MacRumors

Announced earlier in February, Pioneer's Rayz Plus Lightning earphones allow Apple users to simultaneously listen to music or make a phone call while also charging their iPhone, thanks to the inclusion of an inline charging node. Today, the company announced a new feature called "Smart Mute" coming to the earphones as well as two new Rayz Plus colors launching exclusively on Apple.com and in Apple retail stores.

Rayz Plus and the basic Rayz earphones (the latter do not include an inline Lightning port) are both getting the new Smart Mute ability, which automatically mutes the microphone when a user is not speaking and unmutes it when they begin talking. Pioneer said that this will be perfect for any Rayz wearers who often find themselves taking calls on the earphones in noisy environments.

The update will be available through the Rayz app on the iOS App Store [Direct Link]. Pioneer worked with Avnera Corporation in developing Smart Mute, and Avnera CEO Manpreet Khaira said that it is "one of several smart technologies" being developed by the company.

"Rayz appcessories were launched with a commitment to deliver new compelling experiences for our customers through future software updates using the Rayz companion iOS app" said Munenori Otsuki, CEO of Pioneer and Onkyo Corporation. "In keeping with this commitment, we are pleased to announce Smart Mute today, a feature that will enable truly compelling call experiences."

Customers are also now able to buy Rayz Plus earphones in new Black and Rose Gold color options only on Apple.com and in Apple retail locations around the world. Currently, the Rayz earphones are available in Onyx Black and Ice White, while the Rayz Plus are available in Graphite and Bronze.

Existing features of the Rayz and Rayz Plus earphones include AutoPause technology so music starts and stops automatically when the buds are placed in or removed from the user's ear, HearThru noise cancelling, Smart Button controls, and dynamic audio adjustment via the iOS app.

The pricing on the earphones remains unchanged, with the Rayz available for $99.95 and the Rayz Plus available for $149.95. Those interested can purchase Rayz Plus in Black and Rose Gold exclusively on Apple.com beginning today.

Apple began publicly selling its Pride Edition Woven Nylon band for Apple Watch during WWDC week earlier in June, one year after it handed out a similar band to its employees at Pride events in San Francisco.

During its first few weeks up on Apple.com, the company made no mention as to whether any portion of the profits made off of the band would go towards LGBTQ organizations, but a new change made to the band's webpage has confirmed that Apple will be helping out such advocacy groups with profits made from the rainbow-emblazoned Pride band.

As spotted by Redditor N-Code, the new Product Information section of the Pride Woven Nylon band confirms that a portion of proceeds from its sales in the United States will help benefit LGBTQ groups including GLSEN, The Trevor Project, the Human Rights Campaign, and PFLAG. Internationally, ILGA will see the same donations. A new banner referencing the donation support was also added to the main Apple Watch page on Apple.com.

The changes were made yesterday, with the Wayback Machine internet archive providing a point of comparison dating back to this past Saturday, June 17.

Apple's full statement on the Pride band donations reads as follows:

Apple is proud to support LGBTQ advocacy organizations working to bring about positive change, including GLSEN, the Human Rights Campaign, PFLAG and The Trevor Project in the U.S. and ILGA internationally. A portion of the proceeds from Pride Edition band sales will benefit their important efforts.

Apple runs similar donation initiatives with many of its product lines, most popularly being (PRODUCT)RED. Apple devices sold with that banner have a portion of their proceeds donated to the Global Fund to help raise awareness and fight HIV/AIDS. Last year marked Apple's tenth year anniversary in supporting (PRODUCT)RED'S causes.

At the time, Apple CEO Tim Cook commented on the company's support of causes such as (PRODUCT)RED and pro-LGBTQ organizations, addressing critics who believe his and Apple's public stances are made to endear millennial customers into buying products in the Apple ecosystem, among other criticisms. In response Cook said, "We haven't shied away from being visible on a number of topics, and if it's something in our wheelhouse, we'll always be visible and stand up to protect as well as advance people's rights."

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.

Twitter-owned live video streaming platform Periscope received an update on Wednesday that introduces a new feature enabling broadcasters to earn revenue for the first time.

Since Periscope's inception, viewers have embraced the "like" or "heart" function as a way to show their appreciation for broadcasts while they're streaming, but until now there's been no means for users to reward broadcasters monetarily.

However, as of this week, viewers can now purchase "Super Hearts" and reward live broadcasters, who can then cash out the value of the virtual goods at the end of each month. The hearts are similar to "cheering", the paid reward in rival Amazon broadcast platform Twitch.

Any user of Periscope can buy and send Super Hearts during live streams, but not for replays. Hearts are purchased within the app using newly introduced virtual currency, Periscope Coins, which range in price from 99 cents for 1,050 to 132,650 for $100.

Super Hearts come in three types with increasing price, in order to enable viewers to reward broadcasters with larger amounts in one go and appear higher up in the live chat stream. Broadcasters who gain Super Hearts will see them as stars in their profile, and to cash them out they have to enroll in Periscope's new "Super Broadcasters" program, which requires filling out an application and tax form.

Periscope is a free download for iPad and iPhone available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

British chip maker Imagination Technologies, which lost 70 percent of its value following a dispute with Apple, has put itself up for sale, it was reported on Thursday (via Reuters).

Apple informed Imagination in April that it plans to stop using the company's PowerVR graphics technology over the next two years as it begins using its own in-house chips for products like the iPhone and iPad. The news came as a blow to the firm whose contract with Apple accounts for half its revenue.

"Imagination Technologies announces that over the last few weeks it has received interest from a number of parties for a potential acquisition of the whole group," it said.

"The board of Imagination has therefore decided to initiate a formal sale process for the group and is engaged in preliminary discussions with potential bidders."

When Apple announced it was ending its supply deal with Imagination the British firm's shares plunged 70 percent. Imagination said at the time that it doubted Apple could go it alone without violating patents, intellectual property, and confidential information.

In May the group said it had started a "dispute resolution procedure" with the American tech giant. The company said it was also selling MIPS and Ensigma – two of its three major businesses – in an attempt to shore up cash, allowing for a renewed focus on its PowerVR graphics technology. Imagination said on Thursday that it had received proposals for both businesses.

Apple has been a licensee and stakeholder in the company since at least 2008, and became a key investor in mid-2009 after raising its stake in the firm to 10 percent. Apple was reportedly in "advanced talks" to acquire Imagination Tech late last year after the British chip maker announced job cuts.

Despite confirming the talks, Apple later decided not to make a buyout offer, and instead recruited several Imagination employees as part of its efforts to build an in-house graphics team.

Apple's first retail store in Taiwan will open on Saturday, July 1 at 11:00 a.m., according to Apple's Taiwanese website, which the company has been updating with new details on the store since it was announced.

To celebrate the store's opening, paper-cutting artist Yang Shih-yi will showcase a huge and intricate tree cutout designed to welcome people into the store and highlight a tree as a gathering place theme. The same design currently decorates the boarding protecting the store from sight as construction finishes.

Customers can begin signing up for Genius Bar repair appointments and Today at Apple classes starting today.

Apple has opened a total of 495 retail stores across 17 countries, including 270 in the United States since May of 2001. The Taiwan location will mark Apple's 496th retail location.

Apple is said to be aiming to reduce the share of revenue record labels get from streaming music as it works to establish new deals for Apple Music and iTunes, reports Bloomberg.

Apple is reportedly pursuing lower rates as part of an effort to revise its "overall relationship" with the music industry. Apple's current deals with record labels expire at the end of June, but Bloomberg's sources say they will be extended if a new agreement can't be reached.

Apple currently pays out some of the highest royalty rates with record labels receiving 58 percent of revenue from Apple Music subscribers, but it wants a deal closer to what Spotify recently negotiated. Spotify pays 52 percent of revenue from subscribers, down from an earlier rate of 55 percent.

Spotify's new rate is contingent on subscriber growth, and music labels are said to be open to negotiating a similar deal with Apple. Record labels also want assurances from Apple that iTunes will be promoted in countries like Germany and Japan, where most music is still purchased rather than streamed.

The growth of Apple Music hasn't been as detrimental to iTunes as labels had feared. But record labels are still asking for precautions. Labels have asked Apple to commit to promoting iTunes, and music in general, in countries where streaming isn't as prevalent.

Since its 2015 introduction, Apple Music has seen steady growth, which may give Apple an upper hand when negotiating new deals with labels. As of June 2017, Apple Music has 27 million paying subscribers, up from 20 million in December of 2016.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 4 update to developers, a little over two weeks after its introduction at the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the watchOS 4 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software update.

To install the update, the Apple Watch must have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the iPhone.

Gymkit, a new technology platform, will let the Apple Watch interface with gym equipment for workout data sharing purposes, and the Activity app will offer up intelligent coaching and tailored workout encouragement along with new monthly activity challenges.

watchOS 4 is only available to developers and will not be provided to public beta testers, so non-developers will need to wait until the software is officially released in the fall to try it out.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 11 update for the fourth-generation Apple TV, a little over two weeks after seeding the first beta following the keynote of the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Registered developers can download tvOS 11 by connecting the Apple TV to a computer with a USB-C cable and installing the beta software using iTunes.

tvOS 11 received little attention at the Worldwide Developers Conference, but according to the release notes, it introduces a few new features to the operating system.

tvOS 11 brings automatic switching between light/dark mode based on local time, Home screen syncing options that keep multiple Apple TVs in a household in sync, new background modes and notification support, Focus API improvements, custom sound support, network-based pairing and development support, and improvements to Mobile Device Management.

Later this year, Apple will partner with Amazon to bring an Amazon Prime Video app to the Apple TV for the first time, and in tvOS 11, AirPods are able to pair automatically with an Apple TV.

The new tvOS 11 update is only available for registered developers at the current point in time, but Apple plans to release a public tvOS 11 beta in the future.

Snapchat for iOS was today updated with a new "Snap Map" feature that's designed to let Snapchat users share their current location with their friends, facilitating real-life meet ups.

With the new Snap Map, all of your friends with location sharing enabled will show up on an in-app map with either photos or "Actionmoji" avatars marking each friend location. For those who do not want to share their location, Snapchat is including a "Ghost Mode." Location is only updated when Snapchat is open, so it's not tracking in the background.

We've built a whole new way to explore the world! See what's happening, find your friends, and get inspired to go on an adventure!

It's easy to get started -- just pinch to zoom out and view the Map! You decide if you want to share your location with friends, or simply keep it to yourself with Ghost Mode.

If your friends are sharing their location with you, their Actionmoji will appear on the Map. Actionmojis only update when you open Snapchat.

Snap Map in Snapchat is available on iOS and Android devices starting today. Snapchat for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Virgin Mobile USA is moving to an iPhone-only business model beginning June 27, and to entice customers to switch it's offering an entire year's worth of unlimited talk, text, and data for $1.

Called the "Inner Circle," the unlimited plan is available until July 31, and only to customers who purchase a new iPhone and transfer their phone number to an Inner Circle plan. After their first year on the plan, users will switch over to the normal $50/month price tag.

There’s iPhone. And then there’s everything else. At Virgin Mobile, we’re teaming with Apple to offer you nothing but the world’s most popular phone. Because life in the Inner Circle is about living big, expanding your horizons and pursuing your passions. And it starts with an iPhone you’ll adore. Pre-order your iPhone now, or head to an Apple Retail Store on June 27th to be one of the first members of the Virgin Mobile Inner Circle!

Currently, Virgin Mobile offers a variety of iPhones in all storage capacities, including the iPhone SE (32GB for $279.00), iPhone 7 (64GB for $749.99), iPhone 7 Plus (256GB for $969.99), and others. The iPhones are up for pre-order on the Inner Circle plan today, and will ship on June 27, with the plan going into effect upon the iPhone's activation.

The unlimited Inner Circle plan does have restrictions related to data throttling, becoming "deprioritized" in some areas after exceeding a certain data cap, and even risking service termination after specific amounts of off-network roaming are reached. Per the fine print on Virgin Mobile's website:

- Plans are domestic only and include unlimited data, talk, text, 800 domestic voice roaming minutes and 100MB domestic data roaming.

- Customers who use more than 23GB of data during billing cycle will be deprioritized during times and places where the network is constrained.

- To improve data experience for the majority of users, throughput may be limited, varied or reduced on the network. Virgin Mobile may terminate service if off-network roaming use in a month exceeds: (1) 800 mins or a majority of mins.; or (2) 100MB or a majority of KB.

For an additional $5/month users can gain unlimited calls to Mexico and Canada, and unlimited worldwide texting. A $10/month bundle includes everything in the $5/month tier with unlimited calls to landlines in 70+ countries, 200 minutes to "select mobiles" in 200+ countries, and reduced per-minute rates to over 200 locations. A full list of countries and details on the international plans can be found here.

Check out Virgin Mobile's website for information about iPhone protection plans, member benefits, and more.