Apple News comes to the UK with iOS 9.1
As part of iOS 9, Apple introduced its own news curation app called News (an unimaginative name, but it’s straight to the point at least). Like Flipboard, Google Play Newsstand and others, it’s designed to collect the best online journalism and present it in a simpler, more beautiful way for readers. Apple device owners in the US were able to check it out straightaway, but so far device owners in the UK have been left out in the cold. Well, that’s all changing today. iOS 9.1 is rolling out now and, as expected, it comes bundled with a tweaked Apple News app for Brits featuring some UK-specific journalism.
Right now, you can access feeds from BBC News, Conde Nast, The Economist, Financial Times, The Guardian, Haymarket, Hearst, Immediate Media, Sky News, The Sun, The Telegraph, Time Inc., The Times and Trinity Mirror, with more set to join the list in the future. While it’s no replacement for an RSS reader like Feedly, it could be worth checking out if you like to skim the headlines and haven’t already adopted a third-party alternative.
iOS and OS X updates arrive with a ton of new emoji
If you’ve ever wanted to text taco pics from your iPhone or give the middle finger from your Mac, today’s your lucky day. Apple has released iOS 9.1 and OS X El Capitan 10.11.1, both of which add a slew of new Unicode emoji ranging from Mexican food through to rude gestures. There are some important under-the-hood fixes, too. Your iPhone 6s or 6s Plus is now smart enough to stop recording Live Photos when you lower the device, and OS X shouldn’t run into trouble with Office 2016. Whichever platform you’re using, you’ll likely want to update pronto — if just to see the cutesy characters you’d otherwise miss.
[Image credit: Emojipedia]
Source: MacRumors (1), (2)
Dear Veronica: Going old school with game emulators!
I can’t believe it’s already been 20 episodes! You guys have been awesome about sending in questions, so thank you. But enough sentimental stuff, let’s get to the questions!
First up, we look at your responses from our recent emoji poll on audiobooks vs. reading. You had some thoughts on this one, like this tweet from John:
@engadget #dearveronica I didn’t see place to comment? But want to say the problem with audiobooks is can’t stop & think about what u read
— John Upton (@jwareup) October 8, 2015
Don’t worry John, you’re commenting in the right place. Though I have to disagree, I think the pause button can be put to excellent use in that scenario!
We also had a great question from Chris via email about modern-day video game emulators, which is answered by Engadget editor Tim Seppala. I also tackle some inquiries about podcasting on Spotify, and how to make your old school iMac run at tolerable speeds.
Thanks for watching, and make sure to keep sending those questions in for future episodes, either via email or on social media with the hashtag #DearVeronica.
Twitter Rolling Out New Feature to Let Users Create Customized Polls
Twitter announced today that a feature it has tested with a few users on a small scale — the ability to add customized polls to a tweet — will officially be coming to everyone over the next few days. The company hopes that the new add-on will further expand its users’ interaction with their followers, by streamlining a function that would have previously taken extensive measures of reading replies and re-tweets to successfully follow.
If you want the public’s opinion on anything — what to name your dog, who will win tonight’s game, which election issue people care most about — there’s no better place to get answers than on Twitter. For poll creators, it’s a new way to engage with Twitter’s massive audience and understand exactly what people think. For those participating, it’s a very easy way to make your voice heard.
Twitter users will be able to create a poll from the compose box of the Twitter desktop site or in any of the company’s official mobile apps. Unfortunately, the feature won’t be available in third-party Twitter apps, so those using clients like Tweetbot won’t be able to see the polls or vote on them. Each poll will remain live for twenty-four hours from the time it is posted, and the company ensures that your name is kept anonymous from both the poster and the public when voting on other polls.
Coming soon! We're rolling out the ability for everyone to create polls on Twitter: https://t.co/pH5a8q9Ujz pic.twitter.com/ijAKEMUdf1
— Twitter (@twitter) October 21, 2015
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsThe company promises that polls will be available “over the next few days,” and users should simply keep an eye out for the circular pie graph poll icon in their compose box to know when they can begin using the feature. The introduction of polls follows the launch of “Moments” earlier in the month, which gave users of the social network a simplified discovery tool to follow the news and accounts they care about.
Twitter [Direct Link] is available to download from the App Store for free.
Apple Expands in North San Jose With Lease of ‘Tech Place on 101’ Building
Apple has leased Tech Place on 101, a 202,000-square-foot building under construction at 2509 Orchard Parkway in north San Jose, California, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The new building is located next to a large parcel of vacant land, owned by realty firm Steelwave, where up to two more office buildings could be built to accommodate around 3,000 workers.
Steelwave render of Tech Place on 101 building in north San Jose
Apple, headquartered in nearby Cupertino, has been steadily expanding its presence in the Bay Area. In north San Jose, it owns or leases multiple properties along Orchard Parkway, between North First Street and U.S. Highway 101, including the 296,000-square-foot 101 Tech R&D building and a massive 43-acre development site approved for up to 2.8 million square feet of office space.
Apple’s north San Jose campus could potentially employ up to 20,000 workers.
“They are taking this building to control that entire neighborhood,” said David Vanoncini, a managing partner with Kidder Mathews, a commercial realty firm.
If all the sites were built out to their full capacity, over time, Apple potentially could employ up to 20,000 workers on the north San Jose properties.
The company also reportedly expanded into San Francisco for the first time in July, leasing a 76,000-square-foot office space in the popular South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood, and further bolstered its Bay Area presence by acquiring a 770,000-square-foot property in Sunnyvale.
Apple now has real estate in five Bay Area cities, including Cupertino, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. In addition to its One Infinite Loop headquarters, the iPhone maker continues development on its nearby “Campus 2” project, which remains scheduled for completion in late 2016.
Apple Store Employee Charged With Stealing Nearly $1 Million in Apple Gift Cards
Ruben Profit, a 24-year-old employee at an Apple Store in New York’s Queens Center Mall, has been charged with grand larceny and faces up to fifteen years in prison for an illegal scheme he ran while using his privileges as an Apple retail employee (via NBC).
Profit used re-coded Visa and American Express debit, credit, or gift cards to purchase numerous Apple gift cards, which he would then sell to other individuals at highly discounted prices.
Profit told police that he was paid $200 for each $2,000 Apple gift card he provided to another individual, according to prosecutors. Profit faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. He was arraigned Friday and is being held on $20,000 bail.
The 24-year-old began working with the company in December of 2013, but transferred to the Queens location when it opened its doors this past July. He began purchasing the gift cards soon after — the total coming in at $997,000 — with receipts dating his purchases between August and October of 2015. When arrested, Profit was said to be in possession of 51 of the re-coded Visa and American Express cards, along with seven Apple gift cards with $2,000 on each.
Apple and Dropbox join fight against controversial cybersecurity bill
Apple and Dropbox have spoken out against the controversial Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) that’s being discussed in the Senate. In a statement sent to The Washington Post, an Apple rep explained why the company doesn’t support the bill: “The trust of our customers means everything to us and we don’t believe security should come at the expense of their privacy.” Dropbox public policy head Amber Cottle had a similar explanation, saying that “While it’s important for the public and private sector to share relevant data about emerging threats, that type of collaboration should not come at the expense of users’ privacy.”
The two companies join Twitter, Reddit, Yelp and other tech properties in opposing the bill — and just in time, because Senator Mitch McConnell and his allies intend to pass it by early next week. CISA, if you recall, is the second version of CISPA, reintroduced to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence after Sony Picture’s massive security breach. It will give companies the power to share data about cyberattacks to other companies and to the government. One of its co-sponsors and staunchest supporters, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, said that if a bank was hacked, it would not be able to share account holders’ names, SSNs, passwords and the like.
However, privacy groups believe it could be abused by the government and private companies and used as a legal excuse to spy on private citizens. In a blog post, non-profit org Electronic Frontier Foundation said:
CISA is fundamentally flawed in its approach to cybersecurity. Its information sharing regime wouldn’t even fix the most recent public breaches, since it doesn’t address basic problems, like unencrypted files, poor computer architecture, un-updated servers, and employees (or contractors) clicking malware links.
Instead, CISA provides broad immunities for companies to share personal information to the federal government, vague definitions that do not define what information can and cannot be shared, information can be used for purposes unrelated to cybersecurity, and has the potential to be used as another tool to conduct surveillance.
Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon believes the support of big tech corporations like Apple is invaluable, as it shows that even they think the bill could be used for surveillance. Wyden was the only one who voted against CISA when it passed through the Intelligence Committee, and one of the few who continue to oppose it in the Senate.
[Image credit: deerkoski/Flickr]
Source: The Washington Post
Misfit Announces ‘Shine 2’ With Multicolor LEDs, Vibration Motor for Alerts
Misfit today debuted its second-generation Shine activity tracker, which has been redesigned to incorporate new technology. The Shine 2 is thinner than the original Shine and it includes more accurate activity and sleep tracking capabilities along with improved LEDs, longer Bluetooth range, and better touch responsiveness.
There are now several multicolor LEDs built into the face of the Shine, which, along with a vibration motor, allow users to see their progress towards their daily goals and get reminders to get up and move. The Shine 2 also works with Misfit Link, so it can be used to do things like take selfies, receive call notifications, control music, control home products, and more.
The Shine 2, like the original Shine, is made of aluminum, and it measures in at just 3.3mm thick at the edge. Its built-in LEDs are able to display more than 6 million colors and their greater brightness makes it easier to tell the time and see progress towards a movement goal.
Misfit’s newest device continues to operate on a standard watch battery, so it lasts up to six months on a single charge, and it’s water resistant up to 50 meters, making it suitable for swim tracking.
The Shine 2 comes in Rose Gold and Carbon Black, with each of the Shine 2 trackers shipping with a sport band and a clasp. The Shine 2, priced at $99.99, is available for purchase from the Misfit website and it will be in retail stores beginning on November 1.
Apple Speaks Out Against Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act
Apple today voiced its opposition to the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, or CISA, just days before the Senate will vote on the bill. In a statement given to The Washington Post, Apple reiterated its commitment to user privacy and said it does not support CISA.
“We don’t support the current CISA proposal,” Apple said in a statement. “The trust of our customers means everything to us and we don’t believe security should come at the expense of their privacy.”
Apple’s public statement on CISA comes on the heels of statements from several other tech companies who oppose CISA, including Twitter, Yelp, Wikipedia, and reddit. The Computer and Communications Industry Association, which represents companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon, has also urged the Senate to make improvements to the act, saying it does not support CISA as it is currently written.
The controversial Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act is designed to allow companies to share information on cybersecurity threats with one another and with the government, but opponents say it puts personal privacy at risk by failing to include protections for user privacy and by granting the government wide-ranging rights gather private data from Americans under the guise of shielding them from hackers.
Apple has taken a strong stance on user privacy in recent years and has reiterated many times that the government has no access to Apple’s servers. With iOS 8, Apple further strengthened its position on preventing government access to user data by ending its storage of encryption keys for iOS devices, making it impossible for the company to unlock iPhones and iPads under police request.
Over the course of the last two years, Apple CEO Tim Cook has spoken passionately on Apple’s unwavering commitment to privacy. He shared his most recent thoughts on the subject last night, at the WSJ.D Live conference in California. “Do we want our nation to be secure? Of course,” Cook said. “No one should have to decide between privacy or security. We should be smart enough to do both. Both of these things are essentially part of the Constitution.”
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Both new and old Apple TVs get CBS and NBC today
Apple announced on Tuesday that two of the “Big Four” cable channels, CBS and NBC, are available on current (2nd) generation Apple TV boxes. However, there are some restrictions. CBS, for example, requires users to pay $6 a month for the CBS All Access program (though it does grant access to both current shows and the network’s expansive archives). NBC, on the other hand, will require users to login using their cable provider credentials. Additionally, the “Made2Measure” fashion channel also struts onto Apple TV today. These channels will also be available on the 3rd-generation Apple TV when it is released in the next few days.
Source: Apple Insider
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