To show they’re still hip and with it, Apple has added a Star Wars-themed radio station to Apple Music. While the station offers a selection of tracks from previous Star Wars films, it’s rumoured that if you listen to the station backwards you’ll reveal the secret plot where Jar Jar is proven to be the lead villain of the entire Star Wars franchise, or something along those lines. I think I read about that on the internet once.
DigiTimes claims they have insider information on what Apple is doing at their secret display manufacturing facility in Taiwan. DigiTimes claims Apple will be focusing on OLED and micro-LED display technology, with the former already being used in a much smaller scale on the Apple Watch, and the latter eliminating the need for backlighting like traditional LCDs.
AppleInsider continues the rumours, claiming Apple is working on bringing 3D Touch to larger-screened devices such as the iPad. It’s said Apple is working on bringing the pressure-sensitive part to the iPad, but the tech won’t be ready until after the next iPhone — so potentially late next year, at the earliest.
Apple has released the first beta of iOS 9.2.1 to developers, but so far there’s been no notable changes. The update likely contains bug fixes and performance improvements.
Apple has killed off Topsy, the social media analytics company it acquired in 2013. Topsy’s last post on Twitter announced the shutdown, and while The Mac Observer isn’t sure why Apple purchased the company in the first place, it may have been for iAd engagement analytics.
IBM and Apple’s partnership has now delivered over 100 MobileFirst for iOS apps, transforming industries and individual professions alike. IBM’s MobileFirst iOS apps bring the power of big data and analytics capabilities to iPad and iPhone apps, according to Apple World Today.
There have been a few clipboard managers, and MacStories has a review of Copied. Viticci writes it’s a full-featured clipboard manager for iOS, with every kind of feature that you’d want in an app designed to work with any kind of media that can be copied and pasted.
Over at iMore, Rene Ritchie explains why the iPhone doesn’t have a thicker, bigger battery. There’s a trade-off between battery life and bulk — and in an age where lightness is a major selling point for device you’re carrying with you every moment of the day, lightness may prove to be the more useful, not to mention marketable, feature.
Kirk McElhearn covers examples of how messed up Apple Music metadata is these days.
First there was Crossy Road in Pac Man. Now there’s… Crossy Road in Pac Man? A special Crossy Road theme has arrived as an update to Pac Man 256, after the game adopted a Crossy-Road style of endless running. Touch Arcade has the deets.
Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2015/12/thursday-morning-news171215/