It’s a good week for Apple aficionados looking to score some good deals on Apple’s newest computers. Not only is the 15-inch MacBook Air on sale for $100 off at Amazon and B&H Photo, but we’re also seeing the first notable discount on Apple’s latest Mac Studio. Right now, Expercom – an Apple-authorized retailer – is selling the new M2 Max-powered desktop machine starting at $1,899.05 ($100 off) with 32GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, a 12-core CPU, and a 30-core GPU. If you’re looking for even more power, you can buy the M2 Ultra version starting at $3,799.05 ($200 off) with 64GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, a 24-core CPU, and a 60-core GPU.

The new Mac Studio is a powerhouse of a desktop, one that’s ideal for professionals who need a blazingly fast compact machine. It can handle demanding creative work in apps like Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro with no problem, offering even better performance than its predecessor. The desktop also now comes with Wi-Fi 6E connectivity for faster download speeds along with a wide range of ports, a few of which are conveniently located on the front. That includes an SD card as well as two USB-C ports if you buy the M2 Max model, or two Thunderbolt 4 ports if you opt for the M2 Ultra configuration.

Read our 2023 Mac Studio review.

Amazon Prime Day doesn’t officially kick off until Tuesday, but Amazon is already offering some seriously good deals on a number of its own devices. We’ve listed all of the best deals you can get here, and have singled out a few in our roundups, including notable discounts on the Kindle Paperwhite Kids and the new Echo Pop. However, if you’re looking for a cute smart display rather than an e-reader or speaker, Amazon’s latest Echo Show 5 is on sale exclusively for Prime members for just $44.99 ($44.99 off).

Amazon’s compact smart display features an improved mic array and an updated speaker system that should allow for better sound quality – a claim we’ve yet to test. Otherwise, though, it’s similar to its predecessor, allowing it to serve as a terrific smart alarm clock that’ll fit any nightstand. The display can also be used for a wide range of Alexa-enabled tasks, letting you easily set reminders, get news and weather reports, and control other smart home devices with nothing more than your voice.

Now for a deal that’s out of this world (ha, ha). For those of you planning on gaming this weekend, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is still on sale for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target for $54.99 ($15 off), which is one of the best prices we’ve seen on the single-player game since it made its debut at the end of April.

If you’ve ever dreamt of becoming a Jedi, playing Jedi: Survivor might feel like a dream come true. As my colleague Andrew Webster wrote in his review, the game, after all, offers the closest experience you’ll get to feeling like one. The action-adventure title is just as well-made and riveting to play as its predecessor, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order; however, it comes with some small gameplay tweaks, including new baddies, a host of additional lightsaber techniques, and even more movement abilities.

Read our Star Wars Jedi: Survivor review.

A few more ways to save this Saturday

• Dell is throwing in a $100 Dell gift card when you buy the disc version of the PlayStation 5 Call of Duty Modern Warfare II bundle for $539.99. In addition to the console, the bundle includes a DualSense wireless controller as well as a digital copy of the game. Read our review.
• You can currently buy the Anker 622 Magnetic Battery (MagGo) for $49.99 ($20 off) at Amazon. The superb charger delivers 7.5 watts of power to MagSafe-compatible phones and comes with a useful folding kickstand.
• The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is still on sale starting at $199 ($80 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and direct from Samsung in the 40mm, Bluetooth configuration. The Android smartwatch offers better battery life than its predecessor and a handful of new features, including body composition analysis and the ability to measure skin temperature. Read our review.

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When Apple unveiled Touch ID on the iPhone 5s nearly ten years ago, it wasn’t the first time devices had included biometric unlock options. Many business PC has included it prior, but this was the first time it came to a device meant for the masses. At the time, we were in the midst of moving to a world where the cloud became the center of our. computing world, so a lot of people questioned why Apple made such a big deal about Touch ID staying on device in a secure method rather than “syncing” to other devices. Apple had previously purchased a company known as AuthenTec in 2012 that became the foundation of Touch ID. Today, I want to consider how Apple’s early decisions with Touch ID led to a world where passwords are on the way out… for good.

more…

The post Apple @ Work: Touch ID paved the way for a passwordless future at work appeared first on 9to5Mac.

Benefits of OLED technology for iPad Pro displays would include increased brightness, higher contrast ratio, greater color accuracy, and lower power consumption compared to existing models with LCD panels. Apple already uses OLED displays for the latest iPhone and Apple Watch models, excluding the lower-end iPhone SE.

iPad Pro models released in 2017 and later support ProMotion, allowing for a variable refresh rate between 24Hz and 120Hz. The switch to OLED would likely allow for the refresh rate to drop down even further to 10Hz or lower to save battery life. iPhone 14 Pro models can reach as low as 1Hz while in always-on display mode.

Apple will reportedly be using very thin hybrid OLED displays with a combination of flexible and rigid materials, which could allow for the iPad Pro to have a slightly thinner design. The panels will be costly to manufacture, according to Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants, so the next iPad Pro models will likely be more expensive.

The current iPad Pro models were released in October 2022 and feature Apple’s M2 chip, support for faster Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, and hover functionality for the second-generation Apple Pencil. iPad Pro updates are often around a year and a half apart, so an early 2024 launch for the next models would make sense.

iPad Pro display sizes are expected to see a slight increase from 11 and 12.9 inches currently to 11.1 and 13 inches with the next models.

Omdia expects the first MacBook Pro with an OLED display to be released in 2027.

This article, "iPad Pros With 11-Inch and 13-Inch OLED Displays Expected to Enter Mass Production Early Next Year" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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It’s been over seven years since Spotify stopped allowing new customers to subscribe to its Premium tier membership through Apple’s in-app purchase system, and now the streaming giant is dropping support for the payment method entirely. As reported by Variety, Spotify has recently emailed legacy Premium subscribers who are still paying through the Apple App Store to notify them that they will need to resubscribe to the service using an alternative payment system, like PayPal or a credit card, at the end of their final billing period.

“We’re contacting you because when you joined Spotify Premium you used Apple’s billing service to subscribe. Unfortunately, we no longer accept that billing method as a form of payment,” Spotify said in the email, informing affected customers that their account will be automatically switched to the platform’s free, ad-supported service after the final payment has been taken. “If you wish to keep your Premium subscription, you will need to re-subscribe after your last billing period has ended and your account has been moved on to the Free account.”

In a statement to Variety, a Spotify spokesperson confirmed that the company has started notifying “a small number of users that a legacy payment method, that their Premium account is attached to, is being deprecated.” According to the spokesperson, these actions will “help ensure that [it] can continue to provide a consistent best-in-class subscription experience for all our users.”

Spotify stopped accepting Premium subscriptions via the App Store in 2016 to avoid paying up to a 30 percent commission to Apple for in-app purchases, just under two years after the audio streaming company had introduced the payment system to its platform. Customers who subscribed via the App Store were charged an additional $3 per-month to prevent Apple’s fee from cutting into Spotify’s revenue.

Spotify later filed an antitrust complaint against Apple with the European Union in 2019, arguing that the iPhone maker’s App Store policies were harming competition. The streamer had also taken issue with a similar fee for Google’s Play Store, but last year Spotify and Google announced a pilot program that would give Spotify customers the choice of paying using either Spotify’s or Google’s payment system in select markets. Google is still charging a fee for these purchases, but has said it’s reduced by 4 percent versus the standard rate.

The update to App Store payments is unlikely to affect many of Spotify’s existing customers. In 2019, Variety notes that Apple published a regulatory filing revealing it had collected subscription payment fees for 680,000 Spotify subscribers — less than one percent of Spotify’s 100 million Premium subs at that time. As of Spotify’s Q4 earnings report for 2022, the service has since surpassed 200 million paid subscribers.

]]> https://www.latest-apple-news.com/2023/07/04/seven-big-tech-companies-say-theyre-platform-gatekeepers-under-eu-law/ Tue, 04 Jul 2023 20:26:54 +0000 https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/4/23783790/eu-digital-markets-act-gatekeepers-apple-google-amazon-meta-tiktok

An important deadline just passed for the biggest tech platform companies in the world to notify the European Union (EU) that they are gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Seven companies have officially acknowledged they meet the criteria: Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, ByteDance (TikTok), Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp), Microsoft, and Samsung. Companies on the list have a market capitalization of over €75 billion ($82 billion) and own a social platform or app that has at least 45 million monthly users or 10,000 active business users.

The statement published by EU commissioner Thierry Breton says it “will now check their submissions and designate the gatekeepers for specific platform services by 6 September,” and after that, the companies will have just six months to comply with the DMA’s rules.

Reuters reports that TikTok parent company Bytedance disputed its placement on the list and noted that Booking.com informed regulators it expects to be on the list next year.

According to Breton, the new rules include several key items:

They will no longer be able to lock in users in their ecosystem.

They will no longer be able to decide which apps you need to have pre-installed on your devices; which app store you have to use.

They will not be able to “self-preference”: exploiting the advantage of being the gatekeeper by treating their own products and services more favorably.

Their messaging apps will have to interoperate with others.

Breaking the rules would put companies at risk of a fine of up to 10 percent of its total worldwide turnover, 20 percent for repeat offenders, and repeat failures could lead the commission to “open a market investigation and, if necessary, impose behavioural or structural remedies.”

Apple, which says the new law “will create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users,” has reportedly planned to allow third-party app stores in iOS 17, though with possible restrictions such as only allowing them in Europe or mandating security requirements.

We’re also seeing the beginning of new avenues for competition between the tech giants. Meta said last week it would allow users to download apps via Facebook ads in Europe.

]]> https://www.latest-apple-news.com/2023/07/04/infiray-p2-pro-thermal-camera-review-see-infrared-with-your-iphone/ Tue, 04 Jul 2023 10:39:10 +0000 https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/07/04/infiray-p2-pro-thermal-camera-review-see-infrared-with-your-iphone?utm_medium=rss Although our iPhone cameras are at the cutting edge of clarity and quality, they can only capture light from the visible range of the spectrum. InfiRay attempts to unlock more from your iPhone with the compact P2 Pro thermal camera, allowing you to peer into the infrared range.

InfiRay P2 Pro kit with magnetic macro lens.

The InfiRay P2 Pro is a Lightning-supported infrared sensor for your iPhone with plug-and-play capabilities. It may be tiny, but it packs quite the punch, showing us a world we never imagined existed at a resolution unmatched by similar devices.

Read more…

1. Updated Lock Screen – In ‌iPadOS 17‌, the ‌iPad‌ gets the Lock Screen customization features that came to the iPhone with iOS 16. ‌iPadOS 17‌ users can choose the look of the date and time, select different iPad-optimized wallpaper options, and have multiple Lock Screens that are tied to Focus modes.
2. Widgets and Live Activities – Live Activities are now supported on the ‌iPad‌’s Lock Screen, so you can follow along with timers, food orders, sports games, and more. Widgets on the Lock Screen and the Home Screen are interactive, allowing you to turn on the lights, play a song, mark a reminder as complete, and more, directly from the widget with no need to open an app.
3. Health App – The Health app is available on the ‌iPad‌ in ‌iPadOS 17‌, showing health data in detail. The app is optimized for the ‌iPad‌’s display with an updated Favorites view and interactive charts for categories like Trends and Highlights.
4. PDF & Notes Additions – Enhanced Autofill allows the ‌iPad‌ to identify fields in a PDF or scanned document so names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and other information can be added from contact cards. There’s also a new feature for collaborating on PDFs with others directly through the Notes app. The Notes app has been enhanced for PDFs, and PDFs will show up in full width for quick annotations with Apple Pencil.
5. Stage Manager Updates – When using Stage Manager, windows can be freely resized, repositioned, and placed anywhere on the display. ‌Stage Manager‌ also supports an external camera like the one on the Studio Display for FaceTime and conference calls.

For more on what’s new in the ‌iPadOS 17‌ update, we have a dedicated iPadOS 17 roundup.

This article, "Top Five New Features in iPadOS 17" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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