Apple has released the second beta version of iOS 9.2 to users running the iOS public beta. The pre-release software was pushed out to developers yesterday alongside new versions of OS X, Xcode, and tvOS.
In this new beta, users will find the ability to take advantage of AT&T’s NumberSync offering, which allows other devices such as a Mac or iPad to make and receive phone calls using a customer’s iPhone number without actually being connected to the phone.
These days, there are so many good TV shows on that it’s difficult to pick just one or two favorites, and on-demand streaming makes it even easier to watch your favorite shows on your own schedule, so it’s no surprise that some people have a hard time keeping track of which shows they’re behind on.
For many, the solution has come in the form of apps that take all of the work out of remembering when your favorite shows air and help you track which episodes you’ve seen or missed. Sometimes, however, these apps can be as complicated as the TV schedule you’re trying to track.
Today, a new app in that category called Cold Open has launched. It was created by a team of developers and designers known in the iOS and jailbreaking communities for their work on a variety of projects, and it’s one of the simplest TV apps yet, making it ridiculously easy to keep track of your watching habits.
Apple has built support for AT&T’s NumberSync technology into iOS 9.2 beta 2, which was released to developers earlier today. Currently Apple’s Continuity feature allows users to use their Mac, iPad, or iPod touch to make phone calls as long as the computer (or other iOS device) is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as their iPhone.
The software upgrade will allow users to enable Wi-Fi calling on all of those devices and make and receive calls without the need to be on the same network, or even in the same area.
Below you’ll find steps to setup and start using the feature now.
When Apple released iOS 9.1 last month, it closed an exploit that was used in the development of the most recent jailbreak software. As with every new iOS release, users were forced to choose whether they wanted to upgrade to the latest version of the operating system or stay on a slightly outdated version in order to preserve their jailbreak.
While that hasn’t changed today, a new bit of information from Zerodium has revealed that it is possible to jailbreak iOS 9.1—and the new iOS 9.2 beta—without even needing to plug it into a computer.
[tweet https://twitter.com/Zerodium/status/661240316331069443 align=’center’]
Browser-based jailbreaks have been a thing of the past for several years now, but Zerodium says it has awarded a $1 million bounty to one team of developers who managed to put together a new hack for modern iOS versions. Unfortunately, it’s not expected that users will ever benefit from this specific discovery. Zeroidum is in the business of buying exploits, not releasing jailbreaks, and after spending $1 million on this one, it’s not likely they’d release it to the public.
So while the developers who discovered this particular trick probably won’t be pushing out a 9.1 jailbreak anytime soon, users can at least rest assured that it is possible to create a JailbreakMe.com-style jailbreak for today’s software. Whether anyone will put this type of exploit to use is yet to be seen.
Sprint today announced a new agreement with the Telecommunications Company of Cuba that will allow the fourth-largest US carrier’s subscribers to roam in Cuba. The move comes on the heels of changes to US-Cuban relations recently implemented by the US government.
The Sprint press release (below) mentions two of the company’s global roaming initiatives, but doesn’t specify whether Cuba will join the existing programs or will be part of a different offer.
The company says the exact details and the timing of the launch will be announced at a later date.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Nov. 2, 2015 – Sprint (NYSE: S) today became the first U.S. wireless carrier to sign a direct roaming agreement with Telecommunications Company of Cuba (ETECSA).
“As the commercial relationship between the U.S. and Cuba continues to progress, it is expected that the number of travelers to Cuba will increase exponentially,” said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure. “We want to make sure any Sprint customer traveling to Cuba can use their phone the same way as they do in the United States.”
Claure made the announcement at a signing ceremony in Havana as part of the U.S.-Cuba Business Council (USCBC) delegation to Cuba.
As the only U.S. carrier with a direct roaming agreement and a direct long-distance interconnection agreement with Cuban provider ETECSA, Sprint is leading the way for U.S.-Cuba telecommunications.
More than 3 million people from around the world are expected to visit Cuba this year. Within 10 years, that number is projected to grow to more than 5 million.
The USCBC, an advocacy organization housed at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is a formal commitment by the American business community to build a strong and strategic commercial relationship between Cuba and the United States.
Earlier this year, Sprint launched Sprint Global Roaming and in August launched Sprint Open World, an industry-leading plan for connectivity in Canada, Mexico and most other countries across Latin America. The agreement signed today with ETECSA makes it much more convenient for Sprint customers who plan to work, study or visit family in Cuba. Offer details and timing of availability will be announced soon.
Apple has published a new app for controlling and managing its Beats Pill+ speaker. Notably, this cross-platform release is the second Android app the company has released, following up on the Move to iOS app.
The first Apple TV shipments have started rolling out to customers in preparation for the device’s launch later this week. As seen in the screenshot above, users are now seeing their shipment statuses updated on Apple’s website.
At the same time, Apple has now enabled users with pre-release hardware to search for and find tvOS apps, though the platform’s dedicated App Store has yet to officially launch…
Update: Apple has also today released the first OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan beta build to public beta testers. This build follows the public launch of OS X 10.11.1 last week. You can sign up to join the public beta program on Apple’s beta testing website
Following this week’s release to developers, Apple has seeded the first version of iOS 9.2 to public beta testers. The update brings some important changes to the Safari View Controller, which serves as the in-app browser for many apps in iOS 9.
Those changes include the ability to reload a page without content blockers and the option to use any type of Safari extension (previously certain kinds of extensions would not be offered in the share sheet).
Apple has created a new screensaver for the fourth-gen Apple TV that consists of a collection of videos taken all over the world. While it’s possible to locate these screensaver videos online and download them from Apple’s website, there hasn’t been a way to set them as your Mac’s screensaver.
Thanks to developer John Coates, that’s not the case anymore. Coates published a Mac screensaver this week that lets you choose to run any of these videos when your Mac has been idle.
New screenshots of what is reportedly the beta version of Apple Music for Android have been published, providing what may be a first look at Apple’s first second foray into app development on Google’s competing mobile platform.
The screenshots, included below, show most of the features users would expect, such as Beats 1 availability and the “For Me” recommendations page. Apple Music Connect, the social network for musicians built into the service, is also included.
With yesterday’s release of iOS 9.1, Apple has finally pushed out the last bit of iPhone and iPad software that it was publicly testing. With that out of the way, the company has internally shifted its focus to the next mobile OS release on its roadmap: iOS 9.2.
As seen in the chart below, 9to5Mac has recently seen a significant uptick in the number of readers running iOS 9.2, indicating that the software has moved into wider testing among more Apple employees.
Apple has published the first update to OS X El Capitan since it launched last month. The update introduces a collection of new emojis and fixes many bugs, including problems with Microsoft Office, Mail, and Audio Unit plugins.
Valve has announced in an email to customers that its new hardware accessories, the Steam Controller and the Steam Link are not yet fully compatible with OS X. The hardware, which was marketed as cross-platform ready, started arriving in customers’ hands this week.
The company says software issues are at the heart of the delay, and it will be pushing out firmware updates to enable support very soon. In the case of the Steam Controller, users can already start using the gamepad on their Macs by switching to the beta version of the Steam client in the app’s preferences.
In order to make up for this problem, Valve has gifted every single affected pre-order customer with the Valve Complete Pack, which includes every game the company has ever made, or will make in the future. Buyers who still want to get a refund on their hardware are able to do so.
Two Apple Stores in New York and San Francisco have gained a new promotional tool to help sell the iPhone 6s. Shoppers visiting these Apple Stores will find a new kind of table with a large display across the surface that’s used for showing off the iPhone 6s.
As you can see in the video below, the table displays a water animation that responds to the 3D Touch sensors on the iPhone demos. When a user force presses the wallpaper to trigger the fish animation, the “water” beneath the phone ripples.
Apple News, a news reading app introduced in iOS 9 that replaces Newsstand, is only available in the United States for now, and even explicitly blocked in some areas, though the UK may be getting access very soon. However, a new jailbreak tweak enables readers to use the app from anywhere in the world now without waiting or changing regions.
With the debut of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus last month, Apple introduced several new features that are exclusive to the latest iPhone hardware. However, as in previous years, the recent release of a jailbreak for iOS 9 has allowed some of these features to be activated on older devices without requiring a new iPhone.
While you won’t be able to get things like the increased performance afforded by the A9 chip or the ability to record 4K video, you will be able to get a few strictly software-based features. Keep reading to learn how to enable 3D Touch shortcuts on your Home screen and Live Photos in the Camera app.
Apple today released a new OS X 10.11.1 beta build to developers and public testers, making it the fourth pre-release version of the upcoming software. The 10.11.1 update will bring bug fixes to the desktop operating system, along with a set of new emoji icons.
If you’re one of the many excited buyers chomping at the bit to get one of Apple’s latest-gen Retina iMacs, you might want to take a second to consider the specs on the new models. According to Apple’s website, the 1 TB Fusion Drives used in the new all-in-ones have seen a significant decrease in the amount of included flash storage.
How significant? The new drives ship with less than one-fifth of the previous flash storage.
With the recent revelation that Apple had (not unexpectedly) sourced the A9 processor in the iPhone 6s from two different suppliers came the discovery that the model manufactured by Samsung is 10% smaller than the one built by TSMC.
Along with the size difference comes a difference in the power efficiency of each model, with many reports indicating—and Apple eventually confirming—that phones with the Samsung chip will likely see 2-3% lower battery life.
Today Ars Technica has published its own findings based on the results of a set of battery tests on each processor, showing that the TSMC hardware outpaces Samsung’s in most test categories, but not all.
With Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs biopic set to hit theaters tomorrow, Universal Pictures has released what will likely be the final clip before the movie’s premiere. In the two-minute scene, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (played by Seth Rogen) questions Michael Fassbender’s Steve Jobs about his role in the computer industry.
Woz points out that Jobs has no engineering skill or experience and that most of his greatest accomplishments were built on the work of others, including Woz himself—yet Jobs seems to get most of the credit. Jobs goes on the defensive, positioning himself as the “conductor” of an engineering orchestra.
You can see the full scene below.
Less than a week after the release of OS X 10.11.1 beta 2, Apple has followed up with a new release that was pushed out to both developers and public beta testers at once. The 10.11.1 update will introduce bug fixes and a new collection of emoji icons.
Apple has pushed out the fourth beta version of the iOS 9.1 mobile OS update. The software is designed to fix bugs that appeared in the public build of 9.1 and introduce a few new features, like a larger emoji set and an option to disable contact photos in the Messages app.
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Tweetbot for Mac has been updated with several new features and fixes that bring parity with the recently-released update for its iOS counterpart. A few additional Mac-specific tweaks have been made to provide a better tweeting experience.
AT&T has called out two of its competitors, Sprint and T-Mobile, over their decision to offer Wi-Fi calling support on smartphones without first getting proper authorization from the Federal Communications Commission in a letter to that organization’s chairman.
According to AT&T, the FCC has been too slow in issuing a waiver that would allow the company to bypass certain requirements for hard-of-hearing users—a move that’s necessary for Wi-Fi calling to work.
