iOS Hacker Shows Web Browser Running on Apple Watch [iOS Blog]
iOS developer Nicholas Allegra, better known by his handle “comex” within the jailbreaking community, shared a short video on Twitter that shows a web browser running on the Apple Watch. The fifteen-second clip shows Allegra tapping, panning and zooming on the Google homepage on the Apple Watch, but the functionality is limited as to be expected because of the small screen size and lack of an on-screen keyboard.
“I always wanted a web browser on my wrist,” tweeted Allegra, who later shared another picture of the iOS built-in dictionary running on the Apple Watch. Allegra stopped short of providing details about the hack, but a web browser running on the Apple Watch is an interesting proof-of-concept and fuels the possibility of an Apple Watch jailbreak or native apps with web browsing capabilities in the future.
Apple confirmed last November that fully native Apple Watch apps will be available later this year, but it remains unclear what restrictions Apple will place on them. Apple Watch apps are currently loaded from a paired iPhone via Bluetooth as WatchKit extensions, and developers do not have access to the Apple Watch’s gyroscope, accelerometer, built-in speaker, microphone or Taptic Engine.
Allegra was an active member of the jailbreaking community in the early years of iOS devices, while attending Brown University in Rhode Island. Under the pseudonym “comex,” he revived JailbreakMe.com in early 2011 as a one-tap jailbreaking solution for compatible iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices at the time. He later interned at Apple in 2011 and Google in 2013.
12.9-Inch ‘iPad Pro’ Could Have Flexible Touch Panel With Increased Sensitivity
Apple is exploring the possibility of equipping the much-rumored 12.9-inch “iPad Pro” with an improved touch panel that uses silver nano wire (AgNW) material instead of ITO-based clear film, according to South Korea’s Electronic Times (via G4Games). The flexible touch panel would reportedly have greater accuracy and sensitivity and be able to recognize multiple pressure levels, which could allow for Force Touch.
A purported “iPad Pro” blueprint from December 2014 with possible dimensions
The report claims that Apple requested samples of the touch panel ready for mass-production from LG Display, Samsung Display, Japan Display and other major display manufacturers at the start of this week, and predicts that the company will release a new 12.9-inch iPad next year as the first device utilizing the new touch panel technology. Recent rumors have pointed towards a late 2015 unveiling of the iPad Pro.
Apple could benefit from lower production costs by using AgNW touch panels, according to the report, since the technology does not require using a scarce metal like indium. The report adds that Apple is also considering applying a thin layer of sapphire crystal to the touch panel, but it remains questionable if the company’s suppliers are capable of effectively producing the material for large-screened tablets yet.
The 12.9-inch iPad is rumored to feature a built-in NFC chip, pressure-sensitive Bluetooth stylus, Force Touch, one USB-C port and Apple’s latest A-series processor. Rumors suggest that the NFC chip will enable the iPad to be used as a payment terminal, while the single USB-C port will either replace or supplement the Lightning connector equipped on other current iPads.
Tim Cook Joins Weibo as iPhone Sales Remain Strong in China [iOS Blog]
Apple CEO Tim Cook has expanded his social media presence by creating an account on Chinese microblogging service Weibo, where he has already accumulated over 325,000 followers as of writing. Cook’s first post on Weibo reflects on his current visit to Beijing to announce new environmental initiatives in China, including a new multi-year forestland program in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund.
“Hello China! Happy to be back in Beijing, announcing innovative new environmental programs,” wrote Cook, followed by a Chinese translation of the same message. Last month, Apple announced a partnership with SunPower Corporation to build two 20-megawatt solar power plants that will provide more than enough energy to power all of Apple’s corporate offices and retail stores in China.
Coinciding with Cook’s visit to China this week, market research firm IDC has released new data for the smartphone market that reveals Apple was the largest smartphone vendor in China during the first quarter of 2015. Apple shipped 14.5 million smartphones in China during the quarter for 14.7% market share, while Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi trailed in second with 13.5 million shipments and 13.7% market share.
Huawei, Samsung and Lenovo rounded off the top five smartphone vendors in China during the first quarter, although IDC notes that each vendor’s rankings often change quickly due to the volatility of consumer brand preference in China. Samsung and Lenovo, for example, both led the market at least once last year, but ranked fourth and fifth in the first quarter respectively.
“Apple was the top smartphone vendor in China in the first quarter of 2015, with consumers still having a strong appetite for the larger screens on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Xiaomi slipped to the second position as it faced strong competition from other vendors in the low to mid-range segment of the market, while Huawei maintained third position as it saw a good uptake in the mid-range segment. Samsung and Lenovo both led the market at least once last year, but rankings have since changed quickly, highlighting the volatility of consumers’ brand preference in China.”
With an estimated 1.4 billion people and growing, China is the world’s most populous country and over three times larger than the United States, which has an estimated population of 320 million people. China is an increasingly important market for Apple, given that the country had higher iPhone sales than the United States for the first time ever during the most recent quarter.
Apple Watch Stands Up to 1,200m Swim Workout and 10m High Dive Test [iOS Blog]
The Apple Watch has been put through a variety of waterproofing tests since its public launch in April, but over the weekend endurance sports and tech blogger Ray Waker posted a few Apple Watch-related waterproof videos, including the first lap swimming test with Apple’s new wearable.
As Waker notes in his blog post, many people have uploaded videos detailing simple waterproof tests in smaller backyard pools, but there has until now been little information on the Watch’s ability to withstand higher-intensity swimming activities. As he notes, “It’s the wrist hitting the water that’s so difficult for watch waterproofing due to the impact forces,” so that’s what he decides to focus on in the test. After about 25 minutes in the water and a 1200 meter swim, Maker found results similar to most other waterproofing tests over the past few weeks – the Apple Watch remains seemingly unharmed by even the most daunting submerged water tests.
Afterwards, he aims to increase the water impact experimentation on the wearable by diving off of his local public pool’s high diving platform. As Maker mentions, it’s another item on the list of warnings given by Apple to avoid subjecting the Watch — “Dropping Apple Watch or subjecting it to other impacts” — but even after two jumps off the 5 meter platform and one off the 10 meter, the Apple Watch continued to perform normally for the tech blogger.
Maker’s final test lies outside of a swimming pool in a makeshift waterproof test chamber, designed to simulate varying meters of pressure below the surface of the water. The Apple Watch, which is rated for only 1 meter of depth for waterproofing, was simulated with two separate dives of 40 meters during Maker’s test. The results, unsurprisingly, fell in line with his previous findings for the Watch, with all of its various features appearing to function as expected following the stress test.
I’m impressed, it’s still chugging along after that – with not a single sign of any issues at all. Clearly this is all more than adequate for any sort of casual sweat or showering. Though I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out over the next few weeks just in case.
Of course, the slightly awkward thing is that despite this battery of tests, the unit still isn’t warrantied for any of this, including even a simple shower with soap. Now whether or not an Apple Store employee would question a watch that arrives back dead probably remains to be seen. On the flip side, it’s also clear that it’s probably quite a bit harder to kill the thing than Apple would have you believe.
As with any new product category, the Apple Watch has faced a deluge of various testing in videos and on blogs around the web ever since it launched to customers on April 24. Ray Waker’s experiments provide the first real glimpse at the usability of the Watch in a high-intensity swimming environment, and definitely provides more ease-of-mind to those worrying about getting their watch even slightly wet. Still, Waker reiterates that given that the Watch “doesn’t take advantage of its internal accelerometers for any swimming metrics,” he advises to leave it behind when swimming in a pool.
Move over Apple Watch, Macintosh II emulated on Android Wear
Last year, Corbin Davenport showed off Windows 95 running on a Samsung Gear Live, a confusingly wonderful demonstration of the customization and power of Android Wear smartwatches. If that wasn’t odd enough, Davenport can now completely bewilder onlookers with his Android smartwatch that emulated Apple’s Macintosh II from 1991.
To get it all working Davenport took the Mini vMac II emulator from the Play Store, backed up the APK from his phone and side loaded it onto the watch. From there, it’s a simple case of booting up the desired operating system, which in this case is a System 6 software version from 1991. Although the emulator will support versions as new as 7.5.5 from 1996.
You can see the smartwatch running the emulation in the video below, complete with clumsy touchscreen controls. I wonder what he’ll stick on an Android Wear watch next.
Apple Announces Renewable Energy and Forestland Initiatives in China
Apple today announced a new multi-year project with World Wildlife Fund to protect up to 1 million acres of responsibly managed working forests in China, which the company says provide fiber for pulp, paper and wood products. The new forestland program is part of Apple’s goal to run its worldwide operations on 100% renewable energy.
Apple’s 40-megawatt solar farm in Hongyuan, China
Apple also confirmed plans to expand its industry-leading renewable energy projects to manufacturing facilities in China, three weeks after the company announced a partnership with SunPower Corporation to build two 20-megawatt solar power plants that will provide more than enough energy to power all of Apple’s corporate offices and retail stores in the world’s most populous country.
“We’ve set an example by greening our data centers, retail stores and corporate offices, and we’re ready to start leading the way toward reducing carbon emissions from manufacturing,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “This won’t happen overnight—in fact it will take years—but it’s important work that has to happen, and Apple is in a unique position to take the initiative toward this ambitious goal. It is a responsibility we accept. We are excited to work with leaders in our supply chain who want to be on the cutting edge of China’s green transformation.”
Apple shared its 2015 Environmental Responsibility Report in April, reflecting on the company’s environmental progress during the 2014 fiscal year. The report highlights that 100% of the company’s U.S. operations and 87% of its global operations are run on renewable energy. The report also reveals that Apple emitted 34.2 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions during the 12-month period ending September.
China’s smartphone market reaching saturation as Apple takes top spot
A new smartphone market share report says that smartphone shipments in China fell 4.3 per cent in the first quarter compared with a year ago. Since 2011 China has been the world’s largest smartphone market and was in many ways a green field sector. Most people buying smartphones in China have, until now, been first time buyers. But now it seems that the market has reached saturation and from here in China is now an upgrade market.
The new numbers come from research conducted by International Data Corp (IDC). Other, rival surveys, suggest that China’s smartphone market continued to grow during the quarter, but at much slower levels than previously. Either way, it is clear that this is a turning point.
According to Apple’s financial results for Q1 2015, the Cupertino company sells more iPhone in China than it does in the USA. Now, the new data shows that Apple has pushed Xiaomi off the top spot to become China’s largest smartphone maker by market share. It was IDC that ranked Xiaomi as the top smartphone OEM in China for Q4 2014, with the company taking a 13.7% market share. At the time IDC reckoned that Apple had a 12.3% market share.
IDC also reports that Samsung has fallen to fourth place in China for Q1, a big drop from its #1 position of a year ago.
Xiaomi has traditionally focused on the low-end of the Chinese smartphone market, however recently it has also been targeting the top end. Just last week the company launched its $480 Mi Note Pro. The new device features a 5.7 inch Quad HD LCD display, a Snapdragon 810 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, a 13MP camera, a 3090 mAh battery, and LTE category 9. The company has also been working to expand beyond China.
Over the past year, Xiaomi made the jump to its first markets outside China, and is now operating in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India. It entered the Indian market in July 2014, and it has managed to become an established player in that cutthroat market, having sold a million devices in the first six months.
Now the $46 billion company is looking towards another large, dynamic market: Brazil. Talking to the press in Taiwan, Hugo Barra (a native of Brazil) said Xiaomi will begin selling its affordable devices in Brazil within three months.
IDC also reports that Samsung has fallen to fourth place in China for Q1, a big drop from its #1 position of a year ago. However Samsung is still optimistic about its sales in China. “While there are signs that the explosive growth of smartphones in China will slow this year, the vast majority of China’s 885 million mobile users are using low-end and mid-range smartphones,” Samsung said in a statement. “This leaves plenty of room for upgrades to high-end phones as China’s market matures.”
China’s smartphone market is big, but it isn’t getting bigger
China’s such a big country that there’ll always be an insatiable demand for smartphones, right? Not according to research firm IDC, which believes that the nation’s phone market has contracted by four percent in the last year. The outfit’s merry band of spreadsheet-wranglers believes that the majority of Chinese people now own a mobile device, and as such, will only buy a phone when they want to upgrade.
The company has also drilled down into the winners and losers for the first quarter of the year, with no surprises as to who has come out on top. Apple is sitting comfortably on the number one spot, having shipped nearly 15 million devices in the first three months of the year. Sitting just behind it, however, are local brands Xiaomi and Huawei, which shipped 13.5 and 11.2 million phones in the same period. It’s a sadder tale for Samsung and Lenovo, both of which saw its shipments fall by a painful 53 and 22 percent, respectively.
[Image Credit: Getty]
Filed under: Cellphones, Apple, Samsung, Lenovo
Via: TechCrunch, WSJ
Source: IDC
Apple’s new environmental initiative focuses on China’s forests
Apple’s been vocal about trying to get its global operations running entirely on renewable energy, but the company is now looking to reduce its impact on paper, wood and similar fibers too. Outlining several environmental initiatives for China, the company announced a multi-year project with the World Wildlife Fund to increase responsibly managed forests. The program will cover up to 1 million acres of forest that provides materials for paper and wood products — including Apple’s own packaging materials. According to the press release, it wants to achieve a “net-zero impact on the world’s supply of sustainable virgin fiber”.
“Forests, like energy, can be renewable resources,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environmental Initiatives. “We believe we can run on naturally renewable resources and ensure that we protect-and create-as much sustainable working forest as needed to produce the virgin paper in our product packaging.”
China is now a very important part of Apple’s success: and these new environmental initiatives are three weeks since the company launched its major solar installation in Sichuan Province. Apple says it will generate energy in excess of what’s needed to power Apple’s corporate offices and retail stores in China. It’s teamed up with local power companies for two 20-megawatt solar farms that will generate enough energy for the equivalent of 61,000 Chinese homes.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Apple
Source: Apple
Apple Watch hack puts a tiny browser on your wrist
Still trying to find a use for your Apple Watch? Noted jailbreaker Comex has an idea: browse the internet an inch-and-a-half at a time. In a short video, he shows off the Google search bar, which, due to the display’s minuscule size, only fits on-screen a portion at a time. From there you can see iOS’ “copy/define” dialog boxes and that’s about it, really. Appologies if you were expecting something a bit crazier, but possible jailbreaks apparently aren’t all that exciting in the embryonic stages. Watch doesn’t have a native browser, of course, and 9to5Mac notes that Comex hasn’t mentioned anything about releasing the hack to the public either, so if or when you’ll get to try it out for yourself is anyone’s guess at this point.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Apple
Via: 9to5Mac
Source: Comex
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