Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2016/07/friday-morning-news290716/
Bloomberg reports on the current state of Apple’s car project. Under the direction of Bob Mansfield, Apple’s Project Titan has shifted strategies to focus on an autonomous driving system, instead of an actual car. To achieve this, Apple has also hired the former head of Blackberry’s automotive software division Dan Dodge, who was the former CEO and founder of QNX, acquired by Blackberry in 2010. It’s claimed he’ll be placed into the software team in Project Titan, under the leadership of Apple veteran John Wright.
What could turn out to be Apple’s Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter has surfaced courtesy of a Foxconn factory in Vietnam. If nothing else, the all-white adapter certainly looks legitimate enough to be included with an iPhone, but only time will tell if it’s the real deal.
Meanwhile, Evan Blass has come out with an additional prediction regarding the launch of the next iPhone. Pre-orders start on the 9th (September), he tweeted, and with some extrapolation, we can narrow down the launch date to be the week beginning September 5th.
9to5Mac wonders if people will be tempted to skip this year’s iPhone, given that all the rumours so far contain minor feature improvements over the previous model, and especially given that the tenth-anniversary iPhone is expected to be a huge leap forward. I’d say it’s definitely a possibility — if you purchased an iPhone 6s recently, there will presumably be very few reasons for you to upgrade, given that iOS 10 will give you plenty of new and cool stuff to play with.
Apple’s negotiating tactics are to blame for the lack of an Apple TV streaming service, according to the Wall Street Journal. The article claims Apple was making too many demands and offering too little in exchange, with Apple SVP Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue reportedly wanting on-demand seasons of popular shows and “Tivo-esque cloud-based recordings of shows that would allow for ad skipping”, as covered by Ars Technica.
Patently Apple has spotted a patent for some kind of “rotary input” for a larger-screened device. The Apple rumour-sphere immediately jumped to the “digital crown on an iPad” conclusion, which seems like a logical step, but it’s possible that Apple has other plans. In particular, the patent mentions a device that has no border region and is comprised entirely of just a touch screen.
Pocket Casts 6 is out, and it’s a big update to one of the best iOS podcast clients around. Pocket Casts is now almost completely written in Swift, which brings speed and iterative benefits other than just being Apple’s newest programming language, there’s also a redesigned UI and new features such as trim silence and a first-class citizen on the iPad, complete with multitasking and picture-in-picture support.
MacKeeper is threatening to file a harassment lawsuit against a 14-year old YouTuber, who created a series of YouTube videos saying “MacKeeper sucks” and “MacKeeper is a scam”. AppleInsider reports MacKeeper threatening court costs and legal fees amounting to $60,000.
Only tangentially related to Apple, but California has now closed what Ars dubs the “Steve Jobs license plate loophole”. Under previous Californian DMV regulations, new cars were exempt from displaying license plates for six months. Steve Jobs took advantage of this loophole to perpetually lease a new Mercedes SL55 AMG, meaning his car was always distinguishable in the Apple parking lot as the one without a license plate on it. Californians wishing to take advantage of the loophole have until 2019 to do so, when the new regulations will take effect.
