Reuters reports that Intel has confirmed it does not expect its 5G chips to be in consumer products until 2020.
Intel Corp executives said on Friday its 5G modem chips will not appear in mobile phones until 2020, raising the possibility its biggest customer, Apple Inc, will be more than a year behind rivals in delivering a device that uses the faster networks.
Intel's timeline is tied closely with Apple's product plans due to Apple's reliance on Intel chips for its iPhone modems. Previously a Qualcomm customer, Apple has been at odds with Qualcomm due to an ongoing legal battle between the two companies. In fact, Qualcomm has been reportedly unwilling to sell its chips to Apple because of the conflict.
That has left Apple reliant on Intel for its modem chips in the latest line of iPhones, though Apple has been exploring other vendors, and even working to develop its own chips. That plan, however, isn't expected to produce results until 2021, at least.
Apple waiting until 2020 to deliver 5G iPhones doesn't come as a surprise as previous rumors have said the same. This statement by Intel, however, does seem to confirm some of those previous rumors.
Apple's VP of Health Dr. Sumbul Desai recently sat down for an interview with MobiHealthNews where she discussed Apple's health products, the company's relationship with the FDA, the success of the ECG feature on the Apple Watch, and more.
On the topic of Apple's relationship with the FDA, Desai said that while Apple has a "good" relationship with the FDA, the FDA asked "hard questions" about the ECG feature in the Apple Watch, which received De Novo clearance in the U.S. ahead of its release.
Apple gets no special treatment from the FDA and undergoes the same scrutiny any other company does.
With regards to the FDA, we have been working with them for years and we have developed a relationship. ... So we have a good relationship with the FDA. However, they held us to task. I mean, they asked us really hard questions and, given the size and impact we had, were very critical of our products and making sure that we're doing the right thing and thinking about the user first and the customer's safety first -- which they should do.
On the ECG feature, which was added in the Apple Watch Series 4 and is available in the U.S., Desai said that customer stories "have been amazing." Cook has gotten a "number of letters" from people who were able to detect atrial fibrillation and get help earlier than they might have otherwise been able to.
Response from doctors has also been "pretty decent," but cardiologists are still working on the best way to handle that kind of data coming from patients.
In response to a question about ECG and another new health feature, fall detection, being targeted to an older demographic that may not own the Apple Watch, but Desai says that these features can help everyone.
With regards to fall detection, I know that was the immediate place that people took it, but if you look at the stats, falls are one of the most common reasons for people to go into the emergency room across all age groups. So you can imagine, and this has happened to me, going up on your step stool to try to get some flour or sugar, no matter what age group you're in, and having a fall. And that happens. And so we really built fall detection for everyone.
Atrial fibrillation is also a condition that "affects everybody," and Apple has received positive responses from younger people diagnosed with the condition that were able to get help.
Desai says that Apple is "very interested in the health space" and will "continue to do great work" in health. She agreed with Tim Cook's recent statement suggesting health is the area where Apple may ultimately have the greatest impact on mankind. Apple has a lot to share in the future, says Desai, and is still "in the first inning."
We think health is an area where we can have incredible impact and meaningful impact. And how do you not work in a space, at the scale that we're at, and not have impact? So that is what drives us. What drives us is hearing from our customers that we've had an impact in terms of their health and we've really moved towards thinking about how do we democratize data, health and education, and really democratize being well for everyone.
We're excited about the work we do and there's a lot of exciting things ahead, but we take it day by day. I think Tim has also said that we're in the first inning, and I think we all recognize that as well.
Desai's full interview, which is worth reading for anyone interested in Apple's health initiatives, can be found over at the MobiHealthNews website.
Apple maintains a photography tutorial section on its website for those interested in stepping up their iPhone photography, and it's regularly updated with new videos. Apple also uploads its iPhone tutorial videos to YouTube.
Apple this afternoon shared four new videos on YouTube that will eventually be added to the site, covering shooting with light and shadow, shooting using the rule of thirds, trimming video on an iPhone, and shooting a time-lapse video.
Each video is approximately 40 seconds in length, ideal for use on social media. These videos are straight and to the point, offering step by step instructions on taking advantage of different iPhone features.
Apple has been sharing these iPhone photography tutorials for well over a year, and the site has a collection of videos on capturing different types of photos, best editing practices, taking advantage of environmental factors like lighting, and more.
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Tap to give MacRumors readers a chance to win one of the company's wearable keyboard setups, which Tap believes will be the keyboard of the future.
Priced at $199, the Tap is a futuristic keyboard that turns your fingers into the keys, allowing you to type letters, numbers, and symbols with different finger tap combinations.
Tap features a series of rings with built-in sensors, with the rings designed to fit over your thumb and each finger to detect your tap gestures. The rings are adjustable and can fit a wide range of hand sizes, and with the sensors, you can essentially use the Tap Keyboard anywhere you are.
Each letter of the alphabet is a different tap. To create an "A," for example you tap your thumb in a downwards motion onto a desk or flat surface. A tap of the index finger makes an "E," while to create a "K," you tap your thumb and ring finger downwards at the same time. To make a "B," you tap your pinky and index finger at the same time.
Learning to use the Tap Keyboard takes just a few days, but because it's an entirely new way of typing, mastering it can take some time. We reviewed the Tap last year and were able to learn the taps in about a week practicing 30 minutes per day.
Tap recently came out with new software that's designed to help you learn faster than ever. The TapAcademy, one of the Tap apps available from the App Store, is a 30-day course that's used for 10 minutes a day to memorize the letters, numbers, and symbols you need to use the Tap as a keyboard replacement for iOS devices, Macs, and more.
By completing TapAcademy, Tap users can greatly improve their typing speeds. According to Tap, its current regular Tap users type at an average of 40 words per minute, while some can type up to 70 words, which is impressive for a wearable keyboard with an entirely new input method. TapAcademy uses both games and daily exercises to improve typing speeds, and the company has a money back guarantee. After a Tap purchase, customers who are unable to reach 30 words per minute after finishing TapAcademy can return the product and get their money back.
Tap is a Bluetooth keyboard so it works with all of your Bluetooth enabled devices like any other keyboard. It also has a built-in mouse replacement feature that lets you use your thumb as a mouse for navigation purposes.
There are a selection of games that use the Tap keyboard as an input method, and Tap is fully customizable so you can create different Tap Maps for various games and use cases.
We have two of the Tap Keyboards to give away to MacRumors readers. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter 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 22) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on March 1. The winners will be chosen randomly on March 1 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.
It's no secret that Facebook is harvesting incredible amounts of data on all of its users (and some that don't even use the service), but what may come as a surprise is just how detailed and intimate some of that data is.
A report from The Wall Street Journal takes a look at some of the apps on iOS that provide data to Facebook, with that info then used for advertising purposes.
Instant Heart Rate: HR Monitor, for example, the most popular heart rate app on iOS, sent a user's heart rate to Facebook right after it was recorded in The Wall Street Journal's testing. Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker, which has 25 million active users, tells Facebook when a user is having a period or is intending to get pregnant.
Realtor.com, meanwhile, provides Facebook with the location and price of listings that a user viewed. With Flo in particular, it says it does not send this kind of sensitive data in its privacy policy, but then goes ahead and does so anyway.
Many of these apps are sending this data without "any prominent or specific disclosure," according to The Wall Street Journal's testing. Facebook collects data from apps even if no Facebook account is used to log in and even if the user isn't a member of Facebook.
Apps are sharing this data to take advantage of Facebook analytics tools that allow them to target their users more precisely with Facebook ads.
Apple does not require apps to disclose all of the partners that they share data with, and while certain personal information can be blocked, like contacts or location, more sensitive data, like health and fitness details, can be readily shared by these apps as there's no option to turn off this kind of data sharing.
Users can turn off Facebook's targeted advertising, but have no way to prevent apps from surreptitiously sending collected data to Facebook in the first place.
Facebook claimed that some of the data sharing The Wall Street Journal uncovered violates its business terms, and has asked these apps to stop sending information app users would consider sensitive.
The Wall Street Journal spoke to an Apple spokesperson, who said its App Store Guidelines require apps to obtain user consent for collecting data.
"When we hear of any developer violating these strict privacy terms and guidelines, we quickly investigate and, if necessary, take immediate action," the company said.
At least 11 out of the 70 apps tested by The Wall Street Journal were sending sensitive user data to Facebook, including six of the top 15 health and fitness apps. There's little end users can do, except for be wary of the apps they're choosing to download. Apple in the future could introduce more stringent guidelines and policy controls that would better put a stop to this kind of intrusive data harvesting.
The Wall Street Journal's full report, which is well worth reading, offers more detail on how it tested these apps and how some of the apps responded.
Eve (formerly known as Elgato) was one of the first companies to come out with HomeKit accessories when HomeKit was announced in 2014, and since then, Eve has been expanding its portfolio of HomeKit-connected products.
The newest addition to the Eve HomeKit lineup is the Eve Light Strip, first introduced at CES and launched in February. The Eve Light Strip is one of several HomeKit-connected LED-based light strip options on the market, but Eve has a few new innovations worth noting.
Design
Design wise, the Eve Light Strip looks similar to many other light strips on the market, including the Philips Hue version, which is probably one of the closest competitors in terms of price and functionality.
The Eve Light Strip measures in at 6.6 feet, though it can be cut at one foot intervals. It also includes a connector at the end which is designed to allow for extension strips to be attached, and the extension strips are more affordable. A single Eve Light Strip can be extended to 32.8 feet via the extension options.
As with all light strip-style products, this is a thin, flexible strip that has interspersed LEDs in different colors along the strip that are used to make up different color shades when it's turned on.
Colors are accurate, with the Light Strip able to reproduce red, pink, orange, yellow, green, and blue accurately, along with in-between shades. Purple is more of a blue or a pink, but that's true of most LED lights.
Apple plans to close both of its retail stores within the Eastern District of Texas in a few months from now in an effort to protect itself from patent trolls, according to five sources familiar with the matter.
Apple Willow Bend in Plano, Texas and Apple Stonebriar in Frisco, Texas, both located in the northern suburbs of Dallas, are expected to permanently close in mid April. One source said each store's final day of business will be Friday, April 12. Employees were briefed about the plans earlier this week.
To continue to serve the region, Apple plans to open a new store at the Galleria Dallas shopping mall in Dallas, just outside the Eastern District of Texas border. One source said the store will open Saturday, April 13.
A rough visualization of Apple's retail stores in the Eastern District of Texas and its upcoming Galleria Dallas store
The plans are significant, as U.S. law states that patent infringement lawsuits may be filed "where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business." By closing its stores in Eastern Texas, Apple is ending its established place of business in the district.
Residency is also a factor in determining the applicable venue of a patent infringement lawsuit, but in May 2017, the Supreme Court shifted precedent by ruling that a U.S. corporation resides only in its state of incorporation. Apple is incorporated in California, not Texas, satisfying this clause.
The Eastern District of Texas has been a hotbed for patent litigation over the past few decades due to well-established rules for patent infringement cases, experienced judges, lower probability of cases being transferred to another district, and quicker jury verdicts, according to a SMU Dedman School of Law paper.
Patent infringement lawsuits against Apple will likely shift to U.S. district courts in Northern California and Delaware.
Fortunately, we're hearing that the plans, while inconvenient, are not too detrimental for employees. One source said Apple has offered employees opportunities to transfer to other stores, work from home for AppleCare, or severance to those who are not interested in working at another Apple location.
Apple has yet to publicly announce the plans. We reached out to Apple for comment late Thursday but have yet to hear back.
Update: Apple has confirmed the impending store closures in a statement issued to TechCrunch:
We're making a major investment in our stores in Texas, including significant upgrades to NorthPark Center, Southlake and Knox Street. With a new Dallas store coming to the Dallas Galleria this April, we've made the decision to consolidate stores and close Apple Stonebriar and Apple Willow Bend. All employees from those stores will be offered positions at the new Dallas store or other Apple locations.
Apple did not provide a specific reason for the store closures beyond consolidation.
There are a few notable flash sales going on today, including a discount on a refurbished model of Apple's HomePod smart speaker. The speaker is on sale for $234.99, $115 off from its original retail price of $349.99. That's also $65 below the price of Apple's own refurbished HomePod model, which run for $299.00.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Although not brand-new, Woot is a well-known third-party reseller that promises its refurbished products have been thoroughly inspected and come in good working condition. The retailer's "refurbished" status also covers all returns, making it easier to get your money back if necessary. Head to Woot to check out the refurbished HomePod and if you're interested, make your purchase before the sale ends later tonight.
Woot via Amazon has another flash sale today on refurbished products, offering up to 30 percent off of Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro models from 2017. This sale includes a notable low price for Apple's latest 12-inch MacBook, discounted to $999.99 in refurbished condition, the lowest price for the model available online from major retailers.
This price is about $300 under the current price for a new version of the same computer available at Amazon, and $600 under the regular retail price of the MacBook sold from Apple. The refurbished device is shipped and sold by Woot on Amazon, so you'll be getting the same refurbished warranty as Woot offers on its website, including a promise that it works and looks like new and a 90-day return warranty.
Apple is teaming up with Chinese payments company Ant Financial Services Group, along with several local banks, to offer local customers interest-free financing on iPhones in China (via Reuters). Apple is continuously looking to boost smartphone sales in China, and this appears to be the latest move in the company's long-term plan to do so.
On its China website, Apple explains that customers can pay 271 yuan ($40.31) per month for the iPhone XR, and 362 yuan ($53.87) per month for the iPhone XS. If customers trade in older models of iPhone, they'll get cheaper installment plans.
In total, customers buying an iPhone worth a minimum of 4,000 yuan (around $595) will qualify for interest-free financing that can be paid over three, six, nine, 12, or 24 months.
Apple has always struggled with iPhone sales in China, and according to Strategy Analytics, the company shipped an estimated 2.5 million fewer iPhones in China in 2018 than in 2017. The company's products have historically been categorized as too expensive for the China market, losing out to low-cost alternatives from popular local rivals like OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi.
In recent weeks, reports have suggested that Apple is seeing improved iPhone sales in China thanks to recent price cuts to the iPhone XR, XS, XS Max, and older models. According to Feng, data sourced from Alibaba suggests that iPhone sales on the site have increased by 76 percent in China since January 13, 2019.
The launch of China's limited-time promotion follows similar offers that have rolled out to a few regions around the world, including a trade-up promo in the United States. In emails sent to customers and on its website, Apple encourages shoppers to upgrade to an iPhone XR from $449 or iPhone XS from $699, with the trade in of an iPhone 7 Plus or iPhone 8.
Apple chipmaker TSMC will miniaturize its fabrication process to 5 nanometers in a bid to secure orders for Apple's processors in its 2020 iPhones, according to industry sources cited in a DigiTimes report.
Despite its dim business and industry outlook this year, TSMC claimed it is making progress in the development of sub-7nm process technologies with plans to move a newer 5nm EUV process to volume production by 2020 well on track.
Previous successes in miniaturization have seen TSMC remain Apple's exclusive supplier of A-series chips for the last three years, beginning with the A10 Fusion chip in the iPhone 7/7 Plus, and continuing with the A11 Bionic chip in the iPhone 8/8 Plus and iPhone X, and the A12 Bionic in the iPhone XR/XS/XS Max.
The A10 Fusion chip is 16nm, the A11 Bionic is 10nm, and the A12 is a 7nm chip. The "A13" chip destined for this year's iPhones is also based on 7nm technology, but is expected to be the first chip to use extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV), which allows for a more microscopic chip layering process.
The Taiwanese manufacturer has been gradually shrinking the size of its dies for several years now, allowing it to offer packages that are widely considered to be superior to that of other chipmakers, including Samsung and Intel.
End users can expect Apple's mobile chip designs and TSMC's continued packaging advancements to improve performance, battery life, and thermal management in future iPhones.
Adobe has released an update for Adobe Premiere Pro via the Creative Cloud app to resolve an audio issue that left some users with blown-out MacBook Pro speakers.
Earlier this month, we reported on an issue affecting a significant number of Premiere Pro users whereby the software suddenly caused loud, distorted audio to play through their MacBook Pro speakers, resulting in permanent damage. In many cases, the issue arose when users were editing the audio settings of video clips.
Adobe initially advised at least one customer to try disabling the MacBook Pro's microphone in Premiere Pro by selecting No Input under Preferences > Audio Hardware > Default Input, but the issue persisted for some users.
On February 19 Adobe told users on its community support forum that it was "aware of the issue" and "was working on a solution that will help users mitigate risk." This issue has now apparently been resolved in a version 13.0.3 update pushed to Premiere Pro users today via the Creative Cloud app. From the release notes:
Fixed issues with Premiere Pro that reduce noise interaction and help minimize possible impact.
While Adobe is urging all users to update their software, there's still no word on how affected users might be recompensed following damage to their Macs.
As a result of the bug, one user took his MacBook Pro to the Genius Bar at an Apple Store in Canada and was given $600-plus repair quote for his 2018 15-inch MacBook Pro. The price is so high because Apple has to replace the entire top case assembly containing the speakers, keyboard, trackpad, and battery.
We reached out to both Adobe and Apple for comment on the issue earlier this month but have yet to hear back. We'll update this article if we hear more.
OWC this week announced a neat and tidy solution for quickly disconnecting multiple drives from any OWC dock, with the release of a free Dock Ejector utility.
The Mac app lives silently in your menu bar and allows you to safely eject all drives connected to your OWC dock with a single click, ensuring all data has been written before any disk is unmounted.
We've experienced a couple of occasions where drives have disconnected sluggishly from a 14-port OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock (reviewed here), one of which resulted in fragmented data, so this free app is certainly a welcome one.
We tested Dock Ejector on a multi-disk Mac workstation using the above dock – as well as the older OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock – and found it to work well. The one-click function removes the tedium of undocking devices one at a time before you can disconnect your Mac, and the utility lets you know when it's safe to unplug the dock.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is set to deliver Stanford's 2019 commencement speech on Sunday, June 16, the university announced today.
Stanford chose Cook because he has been a "prominent voice on ethics in technologies and businesses," with insights into the challenges facing corporations and society today.
According to Stanford, the issues that Cook has raised "dovetail" with the Stanford "Our Vision" planning process which advocates for research on the social and ethical impact of advances in science and tech and makes sure students have the tools to "address societal and ethical impacts of science and technology."
"Tim Cook has spoken forcefully of the challenges and responsibilities confronting corporations and our society today," said Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. "In tackling these, he has led with vision and values - qualities that reflect the culture of our Stanford community, and that are top-of-mind for our students and our country. Tim was a natural choice to challenge and encourage our graduates as they leave our campus and find their own paths in the world."
Cook said that he was honored to be invited to deliver the commencement address at Stanford.
"It's an honor to have been invited by Stanford's students and faculty, and I look forward to deepening the remarkable relationship that Stanford and Apple have built together over many years," Cook said. "We share so much more than geography. The passion, interests and creativity our institutions have in common have helped to revolutionize technology and reshape the world, and I can't wait to join graduates, as well as their family and friends, in celebrating the even brighter possibilities of the future."
Cook will also be delivering the keynote address to Tulane graduates at the university's 2019 commencement event, which is set to take place on May 18.
You may or may not know this, but there's a feature in Safari that's designed to let you select a portion of text and send it to a friend over Messages using the Share feature in Safari.
When researching one of our tips videos, we came across this handy trick, but soon discovered that there's another aspect to it -- one that you can use to create fake website headlines that can be sent to your friends and family.
As it turns out, there's a bug in the select text and share feature, and it involves the search function on websites. If you type text into the search bar on a website, highlight it, and then share it with the Safari Share Sheet, it will send your written text along with a website link that looks rather official. See the screenshot below:
Here are the specific steps to follow to create a fake website title:
1. Go to a website with a search function, such as MacRumors.com. 2. Make sure your iPhone is in landscape mode. 3. Tap on the search bar. 4. Enter your text and then select it. 5. Tap on the Share icon next to the address bar. 6. Select Messages and then type in the name of the person who you want to prank.
From there, the person will see the fake website header that you created, but it will look like text from the website itself because the text isn't sent separately due to the rich text feature in Messages.
This pretty much only works iPhone to iPhone and won't work if you're sending messages to your friends on Android devices. You can use this trick on the iPad too, but it doesn't work on the Mac.
If you want to use the feature as Apple intended you to do, you can select a bit of text on a website and then send it to a friend to highlight something specific that's worth pointing out. Like in our AirPods roundup, if you wanted to highlight the bit about a new color, you could select it and share the page with this text visible in the link.
It's actually a useful feature that's great for pointing out specific passages in blogs, news articles, and more.
We're pretty sure selecting search text through this feature and sending it over Messages is a bug that Apple will fix at some point, but in the meantime you can have a bit of fun with it and send unique website headlines to friends and family.
Apple is planning to ditch Intel and transition to Mac chips starting in 2020, based on multiple rumors we've heard in the past from Bloomberg. Axios today confirmed Bloomberg's reporting and said that multiple sources have suggested Apple will transition to custom ARM-based chips next year.
According to Axios, developers and Intel officials are expecting Apple to begin using ARM-based chips in 2020.
The move to ARM-based chips is said to be part of Apple's effort to make Macs, iPhones, and iPads work together and run the same apps. Bloomberg earlier this week said that by 2021, Apple wants developers to be able to create one app that will work on iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
Apple's transition to a single app for all devices has already begun. Last year, Apple ported several of its iOS apps, such as Voice Memos, Stocks, and Home, to macOS. This year, Apple plans to let developers transition iPad apps to macOS, and in 2020, that will include iPhone apps. In 2021, then, developers will be able to make just one app that users can download on any of Apple's platforms.
This transition will greatly increase the number of Mac apps available, and it will cut down on the amount of work developers have to put in to create a Mac app. It will also better unify Apple's operating systems across all of its devices.
There have been rumors about Apple transitioning to ARM-based Macs for years now, and they have ramped up given the many Intel chip delays that have resulted in subsequent delays for Mac products. With its own ARM-based chips, Apple will not be tied to Intel's chip release cycles.
Apple already makes its own A-series chips for the iPhone and the iPad, and there are also custom Apple chips in recent Macs -- the T2. The T2 chip, in the iMac Pro and 2018 MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini models, integrates several components including the system management controller, image signal processor, SSD controller, and a Secure Enclave with a hardware-based encryption engine. It powers the Touch Bar in the MacBook Pro and the Touch ID feature in the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.
Apple is a major Intel customer, responsible for approximately five percent of Intel's annual revenue, so the transition to ARM-based chips will be a major blow for Intel, but a win for customers in the long run. Apple's modern A-series chips for iPhone and iPad are already more powerful than many Intel chips on the market.
Well-known cable and accessory maker Monoprice today introduced a new sale on Thunderbolt cables, with discounts reaching as much as 35 percent off of original prices during the limited-time event. The retailer offers Thunderbolt cables of various speeds, wattage, and length, affecting the price of each.
The cheapest cable in the sale starts at $13.99, down from $19.99 for the 20 Gbps, 60W, 1.0 meter cable, and prices increase from there. Check out more Thunderbolt cables on sale below and head to Monoprice for the full list (including Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 2 cables):
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Additionally, Amazon today has marked down Apple's Magic Trackpad 2 (Silver) to $99.00, $30 off from its original retail price of $129.00. This is the lowest the Magic Trackpad 2 has ever been on Amazon, and is the current best price online for a new version of the device among the major retailers.
10.5-inch iPad Pro (2017)
Amazon also has a few sales on the previous generation 10.5-inch iPad Pro, marked down by as much as $200. These iPad Pro models launched in mid 2017, include a 10.5-inch Retina Display with ProMotion, an A10X Fusion chip, Touch ID, and a 10 hour battery life.
Lastly, Anker has introduced a new set of discount codes as February comes to a close, with savings on portable battery packs, USB-C cables, Bluetooth headphones, and more. You can find the expiration dates for each code below, and remember that to see the discounts you'll have to enter the relevant code during the checkout process on Amazon.
Safari in the iOS 12.2 beta and Safari 12.1 for macOS High Sierra and Mojave includes an updated version of Intelligent Tracking Prevention, according to details shared on Apple's WebKit blog.
ITP 2.1, as Apple is calling it, caps client-side cookie storage to seven days. After this time period, cookies expire. As outlined by Apple, this offers improvements in privacy, security, and performance. From Apple's WebKit blog:
- Cross-site trackers have started using first-party sites' own cookie jars for the purpose of persistent tracking. The first-party storage space is especially troublesome for privacy since all tracker scripts in the first-party context can read and write each other's data. Say social.example writes a user tracking ID as a news.example first-party cookie. Now analytics.example, adnetwork.example, and video.example can leverage or cross pollinate that user tracking ID through their scripts on news.example.
- Cookies available in document.cookie can be stolen by speculative execution attacks on memory. Therefore, they should not carry sensitive information such as credentials.
- Cookies available in document.cookie can be stolen by cross-site scripting attacks. Again, therefore, they should not carry sensitive information such as credentials.
- The proliferation of cookies slows down page and resource loads since cookies are added to every applicable HTTP request. Additionally, many cookies have high entropy values which means they cannot be compressed efficiently. We come across sites with kilobytes of cookies sent in every resource request.
- There is a size limit on outgoing cookie headers for performance reasons, and websites risk hitting this limit when cross-site trackers add first-party cookies. We've investigated reports of news site subscribers getting spuriously logged out, and found that trackers were adding so many cookies that the news site's legitimate login cookie got pushed out.
The cookie storage limits will not log users out as long as websites are using the appropriate authentication cookies because it only affects cookies created through document.cookie.
ITP 2.1 also allows for just a single set of cookies per site rather than multiples, and third party tools with cross-site tracking capabilities need to use the Storage Access API to get cookie access.
Apple says this change simplifies cookie behavior for developers, lowers the memory footprint of Safari, and makes Intelligent Tracking Prevention compatible with more platforms.
A verified partitioned cache for cutting down on cache abuse for tracking purposes is also included, and as we covered earlier this month, support for Do Not Track has been disabled.
Apple says that it is removing Do Not Track because most websites never paid any attention to it since it was opt-in and could be ignored.
The DNT project recently ended without the publication of a standard, in part "because there has not been sufficient deployment of these extensions (as defined) to justify further advancement." Given the lack of deployment of DNT and Safari's on by default privacy protections such as ITP, Safari removed support for DNT so that users are not presented with a misleading and ineffective privacy control that, if anything, only offered additional browser fingerprinting entropy.
Additional details on the Intelligent Tracking Prevention updates being introduced are available via Apple's full WebKit blog post.
The report, loosely translated below, claims Apple's industrial design group has designed prototypes of the van with black and silver finishes:
After that, the Apple Car could come in the form of an electric van. Apple's engineers have designed specimens with black and silver paint, designed in the typical industrial design of the iPhone group. Apple also researches on its own batteries, electric motors, special seats and interior components.
Last year, The New York Times reported that Apple had signed a deal to use Volkswagen vans as self-driving shuttles to transport employees around its various campuses and office buildings in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's possible the vans could be designed by Apple and manufactured by Volkswagen.
In any case, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple is unlikely to release a vehicle until 2023 to 2025.
Apple already uses a fleet of LiDAR-equipped vans to collect mapping data, as part of its efforts to improve Apple Maps. Each van is equipped with an iPad and a Mac Pro to assist the drivers with surveying streets and neighborhoods.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Safari in the iOS 12.2 beta and Safari 12.1 for macOS High Sierra and Mojave includes an updated version of Intelligent Tracking Prevention, according to details shared on 
