Apple is celebrating Accessibility Awareness Day this entire week with new content for Apple lovers of varying abilities. There’s a lot to check out this week from Fitness+, Apple Maps, Apple Music, and more.
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Jared Polin of FroKnowsPhoto is a Philadelphia-based YouTuber with a following of over one million. On the channel, Polin uses his extensive photography experience to create “Fun and Informative” videos on the subject. As part of a new “Dream Studio Makeover” project from Apple, Polin got to change the life of a young up-and-coming creative.
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Charter and Comcast have announced a partnership in creating a new streaming platform on 4K streaming devices and smart TVs. This new project will have to compete against Apple TV and other major streaming hardware and services like Amazon, Roku, and Google.
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Smartwatches like the Apple Watch have a lot of health features these days like fitness tracking, blood oxygen monitoring, and heart rate monitoring, among others. It’s become a critical part of many people’s lives and has even saved a few. It’s also becoming an important research tool as organizations analyze data from these health-monitoring features.
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New data from Canalys shows how smartphone shipments worldwide have fallen 11% due to adverse market conditions. Demand has remained slow in 2022 amid an unfavorable market.
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Someone made an Android phone with a lightning port – and it works. Last year, engineer Ken Pillonel did what Apple won’t do – make an iPhone with a working USB-C port. Now, Pillonel has made an Android phone with a working lightning connector.
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Apple is once again on Time’s list of 100 most influential companies after making big moves in the world of user privacy. This year, the list is a “diverse array of 100 businesses helping chart an essential path forward.” The technology giant is featured in a section called “Titans” where it’s “flexing its muscles” alongside Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and others.
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This week, Apple has released its latest Inclusion and Diversity report. The data in the report shows trends in Apple’s workforce between 2014 and 2021. The company has over 165,000 employees globally across its retail, tech, non-tech, and leadership roles. Over time, Apple has been hiring and promoting an increasing number of women and people from underrepresented minorities.
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Travelers checking in for their Alaska Airlines flights may find themselves using iPad Pros. As a replacement for self-check-in kiosks, the airline has iPad Pros installed at tables in its lobby. The airline has been testing out a new series of technological improvements to speed up the onboarding process.
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Last fall, Apple launched its first Impact Accelerator program designed to advance equality in the environmental sector. As of today, applications are now open for its second program. This three-month virtual program gives US business leaders access to Apple’s expert mentors and alumni community.
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For years, Apple has been vocal about its belief that privacy is a fundamental human right. In 2020, its decision to diminish iPhone ad tracking sparked a debate between executives about just how far the company will go to stop this pursuit.
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Once again, Apple has been a leader in the global share of top smartphones in 2021. New data from Counterpoint shows iPhone among seven out of the top 10 smartphones worldwide last year. On the list, Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi were the only brands to make the top 10. Xiaomi took two spots while Samsung took one.
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A source tells 9to5Mac that Apple has “no plans to shutdown the App Store in Russia.” However, it is disabling search ads for the time being. Apple Search Ads is a tool for customers to discover apps relevant to them while browsing the App Store.
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Instagram has introduced automatic captions for videos like its rival TikTok did early last year. As reported by engadget, this feature will be enabled by default for creators, so they won’t have to manually add captions themselves. Automatic captions are only in select languages right now, but Instagram plans to expand to more languages and countries soon.
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News is out today from the Apple Women’s Health Study on periods, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), and heart health. This study is done by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and Apple.
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Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff started his corporate journey like many do- as an intern. In a recent podcast, Benioff shares what he learned from his internship at Apple in 1984.
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Assurant released its 2021 Annual Trade-in and Upgrade Industry Trends report, and the results are intriguing. Through smartphone trade-in and upgrade programs, consumers earned over $3 billion in 2021. This amount is up by nearly $1 billion from 2020.
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Bowdoin College is once again giving students access to some of the latest Apple technology. The College’s Digital Excellence Commitment (DExC) will provide each incoming student with a 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro, an iPad mini, and an Apple Pencil. Students are receiving these devices at either Orientation or when the Fall 2022 semester begins.
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One of Apple’s biggest suppliers is ramping up production to fund six new projects – one of which being wearable devices. It seems Luxshare Precision Industry Company, based in China, may soon be diving into Apple Watch production.
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YouTuber “Krazy Ken” has posted a video on his Computer Clan channel where he goes hands-on with a rare prototype of the original Bondi blue iMac G3. This particular prototype is quite different from the shipping version, despite bearing a similar resemblance. Unfortunately, the unit doesn’t power on at the moment, but Ken says that he’s working with other tech YouTubers to repair it and make it functional.
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Apple device collector Giulio Zompetti has acquired a functioning AirPower mat prototype. As you likely know, AirPower was a multi-device wireless charging mat that Apple announced in 2017 and later canceled after failing to “meet its own standards of quality.” For any doubters that may think this is one of those many knock-offs, Giulio has assured followers that this is a genuine AirPower prototype that somehow made its way outside of Apple.
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Just days before Apple’s big March 25th event where it will unveil a new subscription news service, the company has revealed plans to support three media literacy programs in the United States and across Europe. Each program shares a similar goal in combating so-called fake news (fictitious stories intended to drive traffic and not spread truth).
Apple is finally rolling out its Apple News Format to all publishers, after an initial announcement at WWDC 2015. The format lets anyone, big or small, create rich multimedia stories within the Apple News app, featuring panoramas, videos, animations and more.
Until today, Apple News Format was limited to exclusive launch partners (like Wired) whilst everyone else had to resort to basic RSS import. Publishers interested in using the format should check out the documentation on Apple’s website.
Microsoft today released News Pro, a news delivery service with “hyper-relevant news for your work.” The application utilizes either your Facebook or LinkedIn account for log in and then aggregates news topics and articles around your work-based interests. The idea is similar to Apple’s own News app, and Flipboard, but with a focus on articles and topics related to your day-to-day career. The project seems to be coming out from the Microsoft Garage team, whom have been specializing in experimental projects.