MacRumors

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with ElevationLab to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win one of the company's new DraftTable accessories that's designed to work with the iPad Pro.

Priced at $99.95, the DraftTable is meant to serve as a stable, sturdy stand to be used with the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil for drawing, sketching, writing, game playing, movie watching, and more. It works with both the smaller 9.7-inch iPad Pro and the much larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro. While designed for the iPad Pro, it also works with older iPads in every size, down to the iPad mini.

DraftTable positions the iPad Pro more ergonomically to meet each user's needs. Its spring-loaded hinge can be adjusted to several different angles, and as the name suggests, it's ideal for use with iPad Pro drawing apps like Astropad as a replacement for a Wacom tablet, and it pairs well with an iPad tethered to a Mac.

DraftTable is made from a fiber reinforced polymer and laser cut steel for strength, and the iPad platform is constructed from a soft medical-grade silicone, so the iPad won't slip off the stand while in use.

ElevationLab's DraftTable has been specifically created for stability, so it's not going to move around, shake, or fall when writing or drawing. Because it folds down into a thin form factor for storage purposes, the DraftTable can be taken anywhere.

An included arm rest keeps the palm off of the iPad's screen when using it with the Apple Pencil, and it makes working for several hours at a time more comfortable, plus a silicone PencilStand gives you a place to keep your Apple Pencil so it never gets lost.

We have three DraftTables to give away to MacRumors readers. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner and send the prize. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older 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 (March 17) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on March 24. The winners will be chosen randomly on March 24 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.

Last week, Apple added an indie games section to the App Store to promote the huge range of games made by smaller developers. As it turns out, the indie games section is a permanent addition to the App Store, and will be available indefinitely to help users discover new titles to play.

As of this week, the indie games section includes sections like "Our 25 favorite indie games," "Indie game debuts," and "Newly discovered indies."

There's also a list of popular indie titles on sale for $0.99, including Road Not Taken, VVVVVV, Surgeon Simulator, Bicolor, Sorcery 3, The Room Two, Prune, Botanicula, and more.

Indie adventure title Oxenfree has been named the editor's choice indie app of the week, and it is available for $3.99 (20 percent off) to celebrate its launch.

Also free this week is popular indie platformer Bean's Quest, which has been named Apple's App of the Week. It will be available for download at no cost until next Thursday. [Direct Link]

The addition of a dedicated indie games storefront in the App Store should make it easier for indie developers, who often struggle to compete with major game companies with unlimited funds, to have their games recognized and discovered by customers.

Indonesian carrier Smartfren has announced it will begin accepting iPhone 7 pre-orders on Friday, March 24. Pricing has not been disclosed, but customers can sign up on Smartfren's website to receive more information. In-store sales at select authorized resellers will begin on Friday, March 31.

While the iPhone 7 has been available in many other countries since September, the Indonesian government recently enacted a policy that requires 4G-capable smartphones to have at least 30 percent "local content," which can be hardware, software, or in this case, a commitment to invest in the country.

Apple satisfied the requirements of that policy when it committed around $44 million towards research and development in Indonesia over three years, which will include building an iOS App Development Center in the country. Apple received a "local content certification," allowing it to sell iPhones throughout Indonesia.

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were the last smartphones that Apple officially sold in Indonesia, according to local website Coconuts Jakarta.

Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world, with an estimated population of over 260 million people.

Philips today announced that its connected smart bulb lighting system, Philips Hue, is getting a new addition in the form of the E14 candle light bulb. Customers will be able to buy the new bulb in both color and white ambience versions in the U.S. later this year, and in Europe in April. The common candle bulb will fit a wide array of household lighting fixtures, and Philips said this means that Hue "can now be used in over 80% of light sockets commonly used in households around the world."

“The candle has been one of the most requested products by Philips Hue customers. We’ve spent time ensuring it is of the highest quality and available in both white ambiance and white and color ambiance. It is an important next step to ensure seamless integration in all rooms, giving you the freedom to personalize lighting throughout your home,” says Sridhar Kumaraswamy, Business Leader Connected Home Systems at Philips Lighting.

Otherwise, the candle light bulb will function the same as previous Hue products, connecting to the company's smartphone app through the Philips Hue Bridge accessory and allowing users to customize lighting colors, set schedules and geo-fences, and turn the lights on and off. According to Philips, candle light bulbs are mainly used in decorative lamps made for the bedroom, and with the white ambience bulb's dimming features users can get a better night's sleep and wake up more energized.

The new accessory is a 40W equivalent bulb with 470 lumens of brightness and will be priced around $40 for a single bulb when it launches in the U.S. later in 2017. Philips didn't mention if it would debut a Hue Starter Kit with the new candle light bulbs, but if it does the package would likely cost the same as current starter kits, which currently run between $70 and $200, depending on the type and amount of bulbs included.

Last year Google launched an app called Motion Stills that fixed a lot of issues that users had -- and still have -- with Apple's new Live Photos feature introduced in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. With the new update, Motion Stills now lets users customize the displayed frame that appears automatically in the camera roll of the iOS Photos app.

The intent is to display more clearly what the Live Photo image is composed of, particularly when the frame displaying the content is taken from a blurry or unclear segment of the Live Photo. Now, users can cycle through any frame from a Live Photo in Motion Stills, choose a new image, and export it back out to the iOS Photos app with the new frame. This exporting process keeps the Live Photo in Apple's custom 3D touch looping format and not the GIF format of Motion Stills.

As The Verge pointed out, there is a catch in the basic function of Live Photos that could result in a customized frame appearing lower-resolution in the Photos app.

There is a catch. For space reasons, Live Photos only save the primary frame in full 12-megapixel clarity, with the other frames handled as lower-resolution video; choosing one of these frames will therefore result in a photo with less detail than the original. But since the vast majority of Live Photo viewing probably happens on phones, this may not be a major issue for you.

Other than the new frame feature, Motion Stills as a whole lets users turn Live Photos into easily shareable GIFs. The app also uses Google's video stabilization technology to smooth out jittery images and freeze backgrounds, giving an overall improvement on Apple's basic Live Photos. Motion Stills can be downloaded for free from the iOS App Store. [Direct Link]

Swatch is developing its own operating system for an all-new smartwatch intended to compete directly with Apple Watch and Android Wear, according to company CEO Nick Hayek (via Bloomberg). The new smartwatch will be an addition to the Tissot brand, a subsidiary of The Swatch Group, and is set to launch towards the end of 2018.

With its debut so far out, details remain scarce on both the watch itself and the Swatch-made user interface, but Hayek mentioned that the technology will require less battery power and will "protect data better." According to Hayek, the company's strategy will give Swatch the chance to become a worthy competitor to Apple and Samsung wearables because of its focus on a beefy battery which wouldn't require users to charge the watch every day, or every other day, like Apple Watch.

Swatch’s approach will work better because it’s trying to “think small” as one of the biggest problem for wearable devices is battery drainage, Hayek said, speaking at the Biel, Switzerland headquarters of Omega, another of 18 brands that Swatch produces.

“There’s a possibility for wearables to develop as a consumer product, but you have to miniaturize and have an independent operating system,” the CEO said.

Luca Solca, an analyst who follows the luxury watch industry, pointed out that Swatch's own-made OS could be the company's first mistake. “People use smartwatches expecting to use the same apps they have on their mobiles," Solca explained. "A proprietary operating system defeats the object.” Swatch said it is willing to give its OS to third parties for the creation of apps, and about half of the parties interested originate from small companies in Silicon Valley who "don’t want to be dependent on Android and iOS."

The Tissot brand is set to launch its first smartwatch (seen in the image above), called the Tissot Smart Touch. The watch was announced a year ago and was set to launch in 2016, but it never appeared for users to order. When it does, Smart Touch will be a solar-powered wearable able to connect to iOS and Android smartphones, and include abilities like leading users to lost keys.

The Smart Touch will also include accessories like a standalone weather station that connects to the wearable and offers "hyper local weather information" like temperature, humidity, and air quality. With a debut so far out, it's unclear whether Swatch's new smartwatch will include any of the Smart Touch's features, or even what it might look like.

Although some smart wearable companies, like Fitbit, are facing troubled waters in the market, Apple Watch has become a "magnificent success" for Apple thanks to a boost in holiday sales in 2016. If the Swatch smartwatch debuts in late 2018, it would likely enter the market as a competitor to the Apple Watch Series 4.

Right now, rumors are understandably focused on the 2017 Apple Watch Series 3, with some suggesting the line's first major form factor change, and others theorizing that the wearable will see yet another iterative update this year with feature additions including cellular connectivity and the expected under-the-hood performance enhancements.

Netflix announced yesterday that it will replace star-based user reviews in its content library with binary thumbs up and thumbs down ratings over the coming weeks.

Previous star ratings given by users will be used to personalize their Netflix profiles, but the ability to rate a TV series or movie by awarding stars is set to disappear altogether, according to Variety.

Netflix VP of Product Todd Yellin told journalists on Thursday during a press briefing at the company’s headquarters in Los Gatos, Calif., that the company had tested the new thumbs up and down ratings with hundred of thousands of members in 2016. "We are addicted to the methodology of A/B testing," Yellin said. The result was that thumbs got 200% more ratings than the traditional star-rating feature.

According to Netflix, at one point subscribers had awarded over 10 billion 5-star ratings and more than half of all members had rated more than 50 titles. However, the company eventually concluded that star ratings had become less relevant, with some users giving documentaries 5 stars and silly movies just 3 stars, even though they would watch the silly movies more often than the highly rated documentaries.

"We made ratings less important because the implicit signal of your behavior is more important," Yellin told journalists.

In addition to the binary rating scheme, Netflix is also bringing a new percent-match feature to its interface that shows how good a match any given show or movie is for an individual subscriber. If a movie or TV show fits very closely with a user's taste, it may get a high percentage match, although shows with less than a 50 percent match won't show a match rating.

Netflix said the changes will roll out globally within the next month or so.

ColorWare today introduced a customized iPhone 7 Plus Retro Edition that resembles the appearance of a vintage 1980s-era Macintosh for $1,899. It is a SIM-Free model with 256GB of storage, which normally retails for $969 in the United States. Orders are currently estimated to ship in 2-3 weeks.

The design includes a multicolored Apple rainbow logo and dark beige edge stripes painted over what is originally a Black colored iPhone 7 Plus. ColorWare said the iPhone 7 Plus Retro Edition will be available for a limited time only, and the first 25 sold will include a number of authenticity.

Details about the customization process:

At ColorWare, the product goes through a labor intensive process of disassembly, cleaning, masking, painting and inspection. Then, the product is buffed and reassembled. The product goes through final inspection and is packaged into the original packaging.

iPhone 7 Plus Retro Edition includes EarPods, a Lightning to USB Cable, a USB Power Adapter, and documentation in the box.

Amazon today announced that it will introduce its Siri competitor, Amazon Alexa, directly into the company's iOS app over the course of the next week (via VentureBeat). With the addition of Alexa, users will now be able to ask questions about the status of their orders, use their voice to initiate searches, play music, and start audio books from Audible.

Alexa's powers go beyond Amazon's shopping features -- users will also be able to use the voice assistant to search current news stories, check the weather, and even control smart home products. This means that iOS users who don't own any Amazon hardware can now gain access to Alexa's growing list of skills, which let users easily link multiple services together for quick voice control interactions.

Some users will begin seeing the Alexa update in Amazon's iOS app [Direct Link] starting today, but the rollout is expected to reach everyone on iOS by next week.

Headphone jack controversies aside, Apple's cord-free AirPods have contributed to a recent surge of interest in "truly wireless" earphones, with several companies vying for a piece of the market.

Denmark-based audio outfit Jabra has embraced the freedom-of-movement appeal of wireless buds more than most with its Elite Sport headphones ($250), which it calls "the most technically advanced true wireless sports earbuds" around. Boasting a number of features such as in-ear coaching and heart-rate tracking, they're an intriguing prospect for fitness-focused headphone users frustrated by flailing cords.

While Jabra claims the Elite Sport buds improve your workouts while providing great sound, $250 is a lot to pay for a wireless headset. We checked out a pair to see if they deliver on their promises.

➜ Click here to read more...

The iMessage App Store turned six months old this week, and the app analysts at Sensor Tower have decided to see where Apple's miniature app store stands among users and developers following an initial launch rush last year. According to Sensor Tower, more than 5,000 apps have either added iMessage features, or launched exclusively on the text message-based App Store.

Unfortunately, while the growth is noticeable -- and on par with the original App Store in 2008 -- it has begun subsiding on a month-to-month basis, with Sensor Tower noting it is "seeing signs that the initial rush of excitement over iMessage apps is fading among developers." From September to October the number of iMessage-enabled apps grew 116 percent, from 400 to 1,100. By the end of November, the iMessage App Store had grown 108 percent to include around 2,250 apps.

Things began slowing down in December where growth was marked at 65 percent, with 3,700 iMessage apps stocking the App Store worldwide. As 2017 began, the iMessage App Store hit its slowest growth period yet: it saw an 18 percent increase from December to January, and a 9 percent increase from January to February.

Sensor Tower points to confusion over the iMessage App Store's UI and app discovery that could be leading to an overall lack of user interactivity with the apps, and subsequently resulting in developers' fading interest. The analysts still look forward to the iMessage App Store's "real test" of growth down the line as iOS 11 approaches later in the year.

Any new platform will see an initial surge in offerings due to the aforementioned excitement, rallying cries from the platform holder, and the associated rush by developers to ensure that they’re capitalizing on (what they hope will be) the next big thing. The real test for the iMessage App Store’s catalog will be how its growth looks for the rest of its first year.

Still, consumer platforms such as Apple’s latest are driven by the steady availability of compelling software, and the cadence of releases can say a lot about developer confidence—which, in turn, is reflective of what and how much users are consuming.

Games are the most popular of the iMessage apps, and the category includes regular apps that create iMessage versions with sticker compatibility without any specific gaming features. Following games are Entertainment, Utilities, Social Networking, and Photo & Video apps.

In a bid to bring more awareness to iMessage apps -- and stickers specifically -- Apple this week launched a new ad to promote the wide array of stickers that users can download and share within Messages. The live action commercial featured people running around and sticking colorful, animated stickers, including some from Disney and Family Guy, on everything from other people to food.