‘Audio Books’ App Updated With CarPlay Support and Refreshed Interface [iOS Blog]

The iOS app for Audiobooks.com today received an update to overhaul the browsing experience, dedicated audio player, and even allow full integration with CarPlay “and select in-car infotainment systems”, to allow its users to listen to audiobooks while driving.

The company didn’t release much information on the update outside of the release notes, so there isn’t any word yet on how easy and fluid the experience is when pairing with CarPlay. It does, however, appear to be the first dedicated audiobook app to announce compatibility with Apple’s CarPlay system.

Elsewhere in the update, Audiobooks.com introduced a more “minimalist look and feel” to the app, tweaked the controls and experience of the audio player, and re-shuffled the settings page to make more critical information easier to navigate through. Considering the Audio Books app jumped from version 4.6 to 5.0.3, however, there were even more changes brought to the app alongside these.

What’s New in Version 5.0.3

-Fully updated user interface with a new minimalist look and feel
-Improved book browsing and general user experience for international users
-Full integration with CarPlay and select in-car infotainment systems
-Audio player updated to incorporate full functionality and controls without sub-menus
-Re-organized settings page displays critical account information more prominently
-Improved navigation throughout the app for a more intuitive user experience

The app touts itself as having over 60,000 audiobooks, with over 2,500 available to download for free. Following an initial free trial, the service works like any other paid monthly experience, with $14.95 a month buying users one free audiobook every 30 days. The company promises cross-platform continuation of audiobooks, meaning users can start a book on their phone, continue it on the ride home, and finish on their computer at night.

Those interested can download the free Audio Books by Audiobooks app [Direct Link] and get their first audiobook for free.

Apple Begins Accepting Apple Watch App Submissions From All Developers

Apple announced on Tuesday that all registered developers can now submit Apple Watch app submissions based on WatchKit for approval on the App Store. A number of popular apps have already been updated with Apple Watch support on the App Store over the past week, and the approval process is now extended to all members of Apple’s Developer Program.

Apple has updated its WatchKit website with details on how developers can optimize the design and development of their Apple Watch apps, including the app’s name, description, icon, screenshots, keywords, version number and build number. Apple Watch apps, excluding the ones that have already appeared on the App Store, should be steadily approved leading up to and following the launch of the wrist-worn device.

A select number of testers and reviewers will be able to access the apps prior to April 24, unless developers set the release date for their apps to “manual” and update on that date. Apple Watch apps that have started appearing on the App Store include Evernote, Sky Guide, Dark Sky, Target, NYTimes, Procreate Pocket, Yahoo Tourney Pick’em, ECB Cricket, The Wall Street Journal, MLB.com at Bat and Expedia.

Verizon Wireless Lets Customers Opt Out of Tracking ‘Perma-Cookies’

Last year, Verizon and AT&T made headlines when researchers discovered they had been engaging in some unsavory customer tracking techniques, using unique identifier numbers or “perma-cookies” to track the websites that customers visited on their cellular devices to deliver targeted advertisements, a practice called “Relevant Advertising.”

Following customer backlash, AT&T stopped using the hidden web tracking codes to keep tabs on the websites that its customers visited, but Verizon continued on with its Relevant Advertising program, which it’s been using for approximately two years. While there was an option to opt out of Verizon’s program, opting out did not stop the intrusive code from being inserted into the URLs of Verizon customers, leaving a security hole that could let advertisers exploit Verizon customers.

As of today, The New York Times reports that Verizon has given its customers a true opt out option that does not insert the identifying tracking codes (or UIDH) into the URLs of customers who opt not to be tracked, as it promised to do in January.

In a statement, Debra Lewis, a Verizon spokeswoman, said privacy is a “central consideration” for the company when it develops new products and services.

“As the mobile advertising ecosystem evolves, and our advertising business grows, delivering solutions with best-in-class privacy protections remains our focus,” Ms. Lewis said. “As a reminder, we never share information with third parties that identifies our customers as part of our advertising programs.

Verizon customers can opt out of the Relevant Advertising program by logging into their My Verizon accounts and selecting “Manage Privacy Settings” from the “Manage My Account” section of their user profile. AT&T and Verizon customers are able to check whether their devices are sending identifying codes by visiting a website created by Kenneth White, one of the security researchers who originally discovered the tracking methods. Verizon’s tracking programs are automatic opt-in, so many users may need to navigate to the aforementioned page to turn off the tracking.

Apple opens the floodgates to Watch-friendly apps

You may have noticed a few Apple Watch-friendly iOS apps trickle out, but brace yourself: you’re about to face a torrent of them. Apple has opened up WatchKit app submissions to all developers (not just the handful of early partners from before), so anyone who has been toiling over wristwear-ready software in the past few months can finally put it on your iPhone. Given that the Apple Watch release is still three weeks away, this suggests that the App Store will be well-stocked on day one.

Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Apple

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Source: Apple Developer

Grovemade Review: Hands-On With the Leather & Maple iPhone 6 Plus Case and Dock [iOS Blog]

Portland-based company Grovemade is known for its range of attractive wood accessories designed for the iPad and the iPhone, which it has been producing for several years now. Grovemade recently invited MacRumors to go hands-on with two of its newest products for the iPhone 6 Plus, and we jumped at the chance because Grovemade products have been popular with our readers in the past.

We checked out the Maple and Leather iPhone Case and the matching Maple iPhone Dock. Read on to see what we thought.

Maple & Leather iPhone Case

All of Grovemade’s products are crafted by hand and the company’s attention to detail is evident in both the dock and the Maple & Leather iPhone Case. The base of the iPhone case is made of maple (there’s also an option for a darker walnut) that’s been carved to fit the iPhone 6 Plus.

Design
The phone fits tightly into the maple shell, which has a cutouts for the camera, the mute switch, the headphone port, the speakers, and the Lightning port. There are darker wooden buttons for the volume and the power, which are lined with foam on the inside to activate the volume and power on the iPhone.

At the points where different wood pieces have been joined to create the case, there’s darker wood burned accents, which is aesthetically pleasing, and there’s also some wood burning around each of the ports, for a darker look. A piece of leather wraps around the backside of the shell and covers the front of the phone, and the leather front cover is attached to another thin piece of maple that protects the iPhone’s display.

On the maple attached to the cover, there are three pieces of metal, which adhere to three magnets built into the wooden shell. Inside the case, there are two additional magnets that pop away to allow the leather cover pull back to serve as a stand for the iPhone when in landscape mode. There are three separate stand positions that give slightly different viewing angles, and because of the cover, the phone also stands up by itself in portrait mode.
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Apple Watch Buyer’s Guide: Which One Is Right for You? [iOS Blog]

After announcing the Apple Watch in September of 2014, launch time has finally arrived. Apple in March announced that pre-orders for the Apple Watch will begin on April 10, with an official launch taking place on April 24.

Apple product lines for its iOS devices and Macs are relatively simple, consisting of a few models from which to choose. Picking an Apple Watch is a little more complicated, with the different models, a couple of watch sizes, and multiple band options. The prices start at $349 and go all the way up to $17,000 — a very wide range.

This guide walks you through the considerations you need to make when buying an Apple Watch. If you’re not sure which one to buy, this guide will lead you in the right direction.
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HBO CEO: We Partnered With Apple for HBO NOW Based on HBO GO Popularity

Apple and HBO recently inked a deal that will see Apple becoming the exclusive launch partner for HBO’s upcoming “HBO Now” web-based streaming service, and in an interview with CNBC, HBO CEO Richard Plepler explained why the company chose to partner Apple.

According to Plepler, the main reason why HBO opted to team up with Apple was due to the success of its existing cable-based service, HBO GO. 60 percent of HBO GO traffic comes from Apple devices, including the Apple TV, Macs, and the iPhone and the iPad. HBO GO apps have been available on iOS devices since 2011 and the service has been available on the Apple TV since 2013. Plepler also pointed towards the popularity of Apple devices as a deciding factor.

Well, listen. They’re obviously an extraordinary company with a wide range of devices, and those devices are proliferating throughout the consumer base. But also, as we look at HBO GO, which is our streaming service tethered to distributors, we saw about 60 percent usage on Apple devices so it made perfect sense for us to work with Apple introducing HBO Now.

HBO Now differs from HBO GO because it does not require a cable subscription for access. Instead, all of HBO’s content, including TV shows, movies, documentaries, and more, is available to customers for $14.99 per month. Launching in time for the Game of Thrones premiere in April, HBO NOW will be exclusively available on the Apple TV and Apple devices for the first three months of its life.

Once that three month period has expired, HBO will bring the service to other platforms as well. Plepler expects HBO NOW will be popular with millennials, calling it a “millennial missile,” and he doesn’t believe the price, which is higher than other services like Netflix, will turn customers away. “We think we have a premium product,” he said. “We have extraordinary content … and it’s the price of a movie ticket and a bucket of popcorn.”

In addition to partnering with HBO for HBO Now, Apple is also in the middle of negotiations for its own streaming television service, which would provide a select number of cable channels to customers via the web, with no cable subscription necessary. Apple is said to be planning to price the service at $30 to $40 per month for approximately 25 channels, and is partnering with ABC, CBS, Viacom, Fox, Discovery, Disney, and more.

Apple may be planning to launch its new service in June, at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, possibly alongside a revamped set-top box.

Checkout Problems Hindering Growth in Apple Pay Usage

Apple Pay growth is being stymied by issues people are experiencing at checkout, including cashiers unfamiliar with the service and problems getting payment terminals to work. According to a new study conducted by Phoenix Marketing International (via Bloomberg) in February, these ongoing problems are resulting in fewer repeat usage attempts and missed payment opportunities.

Two out of three iPhone buyers surveyed linked a credit card to their iPhones to enable Apple Pay, and 88 percent of those used the service once in the past four months. On average, Apple Pay users made 2.6 in-store transactions using the payments service during its first four months of availability.

Two-thirds of Apple Pay users claimed to have run into problems at checkout, making the Apple Pay experience less appealing. 48 percent of those who had problems said the merchant took too long completing the transaction, 42 percent said the cashier was unfamiliar with Apple Pay, and 36 percent said transactions were posted incorrectly or double counted.

The Apple Pay terminal simply did not work according to 27 percent of respondents who had issues, and 23 percent said it was inconvenient to choose a card in Passbook. In a separate section, 47 percent of those who had attempted to use Apple Pay ran into problems with the store not accepting Apple Pay even though it was one of Apple’s partners.

“However, the early-on transaction potential is being undercut by low repeat usage and lost payment opportunities,” said Greg Weed, Director of Card Research at Phoenix. “The demand is there: 59% of Apple Pay users have gone into a store and asked to make a purchase with Apple Pay. But so is the disappointment: 47% visited a store that was listed as an Apple Pay merchant only to find out that the specific store they visited did not accept (or were not ready to accept) Apple Pay.”

For the study, Phoenix surveyed 3,002 respondents. Of those, 532 owned an iPhone 6, 350 linked a card to Apple Pay, and 302 used Apple Pay to make a purchase at least once during the last four months. With a small sample size, it is difficult to draw concrete conclusions about overall Apple Pay usage habits and customer experiences, but Phoenix’s survey seems to be reflective of issues users have had with the service.

In our own experiences at MacRumors, we’ve had multiple occasions where an Apple Pay terminal simply failed to work, or took several tries to register a payment. We have also seen Apple Pay partner stores that were not equipped to accept Apple Pay payments, and we’ve run into employees who knew little about the service.

At other locations, we’ve been forced to sign for purchases, greatly cutting down on Apple Pay’s ease of use, and at times, we’ve also been asked to show ID for a purchase, causing us to pull out a wallet anyway. We’ve seen several other reports of problems with Apple Pay on our own forums, and several journalists have gone hands-on with Apple Pay and seen issues first hand.

Apple Pay may still have hiccups to overcome, but the service has seen early success and will continue to improve with wider adoption. 72 hours after launch, Apple Pay had more than 1 million credit and debit activations, and from October through January, Apple Pay accounted for two of every three dollars spend through contactless payments on Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. As of March, Apple Pay is accepted at more than 700,000 locations in the United States, and merchant adoption continues to grow.

In January, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple Pay was “off to a very strong start” and that he expects 2015 to be “the year of Apple Pay.”

Adonit Announces New Jot Script Evernote Edition Stylus [iOS Blog]

Adonit on Tuesday announced a new Jot Script Evernote Edition, a Bluetooth-enabled note-taking stylus for iPad that features a slimmer build, longer-lasting rechargeable battery and improved precision and app integration. The stylus has a better grip, upgraded Pixelpoint tip and improved palm rejection for a more precise experience with some of the best note-taking apps.

Specifically, the stylus is capable of faster stroke tracking, smoother line rendering, and better tip-to-line accuracy. It has a built-in USB lithium-ion rechargeable battery that delivers up to 20 hours of uninterrupted writing, with a full charge taking 45 minutes. The stylus must be paired with a Bluetooth 4.0 device, limiting its compatibility to the third-generation iPad and newer, all iPad mini models or iPhone 4s and newer.

The new Evernote Jot Script 2 stylus is available for $74.99 through Adonit or Evernote and includes Evernote Premium free for six months. The stylus is specifically designed for several note-taking apps on iPad, including Evernote, Forge, Notes Plus and GoodNotes, each of which can be found on the App Store. Pairing the stylus with an iPad is a seamless, one-time process using Evernote’s Penultimate.

EA Launches ‘Get To Work’ Expansion for ‘The Sims 4’ [Mac Blog]

EA today announced the first major expansion for The Sims 4, called “Get To Work”, launching today. The expansion is aimed at introducing a handful of new interactive career options for Sims to explore alongside an update that allows users to create and run their own retail business.

The three new careers included in the expansion are Doctor, Detective, and Scientist, with each providing interactive experiences with fellow coworkers, the ability to work up the promotional hierarchy, or, of course, the choice to “wreak havoc on the workplace.”

Doctors will make house calls, perform surgeries, and run diagnosis on sick patients, while Scientists will use their intellect to create cloning machines and freeze rays. The career path will even grant players the option to build the ElectroFlux Wormhole Generator to teleport them to the homeworld of the Aliens, making a return to the franchise after being absent from The Sims 4 base game.

Detectives appear to have the most work, checking in at the police station to grab cases, working crime scenes to find clues, interviewing witnesses, and eventually tracking down the prime suspect. They’ll also be able to choose to patrol the streets and issue tickets to various low-level criminals.

If none of those career paths are of interest, the “Get to Work” expansion will allow players to build and edit their own retail location, including what items are sold there, as they see fit. EA promises that players who choose this option will get just as much variety and customization out of the career path as the three other options introduced in the expansion.

Players can set prices, hire and manage employees, customize uniforms and work to make the final sale. From clothing boutiques to art galleries, or bakeries to bookstores, there is no limit to the type of retail business that can be created. Also new are the Photography and Baking skills that give Sims new things to learn, new things to do and achieve and new creations to sell.

The Sims 4 initially launched exclusively on PC back in September 2014, hitting Mac platforms this past February. The “Get to Work” expansion can be purchased from EA’s Origin platform for $39.99 for PC and Mac.