Opinion: In-app ‘tipping’ controversy in China highlights gap in Apple’s cultural understanding overseas
Apple has now implemented a controversial change to the way it handles cash ‘tips’ sent to content providers through social media apps in China. It is treating them as in-app purchases, and taking a 30% cut.
Apple’s point of view makes perfect sense in the USA. It argues that a donation from a user to a content creator is no different to an in-app purchase. Indeed, in the original news piece, many commenters took issue with the use of the word ‘donation,’ saying that this is suggestive of a contribution to a charitable cause rather than to an individual.
But it is this which highlights the cultural gulf between the two countries …
10.5-inch iPad teardown reveals a scaled-down 12.9-inch model, not a scaled-up 9.7-inch one
iFixit has completed its teardown of the new 10.5-inch iPad, and reports that the internal design is that of a scaled-down 12.9-inch model rather than a scaled-up version of the 9.7-inch version.
The internal layout of the 9.7″ Pro was strikingly similar to the standard iPad—while the 12.9″ Pro had a completely new internal layout […] But it looks like Apple has moved from iPad Pro experimentation to standardization. An open-faced 10.5″ iPad Pro is essentially a scaled-down, streamlined version of its 12.9″ predecessor …
Chuck Thacker, lead designer of the Xerox Alto – which inspired the Macintosh – dies
Charles ‘Chuck’ Thacker, lead designer of the Xerox Alto (below), has died at the age of 74, reports Communications. The Alto, launched in 1973, was the first ever computer based on a graphical user interface and controlled by a mouse, and was one of the inspirations between Apple’s Lisa and Macintosh computers …
Investors bet $1.3B against AAPL as stock declines 6.2%
While the recent fall in Apple’s share price comes in the context of tech stocks in general taking a hit, the latest data suggests that investors are more pessimistic about AAPL specifically.
Data compiled by S3 Partners shows that ‘short interest’ in the stock – investors staking money on Apple’s share price falling – has climbed by $1.3B in the past month. This makes Apple the third most shorted company after Tesla and Alibaba …
Consumer Reports: Galaxy S8 bests iPhone 7 despite ‘awkwardly placed’ rear fingerprint sensor & more
Consumer Reports today is out with its latest smartphone ratings, highlighting recent releases from Samsung. The iPhone 7 is also in the mix, even though it’s nearing 9 months on the market at this point.
Given the iPhone 7’s age, it shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise that it was beat out by newer flagship devices from Samsung and LG…
Comparison: Here’s how Apple’s current Mac lineup looks in terms of specs & price
In a somewhat surprising move, Apple this year overhauled much of its Mac lineup with new options, improved performance, and in some cases, price cuts at WWDC. Given that the event was so full of new information, however, many changes got glossed over.
Read on for a full breakdown of Apple’s current Mac lineup in terms of price, specs, and upgrade options…
Maxed out iMac Pro could cost over $17K
The upcoming iMac Pro will be available this December and Apple shared that the base model will cost $4,999. However, some of the most impressive specs will be pricey upgrade options like an 18-Core processor, 128GB ECC memory, 4TB SSD, and more.
Apple hasn’t shared any pricing details on custom configuration options, but ZDNet has taken a fascinating in-depth look at estimating what you’ll need to fork over to obtain Apple’s most powerful iMac Pro…
Apple shares new trailer for upcoming Puff Daddy documentary ahead of release later this month
Apple today has shared a new trailer for its upcoming documentary based on Sean “Diddy” Combs, aka Puff Daddy. The documentary, from Live Nation Productions, will be an Apple Music exclusive and will debut on June 25th…
Apple updates iWork apps for Mac with new shape library, auto-correction features & more
Apple released updates to its iWork suite for macOS today. The new versions include a new library of 500 professionally drawn shapes, more efficient auto-correction and text replacement options, added stock and currency features, improved language support, and more.
Apple updates Pages, Keynote and Numbers for iOS get library of 500+ shapes & other new features
Apple today released updates to its Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps for iPhone and iPad, adding a new library of over 500 professionally drawn shapes to all apps and a handful of other features to each.
All of the apps are gaining the ability to reply to comments and join threaded conversations, as well as new auto-correction and text replacement functionality. Pages is gaining support for exporting documents as fixed layout ePub books. Numbers adds support for print previews in collaborative spreadsheets and enhancements for the Insert Stock Quote feature and the Stock and Currency functions. And Keynote gets the ability to edit presenter notes during slides, improvements for Hebrew and Arabic, and more.
A full list of new features included in today’s release below: