T-Mobile won’t throttle unlimited data until you use 50GB

Carriers throttling user speeds is now the reality we live in, but most mobile plans only squeeze your rate once you’ve downloaded an arbitrary amount of data. T-Mobile is raising the threshold at which they optionally throttle customers’ data from 32GB to 50GB, which it claims is still pretty high — enough to stream hours of content every day for a month and still have gigabytes of data left over.

To be specific, T-Mobile customers won’t get throttled the moment they tip over 50GB downloaded a month — that will only happen if they’re in an area where a lot of other folks are sucking down data. Customers who’ve exceeded that threshold will get “de-prioritized” and download slower than others who haven’t reached it. Their status is reset every month.

That’s higher than the 22GB throttle threshold for Verizon’s Beyond unlimited plan, which that carrier has tried to assuage by restricting resolution to slow down user data consumption. But it’s safe to say that arbitrarily throttling is pretty unpopular, which Verizon can do at any time to subscribers of its Go unlimited plan. At least T-Mobile’s trying to give users some breathing room with the higher threshold.

Source: T-Mobile

Google’s new Chromebook Pixel is reportedly called… the Pixelbook

Google seemingly put the nail in the coffin for its Pixel line of laptops back in February, but rumors surfaced last month that the company might revive the name for a new slew of Chromebooks. Today, we have, well, more rumors — but these are backed by photos and extensive details on the new machines. According to Droid Life, the Pixelbook, as its named, is a 2-in-1 that will start at $1,200.

Reportedly, the Pixelbook will come with 128GB, 256GB and 512GB of storage, with the latter two priced at $1,400 and $1,750, respectively. Unlike the earlier Pixel laptops, the new model folds flat like a tablet. It also has a new proprietary stylus, the Pixelbook Pen, sold separately for $100.

It’s the first new laptop in the Pixel line since Google soft-killed it in August 2016 by ceasing production. This is the second batch of leaked news that Droid Life published today, the first of which outlined the highly-anticipated Pixel 2 smartphone, along with Google’s mini Home speaker and new Daydream headset. We’ll see just how accurate those reports were when the search giant has its event formally announcing its new flagship phone on October 4th.

Source: Droid Life

Safari 11 Released for macOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan

Apple today released Safari 11.0 for macOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan. The update adds new media-related features, plus improvements to privacy, compatibility, and security.

Notably, in Safari 11, the web browser blocks videos with audio from automatically playing on most websites. Other new features are outlined in our macOS High Sierra roundup.

• Stops media with audio from automatically playing on most websites
• Adds the ability to configure Reader, content blockers, page zoom, and auto-play settings on a per-website basis, or for all websites
• Improves AutoFill accuracy from Contacts cards
• Includes updated media controls for HTML video and audio
• Enhances performance and efficiency

Safari 11 was first introduced in macOS High Sierra, which will be publicly released on September 25.

Safari 11 is available as a free update within the Mac App Store.

Related Roundup: macOS Sierra
Tag: Safari
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Apple Updates Swift Playgrounds With New Augmented Reality Challenge

Swift Playgrounds, the Apple-designed iPad app that aims to teach children and adults of all ages how to code using the Swift programming language, was today updated to version 1.6 alongside the release of iOS 11.

The new Swift Playgrounds update introduces a new Augmented Reality challenge that uses ARKit in iOS 11 to showcase Byte’s virtual world within the real world. Byte is a Swift Playgrounds character that’s used to guide students through the coding process.

Swift Playgrounds now allows students to access the iPad camera in their code, and errors that are in code are more clearly explained for a better understanding of the mistakes that have been made.

Swift Playgrounds can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Swift Playgrounds
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Apple Releases Xcode 9 With Swift 4 and iOS 11, watchOS 4, tvOS 11, and macOS High Sierra SDKs

Alongside the new iOS 11, watchOS 4, and tvOS 11 updates, Apple has released Xcode 9, the latest version of the Xcode Mac app that lets developers create apps for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.

Xcode 9 introduces Swift 4 and all of the SDKs necessary to develop apps for iOS 11, watchOS 4, tvOS 11, and macOS High Sierra, including the new Core ML framework for machine learning and ARKit for augmented reality.

Xcode 9 includes a new structure-based editor with native Markdown support and faster navigation through code, plus it includes built-in refactoring that works across Swift, Objective-C, C, C++, Interface Builder, and more.

Faster search and wireless debugging for iOS and tvOS devices have been added, as have new debuggers for Metal. iOS playground templates now work in both Xcode and Swift Playgrounds, and Xcode server is built in, so there’s no need to install macOS server.

There’s a new source control navigator with integrated support for GitHub for better collaborative code management, and Simulator has been updated to behave more like a real device. It’s also able to simulate multiple devices at once.

A full and extensive list of everything new in Xcode 9 is available from Apple’s developer site, and an overview is also available on Apple’s Xcode site. Many developers will already be familiar with the changes introduced as Xcode 9 has been in testing alongside iOS 11 and the other software updates since June.

Xcode can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Xcode
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Things 3 for iOS Updated With Siri Integration and Drag and Drop Support

Popular to-do app Things 3 was today updated to version 3.2, adding full support for iOS 11 and watchOS 4 along with a few new key features like Siri integration and support for Drag and Drop.

With Siri integration, it’s now possible to interact directly with Things on iOS devices and the Apple Watch using Apple’s built-in personal assistant. Siri can do things like create a new task, add reminders, search for tags, and open up a specific list in the Things app.

On the iPad, Things is gaining support for the Drag and Drop feature introduced in iOS 11. iPad users will be able to drop content into Things from other apps as new to-dos or in the notes section of existing to-dos.

A third major new feature coming to Things is support for third-party app link detection. Links from third-party apps will now be tappable, so you can link to a file in other apps like Evernote or Ulysses and then get back to those files with a tap.

Things 3 can be downloaded from the App Store. The iPad version is priced at $19.99 [Direct Link], while the iPhone version (which includes Apple watch support) is priced at $9.99. [Direct Link]

Tag: Things 3
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How to Find Notifications in iOS 11’s New Lock Screen and Cover Sheet

Apple made waves last year when it completely redesigned how the lock screen functions on iOS 10 by removing the iPhone’s well-known “Slide to Unlock” instruction from the screen. The improvements allowed for a more seamless unlocking experience on iPhones that supported Raise to Wake and Touch ID, and with iOS 11 that process isn’t changing (although there are still ways to get around it thanks to Accessibility options).

The main change in iOS 11’s lock screen is how the new software deals with notifications and the methods you’ll have to go through in finding a push notification you might have missed.

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Finding Notifications in iOS 11’s Lock Screen

Awaken your iPhone by using Raise to Wake or tapping the lock button.

Swipe up from the middle of the screen to find a list of notifications, and continue scrolling for older notifications.

On any one notification, swipe left-to-right to open it directly.

Or, swipe right-to-left to “view” or “clear” it.

Accessing the New Cover Sheet

Unlock your iPhone.

Swipe down from the top edge of the screen to bring up the all-new Cover Sheet.

You can interact with notifications as before, and 3D Touch the “x” to clear them all.

Swipe left-to-right (avoiding notifications) to enter the Today section and find your widgets.

Back on the notification screen, swipe right-to-left to enter the Camera.

Swipe up from the very bottom edge of the screen or press the home button to dismiss the Cover Sheet.
With Cover Sheet, the “Notification Center” of iOS 10 has been replaced with a screen that looks visually just like your lock screen, and functions essentially the same way. Notifications are displayed in reverse chronological order, starting with the latest unseen notifications, continuing with “Earlier Today” if you have any missed notifications from the past 24 hours, and then extending into previous days.

Those who purchase an iPhone X later in the year should also note that the redesigned iPhone will house Cover Sheet in its own unique area. When the iPhone X is unlocked, instead of swiping down from the top edge of the smartphone, you’ll have to swipe down from the top left ear to bring up your notifications.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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How to Use and Customize Control Center in iOS 11

One of iOS 11’s key new features is a redesigned Control Center that is highly customizable thanks to 3D Touch integration.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
When you deep press on the system toggles pane, for example, a larger pane pops open with previously hidden AirDrop and Personal Hotspot controls.

On iOS 11, users can add, remove, and organize controls in Control Center through the Settings app. Simply follow these steps.

How to Add Controls to Control Center on iOS 11

Tap on the Settings app.

Tap on Control Center.

Tap on Customize Controls.

Scroll down to More Controls.

Tap on the “+” sign to the left of a control to add it to Control Center.

How to Remove Controls From Control Center on iOS 11

Tap on the Settings app.

Tap on Control Center.

Tap on Customize Controls.

Scroll down to Include section.

Tap on the “–” sign to the left of a control to remove it from Control Center.

How to Organize Controls in Control Center on iOS 11

Tap on the Settings app.

Tap on Control Center.

Tap on Customize Controls.

Tap on the three lines to the right of a control and drag its position up or down.

The default controls in the top portion of Control Center, such as the brightness and volume sliders, cannot be removed or reorganized.

List of Default Controls

• AirDrop
• Airplane Mode
• Bluetooth
• Cellular Data
• Personal Hotspot
• Wi-Fi
• Music
• Orientation Lock
• Do Not Disturb
• Brightness
• Night Shift
• Volume
• AirPlay Mirroring

List of Customizable Controls

• Accessibility Shortcuts
• Alarm
• Apple TV Remote
• Calculator
• Camera
• Do Not Disturb While Driving
• Flashlight
• Guided Access
• Home
• Low Power Mode
• Magnifier
• Notes
• Screen Recording
• Stopwatch
• Text Size
• Timer
• Voice Memos
• Wallet

Control Center remains accessible by swiping up from the bottom of the screen nearly anywhere on iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus or earlier.

On the iPhone X, Control Center can be opened by swiping down from the top right part of the screen next to the TrueDepth front camera system.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
Tag: Control Center
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Here’s a Look at the First Wave of Augmented Reality ARKit Apps Hitting the iOS App Store Today

With the launch of iOS 11 today, Apple has turned hundreds of millions of iPhones into augmented reality-capable devices thanks to the support of a new developer framework called ARKit. With this technology, iOS developers can more easily craft AR experiences for users on compatible iPhones and iPads, using each device’s built-in cameras, processors, and motion sensors.

As of now, the first wave of these apps are available for you to download and test on the iOS 11 App Store. The first apps range from game updates to practical everyday tools and even apps that encourage a healthier lifestyle, with more refined experiences likely coming in the future once developers get a grasp on what users enjoy with the first wave of apps.

Note that to use ARKit-enabled apps on iOS 11 you must have an iOS device with an A9, A10, or A11 processor. This means ARKit apps can be launched on iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the upcoming iPhone X. For iPads, you can use the 9.7-inch iPad or the 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro. The older 9.7-inch model of the iPad Pro is compatible as well.

One you have iOS 11 installed on one of these devices, head over to the new App Store and check out some of the ARKit apps listed below to see how Apple’s new augmented reality technology works in your own home.

Games

Splitter Critters (left) and Egg, Inc. (right)

Splitter Critters ($2.99)

– What’s it about? Use swipes of your finger to split a colorful landscape and guide alien critters back to their spaceship, avoiding enemies and solving puzzles in the process.

– How’s AR used? Scan a flat surface and then place a fully playable version of the main game into the real world, housed within a small white box.

Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade (Free)

– What’s it about? Control an Imperial Knight war machine in the Warhammer 40,000 universe and fight the evil forces of Chaos through 170 single player missions using cannons, missiles, and thermal blasts to defeat your enemies.

– How’s AR used? Drop your Imperial Knight from the main game into an AR “Photo Mode” to take snap shots of the war machine in the real world.

Egg, Inc. (Free)

– What’s it about? A farming simulation game focused on hatching eggs, building hen houses, hiring drivers, and researching advanced technologies to upgrade your egg farm.
– How’s AR used? Take a glimpse at your farm in AR with a “Farm To Table” picture-taking mode.

Thomas & Friends Minis (Free)

– What’s it about? Build, decorate, paint, and create full train sets and then control characters from Thomas & Friends as you drive through your customized train set.

– How’s AR used? Bring all of your creations into the real world with the app’s AR mode, which places your train set on a flat surface so you can zoom in and around while still being able to interact with various tools and control characters.

Tools

Overstock (left), PLNAR (middle), and Cubit (right)

Overstock.com (Free)

– What’s it about? The main app for the popular online retail website, which lets you shop and discover deals for items like furniture, rugs, home decor, and more.

– How’s AR used? Place true-to-life 3D models of thousands of Overstock products right into your home, helping to make sure that the new item’s color, size, and design fits your room. Additionally, you can share pictures of the AR models in Messages or social media, add the Overstock item to your cart, and even pay for it with Apple Pay, all without leaving the AR screen.

PLNAR (Free)

– What’s it about? A full AR experience, PLNAR allows you to generate a home’s floor plan using augmented reality, which the app’s creators said will be useful for everyday homeowners as well as for flooring companies, insurance agents, interior designers and home renovation professionals.

– How’s AR used? Use your iPhone’s camera to generate quick measurements of a room’s area and perimeter by guiding a cursor along the edges and corners of the floor. Mark doorways and even use the app’s tools to measure other objects like countertops and tables (and any flat surface), then save all of your data into custom projects.

Edmunds (Free)

– What’s it about? Shop for new and used cars within the app’s extensive vehicle database.

– How’s AR used? Visualize your potential future vehicle purchase by placing the car into your garage or driveway, which Edmunds said is also a way to confirm that the car will fit where you intend to park it.

Cubit ($0.99)

– What’s it about? A “measuring toolbox,” Cubit grants you access to features like rulers and box tools, with more coming down the line in future updates.

– How’s AR used? Measure the distance between real-life objects using the ruler tool and visualize the size of digital objects with the box tool.

Lifestyle

Fitness AR ($2.99)

– What’s it about? The new Fitness AR app syncs with Strava, giving you access to new ways to track your workouts, runs, biking sessions, and more.

– How’s AR Used? With Fitness AR, you can connect your Strava account to track the hiking, biking, or running routes that you’ve taken — all of which are viewable in AR on a 3D terrain map. For inspiration, there’s also a gallery of rides and runs that you can explore from locations around the world, like Yosemite Valley and Mont Ventoux.

Night Sky 5 (Free, premium features at $1.99/month or $9.99/year)

– What’s it about? Night Sky is a “personal planetarium,” letting you identify stars, planets, constellations and satellites with an iOS device.

– How’s AR used? With iOS 11, the app has enhanced its existing AR capabilities with a new “Grand Orrery” premium feature (requiring a subscription). This mode brings the Solar System into your home so you can walk around it, zoom in on planets, see current space missions in the system, and more.

Other Notable Apps

There are already a growing number of ARKit apps showing up on the iOS App Store just a few hours after the launch of iOS 11. For this reason, we’ll list some other notable apps below, and update this post throughout the day if we find any more. If you know of one that isn’t listed, let us know in the comments!

– RoomScan Pro ($0.99)
– Pcalc ($9.99)
– Carrot Weather ($3.99)
– Human Anatomy Atlas 2018 – $0.99
– Euclidean Lands ($3.99)
– Flat Pack (Free)
– Kings of Pool (Free)
– MeasureKit (Free, expanded toolset for $2.99 in-app purchase)
– Quartz (Free)
– Houzz (Free)

Upcoming

Augmented reality apps will only continue to occupy a large segment of the iOS App Store, with major apps previously highlighted by Apple not yet to launch today. One of these is IKEA’S furniture placement app, which it confirmed last week to be called “IKEA Place.” The app will be available sometime in “late September.”

You’ll be able to browse from a selection of IKEA products, choose one, scan the floor around where you would like to see the furniture, and then the AR app will show an approximation of the sofa or lamp in your living room. 2,000 products will be available at launch to test in AR (focused on large items like storage solutions, sofas, and coffee tables), with IKEA confirming continuous updates for the app in the future.

For even more information on all of the software updates that hit today, check out our posts for each below:

– Apple Releases iOS 11 With Revamped Lock Screen, Fresh App Store, New Siri Voice, and Updated iPad Interface
– Apple Releases watchOS 4 With New Watch Faces, Siri Improvements, Gym Equipment Integration, and More
– Apple Releases tvOS 11 With Home Screen Syncing, Auto Dark Mode, and 4K Support for New Apple TV

Related Roundup: iOS 11
Tags: ARKit, augmented reality
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How to Use Drag and Drop on an iPad and iPhone With iOS 11

iOS 11 overhauls the way we interact with the iPad, introducing several features designed to make the iPad experience better mimic the way we use a Mac or a PC. Central among these new features is a revamped Dock that holds more apps, an improved app switcher, and most importantly, system-wide Drag and Drop.

With Drag and Drop, text, links, photos, files, and more can be transferred between one app and another without the need to use in-app Share Sheets. It’s a great way to do things like add photos or links to an email, save PDFs or documents from an email to the Files app, share links with friends in Messages, and more.

Below, we’ll walk you through the steps on how to use Drag and Drop and offer some examples of how it can be used in different apps.

How to Use Drag and Drop

Tap and hold on a link, text, a photo, or a file within any app on the iPad.
While maintaining a finger on the file in question, move your finger away to initiate a drag gesture.
You now have a file, link, or photo that can be dropped into any other app.
To open up another app, you can tap it from the Home screen, bring up the dock with a swipe, use the app switcher, or use a Split-View multitasking window. Dragging multiple files between apps is particularly useful with two apps open at once.
Continue dragging the file/link/photo into the other app.

How to Drag and Drop Multiple Files at Once

Drag and Drop works with more than one file at a time, so if you want to move multiple files to the Files app or drag multiple photos from the Photos app to another location on the iPad, you can do so with Drag and Drop.

Grab a file with a drag gesture (tap, hold, and pull away).
Keep your finger on the file.
With another finger or your other hand, simply tap additional files.
The new files will be added to the file under your first finger and you’ll see a little blue badge letting you know how many files are being dragged.
Multiple files work just like a single file – open up another app to drop your content where it needs to go.

Drag and Drop Usage Examples

Because Drag and Drop is a system-wide feature on the iPad, you can drag all kinds of files between any app, just like you can do on a Mac or a PC. It makes moving content between apps so much simpler than iOS 10. Below are some of the ways it can be used:

• Dragging photos from the Photos app to Mail or Messages
• Dragging a link from Safari to Notes, Mail, or Messages
• Transferring a photo from a web page in Safari to the Photos app
• Copying a PDF from the Mail app to the Files app, Notes or another app
• Dragging your location in Maps from the Maps app to Messages or Mail
• Dragging a calendar event from the Calendar app to Mail or Messages
• Dragging a contact from the Contacts app to Messages to share contact info with friends
• Selecting a block of text and then transferring it from one app to another
• Dragging an address from Maps to another app
• Dragging a Reminder into Mail or Messages
• Dragging an Apple News story into Mail or Messages to share a link
• Move multiple apps on the Home screen into a folder with multi-drag

While Drag and Drop is a feature available anywhere on the iPad, third-party apps still need to implement support for it, so it may not be immediately available in all apps right when iOS 11 launches.

Drag and Drop on the iPhone

While Drag and Drop was primarily built for the iPad, there are a limited number of Drag and Drop features that also work on the iPhone.

You can use the multi-drag feature to drag more than one app from the Home screen into a folder or onto another screen, and you can drag and drop files between different folders in the Files app. Outside of these two use cases, there’s no other Drag and Drop functionality available on the iPhone at this time.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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