Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced in March of 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.
Safari Technology Preview release 39a is a followup to Safari Technology Preview 39, which was released earlier this week but suffered from a crashing issue on launch on macOS High Sierra. The new update includes the same features with fixes and improvements for Beacon API, Directory Upload, Fetch API, Input Events, JavaScript, WebAssembly, WebRTC, Web Inspector, and Media.
With Safari 11 now available to developers through the macOS High Sierra beta, Apple is providing two versions of Safari Technology Preview, one for macOS Sierra users and one for those using macOS High Sierra.
Apple's aim with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.
Western Digital recently introduced its newest SanDisk-branded backup product for iOS devices, the SanDisk iXpand Base, which combines nightly charging with backing up to make for an easy and intuitive way to protect your data.
The idea is to put the iXpand Base on your nightstand, plug it into the wall, and then plug your iPhone into the Lightning port at night. This charges the iPhone and allows it to transfer your photos, videos, and contacts to the Base for the purpose of backing up.
Design
The iXpand Base is a palm-sized tapered surface that's designed to serve as a sort of platform on which to rest your iPhone while it charges at night. The bottom of the base is made from aluminum, while the top is covered in a soft, textured rubber material that keeps the iPhone securely on its surface.
At the back, there's an SD card slot that houses an SD card where your backups are stored and there's a microUSB cable that is attached to a plug that provides power to the Base.
Spotify users on the service's Web Player have noticed that they can no longer listen to music in Apple's Safari browser, taking to Spotify's Community web page to discuss the incompatibility between Safari and Spotify's Web Player (via Mac Generation).
In a post published about the topic yesterday by user riegelstamm, it was pointed out that Spotify's system requirements page listed Safari 6 or higher as a supported browser for the Web Player. As of today, that same page has been updated and any mention of Safari has been removed, now only including Chrome 45+, Firefox 47+, Edge 14+, and Opera 32+.
When users visit the Spotify Web Player on Safari, they receive the message, "This browser doesn't support Spotify Web Player. Switch browsers or download Spotify for your desktop."
The same poster contacted Spotify customer support, which responded with a confirmation of Safari's removal from the Web Player's supported browser list.
"After taking a look backstage, we can confirm that after recent updates Safari is no longer a supported browser for Web Player. We're always testing things by adding or removing features to make Spotify better overall. We’re sorry that this means you’re not able to use the Web Player like you could before. We can't say if or when any specific features will be back. But as soon as we’ve got anything to announce, we’ll let everyone know via the Spotify Community. Sorry again for any inconvenience caused, and please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you.
Best wishes, Rollie Spotify Customer Support"
Riegelstamm further dug into the details of the Web Player, discovering that the discontinuing of Safari support might have something to do with Google's Widevine media optimizer plugin, which Spotify requires for music streaming on the web and Apple opposes due to potential security issues.
Instead, Spotify encourages users to download the compatible Mac app, or switch over to a supported browser. Although the lack of Safari support in the Web Player might be temporary, Spotify customer support told users that it "can't say if or when any specific features will be back."
Leading up to Apple's September 12 media event, the exact price tag of the upcoming iPhone 8 has been one of the biggest question marks surrounding the smartphone. The latest rumors describe a premium device that will start at $999 (64GB) in the United States, then rise to $1,099 (256GB), and cap at $1,199 (512GB), although of course none of these price points or storage configurations have been confirmed.
Recently, a team of Barclays analysts including Mark Moskowitz have theorized one potential solution for the device's premium price tag: Apple could debut an iPhone 8 bundle that packs in a year's worth of Apple Music and a 200GB iCloud subscription into the cost of the smartphone (via Business Insider). In the U.S., one year of Apple Music costs around $120 at $10/month (although Apple sells gift cards that knock the annual price down to $100/year), while a 200GB monthly iCloud subscription runs at $2.99/month, equating to around $36 each year.
Taken from the cost of the alleged "cheapest" iPhone 8 at $1,000, users would actually be paying about $844 for the smartphone and $156 for the bundled services, which the Barclays analysts said would be "more palatable." Barclays' prediction is based on a survey of wireless service customers (see results chart below), which found that Apple "might" sell around 40.3 million standalone iPhone 8 devices, but with the Apple Music/iCloud bundle that statistic could jump to 64.4 million iPhone 8 units sold.
"Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz and his team think they have figured that out. Apple will offer free subscriptions to Apple Music and 200GB of iCloud storage for one year, a deal worth $156, to anyone who buys iPhone 8. That will bring the perceived cost of the phone back down to a more palatable $844.
While a bundle like this would be a logical move by Apple, locking iPhone 8 customers into the company's ever-growing services ecosystem, Barclays' report is just a prediction and has not yet been corroborated by any other sources as a potential launch plan. In the past, Barclays has gotten close at reporting the facts about unreleased products, but has missed some details. In November 2016, Barclays Research analysts predicted three new iPads would come in March 2017, including refreshed 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch versions and an all-new bezel-free 10.9-inch model.
In a separate report today by DigiTimes, Taiwanese supply chain sources have corroborated many of the current rumors surrounding the iPhone 8's pre-order date and price range. Taiwan is said to be "included in the first group of markets" where the iPhone 8, iPhone 7s, and iPhone 7s Plus will be made available for pre-order, with customers in Taiwan reportedly able to place their pre-order on September 15, the sources said. This date makes sense when looking back at the past five years of iPhone launch history.
Like previous reports, DigiTimes cites iPhone 8 prices at $999, $1,099, and $1,199 levels, with storage capacities of 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB, respectively. Samsung's monopoly of the OLED supply chain has been rumored as the explanation behind these high iPhone 8 prices. As is typical with new iPhones, the iPhone 8's launch is expected to be riddled with shortages and shipping delays, and could even ship sometime after the LCD iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s models.
Fortunately, we're only four days away from Apple's September 12 event, where the company will reveal more information about the iPhone 8, iPhone 7s, iPhone 7s Plus, 4K Apple TV, Apple Watch Series 3, and more.
Apple is facing an uphill struggle in its attempts to wean Chinese smartphone users off cheaper rival devices in a saturated mobile market, according to a new Bloomberg report.
With Apple gearing up to sell its most ambitious but most expensive iPhone yet, local competitors like Huawei, Oppo, and Xiaomi are already poised to compete by launching their own less expensive feature-packed devices around Apple's September 12 "iPhone 8" launch date.
Unofficial "iPhone 8" poster spotted in Chinese store (via Slashleaks)
While it sticks to a global template that's served it well, local vendors have become adept at technology design while tailoring phones to local tastes, such as with dual SIM capability. In a show of confidence, Huawei Technologies Co., Xiaomi Corp. and likely Vivo -- far from front-running or avoiding the iPhone the way movie studios juggle summer tentpoles -- are tackling the U.S. company head-on by timing new products around the publicity avalanche sure to engulf Apple’s Sept. 12 launch.
"The challenge comes from Vivo, Oppo and Huawei, they can replace Apple in high-end markets priced around $500, even as Apple remains dominant in the ultra high-end $600 plus segment," said Kiranjeet Kaur, an analyst with industry consultancy IDC. "We don't expect big growth as China's market is now very saturated. The biggest demand for the new iPhone will come from the replacement market."
Part of the problem is that many of the features Apple will debut in its so-called "iPhone 8", such as a full-screen display and wireless charging, are already available in some form to consumers in China, albeit at a much lower price point. Adding to the difficulty is that local vendors have become more skilled at efficient smartphone design and are particularly adept at tailoring smartphones to local preferences.
On the software side, the ubiquitous WeChat app has been described as the iPhone's "toughest rival" in the country. The app offers users an entire ecosystem where they can pay for services, text, call cabs, watch videos, play mobile games, and access cloud-based "mini programs", or apps that don't need to be downloaded to a device to be used. WeChat is said to have captured nearly 35 percent of each user's monthly smartphone usage time, averaging about 1 billion monthly active users in total.
Combined, these market factors make it increasingly difficult for Apple to prise away users from rival devices and platforms, which doesn't bode well in a market which the company has historically struggled to penetrate.
To counter these obstacles, Apple has previewed new features coming in iOS 11 that specifically cater to Chinese customers, such as QR code scanning with the native camera app, a keyboard that makes Chinese characters easier to input, and a new mapping app that shows traffic camera locations.
But with supply of new iPhones expected to be tight in the upcoming months, Apple's Chinese rivals may be seeing their best chance yet to lure buyers away with features aimed at local users, such as dual SIM devices that support multiple phone numbers, high capacity memory and storage, and advanced selfie cameras.
Apple and the iPhone have taken fourth place in China, behind Oppo, Vivo, and Huawei, according to market research firm Warren Captial, while in April Kantar Worldpanel's data noted that iOS dropped to its lowest share of the China smartphone market since 2014.
Canalys estimates Apple's Chinese smartphone shipments will grow by just 1.4 percent to 22.5 million units in the second half of 2017. Meanwhile, the upcoming OLED iPhone's rumored $1,000-plus price tag may end up pushing iOS fans toward local alternatives, "because even well-heeled buyers are price-sensitive", said Jia Mo, an analyst from Canalys.
Update: In a lengthy post last week, Neil Cybart at Above Avalon came to a different conclusion, arguing that consolidation in the Chinese smartphone market has seen top vendors increase their shares more at the expense of smaller Android vendors than Apple.
Cybart believes Apple's pricing premium in China means the company operates largely in a separate market from other manufacturers, and following the combination of expansion to China Mobile and the launch of the larger-screen iPhone 6 in 2014, it has been "much harder for Apple to find pockets of premium users in China ready to buy their first iPhone."
Fitbit has announced a new partnership with glucose monitoring device company Dexcom that is set to bring diabetes monitoring capabilities to the fitness tracker company's new Ionic smartwatch.
The deal initially means Ionic users will be able to connect a Dexcom device to the Fitbit app and seamlessly transfer up-to-date glucose level data to the smartwatch, making the information more easily accessible on their wrist.
"The collaboration between Dexcom and Fitbit is an important step in providing useful information to people with diabetes that is both convenient and discreet," said Kevin Sayer, President and CEO, Dexcom. "We believe that providing Dexcom CGM data on Fitbit Ionic, and making that experience available to users of both Android and iOS devices, will have a positive impact on the way people manage their diabetes."
There's nothing in the partnership to suggest the Ionic smartwatch will be able to give continuous glucose monitoring readouts on its own when it's released next month – current continuous glucose monitoring systems require a small sensor that's worn under the skin to monitor glucose levels – but Fitbit shares jumped 13 percent on the news, a high for the company since January, when it laid off some of its employees and announced its smartwatch plans.
Dexcom also has a deal with Apple to bring its features to the Apple Watch this year, while owners of Dexcom monitors can already view their glucose data on an Apple Watch – advanced devices by Dexcom include a transmitter, which can display glucose information directly to an iPhone app.
Apple is thought to be working on a non-invasive real-time glucose monitor for a future version of Apple Watch. In April, a CNBC report suggested Apple had a team of biomedical engineers working to develop sensors for non-invasively monitoring blood glucose, with work on the sensors far enough along that the company had started conducting feasibility trials.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was reportedly spotted in May testing a prototype glucose monitor that's connected to his Apple Watch. Cook, who is said to be aiming to understand how his blood sugar is affected by food and exercise, has been seen wearing the device around the Apple Campus.
Spotify has announced its first live music event in the U.K., just days after Apple axed its own annual London music festival (via The Verge).
Called "Who We Be", the event is scheduled to take place at London's Alexandra Palace on November 30 and will have a rap and grime theme, with a line-up featuring the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Bugzy Malone, Cardi B, Giggs, J Has, and Stefflon Don.
The festival gets its name from Spotify's curated Who We Be playlist, which has a 140,000-strong following. Subscribers to the playlist can take advantage of a pre-sale ticker offer that starts on Saturday 9, while general ticket sales begin on Monday 11. Tickets can be ordered from Spotify's event website.
Apple's Music Festival had a decade-long run before it was confirmed that the company had decided to bring the tradition to an end. The free annual concert's performances had been broadcast live and on-demand through Apple Music since 2015. Apple provided no reason for ending the annual festival nor any indication that it will return anytime soon.
The iPhone offers a high-quality camera that Apple improves with every iteration, and the photos and videos that it takes have been used for fashion runways, feature films, and other professional applications.
TIME Magazine is the latest publication to exclusively use the iPhone's camera for a photo shoot, with its new "Firsts: Women Who Are Changing The World" series, which features iPhone images captured by Brazilian photographer Luisa Dörr.
Over the course of the last year, Dörr has used an iPhone 5, iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 7 to capture photos of notable and accomplished women like Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Melinda Gates, Sylvia Earle, Alice Waters, Mae Jemison, Cindy Sherman, and more.
In a TIME interview, Dörr says she uses an iPhone because it offers great pictures anytime, anywhere, and it because "feels less intrusive" to the subject when the photo is captured with an iPhone instead of a standard camera. Dörr's images are unique because she uses only natural light and sometimes a reflector to capture women who are often photographed with more lighting and production equipment.
I like the simplicity of how these pictures are made. But the best part is that as a photographer, you feel extremely light and free. It is almost as if I can make pictures with my hand. There's no noise, gadgets, tools or plugs--just the subject and myself.
I was always trying to imagine these portraits as paintings. I'm fascinated by the landscapes and topographies from women's faces, their stories and context. I'm interested in the way life and time is writing on all of them--not just with physical marks but also with more spiritual traces.
Dörr says the women she photographed were "surprised" to be the subject of a photoshoot with an iPhone and no other equipment, and that oftentimes, she did her work in just minutes. The shortest shoot was two minutes and the longest shoot lasted 20 minutes.
Each portrait was captured using the regular iPhone camera with the square format, and automatic HDR was turned on for more lighting detail in the photographs.
Dörr's full interview can be read over at TIME, as can an accompanying piece on how TIME Director of Photography Kira Pollack discovered Dörr and recruited her to work on the project.
Apple's upcoming OLED iPhone 8 will not ship out alongside the standard LCD-equipped iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus, reports TechCrunch, citing "trusted sources."
The high-end iPhone 8 will instead "ship out at a later time," but TechCrunch says it is unclear how long it will be between the availability of the two more affordable models and the iPhone 8.
Apple is planning its iPhone-centric event for Tuesday, September 12, and rumors have suggested the company will start accepting device pre-orders on Friday, September 15, with the first of the new iPhones becoming available on Friday, September 22.
If TechCrunch's information is correct, it's possible Apple will allow people to submit orders for the iPhone 8, but those orders may not ship out until sometime later in the year. Presumably, the iPhone 7s and the iPhone 7s Plus will ship out as planned in September.
Just this morning, The Wall Street Journal said iPhone 8 manufacturing issues could lead to extended supply shortages and shipping delays. Due to problems creating the OLED displays for the device and difficulties integrating Touch ID under the display (a plan that was later abandoned) Apple is said to be approximately about a month behind on its manufacturing timetable.
We have been hearing persistent rumors about serious iPhone 8 supply constraints for months. While it's true that supply issues plague every new iPhone release, especially when it comes to the most popular models, warnings of supply problems have been notably more prominent this year.
Trusted KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said the iPhone 8 will see "severe" supply shortages following its release and that it could take into the early months of 2018 for Apple to reach supply/demand balance, while a July report from Japanese site Mac Otakara said Apple may not start shipping the device to consumers until October or early November.
Each week, Apple chooses an "App of the Week" to highlight in the App Store, making it free to download for seven days. This week's pick is a fitness app called Streaks Workout, which is normally priced at $2.99.
Streaks Workout was first launched in December of 2015 and has never before been free to download.
Described as a "personal trainer that you actually want to use," Streaks Workout is designed to offer up exercises that require no equipment and can be done anywhere. As described by Apple's App Store editors:
Sometimes we get so intimidated by complex exercise plans that we just give up and seek solace in the snack cupboard. Streaks Workout, like its to-do list sibling, eases us in by breaking down workouts into fun, easy-to-tackle chunks. In as little as six minutes--or more if we're feeling ambitious--we've done our daily exercise and charted our progress. Why didn't anyone tell us it could be this simple?
The app features 18 exercises to choose from and four different workout lengths (6, 12, 18, and 30 minutes). There's a built-in timer, exercise demonstrations, and statistics that can be tracked over time. All workouts are also uploaded to Apple's Health app.
Streaks Workout is available for the iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, and Apple TV.
Streaks Workout can be downloaded for free for the next seven days, and after that, a new App of the Week will be chosen. [Direct Link]
Apple's iCloud Mail servers seem to be experiencing some downtime, with multiple reports on Twitter suggesting the service is unavailable for a number of users.
iCloud Mail issues appear to have started just before 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time, which is around when we here at MacRumors first noticed problems with our own accounts.
Affected users are seeing pop up alerts when attempting to access their iCloud Mail messages. Some alerts are blank, while others let users know there was a problem loading Mail.
At this time, Apple's System Status page is not reporting any outages. It's not clear how many people are experiencing problems with Mail, but not everyone is affected.
In iOS 11, Apple's AI-based personal assistant Siri has a much more natural voice that goes a long way towards making Siri sound human like. Siri speaks with a faster, smoother cadence with elongated syllables and pitch variation, a noticeable departure from the more machine like sound in iOS 10.
The team behind Siri, including Siri senior director Alex Acero, has worked for years to improve the way Siri speaks, according to a new interview Acero did alongside Apple VP of marketing Greg Joswiak with Wired. While Siri's voice recognition capabilities were powered by a third-party company early on in Siri's life, Acero's team took over Siri development a few years back, leading to several improvements to the personal assistant since then.
Siri is powered by deep learning and AI, technology that has much improved her speech recognition capabilities. According to Wired, Siri's raw voice recognition capabilities are now able to correctly identify 95 percent of users' speech, on par with rivals like Alexa and Cortana.
Apple is still working to overcome negative perceptions about Siri, and blames many of the early issues on the aforementioned third-party partnership.
"It was like running a race and, you know, somebody else was holding us back," says Greg Joswiak, Apple's VP of product marketing. Joswiak says Apple always had big plans for Siri, "this idea of an assistant you could talk to on your phone, and have it do these things for you in a more easy way," but the tech just wasn't good enough. "You know, garbage in, garbage out," he says.
Joswiak says Apple's aim from the beginning has been to make Siri a "get-s**t-done" machine. "We didn't engineer this thing to be Trivial Pursuit!" he told Wired. Apple wants Siri to serve as an automated friend that can help people do more.
One unique Siri attribute is its ability to work in multiple languages. Siri supports English, French, Dutch, Mandarin, Cantonese, Finnish, Hebrew, Malay, Arabic, Italian, and Spanish, and more, including dialect variants (like English in the UK and Australia) and accents. The Siri team combines pre-existing databases of local speech with local voice talent and on-device dictation, transcribing and dissecting the content to find all of the individual sounds in a given language and all of the ways those sounds are pronounced.
In areas where Apple offers spoken dictation but no Siri support, it's gathering data for future Siri support, and in places where Siri is already available, spoken interactions between user and device (gathered anonymously) are used to improve algorithms and train the company's neural network.
Creating the right voice for Siri in a given language hinges on the proper voice talent, and Apple uses an "epic search" with hundreds of people to find someone who sounds helpful, friendly, spunky, and happy without overdoing it. Once the right person is found, Apple records them for weeks at a time to create the right sound. So far, Apple has repeated this process for all 21 languages Siri supports.
Ultimately, Acero and his Siri team are aiming to make Siri sound more like a trusted person than a robot, creating an attachment to the AI that will "make Siri great" even when Siri fails to answer a query properly. Apple also wants to make people more aware of what Siri can and can't do and that it exists in the first place, which is why iOS 11 includes Siri-centric features like cross-device syncing and a better understanding of user interests and preferences.
Wired's full piece, which goes into much more detail on how Siri recognizes various aspects of speech and how Apple chooses voice talent can be read over on the site.
Apple is one step closer to achieving supply/demand balance for its AirPods, and the highly desired earphones are now shipping out from the online Apple Store in just one to two weeks in the United States, Canada, UK, Australia, and several other countries around the world.
According to Apple's website in the United States, AirPods ordered today will be delivered between September 21 and September 28, the best estimates we've seen since the AirPods became available for purchase.
AirPods have been in short supply since launch. For many weeks, AirPods shipping estimates were at six weeks, but stock improved enough in early August that shipping estimates dropped to four weeks. Later in the month, estimates improved to two to three weeks before hitting one to two weeks today.
At this rate, Apple will be close to achieving an adequate supply later this month or at the beginning of October.
During Apple's third quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple had boosted AirPods production capacity and was "working very hard" to get AirPods to customers as quickly as possible.
Though AirPods have been hard to come by from the online Apple Store, Apple retail stores have occasionally received stock and third-party retailers like Best Buy and various carrier stores have been able to offer AirPods with faster shipping on a regular basis.
Priced at $159, Apple's wire-free AirPods have been incredibly popular thanks to features like long battery life, a simple charge case, infrared sensors to detect when they're in the ear, touch-based gestures, and the W1 chip that improves Bluetooth connection and facilitates quick transfers between different devices.
Elevation Lab made a name for itself with the ultra popular Elevation Dock, which was introduced in 2012 through a Kickstarter project that brought in over a million dollars.
Today, Elevation Lab is unveiling its newest dock, the ElevationDock 4, an amalgamation of everything the company has learned about docks over the course of the last five years.
ElevationDock 4 features a compact design that's meant to take up minimal space on a desk. Adjustment knobs allow it to fit an iPhone and a case that's up to 3.5mm thick, and it's designed to work one-handed, a feature few other docks can offer.
It has an 18° back angle with a +/-4° adjustment so the tilt can be changed for an ideal setup on a desk or nightstand, and the Lightning connector is designed to flex only under high torque to keep the iPhone stable and upright.
The dock is Made for iPhone certified and comes with a built-in Lightning cable. Construction wise, it features stainless steel adjustment knobs and a medical grade silicone overmolded body. It's available in Matte White with a 5-ft braided blue cord or Matte Black with a 5-ft dark braided cord.
Because of its study construction and stable base, the ElevationDock 4 is compatible with both the iPhone and the iPad. It will work with iPads as large as the 10.5-inch iPad Pro.
Apple's upcoming OLED "iPhone 8" with an edge-to-edge display and facial recognition faced multiple production issues early in the manufacturing process, which is likely to result in "extended supply shortfalls and shipping delays," reports The Wall Street Journal.
The production problems have led to a setback of "about a month" in Apple's manufacturing timetable, but Apple supplier Foxconn is ramping up development and working to hire new employees.
Today's report is nothing we haven't heard before. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said for months that he expects the iPhone 8 will be hard to come by until early 2018, and we've heard several rumors pointing towards problems with the display lamination process and other high-tech components like the 3D sensor embedded at the front of the device. The Wall Street Journal points to OLED assembly as a major reason for the delays.
Apple and its suppliers also ran into trouble manufacturing the OLED displays. The display modules are being produced in Vietnam by an affiliate of Samsung Electronics. Unlike the OLED display module in Samsung's own smartphones, in which the display and touch panel are integrated, iPhone's display module has the touch panel outside of the display, according to a person familiar with the technology.
The iPhone manufacturing process requires more steps and more layers of adhesive and protective film than are involved in Samsung's manufacturing process, the person familiar with the process said, creating a greater risk of manufacturing error.
Apple also wanted to add Touch ID to the display of the new device, but it "proved difficult," leading Apple to abandon the fingerprint sensor and lose valuable time as deadlines loomed.
While we hear rumors of supply shortages each and every year, it's worth noting that this year's rumors are both more concrete and more dire. If Kuo's predictions are correct, many of us hoping to get our hands on a new device could be waiting for weeks or months as Apple works to ramp up production.
Extended shortages may also impact Apple's holiday sales period, which is often the company's strongest, but because there's also a new iPhone 7s and 7s Plus on the horizon, it's difficult to determine the effect extended iPhone 8 shortages might have on the company's Q4 bottom line.
Customers hoping to get an iPhone 8 as soon as possible will want to pre-order the device right when it goes on sale. It's not entirely clear yet if the iPhone 8 will be available shortly after being introduced on September 12 or if the supply issues will lead Apple to delay shipments beyond September.
In early August, Disney revealed that it plans to pull all of its movies from Netflix and launch its own streaming service in 2019. Users were understandably curious as to which Disney-owned brands that might include, particularly once Disney CEO Bob Iger referenced the company's interest in potentially branching off Marvel and Star Wars into their own, separate streaming services.
Today, Iger cleared up any confusion by confirming Marvel and Star Wars films will be available on the upcoming Disney-branded streaming app (via Deadline). Current films in these franchises on Netflix -- like Doctor Strange and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story -- will be removed from Netflix and arrive on the Disney platform when it launches in 2019. It's still unclear at what point between now and 2019 Disney will begin removing these films from Netflix.
Last month Reuters reported that Netflix was in "active discussions" with Disney to keep Marvel and Star Wars films on the popular streaming platform, but it appears those talks have now fallen through.
Films from Marvel and Star Wars that now go to Netflix will move to Disney’s planned ad-free direct-to-consumer streaming service, CEO Bob Iger said today at an investor gathering.
“We’re going to launch big, and we’re going to launch hot” by late 2019, he told the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2017 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference.
The outcome for Marvel and Star Wars TV shows was not specified, but Iger said that the Disney streaming app "will have the entire output of the studio — animation, live action and Disney including Pixar, Star Wars and all of the Marvel films,” potentially including television content. Right now, users can watch Marvel and Star Wars TV shows on Netflix including Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Last month Iger confirmed that Disney "has no plans" to remove any of the Netflix-owned and created Marvel series from the service, including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher. These original Netflix shows were formed under a separate deal from the one created in 2012, meaning they'll continue to be Netflix original shows for the forseeable future. Iger said Disney is even potentially willing to license even more Marvel characters for future shows.
On the Disney branded side of things, the app will include four or five "mostly live action" original movies, as well as four or five original Disney TV shows. Besides the new content, the service will of course also house the company's back catalogue, spanning nearly 500 films, 7,000 episodes of television, and "thousands" of short films. Neither Disney nor Iger has mentioned the subscription cost for the service yet, but the CEO said a price will be coming "in the months ahead."
ARKit demos have been popular over the summer, showcasing the features that iOS 11 users will gain on their iPhones once the new software update rolls out worldwide later in September. Today we've rounded up some of the latest tech demos of the software development kit, which you can check out below.
In the first ARKit demo, augmented reality and user experience designer Jelmer Verhoog has created an app that lets users design and customize a Tesla Model 3 car. This extends to the wheels, paint, and interior of the vehicle, and even includes driving controls. While Verhoog's demo is focused on the Model 3, it's easy to imagine other carmakers using Apple's ARKit to help customers when they're on the hunt for a new vehicle.
The next demo, by Zach Lieberman, shows off an interesting use of augmented reality and ARKit -- it allows users to record audio through the app, which is then visually represented by waveforms in an AR space. To play back the audio, users can physically move through it, with the ability to listen to the recorded audio both forwards and backwards. Check out the video below with audio to see Lieberman's demo in action.
An app called "Neon" was showcased recently, and it allows friends to find one another in the midst of overcrowded festivals. The app's Twitter page says it'll be out "this fall," and it appears to use its own social network to add close friends, find them through their own iPhones, and present their location to users as augmented reality chevrons that are easy to track down.
After Pebble was acquired by Fitbit late last year, Pebble said that its hardware devices would continue to function as normal for at least another year, with any future support for its services heading into 2018 unclear. Today, Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky has revealed his next project, and it's a Kickstarter for a case aimed at the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus that also charges AirPods, called "PodCase" (via Engadget).
The Kickstarter page describes the case as a "slim case" for carrying and charging both the iPhone and AirPods, thanks to a 2500 mAh battery. That'll provide up to one full charge for the iPhone 7 (with a 1,960 mAh battery), although not quite enough for a full charge of the iPhone 7 Plus (with a 2,900 mAh battery). That's also equivalent to "up to 40 AirPod charges," according to the PodCase's crowdfunding page.
Keeping track of your AirPod charging case is a chore. It’s one more gadget to misplace, one more item to remember when you run out the door, and one more lump of plastic in your pocket. Drop it into your bag or purse and you might as well call search and rescue! Storing your AirPods with your phone seemed only natural to us.
Charging an extra device every night is a pain. No one likes a mess of cables on their night stand, and remembering to charge your AirPods during the day isn't a great solution either. You plug your phone in every night anyway--why not charge your AirPods and your iPhone together? That's exactly what PodCase does.
The case itself is charged through USB-C, so those with the newest MacBook models will be able to fuel up PodCase through their existing chargers. A design for the iPhone 8 is said to be coming soon, but the company is waiting for the September 12 Apple event to confirm the accessory's design.
PodCase will retail for $99, but early bird Kickstarter backers will be able to buy the accessory for $79. The PodCase team also includes Avegant co-founder Allan Evans and Pebble industrial designer Steve Johns. Check out the PodCase Kickstarter page here for more information on the accessory, including a video introduction by Migicovsky.
The Kickstarter's goal is $300,015 in 30 days, and the PodCase's shipping date is estimated for February 2018.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more.
Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced in March of 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.
In iOS 11, Apple's AI-based personal assistant Siri has a much more natural voice that goes a long way towards making Siri sound human like. Siri speaks with a faster, smoother cadence with elongated syllables and pitch variation, a noticeable departure from the more machine like sound in iOS 10.
