Apple and Amazon sales up despite rising prices | BBC News

August 2, 2022August 1, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Amazon and Apple posted better than expected sales, reassuring investors that the tech giants will be able to weather slowdowns in global economies.

Amazon forecast in a trading update that higher fees for its Prime membership would boost its bottom line, while Apple said demand for its all important iPhone remained strong.

Both firms said they were making progress controlling running costs, despite prices rising at rapid rates.

The updates sent shares soaring.

The quarterly updates from Apple and Amazon are closely watched as indicators of how customers are reacting to the economic climate.

I tried to ditch Windows for MacOS, but I keep coming back | Digital Trends

July 11, 2022July 10, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It’s fair to say that I’m an Apple guy. I love my M1 Mac Mini and you’ll have to pry my iPhone out of my cold, dead hands. Yet despite that, I’m no turtleneck-wearing fanboy, and I still stick with Windows as my main PC. Sorry Tim Cook, I just can’t bring myself to go all-in on Apple just yet.

That might sound odd considering I write almost exclusively about Apple products, but there are plenty of reasons for my reluctance. At the end of the day, Apple just hasn’t convinced me that it’s worth it to make the switch.

Apple is finally getting serious about removing junk messages | TechCrunch

June 23, 2022June 22, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Apple has just rolled out the second developer beta for iOS 16, and the first thing that’s caught our eye is revamped message filtering. With this update, the company has signaled that it’s getting serious about streamlining your SMS-based messages.

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s being included in the new update:

The new update allows developers of filter extensions — like the one built by Truecaller, or Apple’s own SMS filter available in India and Brazil — to classify non-personal messages into 12 sub-categories within “Transactions” and “Promotions.” The Transactions category includes Finance, Reminders, Orders, Health, Public Services, Weather, Carrier, Rewards, and Others; the Promotions category includes Offers, Coupons, and Others.

Apple’s iOS 16 said to include a revamped lock screen with widgets, updated Messages, and Health apps | TechCrunch

June 1, 2022May 31, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Ahead of Apple’s big developer conference on June 6, WWDC, new information about what’s in store for iOS 16 has come to light. According to leaks reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, iOS users may expect to see new features like an upgraded lock screen as well as updated first-party apps, including Messages and Health, updates to notifications, iPad multitasking features, and more.

The report described the software as a “fairly significant” upgrade — which is notable given the last two updates included sizable changes, as well. With iOS 14, for example, iPhone users gained support for home screen widgets, leading to a home screen customization craze that still sees widget and themes apps like Brass, Themify, ScreenKit and others topping the Graphics & Design charts. Last year’s iOS 15 upgrade, meanwhile, delivered Focus Modes — a new way to control what and who is allowed to interrupt you and when.

Everything Apple Announced (March 2022): iPhone SE, Mac Studio, iPad Air | WIRED

March 9, 2022March 8, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

ON TUESDAY, APPLE unveiled an array of new devices, including a new iPhone SE with 5G, a new version of the iPad Air, and Mac Studio, a whole new desktop PC with a powerful new processor. Apple made all these announcements in a prerecorded presentation that oddly did not reference the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, even though the company changed its policies last week in response to the conflict. Apple’s product shows are like Waffle House—no matter how many crises befall the world around them, they’ll keep on going.

Here’s everything that was announced.

iPhone 14 Pro design leak shows bizarre hole and pill cutout | Digital Trends

January 13, 2022January 12, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Is that a circular hole punch? Or a pill-shaped cutout? Wait, it’s both. As per a fresh leak, the iPhone 14 Pro and its Max sibling will ditch the notch in favor of a weird arrangement that includes both a circular and a pill-shaped cutout arranged neatly in a line. Whether it looks appealing is debatable, but it definitely hasn’t been attempted before by a smartphone maker.

Display supply chain expert Ross Young, who has a fairly accurate track record with display-related Apple predictions, tweeted what appears to be an engineering template for an iPhone 14 Pro model. There are two separate cutouts, a design that we are yet to see on a phone so far. Samsung offers a bucket load of phones with a single circular cutout, Motorola has a phone with two separate camera dots, and Huawei has been loyal to the pill-shaped design for the past few years. But never have the two elements been blended together like this.

Apple paid out around $60 billion to App Store developers in 2021 | TechCrunch

January 11, 2022January 10, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Despite facing numerous antitrust lawsuits and tighter regulations in certain markets, Apple today reported new figures indicating record App Store growth in 2021. The company in a press release said it has now paid out more than $260 billion to app developers since the App Store first launched in 2008, a number that’s up from the $200 billion Apple reported at the end of 2020 — meaning, in 2021 alone, Apple paid developers a total of at least $60 billion.

That number is a lot larger than the payouts reported in previous years.

For comparison, Apple by the end of 2019 had paid developers a total of $155 billion since the App Store’s debut. The year prior, it had said that figure was around $120 billion. Reading between the lines, that means payouts to developers jumped by $35 million from 2018 to 2019, then grew by another $45 billion from 2019 to 2020.

What is an AirTag? | Mashable

January 10, 2022January 9, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

There are two kinds of people in this world: People who have been late to an event because they cannot find their keys or wallet or purse, and people who are liars.

Apple’s AirTag, a tracking device released on April 30, 2021, set out to fix that first group’s problem. Designed to act as a key finder, the tool can also be slapped on an animals’ collar, tucked into a bag, or, yes, even attached to a car or a person.

But what actually is an AirTag?

Apple AirTags are built for your keychain — each unit is 1.26 inches in diameter, which is about twice the size of a quarter. Starting at $29, the water-resistant tool uses Apple’s Find My network and Bluetooth signals to connect your phone with the tag and guide you to your misplaced item. It’s compatible with any iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch device capable of running iOS and iPadOS 14.5 or later. If you’re familiar with other Bluetooth trackers, like Tile or Chipolo, the Apple ones work pretty much the same way.

Apple puts Indian iPhone factory ‘on probation’ | BBC News

December 30, 2021December 29, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Apple has placed an iPhone factory in southern India “on probation” following protests over food poisoning and living conditions.

An audit by Apple found that remote dining rooms and dormitories used by workers did not meet requirements.

Around 250 women who worked at the Foxconn plant were affected by food poisoning, with more than 150 ending up in the hospital, local media reported.

Foxconn apologized and said it was investigating the situation.

An Apple-1 computer sold for $500,000 at auction. Here’s a look inside. | Mashable

November 10, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Little word of advice: Hang onto your Apple devices.

A working Apple-1 computer in a rare wooden case was sold at auction on Tuesday by John Moran Auctioneers, going for a cool $500,000. The original owner bought it from his professor in 1977 for a mere $650.

The first ever Apple-1 was created by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in Jobs’ parents’ hallowed garage, following the founding of the company in 1976. The Apple-1 put the company on the map as the first personal computer that came with a fully assembled motherboard. Only 200 of these computers were handcrafted by the pair and their skeleton crew.