Jawbone has filed its second lawsuit against Fitbit in less than two weeks, claiming its activity tracking products infringe several of Jawbone’s patents.The new suit, filed Wednesday in San Francisco by Jawbone parent company AliphCom, seeks unspecified damages and an injunction to block the sale of Fitbit devices such as the Flex, Charge and Surge bands.Late last month, Jawbone filed another lawsuit, accusing Fitbit of poaching its employees and stealing trade secrets. Fitbit has said it has no knowledge of any such information in its possession.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The National Transportation Safety Board this week said it wants to see auto collision avoidance technology implemented in cars more quickly and recommended that such equipment become standard on all new passenger and commercial vehicles.The NTSB said that only 4 out of 684 passenger vehicle models in 2014 included a complete forward collision avoidance system as a standard feature. When these systems are offered as options, they are often bundled with other non-safety features, making the overall package more expensive.“You don’t pay extra for your seatbelt,” said Chairman NTSB Christopher Hart in a statement. “And you shouldn’t have to pay extra for technology that can help prevent a collision altogether.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple has confirmed it’s deploying camera-equipped cars to capture data—including images—to improve its mapping service.The cars have been spotted in several U.S. cities over the past few months, leading to speculation that Apple was collecting mapping data to better compete with Google Maps.“Some of the data” the cars collect will appear in future updates of Apple Maps, the company said Wednesday. Beyond mentioning images, Apple didn’t say what additional information the vehicles would collect. Apple also didn’t share what it would do with the data that doesn’t make it into Maps.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
SpaceX working on satellite network to provide InternetSpaceX is working on a network of micro-satellites to provide Internet access, the company’s founder and CEO Elon Musk confirmed via Twitter. The project is in the early stages and will be announced in two to three months, and its aim is to provide Internet access at a low cost, he said.Do Apple’s deals with music labels break antitrust laws?There were murmurs in advance of the Apple Music debut this week that Apple was using the industry power it wields via iTunes to pressure music labels not to permit any free tier streaming through rivals like Spotify. Now it’s been confirmed that the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut are looking into just that issue, and whether Apple may have run afoul of antitrust law in hammering out its deals.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Do Apple’s deals with music labels break antitrust laws?
There were murmurs in advance of the Apple Music debut this week that Apple was using the industry power it wields via iTunes to pressure music labels not to permit any free tier streaming through rivals like Spotify. Now it’s been confirmed that the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut are looking into just that issue, and whether Apple may have run afoul of antitrust law in hammering out its deals.
North Korea threatens U.S. with cyberattacksTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Happy Father’s Day!Even if you’re a huge disappointment of an offspring, you might be able to crack Dad’s stony façade with the right Father’s Day gift. After all, if you give a good enough present, he’ll at least have to pretend that he’s not ashamed of you, right? Or hey, maybe your dad is actually just the best and you want to get him something out of the sheer goodness of your heart, you terrific kid, you. Read on for our top 10 ideas.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Instagram is changing the look of its photo-sharing site on the desktop, streamlining the display of people’s photos while also enlarging them.The redesign essentially mirrors the look of profile pages in Instagram’s mobile app. Previously, on the desktop, users’ photos were laid out in rows of five under their bio, with an additional collage of photos above the bio. With the changes, the collage is removed and photos on profile pages are laid out in rows of three, just like in the app, and the photos are bigger.In addition, some of the borders and shading on the desktop site have also been removed. And users’ profile pics, as well as their posts, followers and following counts, appear in the same style as on mobile.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Earlier this week, I laid out some ideas on what Apple needs to do inject new life into the fading tablet category. It seems that Apple was already on track with at least part of my message. "For many, the iPad is the primary computer," Apple's senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi noted at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference keynote yesterday.See also: 5 ways Apple should re-invent the iPad
To help out those people, who I think represent the future of the tablet market, the company delivered on a couple of the things I asked for. As many observers expected, Apple announced split screen and picture-in-picture functionality in iOS 9, as well as a new software keyboard that can also work a trackpad. (Personally, the improvements in text selection and movement could be the biggest benefit to using the iPad for real work—I've always found that process frustratingly awkward and inexact.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple’s iOS 9 has plenty of major features to look forward to, such as a more intelligent Siri, transit maps, and, and side-by-side iPad apps. Just as important, however, are the little things—the minor headaches of previous iOS versions that Apple is now getting around to alleviating.+ Read all the news from WWDC +To recap, here are six iPhone and iPad annoyances that will disappear in iOS 9:1. A less-confusing shift key
Pop quiz: On the default iOS keyboard, are the letters uppercase when the shift key is gray, or white? Unless you bother to memorize, this issue has likely been a constant source of confusion since iOS 7. (The answer, by the way, is white.) As 9to5Mac notes, hitting shift in iOS 9 will toggle the letters on the keyboard between uppercase and lowercase, so there’s no ambiguity about what you’re about to type.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple had lots to offer developers at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote. Headline improvements included a new version of the soon to be open sourced Swift programming language and upgraded frameworks for creating more advanced Watch apps.Developers have played a key part in making Apple the hugely successful company it is today, and with the announcements made in San Francisco on Monday the company hoped to lay the groundwork for developers to be more effective and build better apps. The company’s developer programs were merged into a single one, called the Apple Developer program, but that was just the start:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
WWDC 2015Apple on Monday kicked of WWDC with its standard keynote address. Per usual, the event was chock full of exciting and surprising announcements that touched on all things iOS, Mac, and Apple Watch. From a brand new music service to an Apple Watch SDK, there's a whole lot of information to digest, and both developers and Apple enthusiasts alike will have a lot to look forward to in the coming months. Here are a few of the more important announcements Tim Cook and co. made yesterday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When you call “Hey Siri,” you want to know your phone is listening to you. But with the new proactive intelligence in iOS 9, Siri will start to anticipate your desires before you even have a chance to ask. That’s just one of the updates announced Monday at Apple’s Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Rather than adding a ton of new features, Apple focused on refining the experience of using your device.
This time around, Siri can use your location, time, app usage and connected device data to forecast your needs. Several built-in apps get either updated substantially (Maps, Notes) or replaced entirely with more exciting alternatives (Wallet, News). And iOS 9 also brings two-apps-at-once functionalities to the iPad.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple shares a wealth of news on its big day, but few surprisesOnce a year, Apple holds its Worldwide Developers Conference, and the tech world gets a boatload of updates from the company. The ship’s not quite as leak-proof as it used to be, though, so there were few surprises in the mix. Tim Cook and company unveiled:— Apple Music, a streaming service, and an Internet radio station called Beats One;— an update to iOS 9 that features multitasking, a new, improved Siri and an actual “news” app;To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
No screen, apparently, is too small for video, even the one on Apple’s Watch.Twitter’s popular Vine mobile video app will come to Apple’s Internet-connected wrist gizmo later this year. During Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, Kevin Lynch, Apple’s vice president of technology, demoed some new functions, including video, that will be possible on the second version of the Watch’s operating system, which arrives in the fall.During the demo, he showed a video of someone clinking drinking glasses on the Vine app. Vine later posted on its Twitter feed that its app would arrive on the Apple Watch later this year. Vine’s app lets people record and share looped videos up to six seconds in length.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Expect Apple Watch apps to gain a lot more functionality now that Apple is opening its hardware sensors to third party developers and allowing apps to run natively on the device.The changes come with watchOS 2, an update that’s due in the Fall and will also bring new watch faces and other advances to end users. For developers, the highlight is that their apps will be able to make use of Apple Watch hardware features like the digital crown, accelerometer and heart rate sensor.People who use the personal training app BodBot, for example, won’t have to enter as much workout information manually now that the app can gather data from the watch’s sensors, said Sergio Prado, who co-developed the program.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Expect Apple Watch apps to gain a lot more functionality now that Apple is opening its hardware sensors to third party developers and allowing apps to run natively on the device.
The changes come with watchOS 2, an update that’s due in the Fall and will also bring new watch faces and other advances to end users. For developers, the highlight is that their apps will be able to make use of Apple Watch hardware features like the digital crown, accelerometer and heart rate sensor.
People who use the personal training app BodBot, for example, won’t have to enter as much workout information manually now that the app can gather data from the watch’s sensors, said Sergio Prado, who co-developed the program.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The mobile industry is trying to shoot down another law requiring cellphone radiation warnings.CTIA sued the city of Berkeley, California, on Monday, taking aim at a law passed in May that would force cellphone retailers to post a notice about safety from radiofrequency radiation emitted by handsets. CTIA, the main trade group for U.S. mobile operators, says the law will force its members to pass on an inaccurate message that they don’t agree with.Just a few years ago, CTIA successfully fought a similar law in nearby San Francisco. That law required phone sellers to disclose the emissions produced by each model. The disputes are part of a smoldering debate over whether phones and other wireless devices give off radiation that may be harmful to humans. CTIA, and the Federal Communications Commission, say there is no evidence of a health risk from approved devices.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
You might find yourself browsing more than the shelves at your local store, if Facebook knows you’re there. It’s expanding a location-aware program that will let businesses pop information into the top of your news feed.Place Tips lets brick-and-mortar stores send information to people’s News Feeds, by sensing where customers are through Bluetooth beacons. Facebook began piloting the program earlier this year among just a handful of businesses in New York; now the social network is opening it to small and midsize businesses across the U.S.The program publishes content from the business’s Facebook page, and posts from users’ friends about the business, to the top of people’s News Feeds while they’re at the company’s location. The goal is to give customers more information about the place, or see what their friends think of it, while giving the business increased prominence in the popular app.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple Pay was designed to replace your physical wallet, and with iOS 9, Apple is uniting Apple Pay and Passbook under a new umbrella called, appropriately, Wallet.
Announced during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote Monday, the new app will replace Passbook, but function in the same way: You’ll still store your concert tickets in Wallet alongside your Apple Pay card information. Your rewards cards for stores like Kohl’s and JCPenney will also hang out in Wallet, because Apple Pay will start supporting retail loyalty programs this fall.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here