Apple Releases iOS 9.3.2 With Support for Simultaneous Night Shift/Low Power Mode Usage
Apple today released iOS 9.3.2 to the public, marking the second update to iOS 9 since iOS 9.3 launched in March of 2016. In testing since April 6, Apple seeded a total of four iOS 9.3.2 betas to developers and public beta testers prior to releasing the update to the public.
Today’s iOS 9.3.2 release is available as an over-the-air update for all iOS 9 users and it can also be downloaded through iTunes.
iOS 9.3.2, as a minor 9.x.x update, focuses mainly on under-the-hood performance improvements and bug fixes rather than outward-facing changes. One of the biggest bug fixes resolves an ongoing issue that caused Bluetooth accessories to experience audio quality issues when paired with an iPhone SE.
– Fixes an issue where some Bluetooth accessories could experience audio quality issues when paired to the iPhone SE
– Fixes an issue where looking up dictionary definitions could fail
– Addresses an issue that prevented typing email addresses when using the Japanese Kana keyboard in Mail and Messages
– Fixes an issue for VoiceOver users using the Alex voice, where the device switches to a different voice to announce punctuation or spaces
– Fixes an issue that prevented MDM servers from installing Custom B2B apps
In addition to the bug fixes listed above, the update also introduces support for using Night Shift and Low Power Mode simultaneously. During the first few iOS 9.3 betas, the two features were able to be turned on simultaneously, but later betas removed that functionality. With iOS 9.3.2, devices capable of using Night Shift can turn it on with Low Power Mode enabled.
iOS 9.3.2 is the eighth update to the iOS 9 operating system, following iOS 9.0.1, iOS 9.0.2, iOS 9.1, iOS 9.2, iOS 9.2.1, iOS 9.3, and iOS 9.3.1.
Related Roundup: iOS 9
Tag: iOS 9.3.2
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Apple Releases tvOS 9.2.1 Update for Fourth-Generation Apple TV
Apple today released a new update for tvOS, the operating system designed to run on the fourth-generation Apple TV. tvOS 9.2.1 is a minor update that comes a month after the launch of tvOS 9.2, a more significant update that introduced a range of features from Bluetooth keyboard support and dictation to Siri search for the App Store and app folders.
The new tvOS 9.2.1 update can be downloaded over the air through the Settings app on the Apple TV by going to System –> Software Update. Those who have automatic software updates turned on will be upgraded to the new 9.1.2 operating system automatically.
As a minor 9.x.x update, tvOS 9.2.1 focuses on bug fixes and performance updates to address issues discovered since the release of tvOS 9.2, and no major outward-facing changes were discovered during the beta testing process.
tvOS 9.2.1 is the fourth update the tvOS operating system has seen since its October 2015 release, following tvOS 9.1, tvOS 9.1.1, and tvOS 9.2.
Related Roundup: Apple TV
Tag: tvOS 9.2.1
Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Neutral)
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Apple Releases OS X 10.11.5 El Capitan With Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements
Apple today released OS X 10.11.5 to the public, marking the launch of the fifth update to the El Capitan operating system that was first released on September 30, 2015. OS X 10.11.5 comes nearly two months after the release of OS X 10.11.4, an update that introduced Live Photos for Messages and password protected notes in the Notes app.
The OS X 10.11.5 update can be downloaded through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store. It is available to all OS X El Capitan users.
Most of the updates to OS X El Capitan have focused largely on under-the-hood improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements rather than outward-facing changes, and OS X 10.11.5 is no exception. No obvious feature changes were discovered in the beta, and according to Apple’s release notes, OS X 10.11.5 includes bug fixes, performance improvements, and security updates.
Prior to releasing the OS X 10.11.5 update, which has been in testing since April 6, Apple seeded four betas to developers and public beta testers.
Related Roundup: OS X El Capitan
Tag: OS X 10.11.5
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Apple Releases watchOS 2.2.1 Update for Apple Watch With Multiple Bug Fixes
Apple today released a new software update for the Apple Watch, upgrading watchOS 2 to version 2.2.1. The update comes nearly two months after the public release of watchOS 2.2, a major update to the watchOS 2 operating system that introduced multi-watch support for iPhone, Maps improvements, and other features. In testing since April 6, Apple seeded two betas of watchOS 2.2.1 to developers prior to releasing it to the public.
The 2.2.1 update can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General –-> Software Update. To install the update, the Apple Watch must have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the iPhone.
watchOS 2.2.1 is a minor update, and during the beta testing period, no outward-facing changes or obvious bug fixes were discovered. According to Apple’s release notes, watchOS 2.2.1 fixes the following problems:
Since releasing watchOS 2 in September of 2015, Apple has provided Apple Watch owners with four updates in total, including watchOS 2.0.1, watchOS 2.1, watchOS 2.2, and today’s watchOS 2.2.1 update.
Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 2
Tag: watchOS 2.2.1
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)
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Apple Releases iTunes 12.4 With Design Tweaks
Apple today released iTunes 12.4, bringing some minor design tweaks and important bug fixes to its media software. iTunes 12.4 comes seven months after the launch of iTunes 12.3, which was released to the public in September, and nearly two months after the last minor iTunes update.
iTunes 12.4 includes a redesigned interface that’s designed to be simpler, with the reintroduction of a sidebar for easier navigation and a revamped media picker, as was shared by MacRumors earlier this month.
Today’s update may also include safeguards to protect users from an issue that could cause music stored in iTunes to be deleted. The deletion problem affected a small number of users and while Apple was not able to recreate the bug, the company promised “additional safeguards.”
The iTunes 12.4 update can be downloaded through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store. Full release notes are below.
Now enjoy all of your music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and more in a simpler design.
Navigation. Now you can use Back and Forward buttons as you navigate between your Library, Apple Music, iTunes Store, and more.
Media Picker. Easily switch between Music, Movies, TV shows and more–and Edit to choose just the items you want.
Library and Playlists. Use Sidebar to view your Library in new ways. Drag and drop songs to easily add them to Playlists. And Edit Sidebar to show only your favorite views.
Menus. Menus in iTuns are now simpler and easier to use. Use the View menu to customize your Library or try context menus to act on specific items.
Apple is working on OS X 10.12, set to be unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. iOS 10 is rumored to be gaining Apple Music changes, and it’s possible OS X 10.12 will bring additional design tweaks to iTunes for a more streamlined Apple Music interface.
Tag: iTunes 12.4
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Build a makeshift candle in minutes with an orange peel – CNET
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Taylor Martin/CNET
If you should ever find yourself in a situation where you need a candle or two, such as a power outage, and can’t find one, you’re not entirely out of luck. According to reddit user KelsKaos__, all you need are some common kitchen ingredients.
Here’s how it’s done.
What you will need
We recommend you use an orange for this, but any citrus should work. The most important thing is that there should be no holes in at least one half of the peel.
You’ll also need some olive oil. Other oils could work, but olive oil is fairly stable. It’s commonly used in for candles and oil lamps as an alternative to kerosene.
Finally, you need a knife and either a grill lighter or some long matches.
Making a candle with an orange
To make a candle, start by cutting the orange in half. Be sure to leave the stem on the inside of the orange intact. The best way to remove the fruit from the peel is to cut around the peel with your knife, but don’t cut all the way through the orange. Then you can use your fingers to separate the fruit from the peel and work your way around the entire orange. The fruit should break away from the peel, exposing the stem.
Pour olive oil into the empty orange peel, filling it up roughly halfway. Make sure to lightly coat the stem with some olive oil while you pour, then let the orange sit for a few minutes. You have to give the peel and stem ample time to soak up some of the oil, otherwise it won’t burn or stay lit.
After a few minutes, use the lighter to light the tip of the stem. It can take quite a bit of effort to get the stem to light, but it should burn for several hours once it’s lit.
Obviously this isn’t ideal for daily or even frequent use. And you should consider the risks of burning oil and an open flame in the peel of a fruit before trying this yourself. It should be used cautiously, but it will certainly work as a light source in a pinch — or it could even provide some creative decoration for a backyard cookout.
Double your MacBook’s storage with a tiny card called TarDisk – CNET
When the hard drive on your MacBook is getting full, you have a few options: You can purchase an external hard drive and offload low-priority files to it; pick up an inexpensive USB drive; or take on the task or replacing internal storage yourself.
Or, there’s TarDisk.
TarDisk is a small, SD card-like device that expands the storage of your MacBook. You pop it into your Mac’s SD card slot, install some software and you’re set. Once the setup is complete, TarDisk acts just like onboard storage.
The basics
Compatibility
TarDisk is available for the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro with Retina display, and older MacBook Pros.
The 128 GB TarDisk is available for $149, £103 or AU$202 or 256 GB for $399, £276 or AU$542. It’s one of the more expensive storage solutions you’ll find when searching, but you’re also paying for the Pear software that comes with TarDisk.
Setup
When you first slide a TarDisk into the SD reader on a MacBook, it’s treated just like any other SD card. OS X views TarDisk as any other external storage volume, where you can store files or even use it as a Time Machine Backup destination.
The other option — and the reason you pay so much for TarDisk — is to “Pear” the card with your Mac’s internal drive. Meaning, your Mac will treat TarDisk as additional onboard storage.
So if your MacBook has 128GB of onboard SSD storage and you add the 256 GB TarDisk, OS X will combine the two into one 384GB hard drive. You don’t have to worry about where a file is stored, or remember which drive to you created a folder on — it’s all the same.
Caveats
Naturally, when you’re using software to alter the way OS X interacts with storage drives, there’s going to be a few things you’ll need to be aware of:
- Apple’s Boot Camp won’t work with Pear. You’ll need to remove any Boot Camp partitions.
- Pairing a TarDisk to your Mac should be viewed as a permanent solution. You can unpair a TarDisk, but the process requires restoring your MacBook from a Time Machine backup you’ve stored on a separate external hard drive.
- A MacBook with OS X 10.10.2 or higher is required.
Then there’s the form factor. Since TarDisk sits flush in the SD card slot — perhaps even a bit inside — installing it feels a bit permanent, so if you use the SD card slot often, this might not be the best solution for you. Otherwise, you can always use an SD card reader.
Prepping to Pear
You’ll need to complete some prep work before you pair TarDisk to your Mac. Complete instructions can be found on the TarDisk website here, or on the instruction sheet included with your TarDisk.
Prep work includes creating a Time Machine backup, disabling FileVault and disabling any antivirus applications. You’ll also need to disconnect and remove any external hard drives or USB flash storage currently connected to your MacBook.
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Jason Cipriani/CNET
Then you’ll need to verify that your current hard drive is working properly.
You can do this by booting into single-user mode by holding in Command-S as your MacBook powers on. Once lines of text begin scrolling across the screen, release the two keys. When the command prompt shows up, enter “fsck -fy” without the quotes and press Enter. Finally, enter that command again and let it run. If the command prompt states your volume “appears to be OK,” type “reboot” and press Enter.
Log in to your user account, then quit all open programs. Next, open the Disk Utility app. You can find it in Applications > Utilities. Select your hard drive and click on First Aid or Verify.
If the utility finds errors on the disk, click Repair Disk and repeat the steps until there are no errors found.
Pairing the TarDisk
With the prep work out of the way, you’re 95 percent done and all that’s left to do is pair the TarDisk.
Insert the TarDisk into your MacBook’s SD reader. Open Finder, and select the TarDisk drive. You’ll find the Pear Installer application on the drive — open it. Follow the prompts in the app, including checking boxes to indicate you have a current Time Machine backup.
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
When presented with the above screen, move your mouse between the two icons. When Pear is highlighted, you’ll see how much space your hard drive will read after Pearing. Highlighting the hard drive icon will show you how much space you currently use on your hard drive.
Click on Pear, then Continue.
The speed of the pairing will vary depending on your MacBook, how much data is on your SSD, processing power, and other variables — but it should be completed in under 10 minutes. On the demo MacBook I used to Pear with a TarDisk, the actual “Pearing” process took under five minutes.
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Reboot your MacBook when prompted, and then bask in the glory of all that extra space you have now.
Garmin Vivosmart HR+ Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Sarah Tew/CNET
Garmin has yet another new fitness tracker. For those keeping count, that’s six in five months. The fitness company on Monday announced the Garmin Vivosmart HR+, a cousin to the already released and reviewed Vivosmart HR. It’s available now for $220, £170 and AU$360.
The HR+’s standout feature is the addition of GPS for measuring pace and distance when running. It also includes auto pause, auto lap and a virtual pacer, all of which are pretty much standard for running watches. It keeps track of your personal records too.
Sarah Tew/CNET
This Plus model is a little bigger than the Vivosmart HR, but still quite slim. It’s actually pretty impressive that Garmin was able to squeeze all of these features into such a small device. It’s lightweight and feels good on your wrist, but there are some sacrifices. The tracker is lacking a dedicated interval training feature, which can be found on Garmin’s Forerunner series of watches, and other advanced training features.
Beyond running, the Vivosmart HR+ will measure steps, distance, calories burned, floors climbed, intensity minutes, continuous heart rate and sleep. Its always-on, sunlight-readable display can show alerts for calls, text messages and social networks from your iPhone or Android phone.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The tracker can also automatically recognize and record walking, running, biking, swimming and elliptical training, similar to recent Fitbits.
Battery life is said to last up to five days as a fitness tracker, or up to eight hours with an active GPS signal. It can also be worn in the shower and while swimming.
MediaTek plans to power 25 VoLTE-enabled phones in India
MediaTek has seen a fourfold increase in its LTE-enabled SoC shipments in 2015, and the vendor is now looking to the Indian market to drive growth this year. Citing a burgeoning handset market — which saw a 23% increase in sales in Q1 2016 — MediaTek is expecting India to contribute over 10% of its global shipments for 2016.
In a statement to the PTI, MediaTek’s senior director and sales head of emerging markets Arthur Wang said:
India is an important part of our growth story. In 2015, we shipped 400 million chipsets for smartphones and over 33 million were from India. This year, we expect India to contribute over 10 percent to the shipment as the adoption of 4G LTE grows in the country.
Sales of 4G handsets is already growing in India. We are working with leading handset makers like Micromax, Lava, Karbonn, Lenovo and Lyf.
4G will play a key role in the growth of the smartphone segment in the country. Be sure to check out our detailed guide on the 4G ecosystem in India.
The state of 4G in India
Samsung will sell you the Gear VR for less if you buy a Galaxy S7
Samsung has announced an exclusive Gear VR content package for new European Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge owners. Should you purchase either handset from today, you’ll be able to pick up the Gear VR at 50% off with free access to premium games and experiences. This promotion is available for a limited time only at O2, Carphone Warehouse and Vodafone in the UK, but is also in Europe.
Content unlocked in the promotion include Anshar Wars 2, Darknet, Drift, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Ocean Rift and Starchart. With VR expected to become the next big thing in technology, Samsung is wanting to get as many Oculus-powered Gear VR headsets out to Galaxy S7 owners as possible and this special promotion is an ideal option for those to try something new.
See participating retailers for more details. The offer is valid for Galaxy S7 purchases between May 16 and June 4.
Press Release
London, 16 May, 2016 – Following record pre-orders in Europe for the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, Samsung Electronics Europe today announced an exclusive Gear VR content package for new S7 customers.
For a limited period only*, new Galaxy S7 and S7 edge customers in Europe will be able to purchase the Samsung Gear VR, powered by Oculus, at a special price and get free access to exclusive premium games and experiences, available at O2, Dixons Carphone and Vodafone in the UK. The bundle includes some of the Oculus Store’s most popular paid-for content, such as Anshar Wars 2, Darknet, Drift, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Ocean Rift and Starchart.
This new reward, in partnership with Oculus, the pioneering virtual reality firm that helps to power the Gear VR, comes as the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge continue to perform strongly across Europe. This strong S7 performance has also driven an upsurge of adoption in the mobile VR market in Europe. According to CCS Insight, the Western European VR market is expected to grow 168% year-on-year in 2016. Samsung has already sold over 300,000 Gear VR headsets in Europe this year, a significant figure given that CCS Insight estimates that the total number of VR devices sold in Europe last year was 1.8mn.
David Lowes, Chief Marketing Officer, Samsung Electronics Europe, commented: “Our Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are performing extremely well, demonstrating continued strong demand for our premium flagship devices. The smartphone is already so fundamental to our lives but connecting it with a product like the Gear VR opens up incredible new experiences that are often as emotional as they are immersive. With this new incentive, we’re encouraging broader VR adoption so that more people can experience this amazing new technology for themselves.”
“At Oculus, we want people to experience anything, anywhere through the power of virtual reality and we’re starting to see that happen with Gear VR,” said Max Cohen, Head of Mobile at Oculus. “We recently announced that one million people used Gear VR in April – this is an important milestone, which speaks to the great experience that Samsung and Oculus can deliver. Together, the hardware and software provides the absolute best VR experience on mobile available today and we’re looking forward to continuing to excite and engage European consumers.”
2016: Analysts predict a year of VR growth
Industry analyst house CCS Insight forecasts that revenues for VR headsets globally will reach $10bn by 2020, with Western Europe accounting for $3bn. 4.7mn headsets are expected to be shipped in Western Europe in 2016, with value-priced smartphone VR headsets such as the Gear VR expected to account for 90% of the volume.
Ben Wood, Chief of Research at CCS Insight, noted: “We are at the beginning of an exciting journey with VR. We believe consumers will be keen to experience the wealth of professionally curated 360-degree content that will emerge in 2016. Furthermore, the growth in self-created content generated by the growing number of 360-degree cameras and shared via Facebook and YouTube will only serve to take awareness levels to new heights as the year progresses.”
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