iOS

Ever since the iPad Pro came out, it seemed like an obvious third-party accessory would be a case that could also hold a Pencil. However, six months on, the number of iPad Pro cases with good Apple Pencil compatibility is still pretty small. You are by no means spoilt for choice if you are looking to buy an iPad Pro case with Apple Pencil holder.

The Dux ($59.95) is a solid attempt at such a case, a lightweight 12.9-inch iPad enclosure providing some protection against drops and bangs, with an Apple Pencil holster on the side. Its simplicity is refreshing, but that brings with it some shortcomings. Read on for my review.

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The iPhone 7, expected to debut later this year, is not believed to be a major design overhaul from the iPhone 6s, but that doesn’t mean it won’t include some substantial exterior changes, at least according to one sketchy Chinese rumor site. The reports indicate that the iPhone 7 could feature a digital touch-sensitive Home button, essentially making the iPhone front completely flush, replacing the current physical clicky hardware button. This would help make the iPhone 7 completely waterproof and dustproof, via Storm …

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Over the weekend, Bloomberg posted an exclusive report of Pegatron’s iPhone plant in China. Although Foxconn is Apple’s primary assembler, Apple has moved more of its iPhone assembly contracts to Pegatron in recent years to diversify its supply chain.

The Bloomberg report describes how the factory is managing its workforce, tracking hours via automated systems, and tackling labor issues like overtime. This is the first time Pegatron has allowed official press to photograph the insides of the factory, where 50,000 people work on the floor.

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Initially billed as an exclusive to Tidal, Beyonce’s new Lemonade album is now available to buy on iTunes. Jay-Z’s streaming music service had been touting itself as an exclusive location to listen to Beyonce’s latest album. While Tidal maintains exclusive streaming rights, the album is now being freely sold for download elsewhere.

Tidal has attempted similar stunts in the past, with Kanye West famously stating his album ‘The Life of Pablo’ would never be on Apple Music and would be exclusive to Tidal. However, a track from the album soon showed up on Apple’s services a few weeks later. There is currently a class action lawsuit forming around the false claims of exclusivity.

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Although slowing iPhone growth began to impact Apple’s bottom line numbers in the last quarter of the year, the company dominated Silicon Valley in 2015 as far as finances are concerned. In a survey of public tech companies in the Valley, total profit was $133 billion. Apple, alone, recorded profit of $53.7 billion dollars, responsible for 40% of the entire profit pool. The data was collected by SiliconValley.com.

Apple also ranked no. 1 by far in revenue, taking $234 billion in sales. Trailing far behind, the next closest was Alphabet (Google), at $74 billion …

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In this week’s top stories, the iPhone rumor mill was in full effect as reports surfaced claiming Apple could introduce an new all glass design for a next-generation device. That news was accompanied by Apple’s 12-inch MacBook refresh, an official announcement for WWDC, and the latest Apple Car news. Head below for the quick links to all of this week’s top stories and much more:

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Apple has announced that it is ending support for the original watchOS SDK and original Apple Watch 1.0 apps, which required a phone to even open. From June 1st, Apple will require developers of new Apple Watch apps to use the native SDK, which came with watchOS 2. The requirement was posted on the Apple Developer news page last night.

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After reading Zac’s opinion piece on how the iPhone SE could actually tempt him not to upgrade to the iPhone 7, I realized that I hadn’t even begun to think what Apple could do to get me to want to upgrade to an iPhone 7. Overall I’ve been happy with the iPhone since its iPhone 5 iteration. It was the device I felt Apple really hit its stride with the hardware. I only upgraded to an iPhone 6 because I wanted a better camera and needed more storage space, but the larger form factor was a serious drawback for me. So what could possibly make me even want to upgrade from my current iPhone 6 to another phone later this year?

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I love the concept of streaming music around the home. There are a lot of great wireless Bluetooth speakers for wireless music on the move, but it’s still unclear what to choose for a static home environment. Apple’s answer is AirPlay, but it has flaws: no multi-room support from iOS devices, limited adoption by speaker manufacturers, and spotty reliability at best.

I’ve been trying an AirPlay alternative, called Play-Fi, which is a competing industry technology for home Wi-Fi music streaming from DTS. Specifically, I tested the Definitive W7 wireless speaker which integrates Play-Fi. Read on for my review  ….

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Apple has cut the price of its iPhone lineup in Japan including the brand-new iPhone SE, by approximately 10% across the board. The price drop can be seen online on Apple’s Japanese storefront, via Macotakara.

A 16 GB iPhone SE was selling for 52800 yen (483 dollars). The new price from today is 47800 yen (437), representing an approximate $50 saving in dollar terms. Full list of price changes after the jump …

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An update to the Snapchat app today expands on the popular Face Swap feature in a big way. You can now use the face swap effect with pictures taken or downloaded into your Camera Roll. Until now, two people had to be side-by-side in the same photo to Face Swap.

Now, anyone can face swap with any face detected in their iPhone photo library. This opens up some new ‘creative opportunities’, as pictured above, as the face does not have to be in the real world.

Here’s how to activate the new Snapchat feature …

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In an interview with the BBC on national British radio, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said that he believes Apple should pay 50% tax, along with all other companies. He said he doesn’t like the distinction of different rules between corporations and individuals.

Today, although Apple has never been found to evade tax or conduct illegal practices, it does not pay at top-rate tax, using a variety of financial engineering schemes to redirect profits elsewhere, such as Ireland, with significantly lower tax requirements.

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Apple has just released the latest public builds of its iOS 9.3.2 and OS X 10.11.5 updates out to beta testers. Both platforms saw developer builds released yesterday, with small bug fixes noted in the release notes. Most interesting to note is that Apple once again has allowed a combination of Low Power Mode and Night Shift to be enabled simultaneously on iOS devices.

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Although Apple usually updates its iOS adoption statistics on a fortnightly basis, the company had strangely stopped updating its iOS chart last month. As iOS 9 growth appeared to have stalled, perhaps the numbers simply didn’t change significantly in that time. However, this week Apple has updated the chart with a significant jump, now reporting iOS 9 was seen on 84% of active devices as of April 18th. With iOS 10 set to be announced in June (and internal testing gradually ramping — see below), it appears iOS 9 will end up peaking around the 90% adoption mark in line with previous versions.

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The Information is reporting that Apple’s efforts to build out its own cloud infrastructure are being held back by company politics. Apple wants to overhaul its cloud services backends to rely on new technologies built in-house but is facing several roadblocks, attributable in part to power struggle between the Siri group and another group handling other Apple services like iMessage and iTunes.

According to The Information, one engineering manager has already resigned with more likely to follow.

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Siri for Mac with OS X 10.12, iTunes and App Store redesigns, improved iCloud encryption, and original programming for the Apple TV. These are just a few of the projects Apple has reportedly been working on and they are also likely candidates for stage time at its upcoming WWDC press event and developer conference. Add in the last of the Macs that are due for updates and the usual dose of new developer tools, and we already have a lot to look forward to at WWDC slated for June 13-17.

Below we take a look at the latest rumors and reports for all of the expected product updates and new features in the cards for the event.

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In this episode, Benjamin and Jeff talk about the newly announced MacBooks, speculate on future MacBooks and iPhone redesigns, as well as the WWDC announcement and early expectations for Apple’s upcoming software announcements for iOS 10, OS X 10.12 (macOS?), watchOS and tvOS. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed.

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For both Google and Apple, the operations on their virtual stores are hugely important, as they account for millions of dollars. However, there has historically been a disparity between the number of downloaded applications and the actual money generated by them, a trend that seems to have peaked in the first quarter of this year.

According to App Annie‘s Index Market for Q1 of 2016, in fact, Google’s Play Store saw a number of downloads that roughly doubles that of the iOS App Store, which in turns represents the platform with the highest profitability, with over 90% more revenue generated over its counterpart…

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