Target has posted its Black Friday ad for 2016, listing several deals on Apple products. The promotions include 25% off all Apple TV models, $150 off the 9.7-inch iPad Pro and $180 off the Beats Solo2 Wireless.
The retailer is offering discounts and promotions in two waves: there's an Early Access period that begins today and runs until November 24 both in-store and online. Then, on Thanksgiving Day at 6 P.M., Target will open its stores for further Black Friday deals.
Early Access deals on Apple products include three Apple TV models -- the 32 and 64GB fourth-generation Apple TV and a third-generation Apple TV -- and Beats Solo2 Wireless headphones and Beats Tour 2.5 in-ear headphones.
Regular Black Friday deals include $71.99 off Apple Watch Series 1, iPad discounts and iPhone 7 and 7 Plus deals.
- Save $71.99 Apple Watch Series 1 (Starting at $198) - 20% off all iPods - $0 Down and Free $250 Target Gift Card on iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models - Save $150.99 on 9.7-inch iPad Pro - Save $129.99 on iPad Air 2 - Save $70.20 on iPad mini 2 - Save $180 on Beats Solo2 Wireless (Reg. $299.99) - Save $65 on Beats Tour 2.5 in-ear headphones (Reg. $129.99)
In addition to discounts on Apple and Beats products, Target is offering 40% off all Otterbox Commuter cases.
Apple today debuted new (PRODUCT)RED color options for two of its Beats products, including the Beats Pill+ and the Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones. Both products will soon be available in a color called "Citrus Red," joining other standard color options.
Apple's website lists both products as "coming soon" with price points that are the same as standard options. The Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones in Citrus Red is priced at $299.95, while the Citrus Red Beats Pill+ is priced at $229.95.
Apple has a longstanding partnership with the (PRODUCT)RED charity, and all proceeds from the sales of (PRODUCT)RED items go towards the global fight to prevent AIDS and HIV through research and education.
Apple often runs (PRODUCT)RED promotions around World Aids Day, coming up in December, in addition to continual (PRODUCT)RED accessory sales. Over the course of a multi-year relationship, Apple has donated upwards of $100 million through (PRODUCT)RED sales.
Along with new (PRODUCT)RED options for the Beats Pill+ and the Beats Solo3, Apple also recently debuted urBeats Earphones and Beats Solo 3 Wireless Headphones in an exclusive Ultra Violet color, which is a rich medium purple shade.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.2 update to public beta testers, approximately one week after releasing the first public beta of 10.12.2 and one day after seeding the second beta to developers. It's also been more than two weeks since Apple released macOS Sierra 10.12.1 to the public.
Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program will receive the macOS Sierra beta through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.
Those who want to be a part of Apple's beta testing program can sign up to participate through the beta testing website, which gives users access to both iOS and macOS Sierra betas. Betas should not be installed on a primary machine due to the potential for instability.
In addition to bug fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements, macOS Sierra 10.12.2 introduces support for dozens of new emoji, ranging from those introduced in Unicode 9 to several professions in both male and female genders.
Some new emoji include fox face, clown face, selfie, face palm, crossed fingers, owl, shark, eagle, avocado, bacon, croissant, potato, carrot, and more. Apple has also updated the artwork on many existing emoji, adding much more detail.
Apple today seeded a minor version change to iOS 10.1.1, the current version of the iOS 10 operating system. The update is minor enough that it did not warrant a full 10.x.x number change, but it does include an updated build number.
iOS 10.1.1 being released today has a build number of 14B150, while the initial iOS 10.1.1 release, which came on October 31, had a build number of 14B100.
The new build of iOS 10.1.1 is only available as a download from Apple's servers and cannot be obtained over-the-air at this time for those who have already installed the first version of iOS 10.1.1. The new version of iOS 10.1.1 will likely be provided to those who have yet to install iOS 10.1.1, as it otherwise requires an iTunes connection to obtain.
There is no new information in the changelog for the updated build, so it is unclear what minor bug fixes or changes it brings.
The first version of iOS 10.1.1 fixed a bug that caused Health data to be unavailable for some users. A minor update, iOS 10.1.1 was released shortly after iOS 10.1, a more significant update that brought a new "Portrait" mode and dozens of bug fixes and feature improvements.
Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced in March of 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.
Safari Technology Preview release 17 includes bug fixes and updates for Safari Extensions, Custom Elements, Web APIs, Input Events, URL Parser, Fetch API, JavaScript, Web Inspector, CSS, Media, Networking, and more.
Apple's goal with Safari Technology Preview is to receive feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.
Apple's latest MacBook Pro has already outsold all competing laptops this year, according to new data shared by research firm Slice Intelligence.
Slice Intelligence says the new MacBook Pro accumulated more revenue from online orders during its first five days of availability than the Microsoft Surface Book, ASUS Chromebook Flip, Dell Inspiron 2-in-1, and Lenovo Yoga 900, based on e-receipt data from 12,979 online shoppers in the United States.
The new MacBook Pro generated over seven times the revenue that the 12-inch MacBook did over its first five days of availability, according to Slice Intelligence. If accurate, that means it took the new MacBook Pro just five days to accumulate 78% of all the revenue generated by the 12-inch MacBook since its April 2015 launch.
The new MacBook Pro's apparent early success may come as a surprise to a vocal crowd of professional users who have criticized, among other things, the notebook's lack of ports and limited RAM. Schiller said the early criticism and debate has been "a bit of a surprise" to him, but common for any new Apple product.
Slice Intelligence extracts detailed information from hundreds of millions of aggregated and anonymized e-receipts. The research firm has a panel of 4.4 million online shoppers signed up for its services such as Slice and Unroll.me. It is also the exclusive e-commerce data provider for the NPD's Checkout Tracking e-commerce service.
Pandora today began the rollout of a "completely overhauled" desktop site for its streaming radio service, coming on the heels of its rebranded iOS and Android apps last month. Pandora.com now has a couple of new features including an enhanced user interface and new additions for Pandora Plus listeners, which should begin appearing throughout the day as the rollout continues.
The changes begin with the music player on Pandora's web platform, which is now a fixed bar at the bottom of the screen, ensuring that users will "never lose sight" of the currently playing track. Because of this shift, album artwork is at the center of the screen and provides prompts to artist information like tour dates, lyrics, bios, and more. The flat blue aesthetics of the site also now closely mirror that of the company's mobile app and its logo.
Pandora has also streamlined a few navigation features when users create and organize stations, look at their favorite tracks, and use playback controls. The company said that "the updated features across the platform allow you to easily control your listening experience."
Listeners on Pandora Plus can use the replay button to restart a song from the beginning, or even jump back in the current listening session and find an old track to replay. A skip option will also let them get to the next song quicker, as well. The ad-supported version of Pandora on the web supports these features too, but in a limited capacity. Whenever users on the free tier run out of skips or want to listen to a track again, the company said that they can "watch a video ad to get those extra features for added control" over the service.
Much like the app rebranding in October, the slight shift in Pandora's web platform today is setting up the launch of the company's impending on-demand music listening service, which CEO Tim Westergren has confirmed will arrive "later this year." The service -- which is believed to cost $9.99/month -- will enter the music streaming race as an Apple Music and Spotify rival, with features expected of such a competitor, including on-demand music listening, playlist creation, radio access, and more.
Popular messaging app Viber today launched a new commercial account format to enable businesses and brands to communicate with users (via TechCrunch).
Approximately 1,000 Public Accounts including the likes of the BBC and The Weather Channel were launched with the v6.5 update, allowing users to subscribe to them and share stories with users in their contacts list.
Public Accounts are also set to introduce chat bots to the messaging service, as Japanese-owned Viber rolls out its scalable API to companies which will include tools for bot developers.
Public Accounts come on the back of a feature Viber introduced in 2014 called Public Chats, which allow people to carry on a conversation with the general public. However, unlike the latter, users will be able to interact with the new commercial accounts without needing to add them as a contact.
Viber was bought in 2014 by Japanese internet company Rakuten, the owner of online retailer Play.com. The Cyprus-based messaging service has over 800 million users.
Apple recently inked a deal with Cuscal Payments Group, which will see Apple Pay expand to more than 30 small banks and credit unions in Australia in the near future. Apple Pay is expected to be available for up to four million Australian customers through the partnership.
Some of the banks and credit unions that will accept Apple Pay include Credit Union Australia, Bank Australia, Beyond Bank Australia, QT Mutual Bank, and Central West Credit Union, with a full list available on the Cuscal website. In a statement, Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey said Apple is eager to expand the payments service in Australia.
"We want as many Australians as possible to be able to use Apple Pay," she said.
"Today more than 3500 banks across 12 countries already support Apple Pay and we think Cuscal's customers will really love using Apple Pay for everyday purchases in stores, apps and on the web."
While Apple Pay has been available in Australia since November of 2015 through partnerships with American Express and ANZ, other major banks in Australia have not signed on to accept Apple Pay and are embroiled in a dispute with Apple.
Three of Australia's largest banks, including Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, and Westpac, have filed an application with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to collectively negotiate with Apple to gain access to the NFC hardware in iPhones.
The banks want customers to be able to use already-established bank-run digital wallets rather than being limited to Apple Pay, but Apple does not allow third-party services to access the NFC chip built into the iPhone.
The banks have argued that Apple's refusal to allow access to the iPhone's hardware is an anti-competitive restriction, while Apple has told the ACCC that allowing the banks to "form a cartel" to dictate the terms of new business models would "set a troubling precedent," delay the introduction of "potentially disruptive technologies," and compromise security.
Apple recently updated its online refurbished store to include a range of different iPhone models, giving customers a way to purchase a certified refurbished device at a lower cost directly from Apple.
Apple is currently offering refurbished iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models in a variety of colors and capacities. Prices for an entry-level 16GB iPhone 6s start at $449, while a 16GB iPhone 6s Plus can be purchased for $529.
Those prices are $100 to $120 less than brand new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus devices, which are priced at $549 and $649 for 32GB of storage space. All refurbished iPhone 6s and 6s Plus models are unlocked and SIM-free, meaning they are compatible with all U.S. carriers.
While Apple has long offered iPads and Macs in its refurbished store, it has never before allowed customers to purchase refurbished iPhones. Customers who wanted lower prices on iPhones had to wait for third-party deals or purchase refurbished/used devices from a third-party retailer.
All of Apple's refurbished products, iPhone included, are tested, certified, cleaned, and guaranteed with a one-year warranty. iPhones also feature a brand new battery and a fresh outer shell, ensuring there are no scratches or other cosmetic damage.
Apple today released a specialized Apple Support app in the Netherlands, which is designed to give iOS users another way to get support for their Apple devices.
The app closely mimics the design of Apple's dedicated support website, providing a list of the products owned by each user along with options for scheduling repairs in an Apple Store or chatting with Apple's support staff. It also has a section for recent repair requests and other information related to Apple product maintenance.
Need help? Apple Support app is your personalized guide to the best options from Apple. Find answers with articles tailored to your products and questions. Call, chat or email with an expert right away, or schedule a callback when it's convenient. Get a repair at an Apple Store or a nearby Apple Authorized Service Provider. Apple Support is here to help.
Apple Support appears to be limited to the Netherlands at this time, but Apple may be testing it in a single market before opting to roll it out to other countries. Rumors late last year suggested a support app was in the works, but it wasn't clear at the time if it would be a standalone app or something built into an existing app.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming iOS 10.2 update to public beta testers for testing purposes, just one over one week after releasing the first iOS 10.2 public beta, and one day after providing the second iOS 10.2 beta to developers.
Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program will receive the iOS 10.2 beta update over-the-air after installing the proper certificate on their iOS device.
Those who want to be a part of Apple's beta testing program can sign up to participate through the beta testing website, which gives users access to both iOS and macOS Sierra betas. Betas are not stable and include many bugs, so they should be installed on a secondary device.
iOS 10.2, as a major 10.x update, includes several new features to enhance the iOS 10 operating system. New emoji are included, introducing Unicode 9 characters like clown face, drooling face, selfie, face palm, fox face, owl, shark, butterfly, avocado, pancakes, croissant, and more, plus many profession emoji available in both male and female genders.
Apple has also updated the artwork on most existing emoji, adding detail to make them look less cartoonish and more realistic.
In addition to new emoji, the iOS 10.2 update includes new wallpaper, new Music sorting options, a new "Celebrate" Screen Effect," an option for preserving camera settings, a Videos widget, Single Sign-On support, an SOS feature for quickly calling emergency services, a new TV app to help users discover television content to watch, and more.
Apple today seeded the second beta of the upcoming macOS Sierra update 10.12.2 to developers, one week after releasing the first 10.12.2 beta and two weeks after the public release of macOS 10.12.1.
macOS Sierra 10.12.2 beta 2 is available for download through the Apple Developer Center and through the software update mechanism in the Mac App Store. A public beta will likely be available for public beta testers later this week.
macOS Sierra 10.12.2 includes new emoji introducing Unicode 9 characters like clown face, drooling face, selfie, face palm, fox face, owl, shark, butterfly, avocado, pancakes, croissant, and more, plus many profession emoji available in both male and female genders.
Apple has also updated the artwork on many existing emoji, adding detail and making them look less cartoonish and more realistic.
The update will also focus on bug fixes and performance enhancements to address issues that have popped up since the release of macOS Sierra 10.12.1.
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.
Following the launch of Apple Pay on the web on iOS 10 and macOS Sierra, Apple is now offering a selection of exclusive holiday discounts and benefits in order to entice customers to use the mobile payments service online.
Some of the offers, for example, include 50% off a one-year subscription to The New York Times, a free $50 iTunes gift card with the purchase of a Casper mattress, and a free $25 gift card if you spend over $150 at athletic apparel retailer Lululemon.
Free shipping, discounts, and other offers are currently available from Adidas, Casper, Grubhub, Instacart, JackThreads, Jet, Lululemon, The New York Times, 1-800-Flowers, Overstock, Seamless, Shopify, Spring, and Vacatia.
• Adidas — Enjoy one- or two-day free shipping. • Casper — Buy a mattress and receive a $50 iTunes gift card. • Grubhub — Win a $50 gift card for you and a friend! New diners will also receive $10 off their next order. • Instacart — First-time customers get one month of free Instacart delivery. • JackThreads — Get 20% off great holiday looks. • Jet — Get 10% off your first three orders and $5 JetCash to use on future purchases. • Lululemon — Get a $25 gift card if you spend over $150. • The New York Times — Get 50% off a one-year subscription. • 1-800-FLOWERS — Enjoy free shipping. • Overstock — Enjoy a free year of Club O Rewards Membership, a $19.99 value. • Seamless — Win a $50 gift card for you and a friend! New diners will also receive $10 off their next order. • Shopify — Explore unique gifts and deals from Shopify stores. • Spring — Get 20% off perfect looks for holiday. • Vacatia — Get 7% off resort bookings and a chance to win a one-week stay in Hawaii.
Apple said more offers are coming soon from retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, Bank of America, Caviar, Chase, Poshmark, Tumi, Under Armour, Warby Parker, and The Washington Post. The offers are valid in the U.S. only.
Ireland's government will this week formally submit an appeal against the European Commission's ruling that it must collect 13 billion euros in unpaid back taxes from Apple, according to Ireland's finance minister Michael Noonan.
"The government fundamentally disagrees with the European Commission's analysis and the decision left no choice but to take an appeal to the European Courts and this will be submitted tomorrow," Noonan told a European Parliament committee in Brussels on Tuesday.
Ireland agreed in September to join Apple in its fight against the European Commission, which in August said the iPhone maker received illegal state aid from the country. The ruling followed a three-year inquiry that found Apple paid between only 0.005% and 1% in taxes in Ireland between 2003 and 2014, compared to the country's headline 12.5% corporate tax rate.
Ireland is looking to protect its tax regime that has benefited several multinational corporations, according to Reuters.
Apple previously said it is "confident" the ruling "will be overturned" by European courts, but noted the process is "likely to take several years." Apple said it has "provisioned several billion dollars for the U.S. for payment," but it does not expect any near-term impact on its financial results.
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.
Snapchat is joining in on the augmented reality craze today with an update to its iOS app that lets Snapchatters use both their outward-facing and self-facing cameras to discover objects hidden in the world around them through their iPhone screens. Called "World Lenses," the options include an Election Day filter, rainbow-vomiting clouds, floating glitter, snow, hearts, and a horror-themed lens that turns your environment dark or light with the use of a flashlight (via The Verge).
Also discovered hidden within the update is a menu option to sync with Snapchat's upcoming Spectacles, sunglasses that will let users record 10 seconds of video at a time. As found by Mashable, the menu reads, "Spectacles are sunglasses that Snap! Learn more about Spectacles here," before directing users to Spectacles.com. There's still no confirmation of when the $130 device will launch.
The update also includes two new UI interactions for users, letting them press and hold on any snap to forward it to a friend so they can check it out. To cancel the process, simply press on the left side of the screen to return to the snap's normal playback loop.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has been championing AR in recent months, calling the technology "profound" in its potential to encourage and better stimulate human contact, not replace it. Apple is said to be investing a lot in AR as it moves forward, and the most recent rumors peg the company's potential efforts in the field as a focus on an assisted driving system that would have some kind of augmented reality user interface.
For now, more entertainment-based apps like Pokémon Go and Snapchat are the best examples of the technology. Users who don't have it yet can download Snapchat for free on the iOS App Store. [Direct Link]
In a lengthy blog post about Facebook's ten-year plan to "accelerate innovation and power new experiences with AI," chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer mentioned that one update coming to the company's mobile apps will be a "style transfer" tool that turns normal photos and videos into works of art using "high efficiency neural networks," all running directly on iOS and Android smartphones.
Facebook's impending update will, according to Schroepfer, run entirely on the user's smartphone and not be dependent on the content to be sent to servers, creating long load times and frustrating users. The CTO described this as the most demanding and "technically difficult" hurdle to clear in the process of adding the feature to the company's mobile apps, but Schroepfer said the company has done just that, and the result is a deep learning platform called "Caffe2Go."
Just three months ago we set out to do something nobody else had done before: ship AI-based style transfer running live, in real time, on mobile devices. This was a major engineering challenge, as we needed to design software that could run high-powered computing operations on a device with unique resource constraints in areas like power, memory and compute capability. The result is Caffe2Go, a new deep learning platform that can capture, analyze and process pixels in real time on a mobile device.
We found that by condensing the size of the AI model used to process images and videos by 100x, we’re able to run deep neural networks with high efficiency on both iOS and Android. This is all happening in the palm of your hand, so you can apply styles to videos as you’re taking them.
Schroepfer said that the alternative of sending the content to data centers to be analyzed and filtered was "not ideal for letting people share fun content in the moment." In addition to basic image and video filtering capabilities, the new deep-learning platform will also feasibly be able to understand gesture controls when taking a selfie, for instance. In today's blog post, an example is given of a user swiping right and left between various artistic filters for a selfie (all running live, in real-time) and even snapping a picture when the user smiles.
As a comparison, the update sounds largely similar to Prisma, an app that launched over the summer and impressed many with its ability to turn photos, and eventually videos, into stylized images. Originally, Prisma used a server-side combination of neural networks and artificial intelligence to apply the different filters to user photos, but an update also introduced offline image processing, meaning users could use some of the app's filters to alter their images right from their smartphones.
For Facebook, the announcement follows a year of video-first announcements from the company, most recently embodied in CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg's plan to make the camera more prominent in the app. No specific timeline was given for a possible launch of the new features on Facebook's mobile apps, but the company is clearly looking to lay the groundwork for its future, calling its new AI initiative, along with virtual reality, "new technologies that will shape the next decade."
Samsung has issued a full-page ad in three major U.S. newspapers and published an open letter on its website apologizing to its customers for the Galaxy Note 7 debacle (via The Verge).
The print letter was signed by Gregory Lee, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics North America, and appeared in Monday editions of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
"An important tenet of our mission is to offer best-in-class safety and quality. Recently, we fell short on this promise. For this we are truly sorry. We will re-examine every aspect of the device, including all hardware, software, manufacturing and the overall battery structure. We will move as quickly as possible, but will take the time needed to get the right answers."
The online letter was signed by Y H Eom, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics Europe, and apologized similarly to "a small number of affected customers" on the continent, where the Note 7 had yet to go on general sale.
Samsung still doesn't know exactly what caused some Note 7 handsets to spontaneously combust, but says it will continue to investigate the device's design and manufacturing process to determine what went wrong.
Released in August ahead of Apple's latest iPhone, the Note 7 quickly found itself at the center of a quality control crisis after reports emerged of phones setting on fire, causing injury and property damage.
Samsung permanently discontinued the phone after replacement units started exploding as well. Samsung says about 85 percent of all devices have now been returned. Analysts believe the recall will cost the company $5.4 billion in profit through the first quarter of 2017.
Samsung's letter of apology also covers reported issues with various models of top-load washing machines, which have also been subject to a company recall. According to Bloomberg, 2.8 million machines in the U.S. were recalled by Samsung last week after it was found that the top could become detached from the chassis during use.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said there had been nine related reports of injuries and that Samsung had received more than 700 reports of faulty machines since the problem came to light.
Apple today 
Ireland's government will this week 
