Apple

Everyone Is Piling on the “Take Down Apple Music” Bandwagon

When Apple enters any kind of business, it tends to turn heads. But when it comes to Apple Music, the company’s new music streaming service, it’s getting a different kind of attention—the federal trust-busting kind. Technology is filled with all kinds of rumors and speculation — real and fabricated. BitStream collects all those whispers into…

Remember When Alan Greenspan Did Apple Commercials?

Before he helped create America’s largest financial crisis since the Great Depression, Alan Greenspan was many things. He was an executive at an investment firm, an advisor to President Nixon, and a spokesman for Apple. Yep, as you can see from this 1985 commercial, Alan Greenspan was shilling the Apple IIc computer at a time…

Apple’s Home Sharing Is Back in the Latest Beta of iOS

Apple upset a significant portion of its user base (case in point: the excellent email below) when it disabled Home Sharing for iOS devices in iOS 8.4. Thankfully, it looks like things will turn around by the time iOS 9 publicly launches. In the latest public beta of iOS 9, Home Sharing has been re-enabled…

This Tiny iPhone Charger Has 128GB of Extra Storage Built Right In

Leaving home without your smartphone’s charging cable is as disastrous as forgetting the device itself. That’s why ultra-compact charging cables are suddenly so popular, and with 128GB of extra storage onboard, PhotoFast’s new MemoriesCable might be the only one iPhone users will want to consider. The iPhone and iPad are notorious for their lack of…

The Death of the SIM Card Is Nigh

SIM cards are dead; Long live e-SIMs. A report from the Financial Times yesterday afternoon brought news that both Samsung and Apple are close to agreeing on a common architecture standard for an electronic SIM card that would replace physical SIMs completely. It would allow you to change your carrier without having to switch cards…

Our Favorite Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Apps of the Week

Welcome to another week of new apps! This week we get back to what apps do best—making your life just a little bit easier, whether that’s booking hotel rooms, watching YouTube videos, or just scrolling through Instagram. Take a look through these wares and see if anything strikes your fancy. Android Booking Now As its…

Apple Might Start Showing People Ads Based on Their Bank Balances

Just when you thought Apple wasn’t integrated into your life enough, the company just won a patent for a system that targets ads based on how much money people have. This is the same Apple that’s promised not to monetize your data. As Tim Cook said last year: “You’re not our product.” Until you are,…

Why Does Asking Siri to Charge Your Phone Call the Cops?

Utter the words—and we don’t suggest you do—“charge my phone 100 percent” to Siri, and your iPhone will try and call the emergency services, after a five-second grace period in which you can cancel it. But why? It might be a bug. Or, as The Verge suggests, it could be a feature that allows you…

The New Gold iPod Is More Interesting Than It Looks 

Starting today, you can buy a gold iPod Touch. It’s actually not as lame as it sounds. Beneath its golden shell, the iPod is starting to look a little bit like the low-cost phones that so many of its competitors are working on, too. It would be very easy—and more than a little bit true—to…

iPods Still Exist and Apple Just Upgraded Them All

Forgetting that iPods existed until just this moment, Apple just quietly updated its iPod lineup bringing the iPod Touch up-to-date with its current iPhone hardware. That means an improved A8 chip (compared to the old A5) and an 8-megapixel camera just like the iPhone 6. The sixth-generation iPod Touch also comes with the M8 coprocessor,…

Apple Music Lets Siri Work as a Silly Sound Effects Machine

An unexpected perk, if you can call it that, of your free three-month Apple Music subscription? Siri can access it in order to work as a kind of sound effects machine. Go on, ask Siri to play the sound of farts. Go on. Ah, such juveline fun.Verge reports that the following list of silly sounds…

Apple Pay is now officially live in the UK, marking the first time the service has escaped outside the US. Starting today, iPhone 6 and Apple Watch-wearing Brits will be able to pay for stuff — and ride the subway! — without needing anything so 20th century as a wallet. [The Telegraph]

Our Favorite Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Apps of the Week

There are lots of relentless forces in this world. The Earth keeps spinning, the Sun keeps spitting out heat supporting all known life, and apps. There are always apps. So at the end of a new week, we have seven days-worth of software that you should be downloading. New ways to keep organized, new ways…

iOS 9 Now Explicitly Encourages Selfies

If you needed further proof that 2015 is the Year of the Selfie, look no further than the latest beta of iOS 9, which among other things, has brought a dedicated selfie folder to your iPhone. The folder is tucked away in the regular Photos app, where it amalgamates any pictures taken with the front-facing…

iOS 9 Preview: Well This Was Long-Overdue 

This year’s update to Apple’s mobile operating system isn’t a blockbuster release full of controversial design; in fact, the biggest iOS update of the year, Apple Music, is already out. But that doesn’t mean you should write iOS 9 off just yet. The developer preview of iOS 9 has been out for a month now,…

“iPhone Keeps Restarting” Glitch Is Driving the Internet Crazy

At first I thought it was just my old 5s—in the middle of an activity, it freezes for a few seconds, blanks out to the Apple screen, and restarts. Then friends reported the same restarts with varying iPhone models and iOS versions. Now the problem is so common, it’s become a meme unto itself. Browse…

Home Sharing Will Return in iOS 9

Last week, it turned out that Apple had quietly removed Home Sharing from iOS 8.4 in favor of taking your money for an Apple Music subscription. But don’t worry: the feature is being reinstated in iOS 9. In the past, Home Sharing has let you stream your local iTunes library from a computer to your…

You Can Buy a HomeKit-Friendly Thermostat Starting Today

Apple announced HomeKit, its attempt to make every lightbulb and lock talk to your iPhone, well over a year ago, but things that can actually whisper sweet nothings in your iDevice’s ears have been few and far between. Most notably, you haven’t been able to buy a HomeKit-enabled thermostat, something that changes today. The Ecobee3…

Our Favorite Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Apps of the Week

Welcome to another Apps of the Week as we take a tour of all the great software fit for your 5-inch (or so) smartphone screen. As usual, photography comes front and center, your smartphone can now power up into a wireless keyboard, and Windows Phone finally gets in on one of the biggest gaming apps…

The iPhone 6S Leak Has More Than Meets the Eye

Ever since the iPhone 4, Apple’s followed a kind of tick-tock process of updating its money-making iPhone. Tick: Recreate hardware and looks from the ground up. Tock: Tweak, tweak, tweak. After last year’s iPhone 6, 2015 is a tock year. And while there are some things to be excited about, cosmetics is definitely not one…