MacRumors

Apple's AirPods are now making their way into the hands of the first round of customers who ordered the wireless headphones last Tuesday, and more tidbits of information about the device have been shared online as users play around with Apple's newest product.

Apple Watch Features

One Apple Watch wearer noticed that when a call comes in through the wearable, there's a custom AirPods button when the headphones are connected and playing music. The AirPods button replaces the usual green answer button, simply designating that the call will be relayed through the AirPods and not through the Apple Watch speaker.

Users of Apple's wearable can also swipe up from their watch face, tap battery percentage in control center, and check on their AirPods' battery levels from the Watch. Otherwise, the AirPods' battery levels can be checked in the iPhone's battery widget.

Durability Test

As is the case with most new Apple devices, durability tests are also underway, and YouTube channel EverythingApplePro this week shared one of the first major real-world drop and water tests with the AirPods. In the video, the headphones are put through basic drop tests from waist and ear height, and then to upwards of ten feet. Scuffs and marks hit the charging case hardest, but the AirPods themselves made it through largely unscathed thanks to their lightweight build. Most importantly, both the AirPods and the charging case continued to work normally after each drop.

Water tests were also conducted on the AirPods, including a washing and drying cycle that confirmed the headphones and the case will survive and function as expected even after accidentally including them in a load of laundry. The channel's ultimate stress test was five minute submersion under one foot of water. Even with those extreme conditions, the AirPods synced up with the iPhone immediately after submersion, and both headphones were "working perfectly."

Resale Prices

Naturally, with so many people looking to gift the AirPods to family and friends for Christmas, resale prices are rising on eBay. Most auctions are sitting around the $250 mark with hours left to go, and guaranteed shipping by Christmas, but some Buy it Now prices are set at upwards of $350 and $500. Prices will only continue to inflate as Christmas grows closer and shipping costs rise to overnight packages.

Availability and Tracking

Certain retailers like Best Buy in the United States and Carphone Warehouse in the United Kingdom have restocked AirPods throughout the week, but Apple's online website now has an estimated delivery in mid-February for most countries. Anyone who wants to keep as up to date as possible on AirPods availability can use iStockNow's tracking map to see where the headphones are currently available.

Users are likely to glimpse a map filled with red pins indicating no stock available, but we’ve seen occasional green pins show up throughout the morning. You’ll have to be fast though, as they sell out very quickly.

The European Union's highest court has ruled that the "general and indiscriminate retention" of electronic communications by governments is illegal, in a direct challenge to the U.K.'s recently passed Investigatory Powers Act, the so-called "Snooper's Charter" (via The Guardian).

The U.K. bill requires that internet service providers retain a record of all websites visited by citizens for 12 months at a time, but today's decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg ruled that the collection of data in such a manner puts citizens under "constant surveillance" and enables governments to draw "very precise conclusions" about their private lives.

The interference by national legislation that provides for the retention of traffic data and location data with that right must therefore be considered to be particularly serious. The fact that the data is retained without the users of electronic communications services being informed of the fact is likely to cause the persons concerned to feel that their private lives are the subject of constant surveillance. Consequently, only the objective of fighting serious crime is capable of justifying such interference.

It's unclear at this point whether the ruling can be used to overturn the United Kingdom's surveillance laws. The U.K.'s Home Office has said it will appeal the ruling, which could eventually prove academic once the country has withdrawn from the E.U. and the ECJ loses judicial authority over the U.K.

Martha Spurrier, director of the human rights group Liberty, said the ruling "upholds the rights of ordinary British people not to have their personal lives spied on without good reason or an independent warrant."

The government must now make urgent changes to the Investigatory Powers Act to comply with this. This is the first serious post-referendum test for our government's commitment to protecting human rights and the rule of law. The UK may have voted to leave the EU – but we didn't vote to abandon our rights and freedoms."

Apple has long opposed the U.K.'s Investigatory Powers bill, which originally required companies to build anti-encryption backdoors into their software, before an amendment to the wording meant that companies aren't required to do so when a government agency requests it, unless taking such an action "is technically feasible and not unduly expensive". The exact definition of those terms are set to be left to the decision-making of a British judge on a case-by-case basis.

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.

Popular iOS game Super Mario Run set a new download record yesterday, following its release last week on Thursday, December 15. According to app analyst Sensor Tower, the game hit 25 million downloads in just four days, which is faster than Pokémon Go, which took 11 days to reach the same number, although that game's initial launch was limited in terms of available territories.

SensorTower's current estimate puts paid users at approximately 2.1 million worldwide. By comparison, the paid game Lara Croft Go, launched in August 2015, has been downloaded approximately 280,000 times worldwide on the App Store since release.

"It can't be understated, however, that the vast majority of early Super Mario Run downloaders clearly find the full game pricing prohibitive, and we can only image how much better the conversion rate could be at $2.99 or even $4.99," said SensorTower in a blog post.

Nintendo investors have so far expressed disappointment with Super Mario Run, causing share prices in the company to lose 11 percent since its release. The declines stem from negative user reviews of the game on the iOS App Store, where it is currently rated 2.5 stars out of 5 based on 4,919 reviews. This has led to concerns over the game's one-time payment model, which eschews the typical model of paying various small amounts for select in-game features.

"Mario is arguably the most popular gaming franchise in the world, yet we see only about 8 percent of those who try the game actually purchasing it," Sensor Tower analyst Spencer Gabriel told Reuters.

"I don't think this is a statement on the game's quality ... but rather the perceived value when compared to free-to-play games that offer much more content with optional microtransactions that enable players to experience it sooner."

In spite of reports that Nintendo won't be adding extra features to Super Mario Run, the company today rolled out an update to its first iOS title that adds a new gameplay mode allowing users to compete with friends without paying any Rally Tickets.

Dubbed "Friendly Run", the new mode can be played up to three times daily for gamers who paid $10 for the full content and have cleared World 1, while those who have cleared World 2 get five Friendly Runs per day. Players of the trial version can also get in on the action as long as they have some friends added in the game, but the mode can only be played once a day until the in-app purchase is made.

As noted by MacRumors sister site TouchArcade, with no coins being earned and no Toads or enemy level-ups up for grabs, the new mode is essentially just a practice mode, but it does offer a new way to compete with friends, which should add longevity to the game.

Super Mario Run is available to download for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [Direct Link]

Update: Nintendo has since released official download figures for Super Mario Run and claims that 40 million people have downloaded the free version of the game in just four days.

There has been some confusion as to whether the LG UltraFine 5K Display works with older Macs, but a new support document published today answers that question and makes it clear exactly which Macs can be used with the display and at what resolution.

At its full 5120 x 2880 resolution, the LG 5K display can only be used with Apple's latest 2016 MacBooks, which have Thunderbolt 3 support. That includes the 15-inch MacBook Pro, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, and the 13-inch MacBook Pro with no Touch Bar.

Using an Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter and a Thunderbolt cable, the LG 5K Display can be used at 4K resolution with older iMac, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini models. A full list is below:

3840 x 2160 at 60Hz
- Mac Pro (Late 2013)
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) and later
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2014) and later
- iMac (Retina, 27-inch, Late 2014) and later
- iMac (Retina, 21.5-inch, Late 2015)
- iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2015)
- MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015)
- MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2015)

3200 x 1800 at 60Hz
- Mac mini (Late 2014)

For the Mac mini and the Mac Pro, Apple recommends using the LG UltraFine 5K display as a second monitor as it might not turn on until the machines are booted into macOS. Features like Boot Picker and macOS Recovery may not work on the display when used with those machines.

Power delivery features are only available for Macs equipped with Thunderbolt 3, which means only the three newest MacBook Pro models will be able to charge through the display. Power is not delivered when connecting the display to a Mac using the Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, so on older Macs, a separate power supply will need to be used.

Apple started selling the LG 5K UltraFine Display this morning. While the first orders placed offered shipping estimates of three to five days, supplies were quickly exhausted. Orders placed now will ship out in two to four weeks.

Apple today updated its online store for refurbished products, introducing refurbished Apple Watch models for the first time since the Apple Watch was released in the spring of 2015.

The Apple Watch refurbished section includes both Apple Watch Series 1 and Series 2 models at 14 to 16 percent off depending on configuration. No original Apple Watch models are included.

Both aluminum and stainless steel Apple Watch models are included, in 38 and 42mm size options. All Apple Watches listed in the store feature Sport bands in a variety of colors.

Aluminum Apple Watch models start at $229 for the 38mm version ($40 off), while 38mm stainless steel Apple Watch models start at $469 ($80 off).

Refurbished stock varies on a day-by-day basis according to the models that Apple has on hand, and supplies can potentially go quickly. Refurbished stock is refreshed on a regular basis, however.

All of Apple's refurbished Apple Watch models include magnetic charging cables and a full one-year warranty, just like non-refurbished products. Series 2 models ship with a power adapter, while Series 1 models do not.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.3 update to developers, one week after seeding the first 10.12.3 beta and a week after releasing macOS Sierra 10.12.2, the second update to the macOS Sierra operating system.

The second macOS Sierra 10.12.3 is available for download through the Apple Developer Center or through the software update mechanism in the Mac App Store.

According to Apple's release notes, the 10.12.3 update "improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac." No specific changes, bug fixes, or feature additions were discovered in the first beta, but we'll update this post should any new features be found in the second beta.

Oftentimes, with bug fixes, it's difficult to tell just what's included until Apple supplies detailed release notes with a release. The previous update, macOS 10.12.2, introduced several important bug fixes to resolve battery life issues, fix graphics problems, and more.

Available since September, macOS Sierra is the latest Mac operating system. It includes Siri support, Apple Pay for the web, Universal Clipboard, Apple Watch auto unlocking, improved iCloud Drive integration, Picture-in-Picture multitasking, and dozens of smaller features that can be found in our macOS Sierra roundup.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming iOS 10.2.1 update to developers, one week after introducing the first iOS 10.2.1 beta and over a week after releasing iOS 10.2, the second major update to the iOS 10 operating system.

Registered developers can download the second iOS 10.2.1 beta from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air with the proper configuration profile installed.

It isn't known what features are included in iOS 10.2.1, but as a minor 10.2.x update, it appears to focus on bug fixes and performance improvements rather than major outward-facing changes.

No new features were discovered in the first iOS 10.2.1 beta, but we'll update this post if any changes are found in the second beta.

iOS 10.2.1 follows the release of iOS 10.2, a significant update that brought Unicode 9 emoji, a new TV app, Messages Screen Effects, Music improvements, and a whole slew of bug fixes.