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Today’s can’t miss deals:

Apple’s 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro w/ Force Touch 2.7GHz/8GB/256GB $1,280 shipped (Reg. $1,499)

A Dark Room iPhone/iPad best-selling RPG is now available for free (Reg. $1)

Freebies: Learn Guitar Theory for iOS + Shape magazine + Rise of the Tomb Raider DLC + More!

GoPro HERO4 Black 4K Action Camera: $360 shipped (Reg. $500)

The best accessories for the new Apple TV: MFi game controllers, keyboards, cables, more

Giveaway: Polk Audio’s Omni Whole Home Music System – Soundbar w/ subwoofer and S2 Speaker ($880 value)

More new gear from today:

Amazon Gold Box – Audio-Technica M-Series Headphones over 40% off: ATH-M30x $49 shipped (Reg. $69), more

• TOTU Dual Layer iPhone 6s Case in gold, silver or gray $3 Prime shipped (Reg. $12+)
• Rugged iPhone 6/s case w/ tripod stand, bottle opener and lighter: $12 Prime shipped
• Storage: Seagate Expansion 4TB Desktop Hard Drive $100 shipped (Reg. $120), more
• Media: That 70’s Show Complete Series on Blu-ray $70 (Reg. $100+), more
• Games/Apps: Skylanders Trap Team Pack $21, Halo 5 limited edition $220, more
• Daily Deals: Baytek Portable Bluetooth Speaker $14, Panasonic Projector $399, more

More deals still alive:

Fitbit Charge HR Activity Tracker $115 shipped (Reg. $150), Fitbit Surge $195 (Reg. $245)

• ChugPlug External Battery Pack for MacBook Air and MacBook Pro $40 shipped (Orig. $130)
• App Store Free App of the Week: Dr. Panda’s Mailman ($4 value)
• Gift Cards up  20% off: JCPenney, Sports Authority, more
• Fashion – extra 20% off fall athletic/outdoor shoes: Caterpillar boots $52, more
• Protect your new iPad mini 4 with this folio smart case: $3 Prime shipped (Reg. $10)
• Headphones: Audio-Technica Over-Ears $135, JayBird Bluetooth In-ears $102, more
• proXPN VPN: Premium Lifetime Subscription for $39 ($375 value)
• Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 interface + Sennheiser HD600 + Condenser Mic $400 shipped ($655 value)
• TP-Link Archer C7 802.11ac Router + DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem $130 shipped ($155+ value)
• VIZIO 2.1 Sound Stand w/ subwoofer & remote $100 shipped (Orig. $250)
• KMASHI 10,000mAh Battery $9 (Reg. $14), 6-Ft. Braided MFi Lightning Cable $8.50, more

New products & more:

The eora 3D scanner uses your iPhone to create 360-degree models of anything

Belkin’s new lightweight QODE Ultimate Keyboard Case for iPad Air 2 is now available

• Dyson’s pricey 360 Eye robo-vac finally sees the light of day
• Use your smartphone as a controller for these AirConsole Mac/PC browser games
• Best Buy lands the first major blow in this year’s battle for holiday shoppers
• Dell Black Friday Ad Leak: Gears of War Xbox One w/ Fallout 4 + controller $300, more
• Amazon thinks leaving your house is over-rated, expands Prime free same-day delivery service
• Marvel’s limited edition Phase Two Blu-ray collection arrives just in time for the holidays
• The MiniBrew launches on Indiegogo as an iPhone-connected way to make your own beer
• Bird of Prey’s prone-style bicycle puts the rider facedown while riding
• Garmin drops the bulk and adds color with its new Forerunner wearables

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon Gold Box, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Black Friday, coupon codes, Daily Deals, Deals, eBay Daily Deals, free, free apps, free shipping, GoPro HERO4 Black, iOS freebies, lightning cables, MFi, New Toy of the Day, Retina MacBook Pro

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For the moment, the new Apple TV’s accessory compatibility can fairly be described as “confusing.” It’s confirmed that Bluetooth speakers and headphones — previously unsupported by older Apple TVs — work with the new model. On the other hand, Bluetooth keyboards, which previously worked with Apple TVs, do not. And Bluetooth game controllers… well, if they were Made For iPhone (or iPad), they work with the new Apple TV. But contrary to some erroneous early reports, if they were made for other devices (say, the PlayStation 4), they don’t.

So even though SteelSeries’ Nimbus ($50) has been pitched as the first “gamepad controller for Apple TV,” it’s kinda not. The company’s earlier Stratus (now only $40 refurbished) works with the Apple TV, as do Mad Catz’ nicer C.T.R.L.i and Micro C.T.R.L.i controllers. However, Nimbus is launching with newer technology at a not-insane price point. It has a Lightning connector built in for recharging an integrated 40-hour battery, a Bluetooth 4.1 wireless chip, and a design that was apparently — despite obvious similarities to many other controllers — co-developed by Apple itself. It also is the first accessory to ship with Apple’s new “Made for Apple TV” logo on the box. Here are some early thoughts on the Nimbus based on my hands-on experiences…

Packaging and “Made for Apple TV”

Nimbus arrives in a mostly white box that’s consistent with Apple’s recent accessory packaging coordination initiative. The most notable element of the box is the new Made for Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, and iPod logo that appears next to the increasingly dated-looking Mac compatibility icon; this is the first shipped accessory to boast an official “Made for Apple TV” marking. A list on the side of the package confirms that Nimbus was “Made for” the “Apple TV 4th generation,” as well as all iPhones from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 6s Plus, all iPads from the “iPad 4th generation” to the iPad Pro, and the iPod touch 5th and 6th generation models. Macs with OS X 10.9 or later are also supported.

Missing from the package is the Lightning cable that you’ll need for recharging Nimbus. If you purchase any iOS device or the new Apple TV, you’ll have a Lightning cable in the package. Mac users… well, it’s fair to assume almost all of them will have a Lightning cable sitting around already, too.

Design

Nimbus is a lot like earlier MFi gamepads, sharing sizing and control positions with SteelSeries’ earlier Stratus XL. Following Sony’s lead with the DualShock, Nimbus’s face aligns a traditional D-pad with four action buttons, above two analog joysticks and a “Menu” button — relabeled from “||” (pause) on Stratus and other MFi game controllers. Four matte-finished triggers are on the top, two left and two right, straddling a power switch (labeled “Hold”), a Lightning port, and a Bluetooth pairing button. Apart from joystick locations and texturing differences, it’s a lot like Mad Catz’ earlier C.T.R.L.i in size and feel, as shown above.

One would guess that the four-bar red light indicator on Nimbus’s face was there to show how much power is remaining, but it’s labeled “1, 2, 3, 4,” for reasons SteelSeries’ manual doesn’t explain. The numbers don’t indicate which of four controller positions a given Nimbus is using; the new Apple TV supports only two game controllers at once, and even when two Bluetooth controllers were connected, both had only their first light on. According to the manual, this light will flash for 10 seconds when the power reaches the “20 minutes remaining” stage.

The obvious external changes from Stratus XL are subtle tweaks for hand comfort. Unlike its flat-topped predecessor, Nimbus recesses its front controls a little below the hand grips, adjusts the top button positions for easier pressing, and changes the textures of the analog joysticks’ rubber tops. This time, the L2 and R2 buttons hang off the controller’s edges, like Sony’s DualShock 4, making their pressure-sensitive triggers easier to grab with an outstretched fingers. I’d characterize the differences as subtle improvements, but Nimbus feels nice in the hand.

Internally, the replacement of the prior AA batteries with a rechargeable cell is a benefit, as may be the addition of a Bluetooth 4.1 wireless chip, an upgrade from Bluetooth 2.1 in SteelSeries’ prior model. I say “may be” only because the Apple TV ships with Bluetooth 4.0 support, and the real-world impact on battery life and performance is unknown. But just like Stratus XL, Nimbus promises 40-hour battery life. What’s missing? Rumble support, the titular feature of Sony’s DualShock series, and orientation sensors, found in the Siri Remote, are not included in Nimbus.

Compatibility, Updating + Pairing

Putting aside pricing, compatibility has been the major sticking point for every game controller released over the past five years for Apple devices. And right now, it’s a question mark. Initial developer enthusiasm over the Apple TV’s gaming potential with dedicated game controllers took a massive hit when Apple announced that all Apple TV games would be required to fully support the (substantially different) Siri Remote as a controller, too. As a result, no one really knows how many games will include Apple TV game controller support — the problem that dogged MFi controllers two years ago when they launched with iOS 7. Since Apple is spotlighting Nimbus on its Apple TV mini-site, hopefully the publicity will encourage developers to step up with support.

To help gamers discover compatible games, SteelSeries has released the free SteelSeries Nimbus Companion App, which includes a listing of known compatible iOS games, though there’s no Apple TV-specific sorting mechanism (yet). The SteelSeries app can also wirelessly update Nimbus’s firmware, which worked pretty quickly with a “critical update” after my controller arrived.

There are hundreds (not thousands) of supported iOS games, and I recognized more than handfuls of the titles, which is to say that they’re not all obscure. But the first Apple TV game I played, Mr. Jump, doesn’t have game controller support, which is surprising, as it literally only uses one button for in-game controls; iOS games I tried with it worked mostly as expected, though I had to pause Pac-Man Championship Edition DX with the B button rather than the Menu (formerly Pause) button, just like with the C.T.R.L.i. It’s going to be interesting to see how developers deal with controller support across multiple Apple devices/platforms.

Even if there aren’t many Apple TV games to use with it quite yet, Nimbus is easy to pair with the Apple TV itself — just like pretty much anything the new Apple TV supports. You just go into the Remotes and Devices menu, choose Bluetooth under other devices, and pair Nimbus. At that point, the D-pad lets you move up, down, left, and right, while an analog stick does the same thing but more closely mimics the Siri Remote’s track pad with gradual swaying. The A button selects, B goes back, and the Menu button also goes back. Holding down B or Menu takes you quickly back to the top menu.

Should You Buy One Right Now?

If history’s any guide, you’d be best off waiting at least a little while before grabbing any Made for Apple TV controller — Apple’s mandate of Siri Remote support means that third-party game controllers certainly aren’t necessary, and until there’s a big, great-sounding list of games that take advantage of them, your Nimbus might just sit around collecting dust. But at least SteelSeries got the price right this time, and came up with a compelling (if not quite DualShock 4-beating) feature set. Now it’s just up to Apple and game developers to provide everyone with good reasons to buy in.

More From This Author

Check out more of my editorials, How-To guides, and reviews for 9to5Mac here! I’ve covered a lot of different topics of interest to Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch users. I’ve recently discussed how to safely prepare and wipe your iPhone for resale or trade-in, and how to get the best iPhone trade-in price to help buy an iPhone 6s, amongst many other topics.

Filed under: Apple TV, Reviews Tagged: Apple TV, Apple TV 4, Apps, gaming, Made for Apple TV, MFi, Nimbus, SteelSeries, SteelSeries Nimbus

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While we can’t say for sure that an Apple Car will ever go on sale, it’s a certainty by this point that the company is devoting substantial development resources to the project. Tim Cook said recently that there would be “massive change” in the car industry, and that “autonomous driving becomes much more important.”

But as a recent opinion piece on sister site Electrek argued, and Elon Musk warned, actually manufacturing a car is massively more complex than making consumer electronics devices. Apple will therefore be looking for partners to pull together different elements of the car. Re/code has put together an interesting look at the most likely candidates … 

None of the companies would comment on any conversations they have with the Cupertino giant about their own cars. None of them flat-out denied those conversations, either. Google, Tesla and Apple all declined to comment.

The list below is not exhaustive. Yet after conversations with nearly a dozen manufacturers, industry experts and tech companies involved in the world of self-driving cars, Re/code assembled a portrait of the leading, innovative companies and critical dynamics in the autonomous industry.

The exterior of the car could, it suggests, be made by five companies: Roush, Delphi, Edison2, Atieva and Renovo Motors. The first of those, Roush, is a Michigan-based “boutique automotive supplier” which already has one key claim to credibility in the field: it assembled the exterior for Google’s prototype self-driving cars.

Renovo recently teamed-up with engineers from Stanford University to create a self-driving electric DeLorean capable of donuts and drifting. While it was of course a PR stunt, you need some impressive tech to pull it off.

Atieva, founded by a former Tesla VP and with many former Tesla staff in its employ, is noted for its expertise in battery tech, and is working on building a complete electric car.

For the internals – including the technology required for self-driving capabilities – Continental, Bosch and Frimo are all listed as contenders. Bosch already has an impressive record in the field. It’s a key supplier to many of the world’s car manufacturers, including Tesla’s auto-pilot functionality. The company is also working on its own self-driving hardware, using a Tesla S as a testbed.

Continental is another Tesla supplier working on “systems that build autonomy into brakes, acceleration and steering.”

Autonomous cars require some serious processing power, and Nvidia is the chipmaker described as “ahead of the curve,” establishing an automotive division back in 2007 geared to adapting its video games expertise to the real world. It supplies in-car computers to both Tesla and Google, as well as other luxury carmakers, which can process data from “up to 12 cameras on a car, plus any Lidar and ultrasonic sensors.” Apple recently poached Nvidia’s director of deep learning.

Head on over to Re/code to read the full piece, which also covers cameras, LIDAR and more.

Filed under: Apple Car Tagged: AAPL, Apple, Apple Car, Automotive industry, Autonomous car, Elon Musk, Google, Inc, LIDAR, Self-driving car, Tesla Motors

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Although carriers have created workarounds in the past, Apple has been slow to support carrier billing for iTunes and App Store purchases so far. That appears to be changing, in Germany at least, as TechCrunch reports Telefonica-owned carrier O2 is officially supported as a payment option within iTunes. O2 customers are said to be able to provide a phone number rather than a credit card to allow billing to be handled through O2 rather than directly with a credit or debit card or other options.

iTunes and App Store payments are then handled through the carrier with the phone bill monthly rather than immediately. This allows subscription services like Apple Music and Netflix to also be handled through carrier billing.

In the past, we’ve seen O2 in the UK offer a similar but unofficial solution for carrier billing with iTunes purchases. Through its Charge to Mobile solution, O2 sells iTunes credit in a deal that’s okay’d by Apple by not an official partnership. That differs from the carrier billing feature through O2 appearing in Germany where customers can link carrier accounts directly in iTunes.

TC, which credits German blogger Carsten Knobloch with the discovery, has confirmed the O2’s partnership with Apple as Telefónica Germany promised the feature will be available to all subscribers by the end of next month. For Knobloch, the feature is available on both iTunes on the desktop and within iOS on mobile.

Carrier billing remains unavailable through providers in the United States for now with credit cards, PayPal, and iTunes gift cards current solutions. Before Apple bought Beats, the pre-Apple Music streaming service Beats Music supported carrier billing exclusively through AT&T. T-Mobile has made streaming Apple Music on its cellular network not count against data tiers, but billing is still handled through traditional methods with iTunes.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: App Store, carrier billing, iTunes, O2

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Last month in Brussels gave us our first look at the all-new Apple Store design after Jony Ive and his team went to work, and today we can see what looks very much like a carbon copy of that look in the new Dubai store set to open on Thursday.

We see the same indoor trees and huge screen as seen in Brussels, but on a much larger scale. Gulf News, which took the photos below, says that the store is still being reported to be the world’s largest Apple Store, overtaking London’s Covent Garden, though it notes that “at first appearance” it looks smaller than expected … 

The store, located in the Mall of the Emirates, will be the first Apple Store to open in the United Arab Emirates when it opens at 4pm on the 29th, but UAE residents won’t have long to wait for the second: the Abu Dhabi store opens just three hours later at 7pm the same day.

Gulf Business also gave us a quick video tour.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Abu Dhabi, Apple Retail Store, Apple Store, Dubai, uae, United Arab Emirates

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The Apple TV is now available to buy but customers won’t be receiving their new hardware until Friday at the earliest, according to Apple shipping estimates. Although the dev kits currently lack an App Store to download software, plenty of developers are announcing their titles for the new Apple TV, ahead of schedule. We’ll be bringing you full coverage of the Apple TV later in the week but here’s a taste of the software already announced for the Apple TV’s debut …

Simplex

Plex has already announced that it is making an official Apple TV client ready for the App Store launch (more on that soon) but there is also a market of third-party clients that could be even better. One of these is Simplex. Simplex Video will stream your full Plex library straight to Apple TV featuring a fantastic UI that closely mirrors the Apple iTunes Movies experience, whilst exposing all of the Plex categorization options. This could be the de facto to stream your own content library to Apple TV, as iTunes Home Sharing leaves much to be desired.

Mr Jump

Mr Jump won an Apple App Store Editor’s Choice for its addictive iPhone and iPad platformer earlier in the year, accruing over 15 million downloads. The game maker is now bringing the popular title to Apple TV. Users tap on the Siri Remote touchpad to control Mr Jump and navigate the various platforms and obstacles in the levels. A longer tap makes Mr Jump go higher. A variety of power-ups are unlocked on the way, giving the one-button platformer a surprising level of depth. You can download Mr Jump for iOS now to get it automatically on the new Apple TV when the App Store launches.

Streaks Workout

Streaks is a cool new workout app for Apple TV. You can select from a variety of activities to do workouts directly in your living room … all wrapped into a pretty design with bold imagery and rich typography. Streaks times the pacing and number of repetitions and keep a record of your performance history. The goal is to do one workout every single day; you can customize the goals based on your fitness and free time. Get Streaks when the tvOS App Store launches. It’s also worth giving a shout-out to the 7 Minute TV Workout here, which is a very similar premise, but it includes videos of instructors doing each move so you can copy the professionals and maximise your efficiency.

Withings Home

Home health company Withings is jumping on board too, they’ll have an Apple TV app available at launch. The Withings Home app will work with their video monitoring hardware to let you easily add CCTV in every room of the house and view it all on your big-screen TV in the living room. The app will support streaming of up to 4 live videos at the same time, so you can glance at the security and safety of everyone in your house simultaneously. The app will be available for free in the Apple TV App Store but obviously you will need to buy the Withings cameras for it to be useful.

Sketch Party TV

SketchParty kind of exists today on the current Apple TV through AirPlay — you can download the iOS app and stream the game content to the television. It’s not a great experience though, AirPlay lag and occasional choppy frame-rates ruin the experience.

With the new Apple TV, SketchParty has made a tvOS game that runs on the Apple TV hardware. The app still connects with users’ iPhones and iPads to act as controllers for each of the players, where the sketching takes place. Its just that the main experience is now being powered by a real native app, allowing SketchParty to deliver higher quality, sharper graphics and fluid visuals to the Apple TV, eliminating the lag issues inherent with AirPlay Mirroring.

This is just a taste of the kinds of apps and games to expect for tvOS. Apple is still working through the review queue so the Apple TV app library will grow significantly in the coming days. Many of the top apps are also still under embargo, so we’ll bring you full coverage of those as the details become public. The first Apple TV units will be delivered to customers this Friday and we expect the tvOS App Store to go live for people with developer kits on Wednesday or Thursday.

(If you are working on a great tvOS app, please get in touch).

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple TV, Apps, apps and games, Games, mr jump, Plex, roundup

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The consensus forecast among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for Apple’s Q4 earnings is $51.11B, up 21.3% year-on-year. This would be slightly above the top end of Apple’s guidance of $49-51B reportsRe/code. Analysts predict unadjusted net profit of $10.72 billion, or $1.88 per AAPL share – up from $1.42 per share last year … 

Apple will report its earnings later today. The stock was looking set to see a 7.9% gain for the year until yesterday, when it fell sharply to a little over $115.

Analysts are forecasting that Apple sold around 48M iPhones in the quarter, 24% up on the same quarter last year – in large part because the new iPhones went on sale in China from the opening weekend. Investor reaction is expected to hinge more on Apple’s guidance for the holiday season than on the numbers it reports today.

KGI expects both iPad and Mac sales to have fallen year-on-year. There is nothing even approaching a consensus estimate of Apple Watch sales, but that’s a number Apple is unlikely to reveal.

We’ll of course be bringing you full coverage of the actual numbers as soon as they are announced.

Photo: Reuters

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: AAPL, AAPL Q4 2015, Apple Inc, china, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Reuters

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Pandora co-creator Tom Conrad discovered that Siri won’t open the pod door answer questions about the music charts if you don’t subscribe to Apple Music. When Conrad asked Siri for the most popular song in the US today, she remained tight-lipped.

Sorry, Tom, I can’t look up the music charts for you. You don’t seem to be subscribed to Apple Music …

Business Insider report that other non-subscribers get the same result. Here in the UK, at least, Siri can’t answer the question directly anyway: when I ask, Siri simply does a web search, with the Billboard Hot 100 as the first hit. (It’s The Hills by The Weeknd, if you’re curious.)

The hard sell seems a little un-Apple-like to me, especially as the service doesn’t appear to need much help, having reached 6.5M paid subscribers within the first month after the end of the free trial period for early adopters. That puts it on track to be a billion dollar business right off the starting grid.

What next? Siri refusing to answer questions about smartphones unless you own the latest iPhone?

Ironically, Apple recently ran an ad highlighting Siri’s increased helpfulness. Perhaps she’s a little tetchy from the thought of the added workload of dealing with Apple TV searches once the new units ship?

Main photo: Digital Trends

Filed under: Apple Music Tagged: Apple Music, Billboard Hot 100, Siri, The Weeknd

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Just a day after sharing three new advertisements for its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple this evening has unveiled yet another. Today’s new ad features Golden State Warriors player Stephen Curry showing off Live Photos.

The ad shows Curry shooting a half-court shot while a teammate watches and snaps a photo right after Curry releases the ball. The two then use the Live Photos feature of iPhone 6s to view the image. Live Photos is the iPhone 6s capability that automatically records a short snippet of time before and after taking the actual image. In this case, it allows us to see Curry’s release as well as his reaction when the shot goes in.

Yesterday’s ads showed off the “Hey Siri” and camera features of iPhone 6s. Curry also made an appearance in one of these, using the slo-mo recording capabilities of the device.

You can view today’s new ad entitled “Half court” below:

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Apple, iPhone 6s, iphone 6s plus, Live Photos, video

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