Ireland says EU overstepped authority over Apple tax bill
Ireland says the European Union overstepped its authority and misinterpreted the country’s laws when it ordered the country to claim 13 billion euros ($13.59 billion) in allegedly unpaid taxes from Apple. The company will also reportedly dispute this figure later this week. It’s by far the highest tax bill chased by the EU, and is one of multiple cases it’s pursuing against corporate tax deals granted by EU countries. The commission says that lower tax bills create illegal “state aid”, giving firms advantages over rivals.
Ireland’s appeal to overturn the decision by the European Commission centers on the fact that rulings “did not depart from ‘normal’ taxation”. It says it followed a portion of the Irish tax code that said nonresident companies should not pay income tax on profit that isn’t generated in Ireland.
Apple says that the majority of profits from the two Irish-registered businesses at the center of the case were based on intellectual property developed in the US, meaning it shouldn’t be taxable in Ireland Apple will have to pay its tax bill in the next few weeks. However, the money will be held until a final ruling from the EU courts — which could take years.
Ireland adds that the Commission is “attempt(ing to) rewrite the Irish corporation tax rules.” The country has pretty good motives to continue offering tax incentives. Dublin houses (or has housed) European HQs for Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon, PayPal, AirBnB, Uber and many more. If the EU gets its way, it could well affect Ireland’s status as European tech hub.
Source: WSJ
Hyundai tests a more economical autonomous car system
Our self-driving future will initially be extremely expensive. That’s why GM and Ford are working on autonomous systems for ride-hailing ahead of selling cars to individuals. Meanwhile, Korean automaker Hyundai is researching another approach: a system that uses less computing power and therefore is cheaper.
Of course this vehicle, like all autonomous cars, won’t be available for a very long time, but what Hyundai showed off in Las Vegas looks promising. The two test Ioniqs (one hybrid and one pure electric) were fitted with cameras in the windshield, radar behind the automaker’s logo and lidar sensors in the front and sides of the bumper. These were test vehicles, but they didn’t have the tech-filled racks usually associated with prototypes.
But it’s not aesthetics that made these Hyundais different from other autonomous cars we’ve ridden in. It’s how the automaker plans to reduce the computing footprint needed for self-driving.
To start, the car doesn’t have the 360-degree LIDAR sensor spinning on top of the car. Instead it has a 130-degree sensor in the front and 110-degree sensors on either side of the vehicle. Those cover nearly every angle, apart from the back, and that’s really where the computing reduction comes from. Without all that extra data, the car can use a less-powerful computer. But it’s not slouching on other sensors.
It also has radar behind the logo and in the rear quarter panels, and three cameras pointed out of the windshield to see pedestrians, cars, signs and other objects. All that information still needs to be processed. Plus, the car is also getting a tracking boost from high definition maps being created by Mnsoft, a subsidiary of Hyundai. That data from the cloud includes road grade, curvature and the width of lanes.
Put all that together and the autonomous Ioniq I rode was able to drive around Sin City without any input from the driver. It stopped at lights, for pedestrians and for vehicles blocking the road. Most of the these events were staged, but it all happened on a public road which is an accomplishment for a system that’s supposed to be running a leaner computer.
But there is a trade off for a cheaper and more modest data crunching system. Without the high-definition mapping, future cars won’t be able to drive on their own. So if you own one of these vehicles, you’ll have to actually drive until the automaker maps your local roads. The company does say that it would consider partnering with other mapping companies to fill in roadway gaps.
Those gaps are huge right now — the only part of Vegas mapped is the route we traveled on — but it’s important to remember that self-driving cars are a ways off and a lot can happen between now and then. What’s important is that Hyundai is looking at it from an economical perspective that could potentially open up the technology to all drivers, not just those that can afford a high-end car. And if we want a future filled with self-driving cars, everyone has to be part of the transition.
Hyundai wants to make exoskeletons cheaper
Exoskeletons are nothing new. You put one on and become a low-level Iron Man, able to lift items that would normally snap your spine. The drawback is they can be prohibitively expensive, but Hyundai thinks it can lower the cost of these exosuits that not only give us the ability to lift more, but can also help disabled people walk once again.
In Las Vegas last week, the automaker showed off two of its exoskeleton prototypes at a private media event: the H-Wex for industrial lifting and the H-Mex for helping disabled people walk. Both were available for demo, and while I found lifting items with the H-Wex to be less taxing on my back, it’s the H-Mex that has the potential to make a real difference for those who would be able to purchase one.
In its current form, the H-Mex only fits folks between five-foot-six and five-foot ten. I’m six-foot-three, so I didn’t get a chance to feel what it’s like to have an exoskeleton walk for me. Those who did try it out required a pretty thorough tutorial. It turns out, not using your own legs to walk isn’t as easy as you might think, because it goes against an entire lifetime of training.
Once they were able to give up control to the H-Mex, those trying out the product would use crutches not only for extra balance, but to set their legs into motion. One button would move the left leg forward, and the other would move the right. There are also buttons for sitting down, standing up and walking up and down stairs. It’s like a game controller for getting around.
From viewing the demos, it’s clear there’s a learning curve for H-Mex. Plus, there’s a good chance some of the controls will be fine tuned so you don’t accidentally hit the sit button when you meant to hit the left leg button. That’s something that actually happened. But the potential for helping people walk again is amazing, and Hyundai believes it can do it at a lower cost than niche companies.
“From a business perspective there’s a strong alignment between making a mobility robot and automobile,” said Tae Won Lim, senior vice president of Hyundai central advance research and engineering. In other words, they have the factories, so why not build exoskeletons cheaper than everyone else? But so far, no word on what those prices would be, though the company is already well on its way to getting these out into the real world.
Hyundai is working on acquiring medical certifications in both Korea and the United States for the H-Mex in 2018. It’ll then start deploying demo units in 2019 and 2020 to see how patients and workers react to the exoskeletons.
My experience with the H-Wex reminded me of my high school days, working on the school farm lifting and moving 50-pound bags of feed and bales of hay. It was repetitive, back-breaking work. The exoskeleton on my back would have made that job far easier. It felt like there was a spring in my spine and it made lifting the 40-pound demo box less taxing. Those with back problems who demoed the H-Wex were even more impressed.
Hyundai might currently be known for economy cars, but in the future, it could be a company we associate with making manual labor less taxing and giving disabled people another chance to walk.
2016: The year in winners and losers
2016 was an interesting one, that’s for sure. To celebrate its quickly approaching end, we’re going to spend the next two weeks looking back at the most important story lines of the year — starting with the biggest winners of 2016. (Don’t worry, next week we’ll be taking shots at the biggest losers.)
Over the next six days Engadget will take stock of who is entering 2017 in a much better position than in 2016. Facebook for one, has started to really pull away its social media competitors, despite its struggles with fake news. And, after years of being promised that VR or AR would go mainstream, 2016 finally seems to have delivered. Oh, and we also saw emoji evolve from a bunch of silly pictures to a full-fledged language of its own — one that represents the diversity of our society.
So stay tuned through December 31st as we run down the biggest winners and losers of 2016.
Check out all of Engadget’s year-in-review coverage right here.
UK ministers to discuss safe driving modes with phone makers
While lawmakers are doing their part to reduce the number of drivers making calls and sending texts while behind the wheel, ministers believe phone companies also have a part to play. According to The Guardian, government ministers are due to meet with representatives from the world’s biggest smartphone makers early next year, urging them to introduce software that will limit the use of smartphones while a vehicle is in motion.
It’s believed the talks will centre on the development of a so-called “drive safe” mode, much like the airplane mode now present on all devices, and other methods for reducing smartphone use behind the wheel. A separate Mashable report suggests that one method could include blocking mobile signals on Britain’s roads — although that could have a serious impact during emergencies.
Next year, the government will introduce new rules that crack down on mobile phone use while on the road. Fines and penalty points will be doubled to £200 and six points, with newly-passed drivers required to retake their test. Repeat offenders may be given up to a £1,000 fine and a driving ban of at least six months.
Questions remain over how special software modes would limit mobile phone use while driving. If such measures were implemented as standard, car passengers and people travelling on public transport would be unfairly impacted. If users need to opt-in, some wouldn’t enable it in the first place.
Still, the Department for Transport is keen to solve the issue: “We are determined to crack down on mobile phone use at the wheel. Our plans to double penalties for this serious crime should act as an incredibly strong deterrent,” a spokesperson said. “We will continue to explore what more can be done to tackle this crime.”
Source: The Guardian
The new Razer Blade Pro trades gimmicks for 4K gaming power
When Razer made its first laptop, it was a company best known for selling third-party gamepads and high-performance gaming mice. Premium gimmicks were the name of the game. The company routinely released products with 17 buttons, adjustable tension analog sticks or retractable parts. This flair for novelty carried over to Razer’s first gaming notebook, which featured a set of 10 customizable keyboard buttons that each housed its own tiny LED display. It was neat, but the flagship laptop was soon overshadowed by a smaller, more powerful model. Now, the company is finally giving its original notebook the upgrades it deserves: a screaming new processor, the latest in graphics technology and a keyboard without the hindrance of the original’s silly “Switchblade” interface. This is the new Razer Blade Pro.
Design
At first blush, the new Blade Pro looks just like Razer’s other CNC-milled aluminum notebooks: It has a matte-black, unibody chassis with textured details on the lid. Indeed, this is the same design language we’ve seen in every laptop Razer’s ever made — it’s just bigger. Indeed, the Blade is the largest machine the company has built to date, stretching 16.7 inches across at its widest point and measuring 0.88 inches tall with the lid closed. It’s technically “thin and light” for a gaming laptop of its class, but at 7.8 pounds, it’s not exactly portable.
The Blade Pro may have been too big to fit in my usual work backpack, but its large frame at least offers plenty of connectivity. In all, the Pro’s chassis is host to three USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI-out, a single USB Type-C socket, Ethernet and a 3.5mm audio jack. I was delighted to find an SD card reader too — something I’ve missed on every Razer Blade notebook until now.
Keyboard and trackpad
At a glance, the Blade Pro’s keys looks like any other laptop keyboard, but touch them and you’ll find something completely different. Each key falls with a satisfying click and releases with a nearly identical pop — the hallmark tactility of a mechanical switch. It’s weird and slightly wonderful, at least for keyboard snobs like myself who extol the merits of mechanical keyboards. The Razer Blade Pro is the first laptop to ship with the company’s new ultra-low-profile mechanical key switches, a new typing technology that crams the feeling of full-sized mechanical actuation and reset into a laptop form factor.
If that sounds like a lot of buzzwords, don’t worry: All you need to know is that the Blade Pro’s new keyboard is excellent. After a firm click and a soft landing, its keys spring back with a delightful push. It was an odd sensation at first, and clashed with the muscle memory I’d built up from years of typing on traditional keys. Still, the longer I used the keyboard, the more I came love it. Its 1.6mm of key travel is still a little shallow compared to the cherry-mx switches I’m used to on my desktop machine, but the Blade Pro’s keys nonetheless feel like a minor revolution in mobile typing.
The Blade Pro’s trackpad is far less revelatory, but it still defies tradition. Most laptop mousing surfaces are positioned below the keyboard, but the Blade Pro’s trackpad is placed to the right of the notebook’s keys instead. This is odd, but not necessarily bad. After some adjustment, it feels completely natural, mirroring the position one might hold a mouse relative to a desktop PC. Although I grew to appreciate the starboard pad, I still couldn’t shake old habits. I pawed at the empty space below the keyboard at least half as often as the touchpad itself. It’s hard to unlearn years of laptop use.
The Blade Pro’s keys feel like a minor revolution in mobile typing.
That odd placement aside, the trackpad itself is excellent. Razer perfected the Windows touchpad the moment it got rid of the buttons on its Stealth Ultrabook. The Pro’s trackpad area is little more than a larger version of that touch surface, and that’s perfectly fine.
The Blade Pro also has one feature I’ve never seen on a laptop before: a scroll wheel. By default, the wheel merely adjusts the laptop’s volume, but pressing the holding the Fn key will let it scroll through pages and documents. Like everything on the keyboard, you can tweak its functions through Razer’s built-in Synapse software, which also controls keyboard macros, key assignments and Chroma backlight profiles.
Display and sound
Laptop speakers are typically good but never great. The chassis of a notebook simply can’t compete with the acoustics of a home stereo or even just a decent pair of headphones. The Blade Pro, however, makes a fine effort anyway. In addition to gifting the Pro with bigger, amplified speakers than its predecessors, Razer has cut “dual firing” slots into each side of the laptop’s frame. Basically, there are two acoustic holes in the chassis that help push sound away from the machine and out into the room. The result is loud, clear and well-separated audio that can easily fill an entire room. It still doesn’t beat my stereo or headphones, but it’s enough to push the Blade Pro’s sound from “good” to “better.”
Razer laptop displays have a habit of exhausting my vocabulary — there are only so many synonyms for stunning, vibrant and beautiful. The Blade Pro’s 17.3-inch IGZO 3,840 x 2,160 touchscreen is no exception. Between its wide viewing angles, deep blacks, bright colors, 100-percent Adobe RGB colorspace and NVIDIA’s existing G-Sync screen-tear prevention tech, the machine’s display is simply excellent. Games, videos and photos all look wonderful on it.
This year, though, the Blade has earned a new adjective: necessary. The Razer Blade Pro is the first gaming laptop I’ve ever used that isn’t hamstrung by an ultra-high resolution panel. This machine is actually powerful enough to play modern games in 4K.
Performance
| Razer Blade Pro (2016 (2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ, NVIDIA GTX 1080) | 6,884 | 6,995 | E18,231 / P16,346 | 27,034 | 2.75 GB/s / 1.1 GB/s |
| ASUS ROG Strix GL502VS (2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ , NVIDIA GTX 1070) | 5,132 | 6,757 | E15,335 / P13,985 | 25,976 | 2.14 GB/s / 1.2 GB/s |
| HP Spectre x360 (2016, 2.7GHz Core i7-7500U, Intel HD 620) | 5,515 | 4,354 | E2,656 / P1,720 / X444 | 3,743 | 1.76 GB/s / 579 MB/s |
| Lenovo Yoga 910 (2.7GHz Core i7-7500U, 8GB, Intel HD 620) | 5,822 | 4,108 |
E2,927 / P1,651 / X438 |
3,869 | 1.59 GB/s / 313 MB/s |
| Razer Blade (Fall 2016) (2.7GHz Intel Core-i7-7500U, Intel HD 620) | 5,462 | 3,889 | E3,022 / P1,768 | 4,008 | 1.05 GB/s / 281 MB/s |
| Razer Blade (Fall 2016) + Razer Core (2.7GHz Intel Core-i7-7500U, NVIDIA GTX 1080) | 5,415 | 4,335 | E11,513 / P11,490 | 16,763 | 1.05 GB/s / 281 MB/s |
| ASUS ZenBook 3 (2.7GHz Intel Core-i7-7500U, Intel HD 620) | 5,448 | 3,911 | E2,791 / P1,560 | 3,013 | 1.67 GB/s / 1.44 GB/s |
| HP Spectre 13 (2.5GHz Intel Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) | 5,046 | 3,747 | E2,790 / P1,630 / X375 | 3,810 | 1.61 GB/s / 307 MB/s |
| Dell XPS 13 (2.3GHz Core i5-6200U, Intel Graphics 520) | 4,954 | 3,499 | E2,610 / P1,531 | 3,335 | 1.6GB/s / 307 MB/s |
| Razer Blade Stealth (2.5GHz Intel Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) | 5,131 | 3,445 | E2,788 / P1,599 / X426 | 3,442 | 1.5 GB/s / 307 MB/s |
For years, Razer’s “Blade Pro” lingered in obsolescence, two full generations behind the bleeding-edge processors and graphics technology the company put in its other laptops. Not anymore. With a 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ CPU beating at its heart, 32GB of RAM and NVIDIA’s latest GTX 1080 GPU, the new Razer Blade Pro absolutely lives up to its moniker. This is the most powerful laptop Razer has ever built and the first gaming laptop to cross my desk that can run circles around my game library at ultra-high resolutions.
The Blade Pro chewed through Titanfall 2 and Overwatch at its native 3,840 x 2,160 resolution on their maximum settings, running consistently running each game at 60 frames per second or higher. Games like Just Cause 3, Battlefield 1 and Hitman all stayed above 45 fps on their best configuration at the same resolution. Only two games in my library balked at the Blade Pro’s GPU: the Witcher 3 and Watch Dogs 2. These titles fell just short of a 30-fps average on their maximum settings in 4K, forcing me to pull them back to medium graphics settings or dial the resolution down to 1080p.
That’s not just good performance — it’s paradigm-shifting performance. I’ve lambasted the last two generations of Razer laptops (as well as other gaming notebooks) for having screens that outpaced the capability of their GPUs, forcing players to choose between ugly, non-native resolution or ugly, low-fidelity graphic settings. Now, people don’t have to choose anymore. That’s fantastic.
Oh, and were you thinking about picking up a virtual reality headset? Go ahead: The Blade Pro scored 6,908 in VRMark’s Orange Room test and 1,992 in the more intensive Blue Room benchmark. That’s good enough to comfortably run most anything in today’s VR marketplace. The Blade Pro handled everything in my VR library with aplomb and only stuttered when I used Raw Data’s resolution multiplier feature. Not bad at all.
Battery life
Razer Blade Pro (2016)
3:48
Surface Book with Performance Base (2016)
16:15
Apple MacBook Pro 2016 (13-inch, no Touch Bar)
11:42
HP Spectre x360 (13-inch, 2015)
11:34
Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display (13-inch, 2015)
11:23
Apple MacBook Pro 2016 (15-inch)
11:00
iPad Pro (12.9-inch, 2015)
10:47
HP Spectre x360 15t
10:17
Apple MacBook Pro 2016 (13-inch, Touch Bar)
9:55
ASUS ZenBook 3
9:45
Apple MacBook (2016)
8:45
Samsung Notebook 9
8:16
Microsoft Surface Pro 4
7:15
HP Spectre 13
7:07
Razer Blade Stealth (Spring 2016)
5:48
Razer Blade Stealth (Fall 2016)
5:36
Dell XPS 15 (2016)
5:25 (7:40 with the mobile charger)
ASUS ROG Strix GL502VS
3:03
Razer didn’t tack that “Pro” qualifier on this laptop for professional gamers. Rather, the Blade is intended to double as a work machine. To that end, the Blade Pro ran the gamut of my normal workflow as if it were a light jog, shrugging off my standard mess of browser windows, chat programs and video editing software. Unfortunately, it couldn’t do it for very long. Despite housing a huge 99Wh battery (the largest allowed on airlines, according to Razer), the 17-inch workhorse lasted just shy of four hours on battery. Sadly, that’s kind of normal for oversized gaming laptops with 4K screens, but it’s still disappointing.
Configuration options and the competition
The Blade Pro comes in just three flavors: a $3,699 model with 512GB of solid-state storage; a $3,999 build with 1TB of space; or a staggeringly expensive $4,499 machine with a 1TB SSD. Apart from disk size, all three configurations are identical, with 32GB of RAM, a 2.6GHz Intel Core i-6700HQ processor (3.5GHz with Turbo Boost), NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1080 GPU (with 8GB GDDR5X VRAM) and the striking 17.3-inch IGZO 4K G-Sync enabled touchscreen. If those aren’t the exact specs you had in mind, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
If you’re willing to compromise on size, power and screen resolution, there are definitely cheaper 17-inch laptops out there. The super-sized version of ASUS ROG Strix sports the same processor and allotment of RAM for only $1,300, but it only has a full HD display and a GTX 1060 GPU. MSI’s GT73VR Titan Pro can be had with same processor and GPU as Razer’s top build for $3,399, but it’s also more than twice as thick as the Blade Pro. On the other hand, if you were really concerned about size, you probably wouldn’t be looking at 17-inch laptops in the first place.
Wrap-up
For the past few years, Razer’s “Blade Pro” laptop was paradoxically its least advanced machine, but the latest model finally lives up to its name. With enough power to handle high-resolution video editing, 4K PC games and even virtual reality, it’s the most powerful system Razer has ever built. This is a premium laptop with a top-notch display, excellent build quality and quite possibly the best notebook keyboard I’ve ever used.
That said, the new Blade Pro is also the largest and most expensive PC Razer has ever built. There’s a lot of value to be had in its $3,699 price tag, but also some compromise. Its enormous frame makes it hard to lug around, and it fails to overcome the Achilles’ heel of its category: short battery life. If you can live with those drawbacks, though, Razer’s flagship laptop is waiting for you.
AirPods Deliveries Arrive Across Europe as Retail Store Stock Dwindles
Early orders of AirPods arrived across Europe this morning as people were seen waiting outside Apple retail stores eager to get hold of a pair of the new wireless earphones before initial stock ran out.
Queues were reported outside Apple’s Regent Street store in London and some other brick-and-mortar stores scattered around the U.K., but stock is reportedly limited and going fast. Regent Street was said to have only 150 units, while the Apple Store in Bath reportedly had only 10 in stock upon opening. Reddit user googang619 said that Newcastle’s Eldon Square store initially had 25 pairs in at 9 a.m. but “they had sold twenty of them in the first 10 minutes”.
People queue for AirPods outside Regent Street Apple Store (Image: Derek Baker)
For those lucky enough to have got in on the first wave of online orders last week and received the earphones on Monday via courier, the first impressions of Apple’s audio accessory have so far been overwhelmingly positive, with wearability and ease of pairing coming in for particular praise.
Bringing a new case of AirPods within two inches of an unlocked iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and flipping the lid brings up a dialog on the screen offering to pair the device. Once the option is tapped, the AirPods are identified as the owner’s and subsequently pair automatically.
MacRumors reader The Game 161 said of the Bluetooth connection: “Incredible, left phone in house, walked up the drive and it was still there”.
Twitter user Long Zheng called the Bluetooth connection range “spectacular” and said he was able to walk around his whole house listening to podcasts. He also said they were “much more comfortable than traditional EarPods, much lighter on the ear and no pulling from the cord”. MacRumors reader Boardiesboi agreed, claiming they “almost feel like they’re not there” because they’re so light.
As for audio performance, MacRumors reader ssrij called the AirPods “louder than EarPods”, with better sound quality and stronger bass than Apple’s wired earphones. Bazooka-joe called the audio quality “much better than expected. Lots of bass. Very clear.”
Apple has included a Lightning to USB-A charging cable with the AirPods, rather than one with a USB-C connection for connecting to newer MacBook Pros. We’ll post a more in depth look at how the AirPods function and perform later in the day.
Tags: Europe, AirPods
Discuss this article in our forums
How to replace the base on Google Home
How do I change the base on my Google Home?
We’re finally starting to see more apps and services tie in to Google Home, and the device is finally finding its place in our homes and our lives. That said, in order to let our Google Home fit a little more among our homes and our style, we have another change we can make to Google Home: replace the boring white base with one of Google’s more colorful styles.
You can buy a new fabric Base for Google Home for $20 from the Google Store, or the metal variants for $40. Once you’ve bought one to your liking, replacing the base is quite a simple affair.
How to change the base on your Google Home
Unplug the Google Home from its power cord.
Gently pull the base and top apart with your hands. The magnets holding the base in place should come free with little difficulty.
Minding the cutout for the power plug, slide the new base over the bottom of the Google Home until the magnets lock it into place.
Replug the power cord into the Google Home.
While the metal covers might go with a wider range of decor, being double the price of the fabric models may turn off most users, and for my money, the Marine and Violet are prettier anyway. Whatever color you get, the new covers will allow the Google Home to go from blending into the background to standing out in your living room, kitchen, or whatever room your Google Home calls home.
Base for Google Home
Google Home
- Google Home review
- These services work with Google Home
- Google Home vs. Amazon Echo
- Join our Google Home forums!
Google Store Best Buy Target
Samsung may unveil the Galaxy S8 at an event in New York in April
Galaxy S8 may not make its debut at Mobile World Congress.
Samsung may unveil the Galaxy S8 at a dedicated event in New York in April, a month after Mobile World Congress. The news itself isn’t new — a story in the The Wall Street Journal hinted as much last month — and it looks like Samsung will utilize the additional time to “recover confidence from consumers” by working with external agencies.
Rumors thus far regarding the Galaxy S8 suggest we’ll see a bezel-less QHD display with the home button embedded within the panel, the removal of the 3.5mm jack, and the introduction of a new virtual assistant. Samsung mobile chief Koh Dong-jin is also calling for additional security measures to prevent leaks of the Galaxy S8 ahead of its debut.
By delaying the launch of the Galaxy S8, Samsung will also get more time to conduct quality tests. The company has reportedly concluded its investigation into the Note 7 fires, and is said to have submitted its findings to independent labs in the South Korean and U.S. for validation.
Apple Maps iOS 10 update adds live public transport information for the whole of Britain
Apple has updated Apple Maps with a new look for its Transit mode, several new features and new tranport options for several new cities, including details for the whole of Great Britain.
Transit shows transport route options for journeys up and down the country, not just throughout London. It is now available for the whole of China and Japan too.
Schedules and transit systems have been added to Maps for multiple new locations, along with station entrances and exits as applicable.
Also added to the US and Chinese versions of Maps is nearby information. As well as offering details on trains, subways, buses and ferries, the app will also show local options for food, shopping and other services.
- Apple iPhone 7 review: Refining the design rather than ripping it up and starting again
- Apple iPhone 7 Plus review: Big changes from the big iPhone
The Apple Maps update is rolling out to users with iOS 10 installed throughout today, 19 December. You only need to search for a location to see the Transit options along the bottom of the screen.
Transit information in Maps is now available in the following cities, as well as across China, Great Britain and Japan:
- Atlanta
- Austin
- Baltimore
- Berlin
- Boston
- Chicago
- Cleveland
- Cincinnati
- Honolulu
- Kansas City
- London
- Los Angeles
- Mexico City
- Miami
- Minneapolis
- Montreal
- New York City
- Philadelphia
- Portland
- Rio de Janeiro
- Sacramento
- Salt Lake City
- San Francisco
- São Paulo
- Seattle
- Sydney
- Toronto
- Washington DC
AIVAnet 