Honeywell’s new Lyric Round thermostat originally announced back at CES in January and until now up for preorder only is today officially on sale and in-stock for all.
Update, Apr. 8, 2016: XCOM 2 is now available on the Mac App Store for $50.
XCOM 2, a sequel to the popular XCOM game franchise’s original release, is launching today worldwide for both Mac and PC users, 2K and developer Firaxis announced.
OtterBox today announced availability of an iPad Pro version of its popular Defender case.
The Defender Series for iPad Pro packs in much of what you’d expect based on cases from the series for other Apple devices. For $129.95 (currently 25% off), you’ll find a polycarbonate protective shell with front bezel protection, a screen protector with full access to Touch ID, and a built-in stand with space to store an Apple Pencil.
With the accessory in short supply at Apple Stores, the new Apple Pencil stylus for the iPad Pro is listed for as high as $400 on eBay, four times the $99 sticker price through Apple.
Most models of Apple’s new 12.9-inch iPad Pro launched last week are available at Apple Stores and shipping for online orders in 1-7 days, but accessories for the device are harder to find. Despite Apple’s new Smart Keyboard case and Apple Pencil stylus being among the the standout new features alongside the iPad Pro’s larger display, they appear to be in shorter supply with both backordered 4-5 weeks online and hard to find in stores after hardly being available on day one.
The short supply of the accessories frustrated early adopters of the new iPad Pro enough that Apple offered a comment last week, noting that it has “limited supply of Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard” and that it will continue “regular shipments” of the accessories to Apple Stores.
We, however, managed to get our hands on the new Apple Pencil for an unboxing over the weekend, while Ben has been logging his day-to-day experience with the iPad Pro.
If you’re absolutely desperate for an Apple Pencil, can’t wait a month or more for Apple to catch up with demand, and want to pay a little higher than retail price, you can find a handful of listings on eBay here.
iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are on their way with preorders kicking off over the weekend, so now is the time to buy a case for your new device in order to have it in time for an official launch set for later this month on September 25.
As is tradition, we’ve put together a roundup of the best choices for to protect your new iPhone with our selections of the best iPhone 6s and 6s Plus cases available to order now.
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If you don’t want to spend $50 for a case every time Apple announces a new device, you still have great options: cases with comparable quality are available for much less money if you do your research. One of the best brands for that is Poetic, maker of an Apple Watch stand we loved, and today the company has released brand new, sub-$20 iPhone 6s and 6s Plus cases called Revolution and Affinity.
They are both available to order now in anticipation of the new iPhone launch later this month. Here’s the rundown…
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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 ….
Apple’s just unveiled fourth-generation Apple TV will become available starting at $149 this October. That $149 will get you an entry-level 32GB model of the new Apple TV, while a 64GB version will be available for $199. The previous third-generation Apple TV will stick around for $69.
For the fourth-gen Apple TV, Apple is introducing upgraded hardware with a brand new remote control, an App Store, and an all-new operating system that includes an updated user interface and new features for users. Some of the highlight features include a new remote control with a touchpad for navigating and a built-in mic for Siri voice commands.
We have all of the details on specs and features of the revamped Apple TV here.
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Update: Giveaway winners!! Shoot me an email (jordan@9to5mac.com) with your shipping info using the same email you used to enter. Congrats!
Reform Backpack bundle – Keith Jones
Reform Action Camera Pack bundle – Randy Fang
Reform Sling bundle – Robert a Stine III
Incase has always been one of our favorite brands selling bags for Apple and camera gear. You’ve likely seen their bags in Apple stores and on Apple’s online store. But for the new REFORM collection launching next month, 9to5Mac readers get access before anyone else.
Starting today, 9to5Mac readers only can purchase the bag before they’ve launched to the public and have their order ship before the launch date next month. All orders of the new Incase bags during our exclusive presale event using promo code “9to5Mac” will also get a free Portable Power 2500 battery pack worth $50.
In addition, you’ll also be automatically entered into a giveaway to win an Incase bag full of accessories for your Apple devices (details below).
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<a href="http://9to5mac.com/2015/04/08/apple-watch-ship-times-4-to-6-weeks-may-for-edition/">Leaked delivery details</a> from Apple.com indicated supply would be constrained.
Update: A reader got a reply from Apple CEO Tim Cook about the situation. See below.
Apple has today posted a press release reaffirming that Apple Watch try-on sessions and preorders start tomorrow, Friday April 10th. It also confirms that Apple Watch orders will be exclusively online for the launch period.
Angela Ahrendts says that Apple expects demand to outstrip supply at launch on the back of tremendous interest from customers viewing watches online and in the Apple Store app. As such, this has forced the company to limit orders to online only for the time being.
“We are excited to welcome customers tomorrow and introduce them to Apple Watch, our most personal device yet. Based on the tremendous interest from people visiting our stores, as well as the number of customers who have gone to the Apple Online Store to mark their favorite Apple Watch ahead of availability, we expect that strong customer demand will exceed our supply at launch,” said Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail and Online Stores. “To provide the best experience and selection to as many customers as we can, we will be taking orders for Apple Watch exclusively online during the initial launch period.”
With just over a week before Apple Watch previews and reservations kick off in Apple retail and online stores, there are a few things to keep in mind if you’re planning on purchasing the device in the early weeks of availability.
Apple is making big changes to its retail sales process with a completely new approach to in-store demos for what is the company’s first product to cross over into the fashion world. There has been a lot of news surrounding Apple’s reservation and in-store sales experience for Apple Watch, so we’ve put together a concise list of FAQ’s for everything you’ll want to know for launch this month.
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Aspyr just announced that it’s going to release the much anticipated next installment in the Borderlands series on October 14. For anyone keeping score, that’s the same day scheduled for 2K’s release on PC and consoles! The company also confirmed that Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel for Mac will feature everything the PC release has including cross-platform multiplayer and future DLC:
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With iPhone 6 and 6 Plus officially going on sale today through Apple retail and partners, a lot of you on the hunt for a new case. We’ve been keeping track of announcements from the notable case makers and below put together our updated list of the nicest cases we’ve seen yet.
As we always do, we’ve stuck to the case manufacturers we know and trust (like Apple, Griffin, Otterbox, Grovemade, & Cygnett) and also included a wide selection of different products from hard to soft, plastic to aluminum, and wallets to gun-style holster cases. We’ll add more to the list below as we find more iPhone 6 and 6 Plus cases.
Head below for the full list:
AT&T announced in a press release today that last night’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus preorders had set a new record for iPhone sales. As usually happens when a new Apple device goes on sale, the carrier’s backend was so overwhelmed with incoming orders that in stopped responding for most customers, forcing Apple to move to a reservation system that waited several hours until the carrier systems were available before completing many orders.
Unfortunately the company hasn’t given any indication of exactly how many units were sold during last night’s frenzy. Apple reportedly ordered a combined 80 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units, which was then distributed to Apple Stores, carrier outlets, and other retailers. That 80 million figure is in and of itself a new record, and supplies of the 6 Plus had started running dry at most carriers and Apple’s own store only a few short hours after the phone became available.
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As we always do, we’ve compiled a list of the best iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus cases already available to order. With preorders for the device kicking off this Friday through most carriers and major retailers in launch countries, a number of great case makers have already started selling accessories. We’ve stuck to reputable case makers and cases that you can order today. A few might not ship until the end of the month or early next, but Apple isn’t expected to ship the iPhone 6 & 6 Plus until September 19th. We’ll add more to the list as we find them.
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China Mobile has started accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 6. Yes, the one that hasn’t been announced yet. Apparently people are excited to finally get a chance to pre-order a phone they know nothing about, too, given that over 33,000 have reportedly already taken advantage of the offer.
The carrier is offering both the 4.7″ and the 5.5″ models in 16, 32, and 64 GB. Nobody who has ordered the phone actually knows when they’ll get it, given that—much like the handset itself—the release date hasn’t been announced yet.
The iPhone 6 will officially be announced next week, probably alongside a preview of a wearable device of some sort, at an Apple media event.
While it’s certainly far from confirmation of a launch date from Apple, German retailer Conrad today posted an availability date of December 16 for the new Mac Pro (via Apefelpage.de).
The retailer is an authorized reseller, but we’re thinking this is more likely a placeholder date. The company is still advertising the Mac Pro listing on its homepage, so it’s not like the listing slipped out accidentally. It’s also taking preorders for two configurations of the device– not a bad way to get some press and capitalize on preorders before everyone else, even if they don’t really know the date. If the Mac Pro does go on sale on the 16th, Apple could have enough time to ship orders out for Christmas.
For now the only release window Apple has confirmed is “December”.
Apple will have several configurations and built to order options available for the next-gen Mac Pro including Quad 6, 8, or 12-core designs. The base model includes a 3.7GHz quad-core Xeon processor, 12GB of DRAM, Dual FirePro D300 graphics, 2GB VRAM each, and a 256GB SSD starting at $2999, and Apple will also sell a $3999 configuration with a 6-core 3.5GHz Intel Xeon E5 processor, 16GB DDR3 ECC memory (configurable up to 32GB), and Dual AMD FirePro D500 with 3GB GDDR5 VRAM each.
Last month creators of the popular Paper by FiftyThree iPad app announced that it would soon be shipping a $60 Bluetooth stylus for the drawing app called “Pencil”. With the first preorders for the device expected to start shipping this week according to the company’s Twitter account, today it has also updated the official Paper by FiftyThree app with features specifically for Pencil.
The app now supports new palm rejection, erase, and blend features for Pencil:
Palm Rejection— Pencil and Paper work together to produce the most sophisticated and effective palm rejection in any app available today. No setup, no calibration, just natural feeling writing and drawing.
Erase— Pencil’s unique built-in eraser lets you get down to what’s essential.
Blend— Pencil takes care of the lines so you can use your fingers to blend colors on the page and smooth rough edges without ever picking up a tool.
FiftyThree has been taking preorders of Pencil as an in-app purchase directly in the Paper iPad app as well as through its website. It’s selling a graphite model for $50 and a walnut model for $60. While the first preorders will begin shipping this week, an update on its Twitter account today notes new orders will take around in 3-4 weeks.
After first unveiling the completely redesigned Mac Pro at WWDC earlier this year, Apple today gave the new machine a bit of stage time at its iPad event to announce pricing and availability details. The base model of the new Mac Pro (pictured above) will start at $2999 and ship by the end of the year.
While Apple will presumably have several configurations and built to order options available for the next-gen Mac Pro– including Quad 6, 8, or 12-core designs– it only announced base pricing for the configuration above. That model includes a 3.7GHz quad-core Xeon processor, 12GB of DRAM, Dual FirePro D300 graphics, 2GB VRAM each, and a 256GB 22D.
Apple is also listing a $3999 configuration on its online store that comes with a 6-core 3.5GHz Intel Xeon E5 processor, 16GB DDR3 ECC memory (configurable up to 32GB), and Dual AMD FirePro D500 with 3GB GDDR5 VRAM each.
Apple also mentioned on stage that it has new versions of Final Cut Pro and Aperture that support 4k and other features of the new Mac Pro while presenting first impressions from professionals that have been using the new machine.
The new Mac Pro features an all-new cylinder design that is 1/8th the volume of previous generation Mac Pros and also packs in some impressive specs that Apple’s Phil Schiller walked through today on stage (gallery below). The new machine includes the latest Xeon processors in Quad 6, 8, or 12-core configurations, dual station FirePro GPUs with up to 12GB of GDDR5 VRAM, 4K video support, PCIe-based flash, ECC memory, and six Thunderbolt 2 ports.
Other specs include HDMI, Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11ac WiFi, up to 1TB of flash storage, and a motion sensor that lights up I/O when picking up the Mac Pro.
Apple also noted today that it aimed to have the new Mac Pro as quite as the current Mac Mini and was able to achieve that goal.
The new Mac Pro will be assembled in the USA as part of Apple’s plan to bring manufacturing of some of its Macs back to the U.S. this year. (Full press release below)
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Following announcements from Walmart, Radioshack and others, T-Mobile is the latest to announce availability of Apple’s recently unveiled iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. We already know the two devices will be landing on all of Apple’s major US carrier partners (as well as in a handful of other countries on Sept. 20, and T-Mobile confirmed today it will be kicking off preorders for the 5c on September 13, the preorder date previously announced by Apple. The real news here is that T-Mobile’s new Uncarrier plans mean that the iPhone 5c will sell for $0 down with the $528 price tag paid through 24 monthly installments of $22. It will also offer the iPhone 5s for $99 down and 24 monthly payments of $22.91 to make up the $649 retail price.
As a reminder, Apple and most of its partner will sell the new iPhone 5s for $199 on contract and the new iPhone 5c for $99 on contract (for the 16GB models). T-Mobile’s full retail price works about to around the same as Apple’s, but it’s 5c price is a little lower than the $549 Apple is listing. That doesn’t mean we won’t see lower prices on the device at launch. Walmart already announced that it will soon begin accepting preorders for the 5c at $79 on contract and the 5s at $189.
Apple’s new iPhones will also become available in Australia, China, Canada, Germany, France, Singapore, the UK, and Japan later this month on September 20.
As we were expecting, Apple just officially announced its new iPhone 5S live on stage during its event taking place now on the company’s Cupertino campus. The new iPhone 5S largely retains the same glass and aluminum design as Apple’s previous generation iPhone, but it does include upgraded internals, and a new gold color option and fingerprint sensor that we previously reported. The new iPhone 5S comes alongside the announcement of Apple’s much rumored lower-cost, plastic iPhone 5C unveiled during the event earlier today.
The iPhone 5s includes a new A7 chip, which Apple notes is the first 64-bit chip in a smartphone, something we reported previously that the company was testing. Apple says the new chip includes 2x general-purpose registers, 2x floating-point registers, and includes over 1 billion transistors on a 102mm2 die size. A7 makes the iPhone 5s over twice as fast in terms of speed, according to Apple, and also provides a 40x increase in CPU performance and 56X faster graphics. The new iPhone 5s hardware will also support Open GL/ES 3.0 and will still support 32 bit apps.
Apple is also including a fingerprint sensor in the new iPhone 5s for a new security feature dubbed “Touch ID.” Embedded into the home button, the Touch ID capacitive sensor is 170 microns thin and will not only allow users to unlock their device, but also authenticate iTunes purchases. Apple says that all fingerprints will be encrypted, stored securely and never uploaded to iCloud or its own servers. It also noted the fingerprint sensor will be able to support multiple fingerprints with the same device
The new iPhone 5s also include a new motion co-processor called the “M7” that Apple says works alongside the A7. It’s able to measure motion data continuously, as well as measure gyroscope, compass, and accelerometer data.
M7 knows when you’re walking, running, or even driving. For example, Maps switches from driving to walking turn-by-turn navigation if, say, you park and continue on foot. Since M7 can tell when you’re in a moving vehicle, iPhone 5s won’t ask you to join Wi-Fi networks you pass by. And if your phone hasn’t moved for a while, like when you’re asleep, M7 reduces network pinging to spare your battery.
The new chip will work with new CoreMotion APIs in iOS 7 that will allow developers to identify user movement. The first to take advantage of the technology is Nike with a new app called “Nike+ Move”.
Battery life: Apple says the new iPhone 5S will get 10 hours of 3G talk time, 8 hours of 3G browsing,a nd 10 hours of LTE and WiFi browsing. You’ll also get around 250 hours standby and 10 hours of video, according to Apple.
The iPhone 5s packs in a new camera system with a dual LED true tone flash, a new five-element lens designed by Apple, a F2.2 aperture, a sensor with a 15 percent larger active area, auto stabilization, and bigger 1.5 micron pixels. The camera also includes a new burst mode that will continuously take photos a rate of 10fps, and the 120fps slow mo mode that we reported about back in July. Head below for iPhone 5s pricing and availability:
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The much-anticipated Belkin Thunderbolt Dock appears to be delayed once again unfortunately, missing its planned Q1 launch, despite taking pre-orders for the device in February after missing its original September launch date. While we’ve been recommending the popular Matrox Thunderbolt Docking station in the meantime, today Sonnet announced a new competitor in the space with the Echo 15 Thunderbolt Dock.
The 15-port dock includes many of the ins and outs you’d expect: Two thunderbolt ports, four USB 3.0 ports, 3.5mm audio in and out (front and back), FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, and two eSATA ports. However, there are two features this 15-port Thunderbolt docking station has that most others do not: extra space to install a 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA HDD or SSD and your choice of a built-in DVD or Blu-Ray drive:
the Echo 15 Thunderbolt dock has you covered—it includes your choice of DVD±RW drive, or Blu-ray Disc™ player (BD-ROM/8x DVD±RW). If you are a Mac user, you’ll also find that the included Blu-ray player software for OS X® is very handy, enabling you to watch Blu-ray movies on your computer or attached monitor.
The fast 6 Gb/s SATA interface supports an HDD at its maximum speeds, and an SSD at up to 380 MB/s… Best of all, the drive sits inside the Echo dock, so you don’t have to clutter your desk space with an external hard drive and its power brick and cable clutter to add more storage. Don’t feel like adding a drive yourself? Sonnet also offers the Echo 15 Thunderbolt Dock equipped with a 2TB HDD, available exclusively through the Sonnet online store.
The Sonnet Echo 15 Thunderbolt Dock is available to pre-order now in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico starting at $399 for a DVD drive and no built-in drive. The next model up comes with a built-in 2TB HDD for $499, while a Blu-ray drive and 2TB HDD brings it up to $549. Other options are also available through Sonnet’s website, and most models are expected to ship in Summer 2013.
Available to preorder through a new project on crowd funding site Indiegogo, Breathometer, Inc. today announced what it claims is the “World’s First Smartphone Breathalyzer”. While we have seen other solutions in the past, the Breathometer is a smaller, thumb drive sized device that connects to your iPhone’s 3.5mm audio jack and provides reliable, real-time blood alcohol readings.
The company said it already has a working prototype but is counting on raising its $25,000 funding goal in order to kick the Breathometer into full production. It also plans to implement additional features in a companion app before the Breathometer’s launch, such as a “a push of a button cab service.”
Breathometer is the next generation breathalyzer that provides an accurate BAC measurement that enables smarter decisions… By using Breathometer, you now have the ability to help prevent accidents. We’re also building some other amazing features like a push of a button cab service.
Early bird pledgers will be able to get a Breathometer when it ships (by January 2014) for just $20, while bids ranging from $50 to $500 will get you a unit as early as July of this year in addition to some bonus gifts.
CEO and founder of Breathometer had this to say about the announcement:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_AyXNeRbpRk
Automatic Link is a new hardware dongle for your car that is launching today and will allow you to monitor on-board diagnostics directly on your iPhone. On top of monitoring on-board diagnostics, such as braking, speeding, and rapid acceleration by connecting the Automatic Link to your car’s data port, the app will also include a feature that automatically reports crashes, the ability to locate your vehicle, check engine health, and provide “subtle audio cues when you do things that waste gas.”
The Automatic Link talks to your car’s onboard computer and uses your smartphone’s GPS and data plan to upgrade your car’s capabilities. It works with just about any car sold in the United States since 1996…The Automatic Link includes a built-in accelerometer that can detect many types of crashes. Automatic uses your phone’s data connection to immediately report the crash to 911* with your name, location, and vehicle description.
The Automatic Link is now available for pre-order from the company’s website for $70, with shipments and the companion app expected to land sometime in May. You can also check the make and model of your vehicle on the pre-order page to find out if your car is compatible.
