BlackBerry CEO uses security summit to once more attack Apple’s use of strong encryption
There must be some kind of irony award for using a security summit to attack the use of strong encryption, and BlackBerry CEO John Chen seems determined to win it. Speaking at the BlackBerry Security Summit, Chen said that he is ‘disturbed’ by Apple’s decision to work hard to keep its devices and messaging services secure, reports Patently Apple.
Filed under: Apple
Happy Hour Podcast 076 | Pokémon Go Round Two, Apple Reality TV, & New Macs
This week Benjamin and Zac continue the Pokémon Go mania conversation and discuss Apple’s upcoming ‘Planet of the Apps’ reality TV show, Apple Music and iTunes Match, the latest iPhone 7 rumors, and new Macs this fall. 9to5Mac’s Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.
Filed under: Apple
Pokémon Go madness: $3B value to Apple as players literally wandering into minefields
If you were of the view that the Pokémon Go hype has gotten completely out of hand, the evidence file just got thicker. Nintendo’s value has more than doubled since the game was launched, notes The Verge.
Ever since the launch of Pokémon Go earlier this month, Nintendo’s market capitalization has more than doubled, ending Tuesday trading at a fantastic $42.5 billion. Such has been the appetite for Nintendo stock, in fact, that on Friday it broke the single-day trading record in Tokyo this century, with $4.5 billion of stock changing hands.
Yep, that makes the games company – which only sees indirect benefits from Pokémon Go – worth more than Sony, at around $40B. And if that weren’t crazy enough, one analyst has even made the unlikely claim that the game could be worth $3B in revenue to Apple …
Filed under: Apple
PSA: Scrivener for iOS is out now, check out our full review
Poll says only 9% of U.S. iPhone owners planning to upgrade to iPhone 7
An online poll of U.S. iPhone owners found that only 9.3% were planning to upgrade to the iPhone 7 due to the expected design being so similar to the iPhone 6/6s. That contrasts with 25.2% who would upgrade for a brand new design.
At this point, it’s unclear whether Apple is simply holding back significant design changes for a special 10th anniversary iPhone, or is – as a Nikkei report suggested – switching to a three-year major refresh cycle. But the Quartz survey indicates that the latter would be a dangerous move …
Filed under: Apple
Kinsa announces Elmo-themed Smart Ear Thermometer with iOS companion app
Kinsa today has announced the launch of its Elmo Smart Ear Thermometer and companion application. The device announced today is a visual update on their original Smart Ear Thermometer sporting an Elmo themed design instead of the original blue. The Elmo Smart Ear Thermometer takes one-second readings, combines them with acknowledged symptoms from within the app, and then uses that data to create actionable next steps.
Available through the companion app, Sesame Street’s Elmo gives children empathetic words such as “feel better soon” and sympathizes with them when they aren’t feeling well.
Filed under: Apple
Apple shares two new ‘Shot on iPhone’ videos showing slow-mo capabilities, more
Apple yesterday shared two new ‘Shot on iPhone’ TV advertisements and today it has followed them up with yet another pair of videos. While yesterday’s videos focused on animals, today’s videos break that trend.
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Apple Pay officially launches in Hong Kong w/ support for American Express, MasterCard, and Visa
Following its launch in France earlier today, Apple Pay is now live in Hong Kong, as well. This rollout was previously teased by Apple at WWDC last month, but now users in Hong Kong can officially take advantage of the company’s mobile payment solution.
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App Store increases lead over Play Store in revenue as China sees ‘explosive’ app growth
App analytics company App Annie is today out with a new report concerning the second quarter of 2016. At the beginning of this year, we covered the firm’s wrap-up report for 2015, noting that Apple’s App Store brought in 75% more revenue than the Play Store, despite a large difference in downloads. Now, the gap has gotten even bigger as the App Store continues to grow.
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G-Technology and Seagate each announce new storage capacities of up 10TB
In what appears to be a simultaneous move today, both G-Technology and Seagate have announced upgrades to their hard drive lineups bringing capacities up to 10TB each. Seagate today has introduced a new lineup of hard drives titled the Guardian Series, while G-Technology has decided to move towards upgrading their current portfolio’s max capacity.
Filed under: Apple