Bloomberg reports that Apple has acquired Perceptio, a startup that focuses on developing technology that allows companies to run artificial intelligence systems on smartphones, but without the need for sharing as much user data in the cloud.

Perceptio was founded by Zac Stone and Nicolas Pinto with the goal of developing advanced artificial intelligence systems for smartphones. Both Pinto and Stone have backgrounds in the artificial intelligence field, having been researchers dedicated to building image-recognition systems that use deep learning.

The main goal with Perceptio was to develop a way to run AI image-classification systems on smartphones without have to “draw from large external repositories of data.” Apple, of course, has always been big proponent of protection user data and the less data they collect, the more successful they can be at standing by the philosophy.

Apple did not confirm specifics of its deal with Perceptio, but rather issued its standard response when it comes to its startup acquisitions. “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” the company told Bloomberg.

Last week, Apple confirmed that it acquired a UK-based startup called VocalIQ. VocalIQ had developed a voice assistant that it claimed was superior Siri.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: acquisition, Apple, Perceptio, Siri

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Apple CEO Tim Cook at WWDC 2015

After initially holding back a new iOS 9 feature called App Thinning (or App Slicing) that allows developers to ship smaller apps to customers and download additional content as needed, Apple now says it has resolved the issue that caused the delay. Starting with the recently released iOS 9.0.2, users will have access to updated apps that take advantage of App Thinning. Apple also updated developers on a Game Center-related change and rolled out an improved way for finding content from Apple’s developer sessions.

Apple first revealed that App Slicing would be unavailable shortly after iOS 9 initially launched. At the time, Apple pointed to a bug involving iCloud Backups where restored apps may not be fully recovered. A mention of the iCloud Backup bug even made its way into the iOS 9 on-boarding screens. Apple says it has since fixed the issue with iOS 9.0.2.

The issue affecting app slicing has been fixed, and device-specific versions of apps will be delivered when downloaded by users running iOS 9.0.2 or later.

Also news for developers, Apple says it has made WWDC content easily searchable now by enabling keyword search using session transcripts.

Now it’s easier to discover and share information presented in WWDC videos with our recent search update. You can search a keyword and find all the instances of it mentioned in the videos. Go straight to the time the keyword was mentioned in the video or easily share a link to it

The new search functionality takes on third-party services like asciiwwdc.com which had the same goal in mind. Apple’s new search tool can be found here for developers.

Finally, Apple has posted an update on Game Center sandboxing:

At WWDC 2015 we announced that the Game Center development sandbox environment would be turned off to simplify game development and beta testing. Starting today, the sandbox will no longer be available and all versions of iOS and OS X will automatically switch over to the production environment for development testing.

Specific details for each update can be found on http://ift.tt/1dUTBy0.

Filed under: Developers, iOS Tagged: App Thinning, developers, Game Center, iOS 9, WWDC

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After announcing an official program for accessory makers interested in making Apple Watch bands back in May, Apple has now delivered on its promise of providing Apple-made watch lugs that third-party manufacturers can use to make straps. That’s the first sign that official third-party watch bands will soon be hitting the market through Apple’s Made for iPhone program (MFi). Companies enrolled in the MFi program can now order the parts (pictured above) through Apple’s supplier (via MR).

While Apple released guidelines for making watch straps back in May, and many companies have released unofficial bands in the meantime, the official Apple Watch lugs pictured above will allow many accessory makers within Apple’s MFi program to begin creating official bands.

Apart from making the process easier for developers — they’ll no longer have to design their own lugs to fit in with the Apple Watch’s lug mechanism — MFi certification will allow manufacturers to market the products as Apple approved accessories. The lugs are stainless steel and stamped with “Made for Apple Watch,” but Apple has yet to make other colors, like gold, available for third-parties.

And to accompany the official Apple Watch bands, the first Apple Watch docks to use an integrated magnetic charging connector will be arriving very soon.

The lugs sell for around $10 each to manufacturers and are ready to ship within 2 weeks. Until then, you can catch up with some of our recent Apple Watch strap reviews:

• Review: Incipio and Wristouch offer new riffs on premium Apple Watch bands
• Review: Pad & Quill’s Classic Band dresses Apple Watch in rugged, American leather
• Hands-on with an affordable alternative to Apple’s Link Bracelet for Apple Watch
• Hands-on: Apple Watch standalone bands, packaging, & swapping

Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple watch, avnet, bands, lugs, made for iPhone, MFi, straps, third-party, Watch

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With iOS 9 released late last month, Apple introduced a full-fledged audio plug-in framework for the first time on its mobile devices, allowing iPhone and iPad apps to implement support for third-party audio plug-ins just like on a Mac.

In fact, the audio plugin framework comes in the form of Audio Unit version 3, an updated version of the file type Apple has long used on the Mac for audio plug-ins in professional-class apps like Logic Pro.

Now that iOS 9 is available to all, we took the feature for a test drive using a couple of the very first apps to update with support…

What is it?

The Audio Units extension framework is essentially an improved way to use audio apps, like effects and virtual instruments, within audio host apps, like Apple’s own GarageBand or other audio editing and mixing apps. Previously users had to use hacked together solutions, such as Apple’s inter-app audio feature or third-party solutions, to jump between apps and apply things like effects to another app running in the background. But with AUs, Apple lets audio plug-ins show up as a UI within another app, improving the workflow and making the experience much like what pros are used to on the Mac in apps like Logic Pro.

Here’s an example of the old Inter-App Audio way, which requires you to switch back and forth between a host app and the plug-in app (pictured below, left), vs the new and improved Audio Units plug-in way, which opens up the plug-in UI directly inside the host app (pictured below, right):

What’s required is apps to update with support: Editing apps like Garageband will get updates to become host apps, while effects and virtual instrument apps will need to update with support for being used as AUs in the host apps. And we’ll likely see companies that make AUs for the Mac bring standalone apps to the iOS App Store for use as audio plugins in host apps. With Audio Units version 3, source code for Audio Units on Mac will be identical for iOS and developers will only be required to optimize their plug-in for touch controls. 

Using Audio Units with iOS 9:

Apple hasn’t updated GarageBand with the feature, despite having it up and running to demo the feature to developers earlier this year at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. But you can try the feature thanks to a few third-party apps that have already implemented support.

First you’ll need an editor app that supports using Audio Units and secondly another app that acts as an AU plug-in. For our tests, we used the feature with MultitrackStudio ($30), one of the first digital audio workstations to update with support. And for our audio plug-in, we downloaded Remaster ($3), an EQ and Compressor plug-in that appears to be the first to act as a standalone AU available to purchase on the App Store.

Once you’ve downloaded both a host app (like Multitrack Studio) and a plug-in app (like Remaster), you’ll see the plug-in appear in a menu called “Audio Units” or “AUs” within the host app. It will be up to the host app on how it implements the AUs menu, but in most host apps you’ll find the menu where other effects, instruments, or editing tools can be applied. For Multitrack Studio, each track has effect modules (pictured below) where the AU menu can be found and AUs can be applied to any given track in the composition:

Once you select the AU plugin, you can drill into its interface (in this case an EQ using Remaster) by tapping on “AU” on the track you’ve applied it to (pictured below):

And this is what the Remaster EQ plug-in UI looks like when opened in Multitrack Studio:

Of course each plug-in will look different as developers of each app design their own user interfaces. But the experience is definitely a leap beyond what Apple offered previously with inter-app audio, allowing musicians and audio editors access to, in theory, an endless amount of audio tool add-ons within their favorite editing apps.

My one complaint with using the feature in MultitrackStudio: AUs only show up with the title “AU” when applied to tracks rather than the name of the plug-in itself. Hopefully that wont be the case for all AUs and host apps on iOS, as applying several in a single project could get hard to manage if they are only called “AU” after being applied to your project. I also didn’t get to try out using presets or automation, as those features aren’t yet supported in MultitrackStudio.

Coming soon:

Developers should also get access to Apple’s own audio plug-ins (something it promised and demoed at WWDC), but first it has to update them to support the new cross-platform Audio Unit Version 3. Those include Apple’s AUDelay, AUDistortion, AUHighPassFilter, etc, and other effects that it long had available to Mac users in Logic Pro and GarageBand as well as iOS developers (minus the new iOS AU plugin interface introduced with Audio Unit version 3.) Once that happens, each host AU app should at least come with a handful of built-in, default Apple plug-ins, but for now you’ll need to download third-party plugins (like Remaster) to try out the feature in host apps (like MultitrackStudio).

Once Apple does update with support, you can expect the feature to look something like this within GarageBand (from WWDC earlier this year):

We’ve reached out to developers working on implementing the Audio Units extension to feature in upcoming articles. Developers interested in being featured can reach me at Jordan@9to5Mac.com.

Check out The Logic Pros, our new regular series exploring all of the most interesting gadgets and software for making music on your Mac/iOS devices.

Filed under: Apps, iOS Tagged: Apple, AU, audio plugin, audio unit, EQ, Logic, MultitrackStudio, plugins, Remaster

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I’m an Apple guy. I have enough Apple hardware around my house to serve as a mini-museum and I use Apple’s software and services every single day. But when Google makes something interesting like Chromecast Audio, I can’t help but want to try out the new toy.

Sold for just $35 (Google Store, Best Buy), Chromecast Audio lets you stream audio over the Internet from services like Spotify and NPR to old speakers. This varies from Apple’s AirPlay in that audio streams directly to the Chromecast Audio rather than from device to device, using your iPhone or iPad only as the remote. In practice, Chromecast Audio is most similar to Sonos, but with Google’s accessory selling at a much lower, irresistible price as it relies on your existing speakers rather than all-in-one units.

So what exactly is Chromecast Audio and what can it do for iPhone owners? Read on for details…

Using the same model as Chromecast for video and Sonos for music, Chromecast Audio is a record-like disc that connects to your Wi-Fi network for streaming content directly over the Internet. You can control what content gets played from supported iOS and Android apps, or “cast” audio from your computer using the Chrome browser.

Included in the box you’ll find the Chromecast Audio hardware, a rather short 3.5mm analog audio cable, a lengthy microUSB to USB cable, and a USB wall adapter. You supply your own Wi-Fi network, iOS/Android/Chrome device, and most importantly your own speaker.

Chromecast Audio works out of the box with speakers that have line-in AUX ports. Chromecast Audio also supports RCA and optical inputs if you have the right cables, but don’t expect these to come in the box. Optionally, you may want to swap the Google-supplied stereo cable for a longer one anyway, depending on your needs, but the lengthy power cable should make the included supplies work for most. Plug one end of the stereo cable into your speaker, the other into Chromecast Audio’s 3.5mm jack, then connect the power cable to the microUSB port and the other end to the USB power adapter, plug it in to the wall, and you’re ready to set it up.

If you’ve ever set up a Chromecast HDMI stick, the process is nearly identical. I set Chromecast Audio up right out of the box using my iPhone. Make sure the latest Chromecast app is downloaded from the App Store and your iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi, then open the app and follow the on-screen steps for adding Chromecast Audio to your network. This process only takes a couple minutes then you’re ready to use your iPhone (or other supported devices) as a remote for streaming audio to your once-dumb-but-now-connected speaker.

Where Chromecast focuses on video content like movies and TV shows from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and other popular services, Chromecast Audio aims at music and talk radio apps including Spotify, Pandora, Rdio, NPR One, iHeartRadio, and several more. There’s no Apple Music support (although Google wants Apple to get there and I think they should), but a lot of users will appreciate that Spotify works with Chromecast Audio. I was surprised to learn after buying Chromecast Audio that Spotify requires a premium account to stream to it, however, which is a bit of a setback as I use the service as a backup to Apple Music but don’t actively subscribe.

Still, there are enough free choices for streaming content to Chromecast Audio that not being a Spotify subscriber isn’t a deal breaker. Free radio-style streaming from Pandora, Rdio, and Google Play Music (plus on-demand for subscribers) justifies the $35 cost for turning a standard, old stereo into a useful streaming device. A variety of news and talk radio-type content can be streamed from NPR One, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and other apps with content from regional radio stations and even CNN and other outlets available for free.

Personally, most of my audio listening comes from Apple Music for streaming and Overcast for listening to podcasts, but Pocketcast users will be happy to know that Chromecast Audio support is baked right in for streaming podcasts over the Internet directly to connected speakers. You won’t be able to play Apple Music or podcasts from Apple’s Podcasts app or Overcast and other unsupported apps without their developers adding Chromecast Audio support, but the current landscape of apps is pretty inclusive for lots of types of streaming audio.

After an hour or so of testing, the only performance issue I ran into happened when I tried using Google Play Music. The app quite impressively recommended a track by The Long Winters based on a YouTube video of a performance I’d watched the week prior, but resisted connecting to Chromecast Audio and only wanted to play music locally from my iPhone. Put in context, this was after testing six or seven other apps for “casting” and without issues plus Apple’s AirPlay typically has similar problems.

The solution meant going back to the Chromecast app — which oddly saw my Chromecast Audio already setup while offering to set up the same Chromecast Audio as new — and rebooting Chromecast Audio through the settings. These bugs seem like the kinds that Google can easily work out through software updates in a short amount of time.

Note, though, that Chromecast Audio does feel warm to the touch after a short period of use, although this didn’t seem to impact playback.

Should no Apple Music support be a deal breaker for iPhone users? First, this is what we know. Apple Music is coming to Sonos and it uses the same model for playback as Chromecast Audio: the content streams directly from the Internet, not your phone. (This means iPhone 6s users can play music and open the Camera app, for example, without interruptions.) But there’s one reason I’m not sure Apple will ever support Chomecast Audio and it’s not Google.

Though Sonos and Chromecast Audio use the same model for streaming audio to speakers over the Internet, Sonos picks services like Spotify and Tidal and eventually Apple Music to include in its own app. Google, on the other hand, lets developers add Chromecast Audio support directly to their own individual apps.

The experience is arguably better since you can just use the apps you already use rather than learning and depending on Sonos for app updates to a single app, but I can’t see Apple adding a Chromecast Audio button to iOS’s built-in Music app (even though it would only appear for Chromecast owners).

There’s one really good counter argument to this thought though: Apple Music for Android. Like Sonos support, we know its in development and supposed to come this year. If Apple wants to compete with Spotify in the streaming music space, treating Chromecast Audio like Sonos makes a lot of sense to me.

As it stands now, Chromecast Audio is an easy, cheap recommendation if you spend any time in the apps it already supports like Spotify, NPR One, and Pocketcast and want to modernize as standard speaker with a line-in, RCA, or optical input. The result is very similar to what Sonos offers through its all-in-one speakers, priced at $199 and above, only you don’t need to replace the speakers you already own.

The app environment is already pretty vast, with many but not all Chromecast apps supported. I tested with Hulu, YouTube, and other video-focused apps without luck, but on the desktop using Chrome these services would work with Chromecast Audio.

Even as a user of almost entirely Apple kit, I admire Google’s ability to offer a really useful piece of hardware at a price that a lot of people won’t think twice about. This allows you to experiment with Chromecast Audio and even add multi-room setups without breaking the bank.

Chromecast Audio won’t be right for everyone, but at $35 and availability through Best Buy and Google’s online store (sorry Amazon shoppers), I do recommend it as a serious option for anyone wanting to bring new life to old, disconnected speakers in need of some Internet goodness.

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: AirPlay, Apple Music, Chrome, Chromecast, chromecast audio, Google, iPad, iPhone

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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:

13″ Retina MacBook Pro 2.7GHz/8GB/128GB (MF839LL/A): $1,080 shipped (Reg. $1,299)

13″ MacBook Air 1.6GHz/4GB/128GB (MJVE2LL/A): $800 shipped (Reg. $999)

Add Bluetooth/mic to any Aux speaker or headphones for $8 Prime shipped

Giveaway: Trinity Delta aluminum earbuds feature a unique design and top-notch sound ($135 value), 20% discount

Review: Rock Band 4 makes an old favorite come alive with refreshed gameplay, new songs & updated hardware

More new gear from today:

Add a TiVO Roamio OTA HD DVR w/ Lifetime service to your Cord Cutter setup for a one-time $300 fee

• Games/Apps: Disney Infinity Marvel Super Heroes (all platforms) $20, Two EA sports titles $70, more
• Logitech Harmony Touch 15-Device Universal Remote: $100 shipped (Reg. $140)
• Daily Deals: Epson PowerLite Projector $400, Lytro 40 Megaray Light Field Camera $600, more
• Media: Blu-ray & DVDs from $3 – Taken 2, RoboCop & others, Jurassic World pre-order, more

More deals still alive:

The Executive for iOS goes free for the first time as IGN’s Game of the Month ($5 value)

• Apple iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi: 16GB $380 shipped (Reg. $499), 64GB $490 shipped (Reg. $599)
• Get a no-contract iPhone 6s from Boost Mobile for just $450 shipped (Orig. $649)
• Lenmar MAVEN iPhone 6 MFi 3,000mAh Battery Case $29 shipped (Orig. $100), more
• App Store Gorgeous Games for $1 Sale: Tengami, Superbrothers, KAMI, Icebreaker, Out There, more
• App Store Free App of the Week: Combo Quest RPG goes free for the first time ($1 value)
• UE ROLL 360 Bluetooth Speaker (all colors): $90 shipped (Reg. $100)
• Jawbone BIG JAMBOX Bluetooth Speaker (dented box) $120 shipped (Reg. $180)
• LG 34-inch 21:9 UltraWide LED IPS Monitor: $620 shipped (Reg. $780+)
• Kindle First Books for Oct: Infinity Lost, The Mentor, The Concealed, This Is the Night, more
• D-Link DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem: $59 shipped (Reg. $73)
• Samsung 850 EVO 2.5-inch Internal SSDs: 500GB $150 (Reg. $175+), 250GB $80 (Reg. $90)
• Belkin QODE Ultimate Keyboard Case for iPad Air 2 in White/Gold: $49 shipped (Reg. $100)
• Free Xbox Live Gold Games for October: Valiant Hearts, The Walking Dead, more
• Free PS Plus Games for October: Super Meat Boy, Broken Age, Kickbeat, more
• Freebies: iHop pancakes + Apache SIM HD for iPad + Better Homes and Gardens + More!
• Halloween Décor up to 50% off: Star Wars candy bowl holders $40, outdoor blowups, more
• iStumbler for $12.49 (50% off)
• Learn to hack a Raspberry Pi: $115 (Orig. $804, CA Tax Only)
• First Generation Lytro 16GB Digital Camera $80 (Orig. $199)
• Loot Crate: 3-Month Subscription: $49 Shipped (Orig. $58, CA Tax Only)

New products & more:

The Sondors eBike is loaded with features and surprisingly affordable

• EA’s new free-to-play Need for Speed No Limits is now available on iOS and Android
• These Bluetooth earbuds use your iPhone’s Lightning port to charge
• BRO Ball combines Bluetooth audio and pigskin for the ultimate tailgate companion
• TiVo makes the DVR sexy with 4K content, AirPlay and one-click commercial skipping
• Bose’s latest connected speaker lowers the entry price into the SoundTouch family
• Keurig’s new KOLD brewer lets you make Coca-Cola at home but it’s going to cost you
• Amazon snags exclusive streaming rights for Back to The Future trilogy

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon, amazon deals, Amazon Prime, apple deals, Aukey, Bluetooth adapter, Cord Cutter, Cord-cutting, coupon codes, Daily Deals, eBay Daily Deals, free apps, free shipping, iOS deals, itunes deals, Lunch Break, New Toy of the Day, OTA, review, Rock Band 4, TiVo Roamio OTA HD DVR

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If you haven’t yet found your perfect Apple Watch strap among the company’s own offerings or the numerous third-party options, Apple has today officially launched its partnership with French leather fashion company Hermēs.

Uncompromising craftsmanship. Pioneering innovation. Groundbreaking functionality. Apple Watch Hermès is the culmination of a partnership based on parallel thinking, singular vision and mutual regard. It is a unique timepiece designed with both utility and beauty in mind. With leather straps handmade by Hermès artisans in France and an Hermès watch face reinterpreted by Apple designers in California, Apple Watch Hermès is a product of elegant, artful simplicity — the ultimate tool for modern life.

Splashing out between $1100 and $1500 gets you a special version of the stainless steel Watch, with Hermēs branding on the back, a number of special watch faces and a choice of three leather straps. Color options depend on the strap, some with suitably exotic-sounding names … 

The Single Tour ($1100) is Hermēs’ own take on the Classic Buckle, available in Noir or Fauvre (black or brown, for lesser mortals) in the 42mm version, while the 38mm model is also available in Capucine (red, to you or I).

The Double Tour ($1250) – available for the 38mm model only –  is the same thing, but wrapping around the wrist twice to provide the look of a bracelet as well as watch. Choose between gray, brown, red or blue – or Etain (not Cosmos Etain …), Fauve, Capucine and Bleu Jean. 

The Cuff ($1500) is available only in brown, and can also be used to retrieve falcons (probably).

The Hermēs Watch is available only at select Apple Stores, Hermēs stores and a handful of high-end fashion stores. You can find the full list of retailers here.

Jony Ive recently revealed that the collaboration with the Paris-based company began even before the Watch was announced.

Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple Inc, Apple Store, hermes, Hermes Watch, Jonathan Ive, Leather, Stainless steel, Strap

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Apple has declared that Apple Pay is off to a “great start” almost a year after its launch with the company seeing steady growth in Apple Pay transactions every month. In a statement to Bloomberg, the company said:

“We’re off to a great start and we are seeing continued, double-digit monthly growth in Apple Pay transactions since launch,” Apple said in an e-mailed statement.

Apple Pay launched last year with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the US. The service expanded to the UK a few months ago. In Apple’s January investor call, Cook claimed 2015 was “the year of Apple Pay”. However, Bloomberg notes that not everyone is as thrilled with the mobile payments service as Apple is. At both Panera Bread and Firehouse, Apple Pay transactions make up low single-digit percentages of overall purchases…

Although it’s hard to judge success for a mobile payments solution that only works on recent iPhone and Apple Watch hardware, these numbers do seem low. Firehouse is also disappointed with Apple’s lack of marketing for the feature: “Apple is just not even pushing it out,” Burchianti said.

A survey for Apple Watch users showed that most users would set up the feature by adding cards but over half of those only used the service once. Another questionnaire showed that users did not understand the service’s benefits enough to make it part of their habitual buying process. It is very true that Apple Pay is more of a convenience right now, rather than an essential feature.

Apple is expanding Wallet (nee Passbook) in iOS 9 with the addition of Discovery cards, as well as store loyalty cards. This should help promote the iPhone wallet features overall, which could give Apple Pay more attention and encourage more adoption of the feature. For the US market, the introduction of EMV technology may also be a factor in Apple Pay uptake, as it will be faster for customers and more efficient for retailers to use contactless payment methods.

Filed under: Apple Pay, iOS, iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: Apple pay, Apple watch, iPhone 6, iphone 6 plus, iPhone 6s, pay

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I’ve tested lots of iPhone battery cases since 2007, and quite a few great iPhone 6 battery cases over the past year. It’s extremely rare to find a battery case with integrated wall plugs that recharge both the battery and iPhone, but a company named Prong is now on its second-generation version of exactly that product. Prong’s first iPhone cases had no batteries, but included wall plugs so you could recharge wherever you found a standard wall outlet. Then it took the next logical step and added a spare battery for iPhone 5/5s users.

After a very lengthy pre-order process, Prong is about to release PWR Case for iPhone 6 ($100), a bigger and more powerful version of its earlier iPhone 5/5s case. PWR is atypical in several ways, starting with the aforementioned fold-out wall prongs, but also that it includes a detachable case, and is offered in a fully transparent version that may appeal to techies…

While PWR Case has some interesting specifics, the overall functionality isn’t much different from the many iPhone 6 battery cases I’ve previously covered. You still get a sled-style plastic battery pack for your iPhone 6, which provides substantial back, bottom, and side coverage, along with a 3.5mm headphone adapter and standard Micro-USB to USB charging cable. Prong offers PWR in black, blue, red, or transparent versions, the latter a true novelty among iPhone battery cases — I can’t recall ever seeing an all-clear battery case before. So if you’re a serious techie, that version of PWR may be the best choice for you based on looks alone.

Each PWR also includes a standalone iPhone 6 case, which combines a clear hard plastic back protector with a rubberized bumper, completing PWR’s top and side protection. The detachable case is required to keep your iPhone 6 inside PWR’s battery sled; without the case on, your iPhone will rattle around atop PWR’s Lightning connector. As a result, PWR shouldn’t be used around without the case, but the case can be used without PWR’s battery and charging pack.

Although Prong apparently contemplated offering PWR in multiple capacities, the final version has a 2600mAh battery inside, which is on the higher end of iPhone 6 battery cases, and here roughly doubles the device’s natural thickness. I tested PWR with an iPhone 6, finding that it delivered a full recharge from 0% without any additional power left to spare. You can expect similar roughly-one-full-recharge performance with the iPhone 6s, though Prong doesn’t officially list PWR as compatible with the newer model.

Prong’s signature feature is PWR’s integrated set of fold-out wall blades, which make the case special: it requires nothing save an open wall outlet to recharge its own battery and/or the iPhone’s. The blades are extremely easy to fold out and in as needed, though they contribute to increasing PWR’s bulk compared with a typical iPhone 6 battery case.

You can use the blades to recharge the battery pack alone, or the battery pack and the iPhone. Remaining power is indicated with four bright white LEDs inside the pack, interestingly designed with windows so the lights can be seen both on the back when the case is fully assembled, and the front when the iPhone’s not inside.

There’s undeniable convenience in the integrated charger, which effectively blends a $19 iPhone USB Power Adapter into the back of the case rather than forcing you to carry one around. That said, Prong’s inclusion of a USB cable is indicative of the near-universality of USB as a battery case (and iPhone) recharging solution; most people are just accustomed to seeking out a USB port to recharge their iPhones and battery cases. PWR is the case you choose when USB isn’t going to be available. It’s notably capable of adjusting to 100-240V wall power.

The three key challenges PWR Case faces are its size, release timing, and pricing. Many of Prong’s rivals were inspired by the iPhone 6 to go “smaller and thinner,” while PWR is fairly thick and has a pronounced chin at the bottom — the physical cost of integrating a wall charger into the design. Additionally, PWR is arriving fairly late on the scene: it’s scheduled to become available on October 14, 2015, but was built for last year’s iPhone 6; Prong doesn’t (yet) market it as officially 6s-compatible, though it works. Finally, PWR demands a $60 premium over $40 iPhone 6 battery cases from companies such as Anker, which is a lot to ask for adding a pair of fold-out wall blades. You can decide for yourself whether the functionality merits the premium, but it’s a somewhat hard sell compared with the best iPhone 6 battery cases out there, unless you have a very specific need for its key feature. If you do, you’ll be hard-pressed to find another iPhone 6 case with wall blades built in.

Filed under: General, iOS Devices, Reviews Tagged: battery case, iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, Prong, PWR

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With the construction of Apple’s new Spaceship campus now showing rapid progress, new 4K drone footage (below) shows huge glass panels in the staging area close to the metal sections.

The circular Campus 2 building is really taking shape now above ground level, even when compared to footage from just three weeks ago, and we get a sense of the scale of the excavation from the sizeable pyramid of excavated dirt just outside the ring … 

The campus, which will provide workspace for around 13,000 employees, is scheduled to see the main building completed in late 2016, with the surrounding building works completing early the following year.

Although the finished building will be well-hidden from surrounding streets, you will still be able to take a look if you find yourself in the area after it opens, thanks to a visitor’s center with rooftop observation deck.

This latest footage is courtesy of MyithZ. You can see previous videos, photos and news over at our ongoing timeline.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple, Apple Campus 2, campus 2, Inc, Spaceship Campus

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