Starting today, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank in Australia is offering support for Apple Pay. The announcement means account holders in Australia can now use Apple Pay with their Bendigo Blue Bank cards.
People who use Apple Pay with their Bendigo Bank MasterCard will continue to get the rewards and benefits that their Mastercard credit and debit cards provide.
Eligible cards also include:
Act. Mastercard® debit
Basic Black Mastercard credit
Blue Mastercard debit
Business Mastercard credit
Business Mastercard debit
CSB b-entertained Mastercard
CSB b-packaged Mastercard
Low Rate Mastercard
Low Rate Platinum Mastercard
Platinum Mastercard
Pokitpal Mastercard debit
Qantas Platinum Mastercard
Ready Red Mastercard credit
RSPCA Mastercard
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank was one of several banks that lost a fight in March to gain access to the NFC chip used in iPhones so they could offer their own integrated digital wallets to customers.
They also unsuccessfully lobbied the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to be allowed to collectively bargain with Apple and boycott Apple Pay.
WhatsApp received an update on Tuesday introducing a couple of notable feature additions, namely, a more convenient way to record long voice messages, and a picture-in-picture mode for viewing YouTube videos.
WhatsApp's voice message recording ability has been a popular feature on the chat platform for a good while now, but the fact that you had to hold down the microphone button to keep recording could get frustrating if you wanted to send a particularly long chunk of audio in one go.
So, starting today, WhatsApp is introducing Locked Recordings. Now, when you hold the mic button to record a message, a padlock UI element soon appears along the right-hand side of the chat window which allows you to slide up and lock the recording to give your finger a rest. When you're done, tapping the send button ends the audio recording and sends it on its way. A couple of things that might be obvious to some users, but are still worth noting: when making a Locked Recording, you can't view media in a thread unless you use a 3D Touch action, and you can't navigate to another chat.
The other worthwhile addition in version 2.17.81 is the ability to watch YouTube videos you've received in a chat right from within WhatsApp. Thanks to picture-in-picture, you can also keep watching the video as you navigate to another chat. At the time of writing, PiP doesn't seem to be working for all users who have updated, so WhatsApp could still be working to roll it out more broadly behind the scenes.
Nintendo's latest iOS game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp has been downloaded at least 15 million times since it first became available for download last week, according to new download estimates shared by Sensor Tower (via TechCrunch).
At an estimated 15 million downloads within six days, Sensor Tower says Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is Nintendo's second most successful launch in terms of raw installation numbers. It didn't garner as many downloads as Super Mario Run, but it did beat out Fire Emblem Heroes.
Comparatively, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp saw fewer downloads than Supercell's Clash Royale during its first six days of release, and while it was downloaded more times than Pokémon Go at launch, Pokémon Go was initially limited to Australia, New Zealand, and the US, while Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp has been available worldwide since last Tuesday.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is ranked number 10 on the iPhone top grossing chart in Japan, but in the United States, it's ranked at number 72.
It's worth noting that Sensor Tower's data can be somewhat inaccurate. Following the release of Super Mario Run, Sensor Tower suggested it had been downloaded 25 million times in four days, but that number turned out to be incorrect.
Nintendo said Super Mario Run had actually been downloaded 40 million times over the course of four days, so it's possible these Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp estimates are also under the actual number of downloads. Nintendo hasn't yet shared data on the game's success, but we'll update this post if new information becomes available.
For those unfamiliar with the game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp allows players to manage and decorate a campground inhabited by animal campers. There are a range of furniture and clothing items to collect, as well as activities like fishing, catching bugs, and gathering fruit. Leveling up is done through crafting items and luring new animals to the campsite.
As shared by iMore, it appears Nintendo is already working to add new content to the game. Evidence sourced from data-mining an upcoming update suggests new characters, furniture items, and clothing will be added, and Nintendo also appears to be planning to introduce a special holiday event in December.
Since the iPhone X launched earlier this month, people have been attempting to fool Face ID, the new biometric facial recognition feature built into the device as a primary security feature. Face ID has thus far been tricked by twins, children, and even a mask.
Vietnamese security company Bkav made headlines in mid-November after uploading a video featuring Face ID accessed by a mask, but there were several questions about the unlocking methods used in the video, including whether "Require Attention" was turned on. Today, Bkav shared a second video with a new mask and a clearer look at how the mask was used to spoof Face ID.
As described in an accompanying blog post, Bkav used a 3D printed mask made of stone powder, which cost approximately $200 to produce. 2D infrared images of eyes were then taped over the mask to emulate real eyes.
Bkav reset Face ID on camera and then set it up anew with the demonstrator's face. "Require Attention for Face ID" and "Attention Aware Features" were both shown to be enabled on the iPhone X. For those unaware, "Require Attention for Face ID" is meant to add an extra layer of security by requiring you to look at your iPhone to use Face ID, and it's one of the features that's supposed to prevent Face ID from unlocking with a mask, with a photograph, or when you're looking away from your phone.
After activating Face ID, the Bkav demonstrator unlocks the iPhone X normally with his own face, and then unlocks it once again with the mask. The mask appears to be able to unlock the iPhone X right away, with no failed attempts and no learning, as Face ID was set up from scratch just before the test. The mask's 2D infrared eyes also appear to fool the "Require Attention for Face ID" setting.
Bkav claims the materials and tools used to create the mask are "casual for anyone" and that Face ID is "not secure enough to be used in business transactions," but it's worth noting that fooling Face ID in this way requires a 3D printer, several hundred dollars worth of materials, physical access to a person's iPhone X, and detailed facial photographs that can be used to reconstruct a person's face. Even then, if the 3D printed mask and the design of the infrared eyes aren't perfect, Face ID will fail after five attempts.
Bkav believes Face ID is less secure than Touch ID because it's easier to capture photographs from afar than it is to obtain a fingerprint, but this is still a very complex replication process that the average user does not need to be concerned with.
Bkav researchers said that making 3D model is very simple. A person can be secretly taken photos in just a few seconds when entering a room containing a pre-setup system of cameras located at different angles. Then, the photos will be processed by algorithms to make a 3D object.
It can be said that, until now, Fingerprint is still the most secure biometric technology. Collecting a fingerprint is much harder than taking photos from a distance.
Apple's Face ID security white paper [PDF] outlines several scenarios where Face ID has a higher probability of being fooled, including with twins, siblings that look alike, and children under the age of 13, but masks are of particular interest because Face ID features a neural network that was "trained to spot and resist spoofing" to protect against "attempts to unlock your phone with photos or masks." From Apple:
Face ID matches against depth information, which isn't found in print or 2D digital photographs. It's designed to protect against spoofing by masks or other techniques through the use of sophisticated anti-spoofing neural networks. Face ID is even attention-aware.
When Touch ID, Face ID's predecessor, was first released in the iPhone 5s in 2013, there were many similar demonstrations of how it could be fooled with a fake fingerprint, but there's little evidence that these methods were ever used to unlock devices in the real world on a wide scale basis, and it turned out to be something most iPhone users did not need to worry about. The same is likely true of Face ID.
Apple has made several improvements to Touch ID over the years, making it faster and more accurate, and similar improvements will undoubtedly be made to Face ID in the future. In the meantime, while Face ID can be fooled by a twin or a complicated facial replication process, it's largely secure for most users and has received mostly positive reviews for its security and ease of use.
Apple today uploaded several new iPhone X ads to its YouTube channel, highlighting a range of features like Face ID and Animoji.
Apple's 38-second "Animoji Yourself" spot shows off "Animoji Karaoke," a phenomenon that kicked off shortly after the iPhone X launched. With Animoji Karaoke, the idea is to use Animoji to lip sync to popular songs, making it look like the Animoji are doing the singing.
The Apple Animoji ad features several Animoji characters singing the song "All Night" by Big Boi. Animoji Karaoke videos have been widely shared on Twitter, reddit, and other social networks, though interest in the feature has died down somewhat a few weeks following the iPhone X's launch.
Along with the Animoji ad, there are three new videos focusing on Face ID. The first view is an overview of the Face ID feature, explaining that it unlocks the iPhone X with a look.
The other two ads, which are 15 seconds in length, focus on specific Face ID features, including its ability to work in the dark and adapt to facial feature changes like makeup and glasses.
On its Canadian YouTube channel, Apple has also shared a video that explains how Face ID adapts to changes and works with facial hair growth. It's similar to the "Knows When You Change" video on the company's US YouTube site.
Apple shared several videos of the iPhone X when it was first introduced in September, but these are the first iPhone X specific videos that have been released since then, aside from a tutorial video walking users through the various iPhone X features and how to use them.
Apple will use these ads to show off iPhone X features on television, on the web, and on social networks like Instagram.
Just over three weeks after the iPhone X launched, availability at Apple's retail stores is steadily improving around the world.
Apple's in-store availability tool reveals that the iPhone X is available for walk-in customers to purchase today in several major cities in the United States, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, although supplies vary by exact carrier, storage, and color.
Apple analyst Gene Munster, in a research note with Loup Ventures, said iPhone X availability jumped to 16 percent over the past seven days, compared to just two percent in the week prior. The data is based on daily monitoring of roughly 50 percent of Apple's stores in the United States.
Likewise, in Canada, select iPhone X configurations are available today at Apple stores in major metropolitan areas such as Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montréal, Ottawa, Québec City, Toronto, and Vancouver.
A spot check of iStockNow.com revealed limited iPhone X availability for same-day pickup at Apple stores in Australia and Turkey as well, but supplies fluctuate throughout the day. Many stores receive new stock around 6 a.m. local time each day.
Apple's supply chain has addressed issues with iPhone X production, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, so in-store inventories should continue to increase. Likewise, iPhone X orders placed on Apple.com are now estimated to ship in just 1-2 weeks, down from 5-6 weeks on launch day.
We still recommend calling your local Apple store ahead of time to confirm iPhone X availability, as supplies continue to sell out rather quickly.
Amazon has extended a sale from Black Friday into Cyber Monday, offering you the chance to buy a $100 App Store and iTunes Gift Card for $85 with the promo code ITUNES15. This limited promotion can be applied to any iTunes gift card priced at $100 or more, so you also can get $15 off $150 and $200 cards sold by Amazon's ACI Gift Cards Inc. storefront. There is a limit of one card per customer as well.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
You can specify any email address to be the recipient for the card, as well as a date closer to Christmas or any other holiday, making it easy to send the gift card as a present to someone this season.
Amazon's offer is the only leftover iTunes gift card deal from Black Friday, and not many other deals in this area have surfaced today. For a longer list of Cyber Monday sales, check out our full roundup on the shopping event, as well as a particularly good deal on last year's MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.
Apple is offering a series of "sketch walks" hosted by well-known artists to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Urban Sketchers, a global community of artists that are dedicated to on-location drawing.
Many artists who are members of Urban Sketchers have adopted the iPad Pro as a drawing tool of choice, including Uma Kelkar from San Francisco, Rob Sketcherman from Hong Kong, Don Low from Singapore, and Omar Jamarillo from Berlin, all of whom will be teaching the sketching classes.
A member of Urban Sketchers for over four years, Rob has been creating artwork exclusively on iPad for just as long, and began drawing on iPad Pro in 2015 when it was introduced.
Rob says, "the flexibility [iPad Pro] offers fuels experimentation with line, texture and look, allowing any number of iterations. It's also very forgiving, expelling all fear of the dreaded blank page and of potentially 'ruining sketchbooks' in case an experiment goes awry."
All of the 10th anniversary sketch walks hosted by Urban Sketchers artists will take place on Thursday, November 30 at Apple retail locations around the world. Don Low will teach in Singapore, Rob Sketcherman will teach in Hong Kong, Uma Kelkar will teach in San Francisco, and Omar Jaramillo will teach in Berlin.
Celebrate the 10th anniversary of Urban Sketchers with artist Uma Kelkar, and explore how to free yourself from the notion of art as an exact science. She'll demo her free-flowing process, which sets aside space, proportion, and even gravity to tell a complex story in unexpected ways. And you'll practice sketching overlapping vignettes to tell your own unique story with iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.
Each class requires customers to bring an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil, along with comfortable shoes. Walks range from 0.5km to 2km.
Apple also offers several other classes dedicated to drawing and sketching on Apple devices, all of which are part of its "Today" program. The Today program allows Apple retail stores to offer classes on a wide range of subjects, providing help and instruction for customers of all skill levels.
Snapchat over the weekend quietly began launching a new intelligent image recognition feature in its app, first spotted by Mashable. The feature automatically recognizes certain objects and events when you snap a picture of them, and provides you with appropriate filters and borders for your images when you scroll through editing options. At launch, recognizable objects include concerts, beaches, pets, sports, and food.
Snapchat's image recognition is meant to be used when you are taking pictures of real objects and animals, but it also appears to work for more generic images found on the internet. A Snapchat spokesperson told MacRumors that image processing takes place locally on your iPhone, and the company will continuously improve the feature with better accuracy and quality of the recommendations as more people use it.
The update is launching ahead of Snapchat's imminent redesign, which CEO Evan Spiegel has stated will be a direct response to users who claim the app is difficult to understand. In an earnings letter shared earlier in November, Spiegel said that "our team has been working on responding to this feedback," and the redesign has been hinted at including algorithmic feeds in the Stories section of the app.
When affected users type the word "it" into a text field, the keyboard first shows "I.T" as a QuickType suggestion. After tapping the space key, the word "it" automatically changes to "I.T" without actually tapping the predictive suggestion.
MacRumors reader Tim shared a video that appears to indicate the issue can cause the word "is" to be autocorrected to "I.S" as well.
Many users claim the apparent autocorrect bug persists even after rebooting the device and performing other basic troubleshooting.
A temporary workaround is to tap Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement and enter "it" as both the phrase and shortcut, but some users insist this solution does not solve the problem.
A less ideal workaround is to toggle off auto-correction and/or predictive suggestions completely under Settings > General > Keyboard.
This similar "it" to "I.T" issue does not appear to be fixed in iOS 11.1.1 and later. It's unclear if a future software update will be required to address the problem, which MacRumors hasn't been able to reproduce. Apple did not respond to multiple requests for comment about this particular issue.
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with IFROGZ to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win the IFROGZ Impulse Wireless Headphones.
The Impulse Wireless Headphones, priced at $60, are on-ear headphones that are designed to provide immersive, balanced sound with 40mm drivers.
The IFROGZ headphones are Bluetooth-equipped and work with all of Apple's latest devices, and there are on-device buttons for turning the volume up, changing the track, and playing and pausing. If you don't want to use Bluetooth, there's also a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a built-in mic allows for calls.
IFROGZ uses AeroFoam padding on the earpads of the Impulse headphones for both comfort and passive noise isolation. Over Bluetooth, the headphones will last for 12 hours before needing to be recharged, with up to 58 hours of standby time.
When not in use, the Impulse Wireless Headphones collapse down for easier portability, so you can take them anywhere.
We have eight of the IFROGZ Impulse Headphones to give away. 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, 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 (November 27) at 9:45 a.m. Pacific Time through 9:45 a.m. Pacific Time on December 4. The winners will be chosen randomly on December 4 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.
Google today updated its collection of productivity apps for iOS with support for the iPhone X, so now anyone who uses Google Docs [Direct Link], Google Sheets [Direct Link], and Google Slides [Direct Link] on Apple's newest smartphone will see full compatibility for the iPhone X's 5.8-inch screen.
Additionally, the same update has introduced drag-and-drop support for all three apps on compatible iPads. This way, users can easily drag and drop content from other apps right into Docs, Sheets, and Slides using multitasking on iPad. The release notes for each app's version 1.2017.46204 update reads as follows:
- iOS 11 and iPhone X support - In iOS 11, easily drag and drop content from other apps into Slides - Bug fixes and performance improvements
While Google has now introduced iPhone X support into its productivity apps, it still has yet to roll out compatibility for the iPhone X's screen size with some of its more popular apps, including Google Maps and Gmail. Many other apps were ready with iPhone X updates prior to the smartphone's launch on November 3, and the list is now growing as more developers update their apps following the iPhone X's debut.
The store is located in the new 300 Ashland building in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, with an official address of 123 Flatbush Avenue. The grand opening will occur Saturday, December 2 at 10:00 a.m. local time.
The store will be Apple's second in Brooklyn alongside its Williamsburg location opened in July 2016. It will also be Apple's 11th store in New York City, with seven locations in Manhattan, one in Queens, and one on Staten Island.
The store is situated near the LIRR's Atlantic Terminal and Barclays Center, home to the NBA's Brooklyn Nets and the NHL's New York Islanders.
Apple has also announced that its store in the Shibuya neighborhood of Tokyo has temporarily closed for renovations. Apple recommends customers visit its nearby Omotesando store during the modernization process.
In related news, Japanese blog Mac Otakara claims that Apple is planning to open a store in Kyoto, Japan by 2019, and possibly two other stores in Tokyo in time for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in the city.
Apple Downtown Brooklyn is the company's 499th retail store location around the world if the new Visitors Center at Apple Park is included.
Just as Black Friday sales have ended, many retailers have now shifted to Cyber Monday deals on a range of Apple products.
Apple authorized reseller B&H Photo Video, for instance, is offering some sizeable discounts on select 2016 MacBook Pro models.
B&H offers free shipping and doesn't charge sales tax upfront on orders shipped outside of the states of New York and New Jersey.
The largest discount is $1,000 off a high-end 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar in Space Gray. The configured-to-order model is nearly maxed out, with a 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, and AMD Radeon Pro 460 graphics.
The sale price of $2,499, down from Apple's original price of $3,499 last year, is by far the lowest price we've ever seen for this particular model.
B&H is slashing $900 off a mid-range 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar in Silver. The model is equipped with a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, and AMD Radeon Pro 455 graphics. This deal is a flash sale, so supplies are limited and will likely sell out quickly.
The sale price of $1,899, down from Apple's original price of $2,799 last year, is the best deal we've ever seen for this particular model.
The base model 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar can be had for $1,799 in Space Gray, which is $600 lower than Apple's original price of $2,399 last year. The model is equipped with a 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD storage, and AMD Radeon Pro 450 graphics.
B&H offered a better deal of $800 off the base 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro in Silver on Black Friday, but supplies quickly sold out, and $600 off is still among the best deals we've ever seen for this particular model.
While newer 2017 MacBook Pro models with Kaby Lake processors were released in May, the performance improvements driven by the small bump in base and turbo frequencies are relatively minor. For that reason, most customers will find these impressive deals on 2016 models worth considering.
For customers who prefer the latest and greatest MacBook Pro, eBay is offering $270 off a mid-range 2017 model with a 3.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD storage, and Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650. The sale price is $1,529.99, down from $1,799 on Apple.com. Supplies are limited.
Apple authorized reseller Adorama is offering $250 off a higher-end 2017 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar in Space Gray. The custom configuration, now $2,249, is equipped with a 3.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, and Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650.
For additional deals on Apple products and accessories, including other MacBook Pro models, check out our Cyber Monday roundup.
Disclaimer: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with B&H Photo Video, eBay, and Adorama and may receive a small commission if you click one of the above links and make a purchase.
With Black Friday sales wrapping up over the weekend, those still searching for quality discounts on Apple products and accessories have another chance today during Cyber Monday. Essentially all of the same retailers that offered Black Friday deals have launched -- or will soon launch -- Cyber Monday sales, and although the focus of the event is shopping from home, some retailers are also honoring the deals at their brick-and-mortar locations.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Best Buy
Best Buy's Cyber Monday discounts began with early access yesterday for My Best Buy members, and now the deals have expanded to everyone. The retailer is offering free shipping on nearly everything, and a few deals will be extending throughout the week for its "Cyber Week Deals" event.
Amazon's selection of sales is focused on its own line of Alexa products, but it does have a few HomeKit-enabled devices and other accessories Apple fans might be interested in. Head to Amazon's Cyber Monday headquarters to keep an eye on the deals, which will also include more than 30 Deals of the Day and thousands of Lightning Deals across numerous product categories over the course of Monday.
A few of Amazon's sales are listed below, and the full list is available in the company's Cyber Monday press release.
B&H Photo has opened up discounts on a wide range of Apple products for Cyber Monday, as well as highlighted ongoing notable sales like its $1,000 discount on the Late 2013 Mac Pro. B&H also has some of the biggest Cyber Monday discounts on Macs today, including $1,000 off a high-end 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. Check out some of the best deals in the list below and head to B&H to browse the rest.
Adorama's Cyber Monday deals include some of the latest MacBook Pro and iPad Pro models, the late 2015 27-inch iMac, and a few other sales on drones, printers, scanners, and more.
Popular Apple accessory maker Twelve South has begun its Cyber Monday deals with MacBook and iMac accessories on sale for up to 50 percent off until tonight at 11:59 p.m. ET. In total, 17 products are on sale today, which you can find in the list below. For more information on Twelve South's "Cyber Mac Monday" deals, head over to the company's website.
T-Mobile has an offer for new customers considering a move to its cellular plans. If you buy a 32GB 9.7-inch iPad with a T-Mobile ONE plan, then activate a T-Mobile ONE voice line on a new or existing cell phone (which you can carry over from a different carrier and keep your number), you'll get a full rebate for the iPad. The rebate will come in the form of a $460 Prepaid MasterCard Card, which will arrive in the mail within six to eight weeks.
eBay
eBay has a few sales today on select products in its tech storefront, including some notable markdowns on MacBook Air and iMac. There are plenty of other offers to check out for eBay's Cyber Monday sale, with deeper discounts hitting refurbished or used items, so be sure to check out the site for more information.
- Walmart: Save $200 on iPad mini 4, $30 on 9.7-inch iPad, and $50 on iPad Pro - Gazelle: Up to 40 percent off select pre-owned iPads, iPhones, and MacBooks. - Pad & Quill: 15 percent off sitewide; customers can get an extra 5 percent off with promo code PQ5 - Incase: Up to 50 percent off select accessories - Speck: Up to 40 percent off select accessories - Zagg: 30 to 50 percent off sitewide - Griffin: 40 percent off sitewide - OtterBox: 25 percent off select accessories - Incipio: 50 percent off sitewide - Native Union: 30 to 80 percent off sitewide - OWC: shop a collection of deals on iPad Air, Thunderbolt docks, Beats by Dre, and more - Lifx: save on the company's HomeKit-compatible smart bulbs - Withings: Up to 50 percent off select scales, watches, air quality monitors, and more - Amazon: $100 iTunes gift card for $85 using promo code ITUNES15 at checkout - BlackPods: $40 off all BlackPods orders with promo code CYBERMONDAY17, and everyone can get a free protective silicone case
We'll update this article throughout the day as new Cyber Monday sales are spotted, so be sure to check back often.
A cabinet minister of the government of India has given the clearest signal yet that the republic is ready to help Apple expand its iPhone manufacturing base in the country and consider its requests for concessions.
Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu was quoted on Sunday by the India Economic Times as saying the state was "very happy" to help Apple in its aims, provided the company makes a formal proposal.
"Let us get a good proposal from them...We will be very happy to receive Apple, one of the top brands in the world. We are willing to find out if there is any difficulty they may face. We will be more than happy to resolve that difficulty. So we will await a formal proposal," Prabhu told PTI in an interview.
Prabhu also reportedly said he was open to calling all state chief ministers who are willing to give Apple the best deal.
The comments come at an important time for Apple as it seeks to expand its manufacturing base in the country. The company has asked state officials for a range of tax and policy changes to help build out its iPhone assembly infrastructure in India, including duty exemptions on components, capital equipment, and consumables for all iPhone assembly and services/repairs for a period of 15 years.
Apple also wants the Indian government to relax rules that require 30 percent of products sold by foreign companies to be manufactured or produced within the country.
iPhone SE handsets have been assembled in India since May by Apple's Taiwanese supplier Wistron, which has reportedly been scouting for additional land in Bangalore to expand its existing facilities. Additionally, a report last week claimed the tentatively named iPhone SE 2 will be assembled exclusively by Wistron at its factories in India.
India recently overtook the U.S. to become the world's second largest smartphone market after China, according to market research conducted by industry analyst Canalys. However, Apple has so far struggled to make a significant dent, mainly because the government levies tariffs on devices manufactured outside the country, but also due to Chinese rivals such as Oppo and Xiaomi offering consumers more affordable high-spec smartphones.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Earlier this month, YouTube came in for heavy criticism after multiple users of its mobile app reported plummeting battery life on their iPhones and iPads. iPhone X users in particular said the YouTube app caused their device to run much hotter than usual when watching videos. YouTube admitted there was a battery-draining bug that it was working to fix, and today the service claims to have done just that.
Version 12.45 of the app was pushed out to users this morning with the accompanying note "Fixed an issue with battery usage". We haven't had enough time with the app to confirm the issue is indeed fixed across all devices, but initial tests on an iPhone X running iOS 11.1.1 seem to support YouTube's claims.
Some users had complained that YouTube was sucking the life out of their phones even while it was running in the background, although it's unclear if that was limited to when users were casting video to a smart TV. Let us know how you get on with the updated YouTube app in the comments below.
Feral Interactive released racing game GRID Autosport for iPhone and iPad today, an iOS version of Codemasters' smash hit triple-A title that looks every bit as impressive as its PC and console counterparts.
The pro-racing game aims to deliver a mix of simulation and arcade handling using intuitive touch and tilt controls, and includes all the original DLC, 28 circuits and over 100 cars. Players can further their racing career by exploring six different disciplines:
Tuner – Drive your Super Modified motor over its limit in Drift and Time Attack events.
Touring – Lead the pack by driving with aggression and determination in full-contact races.
Endurance – Test your mental strength and physical stamina in extended night-time races.
Open Wheel – Accelerate to 200mph while perfecting your racing line in lightweight racing machines.
Street – Ramp up the fear factor on perilously tight city circuits.
Party Mode – Battle to become the last car standing in Demolition Derby, get the farthest in Checkpoint, and make sure you stay out of last place in Eliminator!
A quick race is all it takes to confirm GRID Autosport's exceptional graphics and nippy performance. However, drivers should take note that the console-quality assets do make GRID pretty demanding – the game requires an iPhone SE, an iPhone 7 or newer, an iPad (2017) or any iPad Pro, and iOS 11 or later.
As noted on MacRumors sister site TouchArcade, the sheer graphical richness of GRID has also led Feral to implement an unusual post-install process – the game itself is a 4GB download on the App Store, but several gigabytes of additional content and high resolution textures are delivered as free IAPs, bringing the storage space requirements to around 6GB.
If you're still not sure whether your device can handle the game, here's a full rundown: supported iPads include iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch, iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 9.7-inch and iPad (2017) 9.7-inch. Supported iPhones include iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 7, and iPhone SE.
As mentioned, players will need 6GB of free space to install the base game with all of the free DLC packs, although Feral recommends having at least 8GB of free space to avoid installation issues.
WhatsApp received an update on Tuesday introducing a couple of notable feature additions, namely, a more convenient way to record long voice messages, and a picture-in-picture mode for viewing YouTube videos.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Just as Black Friday sales have ended, many retailers have now shifted to Cyber Monday deals on a range of Apple products.
