A patent application spotted by Patently Apple suggests that the Apple Watch turning on its display as you raise your wrist could be just the first of many supported gestures. Pointing, waving and even extending pinky and thumb in a ‘phone me’ gesture could all be used to initiate actions on either the Watch itself or a paired iPhone.

While voice and touch input can be an effective way to control a device, there may be situations where the user’s ability to speak the verbal command or perform the touch gesture may be limited.

This [patent] relates to a device that detects a user’s motion and gesture input through the movement of one or more of the user’s hand, arm, wrist, and fingers, for example, to provide commands to the device or to other devices […] The device can interpret the gesture as an input command, and the device can perform an operation.

Apple gives a number of illustrative examples of such gestures …

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Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple, Apple watch, gestures, hand gesture, iPhone, Motion, Patent, USPTO

The American Civil Liberties Union has accused the FBI of gambling with cybersecurity by failing to disclose to Apple the method used to access the San Bernardino iPhone, reports the WSJ.

Chris Soghoian, principal technologist at the ACLU, said the FBI is facing “a million-dollar question, and really what it comes down to is, does the FBI prioritize its own surveillance needs, or does it prioritize cybersecurity.’’

The longer the FBI keeps the security flaw to itself, he said, “the more they are gambling that no other entity will discover this flaw.’’ 

A former FBI official said that the agency’s decision on whether or not to reveal the method would likely depend on how many iPhone models it is able to unlock …

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Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices Tagged: ACLU, Cellebrite, FBI, iPhone, iPhone hack, San Bernardino

We got our first look inside the iPhone SE a couple of days ago when Chipworks took one apart. The company revealed then some of the mix of old and new components, but iFixit has now provided a closer look in its own teardown.

The main finding is that the entire display assembly is straight out of the iPhone 5S – right down to the FaceTime camera, which explains why that remained a paltry 1.2MP unit instead of the 5MP version in the iPhone 6S …

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Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: iPhone, iPhone SE, iPhone SE display, iPhone SE teardown, iPhone SE versus iPhone 5S

In homage to its history, Apple has hung a pirate flag at its Infinite Loop Headquarters (images via @twfarley and @mjisrawi). On April 1st, 40 years ago, Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The iconic flag, complete with rainbow Apple logo for an eye, dates back to the creation of the original Mac. The Mac team hung the flag as an act of rebellion, distinguishing their cool work, led by Jobs, from the rest of the company which was preoccupied making the Lisa.

Watch Apple’s 40 year celebration video, first shown at its event last month, after the jump …

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Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS, iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: 40 years, birthday, iOS, pirate flag, Tim Cook

In theory, photos taken with an iPhone SE or an iPhone 6s should generally look the same, but we wanted to briefly pit both devices head-to-head just to make sure. Both phones sport the exact same iSight camera specs, although the iPhone 6s does have a camera bump where the iPhone SE does not. In this post we showcase several photos and a couple of videos from both the iPhone 6s and the iPhone SE. more…

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: 12MP camera, 4k, Camera, compare, iPhone 6s, iPhone SE, video

While Apple has fixed a few issues relating to iOS 9.3 with a subsequent iOS 9.3.1 update, there’s still at least one bug plaguing Sprint users that appears to be out of Apple’s hands. According to a handful of Sprint users across Twitter and Reddit, they have been unable to connect to LTE data following the iOS 9.3 update and are forced to use only 3G data. Today, however, Sprint acknowledged the issue and confirmed that it is working on a fix.

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Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Apple, carrier, iOS 9.3, iPhone, Sprint, update

Today is the official release day for the iPhone SE, and I was fortunate enough to be able to pick up my unit early this morning. For those of you who will likewise acquire an iPhone SE in the near future, or for those of you who are still unsure about a purchase, have a look at our hands-on video that touches on the top 15 iPhone SE features. We also have a brief look at some of the downsides of the iPhone SE for those wanting a balanced look at the latest new iPhone. more…

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: 16GB, iPhone SE, iPhone SE review, Rose Gold, unboxing

If you have a jailbroken Apple TV 4, and are wondering what you can do with it, then look no further than Kevin Bradley’s NitoTV 1.0. The just-released utility is an all-in-one tool for those of you who have jailbroken their Apple TV 4. NitoTV 1.0 lets you install packages, and is sort of like the Cydia equivalent for tvOS. Check out the full how-to guide inside. more…

Filed under:
How-To, Apple TV Tagged: Apple TV, Apple TV 4, guide, how to, jailbreak, Nito TV Take 4, NitoTV

A new drone flyover video courtesy of YouTuber Matthew Roberts gives us our latest close-up look at Apple’s Campus 2 site scheduled for completion by the end of the year. 

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Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: 4k, Apple, April, campus 2, Construction, Cupertino, flyover, manipulators, research facility, Theatre, update, video

Yesterday we detailed an Apple patent showing work on a stackable Smart Connector plug of sorts. Today we get a look at a similar invention aimed at making the I/O on future devices more versatile with Apple’s invention of a “Universal Magnetic Adapter” that could allow for more future-proof devices using only a single port. As pictured in the drawing accompanying the patent above, the technology allows for a single port that uses magnetic inserts as adapters for your various devices.

In its filing, Apple describes the problem with the current mess of adapters and cables users have to deal with due to new output technologies being introduced to replace older ones:

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Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices, Mac Tagged: Adapter, Apple, iPhone, Mac, magnetic, MagSafe, Patent, single port, universal magnetic adapter, USPTO