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:
We previously told you that Apple will be licensing its female Lightning port to third-party accessories, following an announcement to Made for iPhone licensees late last year. Since then, the company has released specs for the Lightning port that details exactly what Apple hopes to achieve by opening it up to third-parties, including how it could improve accessories.
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Apple is preparing to expand its new Apple Pay payments service internationally with at least the Canadian launch currently scheduled for early 2015, according to sources close to the situation.
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[youtube=http://youtu.be/C_GShuLzUlw]
Last year we told you that Lightning headphones were on the way when we were first to report on Apple opening up the spec to headphone makers through its Made-for-iPhone licensing program. And now, the first wave of products that will be hitting the market using the Lightning connector are officially on show this week at CES.
Using Lightning for audio offers a few benefits, including the ability to draw power for noise cancelling features and more without a battery. That’s exactly what these new JBL Reflect Aware earbuds from Harman do, as shown off in our hands-on with the product above.
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Yesterday we kicked off our running list of the best iPhone cases on show at CES 2015, and today we’ve started collecting the new and interesting iPad cases we’ve run into at the show. Some of the notables include a new case from AT&T that gives Wi-Fi only iPads access to LTE data in addition to a battery pack and microSD slot, and a new folio case from Incipio that adds a small display for smartwatch-like notifications without opening the cover.
Head below for the full list of the new iPad cases, most of which are scheduled to arrive sometime in the weeks and months to come.
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No, this isn’t the Apple Watch. But it appears there has been enough time between Apple’s unveiling and CES for smaller accessory makers to prepare offerings inspired by the device in time for the show.
This product comes from a Synergy technologies showcasing their products on the CES 2015 show floor, and does a pretty good job of knocking off the Apple Watch both with its hardware and UI.
Apple Watch isn’t out yet, but it’s already influencing the look of new smartwatches hitting the market. Yesterday we reported that Apple is likely planning to launch the device in March with training of retail employees scheduled for mid-February.
Stay tuned for more from CES as we explore the show.
9to5Mac’s CES 2015 coverage brought to you by:
Bloomberg reports that a Manhattan District Attorney is challenging recent moves by Apple, Google and other tech companies by suggesting government pass laws that prevent mobile devices from being “sealed off from law enforcement.” In an interview this week, the government official called it “an issue of public safety.”
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Apple Watch at Colette
Apple has picked up a few new hires and advisors to assist its growing Watch team ahead of the Apple Watch launch currently on track for March. Among them, Apple has recently hired another executive from the fashion industry, this time from Louis Vuitton, in addition to two new hires from the medical industry.
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There is a never ending supply of new iPhone cases at CES again this year, so we’ve decided to roundup the best of the best below. Some of the cases include backup batteries, others offer charging via built-in solar panels, and one includes a detachable Bluetooth speaker. One of the new cases even claims to “defend against the bend,” a jab at the iPhone 6 Plus bending controversy of last year. Head below for the run down on the growing list of iPhone cases launching at CES:
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There are a lot of audio mixers and DJ controllers on the market specifically for iPad and iPhone users, but so far most require you to run cables or dock your device in a rather large unit. The latest option that we got a chance to try during CES today is Braven’s new Fuse Bluetooth audio mixer, a lightweight wireless option that lets you connect two audio sources and your output all through Bluetooth:
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Incipio is showing off its latest at CES this week and one new product that we just got a first look at is its new Trestle case for iPhone 6 Plus. The company is taking full advantage of the controversy over rare instances of the iPhone 6 Plus bending under pressure and incorporating the “Defend against the bend” slogan into the product’s marketing.
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Apple’s list of supported banks and card issuers for Apple Pay is growing again today with the addition of 8 new banks and credit unions, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The full list of newly supported card issuers includes:
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Yahoo has released an updated version of its Yahoo Mail app for iPhone and with it comes the ability to track packages for online purchases without leaving the app. The feature arrives as the latest addition in Yahoo’s mission to integrate some of its other key services— news, weather, magazines— as features in its Mail app.
The package tracking feature works for online purchases through a long list of popular retailers (but not all) and appears in the app’s Today view:
Tracking online shopping purchases can be tricky. To make your life a little bit easier, we’re adding package notifications to the latest release of the Yahoo Mail app for iOS in the U.S. Now, you can view and track shipped packages in the “Yahoo Today” section of the app from sites including Amazon, eBay, Zappos, Target, Best Buy, Macys.com and more. We’ll notify you when your package has shipped, when it’s scheduled to arrive, and what’s in your shipment.
In addition, the updated app gains the ability to customize the Today view, horoscopes, flight notification support from Orbitz and CheapTickets, and more:
We even added the much-requested ability to sort and select the type of content in your “Today” section to make it even more personalized. By clicking on the gear icon on the top left corner, you will see a new “Edit Yahoo Today” option for you to pick and choose what you’d like to see, including News Digest, Sports, Weather, Horoscope, Finance, Screen and Flickr.
The updated Yahoo Mail app, version 3.2.12, is available on the App Store now
Apple has just announced its fiscal Q1 2015 earnings call will take place on January 27 to report earnings for the three months ending in December of last year.
As always, Apple will be hosting a conference call with investors and press and will also live stream audio from the call on its website.
Last quarter, at its Q4 2014 earnings call, Apple announced revenue of $42.1b with sales of 39m iPhones, 12.3m iPads, and 5.5m Macs. At the time, Apple provided guidance between $63.5 billion and $66.5 billion for its upcoming Q1FY15 quarter.
Year-over-year, Apple will be looking to beat its Q1 2014 report that included $57.6b in revenue on sales of 51m iPhones, 26m iPads, 4.8m Macs, and 6m iPods. As is the case every year, quarter to quarter the company should see a bump in earnings helped significantly by a rush of sales from the Black Friday and Christmas holiday shopping season.
Apple’s Q1 2015 earnings call is scheduled to take place at 2:00pm PT/ 5:00 pm ET later this month on January 27. A live broadcast of the call will be available on Apple’s website.
Just after sharing our latest drone flyover video of Apple’s under construction “Campus 2” in Cupertino this weekend (this time in 4K), Apple today shared an updated aerial shot of the campus.
The shot shows early progress being made on the structure of the main building and other buildings on the campus as well as earthwork and greenery on the surrounding property.
The City of Cupertino’s website, which tracks construction and traffic updates related to the Campus 2 project for locals hasn’t changed the project schedule that still calls for building construction to wrap up by the end of 2016.
Apple has recently opened a number of smaller satellite offices in Sweden, Seattle, and Cambridge, England, but it expects its new 176 acre Cupertino campus to hold around 12,000 of its employees when construction is complete.
Check out the latest drone flyover video of the Campus 2 site (in 4K!) from over the weekend.
Zagg, the company behind many of our favorite Bluetooth keyboards and cases, today announced its latest creation, the ZAGG Speaker Case for iPhone 6 with detachable Bluetooth speaker. Not only that, but the case also packs in an 1800mAh backup battery, which the company says will get you approximately “8 hours of additional talk time, and can be shared with a friend.”
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q0yZomXuSw
Google today announced Google Cast for audio, which the company says takes advantage of Chromecast tech to send audio to third-party hardware like speakers, A/V receivers, and sound bars. The feature will allow users to tap a “cast” button from within music and radio apps on Android, iOS and the web to stream audio to Google Cast enabled speakers.
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Following the launch of Apple’s “Start Something New” campaign on its website featuring artwork created on Mac and iOS devices, Apple is now transforming its retail stores into temporary art galleries showcasing art from the campaign.
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[youtube=http://youtu.be/krPhGTLJZEU]
Apple has quietly increased the cost of its iOS & Mac Developer Programs in some EU countries with price hikes confirmed for at least the UK and Germany. In Germany, the programs are up from the previous €80/year to €99/year, while in the UK pricing has been adjusted from £60/year to £79/year.
While the price increase is already live in at least the UK and Germany, pricing for the program in the US remains at $99/year.
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Just as one judge dismissed a class action case again Apple yesterday, today Siliconbeat reports that Apple will face a new class action case claiming iOS 8 takes up too much of the iPhone’s overall storage capacity. The case was filed in a Bay Area federal court this week and claims that iOS 8 can take up as much as 23.1 percent of an iOS device’s storage depending on the model:
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One of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s favorite terms to throw around during earnings calls and keynote presentations is “Customer Sat,” but the latest from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (via BGR) has Apple down compared to last year while Samsung continues to rise despite declining sales.
Note that these numbers were first revealed back in May.
While Apple still sells nearly twice the number of smartphones in the United States as its nearest competitor, Samsung now comes out on top in one critical metric— customer satisfaction. Samsung surges 7% to an ACSI score of 81, beating Apple in overall customer satisfaction for the first time. Smartphones are becoming more dominant in Samsung’s cell phone product mix, pushing its satisfaction score higher. Apple declines for the second year in a row (-2% to 79), and the field is getting tighter, with Motorola Mobility and Nokia (now Microsoft) both at 77.
BlackBerry has seen its market share nearly vanish, but satisfaction climbs to 74 (+7%) for those customers that remain. “Samsung has gone from up-and-comer to top-of-the-heap on the strength of its smartphone portfolio,” says VanAmburg. “Apple’s magic isn’t gone, but the luster has dulled on its older models. Each iteration improves on the last, but Apple’s year-long product refresh cycle is an eternity when a new Android phone seems to be released every week.”
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This is an interesting story from an iFixit programmer who attempted to fix his overheating MacBook Pro—an issue that many users have—by drilling a ring of holes in the MacBook’s body to increase airflow under its fans.
With a 1/16” bit, we drilled holes in the bottom case, under the fans (we figured out where the blades of the fan were exposed based on the dust pattern stuck to the inside of the bottom case). The speed holes worked: The boot chime rang. The screen glowed. The fans blew.
It’s too early to know if the fix will help long term, but initially the holes have decreased temperatures to an average in the 40s and 50s opposed to an average between 80º and 90º C and as high as 100º C before the modification.
The holes came only after trying a number of methods of fixing the dead MacBook, including baking the logic board in an oven, which temporarily provided some relief: “I cracked open the back of my laptop, disconnected all eleven connectors and three heat sinks from the logic board, and turned the oven up to 340º F. I put my $900 part on a cookie sheet and baked it for seven nerveracking minutes… After it cooled, I reapplied thermal paste, put it all back together, and cheered when it booted. It ran great for the next eight months. Temperatures averaged in the 60s and 70s C—although recently, they began creeping up again.”
The full story of how the overheating MacBook Pro was saved is on iFixit’s blog here.
Apple has recently introduced a new 14-day no questions asked return policy for iTunes, App Store and iBooks purchases in Europe including the UK, Germany, Italy, France, and many other EU countries.
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Apple is now offering its annual Boxing Day sale for Canadians with select discounts on albums and songs through the iTunes store.
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