Fix Incoming for Google Drive Issue Preventing Many File Types From Opening in Apple’s Files App [Updated]

Since the Google Drive app for iOS was updated earlier this month, several iPhone and iPad users have been unable to open Microsoft Word documents and many other file types in Apple’s Files app for iOS 11 or iCloud Drive app for iOS 10.

Instead, when users with the Google Drive app installed attempt to open a DOCX file in the Files or iCloud Drive apps, for example, the Google Drive app automatically opens and displays a prompt to save the file.

MacRumors has been able to duplicate the issue, which is likely a Google Drive problem rather than a Files or iCloud Drive one.

The only solution to the problem for now appears to be uninstalling the Google Drive app. Google has yet to comment on the matter, but it will presumably have to release another update to the Google Drive app to fix this issue.

Update: The issue appears to be the result of Google registering for the “public.data” UTI and setting its handler rank to “owner.” Then, the latest update to Google Drive seemingly added open-in-place support for “public.data,” which is all data types, and became the default opener for many other file types.

the default opener for every file format who’s owner does not support open in-place.

— Ian McDowell (@ian_mcdowell) September 25, 2017

A source familiar with the matter informed MacRumors that Google is aware of the issue and working on a fix.

Tags: Microsoft, Microsoft Office, iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Files
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Apple ‘Inundated’ With Spec Scripts and TV Projects for Continued Push Into Prestige Dramas

Apple executives Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, formerly of Sony Television, have spent the last few weeks visiting agents and studio executives in Hollywood, spearheading Apple’s ongoing attempts to land “big, smart, splashy dramas” in the vein of Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. In a new profile on Apple’s ambitions by The Hollywood Reporter, multiple studio chiefs are said to be sending Apple spec scripts and packaged projects as potential options for its big break into the premium TV show space.

Apple is reportedly not interested in spending money at the scale of a rival like Netflix (around $6 billion each year on original content), but multiple reports over the past few months have shown the company’s gaining interest in both original “prestige” TV content and major film distribution deals, and that momentum has only picked up in recent weeks.

In recent weeks, Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, poached from Sony Television in June to spearhead Apple’s content acquisitions and video strategy, have been spotted all over town making their pitch to agents and studio executives. One studio chief says, “Who wouldn’t want to be the ‘Mad Men’ or ‘House of Cards’ on Apple?”

“There’s this sense of, ‘It’s the most innovative company in the world, of course you want to have a show there,’ ” says UTA TV head Matt Rice, whose agency, like many of its peers, has inundated the industry’s hottest new entrant with spec scripts and packaged projects. Apple, which is famously secretive about its plans, declined to comment for this story.

Apple’s newly leased property at the iconic California production site, The Culver Studios, is said to have helped the company “leap-frog” much of the Hollywood competition, with a handful of agents commenting that any project they would take to Netflix or HBO is also being delivered to Apple as well. Apple’s so-called “overnight status” as a major player in the business is said to be due to the company’s built-in branding, as well as its deep pockets of cash reserves that could be tapped into for the TV drama push.

Some projects have already been lost by Apple’s content team, however, including an origin series for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest focused on Nurse Ratched, created by Ryan Murphy and starring Sarah Paulson. Netflix eventually outbid both Apple and Hulu for the show, as well as the ongoing streaming rights for Murphy’s American Horror Story anthology series (with new episodes also streamable on Hulu).

Apple is still being “deluged with nearly every script in town,” but sources said that Van Amburg, Erlicht, and the rest of Apple’s team have passed on most of them, in attempts to keep Apple’s penchant for quality alive in its TV shows as well. The team has bids out on a few projects, however, including a reboot of Steve Spielberg’s 1980 anthology series Amazing Stories, and a morning show drama starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.

Other potential partners with Apple include Vince Gilligan, Bryan Cranston, Ron Moore, Ryan Coogler, Mike Schur, and more, who have all been approached by Apple’s team recently in some form. The ultimate question, according to talent agency ICM Partners, is finding out where — and how — these shows will be streamed.

Still, the lack of clarity has left at least a few, including ICM Partners managing director Chris Silbermann, asking tough questions. “Jamie and Zack are good guys, and they’ve done business with all of us for decades, and it’s Apple, so everybody will sell there,” he says. “That being said, they need to articulate to the creative community and the industry at large their marketing, release and distribution strategy. Simply, what does it mean to be an Apple show?”

Check out The Hollywood Reporter’s full article on Apple’s TV strategy right here.

Tag: Apple’s Hollywood ambitions
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Apple Launches New Consumer-Friendly Privacy Site

Apple this morning launched a revamped and redesigned Privacy website designed to make its privacy policies more accessible to consumers.

The new site better outlines how Apple’s commitment to privacy benefits users through concrete examples of features like Apple Pay and an iPhone’s passcode, and it explains how Apple uses encryption, Differential Privacy, and strict app guidelines to protect users.

Apple has a section on the new privacy site that cover all of its apps and features, including iMessage, Apple Pay, Health, Analytics, Safari, iCloud, CarPlay, Education, Photos, Siri, Apple Music, News, Maps, and more.

It’s incredibly detailed and explains the security measures and privacy features built into each and every feature.

There’s also a new feature on how to secure devices with a passcode and Touch ID, and how to keep your Apple ID safe with a strong password, two-factor authentication, and an awareness of scams and phishing attempts. It explains how these features work, and beyond that, why customers should want to use them.

Apple has long had a transparent privacy policy and has outlined all of its privacy practices on its website, but this new site does so in a way that’s easier for customers to understand and digest in just a few minutes. For anyone who has a question about one of Apple’s products, the new site is worth checking out.

Tag: privacy
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Apple Shares In-Depth Security Info on Face ID in New White Paper and Support Doc

Apple has already shared many details on the upcoming Face ID facial recognition feature in the iPhone X through its software engineering chief Craig Federighi, who did several interviews, but now the company has consolidated that information into a new support document and an in-depth security white paper released this morning. [PDF]

If you’ve been paying attention to Federighi’s interviews and all of the Face ID coverage on sites like MacRumors, you may already be familiar with the content of the support document, but it does a good job addressing all common questions and concerns in a single spot.

It outlines the way Face ID works, the conditions in which it works – in the dark, with sunglasses, with hats, etc., and how it’s set up, along with security information, including the conditions that will lead to Face ID being disabled:

– The device has just been turned on or restarted.
– The device hasn’t been unlocked for more than 48 hours.
– The passcode hasn’t been used to unlock the device in the last six and a half days and Face ID hasn’t unlocked the device in the last 4 hours.
– The device has received a remote lock command.
– After five unsuccessful attempts to match a face.
– After initiating power off/Emergency SOS by pressing and holding either volume button and the side button simultaneously for 2 seconds.

Face ID, as Apple has said, adapts to changes in appearance, and the document gives a bit more info on that topic. If there is a major change in appearance, like the disappearance of a full beard or a significant haircut, Apple will require a passcode and then update the stored facial data accordingly once your identity is confirmed.

It also covers privacy, explaining that Face ID is just like Touch ID: protected by the Secure Enclave and handled all on-device, using years of established security protocols. Accessibility and safety are also topics Apple addresses.

In fact, developers do not need to update their Touch ID apps for those apps to work with Face ID because the systems are the same.

The TrueDepth camera system will not cause harm to eyes or skin, says Apple, and if damage is caused to the infrared emitters, the camera will be disabled. Apple warns that repairs will need to be conducted by Apple or an authorized service provider, which should not come as a surprise as the same applies to the Touch ID home button.

The white paper, meanwhile, explains in better detail exactly how the TrueDepth camera and the A11 Bionic processor in the iPhone X work together to accurately identify a face and avoid spoofing.

To counter both digital and physical spoofs, the TrueDepth camera randomizes the sequence of 2D images and depth map captures, and projects a device-specific random pattern. A portion of the A11 Bionic chip’s neural engine–protected within the Secure Enclave–transforms this data into a mathematical representation and compares that representation to the enrolled facial data. This enrolled facial data is itself a mathematical representation of your face captured across a variety of poses.

Anyone who plans to buy an iPhone X and has questions about how the Face ID feature on the device works should take a look at both the support document and the white paper, as both together answer many questions on security and functionality.

Face ID will become available to the public starting on November 3, the official launch date for the iPhone X.

Related Roundup: iPhone X
Tag: Face ID
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Apple Seeds First Beta of iOS 11.1 to Developers

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming iOS 11 update to developers, just over one week after releasing iOS 11 to the public and a day after releasing the first bug fix update, iOS 11.0.1. iOS 11.1, as a major point update, may bring a few new minor features to the operating system along with the standard bug fixes and performance improvements.

Registered developers can download the iOS 11 beta from Apple’s Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.

Several iOS 11 features did not make it into the first public release and these could potentially be included in the iOS 11.1 beta.

Apple has said both peer-to-peer Apple Pay payments and iCloud support for iMessages will be introduced in later iOS 11 updates, and new emoji characters are expected at some point.

iOS 11 marks a major update to the operating system, with systemwide design tweaks, a new Lock screen experience, a revamped Control Center, and an entirely new interface for the iPad that includes a Dock, Drag and Drop support, and a redesigned App Switcher for better than ever multitasking.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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Apple Seeds First macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 Beta to Developers

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming macOS High Sierra update to developers, two days after releasing the new High Sierra operating system to the public.

The first macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 beta can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store with the proper profile installed.

It’s not yet clear what improvements the first update to macOS High Sierra will bring, but it’s likely to include bug fixes and performance improvements for issues that have been found between the time the golden master was released and its final public launch.

The update could also include features Apple has delayed for a later set of betas, such as iCloud storage for iMessages, and we’re also supposed to be getting some new emojis soon.

We’ll update this post with any new features that are found in macOS High Sierra 10.13.1.

Related Roundup: macOS High Sierra
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Apple Seeds First watchOS 4.1 Beta to Developers With Apple Music Streaming, New Radio App

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming watchOS 4.1 update to developers, just over one week after releasing the new watchOS 4 operating system to the public.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS 4 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General –> Software update.

To install the update, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it has to be in range of the iPhone.

watchOS 4.1 introduces support for streaming music from Apple Music or iCloud Music Library straight to the Apple Watch. There’s also a new Radio app that offers up access to Beats 1 live or any Apple Music radio station on the new cellular Apple Watch Series 3 models.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
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Apple Seeds First Beta of tvOS 11.1 to Developers

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.1 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after releasing tvOS 11 to the public.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the tvOS 11.1 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that’s installed using Xcode.

It’s not yet clear what new features or changes might be included in the tvOS 11.1 update, but it likely focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements and could perhaps offer up some outward-facing design changes and feature tweaks.

tvOS 11 was something of a minor update, introducing features like full support for AirPods, automatic switching between light and dark mode based on local time, Home screen syncing options designed to keep multiple Apple TVs in a single household in sync, and new background modes and notification support.

We’ll update this post when we find out what’s new in the tvOS 11.1 beta.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Buy Now)
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Windows Insider Preview build 16299 drops as devs make Ignite appearance

Why it matters to you

The latest Insider build isn’t too exciting, but that just shows that we are getting very close to the final release for the Creators Fall Update.

A number of the developers who worked on the newly released Windows 10 Insider Preview build 16299 have taken the stage at this year’s Microsoft Ignite conference to answer questions from the audience. There can’t have been too many about this particular release though, as its list of changes and improvements is much shorter than normal.

In the build-up to the release of Microsoft’s Fall Creators Update for Windows 10, the company has been releasing more and more build previews to Windows Insiders to help get everything ready for the general public. That has meant a distinct lack of new features and more of a press for bug fixes and performance improvements. Although some chose to skip ahead, for the rest of the fast ring residents, the most common changes in recent months have been bug fixes.

That is what dominated preview build 16299 as well. Listed in the developmental blog, Microsoft detailed fixing an issue with optical drives disappearing from “This PC,” a Microsoft Edge crash issue, and automatic file-download blocking not working in some Universal Windows Platform apps.

It also fixed a problem with some Insiders seeing an error when trying to upgrade to the latest releases and one with Windows Defender that saw it downloading files which were selected to be online-only.

That’s about it for this release, which makes it a minor update compared to some of its predecessors, but it’s still an important step on the road to the Fall Creators Update release. Insiders on the fast and slow rings have been invaluable to Microsoft since their creation, helping to publicly test new features and fixes to make the overall Windows experience much more pleasant for the wider audience.

Microsoft showed its appreciation for that at the Ignite conference, stating in the preview blog how pleased the team of developers was to meet everyone.

“Thank you for everything you do — even getting on planes to come see us. We love you,” said Dona Sarka, software engineer of Windows and Devices Group. “It’s been such an honor and a privilege to have gotten a chance to meet you all online all these years and this week it’s been simply magical to meet face to face.”

Considering how well the event seems to have gone, it will be interesting to see whether Microsoft makes more of a point of increasing its developers’ exposure to the public in the future.

Best iOS app deals of the day! 6 paid iPhone apps for free for a limited time

Everyone likes Apple apps, but sometimes the best ones are a bit expensive. Now and then, developers put paid apps on sale for free for a limited time, but you have to snatch them up while you have the chance. Here are the latest and greatest iOS app deals available from the iOS App Store.

These apps normally cost money and this sale lasts for a limited time only. If you go to the App Store and it says the app costs money, that means the deal has expired and you will be charged. 

Blue Days

​Blue Days gives you highly accurate hyperlocal weather in a simple interface. Using over a dozen high accuracy weather sources, Blue Days will display the forecast alongside animations and custom backgrounds.

Available on:

iOS

Holidays 2017

Insert the holidays of the countries listed below into your iPhone calendar with one tap. The holidays will be added as all-day events, you don’t need any subscriptions.

Available on:

iOS

Ruler

Use this iPhone ruler to measure small distances. Just put your finger on the screen and slide your phone with the other hand. Pull the arrow down to reel off.

Available on:

iOS

Universal Doctor Speaker

Universal Doctor Speaker is a multilingual app providing key medical phrases translated across 17 languages, with audios to facilitate communication between patients and healthcare professionals who don’t share a common language.

Available on:

iOS

dB meter

The dBA Meter is a well-calibrated app. You can use it to measure sound SPL levels as well as noise, and save your measurements.

Available on:

iOS

Edge Music

View the top artists from major music labels side by side with emerging indie artists, all in one place. Edge Music is your source for an unrestricted music video experience.

Available on:

iOS