Two days after seeding OS X 10.11.2 beta 2 to developers, Apple has pushed the update out to public beta testers as well. The developer version included a build number of 15C31f, which will likely match today’s release.

This update is needed to enable support for iOS 9.2’s “Wi-FI calling on other devices” feature, which was activated in the last beta.

Public beta users can download the update now from the Mac App Store’s Updates tab. New users can apply for the program at Apple’s beta website.

Filed under: Mac Tagged: Mac, OS X 10.11.2, OS X beta

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Pad & Quill, makers of some our favorite handcrafted wood and leather goods for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, today announced a new lineup of Apple Watch bands.

Adding to the first ‘Classic’ lineup of bands it launched (which we reviewed and loved), today the company started taking orders for the new “Lowry” band collection pictured above.

Here’s a closer look at the Lowry Leather Cuff for Apple Watch, which comes in 3 color options for the 42mm Apple Watch. Colors include American Tan, Chestnut or Galloper Black, inside you’ll find a velvet soft suede interior, while outside you’ll notice full-grain vegetable-tanned leather from Horween Tannery and “Durable nickel finish Apple Watch lugs and buckles”:

And here’s a closeup of the standard Lowry leather band, which includes all of the same features minus the cuff design. There is also a version for the 38mm Apple Watch for the standard Lowry band:

The Lowry Leather Cuff sells for $129, while the standard Lowry Leather band sells for $109. The company includes a 25 year warranty and 30 day money back promise with both of the products.

Compare that with the Pad & Quill “Classic” bands we reviewed previously ranging from $89 to $99.

You can check out all of Pad & Quill’s Apple Watch accessories here, which includes a new limited edition slim version of the Classic band. 

Filed under: Apple Watch, iOS Tagged: Accessories, Apple watch, bands, classic, cuff, full-grain, horween, Leather, lowry, Pad & Quill, tannery

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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Displays: LG 34″ UltraWide $330 (Reg. $450+), Acer 34″ Curved QHD $866 (Reg. $1,050), plus 4K UHDTVs

Rayman Fiesta Run goes free on the App Store for the first time (Reg. $3)

Add Bluetooth to your speakers or car w/ Aukey’s Wireless Receiver: $10 Prime shipped (Reg. $20)

Review: How Amazon Echo changed my life + $130 special price ($50 off) for Amazon card holders

Sam’s Club One-Day Sale: iPhone 6s/Plus $100 off, iPad Air 2 64GB/128GB $150 off, PlayStation 4 $300, more

eBay calls on Black Friday shoppers to decide which products will get discounted this year

Amazon’s Black Friday Deals store is now open for business

Everything we know so far about this year’s best Black Friday deals and promotions

More new gear from today:

Games/Apps: Forza Horizon 2 $30, Toon Shooters & NOTE’d go free, more iOS freebies

• Headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro Semi-Open Studios $160 (Orig. $320), more
• Timbuk2 40% off sale: Hudson Laptop Briefcase $161 (Orig. $269), more
• Jawbone Big Jambox Bluetooth Speaker (Open Box) $115 shipped (Orig. $300)
• Daily Deals: Philips Wake-up Lights starting at $49, Logitech Performance Mouse MX $45, more

More deals still alive:

Apple iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi: 16GB $399 (Reg. $499), 64GB $479 (Reg. $599), 128GB $559 (Reg. $699)

Apple iPad Mini 2, space gray or silver: $199 shipped ($70 off)

Apple iPad mini 2 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular: $370 shipped (Orig. $829) wp.me/p1xTlR-Jdb https://t.co/3Nk2zXzOCl

—
9to5Toys (@9to5toys) November 03, 2015

Audio-Technica’s best selling ATH-M50x headphones in black: $119 shipped (Orig. $170), more

• Beats by Dr. Dre Pill 2.0 Portable Bluetooth Speaker $120 shipped (Orig. $200)
• Buy PowerBeats 2 Wireless In-Ear Headphones, get a $50 gift card: $144 (Orig. $200)
• Pebble Time Smartwatch for iOS and Android: $150 shipped (Reg. $200)
• Get the latest Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd Gen.) for $212 shipped (Reg. $249)
• iPhone 6/s dual-layer case in Space Gray, Silver or Gold: $3 Prime shipped (Reg. $12)
• Foscam Plug and Play HD Wireless/Wired Pan/Tilt IP Camera $75 shipped (Reg. $100)
• Seagate 4TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive w/ 200GB of Cloud Storage: $130 (Reg. $150)
• Home Theater Audio: VIZIO 5.1-ch. Soundbar w/ Wireless Subwoofer $198 (Reg. $298+), more
• Factory Unlocked iPhones: 16GB iPhone 6 Plus $600, 64GB (Refurb) $450, more
• Magic Color Changing LED Light Bulb with Remote Control $9 (Reg. $33)
• Bookshelf speakers: Klipsch Icon 5-inch powered $100 (Reg. $164+), more
• USB-C 4-port hubs for new Macbooks by Aukey: $20 Prime shipped (Orig. $30)
• USB Power Deals: Lumsing 3-port Car Charger + Lightning Cable $8, more
• TP-LINK 802.11n pocket wireless router: $10 shipped (Orig. $40)
• Targus Ultra Twill Vuscape Case for iPad Air: $7 Prime shipped (83% off list)
• Mpow Petrel Bluetooth 4.0 Headphones $26 Prime shipped (Orig. $60), more
• SoundBot Bluetooth 4.0 Sports-Active Headphones $10 Prime shipped (Reg. $15)
• Fashion: 20% off at Amazon – Kenneth Cole Down Jacket $90 (Reg. $113),more
• Sling TV is giving away a 2nd gen Chromecast when you pre-pay three months
• Kindle First Books for November: Christmas in Good Hope, more
• Media: Breaking Bad Complete Series on Blu-ray $70 (Orig. $161), $3 DVDs, more
• Kindle savings (Prime only): Paperwhite $90 (Reg. $120), Voyage $170 (Reg. $200)
• JBL Voyager Portable Bluetooth Speaker $90 shipped (Reg. $119)
• Free PS Plus Games for November: The Walking Dead Season 2, more
• Free Xbox Live Gold Games for November: Pneuma Breath of Life, more

New products & more:

Unboxing and Review: Halo 5 Xbox One Limited Edition Console Bundle [Video]

Bosch made a robo-farmer that looks straight out of a galaxy far, far away

• The Room Three releases today, now available for download on the App Store
• Mellow Boards makes any skateboard electric and looks good doing it
• Pre-order Fallout 4 to receive Fallout 3 via Xbox One Backwards Compatibility
• PlayStation Now adds 105 titles as it aims to pick up more subscribers
• Mogees iPhone-connected sensor turns any object into a playable instrument
• Panasonic has a new line of solar powered products designed for those in need
• Amazon to offer midnight deliveries for Call of Duty: Black Ops III via Prime Now
• The LEGO Power Functions Idea Book teaches you how to build cars, contraptions and more

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon Gold Box, Amazon Prime, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Daily Deals, Deals, eBay Daily Deals, free, Freebies, lg, Lunch Break, New Toy of the Day, Rayman Fiesta Run, UltraWide, video games

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Facebook is rolling out a new post format on the latest version of its iPhone app called Music Stories. The new format lets you share songs and albums from popular streaming music services, starting with Apple Music and Spotify, while friends can enjoy 30-second previews of what you share. The Music Stories format also looks rich within the app. Tapping play turns the artwork in a record-like spinning animation, and a button to listen to the whole track or album on the streaming service is presented on the right. 

In addition to making music sharing and discovery easier, Facebook notes that the linked song or album can be bought or saved easily through iTunes or Apple Music, and songs shared through Spotify can be saved to your account without ever leaving Facebook. While Music Story is limited to Apple Music and Spotify to start, Facebook says it will add support for additional streaming music services in the future.

To share a track to Facebook using Music Stories with Apple Music, for example, tap the Share arrow icon on any song directly in the Music app, the tap Copy to put the URL on your clipboard. Launch Facebook and start a new post, then tap and hold to paste the URL and create a Music Story on the social network.

Facebook’s new Music Stories format comes just a day after the social network revealed that it saw 1.01 billion daily active users on its platform during the month of September. Facebook is also expected to unveil a new standalone news-focused app called Notify next week with a list of media partners on board that sounds similar to Apple’s News app on iOS 9 but with push notifications for new stories.

Music Stories should also help promote Apple Music as a service in general. Tim Cook recently shared that the streaming music service has 6.5 million paid subscribers and 15 million members total including ongoing trial users.

Filed under: Apple Music, Apps Tagged: Apple Music, Facebook, iTunes, Music Stories, Spotify

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Several months ago, I wrote a three-part guide to making amazing wall art from your Mac’s photos (part 1, part 2, part 3) — a popular series that readers told me they’d really enjoyed. The premise: as photography has gone digital, most of the pictures we take have become trapped on our computers, rarely seeing the light of day. Turning your favorite photos into large-format wall art is a great way to decorate your home or office, and with the recent introduction of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, higher-resolution photos and ultra-high-res panoramas are possible, increasing the image quality of even your everyday snaps.

Even though Apple’s OS X Photos app focuses on making small prints, photo books, and calendars, there are some great third-party photo-to-wall art services out there. Previously, I looked at how to turn your photos into large-sized metal, acrylic, and canvas wall art. This brand new part 4 explores three additional services, looking for the first time at photo prints on wood, as well as spotlighting several nice variations on prior themes…

Turn Your Photos Into Wood Prints

After looking at other materials in prior parts of this guide, the one I really wanted to see for myself was printing on wood — a process that can either create a rustic, earthy look, or have a less prominent texture, depending on your preferences. To test wood prints, I looked at two well-respected photo printing services: Bay Photo and Shutterfly, two of the biggest names in wall art-sized photo printing.

Bay Photo offers two different ways to submit photos and order products. Its free Bay ROES app (shown below, and recently updated for El Capitan) handles everything, while a web-based interface can be used for basic prints, including the Maple Wood Prints ($22 for 5″ x 5″ to $875 for 48″ x 96″) tested here. The web app is extremely straightforward, and I was able to upload my photo, choose mounting/hanging options, and place an order very rapidly.

Bay offers the choice between either a “natural” or a “white” finish. Just to see what it was like, I went with the white finish, which reduces the amount of visible wood grain to make colors pop more. The result — using a photo I post-processed with MacPhun’s Intensify CK — was impressively color-accurate to the deliberately dreamy image I uploaded, and looked like a painting on wood, which I really liked. As suggested, the choice of a white front finish did noticeably reduce the amount of obvious wood grain in the print, which will suit some images (like the one above) better than others. And while the nail/screwholes-in-planks mounting solution isn’t fancy, it works.

As a contrast, Shutterfly’s Upload Your Own Design Wood Wall Art ($90 for 8″ x 10″, $400 for 24″ x 36″) comes only in a natural grain option that really lets the wood texture shine through. Shutterfly uses a very straightforward web-based interface for uploading and previewing photos, which really turns out to be important with a natural grain wood print: without a white initial layer, color saturation is going to be muted, so Shutterfly lets you tweak the image against a grain preview so you’ll know what to expect.

I started with a countryside castle photo, and based on Shutterfly’s previewing tool, felt that a little extra color saturation would be necessary to create contrast with the wood texture. While there are obvious differences between the original image and the finished print, the web preview gave me a very good idea of what to expect. The finished wood print had the natural wood look I’d wanted to see, plenty of detail, and a faded, rustic look that was only a little less color-intense than the web preview. It’s worth noting that while Shutterfly’s wood art prices look higher than Bay Photos, they’re offset by substantial coupon codes such as BUYMORE, which knock them down by up to 50%.

A New Twist On Metal Photo Printing

I’ve tested a bunch of compelling metal photo printing alternatives this year, and have generally been blown away by the results: particularly with a nice front finish, aluminum prints can look really stunning, rich in both color and detail. From a framing perspective, the most distinctive option I’ve seen is Bay Photo’s Double Float ($33.60 for 6″ x 8″ to $582 for 28″ x 40″). Standard metal printing is done on a single sheet of aluminum, but Double Float actually joins two layers of metal together to create a three-dimensional picture frame.

Because of the complexity of the layout process for a Double Float print, Bay requires you to use the Bay ROES app, which was recently updated for the latest version of OS X. While the app could use a little additional streamlining, it works very well to let you set up the top and bottom layers of your print, choosing crops and alignment. You can select from five different surface treatments (High Gloss, Mid-Gloss, Satin, Sheer Glossy or Sheer Matte), and either use the same image and treatment for both layers, or go with two images and treatments.

The sample Double Float print I made had deep blacks, excellent detail, and substantially accurate colors. Some of the dark shading nuances were lost in the bottom of the photo, but made up for by the rich, inky blacks, which really made the image compelling in person. Technically, I was very pleased by how this print’s alignment turned out — it was hard to be sure it would be perfect in 3D even after setting everything up the Bay ROES app — and the foam float mount between the surfaces provided a gentle but noticeable separation between the layers. If you’re looking for a way to add extra impact to a metal print, Double Float is a great choice.

A User-Friendly Canvas Wall Art Service

As its name suggests, CanvasPop specializes in printing photos on canvas — a process commonly known in the art world as giclée — and does a very good job, very quickly. The uploading and layout process is entirely web-based, and designed to be ultra-simple, so anyone can submit a print. Interestingly, CanvasPop keeps a chat window on screen to offer help instantly with the setup process, and prominently offers coupons that chop a significant percentage off of the official prices. (Before coupons, pricing starts at $37 for a 10″ by 10″ canvas, climbing to $422 for a gigantic 76″ by 38″ canvas with a wood frame.)

I was thrilled by the print quality on this rendition of my youngest daughter, which took a 22-Megapixel image up to a 20″ by 30″ size while accurately preserving both detail and colors; the original image had a warm yellow color temperature which the canvas print accurately replicated, even though my snapshots of the canvas doesn’t do the color matching justice. On the other hand, the image was cropped a little on the top and bottom, not enough to change the focus of the image, but enough that people looking for edge-to-edge reproduction should request CanvasPop’s (free) proofs to confirm the print will be exactly as expected.

While there are several frame and edge options — variable depths up to 2.5″ thick and your choice of colors or wood frames — mounting is simple. Given the canvas’s comparatively light weight, the included, pre-installed edge-to-edge rear wire works perfectly as a mounting solution. You can also choose three-canvas triptychs if you want to spread an image across multiple canvases, a premium-priced feature which can work extremely well with landscapes and panoramas.

Two Distinctive Acrylic Printing Options

The concept behind acrylic printing is much like the trick Apple used with the original iPod: use a thick layer of perfectly clear plastic to enhance the depth and “pop” of whatever’s below it. With acrylic photo prints, you can either use a large-sized basic photo printed on paper, or go with something more significant behind the plastic. As was the case with the wood prints above, I tested both Bay Photo and Shutterfly for this, as they’re heavy hitters with great options. The image above is Shutterfly’s Photo Gallery Acrylic Print ($70 for 8″ x 10″, $250 for 24″ x 36″), produced using the previously-mentioned web interface.

Even though Shutterfly’s Acrylic Print wasn’t as heavy as Bay’s version due to a difference in the backing materials I selected, the quality and impact were both stunning. The print arrived with optimized, intense colors and stainless steel mounting posts in the corners. Beyond nailing the colors and details of the original photo, the print really benefits from the gallery-quality look of the metal mounts, and the depth of the thick clear plastic front surface. This particular shot illustrates the power that a vanishing point-style photo can have to really draw you in when blown up to a large size.

The Bay version I tested is the Face-Mounted Acrylic Print ($19 for 4″ x 4″, $1,492 for 43″ x 96″), shown here with 1/4″ thick acrylic and a French Cleat mount. Most of the original images shown here were used without modification, but I used Bay’s web-based uploading tool to crop the photo a little, and the finished print was perfectly cropped and aligned as shown in the preview.

Beyond doing a great job of representing the original photo’s color and detail — again, the original image and print have a natural yellow warmth that snapshots don’t reproduce well —  Bay’s version really rocked in the depth department. Due to both the thick clear acrylic face and a more deluxe DiBond backing that sandwiches supporting pieces of metal behind the print, the Face-Mounted Acrylic Print was one of the most substantial-feeling and nicely mounted photo prints I’ve tested. If you’re going to turn one of your prints into something you hope to sell, Bay’s treatment has the heft that you’d expect from something with a premium price. You can choose the option that’s best for your budget and personal needs.

More From This Author

Check out more of my How-To guides and reviews for 9to5Mac here! My prior guides to turning digital photos into beautiful wall art (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) have been big hits with readers, and I’ve covered a lot of different topics of interest to Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch users.

Filed under:
How-To, iOS, iOS Devices, Mac Tagged: acrylic, Aperture, Bay Photo, CanvasPop, IPhoto, Mac, metal prints, OS X, photo printing, photos, Shutterfly, wall art, wood prints

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The Flickr iOS app has been update with support for 3D Touch on the latest iPhones. You can now upload a photo, view your feed, check notifications or carry out a Spotlight search right from the Home screen. Spotlight lets you search for albums, groups or recently-viewed photos.

The app also has a handy new 3D Touch feature within the app for deciding which photo to share from a selection … 

In your camera roll, we’ve added something unique to help you find your best shot. Press a photo to preview, then move your finger left/right to quickly page through neighboring photos. Once you’ve found your favorite, press harder to Pop full-screen.

Shared links now also open directly in the Flickr app, rather than Safari.

We’ve seen 3D Touch support added to a number of apps recently, including Apple’s own iWork suite, Skype, Snapchat and Evernote.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: Camera, Flickr, photos, Photostream

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A Belgian campaign group used the queue for the recent opening of the Apple Store in Brussels to create a clever video encouraging people to register as organ donors.

People on the waiting list for organ transplants ask those in the queue how long they have been waiting at the store, say they know how it feels to wait and offer to take their place in return for signing up to join the organ donor register. Organ donors can save up to eight people’s lives after their own death.

Back in 2010, Steve Jobs – who himself had a liver transplant – helped a California bill pass to make joining the register there a simple tickbox on the driver’s license form. You can also record your preference in the Medical ID section of the Health app, introduced in iOS 8.

Filed under: General Tagged: Apple Store Brussels, Health, Heart transplantation, Liver transplantation, Medical ID, Organ donor, Organ donor register, Organ transplantation

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Apple has opened a subsidiary company in Vietnam, its fastest-growing iPhone market, reports Reuters.

Apple Vietnam Limited Liability was established on Oct. 28 with a registered capital of 15 billion dong ($672,194), according to a news announcement recorded on Vietnam’s national business registry website.

The company will ‘conduct wholesale business,’ read: directly import and distribute iPhones within the country. Apple tripled its sales in Vietnam in the first half of last year – a higher growth rate than in either China or India, though of course among a far smaller population.

Photo: thousandwonders.net

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices Tagged: AAPL, Apple Inc, Asia, iPhone, South-east Asia, Vietnam

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There are many watch guys out there who are reluctant to give up their beautiful analog watches in favor of an Apple Watch, but still feel slightly envious about the convenience of wrist notifications. Chronos is a $99 gadget geared to solving that problem.

It’s a 3mm thick disk designed to be discreetly worn underneath an analog watch. It offers multi-color flashing lights and vibrations for notifications from your iPhone, and also offers limited tap-based control of iPhone apps. You can, for example, skip to the next track in the Music app.

The Verge reports that it’s probably something you’ll want to use only with larger watches.

Chronos does add an appreciable thickness to the watch, setting it higher off of your wrist, but it isn’t particularly noticeable when placed beneath a larger model.

Chronos will retail for $129, but the first 250 people to pre-order can snag one for $79. The bad news is that you’ll have to wait until the spring to receive it.

Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple watch, Chronos, Traditional smartwatch, Watch

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Walgreens announced this morning that support for accepting its rewards card in stores through Apple Pay is now live. Loyalty cards have long been supported using QR cards with scannable barcodes, but iOS 9 enabled the ability to use loyalty cards with NFC just like Apple Pay payments. Walgreens notes that it’s the first retailer to make use of this feature:

Walgreens Balance® Rewards members can now seamlessly use their account through Apple Pay – without separately scanning a Balance Rewards card or barcode. More than 85 million active Balance Rewards members will have the ability to earn and redeem loyalty points via Apple Pay, the easy, secure and private way to pay.

“We’re excited to be the first to provide our customers with increased ease of access to their Balance Rewards account and information when using Apple Pay,” said Sona Chawla, president of digital and chief marketing officer for Walgreens. “This offering supports our commitment to removing friction and enabling a simple and convenient customer experience.”

Walgreens’ reward card can be used with Apple Pay through the Wallet app in iOS 9 and watchOS 2 on the iPhone and Apple Watch after downloading the Walgreens app from the App Store and signing in with log in credentials. Notably, Walgreens was also among the first retailers to accept Apple Pay for payments last year.

Balance Rewards members can simply place their iPhone or Apple Watch near the checkout terminal to collect points rather than swiping a physical card, scanning a QR card, or supplying a phone number. Users with existing Balance Rewards cards in Wallet should automatically see the new card update as it recently changed on both iPhone and Apple Watch ahead of Walgreens move to turn on support for accepting it through Apple Pay.

In addition to Walgreens turning on support for its Balance Rewards card through Apple Pay, Kohl’s recently became the first retailer to enable its store credit card for use with Apple Pay. Apple also added more than 50 banks to work with Apple Pay this week.

New locations including Starbucks, KFC, and Chili’s will start accepting the mobile payment over the next few months. Canada and Australia will also gain Apple Pay this year through a deal with American Express in either country with Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong planned for 2016.

Filed under: Apple Pay Tagged: Apple pay, Balance Rewards, Walgreens

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