Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/04/thursday-morning-news200417/
A leaked iPhone schematic appears to show us a proposed design for this year’s iPhone. Notably, there’s a dual camera arranged in a vertical fashion instead of the horizontally side-by-side arrangement of the iPhone 7 Plus, and what appears to be a hole on the rear below the Apple logo, speculated to be the new location of the fingerprint sensor.
Apple’s latest environmental report asks questions about what they can be doing to help the planet. Apple says they are already using 100% renewable energy to power their data centres, with 96% of their worldwide offices also being powered by renewables. The next steps include getting Apple’s supply chain to use renewable energy, as well as being able to build new products from the recycled components of old ones.
Apple has submitted plans to dismantle the glass cube at their Fifth Avenue location, which I remind you was once the most-photographed location in New York (and may still be). There’s no word on whether Apple will be replacing it with an even larger structure, but if they don’t, I’ll be disappointed to have missed out on seeing an iconic piece of Apple history in person.
There’s a new Apple Watch activity challenge to celebrate Earth Day. Everyone who completes 30 minutes of outdoors exercise on April 22 will be granted the Earth Day Challenge pin, as well as stickers that can be used within iMessage.
Search Ads are now available in other markets other than the US, with Apple opening up Search Ads to Australia, New Zealand, and the UK starting April 25. There’s also a new campaign group manager role in order for developers to allow certain levels of access to their apps.
MacStories introduces Microsoft’s new to-do app. To-Do (yeah, that’s the actual name of the app) is being billed as the successor to Wunderlist, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2015. Anyone with a Microsoft account can use To-Do, although there’s no iPad or Mac version to start off with.
Jean-Louis Gassée wonders who cares about Apple’s new file system. Well, users will, once they realise the benefits for them. APFS is a more modern file system across all of Apple’s platforms, which means that we now have a stable base that will let the platforms flourish over the next few decades. “APFS’ esoteric-sounding new features mean encryption will be easier to use, disk space will be better utilized, backups will be more reliable, to name but a few improvements.”
Six Colors writes about four months using AirPods. AirPods are still out of stock everywhere in Australia, and there’s one of two reasons why that might be the case: either they’re just that good and Apple can’t keep them from flying off the shelves, or Apple can’t make them fast enough to keep up with demand.
Product Hunt asks the question: what’s your favourite macOS menubar app? Some old favourites here, but plenty of lesser-known apps, too.
The Sweet Setup says AutoSleep is the best Apple Watch sleep tracking app. There’s a bit of setup required to get the best results, and there’s plenty of different sleep metrics for you to interpret, but it’s all pretty and easy to understand.
