MacRumors

Payments company Square today announced that it has officially launched within the United Kingdom, bringing its popular Square Reader to small and medium businesses within the UK Square's UK debut marks the company's first European launch, but its products are already available in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia.

In the UK, the Square Reader will cost businesses £39, and will act just as it does in other territories by connecting to a mobile smartphone or tablet, turning the device into a payment receptacle through the use of mobile wallets or physical credit cards. Every transaction that occurs in person will have a 1.75 percent flat fee charged to businesses, while all online, telephone, and electronic invoice transactions will incur a 2.5 percent fee.

After it's set up, businesses will be able to browse the Square software built for mobile devices to track real-time sales data, invoicing and digital receipts. In its announcement today, Square said that the UK is a prime target for its technology because the average UK adult carries less than £25 in cash, while 70 percent of UK shoppers prefer card payments. Despite these statistics, "half of the UK's 5.4 million small businesses do not yet take card payments."

“We founded Square to empower small businesses with tools to accept all forms of payment and to make a sale anytime, anywhere,” said Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square. “We look forward to working alongside the millions of entrepreneurs and thriving small and medium-sized businesses across the UK, especially those who do not yet take card payments.”

In the United States Square has been a partner with Apple over the past few years, launching an NFC reader that introduced Apple Pay and other mobile wallets to small businesses for the first time, while also recently giving them the opportunity to obtain free processing fees when processing transactions through Apple's mobile wallet.

Samsung announced on Monday that it will sell refurbished versions of its Galaxy Note7 smartphones, the model it officially discontinued last year because of fire-prone batteries.

Samsung's Note 7 devices were permanently scrapped in October and recalled globally, after multiple reports of some phones self-combusting. A highly publicized in-depth investigation by the company discovered that batteries supplied by two different companies were to blame. No other faults were discovered in the components or parts.

The news surprised some analysts, coming just days before Samsung officially announces its Galaxy S8, which is generally regarded as the firm's comeback mobile device and "iPhone 8" rival. Samsung said the refurbished Note7 phones will be equipped with new batteries that have gone through new safety checks.

"Regarding the Galaxy Note 7 devices as refurbished phones or rental phones, applicability is dependent upon consultations with regulatory authorities and carriers as well as due consideration of local demand," Samsung said in a statement. "The product details including the name, technical specification and price range will be announced when the device is available. Samsung will not be offering refurbished Galaxy Note 7 devices for rent or sale in the US."

The move should allow Samsung to recoup some of the $2.3 billion in losses it suffered because of the ill-fated phone, but the company told The Verge that the main objective of introducing the refurbished devices was "solely to reduce and minimize any environmental impact".

Last month, Greenpeace protestors interrupted the company's Mobile World Congress keynote and demanded to know what the company's plans were for its 4.3 million recalled devices, so it's possible Samsung's latest announcement is timed to avoid a repeat incident overshadowing its S8 launch on Wednesday. "Samsung's announcement is the first step to show its effort to set a new path for recycling smartphones starting with Note 7s," Greenpeace wrote in a blog post.

Samsung told Reuters the company has not set specifics on refurbished sales plans, including which markets they will be sold in and when they will go on sale. However, it noted that the phones will not be sold in India, as some media mistakenly reported earlier this year.

Google has revealed that its Amazon Echo rival, Google Home, will arrive in the United Kingdom on April 6. The announcement was made on Tuesday at an event in London, where it was also revealed that the British version of the connected smart speaker will deliver news briefings from several U.K. media outlets including The Guardian and the BBC.

Rollout of Google Home beyond American shores has lagged behind its main rival. The Echo range of speakers was released in Germany and the U.K. back in September 2016, allowing Amazon to gain an early foothold in the British market over the holiday period.

Google's voice-activated speaker has also recently been dogged by accusations that its virtual Google Assistant responds to some questions with dubious answers because of flaws in the way its online search algorithm operates.

Google Home will cost £129 when it arrives in the U.K. next month and will be available from the Google Store, Argos, Dixons, John Lewis, and Maplins. Google is also launching colored bases, costing £18 for fabric and £36 for metal versions.

Swedish home furniture store IKEA announced its own affordable smart lighting system today called Trådfri, which means "wireless" in Swedish.

The Smart Lighting range of products includes Trådfri LED bulbs, a remote dimmer switch puck, a gateway kit, a motion sensor kit, and dimming lights. IKEA is also introducing a selection of LED light panels and doors that can be built into cabinets for the bedroom and kitchen.

The Gateway starter kit will cost around $80 and includes two bulbs, a remote, and a gateway hub to connect everything to the app. The Trådfri bulbs have three white color temperature options (2200K, 2700K, and 4000K) that IKEA claims each last around 25,000 hours.

"The Ikea vision is to bring affordable home furnishing solutions to the many people. We know from research that existing smart lighting technology is perceived to be too expensive and difficult to understand, so we have worked to remove those barriers to make smart lighting more accessible," IKEA Home Furnishing expert Helen Longford said in a statement.

Like the Philips Hue series, IKEA's first range of automated lighting products is based on the ZigBee Light Link standard that got released in a number European countries late last year and should see a larger rollout at the end of this month.

IKEA gives a March 31 availability date for the lighting range in Sweden, with the range expected to arrive in the U.K in April, making them likely to roll out to other countries soon. The IKEA website makes no mention of compatibility with existing smart home platforms like Apple HomeKit, but support for other standards seems likely at some point down the line.

First introduced in watchOS 3.2, Theater Mode is a simple but useful feature that's designed to prevent the Apple Watch's screen from activating when you raise your wrist.

It's useful in situations where the bright screen can be a distraction, such as a movie or a play, and it's also useful for those who like to sleep with their Apple Watches.

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Activating Theater Mode

Theater Mode is available as an option in the Apple Watch Control Center, so toggling it on and off is simple.

1. Raise your wrist to activate the Apple Watch screen or press the Digital Crown.
2. Swipe up from the bottom of the Apple Watch to bring up Control Center.
3. Swipe up again to access the icon that looks like a pair of theater masks.
4. Tap the masks.
5. A screen will pop up explaining theater mode. Tap again to activate it.

While Theater Mode is active, you'll see an the icon at the top of the Apple Watch whenever you view the screen. To turn it off, open up the Control Center again and tap the Theater Mode button.

How Theater Mode Works

When Theater Mode is enabled, the screen will remain dark when you raise your wrist instead of lighting up. It will also stay dark when a notification is received, but you'll still know if you get an incoming text or other alert because haptic feedback remains on.

Accessing Notifications While Theater Mode is On

You'll continue to get a tap whenever there's an incoming notification when Theater Mode is turned on, and to view it, you'll need to press the Digital Crown or tap on the screen.

Tapping, pressing the Digital Crown, or pressing the side button is also how you check the time when Theater Mode is enabled.

Apple has a "Find my iPhone" feature for lost iPhones, iPads, Macs, and more, but there's also a "Find my AirPods" feature that can be useful if you happen to misplace your AirPods.

Find My AirPods has its limitations because it's not able to work when the AirPods aren't connected to an iOS device via Bluetooth, but the feature can help you locate AirPods lost nearby and it gives clues as to where your AirPods might be found if they're lost out of the range of the iPhone.

It's worth noting that Find My AirPods only works for the AirPods themselves -- it can't locate a lost AirPods Case, nor does it work when the AirPods are disconnected from the iPhone and stored in the case.

How to Use Find My AirPods

Find My AirPods is located within the "Find My" app on iOS devices and iCloud.com. If the AirPods are out of the case and connected to the iPhone, they'll show up on the Find My map just like an iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, or Mac.

If your AirPods are in the case or not currently connected, the last known location will be displayed. If your AirPods haven't been in use at all recently, they'll be listed as "offline."

How to Find AirPods Lost Nearby

Your AirPods are most likely to be misplaced or lost when you set them down momentarily because there are no cords to keep them together or to make them easier to find. Find My AirPods is mostly designed to locate an AirPod that's nearby by playing a sound.

1. Open "Find My" on an iOS device or iCloud.com.
2. Tap the AirPods in the list.
3. Tap "Actions."
4. Tap "Play Sound."

A soft chirping sound will start playing after you initiate the "Play Sound" command, which will gradually get louder and louder with each chirp to make the AirPods easier to locate.

If just the left or just the right AirPod is missing, you can also mute the sound coming from the left or the right. To stop the sound once the AirPods are located, you'll need to tap "Stop Playing." Putting the AirPods back in the case will also turn the sound off after a few seconds.

How to Find AirPods Lost Far Away

If your AirPods aren't connected to your iPhone, their exact location is not relayed to Find My. In this situation, the last known location of the AirPods when they were connected to an iPhone is displayed.

So, for example, if you use them while at the airport and then leave them behind, their location when they were last connected to your iPhone over Bluetooth will be displayed, even if the AirPods are moved somewhere else.

For this reason, using Find My AirPods to locate an AirPod that's been left behind isn't going to be particularly accurate, but it will give you a general idea of where they were lost so you can go back to the location.

When attempting to locate an AirPod this way, tap the little car icon and it will give you Apple Maps directions to the last known location.

Limitations with Find My AirPods

Your AirPods will not play a sound while they're in the case, so if you lose the AirPods and the AirPods Case somewhere in the house, you're out of luck.

There's also no way to track the AirPods case because a Bluetooth connection is needed for Find My AirPods, so there is no option for locating a lost case.

Replacing a lost AirPod or AirPods Case

Apple offers AirPods replacements if one is lost and can't be located. It costs $69 to replace a single AirPod or to replace the AirPods Charging Case.

Want new AirPods or AirPods Pro?

Check our constantly updated guide for best deals on AirPods.

Apple today updated its Apple TV Remote app to introduce iPad support, allowing the Remote app to be used on the iPad for the first time. Prior to today's update, the Apple TV Remote interface was only designed for the iPhone.

For those unfamiliar with the Apple TV Remote app, it's designed to be used with the fourth-generation Apple TV and functions similarly to the hardware-based Siri Remote. It includes support for navigation via touch gestures, Siri commands, gameplay, and more.

On the iPad, the control interface is similar to the iPhone interface, but there's more screen space to display features like the Now Playing window alongside broader controls.

Along with support for the iPad, today's update introduces an enhanced "Now Playing" experience that includes lyrics and playlists for music and chapters, audio tracks, and captions selection for movies and TV shows.

General performance and stability improvements have also been baked into the update.

Apple TV Remote can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Apple today updated its iWork apps for iOS devices, Numbers, Pages, and Keynote, to version 3.1, introducing a range of new features and improvements in each app.

Pages, Apple's word processing app, has gained new text formatting options, bookmarks to link sections of a document, support for equations, Touch ID support for password protected documents, and more. A full list of changes for Pages is below:

What's New
-Format text as superscript or subscript, use ligatures, and change text background color
-Add bookmarks to easily link from one part of your document to another
-Add elegant mathematical equations using LaTeX or MathML notation
-Quickly open password-protected documents using Touch ID
-Import and export documents in Rich Text Format (RTF)
-Easily replace missing fonts in your document
-New leader lines make pie charts easier to read
-Customize dates, times, and currencies for your language or region

Numbers, Apple's app for creating spreadsheets, has new options to add new or historical stock information to documents, a revamped editing experience, a new action menu that makes it easier to get to the most common tasks, Touch ID support, and more. A full list of changes is below:

What's New
-Easily add current or historical stock information to spreadsheets
-Use the new My Stocks template to easily track your portfolio
-A powerful new editing experience makes entering data and formulas fast and easy
-New action menu keeps most common tasks one tap away
-Quickly open password-protected spreadsheets using Touch ID
-Format text as superscript or subscript, use ligatures, and change text background color
-New leader lines make pie charts easier to read
-Easily replace missing fonts in your spreadsheet
-While collaborating on a spreadsheet, you can now cut, copy, paste, and duplicate sheets
-Customize dates, times, and currencies for your language or region
-Edit rich text within table cells

Keynote, Apple's presentation app, includes an improved rehearsal feature with slide, presenter notes, and timer in one view, new options for customizing slide backgrounds, Touch ID support for opening password protected documents, and more. A full list is below:

What's New
-Change slide master and customize slide background
-Rehearse a presentation with current slide, presenter notes, and timer all in one view
-Quickly open password-protected presentations using Touch ID
-Format text as superscript or subscript, use ligatures, and change text background color
-Easily replace missing fonts in your presentation
-New leader lines make pie charts easier to read
-Import Keynote 1 presentations
-Post interactive presentations on Medium, WordPress, and other websites
-Customize dates, times, and currencies for your language or region

All three of the new updates are available for download immediately. Customers who already own Apple's iWork apps will be able to obtain the new updates at no cost.

Many of the same changes have also been introduced in Keynote, Pages, and Numbers for Mac, all of which also have updates available this morning.

Pages for iOS - [App Store]
Keynote for iOS - [App Store]
Numbers for iOS - [App Store]

Pages for Mac - [Mac App Store]
Keynote for Mac - [Mac App Store]
Numbers for Mac - [Mac App Store]

Apple today released tvOS 10.2, marking the second major update to the tvOS operating system that was released in September of 2016. tvOS 10.2 has been in testing since January 24, with Apple having seeded six betas to developers before releasing the software to the public.

The tvOS 10.2 update can be downloaded on the fourth-generation Apple TV using the Settings app. Go to System --> Software Update to install. For those who have automatic software updates turned on, the Apple TV will be upgraded to tvOS 10.2 automatically.

According to Apple's beta release notes, tvOS 10.2 introduces improved scrolling behavior, allowing tvOS users to scroll through large lists of information more quickly. A longer swipe on the Siri remote activates the new scrolling mode, and a swipe on the right side of the remote allows users to navigate specific indexes.

While Apple's release information only focused on the new scrolling mode, the update also likely includes other small feature tweaks under-the-hood bug fixes and performance improvements.