Archive for October, 2015
iTunes and App Store Are Down for Some Users
A number of Reddit and Twitter users are currently complaining about iTunes and the App Store outage. Both services are down for some people, even though Apple’s System Status page shows that all services work just fine. It looks like the issue is not related to any specific country or region, since the customers from the United States, Europe and Asia claim they have difficulties with accessing either iTunes, or the App Store both on their computers and portable devices.
Top 10 Stories of the Week
It Sunday today, which means it’s time to tell you about the most interesting articles of the past seven days. Most of these posts deal with Apple’s iOS 9 and its bugs, new iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and the worldwide Mac sales. There are also several articles that tell us about the new releases of iOS 9.1 and OS X 10.11.1 El Capitan, however, if you are not a developer, this is not very important to you. What is important, though, is that soon we may see the jailbreak of iOS 8.4.1.
Apple Blocks Access to News App in China
Apple is blocking access to the News app in China. This issue has already been spotted by a number of iPhone and iPad users in this country and a software developer named Larry Salibra. The decision to disable the long-awaited News app introduced in September as a part of iOS 9 in the aforementioned Asian country is probably caused by the strict censorship rules. In case you don’t know, China is a very reserved country with lots of popular media resources blocked or unavailable for users.
iOS 9 Users Face Problems with POP Email Accounts and Opening Attachments
Apple’s iOS 9 is quite a glitchy update. In addition to the issues with 3D Touch, speakers, power and Touch ID on a wide number of iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus units and the ‘Slide to Upgrade’ bug making compatible iPhones and iPads useless bricks that can be restored only in the DFU mode, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system is reported to be the reason for various problems with POP email accounts and opening attachments added to the emails. Even though Apple has already released two updates, namely, iOS 9.0.1 and iOS 9.0.2, the problem is still present and the number of users facing it continues to rise steadily from day to day.
iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Air 2 Now Support Bluetooth 4.2
Apple has updated the specs for several devices, namely, the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and the iPad Air 2 to show that these gadgets now support Bluetooth 4.2. In case you don’t know, earlier the aforementioned Apple-branded portable devices could boast of the support of an earlier standard, Bluetooth 4.0.
Mac Sales Are Extremely Weak, but Market Share Continues to Rise - Analysts
According to the latest reports from well-known and reliable IDC and Gartner analysts, Apple’s Mac sales in the third quarter of this year demonstrate the weakest results in the course of the last two years. Still, PC sales fell by 7.7% (Gartner) or 10.8% (IDC), and the market share of Mac computers grew from 6.9% to either 7.6% (Gartner) or 7.5% (IDC). It is currently unclear how many Macs Apple actually shipped to customers in Q3 2015 as Gartner reports about 5.6 million units and IDC claims the number was equal to 5.3 million units.
iPhone 6s and 6s Plus Battery Life Varies 2-3% Irrespective of TSMC or Samsung Chip Inside
As it was reported earlier this month, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are equipped with A9 chips manufactured by either Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), or Samsung. After some benchmarks and research, several reliable sources claimed there’s a noticeable difference in performance and battery life between the handsets with different processors inside. To make things clear, Apple released a statement explaining how different processors may impact the battery life of new handsets. As it turns out, the battery life of Apple’s iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus may vary within 2-3% range. The company also claimed that the benchmarks don’t represent the real-world results as they put a heavy burden on the processor during a long period of time, which quite unrealistic.
iPhone 6s and 6s Plus Go On Sale in 40 new Countries
Apple’s iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus sales have just gone live in additional 40 countries around the world. Most of the countries where the handsets are currently available for purchase, are European countries. If you find your country in the list below, this means that you can purchase a brand new handset either at your local Apple retail store, or from an Apple Authorized Reseller.
Italian Student Luca Todesco Creates iOS 8.4.1 Jailbreak
An Italian student named Luca Todesco has recently released source code for iOS 8.4.1 jailbreak. The developer has called his jailbreak Yalu and although it’s not yet finalized, it can jailbreak your iPhone and most likely iPad and iPod touch running iOS 8.4.1 and let you install OpenSSH. For some reason, Todesco warns users not to install Cydia right now, but I believe soon it would be possible to use Yalu as a fully functional tool for untethered jailbreak. Especially since the developer plans to make a public release of his utility in the near future.
Apple Releases Third OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 Beta to Developers and Public Testers
Apple on Wednesday seeded the third OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 beta to developers and public testers. The release took place one week after the release of OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 Beta 2 and the public release of OS X El Capitan 10.11.
Apple to Launch 21.5-inch Retina iMac Next Week, iPad Pro to Hit Store Shelves in November
According to the latest report from people familiar with the matter, Apple is planning to launch a 21.5-inch iMac with Retina display as soon as next week. The updated lineup of devices may hit the store shelves on October, 13th, however, the first batch is said to be limited due to unknown manufacturing difficulties. The same sources claim that Apple will not update the lineup of 27-inch iMacs this year.
Apple Seeds iOS 9.1 Beta 4 and tvOS Beta 3 to Testers
Apple on Tuesday seeded the fourth iOS 9.1 beta to developers and the member of the public beta testing program. The release took place one week after the release of the previous iOS 9.1 beta and iOS 9.0.2 with fixes and minor tweaks. Just like previous betas, this one contains a number of stability, security and performance improvements.
Here’s How Apple’s Campus 2 Now Looks Like [Video]
As you know, Apple is currently working on the construction of the new ‘spaceship’ campus. The new headquarters is expected to open its doors to about 13,000 employees by the end of the next year. With this thing in mind, it’s not strange that the construction workers building the Campus 2 are doing their job incredibly fast.
Apple Acquires Smartphone AI Development Firm Called Perceptio
Following the acquisition of a firm called VocalIQ, Apple has purchased another startup - Perceptio. This company is working on a technology that allows to use artificial intelligence on portable devices like smartphones or tablets, but without the need to utilize large amounts of user’s information and store it in the cloud. The report about Apple’s latest acquisition comes from Bloomberg, which is a very reliable source.
Apple Releases Six New Apple Watch Commercials [Video]
As the long-awaited Apple Watch continues to appear at the stores in new countries, the company has released a series of new commercials showcasing the wearable device and its features.
In particular, the ads, which are available either on Apple’s official YouTube channel, or below, demonstrate such features as messaging, fitness, Maps and Apple Pay.