I just returned from a two week vacation1 in which I used my iPhone 6s to take hundreds of photos and videos, find places to eat, and get public transit directions to and from various places in unfamiliar cities. It was also the first time I had no concerns about my iPhone battery running out of juice before I returned to my accommodation at night, and it is all thanks to Low Power Mode.
Barclays Confirms It Will Support Apple Pay by April→
Update: Engadget accidentally miscalculated the expected launch dates, that has now been fixed.
Barclays customers in the United Kingdom finally have a date for when Apple Pay will be supported by their bank, reports Matt Brian at Engadget.
After first declining to comment at launch, the bank quickly changed its mind and voiced support for the service. It then made customers wait months before offering an “early 2016” launch date at the end of last year. Following another few months of silence and hundreds of irate customers tweets, Barclays CEO Ashok Vaswani has confirmed that Apple Pay support will roll out by April at the very latest.
In an emailed statement to Barclays customer Oli Foster-Burnell, Vaswani said the service will go live “within the next 60 to 75 days.” Depending on the company’s plans, card support could be enabled between March 12th and March 27th. That’s stretching the “early 2016” launch touted last year, but it may be enough to stop some disappointed Barclays customers from switching to another bank.
Barclays will be the last of the big four UK banks to support Apple Pay. By way of a quick update, Apple Pay is now supported by 966 financial institutions in the US and 15 in the UK (not including Barclays). Apple Pay also launched in Australia and Canada – but only for those (limited) few who have a credit or debit card issued by American Express. American Express customers in Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong will also get Apple Pay sometime this year. But in a more substantial rollout, Apple Pay is set to launch in China early this year as a result of a partnership with China UnionPay. Unlike the American Express only roll outs, Apple Pay will launch in China with the support of 15 of China’s leading banks.
Q&A
Question: Federico have you experienced any issues using the Pencil after your iOS 9.3 upgrade on your Pro, as this was indicated on the recent iMore podcast? It appears some people are, and I would appreciate your experience please? (Barry)
FedericoIt appears that the first beta of iOS 9.3 has changed the behavior of...
Google Forms
{ .icon } This week’s favorite is Google Forms – somewhat of an odd pick because unlike most of our other MacStories Favorites, it currently does not have an iOS or Mac app. But that doesn’t matter because it works fine in a web browser on your Mac or iOS device. Part of Google’s suite...
Google Paid Apple $1 Billion to Keep Search Bar on iPhone→
Joel Rosenblatt, reporting for Bloomberg:
Google Inc. is paying Apple Inc. a hefty fee to keep its search bar on the iPhone.
Apple received $1 billion from its rival in 2014, according to a transcript of court proceedings from Oracle Corp.’s copyright lawsuit against Google. The search engine giant has an agreement with Apple that gives the iPhone maker a percentage of the revenue Google generates through the Apple device, an attorney for Oracle said at a Jan. 14 hearing in federal court.
It’s not surprising at all that Google is paying Apple for the benefit of being the default search engine on iOS, but this is the first time it has been confirmed, and a dollar figure provided. But it is also an awkward revelation for Apple, which has recently started to more aggressively position itself as the company that protects its user’s privacy. Remember Tim Cook’s note on “Apple’s commitment to your privacy”?
A few years ago, users of Internet services began to realize that when an online service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product. But at Apple, we believe a great customer experience shouldn’t come at the expense of your privacy.
Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products. We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple.
Apple’s subtle (or perhaps not so subtle) privacy dig at Google looks a bit absurd and hypocritical in light of this court transcript. Apple may not build a profile on its users to sell to advertisers, but it lets Google do that (by default) and then profits from Google’s actions.
Unsurprisingly, Google and Apple weren’t happy about the disclosure by an Oracle attorney and sought to seal and redact the transcript. As Bloomberg reports;
The specific financial terms of Google’s agreement with Apple are highly sensitive to both Google and Apple,” Google said in its Jan. 20 filing. “Both Apple and Google have always treated this information as extremely confidential.”
The transcript vanished without a trace from electronic court records at about 3 p.m. Pacific standard time with no indication that the court ruled on Google’s request to seal it.
Remote Buddy Display: Control Your Mac From Your Apple TV Using The Siri Remote
It’s still the very early days for tvOS and the App Store on the new Apple TV, but we’re starting to see some really neat apps for the new platform. Some of my early favorites (aside from the obvious content-delivery apps like Netflix and HBO Now) include Plex, VLC, GIFtv, and now Remote Buddy Display.
Remote Buddy Display is an app that enables you to wirelessly mirror your Mac onto your TV. What differentiates it from AirPlay Mirroring, built into OS X, is that you can also control your Mac, using just the Apple TV’s Siri Remote. Provided you have installed Remote Buddy onto your Mac, you can take control of your Mac via your Apple TV simply by launching the Remote Buddy Display app on your Apple TV.
Facebook’s WhatsApp Is Now Free→
WhatsApp announced earlier today that it would be removing its annual subscription fee (US$0.99 per year, after the first year). From Re/code’s report of the announcement:
“It really doesn’t work that well,” Koum [WhatsApp founder] said Monday, speaking at the DLD conference in Munich. He noted that while a buck a year might not sound like much, access to credit cards is not ubiquitous. “We just don’t want people to think at some point their communication to the world will be cut off.”
Until now, WhatsApp has been free for the first year and 99 cents for additional years. It will stop charging subscription fees immediately but it will likely be a few weeks before the payments infrastructure is completely out of all versions of the app. And, in case you were wondering, you won’t be able to get back your buck if you have already paid for this year.
WhatsApp will stay ad-free, and instead the company will begin testing new tools that will enable WhatsApp users to communicate with businesses and organizations. The WhatsApp blog post about this announcement gives the example of being able to communicate with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent. Which, as Re/code’s report points out, is a familiar strategy:
It’s the same idea behind Facebook Messenger, the company’s other standalone messaging service. With Messenger, Facebook already offers users the chance to chat with businesses, and it’s building out other features, like payments or the ability to hail a ride through Uber.
Relax, It’s the Weekend
Mythbusters TV Series Selected episodes available (varies by region) on: iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Discovery I think I’ve been watching Mythbusters, on and off, for over a decade – basically whenever it was on Australian TV. So I must admit I was pretty sad to hear that the season of Mythbusters that just started airing in...
Apps for Students, Vol. 2
MathX When I was in high school I used to hate using my graphics calculator – it was expensive, clunky and slow. At the time I had been using an iPod touch and then an iPhone 4 in my final year, but I could never find a good app to use as a replacement...