Jordan manages the internal Partner Program for sponsorships and partnerships across the 9to5 network’s media brands including 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, Electrek.co, SpaceExplored and DroneDJ.com.
Jordan also writes about all things Apple as a Senior Editor of 9to5Mac. He covers Google for 9to5Google.com, the best gadgets and deals on 9to5Toys.com, and EV and solar news on Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series and makes music sometimes.
Contact Jordan with partnership inquiries and long-winded complaints:
ESPN is releasing a redesigned and rebranded app for Apple TV today, and in the process replacing the old “WatchESPN” app. The new app, dubbed simply “ESPN”, brings a revamped user interface that includes auto-playing live streams at launch and new on-demand content.
In this week’s top stories: iOS 10.3 w/ Find My AirPods & Apple File System, iPhone 8 reports, macOS 10.12.4 with Night Shift, our $329 iPad review, and much more.
Back in December I reviewed the Photofast iType-C thumb drive, the first MFi thumb drive we’ve seen that includes Lightning, USB-C, USB-A, and micro-USB in a single device. That makes transferring files between iPhone and iPad and your various other devices like computers, drones and cameras a lot easier. And a companion app for iOS lets you view media files directly from the drive for offline viewing and sharing, a useful feature especially for those without extra storage on their device.
This week PhotoFast launched a new version of the iType-C drive, this time adding a microSD card slot to the equation…
This week’s 9to5Rewards partner is Mujjo. The Netherlands-based maker of quality handcrafted cases for iPhones and other Apple products uses leather, wood and other premium materials to make some of our favorite cases for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
The company has three of its high-quality leather cases available for iPhone 6(s)/Plus, iPhone 7/7Plus (normally up to $46 each) to give away to 9to5Mac readers this week.
Today in a note to clients, JP Morgan analyst Rod Hall offered his latest analysis on Apple’s supply chain, giving us a look at his predictions for iPhone 8 sales as well as details on specs and pricing. Following Samsung’s introduction of the Galaxy S8 yesterday, the report notes that based on current supply chain intel Apple’s OLED is expected to be less curved than the S8 and therefore less of a so-called edge-to-edge “infinity” display:
Apple’s new under-construction 175 acre campus, now officially named Apple Park, is nearing completion ahead of an expected grand opening next month. The latest look at the site comes today via a drone flyover courtesy of Matthew Roberts (below), which shows progress made on the site in recent weeks including continued work on landscaping, solar installations, and other finishing touches. There are even signs of life at the new campus already with office chairs, tables and other equipment being set up inside…
Uber is today announcing a new feature with the ability for riders to edit their pickup address after requesting a ride.
The feature has been a top request following recent redesigns of the Uber app that implemented automatic positioning using GPS opposed to making users enter their locations manually. If the GPS got your address slightly wrong, however, you’d previously have to contact the driver to varying degrees of success. Today’s update will make it so you can easily adjust your address after requesting the ride without having to contact the driver directly.
Google today announced the release of its Calendar app for iPad, which was previously only available for iPhone, Android smartphones and tablets and on the web.
Samsung is today showing off its latest flagship smartphones that will compete with Apple’s next-generation iPhones this fall, officially unveiling its new Galaxy S8 and S8+ devices and its new Siri competitor called Bixby that will debut on the new phones. We’re covering all of the announcements over at 9to5Google and taking a look at how they compare to what’s reportedly being planned for iPhone 8 below.
Ahead of the debut of Apple’s previously announced Carpool Karaoke TV series on Apple Music next month, Spotify today announced what sounds a lot like a knockoff of the series with its own show called “Traffic Jams.”
But instead of having celebrities and musicians perform a song karaoke-style, Spotify is going to have artists produce a song in a moving vehicle (innovation!). It’s hosted by comedian DoBoy who will also drive the vehicle while the artists perform in the back. So, in other words, it’s exactly like Carpool Karaoke. Not a great look for Spotify’s answer to Apple’s original content plans if you ask me.
The first show is set to debut April 4th and feature artists T-Pain and Southside:
Apple’s long-time head of Apple Mail Terry Blanchard is leaving the company, but he will continue working on mail apps for iOS and Mac as he joins software company Readdle as the VP of Engineering for its Spark email app. The move comes after six years as the lead of Apple’s Mail app development. Blanchard joined Apple in 2011 and led the development and QA teams for Apple Mail until joining Readdle this month.
While it’s unclear exactly why Blanchard has decided to part ways with Apple,he does hint that he shares “a fundamental vision of what the future of email should be” with Readdle.
After expanding to include a total of 140+ countries back in June last year, international iPad data plan provider GigSky announced today that it is now available in an additional 40+ regions using an Apple SIM. The company first launched its service for iPad back in 2015, offering no-contract cellular data plans in around 90 countries by leveraging Apple’s new carrier-agnostic Apple SIM card included in the device.
There has been a lot of hype for the new (PRODUCT)RED iPhone that Apple introduced last week, despite the only new features of the iPhone 7 update being its red color and charitable cause. Apple might have impressed us with its new black and jet black finishes on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, but should it offer even more color and customization options in the future?
In an update to the Minecraft Pocket apps today, the Apple TV version of the app is also gaining support for Xbox Live and the title’s online “Realms” gameplay features.
Following the public release of iOS 10.3 yesterday, Apple has updated its list of wireless carrier support and features by country to note a number of carriers that now support Wi-Fi calling and or VoLTE functionality.
Wi-Fi Calling, which enables calling over Wi-Fi connections when cellular coverage is limited, and the wideband, higher-quality phone calls enabled with VoLTE, are now available in 20+ new countries and carriers (full list below).
Among the new additions is Verizon in the US, which we noted yesterday added Wi-Fi Calling for iCloud-connected devices with yesterday’s iOS 10.3 release.
As SoundCloud reportedly continues struggling and considers selling, one of the leaders in electronic music software and hardware just acquired a music and remix streaming and rights management platform called Metapop. It also hired former CEO of online electronic music store Beatport. That is notable for a few reasons.
Alongside public releases for iOS 10.3, macOS 10.12.4, watchOS 3.2, and tvOS 10.2 today, Apple has officially released version 2.0 of its Classroom app for iPad previously in beta.
Following up after an earlier report from Bloomberg on Apple’s behind the scenes efforts developing augmented reality tech, Financial Times is out with a profile today highlighting efforts by Apple, Facebook, and Magic Leap to build AR smart glasses.
Building on Bloomberg’s report that detailed Apple’s team of hundreds of engineers working on augmented reality features for iPhone that could later debut in a glasses product, FT says Apple has been working on the project for over a year and claims a launch is still at least a year away and “perhaps much longer.”
Update 2: T-Mobile officially announced the new AppleCare perk.
Update: A T-Mobile spokesperson confirmed to 9to5Mac that AppleCare+ is indeed now included in some Jump and Premium Device Protection plans as detailed in our original story below.
T-Mobile appears to now be including complimentary AppleCare services similar to what’s offered with AppleCare+ as part of its Jump upgrade program and Premium Device Protection (PDP) plans. The new support hasn’t been announced yet, but an update to the company’s webpage was spotted showing that the two premium Jump plans are now listed as including AppleCare services for those who have a new eligible device (via njtechreviews).
The AppleCare services are now offered to customers at no additional cost on the two $12/month plans including T-mobile’s own Premium Device Protection service and its premium Jump offering that includes PDP:
In this week’s top stories: Our video recap of Apple’s non-event product announcements this week as the company unveils the Product (RED) iPhone 7, a new low-cost iPad, Apple Watch updates, a new app called Clips, and much more.
Now at 20 million paid subscribers, what’s next for Apple Music and Beats 1? While major updates for the service might not be expected until iOS 11 with a likely unveiling at Apple’s WWDC event in June, Apple has a few things planned before that and we have some hints about what to expect in the future.
Apple’s first original content starting with TV shows will launch on Apple Music next month, an expansion for Beats 1 is in the works, and tweaks to the Apple Music app to better highlight video content are incoming. Head below for our look at what’s next for Apple Music and Beats 1:
Apple Pay has been steadily growing as Apple continues to add support for new banks and rolls out the service to users in more countries, but we have less data on how much its been adopted in retail and among users. Giving some insight to usage, Apple analyst Gene Munster at Loup Ventures today released his “Apple Pay State of the Union” giving a look at adoption among retailers and much more.
Using the Internet Retailer top 100, the data shows retailer adoption as a percentage of potential adoption. The adoption includes all possible points of adoption for the platform including point of sale, in app, and through Apple Pay on the web for website checkout on both mobile and desktop browsers. Among the numbers, 31% have implemented at least one point of adoption, while an impressive 44% of the Internet Retailer 100 have adopted Apple Pay at point of sale. A similar 40% have adopted it as an in-app payment option.
When looking at those that have adopted Apple Pay at all possible points of adoption, it currently sits at 22% for the top 100.
Facebook today introduced two new features for Messenger called Message Reactions and Mentions.
Apple has updated its list of banks, credit unions and card issuers for Apple Pay this week to note the addition of support for 30+ additional institutions in the U.S., Australia and China.
