Apple’s Second European Data Center Prepares for 2017 Opening in Foulum, Denmark
Earlier in the year, Apple announced that it would be spending $2 billion on two new data centers in Europe, with one located in Ireland and another in Denmark. New information has emerged today regarding the second data center in Denmark, which will be located in Foulum (via The Copenhagen Post).
Foulum is a small town outside of Viborg — a larger a city in central Jutland, Denmark — where the agricultural research facilities of Aarhus University are located. This will be helpful for Apple, since the company also recently announced a partnership with the Aarhus University on a new biogas research and development project.
The research will look into how to convert biogas into electricity through the use of fuel cells, and the help of various agricultural waste materials provided by local farmers.
Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen said the new collaboration is “an excellent follow-on to Apple’s billion investment in the data centre”.
“The new partnership is a good example that [ministry investment organization] Invest in Denmark’s targeted efforts to attract data centre investments to Denmark is producing excellent results. It also illustrates that data centre investors often wish to contribute to research into and the expansion of the renewable energy capacity in Denmark to the benefit of everyone,” Jensen said in a statement.
At 6.3 billion kroner, the 166,000-square-meter data center is the “largest foreign capital investment in Danish history.” Similar to the Irish data center, the one in Denmark will help power Apple’s online services in Europe, including the iTunes Store, App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, and more. The current projections for the project prepare it for an operational launch date sometime in 2017, and construction is expected to continue through 2026.
Throughout 2016, Apple had a rough time preparing its data center in Ireland, facing multiple objections to the facility’s potential harmful ramifications for the nearby wilderness. In August, however, the Cupertino company finally got approval for its Galway County, Ireland data center. Apple’s plan was to originally have the Irish data center up and running by early 2017, but since its first proposal in September 2015 and the ensuing blockades, it’s expected that goal has been pushed further back.
Tag: data center
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Apple’s Flagship Regent Street Location in U.K. Reopens October 15
Apple has announced that its flagship Regent Street retail location in London, England reopens Saturday, October 15 at 10:00 a.m. local time, following over one year of major renovations.
Apple Regent Street with “opening soon” construction barrier in late September (Sebastian Anthony via Twitter)
Apple contracted award-winning architecture firm Foster and Partners to design the layout of the new store, which initially remained open for business at the basement level but has been fully closed since June 13.
MacRumors exclusively reported on the remodeling plans last year, including the removal of four Apple logos affixed to the store’s facade in order to allow more natural light inside and preserve the historic look of the building. Like other renovated stores, Apple Regent Street will feature Apple’s next-generation retail design.
Apple Brussels exemplifies Apple’s next-generation retail design
The renovations included the relocation of three columns to create a more spacious feel, replacing the central glass stairs with two new side staircases, and re-configuration of the Backroom with improved facilities for employees. The store’s overall square footage has been reduced by 4,400 square feet, or around 25% of the current size.
Apple Regent Street prior to closing for renovations
Apple Regent Street opened in 2004 and attracts over 4 million visitors per year. The iconic store expanded two years later to become Apple’s largest at the time. Apple has contracted Foster and Partners for several other projects in recent years, including the design of its Campus 2 and Apple Union Square.
Related Roundup: Apple Stores
Tag: United Kingdom
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StubHub Becomes First Ticketing App on Apple TV
StubHub is coming to Apple TV, marking what it says is the first ticketing app on the tvOS App Store. The app has been specifically designed for the fourth-generation Apple TV, enabling users to browse, search, and purchase tickets for sports games, concerts, theater and comedy shows, and other U.S. events from the couch.
StubHub, owned by eBay, is a popular online marketplace for buying and selling tickets for events, including NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL games, concerts by artists such as Adele and Drake, WWE and UFC fights, comedy shows by the likes of Amy Schumer, and more. Tickets can be searched for by genre, artist, team, or venue.
StubHub for Apple TV takes advantage of the big screen with a highly visual design intended to motivate couch sitters to get out:
The design was tested and iterated through several rounds of user feedback, in which StubHub designers added the side-scroll interface for browsing within a seating section of a specific event, and included high-resolution seat maps on the listing cards so consumers could get a clear idea of the view from the section in which they were considering tickets.
StubHub for Apple TV does not appear to be available on the tvOS App Store just yet, but it should be rolling out soon.
Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 10
Tags: tvOS, StubHub
Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Caution)
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Mophie Launches Modular iPhone 7 Cases With Magnetic Wallet and Battery Pack Add-Ons
Mophie today announced a modular accessory line of iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus cases that allow users to attach various peripherals via magnetic charge on the back of Apple’s smartphone. Shawn Dougherty, co-founder and President of Mophie, said the new “Hold Force” line offers “stylish, protective cases” with the advantage of extra battery life and spots for credit cards.
The first step in ordering a Hold Force case is choosing the 4.7-inch or 5.5-inch case size for the iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus. Users will also pick between 9 color options on each accessory that range from one solid color scheme, to a “wrap” option that has a line of color sitting between see-through plastic. Cases in both sizes sell for $39.95.
The Hold Force Wallet
The second step guides users in picking out a magnetic accessory to stick on the back of the Hold Force case, which are right now limited to a wallet system and battery pack. The Hold Force Wallet is available only for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus at $19.95, and includes 2 credit card pockets that Mophie says “keeps your cash, credit cards and ID together with your phone in one spot” thanks to the new line’s secure magnetic attachments.
The Hold Force Folio offers three spots for credit cards and cash, along with a piece of material that flips and covers the front of the iPhone. Like the Wallet, the Folio is available for both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus for $19.95. The company noted that the magnetic attachments have no negative effects on credit cards while they are inside of the Hold Force system.
The Hold Force Folio
Lastly, the Hold Force Powerstation Plus Mini can provide up to 12 hours of extra battery life for average smartphones, thanks to its integrated 4,000 mAh battery. The accessory’s basic charging system is focused on micro-USB, so an included Lightning adapter allows for support of recharging the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Mophie sells the Powerstation Plus Mini for $59.95.
The Hold Force Powerstation Plus Mini
Those interested can purchase the new accessories from Mophie’s official website, as well as at Best Buy.
Tag: Mophie
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PhotoFast 4K Video Capture and Storage Kit Now Available at Apple Stores
Gigastone recently announced its MFi-certified PhotoFast 4K Video Capture and Storage Kit is now available exclusively through Apple’s online storefront and at select Apple retail locations in the United States.
The kit includes a Lightning to microSD card reader, 64GB microSD card with U3 speeds, SD card adapter, and keychain leash, ideal for capturing 4K video and high-resolution images from an action camera or drone and saving or viewing the content immediately after on an iPhone or iPad.
The kit requires using an app, namely the PhotoFast LIFE app, available for free on the App Store [Direct Link], as is always the case with external storage accessories. If needed, the MicroSD-to-SD adapter connects the reader to SD card slots on most MacBook Pro models for transferring 4K videos and photos to the desktop.
Gigastone’s PhotoFast 4K Video Capture and Storage Kit is $79.95 on Apple’s website.
Tags: 4K, Apple retail
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Apple Seeds Third macOS Sierra 10.12.1 Beta to Developers
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra update to developers for testing purposes, nearly one week after seeding the second beta and two weeks after releasing the new macOS Sierra operating system to the public.
macOS Sierra 10.12.1 beta 3 can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center or through the Software update mechanism in the Mac App Store.
macOS Sierra 10.12.1 appears to focus on bug fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements to address issues that have been found since the operating system’s release. Few outward-facing changes were discovered in the first two betas, but it does include Photos support for the new iPhone 7 Plus Portrait feature introduced with iOS 10.1. New features discovered in the third 10.12.1 beta will be listed below.
macOS Sierra is a significant update that brings features like Siri support, a new storage optimization option, cross device copy paste, auto unlocking with the Apple Watch, and more. For full details on macOS Sierra, make sure to check out our roundup.
Related Roundup: macOS Sierra
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Amazon Echo Dot (2nd Generation) review – CNET
The Good The second-gen, mini-sized Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker is just as smart as the first at nearly half the cost, and it’s better at hearing you, too. It’s also the only Echo product you can connect to an existing audio setup.
The Bad Amazon’s Echo products still can’t offer audio that syncs across multiple devices in multiple rooms.
The Bottom Line The new and improved Echo Dot takes Amazon’s best-in-class smart home speaker and wraps it in an ultra-affordable package.
Apple is rumored to be working on a Siri-powered smart home speaker with built-in cameras. The Google Home smart speaker could go on sale as soon as tomorrow.
Alexa finally has some competition.
That’s almost certainly why we have a second-gen Amazon Echo Dot. With the price slashed to a near-absurd $50 (or £50 in the UK, where Alexa launched just last month), Amazon’s goal is obvious — get its virtual voice assistant into as many homes as possible now, before people have other options. That means that the Dot is designed to sell, sell, sell. And to step all over the arrival of Google Home.
Not that it needed much help. The original Echo Dot, launched just last March as a pint-sized follow-up to the surprise smash hit Amazon Echo smart speaker, was by all accounts just as successful as its predecessor. It sold out quicker than even Amazon had anticipated and won rave reviews, including an Editors’ Choice distinction here on CNET.
Now, after being out of stock for months, the Dot is back, and more affordable than ever. (It isn’t available in Australia, but were you to import one the price converts to about AU$65.) It’s just as smart as before, too, with all of the same Alexa tricks along with plenty of new ones thanks to a rapidly growing library of third-party voice app “skills.” And, despite the lower cost, it’s an even better performer than the first generation, with microphones that do a better job of hearing your voice commands over music playback or background noise.
In other words, the already-great Echo Dot got a compromise-free price cut. It was an Editors’ Choice-winner back in March — now, it’s close to a must-buy for just about anyone who’s reading this.
The Amazon Echo Dot is back (and even better…
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Alexa in a nutshell
The Echo Dot is always listening for its wake word, “Alexa.” Say it, and the Dot will light up and listen to your question or command.
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
“Alexa” is Amazon’s cloud-connected, voice-activated virtual assistant. She’s Siri in a speaker. You wake her up by saying her name, or by saying one of your two other wake word options, “Amazon” or “Echo.” The array of microphones inside of the Echo Dot is always listening, and when they hear the wake word, they’ll record whatever you say next and send it off through the cloud to Amazon’s servers. Those servers will figure out what you’re asking for, then tell Alexa how to respond. All of it happens in about a second.
You can ask Alexa to do all sorts of things. For starters, she can stream music from Amazon Prime Music, Pandora, or Spotify. She can can play podcasts from iHeartRadio or TuneIn. She can set kitchen timers. She can look up facts. She can wake you up in the morning. She can tell your kids painfully bad jokes. She can read off the day’s headlines from whatever news sources you like (including, ahem, CNET). All you have to do is ask.
On top of that, Alexa keeps getting smarter thanks to an increasingly robust market of third-party voice apps called “skills.” There are over 3,000 of them at this point, and each one teaches Alexa a new trick. The Uber and Lyft skills let you tell Alexa to call you a ride. The Capital One skill lets you tell Alexa to make a credit card payment. The Domino’s skill lets you tell Alexa to order a pizza. A skill called The Wayne Investigation lets you talk your way through an interactive mystery set in Gotham City. You can browse through them all in the Alexa app, then pick which ones you want to enable. You can also just ask Alexa to turn one on by saying something like, “Alexa, enable the Jeopardy skill.” And, as of now, none of them cost anything.
Alexa can control a growing list of smart home gadgets, too, including connected lighting setups, smart thermostats, and popular smart home platforms. Ask her to turn the kitchen lights off or raise the temperature a few degrees, and she’ll happily comply. Here are some of the most popular options:
- Philips Hue connected LEDs
- LIFX connected LEDs
- Ledvance Lightify connected LEDs
- Lutron connected lighting setups
- Haiku smart lights and ceiling fans
- Belkin WeMo Switches
- August Smart Lock
- Scout Home Security system
- Ecobee3 Smart Thermostat
- Nest Learning Thermostat
- SmartThings connected home platform
- Wink connected home platform
- Insteon connected home platform
- GE smart appliances
- Garageio garage door opener
- Logitech Harmony Hub entertainment controller
- Control4 smart home setups
- Nexia smart home setups
- Crestron smart home setups
We’ve been using Alexa to control gadgets like these in the CNET Smart Home for over a year now, and she’s terrific at it. If you have any interest in smart home tech whatsoever, then the Echo Dot is an absolute no-brainer.
Small, but mighty
The new Echo Dot is a little smaller than the original, with two new volume buttons replacing the volume ring. It’s now also available in white.
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
The new Echo Dot is a little shorter than the original because there’s no longer a ring around the top that you turn to control the volume. Instead, you turn things up and down using two new volume buttons on the top of the device. It’s also a bit lighter, with a glossy plastic casing instead of the matte black body of generation one. And, of course, it’s available in white now (which looks quite good, in my opinion). Other than that, this is the same Dot as before: same plug-and-play simplicity, same voice-activated smarts.
Like every other Echo product, the Dot is really just an access point for the Amazon Alexa cloud platform. That means that you’re getting the exact same Alexa features as you would with the full-size Amazon Echo or the battery-powered Amazon Tap. The Dot just has a less powerful speaker.
There’s an ace up the Dot’s sleeve, though, and that’s the fact that you can connect it with existing speakers and audio setups over Bluetooth or via line-in cable. Do so, and you’ll essentially make an Echo out of whatever speakers you like. The Echo and Tap can’t do that — with both, it’s the built-in speakers or it’s nothing.
You can connect the Echo Dot with your existing audio setup using Bluetooth or a line in cable (not included).
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
That makes Dot the most flexible of the three, and the most intriguing, too. After all, music is a big part of the Alexa experience, and most music lovers already have an audio setup they’re happy with. The Dot lets them give that audio setup a brand new brain.
AIVAnet 