Beginning June 1 All New Apple Watch Apps Must Use the Native watchOS 2 SDK

Here shortly, Apple will officially end support for the original Apple Watch apps, and apps put together with the original watchOS SDK.

Late last night, Apple officially
announced that, beginning June 1, all new applications developed for the
Apple Watch must use the watchOS 2 SDK (or later) to be supported by
the wearable. This is a way to set a minimum standard moving forward for
all apps on the Apple Watch, and, for users of Apple’s most personal
device to date, it should hopefully mean faster apps on the device
across the board. Original Apple Watch apps use the connected iPhone to
handle all of the computational muscle, and then stream those results
over-the-air to the Apple Watch, causing a bit of a delay.

Apple’s announcement includes the addition that all Apple
Watch apps need to be developed with the watchOS 2 SDK or later, which
is fitting considering the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is scheduled to run between June 13 and June 17, where it’s expected they will unveil watchOS 3, which should include plenty of additional improvements.

Are you still using your Apple Watch?

[via Apple]

Beginning June 1 All New Apple Watch Apps Must Use the Native watchOS 2 SDK

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U.S. Government Drops Case against Apple to Unlock iPhone in New York Drug Case

The second courtroom battle between the U.S. Justice Department and Apple over the unlocking of an iPhone in a New York drug deal case
has ended in the same way as the first one. The government dropped the
case on Friday and said in the courtroom that it managed to unlock the
iPhone “late last night” by the passcode that it had obtained from one
of its sources.

Since the iPhone is now unlocked, the government no
longer needs Apple’s help in this matter and is thereby dropping its
case. For safety reasons, the U.S. law enforcement agency will not be
revealing the name of the source who provided them with the passcode.

“As we have said previously, these cases have never been
about setting a court precedent,” Emily Pierce, a Justice Department
spokeswoman, said in a statement. “In this case, an individual provided
the department with the passcode to the locked phone at issue.”

Apple had last week refused from helping the Justice Department in
unlocking the iPhone in the Brooklyn case. It claimed that the
government had not yet tried all other means of unlocking the iPhone,
and that the government did not provide enough evidence to confirm that
the method used to unlock Farook’s iPhone 5c in the San Bernardino
shooting case did not work on the iPhone in question.

Had the case gone ahead, the Justice Department would have likely
lost since the 50-page ruling by the magistrate judge supports Apple in
the encryption debate.

This is the second time that a showdown between the Apple and the
U.S. government has ended with the latter backing out at the last
moment. If anything, it is leaving a bad impression of the U.S.
government in the public eye.

[Via Bloomberg]

U.S. Government Drops Case against Apple to Unlock iPhone in New York Drug Case

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Analyst Believes the ‘iPhone 7’ Won’t Have ‘Many Attractive Selling Points’

This year, following the launch of the iPhone 6s in 2015, Apple is expected to launch a new iPhone, rumored to be called the “iPhone 7,” and, if history is any indicator, the device should feature a physical redesign and new features.

Unfortunately for those trying to read
the tea leaves months before Apple gets around to announcing their new
flagship smartphone, the expectations are beginning to look a bit dour.
At least that’s how it’s beginning to look to KGI Securities’ analyst
Ming-Chi Kuo. According to a recent research note the analyst has
published, Kuo believes that Apple’s 2016 could be less-than-great, and
it’s possible the Cupertino-based company could ship fewer iPhones this
year than the company did in 2014.

Specifically, in the “worst case scenario,” Apple could
ship “only” 190 million iPhones this year. That would be lower than the
193 million that the company shipped back in 2014. However, in the “best
case scenario,” Apple could ship 205 million iPhones this year.

It’s probably worth noting that other analysts have predicted Apple will ship between 210 and 230 million iPhones this year.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the research note is that Kuo
believes Apple will not feature “many attractive selling points” in the
iPhone 7. Kuo has echoed that he believes that while Apple will have
some form of a redesign in 2016, it will probably not be a big one. And,
indeed, early renders of the iPhone 7 suggest Apple is simply moving the antenna bands, but keeping the overall design the same.

More to that, Kuo has previously said that he believes Apple will launch an all-glass iPhone, with an AMOLED display, in 2017. That would coincide with another analyst’s claim that Apple has plans to launch an “iPhone 8,” instead of an “iPhone 7s,” in 2017, which will feature wireless charging (something folks are looking for), OLED display, and no physical Home button.

It’s sounding more and more like Apple is holding off on a major
redesign, with plenty of new features, until 2017. Are you okay waiting
another year and a half for a truly redesigned iPhone?

[via 9to5Mac]

Analyst Believes the ‘iPhone 7’ Won’t Have ‘Many Attractive Selling Points’

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This Woman Almost Filmed Her Own Death When This 2×4 Flew Into Her Windshield

 Wendy Cobb will probably never forget the 40 seconds you’re about to see.

She was driving along a highway in Shelby, North Carolina, when she
noticed that two cars in front of her were holding up traffic illegally.
Carefully, she took out her iPhone and started filming it, probably
with the hopes of reporting it later. That’s when a piece of wood came
careening through her car’s windshield, nearly taking her life…

The two-by-four came dangerously close to Cobb in the car, but luckily none of the shattered glass really affected her.

 

This Woman Almost Filmed Her Own Death When This 2×4 Flew Into Her Windshield

OMG

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A Reporter Spotted A Man As He Drove Into Floodwaters…His Reaction Is So Hilarious

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Houston has been ravaged by floods recently, and they are truly historic in nature. Six people have died and thousands more have been left without power. The rain totals are breaking records in the area, leaving the city reeling.
In the middle of his report on the weather, KTRK Houston’s reporter Steve Campion witnessed two cars drive straight into the flood waters. At the sight of the second car, Campion felt compelled to intervene and rescue the man driving. All of this during a LIVE BROADCAST! Have a look at this rescue and see Campion’s reaction, which is priceless.

Wait…why are you doing that?

  (via Jalopnik)

A Reporter Spotted A Man As He Drove Into Floodwaters…His Reaction Is So Hilarious

OMG

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Kanye West’s Album, ‘The Life of Pablo’, is Now Available on Apple Music

Never is a strong word, but apparently not strong enough to actually
ring true when it comes to Kanye West and his newest album, “The Life of
Pablo.”
Back in February, West released his
latest album through the streaming music service, Tidal, of which he’s a
major partner and public-facing figure. While Tidal was able to rocket
up the App Store charts following the album’s release, it looks like
West has “seen the light,” and decided that allowing even more people to
listen to the album, and even buy it, is a good thing.

And sure enough, “The Life of Pablo” is now available
through Apple Music, Spotify, and Google Play Music. What’s more, if you
want to buy it, that’s now a possibility, too. The trick is you’ll have
to head over to West’s official site to do that, because it’s not
available for purchase through iTunes or other digital storefronts just
yet. No, there isn’t any indication that West plans on adding the album
to other storefronts to buy, but considering how this all went down, it
doesn’t seem like it’s an impossibility, either.
The fact that “The Life of Pablo” is now available to buy, and
through Apple Music, means that West completely reversed his position on
this. Back in February, when the album dropped, West tweeted
out that the album would “never never never be on Apple Music,” adding
that it would “never be for sale,” too, just for good measure.
Basically, West was drumming up support for Tidal — at least trying to,
anyway. That started to change when, recently, West released a single track from the album on Apple Music, signaling this eventual outcome.
Kanye West’s “The Life of Pablo” on Apple Music

Kanye West’s Album, ‘The Life of Pablo’, is Now Available on Apple Music

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Samsung requests the U.S. Supreme Court take on the Apple patent case

The battle between Samsung and Apple continues, as the former of the two levies its one last attempt to avoid paying out any damages.

According to a report published by Re/code,
Samsung has appealed to the Supreme Court in the United States to take
on the patent case it has been locked in with Apple for quite a stretch
of time now. In the appeal, Samsung states that there’s an overarching
problem with patent cases in general, especially when it comes to
information provided to jurors, and that in its specific case, not
enough information was provided to the jury for them to make an educated
determination — because they couldn’t understand the patents.

“Samsung is escalating this case because it believes that
the way the laws were interpreted is not in line with modern times,” it
said in a statement. “If the current legal precedent stands, it could
diminish innovation, stifle competition, pave the way for design patent
troll litigation and negatively impact the economy and consumers.”

It’s an interesting step, but not all that surprising. Samsung, for its part, is simply making an attempt to get the money back it has already agreed to pay Apple
in the beginning of December, which should be delivered to Apple at
some point today, December 14. If the Supreme Court does grant Samsung’s
appeal, and the decision goes in Samsung’s favor, then Apple would need
to repay that $548 million back to Samsung.

So while it looked like it all might be coming to an end earlier this month, the case continues to rage on.

[via Re/code]

Samsung requests the U.S. Supreme Court take on the Apple patent case

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Google Photos gains shared albums; coming to iOS, Android and web today

At its Nexus launch event in late September, Google announced that it would be bringing ‘Shared Albums’ feature to Google Photos
later this year. True to its words and just before the holiday season,
the company has started rolling out the feature to iOS, Android and web
version of Google Photos.

The steps are pretty simple. You create a shared album, send the link
to your friends and loved ones, they join the album and then they can
start adding their own photos to it. Once new photos are added in an
album, other people who have joined that album will automatically
receive a notification about it.

Photos added by someone else in a shared album can also be added to your own Google Photos library.

Shared albums start rolling out on Android, iOS and the web for all Google Photos users starting from today.

[Via Google]

Google Photos gains shared albums; coming to iOS, Android and web today

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Prisoners in the UK could be getting iPads for education and to ‘video chat their families’

The iPad is a powerful tool, especially when it comes to education,
and a new proposal in the United Kingdom suggests prisoners should be
taking advantage of the mobile devices.

According to a report published by The Telegraph,
an adviser to the Ministry of Justice in the United Kingdom has made it
clear that iPads should be a tool used in the prison system to help
those detained with literacy and numeracy. On top of that, the prisoners
should be able to keep in touch with their families from within their
cells, utilizing things like FaceTime or Skype to “video chat their
families.”

According to the former head of the prison service,
having iPads in cells could make the time that prisoners spend within
them more constructive:

“Prisoners spend a lot of time in cells, and we need to
make that time more constructive. They should be meeting a tutor once a
week, but doing work on literacy and numeracy on their own. We could
look at giving prisoners iPads to work on in their cells.”

At the same time, Dame Sally Coates, a former headteacher in the
area, is also conducting a review of education within the UK prison
system, and is also considering the proposal. Coates says that if a
prisoner doesn’t have the necessary skills to get a job after a stint in
prison, then they are more likely to reoffend.

At the time of publication, Justice Minister Michael Gove is looking over the proposals, but a decision has not been made yet.

[via Gizmodo UK; The Telegraph]

Prisoners in the UK could be getting iPads for education and to ‘video chat their families’

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Apple has reportedly been working on its own GPU for several years

As Apple’s A-branded processors continue to get attention as
high-powered chipsets in mobile products, another chip could be getting
some of the limelight soon.

According to a new rumor, Apple has
reportedly been working on its own in-house graphics chip for quite some
time. Many years, in fact, and is still hard at work on developing its
own GPU for its mobile devices. The report indicates that Apple has
already been working on the GPU for several years now, but there’s no
clear indication when, or even if, a finalized product ready for
installation in iPhones and iPads will see the light of day anytime
soon.

As it stands now, Apple utilizes a variety of PowerVR
graphics chips that are designed by Imagination Technologies. If Apple
can get its own in-house GPU off the ground and in its devices, it would
mean Apple would not have to rely on IT from that point forward.

The report indicates that this new GPU will probably not be ready by the unveiling of the iPhone 7 in 2016.

[via GforGames; Fudzilla]

Apple has reportedly been working on its own GPU for several years

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