iOS

I’ve been interested in iBeacons — proximity-based wireless transmitters — ever since they were first announced by Apple alongside iOS 7 at WWDC in 2013. The idea of walking into a store, restaurant, or other public space and receiving (opt-in) wireless notifications based on proximity to a Bluetooth sensor struck me as a potentially compelling next step forward for both retailers and smartphone users. Even more exciting was the opportunity to receive incentives, such as coupons or free apps, just for being in proximity to the store. iBeacons have been added to Apple Stores, Macy’s, MLB baseball parks, and even bars, offering giveaways of free apps and magazines, as well as everything from locations of products to seating directions.

In a twist, iBeacons aren’t being sold directly by Apple. The name is being used across a variety of third-party products that meet an Apple specification, and sold by different companies throughout the world. When I heard that a European developer named Beaconic was dropping its prices on iBeacons to levels any small retailer could afford — around $107 for two “Power” beacons or $141 for four “Retail” beacons, each with an unlimited software license — I reached out to the company so I could see what the retailer and customer experience was like. Here’s what I learned…

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Apple has started a new big project in its web services division, according to The Information. The report claims Apple has decided to rewrite its cloud services to all fall under one single technology stack using open-source technologies. This will combine Apple’s services like iCloud, Siri, iTunes and more into a unified backend platform.

Apple has seemingly settled on Mesos, the backend infrastructure for Siri, as the core of its new platform which will take years to finish. Apple publicly revealed it had moved Siri to a Mesos stack earlier in the year.

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The simplistic view of tablets versus laptops has always been that the former are for consumption and the latter are for creation. Traditionally, laptops are more powerful, they offer greater storage, they have better keyboards, they run more capable software, they are better suited to multi-tasking … there have been plenty of reasons to choose one over a tablet. In the Apple world, to choose some kind of MacBook over an iPad.

But those reasons, like the Apple tech in question, grow slimmer each year. Sure, MacBooks are more powerful, but today’s iPads are no slouches – I’ve even done a little video editing on my iPad Air 2 – and the iPad Pro is almost twice as powerful. MacBooks do still offer more storage, but that’s less important in a world of cloud-based document storage and streaming media. The best add-on keyboards for iPads may not be quite up there with MacBook ones, but they are close – and most of the difference that does remain is due to size. OS X does offer more capable software than iOS, but there’s some pretty serious software on iOS these days. iOS 9 makes side-by-side multitasking something we can now do on an iPad as well as a MacBook. And with each release, Apple gets closer to parity between mobile and desktop as it integrates technologies from both operating systems across platforms.

So the gap between the two is far smaller than it used to be – and the iPad Pro is about the narrow the gap even more. Will the iPad Pro be the point at which an iPad becomes a viable alternative to a MacBook … ? 
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One of my absolute favorite Bluetooth speakers got a huge update today. The UE Boom 2 is an upgraded version of the iconic portable Bluetooth speaker from Logitech’s Ultimate Ears division. Originally released in 2013, the Boom set a new standard for Portable Bluetooth speakers with its “cupholder friendly” and colorful design, great acoustics, and iOS/Android apps.

In recent months UE has released a much bigger, more expensive MegaBoom and a much smaller, cheaper UE Roll. Both are waterproof and extremely rugged and if you’d had to have guessed, you’d be right in assuming the Boom would get these same features.

And it has. IPX 7 waterproofing means you can not only take it with you into the shower but you can drop the Boom 2 in the pool or bathtub without damage. It is also more powerful with a 100-foot wireless range, 15 hour battery life, and 25% louder and better sound than its predecessor. The UE Boom 2 also now includes a new tap control that allows you to start, pause and skip songs, without needing to have your phone in-hand.

I’ve been using the UE Boom 2 for the past week and I think this speaker is a big deal…
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9to5Mac has obtained details about Apple’s launch plans for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus on September 25th. Like previous years, Apple expects long lines for the new iPhone debut so has prepared a plan to help the process go smoothly …

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In a statement to CNBC, Apple says it is on pace to beat last year’s iPhone record with the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus for opening weekend sales. This means Apple should exceed the 10 million unit record it set last year with the iPhone 6. Apple says that online demand for the larger iPhone 6s Plus is ‘exceptionally strong’ with the initial stock of units sold out globally.

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Alongside Apple’s announcement of the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, it also released a new official Lightning Dock to sit the phones in. Unlike Apple’s previous version of this dock which was made entirely of plastic, these new docks are aluminum and color-matched to the Space Grey, Silver, Gold and Rose Gold finishes of the new iPhone 6s. YouTuber DetroitBORG has a full walkthrough video of all the new docks in action …

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Hamza Sood has cleverly used asset catalogs with the Xcode 7 GM to confirm the rumors around the iPhone 6s and iPad Pro RAM specifications. It confirms that the iPhone 6s has 2 GB of RAM, up from 1 GB in the iPhone 6, and the iPad Pro has 4 GB RAM, a 100% increase from the 2 GB in the iPad Air 2’s A8X chip.

[tweet https://twitter.com/hamzasood/status/643092816315445248 align=’center’]

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The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are now available to preorder from Apple’s Online Store and participating carriers in the twelve launch countries, priced from $199 through $499 on a typical 2 year contract. Last year, Apple sold ten million phones in opening weekend numbers and analysts expect similar results this time. Until the phones go out of stock, preorders made today should deliver on the 25th September when the phones officially go on sale. There haven’t been any rumors of limited stock availability but we’ll keep you posted …

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Update: Apple has now informed developers that they can submit iOS 9, El Capitan and watchOS 2 apps to the App Store.

Three days later than the normal schedule, Apple is finally letting developers submit iOS 9 apps for review. Apple usually enables submission for apps built against the new SDK as soon as the Xcode GM is published but for unknown reasons, this milestone was delayed.

Although there hasn’t been an official announcement, developers are now successfully uploading binaries through iTunes Connect and are ‘Waiting For Review’. Apple’s review team will now be working double-speed to get the influx of submissions ready for iOS 9’s launch on Wednesday.

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While Apple hasn’t detailed the changes publicly, the company is planning what appears to be a major, undocumented overhaul of its AirPlay protocol with iOS 9 that should make the framework for streaming video and audio content between devices a much smoother experience for both users and developers. It is, however, breaking many screen mirroring apps in the process and forcing developers to scramble to implement workarounds ahead of the launch of iOS 9 on Wednesday and the new Apple TV in the coming weeks.

Perhaps the best example of these apps is Reflector from developer Squirrels. The app utilizes AirPlay to allow cross platform wireless mirroring from mobile devices to Macs, PCs, and other devices with the app installed. The developer first brought the change to our attention and warns that developers will have to follow in its footsteps to implement a workaround that will allow screen mirroring apps to continue functioning after iOS 9 is released… 
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Preorders for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus start tomorrow 12:01 AM PT with general availability from September 25th, so its time to decide what size, color and storage capacity you will be buying for this iPhone generation. The iPhone 6s features 3D Touch pressure sensitivity, an upgraded 12 megapixel camera, 4K video recording, Live Photos, a faster A9 chip, improved Touch ID and more. Like last year, the difference between the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus is the larger screen (5.5 inch versus 4.7 inch) and the inclusion of optical image stabilization on the larger model.

The iPhone 6s costs $199 for 16 GB, 64 GB for $299 and 128 GB for $399 on contract, with the iPhone 6s Plus $100 more at each level. New for this year is a rose gold option, so that’s another choice to consider alongside silver, space gray and gold. With that in mind, what iPhone are you planning on buying? Let us know with the following polls ….

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The iOS 9 GM includes a new feature for Siri to help it better recognize your voice when using the automatic ‘Hey Siri’ activation feature. On all current iPhones, you can activate Siri by saying ‘Hey Siri’ when the device is plugged in to power. On the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, the ‘Hey Siri’ activation feature works all the time, plugged in or not, thanks to new dedicated components inside the latest iPhones meaning it can be ‘always on’.

This makes the addition of voice training particularly relevant. In previous OS versions, Hey Siri would just work if you toggled a switch in Settings. With the GM, the OS now prompts you to go through a few training exercises before the feature will be enabled. Some readers have claimed that this feature is like Voice ID, so that Hey Siri function will only respond when the true owner of the phone speaks to it. Whilst this would be a nice feature, we cannot reproduce this and believe it is only meant to improve general detection accuracy.

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One of the novel features Apple added to the iPhone 6s to distinguish it from its predecessor was Live Photos, where every photo you take is effectively a very brief video, capturing the movement and sound as the photo was taken. The feature is unique to the 6s as it’s activated by a 3D Touch. Today, we’ve learned a little more about the simple yet clever technology behind it.

As you may already know, existing iPhones start taking photos the moment you open the app. This is how Apple provides the camera with the ability to take photos instantly, with none of the delay (‘shutter lag’) you see with some digital cameras. The camera has already taken and temporarily stored a whole bunch of photos, and it simply keeps the last one taken as you press the button and discards the rest … 
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In a new interview posted in the Wall Street Journal, Apple’s Jony Ive and Hermes’ artistic director Pierre-Alexis Dumas discuss Apple’s first partnership with a luxury fashion brand to create branded Apple Watch models. To recap, on Wednesday, Apple announced Apple Watch Hermes, a collection of watches code signed with the renowned Paris designer. The watches will be available in October.

Ive says the partnership is unprecedented and began before the Apple Watch was even announced to the public, breaking traditional Apple secrecy.

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Apple Pay in the UK is slowly rounding up all the major banks and getting them onboard. Following the addition of HSBC and First Direct last month, Halifax and Lloyds customers can now use Apple Pay from today. The service is still rolling out so if your cards don’t activate immediately don’t fret. Check again in a few hours.

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Well-known iOS hacker “iH8snow” published a new YouTube video last night showing off the first untethered jailbreak for the as-of-yet-unreleased iOS 9. The modified iPhone 5 is running the GM build of the software, which will be released to the public on Wednesday.

iH8sn0w says that the jailbreak shown in the video, is “dirty and hacky,” but nonetheless a “proper jailbreak,” which he confirmed also works on the iOS 9.1 beta, though that’s not shown in the video.

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iOS 9.0 may not yet be available to the public, but Apple is already seeding the next version of the mobile operating system to testers. Yesterday developers got their hands on the first version of iOS 9.1, and today the same has been made available for users on the public iOS beta.

To download the new build, which includes support for new emoji characters, users can head over to the Apple Beta website and enroll their iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. After a reboot, iOS 9.1 should show up under the Software Update tab in the Settings app.

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With the introduction of the iPhone 6s lineup and the new iPhone Upgrade Program, Apple’s AppleCare+ extended warranty program gets a slight price increase to $129 from the previous $99 price point.
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