MacRumors

Amazon today announced that users will now be able to sync their iCloud Calendar information with devices that support Amazon's smart assistant Alexa. With the update, users can ask Alexa what's coming up on their calendar, or issue commands so new appointments are added to the schedule. Anything added from an Amazon device is then synced with iCloud and added to the Calendar app on iOS and macOS devices.

To sync an iCloud account with Alexa, the company said that customers will have to sign in to their Apple account within the settings tab of the Alexa iOS app. Users in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany will gain access to the new update beginning today, representing the current countries where Alexa is available.

Starting today, you can now link your Apple iCloud Calendar to Alexa. To do this, iCloud Calendar customers can simply link their account in the settings tab in the Alexa app. Once linked, just say, “Alexa, what’s on my calendar today?” or “Alexa, add lunch with Sarah at noon to my calendar.”

iCloud Calendar support has been a top requested feature from Alexa customers, and we’re thrilled to bring this to Alexa devices in US, UK and Germany today.

With the inclusion of Apple's Calendar, Alexa device users now have access to five total calendar services, also including accounts for G Suite, Google/Gmail, Office 365 users with Exchange Online mailboxes, and Outlook.com.

Alexa is available in a variety of hardware devices sold by Amazon, including the Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Look, and new Echo Show, as well as on the Amazon Alexa iOS app [Direct Link].

In the ongoing legal battle between Uber and Alphabet-owned Waymo, Uber announced this week that it has fired Anthony Levandowski, the engineer accused of stealing Waymo's self-driving intellectual property when he left his job at Google to start his own company, Otto (via The New York Times). In the original lawsuit, Waymo claimed that when Uber acquired Otto, Levandowski's stolen trade secrets came with the purchase, mainly centering around Waymo's LiDAR system.

In the months following Waymo's filing, Uber denied the accusations and "pressured Mr. Levandowski to cooperate" with the court. When he was ordered by a federal judge to give the court any evidence related to Waymo's accusations, as well as a testimony, he was said to have asserted his Fifth Amendment rights in order to avoid self-incrimination. The judge gave Levandowski an internal deadline to hand over the evidence in question, and when he missed it Uber decided to fire him.

“Over the last few months Uber has provided significant evidence to the court to demonstrate that our self-driving technology has been built independently,” Angela L. Padilla, Uber’s associate general counsel for employment and litigation, wrote in an email to employees. “Over that same period, Uber has urged Anthony to fully cooperate in helping the court get to the facts and ultimately helping to prove our case.”

She added: “We take our obligations under the court order very seriously, and so we have chosen to terminate his employment at Uber.”

When the lawsuit was filed in February, Levandowski and "other former Waymo employees" were accused of stealing around 14,000 confidential Waymo files that included data on Waymo's laser-based radar (LiDAR) system, which the company called "one of the most powerful parts" of its self-driving technology. Federal prosecutors began investigating the case earlier in May, while also partially granting Waymo's request for an injunction against Uber's self-driving efforts as the case continues.

Besides Waymo's lawsuit, Uber has also faced troubled waters this year when the Department of Justice began investigating the ride-hailing company over its use of "greyball" software that let drivers operate in places where the Uber app is restricted.

It also came out this year that Apple CEO Tim Cook threatened to remove Uber from the iOS App Store in 2015 after discovering that Uber was secretly "fingerprinting" iPhones that used the app. Uber said the decision was made to prevent fraud, making sure users could no longer create multiple fake accounts on one device to collect new account bonuses, despite knowing that its method was in direct violation of Apple's app privacy guidelines.

Although Uber's self-driving future is uncertain, Waymo has made progress in recent months with the launch of an autonomous car program in Phoenix, as well as the announcement of a partnership with Lyft that plans "to bring autonomous vehicle technology into the mainstream."

Reddit has updated its official app to include a new feature that allows users to add location information to posts, just like Twitter or Facebook.

The optional feature is powered by Foursquare and designed to be added to posts that might be enriched by location details, such as restaurant reviews or photography.

The change comes as part of a wider effort by Reddit to modernize its online community's interaction and bring it more in line with typical social media networks.

Other features recently added that work toward this end include the introduction of user profile pages and the ability to follow individual users. Earlier this year, Reddit also added a Popular Posts section featuring viral posts, top stories, and trending topics, to help increase discovery.

Version 3.0 of the Reddit app also introduces a change to the inbox tab, so that notifications appear all in one place, with messages in another. Additionally, the post button is now inline in the feed instead of cluttering the navigation bar.

Reddit is a free download for iPhone and iPad on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Logitech's Ultimate Ears has updated its popular UE Boom 2 and MegaBoom Bluetooth speakers line-up with a range of new limited edition colors and patterns.

Called Second Street, the new designs were created in conjunction with graffiti duo Bicicleta Sem Freio and will be available to order from the Ultimate Ears website beginning in June.

Ultimate Ears said the new-design Boom 2 will remain at the price of $199.99, with the MegaBoom refresh also remaining at its usual price of $299.99. Color and pattern availability may vary by country.

The Ultimate Ears iOS app includes a feature called Party Up that lets users connect more than 50 of the waterproof Bluetooth speakers at once. And thanks to Siri integration, pushing the Bluetooth button on the UE Boom 2 or the UE Megaboom activates Apple's virtual assistant, allowing users to request specific songs through Apple Music, place phone calls, and more.

For a full review of the original UE Boom 2, check out the MacRumors verdict here.

Yesterday, Twitter began rolling out a new feature in the Messages section of its official app that separates out DMs from people you don't follow in order to make it easier to accept or delete them.

In the Twitter iOS app, regular messages from people you know will appear in the Inbox as normal, while all other DMs will be flagged as Requests. Messages of the latter kind can be previewed without the sender being notified, while options are provided to accept and notify the sender, or delete the message without notifying them.

By default, any media attached to an unsolicited message won't be revealed until you accept the DM, to protect users from inappropriate content, although this setting can be disabled.

The Twitter app is a free download from the App Store for iPhone and iPad. [Direct Link]

Nest unveiled a new smart security camera today called the Nest Cam IQ, an indoor 4K device capable of increasing footage resolution when it detects unusual or suspicious activity in the home.

Using built-in smart capabilities powered by Google's AI for facial recognition, the Nest Cam IQ is able to identify a person in its visual range, which automatically triggers a notification alert that includes a zoomed-in photo of the figure.

A variation on the same feature called "Supersight" appears in the mobile app feed, as a zoomed picture-in-picture inset of any figures identified in the camera's field of view. The Nest Cam IQ also tracks the subject as it moves and provides a close-up of the face to make it easier to spot identifying features.

Additional smart features are in store for Nest owners who sign up to a Nest Aware subscription, such as the ability to identify and remember family members and trusted familiar faces, as well as the ability to recognize specific audio cues like conversations and barking dogs.

Elsewhere, the Nest Cam IQ comes with a weighted base and tilting head, invisible infrared LED emitters, high-powered speakers, and a three-microphone array for improved background noise suppression and echo cancelation.

The Nest Cam IQ costs $299 in the U.S. and can be pre-ordered today on the company's website, which also sells the Nest Cam and Nest Cam Outdoor. Shipping is expected to start at the end of June.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 3.2.3 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the first watchOS 3.2.3 beta and a little over two weeks after releasing watchOS 3.2.2, a minor bug fix update.

Registered developers can download the watchOS 3.2.3 update through the Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software Update. For the beta to be installed, the Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it has to be in range of the iPhone.

Apple only provides watchOS betas to developers because there's no way to downgrade software on an Apple Watch. Non-developers will need to wait for the public release to get the update.

No notable features or bug fixes were discovered in the first beta of watchOS 3.2.3, suggesting the update focuses primarily on under-the-hood improvements.

watchOS 3.2.3 is likely to be one of the last updates to the watchOS 3 operating system, as Apple is expected to introduce a new version of watchOS at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 10.2.2 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after releasing the first beta of tvOS 10.2.2 and a little over two weeks after releasing tvOS 10.2.1, a minor bug fix update.

tvOS 10.2.2 is available for the fourth-generation Apple TV. Registered developers can download the update by connecting the Apple TV to a computer with a USB-C cable and installing the beta software using iTunes.

Due to the installation requirements, tvOS betas are only available for developers, so tvOS 10.2.2 will not be publicly available until the final version of the software is released.

No major feature changes or bug fixes were discovered in the first beta of tvOS 10.2.2, and it appears to focus on minor under-the-hood improvements.

tvOS 10 will soon be followed by a new version of tvOS, which Apple is expected to introduce at its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5.

North Korea technology company Ryonghung has recently released a new tablet using the trademarked name of Apple's popular device, the iPad. The company's tablet is called the "Ryonghung iPad" and lets users read the news, work on documents, and perform other actions across more than 40 different pre-installed apps (via Gizmodo).

Tech specs for the Ryonghung iPad detail a device with 1GB RAM, an 8GB hard disk, a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, HDMI compatibility, a keyboard, and "network connection" capabilities. The advertising material details a few apps as well, relating to programs like a calculator, a health encyclopedia, a medical app, and an agricultural program.

As NK News pointed out, the heavy use of "iPad" in the device's marketing material violates Apple's trademarks.

A North Korean company is advertising a domestic tablet computer under the copyrighted name of one of Apple Inc.’s flagship products – the “iPad” – the DPRK’s latest edition of Foreign Trade magazine shows. The term “iPad” is registered as an Apple trademark on its website and while there are occasions when the company’s terms can be used, these generally need Apple’s authorization.

A different version of the Ryonghung iPad first appeared in North Korea in 2013, although then it lacked the "iPad" moniker and was called the "Ryonghung-trademarked tablet computer" by the media. North Korean versions of Apple devices have been seen in the past, with a computer bearing resemblance to the iMac showing up at a trade fair in Pyongyang in 2015. Created by a company called Blue Sky, the computer was an all-in-one device with an aluminum finish, black bezels, and white keyboard and mouse accessories.

Similarly, in 2014 reports surfaced of North Korea's "Red Star" Linux operating system and its overall resemblance to OS X at the time. The Red Star OS included a similar dock, wallpapers, tool bar, and more visual similarities to Apple's MacBook and iMac computer operating system. However, the Ryonghung iPad appears to be the first device launched out of North Korea that directly uses Apple branding.

Apple was asked if it would enter a trademark dispute with the North Korea-based company over the iPad brand, but a representative of the Cupertino company has yet to respond.

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.

A new article by The Wall Street Journal today has taken a look into the increased pressure put on suppliers of NAND flash memory units, as well as other smartphone components, and how Apple might be indirectly affecting the supply of the Nintendo Switch. According to people in the industry, smartphone makers -- namely Apple -- and their increasing ramp-up on component manufacturing for high-end devices have led to dwindling supplies of Nintendo Switch.

Specifically, Nintendo is lacking components related to NAND flash-memory chips, liquid-crystal displays, and the motors used in the Switch's HD Rumble feature. NAND memory chip supplies are said to be placed mainly upon the shoulders of Toshiba's struggling NAND chip unit, which is still up for sale despite legal troubles that have plagued the company over the past few weeks. In April, Apple was rumored to be looking into spending several billion for a "substantial stake" in Toshiba's NAND chip unit.

Apple's manufacturing ramp-up on the upcoming "iPhone 8" is said to be behind some of the supply chain constraints faced by Nintendo, as well as ongoing demand for the iPhone 7. Currently, Apple manufactures iPhone 7 with an LCD display and various internal sizes of NAND memory. The Nintendo Switch has a multi-touch LCD display and 32GB of internal memory.

People in the industry say the rapid expansion of web-based services for corporations has driven demand for computer servers that use flash memory. Continued demand for Apple’s iPhone 7 and a 10th anniversary model of the iPhone expected later this year are also keeping parts makers at full capacity, helping power Japan’s economy to its longest growth streak since 2006.

“Demand for our NAND flash memory has been overwhelmingly greater than supply, and the situation is likely to stay for the rest of this year,” said a spokeswoman at Toshiba Corp.

For Nintendo, the company has said it hopes to make as many as 20 million Switch units by the end of its financial year, in March 2018. Thanks to supply constraints, the actual sales target of the year is 10 million units, although "strong demand suggests it can sell many more - if it can make them." In its first month on the market, Nintendo sold 2.74 million Switch units.

Analysts watching the supply chain said that Nintendo's rivals "offer better terms" than the video game company, and that smartphone makers like Apple specifically "issue larger orders than Nintendo." This leads to manufacturers giving preference to companies other than Nintendo, and subsequent shortages for its products. Increased spending to secure more parts at a faster rate for the Switch isn't a possibility for Nintendo, as president Tatsumi Kimishima doesn't want the console's $299 retail price to increase.

Apple Pay will continue its worldwide expansion next year, with a new report suggesting that Apple is planning to launch its mobile payments wallet in Ukraine in the second quarter of 2018. The news comes from PaySpace Magazine (via Tehnot.com) [Google Translate], which reported on the announcement of a new digital banking service, Alfa Digital, a division of financial institution Alfa-Bank.

During the announcement, Alfa-Bank Ukraine's head of e-business, Maxim Patrin, mentioned that Apple Pay is set to debut in Ukraine sometime in Q2 2018. Patrin's source of the news is said to come from an anonymous tipster in one of the payment systems currently in operation on the Ukrainian market.

Alfa Digital is said to be keeping a close eye on the Ukrainian debut of popular digital wallets like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, and plans to support the addition of cards issued by Alfa-Bank into Apple Pay whenever it launches. Patrin didn't mention any further details about the launch.

In the second quarter of 2018 Apple Pay payment service can run on the Ukrainian market. This was stated by the head of "Alfa-Bank Ukraine" e-business, Maxim Patrin, citing an anonymous source in one of the payment systems that operate on the Ukrainian market.

Ukraine currently lacks Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay, instead relying on contactless payment solutions like Privat24 to let users pay for items using their smartphone. Samsung Pay is rumored to beat Apple Pay to Ukraine, with a potential launch of Samsung's mobile wallet sometime in the middle of 2017.

The latest Apple Pay launch took place in Italy in the middle of May, with users in the country able to add Visa and MasterCards issued by Boon, Carrefour, and UniCredit into their iPhone. Apple Pay is now available in the United States, UK, China, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, France, Hong Kong, Russia, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Ireland, and Italy.