In an update rolling out now, Apple has removed several sections of functionality, including the iOS App Store, managing ringtones and Books in iTunes for Windows.
Thankfully custom ringtones can still be manually added to an iPhone over USB.
Category: Apple
On That Face ID Keynote Goof
I’ve gotten a couple of iMessages from people mocking Craig Federighi’s struggle to get Face ID to work on his demo iPhone X in today’s keynote.
As you can see around the 1:35:58 mark in this video, Federighi picked up the phone but Face ID didn’t unlock the iPhone, mere moments after he praised its ease of use.
He put the phone back to sleep and looked at it again, but the phone greeted him with this screen:
Apple TV 4K⇢
A new, 4K and HDR-equipped Apple TV will be available for preorder on September 15. In addition to the increased screen resolution, it supports both HDR10 and Dolby Vision. If you have a TV that supports either of those standards, this thing is going to look great.
4K content on iTunes will be priced the same as existing HD content, which is a surprise after rumors said these files would be more expensive. The best part? Any 1080p content you have purchased from iTunes can be upgraded for free to 4K resolution.
Apple Announces LTE-Equipped Apple Watch Series 3⇢
The new Apple Watch comes with a lot of goodies, including a much-faster CPU, support for streaming Apple Music and an altimeter.
The biggest upgrade is the inclusion of LTE. Using the same phone number as its paired iPhone, this allows the Watch to receive and make calls on its own. For those of us who run and bike with an Apple Watch, this is a big deal. If I upgrade, I can leave my iPhone behind and know that people can get ahold of me via text or phone call if needed. Moreover, I could call 911 if needed.
Compare iPhones⇢
If you want a quick way to compare the features in the new iPhones — and all the old ones still on sale — this page is for you.
‘Designing for iPhone X’
Apple has put together a bunch of resources for developing apps for the iPhone X, including a video, an updated version of the Human Interface Guidelines and template files.
This bit out of the new HIG jumped out at me:
Don’t attempt to hide the device’s rounded corners, sensor housing, or indicator for accessing the Home screen by placing black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Don’t use visual adornments like brackets, bezels, shapes, or instructional text to call special attention to these areas either.
macOS High Sierra Launching on September 25⇢
While it didn’t get a mention on stage today, the next version of macOS will ship on Monday, September 25. My review is ready, and I look forward to sharing it with you.
Considering Apple’s Fall Event Schedule
It’s September, and the annual iPhone event is just around the corner.
There’s a lot known about the new phone’s hardware, but there are still a lot of questions concerning iOS 11 and how it will be adapted to the new device, not to mention Apple’s positioning of this and its siblings.
Rumors are also hot and heavy about an updated Apple Watch with LTE and a 4K Apple TV. Then there’s the HomePod and iMac Pro, products Apple has already said will ship “at the end of the year.”
Inside Apple’s Health Lab⇢
Ben Court got an inside look at Apple’s lab focused on measuring human performance during workouts:
Located on a side street in Cupertino—a few miles from Apple’s shiny new headquarters—the single-story building these Apple workers are entering looks like any anonymous suburban office block. Inside, once I clear security and get buzzed past a solid white door, I enter an invite-only secret exercise lab. On a recent morning, about 40 employees are sweating away on different contraptions—rowers, treadmills, cable machines—as 13 exercise physiologists and 29 nurses and medics monitor data. Many of the exercisers are hooked up to a metabolic cart and ECG and are wearing a $40,000 mask apparatus that analyzes their calorie burn, oxygen consumption, and VO2 max.
Apple Announces September 12 Event at Steve Jobs Theatre
My money is on a new iPhone:
Just got the invite. It’s official. pic.twitter.com/L9v0vbiUll
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) August 31, 2017
Apple: Prepare for APFS⇢
Apple File System (APFS), is the default file system in macOS High Sierra for Mac computers with all flash storage. APFS features strong encryption, space sharing, snapshots, fast directory sizing, and improved file system fundamentals.
When you upgrade to macOS High Sierra, systems with all flash storage configurations are converted automatically. Systems with hard disk drives (HDD) and Fusion drives won’t be converted to APFS. You can’t opt-out of the transition to APFS.
The Wrong Way Around⇢
Chuq Von Rospach recently retired his Touch Bar MacBook Pro, and doesn’t miss it as much. His thoughts on the technology resonated with me:
It seems to me Apple fell in love with the technology of the Touch Bar system, which if you dig into it a bit is a stunning piece of engineering, and expected all of us to fall in love with it as well. The problem is: Apple rarely sells things to us based on neat technology, it sells us based on the stories of how that technology will solve problems for us, and right now, the problems a Touch Bar solve for us that we care about being solved are few and far between.