Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/10/thursday-morning-news261017/
Apple has denied claims it allowed Face ID specs to be lowered to increase production, following a report from Bloomberg which highlighted Apple’s struggles with iPhone X production so far. With pre-orders of the new iPhone going live at 6:01pm AEDT this Friday, Apple would have wanted as many iPhone X units to be available as possible, but their statement says they have not reduced the accuracy specs for Face ID, which continues to have the same 1 in a million probability of having a random person unlock your iPhone X with their face.
The leaked release notes of watchOS 4.1 tell us all about the new features that will be coming as part of the first major update to watchOS 4. Music streaming with Apple Music or iCloud Music Library is already available in the watchOS 4.1 beta for developers, but GymKit support is a new one that was previously announced but not yet released. Several bugs will also be fixed, as you’d expect.
Recode has the latest about Apple’s original TV programming efforts, which will not feature sex or violence. Apple wants any video streaming platform they launch to have content suitable for all ages, with Apple wanting “comedies and emotional dramas with broad appeal”. While Apple is happy to sell that kind of content to consumers via the iTunes Store, so long as it’s produced by Apple, it will be family friendly.
A post on Imgur shows us the iPhone X app-switching gesture and animation, and it looks pretty slick, highly reminiscent of the rounded-corner cards interface of webOS. Personally, I’m looking forward to checking out reviews of the device before deciding. When’s that review embargo lift, again?
Apple has acquired New Zealand wireless charging company PowerbyProxi. According to The Verge, PowerbyProxi specialised in Qi-compliant charging modules that allowed charging of larger electronics such as drones, robots, and medical equipment. Apple confirmed the acquisition with its usual statement, with Apple SVP of hardware engineering Dan Riccio saying that “the team will be a great addition as Apple works to create a wireless future.”
Wired tells us about the face-tracking technology that Apple will be using to create Animoji. Some of it was foreshadowed by earlier acquisitions of technology that played a part in putting the puzzle pieces together, but the real breakthroughs came when the team at Apple used machine learning to train their algorithms to recognise faces and expressions.
Fstoppers has reviewed the 12.9-inch iPad Pro from the perspective of a mobile photography workflow. There’s a few hoops you have to jump though to get your photos on the iPad Pro (nothing that can’t be solved by a dongle), but once they’re on there, editing is a breeze using the Apple Pencil and the various powerful image editing apps, whether that’s culling within Lightroom Mobile or making touch-ups in Affinity Photo.
One of the most talked-about features of APFS was the ability to create snapshots, but at the moment, there’s no way to create or manage AFPS snapshots using a GUI. The Mac Observer asks where the GUI app is, and speculates about some of the possible reasons why Apple hasn’t released something for macOS High Sierra.
Macworld’s Glenn Fleishman asks if it’s really safe to delete your iOS app .ipa files from your Mac if you’re using the new version of iTunes, and the answer is yes… if you’re never planning to use a version of iTunes that still supports syncing apps to iOS devices and viewing the iOS App Store.
Apple’s latest trailer is a promo for an upcoming documentary which tells us about that time Major Lazer hosted a free concert in Cuba back in 2016. “Give Me Future” is coming to Apple Music on November 17th.