Charlotte Henry

The second beta of macOS 10.5.5 has been released. AppleInsider took a look at the new Battery Health Management feature.

Apple has made privacy a tentpole of this new Battery Health Management feature. The company says that all charging data is kept on-device unless the user opts-in to sharing anonymous analytics data with Apple. Finally, Apple is enabling the Battery Health Management feature by default, but users can turn it off by unchecking a new Battery Health Management box in System Preferences, under the Energy Saver category. This is similar to the Battery Heath features that have come to the iPhone over the last two years. On the iPhone, Apple allows users to manage their Battery Health and capacity, and disable performance throttling caused by reduced battery capacity. iOS 13 also quietly added a new Optimized Battery Charging feature, which aims to extend the lifespan of your iPhone’s battery to reduce how often the battery stays at 100% charge.

Google is reducing the video quality offered by its Nest Cams, Techcrunch reported. It joins the list of companies including Apple, taking measures to help to free-up bandwidth during the coronavirus outbreak. Indeed, Google-owned YouTube has begun showing videos in Standard Definition by default to this end.

In an email to users, Google says it is temporarily lowering the video quality of Nest Cams in an effort to limit how much bandwidth each camera uses and, in turn, “conserve internet resources.” The adjustment is rolling out over the next few days, and Google says anyone who has their quality settings adjusted will get a notification in the Nest app… While Nest cameras aren’t inherently using more bandwidth right now than they otherwise might, each camera already used a good amount of bandwidth day to day. A Nest Cam IQ, for example, uses roughly 400GB of data per month at its highest settings; cutting this down to medium high shaves that down to 300GB.

One of the big discussions around Apple and Google’s partnership on COVID-19 contract-tracing apps is how they were actually going to get people to use them. Casey Newton of The Verge joined a call in which the firms explained that the important is the second phase – baking the technology into a device’s operating system so people don’t have to install a health authority app.

The companies said that by phase two of their effort, when contact tracing is enabled at the level of the operating system, they will notify people who have opted in to their potential exposure to COVID-19 even if they have not downloaded the relevant app from their public health authority. My understanding is that the operating system itself will alert people that they may have been exposed and direct them to download the relevant public health app. This is significant because it can be hard to get people to install software; Singapore saw only 12 percent adoption of its national contact-tracing app. Putting notifications at the system level represents a major step forward for this effort, even if still requires people to opt in.

WeChat, a mix of a messaging, social media, and e-payment app from Tencent, seems to flout App Store rules. But it is so ubiquitous in China that Apple has to let this slide. AppleInsider, picking up on reporting from The Information, looked at the problems this could pose for Apple in the country.

WeChat itself is an app, but within it, users can open what maker Tencent calls mini-programs. Right from the start, it appears that Apple recognized the potential for mini-programs to offer App Store-style services without playing by App Store rules. According to The Information, a team from Tencent visited Apple around 2017 specifically to reassure Tim Cook that mini-programs were not apps. That mini-programs were not a threat. The argument then was that these mini-programs were limited in functionality and did not even attempt to compete with full-blown apps. Now, however, they do. Some mini-programs include live video streaming, and even augmented reality.

We all have a bit more time on our hands to sit and watch films. AppleInsider has compiled a nice list of some of the best ones about Apple.

If there is a movie or feature-length documentary about Apple that is entirely, completely accurate, then still someone depicted will say it isn’t. There’s a lot of ego involved in the history of Apple, but then that’s part of why there is so much drama in it. Maybe you could make a drama out of any company’s history, but it has to be a very special corporation before anyone would watch it. Since movie makers are as aware of the interest in Apple as anyone else, though, there are a lot —a lot —of very poor documentary films attempting to catch your eye. We watched so you don’t have to: here are the movies about Apple that are more than worth your time.

BMW could be one of the first firms to use Apple’s expected ‘CarKey’ iPhone feature, according to 9to5Mac. The site claims that new iOS 14 codes indicate the carmaker is working with Apple. There is little evidence offered on the specifics. BMW, the company has made clear its commitment to Digital Key development.

The new virtual key technology was first discovered in a beta version of iOS 13.4. New evidence in iOS 14 code obtained by 9to5Mac reveals that Apple is working with BMW to likely be the first carmaker to support the futuristic iPhone feature. 9to5Mac received this non-denial statement from BMW when asked about their involvement. “Please understand that at this point we cannot confirm your request nor give you further details. We would like to refer you to our press release.”

All Instagram users can now access their DMs on the web, The Verge reported. The function had previously only been able to a few users.

Instagram has been testing web DMs with a small group of users since January, and the experience isn’t changing with the wider rollout. Since that test started, Instagram has made small updates to more closely mimic DMs on the app, like including the emoji keyboard and adding a gallery view to photos and videos. Web DMs are especially convenient for people who use Instagram all the time, like reporters, influencers, and social media managers. It’s the easiest way to communicate privately on the platform, especially if someone is trying to respond to possibly hundreds of messages a day. Even for non-power users, typing on a laptop keyboard is easier than typing on their phone screen, so they might be more incentivized to chat over Instagram DM if they can access their inbox through a browser

There are a host of Apple TV+ shows now available for free, 9to5Mac reported. There is some good content available in the offer, but it is noticeable that The Morning Show, the service’s flagship offering, has not been included.

Rather than give unlimited access to the full Apple TV+ collection, Apple has made a handful of series temporarily free. This means anyone can stream Little America, Servant, For All Mankind, Dickinson, Snoopy in Space, Helpsters, Ghostwriter and The Elephant Queen. Apple is also promoting the current Apple TV Channels offers alongside the Apple TV+ freebies. By making a select subset of the Apple TV+ catalog available for free, Apple is presumably hoping to shine a light on some of its less popular shows.