As part of its effort to expand further into wearable devices, Apple is working on a set of smart glasses, reports Bloomberg. Citing sources familiar with Apple's plans, the site says the smart glasses would connect wirelessly to the iPhone, much like the Apple Watch, and would display "images and other information" to the wearer.
Apple has contacted potential suppliers about its glasses project and has ordered "small quantities" of near-eye displays, suggesting the project is in the exploratory prototyping phase of development. If work on the glasses progresses, they could be released in 2018.
Google Glass
Apple's glasses sound similar to Google Glass, the head-mounted display that Google first introduced in 2013. Google Glass used augmented reality and voice commands to allow users to do things like check the weather, make phone calls, and capture photographs. Apple's product could be similar in functionality.
The glasses may be Apple's first hardware product targeted directly at AR, one of the people said. Cook has beefed up AR capabilities through acquisitions. In 2013, Apple bought PrimeSense, which developed motion-sensing technology in Microsoft Corp.'s Kinect gaming system. Purchases of software startups in the field, Metaio Inc. and Flyby Media Inc., followed in 2015 and 2016.
Google Glass was highly criticized because of privacy concerns, and as a result, it never really caught on with consumers. Google eventually stopped developing Google Glass in January of 2015.
It is not clear how Apple would overcome the privacy and safety issues that Google faced, nor if the project will progress, but Apple CEO Tim Cook has expressed Apple's deep interest in augmented reality multiple times over the last few months, suggesting something big is in the works. "AR can be really great," he said in July. "We have been and continue to invest a lot in this. We're high on AR in the long run."
Past rumors have also indicated Apple is exploring a number of virtual and augmented reality projects, including a full VR headset. Apple has a full team dedicated to AR and VR research and how the technologies can be incorporated into future Apple products. Cook recently said that he believes augmented reality would be more useful and interesting to people than virtual reality.
As the new MacBook Pro models with Touch Bar begin arriving to customers, Apple has updated the Mac App Store with a featured section highlighting a selection of Mac apps that have been updated with Touch Bar support.
Apple's list includes 14 apps that now work with the Touch Bar, like Day One, OmniGraffle 7, PocketCAS, Mail Designer Pro 3, Focus, and 1Password. Some of the apps, like Final Cut Pro and djay Pro, were previously shown off by Apple on stage when the MacBook Pro was announced.
The scope of Touch Bar support varies by app, but in many apps, once-buried settings and frequently used shortcuts are now available in the Touch Bar, allowing users to speed up their workflows. In djay Pro, for example, the Touch Bar can be used for full music manipulation, while in 1Password, it offers options for quickly adding or finding passwords.
One of the chief complaints in MacBook Pro reviews released today was the lack of support by third-party apps, but that should soon improve as developers finish updating their apps with Touch Bar compatibility.
Many apps, including popular titles like Pixelmator, Photoshop, Affinity Design, and Microsoft Office, will be introducing Touch Bar support in the coming weeks.
As can be seen in the video below, the TV app is more fully functional, with support for the "Up Next" feature that keeps track of what you're watching across multiple devices. TV has now completely replaced the former Videos app in the United States, which has now been eliminated.
Here's a full list of changes that can be found in iOS 10.2 beta 3:
SOS - The SOS functionality that allowed users to call emergency services by pressing the power button multiple times on the iPhone has been removed in this beta. According to Apple's release notes, SOS is currently only available in India, perhaps for testing purposes before a wider rollout.
Messages - There's a new "Send With Love" Screen Effect option in Messages that sends a heart along with a text message.
TV settings - In the Settings app, there's a new section for the TV app. It allows users to choose whether to use cellular data for playback and choose the streaming quality over Wi-Fi and Cellular. There's also an option to choose whether to make purchases and rentals from the store in HD or SD.
TV functionality - The TV app now supports the "Up Next" feature that keeps track of the television shows and movies you're watching, saving your place or recommending next episodes across multiple devices.
Videos - The Videos app has been removed from iOS entirely in the United States and replaced with the TV app. The Videos widget, introduced with iOS 10.1, has also been removed, but there is a replacement TV widget that's been available since beta 2. In countries outside of the United States, the Videos app is still available.
Apple has only provided the third beta of iOS 10.2 to developers today, but will likely make the new features available to public beta testers later this week.
Because Apple has promised a December launch for several of the features in iOS 10.2 (including Single Sign-On and the TV app), the update could be officially released during the early weeks of the month.
Apple dropped Intel's integrated Iris Pro graphics in favor of dedicated AMD graphics across its entire new 15-inch MacBook Pro lineup, resulting in performance improvements over previous models. Perhaps more interestingly, the switch to AMD provides expanded external display support that desktop users have patiently waited for.
As Andrew Cunningham at Ars Technica explains, AMD's Polaris-based Radeon Pro 450, Radeon Pro 455, and built-to-order Radeon Pro 460 GPUs in the new 15-inch MacBook Pro support up to six displays, whereas Intel's integrated GPUs affixed to the logic board can drive a total of three displays.
The expanded support enables the new MacBook Pro to drive two of Apple and LG's new UltraFine 5K displays at 60Hz simultaneously. Intel's GPUs can't because, due to bandwidth limitations of the DisplayPort 1.2 spec, the two 5K displays technically function as four displays. This method is known as Multi-Stream Transport (MST).
When you hook one of LG's 5K monitors to one of the new MacBook Pros, what you're actually seeing on the screen is two pictures stitched together to make a single seamless image. This is because the version of the DisplayPort spec supported by Intel's GPUs and almost all monitors these days—version 1.2—doesn't have enough bandwidth to drive a 5K display at 60Hz all by itself. […] Apple is actually pushing two DisplayPort 1.2 streams to the monitor over the single Thunderbolt 3 cable.
There’s nothing wrong with this method, except that it cuts down on the number of external displays your computer can support. Intel’s integrated GPUs can drive a total of three displays, but you use up two of those three streams to drive one 5K monitor and one of them to drive the laptop’s internal display. AMD’s GPUs support up to six displays, so you can use two of those connections for one 5K monitor, two of them for the other 5K monitor, one for the laptop’s internal display, and still have one left over for yet another monitor if you really wanted to use one.
Apple could have used Nvidia's faster Pascal-based GPUs, which support DisplayPort 1.3, but Thunderbolt 3 and most monitors do not support the higher-bandwidth spec yet. In the meantime, Nvidia's GPUs can only drive up to three displays beyond the main MacBook Pro screen — not enough for dual 5K displays over MST.
Apple will have more flexibility again when DisplayPort 1.3 becomes more common. Those future laptops will be able to drive two 5K screens plus a laptop’s internal screen using just three DisplayPort streams instead of five. For now, though, if pushing two high-end 5K screens at once was a design goal for Apple, AMD was the only way to go.
In terms of performance improvements, Cunningham benchmarked the mid-range 2.7GHz 15-inch MacBook Pro with the Radeon Pro 455 graphics chip to determine just how much faster the notebook truly is compared to the 2016 12-inch MacBook and older MacBook Pros released over the past few years.
He found the Radeon Pro 455 to be a "significant boost" over the built-to-order dedicated GPUs available in the 2012-2015 MacBook Pro models, namely the Nvidia GeForce GTX 650M, Nvidia GeForce GTX 750M, and AMD Radeon R9 M370X respectively, but said the new MacBook Pro remains unsuitable for high-end gaming and VR.
Is it disappointing that Apple didn’t decide to push the envelope a little more? Sure. Is it too bad that performance and power efficiency were apparently sacrificed in the name of external display support? Yes. Are these midrange GPUs in any way inconsistent with any MacBook Pro released in the last decade? No.
Apple officially says the 15-inch MacBook Pro offers up to 130% faster graphics performance, and up to 2.5x more computing power per watt, compared to the previous-generation 15-inch MacBook Pro, but those stats are based on the built-to-order Radeon Pro 460 chip that costs between $100 and $200 extra.
Apple today announced that nonprofit organizations in the United States are now able to accept accept donations using Apple Pay, allowing donors to send money to various charities more quickly.
Many nonprofits like UNICEF, charity:water, American Red Cross, (RED), Save the Children, World Wildlife Fund, and more will begin accepting Apple Pay payments starting this morning, while others will adopt Apple Pay support "over the coming months." A total of 19 charities are supporting Apple Pay as of today.
Charities will be able to accept Apple Pay on their websites using Apple Pay for the web, and donations can also be made through specific charity apps that support Apple Pay.
"We're making it incredibly easy to give back with Apple Pay," said Jennifer Bailey, Apple's vice president of Apple Pay. "Websites and apps tell us they see twice as many people actually completing a purchase with Apple Pay than with other payment methods. We think offering such a simple and secure way to support the incredible work nonprofits do will have a significant impact on the communities they serve."
Many charities are hoping the ability to accept payments over Apple Pay will drive Apple customers to make more donations this holiday season because it makes the donation process both simpler and more secure.
"Apple Pay removes obstacles like forms or concerns about security, allowing donors instead to focus on the impact their gift will make on communities waiting for water." -- Peter Chasse, President & Founder, The Water Project.
As TechCrunch points out, nonprofit organizations could not previously accept Apple Pay because Apple's rules prevented iOS apps from collecting funds for charities or fundraisers using Apple Pay. Charities previously had to collect funds outside of their apps, but will now be able to include built-in donate buttons.
Apple today seeded the third beta of the upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.2 update to developers, one week after releasing the second 10.12.2 beta and three weeks following the public release of macOS 10.12.1.
The third macOS Sierra 10.12.2 beta is available for download through the Apple Developer Center and through the software update mechanism in the Mac App Store, but the Mac App Store appears to be having trouble updating apps for some people at the moment.
macOS Sierra 10.12.2 includes new emoji, introducing Unicode 9 characters like clown face, selfie, face palm, fox face, owl, shark, butterfly, avocado, pancakes, croissant, bacon 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.
There are few other changes aside from the addition of new emoji, but the 10.12.2 update also likely includes many bug fixes and performance enhancements to address issues that have popped up since the release of macOS Sierra 10.12.1.
Available since September, macOS Sierra is the latest Mac operating system. It includes Siri support, Apple Pay for the web, Universal Clipboard, Apple Watch auto unlocking, improved iCloud Drive integration, Picture-in-Picture multitasking, and dozens of smaller features that can be found in our macOS Sierra roundup.
Update: macOS Sierra 10.12.2 beta 3 is also available for public beta testers.
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming tvOS 10.1 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the second tvOS 10.1 beta and more than a month after launching tvOS 10.
Designed for the fourth-generation Apple TV, the third tvOS 10.1 beta can be obtained by connecting the Apple TV to a computer with a USB-C to USB-A cable, downloading and installing the software from a registered developer account via iTunes or Apple Configurator. Once a beta profile has been installed on the device through iTunes, new beta updates will be available over the air.
Many Apple TV owners are eagerly awaiting a promised Single Sign-On feature that will allow Apple TV users to sign in once with their cable credentials to access all available live cable content, and the feature was introduced in the first tvOS 10.1 beta.
The new "TV" app that was announced at Apple's October 27 event was not included in the first two tvOS 10.1 betas, but it was introduced on iOS devices in the second iOS 10.2 beta, suggesting it could come to tvOS users soon. "TV" is meant to be a TV guide-style app that provides users with recommendations on what to watch and an easy way to discover new television content.
tvOS 10, for those unfamiliar with the operating system, brings features like improved search, expanded Siri capabilities, a dark mode, a Continuity option for using the iPhone for text input, automatic app downloads, quicker access to live TV, and more.
Update: Some users are having difficulty downloading the update, as their systems are reporting that an update is available but are stuck waiting to connect to the update server to download.
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming iOS 10.2 update to developers, one week after seeding the second beta of iOS 10.2 and three weeks after releasing iOS 10.1, the first major update to iOS 10.
Registered developers can download iOS 10.2 beta 3 from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air with the proper configuration profile installed.
iOS 10.2 doesn't have a single main feature like Portrait mode in iOS 10.1, but it does offer several smaller feature tweaks.
New emoji are included the update, such as clown face, drooling face, selfie, face palm, fox face, owl, shark, butterfly, avocado, pancakes, croissant, and more. There are more than a hundred new emoji, including several profession emoji available in both male and female genders, such as firefighter, mechanic, lawyer, doctor, scientist, and more. Apple has also redesigned many existing emoji, adding more detail and making them look much more realistic.
Along with new emoji, iOS 10.2 includes new wallpaper, new Music sorting options and buttons for Repeat and Shuffle, a new "Celebrate" Screen Effect," an option for preserving camera settings, a Videos widget, Single-Sign On support for watching live TV via apps, and the "TV" app that was first introduced at Apple's October 27 event.
iOS 10.2 beta 3 removes the Videos app in the United States, officially replacing it with the TV app, and it eliminates the SOS feature that was introduced in the second iOS 10.2 beta. Beta 3 also includes a new "Send With Love" Screen Effect in Messages and new TV app settings.
The TV app serves as an Apple-designed TV guide that's designed to simplify the television watching experience and discover new TV shows and movies to watch. The TV app will eventually be available on both iOS devices and the Apple TV.
Apple has called iOS 10 its "biggest release ever" for iOS users, with a revamped lock screen, a Siri SDK for developers, an overhauled Messages app, a dedicated "Home" app for HomeKit users, new facial and object recognition capabilities in Photos, and redesigned Maps and Apple Music apps.
Update: iOS 10.2 beta 3 is also available for public beta testers.
Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, recently continued the company's stance against turning its desktop and laptop devices into touch screen-enabled computers, which some customers believe could be advantageous additions to the macOS platform. With the new addition of the "Touch Bar" on the MacBook Pro line, seen by some as a potential step towards a full-on Mac touch screen, many Apple executives have come out saying this isn't the case.
Speaking with Backchannel, Schiller has now stated that a multi-touch display on a MacBook "wouldn't be enough," because it would begin a divide between MacBook and iMac. But, if the company implemented the same touch screen on a desktop it would "become absurd," due to the iMac's main source of user interaction -- the keyboard and mouse or trackpad -- residing too far away from where users would raise their hand to interact with the screen. Ultimately, Schiller said this line of thought is "lowest common denominator thinking."
“We think of the whole platform,” he says. “If we were to do Multi-Touch on the screen of the notebook, that wouldn’t be enough — then the desktop wouldn’t work that way.” And touch on the desktop, he says, would be a disaster. “Can you imagine a 27-inch iMac where you have to reach over the air to try to touch and do things? That becomes absurd.” He also explains that such a move would mean totally redesigning the menu bar for fingers, in a way that would ruin the experience for those using pointer devices like the touch or mouse. “You can’t optimize for both,” he says. “It’s the lowest common denominator thinking.”
All the same, Schiller confirmed that Apple has tried out touch screens on a Mac in its labs over the last few years and the company "absolutely come away with the belief that it isn't the right thing to do," he said. "Our instincts were correct.” When asked whether the Touch Bar was the beginning of a larger influence by iOS on the macOS platform, Schiller said this was not the case.
When I suggested that this might be only the latest in a number of mobile innovations moving to the Mac, in an overall annexation of the Macintosh platform, Schiller pushed back, hard. “Its implementation is pure Mac,” he said. “The thought and vision from the very beginning was not at all, ‘How do we put iOS in the Mac?’ It was entirely, ‘How to you use the [iOS] technology to make a better Mac experience?’”
In regards to the MacBook Pro's switch to Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, and the subsequent frustration by some users who fear needing to purchase and keep track of many dongles, Schiller said that “we’re absolutely more sure than ever that we’ve done the right thing,” because of the standard that USB-C is set to become. For context regarding the amount of cables available, MacRumors recently collected some USB-C adapters and dongles available from Apple and third-party accessory makers into a roundup.
Ultimately, Schiller said that the "fundamental difference" between the MacBook Pro's naysayers and fans is divided between those who have not yet interacted with the laptop, and those who have. Thankfully, many more will be able to get a chance to use the MacBook Pro and Touch Bar as the first round of shipments have begun arriving to pre-order customers today.
The calendar has turned to Monday, delivery trucks have hit the streets, and the first customers around the world are now beginning to receive Apple's new MacBook Pro with the all-new Touch Bar. Orders began shipping over the weekend, with deliveries starting today and continuing into next week for the earliest adopters.
A number of MacRumors readers are beginning to unbox their shiny new Mac, including user WayneShorter, who shared the above photo in our 2016 MacBook Pro order/shipping discussion topic. Likewise, Reddit user Xales received his new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar as seen below a few hours ago.
Just two months after the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus launched, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes demand for the smartphones has "peaked" in line with a significant monthly shipment decline starting in November.
Kuo predicted Apple's overseas suppliers will revise down their iPhone shipments by 5-15% in November-December due to lower-than-expected demand stemming from a lack of significant improvements.
As the 4.7-inch iPhone 7, which accounts for a higher share of iPhone shipments, is in stock in the main global markets, we believe overall iPhone shipments have peaked. We think iPhone shipment forecasts will be revised down due to: (1) lower-than-expected demand due to a lack of spec surprises in the 4.7-inch iPhone 7; and (2) shorter times for delivering online orders of 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus, which implies slowing demand. We note that the out-of-stock phenomenon also results from fixed capacity, and is not only due to robust demand.
In a research note obtained by MacRumors, Kuo noted that the out-of-stock phenomenon that typically follows a new iPhone launch results from fixed capacity, and is not only due to robust demand. Kuo reiterated his forecast of a possible year-over-year iPhone shipment decline in the first quarter of 2017 due to the lower-than-expected demand and fierce competition in China.
Samsung Electronics has announced that it will spend $8 billion to purchase Harman International Industries Inc, a company which designs and manufactures connected automobile infotainment systems. The buyout of Harman is Samsung's "largest ever overseas acquisition" and sets up the company to become the "go-to supplier" for automobile accessories and systems (via Bloomberg).
Harman's customers, including BMW, Volkswagen, and General Motors Co., will now become clients of Samsung following the acquisition, placing the South Korean company in the "top ranks of auto technology suppliers." Harman is a major home audio company as well, with products under brands like JBL, Infinity, Harman/Kardon, and more.
The announcement comes a few days after Jay Y. Lee officially became the vice chairman on Samsung's board. According to analyst Park Kang-ho, the acquisition is the first of many moves that solidifies Samsung's "life after smartphones," which Kang-ho believes to be electric vehicles.
“This is the first deal cut after Jay Y. joined the board and shows his management style is different from his father. He is an aggressive deal maker,” said Park Kang-ho, an analyst with Daishin Securities Co. “In the longer term, Samsung is thinking that life after smartphones is electric vehicles.”
Samsung previously purchased a stake in Chinese electric-car maker BYD Co., but its automotive aspirations appear to momentarily focus solely on continuing its history as a components manufacturer, rather than entering the market with its own vehicle. With Harman, Samsung could produce new products for internet-connected cars with attention focused on navigation, multimedia entertainment, security systems and analytics tools.
“Harman perfectly complements Samsung in terms of technologies, products and solutions, and joining forces is a natural extension of the automotive strategy we have been pursuing for some time,” Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun said in the statement. “Harman immediately establishes a strong foundation for Samsung to grow our automotive platform.”
Besides expanding the scope of Samsung's future, the Harman acquisition could also help the company find its "next leg of growth" and move away from a reliance on smartphone sales, made worse this year by the Galaxy Note 7 recall. In total, market research firm IDC estimated that Samsung shipped 72.5 million smartphones in Q3 2016, which was down 13.5% compared to the estimated 83.8 million smartphones it shipped in the same quarter in 2015.
Apple has started shipping its new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar to customers just as reviews of the all-new 13-inch and 15-inch notebooks are hitting the web. The reviews provide a closer look at the Touch Bar and whether or not the new MacBook Pro is a suitable upgrade for those with older models.
The new MacBook Pro's headline feature is the Touch Bar (Image: The Verge)
Andrew Cunningham at Ars Technica said he "liked the Touch Bar a lot," calling it "more convenient to use" than a traditional row of function keys. However, he noted the Touch Bar's usefulness depends entirely on the apps you use and, to a lesser extent, how you use your computer.
If you primarily use the MacBook Pro with a Thunderbolt Display and keyboard, for example, he said the Touch Bar will "do nothing for you."
If it’s being used as a desktop with an external keyboard a significant amount of the time, the Touch Bar does nothing for you. When I went out of my way to use Apple’s apps, I liked the Touch Bar a lot. It just takes one or two useful buttons—creating a new tab in Safari, looking up a main page in Terminal, changing font sizes or creating checklists in Notes—to make you glad the Touch Bar is there. However, a typical day for me is spent mostly in Word, Outlook, Slack, Tweetbot, and Chrome. Microsoft is bringing Touch Bar support to Office, but if other app makers don’t start adding in support, a big chunk of that bar is going to end up sitting empty most of the time.
Cunningham noted the Touch Bar's display dims after 60 seconds and turns off completely after 85 seconds to preserve battery life. You can tap the Touch Bar, the keyboard, or the trackpad to wake it back up. He said there is no option to change this behavior in System Preferences.
Confirming our report last month, Cunningham said the Touch Bar displays a standard row of function keys when running Windows through Boot Camp. When running Linux, however, he said the basic function keys available in Windows don't appear until the Boot Camp installer has installed all the necessary drivers.
Cunningham believes the new MacBook Pro is "just about worth the wait" for those with an older model from 2012 or earlier, but conversely said there is "very little reason to consider" upgrading if you have a model from 2013 or later, given Intel processor improvements that "barely push performance forward."
He criticized the Touch Bar-equipped MacBook Pro lineup as being "expensive, even for Macs," with significantly cheaper premium PCs available.
The main problem at this point isn't that the Touch Bar is a bad idea, but that these laptops cost a whole bunch of money. Great, premium PC laptops are available for half this price, even if Apple still maintains an edge when it comes to graphics and SSD speeds. It really feels like the Touch Bar needs to be included in the $1,499 model, and that versions of the new designs without Touch Bars should be the entry level systems—right now, Apple's entry-level Mac laptops were all released in mid 2015, and that's only going to get more embarrassing as time moves on.
Dana Wollman at Engadget said the Touch Bar is "occasionally useful" for tasks such as switching between open tabs in Safari. However, she noted common system controls such as volume and brightness are now buried within menus, a change that is "less efficient" than dedicated function keys on older MacBook Pro models.
What's annoying about this whole setup is that either way, some of the most important system controls are now buried in Touch Bar menus. Want to lower the volume? You can either hit the volume icon and hit the slider, or hit the arrow key and tap the volume up or down key. That's less efficient than just pressing a dedicated volume button in the function row. It's inconvenient enough that I eventually started using my mouse to do things like pause Spotify or raise the volume on a track. Apple made me change my way of doing things, and not necessarily for the better. That pisses me off.
Not all reviews of the Touch Bar have been favorable. Christina Warren at Gizmodo said the feature is a "gimmick" that's "not worth the money" yet.
In the end, real story with the MacBook Pro is the Touch Bar. It’s somewhat useful, but it’s still so undersupported for apps beyond Apple’s that, at least for right now, the Touch Bar is not reason enough to get a new MacBook Pro. Particularly if you’re already satisfied with the performance of your existing machine. If you need a new MacBook Pro and you can’t wait for the Kaby Lake refreshes already rumored, the benefits of the internal specs matched with the cool-factor of the Touch Bar make this a good Mac. For everyone else this is a gimmick on a very good, way too expensive laptop.
Dan Ackerman at CNET disagreed with those calling the Touch Bar a "gimmick," noting he very quickly found several shortcuts he used instinctively.
Some who've seen the Touch Bar only from afar call it a gimmick, but I almost immediately started finding little things it did better than traditional keyboard and touchpad input, and after a very short time I was using a handful of these Touch Bar functions instinctively, without even thinking about it.
If you spend a bit of time trying it out in different apps, you'll end up with maybe a half-dozen or so shortcuts you love the Touch Bar for, while your computing experience remains otherwise unchanged.
Most other reviews generally recommend the new MacBook Pro, but reflect upon a series of compromises that customers may have to deal with, such as a lack of ports and a new keyboard with slimmer key travel. For those committed to the Mac that can justify the price tag, the new MacBook Pro is a mostly worthwhile upgrade.
Microsoft plans to launch its integrated developer environment Visual Studio for the Mac later this week, turning its cloud-first development program into a cross-platform experience that developers can use on both Mac and Windows. Although the official press release has since been deleted, TechCrunch spotted the news and noted that the launch of Visual Studio on the Mac is expected to happen during the Connect() conference this week.
Visual Studio for Mac will allow developers to create Windows apps on Apple's macOS platform, with the use of cloud platforms like Microsoft's Azure and Amazon Web Services to keep work stored across devices. Microsoft called Visual Studio for Mac a "counterpart" to its Windows version, and said that any Windows user "should feel right at home."
At its heart, Visual Studio for Mac is a macOS counterpart of the Windows version of Visual Studio. If you enjoy the Visual Studio development experience, but need or want to use macOS, you should feel right at home. Its UX is inspired by Visual Studio, yet designed to look and feel like a native citizen of macOS. And like Visual Studio for Windows, it’s complemented by Visual Studio Code for times when you don’t need a full IDE, but want a lightweight yet rich standalone source editor.
Visual Studio on the Mac is said to run Microsoft's .NET software framework and include the programming language of C#. The Microsoft Connect() 2016 developer conference is set to run later this week, from November 16-18, so an official announcement from Microsoft about Visual Studio on the Mac is likely to happen sometime during the event.
A collection of companies based in the United States could face "impaired" blowback if President-elect Donald Trump follows through with his campaign plan of imposing a 45 percent tariff on imports from China, as well as considering China "a currency manipulator." According to Chinese newspaper Global Times, these actions will not only negatively affect China's reputation, but "the trade atmosphere between China and the US will become more tense" (via The Guardian).
In retaliation for the potential trade war, Global Times said that China "will take a tit-for-tat approach," and singled out the airline, automobile, and smartphone industries as some of the first potential targets of the tense relationship between the two countries if Trump decides to commit to his trade plan. Specifically, in regards to Apple and the iPhone, the newspaper said that China will cut iPhone sales in the country and subsequently the device "will suffer a setback" if all of this goes through.
China will take a tit-for-tat approach then. A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced by Airbus. US auto and iPhone sales in China will suffer a setback, and US soybean and maize imports will be halted. China can also limit the number of Chinese students studying in the US.
Trump cannot change the pattern of interests between China and the US. The gigantic China-US trade is based on mutual benefits and a win-win situation. Even as president, Trump can exert limited influence on it.
Despite the potential for such a disruption, Global Sun thinks there's a possibility that the 45 percent tariff on Chinese imports could have simply been outlandish "campaign rhetoric" and won't be put into action during Trump's presidency. The newspaper ends noting that "the new president will be condemned for his recklessness, ignorance and incompetence and bear all the consequences" if such a trade war does begin.
For Apple, the company has been consistently bolstering its presence in China, most recently announcing a new R&D center in Shenzhen to attract software developers. This year, China lost ground to Europe as Apple's third most profitable market, but Tim Cook remains steadily "optimistic" about Apple's presence in China, saying that "China is not as weak as has been talked about. We may not have the wind at our backs that we once did, but it's more stable than the common view of it."
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Amazon's streaming music service has gone live in the U.K. and will roll out to Germany and Austria later today, according to TechCrunch.
Amazon Music Unlimited launched in the U.S. last month to compete with the likes of Apple Music, Spotify, and Google Play Music, which just got a revamp. Amazon Prime members in the U.K. will pay £7.99 per month or £79 per year, while non-Prime members can subscribe to the service for £9.99 per month. A Family Plan for up to six members "coming soon" costs £14.99 per month or £149 per year.
Additionally, owners of Amazon's Echo smart speakers have the option of using the service on only those devices for a discounted price of £3.99 per month.
"If you want a sense of the future of voice-controlled music, go ahead and ask Alexa for a free Amazon Music Unlimited trial, and play around on your Echo," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, in a statement. If you don't know the name of a song but know a few lyrics, if you want to hear songs from a specific decade, or even if you're looking for music to match your mood, just ask. Our U.S. customers love Amazon Music Unlimited on Echo, and we think our UK customers will too."
Amazon said it was "thrilled" with customer reaction to the launch of the service in the U.S., but did not divulge subscription numbers. Amazon Music Unlimited is distinct from the company's Prime-only music library, which offers access to two million songs, whereas the former service offers access to 40 million songs from all the major labels.
Prices in the U.S. start at $7.99 per month for Prime members and $9.99 per month for non-members, which puts it in the same price bracket as Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play Music, and Tidal's standard price plans.
Google today announced an overhaul of its Google Play Music streaming platform, with new contextually aware, opt-in music recommendation features that promise a more personal music listening experience.
Building on its stated aim of helping users find the right music for any moment, Google says the fresh take on its streaming service is "smarter, easier to use, and much more assistive", thanks in large part to deeper integration with machine learning technology that allows it to offer content based on user location, time of day, current activity, and music preferences.
Central to the overhaul is a redesigned home screen that Google likens to "the ultimate personal DJ", which learns what you like to listen to and when you like to listen to it, presenting content accordingly. Examples include suggesting a users' workout playlist when they arrive at the gym, offering music for unwinding after a day at the office, and recommending additional songs from new artists the user has previously expressed an interest in.
To provide even richer music recommendations based on Google's understanding of your world, we've plugged into the contextual tools that power Google products. When you opt in, we'll deliver personalized music based on where you are and why you are listening — relaxing at home, powering through at work, commuting, flying, exploring new cities, heading out on the town, and everything in between. Your workout music is front and center as you walk into the gym, a sunset soundtrack appears just as the sky goes pink, and tunes for focusing turn up at the library.
In addition to the new opt-in personalization features, the overhauled service also includes a new regularly updated offline playlist based on what users listened to recently, enabling subscribers to listen to their favorite music even if they lose their connection.
Powered by the company's machine learning systems and teams of human curators, Google promises the experience will "keep evolving" and improve the more it's used, whether that's through the company's recently launched Google Home smart speaker, on Chromecast devices such as the new 4K Chromecast Ultra, or its Google Pixel smartphones, which were unveiled last month.
The price of Google Play Music remains $9.99 per month and the company says it's rolling out the revamped service globally this week across iOS, Android, and the web.
After entering the "Preparing for Shipment" stage on Thursday, the first wave of MacBook Pros with Touch Bars have begun shipping to customers for delivery next week. While Apple is quoting Wednesday, November 16 as the estimated delivery date, UPS is telling some customers that they can expect their new MacBooks on Monday, November 14.
When the Touch Bar MacBook Pros became available for pre-order on October 27 customers received shipping estimates ranging from November 17 to November 25, making UPS' delivery estimates a couple of days earlier than expected. Thus far, the majority of the MacBook Pros that have begun shipping have been 15-inch models and custom orders, according to MacRumors readers who have notified us of their shipping status.
Many 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar orders still haven't shipped, according to MacRumors readers. It's unclear when these models will begin shipping, but it could happen shortly after the 15-inch and custom-ordered MacBook Pros begin their transit.
The new MacBook Pros sold out quickly, with shipping estimates moving from 2 to 3 weeks to 3 to 4 weeks hours after they went on sale. Current shipping estimates are 4 to 5 weeks. Apple's Phil Schiller said that the company has received more online orders for the new MacBook Pro than any previous model. Slice Intelligence sales estimates suggest the new model has already outsold all competing laptops in 2016.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar starts at $1,799 while the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar starts at $2,399.
Those interested in tracking their orders and discussing their configurations and shipping status can join our dedicated MacBook Pro pre-order shipping thread.
Update: Users are now reporting significant numbers of 13-inch models also shipping.
Just two months after the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus launched, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes demand for the smartphones has "peaked" in line with a significant monthly shipment decline starting in November.
