MacRumors

Apple and its former sapphire supplier GT Advanced have reached an agreement that will allow GT Advanced to absolve itself of the remaining $439 million that it owes Apple, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Under the settlement, GT Advanced will host an auction on November 23 to get rid of the equipment that it contributed to the sapphire making process, with the proceeds being split between the two companies. Equipment that does not sell during the auction will be given to Apple.

While GT intends to hang on to some of the equipment--as many as 600 sapphire-making furnaces--it is prepared to auction what it can and abandon what it can't cart off, court papers say.

Anything not sold will be handed over to Apple, which has agreed to scrap the equipment and extinguish the loan it made to transform GT from an equipment manufacturer into a supplier of smartphone-screen material.

Following the dissolution of the relationship between GT Advanced and Apple, GT Advanced agreed to sell off its sapphire furnaces to repay the loan Apple had provided to buy the equipment in the first place. Over the course of the past year, GT Advanced has been unable to find a buyer for the sapphire furnaces.

GT Advanced and Apple originally partnered up to produce sapphire displays for the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6s Plus, but the deal soured when GT Advanced was unable to meet deadlines and produce sapphire that met Apple's standards. GT Advanced filed for bankruptcy in October of 2014, laying off more than 700 employees and shuttering the Mesa, Arizona factory, which Apple is repurposing as a data center.

Apple and GT Advanced's new agreement is set to be finalized following the approval of a bankruptcy judge.

Tapbots today released a significant update for its latest Tweetbot 4 Twitter client, adding support for the Apple Watch. On the Apple Watch, the default view is the Activity Feed, which includes Mentions, Favorites (soon to be likes), and Follows - the content you'd most likely want to view on a small screen.

From the Activity Feed, it's possible to tap to view individual tweets to Reply, Retweet, or Favorite, and tapping on a name also leads to a profile where a Direct Message can be sent to a user or someone can be followed. A force press on the Apple Watch within Tweetbot will bring up the option to send a tweet, and composing a message is done via voice dictation.

Today's update is the second major update to Tweetbot 4, which Tapbots released a month ago. Tweetbot 4, a newly universal app for the iPhone and the iPad, introduced a redesigned look, new Statistics and Activity Views, and support for features like split-screen multitasking on the iPad. A later update also brought support for 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.

Tweetbot 4 can be downloaded from the App Store for $4.99. [Direct Link]

Sam's Club today announced its "Lowest Prices of the Season" event, starting in retail locations around the country at 7 A.M. on Saturday, November 14. The company promises that the event will feature deals on "the most sought-after tech, toys and home décor for the holiday season," which includes the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPad Air 2.

“We’re excited to kick off holiday shopping for our members with our lowest prices of the season event on Saturday, Nov. 14. Our shoppers can feel confident they are getting a great deal on many top gifts, and early enough to plan the rest of their holiday budget,” said Rosalind Brewer, president and CEO of Sam’s Club.

“In addition to several savings events, every week, Sam’s Club is rotating new items onto its shelves to help shoppers surprise and delight everyone on their lists. This year we are confident we’re giving our members new ways to save and discover the value of being a member.”

Users who opt-in for Apple's iPhone 6s or 6s Plus during the event will get a $200 Sam's Club gift card when activating the phone on any Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T installment plan. The event will also allow customers the option of 2-year plans for Verizon, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular users starting at $99 (16GB for 6s) and $199 (16GB for 6s Plus), but they won't be eligible for the $200 gift card.

The iPad Air 2 is going on sale as well, with the 64GB and 128GB (available online only) versions marked as $150 off during the event. Sam's Club is also offering users a slight discount on a packaging of four $25 iTunes gift cards, normally retailing for $100 and going for $79.47 during the event.

Customers who choose to shop exclusively online can get a head start on the Sam's Club sales on November 14, with all the discount prices opening up to users at 12:01 on Saturday morning and most items shipping free in the United States. The retailer also has a few deals on 4K Smart TVs, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Note5, and various other jewelry and kids' toys.

In addition to the Lowest Prices of the Season event, Sam's Club will host a Pre-Black Friday Event on Saturday, November 21 through Wednesday, November 25, focusing on savings on "top brands and Thanksgiving meal essentials." While it didn't provide specific sale details just yet, the company noted that Black Friday deals will begin online at 12:01 AM on Thanksgiving Day and start in retail locations Friday, November 27 at 7 AM. Cyber Week specials will follow on Monday, November 30 through December 6.

Twitter today announced the impending rollout of a new "Hearts" and "Likes" system for its social network, which will replace the traditional "Stars" and "Favorites" that's been used on the service for the past few years. The company cites a "confusing" quality to the star system that causes a disconnect between a new Twitter user and anyone who favorites their tweet. The heart, it believes, is more of a universal symbol of expression and connection.

We are changing our star icon for favorites to a heart and we’ll be calling them likes. We want to make Twitter easier and more rewarding to use, and we know that at times the star could be confusing, especially to newcomers. You might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite.

The heart, in contrast, is a universal symbol that resonates across languages, cultures, and time zones. The heart is more expressive, enabling you to convey a range of emotions and easily connect with people. And in our tests, we found that people loved it.

The hearts system will also make its way to the Twitter-owned Vine service, rounding out the social networks that the company owns -- including Periscope -- with a more uniform liking system. The company notes that the new update will roll out starting today on Twitter for iOS and Android, the web, Windows 10, TweetDeck, "and on Tweets across the Internet." Other services, like Twitter for Mac, will see support coming "soon."

Nomad today announced a new product, the "Wallet for iPhone," which hides a small rechargeable battery cell within a traditional billfold wallet. The 2,400 mAh lithium-ion battery is housed in the hinge of the Wallet and promises to provide a full charge to an iPhone 6s. Owners of an iPhone 6 Plus or iPhone 6s Plus will probably only see half the charge of their phone restored due to the smaller battery size of the wallet.

We went to the absolute extreme of lithium-ion battery tech and ultra compact circuit boards to make this an ultra high density battery system. We used an advanced SoC (system on chip) microprocessor and 01005 grade components which allow us to pack a huge 2400mAh battery providing a full charge for your iPhone 6s.

The company claims that the Wallet is no thicker than the average billfold wallet, even when counting the increased weight of a wallet full of credit cards and cash. The normal functions of the wallet allow it to hold six business or credit cards total. Specifically, Nomad gives its dimensions as 25 mm max thickness, 85 mm wide, 125 mm long, which it calls "thinner than most men's billfolds."

When users want to charge their iPhone, an integrated 3.5 inch Lightning cable is simply removed and plugged into the device to begin refilling its charge. The Wallet will function with any iPhone supporting a Lightning port, and promises one 100% charge to each device on a full battery. The Wallet itself is recharged via micro USB cable -- taking up to two full hours from an empty battery -- and four LED lights on its underside show a visual representation of its charge level.

Nomad's Wallet can be pre-ordered now for $79.99 with a shipping date of November 15, with orders placed from that date on being charged the full retail price of $99.99

Apple updated its Apple Pay participating issuers list today with 54 additional banks, credit unions and financial institutions supporting the contactless payment service in the United States. Apple Pay now has over 650 participating issuers nationwide, and several more plan to support the NFC-based mobile payment service in the future.

The newly added Apple Pay participating issuers are reflected below, although it's worth noting that some banks, credit unions and financial institutions listed may have already had support for the contactless payments service and are only now being reflected on Apple's website.

The full list of new Apple Pay participating issuers:

• Alternatives Federal Credit Union
  

• Army Aviation Center Federal Credit Union
  

• Artisans' Bank
  

• Bank of Eastman
  

• Bank of Rantoul
  

• Bridgeview Bank Group
  

• Carson Bank
  

• Calumet Bank
  

• Catholic & Community Credit Union
  

• Central State Bank
  

• Charter Oak Federal Credit Union
  

• Citizens First Bank
  

• Cornerstone Bank
  

• Cornerstone National Bank
  

• Credit Union of America
  

• Drummond Community Bank
  

• Education Employees Credit Union
  

• First Community Credit Union (MO)
  

• First Federal Bank of the Midwest
  

• First Piedmont Federal Savings and Loan Association
  

• Genisys Credit Union
  

• German American
  

• Gorham Savings Bank
  

• Greenwood Credit Union
  

• Houston Texas Fire Fighters Federal Credit Union
  

• Hudson River Community Credit Union
  

• InTouch Credit Union
  

• KV Federal Credit Union
  

• Lexington Postal Credit Union
  

• Macatawa Bank
  

• Maine Family Federal Credit Union
  

• Marion State Bank
  

• Missouri Bank
  

• Missouri Credit Union
  

• Mocse Credit Union
  

• Municipal Employees Credit Union of Oklahoma City
  

• Mutual Bank
  

• Newaygo County Service Employees Credit Union
  

• Oak Trust Credit Union
  

• Peoples Bank (WA)
  

• Peoples Bank (AR)
  

• Polish & Slavic Federal Credit Union
  

• PyraMax Bank
  

• Settlers Federal Credit Union
  

• The Bank
  

• The Provident Bank
  

• Tri City National Bank
  

• TwinStar Credit Union
  

• UMassFive College Federal Credit Union
  

• United Equity Credit Union
  

• United Savings Credit Union
  

• University of Kentucky Federal Credit Union
  

• Upper Peninsula State Bank
  

• Weokie Credit Union

Apple Pay remains limited to the United States and United Kingdom, although Apple is committed to an international rollout of the mobile payments service in additional countries such as Australia and Canada in the future.

WSJ reported that Apple is planning a November launch of Apple Pay in Canada. Apple Pay will also be available to eligible American Express customers in Canada and Australia later this year, in addition to Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong in 2016.

Activision Blizzard, publisher of video games like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Destiny, has purchased Candy Crush Saga creator King Digital for $5.9 billion. Activision Blizzard has built a successful portfolio of video games on consoles and PCs, but has struggled to find the same success in the mobile space. King CEO Riccardo Zacconi notes the Candy Crush maker had 474 million monthly active mobile and Facebook users in the third quarter of 2015.

We believe that the Acquisition will position us very well for the next phase of our company’s evolution and will bring clear benefits to our players and employees. We will combine our expertise in mobile and free-to-play with Activision Blizzard’s world-class brands and proven track record of building and sustaining the most successful franchises, to bring the best games in the world to millions of players worldwide.

Activision Blizzard says the acquisition will make the company the global leader in mobile gaming while also giving the company over half a billion active monthly users in 196 countries. In the past 12 months ending September 2015, Activision Blizzard reported revenues of $4.7 billion while King reported revenues of $2.1 billion. While quarterly spending in King's signature game, Candy Crush Saga, has declined in the past 18 months, players still spent $1.3 billion on in-app purchases in 2014 alone.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Candy Crush Saga represented 45 percent of King Digital's quarterly revenue. King has been working to diversify its gaming portfolio to rely less on Candy Crush and remain profitable. Like Infinity Blade and Angry Birds before it, Candy Crush Saga is one of the few games to become a smash-hit cult-like success in the App Store.

The much-anticipated Plex app for the Apple TV is available for download on the new set-top box as of today, allowing users to stream content from their computers to the Apple TV using the Plex Media Server software. First announced in September, the official Plex app was still in review when the new Apple TV launched last Friday, but it's now been approved.

For those unfamiliar with Plex, it's a media server and personal library for content like TV shows, movies, and music. It's designed to organize personal media collections, allowing videos and music to be streamed to TVs and other devices, locally and remotely.

Plex on the new Apple TV has a gorgeous interface that makes it easy to see all of your media content at a glance. Plex adds artwork for movies, TV shows, and music, plus it includes information like cast members, plot summaries, and Rotten Tomatoes ratings.

Plex has long been available on set-top devices like the Chromcast and the Fire TV, and it's popular with jailbreakers, but it has not previously been available on older versions of the Apple TV in an official capacity.

The Plex app for the Apple TV can be downloaded from the tvOS App Store. The app is free to download, and unlike the iOS version does not require a $4.99 in-app purchase or Plex Pass subscription to unlock functionality. Apple TV and iOS App Store apps are universal, so if you've already downloaded the app for iOS, it can be found in the Purchases section of the tvOS App Store. [Direct Link]