Originally published at: https://appletalk.com.au/2019/01/thursday-morning-news170119/
Maps and address-related searches on DuckDuckGo are now powered by Apple’s MapKit JS framework, and they’re one of the first companies worldwide to do so. It’s a great move for privacy, with Apple Maps now embedded in any search with relevant mapping information, as well as in larger address-specific searches. DuckDuckGo says their strict privacy policy of not collecting or sharing any personally identifiable information extends to addresses and maps, which sounds very much like another company that I know of.
Technically, the mAh energy capacity rating of Apple’s XS and XS Max Smart Battery Cases is smaller than previous battery cases from Apple. But thanks to the magic of electricity, they’re rated at a higher watt-hour total energy rating due to running at a higher voltage. It’s a small difference, but one that might make all the difference when giving you a little extra juice to get through a long day.
While Apple says the new iPhone XS Smart Battery Cases isn’t compatible with the iPhone X, they do kind of work. Initial testing from Rene Ritchie said that the device flat-out wasn’t compatible, but after updating to the latest version of iOS, it seems like your device can charge from it, even though you’ll still get an incompatibility pop-up. Your speaker and mic still won’t be aligned with the holes on the bottom so you will get some kind of reduced acoustic performance, but otherwise it will work.
Complex has an interview with former Beats 1 Radio anchor Ebro Darden, perhaps better known as "King Troll", who recently took up the position of global editorial head of hip-hop and R&B for Apple Music. Darden talks about the future of Apple Music and regular traditional radio stations, as well as what the role will entail in the context of increasingly algorithmic playlists, although he says editorial will extend to other content than playlists.
Apple VP of Internet Services Jennifer Bailey — perhaps better known as the Apple exec in charge of Apple Pay — will be delivering the keynote address at the Transact payment technology forum in April, with many financial institutions, startups, and entrepreneurs attending to hear the latest and greatest in the payments space. Bailey says she’ll be telling the story of how Apple is working towards bringing even better payment experiences to customers, but what I’d really like to hear is some kind of plan for the worldwide rollout of Apple Pay Cash.
Rumours claim that we may see an updated iPod touch from Apple, although when remains unknown. The iPod touch is the only remaining device in Apple’s lineup that still carries the iPod name, but the 6th-generation iPod touch was released all the way back in July 2015 and is now getting slightly long in the tooth, even for kids that are probably too young for their first iPhone. A separate rumour released at the same time says this year’s iPhone may use a USB-C port instead of Lightning, but that’s still very much up in the air.
Exporting your Reminders and Calendar can give you one of two file formats, depending on which option you choose. Macworld takes you through the options, and how to use each one depending on what you want to do.
Adobe’s latest Lightroom CC update for iOS now solves a gripe that anyone who used it to import images had with it, in that you had to first have the photos in your Camera Roll, then import them into Lightroom CC, after which you can delete them from your Camera Roll. The latest update for Lightroom CC adds support for Siri Shortcuts, so while you still have to have images in your Camera Roll, you can now write a macro to have them imported and deleted afterwards.
There are a few contenders for the title of weirdest Mac of all time, but the Apple Developer Transition Kit definitely stands out as one of the weirdest. You couldn’t buy or own one of these PowerMac G5 cases with a 3.6 Pentium 4 processor inside, and during their introduction on stage at WWDC 2005, Steve Jobs said Apple didn’t want them floating around, nor were they products made for consumers.