Charlotte Henry

Some images and details of the expected Powerbeats 4 headphones have emerged. AppleInsider picked up on the reports from German publication Win Future (from where the images in this post come).

Following both January 2020’s discovery of a “Powerbeats 4” icon within iOS 13.3.1, and February’s FCC approval of the device, what appear to be final specifications and images have leaked. The latest sports wireless earbuds will add Apple’s H1 chip, and bring up to 3 extra hours battery life than the 12 hours in the previous Powerbeats 3. The addition of the H1 chip means, if correct, that Powerbeats 4 will feature “Hey, Siri,” plus the ability to announce messages with Siri. The H1 chip is already in Apple’s Powerbeats Pro, AirPods 2, and AirPods Pro. The leaked marketing images match previous reports, showing a new arrangement of cabling

‘Cloudflare for Teams’ products will be free for small businesses for at least the next six months. In a blog post, CEO Matthew Prince said he wanted to help such firms allow staff to work from home during the coronavirus outbreak.

Beginning today, we are making our Cloudflare for Teams products free to small businesses around the world. Teams enables remote workers to operate securely and easily. We will continue this policy for at least the next 6 months. We’re doing this to help ensure that small businesses that implement work from home policies in order to combat the spread of the virus can ensure business continuity. You can learn more and apply at: https://www.cloudflare.com/smallbusiness We’ve also helped launch an online hub where small businesses can see technology services available to them for free or a substantial discount from multiple companies, during the Coronavirus Emergency: https://openforbusiness.org

When you get a new phone, there is always a balance to be struck between making the effort of reselling your old device and how much money you will actually get for it. Well, according to data reported on by Cult of Mac, it is worth making that effort for a lot longer if you have an iPhone to sell.

Apple devices do lose value over time. “In the first year, on average, iPhones lost -23.45%; by year two, the total loss is -45.46%,” notes BankMyCell. But Androids lose way more. After one year, they’ve dropped an average of 48.65% — more than twice as much as iPhone after the same amount of time. And after two years, Androids are down 79.66%.

We’ve heard a number of stories about how the Apple Watch has alerted people suffering from a heart condition, potentially saving their lives. Now it seems, Apple products are helping fight crime. The Sydney Morning Herald told the story of how the ‘Find My’ app helped police pursue two men, in what ultimately became a fatal police chase.

The victim opened his tracking app, which pinged the iPad, and he began following his stolen Triton. Police called him off before officers tracked the ute and iPad to the Glengala Hotel in Sunshine. The police air wing was called in, but when officers arrived at the scene the ute had been dumped. The iPad, though, began pinging inside the Toyota Kluger. Over the following two hours the men were traced heading to the Sunshine Motor Inn and across the suburb before a brief police pursuit on the Western Ring Road. Police then tracked the Kluger to Tullamarine, Epping, Mernda and Thomastown.

In an updated blog post, Twitter encouraged its staff to work from home in a bid to protect them from COVID-19. It became one of the first major U.S. firms to take such a step.

We are working to make sure internal meetings, all hands, and other important tasks are optimized for remote participation. We recognize that working from home is not ideal for some job functions. For those employees who prefer or need to come into the offices, they will remain open for business. Our Real Estate & Workplace team is increasing deep cleaning and sanitizing in all spaces, as well as more visual reminders for personal hygiene best practices and pre-packaged, pre-composed, and pre-plated food options. Working from home will be mandatory for employees based in our Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea offices due in part to government restrictions. Our criteria will evolve over time as we get more information, and we will communicate to affected Tweeps as appropriate.

Apple’s much-rumored smart ring could be extended to cover an entire finger. That’s according to a new patent, granted on Tuesday and reported on by AppleInsider.

A smart ring has the potential to provide users with functionality similar to an Apple Watch, but in a smaller package that doesn’t take up space on a user’s wrist. While part of the challenge of designing a smart ring involves cramming components into a small space, there is also the issue of its size offering little in the way of opportunity for embedded sensors to be used due to a lack of surface area, as well as for users to accurately control it. In a patent granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday titled “Expandable Ring Device,” Apple suggests the size of a smart ring may not necessarily be static. While the name of the patent hints at a one-size-fits-all design, the filing actually refers to ways the ring could be expanded into a longer tube that covers more of the finger, including some knuckles.

The availability of a number of Apple products has been hit by the coronavirus outbreak, Bloomberg News reported. Products affected include the iPad Pro, AirPods Pro, and customized Macs.

The iPad Pro tablet is seeing limited availability at stores in major cities in the U.S., Australia and Europe, according to a review of Apple’s website on Monday. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro with 512 gigabytes of storage and no cellular connectivity is sold out at all Apple stores in the Los Angeles area. That model and other versions are sold out at many stores in New York City as well… AirPods Pro earbuds and built-to-order Mac computers are also continuing to show shipping delays, and some Apple Watch Series 3 and Series 5 models are listed as unavailable to buy online. The Watch Series 3 and in-demand AirPods Pro had been constrained even before the coronavirus. The latest iPhones and Apple’s non-Pro iPads are still widely available in the U.S., though some locations in Europe and Australia are showing the iPhone 11 as unavailable.