Augmented reality walking directions in Google Maps got a step closer today with news that a beta version of the AR feature will be rolling out to users of the app over the next couple of weeks (via TechCrunch).
Google revealed AR walking directions earlier this year, when it launched an early alpha mode for Google Pixel owners and users of Google Maps Local Guides, but now it's making the feature available for all Google Maps users with ARKit-compatible devices (iPhone 6s and later, all models of iPad Pro, and 5th and 6th generation iPads).
The AR directions include large arrows and street markers overlaid on the real world. These can be viewed by tapping a nearby location on the map, tapping the Directions button, and then tapping Walking, which should make the "Live View" option appear near the bottom of the screen.
According to Google, the Live View feature isn't meant to be used with your iPhone held up in front of you as you walk – rather, its designed to provide a quick and simple way of orienting yourself if you enter unfamiliar territory.
Apple has activated a "dormant software lock" on its latest iPhones to discourage battery replacements that aren't undertaken by Apple, according to iFixit.
The teardown group has discovered that an iPhone XS, iPhone XR, or iPhone XS Max that has had its battery swapped by anyone other than Apple or an Apple authorized service provider will now display a message saying their battery needs servicing.
If you replace the battery in the newest iPhones, a message indicating you need to service your battery appears in Settings > Battery, next to Battery Health. The "Service" message is normally an indication that the battery is degraded and needs to be replaced. The message still shows up when you put in a brand new battery, however. Here's the bigger problem: our lab tests confirmed that even when you swap in a genuine Apple battery, the phone will still display the "Service" message.
[...]
Put simply, Apple is locking batteries to their iPhones at the factory, so whenever you replace the battery yourself—even if you're using a genuine Apple battery from another iPhone—it will still give you the “Service” message. The only way around this is—you guessed it—paying Apple money to replace your iPhone battery for you.
The message appears in both iOS 12 and iOS 13 beta, and prevents the user from accessing the Battery Health features. Instead they see an "Important Battery Message" which reads: "Unable to verify this iPhone has a genuine Apple battery. Health information not available for this battery."
iFixit notes that the message doesn't appear to affect the functionality of the battery, but makes it harder to know when a replacement battery installed by a third-party needs to be replaced.
YouTube channel The Art of Repair has discovered the source of the message to be a Texas Instruments microcontroller installed on the battery itself, which authenticates the battery as an Apple one and provides the iPhone with information about battery capacity and temperature.
Apple and other authorized service providers likely use Apple's own RepairCal diagnostics software to reset the "Service" status when it undertakes an iPhone battery replacement – an in-house procedure that's obviously not available to a third-party.
iFixit says the message appears designed to deter battery replacements using third-party repair kits, like the one sold by iFixit, and to discourage customers from getting a third-party repair shop to swap out their iPhone battery.
Apple would probably argue it is doing it out of safety concerns surrounding the replacement of swollen or damaged batteries. Nonetheless, it places further restrictions on the options available to iPhone users looking to get their battery replaced by anyone except Apple.
The practice harks back to a more damaging third-party iPhone repair controversy: Error 53, widely publicized in 2016, caused some iPhone 6 users who had the Home buttons on their iPhones fixed by a non-Apple technician using non-original parts to see their iPhones bricked following a software update.
When the error code first surfaced, Apple said that error 53 was a protective security feature meant to prevent "malicious" third-party components from potentially compromising a user's iPhone.
However, after public outcry, Apple released a software update restoring functionality to bricked iPhones. Following the software update to unbrick iPhones, Apple claimed that the error 53 issue was meant to be a factory test and never should have impacted consumer devices.
Update: According to an Apple service document obtained by MacRumors, Battery Health info is unavailable for any iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR that has a non-genuine battery and is running iOS 12.1 or later.
Apple is under investigation by Russia's anti-monopoly watchdog following a complaint from cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab that the company is abusing its dominant position in smartphone apps, Reuters reports this morning.
Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) says it is investigating why a new version of Kaspersky Lab's Safe Kids application has not been updated on the iOS App Store, resulting in "a significant loss in functionality for the app."
Back in March, Apple pulled Kaspersky Safe Kids app from the App Store, prompting Kaspersky to file an antitrust complaint against Apple with the FAS.
Safe Kids allowed parents to specify which apps kids can run based on the App Store's age restrictions and let them hide browsers on their device so that web pages could only be accessed in the Kaspersky Safe Kids app's built-in secure browser.
Apple said it removed the app because it didn't meet its App Store guidelines, but Kaspersky argued that the app had already been in the App Store for three years and was only pulled because Apple had just released iOS 12 with its own Screen Time feature, which offers similar parental control functions.
Kaspersky's dispute has parallels with an antitrust complaint brought against Apple by Spotify earlier this year.
Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the tech giant's App Store policy lets it act as "both a player and referee to deliberately disadvantage other app developers."
Apple responded by calling the complaint "misleading rhetoric" and argued that "Spotify wants all the benefits of a free app without being free."
Apple is also under investigation by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) to decide whether the company is abusing its position in the App Store by, for example, giving preferential treatment to its own apps. Apple has said it is "confident" the probe "will confirm all developers have an equal opportunity to succeed in the App Store."
Apple has partnered with pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and health startup Evidation to determine whether data collected from the iPhone and Apple Watch can be used to detect early signs of dementia.
A research paper published this week and shared by CNBC lists researchers from Eli Lilly, Apple, and Evidation Health. The paper, called "Developing Measures of Cognitive Impairment in the Real World from Consumer-Grade Multimodal Sensor Streams," explores whether sensor data and activity info from smart watch devices can be mined for "physiological and behavior signatures of cognitive impairment."
The ubiquity and remarkable technological progress of wearable consumer devices and mobile-computing platforms (smart phone, smart watch, tablet), along with the multitude of sensor modalities available, have enabled continuous monitoring of patients and their daily activities. Such rich, longitudinal information can be mined for physiological and behavioral signatures of cognitive impairment and provide new avenues for detecting MCI in a timely and cost-effective manner.
In this work, we present a platform for remote and unobtrusive monitoring of symptoms related to cognitive impairment using several consumer-grade smart devices. We demonstrate how the platform has been used to collect a total of 16TB of data during the Lilly Exploratory Digital Assessment Study, a 12-week feasibility study which monitored 31 people with cognitive impairment and 82 without cognitive impairment in free living conditions. We describe how careful data unification, time-alignment, and imputation techniques can handle missing data rates inherent in real-world settings and ultimately show utility of these disparate data in differentiating symptomatics from healthy controls based on features computed purely from device data.
According to the abstract, 31 people with cognitive impairment and 82 without cognitive impairment were monitored over a 12-week period, with 16TB of data collected. The study claims that the data was able to be used to differentiate people with early signs of cognitive impairment from those who were healthy.
People who had symptoms of cognitive decline typed more slowly, typed less regularly, relied more heavily on support apps, and sent fewer text messages. The study did not reach long-term conclusions as more analysis is needed.
In a statement to CNBC, Evidation co-founder Christine Lemke said that data collected from the iPhone, Apple Watch, and Beddit sleep monitors was used for the study. Apple acquired the company behind the Beddit sleep monitor back in 2017.
"With this research, we looked at how everyday behavior data, such as those captured by iPhones, Apple Watches, and Beddit sleep monitors, may be effective in differentiating between individuals with mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's disease, and those without symptoms."
Early detection of dementia is important because an early diagnosis can allow for better management of symptoms and quality of life improvements even though the progression of the disease can't be stopped. According to the World Health Organization, 50 million people around the world have dementia, with close to 10 million new cases surfacing every year.
Apple is facing a class action lawsuit [PDF] for employing contractors to listen to and grade some anonymized Siri conversations for the purpose of quality control and product improvement.
Apple's Siri practices were highlighted in a recent report where one of the contractors claimed that Apple employees evaluating Siri recordings often hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and other private information when Siri is activated accidentally.
The lawsuit, filed in a Northern California court today (and shared by CNBC's Kif Leswing), accuses Apple of "unlawful and intentional recording of individuals' confidential communications without their consent," violating California privacy laws when accidental Siri activations are recorded and evaluated by humans.
Siri Devices are only supposed to record conversations preceded by the utterance of "Hey Siri" (a "wake phrase") or through a specific gesture, such as pressing the home button on a device for a specified amount of time. California law prohibits the recording of oral communications without the consent of all parties to the communication.
Individuals who have purchased or used Siri Devices and interacted with Siri have not consented to Apple recording conversations where "Hey Siri" was not uttered or where they did not otherwise perform a gesture intending to activate Siri, such as pressing and holding down the home button on a device for a certain period of time.
As outlined in its privacy policies, Apple collects some anonymized Siri recordings for the purpose of improving Siri and, presumably, cutting down on accidental Siri activations. These recordings are analyzed by humans and can include details recorded when Siri mishears a "Hey Siri" trigger word.
The lawsuit claims that Apple has not informed consumers that they are "regularly being recorded without consent," though it also highlights Apple's privacy policy where Apple does state that such data can be used for improving its services.
The plaintiffs in the case, one of whom is a minor, claim to own an iPhone XR and an iPhone 6 that they would not have purchased had they known that their Siri recordings were stored for evaluation. The plaintiffs are seeking class action status for all individuals who were recorded by a Siri device without their consent from October 12, 2011 to the present.
The lawsuit asks for Apple to obtain consent before recording a minor's Siri interactions, to delete all existing recordings, and to prevent unauthorized recordings in the future. It also asks for $5,000 in damages per violation.
Apple has suspended its Siri evaluation program right now as it reviews the processes that are in place in light of the contractor's claims. Prior to the suspension of the program, Apple said that a small, random subset (less than 1%) of daily Siri requests are analyzed for improving Siri and dictation, with requests not associated with a user's Apple ID.
Apple in the future plans to release a software update that will let Siri users opt out of having their Siri queries included in the evaluation process, something that's not possible at the current time. All collected Siri data can be cleared from an iOS device by turning Siri off and then on again, while accidental recordings can be stopped by disabling "Hey Siri."
Update: We were able to go hands-on with the new Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+, so make sure to check out our video for a closer look at Samsung's newest flagship devices.
Samsung this afternoon unveiled its newest flagship smartphones, which are in the Galaxy Note family. The Galaxy Note 10, for the first time in a Note device, is available in two sizes: 6.3 (Galaxy Note 10) and 6.8 inches (Galaxy Note 10+).
Both of the smartphones feature an AMOLED Cinematic Infinity Display (2280x1080 for Note 10 and 3040x1440 for Note 10+), with the Galaxy Note 10+ featuring the largest display yet in a Note device. The Cinematic Infinity Displays are close to bezel free, with a small chin and the bottom and a single hole punch camera cutout. There is an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor for biometric authentication, plus Samsung's face recognition, and no headphone jack.
The Samsung DeX feature that makes it easier for Samsung users to swap between a phone and a PC or Mac now allows for files to be dragged and dropped between devices when connected via USB. Mobile apps can be used with a mouse and keyboard through DeX, and the Galaxy Note 10 also has a feature for a one click connection to a Windows 10 PC.
The Galaxy Note 10 features new S Pen technologies, including a redesigned, streamlined look for the pen itself. A new handwriting to text feature lets users write notes that can be converted to digital text in the Samsung Notes app, and Air actions are supported, allowing for customizable gesture-based controls with the S Pen.
Samsung added a triple-lens camera to the Note 10 and a quad camera to the Note 10+. The Note 10 features a 16-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera, a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera, and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera. The Note 10+ has the same lenses but also adds a new DepthVision Camera.
There are new photo and video capabilities in the Galaxy Note 10, including a Live Focus Video option that adds depth-of-field adjustments to video and a Zoom-In Mic for amplifying audio. An improved super steady mode better stabilizes footage to cut down on shakiness.
A Screen Recorder feature captures what's on the screen for gamers, and a picture-in-picture feature can be used to add reactions while the S Pen can be used for annotations. Night mode, which brightens up dark photos, now works with the 10-megapixel front-facing camera.
An AR Doodle feature lets Note 10 users customize their photos with dynamic drawings, effects, and animations, while the new 3D Scanner (Note 10+) can take a scan of an object and turn it into a movable 3D rendering.
The smartphones are equipped with 7-nanometer 64-bit Octa-core processors, with the Note 10 offering 8GB RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The Note 10+ features 12GB RAM and up to 512GB internal storage. Samsung says the Note 10 devices are equipped with "the world's slimmest vapor chamber cooling system" for better gameplay performance.
There's a 3,500mAh battery in the Galaxy Note 10, and a 4,300mAh battery in the Galaxy Note 10+.
Other features include super fast charging with 45W wired charging capability for the Note 10+, Wireless PowerShare for charging other Qi-based wireless chargers with the Galaxy Note 10, and 5G options for fast speeds. The Galaxy Note 10+ is available in a 5G variant for those who want 5G speeds, and the LTE models offer up to 2Gb/s download speeds and 150Mb/s upload speeds.
Samsung is offering the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ in Aura Glow, Aura White and Aura Black. The Galaxy Note 10 is priced starting at $949.99, while Galaxy Note 10+ pricing starts at $1099.99. Samsung will begin selling the Galaxy Note 10 and 10+ on August 23, with pre-orders set to kick off on August 8. The Galaxy Note 10+ 5G, priced at $1,299.99, will be a Verizon exclusive at launch. Samsung's livestream showing off the features of the new devices is available below.
Samsung's Galaxy Note 10 will compete with Apple's upcoming 2019 iPhones, which are set to offer triple-lens camera setups, bilateral wireless charging, faster processors, and more.
Apple today released the sixth beta of iOS 13 to developers, introducing new bug fixes and adding and refining various iOS 13 and iPadOS features.
In the sixth beta, changes and updates are getting more minor than changes made in earlier betas, but beta 6 still has some notable additions that are worth highlighting.
- Dark Mode Control Center Toggle - There's a new Control Center toggle that lets you enable and disable Dark Mode with a tap.
- Folder Transparency - Apple has changed folder transparency in iOS 13 beta 6, making folder backgrounds better match the color of your background. Comparison image via the MR forums.
- Hide Link Previews - There's a new option when 3D Touching on a link on a webpage to Hide Link Previews, which disables link previews on a per site basis.
- Announce Messages - The Setting for allowing Siri to announce incoming text messages when connected to second-generation AirPods and some Beats headphones has been removed in iOS 13 beta 6.
- Three Finger Tap - You're now able to three finger tap anywhere in iOS to bring up undo, redo, cut, copy and paste icons, which may be a bug.
- Background Location Warnings - Apple warns iOS 13 users when apps are using their location in the background. In beta 6, the warning text has been tweaked slightly, and now reads "Do you want to continue to allow background location use?" instead of "Do you want to continue to allow this?"
- Bluetooth Permission Updates - When installing an and syncing a device over Bluetooth, Apple will warn that the app "may also use Bluetooth to know when you're nearby."
- Photos Splash Screen - There's now a splash screen highlighting the new features available in the Photos app in iOS 13.
- App Store Splash Screen - There's a new splash screen in the App Store app detailing Apple Arcade and the App Update changes in iOS 13.
- Analytics Privacy Policy - There's a new paragraph in Apple's analytics privacy policy: "If you agree to send Analytics information to Apple from multiple devices that use the same iCloud account, we may correlate some usage data about Apple apps across those devices by syncing using end-to-end encryption. We do this in a manner that does not identify you to Apple.
- Apple Pay Privacy Policy - Apple has slightly tweaked its Apple Pay privacy policy to mention location data collection for Apple Card: "Apple Pay Merchant Identification: Your iPhone will use your current location to help provide more accurate merchant names when you use your physical Apple Card."
- Location Privacy Policy - There's also a new addition to the location privacy policy: "System Customization: Your iPhone will customize system appearance, behaviors, and settings using your current location, for example by automatically enabling Smart Charging when you are at home. This customization data does not leave your device."
- Volume Tweaks - There are once again 16 volume increments instead of the 34 from the previous beta.
- LTE Icon - The LTE/4G icon is back to its regular size and is no longer larger to match the height of the LTE bars.
Know of a feature that's new in iOS 13 beta 6 that we left out? Make sure to let us know in the comments and we'll update this article. For more on what's new in iOS 13, make sure to check out our iOS 13 roundup.
Apple may have purchased image recognition startup Fashwell, a company that designed an engine able to recognize products in images to make photos shoppable.
Dantone's LinkedIn profile says that he works on Apple's machine learning team, while Bossard and Emmersberger are listed as machine learning managers at Apple.
Five of six other former Fashwell employees also now list Apple as an employer on their LinkedIn profiles, with many of those also on Apple's machine learning team. Fashwell's website is still up and running, but hasn't been updated since late 2018, and the same goes for the company's Twitter account.
Based on information shared on the Fashwell website, Fashwell developed a Visual Search tool to allow shoppers to search for products using an image.
FASHWELL's Visual Search is a search by image solution that we distribute through a flexible API. Add a camera icon to every search bar & allow your customers to shop with any image on your mobile applications and website.
Visual Search improves search success and prevents shop drop-offs, and it's 2x faster than text-based searches - leading to 35% m-o-m growth in usage, higher than any other user channel.
Fashwell's API also supported image tagging to make any image shoppable using its Virtual Search technology, making it easy for companies to auto-tag images with "speed, precision, and at scale." A product tagging API could be used to tag images with different attributes, such as category and design.
Fashwell also offered a visual recommendation tool, allowing image recognition to power product recommendations for product detail pages. Companies could use the feature to embed visually similar products on websites to recommend additional products to customers.
Apple could perhaps adopt Fashwell's technology for its Apple Store website and its Apple Store app in the future, improving the Apple Store shopping experience. We've emailed Apple for comment and will update this article if we hear back.
Apple has acquired several similar AI and machine learning companies over the course of the last few years, including Silk Labs, Laserlike, Perceptio, and more.
Update: Apple gained possession of the Fashwell.com domain name on May 1, 2020.
Apple today seeded the sixth betas of iOS 13 and iPadOS to developers for testing purposes, a little over a week after releasing the fifth betas and two months after unveiling the new operating system at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
Registered developers will need to download the profile for the iOS 13 and iPadOS betas from Apple's Developer Center. This beta, like earlier betas, can be downloaded over-the-air once the proper profile has been installed.
Apple split iOS 13 and iPadOS into separate updates in 2019, one designed for iPhone and one designed for iPad. iPadOS is identical to iOS 13 in almost every way, though there are some iPad-specific features such as new multitasking capabilities. For the most part, the two operating systems share the same features.
iOS 13 is a huge update with a long list of new features. Perhaps the most noticeable outward-facing change is a systemwide Dark Mode that changes the entire look of the operating system from light to dark, darkening everything from system elements to apps.
Apple overhauled the Photos app, introducing a new Photos tab that curates your entire Photos library and shows you a selection of highlights organized by day, month, or year, and there are revamped Photo editing tools.
For the first time, you can edit video right in the Photos app, cropping, rotating, applying filters, and adjusting lighting and color. There's a new High-Key Mono lighting effect, and for Portrait Lighting in general, intensity can be adjusted.
There's a less obtrusive volume HUD, a new Find My app that combines Find My iPhone and Find My Friends and lets you track your devices even with they don't have an LTE or WiFi connection.
A Sign In with Apple feature (not yet active) gives you a convenient and data safe way to sign into apps and websites, providing an alternative to Facebook and Google sign in options. Apple's even able to generate single-use randomized email addresses so you don't have to give your real info to apps and websites.
Maps features a new street-level "Look Around" mode and a Collections feature for making lists of places, Reminders has been entirely overhauled to make it more functional, there's a profile option in Messages along with new Memoji and Animoji stickers, and Siri has a new voice.
CarPlay in iOS 13 has been overhauled with a new look, multiple sets of AirPods (or Powerbeats Pro) can be connected to the same phone so you can share music with a friend, Siri on HomePod can detect multiple voices for multi-user support, and HomePod also supports Handoff.
There are a ton of additional new features and changes coming in iOS 13, and for a full rundown of what you can expect, you should check out our iOS 13 roundup. Each new beta brings new features and changes to iOS 13, and the fifth beta added a new option for adjusting the number of apps on the iPad Home screen, made adjustments to the volume, updated the look of the Share Sheet, and more.
The beta testing period will allow Apple to work out bugs ahead of the release of iOS 13 and iPadOS, and it will let developers build iOS 13 and iPadOS features into their apps ahead of a public release coming in the fall.
Apple today continued on with its "Shot on iPhone" series, uploading several new videos, but this time with a twist -- the videos are focused on ASMR, a popular YouTube trend that uses sound to evoke an "autonomous sensory meridian response."
Apple shared four videos in the series, all of which are between six and 10 minutes in length. The first, "Whispers from Ghost Forest," features a woman whispering about the legend of Ghost Forest.
The second video focuses on wood shop sounds, featuring a man turning a piece of wood into a work of art, while the third video features a man walking on a trail and crunching leaves and brush underfoot.
The fourth video, "A calm rain at camp," features the sound of rain pounding on various items at a campsite in the woods.
Apple has these videos labeled as ASMR Season 1 on its YouTube channel, which means more ASMR videos could potentially be coming. Apple also uses the tagline "Apple SMR" when introducing each video, and recommends people use headphones when watching.
These are the oddest of the "Shot on iPhone" videos that Apple has shared, but each one was created using an iPhone (with additional hardware and equipment for the sound) and features impressive visuals to go along with the sound.
Launch Center Pro was today updated to version 3.1, with the new update introducing an Icon Composer feature.
The Icon Composer is designed to allow users to create their own App Store quality icons that can be used within the Launch Center Pro app or on the iPhone or iPad's Home screen using the Add to Home Screen feature in the Shortcuts app.
Using Launch Center Pro and the Shortcuts app together, you can replace all of the apps on your Home screen with your own icons using the Icon Composer feature. You can also build shortcuts in Launch Center Pro that can be added to the Home screen with custom icons and emoji.
According to the developers behind Launch Center Pro, the Icon Composer has been outfitted with new shapes, icon styles, colors, and size and style options, along with thousands of new glyphs, emojis, and customizable icon badges.
For those unfamiliar with Launch Center Pro, It's an app that's designed to allow you to speed up your everyday tasks with shortcuts, akin to a speed dial for apps, as the App Store description reads.
With Launch Center Pro, you can set up shortcuts for doing things like searching Wikipedia with a tap, scanning a barcode and launching an Amazon search, searching Twitter within Tweetbot, and more.
Launch Center Pro is free to download, but it costs $11.99 per year to unlock all of the features. There's also a lifetime access purchase option priced at $35. [Direct Link]
Apple today seeded the sixth beta of watchOS 6, the software that runs on the Apple Watch. The new beta comes a week after the fifth beta and more than a month after Apple first unveiled the new watchOS update at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
To install the watchOS 6 beta, you'll need the proper configuration profile, which can be obtained through the Apple Developer Center. Once the profile is in place, the beta can be downloaded using the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update.
Installing the software requires the Apple Watch to have 50 percent battery. It also needs to be put on a charger and it has to be in range of the iPhone.
watchOS 6 is a major update that offers up a long list of new features. First and foremost, there's an App Store right on the Apple Watch, so you can find and download new Apple Watch apps on your wrist.
Apple Watch apps no longer need to have an iPhone component, which means developers can create standalone Apple Watch apps for the first time. Apps are able to take advantage of new APIs so you'll be able to do things like follow along with a workout or listen to streaming music from third-party services.
Since Apple Watch apps are now independent of apps on the iPhone, you can now remove some built-in apps from the Apple Watch, a feature that was enabled in beta 3.
There are several new watch faces in watchOS 6, including Numerals Mono and Duo with huge numbers, Modular Compact, a Gradient watch face that shifts over the course of a day, a Solar Dial watch face that visualizes the sun in a 24 hour path around the dial, and the California watch face with a mix of standard numbers and roman numerals.
A new Taptic Chimes feature provides a silent touch on the wrist at every hour, and if sound is turned on, you'll hear an audible chime. You can also hold two fingers on the Apple Watch's display to hear the time spoken out loud.
There are new Audiobooks, Voice Memos, and Calculator apps, along with a new Noise app that warns you if you're exposed to sound that's too loud and a new Cycle Tracking app for period tracking. Activity Trends, visible on the iPhone, are also available to chart your fitness progress and make sure your fitness trends are improving.
New complications are available for wind speed, chance of rain, and the new Noise app, plus there's a Voice Memos complication for recording a memo quickly, a cellular strength complication, and a complication for the Calculator that opens up the app.
Siri can now provide full web search results right on the watch when asked a question, and for Mac users, the Apple Watch can now approve Mac security prompts.
When it launches in the fall, watchOS 6 will be available on all Apple Watch models with the exception of the original Apple Watch, released in 2015. For more on what's new in watchOS 6, make sure to check out our watchOS 6 roundup.
Apple today seeded sixth beta of an upcoming tvOS 13 update to developers, a little over a week after seeding the fifth beta and two months after unveiling the tvOS 13 software at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV, the new tvOS 13 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode.
tvOS 13 introduces an updated Home screen aimed at making it easier to discover new content. Apps are now able to play full-screen video previews right on the Home screen, similar to Netflix.
Multi-user support is available for the first time, letting more than one profile exist on the Apple TV so each family member can have their own customized Apple TV interface with separate recommendations, music playlists, and Watch Now lists.
Switching between profiles can be done with the new Control Center, which offers up profiles, the time and date, search, a Now Playing widget, AirPlay controls, and a sleep option.
tvOS 13 gets the Apple TV ready for Apple Arcade, Apple's new gaming service that's coming to the Apple TV, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS later this year. Apple Arcade will offer unlimited access to more than 100 new and exclusive games, for one subscription fee.
As part of the Apple Arcade preparations, Apple has implemented support for the Xbox Wireless Bluetooth Controller and the PlayStation DualShock 4 Controller, both of which can be connected to an Apple TV over Bluetooth.
There are new under the sea themed screensavers created in partnership with the BBC Natural History Unit, which also created "Blue Planet." There's also a new Picture-in-Picture feature. Picture-in-Picture lets you continue to watch TV shows or movies while using a different app, adjusting settings, or otherwise navigating through the tvOS 13 operating system.
tvOS 13 is available to registered developers and public beta testers at this time and will see an official public launch this fall alongside iOS 13, iPadOS, macOS Catalina, and watchOS 6.
Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced three years ago in March 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.
Safari Technology Preview release 89 includes bug fixes and performance improvements for JavaScript, Web API, Compatibility, Accessibility, Media, Web Inspector, and Web GPU.
The new Safari Technology Preview update is available for both macOS Mojave and MacOS Catalina, the newest version of the Mac operating system that was introduced at the June Worldwide Developers Conference.
Apple's aim with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.
Apple will likely launch a foldable device within the next two years, analysts at investment bank UBS predict. In a research note obtained by CNBC, the analysts said the device is more likely to be an iPad than an iPhone, and they also believe it is more likely to launch in 2021 than 2020.
Emphasis should be placed on "predict," as this is likely just speculation, and proven sources like Ming-Chi Kuo or Mark Gurman have yet to report that Apple is actively developing a foldable iPhone or iPad.
That's not the only reason to be skeptical. As noted by VentureBeat's Jeremy Horwitz, folding display technology is still in its infancy, as evidenced by the troubled launch of Samsung's Galaxy Fold, which experienced serious display issues that led the device to be postponed for several months.
Apple also has a reputation for releasing thin, sleek devices, and early folding smartphones are anything but that. That doesn't mean Apple can't do it better, but 2020 or 2021 could be quite an ambitious timeframe for a foldable iPhone or iPad that upholds the company's strict industrial design standards.
Apple Music today announced a new initiative called the "Apple Digital Masters" program, which aims to combine all of its "Mastered for iTunes" songs into one streaming catalog (via Billboard).
According to Apple, it's slowly been introducing Mastered for iTunes songs into Apple Music for some time. The company said that 75 percent of the Top 100 songs in the U.S. are Apple Digital Masters, and 71 percent of the Top 100 global songs are also part of the new program.
Apple began the Mastered for iTunes program in 2012, allowing engineers to optimize music for the digital download format by encoding from high-resolution masters. This placed the iTunes songs as close to possible as the original master recordings, and were designated specially as "Mastered for iTunes" in the store.
In Apple Music, Apple doesn't designate whether a song is under its Digital Masters program or not. Still, for people who care about lossless audio, it's a good sign that the company has formally acknowledged a plan to move forward with adding more high-quality audio tracks to Apple Music.
Numerous other streaming music services have lossless audio plans that are priced separately from the standard streaming tiers. Namely, Tidal offers a HiFi subscription for $19.99/month (compared to the base $9.99/month plan) that lets users stream lossless audio on demand.
Microsoft contractors are listening to conversations between users on Skype who use its translation feature, according to Motherboard. This is done only if users are performing a translation function in Skype and not during any other typical Skype voice or video call.
The information gathered includes Skype audio regarding intimate conversations between couples and more. The data also suggests that Microsoft contractors listen to voice commands spoken to Cortana, the company's smart voice assistant. The information seen by Microsoft contractors is anonymized and doesn't contain any user identifiable information.
These contractors (who mostly work from home) do manual translations of Skype audio conversations, sent by Microsoft along with a series of approximate translations generated by Skype's AI program. The contractor has to select the most accurate translation or provide their own, and they send the information back to Microsoft.
Microsoft warns users that it analyzes audio of translated calls in Skype to improve its services, but it does not mention that some of the analysis will be done by humans. The translation feature lets users perform real-time audio translations during phone and video calls, powered by artificial intelligence.
"The fact that I can even share some of this with you shows how lax things are in terms of protecting user data," a Microsoft contractor who provided the cache of files to Motherboard, said.
The contractor said, "I generally feel like that while we do not have access to user identifiable information, that if Microsoft users were aware that random people sitting at home in their pajamas who could be joking online with friends about the stuff they just heard that they wouldn't like that."
According to Microsoft, the company's terminology on its Skype translator feature and on Cortana are clear and straightforward in how it uses voice data to improve each service. "We strive to be transparent about our collection and use of voice data to ensure customers can make informed choices about when and how their voice data is used," the company said.
Microsoft also said that the audio data sent to contractors is through a secure online portal, and that it ensures any identifying information (like the user's name or device identification numbers) are removed. Despite all of this, Microsoft's terminology still doesn't mention that human workers might listen to your Skype translation conversations, or Cortana commands.
The Skype story from Motherboard emerges today following previous articles centered on human workers listening to Siri recordings at Apple and Google Assistant recordings at Google. Following these reports, Apple suspended its own program wherein contractors listened to anonymized Siri recordings for quality control purposes.
Right to Repair advocates continue to lobby the U.S. government, arguing that large tech companies like Apple are monopolizing repairs of consumer electronics in order to preserve profits, reports Axios.
Image: iFixit.com
In testimony before the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law last month, Nathan Proctor of the non-profit U.S. Public Interest Research Group claimed that "repair hurts sales," giving Apple "an incentive to restrict repair of their devices."
Similarly, in a letter submitted to the subcommittee last month, The Repair Association's executive director Gay Gordon-Byrne wrote that "manufacturers have no reasons for blocking repair other than money," referring to the "monopolization of repair" as a "huge profit opportunity."
In a statement, an Apple spokesperson told Axios that Apple's goal is to ensure its products are "repaired safely and correctly," while touting the company's growing network of Apple Authorized Service Providers:
We want to make sure our customers always have confidence their products will be repaired safely and correctly, and in a way that supports recycling. We are continually growing our network of certified technicians and most recently announced that any Best Buy store in the U.S. is now an authorized service provider.
Apple Authorized Service Providers have access to certified parts and service guidelines from Apple. There are over 1,800 of these authorized locations in the United States, which Apple said is "three times as many locations as three years ago." As of June, that includes every Best Buy store in the country.
Right to Repair legislation aims to make these parts and documentation available to independent shops and customers directly.
Apple today 
