Some Apple users are seeing smarter web answers when they use iOS Spotlight Search and Siri.
The new web answers appear to be a further expansion of this technology. If the statistics are not readily available from the knowledge database, it seems Apple is now using algorithms to crawl websites and find possible responses to questions.
I think this is great, and it might be the first front-facing results we’re seeing from Apple’s hiring of John Giannandrea.
Almost 50,000 teachers and students in Scotland will be getting free iPads as part of a deal Glasgow City Council and Canadian IT firm CGI.
We have a deal on the Azio MK Mac USB Keyboard, a backlit mechanical keyboard designed exclusively for Mac. It has a bead-blasted aluminum finish and a snap-on palm rest, and you can get this keyboard for $79 through our deal.
Virgin Australia has banned all MacBooks from checked-in baggage following Apple’s recent recall of devices due to overheating batteries.
Nintendo announced that Mario Kart Tour is arriving on iOs (and Android) on September 25 and that pre-registration is now available.
Instagram is testing a new messaging app as it looks to challenge Snapchat. The Verge got hold of some screenshots. It reported that the new product from the Facebook-owned picture-sharing service is called Threads.
Screenshots reviewed by The Verge show an app that’s designed to promote constant, automatic sharing between users and the people on their “close friends” list on Instagram. Opt in to automatic sharing, and Threads will regularly update your status, giving your friends a real-time view of information about your location, speed, and more. At the moment, Threads does not display your real-time location — instead, it might say something like a friend is “on the move,” according to sources familiar with the matter. You can also update your status manually, with statuses appearing in the main feed along with messages. It’s the latest effort to automate status sharing using mobile phone sensors and one-tap status sharing.
Geoffrey Fowler compared an Amazon credit card with Apple Card to see which one is more private. The knee jerk response is to say Apple, and it’s true that Apple does have more privacy than others. But when it comes to the Apple Card, that privacy only appears under certain circumstances.
Despite a federal privacy law covering cards, I found that six types of businesses could mine and share elements of my purchase, multiplied untold times by other companies they might have passed it to. Credit cards are a spy in your wallet — and it’s time that we add privacy, alongside rewards and rates, to how we evaluate them.
Bottom line: Neither Apple nor Goldman Sachs collects or shares your data. But retailers and card networks like Mastercard can still collect and sell your purchase data.
Over on MacWorld, Jason Cross gave his wish-list for a mid-range iPhone. I am not totally convinced Apple is going to give him what he wants, but he makes some interesting arguments.
Simply put, the potential value to Apple’s bottom line of bringing new users to iPhone is much higher than it has ever been, and it is probably worth making significantly less money on each iPhone sold (at least on the cheapest model) in order to expand the reach of the ecosystem. What’s more, the competition is heating up. Android phones that cost $400 or less are getting quite good, and in many parts of the world, consumers simply don’t see the value in paying 50 percemt more to get last-year’s iPhone. Apple needs a new product that, while not necessarily as inexpensive as some Android competitors, at least feels within reach, and delivers on the core experience of the iPhone.
Tim Cook is giving nearly $5 million of shares to charity, while Apple is making a seperate donation in response to the Amazon forest fires.
The first teaser trailer for forthcoming Apple TV+ series Dickinson appeared Sunday. The series details the life, and rebellious teenage years, of poet Emily Dickinson. As with other Apple TV+ content we’ve had a preview of, the show seems to have extremely high production values. The comedy series stars Hailee Steinfeld as the young poet. Apple said the show ” audaciously explores the constraints of society, gender, and family.” It will be released this fall.
