Bluetooth speaker maker Libratone has announced that beginning this fall, Zipp and Zipp Mini speaker owners will be able to use their devices to invoke Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant as well as tap in to Apple's forthcoming AirPlay 2 protocol.
The company said it will make a free firmware download available in the coming months that activates Alexa support in the wireless speakers, which connect to Wi-Fi and have integrated microphones.
Following the update, Zipp and Zipp Mini owners will be able to touch the button on the top of the speakers to ask Alexa for news, sports, traffic updates, and all the other things that can be done on Amazon's Echo range of speakers, including controlling smart home devices.
Libratone intends to add Apple AirPlay 2 support as soon as Apple releases the new protocol, which will enable users to stream music wirelessly to multiple speakers of different brands on the same Wi-Fi network. AirPlay 2 is expected to arrive with the release of iOS 11 next month.
Philips today announced an expansion of its Hue smart lighting range, bringing two new fixtures and two additional starter kits to its Apple HomeKit-compatible family of products.
The Philips Hue White Ambiance Cher Suspension is the largest new fixture – a hanging pendant light made for a kitchen island or dining table. The fixture outputs 3000 lumens and costs $230.
Meanwhile, a new Hue White Ambiance downlight is being introduced to replace existing ceiling lights. The downlight will be available in two sizes – 4-inches at 700 lumens and 5/6" at 750 lumens – costing $35 each.
In addition to the above, the company is bringing a $50 Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance candle bulb to its Color Ambiance range. The smaller E12 base of the 40W-equivalent candle, with a range of more than 16 million colors, is made for ceiling fans, chandeliers and decorative table lamps.
Finally, Philips is now including four traditional A19 light bulbs in its starter packs, all of which come with the Philips Hue bridge to set up and customize the system. The new starter kits come in White and Color Ambiance ($200), White Ambiance ($150) and White ($100). Multi-packs of Philips Hue light bulbs continue to be available separately for extending existing installations.
Philips says the new starter packs and fixtures will be available to purchase online and in retail stores beginning October.
QardioBase 2 has been designed with a wider base for more stability on any floor surface, a welcome change as the unstable base was one of the main features we disliked when we reviewed the original version last year.
It continues to feature the same circular "floating" design, but Qardio says it should be much more stable, even for people with large feet.
QardioBase 2 also includes an enhanced sensor system that improves accuracy and introduces quicker weight measurements, and it has an embedded rechargeable battery that lasts for up to 12 months before needing to be recharged.
A new screen is included, with a brighter and crisper display to make it easier to see weight and other body measurements at a glance, and there's a new haptic engine for better vibration feedback.
"In everything we do, it is important to us to combine high accuracy and performance with superior design," said Rosario Iannella, CTO of Qardio. "QardioBase has been found to be the most accurate smart scale in benchmarks done by third parties and with QardioBase 2 we take it to the next level and make it a beautiful addition to any room of the house."
Like the original QardioBase, the new version measures weight, body mass index, and body composition. It also includes a smart feedback mode that offers up smileys as a user progresses towards a weight loss goal, and it supports multiple users.
To keep track of weight data, the QardioBase connects to an iPhone using Bluetooth and the Qardio app. The Qardio app integrates with Apple's Health app so you can keep track of all of your information in one place.
QardioBase 2, which comes in Arctic White and Volcanic Black, can be purchased from the Qardio website for $149.99. It's available in the United States, UK, and Europe starting today, with sales in Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong to start on September 18.
Bang & Olufsen today unveiled a pair of $299 truly wireless earbuds called Beoplay E8, the Danish company's pricier luxury alternative to Apple's $159 AirPods.
The E8 Bluetooth in-ear headphones are a mixture of aluminum and polymer, making them splash and dust-proof, while each earpiece features a touch surface that supports fingertip gestures to play/pause music, take calls (a mic is integrated into the buds), and change volume.
There's also voice recognition support for activating virtual assistants like Siri, as well as a Transparency Mode that lets environmental sounds in for safer commuting. There's also a built-in digital signal processor that enables custom output tuning with equalization and gain.
The buds provide up to 4 hours of play time at a moderate sound level, while the included leather charging case supplies two additional charges to give users up to 12 hours of listening time on the go. For reference, AirPods offer up to 5 hours' play time and Apple's charging case carries up to 24 hours' charge.
Four pairs of different-sized silicon tips are included along with a USB charging cable (USB-A to MicroUSB). The Beoplay E8 wireless buds are available in black and charcoal sand colors, and will be available from the company's website from October.
Replacing the metallic look of its predecessor, the new HVAC energy-saving device features a soft-touch plastic white control ring around a black display, which lies behind a frosted screen to make the thermostat blend in to most home environments.
The display itself offers a more basic readout than previous Nest's, showing the temperature only. When the frosted display is off, the screen is grey. When it’s on, it displays soft text and images that are designed to be easy to see and read with a slight glow. The display uses an ambient light sensor to share information at just the right brightness.
Meanwhile the unit's innards have been simplified, which means the Thermostat E doesn't offer the same wide compatibility with various U.S. domestic setups as the pricier device, so check before ordering.
Like the original Nest, the Thermostat E learns the user's temperature preferences over time, smartly adjusting them on the fly depending on the circumstances. Alternatively, the Thermostat E can be set up on a simple schedule, based on an average of thousands of schedules already learned by the company's devices. Users can adjust temperature using the control ring or via Nest's iOS app for remote access.
The Thermostat E costs $169, while the original Nest Learning Thermostat will remain available to buy for $250. The new thermostat can be ordered from Thursday on the company's website, with shipping set to start on September 1 and availability in retail stores from September 10.
Western Digital today introduced a new 400GB SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I card, which it says is the world's highest-capacity microSD card available on the market.
The new 400GB card comes two years after the company introduced its 200GB SanDisk Ultra microSD card, with the new version doubling the storage capacity. According to Western Digital, this new milestone was achieved through leveraging proprietary memory technology, design, and production processes that allow for more bits per die.
"Mobile devices have become the epicenter of our lives, and consumers are now accustomed to using their smartphones for anything from entertainment to business. We are collecting and sharing massive amounts of data on smartphones, drones, tablets, PCs, laptops and more. We anticipate that storage needs will only continue to grow as people continue to expect more sophisticated features on their devices and desire higher quality content," Jeff Janukowicz, research vice president, IDC. "We estimate mobile device users worldwide will install over 150 billion applications alone this year, which require a ton of memory on all of our favorite devices."
Designed for use in Android smartphones, drones, cameras, and other devices that use microSD storage, the new card can hold up to 40 hours of full HD video and it features transfer speeds of up to 100MB/s.
The 400GB SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I card will be available from SanDisk and other major retailers soon. It is priced at $249.99.
Western Digital today announced its latest SanDisk product, the SanDisk iXpand Base. The iXpand Base is designed to make it simple to back up an iPhone's photos, videos, and contacts, offering storage and an intuitive nightly backup setup.
The iXpand Base is designed to look like a small iPhone dock, with a flat rubber-coated base where the iPhone rests. At one side, there's a Lightning cable that plugs into the iPhone, and at the other, there's a power cord that plugs into the wall.
The idea is to connect the iPhone to the iXpand Base at night to charge your phone. While it's plugged in and charging (15W charging is supported), the iXpand Base makes a backup of all of your critical files with the iXpand Base app, essentially providing an automatic, hassle-free way to make a nightly backup. Many people likely upload their photos to iCloud for safekeeping, but it's always a good idea to have multiple backups.
"iPhone users care deeply about their content and understand the importance of protecting it. Our top priority is to offer convenient solutions like the iXpand Base that fit with people's everyday habits so they don't have to change their routine, and never have to worry about losing memories," said Jim Welsh, senior vice president, Client Solutions, Western Digital.
The iXpand Base offers up to 256GB of local storage, so it can also be used to offload photos and other files to save space on an iPhone. With the data backup feature enabled, if you need to transfer content to a new phone, it's just a matter of plugging the new device into the base and downloading the app.
SanDisk's new iXpand Base is available starting today from retailers like Amazon and Best Buy. Pricing starts at $49.99 for 32GB of storage. 64GB of storage is available for $99.99, 128GB of storage is available for $129.99, and 256GB of storage is available for $199.99.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and Best Buy and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.
Apple CEO Tim Cook today sent out an email to Apple employees addressing Hurricane Harvey and the devastation that it's wrought in areas of southeast Texas and Louisiana.
Cook says Apple has helped raise over $3 million for relief efforts, both through its own donations and donations from Apple customers.
Apple on Sunday began accepting donations from its website and iTunes Store, with the money going directly to the American Red Cross to support people affected by catastrophic flooding. Cook's full email is below, courtesy of BuzzFeed.
As you know, Hurricane Harvey is having a devastating impact on Texas and Louisiana. Our thoughts are with our employees in the storm zone and the millions of people whose lives have been disrupted by rain, wind and floods. I want to update you on some of the things Apple has been doing to help, and ways that you can get involved.
On the ground, Apple's global crisis management team is working to support our employees directly affected by the flooding in Texas. The team is in close contact with Apple employees in the Houston area, and they're actively doing everything they can to assist, including moving some employees and their families to safety. Apple employees in the Houston area have generously been helping people displaced by the flooding by opening their homes to team members and their families, and in some cases, assisting in rescue operations. We're also proud that the US Coast Guard is using Apple products in those efforts, with nearly two dozen USCG helicopters specially equipped with iPads to help coordinate search and rescue teams.
As Harvey was making landfall, we put in motion critical donation programs. Apple is making it easy for customers to donate directly to the American Red Cross through the App Store, iTunes and apple.com, and we're matching employee donations two-for-one. Thanks to your generosity and that of our users, Apple has helped raise more than $1 million in just the past few days. That's in addition to the $2 million Apple pledged to the Red Cross over the weekend.
Though our stores in the Houston area are still closed today, we're working hard to get as many as possible open tomorrow to serve people who have been impacted by the storm. Our teams are eager to help with problems large and small, and they know there are lots of people in that area who need it.
I was in Austin the day before Harvey came ashore, and the team was already bracing for the storm and the long recovery. Today that work continues. At our Austin campuses, we are kicking off a donation drive in partnership with the Central Texas Food Bank and Caffè Macs to collect food, diapers and personal hygiene items -- all things that are critical in the aftermath of a storm of this magnitude.
Because Texas is home to more than 8,700 of our coworkers, the storm's impact is felt by all of us. There's still much to do, and Apple is committed to help.
Hurricane Harvey made landfall on Friday night and was initially classified as a Category 4 hurricane, but was downgraded to a tropical storm. Over the past few days, several areas in Texas and Louisiana have seen heavy rain and flooding.
Apple customers can continue to donate to the American Red Cross using Apple's tools. Users can donate $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, or $200, with donations processed as normal iTunes purchases.
Apple also donated $2 million to the Red Cross over the weekend, and is matching employee donations two-for-one.
Multiple high-profile Instagram accounts belonging to celebrities may have been breached due to a bug related to an Instagram API, reports TechCrunch.
The bug, which has since been fixed, allowed at least one hacker to access the email address and phone number on an unknown number of "high-profile" Instagram users. According to Instagram, the only data accessed was email address and phone number, and no passwords were exposed.
It's not clear how many users were affected, but TechCrunch speculates it's a small number as hackers were only targeting celebrities.
Instagram notified all verified users of the breach in an email, letting them know the bug has been addressed and that company's security team is further investigating the issue. Instagram says verified users should "be extra vigilant" as they may receive calls, texts, or emails.
Instagram recommends all users implement two-factor authentication to as a precaution to prevent unauthorized access to their accounts even though no passwords were stolen.
Like all Pad & Quill products, the new Messenger Bag is made from high-quality full-grain bridle leather by hand and outfitted with nickel and copper hardware.
It features a padded laptop pocket that can accommodate a laptop up to 15 inches, like Apple's 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro models, and it includes a padded, secure pocket designed for the new 10.5-inch iPad Pro. The pocket will accommodate 9.7-inch and smaller iPads as well, but not the 12.9-inch model.
Expandable pleated front pockets on the bag offer space for an iPhone, cables, and other accessories, and at the back, there's a quick access newspaper pocket.
Inside, the entire bag is lined with a soft suede, and it's built with UV-resistant Marine-grade stitching for durability. A zipper pocket holds valuables, and two additional bucket pockets inside the bag hold other essentials. There's a main pouch for books and other accessories, and a set of pen holders.
The bag measures in at 14 inches wide by 12.5 inches high, and it's 5 inches deep with a weight of five pounds. It comes in several colors, including whiskey, chestnut, and chocolate. All Pad & Quill bags feature a 25-year leather warranty.
Pad & Quill's new Attaché Leather Messenger Bag is available for pre-order from the Pad & Quill website for $495. Orders will ship out in mid-September.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Pad & Quill and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.
Seventeen automotive engineers who previously worked for Apple left the company to join self-driving startup Zoox following Apple's shift away from developing a full autonomous car, reports Bloomberg.
The group of engineers, who originally came to Apple from several Detroit carmakers and suppliers among other automotive companies, are said to specialize in designing hardware like braking and suspension systems.
One of the Lexus SUVs Apple is using to test its self-driving software
Many engineers who were recruited for Apple's car project left as Apple pivoted away from developing its own autonomous vehicle and instead began work on an autonomous driving system. Under the leadership of Bob Mansfield, the "Project Titan" car team is now developing autonomous software and testing that software out on the road in Lexus SUVs.
The latest exodus to Zoox suggests Apple is less likely to revive ambitions to make a car itself. The engineers found themselves increasingly sidelined and surplus to requirements at Apple, and were hired by the startup in piecemeal fashion in recent months, the people said.
It's not entirely clear yet what Apple plans to use its autonomous driving software for, but the company is exploring options like self-driving shuttles to ferry its employees from campus to campus as part of further testing. In the future, Apple could partner with a ride-sharing company or a car manufacturer to deploy its software.
Zoox, meanwhile, is working on an a full autonomous car in order to create a fleet of autonomous vehicles. The company has raised more than $250 million and has a valuation of more than $1 billion.
Back in January at CES, Chamberlain announced plans to release MyQ Home Bridge, a hardware hub to allow connected garage openers in the company's MyQ ecosystem to work with HomeKit. The MyQ Home Bridge was initially scheduled to launch in April, but as is common with these types of products needing to gain HomeKit certification, it was pushed back a bit and had a brief quiet launch earlier this month with an official launch coming just yesterday.
The MyQ Home Bridge requires that your existing garage door opener already support MyQ wireless connectivity through one of three methods: built-in MyQ Wi-Fi support within the opener, a non-smart garage door opener linked to a MyQ Garage hub, or add-on Wi-Fi connectivity for a MyQ-enabled opener using a MyQ Internet Gateway.
Box contents of MyQ Home Bridge (left) and MyQ Garage (right)
I own a Chamberlain chain drive garage door opener from 2009, but it does not include any MyQ technology built in, so in order to add HomeKit support to my setup I needed to install two separate pieces of hardware: a MyQ Garage for basic Wi-Fi support and then the new MyQ Home Bridge to add HomeKit compatibility.
Alongside the original MyQ Home Bridge announcement in January, Chamberlain also disclosed plans for a Smart Garage Hub that will consolidate both the MyQ Garage and MyQ Home Bridge functions into a single piece of hardware. The Smart Garage Hub was originally planned to debut in July, but Chamberlain tells me its launch has been delayed and the company is not yet sharing any new target dates for it.
MyQ Garage
Working with my current dumb garage door opener, the first step was to install the MyQ Garage to get my opener online. It was a simple, straightforward process that only took about 15 minutes. The system uses a couple of screws to attach a metal bracket to the ceiling in the general vicinity of the garage door opener, at least two feet away from the opener itself but still visible when standing in the garage door opening.
MyQ Garage bracket screwed to garage ceiling
The MyQ Garage slides onto the metal bracket and a power adapter plugs into an outlet, with excess cord able to be wrapped around the metal bracket.
MyQ Garage hub mounted on ceiling
A separate door sensor is affixed to the top panel of the garage door itself, with either velcro strips or screws. The simple sensor wirelessly informs the MyQ Garage hub whether the door is up or down, based on the sensor's orientation. It runs on a replaceable CR2450 button battery.
Door sensor
The rest of the setup happens within the Chamberlain MyQ app, which requires you to create a MyQ account and instructs you to connect to the MyQ Garage via Bluetooth to enable sharing of your device's Wi-Fi settings during setup. Once the MyQ Garage is online, the app walks you through the steps of pairing the MyQ garage with your opener through the opener's program button, tests the door sensor's communication with the main hub, and lets you name your opener in the MyQ system.
The app isn't particularly pretty and it hasn't even been fully optimized for recent larger-screened iPhones, but it gets the job done. It does support Touch ID, so it's easy to authenticate your MyQ account credentials whenever you open the app. The app lets you easily see your garage door opener(s) and their current status, as well as how long they've been open or closed for. Tapping on the door in the app will raise or lower it.
On the safety side, it's important to note that garage doors are inherently dangerous, as children who are not paying attention have occasionally been injured or killed by closing doors. As a result, modern garage door openers are equipped with sensors that detect if there is anything underneath the garage door at ground level as the door is descending, automatically reversing the door if an obstruction is detected. Garage door opener instruction manuals also encourage users to visually supervise the door as it opens or closes to ensure safe operation.
Because connected garage door openers can be operated remotely via app and thus without visual confirmation of safe operation, the MyQ Garage includes warning signals just prior to the door closing. Tapping the garage door in the app to lower it results in several seconds of fairly loud, high-pitched beeping, accompanied by flashing, bright white light from the MyQ Garage hub prior to the door starting to come down.
The audio and visual warnings alert anyone in the vicinity that the door will be descending, and the beeping continues for the entire time the door is closing. It's an important safety feature, but it also means you may want to avoid using the app to close the door at certain times if the opener is, for example, located directly below a bedroom where someone may be sleeping.
Alerts and Schedules
The Chamberlain MyQ app allows you to set up alerts and schedules for your garage door, making sure you're kept up to date on the status of your door and letting you automatically ensure the door is closed every night, for example.
With alerts, you can choose to receive them via push notifications, email, or both, and you can be alerted whenever your garage door is open or closed. Options allow you to specify only certain days and times during which you want to be alerted, as well as whether you want to be notified as soon as the event happens or after a certain time threshold is reached.
For example, you can set up an alert to be notified only if the garage door has been open for more than an hour. With multiple alerts, you can account for your daily schedule, such as setting up immediate alerts during the workday when no one is expected to be home, but only notifying after an hour or so at other days and times when people are more likely to be around the house.
Schedules, as the name suggests, allow you to set up a fixed time of day (every day or only specific days of the week) to close the door, for example. For garage doors, only closing the door is supported, so you can't set the garage door to open on a specific schedule within the MyQ app.
If you have other devices such as remote lights integrated with your MyQ system, you can also schedule them to turn on or off. Even without HomeKit, schedules are a great way to automatically make sure your garage door is closed in the evenings before heading to bed, and you can receive confirmation via email or push notification.
Chamberlain's MyQ system also supports integration with Nest (including the ability to adjust Nest thermostats and view Nest Cam video), as well as smart home integrations through XFINITY Home, Wink, and IFTTT.
MyQ Home Bridge
If you're lucky, you already have a garage door opener with MyQ support built-in and you can start the process of getting it integrated with HomeKit here. Similarly, if you already had a MyQ Internet Gateway, you'll be able to replace that with the MyQ Home Bridge. And if you're like me, you just went through the process of installing a MyQ Garage and now you're ready to install your second hardware box.
Installation of the MyQ Home Bridge is very similar to the MyQ Garage, using the same style of mounting bracket and then sliding the bridge onto the bracket, plugging it in, and wrapping excess cord around the bracket.
The Chamberlain MyQ app then walks you through setting up the bridge with the MyQ and HomeKit systems. It just takes a few steps, after which you'll need to reset your MyQ Garage or MyQ-enabled opener to transfer over to connecting through the bridge.
Once that's done, you're all set and you can control your garage door through Apple's Home app or using Siri, or you can continue to use the Chamberlain MyQ app to control the door.
HomeKit integration in iOS 11: Control toggle in Home app (left), Siri control (middle), and scene creation (right)
HomeKit support also means you can include your garage door within scenes in the Home app, such as for making sure your home is secured, lights turned out, and thermostat adjusted at bedtime.
Wrap-up
The MyQ Home Bridge is available from Chamberlain's website for an introductory price of $49.99, with the price rising to $69.99 at some point in the future. If you need to add on a MyQ Garage, that's an additional $129.99 from Chamberlain, although some retailers such as Amazon at $99 may have it for less. Regardless, the total is a good chunk of change to lay out if your garage door doesn't already support MyQ, enough to give me pause about whether it's worth the expense.
The MyQ app could also use some updating. It generally works just fine, but its lack of large-screen optimization leading to an oversized status bar, keyboard, and date/time pickers is glaring, and there's really no excuse for not having fully updated the app for the larger screens seen on the vast majority of iPhones bought in the past three years.
I must admit, however, that the garage door is a nice addition to my HomeKit setup, and if my opener was already MyQ-enabled and I only had to spend the $50 for the MyQ Home Bridge, it would be a no-brainer for me. With HomeKit integration and other compatible devices around the house, you can easily set up scenes and triggers involving your garage door opener to maximize your security and convenience. It's extremely handy to be able to do things like make sure the garage door is closed as part of a "Good Night" scene that also turns off lights and adjusts the thermostat, or turn on other lights in the house when you open the garage door at night.
If you're going all-in on HomeKit integration and already have a MyQ-enabled garage door, the new MyQ Home Bridge is a worthy purchase. But if you have an older opener that would require installing both a MyQ Garage and a MyQ Home Bridge, I'd probably hold off a bit longer until the announced Smart Home Bridge integrating both functions into a single box becomes available. That should simplify installation and setup and hopefully come in at a cheaper total price than having to purchase two separate hardware boxes.
Note: Chamberlain provided the MyQ Home Bridge and MyQ Garage to MacRumors free of charge for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.
Samsung today held an event at the IFA trade show in Berlin, where the company introduced two new smart watches and a second-generation version of its Gear IconX wireless earbuds. The two new watches come just weeks ahead of the prospective launch date of Apple's third-generation Apple Watch, which is expected to feature LTE as its main selling point.
The new Samsung Gear Sport is positioned as a fitness-focused smart watch with a round 1.2-inch 360 x 360 AMOLED display and a 20mm strap, making it one of Samsung's slimmest smart watches. It features an improved interface, "military-level durability," and comes in two colors - blue and black.
Inside, there's a 1.0GHz dual-core processor, 4GB storage space, 768MB RAM, a 300mAh battery, and the traditional sensors, including a heart rate monitor, accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, and more. It runs the Tizen operating system and is compatible with Android and iOS devices. Pricing for the Gear Sport has yet to be announced, and Samsung says it'll be available for purchase during the holiday season.
Samsung's Gear Fit2 Pro, available in red and black, is described by the company as an advanced GPS fitness band rather than a true smart watch. It includes GPS tracking functionality and a curved 1.5-inch 216 x 432 AMOLED touchscreen display. It also features a Dual Core 1.0GHz processor, 4GB storage, 512MB RAM, a 200mAh battery, and it comes in two sizes to fit different wrists.
The Gear Fit2 Pro, priced at $199.99, will be available for preorder starting on August 31 at 9:00 a.m from retailers like Amazon. Shipments will start arriving on September 15.
Both the Gear Sport and the Gear Fit2 Pro feature heart rate monitoring that Samsung says offers improved accuracy, water resistance and swim tracking in collaboration with Speedo, auto activity detection, and personalized wellness plans with fitness goals to reach.
Samsung's final new wearable is a second-generation version of its Gear IconX wire-free earbuds, which are Samsung's equivalent to Apple's AirPods. Samsung says the new IconX earbuds are lighter weight and more ergonomic, making them more secure and comfortable in the ear. They come in Black, Gray, and Pink, and support features like Bixby with gestures to activate the personal assistant.
The new Gear IconX features improved battery life (up to five hours of music streaming or seven hours of standalone playback), 4GB internal storage per earbud, and a charging case. The Gear IconX is set to be released this fall, but pricing has yet to be announced.
Apple's newest 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro models offer new features like the Touch Bar and an expanded Trackpad, but they also lack features many deemed necessary, most notably any port other than USB Type-C. That means adapters, adapters, and more adapters.
DockCase is hoping to help by introducing a case for the MacBook Pro that has a USB-C dock built in, eliminating the need for most adapters.
As detailed in our video above, the case is made from a leather-like material that held up well in everyday use during our testing. The inside of the case is lined with micro fiber, and a magnetic flap helps keep your MacBook inside. The bottom of the case is what makes the DockCase different, with a full USB-C dock with Ethernet, HDMI, USB-C, USB-A, and SD card ports built right in. The dock connects to your MacBook Pro with an included USB-C to USB-C cable that tucks inside the case when not in use.
This case is currently a fully funded Kickstarter project so changes may come before the final release, but even with this pre-production model, everything works as it should. There are no connection issues and the data read speed is fast with support for USB 3.1 transfer speeds.
As for issues, it would have been great to see the included USB-C cable built into the case instead of free floating. Also, the case is rather large, particularly the 15" model. While it protects your 15" MacBook Pro, the case won't fit into many bags and will have to be carried.
DockCase will retail for $129 for the 13" MacBook Pro and $139 for the 15" MacBook Pro, and there's also a limited edition version for the MacBook for $119. However, if you back the Kickstarter campaign, you can snag the case for $50 cheaper. DockCase says the first orders will begin shipping out in November, but as with all Kickstarter projects, there could be delays, so use caution when backing a product from a first time manufacturer.
Earlier today, well-connected Apple reporter Mark Gurman said the so-called "iPhone 8" will have a thin software-based bar along the bottom of the home screen, controlled by gestures, in lieu of a physical home button.
Gurman also said the Dock, which houses up to four commonly used apps, will be redesigned with a new interface similar to the one on the iPad version of iOS 11. Above it, there will still be six rows of apps, with up to 24 apps per page.
The status bar is said to be split into left and right sides, which some Apple employees supposedly call "ears" internally. By default, the left side shows the time, while the right side displays Wi-Fi, signal bars, and battery life.
With those details in mind, graphic designer Olivier Charavel created a mockup of what the Home screen could look like on the iPhone 8.
Charavel also shared a mockup of Apple's Health app as an example of what apps could look like on the iPhone 8 accordingly.
Gurman said users can drag the gesture bar up to the middle of the screen to unlock the device. When inside an app, a similar gesture starts multitasking, and users can continue to flick upwards to close the app and go back to the home screen.
Guilherme Rambo shared a video that demonstrates how it could look once the Dock has been summoned, based on Apple's iOS simulator for developers.
Apple appears to have informed some customers that its repair center in Houston, Texas is unsurprisingly closed due to Hurricane Harvey, which has caused catastrophic flooding and damage in the area since making landfall five days ago.
In a discussion on Reddit, one user said his Mac has been sitting at a FedEx shipping facility since Friday. FedEx, UPS, and the United States Postal Service have temporarily halted service in many areas of coastal Texas and western Louisiana.
Another user from Austin, Texas said he visited an Apple retail store and learned that Apple has supposedly been calling customers with repairs routed through Houston to inform them about the possible delays.
Apple appears to be diverting at least some new repairs to its other repair facilities elsewhere in the United States.
Apple's retail stores in the Houston area are also unsurprisingly closed, including its Highland Village, Houston Galleria, Memorial City, Willowbrook Mall, Baybrook, The Woodlands, and First Colony Mall locations.
In related news, accessory maker Twelve South said it will be donating 12 percent of all sales from Wednesday, August 30 through Monday, September 4 to the American Red Cross, in support of Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.
Harvey made another landfall in western Louisiana on early Wednesday as a tropical storm. Heavy rains continue to be expected along the Texas-Louisiana coast as the storm makes its way farther inland and eventually dissipates.
Bidding for Toshiba's much-sought-after memory chip unit was supposed to end in June 2017, after first kicking off in March, but the manufacturer is still fielding bids from multiple interested parties, most recently including a $17.4 billion offer from Western Digital. Likely due to Western Digital's legal action against Toshiba's decision to sell the NAND chip unit, talks surrounding that offer have reportedly "stalled" and now a new consortium of companies -- including Apple -- has entered a "last-ditch" effort to win the bidding.
Led by Boston-based global investment firm Bain Capital, the consortium also includes Apple and South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix (via Reuters). This group plans to offer Toshiba $18.2 billion for its memory chip unit, with a goal of reaching a final decision by Thursday, August 31 now "unlikely." This is said to be due to bickering over exactly how much Western Digital might own of the memory chip unit after it's sold, no matter who wins the bidding, because of the Western Digital's business ties with Toshiba.
A consortium led by Bain Capital has made a revised last-ditch offer for Toshiba Corp’s chip unit worth about $18 billion, bringing in Apple Inc to help bolster its bid, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The revised offer is worth some 2 trillion yen ($18.2 billion). Bain and South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc will be responsible for 1.1 trillion yen, while Apple will provide up to 400 billion yen and Japanese banks will give around 600 billion yen in support, one of the sources said.
Many companies have entered bidding proposals for Toshiba's memory chip unit this year, including TSMC, Foxconn, Amazon, Google, Broadcom, and multiple private equity firms. Apple has already been associated with bidding interest as well, reportedly willing to spend several billion dollars to obtain a "substantial stake" -- potentially more than 20 percent -- of the chip unit. If Bain Capital's bid is the winner, Apple's stake would likely remain around that percentage.
Toshiba confirmed plans to sell its NAND flash memory unit in January 2017, as a way to raise funds that the company hopes will cover significant losses associated with its U.S. nuclear subsidiary Westinghouse. If part of the winning bid, Apple could obtain a stake in a unit that already provides flash storage to the Cupertino company, including 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB flash storage for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
Update 9/7: Yet another group of interested companies has formed to press forward in trying to win Toshiba's memory chip unit as the end of bidding grows nearer: Foxconn is leading the consortium, with Apple, SoftBank, and Sharp showing their support.
Amazon and Microsoft today jointlyannounced that Alexa and Cortana will soon be able to communicate with each other.
Microsoft said the collaboration will allow access to Alexa via Cortana on Windows 10 PCs later this year, and via the Cortana app for iOS and Android at an unspecified point in the future. Similarly, users will be able to access Cortana on Alexa-enabled devices like the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Show.
iPhone users should eventually be able to open the Cortana app and say "hey Cortana, open Alexa," to access Amazon's virtual assistant. Alexa can be used to shop and manage orders on Amazon, ask a variety of questions, stream music and audiobooks, check the news and weather, and many other tasks.
However, iPhone users won't be able to say "hey Cortana, open Alexa" from the Home screen, or when the device is locked. Apple only allows third-party virtual assistants to function within their apps, so accessing Alexa via Cortana will be a lot more cumbersome than simply using Siri.
For a complete virtual assistant experience, iPhone users could also say "hey Siri, open the Cortana app" and then say "hey Cortana, open Alexa."
Alexa can already be used in the Amazon app on iOS [Direct Link], while Cortana has been available on the App Store [Direct Link] since December 2015.
Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a ~5.5-inch outer display and a ~7.8-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.
Multiple high-profile Instagram accounts belonging to celebrities may have been breached due to a bug related to an Instagram API, reports 
