Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2016/12/monday-morning-news051216/
Apple’s submission to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the US provides clues about what they’re working on. The letter dated November 22 says that Apple uses machine learning and automation to improve its products and services, and thinks that new entrants to the vehicle market should have the same opportunities as established manufacturers do when it comes to testing on public roads.
In thoroughly unsurprising news, 99% of fake Apple chargers fail safety tests. Testing done by UL reports that only three out of 400 counterfeit chargers purchased from eight different countries failed to protect from electric shocks when a high voltage was applied.
New MacBook Pro owners have reported some graphics issues. There’s no rhyme or reason to distorted video and other graphical glitches, although preliminary investigations by Apple engineers appear to point to software, perhaps even third-party apps that were poorly optimised to begin with. Some graphical issues have also been when the new MacBook Pros are connected to two external displays, as reported by MacRumors.
New MacBook Pro owners have also reported concerns with poor battery life. Sizeable battery percentage drops in short periods of time and vastly less than advertised running times are the two main issues, despite some users reporting battery life in line with what Apple has advertised.
An explanation of the iPhone 6s battery issues from Apple on its Chinese website claims that devices experiencing the random shutdown issue had batteries that were exposed to ambient air for longer than they should have been. In other words, a manufacturing issue that means those batteries in iPhone 6s units manufactured between September and October 2015 degrade faster than a normal battery.
The fifth beta of iOS 10.2 is out to both developers and members of Apple’s public beta testing program, which should be seeing a public release fairly soon.
Apple’s VP of Special Projects Paul Deneve has disappeared from Apple’s page of executive biographies, but this is, in all likelihood, a minor shuffle. Instead of reporting to Apple CEO Tim Cook, 9to5Mac reports Deneve now reports to Apple COO Jeff Williams.
Macworld’s suggestions for Apple making travel easier include improvements to Maps and the problem of international data, as well as payments. That said, Apple’s layer of communications called FaceTime and iMessage have made it easier to keep in touch, even when your local number changes.
A Paris politician wants a street to be named after Steve Jobs, with the current proposals all technological pioneers. His proposal, however, has been met with controversial opinions, with his opposition claiming Apple’s poor working conditions in China and dodgy tax practices as detractors to the idea.
AppleInsider’s review of PowerBeats3 with W1 chip says they’re the most reliable Bluetooth headphones they’ve used. I’m not sure I’m a fan of the ear-clip style of the PowerBeats, so perhaps something like the soon-to-be-released BeatsX will be more my style and speed.