Apple and GE today announced a new partnership that will provide developers with the tools to make their own powerful industrial apps.
The two companies unveiled a new software development kit for iOS that will give developers the ability to make iPhone and iPad apps that use analytics from GE's industrial "Internet of Things" platform Predix.
For example, a Predix app can notify workers on their iPhones of a potential issue with equipment, such as a wind turbine, and allow them to collaborate with remote teams when performing inspections and repairs, collecting relevant data instantly.
Apple said these industrial apps will "close the information loop" faster and thereby increase cost savings and minimize unplanned downtime.
"GE is an ideal partner with a rich history of innovation across the industrial world in areas like aviation, manufacturing, healthcare and energy," said Apple CEO Tim Cook. "Together, Apple and GE are fundamentally changing how the industrial world works by combining GE's Predix platform with the power and simplicity of iPhone and iPad."
"The partnership between Apple and GE is providing developers with the tools to make their own powerful industrial IoT apps," said GE CEO John Flannery. "Our customers increasingly need to arm their workforces through mobility. Working together, GE and Apple are giving industrial companies access to powerful apps that help them tap into the predictive data and analytics of Predix right on their iPhone or iPad."
GE also said it will standardize on iPhone and iPad for mobile devices, and promote Mac as a choice for its global workforce of more than 330,000 employees. In turn, Apple said it will promote GE's Predix as the industrial "Internet of Things" analytics platform of choice to its customers and developers.
The new Predix SDK for iOS will be available to download on Thursday, October 26, and Predix apps will be available on the App Store.
Three Adobe apps that have been available in a beta capacity are officially launching, including Adobe XD CC for user interface design, Adobe Dimension CC for 2D to 3D compositing, and Adobe Character Animator CC for 2D character animations.
Adobe is also introducing a new Lightroom CC app that includes a built-in cloud storage feature, and it is announcing feature updates for Photoshop CC, InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, and Premiere Pro.
"Adobe continues to lead the creative revolution, driving modernization and innovation that will accelerate the creative process across all platforms and devices," said Bryan Lamkin, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Media at Adobe. "Today, we unveiled a new generation of Creative Cloud, with a wide spectrum of capabilities--from new experience design, 2D animation and 3D rendering apps to an all-new, cloud-based photography service. These tools enable creative professionals and enthusiasts to express themselves and reach their full creative potential anytime, anywhere, on any device."
Photoshop CC is gaining 1,400 new brushes from Adobe's acquisition of KyleBrush.com, and Adobe is introducing new tools and tutorials that are designed to make it easier for first-time Photoshop users to learn how to do basic tasks in the app, which are available in a new Learn Panel.
Adobe is integrating the Lightroom cloud catalog into Photoshop for quicker access to Lightroom photos, there are new tools for editing 360 spherical panoramic images, and new Range Masks make it easier to make local adjustments with fine control.
Photoshop CC also features improved brush preset management tools, automatic brush stroke smoothing, better select and mask tools, a new Curvature Pen tool, improvements for painting performance, and a symmetry painting experience for creating mirrored brush strokes along a symmetry axis.
Illustrator CC features an updated Essentials workspace with a new Properties Panel that offers up dynamic access to controls and better panel organization for less clutter on the workspace. It also includes support for more artboards (up to 1,000), an option to disable Zoom to Selection, support for variable fonts, and global color swatches.
InDesign CC includes supports for endnotes and annotations, enhancements to object-styles, paragraph borders, and an option to manage text in Creative Cloud Libraries.
Adobe Stock, Adobe's collection of professionally created images and videos, is being updated with new motion graphics templates for Premiere Pro and After Effects, and TypeKit is using Adobe Sensei technology for a new feature that lets users search for fonts using a photograph.
These are just a handful of the new features Adobe is introducing today. Details on all of the updates debuting across Adobe's range of apps can be found on the Adobe website.
Adobe is planning to raise the price of its Creative Cloud plans in North America in the near future. Starting on March 1 or when a contract is up for renewal, pricing across all plans will increase. The Adobe CC plan that provides access to all apps for individuals, for example, will be priced at $52.99 instead of $49.99 going forward. Pricing information is available on Adobe's Creative Cloud membership site.
Apple Pay support in Spain has been extended to CaixaBank and ImaginBank, according to reports out of the country this morning.
Spanish tech blog AppleSfera first reported that cards issued by the banks were working with Apple's mobile payment system as of Tuesday, and CaixaBank has now officially confirmed the support.
Apple Pay integration with Caixabank had been promised "before the end of the year". Previously the biggest financial entities in Spain to support Apple Pay were American Express and Banco Santander (Mastercard cards), so the addition of CaixaBank and ImaginBank (CaixaBank's mobile arm) should see the digital payment platform get a lot more coverage in the country.
Apple Pay is expected to be introduced in the near future to several more countries including Sweden, Finland, and Denmark.
Apple pushed an update to users of its iTunes U iOS app on Tuesday, bringing the education-focused service up to speed with recent changes introduced in iTunes 12.7 last month.
Apple launched iTunes U in 2007 as a free repository of educational content through the iTunes Store, allowing educators to create course collections comprising audio, media, handouts, ebooks, and other bundled content. In 2012, Apple introduced the iTunes U iOS app, enabling users to access their collections within an app container.
However, September's iTunes update completely removed the App Store, and with it the section for managing iTunes U Collections. Apple previously notified educational institutions using iTunes U that it would be migrating their collections to Apple Podcasts.
iTunes U collections can now be found in the Podcasts section of iTunes on Mac or PC, or in the Podcasts app on iOS devices or Apple TV. After the iTunes U iOS app is updated to version 3.6, it will only include courses, not collections. The app version history also indicates performance improvements for accounts with a large number of courses.
A bug in macOS High Sierra is causing users to receive iMessages and SMS texts on Macs and other iCloud-connected devices long after they were originally sent, according to reports that have been gradually building up over the last week or so.
First spotted by AppleInsider, a growing number of complaints on Apple's support forums detail the issue, which is affecting Mac owners with iPads, iPhones, and Apple Watches. The issue has also been picked up on MacRumors' forums, while at least one MacRumors staff member has experienced the same problem.
On updating to macOS High Sierra, some users report that iMessages only appear on their Mac after a long delay compared to their iPads and iPhones. Others have noticed that notifications are not coming through at all on other devices connected to the same iCloud account.
Some contributors to Apple's support forum and the MacRumors forum have suggested a couple of temporary fixes, including disabling and re-enabling messages, or sending messages on a Mac instead of an iOS device. Recent beta versions of macOS High Sierra don't appear to solve the problem, making reverting to macOS Sierra the only persistent workaround. Meanwhile, a community bug report has been created to alert Apple to the issue.
There's some speculation that the bug could be related to changes to the way iMessages function behind the scenes. Apple is working to bring iCloud syncing to iMessage in macOS High Sierra and iOS 11, so that deleting a message on one device removes it from all devices linked to the same account, for example. The advertised feature was pulled when the two operating systems were launched, but Apple hopes to introduce it later this fall.
Microsoft and Qualcomm have revealed they hope to release ARM-powered laptops by the end of the year, with the two companies promising multi-day battery life from the new machines (via Trusted Reviews).
At its annual 5G summit in Hong Kong, Qualcomm revealed new details about the PCs it is developing in partnership with Microsoft. Known as "Always Connected PCs", the laptops are powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 processor and rely on an ARM emulation layer to run x86 Windows 10 desktop applications.
ARM processors require fewer transistors, which enables a smaller die size for the integrated circuitry. Their smaller size and lower power consumption are two reasons why they can be found in iPhones and iPads, but the increasing performance and efficiency of the chips is making the step up to laptops a realistic proposition.
Microsoft said it is already testing "hundreds" of the ARM-powered laptops internally on a daily basis, with battery life in particular exceeding expectations.
"To be frank, it's actually beyond our expectations. We set a high bar for [our developers], and we're now beyond that. It's the kind of battery life where I use it on a daily basis. I don't take my charger with me. I may charge it every couple of days or so. It's that kind of battery life."
Bernard added: "I would consider it a game-changer in terms of the way people have experienced PCs in the past."
The first round of Always Connected PCs are said to be coming from the likes of Asus, HP, and Lenovo, but they aren't expected to be cheap. Qualcomm said more affordable Windows 10 Always Connected PCs should become available once the portfolio expands.
Apple is reportedly looking into using ARM-based core processor chips for future MacBooks, which would reduce the company's dependence on Intel. Industry sources claim that Apple would instead build its notebook chips using ARM Holding's technology, a British company that designs ARM architecture and licenses it out to other companies.
Facebook Live, the feature that allows Facebook users to broadcast live video to followers and friends, was today updated with support for screen sharing.
As noticed by The Next Web, there's now a button for sharing your computer screen when broadcasting on Facebook Live.
Image via The Next Web
Using the screen sharing feature requires a Facebook Screen Sharing browser extension to be installed in the Chrome browser.
Facebook's built-in screen sharing feature lets users decide what to share based on application, with an option available to stream specific browser tabs.
Screen sharing was previously available in Facebook Live, but it required third-party Open Broadcaster Software to use, and it was more complicated to get running than Facebook's new solution.
Eftpos, a debit payments network in Australia, today announced that ANZ eftpos Access cards now feature support for Apple Pay.
ANZ is the first bank in Australia to make in-store eftpos mobile payments available to 1.6 million ANZ eftpos Access cardholders through Apple Pay.
Visa, American Express, and MasterCard credit and debit cards issued in Australia by participating banks already supported Apple Pay, but the addition of eftpos is notable as it's widely used in the country.
"Today marks a significant milestone for eftpos as we move from our traditional card based payment method into mobile, enabling consumers with an iPhone or Apple Watch to choose the eftpos account they wish their mobile payment to be made from, being either their eftpos CHQ/SAV account. Customers can set their account preference out of CHQ/SAV and then save themselves entering their account each time they pay. After providing trusted, secure card-based payments for 30 years, eftpos can now also be used to make mobile payments," Mr Jennings said.
"About 1.6 million ANZ eftpos Access cardholders now have the opportunity to make payments on an iPhone or Apple Watch, many of whom may not have had the opportunity to make in store mobile payments before. As Australia's most used debit card network, we are thrilled to be providing ANZ eftpos Access customers with more payment choice, with added benefits of enhanced security and comfort."
As Business Insider points out, support for eftpos reduces fees for both customers and retailers compared to other payment methods.
Support for eftpos is now listed on Apple's Australian Apple Pay website and Apple Pay is available to ANZ Access card customers in Australia immediately.
Several Apple executives were today awarded 128,584 restricted stock units or RSUs worth upwards of $20 million at Apple's current price. The RSUs are set to vest after a set period of time and serve as bonus compensation to encourage employees to stay with the company.
Johny Srouji, Phil Schiller, Dan Riccio, Luca Maestri, Craig Federighi, Eddy Cue, and Angela Ahrendts all received 128,584 restricted stock units this month. 64,885 RSUs were awarded on 10/1, while an additional 63,699 were awarded on 10/15.
For the first batch, the vesting of the restricted stock units depends on Apple's total shareholder return starting on the first day of fiscal 2018 and ending on the last day of fiscal 2020. Up to 200 percent of the shares can vest should Apple's performance in the S&P 500 be in the 85th percentile or higher relative to other companies.
If Apple's performance falls below that, a smaller percentage of shares will vest, but should the company hit its target, each executive could receive 129,770 shares worth over $20 million at today's prices. Apple did not hit that target with its last performance based stock award.
The second batch of RSUs will vest over time and each executive will see the full award of 63,699 shares should they stay with the company. One-third of the shares will vest on April 1, 2020, another third on April 1, 2021, and the final third on April 1, 2022. Chris Kondo, Apple Senior Director of Corporate Accounting, also received a smaller award of 12,740 shares that will vest starting in 2018.
At a maximum, each executive could earn up to 193,469 shares by 2022, worth more than $30 million today.
Popular messaging app WhatsApp was today updated with a new feature that's designed to allow WhatsApp users to share their location in real-time with family and friends.
Live Location through WhatsApp features end-to-end encryption and includes tools to allow users to specify who they share their location with and for how long.
To use Live Location, WhatsApp users need to open a chat with a person or group, select the "Location" feature in the attach button, and then choose the new option to "Share Live Location." When selecting the share option, users can select an amount of time the location sharing feature will last before expiring.
The person on the other end will be able to see the user's real-time location on a map, and if, in a group chat, more than one person shares their location, multiple locations will be displayed on the same map.
Live Location is available on both iOS and Android devices, and it will be rolling out to the WhatsApp apps "in the coming weeks."
WhatsApp can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
The third macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 beta can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store with the proper profile installed.
macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 appears to focus on bug fixes, performance improvements, security enhancements, and other under-the-hood changes, but it also introduces a range of new Unicode 10 emoji like crazy face, pie, pretzel, t-rex, vampire, exploding head, face vomiting, shushing face, love you gesture, brain, scarf, zebra, giraffe, fortune cookie, pie, hedgehog, and more.
The new emoji are also available in iOS 11.1 and watchOS 4.1.
macOS High Sierra is a major update that introduces APFS, a new more modern file system, HEIF and HEVC photo and video encoding improvements for smaller file sizes without compromising quality, Metal 2, and several new features for Safari, like autoplay blocking for videos and Intelligent Tracking Prevention to better protect user privacy.
Google today asked customers who use the Gmail for iOS app to test a new feature that will allow non-Google accounts to be added to and checked from the official Gmail for iOS app.
Right now, the Gmail app for iOS devices only supports Gmail accounts, but the addition of support for third-party email accounts would put the app on par with other popular iOS apps like Spark, Airmail, Alto, Edison Mail, and other options.
Gmail for Android already supports third-party email accounts.
Google is allowing Gmail users to sign up to test the feature through a beta application. Requirements include using the Gmail for iOS app, having a non-Google email account, and iOS 10 or later.
Customers are asked to enter their name, Gmail address, iOS device, and provider of the non-Google email account to be used in the beta. There's no word yet on when the feature might launch following the beta test.
Gmail for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Dropbox today introduced a new account option called Dropbox Professional, aimed at individuals who need more storage and features than are available with a standard Plus account, but don't need a business account.
Priced at $19.99 per month, Dropbox Professional offers 1TB of storage and it includes a new feature called Dropbox Showcase.
Dropbox Showcase allows for Dropbox content to be organized into a PDF with a customized layout, visual previews, captions, and personalized branding, turning it into a portfolio of sorts.
Along with Dropbox Showcase and 1TB of storage, the new tier includes OCR and Smart Sync, a feature previously limited to Dropbox Business users. Smart Sync allows users to customize where files and folders are stored, with options for storing locally, in the cloud, or both.
With OCR or optical character recognition, Dropbox can understand the text in scanned documents, allowing for them to be searchable. The final feature available in Dropbox Showcase is an option to cause a document to remotely expire.
The introduction of Dropbox Professional comes two weeks after Dropbox introduced its revamped brand design that focuses on bright, contrasting colors, and introduces new fonts and logos to its products.
Dropbox users can sign up for Dropbox Professional starting today.
Apple is gearing up to launch Apple Pay in Sweden next week, according to a report by Swedish site MacPro [Google Translate]. The site stated that the first financial partner with Apple Pay in Sweden will be the bank Nordea, and that the two companies will jointly announce the mobile wallet collaboration one week from today, on October 24.
During its third quarter earnings call in August, Apple confirmed that Apple Pay would be expanding to Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and United Arab Emirates before the end of 2017. So far, the mobile payments service hasn't yet appeared in any of these areas, and a rumor about Germany gaining Apple Pay functionality by September has also failed to materialize.
Currently, Apple Pay is available in the United States, United Kingdom, China, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, France, Hong Kong, Russia, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Taiwan, and Ireland. In a future update to iOS 11, Apple Pay will also gain a new person-to-person payments feature -- Apple Pay Cash -- so that users can transfer money to one another within Messages. This feature will only be available in the U.S. at launch.
Update 1:MacPro has reported that Finland and Denmark could see the debut of Apple Pay next week as well.
Update 2:MacPro has now shared the retail partners Apple Pay will have in Sweden at launch: Pressbyrån, 7-11 and Elgiganten.
Microsoft today introduced the Surface Book 2, the second generation of its high-end notebook and tablet hybrid.
The new Surface Book 2 is equipped with Intel's latest eighth-generation Core processors, up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to 17 hours of battery life based on video playback.
Microsoft says those tech specs make the Surface Book 2 up to five times more powerful than the original Surface Book, and twice as powerful as the latest MacBook Pro, but it didn't specify which configurations.
Microsoft's comparisons to its primary competitor didn't end there. On its website, it said the Surface Book 2 has 70 percent more battery life than the latest MacBook Pro, which lasts up to 10 hours on a single charge.
The new Surface Book 2 is available with a 13.5-inch or 15-inch display that can be detached from the keyboard and used as a tablet. The display can also be folded or reattached in Studio Mode or View Mode.
Microsoft added that the Surface Book 2 has 45 percent more pixels than the latest MacBook Pro. The 15-inch model has a resolution of 3240x2160 pixels, good for 267 PPI, while the 15-inch MacBook Pro is 2880x1800 and 220 PPI.
The notebook is equipped with two USB 3.1 ports, one USB-C port, a full-size SD card slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It also has a proprietary SurfaceConnect port that allows a Surface Dock to be connected.
Surface Dock, available separately for $199, has two Mini DisplayPorts, one Gigabit Ethernet port, four USB 3.0 ports, and one audio out port.
As a Windows PC, the Surface Book 2 will be compatible with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update released today.
Surface Book 2 starts at $1,499 for the 13.5-inch model with a Core i5 processor, Intel HD Graphics 620, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage. More powerful 13.5-inch configurations are available for up to $2,999.
The 15-inch model starts at $2,499 with a Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage. More powerful 15-inch configurations are available for up to $3,299.
Surface Book 2 pre-orders begin November 9 on Microsoft's website and at its retail stores in the United States and select other countries. Deliveries will begin when the device launches November 16.
Two weeks after first unveiling the Pixel 2 at an event in San Francisco, reviews of Google's latest smartphone have now been published online. Many of the reviews written on the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL are positive, with multiple articles referring to the smartphones as the best Android devices on the market, as well as legitimate competitors to Apple's iPhone series. The only slight negatives appear to surround Google's decision to aim for functional, more iterative updates over flashier feature additions.
Like most reviews posted today, The Verge was more impressed by the design and look of the Pixel 2 XL than the smaller Pixel 2, calling the latter phone "humdrum" with "big, chunky bezels" that don't compare favorably to the XL's smaller bezels and larger 6-inch screen. The site noted that each device's Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and 4GB of RAM resulted in a snappy UI, running "better overall than Samsung's or LG's" version of Android.
The Verge described an all-day battery life that "lasts until bedtime just fine," and said that the Pixel 2 is "easily a contender for best smartphone camera" with photos that are "way sharper than the iPhone 8 and the Note 8." Although the site had qualms with the 2 XL's display quality -- calling colors "muted" -- the overall takeaway came down to being impressed by the smartphone's snappy functionality, despite a lack of "razzle dazzle."
The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL do not razzle dazzle. It's not just the somewhat disappointing screen on the Pixel 2 XL, it's that Google has gone out of its way to do things that are functional instead of flashy. Instead of going bezel-less, it added front-facing speakers. Instead of a million camera effects, it focused on one or two, while making the core camera experience much better with machine learning. The list goes on.
The Pixel 2 has many, many things going for it. Were it not for a few problems — the screen, the slightly inelegant design, and (yes) the lack of a headphone jack — it might have received the highest score we've ever given a phone. As it is, it's a great phone, but not quite a home run.
TechCrunch compared the second iteration of the Pixel line -- focusing its review on the Pixel 2 XL -- to an "S" generation of the iPhone, meaning that the Pixel 2 is an "evolution" of a smartphone that was already solid, but lacks a central "wow factor." Still, the site was impressed by what Google accomplished with a single-lens camera system, describing "admirable" performance in low- and mixed-light settings, and mostly positive early impressions from Google's AI-powered "Lens" feature, which automatically tags objects in pictures.
Even though the Pixel 2 XL runs for upwards of $800, TechCrunch ultimately stated that Google's smartphone shows "what can be done without having to charge users $1,000 for a device."
The Pixel 2 doesn’t make a particularly compelling upgrade case for users of last year’s model. The hardware isn’t a radical departure, and many of the new software features will be coming to the first-generation model — after all, Android support for older devices is one of the key tenants of Google’s first-party software approach. The device also doesn’t push the boundaries of what a mobile device is as much as other recent flagships.
The new phones offer a glimpse at that future and, in the case of the device’s camera, show what can be done without having to charge users $1,000 for a device.
Ars Technica looked at the performance of the Pixel 2, calling Google's build of Android for the new smartphones "the most highly optimized, smoothest, and fastest build of Android I have ever seen." Although the site had similar problems with the OLED display as The Verge -- Ars called it "an ugly graniness" most detectable in dark environments -- and the "dated aesthetic" of the 5-inch Pixel 2, its final impression was that Google's new smartphone is "the best Android phone out there."
Every single animation goes off without a hitch. Scrolling is flawless. There are additional, exclusive animations on the home screen like bounce scrolling and folder opening that add to the buttery smooth feel. It's amazing—head and shoulders above every other Android phone out there.
With the Pixel, you get an iPhone-like update experience, a cohesive software package, and super fast UI performance. It offers a harmonious device with a single, cohesive design language and none of the junk that slows your phone down. In 2017, that's enough to merit the title of "Best Android phone."
Interestingly, Ars Technica also pointed out that the Pixel 2 marks Google's first foray into its own custom designed system on a chip (SoC), packed into the smartphone in addition to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC. Although not active yet, the chip is said to be "dedicated exclusively to camera image processing" on the Pixel 2, and will eventually make processing photos "faster and more efficient than ever." Google calls the SoC the "Pixel Visual Core," and it includes an eight-core Image Processing Unit capable of more than three trillion operations per second.
Last year, popular accessory maker Twelve South introduced a candle that promised to deliver a "New Mac" scent. The limited time product was so popular among Apple aficionados that it quickly sold out.
Twelve South is back at it again this year with a new "Inspire" candle, which it refers to as Mac candle N°2. Made from 100 percent soy wax, it is said to give off strong notes of bergamot, lemon, and tarragon.
This year's candle won't smell like a freshly unboxed MacBook. Rather, Twelve South says each scent profile was chosen for its ability to help clear your mind of clutter and stimulate creativity in the home or office.
Twelve South said the new candle is a "small tribute to the Mac," and it shared a quote from late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
In the act of making something with a great deal of care and love, something is transmitted there, and it's a way of expressing… our deep appreciation.
The candle is available for $29.99 on Twelve South's website in the United States. It has an approximate burn time of 60-70 hours.
Apple TV's universal search feature now supports a selection of additional apps in the United States and other countries.
In the United States, fourth- and fifth-generation Apple TV users can now search for movies or TV shows on BBC America, Classix, and Oxygen, an NBC-owned channel that primarily airs true crime programming.
In addition to the United States and Canada, Apple Music search functionality on tvOS is also now available in Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
In Australia, other newly supported apps include 9Now, SBS, and Tenplay, while Viaplay was added in Norway and Sweden.
The universal search feature allows users to conduct Siri voice searches or text-based searches to find TV and movie content across a wide range of channels. A fourth-generation Apple TV or newer is required.
Apple pushed an update to users of its iTunes U iOS app on Tuesday, bringing the education-focused service up to speed with recent changes introduced in iTunes 12.7 last month.
Several Apple executives were today awarded 128,584 restricted stock units or RSUs worth upwards of $20 million at Apple's current price. The RSUs are set to vest after a set period of time and serve as bonus compensation to encourage employees to stay with the company.
