Apple Quietly Ends Free iTunes ‘Single of the Week’ Promotion After 11 Years

Apple has seemingly ended its weekly iTunes “Single of the Week” promotion that gave out a free music single download each week on the iTunes storefront. As noted by Business Insider, a member of the Apple discussion forums claims an Apple support employee informed him the company decided to drop the weekly promotion.

I contacted iTunes Support and they told me the decision was made to drop the free Single of the Week. Seems they don’t want people browsing the Store anymore. I told them that the free single each week got me to the Store and I usually bought a few songs. Now, there’s less reason to go. They’ve stopped the free single in other countries too.

The “Single of the Week” promotion began in 2004, and in a similar vein to Apple’s “App of the Week” promotion on the App Store, it gave out free singles every week from artists and bands of varying genres and popularity. Though forum user Bob Foss’ confirmation of the promotion’s end remains unverified, Apple also recently decided to end its annual “12 Days of Christmas” iTunes Store giveaway.

Volunteers in our forums have tracked the free iTunes Store content in several countries for a number of years, but the 2015 music thread remains empty as evidence of Apple’s apparent decision to cancel the promotions.

Apple Ramping Up Production of 12-Inch MacBook Air for Q1 2015 Delivery

Apple supplier Quanta Computer has begun ramping up production of the upcoming 12-inch MacBook Air ahead of a release during the first quarter of 2015, reports Digitimes.

The company has stepped up its efforts to recruit more workers for its production efforts on the notebook, and is looking to bring in a total of 30,000 workers during the quarter to also help with the Apple Watch. Sources close to Quanta further note that the 12-inch MacBook Air will replace the existing 11-inch MacBook Air, with Apple choosing to keep the 13-inch MacBook Air.

Rendering of 12-inch MacBook Air done by Martin Hajek
The next-generation MacBook Air is expected to feature a high-resolution Retina display and a new Broadwell Core M processor that will enable a thin, fanless design. Other reports have also claimed that the 12-inch MacBook Air will do away with nearly all of the parts found on Apple’s current line of MacBook Airs and contain a headphone jack, a pair of microphones, and a USB Type-C port that may handle both connectivity and charging.

Messaging apps face potential ban in the United Kingdom

In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shooting and its succeeding events in France, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has expressed concern over the encryption of messaging applications. David Cameron, who has held the position since 2010, made it clear he would serve a ban to messaging apps that failed to uncover messages even with the inclusion of a warrant. The government wants access to the data because it provides the chance to prevent, identify, or act on a crisis.

Snapchat, Apple iMessage/FaceTime, and WhatsApp are just some of the services to encrypt their data. Those services, and others, are highly unlikely to give access to the government; therefore, expect this situation to drag out for months before any actual progress is made.

Source: The Independent
Via: Phone Arena

Come comment on this article: Messaging apps face potential ban in the United Kingdom

Google Launches Chrome Remote Desktop App for iOS [iOS Blog]

Google today launched a Chrome Remote Desktop app for iOS, which allows Chrome users to access their Mac or PC desktop computers remotely using an iOS device. Google has had an Android version of the Chrome Remote Desktop app for several months and has finally brought the tool to iOS.

To access a PC or Mac remotely with the new app, users will first need to install the Chrome Remote Desktop, which is a free download from the Chrome Web Store. With both the browser app and the iOS app, it’s possible for users to access their computers on an iOS device through the Chrome browser with a few simple taps after verifying through a generated code.

Securely access your computers from your iOS device.

– On each of your computers, set up remote access using the Chrome Remote Desktop app from Chrome Web Store.
– On your iOS device, open the app and tap on any of your online computers to connect.

In addition to allowing access from an iOS device with the new app, Google’s Chrome Remote Desktop feature also allows computer-to-computer access, which Google suggests is useful for securely accessing files on one machine from another or giving a friend temporary access to help solve a computer problem.

The Chrome Remote Desktop app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Marsh Supermarkets and inMarket Launching First iBeacon Platform for Apple’s Upcoming Watch

Marsh Supermarkets and inMarket today are announcing the launch of a new iBeacon platform throughout Marsh’s 75 supermarket locations that will enable Apple Watch users to receive interactive alerts and other content on their devices based on their proximity to Marsh’s beacons. The program is the first integration of iBeacon technology with Apple’s wearable product, which is expected to launch to the public in the next several months.

“iBeacons have created new ways to connect with mobile shoppers in the store, and inMarket allows us to reach many of our shoppers through the apps they love and use everyday,” said Amit Bhardwaj, Senior Director of Customer Loyalty, Marsh Supermarkets. “Now with wearable integration, shoppers who use Apple Watch will enjoy the same digitally-augmented, real-world shopping experience.”

Marsh and inMarket are working together to develop a platform that will initially include Marsh’s own app and inMarket’s List Ease app, with other apps likely to quickly follow. As envisioned, inMarket’s beacons in Marsh stores will be able to trigger alerts such as shopping lists, ads, and other content for customers who use Marsh’s mobile app or one of the apps that incorporate inMarket’s Proximity SDK.

Customers who opt into the program could receive offers, recipes, and other alerts on their mobile devices as they walk through the grocery store, and the system will automatically extend to the Apple Watch on day one as the apps are updated to add support for the device.

Marsh may be the first to extend Apple’s iBeacon capabilities to the Apple Watch, but it isn’t the first to adopt the location-based technology. Retailer Macy’s, Virgin Atlantic airlines and Major League Baseball are among the early adopters that rolled out iBeacons in their respective venues.

Apple Maintains Mac Sales Momentum in Holiday Quarter

Apple saw an increase in its U.S. PC shipments during the recent holiday quarter, according to PC shipping estimates from Gartner. Apple shipped over 2.1 million Macs in 4Q14, up from 1.9 million Macs in 4Q13, marking an 11.5 percent increase. Though the company’s shipments were up, its growth rate slightly trailed the overall market, resulting in a share of 11.7 percent down from 11.9 percent in the year ago quarter.

With its 11.7 percent share of the market, Apple is the third largest PC vendor in the United States, behind HP and Dell, which captured 29.2 and 22.6 percent of the market, respectively. Lenovo and ASUS came in behind Apple, with 10.2 and 6.8 percent of the market, respectively.

Gartner’s Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q14 (Thousands of Units)
Overall, U.S PC shipments totaled 18.1 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014, a 13.1 percent increase from the year ago quarter. HP saw the largest amount of growth in the U.S. at 26.2 percent, followed by Lenovo’s 21.6 percent growth, Dell’s 13.5 percent growth, and Apple’s aforementioned 11.5 percent growth.

Apple’s U.S. Market Share Trend: 1Q06-4Q14 (Gartner)
IDC has also released its own estimates of Apple’s U.S. PC shipments during the holiday quarter, which are quite different from Gartner’s estimates. According to IDC, overall U.S. PC shipments totaled 17.6 million, with Apple responsible for 2.2 million of those with a growth rate of 18.1 percent.

In IDC’s estimations, Apple’s share of the market grew from 11.3 percent in Q413 to 12.7 percent in Q414, rather than declining slightly as in Gartner’s estimate.

Apple does not rank as one of the top five worldwide vendors in Gartner’s data, which ranks ASUS above Apple, but in IDC’s data, Apple ranks higher than ASUS and is counted as the number five worldwide PC vendor. IDC’s data suggests that Apple’s worldwide PC marketshare climbed to 7.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 with a record breaking 5.7 million shipments, while Gartner’s data suggests ASUS was the number five worldwide PC vendor with 6.2 million shipments.

It is important to note that data from Gartner and IDC is preliminary and that the numbers can shift. Last year, for example, Gartner predicted shipments of 2.2 million for Apple in Q4213, later revising that number to 1.9 million.

Viawear to Launch Fashion-Oriented ‘Tyia’ Wearable Aimed at Women [iOS Blog]

Shown off at CES for the first time this year, Viawear’s Tyia is a wearable device that aims to bridge the gap between technology and fashion, much like the Apple Watch. Designed for women, the Tyia is a bracelet that focuses on delivering fully customizable notifications to let users keep tabs on messages, email, and social media accounts even when their iPhones are buried in purses and pockets.

According to Tyia’s creators, the company’s goal with the bracelet was to follow Apple’s own lead and design something “absolutely gorgeous from the inside out” by focusing on the high-fashion jewelry aspect of the device.

Though it also includes a HealthKit-compatible accelerometer that measures metrics like steps taken, Tyia’s true focus is on delivering notifications. It includes both a vibration engine and an RGB LED, both of which are highly customizable to allow users to create one-of-a-kind notifications for every app and situation.

The bracelet itself is available with gold or rhodium plating and inset with a semi-precious stone made of quartz, topaz, or another gemstone. In the first available versions, a quartz stone is fused to an 0.4mm sheet of mother-of-pearl, which serves as a light diffuser for the built-in LED. Internally, the Tyia has a 6-axis accelerometer and promises a 3-day battery life. It comes with a magnetic charger that snaps right into the bracelet to make charging a painless experience.

Tyia’s notifications can be created with both custom colors and custom vibration strengths and patterns in the accompanying app, and variable vibration strength is one of the features that Viawear feels sets the bracelet apart from its competition. With different vibration strengths and patterns, an email might cause the bracelet to buzz slightly twice, while an emergency call could potentially be set to buzz much stronger for a longer period of time to let users know that it’s urgent.

There’s also an option to create notifications based on keywords, which is another unique feature that the Tyia boasts. For example, users can set a hashtag like #important or #emergency, and any tweet or message that includes that hashtag will set off a special notification that might flash red and white and vibrate strongly.

Because it’s designed to serve as a wearable that’s both fashionable and functional, the Tyia includes interchangeable straps. Though there are only leather straps included with version available for pre-order, Viawear plans to sell a range of different straps in multiple colors and materials. One band, for example, will feature Marsala, the wine-hued Pantone color of the year, while another will be constructed of a vegan material.

The company plans to develop an open API to allow third-party apps to take advantage of its fitness tracking capabilities, and it will collaborate with various designers for custom Tyia designs. Walter Chefitz, the company’s Chief Creative Officer, has already worked to create a special diamond-encrusted Tyia with a green leather band, which he will sell on his Walt Adler jewelry site. In addition to collaborating with jewelery designers, Tyia also hopes to use its platform to help other fashion companies develop smart jewelry in the future.

Tyia is available for pre-order from the Viawear website at prices starting at $239. It will begin shipping out to buyers in the spring of 2015, which is also when the company plans to begin rolling it out to retail stores.

Chevrolet’s Upcoming 2016 Volt Plug-in Hybrid Spotted With CarPlay Integration

GM today at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show showcased the upcoming 2016 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, and as spotted by The Verge, the latest Volt model includes an option for CarPlay as well as MirrorLink in the vehicle’s entertainment system settings.

2016 Chevy Volt in-dash entertainment system by The Verge
GM was listed as a CarPlay partner when the technology was announced in early 2014, but the company was not expected to incorporate CarPlay into its automobiles right away. Almost one year after the announcement, GM appears to finally be bringing CarPlay to its automobile lineup starting with the 2016 Volt, although the new model is not expected to go on sale to the public until the second half of this year.

Chevrolet has previously been involved in CarPlay demonstrations, but the upcoming second-generation Volt looks to the be first production vehicle with the feature built-in.

GM’s CarPlay unveiling follows similar CarPlay announcements from Volkswagen and Hyundai, both of which used CES to showcase their CarPlay-enabled in-dash entertainment systems. CarPlay also is expanding in the aftermarket automobile receiver market with Parrot, Kenwood and Pioneer recently unveiling new CarPlay in-dash receivers.

Apple Seeds Fourth iOS 8.2 Beta to Developers

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of iOS 8.2 to developers, nearly a month after seeding the third beta and more than two months after releasing the first iOS 8.2 beta.

The beta, build 12D5461b, is available immediately to registered developers as an over-the-air update and it can also be downloaded from the iOS Developer Center. Today’s update also includes Xcode 6.2 beta 4 with WatchKit.

iOS 8.2 includes the WatchKit SDK, allowing developers to create apps, Glances, and notifications for Apple’s upcoming wearable device ahead of its 2015 launch. The first iOS 8.2 beta, with WatchKit SDK and developer documentation, revealed several new details about the Apple Watch, including its heavy reliance on the iPhone and the different types of content developers can create for the device.

Along with iOS 8.2, Apple is also working on a minor iOS 8.1.3 update which is in testing and could come later this week.

Apple Launches New ‘Games for Kids’ App Store Feature [iOS Blog]

Apple on Saturday announced via Twitter a re-launch of sorts for a section of the App Store specifically aimed at children’s apps. Apple originally rolled out a Kids category back in 2013, but the new feature offers a more tailored look at games designed for the various age ranges.

The storefront’s first showcase product is for an eBook, “Family Time With Apps,” that hopes to “show parents how to find the best apps that fit your child’s needs, provide tips on how (and why!) to use apps together, and highlight even more resources that will make the process of selecting apps less overwhelming and more fun.”

Below that the section is subdivided into three main categories, specifying age ranges for an array of apps: “Ages 5 & Under”, “Ages 6-8″, and “Ages 9-11.” The lower age categories include games focusing on colors and shapes, as well as basic interactive storybooks, while higher age groups include more complex experiences like platformers and physics puzzlers.

“Set children loose in wondrous worlds designed especially for them. From cute puzzlers to accessible tower-defense games, our selections are perfect for a wide range of skill levels and interests.”

Like elsewhere in the App Store, the new “Games for Kids” section helps users understand which games are truly free and which may require further payments, with all “Free” games prompting users with a “Get” button, and apps with in-app purchases being designated so underneath. The new “Games for Kids” area of the App Store comes on the heels of the service’s announcement of a hugely successful 2014 that has carried over into record-breaking sales in the new year.