To comply with the Digital Markets Act, Apple is making changes to iOS, Safari and the App Store in the European Union. The changes include new options for processing app payments and distributing iOS apps, plus more than 600 new APIs, expanded app analytics and functionality for alternative browser engines, Apple says. To combat scams and fraud as Apple loosens restrictions, the company is introducing something called Notarization for iOS apps, to authorize marketplace developers, and is adding disclosures on alternative payments. The new capabilities will become available to users in the 27 EU countries beginning in March. Continue reading Apple Is Bringing Changes to Comply with Digital Markets Act

Apple’s Vision Pro launches February 2 with pre-orders starting today. The mixed reality headset will have more than 150 3D movies available at launch, including content from Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video, as well as “immersive originals,” Apple says. While the company is positioning the $3,500 headset as “the ultimate entertainment device,” touting mind-blowing specs and a transformative experience, gaming currently drives an estimated 30 percent of immersive hardware revenue and non-gaming entertainment accounts for only 8 to 13 percent. Apple’s announcement focuses more on TV, movies, and sports than the Apple Arcade game hub. Continue reading Apple Pushes Immersive Entertainment for Vision Pro Headset

Concurrent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s January 16 decision not to hear the appeal in Epic vs. Apple, the iPhone maker has revised its App Store rules, letting developers link to outside payment platforms. While that ostensibly lets third parties circumvent Apple’s unpopular payment processing fee of up to 30 percent, the tech giant says it will still collect a premium of up to 27 percent using a “commission” structure. That workaround has Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney vowing to continue litigating the case in U.S. District Court. Continue reading Apple Creates Payment Fee Workaround After Battle with Epic

Apple recently announced advances in artificial intelligence research that could introduce more immersive visual experiences and enable sophisticated AI systems to run on the company’s popular mobile devices. Two new research papers highlight techniques for creating 3D avatars from video content and efficiently deploying large language models on devices challenged by limited memory. The real-time ability to create avatars and 3D scenes from an iPhone camera could bring a range of new possibilities for CE devices in areas such as synthetic media, telepresence, social interaction, virtual try-on and more. Continue reading Apple Unveils New Advances in Artificial Intelligence Research

Apple is pausing sales of its two newest Apple Watch models following a U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) import ban due to unauthorized use of technology patented by Irvine, California-based medical device maker Masimo. Apple plans to have the Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches removed from its online and retail stores by December 26. The move, which comes at the height of the holiday shopping season, will no doubt prompt a frenzy of in-store purchases between now and Sunday. Apple has the decision under review. Barring reversal, it could take steps to reintroduce the watches. Continue reading Apple Yanks Newer Watches from Retail Following Patent Suit

Apple has released the iOS 17.2 update for newer iPhones. New features include spatial video recording and a Journal app that generates prompts designed to get users writing about their lives based on data running through the phone. The 3D spatial video can also playback on 2D on any device but is optimized for dimensional viewing on Apple’s Vision Pro headset, due for release in 2024, starting at $3,500. The Journal app, unveiled at June’s WWDC, is described as a health and wellness feature (that oddly does not yet integrate with the Apple Watch). Continue reading Apple Intros Spatial Video Recording with Latest iOS Update

Mozilla-backed Mammoth wants to lure social media users to the fediverse, presenting its latest iteration, Mammoth 2, as “the easiest way to quit Twitter/X for good and join Mastodon.” Having added a “For You” feed earlier this year, Mammoth 2 now debuts on the iPhone, iPad and Mac, delving deeper into news and curation. New “Smart Lists” are filled with recommended posts, suggested connections and accounts to follow. The future of social “is being built today on ActivityPub and Mastodon,” Mammoth’s creators claim, calling for “an open protocol anybody can build on,” as with “email or the open web.” Continue reading Intuitive Mammoth App Aims to Simplify Accessing Mastodon

After introducing the Chat Lock feature in May, WhatsApp has added something called “secret code,” for an additional layer of privacy protection for extremely sensitive conversations. A secret code makes sensitive chats “harder to find if someone has access to your phone or you share a phone with someone else,” the Meta Platforms subsidiary says. With a secret code, users can set a unique password — different from that which normally unlocks the phone — to give locked chats an extra layer of privacy. An additional option allows the Locked Chats folder to be hidden from the general chatlist. Continue reading WhatsApp Rolls Out ‘Secret Codes’ Privacy for Locked Chats

Microsoft is previewing a new cloud-based Windows App that lets users securely stream Windows remotely using Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows 365, Microsoft Dev Box, Remote Desktop Services or remote PCs. The new Windows App also works with iOS, iPadOS, macOS, Windows, and web browsers. “When using a web browser on a desktop or laptop, you can connect without having to download and install any software,” Microsoft explains. Smartphones and tablets are also supported, but at the moment the preview does not offer dedicated Android support. Continue reading New Windows App Allows Remote Workflow Using the Cloud

Apple posted fiscal Q4 earnings of $89.5 billion, down one percent year-over-year. CEO Tim Cook put the quarter’s best facts forward: “a September quarter revenue record for iPhone and an all-time revenue record in Services,” and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.46, up 13 percent. While net income of just below $23 billion exceeded Wall Street expectations, Q4 capped a fiscal year in which Apple revenue fell 2.8 percent, impacted by a decline in iPhone sales in China. Following the report, shares fell 3 percent in extended trading based on the prospect that the company may not rebound to growth in the important holiday sales season. Continue reading Despite China Market, iPhone Sales Still Reach $43.8 Billion

Xreal (formerly Nreal) is releasing its Xreal Air 2 and Xreal Air 2 Pro augmented reality glasses. The latest iteration of AR glasses from the company is designed for everything from movies to TV to games. The Air 2 AR glasses “can turn whatever the wearer is viewing into a big screen experience” of up to 330-inches, the company claims, citing the integration of Sony Semiconductor Solutions’ Micro OLED displays that pack a whopping 4,032 pixels-per-inch to deliver “a crisp and visually stunning virtual screen” in Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 per eye. An ultra-high contrast ratio of 100,000:1, and 500 nits brightness ensure sharp detail. Continue reading Xreal $400 Air 2 AR Glasses are for Games, Movies and More

Canon has made a breakthrough it says can help manufacture the world’s most advanced semiconductors. The company’s latest nanoimprint lithography (NIL) system challenges Dutch firm ASML, to date the leader in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology. ASML creates tech used in TSMC’s chips made for Apple iPhones. Canon says its FPA-1200NZ2C nanoimprint semiconductor manufacturing equipment can produce chips equivalent to a 5-nanometer process, the current state of the art, and with further improvement expects to enable circuit patterning corresponds to 2nm nodes. The new equipment is also energy efficient, Canon says. Continue reading Canon Litho Breakthrough May Advance Global Chipmaking

The name ‘X’ may have received an icy welcome as a social media platform, but Qualcomm is snapping it up with a new line of PC chips called the Snapdragon X series. The “all-new naming architecture” describes a chip anchored by the Qualcomm Oryon CPU, which when combined with its neural processing unit (NPU) will deliver what the company says will be “next-level performance, AI, connectivity and battery life.” The move positions Qualcomm to take on Apple in the bid for AI super chips. Qualcomm acquired the Oryon tech with its 2021 acquisition of Nuvia, founded by former Apple engineers. Continue reading Qualcomm Teases Its Soon-to-Launch Snapdragon X Series

A new AI-first form factor could be coming to market as the result of a partnership between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, former Apple design guru Jony Ive and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Altman and Ive are said to be developing — and SoftBank potentially funding — an AI device to succeed the smartphone. Since co-founding OpenAI in 2015, Altman has been vocal about the need for a new type of device, purpose-built to leverage the capabilities of artificial intelligence. Ive, meanwhile, has been looking for a second act since exiting Apple after leading design on the iPhone, iPod and MacBook Air. Continue reading Purpose-Built AI Device May Be Coming from Ive and Altman

Blackmagic Design’s new Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K is the company’s first with a full-frame sensor. Its 6,048 x 4,032 pixels of native resolution is almost three times the resolution of Super 35, says Blackmagic, which is positioning the $2,595 device as a “large format cinema camera image quality in a portable, lightweight body.” The Cinema 6K abandons the Canon EF mount for L-Mount coupling and greater lens options, and 13 stops of dynamic range with dual native ISO up to 25,600 delivers low noise images in conditions from bright sunlight to “almost no light at all,” according to the company. Continue reading Blackmagic Intros Cinema Camera 6K with Full Frame Sensor