NEW DELHI: Apple Inc’s CEO Tim Cook, software chief Craig Federighi and other executives were named on a tentative list of witnesses in the software giant’s case against Epic Games, a court filing dated March 19 showed. App Store vice president Matt Fischer and Apple Fellow Phil Schiller were also named on the list submitted to the US District Court Northern District of California Oakland Division, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. The iPhone maker has been at loggerheads with Epic Games, the creator of the popular game Fortnite, which last year tried to avoid a 30% fee which Apple charges developers on the App Store by launching its own in-app payment system. The move prompted Apple to ban Fortnite from its store. In a separate court filing, Epic Games listed its founder and chief executive Tim Sweeney among its own witnesses in the case. Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, but told Bloomberg in a statement that it felt “confident the case will prove that Epic purposefully breached its agreement solely to increase its revenues.” A direct message to Epic Games on one of its official Twitter handles did not elicit an immediate response.
NEW DELHI: A federal jury in Texas said Apple Inc must pay about $308.5 million to Personalized Media Communications LLC (PMC) for infringing a patent associated with digital rights management. The jurors late no Friday directed Apple to pay a running royalty to PMC, which is generally based on the amount of sales of a product or service. PMC, a licensing firm, had originally sued Apple in 2015 alleging the tech giant’s iTunes service infringed seven of its patents. Apple successfully challenged PMC’s case at the US patent office, but an appeals court in March last year reversed that decision, paving the way for the trial. The iPhone maker did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment but told Bloomberg that it was disappointed with the ruling and would appeal. “Cases like this, brought by companies that don’t make or sell any products, stifle innovation and ultimately harm consumers,” Apple was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. Sugarland, Texas-based PMC has infringement cases pending against companies including Netflix Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Amazon.com Inc. The case is Personalized Media versus Apple Inc.
If there is one trend in the smartphone market that we don’t expect to die — ever — is brands taking jibes at each other. Companies often find themselves taking potshots at one another to show how their device is better than the other. One such attempt has been made by OnePlus, which is gearing up to launch its OnePlus 9 series and has been posting online about its upcoming smartphones endlessly. In one tweet, OnePlus has posted a 45-second clip in which it shows the OnePlus 9 Pro 5G and “Another” Phone, which is the iPhone. The video starts with two models being plugged into chargers starting at a 1% charging level. In an interval of 15 minutes it shows that while OnePlus has charged 35%, iPhone is at 27%. The next check it makes is at a 30 minutes interval, where the OnePlus 9 Pro 5G has charged 71% and the iPhone is at 53%. Then, after about 43 minutes, the OnePlus 9 device reaches 100% charging value, while the iPhone is at 72%. It is then at the end of the video, it can be seen that the OnePlus 9 Pro 5G was placed on a wireless charger, while the iPhone was being charged via standard Lighting cable. “Some things are worth waiting for. Charging isn’t one of them. Charge faster, No strings attached,” is the message given to viewers at the end.
This race doesn’t go down to the wire. #OnePlus9Series
OnePlus has claimed that the OnePlus 9 series offers the company’s fastest-ever wireless charging technology. The devices of the series are going to be equipped with Warp Charge Wireless 50.
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.
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.
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.
France Digitale will file a complaint against iPhone maker Apple with data privacy watchdog CNIL on Tuesday over alleged breaches of European Union rules, France’s leading startup lobby said in a statement. In the seven-page complaint seen by Reuters, the lobby, which represents the bulk of France’s digital entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, alleges Apple’s latest operating software, iOS 14, does not comply with EU privacy requirements.
France Digitale argues that while iPhone owners are asked whether they are ready to allow installed mobile apps to gather a key identifier used to define campaign ads and send targeted ads, default settings allow Apple to carry its own targeted ad campaigns without clearly asking iPhone users for their prior consent. Under EU data privacy rules, all organisations must ask visitors online if they agree to have some of their data collected via trackers or other tools.
The same rules also provide the right to anyone to ask for information on the purposes of such data collection and how they are collected. The lobby also alleges that Apple’s tracking functionality allows it to share the data it collects with affiliated companies without telling users ahead.
“It’s a startup version of David versus Goliath, but we are determined,” France Digitale CEO Nicolas Brien in a statement.
“The allegations in the complaint are patently false and will be seen for what they are, a poor attempt by those who track users to distract from their own actions and mislead regulators and policymakers,” Apple said in a written statement.
The complaint by France Digitale follows similar litigation against Apple filed by French online advertising lobbies with the antitrust authority last October. It also comes after complaints filed by Austrian advocacy group Noyb with data protection watchdogs in Germany and Spain alleging that Apple’s tracking tool illegally enabled the US tech giant to store users’ data without their consent. Apple also rebutted those claims.
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.
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.
You may already be using Truecaller, the incredibly popular app for detecting and blocking spam calls and managing messages on smartphones on your Android phone or Apple iPhone. The makers of the Truecaller app are now rolling out a new app call Guardians, which is designed as a personal safety app that lets you share your live location with guardian contacts and request for help in case you need it. The idea behind this app is to share your live location when you may be out and about and traveling alone, with select contacts called guardians, something that makes a lot of sense in these times when women’s safety in particular remains a big concern. The Guardians app is free to download and use and will be available for Android phones as well as the Apple iPhone.
The way the Guardians app works is that you can add friends and family as Guardians on the app—they will get a notification to accept your request. You can then choose to share your live location with them for a particular trip (this is called Watch Over Me) or permanently share your location with them (this feature is called Forever Share). The Guardians app will have an “I Need Help” button which will send emergency notifications and location data to the contacts you have selected as guardians. The guardian contacts will get your phone status data as well, such as battery strength and phone profile status, to give you a better understanding of the emergency situation.
The Guardians app by Truecaller is a standalone app that can be used by anyone, and isn’t an integrated part of another app, such as the Uber cab booking app, for example. This means you can share your location data with your parents if you are taking a late-night cab back from work, have your friends track you as you head home using public transport after a movie or even allow family members to track elders who may be traveling at the time. “Guardians was born out of a simple question – how can we crowdsource personal safety, just like the way we crowdsource protection against spam, scams and frauds with Truecaller? We also believe that we have the right tools and the conviction to make Guardians happen. Our engineering team has a proven track record of building great user experiences and we have also crossed the milestone of 270 Million active users (200 Million in India alone),” says Alan Mamedi, CEO & Co-founder of True Software Scandinavia AB.
Truecaller insists that privacy very much remains the foundation that Guardians is built on. The company confirms that neither they can, nor can anyone else, see the data. The live location data is shared with encryption between the person sharing the location data and the person receiving the location data. The company also insists that no data will also be shared with any third parties. Since your location data isn’t shared on any servers anywhere, there is no option to revisit a previous journey at a later date.
There is also a volunteer guardian option in case you call for help and your guardian contacts aren’t nearby or are some distance away. The developers say that the app will then search for those who have signed up as volunteers on the Guardian app and ping them requesting for help. However, questions remain about the volunteer backgrounds and how these checks may be done for all volunteers who sign up on the app, though the developers insist there are multiple checks already in place and more can be put in place if there is a need for it. At this time, the Guardians app is still not available on the Apple App Store for the iPhone, and we have not been able to check the process of signing up as a volunteer and the verifications that it may entail.
The Guardians app by Truecaller rolls out today on the Google Play Store for Android phones and will be available from tomorrow on the Apple App Store for iPhone users.
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.
Netflix has rolled out a really cool new feature called Downloads For You, and it is the next big upgrade to downloading content from Netflix on your Android phones and tablets, some three years after Smart Downloads rolled out. The global video streaming giant says that Downloads For You will work intelligently and automatically download recommended TV shows and movies, based on what you have been watching thus far, and therefore what Netflix understands of your tastes. This feature is now rolling out with the Netflix app for Android devices now, while a similar feature will begin testing for Apple’s iPhone and iPad soon.
But before you get all stressed about whether this will eat up the storage space on your Android phone or tablet, Netflix lets you choose how much of the device space you want to give for Netflix Downloads For You to use—this could be 1GB, 3GB or 5GB, and based on the space available, Netflix will predict and download movies and TV shows for you. All said and done, this is opt in feature, which means you need to open the Netflix app on your Android phone or tablet and toggle the Downloads For You option to on. Then you choose the space that can be reserved for these downloads. And voila, the next time you open your Netflix app on a long flight or a road trip, prepare to be surprised.
Android users are having a really good time of it, off late. Earlier this year, Netflix added a new immersive audio experience for Android users and that it will now stream content with Extended HE-AAC with MPEG-D DRC (xHE-AAC) audio extensions on compatible Android devices. At the end of the year 2020, Netflix clocked more than 200 million users globally. In India, Netflix at present offers four subscription plans. The Mobile-only Rs 199 plan offers streaming at up to 480p resolution and can be used only with the Netflix mobile app. The Basic Rs 499 plan also offers maximum 480p resolution streaming and can be used on any mobile, TV or PC, but streaming is limited to one screen at a time. The Standard plan priced at Rs 649 offers Full HD resolution streaming with the ability to simulcast Netflix on two screens at the same time. The highest tier Premium plan is priced at Rs 799 per month and streams 4K + HDR content and can be viewed on up to 4 screens at the same time.
