MacRumors

Apple has partnered with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to develop "ultra-advanced" micro OLED displays at a secret facility in Taiwan, reports Nikkei. The micro OLED displays will be used in "upcoming augmented reality devices."

Micro OLED displays are built directly on to chip wafers rather than a glass substrate, which results in displays that are thinner, smaller, and more power efficient. These slimmer micro OLED displays are ideal for smaller devices like the smart glasses that Apple is rumored to be working on.

Development on micro OLED displays is said to be in the trial production stage and it will be several years before Apple and TSMC are ready for mass production, which would make these displays appropriate for the Apple Glasses rumored to be launching sometime around 2023. The displays that are in the works right now are said to be less than one inch in size, which is where TSMC's expertise comes in handy.

Apple already partners with TSMC on all of the A-series chips used in the iPhone and iPad and the new M1 Apple silicon chips that are used in Apple's Mac lineup.

"Panel players are good at making screens bigger and bigger, but when it comes to thin and light devices like AR glasses, you need a very small screen," said a source who has direct information on the micro OLED R&D project. "Apple is partnering with TSMC to develop the technology because the chipmaker's expertise is making things ultra-small and good, while Apple is also leveraging panel experts' know-how on display technologies."

In addition to working on micro OLED displays in factories located in Taiwan, Apple is also exploring microLED technology, with trial production lines in place for both display types. A June 2020 report suggested Apple had invested $330 million in a Taiwanese factory developing microLED displays for Apple Watch, iPads, and MacBooks alongside supplier Epistar.

MicroLED, a technology separate from micro OLED, uses components that are smaller than those used in traditional LED lighting. These displays do not require backlight modules so they can be thinner, plus they offer high color contrast and can be used to make foldable or curved screens.

According to Nikkei, Apple has several unmarked white laboratory buildings in Longtan Science Park in Taiwan focusing on new display technologies, with the location within walking distance of TSMC's chip-packing and testing plant. Apple has been hiring veterans from display maker AU Optoelectronics to work on micro OLED, and employees are subject to strict non-disclosure agreements that forbid them from "even meeting with friends or acquaintances working in the tech industry."

Apple's investments in both micro OLED and microLED are said to be aimed at reducing its dependence on Samsung Electronics in the future. Samsung is Apple's main supplier for the OLED displays used in current iPhones.

Apple today released macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 to address an issue that may prevent the battery from charging in some 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro models, and the company has since shared a new support document with more details.

Apple says a "very small number of customers" with 2016 and 2017 models of the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro have experienced an issue with the battery not charging past 1%. The battery health status on affected notebooks will indicate "Service Recommended." To identify your Mac model, click on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of the screen and click on About This Mac. The following models may be impacted by this issue:

- MacBook Pro (13­-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13-­inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13-­inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13-­inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (15-­inch, 2016)
- MacBook Pro (15-­inch, 2017)

If your MacBook Pro exhibits this behavior, Apple says to contact the company for a battery replacement, free of charge. Apple says it will examine the notebook prior to service to verify that it is eligible for the free replacement.

If your MacBook Pro has not exhibited this issue, updating to macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 as soon as possible is still highly recommended as a precaution. There is also a macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Supplemental Update that prevents the issue.

macOS Big Sur users can determine if their battery needs service by opening the System Preferences app, clicking Battery, selecting Battery in the sidebar, and clicking Battery Health. On macOS Catalina or earlier, users can hold the Option key and click the battery icon in the menu bar to reveal the battery status menu.

Prepear, a recipe and meal-planning app, has agreed to change its pear logo to settle an ongoing trademark dispute with Apple, Prepear's co-founder today confirmed to iPhone in Canada. Apple in August opposed Prepear's trademark application, claiming that the company's pear-shaped logo was too similar to Apple's own logo.

Though Prepear's logo has a pear shape instead of an Apple shape, Apple seems to have taken offense to the right angle of Prepear's leaf in the original logo. The new logo features a leaf that's angled differently, a small change that Apple apparently feels makes it different enough from the famous Apple logo. Prepear's app icon has also been tweaked.

Following the initial trademark opposition, Super Healthy Kids, Prepear's parent company, launched a petition in an attempt to persuade Apple to drop its opposition targeting a small business that was trying to protect its logo, and that petition gained over 250,000 signatures. Apple was also widely derided by media sites and fans for going after Prepear's logo.

Back in December, filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board requested that the trial proceedings be suspended for 30 days as Prepear and Apple were "actively engaged in negotiations for the settlement" of the matter.

Prepear's CEO says that the trademark issue has now been "amicably resolved" and that Prepear is happy with the outcome.

The iOS 14.5 beta, available to developers and public beta testers, adds a new Apple Maps feature that lets you report accidents, hazards, and speed checks along your route when getting directions.

When you input an address, select a route, and then choose "Go," Siri lets you know that you can report accidents or hazards that you see along the way.

If you swipe up on the ‌Apple Maps‌ interface where maps details are available, you can tap on a "Report" button that lets you flag an accident, a hazard, or a speed check, similar to other mapping apps like Waze. Tapping automatically flags your location with no confirmation window, so it shouldn't be used except in a valid situation.

You can also say "Hey ‌Siri‌, there's an accident" and ‌Siri‌ will send in a report to ‌Apple Maps‌, and presumably, if enough people file reports, an accident site will show up in the maps app through the crowdsourcing. This is available in the United States in a test capacity at the current time, and it's not yet clear if it's also showing up in other countries.

This also works in CarPlay, as noted on the MacRumors forums by MozMan68, with the reporting interface available on the ‌CarPlay‌ screen.

Note that ‌Siri‌ will inform you about the new accident reporting functionality the first time that you seek directions after upgrading to iOS 14.5, but the feature is not mentioned after that. There is no similar accident reporting functionality available in iOS 14.4, and it also does not appear to be showing up for all iOS 14.5 users at this time based on reports from Reddit, so there is likely a server side element.

Satechi today announced the launch of a new USB-C Watch AirPods Charger, which is a 2-in-1 accessory that's able to charge the AirPods and the Apple Watch.

Available exclusively from Apple for $49.95, the Satechi USB-C Watch AirPods Charger has a dual-sided design. On one side, there's an Apple Watch charging puck, and on the other side, there's a Qi-based wireless charging surface that works with the AirPods.

The USB-C Watch AirPods Charger can be plugged into a MacBook, iPad, or USB-C power adapter, and then the dual-sided design can charge the Apple Watch or AirPods depending on the accessory's orientation.

Made from aluminum and designed to match Apple devices, the charger has a small footprint and it's perfect for tucking into a backpack or bag while on the go. It can be purchased from the online Apple Store as of today.

Twitter today shared its fourth quarter earnings results and provided some details on expected expenses and revenue in 2021. As noted by CNBC, Twitter believes that Apple's upcoming App Tracking Transparency requirements will have a "modest impact" on revenue.

Looking ahead, Twitter said it expects revenue to grow faster than expenses in 2021, assuming the pandemic continues to improve and taking into account an expected "modest impact" from Apple's upcoming privacy changes to iOS 14. However, the company warned it expects headcount growth of more than 20% this year, with overall expenses increasing more than 25%.

Starting with the launch of iOS and iPadOS 14.5, app developers are required to get permission from users before tracking them using an advertising identifier called the IDFA. Many developers and ad agencies that rely on ad revenue and ad tracking are worried that the change will impact income, as most people are not expected to agree to be tracked.

Twitter did not go into detail beyond suggesting the change will have a modest impact on revenue in 2021, but Facebook has been fighting heavily against Apple's planned changes. Facebook has taken out newspaper ads, written blogs, and tried to convince people that Apple is going to kill small businesses by implementing the more stringent privacy controls.

Snap has also claimed that Apple's opt-in ad tracking measures will present a "risk" to advertiser demand, but Snap Chief Business Officer Jeremi Gorman recently said that Snap admires Apple's privacy tweaks and is "well prepared to guide advertisers through the iOS changes."

Twitter, Facebook, Snap, and other app developers will need to comply with Apple's ad tracking consent guidelines starting when iOS 14.5 launches, with the update expected to come in the early spring. Under the terms of the new rules, when a person declines to be tracked, apps are also restricted from using alternative methods to track the user across apps and websites.

A man who claimed to be innocent following the death of his wife was found to be guilty after police used evidence sourced from the Apple Health app on his iPhone to convict him.

As outlined by The Birmingham News (via Cult of Mac), Kat West, Jeff West's wife, was found dead in January 2018 after suffering a blow to the head. Jeff West claimed that she was drunk and fell while he was asleep in bed, but the Health app on his ‌iPhone‌ said otherwise.

West told investigators that he fell asleep around 10:30 p.m. and was in bed until 5:15 a.m., but his Apple Health app showed that he took a total of 18 steps from 11:03 p.m. to 11:10 p.m., a fact that contradicted his claims. Data from Kat West's ‌iPhone‌ showed that she stopped moving after 10:54 p.m., corresponding to the time when Jeff West claimed to be in bed.

West's fingerprints were also found at the bottom of the bottle that was used to hit his wife in the head. Prosecutors believed that Jeff, a trained crime scene investigator, killed his wife after an argument about her line of work and then staged the scene to make himself look innocent.

Despite proclaiming that he was uninvolved with the murder, West has been in prison for the past three years as the murder trial has unfolded. He has now been convicted of reckless manslaughter and ordered to serve a total of 16 years.

Apple in the iOS 14.5 beta added a new option to help Siri learn to select your preferred audio apps for listening to music, podcasts, and audiobooks, a feature that will undoubtedly be appealing to non-Apple Music fans.

When you ask ‌Siri‌ to play a song, album, podcast, or book, ‌Siri‌ will prompt you for your preferred app. This is not a default setting, but ‌Siri‌ will use this information to learn your app preferences and will select the apps you want to use when you make requests.

There is no specific toggle for you to turn on to select a music service, and ‌Siri‌ may ask again, but this is a way to get ‌Siri‌ to choose the apps you use instead of automatically opening default apps like Apple Music.

How to Choose a Preferred Music Service Using Siri

1. Update to iOS 14.5 or iPadOS 14.5 on the iPad.
2. Ask ‌Siri‌ to play an artist, song, or album with a request like "Hey ‌Siri‌, play Fleetwood Mac."
3. ‌Siri‌ will pop up a list of all music apps you have installed, and will ask "Which app would you like to use?"
4. Choose your preferred music app from the list.
5. If asked, confirm that ‌Siri‌ can access data from your music app.
6. From there, ‌Siri‌ will play the music in your app of choice. If you chose Spotify, for example, the music content will play in Spotify.

‌Siri‌ will tell you which music app was selected when the song plays, and you can also see an icon from the music app in the Now Playing window.

It's been possible to play music from other services by clarifying which service you want ‌Siri‌ to use, such as "Hey ‌Siri‌, play music on Spotify," but the change implemented in iOS 14.5 makes the ‌Siri‌ remember your music app of choice so a simple command like "Hey ‌Siri‌ play music" will use your favorite app rather than defaulting to ‌Apple Music‌. This also works for podcasts, audiobooks, and other audio content.

How to Change Your Default Music Service

At the current time, there's no ‌Siri‌ command or music setting to manually change the default music app that you've set through the ‌Siri‌ There is no option for manually changing your preferred music service as this is meant to be a ‌Siri‌ intelligence feature where ‌Siri‌ learns preferences over time.

You can ask ‌Siri‌ to play music on a different music service and sometimes that will shift the default. So if you've set Spotify as your default but want to change back to ‌Apple Music‌, you can say "Hey ‌Siri‌, play Fleetwood Mac on ‌Apple Music‌," or vice versa, "Hey ‌Siri‌, play Fleetwood Mac on Spotify."

‌Siri‌ will also occasionally bring up the popup asking you which app you want to use when you make a request so that it can keep current with your preferences.

The California DMV today released new disengagement and mileage reports for self-driving vehicles that are being tested in the state, giving us some insight into Apple's progression on its self-driving vehicle software.

Over the course of 2020, vehicles equipped with Apple's self-driving technology traveled a total of 18,805 miles in California, up from the 7,544 miles traveled in 2019. There were a total of 130 disengagements, up from 64 last year, but that's not a surprise considering the increase in mileage. Apple's cars experienced a disengagement every 144.6 miles, which is a better metric than 2019 where there was a disengagement every 117.8 miles.

All companies that are testing self-driving vehicles in California are required to file annual disengagement reports providing details on how many times a vehicle disengages and gives control back to the safety driver, or the number of times a safety driver in the vehicle takes over.

Companies must also report total mileage covered by self-driving cars and provide details on any accidents when they occur, but Apple hasn't had a recent accident. The last collision an Apple vehicle experienced was in 2019.

Apple has been testing its self-driving software since early 2017 using Lexus RX450h SUVs outfitted with a host of sensors and cameras as it works on Apple Car hardware. All of the vehicles are piloted by a pair of drivers at all times even when in autonomous driving mode

The third-generation Apple TV, last made available in 2013, is slowly losing support from third-party app developers. YouTube recently announced that the YouTube channel will disappear in March, and now the CBS All Access channel is also being removed.

Those who have a third-generation ‌Apple TV‌ are seeing a popup when logging into the CBS All Access app that says CBS All Access will no longer be available starting in March.

The timing coincides with an upcoming shift that will see CBS All Access rebranding as Paramount+. ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said in September that CBS All Access was being rebranded because the Paramount brand is more recognizable. The rebrand will be accompanied by original content designed to lure new subscribers.

The new Paramount+ app will not be available on the second and third-generation ‌Apple TV‌ models, but it will be watchable on the fourth and fifth-generation ‌Apple TV‌ models, the iPhone, and the iPad.

Though there will be no app on the third-generation ‌Apple TV‌, Paramount+ content will be able to be streamed from an iOS device to a third-generation ‌Apple TV‌.

AirPlay will also be the only way to watch YouTube content on the third-generation ‌Apple TV‌ starting in March.

Third-generation ‌Apple TV‌ users who are looking to upgrade to a newer model may want to hold off for the time being as Apple is rumored to be introducing a new ‌Apple TV‌ set-top box at some point this year. The fifth-generation ‌Apple TV‌, which is the current newest version, was released in 2017.

The macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 update that Apple released today fixes a sudo security vulnerability that could allow an attacker to gain root access to a Mac.

According to an Apple security support document, the bug, CVE-2021-3156, was addressed in the update by updating to sudo version 1.9.5p2. Apple has also fixed the bug in Supplemental Updates made available for macOS Catalina 10.15.7 and macOS Mojave 10.14.6.

The updates also include fixes for two bugs that could allow an app to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

Discovered last week, the vulnerability triggers a "heap overflow" in sudo that changes the current user's privileges to enable root-level access, giving an attacker access to the entire system.

Google is expected to unveil the next-generation version of Android, Android 12, in just a few weeks. Ahead of the software's debut, XDA Developers has shared some leaked screenshots that give us an idea of what we can expect from the new software.

According to XDA Developers, the screenshots are sourced from an "early draft of a document made to summarize changes in Android 12," and those who are using iOS 14 will notice a few similarities between Apple's latest update and Google's upcoming release, as PCWorld points out.

Apple in iOS 14 added a little dot in the status bar to let you know if the microphone or the camera is activated, and in Android 12, Google appears to have a similar option. When the camera or the microphone is in use, there's a green bar at the top of the Android interface.

After an app has accessed the camera or the microphone, Android 12 displays a small dot that can be tapped to let you see the specifics of which app used the phone hardware.

Google is also adding toggles for universally disabling the camera and the microphone in its overhauled privacy interface, which goes a bit beyond what Apple offers. With iPhones and iPads, you can disable camera and microphone access on an app-by-app basis, but not for every app.

The widgets interface in Android 12 is similar to the widgets interface in iOS 14 with a cleaner look and better organization to make it easier to find widgets to use on the Home screen.

Apple likely won't be upset that Google is following in its footsteps to boost privacy controls, as Apple execs have said several times that when it comes to privacy protections, Apple is happy to see competitors copying its work.

Google is also planning to embrace another Apple privacy change - App Tracking Transparency. Recent reports suggest that Google is considering a "less stringent" version of the feature, which requires app developers to get user permission before tracking them across apps and websites. "We're always looking for ways to work with developers to raise the bar on privacy while enabling a healthy, ad-supported app ecosystem," said a Google spokesperson.

The leaked screenshots from XDA Developers haven't been confirmed, but we should see the new Android 12 operating system features later in February.

Apple today released macOS Big Sur 11.2.1, the third update to the macOS Big Sur operating system that launched in November. macOS Big Sur‌ 11.2.1 comes a little over a week after the release of macOS 11.2.

The new ‌‌‌macOS Big Sur‌‌ 11.2.1‌ update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Preferences.

According to Apple's release notes, macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 addresses an issue that could prevent the battery from charging in some 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro models. In an Apple support document released alongside the update, Apple says that a small number of customers with 2016 and 2017 ‌MacBook Pro‌ models have experienced a bug that causes their batteries not to charge past 1 percent, an issue macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 fixes.

Affected customers who ran into the problem with an earlier version of macOS Big Sur will also see a "Service Recommended" notice and will need to contact Apple for a free battery replacement.

Update: macOS 11.2.1 also fixes a significant security vulnerability.

Spotify is now testing its live lyrics feature in the United States, so some Spotify users will see an option to view lyrics synced to the music they're listening to on an iOS device.

Live lyrics have already been tested and launched in other countries, and Spotify this morning confirmed to Engadget that the feature is available to some users in the United States.

"We can confirm we're currently testing our lyrics feature to a select number of users in the US. At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of tests in an effort to improve our user experience. Some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning. We don't have any further news to share at this time."

Spotify's live lyrics feature won't show up for all Spotify users as the company is using A/B testing to determine demand for live lyrics in the U.S. If you have Spotify, you can check to see if live lyrics are enabled by choosing a song and then checking for the lyrics option in the playback controls.

Spotify's live lyrics option is powered by Musixmatch and has previously been launched in 26 markets around the world, including Brazil, Mexico, Hong Kong, Thailand, and India.

It's not yet clear if the live lyrics feature will fully launch in the U.S. because as Engadget points out, Spotify has tested it in markets like Canada and has then not followed through with the feature's release.

Major Spotify competitor Apple Music has a built-in live lyrics option that has been available since iOS 13. The lyrics in ‌Apple Music‌ scroll as a song plays, keeping time with the music, which is similar to how Spotify's live lyrics work.

Adobe today updated its Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fresco Creative Cloud apps to introduce a new "Invite to Edit" feature that allows for asynchronous editing between collaborators on all devices including desktop, iPad, and iPhone.

Multiple collaborators are able to edit a single shared cloud document one at a time after saving .PSD or .AI files as cloud documents. Shared cloud documents can be accessed on assets.adobe.com and the Creative Cloud Desktop app.

There's also a new Preset Sync feature for Photoshop that is designed to let users sync brushes, swatches, gradients, patterns, styles, and shapes on Mac and Windows, with synced brushes coming soon to the ‌iPad‌ version of the app. There's also a new Rotate Canvas option available in Illustrator for ‌iPad‌.

Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fresco can be downloaded from Adobe's website, and pricing on the software starts at $9.99 for Photoshop alone and $20.99 for Illustrator. The full Adobe Creative Suite is priced starting at $52.99.

The iPhone 12 mini, the smallest variant in the iPhone 12 lineup, reportedly accounted for only 5% of sales for the entire 2020 ‌iPhone‌ series in the first half of January in the United States, according to Counterpoint Research cited by Reuters.

Counterpoint Research indicates that handsets over 6 inches such as the ‌iPhone‌ 12, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max outperformed smaller models such as the 5.4-inch ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ for the start of this year. The relatively low sales for the 12 mini is expected to be due to a trend in the overall market where consumers are veering away from smaller displays and opting for larger, more immersive smartphone sizes.

Reports of lackluster ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ sales began emerging in early January, and last week JP Morgan analyst William Yang stated in a note seen by AppleInsider that weak demand for the model could result in Apple cutting production entirely in the second quarter of 2021 to allow it to sell through its existing supplies.

Last month Apple reported its quarterly earnings for the first time following the launch of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 in October. While Apple did not disclose specific sales figures for each of the models in the lineup, the company did report $65.60 billion in revenue for its ‌iPhone‌ business alone, a new quarterly record.

Popular accessory maker Twelve South has today announced the "SurfaceSnap" cable management solution.

SurfaceSnap features a genuine leather band, polished metal button snaps, and a strong semi-permanent adhesive to attach it to a surface. Twelve South assures that SurfaceSnap's adhesive can stick to almost any smooth surface and leaves no residue when removed, allowing it to be repositioned elsewhere.

SurfaceSnap is primarily designed to offer a slim, aesthetically-pleasing alternative to bulky cable managers that use weight to hold cables in place. The button snaps make it easy to add or remove cables, and Twelve South even suggests that the SurfaceSnap is ideal for travel.

Each pack includes two single-button cable managers and one double-winged cable manager. The Twelve South SurfaceSnap is now available online for $29.99 in Black or Dove Gray.

Google today announced that it will be expanding Google Fi's built-in VPN service to the iPhone starting this spring, providing iOS users with another option to ensure that their connection is secure and private on a cellular or Wi-Fi network. Google also said the VPN is exiting beta for Android smartphone users.

With the VPN, users can stream, browse, and download on an encrypted, private connection, which is especially important for unsecured public Wi-Fi. VPNs also prevent websites from tracking a user's location by masking their IP address.

Google Fi, formerly Project Fi, is an MNVO or "virtual carrier" that piggybacks off the T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular networks in the United States, providing users with talk, text, and data plans with more flexible pricing options. Last year, Google Fi rolled out eSIM support for some iPhone users, allowing it to be used as a secondary line.