MacRumors

Adobe's MAX creativity and design conference is set to kick off this morning, and during the MAX event, Adobe plans to show off several upcoming software updates and new software experiences that are coming to its product lineup later this year.

All of Adobe's Creative Cloud apps are being updated with new features. Photoshop, for example, is gaining a new universal search bar with visual search options, stock templates, tighter integration of SVG elements, and better support for SVG color fonts, while Illustrator is gaining font, text, and glyph enhancements along with new alignment tools for creating pixel-based artwork.

Adobe Experience Design CC (XD), Adobe's tool for designing and prototyping, is gaining support for layers and symbols, along with the ability for users to comment on shared designs, making it easier to get feedback from clients. During the first half of 2017, XD will also support real-time sharing and collaboration features along with visual versioning to make it easier to keep track of changes.

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After Effects features a new 3D rendering engine that can render 3D elements up to 20x faster, while Premiere Pro is gaining new virtual reality capabilities and optimized video publishing for social networks. The new software is able to auto detect virtual reality video, applying the proper settings. Character Animator is getting faster puppet creation and animation that better integrates with Photoshop and Illustrator. Team and Enterprise users will soon be able to co-edit video files in Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Prelude with updated workflows.

Mobile apps are also being updated. Photoshop brushes will be able to be used in Sketch, and both Sketch and Draw will gain layer blend modes. Comp, meanwhile, will gain auto mockups and the ability to copy/paste within and across documents.

Project Felix, being unveiled at MAX, is an upcoming tool that allows graphic designers to make high-quality photo-realistic images using 2D and 3D assets, even without experience using 3D software. Project Felix includes 3D models, materials, and lights sourced from Adobe Stock, and there are options do to things like adjust camera angles and lighting to make the perfect product shot.

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Adobe Spark, available today as a free service, is designed to allow Adobe Creative Cloud users to create social graphics, web stories, and animated videos. Spark is available to everyone, but paid members will have exclusive features, including the ability to remove Adobe branding from projects.

Adobe is officially bringing its Adobe Stock Contributor site out of beta, allowing Adobe users to sell their photographs and design work to other Adobe users. Adobe Stock is gaining an improved image search feature and a new auto-keyword option that makes it easier to find what you're looking for.

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Adobe is also announcing a new partnership with Reuters, incorporating Reuters video and photography of news, sports, and entertainment events, and it is introducing a new way to purchase fonts through the Adobe Typekit marketplace.

Adobe's Creative Cloud updates will be available to Creative Cloud subscribers before the end of the year. For more details on the upcoming features that will be available in Adobe's range of Creative Cloud apps, make sure to check out Adobe.com.

Tag: Adobe

Glide recently announced a new Apple Watch band that includes both a 2MP front-facing camera, as well as an 8MP outward-facing one, with the ability to capture crisp images and HD videos "in a tap." Called the "CMRA," users simply have to tap a button built into the band to snap a photo or long-press to begin recording a video, and on one charge the CMRA can take "hundreds of photos," or about 30 minutes of video (via Re/code).

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The sole button housed on the band also switches it between the two cameras with a double-tap. Any pictures or videos taken with the band are seamlessly integrated with Apple's stock Photos app, so it's easy to store, edit, and share moments captured on the CMRA. Glide says that the cameras on its band include tilt-balancing, lens correction, noise reduction, and pixel optimization features to provide enhanced shots on the fly. In terms of storage, the CMRA has 8GB of onboard flash memory.

The band's video conferencing feature uses Glide's iPhone and Apple Watch chat app to let users talk in real time, or send recorded video messages to one another. When the Apple Watch app launched last year, it set itself up as a companion to the iPhone app, notifying users of live Glides, missed messages, and let users watch videos right on their wrists. With CMRA, now users can begin recording those videos without needing to grab an iPhone.


For charging, pre-orders of the device will come with a custom dual-charging dock that charges both the Apple Watch and CMRA together, and the dock itself includes a battery pack so it can recharge the two devices twice during travel. Speaking with Re/code, Glide CEO Ari Roisman explained that the company is offering up pre-orders months in advance (CMRA is predicted to launch in Spring 2017) to test the waters and see how much interest the product gathers online.

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As for why it is taking orders so early, Roisman offers up the standard answer for small companies looking to do hardware: It needs to know how many to build, and the best way to do that is to sell them publicly before the first units roll off the manufacturing lines.

“The camera is only valuable when it is out and ready to take a photo or video,” says Glide CEO Ari Roisman. “Our phones live in our pockets.”

For those interested, the CMRA can be pre-ordered from Glide's website at an early bird price of $149.00 in both 38mm and 42mm. The device is expected to sell at $249.00 once it launches, and the company will mark it down to $199.00 for later pre-orders.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 10
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has released a new research report outlining why he believes Apple has shifted its focus from its original rumored car project in favor of augmented reality technology.

According to Kuo, reports that Apple has turned its attention to developing a software-based autonomous driving system "make sense", given that the system will support augmented reality and provide an "innovative user experience".

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All of Apple’s past successes were related to human-machine interfaces, such as mouse for Mac, click wheel for iPod, and multi-touch for iPhone and iPad.

Assuming Apple successfully develops AR, we predict the firm will enjoy the following competitive advantages: (1) redefining existing key products and leading competitors by three to five years. For instance, this could happen for iPhone, iPad and Mac; (2) eliminating obstacles of Apple Watch and Apple TV by offering an innovative user experience; and (3) entering new business fields, such as autonomous driving system.

We expect Apple to generate preliminary results for AR in the next 1-2 years at the earliest and working with iPhone may be the first step.

Kuo thinks the AR market will increase significantly in 2018 and will replace VR to become the mainstream market focus as Apple enters the field. Kuo predicts the AR and VR markets combined will grow from $40-50 billion in 2018 to $150 billion in 2020, with the majority increase coming from AR.

Apple's increased interest in augmented reality is no secret. CEO Tim Cook has spoken about AR on a number of occasions over recent months, hinting that the company's approach to AR should encourage, not replace, human contact.

In July, Cook said Apple was "high on AR in the long run" and that the company continues "to invest a lot in [AR]." He said he believes augmented reality "can be huge," and in August, he called it a "core technology", while in September Cook said he believes that between VR and AR, the latter "is the larger of the two," because it allows people to "be very present," engaging with one another while having other visual things to see.


According to rumors, Apple has a research team working on augmented and virtual reality, exploring the AR/VR field and investigating how the company could embrace augmented or virtual reality in the future. Apple has reportedly built prototype virtual reality headsets, but Cook's continued comments on augmented reality indicate Apple is more heavily invested in that technology.

Related Roundup: Apple Vision Pro
Buyer's Guide: Vision Pro (Neutral)
Related Forum: Apple Vision Pro

Less than a week ago Apple unveiled its new MacBook Pro line-up, with the focus of its "Hello again" event centering on the OLED Touch Bar that replaces the function keys on the company's 13-inch and 15-inch flagship models.

Initial media reaction to Apple's event was positive, and most journalists in attendance were impressed after their limited hands-on time with the new machines. "There's all kinds of love for the new MacBook Pro," reported The Loop the following morning, in a post citing quotes from several leading tech sites.

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Over the weekend, however, evidence mounted of a backlash within sections of the online Mac community in response to Apple's latest announcements. In a blog post on his site titled "New MacBook Pros and the State of the Mac", developer Michael Tsai collated and linked to the most commonly aired grievances. The post has since become a common point of reference in the blogosphere for negative sentiment toward Apple following last week's event.

In his original post, Tsai said he was "disappointed" with Apple's announcements for the Mac, which made him feel as if Cupertino had either "lost touch" with what developers and creative professionals want, or Apple "simply doesn't care about those customers".

There's nothing particularly wrong with what Apple announced. I like Thunderbolt 3. The display looks good. I'm not crazy about Touch Bar, but it does seem potentially useful. The problem is that the MacBook Pro is not a true Pro notebook.

My Retina MacBook Pro is almost 4.5 years old. I've been wanting to upgrade it for a while and was planning to do so today. After seeing what was announced, I'm no longer sure that I want a MacBook Pro as my main computer.

The subsequent catalog of grievances largely mirror Tsai's own complaints, which include the "premium price" of a "Pro" MacBook limited to 16GB RAM, the prioritization of "thinness and lightness" over CPU and graphics performance, and Apple's "neglect" of other sections of its Mac product line. Tsai concludes: "It has seemed clear for a while that the CEO doesn't really understand the Mac, or simply doesn't like it that much, and that's a problem for those of us who do."

On Monday, both The Loop and Daring Fireball highlighted Tsai's post, noting its growing inventory of criticisms. The Loop said the list contained "a lot of fair complaints" that are "insights... worth paying attention to". Daring Fireball's John Gruber called the extent of the backlash "astounding" and described Tsai's collection of quotes as "must-read stuff".


In another widely shared article titled "How Apple could have avoided much of the controversy", developer Chuq Von Rospach wrote that while much of the criticism ignores "a lot of the positives" in Apple's latest announcements, the company should have at least mentioned upcoming updates to the rest of its product line, which would "have muted a lot of the anger".

Von Rospach goes on to speculate about what those updates might be, broaches some of the issues regarding Apple's new notebooks (the 16GB RAM ceiling, an increase in dongles) and concludes by suggesting that creative professionals need to realize the Mac line has become a "niche product" in a world driven by market forces where Apple technology has gone mainstream. The full article can be read here.

The impassioned online debate comes at an important time for Apple, which hopes to boost interest in a lukewarm computer market this holiday season, following the company's first reported full-year revenue decline since 2001. Its Touch Bar enabled 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro notebooks are expected to ship in late November. Meanwhile, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro sans Touch Bar is already shipping to customers and more comprehensive reviews of Apple's lower-spec notebook are expected this week.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Buyer's Guide: MacBook Pro (Neutral)
Related Forum: MacBook Pro

twitterlogoTwitter has begun rolling out its opt-in Highlights feature to all iOS users.

The feature notifies users via push notifications (up to two a day) about the most interesting content from Twitter, tailored just for them.

Highlights are based on a number of different factors, says Twitter, including but not limited to: Conversations among people users follow and popular tweets from their accounts, as well as trends, news, and personalized topics.

The Highlights feature, which has been available on Android for some time, began rolling out to iOS users on Monday. To enable it, Twitter account holders should tap on the gear icon in the Twitter app, tap Notifications, followed by Mobile notifications, and toggle the "on" button next to Highlights.

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

Tag: Twitter

instapapericonThe premium version of popular app Instapaper, designed to allow users to save notable news articles to read at a later time, has officially become free to all users.

The company behind the app has emailed all account holders to tell them that, as of today, it is opening up Instapaper Premium features to all users, free of charge.

Users of Instapaper now get access to full-text search for all articles, unlimited Notes, text-to-speech playlists, unlimited speed reading, "Send to Kindle" via bookmarklet and mobile apps, Kindle Digests of up to 50 articles, and an ad-free Instapaper website.

The company said the change was made possible now that its team is better resourced – referring to its acquisition by Pinterest, reported in August.

According to TechCrunch, while Instapaper's team would begin working on Pinterest's core experience, the company said the app would live on as a separate entity and continue to get updates without them being monetized. Existing Instapaper Premium users will get pro-rated refunds in the coming weeks, the company said.

Pinterest has been busy acquiring smaller companies to bolster its teams with new talent and grow its user base. In October, the company reported that it had hit 150 million monthly active users. Although the number missed the mark on targets the company set in early 2015, it still represents a large potential source of revenue.

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

Following its "Hello Again" Mac event last week, Apple quietly dropped the prices on higher-capacity storage upgrades across its Mac lineup. 512GB and 1TB SSD build-to-order upgrade options for the MacBook Air, iMac, Mac Pro, Mac mini, and 2015 MacBook Pro are now priced up to $200 less, bring the costs in line with upgrade options on the new MacBook Pro models.

Prior to the event, 512GB storage upgrade options were priced at $300-$400 for most entry-level machines, while a 1TB upgrade was priced at $800 to $900. With the price drop, upgrading to 512GB of storage costs an extra $200-$300, while upgrading to 1TB costs $600-$700.

On the higher-end 13-inch MacBook Air, for example, the default 256GB SSD option can be upgraded to 512GB for $200, $100 less than it cost earlier this year.

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New Mac Pro storage prices. Previous prices were $300 and $800.

Upgrading the entry-level 27-inch iMac to 512GB of flash storage previously cost $500, but the price has dropped to $400. Upgrading the mid-range iMac 27-inch iMac to 512GB or 1TB of storage used to cost $400 or $900, respectively, but prices are now at $300 for the 512GB upgrade and $700 for the 1TB flash storage upgrade. On the most expensive 27-inch iMac, upgrading to 1TB storage now costs $100 less.

On the high-end Mac mini, prices have dropped to $200 for the 512GB flash storage option and $600 for the 1TB flash storage option, and the same prices are available on both Mac Pro models, a savings of $100 for 512GB and $200 for 1TB.

For 2015 MacBook Pro models, the 15-inch MacBook Pro storage upgrade options are also priced at $200 for 512GB and $600 for 1TB, down from $300 and $800. Upgrade options for the 13-inch machine are new and are priced somewhat higher at $200 for 256GB, $400 for 512GB, and $800 for 1TB.

Much to the disappointment of many Mac users, the MacBook Pro was the only machine to see an update at Apple's fall event. The iMac, Mac Pro, and Mac mini have not seen a refresh, and no new machines are expected before the end of the year.

While an iMac refresh is rumored for the first half of 2017, there's no word on when the Mac Pro and the Mac mini, both of which have not been refreshed in several years, could receive updates. Apple is also expected to phase out the MacBook Air, replacing it with the MacBook and the MacBook Pro.

(Thanks, Marek!)

ROLI today introduced a fun new music creation system called BLOCKS, which is scalable, modular, and designed to give people a simple, visual way to create music. Each square-shaped Block has a different function, and multiple blocks can snap together so users can build the music system that's best for them in terms of skill, price, and musical style.


ROLI is announcing three Blocks today, all of which will be available for purchase at Apple retail stores around the world. The Lightpad Block, a 5x5 grid that lights up, supports pressure-based multi-touch gestures, allowing people to use the colored surface for creating music through presses, glides, and other simple hand movements.

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Varying pressure on the block changes the intensity of the sound, multiple fingers can be used at once, and multiple Lightpads can be linked together for a bigger surface to work with.

The Live Block and Loop Block both work alongside the Lightpad Block, which is the main block, offering controls to make it easier to perform and produce music in real time with physical playback and record buttons. All three of the Blocks are controlled via Bluetooth through NOISE, a new app that's available from Apple's App Store.

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Roland Lamb, founder and CEO of ROLI, and inventor of BLOCKS, said, "Many areas of life have been transformed by the digital. Music, though, remains a universal language that everyone understands, but only a few can speak. BLOCKS will change that, and enable people around the world to experience the joy of music-making for the first time."

ROLI Lightpad Blocks are priced at $179.95 each, while the Live and the Loop are priced at $79.95. BLOCKS are available at Roli.com starting today and should soon be available from Apple's online store and in Apple retail locations.

2016-macbook-pro-adaptersIn line with the 12-inch MacBook, Apple has removed all ports on the new MacBook Pro beyond two or four Thunderbolt 3 ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Thunderbolt 3 carries power, USB, DisplayPort, HDMI, and VGA over a single USB-C port, creating one standard for connecting most accessories and peripherals.

The issue for now, however, is not all devices are equipped with USB-C ports. Apple's very own iOS devices, for example, use a proprietary Lightning port instead.

More USB-C accessories will inevitably be released over the coming months and years, but in the meantime, many new MacBook Pro users will need to purchase at least one dongle or hub to use the notebook with their current setup. Own an iPhone? You need a new cable. Own a Thunderbolt Display? You need an adapter.

Below, we have rounded up some of the USB-C adapters and cables available from Apple and third-party accessory makers.

Apple

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Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 1/2 Adapter — $49

This adapter can be used to connect the new MacBook Pro to Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2 peripherals. Examples include Apple's discontinued Thunderbolt Display and older Thunderbolt external storage drives.

The adapter can also be used to connect the new MacBook Pro to Apple's Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter and Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter. Tip: Belkin sells a direct USB-C to Gigabit Ethernet adapter for $34.95.

The adapter is bidirectional, so it can be used reversely to connect new Thunderbolt 3 devices to an older Mac with a Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2 port.



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USB-C Charge Cable — $25

Have you ordered a new MacBook Pro and also own an iPhone? You can't connect the two devices out of the box without purchasing an additional adapter or cable. One of those options is Apple's own USB-C to Lightning cable.

The cable can be used to charge and sync any Lightning-equipped iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with USB-C devices like the new MacBook Pro. A 1-meter cable is available for $25, while a 2-meter version costs $35.

Few if any third-party Lightning to USB-C cables authorized under Apple's MFi Program are currently available.

Tip: An alternative option is to purchase a USB-C adapter or hub with at least one USB-A port and then use a traditional Lightning to USB cable — see below.

➜ Click here to read rest of article...

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Buyer's Guide: MacBook Pro (Neutral)
Related Forums: MacBook, MacBook Pro

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming iOS 10.2 update to public beta testers for testing purposes, just one over one week after releasing the first major iOS 10 update, iOS 10.1, and one day after providing the iOS 10.2 beta to developers.

Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program will receive the iOS 10 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 iOS 10. New emoji have been added, 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. In addition to new emoji, the 10.2 update includes new wallpaper, new Music sorting options, a new "Celebrate" Screen Effect," an option for preserving camera settings, a Videos widget, and more.

Related Forum: iOS 10

Mojang today launched "Minecraft: Education Edition" for macOS and Windows platforms, allowing educators and administrators to begin introducing the game to students and use its copious tools and in-game systems to teach lessons in science, technology, engineering, math, history, language, art, and more (via TechCrunch). The game will come with a "Classroom Mode" companion app so teachers can manage settings within the seed created for their classroom, and even interact with the students in their world.

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The game has been in a free trial testing period at some school across the country, totaling up to around 35,000 students and teachers who have used it so far. The full game now runs at a rate of $5 per user, with volume pricing available for larger schools. Those eligible to download Minecraft: Education Edition extend beyond normal public schools, and include libraries, museums, and individuals who are part of "nationally recognized home-school organizations."

The Minecraft: Education Edition website also includes resources for teachers to get started with the game, including pre-made lesson plans, helpful tutorials, and starter worlds that'll make it easier to acclimate students into the game's mechanics. For teachers who want to use the game in their classroom but aren't familiar with Minecraft, there's a "Minecraft Mentors" program that teaches them all of the basic principles of the game, along with how it can be adapted to education programs.


Like the consumer versions of Minecraft, Education Edition will receive version updates over time to ensure that the software stays up to date, as well as introduce new game features. The first version of the learning-focused edition will include all of the previous updates introduced to Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition beta, according to Microsoft. Educators interested can begin the sign up process on the game's website.

During last week's Mac event, Apple announced that Minecraft will be coming to the fourth-generation Apple TV by the end of 2016.

Following the confirmation that Apple has delayed its wireless "AirPods" beyond the original late October launch window, foreign supply chain sources are now pointing towards a launch date in January 2017, and not the late 2016 estimation that many believed would help the Bluetooth device sell during the holidays.

The news comes from Chinese-language Economic Daily News (via DigiTimes), which cites market watchers who believe AirPods manufacturing supplier Inventec will see a profit boost in January because of the new launch date for the device.

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Apple originally planned to release the AirPods at the end of October, but has postponed release. Inventec is expected to begin shipping AirPods in January 2017, the paper noted.

Because of AirPods orders, Inventec's revenue is expected to grow 7 percent in 2017, to reach around $23.83 billion, while its earnings per share are also estimated to increase by 35 percent. Its Q4 2016 earnings will be mainly in its PC supplier business, which will "stay flat" from the third quarter output of around 4.85 million units shipped.

The connection between Inventec and AirPods first came in a report by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in September. Apple then announced the device during its September 7 iPhone 7 event, where it confirmed the headphones have up to 5 hours of music playback and high-quality sound through a "seamless and automatic connection" between devices, as well as a battery case that includes up to 24 hours of charge.

Related Roundup: AirPods 4
Buyer's Guide: AirPods (Buy Now)
Related Forum: AirPods

Apple Pay launched in Russia last month in partnership with Sberbank for MasterCard cardholders, and today the mobile payments service has expanded to nine additional financial institutions in the country.

Today's additions include Tinkoff Bank, Bank Saint Petersburg, Raiffeisenbank, Yandex.Money, Alfa-Bank, MTS Bank, VTB 24, Rocketbank, and MDM Bank. Russian Standard Bank is listed as coming soon. The banks, just added to the regional Apple Pay website in Russia, support Apple Pay as of November 1.

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Eligible cards can be added to Apple Pay by tapping "Add Credit or Debit Card" in the Wallet app on iPhone 5 and later running at least iOS 8.1.

Participating retailers include ATAK, Magnit, Media Markt, Auchan, Azbuka Vkusa, bp, M.Video, TsUM, authorized Apple reseller re:Store, and elsewhere contactless payments are accepted. Burger King is also listed as a future partner once it implements contactless payments infrastructure in the country.

Apple Pay is currently available in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey has said Apple is "working rapidly" to expand the service to additional countries in Asia and Europe.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tag: Russia

In iOS 10, Apple Music lost the star rating system that allowed users to personally rate a song on a scale of 1-5, which was then saved in their library so they could remember and later sort tracks via the ranking system. Following the release of the iOS 10.2 beta yesterday, iTunes expert Kirk McElhearn discovered that star ratings have returned to the Apple Music app on iOS, now appearing as a toggle option in Settings > Music.

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After turning on "Show Star Ratings," users will be able to once more give each track a personal rating, through a few added steps, however. The process required to get to the "Rate Song" menu is as follows: tap the ellipsis menu at the bottom right of the screen when a song is playing to bring up its action sheet, scroll down to "Rate Song," choose the star rating, then tap "Done." In prior versions of iOS, users simply tapped on the artwork of a song to bring up the star rating menu.

As the Settings submenu clarifies, "Star Ratings do not affect For You recommendations," so Apple Music's binary like/dislike system is still the only resource for subscribers to teach the streaming service which songs they enjoy, and which they don't. Besides Star Ratings, it was also discovered that within the beta of iOS 10.2, there's a new option to sort playlists by type, title, and recently added, as well as new options for sorting songs and albums by title or artist.

iFixit has published a teardown of the new 13-inch MacBook Pro without Touch Bar, which the site calls the "Escape Edition" because of its adherence to the traditional row of function keys, along with a tangible Escape key. In the teardown, iFixit delves deeper into the MacBook Pro, uncovering a battery that is 27 percent less powerful than last year's model, along with the Butterfly 2.0 keyboard that's been slightly updated since the 2015 MacBook.

After removing the extra-large new trackpad from the body of the laptop, iFixit gets a better look at the MacBook's battery. Rated for 54.5 watt hours, the 13-inch MacBook might include less battery life than last year's generation, but it does come in above the Touch Bar MacBook Pro model, which clocks in at 49.2 watt hours. In a recent performance comparison provided by Geekbench, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro sans Touch Bar's 15-watt chip was proven to be more energy efficient than the 28-watt chip in last year's entry-level model.

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A new spring mechanism is discovered housed next to the MacBook Pro's hinge protector, which "rolls a flat cable up when the display is closed, and unravels when the display opens." This not only seems to make it easier to close the lid of the MacBook, but suggests the overall lighter body of the MacBook Pro needed extra help and couldn't "rely on gravity to close nicely as much as previous models have."

One of the last points iFixit focuses on is the updated Butterfly 2.0 keys on the MacBook Pro's keyboard. Comparing it with the 2015 MacBook, iFixit describes the new MacBook Pro's keys as "a little taller at the edges," so it's slightly easier to find each key with your fingers without looking directly at the board. The dome switches hiding under each key also appear to have more heft than the 2015 MacBook's, further supporting the overall better feel and increased travel on the MacBook Pro.

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iFixit also looked at the MacBook's removable SSD, powered by SanDisk 64GB NAND flash memory and Apple's custom SSD controller. Then, the site dove into the logic board to hunt for the "advanced thermal architecture" described in the MacBook's press release. The board appeared mostly the same as previous MacBooks, with Apple's new architecture apparently describing the "relocation of the heat sink screws to the backside of the logic board."

Other interesting tidbits from the teardown include the MacBook Pro's fans, and the single modular unit taped to the bottom of the notebook's fan, which houses the 3.5mm headphone port. Its location, and Apple's removal of the same port on the iPhone 7, means it "could easily be dropped in favor of a Lightning or USB-C connector" in future MacBook Pro generations. Ultimately, iFixit gave the 13-inch MacBook Pro without a Touch Bar a repairability score of 2, with a 10 being the easiest to repair.

Check out the full teardown on iFixit's website.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tag: iFixit
Buyer's Guide: MacBook Pro (Neutral)
Related Forum: MacBook Pro

Apple is looking to use OLED displays rather than current LCD technology for its future MacBook series, according to Korean website ETNews.

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The report, citing unnamed sources, said Apple is currently looking into ways of using OLED displays for MacBooks and testing their performance. It does not provide a timeline as to when Apple might release its first OLED-based MacBook.

The switch to OLED technology could have several benefits for future MacBooks, including lower power consumption for longer battery life. OLED panels are often thinner, too, which could allow for a slimmer and lighter MacBook design.

Other potential advantages of OLEDs include increased brightness, sharper colors, and faster response times compared to LCDs.

The report said Apple is actively expanding uses of OLED displays for its major products, one of which is widely rumored to be the iPhone starting next year.

Apple already has experience using OLED displays in limited applications, including the Apple Watch and the new MacBook Pro's Touch Bar, but adapting the technology to larger screens can pose manufacturing challenges.

Today's report pegged Samsung as Apple's supplier of Touch Bar panels, and that partnership could extend to MacBook displays in the future.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo yesterday said Apple will release new MacBooks in the second half of 2017. New and existing notebooks are said to receive price cuts, while adoption of Intel's Cannonlake processors if readied could allow for up to 32GB of RAM versus the max 16GB of RAM in current models.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tags: ETNews, OLED
Buyer's Guide: MacBook Pro (Neutral)
Related Forums: MacBook, MacBook Pro

Twitter for iOS is currently testing a new way of opening web links in Safari with the Reader mode automatically turned on (via TechCrunch).

Safari's built-in Reader mode, usually activated by tapping an icon in the browser's search bar, enables users to load a distraction-free version of websites minus formatting, ads, links, and so on, with font type and size custom options available.

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The Guardian was the first to notice that all the links they were clicking on in the Twitter app defaulted to the Reader mode. Twitter later confirmed to TechCrunch that it is testing the feature with select users, the aim being "to refine the product and make Twitter easier to use", according to a spokesperson.

The downside to any potential rollout is that content publishers can't customize the Reader view of their site, nor will they be able to generate ad revenue from page views that come from Twitter links. And as pointed out by The Guardian, some sites do not display correctly in Reader mode, potentially detracting from the user experience.

Twitter developers are said to be testing a series of changes to the social media network, in an attempt to improve the service after the company's recent internal turmoil, such as layoffs, the shutdown of Vine, and its much-publicized failure to find a buyer.

Tag: Twitter

210_bloomfieldrickyjr_0Apple has hired Duke's Dr. Ricky Bloomfield, one of the early proponents of both HealthKit and ResearchKit, for its health team, according to MobiHealthNews. The hiring was first announced by Dr. Bloomfield's colleague on Twitter and confirmed by Apple to MobiHealthNews.

As Duke's Director of Mobile Strategy, Dr. Bloomfield helped Duke become one of the first hospitals to integrate HealthKit. Bloomfield has spoken about the benefits of HealthKit multiple times, like at 2014's mHealth Summit and announcing at a MobiHealthNews event that Apple was adding support for Health Level 7 Continuity of Care Document to iOS 10.

Bloomfield, who created Autism Beyond, also helped Duke embrace ResearchKit, creating a study intended to find out how autism starts in children. The study uses an app that utilizes the iPhones camera to record children's reactions to short videos. The app analyzes the recordings and sends the data back to doctors to help tune the algorithm, with the goal to eventually let the app help parents screen children for autism, anxiety, or similar conditions.

The new hire is just one of several for Apple's health team recently. In September, Apple hired Toronto doctor Mike Evans "to help chart the future of family medicine." Evans also has a popular YouTube channel, DocMikeEvans, where he narrates discussions about health over cartoon drawings. Apple has also hired Stanford doctor Rajiv B. Kumar, who has experience using HealthKit to help patients with diabetes, and Dr. Stephen Friend, who helped build the data infrastructure for many ResearchKit apps.

While Bloomfield will work on Apple's health team, it's unclear what his role could entail.