Satechi today announced a new stand for the iMac, called the Type-C Aluminum Monitor Stand Hub. The accessory features seven built-in ports and an ergonomic design that the company says is aimed at maximizing desk space and providing easy access to USB ports.
In total, the hub has one USB-C data port and three USB 3.0 ports (each running at 5 Gbps), slots for microSD and SD cards, and one audio jack port. The stand is made with a brushed aluminum finish to match Apple's iMac and iMac Pro line. It also raises the iMac monitor a few inches off of the desk to provide a more comfortable viewing level when working on an iMac.
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Popular iPhone photo editing app Darkroom is today expanding to the iPad, marking the app's biggest update since its 2015 launch.
Darkroom has been rebuilt from the ground up to add support for the iPad, which means there are app-wide refinements, improvements, and optimizations. The new interface works with all iOS devices in every orientation.
The app now supports Portrait, Portrait-Wide, and Landscape orientations on iOS devices, and it has been optimized to choose the best layout for each device and each size for a consistent editing experience.
On devices where Darkroom is used in landscape orientation, Albums are available at the top level of the library next to photos for quicker album access.
Also new to the landscape layout is a photo strip, making it easier to navigate through the photo library when editing. A long press on the photo strip will also bring up photo actions like copying edits, resetting edits, deleting photos, and more.
Darkroom for iPad is designed to take advantage of all of the iPad's features, ranging from split-screen multitasking to keyboard shortcuts to the larger display.
Along with iPad support, the update also adds a color histogram for visualizing the colors present in an image and how the sliders are interacting with those colors, and there's integration with the Moment Pro camera.
Other improvements include value labels on sliders, tweaks to filter strength adjustments, right to left language support, and undo and redo gestures.
Darkroom for iPad and iPhone can be downloaded from the App Store for free, but in-app purchases are required to unlock the full functionality. [Direct Link]
With the latest Apple Pay promotion you can save $20 on a future purchase from Nike, if you spend $100 or more in the Nike iOS app and pay for your order using Apple Pay.
The offer is valid through December 22, and the promo code for $20 will be delivered within two weeks of your purchase. Apple says that you will then have until January 31, 2019 to redeem the code and afterwards it will expire.
Apple has been increasing its holiday promos for Apple Pay recently, running discounts at numerous stores in December, including Pier 1, Groupon, JanSport, Oakley, Rakuten, and more. These websites and apps will keep up their Apple Pay offers for one more day, expiring on December 19.
Prior to the holiday deals, Apple this year has partnered with companies like Ray-Ban, Postmates, Under Armour, and Panera Bread for its Apple Pay promos. Previous sales have also been themed around major holidays and events, including summer vacations, back to school, Thanksgiving, and now Christmas.
Photos of Apple's rumored Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max have been uncovered in a product merchandising guide for Apple Premium Resellers that was obtained by the blog Appleosophy.
The guidelines instruct Apple Premium Resellers how to organize Apple's various leather and silicone cases for the iPhone 7 through iPhone XS Max in their stores. While the photos are low resolution, two of the cases clearly have a battery pack hump and a cutout for the vertically-aligned rear camera on the latest iPhones.
The new Smart Battery Cases are listed as "leather" products, but this is likely a mistake, as they appear to be silicone in the photos like Apple's previous Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 7.
The guidelines are dated "Fall 2018," suggesting that Apple planned to release the new Smart Battery Cases within the past few months. The season officially ends this Friday, December 21, so there's still some time. Of course, Apple may also delay the cases until 2019 or never end up releasing them.
Apple's first Smart Battery Case was for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s, and was equipped with a 1,877 mAh battery that protruded out of the back of the case. Apple later released an iPhone 7 version with a similar design but larger 2,365 mAh battery. Both remain available for purchase for $99 in the United States.
At this point, ample evidence of Smart Battery Cases for the latest iPhones has surfaced, so all eyes are on Apple's online store.
Package thievery has only increased in recent years as more people shop online for large-scale gifts. Unfortunately, sometimes there's not much you can do about it if you don't have an outside camera and alarm system watching your home, and sometimes even that isn't enough. Apple engineer and YouTuber Mark Rober decided to go the extra mile recently to stop rampant package thieving at his house, building a complex glitter bomb and stink bomb trap hidden in the box of Apple's HomePod.
In a new video, Rober explains a bit of the early development of the trap, which took six months, multiple design iterations, and help from his friend Sean Hodgins to help build the smaller pieces of electronics inside the so-called "revenge package." Hodgins posted an in-depth video about building the glitter bomb as well, which you can check out here.
The brain of the trap is a custom printed circuit board with an accelerometer, which checks to see if it's left a set geofenced area of Rober's house when it's been moved. If it has, four included Android smartphones wake up and start recording using their wide-angle lenses, allowing Rober to capture every angle of the package thief's reaction when the top of the HomePod box is removed.
Someone stole a package from me. Police wouldn’t do anything about it so I spent the last 6 months engineering up some vigilante justice. Revenge is a dish best served fabulously. Vid link- https://t.co/9OjD6ETdbZpic.twitter.com/u4o0doWglr
— Mark Rober (@MarkRober) December 18, 2018
To top it all off, Rober included a mechanism that sprays fart spray into the area five times every 30 seconds once the lid has been removed. The engineer said that this ensured he could recover the package because the thief would likely end up throwing it outside of their car or home in frustration, but even if they didn't all four Android phones had LTE data plans and automatic cloud uploads. This way, he was going to be able to recover the video footage even if the package was permanently lost.
Rober even placed a reference to the film Home Alone directly on the package's shipping label, but it goes unnoticed by every thief in the video. Eventually, the engineer shares a collection of reaction shots from the glitter bomb's cameras, and once it begins working for him on multiple occasions, he passes it on to his friends who have also had online packages stolen from their porches. In every case recorded, the thieves eventually ditch the package without realizing there are four smartphones in it, and Rober is able to recover it.
You can check out more of Rober's science and design-themed videos on his YouTube channel.
When you set up a new Apple TV and power up the set-top box, the Apple Remote that comes in the box should pair automatically as soon as you press one of the buttons. If the Apple Remote stops working, it's probably out of juice and needs charging for 30 minutes via a USB to Lightning cable connected to a USB outlet.
But if that doesn't fix the problem, your best bet is to re-pair the device with your Apple TV. This article shows you how. The following instructions will also come in useful if you need to pair a new replacement Apple Remote in the event that the one that came with your Apple TV stops working completely or is damaged beyond repair.
In addition, at the end of this article we've included a quick tip for pairing your Mac with an Apple TV Remote, for controlling things like iTunes, VLC, and Keynote.
How to Pair an Apple Remote with Apple TV
Make sure your Apple TV is powered on.
Point the Apple Remote three inches away from the set-top box, then press and hold the remote's Menu and Volume Up buttons for five seconds.
If you see a notification on your television screen asking you to bring the Apple Remote closer, place the Remote on top of the Apple TV.
If you don't see Remote connected notification on the television screen, unplug your Apple TV from the wall power outlet, wait at least six seconds, then plug it back in.
If necessary, repeat steps 1 to 3.
How to Control Your Mac With an Apple Remote.
Apple used to include a small white or silver infrared remote control with some Macs, which allowed Mac users to control things like Keynote presentations and iTunes media from afar. When newer Macs no longer included an IR receiver (indicated by a black line of the front edge of the body) Apple stopped including these remotes, but Apple TV owners can optionally use their Apple TV Remote to control their Mac, thanks to a free third-party Bluetooth macOS utility called SiriMote by Eternal Storms Software.
SiriMote isn't available in the App Store, but you can download it directly from the Eternal Storms website [Direct Link]. After downloading SiriMote, drag it from your Downloads folder to your Applications folder, then launch the app and follow the onscreen instructions to pair your Apple Remote with your Mac.
After months of uncertainty over when it would finally drop, British broadcaster Channel 4 on Monday officially brought its All 4 on-demand service to Apple TV in the form of a dedicated tvOS app.
Channel 4 is the last of the major terrestrial British broadcasters – BBC, ITV, and Channel 5 – to release dedicated apps for Apple TV. Prior to Monday's release, the only way TV viewers in the U.K. could watch the channel on Apple TV was by using the All 4 app on iPhone or iPad and streaming the feed over AirPlay.
Thankfully, that's no longer the case, as the All 4 app for Apple TV includes all the free box sets and on-demand catch-up services viewers have come to expect of the iOS app.
Hi Ben, good news - an #All4 app for Apple TV was released today
— 4Viewers (@4Viewers) December 17, 2018
To access the service, regular viewers can log in using their existing account details, while new users will need to sign up for a free account on the Channel 4 website.
After logging in, viewers can use the Home tab to discover content and continue watching shows they've started, find shows using the Search tab, and manage their account via the My4 tab.
All that's missing now is TV app and universal Siri search integration, both of which are expected to come next year. The All 4 app for Apple TV is available to U.K. users for free on the tvOS App Store.
Apple's iPad Pro models, available in 11 or 12.9-inch size options, feature edge-to-edge displays with no Home buttons included. The lack of a Home button has resulted in some re-mapped gestures and features, with Apple introducing new restart, shut down, and force restart methods in the tablets.
A shut down and a restart are the same gesture now, while a force restart, used if a regular restart won't work, is a bit different.
To Shut Down/Restart Your iPad
Press and hold down on the top button and either the volume up or volume down button until a slider appears.
Slide a finger along the slider to turn off the iPad.
Once it's turned off, press and hold on the top button again until the Apple logo appears.
On previous devices, you could restart by holding down the home button and the side button on a device at the same time, but in the new models, you need to do a full shutdown and then power the tablet back up in a separate step.
You can also turn off your iPad by opening up the Settings app, choosing General, and selecting "Shut Down."
To Force Restart Your iPad
Press and quickly release the volume up button.
Press and quickly release the volume down button.
Press and hold the Power button until a restart is initiated.
All of the gestures used in the new iPad Pro models are the same as the gestures used in the iPhone X and later, so you can also follow these same steps to shut down or restart an iPhone without a Home button with one small tweak - you'll need to hold the Side button on the right because there is no top power button.
Qualcomm on December 10 scored a victory in its ongoing legal battle with Apple after winning an import ban on the iPhone 6s through the iPhone X.
The ban was enacted after a Chinese court said that the older iPhones infringe on two of Qualcomm's patents related to resizing and reformatting photos for wallpaper and switching between apps.
After the court's ruling, Apple said that the patented features were software related rather than hardware related, and that it would release a software update for iPhone users in China to remove any infringing functionality.
Apple today pushed an iOS 12.1.2 update that presumably includes the promised OS tweaks in China (Apple has not confirmed iOS 12.1.2 includes these fixes), but Qualcomm says that despite the software update, Apple is still violating the Chinese court's order.
In a statement to Reuters, Qualcomm said that Apple continues to "flout the legal system" by violating the injunction and releasing misleading statements about the ruling.
"Despite Apple's efforts to downplay the significance of the order and its claims of various ways it will address the infringement, Apple apparently continues to flout the legal system by violating the injunctions," Don Rosenberg, Qualcomm's general counsel, told Reuters in a statement on Monday.
"Apple's statements following the issuance of the preliminary injunction have been deliberate attempts to obfuscate and misdirect," Qualcomm's Rosenberg said in a statement on Monday.
Apple last week said that "based on the iPhone models" currently offered in China, that it believed it was in compliance with the court's order, but a software update was planned anyway to address "the minor functionality of the two patents at issue in the case."
Apple did not clarify why it believes it is in compliance with the order, but several sites have speculated that devices running iOS 12 do not include the infringing features. That's not clear, however, as Reuters said that operating systems are not mentioned in the court order.
According to Apple, if the ban is ultimately upheld, it will cause "truly irreparable harm to Apple and other companies," costing millions of dollars a day. From a statement last week:
The ban would cost Apple millions of dollars a day and affect both the Chinese government and consumers, the company added, noting it has created 5 million jobs in China across the supply chain and third-party software developers.
The Chinese government "may suffer hundreds of thousands of tax losses" from the iPhone ban because of lost taxes from sales of the devices, the company also said, citing estimates of 50 million units sold in the country in 2017. [...]
"Apple and many other companies, consumers, and government will suffer truly irreparable harm," the company said in the filing.
Qualcomm says that regardless of any software update, Apple is violating the court's ruling by continuing to sell the iPhones without explicit permission allowing it to do so. "They are legally obligated to immediately cease sales, offers for sale and importation of the devices identified in the orders and to prove compliance in court," Rosenberg told Reuters.
In response, Apple reiterated previous comments that it is in compliance with the order. Apple has not stopped selling any of its devices in China to date.
Apple this evening shared several new Apple Watch Series 4 tutorial videos on its YouTube channel, walking Apple Watch owners through features that include watch face customization, Walkie-Talkie, Activity rings, customizing workout metrics, locating an iPhone from Apple Watch, and streaming Apple Music.
All of the videos are about 30 to 40 seconds in length and are designed for those who are new to the Apple Watch, though the content may also be useful for those who have forgotten about the existence of some Apple Watch features. A full list of the new tutorial videos is below:
Each video includes a simple set of step-by-step instructions for completing a given task on the Apple Watch, making the content easy to follow for Apple Watch owners.
Apple regularly does tutorial videos for various features on Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but most of these videos are released on its Apple Support YouTube channel. Apple does, however, occasionally share tutorial videos for new products on its main YouTube channel.
These quick Apple Watch Series 4 tutorial videos may be shown in ad spots on TV or shared on social networks like Instagram and Twitter in the near future.
Apple released the Apple Watch Series 4 in September. The new device features a larger display, a slimmed down body, a more powerful processor, an ECG feature in the U.S. that works through a new sensor in the Digital Crown, a louder speaker, and more.
Apple recently released a series of six audiobooks that have been narrated by celebrities that include Kate Beckinsale and Kelsey Grammer, making them available to Apple Books users for free.
The titles are all in the public domain, but are unique because of their celebrity narrations. A list of available titles is below:
Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austen and narrated by actress Kate Beckinsale
All six of the books are available for download through the Audiobooks section of the Apple Books app on the iPhone and iPad. You can also get them through the audiobooks section of the iTunes Store on the Mac, where they're listed as a featured download option.
The United States Committee on Foreign Investment, aka Cfius, has approved T-Mobile's planned takeover of Sprint, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The government agency reportedly told the two companies on Monday that their planned union was approved following months of negotiations with company representatives.
The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment reviews foreign deals for potential national security issues. Sprint is mainly owned by Japanese telecom group SoftBank, while German company Deutsche Telekom AG is a majority shareholder of T-Mobile's U.S. arm.
Under the terms of the merger, neither SoftBank nor Deutsche Telekom will be required to make significant changes to their operations.
Sprint and T-Mobile first reached a merger agreement in April 2018, which, if approved, will combine two of the four major carriers in the United States.
The new combined company, which will have nearly 100 million customers, will be named T-Mobile and current T-Mobile CEO John Legere will serve as the Chief Executive Officer.
Before the merger can move forward, it needs to be approved by the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department. T-Mobile executives believe the approval process will be finished by the second half of 2019.
Sphero, known for its popular BB-8, BB-9E, and R2-D2 iPhone-controlled droids, today confirmed that it is discontinuing all licensed products.
In a statement provided to The Verge, Sphero CEO Paul Berberian confirmed that Sphero is cleaning out its remaining licensed inventory and has no plans to produce more.
Sphero will no longer make BB-8, BB-9E, R2-D2, Lightning McQueen cars, or talking Spider-Man toys. None of the products are available from the Sphero website anymore, with Sphero instead selling its own Bolt, Mini, and SPRK+ products.
The licensed products are now "legacy products" no longer in production, though App Support is set to continue for at least two years.
Berberian said that Sphero is discontinuing its Disney partnership because the licensed toy business "required more resources" than it was worth, with sales waning over time after a movie was released.
"When you launch a toy, your first year's your biggest," he says. "Your second year's way smaller, and your third year gets really tiny." The opposite is true of the company's non-licensed educational robots, he says, which become more popular year after year.
With its licensed partnerships at an end, Sphero will now focus on expanding its educational ecosystem with the goal of getting more products into schools.
Update: Sphero has provided a statement on its plans not to renew its Disney licenses:
At Sphero, our goal is to keep kids learning through the excitement of play. Through our Disney partnership, we were able to develop robots that allowed iconic personalities to come to life. As we develop a roadmap for the future, Sphero products will continue to build on our successes, expand interactive play and STEAM learning efforts, while keeping products accessible for all ages.
In today’s world, we know STEAM education is more important than ever. There’s a huge opportunity to inject our technology into this field to teach kids crucial real-world skills, through fun, interactive learning. Sphero robots are currently in 20,000+ schools and in many more homes; our vision is to bring coding into every classroom and living room.
In 2019, we will not be renewing our Disney licenses. We’re looking forward to a future of many new products that continue to encourage STEAM learning through play. Look for a new product to be announced at CES that inspires creativity and taps into the A of STEAM learning.
With the new announcement about Sphero's focus on education, the online Apple Store is now selling Sphero's Bolt robotic ball, introduced back in September. Bolt is aimed at teaching children basic programming with advanced sensors, an LED matrix, and infrared communication.
Have you ever woken up to your iPhone or iPad alerting you to the fact that "You Have a New Memory" on this day, in the form of photos and videos you shot years ago? If the answer is yes, you've been the willing (or unwilling) recipient of a Photos feature notification called Memories.
In iOS 12, the Photos app automatically curates photos and videos that you've taken into specific memory collections. Essentially, these are homemade movies of past events like family gatherings or vacations which your device generates without any input required on your part (although you can edit them).
Despite Apple's good intentions, the risks inherent in its Memories feature are pretty obvious. So if you're less than enthusiastic about the idea of your iOS device digging up bygones from the annals of your Photo library, here's how to switch off those Memory alerts.
How to Disable Memories Alerts in iOS 12
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap Notifications.
Select Photos from the list of apps.
Tap Memories.
Toggle the Allow Notifications switch to the OFF position.
Note that this doesn't disable the automatic Memories feature, which will still appear in the Photos app's For You tab, but at least you won't receive unexpected reminders about events that you intentionally consigned to the history books long ago.
If you still need to purchase holiday gifts for friends and family, Apple is now offering free next-day delivery on any in-stock item ordered by 3:00 p.m. on Friday, December 21.
Apple was previously offering free next-business-day delivery on all items purchased before that date, but to make sure presents arrive on time, that's been upgraded to free next-day delivery, which includes weekends.
For several years now, Apple has offered upgraded shipping options over the holidays to attract last minute shoppers who may not otherwise be able to get delivery of Apple products and accessories.
Apple is also offering an extended return policy, which will let customers return products purchased between November 14, 2018 and December 25, 2018 until January 8, 2019.
If you're still seeking gift ideas for the Apple fan in your life, we've created an extensive 2018 holiday gift guide with suggestions from MacRumors readers and editors.
Update: In Canada, Apple is also offering free delivery of in-stock items by December 24 if ordered by noon PST on December 19.
Update 2, 12/19: Apple is now offering free next-day delivery of an in-stock item ordered by December 22 at 11:00 a.m.
Apple today released iOS 12.1.2, the fourth update to the iOS 12 operating system since its September launch. iOS 12.1.2 comes just two weeks after the release of iOS 12.1.1, and one week after Apple seeded the first iOS 12.1.2 beta to developers.
The iOS 12.1.2 update is available exclusively on the iPhone and it can be downloaded over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the update, go to Settings > General > Software Update. As with all iOS updates, iOS 12.1.2 is free to download. iPads and iPod touch models continue to run iOS 12.1.1, the prior version of iOS 12 released on December 5.
According to Apple's release notes, iOS 12.1.2 is a bug fix update that focuses on addressing issues with eSIM activation and a cellular connectivity issue in Turkey. From Apple's release notes:
iOS 12.1.2 includes bug fixes for your iPhone. This update:
- Fixes bugs with eSIM activation for iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max
- Addresses an issue that could affect cellular connectivity in Turkey for iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max
The timing of the iOS 12.1.2 release is curious as Apple often seeds more than one beta before launching a software update. It's likely that iOS 12.1.2 is addressing a bug that Apple did not want to wait to fix.
Today's iOS 12.1.2 release may also include software tweaks in China that remove patented Qualcomm functionality. A Chinese court last week issued an iPhone sales ban on certain devices in China after ruling that Apple had infringed on two Qualcomm patents related to resizing and reformatting photos and managing applications using a touch screen when using apps.
Apple said it would issue a software update for iPhone users in China to address "the minor functionality of the two patents at issue in the case."
eSIM functionality was first introduced in the iOS 12.1 update and expanded with iOS 12.1.1. In the U.S., T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T are all now supporting the eSIM feature, as are multiple other carriers around the world.
Update: The iOS 12.1.2 update is now available for download.
Update 2: This post has been updated to reflect the fact that it is only available for the iPhone.
Apple today announced that Paul McCartney's new music video "Who Cares" is available to watch exclusively on Apple Music.
"Who Cares" is a six-minute video starring McCartney and Emma Stone that calls for an end to bullying.
"My hope is that if there are kids being bullied, and there are, maybe by listening to this song and watching this video, they might just think it's not as bad," McCartney said. "It's the kind of thing you can just stand up to and laugh off and get through."
Back in 2014, iPhone user Garrett Wilhelm was using FaceTime on his iPhone 6 Plus while driving, causing him to crash into the back of another vehicle.
The crash resulted in the death of five-year-old Moriah Modisette, and her father, James Modisette, launched a lawsuit in 2017 against Apple for not offering safety warnings or a feature that disables FaceTime while a person is driving.
The lawsuit contended that Apple had, at the time, patented technology that would have prevented FaceTime from being used while a vehicle is being operated, but had not installed it in the iPhone 6. The plaintiffs requested damages from Apple for its "wrongful failure to install and implement the safer, alternative design for which it sought a patent in December 2008."
"At the time of the collision in question, the iPhone utilized by Wilhelm contained the necessary hardware (to be configured with software) to automatically disable or 'lock out' the ability to use [FaceTime] ... However, Apple failed to configure the iPhone to automatically 'lock out' the ability to utilize FaceTime while driving at highway speeds, despite having the technical capability to do so."
The lawsuit against Apple was dismissed after a court decided that Apple was not at fault for the crash, and as of today, a California appeals court has agreed with that decision.
According to the BBC, the appeals court ruled Apple "did not owe the Modisettes a duty of care," and that it was not up to Apple to take responsibility for the actions of individuals using its apps. The family, said the court, could not establish that the design of the iPhone was the cause of the injuries suffered.
Garrett Wilhelm, the driver of the vehicle who killed the girl, was indicted on manslaughter charges. His trial has been delayed several times because the FHI has not yet been able to gather data from his iPhone, but if he is found guilty, he could serve up to 20 years in prison. Wilhelm is set to be tried before a jury on June 3, 2019.
While Apple was not found to be responsible for the crash, the Cupertino company has since implemented a Do Not Disturb While Driving feature designed to prevent iPhone users from accessing apps like FaceTime while operating a vehicle.
Do Not Disturb While Driving was implemented in iOS 11 and it is designed to block incoming messages and phone calls if a phone is not connected to a car via Bluetooth.
Have you ever woken up to your iPhone or iPad alerting you to the fact that "You Have a New Memory" on this day, in the form of photos and videos you shot years ago? If the answer is yes, you've been the willing (or unwilling) recipient of a Photos feature notification called Memories.
