iOS

There’s a new iOS 9.2.1 update within the Settings app awaiting all iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users today. Apple released the first developer beta version of the software update in mid-December after shipping iOS 9.2 earlier in the month. The second iOS 9.2 beta was later released at the start of January. Apple has since started testing iOS 9.3 with developers and public beta testers.

As the version number suggests, iOS 9.2.1 so far hasn’t included any major feature changes or enhancements, and the official release notes only reference bug fixes, security improvements, and an MDM server issue fix.

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My cheap headphone jack-less iPhone mockup

It’s been widely reported that the iPhone 7 is destined to ditch the dated headphone jack in favor of wireless audio solutions and a Lightning adapter for wired headphones and speakers, and now internal iOS software code seems to all but confirm the rumor. Jailbreaker @kyoufujibaya claims to have discovered a reference to ‘Headphones.have.%sinput.NO.’ within the latest iOS 9.3 beta 1.1 software release, which would appear to be related to the transition from 3.5 mm headphones to alternative solutions on iPhones. The same jailbreaker also has another interesting discovery based on the iPhone’s codebase …

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Apple continues to talk high praise of Apple Music, most recently leaking that the service has 10 million paying subscribers, but it has remained somewhat quiet about its Beats 1 online 24/7 radio station. Beats 1 launched to much fanfare with Zane Lowe leading the effort, and while it seems to be doing decently, it isn’t a sensation in the music business yet. It’s especially timely to talk about Beats 1 now that Apple has retired the iTunes Radio ad-supported stations, leaving Beats 1 as the only way to get free streaming music from Apple. I’m intrigued by the uptake of the station — there’s a poll to find out how often you tune in below the break — as it seems Beats 1 has an awareness issue.

I tend to like the music that is played but I just forget to tune in. I think Beats 1 is good but Apple needs to support it better within iOS and iTunes to make it stickier. Here are some suggestions …

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Recent software updates have really turned me on to the new Apple TV by adding features previously available on the last generation set-top box. The new Apple TV has redesigned apps and a whole App Store for finding new channels and games, a new Siri Remote with voice search that pulls in content from a handful of services, and there’s the full Apple Music experience too. The tvOS 9.1 update added Siri search for Apple Music ahead of schedule and brought support for Apple’s Remote app on iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches. The upcoming tvOS 9.2 update goes even further by bringing over an updated Podcasts app and adding app folders and a refreshed app switcher user interface. But there’s still just one more piece of low-hanging fruit left for the Apple TV to grab …

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The Super Bowl kicks off on February 7th at Levi’s Stadium, in close vicinity to the headquarters of major tech firms including Apple. Usually, the Super Bowl is funded by local government sponsorships. This year, tech companies are (at least partially) footing the bill. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has contributed free products and equipment to the host committee and has explicitly declined any company or product marketing in exchange. Apple joins other tech companies like Alphabet, Yahoo, Seagate and HP in funding the proceedings — the Super Bowl committee has raised about $50 million in total from these firms.

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Apple has finally managed to secure a sales ban over some Samsung phone features that infringe on its patents and intellectual property. However, the victory is effectively meaningless despite the milestone in its continuing patent litigation suit with Samsung in ever-longer court battles.

Apple’s ban resides over three features encumbered by its patents: the controversial ‘slide to unlock’ patent, predictive text technology and autocorrect. Getting a ban is a huge symbolic achievement, but the effect it will have on day-to-day business of the two companies is minor. The ban is effectively useless as FOSS Patents explains …

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Over the weekend, Apple posted its latest EEO-1 statement: the Equal Employment Opportunity form follows government regulations to note diversity of Apple’s employee base (via AppleInsider). The newly-released 2015 statement shows that 30 percent of Apple’s employees in the United States are female, a rise of 1% over the numbers posted in the 2014 statement. Black and Hispanic employees make up 8.6 percent and 11.7 percent of the workforce, respectively.

At an executive level, Apple continues to be heavily stacked towards white men. The report says that Apple’s senior officials, executives and managers are 83 percent are male, and 83 percent are white.

That being said, it’s worth noting that Apple refutes the EEO-1 process. It says that the federally-enforced survey is outdated and does not reflect reality. The company’s own numbers paint itself in a much better light, claiming >50% growth in employment of black, Hispanic and female hires.

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CBC News is reporting that Apple would not disclose Apple ID passwords to a widow after presenting her late husband’s death certificates and her will. Instead, Apple demanded Peggy Bush, 72, to attain a court order in order to gain access to the account. See the video after the jump for the full story.

Initially, Apple said that a death certificate would suffice but the company changed its mind on followup calls, making this situation even more frustrating for Bush. She just wanted to play her iPad freemium card game in peace. Law regarding digital assets after death is murky, although Bush points out that death certificates enabled her to transfer pensions and benefits, making it seem ridiculous that Apple would also not cooperate with the same information.

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According to a new investigation performed by Amnesty International, Apple is one of several technology companies using cobalt mined by child labor in their lithium-ion batteries. The report claims that Apple, Sony, Samsung, and Microsoft are all using the cobalt mined by child labor, as are electric car makes like Volkswagen and Daimler.

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Apple has notified developers that App Store prices in Canada, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore and South Africa are increasing. Customers in these regions will see prices for apps and in-app purchases rise within the next 72 hours. If you have a renewing subscription, Apple will notify you with an email about the price change ahead of the next subscription payment, although customers in Russia and South Africa will have to resubscribe manually.

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Apple released the new Apple TV in the fall. Despite the clunkier fatter physical appearance, the new Apple TV 4 features better performance, a cool new Siri Remote touchpad and an App Store. The App Store unlocks unlimited potential for the Apple TV as a content platform: rather than waiting for content deals between Apple and the networks, TV channels can release their own apps as they please. When the new Apple TV was announced, Tim Cook said the ‘future of TV is apps’. It is true this is a substantial improvement over the previous-generation Apple TV in terms of content (for UK residents like me, addition of BBC iPlayer is a huge win) however there are big user-experience issues with the app model that current Apple TV software does not address …

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Today, WhatsApp has announced a pretty major shift in its business model. The popular chat client is going completely free. Facebook-owned WhatsApp used to run on a trial model: users could use the app for free for a year. Subsequent years would cost $0.99 cents each. The paid model notably made WhatsApp stand out from the crowd, as almost every other social networking is free to use from the customer perspective. Although WhatsApp will stop charging customers from today, it will take a few weeks for the payment UI in apps to go away as app updates roll out to the store.

WhatsApp says although a 0.99 cent charge is not onerous, it prevented growth as a lot of customers do not have access to credit cards. This is its major motivation for taking out the annual revenue model. Naturally, users of WhatsApp will wonder how the application plans to monetize going forward ….

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For nearly half a decade, teams of hackers and programmers have worked tirelessly to crack Apple’s iOS software code in order to inject new features, themes, and applications. Now, a team led by noted former jailbreak developers Will Strafach, otherwise known as “Chronic”, and Joshua Hill, known as P0sixninja, is working to secure Apple’s mobile platform. The duo, along with a list of unnamed former jailbreak developers, has been working on a new comprehensive platform to secure iOS devices for both enterprises and consumers. Strafach provided us with a preview of the platform known as “Apollo,” the first security product from his new company Sudo Security Group.

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In an email circulating to customers, Apple has announced that the ad-supported iTunes Radio stations available in the US and Australia are going away on January 29th. Beats 1 will be the ‘premiere free broadcast’ going forward. All other radio station features, i.e. the algorithmic stations like Charting Now or Pop Workout, will require an active Apple Music subscription.

The full email is included below …

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I’ve been all in on iCloud Photo Library since Apple replaced iPhoto with the new Photos app on the Mac last year and I haven’t looked back since. I pay $2.99/month to sync my 13,206 photos and 1,087 videos (plus iOS device backups) with iCloud, and this allows me to take or save photos and videos from any device and have them appear across the others including the web, edits, albums, and all. I even have a system to help ensure to if something in the cloud gets hosed that everything will be fine at home (and if the house burns down hopefully the cloud is still there).

This also enables me to access my 155 GB photos library in the Photos apps on iPhones and iPads that otherwise couldn’t fit that much content. Thumbnail previews are available at all times, and full resolution versions download on the fly as needed. When you’re iPhone, iPad, or Mac needs more local storage, Photos can remove full-res images and downloaded videos to make more space using an optimize storage option. This works pretty well especially on higher capacity devices, but there’s one problem…

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Apple earlier this week introduced the first beta of iOS 9.3 and included in it is a new feature called Night Shift. Night Shift uses your iOS device’s location and clock to automatically adjust the colors in your display, making them warmer and easier on the eyes at nighttime, which ideally would allow you to sleep better. When Apple announced this feature, people immediately noticed the similarity to the popular third-party app Flux, which was only briefly available for iOS last year before Apple shut it down. Now, the developers behind Flux have come out and offered a comment on Apple’s new Night Shift feature…

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The public beta version of iOS 9.3 for non-developer testers is now available. The first iOS 9.3 beta was first released earlier this week to registered developers and includes a number of new mid-cycle features and enhancements. These include secure passwords and Touch ID protection for Notes, a new Night Shift feature to adjust display temperate in the evening, and expanded 3D Touch quick actions on the latest iPhones. iOS 9.3 Beta 1.1 is also available for registered developers.

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December is always one of Apple’s biggest months of the year thanks to the influx of new devices people receive as gifts during the holiday season. The company often reports its highest device sales during this month, and as you can figure, the more people who are using iOS devices, the more people who are downloading apps from the App Store. App Store analytics company Sensor Tower has today shared its figures for the month of December 2015, and it was another record-setting month for Apple. Sensor Tower says that revenue for games in the App Store during December was nearly $1 billion.

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A new bill proposed in New York could see that all phone manufacturers be required to implement a way for law enforcement agencies to access and decrypt user devices. This bill is somewhat similar to the Investigatory Powers Bill currently being debated in the UK, which Apple has voiced its opposition towards. Apple and Tim Cook have repeatedly stated that government agencies should not have any access to user devices or data, whether be through a built-in backdoor or other means.

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Apple has released new betas across the board for all things. Today, we’ll discuss what new features come along with them and how they may impact your usage, new details about the rumored 4-inch iPhone and upcoming iPhone 7, plus much more.

The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed.

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