Tim Cook Charity Lunch Auction Ends, Earns $200,000 for RFK Center

Tim Cook’s third annual CharityBuzz auction ended this afternoon, earning $200,000 for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. The auction, which had more than 20 bids, includes a one hour lunch date with Tim Cook at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino and two VIP passes to an Apple keynote event to watch Apple unveil new products.

Though the auction earned an impressive $200,000 for the RFK Center, it brought in less money than previous auctions held in 2013 and 2014. In 2013, the inaugural CharityBuzz auction for a coffee date with Cook brought in an impressive $610,000, and 2014’s lunch auction ended at $330,001.

Today’s auction winner will be able to bring one additional person to have lunch with Cook, with the cost of lunch being included in the auction price. Transportation and accommodations to Cupertino are not included, however, and the exact date of the lunch will be scheduled at a mutually agreed upon time.

This year’s event, like last year’s, included two VIP tickets to an upcoming Apple keynote event — WWDC is on the horizon, so the auction winner may be invited to attend the WWDC keynote. WWDC promises to be quite exciting this year, as rumors have suggested a whole slew of products could see an unveiling, including a new streaming music service, a new streaming television service, and a new Apple TV. We’ll also see iOS 9 and OS X 10.11.

Proceeds from today’s auction benefit the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights, a charity that Tim Cook has now supported for three years running. The RFK Center aims to achieve “a just and peaceful world by partnering with human rights leaders, teaching social justice, and advancing corporate responsibility.”

Apple Launches New ‘Everything Changes With iPad’ Site

Apple today launched a new microsite focused on the iPad, exploring the way the iPad can “change the way you do things every day.” The site offers up a selection of apps and usage ideas for the iPad, organized into several categories: Cooking with iPad, Learning with iPad, Small Business with iPad, Traveling with iPad, and Redecorating with iPad.

Like the company’s past advertising efforts, this new campaign aims to portray the iPad as a tool that’s useful in all aspects of life that goes far beyond mere content consumption, as can be seen in the introductory video on the site. The video, which should be uploaded to YouTube soon, features people using the iPad in a whole range of situations, from cooking to managing a business.

Each section of the new site includes imagery covering what the iPad can do and a wide range of recommended apps for each purpose. “Cooking with iPad,” for example, has sections on using the iPad as a cookbook, as a tool to create cookbooks, and as a prep tool for organizing ingredients to be purchased.

Some of the recommended apps include Green Kitchen, Cook, and Epicurious, and the site also recommends the Smart Cover as a tool for propping up the iPad while cooking. Siri is highlighted as a way to use the iPad hands-free in the kitchen, and a long list of apps is linked at the bottom of the page.

Learning with iPad focuses on using the iPad to learn at all ages, with sections highlighting learning through play, programming, exploring space through apps like Star Walk 2, using textbooks in iBooks, using apps like Notability and Coursera for learning, and exploring free courses on iTunes U. Hobby-based apps are also included in a “Never stop learning” section.

The other three iPad sections, Small Business, Traveling, and Redecorating, are equally as extensive, suggesting a range of use cases and apps for different situations that people might otherwise have missed. Every app used on the new site and within the “Everything changes for iPad” site is also listed in a special section on the App Store.

Over the course of the last few years, Apple has explored several different advertising campaigns for the iPad in an effort to spur people into purchasing one of its tablets. We’ve seen “Why You’ll Love an iPad,” “Your Verse,” and “Start Something New” in 2013 and 2014.

Apple changes its iPad advertising tactics much more frequently than it does for other products, likely because its iPad sales have been down for several quarters in a row. During its the second quarter of 2015, Apple’s iPad sales were down to 12.6 million from 16.35 million in the year-ago quarter.

Tim Cook has remained optimistic about iPad sales, however, suggesting that the company’s future product pipeline (which includes the rumored “iPad Pro”) and its efforts in the enterprise market will ultimately cause iPad sales to grow again. “I believe the iPad is an extremely good business over the long-term,” he said. “When precisely it begins to grow again I wouldn’t want to predict, but I strongly believe that it will.”

Apple’s Award-Winning Accessibility Features Help Bring Gaming to the Blind on iOS

Apple today was honored as a recipient of a Helen Keller Achievement Award from the American Foundation for the Blind for the company’s accessibility efforts, particularly VoiceOver‘s ability to give vision-impaired users access to iOS devices. With the advent of the Apple Watch, many of those accessibility features are now also migrating over to the wrist.

Coincidentally, MacRumors‘ sister site TouchArcade today took a look at the possibilities for accessibility features in iOS gaming. The report highlights a close-knit community that is gaining the ability to use and interact with experiences on iOS thanks to a few motivated developers taking the time to implement Apple’s extensive accessibility options in their own games.

The genesis of the article came from a single comment posted on an RPG-related piece which included the game King of Dragon Pass [Direct Link]. The user, Zack Kline, caught TouchArcade‘s attention by mentioning the little talked-about feature of the iOS game implementing a successful and satisfying amount of options to become playable for blind players.

Screenshot from King of Dragon Pass

This time around, one comment from a reader named Zack Kline caught my attention. It reads, “One aspect which often gets overlooked is that it’s one of the few big iOS games which has really gone out of its way to become playable by the blind. There’s a sizable population of iOS users, myself included, who are really happy that Apple has done so much work on making their platform accessible, but don’t have a lot of interesting games to enjoy. Frankly, (King Of Dragon Pass) is the best, and certainly the deepest. I only wish we had more choices.”

The game, originally a PC title, was unable to include accessibility features in the PC version due to time constraints, but designer David Dunham felt adding VoiceOver options to the iOS port simply “seemed like the right thing to do.” VoiceOver’s simple gesture controls for reading text aloud make King of Dragon Pass, largely a text adventure and interactive story-based game, readily playable for blind users interested in the game.

Many apps and games lack such support, however, with the shortcoming largely stemming from a need to set priorities in the development process of every game. Given the often tight time constraints for development work, accessibility features frequently rank low on that priority list given the relatively small base of people who would benefit from it. Speaking with TouchArcade, however, Dunham points to a largely painless process of including VoiceOver support for his game, and the larger satisfaction of King of Dragon Pass being playable to even more fans as a result.

Since King Of Dragon Pass was mostly a text-based game, Dunham used UIKit to make it rather than a sprite-based engine. That meant that almost everything worked with VoiceOver to some extent without any extra work done. From there, it was just a matter of going through every screen and making sure things worked as they should, particularly with regards to pictures. The only part that required extensive work was the game’s map, which was originally designed as being coordinate-based. The new VoiceOver map is actually composed of discrete tappable areas, according to Dunham, something that came about as a result of enthusiastic testers and would-be players.

According to Dunham, in the last month or so about 7 percent of players booting up his game have done so in VoiceOver mode. Although that may seem low, Dunham says it was well worth the investment and time consumption of supporting the features in the game. Amir Rajan is the developer of another accessibility-supported iOS game, A Dark Room [Direct Link], and agrees with Dunham. “It’s worth it to get a thank you email from a father with a blind daughter that can enjoy a popular game that her seeing friends play too,” said Rajan.

Of course, the games supporting these features right now are a bit simpler, less intense experiences. The developers supporting these features should be celebrated, but, as members of Apple-focused accessibility site AppleVis point out, the hope for the future is more games built with these features in mind from the get-go.

The full article on TouchArcade is well worth a read, and goes into even more detail regarding specific testimonies from blind gamers, developer reactions, and the short list for the best accessible iOS gaming experiences out now.

Apple Preparing In-Store Pickup Option for Apple Watch

Apple is preparing to offer an in-store pickup option for the Apple Watch in the United States and other launch countries, listing the option as “available soon” on the Apple Online Store and Apple Store app. The new option remains grayed out on Apple’s website and app, making it unavailable to select, and Apple’s Reserve and Pickup system for the Apple Watch has yet to go live.

To date, Apple Watch orders have been taken exclusively online and shipped via UPS or other couriers to residential or business addresses, but soon customers will gain the option of ordering online and visiting a local Apple retail location for in-store pickup. Customers will be required to present a valid government-issued photo ID upon pickup, and must match the name on the reservation to pick up the product.

Apple originally planned to offer in-store pickup of the Apple Watch as early as April 24, although later decided to take orders exclusively online and ship to home, possibly due to limited supply resulting from faulty Taptic Engines. When in-store pickup for the Apple Watch becomes available, customers will be able to select a nearby Apple Store location of their choice to pick up the product.

G-Technology Review: Hands-on With the Rugged 1TB G-Drive ev ATC With Thunderbolt [Mac Blog]

G-Technology’s G-Drive ev ATC is its latest hard drive, offering Thunderbolt connectivity in an ultra protective package. Introduced at CES this year, the G-Drive ev ATC (ATC stands for All-Terrain Case) is shock/dust resistant, waterproof and pressure resistant, plus it offers 1TB of storage and Thunderbolt speeds.

Designed for users who need storage space that can be used in the field in suboptimal conditions, the G-Drive ev ATC will keep data safe in all kinds of environments. The ev ATC (which has an ev RaW 7200 RPM hard drive inside) is also compatible with company’s Evolution series, including the G-Drive ev and G-Drive ev SSD, so hard drives can be swapped in and out of the rugged enclosure.

What’s in the Box?

The G-Drive ev ATC includes one inner 1TB G-Drive ev RaW, the rugged outer casing, and a USB to Micro-B cable for using the hard drive with your Mac when it’s not inserted into the enclosure with the Thunderbolt cable. It also ships with a small instruction manual to walk you through removing the inner drive from the outer casing and swapping it into other G-Technology products if desired.

Design and Features

There are two major parts to the G-Drive ev ATC: the hard plastic and rubber all-terrain case and the inner 1TB hard drive. The outer shell is constructed from black plastic with blue rubber accents at the corners and on the top and bottom to provide cushioning should it accidentally fall. It feels like a solid, quality product that’s going to stand up to abuse.

It’s branded with the company’s signature “G” logo and it has an LED at the top to let you know when it’s plugged in and active. A built-in Thunderbolt cable tucks around the perimeter of the drive and is covered with a blue rubber cap to keep dust and water out. One minor downside to the hard drive here — the rubber cap is flimsy and it feels like it could rip off with rough handling, and when subjected to a water test, a bit of water leaked in (it remained usable after the water dried).
Read more

Android Switchers Drive iOS Adoption in Europe During First Quarter [iOS Blog]

Kantar Worldpanel has released new smartphone operating system market share data for the first quarter of 2015, providing a regional breakdown of Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and other platform adoption in the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, China, Japan, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico during the three-month period ending March.

Android continued to have the highest market share among mobile platforms worldwide, as expected, although the continued success of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus helped drive iOS adoption higher in the first quarter. Kantar Worldpanel claims that 32.4% of Apple’s new customers in the five big European countries surveyed switched to iOS from Android during the first three months of the year.

http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/smartphone-os-market-share/
The regional breakdown for each platform per country:

United States:

• Android: 58.1%
• iOS: 36.5%
• Windows Phone: 4.3%
• BlackBerry: 0.4%

Australia:

• Android: 52.3%
• iOS: 38.4%
• Windows Phone: 7.3%
• BlackBerry: 1.6%

United Kingdom:

• Android: 52.9%
• iOS: 38.1%
• Windows Phone: 8%
• BlackBerry: 0.7%

France:

• Android: 64.6%
• iOS: 19.4%
• Windows Phone: 14.1%
• BlackBerry: 1%

Germany:

• Android: 71.3%
• iOS: 18.3%
• Windows Phone: 8.7%
• BlackBerry: 0.8%

Spain:

• Android: 89.9%
• iOS: 7%
• Windows Phone: 2.8%
• BlackBerry: 0.2%

Italy:

• Android: 66.2%
• iOS: 17.5%
• Windows Phone: 14.4%
• BlackBerry: 1.3%

China:

• Android: 72%
• iOS: 26.1%
• Windows Phone: 1.2%
• BlackBerry: 0%

Japan:

• Android: 52.3%
• iOS: 45.1%
• Windows Phone: 0.4%
• BlackBerry: 0.7%

Argentina:

• Android: 81.6%
• iOS: 2.4%
• Windows Phone: 10.7%
• BlackBerry: 1.9%

Brazil:

• Android: 89.6%
• iOS: 3.3%
• Windows Phone: 6.3%
• BlackBerry: 0.2%

Mexico:

• Android: 85.1%
• iOS: 6%
• Windows Phone: 4.7%
• BlackBerry: 2.9%

Consumer Reports Tests Apple Watch for Readability, Water Resistance, Fitness Tracking and More [iOS Blog]

Consumer Reports has crowned the Apple Watch as its top-rated smartwatch in its test of 11 smartwatch models from eight manufacturers, including the Asus ZenWatch, LG G Watch R, Moto 360, Pebble Steel, Samsung Gear S and Sony SmartWatch 3. The not-for-profit organization tested the Apple Watch and competing devices for step count accuracy, screen readability, ease of use, scratch resistance, water resistance, heart rate tracking and more.

In particular, the stainless steel Apple Watch scored the highest among the smartwatches tested because of its high readability in bright and low light, ease of use, ease of pairing with an iPhone, durable scratch resistance, IPX7 water resistance rating and accurate heart rate and step count tracking. Meanwhile, the Sony SmartWatch 3 finished at the bottom of the rankings, primarily because it failed the 24-hour water immersion test.

Apple Confirms ‘Applebot’ as In-House Web Crawler for Services Like Siri and Spotlight

Apple yesterday gave a few interesting details on something it’s calling “Applebot“, the company’s in-house web crawler that is used to help power services like Siri and Spotlight on iOS and OS X platforms (via Apple Insider).

In the past, Apple has partnered with companies like Google and Bing to provide search results in a few of its own products like Siri, but this week’s news could be an additional hint at Apple introducing its own complete search platform in the future. Most recently, in early February, a job listing provided more fuel to a rumor that the Cupertino company was doing just that, although it was likely to be describing ongoing efforts to improve Spotlight and was never legitimized.

What we now know as Applebot was first spotted by developer Jan Moesen last November, who discovered numerous web hits from a crawler indexing from a block detailed to be 17.0.0.0/8, an IP address block owned and operated wholly by Apple. This, coupled with the impending termination of a contract between Apple and Google for a Safari search engine deal, began fueling rumors of Apple’s own dedicated web engine.

The confirmation of Applebot is the closest the company has come to speaking directly on the subject, but it is still unclear whether the web crawler is setting up to be the basis for an Apple-branded search engine, or simply acting as more support for third-party search platforms when running Apple’s Siri and Spotlight services.