Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2016/08/tuesday-morning-news020816/
Apple has released the fourth beta of iOS 10 to developers. The release includes over a hundred new and redesigned emoji, which come in new gender-diverse flavours as well as redesigns of existing popular emoji. Other changes in this release include a little intro to the new multi-paned Control Center, removal of the haptic feedback when locking the device, and minor changes to keyboard sounds.
The fourth beta of macOS Sierra has landed on the Mac App Store for developers. No notable changes have been found in this release just yet, but it’s still early days, and feature discoverability is a lot different than it is on iOS. For members of Apple’s public beta program, hanging out for the latest Sierra beta, there’s a good chance it will be released later this week once the developers confirm that there are no show-stopping bugs.
Apple has also released the fourth betas of watchOS 3 and tvOS 10. The release notes say nothing beyond bug fixes and performance improvements, which could be it. Regardless, these beta releases show that Apple are sticking to fortnightly releases of the new software, meaning there’s only about a month or two more before the actual public release.
Continuing the software update news, the release of iTunes 12.4.3 fixes an issue where playlist edits made on iOS devices wouldn’t be recognised by iTunes. AppleInsider points out recent iTunes releases have been very minor bug fixes, with a new version presumably slated for launch alongside iOS 10 later this year.
Apple’s Apple TV Remote app is now out for everyone, giving anyone with a fourth-generation Apple TV the ability to control it with their iPhone instead of with the Siri Remote. Besides working with all other generations of the Apple TV, the Apple TV Remote app (iTunes link) also works alongside the iTunes Remote app.
Apple’s progress on Maps may be slower than we’d all like, but these things take time. TechCrunch explains the changes to Maps Apple is making before the Maps revamp in iOS 10, starting with greatly increased parking information and the slow addition of transit information, a city at a time.
Reuters reports a US judge has thrown out the case of VirnetX vs Apple, in which Apple was ordered to pay $625.6 million for infringing on VirnetX patents related to what they describe as “internet security technologies”, which otherwise describes VPNs, as well as the encryption used by FaceTime and iMessage.
Video of functional Lightning EarPods has hit the web, but per Gruber’s speculation linked yesterday, it seems unlikely Apple would ship Lightning EarPods with the next iPhone. They’d essentially be locking those EarPods to the iPhone and iPad.
Despite rumours claiming the removal of the mute switch on future iPhones, an iPhone part leak of a “Space Black” mute switch has revived rumours of a much darker colour for this year’s iPhone.
Hey Siri is a catalog of the commands you can give Siri on your iOS device, with most of Apple’s apps included. Provided you can get Siri to work for you, that is.