Video of 20-Year-Old Mac Operating System Running on an Apple Watch [iOS Blog]
As an entire computer that fits on our wrists, the Apple Watch already seems like something out of a science fiction novel, but a new video from software developer Nick Lee demonstrates just how far computing has come in the last two decades.
Lee’s hacked an Apple Watch running watchOS 2 to run a port of a 20-year-old Macintosh OS, System 7.5.5, using the Mini vMac Macintosh emulator.
When System 7.5.5 was released in 1996, it required a full PowerPC-based Mac to run, and in their smallest incarnation, those machines were clunky, heavy, and pretty far from the portable devices that we have now. Today, that same operating system can run on a tiny wrist-worn computer with a 1.3 to 1.7 inch screen.
New Video Shows Up-Close Look at Progress on Apple Campus 2 [Mac Blog]
Construction on Apple’s spaceship-shaped second campus is progressing, as detailed in a new close-up video shared by Skycore on Vimeo. Shot last Monday, the video offers a look at the current state of construction, depicting a finished foundation, the first walls of the ring-shaped structure, and work on an underground parking facility.
Apple has had some issues with campus construction as of late, and in May, the company hired Silicon Valley company Rudolph & Sletten to take over as general contractor, replacing Skanska USA and DPR Construction as work begins on the interior of the building. It is not clear why Apple parted ways with the original general contractor on the project, but according to Skanska, an agreement could not be reached for “the revised scope of work.”
Apple’s campus features a massive 2.8 million square foot ring-shaped main building, an underground parking lot, a 100,000 square foot fitness center, and a 120,000 square foot auditorium for hosting major events. The entire campus will be covered with hundreds of trees and there will be a central garden with outdoor dining areas. A second phase of development will add several nearby research and development facilities.
Campus 2 is costing Apple upwards of $5 billion, and it is unclear if its recent contractor shift has increased initial cost estimates. It’s also unknown if the project is still on track for a late 2016 completion, but Apple has not notified the City of Cupertino of any delays, so it may still be finished at the end of next year.
First Chevy CarPlay Vehicle, 650-HP Corvette Z06, Heading to Dealers
In late May, General Motors and its Chevrolet brand announced that its first 2016 cars equipped with CarPlay would be available later this year. Less than a month after the announcement, the first Chevy CarPlay vehicle, a silver Corvette Z06, has rolled off the production line. Chevy shared images of the maiden Corvette with TechCrunch, and told the site its Corvette Z06 vehicles are now heading to dealerships and consumers.
Chevy’s Corvette Z06 is the second vehicle with CarPlay that’s actually available for consumers to purchase, following the Ferarri FF. The Ferarri FF has been the only vehicle sold with built-in CarPlay support since CarPlay was announced in March of 2014, but the service has also been available to consumers through aftermarket solutions from companies like Alpine and Pioneer.
Chevy’s very first vehicle with CarPlay support, courtesy of TechCrunch
The 2016 Corvette Z06 has a base MSRP of $79,000 and comes equipped with an 8-inch color touchscreen that uses Chevrolet’s MyLink system alongside CarPlay. The Z06 is the most powerful production car that General Motors has created, with 650 horsepower at 6,400 rpm and 650-lb ft of torque at 3,600 rpm.
At Chevy’s May CarPlay media event, which MacRumors attended, there was no mention of the Corvette Z06 launching as the first Chevy CarPlay car, with Chevrolet representatives instead pointing towards the Tahoe, Suburban, and Volt as the first CarPlay-equipped vehicles. Those cars are expected to go into production in July, with the rest of the Chevy CarPlay lineup rolling out later in 2015. A full list of Chevy vehicles that will be released with CarPlay support is below.
– 7-inch Screens: Spark, Cruze, Malibu, Camaro, Camaro Convertible, Silverado, Silverado HD
– 8-inch Screens: Cruze, Malibu, Impala, Volt, Camaro, Camaro Convertible, Corvette, Corvette Convertible, Colorado, Silverado, Silverado HD, Tahoe, Suburban
As we learned at Chevy’s media event, the first CarPlay vehicles from the company will not include an upcoming iOS 9 feature — wireless CarPlay support. Chevy’s 2016 vehicles will require a user’s iPhone to be connected via a Lightning cable. iOS 9 also includes new features that allow it to be more deeply integrated with in-car systems, letting car knobs control CarPlay functions, but it is not clear if Chevy’s vehicles will take advantage of this upgrade when Apple’s new operating system launches in the fall.
Several other car manufacturers are expected to launch CarPlay-compatible vehicles in 2015. Volkswagen has promised that its first CarPlay vehicles will come in 2015, and at Apple’s “Spring Forward” media event in March, Tim Cook said that more than 40 car models with CarPlay support would be available by the end of the year.
Apple Looking to Eliminate Home Button on iOS Devices, Integrate Touch and Display Driver Chips?
Apple is seeking to develop an in-house single-chip solution for integrating both the touchscreen and display drivers for mobile devices onto one chip, according to a new report today from Taiwanese site DigiTimes. The touch and display driver integration (TDDI) chips would also include “integrated fingerprint sensors”, potentially allowing Apple to do away with the iconic home button.
Apple is internally developing touch and display driver integration (TDDI) single-chip solutions for its iPhones, according to sources in Taiwan’s IC design industry.
The TDDI single-chip solutions will also come with integrated fingerprint sensors, said the sources. The integrated design would fit into future iPhone designs – models with ultra-thin and ultra-narrow displays, and with a whole plane design eliminating the Home button.
TDDI is a new advance in the industry, with Synaptics introducing the first such solution earlier this year. Synaptics created its new TDDI chips by leveraging its recent acquisition of chipmaker Renesas SP Drivers, combining Synaptics’ touch technology chipset with Renasas’ display technology. Apple reportedly explored acquiring Renesas SP Drivers last year but the talks failed to lead to a deal.
Synaptics had hoped its acquisition of Renesas SP Drivers and its TDDI chips would entice Apple to once again become a Synaptics customer, but today’s report suggests Apple is pursuing its own solutions.
DigiTimes suggests Apple’s solution could eliminate the traditional iOS device home button, presumably by integrating its functionality into the device’s screen, something Apple has explored in previous patent applications. This could allow future iPhones to see increased display sizes with edge-to-edge screens or smaller form factors with the same 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays seen on today’s models.
Apple Plans to Release iOS 8.4 GM and iOS 9 Beta 2 Later Today [iOS Blog]
Apple plans to seed iOS 8.4 Golden Master (GM), which has historically been release candidate software, to registered developers today ahead of the Apple Music launch on June 30, reports BGR. iOS 9 beta 2 is also reportedly scheduled for release today, although it is possible that the release date is pushed back by one week to next Monday, June 29.
The iOS 8.4 GM will succeed iOS 8.4 beta 4 and will most likely be the final pre-release version before the software update is publicly released. Apple Music for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch requires iOS 8.4, so the update should be released for all users within the next eight days, with the new streaming music service built into the revamped stock Music app.
Apple Music was announced earlier this month as an all-in-one streaming music service, live global radio station and social platform for artists to connect with fans. The subscription-based service will cost $9.99 per month after a three-month free trial for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC. Apple TV and Android versions of the service will be available in the fall.
Tim Cook: Chinese Consumer Tastes Fueling Gold Color Options, Apple Watch Developer Interest Strong
Apple CEO Tim Cook recently confirmed China’s integral part in the company’s decision to pursue a gold design option in many of its devices. Speaking with a Chinese-language version of Bloomberg Businessweek, Cook stated that the addition of a gold option within the iPhone 5s lineup in 2013 “reflects in part the popularity of that color among Chinese users.”
Apple Inc. takes Chinese consumer tastes into account when it designs many of its products, Chief Executive Tim Cook said, underscoring the country’s importance to the iPhone maker.
The decision to offer a gold iPhone last year reflects in part the popularity of that color among Chinese users, he added. Greater China, which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong, is now Apple’s second-largest market and has become a battleground for the company as it vies with Samsung Electronics Co. and Xiaomi Corp. for smartphone supremacy.
Apple’s decision to tailor major aspects of its devices to China makes sense, given the Greater China area has become the company’s second-largest market over the last few years. In the second quarterly earnings call of 2015, Cook detailed an all-time quarterly revenue record for the Greater China province, growing 71 percent year over year to a grand total of $16.8 billion. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, China accounted for a total of 29 percent of Apple’s revenue in the March quarter.
In the same interview, the Apple CEO reiterated strong developer support for the Apple Watch with over 3500 apps available for the new wrist-worn device. That compares to roughly 500 apps available for the iPhone at the 2008 debut of the App Store and 1000 for the iPad at its 2010 launch.
Cook finished the interview by noting Apple plans to begin more than 180 trial programs in various schools in China, with an aim to “transform traditional educational models and help students contribute to society.” Cook and Apple hope to do this through various Apple-inspired training programs, from helping kids learn the ins-and-outs of music composition with GarageBand to teaching hearing-impaired children how to use smartphones. The company hopes to see the program double in number by the end of 2015.
Samsung wants to further reduce trial-awarded damages to Apple
Just a few years ago (2012 to be exact), 23 of Samsung’s Galaxy products were the topic of much contention in the intellectual property realm, with Apple having sued the Korean conglomerate on numerous counts of patent infringement and using them to deceive consumers into purchasing a Galaxy product. Another lawsuit, litigated in 2014, would be brought later for things like software design patents, however it is the original Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. that people usually think of. Thanks to a new motion by Samsung however, the seemingly unending trial might be entering yet another phase.
As reported by The San Jose Mercury News, this past Wednesday (June 17th) saw Samsung asking a federal appeals court to reconsider part of the $548 million in damages it has been ordered to pay Apple. Specifically, the Galaxy-maker is unhappy with the conclusion a three-judge panel at the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals reached last month, and has asked for a retrial with all twelve judges present. Given the perceived error is to-the-tune of nearly $400 million, it would be a major victory for Samsung should the results be turned in its favor.
The court filing points out that, “unlike rugs, spoons, and simple mechanical objects, smartphones incorporate hundreds or thousands of different patented technologies, and it is undisputed here that Apple’s design patents claim only partial, minor features of such devices.” While the courts have already deleted almost $370 million of the original ruling having deemed several of Apple’s claims such as product shape infringement, Samsung clearly wants more (if not all) of the damages removed.
Concept renders like this “Jony” iPhone were made public during the various Apple vs Samsung trials.
Apple says it will pay artists during Music’s free trials (updated)
Taylor Swift has a lot of clout in the streaming music world, it seems. Just hours after the singer railed against Apple for declining to pay royalties during Music’s 3-month trials, Apple’s Eddy Cue has promised that his company will pay musicians “even during [the] customer’s free trial period.” That includes indie artists, he says. It’s not clear what prompted the apparent change of heart (beyond the obvious public relations problem), but it wasn’t hard to see turnaround as a possibility. Apple has been positioning Music as a sort of anti-Spotify that courts the artists who don’t like the streaming status quo, such as Swift — it wasn’t going to succeed if those same performers jumped ship, whatever the reason.
Update: Cue tells Recode that Swift’s letter, and pressure from other artists, prompted the change. He reached out to Tim Cook to make the change, and told Swift herself about the new policy. As for how Apple is compensating artists during trials? Cue isn’t divulging the exact rate, but he says that it’s a per-stream payout rather than the usual revenue percentage. About the only thing up in the air is whether or not Swift and indie labels will offer their full catalogs to Apple Music. If you ask Cue, it’s simply too soon to know.
#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period
– Eddy Cue (@cue) June 22, 2015
We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple
– Eddy Cue (@cue) June 22, 2015
Source: Eddy Cue (Twitter 1), (2)
Apple Reverses Course, Will Pay Artists During Apple Music Free Trial
Apple’s Eddy Cue posted on twitter:
#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period
— Eddy Cue (@cue) June 22, 2015
We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple
— Eddy Cue (@cue) June 22, 2015
Taylor Swift slams Apple for skimping on Music royalties during trials
Taylor Swift isn’t just miffed at Spotify for its low payouts to musicians… she has a beef with Apple, too. The pop star has written an open letter saying that Apple Music won’t get her latest album, 1989, because the service isn’t paying artists or producers during subscribers’ 3-month trial period. According to Swift, it’s not about her own cut. She’s more concerned about the “young songwriter” who’s counting on that first single to stay afloat. While she’s a fan of Apple steering listeners toward paid streaming, she doesn’t think that it’s fair to ask people to “work for nothing,” especially when the iPhone maker has plenty of spare change to spend.
Apple hasn’t responded to the letter, and we’ve reached out to see what the Cupertino crew says. However, it’s already clear that the dispute over Apple Music’s long unpaid trials will have consequences for your access to major label musicians, not just indies. While Apple is paying a higher than normal rate in hopes of making up for the royalty-free period, that may not matter much if your favorite singer is upset enough to pull some of her catalog in protest.
[Image credit: John Davisson/Invision/AP]
Filed under: Internet, Software, Apple
Source: Taylor Swift (Tumblr)
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