Withings Adds to Activity Tracker Lineup With New Activité Steel

Adding to its lineup of Activité-branded watch-style activity trackers, Withings today announced the Activité Steel. The Activité Steel is designed to fit in between the expensive original Activité and the more affordable Activité Pop.

Like the other Activité activity trackers, the Activité Steel is designed to look more like a traditional wrist watch than a fitness device. It features a stainless steel case, chrome hands, and a sub-dial that was inspired by a tachymeter. According to Withings, the Activité Steel was designed to have a “distinctive masculine feel.”

“While the tracker market is booming we see growing demand from health conscious people who are not willing to compromise their style,” says Cédric Hutchings, CEO of Withings. “Steel is the perfect Christmas gift for those demanding trendsetters.”

The Activité Steel keeps track of steps taken, showing progress towards a daily goal on the small sub-dial on the watch face. It is also able to automatically detect several activities, including running and swimming, and at night, it’s able to monitor sleep length and quality.

There’s a standard watch battery inside so there’s no need to charge the Activité Steel, but the battery will need to be replaced approximately every eight months. As it does not charge, the Activité Steel is water-resistant up to 50 meters like the other two Activité watches.

All of the information gathered by the Activité Steel can be viewed in the accompanying Withings Health Mate application, which lets users insert activity goals, keep track of food consumed, and interact with friends to reach fitness goals.

The Activité Steel, initially available in classic black, can be ordered from the Withings website for $169.95.

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New 4-Inch iPhone Again Predicted to Launch in 2016

IHS Technology research director Kevin Wang, who previously said a new 4-inch iPhone would launch by the end of 2015, has now changed his prediction to mid 2016 on Chinese microblogging service Sina Weibo (via GforGames), corroborating information shared by reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Wang did not provide any new details about Apple’s oft-rumored 4-inch iPhone, beyond confirming the smaller screen size, but Kuo recently said the device will “resemble an upgraded iPhone 5s,” including a metal design with an A9 processor, and launch in the first quarter of 2016.

As there is still demand for a 4-inch iPhone, we believe Apple will upgrade this product line. Because the iPhone 5s is more popular than the iPhone 5c, we think Apple is likely to launch an upgraded iPhone 5s. We predict Apple will mass-produce this new 4-inch iPhone in 1H16 with metal casings. In order to make the current iOS 9 or next-generation iOS 10 run smoothly, Apple may adopt an A9 chip for this new phone.

Kuo believes the so-called “iPhone 6c” will not feature 3D Touch to differentiate it from Apple’s flagship iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Foxconn is expected to be the primary manufacturer of the 4-inch smartphone, with 20-30 million shipments projected through the end of 2016.

Given his recent track record, Wang’s new prediction should be treated with a proverbial grain of salt, but it does corroborate multiple rumors suggesting Apple will release a new 4-inch smartphone in 2016. The so-called “iPhone 6c” was originally rumored to launch in 2015, but those plans were reportedly scrapped.

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Apple Pay Launching in Canada With American Express on November 17

Apple Pay is expected to expand to its third market this week, launching in Canada this Tuesday, November, 17, reports iPhone in Canada. As previously announced, Apple Pay will be launching through an exclusive partnership with American Express, initially limiting the reach of Apple’s payments service in the country.

According to American Express, the service is set to launch this Tuesday, November 17, 2015. Customer service representatives we spoke with confirmed the date over the phone numerous times, and is in line with what you’ve told us as well.

As reported by The Globe and Mail last month, sources indicate Apple partnered with American Express in order to expedite the Apple Pay launch in the country, as discussions with the major Canadian banks and other credit card companies had been “dragging.”

Beyond Canada, Apple is also partnering with American Express to bring Apple Pay to Australia by the end of the year and to Spain, Singapore, and Hong Kong next year. Apple Pay launched in the United States alongside iOS 8 in September 2014 and expanded to the United Kingdom in July of this year.

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Apple Pay Launching in Canada With American Express on November 17

Apple Pay is expected to expand to its third market this week, launching in Canada this Tuesday, November, 17, reports iPhone in Canada. As previously announced, Apple Pay will be launching through an exclusive partnership with American Express, initially limiting the reach of Apple’s payments service in the country.

According to American Express, the service is set to launch this Tuesday, November 17, 2015. Customer service representatives we spoke with confirmed the date over the phone numerous times, and is in line with what you’ve told us as well.

As reported by The Globe and Mail last month, sources indicate Apple partnered with American Express in order to expedite the Apple Pay launch in the country, as discussions with the major Canadian banks and other credit card companies had been “dragging.”

Beyond Canada, Apple is also partnering with American Express to bring Apple Pay to Australia by the end of the year and to Spain, Singapore, and Hong Kong next year. Apple Pay launched in the United States alongside iOS 8 in September 2014 and expanded to the United Kingdom in July of this year.

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Apple Moving to 100% Renewable Energy in Singapore, Confirms New Retail Store

Apple today announced a deal to move all of its operations in Singapore to 100 percent renewable energy, working with partner Sunseap Group to take advantage of rooftops in the densely populated city-state for solar power generation, reports Reuters.

Starting in January, solar energy developer Sunseap Group will provide Apple with 100 percent renewable electricity from its portfolio of solar energy systems built atop more than 800 buildings in Singapore.

The deal will make Apple the first company in Singapore to run exclusively on renewable energy and marks a significant step in its bid to power 100 percent of its facilities and operations worldwide with clean fuel.

The Sunseap project, made possible through financing from Apple, will generate a total of 50 megawatts of solar power from rooftops, with approximately 33 megawatts going to Apple and the remainder being used for other customers including public housing.

Photo via Sunseap Group

As part of today’s announcement, Apple also confirmed it is working toward opening its first retail store in Singapore, although it did not provide a timeframe for the store’s opening.

Word of an Apple store in Singapore surfaced last month when fitness chain Pure Fitness announced its location in the Knightsbridge shopping center will be closing next month to make way for an Apple store planned to open in late 2016. Four other stores in the center are also moving out to help make room for Apple. The company began hiring for one or more retail stores in Singapore late last week.
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The iPad Pro’s chip is not a big deal

The iPad Pro is here, and it comes with a lot of promises. The most-repeated is that its A9X chip is a desktop-class processor that fits inside a tablet. Initial benchmark results confirm that this is by far the most powerful chip Apple has ever put inside an iPad, leading some to suggest that Apple’s A9X is now at the same level as Intel’s laptop chips. This could change the PC and laptop industry forever, apparently, with popular Apple commentators suggesting that “the future belongs to ARM, and Apple’s A-series SoC’s are leading the way.” To put it lightly, that’s a bit premature.

Recommended Reading: Jony Ive tells the story of the Apple Pencil

Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you’ll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read.

Jony Ive Interview: The Story of the Apple Pencil
The Telegraph

The initial wave of iPad Pro reviews arrived this week, and with them the first impressions from folks using the new Apple Pencil for an extended period of time. The Telegraph spoke with Apple’s design guru Sir Jony Ive to get the backstory on the accessory and why habits like sketching don’t have to become obsolete.

The iPad Pro’s Lightning port supports USB 3.0 transfer speeds

That’s right — the biggest iPad of ’em all has a USB 3.0-compatible Lightning port, Apple has confirmed to Ars Technica. iFixit found a controller for the new USB standard when it took the supersized tablet apart, and that came as a surprise because Cupertino didn’t exactly advertise the feature. The compatibility means the iPad Pro is capable of transferring files at speeds that reach 5Gbps, whereas a USB 2.0 connection can only reach a max speed of 480Mbps. Apple had a good reason for not making a big deal out of it, though: you’ll need to get an extra USB 3.0 adapter to be able to take advantage of the capability, since the tablet only ships with a cable that can handle USB 2.0 speeds. Problem is, that adapter doesn’t exist yet, so you’ll have to deal with slower file transfers for a while longer.

Source: Ars Technica