AppleCare for Mac Now Covers Batteries Retaining Less Than 80% Capacity
Just a few days after updating the terms of its AppleCare+ Protection Plan for iPhone, iPad, iPod and Apple Watch to cover batteries that retain less than 80% of their original capacity within the extended warranty period, Apple has extended the same policy to the AppleCare Protection Plan for the MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini and Mac Pro.
Apple previously only replaced defective batteries under the old terms of the AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac, although a support page updated today now outlines that the company will replace a notebook’s battery at no charge if it retains less than 80% of its original capacity. If the Mac is not covered by AppleCare, replacing the battery requires paying an out-of-warranty service charge ranging between $129 and $199.
The new battery terms of the AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac:
“Your Apple One Year Limited Warranty or AppleCare Protection Plan includes replacement coverage for a defective battery. If you purchased an AppleCare Protection Plan for your Mac notebook with a non-removable battery, Apple will replace the notebook battery at no charge if it retains less than 80 percent of its original capacity. If you don’t have coverage, you can have the battery replaced for a fee.”
Mac notebooks with built-in batteries:
AppleCare for Mac extends the computer’s warranty coverage and telephone technical support to three years from the original date of purchase. Without an AppleCare Protection Plan, Mac customers are covered by a limited one-year warranty and 90 days of complimentary phone support. AppleCare for Mac costs between $99 and $349 depending on the model of desktop computer or notebook.
Apple retail staff have been informed of the new policy which is effective immediately.
Apple Maps minivan spotted in the wild
Earlier this year, a few eagle-eyed folks in the East Bay region in Northern California noticed unmarked minivans with what looked like an array of cameras and sensors sitting on top of it. It turns out that the vehicles were registered to Apple, which sparked a bunch of speculation that the Cupertino firm was deploying its own fleet of mapping vehicles to compete with Google Street View. Well, as was revealed earlier this month, that is certainly the case. In a photo captured by our friends over at Autoblog, a Dodge Caravan with the same sort of camera assembly was spotted with a decal that clearly states “Apple Maps” and “maps.apple.com” on the back window. As the company’s own information page states that it will “blur faces and license plates on collected images prior to publication,” it seems that Apple Maps could very well get its own Street View-esque feature in the future. If you’re interested in spotting these vehicles for yourselves, Apple has posted the schedule of where they’ll be driving around next.
Filed under: Transportation, Apple
Source: Apple Maps, Autoblog
Apple to Announce Q3 2015 Earnings on July 21 [Mac Blog]
Apple updated its investor relations page today to mention that it will announce its earnings for the third fiscal quarter (second calendar quarter) of 2015 on Tuesday, July 21. The quarterly earnings statement will be released around 1:30 PM Pacific / 4:30 PM Eastern while a conference call to discuss the earnings report will take place at 2:00 PM Pacific / 5:00 PM Eastern.
The earnings report will provide another look at iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales during a period following another record-breaking quarter for the devices. It will also provide a look at both Mac sales, which were up last quarter from a year earlier, and iPad sales, which were down last quarter from a year earlier. In the second quarter of 2015, Apple announced revenue of $58 billion and a net quarterly profit of $13.6 billion on 61.2 million iPhone sales, 4.56 million Mac sales and 21.4 million iPad sales.
During its second quarter earnings report, Apple provided guidance for the third quarter of $46 – 48 billion in revenue and gross margin between 38.5 and 39.5 percent.
MacRumors will provide coverage of both the earnings report and conference call on July 21.
Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’ Also Available Exclusively on Apple Music
One of the ways Apple will draw customers to Apple Music is through exclusive content that’s unavailable on other music services. Pharrell will release his new single “Freedom” exclusively on the platform, Taylor Swift has already promised to make her 1989 album available on Apple Music, and now Apple has confirmed that Dr. Dre’s album The Chronic will also make its streaming music debut on the service.
Released in 1992, The Chronic has never before been made available on any streaming music service, including the hip hop star’s own Beats Music service.
As outlined by Rolling Stone, the site that first reported the news, the album had been the subject of an ongoing legal battle between Dr. Dre and his former label Death Row Records, which may be the reason why it’s been previously unavailable. Dre received full digital rights to The Chronic in 2011 and is free to release the album on Apple Music.
Exclusive content will likely be an ongoing feature in Apple Music, with Apple working to secure deals with a number of artists. Ahead of Apple Music’s debut, the company was rumored to be in talks with dozens of high-profile musical acts like Florence and the Machine and Taylor Swift.
In addition to sharing exclusive songs and album releases on Apple Music, Apple is also hoping to engage artists and customers through its Apple Music Connect platform, a social network that lets artists share photos, videos, and other content with fans.
The company’s worldwide 24/7 live radio station, Beats 1 radio, will also feature one-of-a-kind content like interviews and music curated by celebrities. Eminem, a close friend of Dr. Dre, will be the first Beats 1 interviewee following tomorrow’s launch of Apple Music and Beats 1, and Dr. Dre will host his own radio show on the station.
Survey Suggests ‘iPhone 6s’ Could Outsell iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
While every new iPhone model released has gone on to outsell its predecessor, dating back to the iPhone 3G outselling the original iPhone, the overwhelming success of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has created some skepticism about whether Apple will be able to continue that trend in the future.
The 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been popular among consumers because of their larger screens, a long-awaited hardware feature that was previously limited to Android-based smartphones and other devices. The new iPhones are also slimmer and feature faster A8 processors and improved iSight cameras.
Nevertheless, a new survey from RBC Capital Markets suggests the so-called “iPhone 6s” could actually be more popular than the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The research firm expects positive year-over-year growth in the December quarter, claiming that carrier contracts are ultimately the deciding factor in a customer’s upgrade cycle.
“While there has been concern regarding AAPL going ex-growth in Dec-Qtr, our survey work shows carrier contracts are the bigger driver for refresh cycles, implying 6s cycle should be positive given contract renewals and sustained expansion of 4G networking in China. We are raising our estimates ahead of Street expectations for June, FY15/FY16 but maintaining our OP rating and $150 target.”
RBC Capital Markets surveyed 6,000 individuals about their smartphone purchasing decisions and found that loyalty remains strong among Apple customers, meaning that the company should be able to increase iOS adoption and revenue going forward. However, the investment bank warns that iPad demand has not picked up and could further disappoint expectations in the June quarter.
50% of surveyees who plan to purchase a new smartphone will do so within 12 months
Specifically, the research firm found that 83.4% of current iPhone customers intend on staying with Apple, while 64.2% of Samsung customers expressed their future commitment to the South Korean handset maker. It also found that about 50% of customers who plan on purchasing a new iPhone will do so in the next 12 months, with longer battery life the most requested improvement.
Apple’s next-generation iPhones will likely retain similar physical designs as the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, including 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes. The smartphones are also rumored to feature an A9 processor with 2GB of RAM, Force Touch, 7000 Series aluminum, improved 12-megapixel camera, a new rose gold color option, improved Touch ID recognition and more.
Apple Watch Sport’s Display With Ion-X Glass Outperforms Sapphire Models in Bright Lighting
Although there has been much comparison of the scratch-resistance and weight differences between the two Apple Watch display cover options — sapphire crystal and Ion-X glass — not much has been scientifically tested regarding each model’s reflectiveness. A new report by DisplayMate out today, however, shows just how much lower reflectivity and higher contrast there is on the Apple Watch Sport’s Ion-X glass compared to the higher-end Apple Watch models with sapphire.
As DisplayMate points out, the two models have identical OLED displays internally, but thanks to the different outer coverings, the different models react uniquely in bright light situations. In summary, the site found that the Apple Watch with sapphire crystal display reflects 74 percent more ambient light than the Ion-X glass of the Sport model. The two displays behave almost identically in dark environments given the low levels of ambient light available for reflection.
Photo comparing Ion-X glass (left) and sapphire crystal (right) taken at 2,000 lux, which equates to moderate outdoor lighting
For the Apple Watch Sport with Ion-X Glass we measured the Screen Reflectance to be 4.7 percent, while for the Apple Watch with Sapphire we measured 8.2 percent Screen Reflectance, which is 74 percent higher than with Glass. Both values are about 0.6 percent higher than just pure sapphire and glass alone, indicating that Apple has done an excellent job in optically bonding both the glass and sapphire to the OLED display without an air gap.
The 74 percent higher Reflectance of the Apple Watch with Sapphire means that its screen will reflect almost twice as much surrounding ambient light as the Apple Watch Sport with Glass. And it takes surprisingly little ambient light for that to make a significant visible difference…
Starting in the dark at 0 lux, DisplayMate increased light levels in successive stages of testing to discover the contrast ratios of each screen under increasingly stressful lighting situations. With both displays set to their maximum brightness, at 500 lux (“mid-range indoor ambient lighting”) the display contrast ratios had fallen from 100 to 64 for Ion-X and 38 for sapphire, illustrating the distinct visibility advantage for the cheaper model. Jumping to 2,000 lux (“moderate outdoor lighting in the shade or an overcast sky”), the ratios drop to 17 and 10 for Ion-X glass and sapphire, respectively.
Chart comparing various aspects of reflectivity between the two displays
For a full-on sunlight measurement of 10,000 lux, the Ion-X glass display contrast ratio fell to 3 while the Sapphire Crystal came in at just 2. So, while the Sport’s display proves to handle moderate outdoor sunlight much better than the sapphire display, both are significantly impacted by harsh, direct sunlight.
Higher reflectivity and lower light transmittance were highlighted as challenges for Apple amid Apple’s failed partnership with GT Advanced Technologies for sapphire production and rumors the iPhone 6 would include a sapphire display cover. Recent advancements in sapphire production technology may, however, overcome those difficulties, with future generations of products able to use sapphire that has better viewing characteristics than glass while retaining sapphire’s advantages of high scratch resistance.
Apple Watch patent would have you sharing files with a handshake
Wondering how you’d exchange info between smartwatches when their displays are so small? Apple thinks it has an easy answer: make the same gestures you already use to greet your friends. The tech firm has applied for a patent on a system that exchanges data between wearables (presumably Apple Watches) whenever both people make a similar greeting gesture, such as a handshake, bow or fist bump. The watches would only need to use their motion sensors and short-range wireless to tell that you’re getting cozy — you wouldn’t need to tap the screen at all. Devices could also swap different kinds of data depending on the exact gesture and how well you know the other person, so you’d only share contact info if you’re grabbing hands for the first time. There’s no guarantee that Apple will roll this feature into the Watch any time soon, but it strikes us as a very logical (and, dare we say it, handy) upgrade.
Photo by Will Lipman.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Apple
Via: Patently Apple, SlashGear
Source: WIPO
Apple Released the iPhone Eight Years Ago Today [iOS Blog]
Eight years ago today, the smartphone market changed forever. On June 29, 2007, Apple released the original iPhone with a sleek form factor and revolutionary multi-touch screen and significantly disrupted an industry then dominated by companies such as Nokia, BlackBerry, Sony and Motorola.
The original iPhone was exclusive to AT&T in the United States before launching in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Portugal, Ireland and Austria in November 2007. The 8GB model initially cost $599 on a two-year contract until Apple dropped the price to $399 in September 2007, far more expensive than today’s starting price of $199.
The eighth anniversary of the original iPhone’s release takes place just one day before the worldwide debut of Apple Music, another launch that could prove both historic as Apple attempts to enter the crowded streaming music market alongside Spotify, Pandora, Google Play Music, YouTube and other players. Fittingly, many people will try Apple Music for the first time using an iPhone.
Apple has since sold hundreds of millions of iPhones around the world and launched ten models in eight years, ranging from the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Apple is bumping the iTunes Match limit to 100,000 songs
When Apple first revealed iTunes Match — the service that lets you add your own, non-Apple purchased music to iTunes — the 25,000 song limit probably seemed huge. That was way back in 2011, however, and Apple VP Eddy Cue has revealed that when iOS 9 arrives this fall, Match will be bumped to 100,000 songs. Cue reminded followers that Apple Music will also get Match-like capabilities, meaning you can fill in any missing streaming music with your own tracks. Though the service will launch tomorrow with a 25,000 song limit, it too will support 100,000 songs when iOS 9 comes out.
That’s good news for users who want song-matching in Apple Music but not iTunes, as it’ll save them the $25 per year iTunes Match subscription. Also, though Apple has resolved many disputes with labels and artists, a lot of music will still be missing — which users can buy from any source or fill in from their own collections. Apple Music is scheduled to launch tomorrow, and will be free for the first three months. After that, it’ll run $9.99 per month. Beats 1, meanwhile, will come a day later on July 1st.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Apple
Via: SlashGear
Source: Eddy Cue
7 best Android apps for musicians and music makers
The mobile boom brought forth a world of opportunities to creative individuals – especially musicians. Gone are the days when these artists were bound to full studio equipment (which costs fortunes) in order to get anything done. Professional music makers still need those, but our smartphones and tablets are more than capable of taking a quantifiable load of work.
What really makes us grind our teeth here at Android Authority is the fact that Apple has had a foothold on the music industry for a long time (in terms of mobile music making, at least). This is changing, as there is a plethora of Android developers making great apps for musicians, but we need to dig deeper into the platform in order to understand what’s going on.
Apple wasn’t doing amazingly well among musicians only because of its fame and widespread support; Android devices did have a limitation, which proved to be a huge slow-down. iOS has offered audio low-latency for a long time, something Google only implemented with the introduction of Android 5.0 Lollipop, along with multi-channel audio stream mixing and USB audio support.
With these changes in place, and considering Android does own the market in terms of numbers, we are sure to see some great developers getting on board with our favorite mobile OS. In the meantime, we would like to share some great apps any musician and music maker should take a look at.
Guitar Tuner Free (previously known as Guitar Tuna)
This app’s design is great, and I love having it around to tune my instruments. Mostly because it has support for tuning multiple instruments, including guitar, bass and ukulele (my personal favorite). It includes games for learning to play, a metronome and a design that makes it a breeze to use.
Serious musicians will also love that it touts “award-winning audio technology” and “professional accuracy for advanced players”. And with over 5 million downloads, this app sure has its fair amount of popularity.
Lyrically
Even the best of musicians forget lyrics, so it’s always convenient to have a lyric app around, just in case you need it. This application grants access to lyrics for more than a million songs, something considered to be heaven-sent to many cover musicians around. Lyrically can even recognize the music you are playing on your phone and present the right lyrics on the screen.
Pro Metronome
Having trouble syncing to a beat? Metronomes are no longer just tools that need to sit on top of a table. You can carry it around in your pocket, thanks to the power of our smartphones. Pro Metronome was a hit on iOS, and us Android users can also take advantage of it now.
Sure, other tuning apps include metronomes, but this one is far superior. The user can choose between many timing styles. Users can also “access subdivisions, poly-rhythm settings, and create complex patterns with triplets, dotted notes, and non-standard time signatures” if they purchase the Pro version. It’s also more precise than a real, mechanical metronome, as it’s not affected by friction, air resistance and other natural factors.
RecForge Pro
Musicians love their high quality sound recording. Sound needs to be as pristine as possible, and even though mobile is not quite up there with studio standards, I have to say RecForge Pro is about the closest you can get to the real deal.
RecForge Pro is a serious audio recorder. It can record in mp3, ogg or wav, and you can convert audio files between those formats, as well. It has support for storing clips in the cloud, and one can even edit these sound clips before doing anything with them. There’s a wide array of settings and tools for making your sound as perfect as possible.
I will advice that you get a good microphone to use with your handset, as phones usually don’t have the best microphones integrated.
Walk Band
How many times have you gotten inspired during your commute to the city, without an instrument within reach to hear how well your new song ideas work out? After all, music often sounds very different in your mind than it does coming out of an instrument.
Walk Band is meant to be more of a creative music-making app, with multi-track recording and a series of digital instruments you can play around with. That’s all fun, but I use it more as a tool for translating my thoughts into sound waves when on-the-go. Maybe you will find it just as convenient, so give it a go!
DJ Studio 5
Here is one area where Android is still a bit behind, with apps like Traktor DJ putting all their chips on Apple. That’s not to say there aren’t some good DJing Android apps out there, though. One of my favorites is DJ Studio 5. It’s completely free and all they make money on are skins. No ads, no hidden charges, no catch.
DJ Studio 5 is simple enough to welcome beginners, yet it has its good share of more complex features for the advances DJs out there. You at least have to try their unique scratch system and disk physics!
Caustic 3
Sadly, we are far from getting anything similar to Garage Band, which continues to be a great tool even for some serious musicians. With that said, w can also say there are some great apps like Caustic 3 around, which allow us to create music from our mobile devices.
This app’s design is inspired by rack-mount synthesizers, which I say give it an awesome style. You can choose from a wide variety of synthesizers and different sounds. It’s fun and it’s free to use. You will need to pay $9.99 if you want the ability to save or export your projects, though.
Which apps do you use for making music?
Of course, this is all the opinion of one humble musician here. I am sure many of you have found great uses for other apps, and maybe you even have better alternatives to the ones I happen to love. Whatever the case may be, please do share your thoughts on the comments below.
Do you use any of these apps? Which are your favorite applications for making music?
AIVAnet 