Apple today launched its online store in Russia, bringing direct ordering of its full lineup of products to the world's ninth most populous nation. The launch is being promoted with a large banner on the main Apple page for Russian visitors.
Apple was reported last August to be preparing to begin direct sales in Russia, with the possibility of brick and mortar retail stores following in the future. Apple was reportedly unhappy with its distribution network in the country, particularly with regard to the iPhone, and those distribution issues appear to have spurred Apple to launch its own direct sales there.
Evidence of Apple hiring team members for the Russian online store appeared earlier this year, with those positions based in Cork, Ireland. The company does, however, have a presence in Moscow where it handles iTunes Store, marketing, business sales, carrier relations, and other functions.
In addition to a complete redesign and a slew of new features, Apple's iOS 7 offers a number of APIs for developers, including several camera improvements like zoom capabilities for video.
According to 9to5Mac, iOS 7 beta 2, which debuted yesterday, added a new function that allows developers to access image detectors to locate facial expressions within photos.
While face recognition was originally introduced with iOS 5, the new APIs can detect distinct expressions like smiles and blinking, functionality that is found in several basic point-and-shoot cameras.
Since the iPhone's debut, Apple has worked hard to improve both the camera hardware and software of its devices, so it is no surprise that iOS 7 will offer multiple camera enhancements for developers. Each iteration of iOS has included new features, such as the volume shutter controls that debuted with iOS 5 and the panorama capabilities added with iOS 6.
Apple's camera expansion efforts have largely paid off, with the iPhone 4, 4S, and 5 ranked as the three most popular cameras on photo sharing site Flickr. The iPhone's camera was also the highlight of a recent Apple advertising campaign.
Along with software improvements in iOS 7, Apple's next generation iPhone is also expected to feature several photo-focused enhancements. The iPhone 5S is rumored to have a higher megapixel camera and a dual LED flash that was revealed in device photos earlier this week.
Inventories of the Apple Thunderbolt Display are dwindling at some third-party resellers, according to a report from MacTrast. The site spoke to a number of retailers including MicroCenter, Fry's, CDW, Best Buy, MacConnection, and others.
Several stores said they had limited stock, while a number more said they were backordered or otherwise completely out of stock. One retailer, Adorama, went further, saying the Thunderbolt Display was "no longer available".
MacTrast called their customer support line and were told that "the manufacturer is no longer allowing us to order new inventory for this item, and it has been removed from our system".
Shortages of products at third-party resellers can occasionally be an indicator of a future refresh or discontinuation, but for a low-volume product like the Apple Thunderbolt Display, we can get mixed messages.
For example, this past January, AppleInsiderreported similar shortages of the Thunderbolt Display at third-party resellers, but 6 months later, there is no replacement for it.
Regardless, redesigned Thunderbolt displays are expected at some point, perhaps alongside the new Mac Pro which is expected later this year. Potential features for a revamp include Retina capabilities, support for Thunderbolt 2, USB 3.0, and the MagSafe 2 connector that was introduced last year. The display may also be redesigned with the thinner profile and new display assembly process that Apple introduced with the new iMac late last year.
Back in April, Facebook and HTC teamed up to unveil the first “Facebook Phone,” which turned out to the HTC First equipped with Facebook's "Home" software, which brought an integrated Facebook experience to the device.
Both Facebook Home and the HTC First turned out to be unpopular with Android users, with the software garnering quite a few negative reviews in the Google Play store and AT&T deciding to drop the price on the phone from $99 to $0.99 shortly after its release.
According to AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega, though the HTC First failed to catch on, it wasn't an entirely negative experience for the company. "We sold a bunch more when we lowered the price," he told CNET in an interview on Monday. "We sold everything we had on that." Despite the fact that Vega says AT&T has sold all of its HTC First phones, they remain in stock both on the website and in stores, making the phone's official status unclear.
Vega declined to discuss how many units AT&T has managed to sell thus far, but he did compare AT&T's experience with the HTC First to Apple's experience with the Motorola ROKR.
Introduced in 2005, the Motorola ROKR featured iTunes integration, offering users a way to play music purchased from the iTunes Store. It came equipped with a music player similar to Apple's iPods, but like the HTC First, it experienced lackluster sales and was discontinued the next year.
Two years after the failure of the ROKR, which was Apple's first foray into the phone market, the iPhone was released. Vega is confident that Facebook may have a similar experience and told CNET that AT&T is committed to continuing to work with the company.
"We have a great relationship with Apple just like we have a great relationship with Facebook," he said. "We look forward to working with them to make Home better."
The expansion project at the Florida Mall Apple Retail Store that will see the store more than tripling in size has been in the works for more than a year. A tipster has sent us this image of the black paneling showing where the new store will be inside the mall.
Apple is reportedly planning to have the store open by the end of July or beginning of August.
The leasing plan for the mall [PDF] shows the expansion in progress, with a Microsoft store located right next door to Apple in part of the space vacated by Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn. The newly expanded Apple Store will be twice the size of the Microsoft retail store, which opened last August.
The Apple store opened in September 2005 with about 2,700 square-feet, now a considered a small space for the large number of daily visitors. According to insiders, the Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn stores will soon vacate, although it’s unknown if they’re relocating to other spaces in the mall or closing completely. Shortly after, construction will begin to expand the 30-foot wide Apple store into a portion of the adjacent vacant space. Mall lease plans suggest the finished store will have a 90 foot-wide storefront with 8,640 square-feet.
As Apple has covered much of the United States with retail stores, in recent years the company has been focused on expanding existing locations rather than building out new ones.
On Saturday Apple will unveil its latest U.S.-based Apple Store, located at the Quaker Bridge Mall near the Princeton University Campus in New Jersey.
The Quaker Bridge Mall is approximately five miles away from the campus and has more than 90 stores with several additional stores opening in the near future. Earlier this week, 9to5Macposted some photos of the new location, which appeared to be near completion.
Saturday will also mark the relocation of the Legacy Village Apple Store in Cleveland, Ohio, which is moving to the Eton Chagrin Boulevard mall located four miles away. According to ifoAppleStore, the move is due to limited space at the original location.
At store openings, Apple typically hands out commemorative T-shirts to the first 1,000 customers. Both the Quaker Bridge store and the Eton store are set to open at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Apple has already begun accepting reservations for workshops and Genius Bar appointments.
G4Games points to a photo posted to Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo that allegedly shows display assemblies from the iPhone 5S. While better photos of the part surfaced last week and we've received a number of other photos of the assemblies, the new photo is notable because the parts appear to have been photographed on a production line.
The photo is relatively small, but the resolution is good enough that the redesigned flex cable connectors on the iPhone 5S part can be seen. On the iPhone 5, the two connectors supporting the display itself and the touch digitizer are both oriented horizontally, while on the iPhone 5S one is oriented vertically and the other horizontally.
The report suggests that the photo points to mass production of the display assemblies already being underway with the possibility of the device being ready for launch earlier than expected. Mass production of the display was, however, previously rumored to be ramping up this month, and a public launch is expected around the September timeframe alongside the release of iOS 7.
Parts for the iPhone 5S are beginning to leak with increasing frequency, and over the past several days we have shared several photos of the rear shell and internals from an early iPhone 5S prototype, revealing a new A-series chip, a larger capacity battery, and an updated rear camera system with dual-LED flash.
Apple is continuing its new 'Designed by Apple' branding campaign with a new two-page print advertisement spotted by 9to5Mac in the Toronto Star. It's likely the print campaign will extend to other newspapers as well.
Along with this new print ad, Apple has been running the new 60-second 'Our Signature' spot in a wide television campaign, and it's been reported that other ads in the campaign will be following in the coming months.
Reuters reports that Samsung is in preliminary talks with European Union regulators in order to settle antitrust charges stemming from the company's use of standards-essential patents in litigation against Apple. Samsung could have faced fines of up to $17.3 billion, but any settlement would apparently result in no fine and no admission of wrongdoing.
"Samsung has been involved in settlement discussions for several months now. Samsung wants to settle," said one of the sources, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The sources said it was still too early to say if the discussions would result in a settlement.
Samsung has come under criticism for using standards-essential patents in litigation, as such patents are required to be licensed under reasonable terms in order to allow competitors to offer products supporting industry standards. Many regulators and observers believe that such patents should not be used to pursue injunctions preventing competitors from selling their products, even while licensing agreements have not yet been reached.
Samsung had dropped its lawsuits against Apple back in December "in the interest of protecting consumer choice", although it was clear that the European Commission was pressuring Samsung over its use of the patents in court.
Google's Motorola Mobility unit has come under similar scrutiny from European regulators over its use of standards-essential patents in lawsuits against Apple.
In other Apple-Samsung patent lawsuit news, Bloomberg reports that Apple has lost its appeal in a Japanese case in which it claimed that Samsung infringed upon a patent related to synchronizing music and video data with servers. Samsung had prevailed in an initial trial back in August.
Shortly before today's iOS 7 Beta 2 was released, one of 9to5Mac's readers found that iOS 7's Siri has the ability to correct pronunciations for names.
Previously, getting Siri to properly pronounce names required a user to edit the "phonetic name" for a contact and manually adjust the spelling until Siri pronounced the name the correct way. Now, as 9to5Mac notes, a user can simply say "pronounce [insert name here]" to put Siri through a simpler name pronunciation learning process.
Within that process, Siri will ask the user to pronounce the name and then present a couple of pronunciations based on how it heard the user. The user is then prompted to select a pronunciation, which Siri will from then on attempt to use when saying the name in question.
While the feature was in iOS 7 Beta 1, it's unknown at this point whether there have been improvements in the recently released Beta 2.
While we detailed a number of new features of iOS 7 beta 2 earlier today, a MacRumors reader sent us a tip on a small change that has gone unnoticed since the first beta was released on June 10.
In iOS 7, screenshot behavior has been altered, and as the release notes state, "Active touches are no longer canceled when the user takes a screenshot." This minor change has a number of implications for several apps that rely on screenshots to notify users of unwanted behavior, such as Snapchat and Facebook Poke.
When a user opens a Snapchat photo in the app, a finger is required on the screen to hold the photo open while viewing the picture. The act of taking a screenshot interrupts the picture viewing and closes the photo, which is the method that Snapchat uses to detect an "illegal" screenshot, thereby notifying the sender of the photo that a snapshot has been saved.
In iOS 7, taking a screenshot no longer closes the photo viewing window in Snapchat, which means no notification is sent when a screenshot is captured. As screenshots no longer interrupt on-screen touches, the photo stays open and the app is unable to recognize the screenshot action. iOS 7 users will be notified if an iOS 6 user takes a screenshot of a sent photo, but the reverse is not true.
Snapchat's screenshot detection, which is designed to be a safety measure to keep photos private, has had issues in the past. Earlier this year, several screenshot workarounds surfaced, allowing users to save photos without sending notifications, and with iOS 7, a workaround isn't required as the app's core functionality is disabled.
While the change has immediate implications for Snapchat users interacting with other users running iOS 7, it will ultimately require Snapchat and similar apps to come up with a new method for detecting screenshots or to abandon the feature entirely when the final version of iOS 7 is released.
After releasing the second beta of iOS 7 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch developers, Apple has also seeded the second Developer Preview of OS X Mavericks to developers.
The second iteration of the OS X Mavericks beta carries a build number of 13A497d, while the original version released on June 10 was build 13A476u.
Mavericks includes features like a tabbed Finder, new full screen dual monitor capabilities, and Safari improvements. Developers can receive the update via the Software Update tool in the Mac App Store.
Following complaints from a number of new Macbook Air owners concerned about Wi-Fi performance issues, 9to5Macreports that Apple is investigating the problem.
In the United States, Apple Geniuses and Advisors should capture MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013) and MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2013) computers with any Wi-Fi issues.
Users suggest that while the Wi-Fi on affected machines will connect, the connection will time out after a minute or two requiring a restart. Apple is reportedly offering some customers new machines in order to get ahold of problematic units that will be sent back to Apple for further investigation on the source of the potential issue.
The June 2013 MacBook Airs use the newest 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard, which is designed to offer faster connectivity and bandwidth. Earlier today, new reports suggested that a separate Wi-Fi software problem might be causing MacBook Air users to experience slower-than-expected speeds on their machines.
It is unknown if the two issues are related, but both may be solved through simple software updates once Apple isolates the problem.
After a delay that saw the Leap Motion release pushed from May to July, the company is now working on the final preparations for its touch-free motion tracking device that allows users to control computers via hand gestures.
As of this week, the Leap Motion beta will be expanded, giving more than 10,000 developers access to a new developer portal (via CNET) and a new app discovery platform, known as Airspace. When Leap Motion launches, the company plans to have approximately 100 apps from different companies in its app store, though some of those will be for Windows while some will be for Mac.
Developers who are part of the beta, or those who access the developer portal, will see that the company is offering two APIs that it had not previously disclosed publicly, one that tracks users’ palms, even when they turn their hands over, and another designed to track users when they grip with their hands.
The APIs available for developers include support for both Windows 8 and Mac OS X and allow access basic tools like scrolling, zooming, and pointing and clicking. There's also an advanced set of controls that provide access to more complex operations.
Last week, Leap Motion paired up with Highland Capital Partners to launch the Leap Fund, a $25 million investment that is designed to fund future development on the platform.
Leap Motion is expected to be released on July 22.
Networking code in OS X Mountain Lion is slowing down file transfers over the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) and Microsoft's Server Message Block (SMB), according to examinations done by both Ars Technica and AnandTech.
The issue affects the new MacBook Air models that come equipped with the 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology. The new MacBook Air and Apple's new AirPort Extreme base station are the first Apple products to use the new Wi-Fi technology.
Anandtechdiscovered that the TCP window size for file transfers in OS X was too small to reach the potential throughput on many file transfers, slowing data transfers from a potential 533Mbps down to 170Mbps.
The bad news is that in its shipping configuration, the new MacBook Air is capable of some amazing transfer rates over 802.11ac but you won’t see them when copying files between Macs or PCs. The good news is the issue seems entirely confined to software. I’ve already passed along my findings to Apple. If I had to guess, I would expect that we’ll see a software update addressing this.
Ars TechnicaconfirmedAnandTech's findings, and went a bit further. The site discovered that when running Windows 8 in Boot Camp, the new MacBook Air saw file transfer speeds significantly higher than under a comparable setup in OS X Mountain Lion.
Some variation between the two operating systems is to be expected. They're very different under the hood, after all, and Microsoft's strong commitment to the enterprise (and the file servers therein) makes it unsurprising that Windows' file transfer speeds are generally a bit faster than OS X's. However, the discrepancy between the Windows 802.11ac speeds and OS X speeds is too large to be explained away by networking optimizations alone. Windows is, at best, about nine percent faster over Gigabit Ethernet and 30 percent faster over 802.11n, but it's 218 percent faster over 802.11ac.
Ars' OS X wireless setup saw transfer speeds of 21.71MB/s on SMB, and 47.26MB/s on a comparable Windows 8 setup under Boot Camp.
The issues also exist under the developer beta of OS X Mavericks, but both sites expect Apple to release a software fix for OS X that will solve the file transfer issues.
Apple seeded iOS 7 beta 2 to developers today, adding a number of new and improved features to the operating system including support for the iPad, improved Siri integration, and the missing Voice Memos app.
iOS 7 beta 2 also brings a slew of minor interface tweaks that make the second version of the beta feel far more polished. Here are some of the more significant changes that can be found in the update:
Welcome Screen: iOS 7 beta 2 introduced a new Welcome Screen that asks for an iCloud password, allows users to turn on iMessages and choose associated email addresses, and set up a passcode on the device.
Voice Memos: The Voice Memos app was missing from the first iOS 7 beta, but with beta 2, the app has returned and is now fully functional.
Find My iPhone: The Find My iPhone setting in iCloud now offers up new language that specifies that the app will help users "remotely locate, lock, erase, and prevent re-activation" of a lost iPhone.
Siri: Siri requests seem to load much faster with the new iteration of iOS 7 and there are also male and female voice options available. These can be accessed in the General Settings under the Siri heading, which offers a new Voice Gender option. While male and female voices have been available in other languages, this is the first time English male/female voices can be activated.
Control Center: Parts of the Control Center have had a slight redesign, with a new clock icon. The icon, which was previously dark, is now a simple clock outline.
Notifications: Some iOS 7 users were having issues with double notifications, which users report has been fixed in beta 2. Apple's release notes, however, state that some apps "may receive duplicate push notifications or no notification at all."
Reminders: Reminders has had a slight redesign with a new list layout that is more compact than the previous layout, and a new clock icon next to the search bar will allow users to locate scheduled reminders.
iCloud: iCloud Backups are now available once again. The first iOS 7 beta did not support automatic backups.
Spotlight: Searching via Spotlight is much quicker, with results being displayed almost instantaneously with far less of the lag that was present in the first beta.
Messages: The Messages "Send" button is bold and turns green or blue when text is typed. There's also a new bubble animation shown when messages are sent. Swiping to the left on a message will display time stamps. Group chats in Messages also display contact photos next to texts.
Music: The music app has seen a number of bug fixes to correct interface errors and other issues. Lock screen album art has also been repaired for the iPhone 4/4S.
Weather: In the weather app, a new icon on the bottom right of the screen brings up a listing of the weather in all of the cities tracked in the app.
Multitasking: Swiping up to close out apps works much more smoothly on the iPhone 5 following the update to beta 2.
iPad Camera: As noted by 9to5Mac, iOS 7 adds an HDR option to the camera on the iPad.
Apple is likely to maintain a regular update schedule for iOS 7, bringing minor performance boosts and changes ahead of the operating system's public release, which is expected to come in the fall.
According to a report by the Nikkei (via Reuters), Microsoft is planning on bringing a number of its Xbox and Windows games to the iPhone as soon as later this year.
Microsoft has partnered up with Japanese gaming firm KLab Inc. to port its games over to both iOS and Android.
Microsoft Corp will offer its console and computer games for Apple Inc's iPhone and other smartphone platforms this fiscal year, through a tie-up with Japanese smartphone game maker Klab Inc, the Nikkei said on Monday.
Through a licensing deal, Klab will bring Microsoft's Xbox and Windows-based computer games to the iPhone and smartphones using Google Inc's Android operating system, according to the Nikkei.
Age of Empires is said to be one of the first to arrive, with Reuters saying it will be a free-to-play game expected by the end of fiscal 2013.
Two weeks after Apple released the first beta version of iOS 7 following its unveiling at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple has just released a second beta for testing. The update is currently available through Apple's over-the-air updating system on iOS devices, and should be posted soon to the iOS Dev Center.
The beta 2 appears as build 11A4400f, up from the previous 11a4372q.
iOS 7 is scheduled for release in the fall of this year, undoubtedly alongside new iOS hardware. Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPad mini will all be due for updates in the latter portion of this year, and if past history is any indication iOS 7 should be made available to the public just a few days before the launch of the next-generation iPhone.
Updates on changes in beta 2:
- Beta 2 is available not only for iPhone and iPod touch, but also iPad and iPad mini. The first beta released alongside the WWDC keynote did not include official iPad support, with Apple announcing that iPad versions of iOS 7 would follow in the coming weeks.
iOS 7 beta 2 for iPad home screen (Source: 9to5Mac)
iOS 7 beta 2 for iPad control center (Source: 9to5Mac)
- In line with previous hints, the Voice Memos app has returned in beta 2.
- The new male and female Siri voices showed off by Apple at WWDC are now available in English.
- Multiple users are reporting that Siri is much faster than in beta 1.
- In addition to iOS beta 2, Apple has also released Xcode 5 Developer Preview 2 and a second beta of Apple TV Software version 5.4.
Direct links (You must be a paid registered Apple developer to access these links.)
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
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Networking code in OS X Mountain Lion is slowing down file transfers over the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) and Microsoft's Server Message Block (SMB), according to examinations done by both 
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