Apple Watch is coming to John Lewis

If you live in the UK and want to play with an Apple Watch, you have two options at the moment: Walk into an Apple Store, or find someone that already owns one. For many, the latter isn’t an option, and the former can be an unpleasant experience after a couple of new iPhones have gone on sale. Luckily, you’ll soon have an alternative in the form of John Lewis. A “curated selection” will be available in 37 of its 44 department stores from September 18th — a further four shops will be added before the end of the year, the company claims. Apple offers a wide variety of Watch combinations, so while the limited collection might sound disappointing, it’s also not surprising. John Lewis will presumably focus on the more popular combos, so if you want something unusual, you’ll probably still need to order online. Otherwise, you can wait and try your luck in Currys PC World.

[Image Credit: Lynne Cameron/PA Wire]

Filed under:
Wearables, Apple

Comments

Via:
Wareable

Tags: apple

Apple will shut down HopStop’s mass transit services in October

Apple kept HopStop’s mass transit directions and guides running (with notable exceptions) long after it bought the company back in 2013, but you won’t get to rely on them for much longer: Cupertino has revealed that it’s shutting down HopStop come October. There’s no explanation, but it doesn’t take much effort to understand what’s up. Apple had already discontinued all but the iOS and web versions of HopStop’s apps, and you’ll find much of HopStop’s technology in iOS 9’s mass transit directions. Simply put, there’s not much incentive to keep the older tech running. This won’t make you very happy if you still lean on HopStop to get around town, but you have at least a few alternatives if Apple Maps isn’t your cup of tea.

[Image credit: Shutterstock]

Filed under:
Cellphones, Transportation, Internet, Mobile, Apple

Comments

Via:
Fortune

Source:
HopStop

Tags: apple, hopstop, internet, ios, ios9, masstransit, mobilepostcross, publictransit, transportation

Xcode Confirms 2GB of RAM in iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, 4GB of RAM in iPad Pro

Apple development tool Xcode seemingly confirms the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus each have 2GB of RAM, while the iPad Pro has 4GB of RAM, as discovered by iOS developer Hamza Sood.

Sood claims the image assets shown below are “chosen based on the memoryClass key in the simdevicetype’s capabilities.plist.”

Not much of a surprise but Xcode confirms 2GB of RAM for the 6s (and 6s plus), and 4GB for the iPad Pro pic.twitter.com/X8Ym4DtamS

— Hamza Sood (@hamzasood) September 13, 2015

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAdobe issued a Creative Cloud press release earlier this week that claimed the iPad Pro had 4GB of RAM, but soon after it updated the release to remove any mention of the tablet’s memory.

Apple itself did not mention how much RAM the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus or iPad Pro have during its “Hey Siri” media event, nor does it include RAM on the Tech Specs page for any of the devices.

Plex will bring its media streaming to Apple TV

Ask some media server users why they don’t use an Apple TV, and they’ll issue a common refrain: “because it doesn’t officially run Plex.” Well, that shouldn’t be an issue with the new Apple TV. Plex tells ITWorld that it plans to bring its media streaming front end to Apple’s latest set-top box through an app. The move should give you access to all of your home’s compatible music, photos and videos, not just what you can see from internet streaming services or iTunes clients. That’s a big deal when you previously had to jailbreak or otherwise rely on clever workarounds to make Plex work.

The project is still very early, and the Plex team wants to avoid setting expectations until it has a chance to dig into the tvOS developer tools and see exactly what’s possible. You probably won’t get every wish list feature — Apple is only integrating universal search on an app-by-app basis, for instance. Even so, this could do a lot to transform the Apple TV into an all-purpose box.

Filed under:
Home Entertainment, HD, Apple

Comments

Via:
9to5Mac

Source:
ITWorld

Tags: apple, appletv, hdpostcross, mediahub, plex, set-topbox, streaming

No, the iPhone 6s’ camera and mic aren’t spying on you

Whenever a device ships with a feature that involves always-on listening or watching, privacy concerns invariably come up — and the iPhone 6s is no exception. In an attempt to address controversies before the 6s even ships, Apple has told TechCrunch that neither the always-on Siri voice commands nor Live Photos (which records a brief burst of video before and after your photo) are eavesdropping on you. Ultimately, Siri works like the technology you’ve seen on the Moto X — it’s merely waiting for a keyword, not recording whatever you say. What little memory buffer exists (for audio patterns, not sound clips) is automatically erased after a few seconds, and the feature is strictly opt-in.

It’s a similar situation with Live Photos. The iPhone records a total of 3 seconds of video before and after the photo, and it doesn’t save anything until you press the shutter button. Any content is encrypted both on-device and when it’s headed to iCloud, too, Live Photos are turned on by default, but it’s also possible to turn them off when you launch the official camera app.

These answers aren’t surprising if you know how the underlying technology works, but they could be important given growing concerns over surveillance. As you might guess, a pro-privacy company like Apple doesn’t want to give the impression that the NSA or the police are spying on every single conversation or photo session. It’s not exactly an altruistic gesture, then, but it could prevent some manufactured drama in the future.

Filed under:
Cellphones, Mobile, Apple

Comments

Source:
TechCrunch

Tags: apple, heysiri, iphone, iphone6s, iphone6splus, livephotos, mobilepostcross, privacy, siri

Apple Shares Video to Celebrate Opening of Apple Store in Brussels

Apple has shared a new video to celebrate the first Apple Store in Belgium, which opens on Saturday, September 19 in the capital city of Brussels. The two-minute spot highlights the work of several comic artists in Brussels, which is known for its tradition of comic art.

Brussels has a rich tradition of comic art. So, to celebrate the opening of the Apple Store, Brussels, we brought together some of the city’s most imaginative comic artists. Hear them speak about their work and the city that inspired it.

The store will be located on Avenue de la Toison d’Or and open on Monday-Saturday between 10 AM and 7 PM local time. The location will offer regular Apple Store services such as the Genius Bar and Workshops.

Two new Apple Stores also open in Nanjing, China and Florence, Italy on September 19 and September 26 respectively.

iPhone 6s and 6s Plus pre-orders are live

It’s that magical time of year where adults sit awake at their computers in the middle of the night (or with an iDevice and the Apple Store app open) in an effort to snag the latest iPhones. Pre-orders have gone live for Cupertino’s latest handsets, the 6s and 6s Plus, and if you’re hoping to get one for that first-wave September 25th availability date you’d better act fast. After all, 3D Touch isn’t going to wait around for everyone. So! Best to head over to Apple’s website or the aforementioned mobile app and get to punching in your credit card info. The questions now are big or small; space grey, gold or rose gold and if you’re going to go for Apple’s Upgrade Program or not. Better make your mind up rather quick-like — Fallout fans, at least, have one less decision to make.

Filed under:
Cellphones, Mobile, Apple

Comments

Source:
Apple Store (US), (UK)

Tags: 3dtouch, apple, iphone, iphone6s, iphone6splus, mobile, mobilepostcross, phablet, preorder