Landsbankinn and Arion banki are the first Icelandic banks supporting Apple Pay
International payment solutions company Valitor played a key role in bringing Apple Pay to Iceland
Apple Pay is likely to roll out in the Netherlands and Portugal soon.
Banks in both regions have been promising it’s “coming soon”
I think Iceland represents the 31st country to get Apple Pay?
Tim Cook promised back in March that Apple Pay would be available in more than 40 countries before the end of 2019
New Apple Pay and Wallet features announced at TRANSACT conference in Las Vegas
Will be able to trigger Apple Pay purchases via special NFC tags without the need for a separate app
Bird scooters, Bonobos clothing store, and PayByPhone parking meters will be the first partners for the initial rollout
Also the ability to sign up for and add digital loyalty cards to your iPhone wallet with a single tap.
Will AirPods 3 cost more?
Not only might they arrive before the end of the year, but they could cost more.
The idea of a higher price point was already floated, but there seems to be new evidence to support the theory
DigiTimes claims a supplier of the PCB used in the existing AirPods 2 has increased orders
Lends credence to the theory that Apple will continue to sell the existing models at their current price points
AirPods 3 are expected to be a new design possibly with noise cancelling feature and would reportedly use a new SiP design.
The “cracker” may be expanding
New renders from PiceBaba and OnLeaks of their 2019 iPhone XR update
Show the square camera bump and a two-lens system.
Shows the TrueTone flash and mic where the third camera would be in the updated 2019 iPhone Xs and Xs Max
Mark Gurman at Bloomberg tweeted Pictures of iPhone molds that seem to support the rumors
Also show a TrueDepth camera notch and no home button
Possibly with a new flood illuminator that will reduce the impact of the invisible light from the environment
Nothing really to back up these renders so they could be pure fantasy.
For the cameras Apple is expected to use the wide-angle + telephoto pairing like in the existing iPhone XS model.
The front facing cameras in all three models are expected to be updated from 7 to 12 MP sensors.
The display is expected to remain a 6.1-inch LCD
The report also claims it could be called the iPhone XE whichever the 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch models could be the XI and XI Max (finally we go to eleven on something).
All three phones are expected to have a new A13 processor and let you wirelessly charge AirPods and other devices by placing them on the back of the device.
Two colors, coral and blue, in the iPhone XR will be replaced with new green and lavender options.
Data from Canalys indicates that the iPhone XR was the best selling smartphone in the US for the first quarter of 2019
They say Apple shipped over 4.5 million iPhone XR’s and that represents 13 percent of total US smartphone shipments
Still the report notes that overall Apple say a 19 percent decline in overall year over year iPhone shipments, but still maintained a 40 percent share of the US smartphone market.
The site iPhoneSoft claims to have info from a “senior engineer” at Apple stating that iOS 13 will not work with the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, nor the iPhone SE
The report seems sketchy because it claims the OS will run on the A8 powered 6th gen iPod and it also runs on the iPhone 6s, but the iPhone SE has the same A9 processors as the 6s.
Apple Video picks up Dino doc
Apple has given the go ahead to Jon Favreau for a new Apple TV+ documentary series called “Prehistoric Planet”
It will reported use CGI to recreate the events from the last days of the dinosaurs
Apple Watch wins ‘Displays of the Year’
Apple Watch Series 4 was named one of the Displays of the Year by The Society for Information Display (SID) during the 2019 Display Industry Awards
The Series 4 display was specifically recognized for having “the most significant technological advances and/or outstanding features.”
Two of the standout features of the watches display tech were:
It’s a 30 percent larger display, but maintains the original device size.
Uses a new technology called LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxid) improves power efficiency, helping users get through the day on a single charge.
Apple no longer carries LG displays
Apple had stopped selling it’s “co-developed with” LG UltraFine 4K Display earlier this year.
Now it also appears that Apple Online are showing the UltraFine 5K display as “unavailable”
Apple stopped carrying the 5K in stores back in 2017 when there was a recall due to “interference” issues
Not clear if it’s temporary, but my guess is it isn’t
Apple is likely making room for when they launch their rumored new 31.6-inch 6K/3K display
we’ll likely get an announcement or sneak peek of the new Apple display at or around WWDC
Apple Park Rainbow Connection
A drone video of the Apple Park Campus revealed a large rainbow being erected in the center of the campus
Now, from stamens from Apple and Jony Ive, we know what it is.
It’s a custom designed concert stage for events and will be used for the first time at a May 17th event celebrating the opening of the new campus and a tribute to Steve Jobs
It’s called the “Apple Stage”
They wanted something recognizable and using the rainbow colors of the original Apple logo worked for that.
The semi-circular shape of the rainbow also relates to the new ring shape of the campus.
The structure itself is designed to be easily set up and removed.
It has an aluminum frame skinned with polycarbonate
Apple Card makes first appearance
Benjamin Geskin posted on Twitter that Apple employees are starting to receive their own Apple Card, credit cards
He also posted photos, where he photoshopped over the names.
The packaging is brightly colored and contains a hidden NFC tag.
You hold your device near the tag to activate the card.
Apple has said Apple Card will be released this summer in the United States.
Apple updates all the things
iOS 12.3, watchOS 5.2.1, macOS Mojave 10.14.5, and tvOS 12.3. The third-generation Apple TV 3 is also getting a new 7.3 software update
The biggest part of a number of the updates is the new TV app on iOS devices and Apple TV
3rd gen Apple TV also gets the new TV app
TV application and AirPlay 2 came to select Samsung TVs
watchOS expands ECG features to Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Croatia, and Iceland
macOS 10.14.5 is mostly bug fixes and security updates.
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
Apple TV Channels. First impressions
Couldn’t quite figure out the difference at first.
Accessed via the TV app.
Scroll down to the the “Available TV Channels” section
Channels are separate services and not the same as the “apps” for the service you’d find in the App Store
HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, EPIX, Smithsonian Plus, PBS Living, Acorn TV, Sundance Now, Lifetime Movie Club, Urban Movie Channel, Tastemade, Curiosity Stream, MTV Hits, Comedy Central Now
All have 7-day free trials.
Subscribe via an in-app subscription managed through your iTunes account.
HBO, is a completely separate subscription from my current HBO Now Subscription (HBO on Apple TV)
Despite the name can also watch in the TV app on iOS too.
When I downloaded and installed the HBO Now app, could sign-in via my iTunes, but it prompted me to create a new HBO Now username and password.
Using the HBO Channel in the TV App
Odd way to access it via the “Available TV Channels” section
Once inside everything looks like the TV app itself with “tiles”
There are the “see all” Links
Scroll down to get the the “categories” like Series, Movies, Kids & Family, etc.
Also has “Watch Live” feeds for east and west
You can select seasons and there are “download clouds” to save for offline watching. (At least for HBO)
Scary iCloud Photos message
Louise was helping a friend out with their iPhone to set up iCloud Photo sync’ing when they got a pretty scary message:
“Photos Sync’d from iTunes will be removed”
“Syncing photos via iTunes is not supported when iCloud Photos is turned on. 2,698 photos will be removed.”
Buttons for “Remove Photos” or “Cancel”
Anything telling you it’s going to delete about 3,000 photos from your device is scary.
In this case it helps to know why you’re getting this message and what will happen if you say “Remove Photos”
The idea behind iCloud Photo Library is that your entire Photo Library will sync via iCloud and across all your devices.
You need to define one location, most likely a Mac, as the “main system Library”
On the main Library you also want to make sure the option to “Download and keep originals” is set in the preferences.
This is also the Library /Machine you’ll want to make sure to backup your Photo Library from (including an offsite backup, other than iCloud).
The “old” way of getting Photos on your device was via an iTunes sync.
Connect your device to iTunes
Select the device
Go to the Photos tab and choose the sync options.
This is how your friends phone is currently set up and what the error message is referring to.
The reason you can’t leave the already sync’d images is that iCloud Photo Library will actually give you access to the entire library from the device. That library would contain the same 2,698 photos that are already currently on the device.
Before enabling and saying “yes” to the remove photos.
Connect the device to Photos and make sure ALL the images from the camera roll are imported.
Check also that the images in Photos on the device are also in Photos on the Mac.
Make sure their is a backup of the iPhone and of the Photos library
Once you’ve done all that you should be able to enable iCloud Photo Library and then say “remove photos” safely.
It can take quite a long time for a large photo library to sync up, so be patient.
May want to make sure that on the device the “Optimize Device Storage” option is check in Settings > Photos
Please don’t “need” data recovery software
I always talk about backup, backup, backup and here’s a big reason why…
Emails or messages I get that go, “I know you always talk about backup, but…” then a story about a catastrophic drive failure filled by “can you recommend some good file recovery software”.
I hate getting these message because while there is “good” file recovery software and “great” file recovery services, they are expensive and very often you don’t get all your data back.
even when you do, it’s often a mess because very rarely can they also recover the directory structures.
So backup and most importantly backup your backups
What I mean by that is consider creating extra copies, just locally, of your most valuable and critical files.
For me that’s Photos, my email, and documents like the Maccast files, my client files, etc.
I use a few techniques:
Backup of the Photos Library file. Time Machine, CCC, BackBlaze, a ChronoSync task that copies it to two Drobos. One direct connected to my Mac, the other on my Network.
Backup of Mail. Time Machine, CCC, BackBlaze, MailSteward (which also gets backed up to those same places)
Documents, Time Machine, CCC, BackBlaze. Select critical folders (Maccast & Client Files) to the Drobos using ChronoSync. Special option to not sync deletions to the Drobos. Let’s me clean up my local files, but know I have two copies on the the Drobos (some might see the flaw, as I don’t have offsite in this scenario)
All that said… if you don’t heed my advice and still need recovery software. I would recommend:
