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.
Apple has filed a trademark for “iWatch” in Japan, according to a filing with the Japan Patent Office from early June. The filing, which was reportedly made publicly available last week, is in reference to an Apple “handheld computer” or “watch device.” Earlier this month, reports had claimed that Apple filed for an “iWatch” trademark in Russia, but the claims at the time seemed uncorroborated. Now, with Apple having filed the same trademark in Japan, perhaps the claims from Russia are accurate…
This morning, a pair photos claiming to depict the backplate for Apple’s rumored upcoming low-cost iPhone have appeared on the WeiPhone forums. The backplate, which is unverified to be legitimate, appears to be made of a plastic material and is shown in a green color. The overall design of the purported part lines up with past reports suggesting that Apple is developing a low-cost iPhone with a plastic-like-casing in a number of colors.
NowhereElse found two more including red, yellow and green variants.
While this deal will not push Samsung’s chip production completely out of Apple’s field-of-view, it will let the Cupertino Mac and iPhone maker reduce its reliance on the business of its fiercest competitor. The WSJ also corroborates numerous reports by saying that Apple has moved, in recent years, away from Samsung for the screens that are fit on the front-faces of iOS devices and NAND chips that store files. The WSJ shares that Apple and TSMC have been working on partnership possibilities for a number of years:
Doing its part in celebrating America’s Independence Day, select Apple Stores across the country will be selling four USA-themed iPhone cases. Apple tells its retail employees that these will be made from “superior quality polycarbonate with ultra high resolution designs.” Apple is likely not the manufacturer of these cases, but the company, instead, is teaming up to produce these exclusively with third-party case makers.
Today, Netflix has announced a new conversational content finder called Max. The service, which Netflix calls “the child of Siri and HAL 9000,” is a quick way to find content to watch on Netflix. The service provides suggestions via advanced rating and genre selection systems that work with the user.
Today we started rolling out Max, a new experience on PlayStation 3 that helps you find something great to watch in a fun, conversational way. You’ll find Max on the third or fourth row of the main Netflix screen on your PS3, where Max beckons you to enter his world with one of his many funny call outs. Click on the row and you’ll engage Max’s services. Max, rumored to be the child of Siri and HAL 9000, asks a few questions about your mood or movie and TV show tastes to arrive at a suggestion, of course based on your tastes and taking advantage of the Netflix algorithms that predict what you’d enjoy watching. One of the experiences Max offers is called the “ratings game,” where you pick a genre to fit your mood and then rate a few titles on the familiar Netflix five star scale. Sometimes, when Max feels particularly confident, he will offer a fun, personalized suggestion after asking only one simple question. Here Max asks you to pick between two highly specific genres that are personalized and use the very detailed tags we have on all of the shows and movies that are available on Netflix. Other times, when intoxicated by past success, Max will get a little cocky and offer a suggestion right away, no questions required. The catch…this is a mystery suggestion and you’ll just have to press play and trust him.
The service is arriving first on Sony’s PlayStation, and Netflix says that Apple’s iPad is likely the next stop for Max. It is currently exclusive to customers in the United States. Video of Max in action is below:
Many readers are noticing today that new pricing tiers are showing up on some international App Stores. Most notably, people are discussing a new .99 euro price for European countries. It seems that Apple has created these new tiers (and it is unclear when these actually became available) to better align with the pricing structure in the United States. Prices below (thanks to everyone who sent this in):
The Wall Street Journal has issued a large report today that details several new hardware products that Google has in the pipeline. According to the report, Google’s latest hardware efforts are being developed in order to match rumored upcoming hardware offerings from Apple (like new entries into the TV and wearable computing spaces). Some future Google hardware, according to the report, includes:
Also in the cards is a next-generation of the Android OS that is designed to appeal to low-cost devices for emerging markets. As for Apple, the Cupertino-based company is shipping a redesigned iOS 7 this fall and is also rumored to be working on a lower-cost iPhone. The WSJ report also notes that this new version of Android could appear in new devices like notebook computers and home appliances such as refrigerators. Google is said to also be working on various other hardware, though this will be separate from the Google-owned Motorola Mobility.
The iPad app is very simple to use. From the start screen of the app, a user can input either their current location or another location where they want to travel, check-in/check-out dates, a number of rooms and guests, and tap a single button to immediately search for matching hotels.
We’ve been receiving several tips from users having issues accessing the iTunes Store. According to Apple’s online services status page, the iTunes Store (which also covers the App Store and iBookstore) is suffering from an outage that is affecting 20% of users. Twenty percent of all of Apple’s iTunes customers is obviously a fairly significant number of people. The outage began at around 8 PM Pacific time, according to Apple, and there is no indication as to when the issues will be resolved. A brief outage for some iCloud features occurred earlier today. Several tweets from users below:
One week following the first beta seed of OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5, Apple has released OS X 10.8.5 build 12F13 to developers. The new update includes no known issues and is available for developers via the Mac Developer Center and the Mac App Store Software Update function.
Today, Amazon has updated its popular shopping app for the iPad to work in China and Japan. Both of those countries are known as critical growth markets for the mobile shopping and technology industries, making today’s update notable. Additionally, the update brings a new “Shop by Department” mode and performance improvements for the iPhone and iPod touch Amazon app.
Today, Apple has finally launched a version of its official online store for customers in Russia. The online store is similar in style to Apple’s online stores in other countries. Customers in Russia are now able to order iPhones, iPads, iPods, Macs, accessories, and more directly from Apple to their homes. Apple is celebrating the launch by taking up Apple Russia’s homepage to announce the new store (image above)…
Apple has updated its iTunes U app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with the ability to check for course updates via a pull-to-refresh animation. In line with this tweak, Apple says that today’s update resolves an issue with updating course information. Importantly, today’s update also brings improved language support for Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. The update is free on the iTunes App Store.
Following up on this morning’s release of iOS 7 beta 2 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to developers, Apple has released the second Developer Preview of OS X 10.9 Mavericks. The new seed is available as a Software Update via the Mac App Store. The build number is 13A497d. This compares to Preview 1’s version number of 13A476u. As always, if you find something new, you can reach us at tips@9to5mac.com. Thanks, D!
We will update this post with changes tipped in.
Also available are fresh seeds of Xcode 5 and OS X Server. Below, we’ve compiled changes in the new Mavericks seed:
Two weeks following its 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple has seeded a second beta of the upcoming iOS 7 to developers. The new seed is available in iOS Settings via the Software Update section. It should arrive on Apple’s Developer Portal as a full download later today.
The new beta likely focuses on performance improvements and bug fixes as this is what Apple tends to focus on during major iOS release beta phases. Earlier today, we published an extensive look at changes between initial iOS release betas and the launched version. It is likely that iOS 7 will see multiple refinements between now and launch.
We will follow-up with any changes found in this new beta. As always, you can reach us at tips@9to5mac.com with anything you find.
iOS 7 includes an all-new user interface and features such as AirDrop peer-to-peer file transfer functionality, Control Center for quickly accessing settings, a new Photos app, integration with cars, and new Siri voices and options.
For the second time this year, Apple’s stock has dipped below $400 per share. The share price touched below $400 in April, after dropping hundreds of dollars per share from its all-time-high of over $700 in fall of 2012. This new drop follows Apple CEO Tim Cook adjusting his bonus compensation to better reflect Apple’s stock performance and several Apple executives cashing in on tens of thousands of shares. The NASDAQ, itself, is down nearly 2%, which likely plays into Apple’s drop today.
In addition to a likely improved processor and camera sensor, it appears that Apple’s next-generation iPhone will include a dual-LED Flash. In light of reports and part leaks pointing to this new feature, it is worth taking a look at how dual-LED flash parts compare to single LED flashes (as found on the current iPhone 5) in real-world use.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Facebook is developing a new tool that focuses on news consumption in order to re-shape its identity as a social network, like Twitter, that can compete in the news consumption space. The project, which is reportedly called “Reader,” would be a feature that runs on Apple’s iOS Devices such as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The WSJ shares some details on the project:
