Tip of the Day: Capturing iOS and tvOS screenshots using your Mac
By now it’s pretty common knowledge that you can grab a screenshot from any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch simply by pressing the home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously, saving a PNG image of whatever is on the current screen to your on-device photo library. While this works well enough in most cases, sometimes the necessary finger gymnastic can make it a bit tricky to capture more complicated screenshots, such as when playing a game or trying to capture a “peek” screen from a 3D Touch gesture.
Apple releases WWDC app update ahead of next week’s event
Apple has released a big update to its companion app for the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference, scheduled to begin next Monday. WWDC 6.0 features a number of significant improvements, including the ability to use almost all of the features in the app without signing in with an Apple ID. The app now provides curated video playlists based on featured themes, a new “Venue” tab that provides information on the venue, and interactive venue and street maps for the local area. The update also adds an iMessage app that provides some exclusive stickers for WWDC attendees to share.
Android pioneer Andy Rubin announces ‘Essential Home’ Smart Home Hub
Andy Rubin, the father of the Android operating system, has announced the first innovations from his new company Essential Products, one of which is a new “open” smart home hub that will provide support for tying together technologies from every major home automation platform, including not only Apple’s HomeKit but also SmartThings, Nest, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa. A touchscreen will provide direct access to features, and voice control will provide support for Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant. The new hub, dubbed simply Essential Home, features a large round touch-sensitive display that will apparently be able to be triggered by simply looking at it. A new open-source operating system titled Ambient OS will power the device, which WIRED describes as “the spiritual successor to Android,” and Rubin hopes will be the “open source Internet of Things platform” that nobody seems to have developed yet.
Apple releases second round of betas for iOS 10.3.3, tvOS 10.2.2, watchOS 3.2.3
Apple has released a second set of developer betas for iOS 10.3.3, tvOS 10.2.2, and watchOS 3.2.3. As with the first round of betas, these all include only minor updates and bug fixes. iOS 11 is expected to be debuted next week at WWDC, with a public release likely to follow alongside the new iPhone models in the fall.
Review: 808 Audio Ear Canz Sport
As much as we like high-end headphones, the question we get asked most often is: “what's a good pair of cheap bluetooth headphones for the gym?” There’s nothing wrong with affordability — in our opinion, it’s one of the things that makes a good workout headphone. At under $50, 808’s Ear Canz Sport Bluetooth headphone might be priced at the upper end of “cheap”, but has the features you need for music at the gym.
Daily Deal: Sinji Panoramic Smart WiFi Camera
In our iLounge Deal for today, we’re offering the Sinji Panoramic Smart WiFi Camera for only $59.99 — that’s 57% off the regular price. This Wi-Fi camera with two-way audio will help provide peace of mind with a sharp, ultra wide-angel view and a remote streaming app so you can keep an eye on any indoor space in real time. Whether it’s a new puppy, kids at home alone, or just general home security, the Sinji Smart Panoramic Wi-Fi Camera has you covered with 960p HD resolution, infrared technology so you can see what’s going on in the dark, and even support for zooming and rotating within the app. You can save footage to an optional micro SD card, and get push notifications when motion is detected.
Get the Sinji Panoramic Smart WiFi Camera now for only $59.99
Daily Deal: Glowbar Speaker
Today in iLounge Deals, we’re offering the Glowbar Speaker for only $35 — that’s 61% off the regular price. This Bluetooth speaker has a built-in LED screen to illuminate different coloured bars that sync with the music you’re playing, along with putting out 12 watts of booming music. Full on-board controls let you change the track or volume and a built-in lithium ion battery provides three hours of continuous playtime.
Apple developing dedicated AI chip
Apple is working on building artificial intelligence technology directly into its hardware, a new report by Bloomberg reveals. According to a “person familiar with the matter,” Apple is developing a new processor, dubbed the “Apple Neural Engine,” that will be dedicated to AI-related tasks. The goal is to improve how AI tasks such as facial recognition and speech recognition are handled by incorporating it into a specialized hardware chip that would optimize performance as well as providing for more advanced capabilities. Complex AI tasks are currently handled by software processes that use the existing CPU and GPU hardware, requiring the workload to be shared with other tasks being performed on the device. A dedicated module would ensure that AI-related tasks are handled more efficiently both in terms of processing speed and battery consumption.
Report: Sources suggest Apple has succeeded in creating a screen-integrated Touch ID sensor
Apple has succeeded at integrating Touch ID technology into the display of the next-generation iPhone, according to a new report unearthed by MacRumors. The original report comes from Chinese-language site Economic Daily News, which claims to have received the information from sources at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of Apple’s key suppliers. TSMC sources apparently confirmed Apple’s achievement during a technology convention earlier this week in Taipei. At the symposium, TSMC reportedly discussed the lack of a home button on the redesigned OLED iPhone, attributing it to Apple’s implementation of “an optical fingerprint sensor to enable authentication directly on the screen.”
Daily Deal: iKlips miReader 4K
For Friday’s iLounge Deal, you can get the iKlips miReader 4K for only $46.99 — that’s 20% off the regular price. This 4K card reader and storage device changes the meaning of “external drive” featuring a Lightning connector, a micro USB port, and a micro SD slot so you can quickly and easily share files between all of your devices, and it’s fast enough to let you record, view, and edit 4K videos, raw DSLR shots, and GoPro action clips. The micro SD slot lets you supply your own card in any capacity up to 256 GB, and it’s designed to be compatible with just about any case and supports pass-through charging from the micro USB port, so you can even charge your iPhone while transferring data. The companion iOS app lets you backup, view, transfer, capture and manage all of your photos, music, videos, and documents in one easy to use app, and even supports recording 4K video directly to the micro SD card.
