Bring a little bit of nostalgia to your wrist today with the new Apple Watch game, A Tiny Game of Pong. Based on the 1970’s classic game, A Tiny Game of Pong lets players compete to beat the computer or against friends through Game Center leaderboard integrations. But how do you fit Pong on a tiny display?

The game makes use of the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown to move the player’s paddle left and right across the screen. Using the crown feels like a natural fit into the gaming experience and I was surprised at how well it really worked.

The free version of the game lets players play a never-ending game pitted against a relentless computer in an unbeatable match. Though I knew this information, none of it changed the fun I had while playing.

With a $0.99 in-app upgrade, classic playoff mode can be unlocked to allow challenging the computer and player against a one-on-one match in a first to three game.

Features

The game is classically fun and a quick way to kill some time without pulling out your iPhone, making this a nice addition to the Apple Watch’s limited gaming platform.

A Tiny Game of Pong is available for free in the App Store for a limited time. For $0.99 users can unlock additional features and help further support development of the game.

Filed under: Apple Watch, Apps Tagged: A Tiny Game of Pong, Apple watch, digital crown, game, Game Center, Pong

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Digitimes Research has predicted that iPad sales could fall this quarter to their lowest level since 2011.

Apple is expected to ship 9.8 million iPads in the first quarter of 2016, historically its lowest quarterly level, with decreases of 39.1% on quarter and nearly 20% on year.

There are a couple of issues with the forecast – the first being the patchy track-record of the source, and the second being that the ‘historic low’ claim isn’t quite accurate if you include the first year or so, as the above graph from Statista shows.

But the graph does show something else …

Namely, that the claim is a plausible one. Remove the seasonal effect – sales always jump in the holiday quarter (Apple’s fiscal Q1) – and what we see here is a solid two-year decline. Fiscal Q2 sales declining from 19.48M in 2013 through 16.35M in 2014 to 12.62M in 2015. Project that line out into this year and the 9.8M number looks feasible.

The decline does, of course, need to be put into perspective. Digitimes still gives Apple by far the greatest share of the tablet market, at 21%, with Samsung some way back at 14% and everyone else in single digits. Even the iPad Pro, the most niche product in the range, looks likely to have sold more units in a single quarter than all the Microsoft Surface units ever sold.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has consistently said that he remains upbeat about the long-term prospects of the device, with our own Zac Hall recently laying out the reasons he thinks this is a reasonable view. The expected launch of the iPad Air 3 next month should also help the numbers, but not in this quarter.

Do you agree that the iPad can bounce back? Or do you see the decline continuing? Take our poll, and share the reasons for your view in the comments.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: DigiTimes, Digitimes Research, iPad, ipad sales, iPads, Tablets

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Apple has just posted an open letter in response to the FBI unlock request for iPhone data in a San Bernardino court case, signed by Tim Cook. Apple says that the FBI court order is an unprecedented step which threatens the security of its customers. With ‘implications far beyond the legal case at hand’ at stake, Apple has posted its public response to start communication with regard to this issue.

Apple says it has complied with valid warrants in regard to the San Bernardino case, but now the FBI has gone too far in Cook’s eyes … asking Apple to create something ‘ too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone.’

Cook goes on to say that the court wants Apple to create a special version of the iPhone operating system, which would ignore many key security features. The letter then indicates that this order is unprecedented in history: ‘We can find no precedent for an American company being forced to expose its customers to a greater risk of attack.’

The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data. The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge.

According to the letter, the government wants Apple to create a special OS just for this case. Apple says there is no way to guarantee that this custom code will not be used for other cases and that making it would threaten user privacy and set a dangerous precedent for future legal cases. Cook says that the government is effectively asking Apple to hack its own devices and ‘undermine decades of security enhancements that protect our customers’.

Cook explains the FBI is making these demands through the All Writs Act. Right now, the FBI wants Apple to make special iPhone software to enable PIN brute-forcing. But Cook says it could go further, using the same legal justification to get access to messages, health records or even access iPhone camera and microphone without user knowledge.

The letter concludes with Cook claiming the FBI demands compromises freedoms and liberties that ‘the government is meant to protect’.

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS, iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: FBI, privacy, Security

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As Apple continues to look to India as a market for extraordinary growth, it has now stopped selling the iPhone 4s and iPhone 5c in the country in an effort to raise the average selling prices of its devices and increase profits. The Economic Times reports that Apple made the decision due to its profitability and average selling price being “under strain” in India.

Apple had been selling the iPhone 4s in India for as little as Rs 12,000 ($175 USD), while the iPhone 5c had been available for Rs 20,000 ($292 USD). Now that the company has stopped selling those devices, however, the iPhone 5s is the most affordable device it sells in India at Rs 24,000. Apple dramatically lowered the price of the iPhone 5s in India to accelerate growth last December. This means that Apple no longer sells any smartphones in sub Rs 20,000 market, which is seeing the fastest growth in India. Over time, we should expect to see the iPhone 5se launch in India at around the price of the iPhone 5s, though.

During a company-wide town hall earlier this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook explained that the company believes people will pay more for a better and more capable smartphone, even in countries like India. Essentially, Cook said that Apple’s research proves that there’s no reason to release lower-cost, less feature-packed iPhones in countries like India and China when consumers are willing to pay more to get the latest technology, thus giving Apple higher profit margins and a higher average selling price.

India has been a huge area of interest for Apple over the past year. The company is moving towards opening its own retail stores in the country and is planning a new development center there, as well. During the company’s Q1 2016 earnings call last month, Cook noted that iPhone sales grew 76 percent and revenue grew 38 percent in India during the quarter, signaling the reasoning for Apple’s heightened focus on the country.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Apple, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5s

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A United States magistrate judge in California has today directed that Apple must help the FBI break into the cell phone of the one go the men behind the fatal attacks in San Bernardino last December, NBC News reports. Last week, FBI Director James Comey complained that the government couldn’t break the encryption on the iPhone used by one of the gunmen.

At the time, it was unclear if the gunman used an iPhone or Android device, but today it has been confirmed that it was the former of the two and is an iPhone 5c. “We still have one of those killers’ phones that we haven’t been able to open. It has been two months and we are still working on it,” Comey said at the time. “I don’t want a back door. I would like people to comply with court orders,” he added.

“Apple has the exclusive technical means which would assist the government in completing its search, but has declined to provide that assistance voluntarily,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles said in a 40-page filing today.

The filing goes on to say that Apple has to provide “reasonable technical assistance” to recover the gunman’s data and that it has five days to reply if it feels that doing so would be “unreasonably burdensome.”

In the filing, the court presents several methods that could be taken to access the data on the phone and in the gunman’s iCloud account. These methods include disabling the auto-erase function and allowing the FBI to attempt an unlimited number of passcodes to unlock the phone

Despite what the California judge says, Apple still likely won’t be able to access the device’s data. Last October, Apple told a federal judge that it has no way of accessing data on an iPhone that is locked with a passcode and running iOS 8 or later. Apple’s statement at the time came as a response to a request from the U.S. Justice Department asking if the company would help authorities access data on a seized iPhone.

With that said however, the filing claims that Apple has the “exclusive technical means” to allow the FBI to access the data on the smartphone:

“Despite … a warrant authorizing the search,” said prosecutors, “the government has been unable to complete the search because it cannot access the iPhone’s encrypted content. Apple has the exclusive technical means which would assist the government in completing its search, but has declined to provide that assistance voluntarily.”

Apple has long stood firm on its stance to not to give access to user data. Tim Cook has repeatedly spoken out against software backdoors.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Apple, Government, iPhone, iPhone 5C, Security

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Last week, Apple launched a USB-C cable replacement program, saying that some cables shipped with the 12-inch Retina MacBook were faulty. Thea faulty adapters would result in the MacBook not charging or charging unreliably. Now, the first MacBook customers have started receiving their replacement cables, according to a post on Reddit and Twitter. The user did not request the cable from Apple.

The user says that his USB-C replacement cable was sent via FedEx and included a note from Apple explaining the situation. “A limited number of Apple USB-C charge cables included with MacBook computers may fail due to a design issue,” the note reads. The new cable is identical to the old, aside from the fact that it has been slightly tweaked to prevent the said design issue.

To tell if your USB-C charger is affected, the flawed cable lacks a serial number next to the ‘Designed by Apple in California Assembled in China’ text, while the redesigned cables are branded with a serial number. Look at the graphic below to double-check your cable.

If you provided a product registration process or Apple Online Store purchase, Apple will send you a new cable by the end of February. Otherwise, you’ll have to contact Apple’s support to request a new cable. Specific details on how to do that are available on Apple’s site here.

Let us know when you receive your USB-C replacement cable in the comments.

Filed under: Mac Tagged: 12-inch, Apple, MacBook, Retina MacBook, USB-C

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Photo via: Huffington Post

Activist investor Carl Icahn, who on several occasions in the past has published open letters offering advice to Apple on stock related issues, has reportedly cut his stake in the company. CNBC reports that a filing discovered today shows Icahn has cut his shares by approximately 7 million, valued at approximately $750M, to 45.7 million shares as of December 31st, 2015. But it’s unclear exactly the motivation behind the move by Icahn, who has long been an outspoken advocate of the company and its stock performance.

Icahn has been quite vocal about Apple as he continued to increase his stake in the company up until now. The main issue at the heart of Icahn’s prodding of Apple and CEO Tim Cook has been regarding shareholder buybacks and related initiatives that Apple has put more of a focus on in recent years.

As for February last year, Icahn was one of the company’s ten largest shareholders with around $6.5B worth of stock and was publicly boasting about Apple being undervalued as it hit its highest market cap ever. Following the milestone for Apple, Icahn said he had “gained further confidence” in Apple and that he believed “the market should value Apple at $216 per share.” Icahn continued, “This is why we continue to own approximately 53 million shares worth $6.5 billion, and why we have not sold a single share.”

On December 31st, 2015, the day Icahn reportedly reduced his stake in Apple by 7 million shares, the company hit a high of 107.03 per share. It has declined since– around 15%– and today hit a high of 96.85 per share. That’s an almost $100M difference in the stock value on those 7 million shares on the day Icahn sold versus today.

Filed under: iOS Devices

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Popular foodie magazine Bon Appétit today revealed that it shot all of the images for its March print issue with an iPhone. The team behind the magazine detailed the process in a post on its website, explaining that instead of using traditional DSLRs like they normally do for print issues, they used iPhones for all of the photography.

Each photographer gave their respective thoughts on the process during an interview, with many of them expressing shock when the decision was revealed to them. Some of them even had to upgrade from older generation iPhones to something more modern. “I needed to upgrade from an iPhone 5 to a 6S, and I had never used anything like it to shoot something for print, so it wasn’t just me putting faith in the phone, but also in the magazine’s idea,” photographer Matt Haas said.

Several of the photographers noted that ditching their traditional camera gear made for a much more liberating experience. Some of them purchased accessories for the iPhone camera, including various lenses, tripod adapters, and even selfie sticks.

One of the photographers, Daymon Gardner, had the following to say on the experience:

“We found an adapter that would click the iPhone onto a tripod. Then, because the iPhone lens is approximately equivalent to a 35 mm lens on a DSLR, we bought a few accessory lenses, one of which made the camera more like a normal lens of around 50 mm. Another was a wide-angle and the third was so good for close-up shots, it would’ve been better suited for taking photos of ants.”

Regarding the overall experience shooting with an iPhone compared to a DSLR, Gardner noted that it kept the entire process “really conversational and loose”. Likewise, Michael Graydon expressed that shooting with an iPhone is the ultimate release of the DSLR associated ego:

“I’ve been a photographer for about 20 years, and I’ve been through 8×10 cameras, film—you name it. In the past, the bigger and scarier-looking the camera you pulled out, the more intense and professional you looked. Now, you have to let go of the ego you attach to the tool, and the iPhone is the ultimate expression of that.”

While the photographers noted differing opinions on the process in the end, they generally agreed that the iPhone has a more than respectable camera. “I can’t quite accomplish the depth of field that I want, even when I do the thing where you touch the screen on the subject and move the slider up,” Gardner noted. “I still prefer to shoot with my Canon, but Mardi Gras just started here in New Orleans, and I’ll definitely have my iPhone with me.”

Haas expressed similar sentiments. “It’s not like I’m going to start doing all my projects with my cell phone, but now I definitely use it more for Instagram,” he said.

Apple has long touted the camera capabilities of the iPhone. The company launched an award-winning ad campaign focused on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus camera, and even brought the campaign back recently for the iPhone 6s. The iPhone 7 is excepted to take Apple even further ahead in the camera space, perhaps even incorporating a dual-camera setup.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Camera, iPhone, iPhone 6, iPhone 6s

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Real Racing 3 has been around for several years on iOS, but yesterday’s update marked its debut appearance on tvOS and the fourth generation Apple TV. This isn’t the first time that the Real Racing franchise has been associated with Apple’s set top box, as previous versions allowed you to use AirPlay to stream races to the Apple TV while using an iOS device as a controller. Check out our hands-on video with the new racer below:

That was a nice nod to the future, but of course, nothing beats the experience of native code running directly on the Apple TV. Yesterday’s update of Real Racing 3 marked the beginning of a new journey and, as you might imagine given the game’s history, the graphics are impressive. Take a look at our hands-on video walkthrough for the details.

As you can see from the video, Real Racing 3 features some of the best graphics available on the Apple TV thus far. True, Apple’s fourth-gen box packs much more of a punch than previous iterations, but it’s still impressive to see such graphical prowess made possible by a small fanless puck that you can grasp in one hand.

Sadly, since EA has taken over the reigns, Real Racing 3 remains inundated with in-app purchases that look to impede progress whenever possible. It’s playable, but the artificial barriers employed can be off-putting to say the least.

More concerning, though, is the presence of frequent frame rate dips, especially when more than a few cars are on screen at once. At first, I thought that might be the result of resources downloading in the background, but the frame rate problems persisted throughout my entire test drive.

Still, Real Racing 3 can be fun to play, and it even features the ability to enjoy true local split-screen multiplayer with up to four participants. The nice thing about the multiplayer is that you can use spare iPhones and iPads as controllers, in addition to the Siri Remote and third-party controllers. I found that I preferred the motion controls made possible by the Siri Remote, but it’s nice to have the option of going the traditional route as well.

Gamers can also save progress to the cloud, and pick up where they left off on an iOS device. That’s pretty handy, especially if you plan on venturing through the title’s new Daytona 500 features, which includes the Daytona International Speedway and racing legends like Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick.

You can download Real Racing 3 for free and begin playing on your Apple TV, iPhone, or iPad today.

Filed under: Apple TV, Apps Tagged: Apple TV, Apple TV apps, Apple TV games, Apps, EA, Games, racing, racing games, Real Racing 3, tvOS

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1Password, the popular service that allows users to securely store their various passwords, has today announced a new plan for families that makes it considerably more affordable. In a blog post, AgileBits, the company behind the service, detailed 1Password for Families, explaining that the service costs $5 per month for a family of five, while additional people can be added for $1 per month.

1Password for Families allows each family member to have their own private individual 1Password account, but also includes a shared stream of passwords that all members of the family can access. For instance, families that share a Netflix account can store the login information in the shared 1Password for Families account. Wi-Fi logins are another example of a piece of data that would really be useful for families.

The owner of the 1Password for Families account has access to an Admin Console that allows people to be invited to the family, as well as offering tools to manage which family members get to see what information.

As part of 1Password for Families, users get access all of the 1Password apps. The app is available for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android.

To celebrate the launch of 1Password for Families, AgileBits is offering a handful of early-adopter added perks. If you sign up by March 21st, you’ll get $10 credited to your account (so two free months), 2GB of secure storage for your documents, and the ability to have 7 family members on a 5 person account.

1Password is available for free in the App Store and the first month of use is free. 1Password for Families is an interesting move on the part of AgileBits to get 1Password into the hands of more people. Right now, 1Password is hugely popular among the tech community, but adoption among the general public could pick up considerably with 1Password for Families.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: 1Password, 1Password for Families, AgileBits, app, family plan, Password Management, passwords

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