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Tag: apple

  • Tesla Could Adopt Apple’s AirPlay To Improve In-Car Audio

    Tesla Could Adopt Apple’s AirPlay To Improve In-Car Audio

    Tesla has often bashed Apple with Elon Musk claiming that the Cupertino-based tech giant is a graveyard of ex-Tesla engineers. Tesla has also famously not adopted Apple’s phone streaming technology called CarPlay, but Elon Musk could be warming up to the idea of Apple’s Airplay audio streaming technology which works over Wi-Fi for gadgets like the Apple TV and HomePod.

    Tesla’s audio system has often been well received by car enthusiasts and reviewers alike. Musk himself has claimed that many of the audio engineers at the company come from the iconic Danish audio company Bang & Olufsen (B&O) and said that sound systems have been engineered in such a way that they cost a fraction of what an actual B&O system would cost.

    When a Twitter user asked the world’s wealthiest human if Tesla would consider adopting Apple’s AirPlay protocol which streams audio via Wi-Fi rather than Bluetooth opening avenues for high-resolution audio as the protocol has more bandwidth, Musk seemed open to the idea.

    “Tesla audio engineers come from B&O & many other companies. They literally rock. Our system is highly programmable, so we keep improving it via OTA codec updates,” he said.

    “Will discuss this and other improvements with Tesla audio engineering. The new Model S and X sound system is incredible,” he added.

    Apple only recently opened up AirPlay for third party devices as now it doesn’t only have Apple Music as an audio streaming service, but it has a video service called Apple TV+ which works on Android TVs by brands like Samsung and Sony.

    Tesla was also rumoured to be building a native app for Apple Music in 2021 but that never surfaced. Automakers have been often cagey about adopting platforms by tech majors as they feel the data they will share will eventually enable those majors to enter the auto industry as a rival as cars become more like computers with the advent of electrification, autonomy and connected car trends.

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  • Apple could get AirPods Pro 2 made in Vietnam

    Apple could get AirPods Pro 2 made in Vietnam

    Apple could make its wireless earphone, AirPods Pro 2, in Vietnam this year as it seeks to expand production outside China amid strict Covid-19 policies there, according to reports.

    Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted Tuesday that the new AirPods would be mass produced in Vietnam from the second half of this year.

    “The shift in AirPods Pro 2 production can be attributed to the relatively uncomplicated supply chain and Vietnam’s better production environment (such as infrastructure and workforce) vs. most countries outside China.”

    But he said that since the product introduction process of the device is still on in China, it is not easy to establish a complete non-China production site.

    Apple has told some of its contract manufacturers that it wants to boost production outside China, citing Beijing’s strict anti-Covid policy among other reasons, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

    India and Vietnam, already sites for a small portion of Apple’s global production, are among the countries getting a closer look from the company as alternatives to China, it said, citing people involved in the discussions.

    Apple had been seeking to diversify away from China before Covid-19 broke out in early 2020, but the plans were complicated by the pandemic, the report said.

    Current lockdowns in Shanghai and other cities as part of China’s anti-Covid policy have caused supply-chain bottlenecks for many western companies, it added.

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  • Apple China opens its Wuhan store, with first Apple Pickup area

    Apple China opens its Wuhan store, with first Apple Pickup area

    Apple has launched its flagship in Wuhan, its first retail store in China to feature an Apple Pickup area.  Apple Wuhan is the 54th Apple store in China, as the tech giant continues to expand its footprint in Asia, especially in Mainland China.  The flagship store uses granite floors and wood-trimmed walls to make the store and mall lobby brighter and more transparent. The instore team will help customers with purchasing and personalising their devices, choosing instalment payment plans, using

    The instore team will help customers with purchasing and personalising their devices, choosing instalment payment plans, using eligible devices as trade-ins on new ones, and booking online support.

    According to Apple, its Wuhan staff can speak multiple languages – including sign languages in Chinese and English.

    “Our highly specialised team of experts is looking forward to welcoming customers from this vibrant community starting this Saturday,” said Deirdre O’Brien, Apple senior VP of retail operations and people.

    “This retail store brings new design elements to China for the first time, giving customers more ways to explore ideas, learn more about Apple products, or make it easier to pick up an online order in store.”

  • Apple and Amazon spoke with Electronic Arts about a potential acquisition

    Apple and Amazon spoke with Electronic Arts about a potential acquisition

    Gaming studios are being acquired left, right and center. Microsoft announced in January that it had reached a deal to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion and Sony followed a couple of weeks later with a deal to acquire Bungie for $3.6 billion.

    Now, Electronic Arts — the studio behind The Sims, Battlefield, and FIFA — is actively seeking a potential buyer or merger that’ll unlock its full potential.

    NBCUniversal approached Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson shortly after the Microsoft-Activision deal was announced. The idea would be to merge both companies, with Wilson as CEO of the combined entity. It’s claimed that the media and gaming giants negotiated the terms of such a deal over several weeks, and while discussions were advanced, the proposal fell apart within the last month or so.

    This hasn’t dissuaded EA from looking for a merger or buyer, though. In fact, Puck’s report notes that the company has become more determined than ever to reach a deal following Microsoft’s agreement to purchase Activision Blizzard.

    Among the potential suitors Electronic Arts has held talks with are Amazon, Disney, and Apple. It’s unclear how advanced these discussions became, but such a deal could be of significant interest to all three.

    In Apple’s case, acquiring Electronic Arts would grant it access to a huge library of gaming IP that could be used to boost Apple Arcade, position the brand’s upcoming AR/VR headset as a gaming powerhouse, and even give the brand’s Apple TV+ streaming service more IP to play with.

    The situation with Amazon would be quite similar thanks to the Amazon Luna cloud gaming server.

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  • Apple’s VR/AR headset to use standalone design

    Apple’s VR/AR headset to use standalone design

    Apple’s mixed reality headset was recently shown to the company’s board of directors. With mixed reality, the device will support both VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality). The former creates an environment that is all made up while the latter places a layer of data on top of a real-world image. For example, with VR you might find yourself in a room with a large screen television that you can use to play video games.
    The thing is, this room does not exist and neither does the television set. You’ll see it only when you have your mixed reality headset on. Augmented Reality (AR) is currently used on Google Maps. With Live View, the camera on the back of the phone sends images to the display that shows you where you are while arrows are superimposed on the screen showing you which way to turn and pointing out famous landmarks that you’ll be walking past.
    By the time the decision was made to go with the standalone headset, the device’s multiple chips had already been in development for several years. This made it impossible for Apple to start from scratch and go back to the drawing board to produce a single chip to handle all the capabilities of the headset. Other issues have created headaches for hardware and algorithm engineers such as many as 14 cameras on the device.
    The report also delves into former Apple design chief Jony Ive’s continued work on the project which has continued long after Ive left Apple. While Ive prefers a wearable battery for the mixed reality headset (“the best Apple mixed reality headset yet,” as Ive might have said on the new product video), prototypes of the device reportedly have the battery hidden inside the headband of the VR headset.
    Still, it is not known where the battery will be found in the final design of the device. We do expect the headset to use a new operating system called realityOS which was a name we first heard used in conjunction with Apple headgear years ago.
    The mixed reality headsets check off a few flattering and unflattering boxes. Expensive? The price could be above $3,000 and include as many as a dozen cameras to help track hand and head movements. There could be two 4K micro OLED displays and an AMOLED low-resolution display for peripheral vision. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple does not pigeon-hole the device as a gaming platform and that it will sport the best industrial production to date.
    Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote, “Gaming should be a strong focus of the machine, especially given that it will have multiple processors, a fan, extremely high-resolution displays, and its own App Store. Look for Apple to position the device as a dream for game developers. Next, media consumption. I expect Apple to work with media partners to create content that can be watched in VR on the device. Third, communications. Look for Animojis and a VR FaceTime-like experience to be the new-age Zoom.”
    And a few years after the mixed reality device is released, Apple is expected to launch what many have been expecting to be its next big product replacing the iPhone, Apple Glass. With a design that resembles traditional glasses, Apple Glass would allow users to employ AR to see data through their glasses as they go about their average day.
    At Google I/O last week, Google showed off a pair of smart glasses that looked nothing like Google Glass, the device that helped coin the phrase “glass holes.” The glasses displayed at the event allow a user to slip one on and instantly engage in a conversation with someone speaking another language. If Apple and Google can prove the worth of using smart glasses for this type of content (which would also benefit the hard of hearing) instead of recording copies of first-run movies and selling bootlegged copies of them, then AR glasses could very well be the next big thing.

     

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  • Apple Music about to live stream concerts starting May 20th with Harry Styles

    Apple Music about to live stream concerts starting May 20th with Harry Styles

    Apple Music is about to start live streaming certain concerts starting this Friday with Harry Styles’ show at UBS Arena in New York City. The concert starring the former One Direction star will start at 9 pm EDT. If you miss the live performance, you’ll be able to listen to it when Apple Music replays the shows on Sunday, May 22nd, at noon EDT and again at 5 am EDT on Thursday, May 26th.
    At this point, it isn’t known whether Apple will make Styles’ concert available for on-demand streaming later. Apple has promoted the live streaming events as a way to “give the biggest stars in music the biggest possible platform to flaunt how they connect with audiences and how their songs translate to live performance.” Styles’ One Night Only in New York concert will be available around the world to anyone subscribed to Apple Music.
    Apple Music’s live streaming events will feature extra content to promote the artist and the concert being streamed live. In Styles’ case, an extra track will play from the singer’s third solo album Harry’s House, which will be released on the day of the concert. In addition, the 28-year-old will answer questions during an interview session which will touch on several subjects including his new album and his therapy sessions.
    If you’re not an Apple Music subscriber, you can get one month free (if you’ve never had a free trial before) followed by a $9.99 per month individual subscription rate. For $14.99 monthly, up to six members of a family can share an Apple Music Family Plan. And if you’re a student, you can join Apple Music for only $4.99 per month. A free six-month subscription is available with the purchase of eligible AirPods, Beats, or the purchase of a HomePod mini.
    There is also a new Voice Plan for Apple Music that is priced at a discount of $4.99 per month. With the Voice Plan, subscribers navigate the app using Siri instead of tapping buttons on the touch screen. Tell Siri what to play and she will cue it up for you. And you’ll have access to the same 90 million tunes that are available to all Apple Music subscribers.
    If you’re a Verizon subscriber, you can get six free months of Apple Music on the carrier’s Play More, Do More, and Start plans. From the Verizon app (iOS, Android), go to Account > Manage Plan and tap on your account. From, there, you should be able to take advantage of the six free months of Apple Music. With the Get More plan, you can get Apple Music for free as part of your Verizon subscription.
    Apple Music launched on June 30, 2015. A little more than a year earlier, Apple had purchased Beats Audio for $3 billion, a transaction that remains the largest in Apple history. Just a couple of months before the purchase, Beats Audio had only 111,000 paying customers. Today, it is estimated that Apple Music has more than 78 million subscribers.
    For those of you who are not familiar with Harry Styles, he was a solo contestant on the U.K. version of The X Factor musical talent show. After being eliminated from the show, he joined group act One Direction on the show at the direction of Judge and musical impresario Simon Cowell. One Direction went on to become one of the largest selling boy bands of all time.
    Styles eventually went solo and has also made a name for himself in motion pictures. With his popularity, Styles seems like a good choice to kick off Apple Music’s live streaming service.
  • Apple reveals software to make its products more inclusive

    Apple reveals software to make its products more inclusive

    Apple has unveiled new software features aimed at helping make it easier for users with disabilities to navigate, connect and get the most out of its products.

    The tech giant said the updates combine the company latest technologies to deliver customizable tools for users and build on Apple’s long-standing commitment to ensuring the products work for everyone.

    The company says it has advanced its hardware, software and machine learning to match the demands as well as support people with different disabilities. For example, blind people or those with limited vision can use their iPhone and iPad to navigate the last meter to their destination with Door Detection.

    Users with physical and motor disabilities, who rely on Voice Control and Switch Control will now be able to fully control their Apple Watch from their iPhone using Apple Watch Mirroring.

    Meanwhile, the deaf and hard of hearing community can follow Live Captions on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Apple also developed its screen reader VoiceOver with more than 20 new languages ​​and locales.

    “Apple embeds accessibility into every aspect of our work, and we are committed to designing the best products and services for everyone,” said Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s senior director of accessibility policy and initiatives.

    Additional features such as Buddy Controller, Siri Pause Time or Voice Control Spelling Mode will be added later this year with software updates across Apple’s various platforms.

  • Apple is no longer the world’s most valuable public company

    Apple is no longer the world’s most valuable public company

    Sorry Apple fans, your favorite company is no longer the most valuable publicly traded outfit in the world. That honor now belongs to oil firm Saudi Aramco. The latter is now worth just south of $2.43 trillion yesterday after converting its market capitalization to dollars. Apple, on the other hand, took a huge hit in the stock market on Wednesday with the shares declining 5%.
    Over the last five trading days, Apple’s shares have declined by $13.51 or 8.66%. Just after the regular trading session closed on Thursday, Apple’s market cap was down to $2.31 trillion. Since it set a 52-week high at $182.94 on January 4th, Apple has seen its value evaporate by 23%. On the other hand, Aramco’s shares are up 27% since the start of the year. In March, the company reported that its full-year earnings doubled thanks to booming oil prices.
    Over the last few years, Apple has become the first publicly traded U.S. firm to reach various valuation benchmarks at $1 trillion, $2 trillion, and $3 trillion. When we write about Apple’s valuation we are talking about its market capitalization which is computed by multiplying the current price of Apple’s stock ($142.56) by the number of shares outstanding.
    The only other U.S. companies giving Apple a run for the money include Microsoft ($1.91 trillion market cap), and Google parent Alphabet ($1.49 trillion market cap). Apple first went public on December 12th, 1980 at $22 per share. Since then, the company has split its shares several times with the latest taking place in August 2020 (4-1). Taking the stock splits into consideration, Apple’s IPO price was 10 cents per share.
    That means if you were lucky enough to buy 100 shares of Apple at the IPO price of $22, you would now own 22,400 shares of the company valued at $3.2 million.
  • EU could start enforcing Digital Markets Act rules on Apple, Google, Meta in Spring 2023

    EU could start enforcing Digital Markets Act rules on Apple, Google, Meta in Spring 2023

    You may have heard so far that the European Union has been preparing to have a say in how big tech companies like Apple, Google, and Meta operate. We are talking about a legislation dubbed the DMA (Digital Markets Act) which the European Commission has been rigorously preparing for a while. The European Commission’s

    executive vice president Margrethe Vestager has set her eyes on controlling (or at least, fining if uncontrollable) tech giants such as Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta, and others with the DMA. Previously, she expected the battle to begin in October, but it seems we are more likely to see some action in the Spring of next year.

    The waiting game depends on when the DMA will get implemented. The legislation is currently waiting for approval from the Council and Parliament.

    The EU is, however, gearing up for enforcement of the new laws. The legislation focuses on the so-called gatekeeper companies, that, if you’ve been attentive so far in this article, you might presume refers to those big tech companies we mentioned earlier.

    And you would be correct. If you’re curious, here’s the definition of what companies are considered gatekeepers: the company needs to have a market capitalization (a fancy way of saying the total of its stocks value) of over €75 billion ($82 billion) and own a social platform or app with at least 45 million monthly users.

    These companies could face fines of up to 10 percent of their total worldwide turnover (for the preceding year) if they fail to comply with the legislation. For the repeated offenders, the fine can grow to 20 percent, which could help the EU drive its point home.

    So, big tech companies will have three months to declare their status to the Commission, and then they’ll have to wait for up to two months to receive confirmation from the EU. Indeed, it seems like it could take quite a while for the giant mechanism to start working (you can’t expect tech giants and government commissions to fight a fierce Marvel-like battle that’s so quick it’s hard to see).

    And as you might imagine, the EU has a lot more work it needs to do beforehand. Hiring heroes (we mean, staff), preparing the hundreds of monitors and computers to analyze data (and possibly, the 007 coffee for the employees that are working there)… joking aside, it will indeed take some tremendous work to prepare such legislation to be executed. Vestager also mentions that they will need to prepare legal text on various procedures.

    However, when the DMA passes, it will possibly mark an end of an era. In case you haven’t heard of it yet, this is the legislation that could force Apple to allow users to download apps from outside the App Store (a possibility that freaks Tim Cook out and has him worried about the iPhone security), as well as require WhatsApp and iMessage to become interoperable with smaller chat apps.

    Sideloading (the process of downloading apps on iPhone from outside the App Store) is arguably the biggest change the DMA will force for Apple. Previously, Apple has raised concerns that this will weaken the iPhone’s security. By the way, Android users have been able to sideload apps for quite a while now.

    On the other hand, an even bigger cause of headache for Apple is that the DMA would make Cupertino allow App Store customers to make in-app payments through alternative payment platforms (you may have heard about the infamous Apple Tax, 30% cut, which Apple takes from developers when payments are made via the App Store).

    With all this being said, it will be quite interesting to see the DMA in action and what changes will big tech giants have to implement (and whether they will comply).

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  • Apple needs to exterminate bug causing AirTags stalking false alarms

    Apple needs to exterminate bug causing AirTags stalking false alarms

    With all of the publicity that is generated when a rogue Apple AirTag is used to stalk unsuspecting victims, Apple is now having issues with AirTags that result in alerts being sent to users who aren’t being stalked at all. While the device was designed to help people keep tabs on small items that they are apt to lose such as key chains, the AirTags have been used by criminals to follow the whereabouts of certain car models that bring high returns in the stolen car market.
    And to prevent iPhone users from becoming victims of criminal AirTag users, they are alerted when being followed by someone else’s AirTags. That’s what happened recently at Disney World when a mother and daughter were leaving the park and the daughter received a notification on her iPhone saying that she was being tracked by another person’s AirTag. Luckily, nothing ever came of the incident although it frightened both of them..
    What is happening more and more is that iPhone users are receiving such frightening alerts even if they aren’t being tracked at all. The Journal says that some of these warnings are coming in the middle of the night and are scaring those who are receiving the notifications. In most cases, the rogue AirTags are not in the path of the concerned iPhone users at all, and could be from a bug or a glitch.
    The bogus reports have created “confusion and concern, and have led recipients on wild goose chases” according to the Wall Street Journal. And graphs tracking these bogus AirTag alerts create patterns that are not realistic. These patterns are showing the erratic movements of these AirTags moving in nonsensical directions.
    Ryan McClain, a 25-year-old marketer in Indianapolis, received a notification one-morning last month that said he was being tracked. His response was a combination of bewilderment, fear, and concern. “It was a shock to my morning,” he said. “I thought, ‘Who would want to stalk me? Who would want to hurt me?” McClain and his fiance spent the next day looking in vain for the offending AirTags.
    Toronto-based consumer researcher Marcus Geisler found the pattern of movement generated by the AirTags to be strange. “The AirTag’s pattern of movement on the map looked super weird,” said Geisler.” “I thought maybe my neighbor’s dog accidentally swallowed it,” He also was unable to find any rogue AirTags.
    Another iPhone user, 24-year-old Natalia Garcia, received a notification telling her that an “AirTag (was) Found Moving With You.” She received the message after an evening in downtown Chicago. “It was scary,” Garcia said, “I checked my purse, looked all around to make sure no one put an AirTag on me,” she said. She tried to force the tracker to ring its alarm but the Find My app just would say “AirTag Not Reachable.”
    So what should you do if you’re getting bombarded with bogus notifications? Should you turn the notifications off? Not al all says John DeCarlo, director of the master’s program in criminal justice at the University of New Haven and a former Branford, Conn., police chief. “Getting false alarms with technology is a common occurrence,” DeCarlo said. “If you turn the notifications off, it leaves you without the benefits.”
    If the bogus notifications are from a bug, it will be up to Apple to try and exterminate it just to keep users from feeling that an unseen stalker constantly has his eyes on them even if that isn’t true at all.
    It just reveals what a sad state the world is in that a device meant to help people find missing objects becomes a scary product used to attack people just minding their own business.
  • New firmware update for the Apple AirTag is released

    New firmware update for the Apple AirTag is released

    Apple has started releasing its newest AirTag firmware update. Version 1.0.391, with the feature build number 1A301 succeeds the previous iteration that the company launched seven months ago.

    Concrete details on the recent firmware update are, for the time being, rather scarce. With iOS updates, one can easily identify the main tweaks by going over the official release notes. However, for firmware updates, Apple has never made the same effort to guarantee visibility.

    Nevertheless, with time, users will be able to find out for themselves what the new firmware update brings to the table. Last year, Apple released an Android app for the AirTag and made some adjustments to the anti-stalking features of the device. It is possible that this new update could also build upon the latter.

    In general, firmware updates do not always introduce new features. Most commonly, they tackle bugs and enhance performance. That being said, a novel feature is never completely out of the question. If one does come up, you can be sure that we at PhoneArena will have you covered.

    Users can, as of now, only check whether they are running the newest firmware version. Unfortunately, firmware updates happen automatically without the user being explicitly informed. Because there is no way to manually initiate an update, those that have not received the newest one will simply have to exercise some patience.

    In order to see which firmware version is being run on your AirTags, simply select your AirTag from the items section, tap on its name and compare. If the version is 1.0.391, you are good to go. If not, simply make sure to leave your AirTag close to your iPhone and hope for more than mere optimisation.

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  • Samsung seeks to supply Apple with an important part of the latter’s M2 chip series

    Samsung seeks to supply Apple with an important part of the latter’s M2 chip series

    Apple’s initial line of M-series chips includes the M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, and the M1 Ultra. Built by TSMC using its 5nm process node, these SoCs feature a large number of transistors starting with the M1’s 16 billion and moving ahead to the 33.7 billion on the Pro, 57 billion on the Max, and the whopping 114 billion on the Ultra (which is essentially two M1 Max chips combined.
    The M-series chips are based on Arm’s architecture and the M1 is employed inside the latest versions of the iPad Pro and iPad Air. Apple has finished the M1 series and is now moving on to the M2. One of Apple’s main rivals says that it wants a role in Apple’s M2 supply chain. Samsung, which was involved in the production of the M1 series, wants to continue peddling supplies to Apple for the M2 series.
    According to SamMobile, Samsung supplied Apple with FC-BGA (full-chip ball grid array) substrates that are used by CPUs and GPUs that have a large number of circuit connections. A substrate used in the production of chips is basically a thin copper wire placed in resin that helps transmit user instructions to chips and relay the answers. It is used because the extremely thin wiring attached to chips can’t handle being soldered directly to a circuit board.
    In other words, a substrate helps connect a chip to the motherboard of a device. As important a task as that is, it is not as high tech as other parts of a chipset are and margins are low.
    Last December, Samsung invested 1.3 trillion Korean won ($1.04 billion USD) to build an FC-BGA substrates factory in Vietnam. The company also spent another 300 billion won ($241 million USD) on its existing FC-BGA substrates facility in its home country of South Korea.
    Will Samsung get the job? Considering that there has been under-investment in the production of substrates (typical for such a low-margin business), supplies are tight and Apple has been known to tie up production for years in situations like this. And if Apple doesn’t go with Samsung, there are many chipmakers that need to find a source for advanced substrates.
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  • Apple to launch nudity detection fеаture internationally

    Apple to launch nudity detection fеаture internationally

    Apple will soon roll out its Communication Safety feature in the United Kingdom. Users in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are also expected to receive it. The option, once enabled by a parent, will perform scans in Messages in an effort to filter out potential nudity.

    This is only part of the enhanced set of child protection features that Apple intended to introduce in iOS 15. And while the expanded guidance option met little resistance, the set of measures was met with no shortage of controversy. Concerns over the privacy of Apple users have delayed the implementation of the latter feature оutside of the US, but its international release is on the horizon – the United Kingdom will be just one of the first of many countries on the line.

    Nevertheless, the final version of Communication Safety is quite more tame than the one Apple initially envisioned. Originally, parents were supposed to get notifications if their children were to receive messages containing nudity.

    Instead, now Communication Safety simply blurs the content of the message if it detects any instance of nudity. Children will also be given a warning and will be referred to resources supplied by child safety groups.

    Most importantly, the feature works both ways. If nudity is detected in a photo that a child is intending to send, a number of protections also step in. The child is discouraged from sending it and an option to call an adult is presented to them.

    Apple has gone the extra mile in ensuring that the highest degree of privacy protection is maintained. All image processing takes place on the device, with Apple having virtually no information on neither the analysis itself, nor its outcome.

    Therefore, privacy concerns regarding Communication Safety in its current form seem somewhat misplaced. For all their faults, even the most vocal Apple critic cannot deny the fact that they take their customers’ privacy very seriously. From end-to-end encryption to location fuzzing, the company has consistently upholded their commitment to protecting the data of their clients. Apple certainly knows how to keep a secret – in comparison to other tech giants, that is.

  • iPhone 14 Pro Max detailed schematics and camera specs leaked

    iPhone 14 Pro Max detailed schematics and camera specs leaked

    Leaker ShrimpApplePro, who tweets from the account @VNchocoTaco and was the first to leak iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max’s new front design, is now back with iPhone 14 Pro Max’s detailed schematics.

    The iPhone 14 Pro Max is expected to have pill and hole cutouts instead of a notch and per today’s leak, the pill will have a width of 7.15mm and the pinhole will have a diameter of 5.59mm. Accompanying images suggest there will also be a gap between the pill and hole cutouts. For comparison’s sake, the notch on the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a width of 26.83mm.

    In addition to that, the iPhone 14 Pro Max will allegedly flaunt smaller 1.95mm bezels, compared to 13 Pro Max’s 2.42mm bezels, which would further increase the screen to body ratio.

    The phone itself is expected to have a height of 160.71mm, width of 78.53mm (with the side button), and depth of 12.16mm (including the camera bump). That increase in depth can be attributed to the camera bump, which has seemingly increased in thickness from 3.60mm to 4.18mm.

    The bump has seemingly been made thicker because of the new 48MP primary sensor that will replace the 12MP camera. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had earlier said that the camera would be 25 to 35 percent bigger than the 12MP camera and the height of its 7P lens could increase by 5 to 10 percent.

    According to a new leak from a Weibo account called Fishing 8, which doesn’t have an established track record, it will be a 1/1.3 inches sensor with smaller 1.22µm pixels. The iPhone 13 Pro Max comes with a smaller 1/1.65-inches main sensor with larger 1.9µm pixels. Apple will likely employ a technology called pixel binning to combine data from multiple pixels when needed, such as during the nighttime.

    Back to the leaked schematics, Apple last year shrunk the size of the notch by combining the flood illuminator and dot protector into a single unit and moving the earpiece speaker to the top bezel. This year, the company may reduce the height of the earpiece speaker from 1.52mm to 0.57mm.

    The iPhone 14 Pro Max is expected to retain the 6.7-inches screen size of its predecessor and the iPhone 14 Pro will have a 6.1-inches screen. Both models will likely be powered by a new 4nm A16 Pro chip, which would presumably make them a lot faster than the best phones of today. The regular models aren’t expected to change too much. One thing worth mentioning though is that the iPhone 13 mini will be replaced by the 6.7-inches iPhone 14 Max.

    The iPhone 14 series will apparently be revealed in September.

  • Apple TV+, Netflix drop out of bidding for rights to Will Smith’s biopic following “the slap”

    Apple TV+, Netflix drop out of bidding for rights to Will Smith’s biopic following “the slap”

    One of the most bankable and likable stars in Hollywood has seen his reputation shattered in the time it took Will Smith to rise out of his seat at the Academy Awards and slap Chris Rock in the face. Everyone knows the story now and since film and television aren’t part of our beat, there is no sense in taking a deep dive and analyzing the whole affair. However, Apple is on our beat and there is part of this story that has an impact on the tech titan.

    Apple TV+ and six other companies including Netflix have been bidding for the rights to a film version of Smith’s biography; the best-seller was published in 2021. A source said “Apple TV+ and Netflix have pulled out of the bidding for the project and are now planning to use the funds to develop original ideas pitched by new black actors. The source added that “Working with Will has become a risky business. They (including Apple) now plan on developing ideas with more family-friendly stars like Mike Epps and Michael B. Jordan.”

    Think about how strange this all sounds. We should point out that Smith was scheduled to star in a new original film for Apple TV+ called “Emancipation.” Production had been halted on the set because of Covid and it isn’t clear what the film’s status is at this time.

    After the slap, the awards show continued and Smith won the Best Actor Oscar for his part in “King Richard,” a film about Richard Williams, the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. In winning that award, he beat out Denzel Washington who was nominated for starring as Macbeth in the Apple TV+ movie “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”

    The slap heard around the world is going to hurt Will Smith as companies like Apple drop him like a bad habit. Apple has enough bad press thanks to its App Store policies without having to carry Smith’s baggage too.

    Eventually, the American people will forget, and Smith’s name will grace the “A” list once again. But right now, you can’t blame Apple for taking a hard pass on streaming a Will Smith Biopic. Speaking of streaming, Apple did become part of motion picture history on Oscar night as Apple TV+ became the first streaming service to take home a Best Picture Oscar as CODA took the victory in that category.

    Winning “Best Picture” has helped Apple TV+ subscriptions soar 25% in the aftermath of the televised awards show. At the same time, the number of Apple TV+ subscribers viewing CODA soared 300% week-over-week. The film was also the first with a mostly all-deaf cast to pick up the hardware for “Best Picture” at the event. Apple has never released subscription numbers for Apple TV+, but by one estimate it is believed to have 40 million accounts with 20 million paying customers.

    Apple secured the rights to the movie by paying a Sundance Film Festival record of $25 million. While it would seem that Apple made a smart investment in purchasing the movie rights, it isn’t clear whether many new subscribers were taking advantage of the seven-day free trial of the service that Apple offers just so they could view CODA and see what all of the excitement was about.

    Apple also gives away three free months of Apple TV+ to consumers who purchase an iPhone or other Apple products. Apple will have to see whether these subscribers stick around before it can make a final statement about its investment in CODA. With the huge jump in subscriptions thanks to CODA’s Best Picture victory, it does seem that the world famous “slap” didn’t completely grab all of the attention away from the actual winners during the 94th Academy Awards.”

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