MacRumors

Intel's line of 14-nanometer Broadwell chips, which are expected to be included in future versions of the MacBook Air, Retina MacBook Pro, and iMac, have been further delayed, reports Chinese site VR Zone [Google Translate] (via CPU World).

According to the site, while Intel will begin production on its extremely low power Core M processors in July and August for a 2014 launch, production on the U and H Broadwell chip series will not begin until much later in the year.

As a result, the Broadwell U 2+3 dual-core chips with GT3 (HD 5000 or Iris) graphics, likely slated for use in the MacBook Air and the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, won't be ready to ship until February of 2015. The Broadwell H 4+3e quad-core chips with Iris Pro graphics designed for the larger Retina MacBook Pro and iMac won't be shipping until July 2015 at the earliest.

Back in May, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich promised Broadwell processors for the 2014 holiday season, but it appears that the promised chips will be limited to the company's Core M processor series, used in ultra low power products like two-in-one computers. Broadwell chips suitable for Apple products will not make their first appearance until 2015, which Intel essentially confirmed to CNET in June.

"We expect the initial Broadwell-based devices, including fanless 2-in-1s built on the Core M processor, will be on shelves by the end of this year with more products and broader OEM availability in 2015," Intel told CNET on Wednesday.

Intel's Broadwell chips have seen several delays over the course of 2013 and 2014, and were originally slated to enter production in late 2013 before production was delayed until Q1 2014 and then Q3 2014. The delays are reportedly due to problems with the 14-nanometer process used to manufacture the chips.

Intel's continual Broadwell delays are likely impacting Apple's own release plans. Rumors have suggested Apple is planning a fall launch of a refreshed Retina MacBook Pro and a new 12-inch MacBook Air, but it is unclear which chips the company will use. Apple may only be able to offer a minor Haswell processor boost for the Retina MacBook Pro, which will be the only update the line sees until Broadwell is ready. Apple has already given the MacBook Air a Haswell refresh bump alongside a price drop with an update in late April.

On the desktop side, Apple introduced a new low-end iMac last month, but otherwise the lineup has not been updated since last September. The Mac mini has not even been updated to Haswell yet, with its last revision coming in October 2012. It is unknown why Apple has not released updated Mac mini models, as appropriate Haswell chips are readily available.

Intel's Broadwell chips are said to be 30 percent faster and more power efficient than Haswell, offering even greater increases in battery life and performance. According to Intel, the Broadwell delays will not affect the company's next line of processors, Skylake, as the chips are based on new architecture. Broadwell, however, will have a very short lifespan as Skylake has a prospective late 2015 release date.

Over the weekend, it was reported that Foxconn would be soon deploying its own "Foxbot" robots to its factories to help assemble devices, with CEO Terry Gou noting that Apple would be the first use the service. Now, Taiwan's United Daily News (Google Translate, via GforGames) is sharing more details on the assembly robots, stating that they will play a supporting role in Foxconn's factories alongside employees.

According to the paper, the assembly robots will be used for less intensive tasks such as tightening screws and positioning exterior components for polishing. Foxconn factory employees will still be responsible for more important tasks such as quality control and general assembly, however the company expects its robots to help greatly with device yield and output.

Foxconn is reportedly on track to deploy 10,000 robots to its factories, with each robot costing anywhere from $20,000 to $25,000 to make. The company has recently gone on a hiring spree ahead of the launch of Apple's iPhone 6 this fall, bringing on 100,000 new workers to help assemble the device.

The iPhone 6 is expected to launch this September, and will come in two sizes of 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches. In addition to a larger display, the device will also likely feature a thinner profile, an improved camera, a faster A8 processor, and more.

Earlier this year, Nike significantly downsized its FuelBand team, firing several members of the 80-person team that worked to create its well-known fitness tracker as part of a shift from hardware to software.

Apple snapped up two of the former FuelBand team members in June, Ryan Bailey and Jon Gale. As noted by 9to5Mac, Bailey, who served as a Senior Test and Validation Engineer at Nike is now listed as a Mechanical Design Engineer at Apple, while Gale, who was a Senior Firmware Engineer at Nike is now employed as a Sensing Systems Engineer at Apple.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Bailey specialized in wearable device and consumer electronic product development, focused on providing engineering recommendations to major engineering leads. Gale, meanwhile, developed hardware and firmware architectures for Nike Digital Sport products.

Primary responsibility is to define both the hardware and firmware architectures for Nike Digital Sport products. Additionally, I managed the development of product firmware through partner companies. Responsible for delivering firmware to validate the design in a manufacturing environment, define and implementation of custom protocols to interact with other components of the Nike ecosystem, and translate high-level product requirements into actionable, testable definitions. I personally owned the delivery of firmware for the Nike FuelBand product line.

It is unclear if Gale and Bailey have joined Apple's wearables team to work on the iWatch, but it is a distinct possibility given their expertise on wearable devices. Apple offers many positions under the job titles of Mechanical Design Engineer and Sensing Systems Engineer, however, so it is unknown exactly what the two are working on.

Over the course of the past year, Apple has hired several experts in the health and fitness fields to join its iWatch team, including fitness guru Jay Blahnik, sleep expert Roy Raymann, pulse oximetry expert and former Chief Medical Officer Michael O'Reilly, and several other scientists and executives from notable sensor companies like AccuVein, C8 MediSensors, and Senseonics. Most recently, the company took on the former sales director of luxury watch brand TAG Heuer, Patrick Pruniaux, possibly to help market the iWatch.

According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, Apple's upcoming wearable device will feature 10 different sensors to track various health and fitness metrics. It's said to integrate heavily with the Health app in iOS 8, and it may come in both multiple sizes and multiple designs to satisfy a wide range of tastes. Apple is expected to introduce the iWatch at an October event.

Developers running the beta version of iOS 8 can ask Siri for an opinion on the new operating system, prompting Apple's virtual assistant to provide one of several humorous responses. Siri's funny responses are limited to iOS 8 -- iOS 7 users who ask Siri about iOS 8 receive generic responses on Siri's like of Apple products.

Asking "Siri, do you like iOS 8?" will result in tongue-in-cheek answers that hint at new features in iOS 8 like "It's just swift," alluding to the company's newly introduced programming language.

Siri's answers also allude to new Apple's HomeKit home automation platform, which will allow Siri to control various connected devices such as Philips' line of Hue lights.

"I'm just thrilled about iOS 8 -- It's like moving into a bigger, nicer house. And I get to turn the lights on and off."

The virtual assistant also pokes fun at the limited amount of time Apple spent going over new Siri features during its keynote event at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

"Impressive, but... you'd think they could have talked about me for more than thirty seconds. Sniff."

Siri has gained several major new features in iOS 8, including Shazam integration that allows the voice assistant to identify songs upon request, and the ability to open the App Store for the first time. Siri's also able to be activated hands-free with the voice command "Hey Siri," when plugged in, and it supports streaming voice recognition for real-time feedback on requests.

Apple has worked hard to improve Siri since its 2011 introduction alongside iOS 5, adding new capabilities and a never-ending stream of funny responses and quips to requests and queries. As of late, rumors have suggested that the company is planning to bring Siri development in-house, working to build a strong speech recognition team.

Apple seeded the third iOS 8 beta to developers yesterday, with plans to release the operating system to the public in the fall following an extended beta testing period.

With the introduction of OS X Yosemite, Apple introduced a significant visual change with an iOS 7-like "flat" look and completely redesigned icons. While Apple's icons will see a refresh once Yosemite is released, users will have to wait until third-party companies have updated their icons to match Apple's new design language for OS X icons.

In the meantime, users in this long running MacRumors' forums thread have been designing their own "flat" versions of both Apple and third-party applications, allowing some users to switch out their icons until the real thing is available. Additionally, some users are redesigning Apple's own icons for users who are using Mavericks rather than the Yosemite beta.

While the icons may not be fully representative of the official icons, they do provide a look into Apple's new icon philosophy enacted upon an icon not designed for it, allowing for a glimpse into various companies' processes.

Forum member Arn0 had been taking requests from other forum members, recreating various icons to fit more along more nicely with Yosemite's design aesthetics.

Alongside stand-alone apps like 1Password, Twitter and Skype, Arn0 also redesigned icons for entire suites of software, like Adobe's Creative Suite. Thread starter Humex has been sharing a number of different examples of flat OS X icons from around the web, including concepts that hew closer to Apple's style than Arn0.

Alternatively, designers like drflash have taken a different approach to flat design. Rather than mimic Apple's philosophy and match OS X Yosemite, they created their own design language with Flat OS, which provides a completely different experience for OS X users. The design seems to marry "flat" design alongside some skeumorphic principles, giving icons a more tangible feel.

In a blog post on Gizmodo, MartianCraft's Nick Keppol explains that Yosemite's new look centers around four basic ideas: visual rhythm in the dock, three basic icon shapes and their design grid, shape hierarchy and lighting effects and materials.

Visual rhythm allows the new dock to look more consistent, although that is helped by the fact that OS X icons are now broken up into three types: circles, squares and titled rectangles. While Apple itself isn't totally consistent with these three types, Keppol found that - for the most part - circles are used for more consumer-oriented apps, squares are used for System-related utilizes and titled rectangles are used for applications that are most often used for work.

Finally, Apple uses Hollywood-style yellow and orange highlights and blue and teal shadows to give the metal-like materials that the icons are made out of feel warm and tangible. This helps create the illusion that the icons are more physical than previous icons while also looking flatter than before.

If you'd like to switch out your icons until they're fully upgraded with OS X Yosemite, the icon sets shown are linked above, while all of Arn0's redesigned icons are available to download via Dropbox. Icon sets from arn0 and other designers are also available to download via the forum thread. Here are easy instructions on how to change app icons on OS X.

Apple is beginning the transition to move its Maps application online starting with the Find My iPhone web app on its iCloud.com beta website, as noticed by iPhoneBlog.de [Google Translate]. Though the public version of iCloud.com is still pulling data from Google Maps, beta.icloud.com now uses an online version of Apple maps for its location information.

Apple has been slowly switching away from Google Maps after using the competing mapping service in the early versions of the iOS. The Cupertino company dropped support for the Google-based mapping solution and introduced Apple Maps as part of iOS 6 in 2012. While iCloud.com still remained tied to Google, iOS apps such as Find My iPhone and Find My Friends also were converted to Apple's mapping data in the same year.

After a highly-criticized launch, Apple has been making efforts to bolster its mapping data, recently improving its points of interest database as well as notifying users when reported problems had been fixed. Apple was said to be adding indoor mapping and other new features to Apple Maps in iOS 8, but internal politics and the departure of key employees may have delayed those plans.

Update 10:22 AM: Some users have been seeing the Find My iPhone web app on beta.icloud.com switching back to Google-based maps, so it appears that Apple is continuing to tweak and test things.

Chris Blumenberg, a key Apple engineer who has long worked on Maps for iOS and OS X, is leaving the company to take a position with Uber, according to a report by The Information. Blumenberg is the latest of a number of departures from Apple's Maps team, which has been suffering from internal politics.

Blumenberg is a 14-year veteran of Apple, initially working on Safari for OS X and later iOS. He famously built a version of Maps for iOS in just a few weeks in late 2006 so that Steve Jobs could demo it at the iPhone introduction in January 2007. For the last six years, Blumenberg has managed the Maps Apps & Frameworks group, overseeing a team of at least 40 employees handling Apple's Maps apps on iOS and OS X. From his LinkedIn profile:

My team is primarily responsible for the Apple Maps app and the MapKit framework. Since 2006, we've worked on a number of Google and Apple service-backed features such as local search, directions, street view, next destination and CarPlay. I proudly drove and guided the implementation of vector maps, Flyover and navigation during the shift from Google's services to Apple's services in 2012.

Apple's issues with its Maps team have reportedly slowed the company's work on that initiative, so much so that there were virtually no mentions of Maps at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote last month. Apple reportedly has a number of iOS Maps improvements in the works, including transit directions and improved points of interest, but it is unclear whether they will be ready in time for the public release of iOS 8 later this year or if they will need to be held for a later update.

Several new photos published today by Letem svetem Applem [Google Translate] show the purported power and volume flex cables as well as three SIM card trays that hint at the color options Apple is planning for the iPhone 6. This report follows a leak from earlier this month that first showcased these two internal flex cables from the iPhone 6, although the parts shown in the two reports are not identical.

Similar to the previous photos but slightly different in layout, the volume flex cable contains both the mute button and volume buttons with a possible larger separation between the two components. The power flex cable also shows the same arrangement of connectors with a potentially larger-sized power button. Though we can't confirm how these cables will appear inside the iPhone 6, mockups and drawings have depicted a redesigned button layout on the iPhone 6 that includes oval-shaped volume buttons and a side-positioned power button.

While the flex cables provide little new insight on the iPhone 6 itself, the supposed SIM card trays hint at the coloring of the iPhone 6. Not surprisingly, the trays suggest the iPhone 6 will keep the same color options as the iPhone 5S -- space gray, gold and silver. Physical mockups have been circulating in all three colors for some time, and a claimed genuine rear shell surfaced in silver, but the full set of three current color options had so far not been seen in claimed genuine iPhone 6 parts.

Apple is expected to introduce the iPhone 6 with a larger display as its key selling point. The Cupertino company is reportedly prepping a 4.7-inch model along with a 5.5-inch model as an update to the current 4-inch iPhone 5s. Besides the display, the iPhone 6 may include a faster A8 processor, a thinner design and improved camera optics.

In late June, San Francisco held its 44th annual Pride parade, which saw several companies, including Apple, marching in support of the LGBT community.

Apple CEO Tim Cook attended the event and walked alongside Apple's Environment Director Lisa Jackson and thousands of other Apple employees. Employees wore special T-shirts for the event and handed out iTunes gift cards good for a free song download.

Apple has now posted a new video of the event on its YouTube channel, depicting the company's preparation for the parade, which included the aforementioned T-shirts, a pre-event celebration, special bicycles, and thousands of rainbow-colored flags. The song playing in the background of the video is Coldplay's "A Sky Full of Stars."

On June 29, thousands of Apple employees and their families marched in the San Francisco Pride Parade. They came from around the world -- from cities as far as Munich, Paris, and Hong Kong -- to celebrate Apple's unwavering commitment to equality and diversity. Because we believe that inclusion inspires innovation

Apple CEO Tim Cook has expressed a deep belief in equality in the past, supporting the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which lobbied to add lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals to the U.S.'s existing nondiscrimination law. He also spoke at Auburn University in December of 2013, noting that Apple has long had protections for LGBT employees.

During the Pride event, Tim Cook tweeted a congratulations to the 5,000 Apple employees and their families that attended the parade, saying "inclusion inspires innovation," the same line later used in the video.

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.

iOS 8 beta 3, which was released to developers earlier today, allows Apple's Health app to access the iPhone's M7 motion coprocessor, letting the app natively track movement like steps taken.

Available in newer devices like the iPhone 5s, the iPad Air, and the Retina iPad mini, the M7 "motion coprocessor" functions alongside the A7 chip in those devices, measuring accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass data for enhanced fitness tracking capabilities.

As noted by 9to5Mac the Health app's "Steps" section now tallies the number of steps a user has taken as measured by the iPhone 5s. Users accessing the Health app today will be able to access a full week's worth of data on their devices.

The M7 has been leveraged by several third-party app developers, such as Nike and Strava, but this is the first time the data has been made available directly via Apple's own Health app and it is also the first real data the Health app is able to display.

Along with M7 integration, the Health app also has a new "Caffeine" section in the Nutrition portion of the Health Data tab. This appears to track how much caffeine is consumed and will likely integrate with third-party caffeine tracking apps such as UP Coffee from Jawbone, which lets users track the amount of coffee, tea, and other caffeinated beverages that are consumed on a daily basis.

At the current point in time, the Health app is rather limited, but by the time iOS 8 is released, dozens of device manufacturers and app developers will likely have built HealthKit into their apps, allowing the Health app to aggregate data from multiple sources into one easy-to-access spot. Health is also rumored to be heavily tied to Apple's upcoming health-tracking wearable device, the iWatch.

As described by Apple, Health aims to be a one-stop dashboard for health and fitness data, tracking metrics measured by various devices and apps, including heart rate, food consumed, cholesterol, sleep quality, and more. Apple's iOS 8 Health page says "It might just be the beginning of a health revolution."

iOS 8 is currently available only to registered developers and will likely be released to the public in the fall, after several more beta iterations to refine the look and feel of the operating system.

The Wall Street Journal has released a new profile of Apple under Tim Cook, highlighting the changes the CEO has made to the company following the long and famous reign of Steve Jobs. While most of this information was previously known, it is a solid overview of the changes Cook has introduced to Apple and it does give a few new details on Cook's plans.

Described as a "kinder, gentler" workplace, Apple under Tim Cook has a new focus on deep collaboration between employees. Cook is said to be less involved in product development and more willing to delegate tasks to employees, expanding the roles of several executives and giving design chief Jonathan Ive more control over product development. He's also made major moves like acquiring Beats and hiring high-profile executives like Angela Ahrendts, and he's also said to be working on adding new board members.

According to people familiar with the company, Mr. Cook is actively seeking new directors to add to Apple's eight-person board, known for its loyalty to Mr. Jobs. Six of the seven outside directors are aged 63 or older. Four of them have served for more than a decade, including two who have been on the board since the late 1990s: former Intuit Corp. Chief Executive Bill Campbell and J. Crew Group Inc. Chief Executive Millard S. "Mickey" Drexler.

Cook is labeled as more of a manager and less of a visionary, causing current and former Apple employees to worry that without Steve Jobs, Apple is losing its "frenetic pace and focus" on new products. Employees also worry that the company may be working on too many projects at once.

Under Mr. Cook, current and former employees say Apple may be spreading itself too thin, pursuing too many ideas and compromising the "laser focus" that Mr. Jobs used to create the iMac, iPhone and iPad.

"It was Steve's job to say no," one of these people said. "Tim is not as comfortable doing that."

The Wall Street Journal's full report has a much more detailed comparison of Cook and Jobs and it offers insight on other changes Cook has brought to the company, including lessening its impact on the environment and pledging to match employee charity donations.

Apple today released the third beta of iOS 8, which brings a number of improvements, changes, and bug fixes to the beta software that was first introduced on June 2.

iOS 8 beta 3 also includes several minor interface tweaks and modifications that make the beta feel both faster and more polished. We've gathered up a comprehensive list of the enhancements that have been bundled into the release below, and to find out about all of the under-the-radar tweaks in iOS 8, make sure to check out our iOS 8 Hidden Features Roundup.

Find My Friends - iOS 8 beta 3 includes a new beta version of the Find My Friends and Find My iPhone apps. According to the release notes, Find My Friends allows users to move their friends list to an iCloud account if necessary.

iCloud Drive - There's a new popup window in beta 3 giving users the option to upgrade to iCloud Drive. Introduced at WWDC, iCloud Drive lets users store any type of file. Though iCloud Drive can be turned on, it does not appear to be fully functional at this time.

iCloud Drive Settings - There's a new section for iCloud Drive settings within the iCloud portion of the Settings app.

Handoff - There's a new Handoff setting in the General menu of the Settings app that allows users to toggle Handoff on and off. Handoff allows users to seamlessly transfer tasks between iOS and OS X.

QuickType Keyboard - There's a new option in the Keyboards section of the General menu in the Settings app that lets users toggle QuickType on and off.

Wallpapers - iOS 8 beta 3 includes a new white/gray gradient wallpaper option.

Weather - Some minor changes have been made to the way information is displayed within the Weather app.

App Analytics - After installing the beta, there's a new option to opt into App Analytics. Users can choose to share crash data with app developers along with statistics about how apps are used.

Photos - In the Photos app, Shared Photo Streams have been renamed Shared Albums. Events and albums from Aperture are now available again in the Photos app as well, and there's a new indicator for the amount of time left before Recently Deleted photos are permanently removed.

Messages - In the Settings menu for Messages, there's a new option to automatically keep audio and video messages. Normally, these messages are deleted after a short period of time to save space.

WiFi Calling - T-Mobile users with iOS 8 beta 3 can now access WiFi calling. WiFi calling lets users make phone calls over WiFi instead of using a Cellular connection. WiFi calling can be enabled in the Phone section of the Settings app and requires users to enter an emergency address.

Custom Keyboards - Developers are now able to move the cursor location with a custom keyboard in iOS 8 beta 3.

Additional features in iOS 8 beta 3 will be added here as they are discovered. Apple is likely to continue pushing regular updates to iOS 8 at two or three-week intervals to bring minor performance boosts and changes ahead of the operating system's launch. iOS 8 is expected to be released to the public in the fall. For more information on iOS 8's features, major and minor, make sure to check out our roundups.