Joe Rossignol

Following in the footsteps of its parent company Chamberlain, LiftMaster today announced that all of its residential garage door openers can be upgraded to work with HomeKit using the new MyQ Home Bridge starting in April. HomeKit compatibility will enable users to open, close, or check the status of their garage door, and turn MyQ-connected lights on or off, using the MyQ Connected Home app ...

Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn is planning to build a new facility next to the iPhone maker's upcoming research and development center in Shenzhen, China, according to Nikkei Asian Review. The report cites an unnamed source who claims the facility will enable Foxconn to "better help Apple create prototypes of new products in this new campus," set to open in 2017. Apple's own facility in ...

Earlier this month, Swift creator Chris Lattner announced he will be stepping down as director of Apple's Development Tools department to lead Tesla's Autopilot engineering team as VP of Autopilot Software. Lattner did not explain the reason for the move, but he later denied a report claiming he "felt constrained" due to Apple's culture of secrecy. So, we decided to reach out to him to learn...

Apple's retail store in Palo Alto, California remains temporarily closed today, presumably to allow construction workers to repair the glass facade after robbers drove a vehicle directly into the storefront last month. The location has been closed since January 15, and Apple has not confirmed when it will reopen. Meanwhile, Apple is in the process of relocating its Fifth Avenue store in...

ING Direct appears to be sending a survey about Apple Pay to its customers in Australia, according to a tipster who sent us the photo below. While the bank has yet to officially implement Apple Pay, the survey suggests support could be imminent for its "Orange Everyday" debit and credit cards. ING Direct Australia had nearly 420,000 customers with Orange Everyday accounts open as of...

Apple may be preparing to launch an iPhone 6 battery exchange program for undisclosed reasons, according to Japanese website Mac Otakara. It is unclear if the iPhone 6 program would be related to Apple's existing iPhone 6s battery replacement program. Apple launched that program in November after it determined that a "very small number of iPhone 6s devices may unexpectedly shut down" due to...

Apple will release updated Mac notebooks with Intel's next-generation Kaby Lake processors later this year, according to the latest research note from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo said new 12-inch MacBook models with Kaby Lake processors will enter mass production in the early second quarter, which starts in March, and noted a 16GB of RAM option could be added—presumably as a...

Apple advertises that the latest MacBook Pro models provide up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge for web browsing and iTunes movie playback, but a user's mileage may vary based upon factors such as display brightness, which apps are running, and external devices connected. For this reason, Apple lists apps using a significant amount of energy under the battery menu in the macOS...

Apple today has honored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a full-page tribute on its website. A photo of Dr. King is accompanied by a quote of his: "Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in." Apple CEO Tim Cook also tweeted a photo of Dr. King and said "we honor [him] by...

Apple's next-generation iPhone will feature IP68-rated water resistance, which would be an improvement over the IP67-certified iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, according to The Korea Herald. Samsung's Galaxy S7 is IP68 certified, and the Galaxy S8 is naturally rumored to be as well. In the IP68 rating, the "6" means the next iPhone would remain effectively dustproof, with "no ingress of dust" and ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Thursday reopened a longstanding patent lawsuit related to Samsung copying the design of the iPhone nearly six years ago, following an order of certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court, according to court documents filed electronically this week. The court will seek to determine the exact amount Samsung owes Apple for infringing upon the...

Earlier this week, Swift creator and LLVM co-author Chris Lattner announced he will be leaving Apple later this month—he is headed to Tesla to lead its autopilot engineering team as Vice President of Autopilot Software. Lattner, who oversaw Xcode among other tasks as director of Apple's Development Tools department, did not provide an explanation for his decision to leave the company, but...

Best Buy is holding a flash sale that offers U.S. customers a $100 iTunes gift card for $85, which is 15% off, until 12 p.m. Pacific Time. The gift card is a physical version delivered with free two-day shipping to most U.S. addresses. iTunes gift cards can be used to purchase apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, books, and more on the App Store, iTunes Store, the iBooks Store, and the Mac...

Akitio has announced the release of the its Thunder3 Quad Mini, a 2.5" four-bay Thunderbolt 3 external storage solution for the latest MacBook Pro. The aluminum storage device has removable trays designed to house up to four 2.5" SATA SSDs or hard drives purchased separately. The device is equipped with two Thunderbolt 3 ports—the first one connects to the MacBook Pro, and the second one...

In a "Confirm or Deny" feature by The New York Times this week, PayPal co-founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel "confirmed" that "the age of Apple is over" based on his belief that smartphones will lack further innovation.The age of Apple is over. Confirm. We know what a smartphone looks like and does. It’s not the fault of Tim Cook, but it’s not an area where there will be any more...

The wireless headphone market has steadily grown over the past year, new data from research firm Slice Intelligence suggests. In the U.S. last month, an estimated 75% of revenue from headphones sold online came from wireless models, up from 50% in December 2015, according to Slice Intelligence. Apple's new AirPods led the way, capturing an estimated 26% share of online revenue in the...

Instagram today announced that more than 150 million people now use its Snapchat-like Stories feature on a daily basis, and now the company is looking to monetize that user base with the introduction of full-screen ads. Just like Snapchat, Instagram will sometimes add a 5-second photo or 15-second video ad in between stories when a user watches more than one in a row. The video ads in...

Chris Lattner, director of Apple's Developer Tools group, has announced he will be leaving the company later this month to "pursue an opportunity in another space." Lattner was responsible for leading the teams behind Xcode, Swift, and some other development-related tools and compilers at Apple. In a message posted to the Swift mailing list, shared by MacStories, Lattner said Ted Kremenek,...

Last month, the new MacBook Pro did not receive a purchase recommendation from Consumer Reports due to battery life issues that it encountered during testing. Apple subsequently said it was working with Consumer Reports to understand the results, which it noted do not match its "extensive lab tests or field data." Apple has since learned that Consumer Reports was using a "hidden Safari...

Apple's website has been updated to indicate the LG UltraFine 5K Display now ships in 3-5 business days in the United States, compared to a previous estimate of 2-4 weeks listed since just minutes after the display launched on December 20. The improvement suggests the display's supply and demand mix has improved. The new 5K display, created in partnership with Apple, remains on sale for $974 ...