Daimler and BMW have ended talks with Apple over the company’s rumoured car project. It’s said that the two established car companies weren’t happy with how Apple wanted customer data to be tied closely to their own cloud software, whereas BMW and Daimler have made protecting customer data one of their key strategies. Haven’t car execs been reading the news lately? If nothing else, Apple’s recent argument with the FBI over encryption shows their commitment to customer privacy.
And if you still weren’t convinced Apple are committed to customer privacy, the company has joined other tech companies in saying that a new anti-encryption bill is “unworkable”. The Compliance with Court Orders Act 2016 would compel companies to build backdoors in their products and services — while Apple acknowledges the well-mannered intentions of the bill, it has said that the bill is “ultimately unworkable”.
The second beta of iOS 9.3.2, released yesterday, restores the ability to use Night Shift even with Low Power Mode activated. New betas of watchOS 2.2.1 and OS X El Capitan 10.11.5 are also available, for those part of Apple’s developer releases.
The 2016 MacBook refresh isn’t exactly what you were looking for, but The Mac Observer argues that it’s exactly the refresh that Apple wanted to release. I can’t say for sure how much added complexity Thunderbolt would have added to the single USB-C port, or what the same battery life would have had on customer satisfaction, but the improvements are minor but welcome.
And if we’re comparing the new MacBook to the larger of the two iPad Pros, iMore says the iPad Pro still has advantages over the MacBook, just as there always has been. For one, if you want a touchscreen tablet then the iPad Pro is the device for you, and if you’re going to be buying a separate device, you kind of want it to do something different than your existing devices.
The MacStories concept video for iOS 10 shows off a few great enhancements to built-in iOS features, as well as a few new ones. Multitasking improvements on the iPad would be especially welcome, as side-by-side apps seem somewhat disjointed at the moment. I don’t know about what Apple’s iOS development schedule looks like, but with WWDC a few short months away, time is running out.
MacStories also points out some tvOS apps are getting their own web previews, kind of like how iOS and Mac apps from their App Stores have a web preview that can then open the App Store.
IMore has a guide on using the Apple Remote app on the Apple Watch to control the Apple TV, just in case you’ve temporarily misplaced your Siri Remote.
Macworld argues that Apple should be giving enough iCloud storage to customers to cover all their devices. I’m not sure buying a 256GB iPad means you suddenly get an extra 256GB in iCloud storage, but maybe every device you buy comes with an extra fixed amount of iCloud storage capacity.
Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2016/04/thursday-morning-news210416/