iOS

With the Apple TV 4 developer kit in the hands of developers, select software makers are experimenting with different ways to take advantage of the iOS 9-based tvOS operating system. Developer Kevin Smith has created a MAME Emulator for the new Apple TV that is based on a similar port for iPhones and iPads. These special software kits allow users to run vintage video games on their modern devices, such as Frogger and Metal Gear Solid.

The video below shows some of these games in action. As MacRumors notes, the A8 chip in the new Apple TV is able to handle these simulated games fairly well. The developer explains on his YouTube channel how the emulator was developed:

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The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have new cameras on the front and rear as well as featuring the new Live Photos mode, a combination of photo and short 3 second video, which is enabled by default. The quality of both cameras has been considerably improved, beyond the raw increase to 12-megapixel back camera and 5 megapixel front camera.

However, there have been some reports of customers getting grainy, bad photos on the new iPhone 6s in low-light scenarios, despite Apple touting the new cameras’ improved low-light performance. Whilst its true that you will always get better-looking shots in well-lit environments, it turns out that having Live Photos enabled significantly impacts the photo quality in dark shots. Why?

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Following two weeks of preorders and the public launch on Friday, Apple today announced it has sold over 13 million iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in the first three days of availability.

The company had previously stated it was on pace to beat last year’s 10 million unit sales record and has cleanly done so, topping its previous record by 3 million units. Apple iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will be available in an additional 40 countries beginning October 9th. It is worth noting, however, that China was not part of the initial rollout for iPhone 6, distorting the comparison somewhat.

Tim Cook, Apple CEO, says iPhone 6s sales are ‘phenomenal’ …

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If you ever use your iPhone on poor-quality WiFi networks, you may want to check your mobile data usage. As Quartz noted, a new feature introduced with iOS 9 is leading some people to see dramatic increases in their mobile data usage.

Wi-Fi Assist means that iOS recognizes slow WiFi and supplements it with mobile data. Great for ensuring your browsing experience doesn’t suffer, but it can come at a cost, with some users reporting that their iPhone is now using literally gigabytes more mobile data since upgrading. Unless you have unlimited data, that can get expensive.

Wi-Fi Assist is on by default, and rather hidden away in Settings, so here’s how to switch it off … 
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If you haven’t heard, Apple’s iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are finally here, but should you upgrade? Well today we’re comparing the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus…

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Apple’s iPhone 6s is finally here and it comes along with a new feature that you may not be familiar with. Today we’re checking out the best 3D Touch features. Some of you are probably thinking, how is this any different from a long press, right? Well its uses may not be very different at the moment, but the technology that makes this possible is a very different thing.

3D Touch will sense the amount of pressure your finger applies to the screen and trigger various actions. So instead of a short press or a long press, 3D Touch enables a soft press and a hard press. So you can “tap” on the display, but then you can go even further (quite literally) and press into the display at multiple levels. Once you’ve reached the amount of pressure to trigger an event, the iPhone will provide slight haptic feedback to let you know. So what can 3D Touch actually do?

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Ben’s six hours ahead of me in the UK and had fallen in love with his iPhone 6s before I rolled out of bed, but UPS held my iPhone 6s Plus as requested so I was able to pick it up and spend the morning trying it out before the usual evening delivery. 3D Touch, Live Photos, 4K video, 60 fps 1080p video, faster hardware… it’s all great, but moving from the 4.7-inch screen to the 5.5-inch screen is the real reason I upgraded.

I moved from 2-year commitments to AT&T Next last year so the upgrade process was mostly painless. I would have used Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Plan if it weren’t for the need to complete the process at the Apple Store; that’s a 90 minute drive compared to the UPS center 10 minutes away, but maybe next year they’ll support web orders.

That being said, the move from an iPhone 6 to an iPhone 6s Plus is a dramatic one even before you consider the new features and enhancements. I also opted for space gray after trying gold for a year; my wife naturally picked rose gold while making the same switch from iPhone 6 to iPhone 6s Plus. So what’s changed year over year for iPhone and how does that new finish look in the real world? Read on for answers…
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The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus launch today, with a pressure sensitive 3D Touch screen being touted as one of the phone’s flagship new features. Apps can take advantage of 3D Touch in many ways, such as using firm presses to reveal quick actions on the Home screen or use Peek and Pop metaphors to quickly preview content from within the UI.

Naturally, Apple has added 3D Touch features to its own apps. Try firmly pressing on a link from within Safari, or quickly call one of your Favorites by using the Phone app’s 3D Touch quick actions. You can even force press on the keyboard to enable trackpad cursor input. However, as is true in most cases, the most interesting innovations come from the third-party App Store community.

We’ve compiled a list of the best third-party apps that have updated to include 3D Touch features, so you can try them out on your brand new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus …

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Apple has announced that one of iOS 9’s big new features, App Thinning (or “app slicing”), has been delayed due to an issue with iOS 9. App Thinning was announced at WWDC as a way to help trim down the size of large applications by letting developers mark assets for each specific type of device. When users download the app, the App Store will determine which device they have and only require them to download the assets necessary to run on their device.

While TestFlight has supported the feature for a few weeks, Apple says the public version of iOS 9 will not support it until a later update due to a problem with the way iCloud handles backups.

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Google today announced that it’s bringing its Google Keep note taking app to iPhone and iPad for the first time after originally releasing only for web and Android users a couple years back.
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With no users reporting crippling issues on the developer version released yesterday, Apple has pushed out a second public beta of iOS 9.1 to users running the pre-release OS. The software update includes the new emojis from the first beta, and a new setting introduced in this build that allows users to disable contact photos in Messages.

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Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel both launched earlier this year to mixed reviews, and now the company behind two of the most-funded Kickstarter projects ever is at it again. Today, Pebble is launching the Pebble Time Round, its first circular smartwatch…
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Apple has pushed out an iOS update to address issues users have experienced with the Setup Assistant app getting stuck on “Slide to Upgrade.” The 9.0.1 update also fixes a problem with alarms and timers failing to play, and setting up a cutom APN could disable cellular connections. There’s also a fix for Safari and Photos could distort a video if it was paused during playback.

iOS 9.0.1 is available from the Software Update section of the Settings app. Apple also released new betas of iOS 9.1 and tvOS today.

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Apple today released the second beta version of the upcoming iOS 9.1 software update to developers. The update includes stability fixes and performance enhancements for the recent iOS 9 release, which left many users stuck with problems using their phones.

The update also includes a variety of brand-new emoji characters.

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Pixelmator today released the latest version of its photo editor for iPhone and iPad, Pixelmator version 2.1. The update brings full support for iPad iOS 9 multitasking, the ability to import and edit 8K resolution images, Open-In-Place document management across iOS and more.

As part of general improvements for iOS 9, such as adoption of Apple’s new system font (San Francisco) in the UI, the primary change is the addition of the iPad multitasking support. This means Pixelmator can now be docked to the side of the screen using Slide Over. On more recent iPads, you can also pop Pixelmator into Split View for true 2-app side-by-side multitasking.

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