Tim Hardwick
Tim is a Senior Editor at MacRumors and has been writing for the site since 2016. Formerly a magazine journalist, his work has appeared in over 30 newsstand print publications and online brands covering a range of topics, from the latest trends in technology to the mysteries of ancient history.
Based in the UK, Tim's current role at MacRumors involves editorial oversight and how tos, in addition to covering daily news and contributing occasional reviews. Tim can be reached at tim@macrumors.com, Telegram (@waxeditorial) or Twitter.
Based in the UK, Tim's current role at MacRumors involves editorial oversight and how tos, in addition to covering daily news and contributing occasional reviews. Tim can be reached at tim@macrumors.com, Telegram (@waxeditorial) or Twitter.
Tim Hardwick's Articles
Apple Explores Potential Chat Interactions With Siri in Messages Threads
Apple is looking into integrating its Siri virtual assistant into the company's Messages platform, according to a patent published today, enabling the AI to provide directions, retrieve movie times, and assist with peer-to-peer payments, among other potential uses.
Picked up by AppleInsider, Apple's application for a "Virtual assistant in a communication session" appeared on the U.S. Patent...
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Amazon Prime Membership is $79 Tomorrow Only, £59 for U.K. Customers Starting Today
Amazon is set to cut its Prime annual membership price from $99 for a year to $79 on Friday, November 18. The one-day sale will run from 12am ET until 11:59pm PT and is only available for new members.
Amazon customers in the U.K. can take advantage of a similar promotion beginning today: Anyone who signs up for Amazon Prime between now and the end of Friday will receive a year's subscription...
Facebook Halts Collection of WhatsApp User Data Across Europe
Facebook has temporarily halted the collection of WhatsApp user data across Europe after pressure from privacy watchdogs, according to the Financial Times. The move follows news last week that the social media company, which owns the popular chat platform, agreed to pause data collection in the U.K. while a government probe there inquired into WhatsApp's privacy policy.
The Irish Data...
Teardown of 13-inch MacBook Pro With Touch Bar Reveals 'Cosmetic' Speaker Grilles [Updated]
iFixit has published a teardown of the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and discovered a few interesting differences compared to Apple's new lower tier MacBook Pro sans Touch Bar. Both 13-inch models have the exact same dimensions, but the Touch Bar machine weighs 20 grams less, which iFixit puts down to the laptop's smaller battery.
As expected, Apple's new MacBook Pro is not designed...
Apple Patent Hints at Next-Generation AirPods With Biometric Sensors
Apple today was granted a patent that essentially updates an older wearable sports and health tracking device invention with features similar to those found in the company's new AirPods wireless headphones.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published an Apple patent on Tuesday with the title "Sports monitoring system for headphones, earbuds and/or headsets", which AppleInsider notes is...
WhatsApp Gains End-to-End Encrypted Video Calling
WhatsApp messenger service is today officially rolling out end-to-end encrypted video calling to over 1 billion users of the app across the globe (via TechCrunch).
Video calling had recently been spotted in beta versions of the Facebook-owned chat service on Android, but the feature is now becoming available across all platforms.
Tapping the call button in the top right corner of an open...
Amazon Music Unlimited Rolls Out Across Germany, Austria, and the U.K.
Amazon's streaming music service has gone live in the U.K. and will roll out to Germany and Austria later today, according to TechCrunch.
Amazon Music Unlimited launched in the U.S. last month to compete with the likes of Apple Music, Spotify, and Google Play Music, which just got a revamp. Amazon Prime members in the U.K. will pay £7.99 per month or £79 per year, while non-Prime members can ...
Revamped Google Play Music Streams Content Based on User Location, Activity, and Time of Day
Google today announced an overhaul of its Google Play Music streaming platform, with new contextually aware, opt-in music recommendation features that promise a more personal music listening experience.
Building on its stated aim of helping users find the right music for any moment, Google says the fresh take on its streaming service is "smarter, easier to use, and much more assistive", thanks ...
Snapchat's Video Spectacles on Sale via 'Snapbot' Vending Machines
Snapchat's video-recording Spectacles became available to buy in the U.S. on Thursday, not online or in stores, but from pop-up vending machines.
Called 'Snapbots', the giant vending machines will dispense the Spectacles in either Black, Coral or Teal, and allow customers to try them on virtually using a built-in augmented reality display.
For those unfamiliar with Snapchat's first...
Spotify App Accused of Thrashing Storage Drives With Excessive Data Writes
Spotify's desktop music streaming app has been accused of putting an unnecessary burden on users' machines by continuously writing massive amounts of data to local storage, even when the app is idle.
Over the last five months, multiple users have posted about the problem in Spotify's official support forum, as well as on Reddit, Hacker News, and elsewhere. Users claim the Spotify app has been...
Classic Strategy Game 'Rome: Total War' Now Available on iPad for $9.99
Feral Interactive announced today that classic strategy game Rome: Total War is now available on iPad for a one-time purchase of $9.99.
The third title in the Total War series, Rome was hailed by MacRumors sister site TouchArcade as "not only one of the best strategy games ever, but one of the best PC games, period".
In what's considered the highlight of the series, players get to take...
PayPal iOS App Update Brings Siri Integration to Send and Receive Money
PayPal has updated its iOS app to include Siri integration with support for a variety of languages across 30 countries.
In a post on its official blog, PayPal announced that users of the digital payment service will be able to use Apple's voice-activated AI personal assistant to send and request money among friends and family.
With so many P2P transactions happening during such a busy...
Apple CEO Tim Cook Calls For Unity in Memo to Staff Following Trump Victory
Apple CEO Tim Cook sent out a memo to all U.S. Apple employees on Wednesday reassuring them that the company would "move forward together" following Donald Trump's surprise election win this week.
In the memo, obtained by BuzzFeed, Cook did not name Trump, but pushed back against some of his more divisive rhetoric uttered during the campaign by re-affirming Apple's commitment to diversity.
Te...
Viber Messaging App Now Lets Businesses and Brands Interact With Users
Popular messaging app Viber today launched a new commercial account format to enable businesses and brands to communicate with users (via TechCrunch).
Approximately 1,000 Public Accounts including the likes of the BBC and The Weather Channel were launched with the v6.5 update, allowing users to subscribe to them and share stories with users in their contacts list.
Public Accounts are also ...
Samsung Runs Full-Page Ads Apologizing to Consumers for Note 7 Fiasco
Samsung has issued a full-page ad in three major U.S. newspapers and published an open letter on its website apologizing to its customers for the Galaxy Note 7 debacle (via The Verge).
The print letter was signed by Gregory Lee, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics North America, and appeared in Monday editions of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
...
Facebook Suspends WhatsApp Data Sharing in the U.K. Following Privacy Probe
Facebook has agreed to pause data collection from WhatsApp users in the United Kingdom following a government probe into the company's privacy policy (via Engadget).
Back in August, Facebook-owned WhatsApp updated its terms of service and privacy policy to reflect that it would begin sharing select data with the social media network, including the phone number a user verifies during the...
Share Prices Surge for iPhone Chip Maker TSMC Following Record Profits
Shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) have climbed to their highest level on record, bucking a global slowdown in the smartphone market.
Bloomberg reports that TSMC's profits are attracting investors as demand for Apple's new iPhones fuels orders for its A10 processor on the back of a broader rally in technology companies over this year.
The world’s largest...
Apple Tells Suppliers to Expect Strong MacBook Pro Shipments Going into 2017
Apple has told part and component manufacturers of its new MacBook Pro line-up to expect strong shipments to last until at least the end of 2016, according to sources in the upstream supply chain (via DigiTimes).
Apple is reportedly optimistic about fourth-quarter sales of its new notebooks and expects MacBook Pro shipments to maintain the same level going into 2017, said the sources, while...
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Admits He Was Wrong About the iPhone
In a new Bloomberg interview with Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft CEO revisited his famously dismissive remarks about the iPhone when it launched back in 2007.
Shortly after Steve Jobs revealed the first iPhone, then-Microsoft CEO Ballmer was asked what he thought of the device during a press conference.
500 dollars? Fully subsidized? With a plan? I said that is the most expensive...
Samsung Galaxy S8 to Debut 'Viv', the AI Assistant From the Creators of Siri
Samsung said on Sunday it will launch its first AI virtual assistant in next year's Galaxy S8 smartphone, based on technology gained through its acquisition of Viv.
Viv is the AI firm run by Dag Kittlaus, co-creator of Apple's Siri. Last month, Samsung bought Viv with the intention of allowing it to operate as an independent company, while providing Samsung with a readymade AI solution that...
