Apple iPhone Users Can Now Find Nearby COVID-19 Vaccine Centres Directly on Apple Maps App

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Apple Maps will now show COVID-19 vaccination locations, but the feature is currently limited to users in the US. The company states that information about vaccination centres and other eligibility details have been curated from VaccineFinder, a site run by Boston Children’s Hospital. After updating the native Maps app, iPhone users can search for nearby vaccination sites or ask Siri, “Where can I get a COVID vaccination.” The initial rollout includes more than 20,000 locations, and Apple says it will add more locations in the coming weeks.

Apple Maps will also show contact details of the COVID-19 vaccination centre, as per a screenshot available on its Newsroom. Users can access information such as working hours, address, phone number, and website. Users must note that the new update will not let them book an appointment via the app. Apple says that the update is the latest effort to help users better navigate the pandemic and take the proper steps to protect their health. Apple Maps received an update last year that allowed users to find COVID-19 testing centres. The feature was rolled out in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and the US.

ALSO READ: Google Maps Now Has a New Feature Which Shows the Covid-19 Hotspots Around You

It remains unclear whether the new feature would eventually roll out to Apple Maps’ users in India. Notably, Apple’s competitor Google recently announced that users in India would be able to find accurate vaccine information from its apps such as Google Search, Maps, and Assistant. The tech giant expects to roll out the feature in the coming weeks. It essentially means users can soon find COVID-19 vaccine centres via Google Maps. Notably, the company had also added a special panel such as ‘COVID 19 Info’ on Maps to provide direct information to users. The COVID-19 panel also provides a seven-day trend based on data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

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iPhone 13 ‘Likely’ to Come With In-Display Touch-ID, Apple May Shrink Notch

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Apple this year will launch the iPhone 13 (unconfirmed name) series, and as we approach the end of the first quarter of 2021, the rumours have sped up, hinting at the possible features of the upcoming Apple iPhone. The latest leak has now suggested that the next Apple iPhone will “likely” come with an in-display touch-ID sensor, in line with a report last claiming the same last month.

The latest rumour comes courtesy of a MacRumours report which cites four Barclays analysts including Andrew Gardiner. The report cites a research note shared with MacRumours, which says that the iPhone 13 models will feature a smaller notch and that the LiDAR sensor will continue to be limited to the Pro models. MacRumours claims Barclays as saying that its research is partly based on extensive industry conversations with suppliers in the recent weeks. The report says that the Barclays analysts believe that a smaller notch on the iPhone 13 will be a result of a more tightly integrated version of the current structured light system for the Face ID.

MacRumours quoted that analysts as saying that a bigger shift is likely to come in 2022, with Apple apparently aiming to adopt time-of-flight architecture for Face ID that would allow for an “even smaller footprint.” This comes soon after Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that Apple may bring a hole-punch display design in future iPhones.

Now, while this is nothing more than a prediction, Barclays analysts have been quite accurate in the past. Barclays analysts were the first to claim that Apple was planning to stop including a charger with iPhones, the removal of the headphone jack adapter with iPhone XS and iPhone XR models, and the removal of 3D Touch on all iPhone 11 models, the MacRumours report said.

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Back from US, Bengaluru woman brings AR Yoga instructor to your iPhones

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For the past 20 years, Raksha Rao, 33, has been learning and practising Carnatic vocals and even ran a music school in the US with 50 students. But this mother from Bengaluru now runs Parjanya Creative Solutions, the company behind Prayoga, an app that uses augmented reality (AR) and body tracking technology to help users learn Yoga.

The idea to develop Prayoga came from Rao and her husband’s personal experience of using Yoga apps. “When you go to a trainer or a gym, what they try to do is, they’ll give you a set of exercises and you will have to perform in front of them. They come and correct you if the form is wrong. That part was really lacking in terms of all these apps,” Rao tells Indianexpress.com.

Rao was clear from the beginning that the Prayoga app would give some form of feedback, mimicking how an instructor corrects people as if they are attending an in-person session in a Yoga studio. The solution to the problem was augmented reality, a technology that can superimpose a computer-generated image on top of your view of the real world. With the help of ARKit and body tracking, Rao’s team thought of bringing an instructor right inside your living room as a 3D render. All you need is your iPhone and you can learn Yoga asanas and correct them as you perform. The app also offers well-produced instruction videos.

Prayoga app, Prayoga Yoga app, Prayoga app iPhone, Raksha Rao app developer, international womens day 2021, Apple iPhone Rao has been the force behind Prayoga, an app that uses augmented reality (AR) and body tracking technology to help users learn Yoga. (Image credit: Raksha Rao)

“We wanted to combine our passion areas with technology, and try to come up with an innovative product in this,” she says, adding that her husband’s expertise in AR and VR helped — he used to work at a Hollywood Studio in Los Angeles.

Rao, an MBA in Information Science from California State University and an engineer who moved back to India in 2019 with her husband, says the development of the app has been done entirely in-house. She and her husband primarily work on the development part along with product strategy. Currently, Rao’s team has 10 people, a mix of full-time employees and interns, and most of them women.

It’s been almost a year since the Prayoga app hit the App Store, and Rao and her team are already working on the second version. “Our aim for this app was to make Yoga a lifestyle, and not a fitness fad or anything,” she says. The existing version of Prayoga has been well received, getting over 100,000 impressions on the App Store when the app originally debuted in June last year.

Prayoga app, Prayoga Yoga app, Prayoga app iPhone, Raksha Rao app developer, international womens day 2021, Apple iPhone Rao has been learning Carnatic music, the Indian classical music style for the past 20 years. (Image credit: Raksha Rao)

Based on the feedback the app has received, the second version will include as many as 75 asanas, created by Yoga experts. The app also features a customisable option where you can choose a specific time and perform Yoga asanas as per your needs. There is also a new option to mirror the app on your TV and see the instructor performing the action on the big screen.

But Rao isn’t done yet. Being someone learning and practising Carnatic classical vocal music for years, she wants to bring this old art form to the masses using immersive technologies like AR and VR. “We are trying to bring a product that helps us do that,” says Rao, who is about to complete her masters in Carnatic music from Jain University.

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Apple Spatial Audio: How it works and how you can use it

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Apple introduced its Spatial Audio feature with iOS 14 in September 2020, rivalling other technologies like Dolby Atmos and Sony’s 360 reality audio for headphones. Here’s how the Apple feature works and how to enable it.

What is Spatial Audio?

Apple’s Spatial Audio feature lets users experience cinema-like sound through certain Apple audio devices, including the AirPods Pro and the AirPods Max headphones. The audio output surrounds the user, who feels that the sound is coming from different directions, instead of the normal directionless sound you get on headphones.

Further, the sound field maintains its direction to the actual device you’re playing you’re media from, and that direction is maintained in instances like when characters in a movie are speaking to each other from different sides of the screen.

What this does is provides a much more immersive and true-to-life experience for media consumption that lets you become a part of whatever you’re watching or playing.

How does it work?

The Apple feature uses 5.1, 7.1 and Dolby Atmos signals from various media files and accordingly applies directional audio filters and adjusts the frequencies sent to each ear. This frequency change is applied to various sound outputs to simulate the effect of direction on the left and right ear of a user.

How to enable Spatial Audio on your Apple device?

While Spatial Audio can be experienced on any device since (and including) the iPhone 7 that has been updated to iOS 14, you will need either the Apple AirPods Pro or the Apple AirPods Max to experience the features. Instead of an iPhone, you may also use a third-gen Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch or later, a third-gen iPad Pro 11-inch or later or a third-gen iPad Air or later. The sixth-gen iPad (and later) and fifth-gen iPad Mini (and later) will also work.

Once you have the hardware requirements, you will need to turn on the feature in the iOS 14/ iPadOS 14 settings. To do this, head over to Settings/ Bluetooth/ Your device name and tap on the ‘i’ button next to the headphones.

Scroll below and look for the Spatial Audio toggle, and turn it on. Tapping on the ‘See & Hear How It Works’ will let you experience a quick demo.

To control Spatial Audio, users can swipe down/up from their screen’s top/bottom edge to enter the iOS Control Centre. Once here, press and hold the volume control button and another screen will appear, allowing users to see a Spatial Audio toggle. You can tap on this to turn the feature on or off. Note that blue is on, and black is off.

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Apple May Finally Ditch the iPhone Notch in Favour of a Hole-Punch Design in 2022: Kuo

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Apple’s iPhone has been the most loyal towards the notch – a design element quickly adapted and moved on from by Android manufacturers across the world. Now, it seems that this will change with the 2022 iPhone, as a recent report has said that the iPhone 14 Pro (unconfirmed) will finally ditch the notch in favour of a hole-punch display. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had, earlier this month, said in a research note that the iPhone 13 Pro successor will be Apple’s main iPhone model to abandon the notch and adopt the hole-punch display.

Apple may expand the hole-punch display design across all iPhone models after an initial adaption on the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022. This, Kuo said in his research note, will depend on the production yield. The research note from TF securities analyst was first procured by AppleInsider. Apart from the hole-punch design, the iPhone 14 models are also expected to come with an upgraded selfie camera at the front with autofocus support.

The Apple analyst had recently said that Apple could be planning to launch its foldable iPhone in 2023 and that the company’s plans to put a USB typ-C port on iPhone instead of a lightning port may have been dropped in favour of the portless design, making MagSafe the charging standard for Apple moving ahead.

Kuo had earlier also predicted that Apple is planning to bring the iPhone SE 3 or iPhone SE (2022) with 5G support. The iPhone SE is reported to come with an upgraded processor, in order to support 5G connectivity. Renders of the iPhone SE 3 have also surfaced in the past, hinting at a flat-edged hole-punch design on the affordable iPhone.

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Apple Releases Third Public Beta of iOS 14.5, Stable Roll Out Expected Soon: What’s New

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Apple is rolling out the third public beta version of the upcoming iOS 14.5, days after rolling out the second beta to public testers and the third beta to developers. According to 9to5Mac, the iOS 14.5 Beta 3 does not bring any new features, except for refinements for the existing upgrades introduced with the previous iOS 14.5 beta versions. With the iOS 14.5 Beta 1, Apple introduced the ability to play music from third-party music apps like Spotify while using its virtual assistant Siri. The company recently clarified that the feature does not let users to choose a default music app, but only improves Siri for better results. It essentially means that Siri will again ask for Music app preference in future. The new update also retains the ‘Items’ tab in the Find My app by default. Apple is expected to roll out the stable version of iOS 14.5 for mass users in the coming days.

One of the notable changes that Apple introduced with the old iOS 14.5 beta versions (also present on iOS 14.5 Beta 3) was the ability to unlock iPhones other than FaceID. The latest system allows users to unlock the iPhone even with they are wearing the mask. However, users would additionally require the Apple Watch for the unlocking system to work. This ‘unlock with Apple Watch’ already exists for Apple Macs. Also, with the iOS 14.5 Beta 3, the AirPlay 2 support is available for Apple Fitness Plus.

ALSO READ: Apple Isn’t Letting You Change The Default Music Service In iOS 14.5, But Actually May Just Be It

The iOS 14.5 Beta 2 had introduced new slide gestures in Apple Music for adding a song to the Now Playing queue or adding it to the ‌Apple Music‌ Library. These options were earlier accessible by long-pressing the song on the music app. In addition to new gestures, Apple iPhone and iPad users can also access “Play Last” and “Show Album” by long-pressing the song. The company will reportedly roll out new and upgraded emojis from the Unicode Consortium 13.1. For instance, the Headphone emoji has been updated to look like the AirPods Max rather than a generic set of headphones, and the rock climbing emoji now includes a helmet. Apple has also removed the blood from the syringe emoji to give it a more neutral look that also works for vaccinations.

The Cupertino-based tech giant is also expected to roll out the App Tracking Transparency tool that has been criticised by Facebook and several other ad companies.

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Australian Man Sues Apple As iPhone X Explodes in Pocket, Causing Second-Degree Burns

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An Australian scientists is suing Apple after an iPhone X exploded in his pocket, causing second-degree burns. The incident took place in 2019 and Melbourne-based Robert De Rose claims that he has reported the issue to Apple but has received no response from the Cupertino-based giant. De Rose wanted to get compensated for the injury and the loss he faced due to the alleged burning of his iPhone. The lawsuit has been filed in Australia’s County Court and Apple is also reported to be investigating the issue.

The year-old iPhone X exploded in De Rose’s pocket back in 2019 when he was sitting in his office. “I heard a faint pop sound, followed by a fizz and then I felt intense pain on my right leg, so I immediately jumped up and realised it was my phone,” he was quoted by 7News as saying. The exploded smartphone cause second-degree burns to De Rose’s thigh and burnt the pocket of the pants he was wearing. He told 7News that his skin has peeled back. De Rose reported the incident to Apple but received no response. He then decided to file the lawsuit, seeking compensation from the company.

Apart from De Rose, an Australian law firm named Carbone lawyers also told 7News that it would be representing another Apple user’s case who claimed that an overheating Apple Watch burned his wrist. An Apple spokesperson told 7News that the company takes consumer safety extremely seriously and confirmed that the two complaints are being investigated.

This is not the first time an Apple device has been reported to have cause burning injuries to a user. A 10 month-old iPhone X had allegedly exploded when a user was in the process of installing a software update in Washington, US in November 2018. Apart from that, a three-week-old iPhone XS Max had reportedly caught fire in the pocket of a man in Ohio in December 2018.

Smartphones and other gadgets can catch fire due to the presence of a lithium-ion battery that is used to power them. Hence, it is advised that users avoid overcharging and keeping their smartphones in their back pockets as those mostly turn out to be the reason for burns and explosions of gadgets.



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Apple iPhone Had This Amazing Feature Hidden for Years and It’s Now Slowly Taking Over the Internet

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Apple iPhone comes bundled with a slew of user-friendly features, though the device lack some basic functionalities that its Android counterparts have been offering for years. For instance, users still cannot force-shut all apps at once with a dedicated button. Similarly, the home screen seemingly lacks a few basic features that are also slowly coming to the device (example widgets) with new iOS versions. However, there seems to be one trick in the bag, existing for more than three years that many iPhone users (including me) had no clue at all.

To give some context, Apple iPhone users can move app icons horizontally/vertically around or from one screen page to another, but the company does not clearly provide a ‘select button’ option to move around multiple apps, simultaneously. It essentially means that if a user wanted to move multiple app icons from one page to another, they had to follow the process one by one. However, there seems to be a simple solution to this problem that has been existing with iOS 11. The solution was showcased in a viral video on TikTok (via BGR) that lets users move multiple app icons at once.

To get started, Apple iPhone users will need to long-press the home screen till all the apps start wriggling. Then hold onto any app icon and drag it down a little. Following this, with another finger, select all the app icons you want to move. It will let users move multiple app icons from one page to another. As expected, the feature works with iPhones running on iOS 11 and above. Notably, users with iOS 14 cannot move multiple widgets with this feature. You can also check out the demonstration of the feature in the tweet below from 2017.

Our take is that this simple feature could’ve been made simpler with a visible button somewhere so that more users were aware of its existence. However, some may even prefer the pro tip this way as it keeps the screen clutter-free of extra toggles.



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