Mark is an award-winning journalist who worked at 9to5Mac for over six years. He covers Apple and other topics related to the consumer technology industry.
Just a couple of weeks after releasing OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 to users, Apple has seeded the first beta of the upcoming OS X 10.9.4 to developers. We first reported that Apple was nearing a release of OS X 10.9.4 in beta to developers. It’s unclear what changes are in store with the new system, but hopefully it fixes the manyheadaches that Mac Pro users have been facing since 10.9.3’s release earlier this month. No word on when 10.9.4 will go public, but it is interesting that this Mavericks release will be in beta in tandem with OS X 10.10‘s beta release next week at WWDC. Thanks, D!
On the Code Conference stage in California, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced an upcoming feature for Skype: live voice translation. The demonstration showed a German speaker speaking to an English speaker. The English words automatically were repeated by the computer in German, while the German speech was automatically spoken back by the computer in English…
Apple has updated its website to announce that it will be live streaming next week’s WWDC Keynote address for all to watch. As per usual, the event will be available on Macs running Safari 4 or later, iOS Devices running iOS 4.2 or later, Windows machines running Quicktime 7, and via an application on the Apple TV. The event kicks off at 10AM Pacific/1PM Eastern time on Monday, June 2nd. Apple says that it has “exciting announcements” in store for the event (as it says for all of its events), which is likely to include talk of iOS 8 with Healthbook, a redesigned OS X 10.10, and new hardware products. We’ll be on hand live to bring you the latest news from the conference.
I have three 30″ displays, but after the 10.9.3 update, only 2 of them work at a time. Is this a known issue? Can I downgrade to 10.9.2 to get the use of my other display back? It was working just fine on my Mac Pro with 10.9.2.
Apple has posted two fascinating Your Verse iPad promos this weekend. The first highlights composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. He created an iPad application that assists him in creating his music and in conducting:
Weibo is continuing to be the source of unverified iPhone 6 leaks. This time, user “顾Gooey” has published some photos that he claims to represent display backlight components for the next-generation iPhone with a 4.7-inch screen. These parts appear similarly structured to the iPhone 5S and 5C version of the backlight component, meaning that the forum poster is either passing off the current-generation part as next-generation or that there is something legitimate about the components. The iPhone 6 is rumored to come in both 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch sizes, and it will run iOS 8, include a more efficient A8 processor, and likely feature a 1704 x 960 display with a sharper pixel density. Another unverified backlight component photo, below, from Weibo:
Apple’s new expensive line of Mac Pro computers seem to be causing a headache for a tiny fraction of the Mac userbase. According to several professional video editors who have contacted us or posted information to variousonlineforums, the recent OS X 10.9.3 update is breaking compatibility between some Mac Pro graphics cards and video editing applications such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve…
Apple has been given the green light by the Saudi Arabian government to fully operate in the region, according to tips from readers and local news reports.SAGIA (Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority) provided the license to Apple under the subsidiary name of “Apple, Saudi Arabia.” This license gives Apple the ability to market, maintain, and develop products in the region…
According to multiple sources, Facebook will unveil a new service today that can identify television shows and music playing in the background. The new software, which will be available via an updated App Store app on iPhone and a Google Play app on Android, will work in tandem with your smartphone hardware’s microphone. Facebook is said to be integrating the feature so Facebook users can more easily share what music they are listening to or what TV show they are currently watching to their Timelines. In iOS 8, Apple will unveil a new Siri feature in partnership with Shazam to identify songs playing in the background. Update: Official announcement after the break… Expand Expanding Close
Besides a slew of events focused squarely on the technical side of developing and designing applications for iOS 8 and OS X 10.10, Apple, this year, will be holding a pair of interesting events over the course of the first week of June at WWDC.
On Wednesday June 4th from 4:30 to 5:30 PM Pacific Time, an event called Women in Technology Get Together will take place. This important event will discuss “the increased participation of women in technology,” the schedule in the updated WWDC app reads. Apple is making a point to further involve women in the conference this year, even announcing that the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) will provide scholarships for women to attend WWDC:
This morning, Apple revealed the schedule for next month’s Worldwide Developers Conference. To start things off, an Apple keynote will be held from 10AM to 12PM on Monday, June 2nd at Moscone West. Apple typically holds keynote addresses to kick off WWDC, but this schedule serves as the first direct confirmation from Apple. The event will likely be led by Apple CEO Tim Cook with assistance from Senior VPs Craig Federighi and Eddy Cue, who have some new software and services announcements, respectively…
Southwest Airlines has issued an update to its iPhone and iPod touch app that should make the lives of several frequent travelers a bit easier. The company has added mobile boarding pass support to the app for 28 airports, which is up from the previously supported handful of airpots. Here are all the supported airports (including the new 28 and previously supported ones):
Mobile boarding pass functionality allows travelers to pull up their pass on their phones to be scanned upon check-in and security checkpoints at airports. Some additional features to make the user-interface simpler and more helpful have also been added in this 2.4 update:
-New upcoming trip cards on your homepage so you can quickly view the info that matters to you the most while traveling like Flight Status, Boarding Position, and Gate Information.
-Ability to access our most popular tools like Checkin and your Mobile Boarding Pass options right from the home screen.
-Additional bug fixes and improvements.
We’ve come across a new service called Notifyr that, in short, makes your iOS Device notifications automatically simultaniously appear as notifications on your Mac. The service is a pair of applications: a $3.99 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch application from the App Store and a free companion Mac app. Using native Bluetooth low-energy technology on supported Macs and iOS Devices, any iOS notification can appear on your Mac just like any other Mac Notification Center alert…
Apple today has enhanced its iWork suite of iCloud apps to include much improved collaboration, new document options, and more file storage. iWork includes the Pages word processor, Keynote presentation maker, and Numbers spreadsheet manager, and it is likely that supporting apps for iOS and OS X will become available in the near future…
Verizon Wireless is officially joining in on this year’s major new cellular network technology: Voice over LTE, or “VoLTE.” VoLTE allows voice calls on compatible smartphones to be made over the previously-data only LTE network technology. This allows for higher-quality, better sounding (“HD Voice”) phone calls to be placed. The rollout will occur “later this year”, or “in the coming months” depending on which part of the press release you believe:
Apple has issued a software update to its OS X Server software for Macs that interacts with other Macs and iOS Devices. OS X Server, instead of an entire operating system, is simply now a suite of applications that run within OS Mavericks. Today’s update brings various enhancements and improvements:
What’s New in Version 3.1.2
• Calendar Server improvements for imports, invites and group scheduling
• Improvements to Messages Server stability when using Chat Rooms
• Fixes for Profile Manager deploying profiles containing variables when code signing is enabled
• Improved Profile Manager reliability for sending Volume Purchase Program invitations
• Fixes to enable Profile Manager to manage Device Enrollment Program systems with long descriptive names
When Ron Johnson finalized his decision to move from leading Apple’s retail strategy to become the Chief Executive Officer of J.C. Penney, the executive jumped in his car to drive to Steve Jobs’ home and notify the Apple co-founder in his living room of the decision. During his short car ride to Jobs’ Palo Alto home in the summer of 2011, Johnson likely thought about how he would explain his choice. But what Johnson likely did not imagine is that it would take nearly three years for Apple to find a true new leader for the stores the duo created.
In one of current Apple CEO Tim Cook’s first major missteps, the long-time operations maestro hired John Browett, formerly of Dixons, to run retail. Browett’s hire was immediately met with skepticism from Apple customers and retail employees, but Cook defended the hire and called the British executive the “best [choice] by far” to run Apple’s retail division. In the six months that he ran retail, Browett cut back on employee hours, initiated layoffs, and fell out culturally with the rest of the Apple executive team.
Alongside Scott Forstall, Browett was ejected from the Cupertino-based company, leaving Tim Cook and head-hunting firm Egon Zehnder, again, with the tall task of finding a suitable replacement for Ron Johnson. As the man who ran Dixons, the United Kingdom equivalent to Best Buy, Browett was in many ways built in the image of Johnson. Johnson ran Apple Retail for nearly a decade, and before that he was an executive at both Target and Mervyns. But unlike Browett, Johnson fit into Apple’s culture and was close with both Jobs and Cook throughout his tenure.
Shocker. Now that OS X 10.9.3 has finally been released publicly, Apple has told its AppleSeed testing group (Apple’s customer software seeding program) that they will automatically be enrolled in the testing phase for the upcoming OS X 10.9.4:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today published its annual “Who Has Your Back?” report that rates and compares how major corporations deal with government data requests. The EFF’s ranking of technology company data request transparency is notable because the organization is the “leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world.” The report ranks companies based on six categories: requires a warrant for content, tells users about data requests, publishes transparency reports, publishes law enforcement guidelines, fights for users’ privacy in courts, fights for users’ privacy for rights in Congress. This year, Apple received a star for each of the six categories.
This compares to many other technology companies, including Google, Yahoo, and Facebook, that received stars across the board:
<a href="http://9to5mac.com/2014/05/14/detailed-iphone-6-mockup-compared-to-ipad-air-ipad-mini-iphone-5c-iphone-5s-iphone-4s-and-ipod-touch-video/#more-323188">iPhone 6 physical mockups on the right</a>
United States-based carrier AT&T today officially announced its rollout of voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) calls. The VoLTE rollout comes in tandem with AT&T HD Voice launch, which provides better sounding phone calls. Starting on May 23rd, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin will be the initially supported markets for these features, but AT&T says to expect a more complete rollout as time goes on:
