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:
While Apple has never announced an official launch date for HomeKit, its Siri-controlled home automation platform first introduced alongside iOS 8, a new report claims that products will be delayed as Apple runs into some roadblocks.
An Apple Store in Monterey, California was evacuated yesterday as employees began to fall ill reportedly due to a package delivered to the location covered with an unknown substance. CBS reports that “fire and hazmat officials determined the package was contaminated in transit when an unknown substance most likely leaked onto the package’s exterior.”
Expand
Expanding
Close
With the HealthDash app, an alternative dashboard for Apple’s own Health app, Apple Watch users can view more health and fitness data points captured from Apple’s HealthKit platform, as well as a history of stats, right on their wrist.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Wolfram Research, the company behind the Wolfram Alpha knowledge base that Apple’s Siri taps into, is today releasing new artificial intelligence tech to answer the question, “What is this a picture of?”
Wolfram is showing off what the Wolfram Language Image Identification Project is capable of using this web app accessible on desktop and mobile devices. You simply drag any photo into the app and the image identification AI attempts to detect what it is (as pictured above).
Now I’m excited to be able to say that we’ve reached a milestone: there’s finally a function called ImageIdentify built into the Wolfram Language that lets you ask, “What is this a picture of?”—and get an answer…. It’s a nice practical example of artificial intelligence. But to me what’s more important is that we’ve reached the point where we can integrate this kind of “AI operation” right into the Wolfram Language—to use as a new, powerful building block for knowledge-based programming.
And the new ImageIdentify function will be accessible to developers to create APIs or apps that tap into the feature through Wolfram Language: “And if one had lots of photographs, one could immediately write a Wolfram Language program that, for example, gave statistics on the different kinds of animals, or planes, or devices, or whatever, that appear in the photographs.”
Wolfram has a lengthy, interesting read on the backstory of the project and more about how everything works behind the scenes.
Google is today rolling out updates to its Google Docs and Slides mobile apps bringing the ability to insert images directly from the app on both phones and tablets.
With the update, iPhone and iPad users will be able to access their camera roll or snap a new photo to insert directly into a document or Slides presentation.
In addition, the update includes quicker access to make basic edits in Slides by allowing users to enter crop mode by double tapping any image in a presentation.
Google notes that both of the new features will work in offline mode.
The updated Docs and Slides apps should be hitting the App Store today.
Back in May of last year, Google started enforcing a policy that requires Chrome extensions be hosted on its Chrome Web Store, but only on Windows. The goal was to prevent malware hidden in extensions installable from outside its store, and it even started disabling extensions already installed on users’ systems that weren’t hosted on the Chrome Web Store. Now, Google says it will bring that requirement to Mac Chrome users over the coming months, as well as the Chrome developer channel for Windows that wasn’t previously enforcing the policy:
Expand
Expanding
Close
Greenpeace today released an update to its “Clicking Clean: A Guide to Building the Green Internet” report, showing that Apple continues to lead among tech companies when it comes to renewable energy efforts. The report notes that Apple has been “most aggressive” with its renewable energy projects including a number of new initiatives and continuing to maintain “its claim of a 100% renewably powered cloud for another year.”
Expand
Expanding
Close
The first round Apple Watch… sort of. Madness ensues. [youtube=https://youtu.be/mdkAN6uXhsE]
Broadcom today announced that its new SDK for the Internet of Things (IoT) now officially supports Apple’s home automation HomeKit platform, bringing us a step closer to widespread availability of Siri-controlled smart home devices.
Broadcom notes that its SDK is the first to officially support HomeKit specs for WiFi and Bluetooth Smart accessories, allowing developers to use its Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices (WICED) platform to build apps for Apple’s new Siri-controlled, home automation platform. They will also be able to build products that double as a hardware bridge for non-HomeKit accessories.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Just as Apple continues to negotiate deals for its upcoming, revamped music streaming service, Warner Music Group says it saw streaming revenue surpass revenue from downloads for the first time ever.
Expand
Expanding
Close
A new report from ETNews claims that Apple is investigating silver nanowire technology to improve touch panels in its much anticipated upcoming 12+-inch iPad:
Apple is planning to apply nano new material on touch panel. By changing ITO-based clear film with silver nano wire (AgNW) material, it plans to raise sense of touch and decrease cost.국내 은나노와이어 Domestic AgNW based touch-screen panel (TSP) industries are getting ready to commercialize the products as soon as possible.
The report, citing sources close to the supply chain, adds that Apple has already requested samples of the tech from LG Display, Samsung Display, Japan Display and others earlier this month.
And it isn’t the first time we’ve heard Apple is experimenting with the technology. The company has a patent for a “Touch Screen Display with Transparent Electrical Shielding Layer” which details an IPS LCD that utilizes “microscopic metal meshes, such as silver nano-wires (AGNW)” as a conducting layer. In the patent, published in January 2014, Apple imagines a display with better power efficiency, a thinner design, and reduced light reflectivity for an iPad. Here’s an excerpt:
Expand
Expanding
Close
Apple only includes its fancy charging case if you buy one of the $10,000+ gold Apple Watch Edition models, so I decided to DIY my own using the box Apple includes with its mid-range, stainless steel Apple Watch collection.
If you bought an Apple Watch model— the entry-level Sport collection comes with cheaper, somewhat disposable packaging— you get a box much like with the Edition minus the charging features and leather shell.
With a few drilled holes and less than $10 worth of materials, I transformed my box into a charging case that looks a lot like the Apple Watch Edition charging case.
Here’s how I did it:
Expand
Expanding
Close
I wouldn’t normally recommend calling Pizza Hut for any reason, but in this case an online order through the company’s…
So-called phablets just about quadrupled their marketshare during Q1 of this year thanks largely due to Apple’s first product in the category, the iPhone 6 Plus.
The data comes from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech and shows the phablet market grew to 21% in the first quarter this year, up from just 6% last year. The growth is mostly due to the iPhone 6 Plus, which grabbed 44% of the market during Q1.
Expand
Expanding
Close
New data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows that smartphone users ditching Android devices in recent months helped drive iOS growth across the EU. The data tracked the EU’s biggest markets in 1Q15— Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain— and shows iOS grew 1.8 percentage points from last year to 20.3% market share this year. That includes around 32.4% of new Apple customers switching from an Android device, according to the report, while Android lost 3.1 percentage points during the quarter:
Expand
Expanding
Close
After beginning to invite developers to test an app analytics beta last week, giving devs that signed up access to new analytic data for their apps through iTunes Connect, today we get our first look at the feature…
Expand
Expanding
Close
Home Depot will soon officially gain support for Apple Pay after users this week noticed it had started quietly blocking the platform, the company tells Bloomberg.
Users have had success using Apple Pay at Home Depot stores since the service launched in October last year— Home Depot uses MasterCard Paypass terminals that technically support the NFC-based payments platform— but now the company appears to have stopped accepting it as it issues a statement touting rival PayPal. The company since confirmed, however, that it does plan to officially support Apple Pay following upgrades to its in-store hardware in the near future.
From Bloomberg:
Expand
Expanding
Close
We found out earlier this year that Apple’s new retail chief, former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts, made around $73 million in 2014 through her new position at the company. That made Ahrendts the highest paid female executive in the US last year, according to a new report from Bloomberg that puts her total earnings for 2014 somewhere closer to $82.6 million+:
Expand
Expanding
Close
While users in the US are today getting access to CBS Sports and USA Now on the Apple TV, Canadian users are being greeted today with two new channels from the big Canadian cable companies. Bell’s CraveTV and Rogers’ Shomi, two competitive on-demand TV services akin to Hulu in the US, are now accessible on Apple’s set-top box.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Belkin today updated its WeMo app — the companion software to the company’s platform for controlling connected lighting products, appliances, and more — to offer support for IFTTT and additional light bulbs.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Is this the first third-party Apple Watch charging cable? Apple hasn’t yet announced official plans for a third-party accessory program for Apple Watch, but that hasn’t stopped accessory makers from creating stands, charging docks, straps, and other accessories for the device. This charging cable from Ionic, a company that sells a lot of MFi certified cables and adapters through Amazon, might be the first advertising a third-party version of Apple’s own magnetic charging cable.
Expand
Expanding
Close
GE announced today that it’s introducing HomeKit enabled LED lighting products offering Siri-controlled solutions for both the home and enterprise. With support for Apple’s new HomeKit framework, users will be able to control the lights from their iOS device using Siri.
The company noted that the new line of GE HomeKit lighting will also include its GE Align technology that “tunes the light spectrum to help promote the body’s natural sleep cycle by controlling the blue concentration of light output.”
Expand
Expanding
Close
Google today announced that it’s acquiring Timeful Inc, the company behind the Timeful app that offers a central location for time management, calendar functions, to-do list and scheduling features.
Expand
Expanding
Close
To celebrate Star Wars Day— yes, that’s why everyone keeps saying “May the 4th be with you” today— Apple is offering a number of discounts on apps and in-app purchase content from Disney, Konami, and others.
Below we’ve put together links for all of the Star Wars App Store content on sale today, including both Apple’s iOS collection and other iPhone, iPad, and Mac titles discounted for the occasion:
Expand
Expanding
Close
