Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/02/tuesday-morning-news070217/
The case of the State of Washington versus Trump wants to halt a recent executive order by US President Trump that imposes strict immigration restrictions on residents of several predominantly Muslim countries. Now, Apple along with 95 other tech companies have added their support to the lawsuit, saying that America is a nation of immigrants and that the executive order lacks any precedent.
Apple’s latest submission to the ACCC on allowing banks to access the NFC chip on the iPhone says that it would essentially be giving the banks a free pass, letting them avoid using Apple Pay altogether. Apple claims allowing banks to access the NFC capabilities of the iPhone would not achieve any of the public benefits claimed by CBA, NAB, Westpac, Bendigo Bank, or Adelaide Bank, and would instead allow the banks to avoid Apple Pay and the transaction fees that come along with it.
This year’s back to school promo has kicked off, with eligible Mac purchases receiving a $100 Apple Store gift card, or a $70 gift card with the purchase of an iPad Pro. These offers can be combined with Apple’s usual education discounts, with the promo ending March 17.
Apple are planning to introduce a new accessory connection type. The Ultra Accessory Connector is smaller than either Lightning or USB-C, saving space on both the accessory side. Before you get outraged at the fact Apple will be introducing yet another connection standard, Apple’s current plans seem to indicate it will only be using the UAC in headsets, with widespread usage being an unknown for now.
Apple may or may not be launching the BeatsX sooner than expected. MacRumors reports that some Apple Store locations were showing the BeatsX as available for pickup, but inventory-tracking websites such as iStocknow are having issues tracking availability across all of Apple’s locations.
The second developer betas of iOS 10.3, watchOS 3.2, and tvOS 10.2 have been seeded to developers, with the public beta releases expected to be out tomorrow.
A thorough test of the new MacBook Pro battery life from PCWorld gives us the breakdown of how the testing was performed under a variety of conditions. While there aren’t any comparison numbers with previous Mac models, the varied testing methodology gives you a good idea of how the MacBook Pro is likely to perform in the real world.
Beautiful Pixels tells us about Gyroscope, an app that pulls information from HealthKit and services like Instagram as well as Moves to give you a picture of how your day went. It’s a superbly designed app, and if you want, there’s also an annual summary you can do for yourself at your own personalised URL.
Apple has plans to more than double the size of its iconic Fifth Avenue store, as detailed in expansion plans revealed by Bloomberg.
While Super Mario Run had an in-app purchase to unlock the full game, it’s nothing compared the ways the Nintendo-published Fire Emblem Heroes attempts to nickel and dime you. There are timers and microtransactions galore, not that any of this hasn’t been tried before with other titles.