MacRumors

Microsoft today introduced an enhanced, all-new version of Skype for iOS and Android devices that puts an emphasis on chats, chatbots, camera features, and its own version of Snapchat's Stories. The update comes with an overall change to Skype's visual design as well, with the company stating that it's decided to focus on allowing personal user choice to dictate how sections of the app look, including the ability to customize the app with your favorite color.

Skype's home screen now sits with a "Chat" window on launch, and users can easily swipe to the Camera and new "Highlights" feature, which is an extended version of Stories. Here, users can take a picture or video, decorate it with emojis and text, and then post it to their Highlight. After posting, content is available for a full week instead of just 24 hours, and only users who follow you can see your Highlight. Specific individuals and groups can also be sent a Highlight before it's posted.

Skype has also introduced Facebook-like reactions to both chats and Highlights, allowing users to select emojis to react to messages, pictures, and videos without having to text. In a talk with TechCrunch, Skype didn't balk at admitting it was inspired by Snapchat Stories, pointing out Facebook's own argument that the "Story" model is a format that can be used by anyone in the industry and isn't owned by Snapchat.

Highlights are Skype’s own take on Stories – something the company readily admits. “It’s like Facebook has said,” says Amritansh Raghav, Corporate Vice President of Skype, referencing remarks made by Facebook’s VP of messaging David Marcus, who recently argued that Stories “is definitely a format, the same way the feed is a format.”

Raghav agrees. The feed is now commonly used in a range of apps – even those that aren’t personal social networks, like Microsoft’s business communications service Yammer. “There’s a new medium that has risen,” he says of Stories. “When you think about this new way of interacting, [we want that to be] available also in this application.”

Microsoft is also introducing its smart assistant Cortana into Skype, providing shortcuts to users in texts and suggesting quick responses. Other bots, or "add-ins," include Gfycat, Giphy, MSN Weather, Bing, Polls, Expedia, Stubhub, BigOven, YouTube, and Upworthy.

The Skype update launches on Android first today, and is set to roll out to iOS devices in about a month. Mac and Windows devices will receive the update sometime within the next few months.

Update June 28: The "new Skype" has now launched on the iOS App Store, with the app's update notes stating: "It's the Skype that you know and love but enhanced with new features to help you connect with the people you care about."

Plex will today begin integrating a live television feature into its popular video streaming and personal media application for iOS and Android TV, allowing Plex subscribers to stream live TV on their smartphones wherever they are located. The company said that live TV is supported only under the Plex Pass subscription tier, which starts at $4.99/month.

To use Plex Live TV, users will have to install a digital antenna, connect a digital tuner, and sync everything to their Plex Pass subscription account. Once set up, subscribers will be able to watch live HD content on channels available over-the-air, from major US networks including ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and CW, as well as local programming, news, and sports. International programming includes CBC, BBC, ITV, Telemundo, and Univision. As with all live video streaming services, the channels available vary depending on your zip code.

That’s right, today we’re rolling out support for Live TV! And we’re doing it in a truly Plexy way. It’s built right in to the Media Server, so you’ll be able to stream live (starting with our Android TV and iOS apps, with more to come) anywhere in the world through the power of Plex!

Plex Live TV is launching only on iOS and Android TV right now, but the company mentioned that any content recorded to Plex DVR from a live broadcast can then be watched on any device that Plex supports. With the launch of live TV, Plex has also enhanced its DVR features, allowing overlapping recordings on the same channel, a "smarter" scheduling system, taped show management within the iOS app, and general improvements to the DVR user interface.

Besides the low-tier $4.99/month option, Plex Pass is available in a $39.99/year tier and $119.99 for a lifetime subscription. Plex said that after launching on iOS and Android TV, more of its apps will gain the live TV feature sometime soon.

Misfit today announced the launch of a new Make Your Misfit (M.Y. Misfit) service, which is designed to allow users to mix-and-match Misfit wearable devices and bands to create a customized activity tracker or smart watch.

Misfit makes a range of affordable activity trackers, including the Shine 2, the Ray, Phase, and Vapor, all of which are now customizable using the Make Your Misfit Service.

Customers can choose an activity tracker in a wide range of colors, including Jet, Rose, Silver, Midnight, and Champagne, and then choose a strap to match. Misfit is offering silicone, field, paracord, and leather straps to match its activity trackers.

According to the company, there are more than 600 possible combinations at launch, with plans to add more options throughout the year. With so many combinations available, Misfit will be offering some of the most customizable activity tracker options on the market.

The Make Your Misfit site is available as of today, with activity tracker pricing starting at $79.99 for the Shine 2 and the Ray activity trackers and going up to $149.99 for the Misfit Phase smart watch. The Misfit Vapor smart watch will be available soon.

In the wake of Apple's lengthy legal battle with iPhone LTE chip supplier Qualcomm, Apple is believed to be leaning more on Intel as a manufacturer for the iPhone's baseband chip component. The news comes in a report by DigiTimes, which states that Apple's increase of Intel-created wireless chips for iPhones could lead well into 2018, suggesting the so-called iPhone 7s, iPhone 7s Plus, and iPhone 8 have a higher chance of receiving Intel's chip than Qualcomm's.

Apple sourced both of the manufacturers for wireless chips in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in 2016, with a ratio of around 70 percent sourcing going to Qualcomm and 30 percent going to Intel. Now, Apple is believed to have given each supplier an equal 50 percent proportion of the wireless chip manufacturing for the rest of 2017, and that number could eventually increase to weigh in Intel's favor -- all because of Apple's legal fight with Qualcomm.

Analysts watching the supply chain predict that Apple will eventually give Intel 70 percent of the production capacity in iPhones by 2018, because neither Apple nor Qualcomm are willing "to give in to make peace."

Apple's outsourcing proportion to Intel for the next-generation iPhone baseband chips has risen to about 50% for orders running through the end of 2017 due to the lawsuit between Qualcomm and Apple, which has grown fiercer recently.

Since both Qualcomm and Apple are unwilling to give in to make peace, some market watchers believe Apple is likely to shift even more baseband chip orders away from Qualcomm with Intel to supply over 70% of the baseband products for iPhones by 2018.

Apple and Qualcomm's feud began with a complaint filed by the FTC in January that centered around Qualcomm's anticompetitive patent licensing practices, which the FTC claimed it used to remain the dominant supplier of baseband chips for smartphones. Not long after, Apple filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm over the news of its practices, claiming Qualcomm charged unfair royalties for "technologies they have nothing to do with."

After a few quiet months, in April Qualcomm countersued Apple, so Apple decided to stop making royalty payments to its suppliers in relation to Qualcomm's baseband chip technology, igniting a new series of arguments between the companies. Because Qualcomm holds licensing deals with Apple's iPhone manufacturers, and not Apple itself, the move was suggested to hurt Qualcomm to the tune of $500 million, causing the company to adjust its third quarter guidance from $5.3 billion - $6.1 billion in revenue down to $4.8 billion - $5.6 billion.

Qualcomm eventually tried to get an import ban passed that would prevent iPhones from entering the United States, and then decided to file a lawsuit against Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron, and Compal for "breaching their license agreements" by failing to pay royalties on the use of Qualcomm's technology in the assembly of Apple's devices. Last week, Qualcomm requested an injunction to force Apple's iPhone manufacturers to keep paying royalties during the legal battle.

Due to the ongoing nature of the feud between the two companies, it's expected that the case will continue well into 2017, leading to today's report that Qualcomm might see a greatly reduced presence in the manufacturing of the next-generation iPhones. Even with the bad blood between Apple and Qualcomm, insiders still call Apple's reliance on Intel "a friendship of convenience" more than any kind of long-term partnership, because Intel's chips are said to have "inferior performance" in comparison to Qualcomm's technology.

Adobe today announced the launch of Adobe Scan, a new Optical Character Recognition (OCR) app that's able to scan documents and convert printed text into digital text in a matter of seconds.

Unlike most OCR apps on the market, Adobe Scan is free to use, with no watermarks or page limits, and it's optimized for capturing multi-page documents.

The app works by capturing a picture of what a user wants to scan, from notes and forms to receipts and business cards. Adobe Scan detects the edges of a document, captures and cleans the image, fixes perspective, removes shadows, and then uses image recognition to detect and convert printed text.

Scans are converted into Adobe PDFs that can be searched, highlighted, copied, edited, marked up, and shared with other users.

"Adobe Scan represents a radical reimagination of how to capture your most important document content," said Bryan Lamkin, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Media at Adobe. "Adobe invented PDF creation for PCs, and with Adobe Scan we're doing the same for a mobile-first world. As part of Adobe Document Cloud, new apps like Adobe Scan integrate with services in Adobe Sign andAcrobat DC, offering a modern document experience with unprecedented value to our customers."

Adobe Scan is powered by the company's Adobe Sensei image processing technology. Scans captured by the app are stored in the Adobe Document Cloud, also free to use, and are accessible across desktop and mobile devices, and it works with Acrobat DC and Adobe Sign.

Adobe Sign is also gaining new features, including cloud-based digital signatures, cross-device signature capture, customizable email templates, and more.

Adobe Scan is available for download starting today on iOS and Android devices. [Direct Link]

Wacom today announced the Bamboo Sketch, a new precision stylus for drawing and sketching on both iPad and iPhone devices through a Bluetooth connection. The company said that the stylus mimics a traditional pen-and-paper writing and drawing experience thanks to two customizable shortcut buttons and two interchangeable pen nibs, in both soft and firm.

The Bamboo Sketch can be used within apps like Bamboo Paper, ArtRage, Autodesk SketchBook, Concepts, and MediaBang Paint, and when it's in use the stylus boasts 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity.

“Visual thinkers who use an iPad or iPhone for their notes and sketches require a pen that offers precision and individualization,” said Mike Gay, Senior Vice President of the Wacom Consumer Business Unit. “Bamboo Sketch offers an advanced writing and drawing experience for those whose first instinct is to reach for a pen and paper as soon as inspiration strikes.”

To charge the stylus, users will be able to connect the magnetic charging port on the pen to a USB dongle accessory, which can be plugged into any traditional USB 3.0 port. The company said that the Bamboo Sketch stylus can last for up to 15 hours on one charge.

Elgato today announced the latest product in its Eve series of HomeKit-connected devices, debuting the Eve Degree. Eve Degree is a HomeKit-compatible temperature and humidity monitor with a fresh design featuring a large display housed in a sleek aluminum body.

Elgato already makes a temperature and humidity monitor, the Eve Weather, but the new Eve Degree features an entirely different design and a visible temperature display for instant feedback with no need to check the Eve app to get a reading.

While the display means a quick temperature or humidity check doesn't require opening the accompanying Eve app, the app does store additional information, including climate data over time presented through graphs.

Eve Degree works indoors or outdoors thanks to a splash proof IPX3 water resistance rating, and it includes a replaceable battery that will allow it to function for several months at a time without needing to be recharged.

"Eve Degree is a luxurious and classy thermometer but, more importantly, it is seamlessly integrated into iPhone," says Florian Albrecht, Director User Experience, Elgato. "By leveraging the strengths of HomeKit and the Eve app, Eve Degree offers reliable usability, superior privacy, and advanced security.

With HomeKit support, temperature readings from the Eve Degree show up in the dedicated Home app, and it can answer to Siri queries and interface with other HomeKit-compatible products. With an Apple TV Home hub, Eve Degree is able to serve as a trigger for scenes, doing things like turning on a fan when the humidity gets too high, or turning on a humidifier when it's dry.

Eve Degree will be available from the Elgato website starting Tuesday, June 6 for $69.95.

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]