Limited Supply of Apple Watches Reportedly Due to Taptic Engine Problems

Image via iFixit

The Apple Watch; it's Apple's latest gadget and works as an accessory to the iPhone, allowing what acts as a remote control relay from your wrist to perform actions directly from your iPhone as long as it in in Bluetooth range.

The new gadget has been available to order for just under a week, and was originally made available for pre-order just over two weeks ago. Since then, a very small number of orderers have received their units while many continue to wait. Why? – Manufacturing issues are causing delays.

We've known about the delays since last month, so the delays in shipping as a result of production problems are no surprise, but the question that has remained unanswered until today is what was actually causing the delays; what part of the manufacturing process is Apple having problems keeping up with?

A new report from The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reveals that Apple's problem in manufacturing the Apple Watch in a timely manner has to do with "faulty" Taptic Engine units that can reportedly "break down" over time. This problem has caused Apple to have to re-make many of their Apple Watches to prevent shipping defective units to anxious customers.

Originally Posted by The Wall Street Journal

After mass production began in February, reliability testing revealed that some taptic engines supplied by AAC Technologies Holdings Inc., of Shenzhen, China, started to break down over time, the people familiar with the matter said. One of those people said Apple scrapped some completed watches as a result.

The Taptic Engine is the part of the Apple Watch that simulates the gesture of being 'tapped' on the wrist when you receive a notification. It's a type of haptic feedback that you can actually feel, as well as hear, when the notification sound is emitted.

If you're still waiting on your Apple Watch, you're likely waiting on Apple to re-stock their faulty inventory of Apple Watches with non-faulty units. Remain patient and Apple will continue to ship out the various models in the order that they were ordered based on model.

Sources: The Wall Street Journal via MacRumors

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Facebook Messenger Adds Free Video Calling to its Mobile Application

Facebook Messenger Adds Free Video Calling to its Mobile Application

Published on 04-27-2015 01:03 PM

Apple's FaceTime has a new competitor on the block. Facebook has just announced on Monday that the social network is rolling out free video calling to its Facebook Messenger application for iOS and Android.

While the application has supported voice-calling for ages, this is the first time that video calling will be a part of the Facebook Messenger platform. The newly-added function is accessed by tapping on the video-calling icon at the top right of the Facebook Messenger application, as shown below:

Facebook's promo video for video calling via Facebook Messenger can be found below:

Facebook Messenger will support video calls in the following countries starting today; more will be added in the future:

• Belgium
• Canada
• Croatia
• Denmark
• France
• Greece
• Ireland
• Laos
• Lithuania
• Mexico
• Nigeria
• Norway
• Oman
• Poland
• Portugal
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Uruguay

To ensure you're able to take advantage of the new video calling features, you will want to download the latest version of Facebook Messenger from the App Store. You can download the latest version directly from the App Store at this link.

Sources: Facebook

_{This article was originally published in forum thread: Facebook Messenger Adds Free Video Calling to its Mobile Application started by Anthony BouchardView original post}

Categories:

1. iPhone,
2. iPad,
3. iPad,
4. iOS,
5. Software,
6. AppStore

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Brean Capital Goes Big in AAPL Projection

Brean Capital Goes Big in AAPL Projection

Published on 04-27-2015 12:43 PM

Just hours away from Apple's latest earnings report, analysts, investors, and market watchers are on edge awaiting performance results for Apple's most recent fiscal quarter.

Clearly, however, optimism is riding high. In addition to shares of AAPL trading well above $130 on Monday, one analyst report is reminding us that AAPL still has enormous upside potential, especially if the latest projection put forward actually manifests.

As SmarterAnalyst reports, Brean Capital analyst Ananda Baruah has initiated coverage on Apple. And, you guessed it, that coverage comes with a Buy rating. And the price target, you ask? $160 -- a significantly higher price point than today's familiar levels.

“Fundamentally speaking, we believe AAPL stands to deliver material EPS upside from 1) iPhone ships through ’17, 2) favorable GM from both iPhones and iPhone mix (more 6 Plus’ than realized), and 3) materially more Opex $ leverage through at least ’16 as AAPL realizes the benefits from the recent iPhone 6 and iWatch investment cycles," Baruah writes. "Additionally, we believe AAPL will continue to use capital return materially the next few years and that this can both catalyze and provide a floor under the stock. Our $160 TP is 14x our ’17 EPS estimate of $11.84.”

Apple will report earnings today for its second fiscal quarter after the close of trading on Wall Street. MMi will provide full coverage so please check back later this afternoon.

Source: SmarterAnalyst

_{This article was originally published in forum thread: Brean Capital Goes Big in AAPL Projection started by Michael EssanyView original post}

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Instagram iOS App Updated With 3 New Filters, Emoji Hashtags, App UI Improvements

Instagram iOS App Updated With 3 New Filters, Emoji Hashtags, App UI Improvements

Published on 04-27-2015 12:43 PM

On Monday, Instagram announced a new update for its iOS application. The update, version 6.11.0, is now available in the iOS App Store. Those that already have the application installed will find the update waiting for them under the Updates tab in the App Store application.

The update adds some goodies that users will be able to use to improve their social networking experience. Among the new features are three all-new photograph filters, which are named Lark, Reyes and Juno. Instagram notes that these filters are inspired by the outdoors:

Originally Posted by Instagram

Inspired by weekend adventures outdoors, Lark, Reyes and Juno are a family of modern, subtle filters that brighten and enhance your photos in refined, beautiful ways. Lark desaturates reds while punching up blues and greens to bring your landscapes to life. Reyes brings a dusty, vintage look to your moments. And finally, Juno tints cool tones green while making warm tones pop and whites glow for vibrant photos of people.

Below, you can see the filters in action:

Moreover, Instagram is adding the ability to take advantage of what are called "Emoji Hashtags." With these, you can actually use Emoji within your hashtags that you use to tag your photographs on Instagram.

The first time you launch Instagram after this update, you'll also notice some subtle UI changes. The like and comment buttons have been updated with a new look and feel:

If you have automatic updates enabled, the updated version of Instagram for iOS will be installed for you automatically. Alternatively, you can download the latest version of Instagram for iOS for free from this App Store link.

Sources: App Store via Instagram

_{This article was originally published in forum thread: Instagram iOS App Updated With 3 New Filters, Emoji Hashtags, App UI Improvements started by Anthony BouchardView original post}

Categories:

1. iPhone,
2. iPad,
3. iPad,
4. iOS,
5. Software,
6. AppStore

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Apple Launches Second Beta of OS X 10.10.4 to Developers & Public Beta Participants

Apple Launches Second Beta of OS X 10.10.4 to Developers & Public Beta Participants

Published on 04-27-2015 12:29 PM

Following a beta release of iOS 8.4 beta 2 to developers and Public Beta Program participants on Monday, Apple has followed up with a second beta of OS X 10.10.4 to developers and Public Beta Program participants Monday afternoon.

The new pre-release OS X operating system update comes about two weeks after the first preview of OS X 10.10.4 was seeded to testers.

At this point in time, OS X 10.10.4 is known to have plenty of performance, security, and stability improvements, but no major new features.

OS X 10.10.4 (build 14F11f) is available under the Mac App Store's Update tab for registered developers that are on the beta channel, as well as Public Beta Program participants. Installing the update does require a restart.

Sources: 9to5Mac

_{This article was originally published in forum thread: Apple Launches Second Beta of OS X 10.10.4 to Developers & Public Beta Participants started by Anthony BouchardView original post}

Categories:

1. Apple,
2. OS X,
3. Mac,
4. AppStore,
5. Software

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'Screenshot+' Makes Sharing the iOS Screenshots You Take Easier Than Ever Before

After you take a screenshot, you typically want to sent it to somebody. This is possibly one of the most popular uses for taking screenshots on iOS in the first place.

On any regular day, you would take your screenshot, then close the application you're in, then visit the Photos application, then find the screenshot you took, then open the sharing menu, and then pick the sharing medium you want to use to share the screenshot. There are a lot of steps that feel like they are extraneous, and it definitely feels like this could be made into an easier and faster task.

A new jailbreak tweak called Screenshot+ by iOS developer DarkMalloc achieves making taking screenshots and sharing them into a, easier and faster task. The tweak, after it takes a screenshot, immediately shows a share menu so you can share your screenshot across any social networking platform that you prefer to use, as shown above.

Screenshot+ supports MMS/iMessage, E-mail, Facebook, and Twitter. For Facebook and Twitter, the tweak uses the built-in Facebook and Twitter accounts from the Settings application that you configure when you install the coinciding applications. The MMS/iMessage and E-mail functions just open a share sheet for the corresponding application, as shown below:

Because Screenshot+ is Activator-based, you have to configure an Activator action to use it. You can do this from the Activator application or from the Screenshot+ preferences pane that is added to the Settings application after you install the tweak. You might as well do this from the Screenshot+ preferences pane, shown below, because there are also some other options to configure:

In addition to choosing what Activator action to use, you will be able to choose to save the screenshot or not after you share it (helpful if you only take a screenshot to share it and would normally just delete it afterwards), as well as enable or disable the various sharing mediums, such as MMS/iMessage, E-mail, Facebook, and Twitter.

If you are interested in giving Screenshot+ a try, it's available in Cydia's BigBoss repository right now for $1.49. Through our testing, we found that it saves a lot of time and works like a charm. It will make a good tweak for those that take a lot of screenshots, but we think it could do with additional sharing options, such as maybe sharing to Dropbox, Facebook Messenger, and others. iOS 8 is required to install and use Screenshot+.

Name: Screenshot+
Price: $1.49
Version: 1.0-1
Requirements: iOS 8.0-8.1.2, Activator
Tested on: iPhone 5 running iOS 8.1.2
Repo: BigBoss
Developer: DarkMalloc

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'NetflixSleepTimer' Lets You Set a Sleep Timer in the Netflix App for iOS

Netflix is one of the more popular ways out there to enjoy movies and T.V. series' right from the comfort of your own home. The service offers not only an application for third-party television smart boxes, but also for mobile devices. Because of this, it's also a popular way to watch movies on iOS devices, such as the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

If you're a Netflix user and want to add sleep timer functionality to your Netflix iOS application so you can fall asleep to watching Netflix movies without losing your position in the movie at the time you fall asleep, then a new free jailbreak tweak called NetflixSleepTimer by iOS developer rob311 is now available in Cydia that you might be interested in giving a whirl.

This tweak can save your place in the movie when you are ready to fall asleep so you can continue it later. It allows you to set a pre-defined timer that, when reached, automatically boots you out of the movie and over to the "Browse" tab so that your position in the movie is saved for later.

The tweak comes with a built-in verification feature, so an alert can be set to pop up at the time that the timer depletes. If you're still feeling wide awake (insomnia), then you can 'snooze' the alert so that it comes back later. If you have already fallen asleep by the time the alert pops up for you, don't fret because the alert will automatically take action for you after 20 seconds of inactivity so you don't leave the alert unanswered all night long.

You can see the NetflixSleepTimer button added to the top left of the Netflix interface below:

NetflixSleepTimer also adds a preferences pane to the Settings application where you are able to enable or disable the sleep timer tweak functionality on demand, as well as configure the still watching alert for when you're feeling like an insomniac:

If you are interested in giving NetflixSleepTimer a try, it's a free download from Cydia's BigBoss repository. It does require the Netflix application from the iOS App Store to be used – that is a free download from this App Store link, but does require a monthly subscription if you don't already have one.

Name: NetflixSleepTimer
Price: FREE
Version: 0.0.1-1
Requirements: iOS 7.0-8.1.2
Tested on: iPhone 5 running iOS 8.1.2
Repo: BigBoss
Developer: rob311

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Set sail on Millennium Falcon? Disney cruise ship snags 'Star Wars' upgrade

You don't need to be buds with Han Solo and Chewbacca to visit the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, starting in October.
http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

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LG updates 2014 TVs to Web OS 2.0

Later this year, LG will do something rare and exceedingly welcome in the Smart TV world: roll out a free, worldwide update to existing TV owners. 2014 LG Web OS that brings the operating system faster response times and new features.






http://ift.tt/1G79LOM

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Confessions of a headphone 'addict'

For this guy, one or two headphones aren't enough.






http://ift.tt/1EbQw9V

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