaches input time on ice for each player.

Additional information like shot attempts, unblocked shot attempts, chances for and against, and success rate on shootouts with forehanded and backhanded shots will be included.

The new app will be limited to coaches only, with one ‌iPad Pro‌ available on the bench at every game for every video coach in the NHL. The NHL will manage and store the ‌iPad‌ Pros, but each team will be provided with its own account. The NHL won't be able to access the customization of the stats by each team.

Coaches will be provided with online training courses and a manual handbook on how to use the app most effectively during games.

Belkin is known for a range of accessories for the iPhone, and when Apple introduced support for Qi-based wireless chargers, Belkin was quick to come out with a range of options.

The Boost Up Wireless Charging Dock, which debuted in September, is the newest and most versatile offering, combining a Qi wireless charger with an Apple Watch charging puck and an extra USB-A port.

Design wise, the Boost Up Wireless Charging Dock has an upright Qi wireless charger similar in design to Belkin's other Boost Up charging options, with a round charging surface that houses the wireless charging coil.

The ‌iPhone‌ is designed to sit upright against the back of the charger, with the base serving as a stand. Belkin has slightly angled the base, which makes it easier to see the ‌iPhone‌'s display while positioned on the dock. The base is covered in a grippy material that prevents the ‌iPhone‌ from shifting or moving while it charges.

You can't put your ‌iPhone‌ on the dock horizontally because of the Apple Watch charger, so it's limited to vertical charging. The Apple Watch charges on the dock in landscape orientation so it works with Nightstand mode as a clock replacement.

I read some reviews that suggested the Belkin charger was not compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ XS Max in certain cases that make the ‌iPhone‌ a bit taller, but I didn't have that experience. Both my ‌iPhone‌ X and my ‌iPhone‌ XS Max charged without issue in Apple cases, and Belkin says that it supports cases up to 3mm thick.

The base of the dock measures in at 7.4 inches wide, 4.1 inches long, and 4.8 inches tall, so it does take up a decent amount of space on a desk. Since it's combining two charging options, though, it could be a space saver depending on what charging device you currently use.

There's an LED at the side of the dock, which does glow noticeably in a dark room, but it's not so bright that it's distracting or keeps me from sleeping at night. I do wish it wasn't there, but Belkin says it provides foreign object detection to let you know if something's touching the Qi wireless charger that shouldn't be.

Belkin's Wireless Charging Dock supports 7.5W charging, so it can charge the ‌iPhone‌ 8 and later at 7.5W instead of 5W. 7.5W is fairly standard on Qi-based charging devices intended for Apple devices these days, so this comes as no surprise. 7.5W is the maximum wireless charging speed that iPhones support.

The Apple Watch charging puck charges the Apple Watch at 5W, which is standard Apple Watch charging, and the included USB-A port located at the back also charges at 5W. This is not ideal for higher-powered devices like an iPad, which kind of limits the versatility of the extra port.

You can charge your AirPods or another lower-powered device, but if you're trying to charge an ‌iPad‌ or iPad Pro, the charging is going to go slowly. I tested the charging dock on my nightstand, where I keep an iPad mini for reading. I charged my ‌iPad mini‌ with the dock, and it was fine for that purpose.

By the way, for using the extra USB-A port, you need to provide your own cable. The dock does, however, ship with its own power supply.

Bottom Line

I've been testing the Boost Up Wireless Charging Dock on my nightstand, and it's worked perfectly. It's a handy way to keep my ‌iPhone‌ XS Max, Apple Watch, and ‌iPad mini‌ charged, and when it comes to design and functionality, I have no complaints, with the exception of the 5W USB-A port

That's not enough power to sufficiently charge one of Apple's larger iPads, which limits the functionality of the additional port.

The Charging Dock works well overall, but the downside is the price tag. It sells for $160, which is expensive and much pricier than purchasing separate ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch chargers. It's nice to have these features combined into one device with a single cable to plug in, but the price is just too high for many people.

How to Buy

The Boost Up Special Edition Wireless Charging Dock for ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch can be purchased from the Belkin website for $159.99 or from Amazon for $140.

Note: Belkin provided MacRumors with a Boost Up Wireless Charging Dock for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

Popular third-party accessory company Aukey has debuted a new crop of discount codes this week, this time including two sales on useful wall charger accessories. Both of the deals seen below will expire on Monday, January 21, so be sure to check them out on Amazon and place your order before the end of the upcoming weekend.

Aukey USB Wall Charger with Four Ports

The first device is Aukey's USB Wall Charger that has four ports, perfect as a hub charging station for multiple devices like a pair of iPhones, an iPad, and an Apple Watch. It includes Aukey's AiPower charging technology to adaptively charge any 5V USB device from Apple and Android at up to 2.4 amps.

The USB Wall Charger is available for $15.99 with code AUKEYD48, down from $19.99.

Aukey Ultra Compact USB Wall Charger With Two Ports

Similar to the USB Wall Charger, Aukey also sells a smaller version with the Ultra Compact USB Wall Charger. This device has many of the same features as the larger accessory, in a smaller enclosure and with half of the available USB charging ports.

The Ultra Compact USB Wall Charger is available for $7.01 with code AUKEYD49, down from $12.99

Aukey has a few more coupon codes that expire on January 21, so be sure to head to our Deals Roundup to see the full list and browse even more sales happening this week.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Johnson & Johnson today announced that it has entered into a research study with Apple to investigate whether a new heart health program using a Johnson & Johnson app in combination with the Apple Watch's irregular rhythm notifications and ECG app can accelerate the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation.

The multi-year research program will be launched later in 2019 and aims to analyze the impact of the Apple Watch on the early detection and diagnosis of AFib, and its potential to improve outcomes, including the prevention of stroke.

Apple COO and Apple Watch head Jeff Williams:

Through Apple Watch people have been able to learn more about their heart health, including discovering they have AFib. This kind of information empowers customers to follow up with the right treatment or even better, implement healthy habits aimed at prevention. We're excited to work with Johnson & Johnson, a leader in the medical community, as we learn about the impact Apple Watch can have in delivering better health outcomes.

The program will be limited to the United States for individuals age 65 years or older.

Google's answer to the iPhone XR appears to be close to launch in the form of a more affordable version of its flagship Pixel 3 smartphone, if a new video leak is accurate.

Andro News apparently got hold of a pre-production unit of the upcoming mid-range phone, which is dubbed Pixel 3 "Lite". The device closely resembles Google's high-end Android phone from the front, but the big difference is its plastic rear, which is likely more durable than the metal and glass chassis on the Pixel 3.

The upcoming phone is said to use a 5.56-inch 2,220 x 1,080 LCD display instead of an OLED panel, along with a Snapdragon 670 processor, 32GB of storage, 4GB of RAM, and a long-life 2,915 mAh battery. Notably, the device also includes a headphone jack, something that was removed for the Pixel 3.

Perhaps the bigger news though is that the "Lite" model uses the same 12-megapixel camera and optically-stabilized lens as the Pixel 3, which has received high praise across the board for its photographic capabilities. (Regular MacRumors readers may recall our Google Pixel 3 XL vs. iPhone XS Max comparison found that the devices offer comparable camera quality overall, with only a few differences between shooting modes.)

Andro News claims the new phone takes "the same quality photos as the Pixel 3," although given that much of Google's image-processing is software based, it's impossible to say how the cheaper model's mid-range Snapdragon SoC will affect real-world camera performance.

There's been no word on the exact pricing for Google's upcoming Pixel phone, which is expected to come in two sizes, but considering the Pixel 3 starts at $799, there's a good chance the smaller model will undercut Apple's ‌iPhone‌ XR, which starts from $749.

In other differences described in the video leak, the "Lite" model has only one front-facing camera whereas the Pixel 3 has two, the additional autofocus sensor on the back is missing, and there's no additional front-facing speaker on the "Lite".

Google usually makes its big hardware announcements during Google I/O which is held in the spring, so we'll probably have to wait until then for more information unless the leaks keep coming.

If the screen of your iPhone or iPad is too bright for comfort, the usual solution is to go to Settings -> Display & Brightness and drag the Brightness slider to the left, or open Control Center and adjust the corresponding setting from there.

However, if the lowest setting offered by the Brightness level just isn't dim enough for you, there are a couple of ways to make your screen even darker. One method we've covered previously is to adjust white point using the Accessibility Shortcut. Another way is to enable a low light filter, which you can do by following the steps below.

1. Launch the Settings app on your iOS device.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap Accessibility.
   
   

4. Tap Zoom.
5. Tap Zoom Region.
   
   

6. Select Full Screen Zoom and return to the main Zoom menu.
7. Tap Zoom Filter.
8. Select Low Light and return to the main Zoom menu.
   
   

9. Now, turn on Zoom by toggling the switch at the top of the Zoom menu.
10. Double-tap the screen with three fingers to zoom out to fullscreen.

Your device's display brightness should now be extra dim. Note that you can disable the low light filter at any time: Simply triple-tap the screen with three fingers, tap Choose Filter from the overlay panel and then select None.