MacRumors

Facebook today announced updates coming to Facebook Messenger as the app and service celebrates its tenth birthday. The new features include a new game, tighter integration with Facebook Pay, message effects, and more.

For Messenger users in the United States, Messenger now allows you to receive cash gifts directly within the app. This is being enabled thanks to Facebook Pay, and when cash is received, it comes wrapped in a gift with virtual balloons.

In the US, we're introducing a new way to receive cash gifts directly through Messenger. When a friend sends you a cash gift for your birthday, you'll be notified on Messenger and Facebook with their gift message wrapped and accompanied by virtual balloons. Once you confirm your Facebook Pay details, the cash gift will be instantly deposited into your bank account. To send a birthday cash gift, go to the Facebook mobile app and tap the button that appears alongside your friend's birthday posts in your Facebook News Feed or their profile.

Within the app, Messenger users will now be able to conduct polls within group chats, allowing groups to easily vote on specific topics and play "Most Likely to."

In more celebratory features, Messenger is releasing a new "Messenger is 10!" sticker pack to users, offering fun effects such as purple balloons or candles. Announced previously, users can also utilize "Soundmoji" and message effects to spruce up their chats.

Smaller features include an updated way to share contacts with other friends and family, and a sneak peek at "Word Effects." According to Messenger, Word Effects will be rolling out soon and will let users add specific emoji effects to specific words.

Zoom today announced the latest version of its popular video conferencing app, and one of the key new features is gesture recognition on the iPad, enabling users to use visual gestures to automatically use a corresponding meeting reaction.

The feature currently supports the "Raise Hand" and "Thumbs Up" reactions. If you raise your hand or give a thumbs up in real life, a hand or thumbs up icon will automatically appear alongside your video feed in a Zoom meeting. A raised hand typically indicates that you have a question and would like to be unmuted to speak.

Zoom has also received a new Focus Mode, chat sidebar enhancements, and several other new features, as outlined in the full release notes.

iPad and iPhone users can update to the latest version of Zoom through the App Store.

Apple is preparing to open its first retail store in the Chinese province of Hunan, according to a new official webpage on the company's website, as well as images shared on Twitter.

The official webpage offers no date for when the store will launch; however, its opening could be relatively close given the store is plastered with marketing material in anticipation. Apple is advertising the store with the following tagline [translated]:

The first law to open your mind is that there is no law. In Changsha, it is a great truth not to set limits for Reiki. Apple Changsha welcomes all kinds of whimsical ideas to let go of their hands and feet and break out of their own world.

On its website, Apple offers wallpapers for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac to celebrate the store's opening. The new store will be the first retail store for the Hunan province.

Apple today shared a new "Today at Apple" session on YouTube, exploring how to shoot expressive pet portrait photos, with the help of photographer Sophie Gamand and Jahmyra from Today at Apple.

The playful session encourages participants to use their iPhone at the correct height, tune into the pet's personality, and take a look at showcase pet portraits for inspiration and top takeaways.

Apple says its free Today at Apple sessions are meant to inspire hands-on creativity in photography, art, design, video, coding, music, and more using Apple products and accessories like the ‌iPhone‌, iPad, Mac, and Apple Pencil. Initially hosted exclusively at Apple Stores, the sessions started to be offered online during the global health crisis, and Apple also started uploading sessions to YouTube last month.

This is the fifth Today at Apple session uploaded to YouTube, with previous sessions looking at drawing yourself as a "Peanuts" character in the Pages app using an ‌‌iPad‌‌ and ‌‌Apple Pencil‌‌, shooting and editing "otherworldly" photos with Night Mode, creating looped videos in the Clips app, and shooting portrait photos.

Google has rolled out picture-in-picture support as an "experimental" feature for YouTube premium subscribers, allowing them to watch video in a small window when the app is closed.

If you're a premium YouTube subscriber looking to try out picture-in-picture, follow these steps:

1. Launch a web browser and sign into your YouTube account at YouTube.com.
   

2. Navigate to www.youtube.com/new.
3. Scroll down to "Picture-in-picture on iOS".
4. Click "Try it out."

Now, when you're in the YouTube app watching a video, return to your Home Screen by swiping up/pressing the Home button, and the picture-in-picture mini player will pop up. Google notes that locking your phone when watching in picture-in-picture mode will pause the video, but you can resume it by using the Lock Screen media controls.

Google in June announced that picture-in-picture support would be rolling out to both premium and non-paying YouTube app users in the U.S., but some people outside the U.S. have been able to get the experimental feature working, so it could be globally available.

• How to Use Picture in Picture Mode on iPhone

However, Google says the feature is only available until October 31. The company doesn't explain what happens after that, but hopefully that's when support rolls out to both paying subscribers and non-paying users, as originally promised. Whether it will still be available globally outside of its "experimental" context remains to be seen, though.

(Via 9to5Google.)

Apple may be planning to launch the iPhone 13 on Friday, September 17 and third-generation AirPods on Thursday, September 30, according to an image of an e-commerce app discovered by Chinese language site IT Home.

The screenshot, originally posted by Weibo account @PandaIsBald, suggests all four iPhone 13 models will go on sale on September 17, followed by the AirPods 3 on September 30.

Apart from the image, which could be easily faked, IT Home offers no other information to back up the claim, and the website has shared screenshots in the past that turned out to be inaccurate, so the above information should be taken with a hefty dose of salt.

That said, with Apple returning to its traditional September launch timeline, the above dates could easily turn out to be correct. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives has suggested the iPhone will launch in the third week of September, which would be the week of September 13 to 17. Based on past launch events, September 7, September 14, and September 21 are all likely event dates where we could see the new iPhone models unveiled.

The new iPhone 13 models will focus heavily on camera capabilities, including ProRes and portrait mode for videos. The new handsets will also include a smaller notch, larger batteries, and improved performance. Apple's third-generation AirPods are expected to have a form factor similar to the AirPods Pro, featuring a new case, a shorter stem, and perhaps replaceable ear tips.

Apple supplier Luxshare has reported record revenue and profit in the first half of 2021, thanks largely to the Chinese assembler's increasing involvement in Apple's supply chain.

From a new report by Nikkei Asia:

The Guangdong-based company sometimes called "Little Foxconn," which has been deepening its relationship with Apple and is assembling iPhones for the U.S. technology giant for the first time this year, said first-half revenue grew more than 30% from a year ago to 48.14 billion yuan ($7.42 billion). Net profit was up 22% to 3.08 billion yuan.

In a stock exchange filing, Luxshare said it had achieved the results despite some of its business being postponed due to "multiple external factors" – a reference to the global chip shortage, rising costs of labor and raw materials, and disruptions caused by the global health crisis.

The gains show just how far Luxshare has come since it began its relationship with Apple. In 2013, Luxshare began supplying connectors to Apple before becoming an AirPods assembler in 2017. It added the Apple Watch to its assembly business in 2019.

This month, Luxshare reportedly won 3% of iPhone 13 orders away from Taiwanese rivals Foxconn and Pegatron. Building Apple's premium smartphone is considered to be a major breakthrough for the Chinese company, given that it has never been involved in iPhone production before.

Despite Luxshare's small percentage of iPhone production this year, its involvement has reportedly rattled rival ‌iPhone‌ suppliers are said to be wary of the Chinese manufacturer's competitiveness and the possibility that it could steal away bigger chunks of orders in the future. As a mark of its intent, the company last year paid $472 million to acquire a Chinese iPhone facility from smaller assembler Wistron.

Apple now has more suppliers from China and Hong Kong than from Taiwan, according to Nikkei, and many will have a role in the manufacturing the iPhone 13 series, which is expected to enter mass production this week.

Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 13 and a new Apple Watch at a digital event next month.

Apple today informed developers that the beta version of TestFlight for Mac is now available and can be used to test Mac apps.

Registered developers can download the TestFlight for Mac beta and can use the app to test their own apps and apps from other developers on macOS Monterey beta 5. TestFlight for Mac, like TestFlight for iOS, will make it simple for developers to test beta versions of macOS apps prior to when they are released.

Apple says that when using this version of TestFlight on macOS Monterey beta 5 or earlier, users will need to quit the beta version of a native Mac app before updating it, as the system will offer a prompt to quit before updating. VoiceOver is also not fully functional in the TestFlight beta.

Apple is soliciting feedback from developers on TestFlight for Mac through the Feedback Assistant available in macOS Monterey. The TestFlight 3.2 beta can be downloaded from the Developer Center, and macOS Monterey is required to use it. The TestFlight app is not available to non-developers at this time.

An Alaska Airlines flight was evacuated on Monday night after a smartphone on the plane caught fire, reports The Seattle Times (via The Verge). A spokesperson for the Port of Seattle said that the device that was burned was a Samsung Galaxy A21.

In an email to The Seattle Times, the Port of Seattle spokesperson said that the phone was "burned beyond recognition," but the passenger who owned the device provided details on the model. "We could not confirm it by looking at the remains of the device," said the spokesperson.

The flight crew extinguished the fire with a battery containment bag, but smoke forced the deployment of the evacuation slides. The smartphone did not catch fire until the flight had landed at the Seattle-Tacoma airport. 128 passengers and six crew members were transported by bus to the terminal, and there were no serious injuries.

On Twitter, a passenger who was on the flight said that the burning smartphone was "like a smoke machine."

There are often isolated incidents of cellular phones catching fire after issues with the battery, but in this cause, the problem could be notable as back in 2016, Samsung was forced to recall its Galaxy Note 7 due to exploding batteries.

At that time, there were multiple reports of Note 7 devices exploding or catching fire while charging, and the device was ultimately banned from all airplanes and flights in the United States.

There has been no evidence that the Galaxy A21 is facing a similar widespread issue at this time.

A criminal from Los Angeles has pled guilty to felony charges after breaking into thousands of iCloud accounts to hunt down nude photos of women, reports The Los Angeles Times.

Hao Kuo Chi collected more than 620,000 private photos and videos by impersonating Apple customer support staff and sending out emails to trick his victims into providing Apple IDs and passwords. Chi used social engineering and phishing schemes to coerce his victims, and he did not breach Apple's ‌iCloud‌ protections.

Chi accessed photos and videos from at least 306 victims across the United States, and most of them were young women. Some of the victims were attacked at the request of people that Chi met online after he marketed himself as "icloudripper4you," a service that could break into ‌iCloud‌ accounts to steal photos and videos.

His unknown co-conspirators would ask Chi to hack a specific ‌iCloud‌ account, and he would respond with a Dropbox link. Chi operated two Gmail addresses "applebackupicloud" and "backupagenticloud," where the FBI found more than 500,000 emails with approximately 4,700 ‌iCloud‌ user IDs and passwords that he had been sent from his victims.

Chi's scam fell apart after he hacked the ‌iCloud‌ account of an unnamed public figure in March 2018 and the photos ended up on pornographic websites. The FBI launched an investigation, and found that a log-in to the victim's ‌iCloud‌ account had come from Chi's home.

Chi has pled guilty to one count of conspiracy and three counts of gaining unauthorized access to a protected computer, and he now faces up to five years in prison for each crime. In a phone call with The Los Angeles Times, Chi said that he was "remorseful" for what he did, but claimed he had a family to support. He said that he was afraid public exposure of his crimes would "ruin [his] whole life."

The unauthorized ‌iCloud‌ access perpetrated by Chi is similar to a 2014 attack that saw hackers gain access to celebrity iCloud accounts through their username and password.

After that incident, Apple bolstered ‌iCloud‌ account security, offering two-factor authentication and sending emails whenever there's a new login to an ‌iCloud‌ account. The people involved in Chi's attack likely did not have two-factor authentication enabled.

Apple recommends two-factor authentication for all Apple IDs to add extra security, and it offers a support document on how to avoid phishing schemes like the one used by Chi.

Hulu this week began implementing HDR, HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision for some of its original television shows and movies, so Apple TV owners can now watch Hulu content in HDR.

HDR content offers a higher contrast range for more detail, and Hulu TV shows and movies that support HDR content will display an HDR badge on the details page if they are available to stream in HDR.

Hulu's HDR content is available on the fifth-generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K and later, as well as the Chromecast Ultra, Fire TV devices, Roku devices, and Vizio TVs. HDR support is not available on mobile devices at this time.

As noted by CNET, HDR support is limited to Hulu originals, which includes "Handmaid's Tale," "Little Fires Everywhere," "Nine Perfect Strangers," "Future Man," "Castle Rock," and more.

Hulu appears to be rolling out support for HDR, so not all ‌Apple TV‌ users may see it available immediately.

Gameloft's classic racing game "Asphalt 8: Airborne" and Zelda-inspired roleplaying game "Baldo" are coming to Apple Arcade this Friday.

Originally released on the App Store in 2013, "Asphalt 8: Airborne" features more than 240 real cars to select from automakers and brands such as Ferrari, Ducati, Lamborghini, McLaren, Bugatti, Mercedes, Audi, Ford, and Chevrolet.

Interactions between the vehicles, environments, and over 50 high-speed tracks in "Asphalt 8" are a fully physics-based experience. Players can participate in limited-time events to earn rewards, and try their hand at over 400 career events, 1,500 car mastery challenges, six unique game modes, and additional single-player content.

"Baldo: The Guardian Owls" hails from Italian studio NAPS team. The original game will task players with completing puzzles, exploring, and battling in a hand-drawn open world, with both a main story and several side quests.

Priced at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year, Apple Arcade provides access to a catalog of over 200 games without ads or in-app purchases across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, with additional titles added periodically.

South Korea may soon ban Apple and Google from requiring app developers to use their in-app purchase systems, reports Reuters.

South Korea's legislation and judiciary committee is expected to approve an "Anti-Google Law" that amends the existing Telecommunications Business Act. It will require Apple and Google to allow third-party payment methods in their app stores in South Korea, and it will let developers use independent payment systems.

If the amendment is approved by the committee, the National Assembly of South Korea will hold a final vote on Wednesday. Support for the bill has been picking up, and earlier this month, officials in South Korea met with the founder of the Coalition for App Fairness and the senior vice president of Match Group, both vocal anti-Apple critics.

In a statement to Reuters, Apple said that the legislation "will put users who purchase digital goods from other sources at risk of fraud, undermine their privacy protections, make it difficult to manage their purchases."

If passed, Apple believes the bill will cause user trust in App Store purchases to fall, which will lead to "fewer opportunities for the over 482,000 registered developers in Korea who have earned more than KRW8.55 trillion to date with Apple."

Apple currently collects 15 to 30 percent commission on in-app purchases made through the ‌App Store‌, and developers are required to use the company's in-app purchase system. Apple's ‌App Store‌ rules and restrictions are at the heart of its legal battle with Epic Games and are the target of similar legislation in the United States and Europe.

An antitrust bill proposed in the United States earlier this month would force Apple and Google to allow third-party app stores and sideloading, while the European Commission last year introduced the Digital Markets Act that would regulate how app stores operate in Europe.

With its mid-band 5G network that's widely available, T-Mobile has earned the title of fastest U.S. mobile network in 2021, according to testing conducted by PCMag.

Each year, PCMag sends drivers to traverse thousands of miles of the United States. This year, drivers traveled over 10,000 miles and surveyed network speeds in 30 major metro areas and six rural regions to find the fastest carrier. T-Mobile had the fastest 5G speeds in 24 cities and rural areas, while AT&T won out in eight locations and Verizon won in two.

Verizon had the fastest maximum speeds overall, but T-Mobile had the highest average speeds at 162.3 Mb/s, beating out AT&T and Verizon, which came in at 98.2 Mb/s and 93.7 Mb/s, respectively. T-Mobile earned a total speed score of 96, while AT&T received an 89 and Verizon received an 86.

T-Mobile's mid-band spectrum covers more than 165 million people across the United States thanks to its Sprint acquisition, and it was able to deliver the most consistent results. According to PCMag, T-Mobile's speeds between 150 Mb/s and 500 Mb/s were far better than what Verizon and AT&T were able to deliver in most areas.

It's worth noting that T-Mobile only wins out when it comes to 5G speeds, and a 5G phone is required to take advantage of the 5G network. When it comes to 4G speeds, AT&T was the winner. AT&T also outperformed T-Mobile in rural areas, most notably in the western United States.

Verizon's 5G was by far the fastest 5G because of its mmWave availability, but those speeds are highly limited to major metro areas and are not accessible to most people at this time. Just 3.27 percent of PCMag's metro area tests saw Verizon's mmWave connectivity available. Verizon's 5G network turned out to be slightly faster than its 4G network when taking into account total 5G availability.

AT&T's 5G network was slower than its 4G network in most tests, so for AT&T, PCMag used its 4G network results in the speed tests. According to PCMag, AT&T's network is excellent, but hasn't improved over the course of the last year.

PCMag's full breakdown of its testing results provides more insight into each carrier, with data available for each individual city that was visited during the speed test.

The upcoming Apple Watch Series 7 will come in larger 41mm and 45mm case sizes, replacing the current 40mm and 44m options offered since the Apple Watch Series 4, according to a leaker on popular Chinese platform Weibo.

The account sharing the information goes by UnclePan, who has shared information regarding Apple's plans in the past. According to a post from the leaker this week, the upcoming Series 7 will be offered in 41mm and 45mm case sizes.

Up until the Apple Watch Series 4, Apple had offered 38mm and 42mm case sizes. With the Series 4 in 2018, which included a larger display, the case sizes got larger with 40mm and 44mm options, replacing the older sizes. A hallmark feature of the Apple Watch that has carried through each generation has been compatibility with older Apple watch bands.

Since the Series 4, all Apple Watch bands have been compatible across each generation for the same case size. According to the leaker, this will still be the case with the Apple Watch Series 7, allowing bands designed for 40mm and 44mm Apple Watches to work with the newer 41mm and 45mm sizes.

The increase in case sizing is not entirely surprising, as the upcoming Apple Watch is expected to feature smaller bezels and a flat-edged design, allowing for a greater surface area of the display.

According to Apple leaker Jon Prosser, beyond an updated flat-edged design with a larger display, the Apple Watch Series 7 will be offered in a new green case color. Prosser, earlier in May, shared renders of what the upcoming Apple Watch could look like.

The Apple Watch Series 7 is expected to be announced alongside the iPhone 13 at a digital Apple Event next month. In the coming months, other new products we're expecting include new iPads, updated AirPods, a high-end Mac mini, and redesigned MacBook Pros.

In late April, Spotify began testing a Podcast Subscriptions program as a way for creators to offer paid subscriber-only content to listeners, and today the streaming music service announced this monetization option is now available to all U.S. creators. Spotify said creators can mark episodes as subscriber-only and publish them to Spotify and other platforms through its podcast creation platform Anchor.

Spotify also announced that it plans to expand the Podcast Subscriptions program internationally starting September 15 of this year.

Spotify said its model is built to maximize revenue for creators, who will receive 100% of subscription revenue minus payment processing fees until 2023, when the company plans to implement a 5% fee on subscription revenue.

Two changes are being made to the program to benefit creators: additional pricing tiers for subscription fees and the option to download a list of email addresses for subscribers so creators can further engage with their audiences.

Apple rolled out its own Podcasts Subscriptions feature worldwide in June, with the company receiving 30% of a subscriber's revenue in the first year and 15% if they remain subscribed for longer than one year. Creators are also required to enroll in the Apple Podcasters Program for $19.99 per year in order to offer subscriptions.

Benefits of Apple Podcasts Subscriptions for creators include the ability to offer subscriptions for individual shows or for groups of shows through a "channels" feature, the choice to offer fully paid subscriptions or freemium subscriptions with a mix of free and paid episodes, and availability in over 170 countries and regions today. Apple Podcasts Subscriptions also has options for soliciting subscriber email addresses.