iOS Devices

If you own a MacBook Pro with Retina Display and desire extra screen real estate, then a 4K monitor can be a good investment, especially as the price of such monitors continue to dwindle.

Why should you consider a 4K display instead of a cheaper monitor with lesser resolution? It all boils down to clarity.
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[UPDATE: CNBC says more of Cramer’s interview with Tim Cook will air tonight at 6PM ET. Today’s discussion will focus on iPhone encryption, Steve Jobs, and what Cook is most proud of at the company.]

Apple CEO Tim Cook is set to appear on CNBC’s Mad Money program tonight following Apple’s Q2 earnings earlier this month where the company reported declines across the board.

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A Weibo report has surfaced that indicates the iPhone 7 may have a slightly larger battery than the current generation iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. According to the poster, the iPhone 7 will include a battery with a 1735 mAH capacity and iPhone 7 Plus will feature a 2810 mAH battery. On both models, this is (slightly) more than the current-generation iPhones. The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have batteries with 1715 mAH and 2750 mAH respectively.

The iPhone 7 is rumored to look very similar to the current iPhone, with a thinner body and redesigned antennas. A major chassis design change is currently expected for the ‘iPhone 8’ in 2017.

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For the first time in a federal case, a suspect has been ordered to use her fingerprint to unlock her iPhone using Touch ID. The LA Times reports that a federal judge signed a warrant allowing the FBI to compel a suspect in an identity theft case to to unlock the phone just 45 minutes after her arrest.

Authorities obtained a search warrant compelling the girlfriend of an alleged Armenian gang member to press her finger against an iPhone that had been seized from a Glendale home […]

In the Glendale case, the FBI wanted the fingerprint of Paytsar Bkhchadzhyan, a 29-year-old woman from L.A. with a string of criminal convictions who pleaded no contest to a felony count of identity theft.

The warrant is consistent with a 2014 case where a Virginia District Court ruled that while passcodes are protected by the 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination, fingerprints are not. Legal experts, however, have differing views …

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Apple today uploaded its latest ad to YouTube. The ad returns to the company’s popular “Shot on iPhone” campaign and focuses on Mother’s Day, which is one week away from today. The touching video comes in at 30-seconds long and follows two new iPhone 6s ads from last week, one that highlighted the device’s 4K camera and one that showed off Touch ID.

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An iPhone 6 is at the center of an investigation of two missing Florida teens. Last July, 14-year-olds Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen set out on a boat trip in the Atlantic Ocean, but both of the bodies went missing and boys never returned. The United States Coast Guard performed an eight-day search for the boys, but never found them. Last, month, however, their boat was recovered 100 miles off the shore of Bermuda and on the boat was Stephanos’ iPhone (via ABC News).

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Developer Nick Lee has managed to hack a working version of Windows 95 onto his Apple Watch. The utility of this is close to zero — but it is hilarious to watch. It highlights how smart wristwatches like Apple Watch are now as powerful as (if not more than) desktop computers from the turn of the century. Watch the full video of the ‘microsoftOS’ Apple Watch in action after the jump …

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Apple has previously partnered with designer brand Hermes for a set of premium Apple Watch bands, sold separately from $340 per strap. It now appears that a second high-profile fashion designer, Coach, is coming on board with its own range of Apple Watch bands.

David Boglin De Bautista reports a sales associate in a Coach boutique told him about the upcoming collection, set to debut as early as June. The sales representative sent photos of the as-yet-unreleased bands (shown above), priced at $150 each.

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Streaming of Drake’s latest album Views has hit Apple Music, and will be exclusive to the streaming service for one week, the rapper announced on Beats 1. This confirmed an earlier Buzzfeed report.

Drake told Zane Lowe that the album is a very personal one, based very much on his own feelings about himself and his home city of Toronto.

I’m a very honest person. I can’t write fiction.

The short one-week exclusivity period was no doubt influenced by the fact that Drake was the most-streamed artist on Spotify last year, and perhaps also wanting to avoid emulating some high-profile U-turns by artists who had initially promised full exclusivity elsewhere …

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Apple isn’t the only smartphone manufacturer seeing falling sales. New figures from Strategy Analytics show what the global smartphone market saw its first-ever year-on-year drop on sales, down 3%.

Linda Sui, Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Global smartphone shipments fell 3 percent annually from 345.0 million units in Q1 2015 to 334.6 million in Q1 2016. It is the first time ever since the modern smartphone market began in 1996 that global shipments have shrunk on an annualized basis. Smartphone growth is slowing due to increasing penetration maturity in major markets like China and consumer caution about the future of the world economy.”

Apple’s fall was of course far more dramatic, iPhone sales down 18% year-on-year, with CEO Tim Cook blaming economic ‘headwinds’ – and Strategy Analytics’ numbers show that strong competition from Chinese brands forms a large part of those …

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Earlier today, yet another report emerged claiming that Apple would launch an iPhone ‘Pro’ or iPhone 7 ‘Pro’ this fall. This report claimed that the device would be identical to the iPhone 6s Plus in terms of size, but would feature dual cameras on the back and Smart Connector support.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard reports of Apple perhaps adding an additional model to its iPhone lineup, either. A separate report from last month claimed that the company was planning an iPhone 7 Pro with dual camera capabilities.

While all of this is obviously yet to be confirmed and could very well change before Apple announces new iPhones this September, it brings up some interesting possibilities for the iPhone’s 2016 lineup. Will Apple replace the ‘Plus’ model with the ‘Pro’ model? Will it join the lineup as an additional, more expensive option? Let’s discuss…

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SanDisk’s new iXpand Lightning to USB drive introduces a new design, faster USB 3.0, and a brand new app, making it one of the most attractive offerings as far as thumb drives for your iPhone or iPad go. I’ve been testing it out to see if it’s worth a recommendation over the many competitors.

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Rumors that Apple will ditch the headphone jack with this fall’s iPhone update have been around for a while now, but Japanese magazine Mac Fan today has shared detailed design schematics of the purported iPhone 7 ‘Pro.’ According to the magazine, the device will feature the same overall size as the iPhone 6s Plus, but is expected to ditch the headphone jack and feature dual iSight cameras on the back (via Macotakara.)

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Following Apple’s earnings results last night, where it posted its first YOY quarterly revenue decline since 2003, AAPL has opened down more than 8% — the stock price is far below the $100 mark as morning trading begins. Apple reported revenue of $50 billion (compared against $58 billion in the year-ago quarter), on sales of 51.1 million iPhones, 10.2 million iPads and 4 million Macs.

The stock price fall means over 40 billion dollars of market cap value has been erased overnight. Market capitalization is the approximate value of the company, a multiple of the stock price and number of shares. The stock closed yesterday at $104.

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Apple is widely rumored to be dropping the 3.5 mm headphone jack from the iPhone 7, instead favouring wireless Bluetooth or the Lightning port for connecting headphones. Intel is also keen to eliminate the 100 year old 3.5 mm jack, citing ‘industry singling a strong desire to move from analog to digital’ (via AnandTech).

However, Intel is pushing USB-C as the future of headphone audio cables. Intel believes USB-C will win out over 3.5mm as it has many modern-day benefits including the potential to add additional smart features to headphones in the future, that can pass data down the same USB-C cable.

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The FBI has decided it will not divulge the details of how it successfully hacked into the San Bernardino iPhone to Apple, having found a method at the last-minute just hours before going to court in late March. However, in an attempt to appear helpful and cooperative, the FBI gave Apple its first security tipoff under the Vulnerability Equities Process this month.

Reuters reports the FBI informed Apple of a security flaw affecting iOS and Mac software  on April 14th, as part of a process that balances the needs of law enforcement to hack devices and the needs of manufacturers to patch found flaws before criminals can use them …

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Having already released its first iPhone game Miitomo, a bespoke social networking game, Nintendo is now teasing the next round of games headed to the iPhone and iOS devices. Notably, unlike Miitomo, these are going to be versions of existing successful Nintendo franchises: Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem.

Although Animal Crossing is not quite on the same podium as Super Mario, it is still major first-party intellectual property for Nintendo to release on non-Nintendo consoles for the first time. The new smartphone and tablet titles are expected to be released later this year, around October.

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