Apple and Nike made a new Apple Watch called NikeLab and it’s limited

Apple and Nike have made a new, limited-edition version of the Apple Watch Nike+ watch.

Nike has announced that it partnered with Apple to create a Apple Watch Nike+ that combines a Space Grey Apple Watch Series 2 aluminium case with a black and white coloured Nike band. The watch, dubbed Apple Watch Nike Lab, is otherwise exactly like the Nike+ watch. However, unlike the Nike+, it will only be available through Nike’s website, at NikeLab locations, and at an Apple pop-up in Tokyo.

• Apple Watch Nike+ review: Great watch, not a perfect runner’s watch
• Which Apple Watch should you choose?

Nike said the device is meant to be “the ultimate style companion” for runners. It’s integrated with the Nike+ Run Club app and offers exclusive Siri commands, GPS, a dual-core processor, and water resistance up to 50m. It also comes running watchOS 3 out of the box. ​It will not be sold in any physical Apple Stores or from the Apple Store website, making it the first Apple Watch to get such a limited release.

Nike

The Apple Watch NikeLab will be available from 27 April. It’s unclear how many units will be made and how much they’ll cost. No pricing information was announced by Nike on Thursday, and yet MacRumors has reported that the 38mm model and 42mm model will cost $369 (about £290) and $399 (about £310), respectively, which is the same price as the Apple Watch Nike+, which debuted last autumn.

Nike

UK pricing is unknown too, but we’ve contacted Apple for more details. Apple and Nike first teamed up late last year to launch a version of the Appl Watch together that sits alongside Apple’s own Series 2 devices.

The only thing new about Nike’s latest Apple Watch is the band

When the Apple Watch Series 2 debuted some beefed-up fitness tracking features last year, the Nike+ variation looked like it would finally realize the full potential of Apple and Nike’s long-running partnership. For the same price as the standard Apple Watch, the Nike edition comes preloaded with the Nike+ Run Club app, exclusive Siri commands and two run-oriented watch faces — making it a no-brainer for runners already in the market for some Apple wristwear. Now Nike’s designers are back with a new “neutral-toned” colorway just in time for the Spring running season.

The new watch is a collaboration with the shoemaker’s NikeLab “innovation platform” and the latest variant is technically called the “Apple Watch NikeLab,” if we’re being specific. On the inside, though, you’re still getting the same Apple Watch Series 2 with an aluminum case in either 38mm or 42mm sizes. The same Nike+ exclusive features and watch faces are also preloaded, and the band is the same perforated fluoroelastomer material as before, but the new NikeLab edition offers that toned-down “Light Bone/Black” color combination and a special “NikeLab Innovators x Innovation” inscription.

The NikeLab edition goes on sale April 27th through Nike.com, NikeLab stores and an Apple pop-up in Tokyo.

Source: Nike Newsroom

‘Grand Theft Auto’ returns to its top-down roots next week

If Grand Theft Auto: Online’s last big event, the sophomorically named Cunning Stunts, stoked a flame in your racing heart, next week’s add-on might set it ablaze with nostalgia. For a few different reasons, no less. With April 25th’s “Tiny Racers,” the camera reverts to a top-down point of view like the GTA games of yore. More than that, Tiny Racers is a pretty overt homage to the Micro Machines series of stunt-minded arcade racers from the 8-and-16 bit era. I mean, just look at the name; that wasn’t an accident.

As you’ll see in the trailer below, the highways even have a toy-like feel with their colorful boundaries and weapon power-ups. And since this is GTA Online we’re talking about, there’s plenty of mayhem involved if you want to take the checkered flag. Sure, you could scoff, but considering that GTA V has consistently been in the top ten games sold each month since its initial release, that derision would be misplaced.

The reason GTA V keeps selling so well well over three years later is directly related to Rockstar’s work keeping GTA Online fresh. Will the developer see the same success with this fall’s Red Dead Redemption 2 and a possible Red Dead Redemption: Online? If the past is any indication, that’s a definite possibility.

Source: Rockstar Newswire

Windows 10’s biannual update schedule starts in September

Now that the Windows 10 Creators update has officially arrived, Microsoft is looking forward to the next major updates in its release schedule. Although we already new Microsoft would bring another major release in September of this year, Redmond is also committing to a new twice-per-year feature release schedule for 2018 and beyond.

The announcement puts Windows 10 and Office 365 ProPlus on the same schedule, which should simplify support and compatibility issues moving forward. As Microsoft’s GM of Windows Commercial Marketing Bernardo Caldas pointed out in a blog post, the company is trying to make “large-scale, costly wipe-and-replace Windows deployments every few years a thing of the past.”

Microsoft hasn’t officially named the next release yet, but the name “Redstone 3” has been floating around and users in the Windows Insider program are already getting a look at potential new features like Windows Power Throttling for background apps. According to The Verge, the Windows 10 team is also working on something called Project Neon that includes some visual design changes like a tweaked start menu and more transparency.

Source: Windows Blog

Reports: US is preparing charges against Wikileaks’ Assange

United States authorities have prepared charges for the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, CNN reports. Assange has been hiding out in the Embassy of Ecuador in London since 2012, fleeing allegations of rape in Sweden and espionage charges in the US. This makes him difficult to reach, regardless of a formal charge — unless Ecuador plans to kick him out of its embassy after a five-year stay.

The Department of Justice is weighing whether it should actually pursue these charges against Assange and other Wikileaks members, according to The Washington Post. Prosecutors are apparently re-investigating Wikileaks’ role in the 2010 publication of thousands of government files provided by former army intelligence officer Chelsea Manning, and the recent leak of purported CIA hacking tools. The Post says there’s no word on whether prosecutors are also looking into the 2016 leak of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Under President Barack Obama, the Justice Department investigated but declined to charge Assange for disseminating classified government material. Prosecutors concluded such a charge would not hold up against the First Amendment and its protections for a free press. However, the Obama administration didn’t close the case, and under President Donald Trump, the Justice Department has indicated its interest in bringing charges against Wikileaks.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo claimed in a speech last week that Wikileaks directed Manning to intercept specific, secret government information — a move that would not be covered under the First Amendment, CNN reports.

“It’s time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: A non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia,” Pompeo said.

In a press conference on Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said arresting Assange was a priority.

“We have professionals that have been in the security business of the United States for many years that are shocked by the number of leaks and some of them are quite serious,” Sessions said, according to CNN. “So yes, it is a priority. We’ve already begun to step up our efforts and whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail.”

An attorney for Assange, Barry J. Pollack, told the Post on Thursday he hadn’t been informed of any charges against his client.

Apple Maps Hints at Transit Directions Expanding in United States, Australia, Canada, and Europe

Apple Maps has had a Transit tab since iOS 9, enabling iPhone users to navigate using buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation.

At launch, the feature was limited to Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, and over 300 cities in China. Since then, Apple has been working to expand support for public transportation to other cities around the world.

Newer additions include Atlanta, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Kansas City, Manchester, Melbourne, Miami, Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Montréal, New Orleans, Portland, Pittsburgh, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle, and Vancouver, B.C.

Now, there is evidence to suggest that Apple Maps will soon support transit directions in several other cities around the world.

MacRumors reader Bernd Keuning, who keeps close tabs on Apple Maps and has been a reliable tipster, believes that we might soon see transit directions enabled in the following cities and countries, as station outlines visible on the map in each area have increased significantly in the past few weeks:

• Adelaide, Australia
• Perth, Australia
• German states of Hamburg, Bremen, Niedersachsen, and Schleswig-Holstein
• Las Vegas, NV
• Madrid
• The Netherlands
• Paris
• Phoenix, AZ
• Rome
• Singapore
• Taiwan

Keuning also expects Apple Maps to eventually support transit directions in the following cities in the United States and Canada, but it might take longer for the feature to expand to these areas, as only a single or handful of red station outlines have been added over the past few weeks in most of these locations:

• Albuquerque, NM
• Buffalo, NY
• Calgary, Alberta
• Edmonton, Alberta
• Orlando, FL
• Ottawa, Ontario
• Nashville, TN
• Norfolk, VA
• St. Louis, MO
• Tucson, AZ

Apple Maps typically adds station outlines to a city shortly before expanding support for transit directions to the area. MacRumors has verified that each city listed above does have at least one station outline in Apple Maps.

Keuning believes that the first areas to support Transit in Apple Maps next could include Adelaide, including at least all services from Adelaide Metro and Great Southern Rail intercity service to Melbourne, and the Netherlands, including international trains to Brussel, Berlin, Frankfurt, and possibly Paris.

Google Maps has offered wider support for transit directions for quite some time, but it’s nice to see Apple Maps catching up with careful consideration.

A complete list of cities that support Transit in Apple Maps is available on the iOS Feature Availability page of Apple’s website.

Tags: Apple Maps, transit
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Tot Bot helps physically disabled toddlers explore

As any parent of a small child knows, toddlers want to explore. They want to look and touch (and sometimes even taste) everything. It’s how they learn about the world. Unfortunately, kids with certain physical disabilities can’t move about as easily. This difficulty can create a bit of a cognitive gap between them and other kids their age. The Tot Bot is a chair designed to give these children the increased mobility they need to investigate their surroundings thoroughly.

The Tot Bot is the project of NYU Tandon School of Engineering students Tanaya Bhave and Gang Haiming, who grew concerned after reading studies that indicate disabled children may have developmental problems due to this inability to explore. Unlike larger systemic issues that can cause cognitive delays like socioeconomic class, mobility is something we can fix with technology. After all, we already have wheelchairs. But most existing chairs are controlled using a joystick in one of the arm rests — simple enough for an adult, but surprisingly difficult for a small child to maneuver. And it’s even harder for a child with a disease like cerebral palsy.

The solution was to replace the joystick with a touchscreen. Plenty of kids these days are familiar with how it works. In fact, they seem to expect it. Small children are usually excited to get their hands on a parent’s phone or tablet to watch videos or play games, and I’ve seen some kids actually get mad when they tap a non-touch display and nothing happens.

The Tot Bot system is incredibly intuitive: A parent installs the app on any mobile device and attaches it to the chair. The phone or tablet then uses its camera to display a video of whatever’s in front of the child, who simply taps on the image of whatever they want to examine. The chair will then move toward that object, using a combination of cameras and a sonic rangefinder in its base to calculate the distance needed to travel while also avoiding collisions. The chair then stops just shy of the object, turning to the side so the kid can reach out to touch and even grab it. For demonstration purposes, Bhave and Haiming used a bright red Elmo doll, but the system can target anything in the room the cameras can see.

Safety was definitely on Bhave and Haiming’s minds when designing the Tot Bot — after all, increased mobility means increased opportunities for kids to get into trouble. So the system works with RFID tags, allowing parents to place tags on objects and areas they deem “safe.” This will restrict the chair’s movement toward those points only — no baby gates or extensive childproofing needed.

The Tot Bot is still in its earliest stages of development, so it’ll be a while before we see it in the wild, if ever. But if you want to check it out — and have a small child who’d like to give it a test ride — the chair will be on display this Friday at NYU Tandon’s Research Expo, open to the public from 1-4pm at Metrotech Center in Brooklyn.

Apple’s App Store has reportedly come under fire from Chinese regulators

Why it matters to you

The outcome of China’s investigation could determine which apps get through the App Store’s approval process.

Apple’s dealings with the Chinese government have been fraught with turmoil, to put it lightly. China has targeted the iPhone maker in state-run media smear campaigns and it has repeatedly blocked access to Apple’s services and storefronts. Now, it is turning a skeptical eye on the Cupertino, California-based company’s App Store.

On Wednesday, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported that authorities will “tighten up checks on software applications available in the Apple Store.” According to Xinhua, Apple has been approached by the Beijing offices of three Chinese agencies, including the Cyberspace Administration of China, public security officials, and a cultural law enforcement group.

The article did not elaborate, but the investigation appears to focus on third-party apps available in China’s app store — specifically those that offer live content forbidden by Chinese law, like pornography. Earlier in April, authorities told three Chinese websites to tighten their oversight of online information, live-streaming services, and online performance.

Chalermphon Kumchai / 123RF

It is part of a broader crackdown on digital goods and services in the country. In January, China’s Cyberspace Administration required that all app stores register with the government, and it recently enacted a bill — the Cyber Security Law — that prevents apps from “endanger[ing] national security” or “disrupt[ing] the social order” (Apple pulled the law’s first victim, the New York Times‘ app, from the Chinese App Store in 2016).

Apple’s business dealings in the region have frequently run afoul of the country’s regulatory agencies. In 2014, following revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency surveilled Chinese leaders, China Central TV described the iPhone as a “national security concern.” Earlier in 2017, Chinese government regulators blocked access to Apple’s iBooks and iMovies within the country — reportedly out of concern for “security threats.”

That is bad news for Apple, which depends on China for about one-fifth of its revenue.

But the company’s relationship with the government may be on the mend. CEO Tim Cook apologized following Chinese state media’s allegations of warranty fraud, publishing an open letter in which he promised to implement an “improved level of repair service” and a “clearer and more concise” policy. A series of meetings in May between Cook and “senior government and Communist Party leaders” was described as “productive” by a Reuters source.

It is a balancing act for both parties. Apple’s Chinese manufacturing operations are “directly or indirectly responsible for tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs,” according to eWeek. Apple, meanwhile, is eager to turn sales around in a market ripe for growth.

You can now control Samsung smart devices with a Connect IQ-powered Garmin watch

Why it matters to you

The addition of SmartThings compatibility makes Garmin’s Connect IQ platform an even more powerful one — not just for fitness, but for everyday life.

Garmin kicked off its Connect IQ Developer Summit in its home state of Kansas this week, and one of the more noteworthy announcements to come out of the conference about the company’s new partnership with Samsung SmartThings automation.

A just-released SmartThings app has been made available for the 5 million Connect IQ devices in the wild, allowing users to control various smart devices in their home, from televisions to locks and thermostats. You can also execute automated routines to, say, turn on your coffee maker and lights when you wake up in the morning.

According to Garmin, this is only one of several new features on the way to Connect IQ, with the rest slated to arrive as part of the forthcoming 2.3 update. The release will bring Always Active watch faces that never turn off to select devices, such as the Fenix 5 series and Forerunner 935. Another addition, Action Intelligence, will open doors for developers, allowing them to use a greater range of data collected by the devices’ built-in sensors. Garmin says this paves the way for measuring everything from tennis swings to punching power for boxers, as well as rep counting.

There’s also the introduction of background services, which will let apps periodically update while the device is idle. According to Garmin, this means future watch faces will have the capability to display more varied, informative, and up-to-date complications than previously possible on Connect IQ — especially when paired with the Always Active display.

Although Connect IQ 2.3 will add features Garmin surely hopes to see developers take advantage of, Connect IQ-powered devices only make up a portion of the company’s roster of wearables. Last week, Garmin unveiled its Vivosmart 3 fitness tracker, which does not run Connect IQ, but does feature some of the activity tracking and rep-counting features that will soon make their way to the platform.

The best iPhone 7 deals for November

Since their launch, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus have sold better than expected. As we approach the holidays, demand for Apple’s latest smartphone is expected to increase. Fortunately, retailers are offering various deals and trade-in offers to help offset the cost of the new iPhone.

Below, we’ve rounded up the best iPhone 7 deals you can get today. You’ll notice there are no T-Mobile deals at the moment, but fear not. There’s a reason they call themselves the “Uncarrier” network and it’s likely they’ll have something to offer as we inch closer to Black Friday. In the meantime, here are the deals you can act on now.

Verizon Wireless

Verizon’s iPhone 7 deal is pretty straightforward: Buy a new iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus with monthly device payments, trade in your old iPhone, and received up to a $300 credit you can apply to your new phone. The iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 5S will snag you a $100 credit, whereas the iPhone SE will land you a $200 credit. Meanwhile, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will get you a $300 credit. The phones must be in good working and cosmetic condition to qualify and the trade-in credit will be applied to your monthly bill over 24 months. Earlier in the year Verizon offered a slightly stronger deal with a $650 credit. Nevertheless, their current offer is still a great way to lower the cost of admission for a new iPhone.

Up to $300 credit at Verizon Wireless

AT&T

AT&T is currently offering one of the best iPhone deals you’ll find. It requires that you purchase your iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus via AT&T’s Next plan, but otherwise you’ll get a generous $650 credit when you trade-in your older iPhone. This is the same promo AT&T offered earlier in the season and essentially guarantees you a new iPhone 7 on the house.

$650 credit at AT&T

Target

Sprint users who want to save on Apple’s latest iPhone will want to make sure they shop at Target. The retailer is taking $100 off the cost of an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus when you purchase from them and activate your phone on Sprint. (The savings also apply to Verizon and AT&T, but their trade-in promos above offer a better incentive). Just make sure to act fast because this sale ends Saturday, November 5.

$100 off at Target

Best Buy

Best Buy is offering its customers a free $100 e-gift card with the purchase and activation of any Verizon smartphone, including the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. While that’s not as strong as the Verizon offer previously mentioned, it’s a respectable alternative, especially if you don’t have an iPhone you can currently trade in.

$100 gift card at Best Buy

Sam’s Club

Leaked copies of Samsung’s Black Friday ad indicate that the retailer will offer its members a $250 Sam’s Club Gift Card and a waived activation fee with the purchase of any iPhone. Keep in mind this is a gift card and not a credit, so you’re still responsible for the full price of your iPhone. Also, Sam’s Club memberships start at $45 per year.

$250 gift card at Sam’s Club