MacRumors

The Unicode Consortium recently approved 72 new emoji for inclusion in Unicode 9, set to be released on June 21. New emoji range from expanded smileys and people to new animals, food, and sports.

Notable smileys include rolling on the floor laughing, drooling face, and nauseated face, while the people/body category gains shrug, selfie, and face palm. New animal emoji include gorilla, fox face, deer, shark, and owl, and some of the new foods include avocado, potato, croissant, pancakes, salad, and bacon.

There are a line of new medals, objects like a scooter and a canoe, and emoji to represent boxing gloves, martial arts uniforms, wrestlers, fencing, juggling, and more. Emojipedia has shared mockups and a full list of upcoming emoji.

The emoji above serve as simple mockups and are not representative of what the actual emoji will look like on various devices, but Emojipedia has created them in the Apple style. Apple and Google's designers will actually custom design emoji based on the Unicode Consortium's guidelines for each character, crafting them to fit in with existing emoji.

Though the Unicode Consortium is releasing Unicode 9 on June 21, the new emoji will not be available on iOS and Mac devices until Apple implements support for them, which can sometimes take several months. Apple currently supports Unicode 8, which introduced emoji like taco, burrito, unicorn face, and popcorn, along with emoji skin tone modifiers.

With the release of Unicode 9 on the horizon, the Unicode Consortium has already begun considering candidates for Unicode 10, with dumpling, takeout box, fortune cookie, orange heart, sled, and more under consideration.

Samsung today introduced the Gear IconX, a set of wireless earbuds that are similar in style to the Bragi Dash. The IconX earbuds have no wires to connect them to one another and no wire to plug them into a smartphone or other device, instead communicating wirelessly over Bluetooth.

Priced at $199.99, the IconX earbuds feature 4GB of internal storage to hold music and use hooks to securely fit into an ear. There are also built-in fitness sensors for monitoring movement and heart rate, with the data able to be synced to Samsung's S Health app, and there's a built-in voice coach feature. Touch gestures like tapping and swiping on the earbud are used for skipping tracks and changing the volume.

When not in use, the earbuds can be placed into a pill-shaped case which also serves as a backup battery, offering two full charges. The battery inside the IconX lasts for one and a half hours when streaming music or for three and a half hours when playing music stored on the earbuds themselves.

Samsung debuted the new earbuds at an event in New York and gave several tech sites a hands-on demo, giving us a first look at some early impressions. According to The Verge, IconX is "pretty good" at blocking outside noises, while TechCrunch points out Samsung is marketing the earbuds as a workout-only accessory given the "dismal" battery life.

Gizmodo thought the controls could be a "little unreliable" but thought the audio quality was impressive, and Engadget said it took a minute to get them secured properly in the ear, but once in place, they "didn't feel like they were going anywhere."

Samsung's Gear IconX earbuds come as rumors suggest Apple is preparing to remove the headphone jack from its iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus devices, set to be released this fall. There have also been rumors indicating Apple is working on its own set of wireless Bluetooth earphones that would be sold alongside the iPhone 7 as a premium accessory with many of the same features in the IconX.

Samsung plans to debut the Gear IconX in blue, black, and white in the third quarter of 2016.

The company has also announced an updated waterproof Gear Fit 2 fitness tracker with a wider 1.5-inch curved Super AMOLED display, 4GB storage, GPS, a heart rate monitor, a barometer for measuring altitude, and features for automatically detecting exercise activities. The Gear Fit 2 will be available for pre-order starting tomorrow at select retailers and available in stores on June 10.

According to Apple's system status page, multiple store services are currently experiencing an outage. The App Store, Apple TV App Store, Mac App Store, iTunes in the Cloud, and the Volume Purchase Program are unavailable for some users.

The outage started just after 12:30 p.m., and we have also heard reports of problems with Apple Music and Apple News, though those are not service outages currently listed on the system status page.

Apple is investigating the issue and will bring the services back online as soon as possible.

Update: Several more iCloud services are now experiencing issues, as seen on Apple's system status page.

Update 3:40: The App Stores and some Apple services are back online, but iCloud Backup, iCloud Drive, Mail Drop, Photos, and a few other service remain offline.

Apple recently hired Sinisa Durekovic, a software engineer with expertise in satellite navigation systems, reports Bloomberg. Durekovic, who was hired in October, previously developed satellite navigation systems used in a range of luxury vehicles from BMW, Volkswagen, and Mercedes-Benz while working at Harman/Becker Automotive Systems and NAVTEQ.

Durekovic’s LinkedIn profile does not offer up details on what he is doing at Apple, nor does Bloomberg have insight into his role, but given his expertise, it’s likely he has joined the company to work on the Maps or CarPlay team. He specifically lists his areas of expertise as digital maps, car navigation systems, and map-enhanced advanced driver assistance systems.

I am the Software Architect, Engineer and a Team Leader with more than 25 years of experience in design and development of software systems. After 8 years as Principal Engineer in a mid-sized company, I assumed role of Senior Principal Architect and later Chief Engineer at major premium Navigation System supplier. My main work is in area of the Map-Enhanced Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, Digital Maps and Car Navigation Systems.

Since Maps debuted in 2012 to criticism and poor reviews, Apple has worked to introduce significant improvements. New Flyover locations are added on a consistent basis, errors are fixed in a more timely manner, and iOS 9 introduced transit directions. Apple also made multiple map-related purchases, snapping up companies like Coherent Navigation, Placeable, HopStop, Locationary, BroadMap, and Embark.

In December, Apple said Apple Maps is now used three times more than Google Maps on the iPhone, and there are several projects in the works to further improve Maps. Apple will open a new development center in Hyderabad, India, where 4,000 employees will focus on Apple Maps development, and over the course of the last year, Apple has been using vans with mapping equipment to obtain street-level imagery for future mapping use.

Earlier this week, rumors and speculation suggested Apple was working on a 5K Thunderbolt Display with an integrated GPU that could potentially debut at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference, but new information from iMore suggests that is not the case.

According to iMore's Rene Ritchie, Apple does not plan to introduce an Apple Display with an integrated external GPU. Ritchie does not provide a specific source on this information, but he is well-connected and occasionally shares accurate details on Apple's plans.

There'd been some speculation on Twitter and rumor reports about Apple possibly introducing a display with an integrated eGPU. Theory being, it would take some of the graphical processing overhead off MacBooks and/or facilitate a single-cable connection that could drive 5K.

While it sounds cool, it can also create expectational debt. So, scratch eGPU off your list for now, but keep your eyes locked to the keynote on Monday, June 13, for lots of other amazingly cool stuff.

Ritchie's statement does not appear to entirely dismiss the possibility of an upgraded Thunderbolt Display at the Worldwide Developers Conference, so it is possible some kind of display-related announcement is still in the works.

As we explained yesterday, Apple could introduce a 5K display alongside Thunderbolt 3 Macs, using both DisplayPort 1.2 streams in the Thunderbolt 3 specification to drive a 5K display using Multi-Stream Transport. Apple used a similar setup internally for the original 5K iMac.

In recent weeks, Thunderbolt Display stock has been dwindling in many Apple retail stores across the United States, in Canada, and in the UK, leading to speculation that a refresh is on the horizon. It is still not clear if the stock shortages are indicative that a new model is coming, but the Thunderbolt Display is long overdue for an update and WWDC would be an ideal time for an unveiling.

Apple today released a new version of iOS 9.3.2 that's specific to the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, presumably resolving an issue that caused some iPad Pro devices to become bricked after installing the original iOS 9.3.2 update.

The new version of iOS 9.3.2, build 13F72, can be downloaded over-the-air on any 9.7-inch iPad Pro that has not previously been updated to the latest version of iOS 9.

iOS 9.3.2 was originally released to the public on Monday, May 16, but shortly after it came out, we began receiving complaints that the update was bricking some 9.7-inch iPad Pro devices with an "error 56" message.

Later in the week, Apple pulled the iOS 9.3.2 update for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro and advised customers who had been affected by the error to contact Apple support. No simple fix was available, and some users who were impacted by the bug had their iPad Pro devices replaced by Apple.

Alongside the removal of the iOS 9.3.2 update, Apple said it was working on a fix and would release a new version of iOS 9.3.2 "as quickly as possible."

The launch of a new version of iOS 9.3.2 suggests the issue is now resolved, and with a fix in place, the next version of the iOS 9.3.3 beta may also be seeded to 9.7-inch iPad Pro users. Released earlier last week, the first iOS 9.3.3 beta was not available for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, presumably because the bug had not yet been fixed.

Update:Apple has published a support document outlining the steps to take if the error 56 message shows up when attempting to update a 9.7-inch iPad Pro from iOS 9.3 or iOS 9.3.1 to iOS 9.3.2 or later. Error 56 will require restoring through iTunes.

9.7-inch iPad Pro users may run into a related issue asking them to disconnect or turn off the iPad Pro during the update, which Apple also covers in the document.

Following early third-party iPhone 7 cases that surfaced earlier this year, several accessory manufacturers have now begun releasing cases for the larger iPhone 7 Plus, but the cases continue to fuel conflicting rumors over whether the larger model will include a Smart Connector on the rear.

The first case manufacturer, Sunnyc, has a listing for a $9.99 case that includes mockup of the iPhone 7 Plus that shows off the rumored dual-lens camera system with a horizontally-aligned flash (via 9to5Mac). At the bottom of the case's back side, there's a cutout for a Smart Connector, a feature that has been the subject of a number of rumors including both as a potential inclusion on the device and an idea scrapped by Apple.

Rumors earlier in the year began indicating that the iPhone 7 Plus would feature an iPad Pro-like Smart Connector, which is used to provide simultaneous power and data connections to accessories like the Smart Keyboard. As the expected fall launch of the new iPhone devices grows near, however, Japanese site Mac Otakara suggested Apple has nixed the Smart Connector from its plans -- a rumor SunnyC's case now opposes.

Supporting claims of no Smart Connector for the iPhone 7 Plus is another set of cases that recently surfaced on Alibaba. The simple cases include the same horizontally extended camera opening to accommodate dual lenses, but lack an opening lower on the case for a Smart Connector.

Either way, it remains unclear what advantages including a Smart Connector on the iPhone would bring, considering the iPad Pro's primary Smart Connector-enabled accessory is its $149.00 sold-separately Smart Keyboard ($169.00 for the 12.9-inch model). Possibilities include an interface for battery cases that would not require a "chin" or block the iPhone's Lightning port, a docking station, or a potential wireless charging solution that's paired with a charging pad.

Sunnyc has also posted two case designs for the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 -- both described as a "Protective Silicon Case" -- that offer basic protection and raised edges to protect the front of the device. While one sells for $8.99 and has a cutout for the Apple logo on the back, and the other is going for $11.99 and includes a more uniform, uninterrupted back plate, both are largely unnoticeable as next-generation iPhone cases and do not include cutouts for a Smart Connector.

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Mary Meeker recently shared her annual Internet Trends report for 2016, showcasing a presentation of 213 slides covering a range of topics from global life expectancy to the ongoing market battle between iOS and Android.

Concerning the specific battle between iOS and Android, Meeker notes that over the past six years iOS has seen just a two percentage point increase in market share, while Android has exploded from a 4 percent presence in the industry in 2009 to a massive 81 percent in 2015. The pattern is expected to continue, with Meeker projecting iOS will see a year-over-year loss of 11 percent in unit shipments as Android climbs another 7 percent in 2016.

Due to Apple's introduction of the lower-cost iPhone SE -- and the cheaper price tag of smartphones in the company's expanding global markets -- Meeker also expects Apple's average selling price per unit to dip this year for the first time since 2012. In that year, ASP dropped only 4 percent (from $712 in 2011 to $686 in 2012), but now the company is predicted to see a 9 percent decline in ASP (dropping off from $717 in 2015 to $651 in 2016).

Unlike in years past, global smartphone unit shipments are slowing "dramatically," for both Apple and Android-supported devices. Expansion for the smartphone market as a whole has stagnated, going from a peak in 2010 at nearly 80 percent year-over-year growth, to just about 15 percent in 2015.

Global smartphone user growth is seeing a similar slow-down; understandably, the largest markets with the least amount of smartphone proliferation have the biggest upticks in year-over-year increments. These include Asia-Pacific, which has seen a nearly 20-percentage-point increase in smartphone user share over the last seven years and now accounts for over half of the total market.

Apple has been attempting to gain a larger foothold in these countries, notably seeing strong performance in China in recent years and looking toward India as its next area of focus. Low-cost devices -- and a larger number of potential customers without a smartphone -- in areas like the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America also presumably helped those territories come out on top in the total rankings for global smartphone user growth.

Earlier in April, Apple reported its first year-over-year decline in revenue since 2003. The news led to a string of reports addressing the company's declining stock value and various "peak iPhone" comments concerning its potential inability to continue to grow in certain markets, especially where its flagship smartphones see annual releases without much dramatic distinction between models.

Meeker's tamped-down expectations for 2016 mirror these concerns, particularly regarding the increasing belief that the 2016 iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will be iterative updates on the current iPhone 6s line, using a largely similar design but with new features like a dual-lens camera and Lightning-enabled headphone connector. An uptick is now projected for 2017's "iPhone 8," which is seeing rumors surrounding everything from a massively redesigned bezel-free display that features a dual-curve OLED screen to truly wireless charging.

Mary Meeker's 2016 Internet Trends presentation, and a download of the full PDF, is available on KPCB's website.

Apple today launched its annual Back to School promotion in the U.S. and Canada, offering a free pair of Beats Solo2 Wireless Headphones to qualifying students, parents of students, educators, and select others that purchase an eligible Mac with education pricing, including the iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Pro. As usual, the Mac mini and refurbished Macs are excluded from the deal.

Apple is also offering a free pair of Powerbeats2 Wireless Headphones with the purchase of an eligible iPhone or iPad Pro with education pricing, including the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and both the 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Those who purchase a qualifying iPhone or iPad Pro can also upgrade to the Beats Solo2 Wireless Headphones for $100, or $110 in Canadian dollars.

Apple will apply an instant credit in the amount of $299.95 in the U.S., or $329.95 in Canadian dollars, to cover the full cost of the Beats Solo2 Wireless Headphones in Black, Blue, Red, White, Gold, Rose Gold, Silver, Space Gray, Blue Active, Red Active, or Yellow Active. Apple will similarly apply an instant credit of $199.95, or $219.95 in Canadian dollars, for the Powerbeats2 Wireless Headphones in Red, Black, Black Sport, White Sport, Red Active, Yellow Active, or Blue Active.

Apple has outlined the full eligibility requirements for the program in its terms and conditions for the U.S. [PDF] and Canada [PDF] on its website.

Apple's Back to School promotion runs from today through September 5, 2016 at Apple retail and campus stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada. The deal is also available on Apple's online store or by calling 1-800-MY-APPLE. Apple has not yet officially announced the promotion in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, or other European countries where it is typically offered.

Apple's rumored electric car is unlikely to hit full-scale production or be ready for shipping before 2020, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Musk offered his prediction to Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the Code Conference, where he claimed that Apple's ambitions, while admirable, were falling behind in a fast-paced industry.

"I think it's great they're doing this, and I hope it works out," said Musk. "It's just a missed opportunity. It's a couple years... they'll make a good car and be successful."

In September 2015, it was reported that Apple had spent more than a year investigating the feasibility of an Apple-branded car and given permission to leaders of the project, code-named Titan, to triple its 600-person team to facilitate development in anticipation of a possible shipping date in 2019.

Musk's comments suggest that the 2019 date might realistically indicate the point at which engineers confirm the main features of the product, and would seem to corroborate earlier rumors that fixed on a 2020 timeframe for the car's launch.

During the wide-ranging Code Conference interview, Musk also claimed Tesla's Model 3 would hit its prospective 2017 launch year, by which time his company aims to fulfill more than 325,000 pre-orders for its lower-priced model.

Musk said the car's design would be finished in about six weeks' time. "Almost all of the Model 3 design is done, and we're aiming for pencils down basically in six weeks, complete pencils down. And we're tabling — you know, if there are ideas for future cool things, we'll have it in version 2, version 3," he said.

Musk also expressed his doubts that Google will release a car, despite its years of testing self-driving electric vehicles, and instead he expects the company to license its technology out to existing automotive manufacturers.

The bulk of Apple's car research and development is thought to be taking place in secretive buildings in Sunnyvale, California, where late night "motor noises" have been heard.

You can watch the full interview with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.